I always love a good book recommendation. At least three quarters of my favorite books were brought to my attention by a direct recommendation from a friend. The fine people behind the scenes at Subtle Dig were kind enough, per my request, to put together a mini-side bar in the bottom right corner of this page listing some of my favorite books (you have to click on the full entry to see it). Each book I list below is available through a quick click. In full disclosure, the books are hooked up through an Amazon affiliate account so there is monetary incentive behind the widget. If you’re thinking, “I fucking hate this guy. I don’t’ want him to see a penny,” that’s cool. Feel free to skirt around and buy the books below on your own.
Let’s get to the good stuff:
Title: The Demon
Author: Hubert Selby Jr.
My favorite book of all time. Selby Jr. is the perfect combination of unorthodox writing style and real world grittiness that goes to ugly places in the human subconscious most people wont even admit exist. Selby skips all the pretense and speaks right to the primal animal caged within us all. Today’s generation is probably most familiar with Selby Jr. via Aronofsky’s film Requiem for a Dream. If you don’t already know, Requeim was a book penned by Selby long before it terrorized drug-curious teens straight. The Demon is a story about addiction, a story about chasing the dragon – whatever that dragon may be – and looking to top the previous chemical high with a new rush. A battle against life’s cruelest enemy: tolerance. No rush is as good as the last unless we raise the stakes. Anybody with a vice can relate to this – the heroin addict, the cliff diving adrenaline junkie, the four hundred pound obese man, the alcoholic, the kleptomaniac. Everyone. The quickest path to destruction is to appease the urge for the next cheap trick. It can also be the best path. You really can’t go wrong with anything by Selby Jr. but The Demon remains as fresh in my mind as the day I first picked it up years ago. Check it out.
Title: Year of the Cock: The Remarkable True Account of a Married Man Who Left His Wife and Paid the Price
Author: Alan Wieder
With more than half of all marriages leading to divorce, one has to wonder what has changed in the past few decades. Perhaps the world is more catered to the individual now, and dual-parent households aren’t a necessity. Maybe they were never natural in the first place, but societal pressure and convenience still hold monogamy as the status quo. Marriage does work for a lot of people. Others, however, live in denial for years and years until they finally… snap. Alan Wieder is one of these people. After marrying young and in love, Wieder rises through the Hollywood ranks as a hotshot producer in the reality tv market. He is often busy with work and seems to have less and less time for his wife. Finally, one day, he leaves. No phone call. No notice. Just packs his stuff and moves out. Within weeks he’s living the bachelor’s dream. He’s got his own state of the art pad. He drives a brand new Porsche. He even lines up three dates in one weekend with young Hollywood sluts. Life couldn’t get any better for him. His wife probably isn’t doing quite as well. But Wieder wouldn’t know. He ignores all her calls. Then one day a very, ummm unusual, celebrity sex tape causes him to wonder about the size of his penis. Is his cock too small? It’s a simple question for most but for Wieder it was the beginning of a downward spiral into mental illness, obsession and self-loathing that burrows beneath rock bottom. Wieder doesn’t come off as a particularly likable narrator. He’s arrogant and doesn’t quite seem to grasp the full consequences of his decisions even in hindsight. Still, for anyone how wants to read a true, first-hand account of going insane, without the usual drug abuse angle, it’s a great read. Regardless of whether you like him or not, Wieder does have a talent with prose.
Title: Can’t You Get Along With Anyone?: A Writer’s Memoir and a Tale of a Lost Surfer’s Paradise
Author: Allan C. Weisbecker
Was I just talking about unlikeable screenwriter narrators? Good, let’s keep it consistent with Weisbecker’s latest outing, and his second memoir. Recognized for his cult classics Cosmic Banditos and In Search of Captain Zero, Weisbecker is back with a vengeance this time around. He’s older, and no longer chasing traditional success, which basically allows him the opportunity to fuck over all the people that have been bending him over the last decade. John Cusack and Sean Penn find themselves on the business end of Weisbecker’s literary foot. He manages to turn Hollywood on its head from his isolated tropical paradise. When things get tough he has the world’s best surfing to fall back on, and, of course, a beautiful girlfriend who is the love of his life. Boiling beneath the surface, paradise isn’t everything it’s cracked up to be. The same might be said for his new found soulmate. Weisbecker is a prick. I don’t think he’d disagree with that statement. He’s paranoid and confrontational, quick to anger and vindictive but as he unravels a tale of betrayal you can’t help but find yourself sucked into his insanity. At times you wonder how the man can be so gullible but it’s his good qualities that lead to him being taken advantage of by ruthless savages in a lawless paradise. Before long, we’re living Weisbecker’s nightmare. He sweeps us along for five hundred pages, and by the end of it, possibly due to his honesty, we’re routing for this quirky old surfer to uncover the ugly truth.
Title: Happy Hour Is for Amateurs: Work Sucks. Life Doesn’t Have To
Author: Philadelphia Lawyer
Philadelphia Lawyer is hard to define. He’s been compared to HST, Bukowski and other controversial, opinionated male writers of past generations, but none quite seem to fit. No doubt such comparisons are flattering and deserved, still Philadelphia Lawyer treads his own paths as he searches for the faint pulse in a dying world consumed by drugs, debauchery, depression, selfishness and soul-crushing work. Phila’s anonymity gives him the freedom to expose farces in the legal world that might otherwise cost somebody their livelihood. But don’t let the legal context fool you, anybody who has found themselves faced with a cubicle’s blank stare will relate to the thankless work environment, and the rebellious human need to destroy ourselves in retaliation just so we know we are capable of feelings something. Happy Hour is for Amateurs is Phila’s first full-length novel but it wont be his last. Pick it up now, and you will spend as much time laughing your ass off as you will silently weeping for the future of our species.
Title: Six Degrees of Paris Hilton: Inside the Sex Tapes, Scandals, and Shakedowns of the New Hollywood
Author: Mark Ebner
Ebner is rare breed. He’s a personal hero of mine, having given me some of the best advice when I was first starting out with writing. After meeting him a couple of times, I can confirm the man is insane. If you read his books or articles, you don’t need me to tell you that. In the age of narcissism, Ebner walks to a different beat and sticks to old-school, hard-nosed journalism. Six Degrees of Paris Hilton lets the crazy cast of young criminals take center stage while Ebner puts his own ego aside. Instead, we are treated with a fairly even presentation of despicable parasites who commit crimes against the equally unlikeable young spoiled celebrity shitheads. I have no sympathy for the latter since most were born into wealth and had they been Betty-Sue’s child from buttfuck Arkansas, you can rest assured the talentless hacks would be stocking shelves at Walmart’s obscurity section. It is hard to imagine a worse set of people than undeserving Hollywood stars, but Ebner manages to find them in the crooks that prey on dimwit celebs. The more Ebner pushes on, the deeper he finds himself in the seedy underbelly that exists just below fallacious tabloid fodder. And, amazingly, it’s more terrible than you can imagine. We need more journalists like Ebner. Unfortunately, consistently putting your life on the line isn’t a coveted employment strategy for many writers.
Title: Rum Diaries
Author: Hunter S. Thompson
HST is recognized as one of the greatest living journalists of all time. Timeless classics like Hells Angels and Fear and Loathing are already cemented in the modern English canon, merely five years after his suicide. Always political, some of Hunter’s works, while brilliant in their craft, have lost some impact as the issues are no longer relevant in today’s political climate. It’s still a joy to relive old campaigns through the eyes of a lunatic, but I always find myself wishing he was still around today to dissect our current political clusterfuck. Then again, he’d probably get so depressed, he wouldd blow his brains out… Oh wait. Among all his masterpieces, rests Hunter’s one work of fiction. Just how fictitious remains unclear since the protagonist thinks and acts very much like Hunter. The plot may be false, but the characters and inner-monologue feel all too genuine. Nevertheless, the Rum Diaries is a simple, maniacal tale about human politics, love, rum, fear of aging and how they all intersect. It’s a book that will transport you to 1950’s Puerto Rico, and give you a peak into a young HST’s mind. Better yet, it’s currently being filmed as a Hollywood movie starring Johnny Depp. If you read it now, you can play your pretentious asshole card when everybody starts raving about it, and say “I read the book years ago.”
Title: American Psycho
Author: Brett Easton Ellis
Having grown up on the cusp of the internet era, it is almost impossible to disturb me anymore. I wont relay the horrors I’ve witnessed, mostly accidentally, during my time spent online for the sensitive readers out there, but let’s just say very, very few things shock me anymore. Literature has the ability to disturb a reader in ways [insert whatever disgusting internet video] can’t. Bret Easton Ellis authors a terrorizing tale by placing you inside the mind of a high functioning lawyer serial-killer sociopath in 1989 Manhattan. The story of Lifeat160… err, I mean the story of Patrick Bateman is perhaps best known through Christian Bale’s exceptional portrayal in the 2000 film adaptation, but, if you can believe it, the character is even more frightening and the murders more disturbing in the book version. There are a few ways to interpret the book, but the underlying message about materialism and the shallow, self-absorbed, soulless corporate world is even more relevant today. In fact, the book’s most chilling aspect is how accurately Bret Easton Ellis nailed the unflattering side effect of capitalist culture, and the realization that it’s likely to get much worse.
Title: Blindness
Author: Jose Saramago
This may be the first book I read that really made me fall in love with literature. I’d read many books previous to Blindness, but Saramago took my appreciation for storytelling to a whole new level. This is no diamond in the rough, genius recommendation. The book won a much deserved Nobel prize. Saramago, like Selby Jr., doesn’t have much use for grammatical conventions. His work is translated from Portuguese but the English version retains his scarce punctuation. Without quotation marks it makes it difficult to determine who’s speaking, but once you get use to Saramago’s masterful grasp on weaving a tale, you are in for a real treat. Blindness tells the story of a world devoid of structure. What happens when the whole world goes blind? With the chaos emerging in a panic-stricken Haiti, never before has Saramago’s semi-political book been so pertinent. This is one of those rare books that will play out like a movie in your head. What’s more amazing is that he creates a purely visual experience in a narrative where the characters, for the most part, lack the ability to see. There are some religious connotations, but what’s really under analysis is human nature, the evil that arises when the stakes are life or death and every individual for his or herself. But more importantly it’s about the survival and triumph of the human spirit. Plus, I found an edition on Amazon that is cheap as shit (as listed in the widget to your right).
Bonus book: Our very own Tremble the Devil has an entire book for free on his website. I’ve heard rumors we might see a Kindle friendly version in the near future, for those of you less inclined to read it on your computer screen.
If you do read or have read any of the books below, feel free to leave comments or send me an email about your thoughts. Likewise, if you have your own suggestions, toss them in the comments section. The list above above is sorely lacking a female presence. We need to fix that. Literature lives and dies by word-of-mouth these days, so do everyone a favor and spread the good news when you stumble across a work you loved.
10:04 am on February 4th, 2010
HAHAHA, best MSPaint cartoon eevvaaaarrrr!! Wow, I LOLed IRL!! And thanks for the plug, if I can get to the bookstore before two feet of snow hit DC I’m gonna pick up The Demon.
(Also well-played disclosing the monetary aspect of the widget… it’s not like any other writers would, oh I don’t know, start up a booklist with the express but hidden purpose of making some extra cash, with sanctimonious talk about never letting a book’s price get in the way of owning it.)
And both “Beach Music” and “Gates of Fire” are incredible reads and as close to perfect as a novel can get in terms of balancing storytelling and literary chops.
11:17 am on February 4th, 2010
Great list, I just added a few of those to my Amazon Wishlist and am going to pick them up sooner rather than later.
I’m actually 3/4ths the way through American Psycho right now and your description of it is great. Some of the murder scenes are so graphic that I literally feel queasy after reading them; only powerful writing can do that.
Before picking up American Psycho, I read Wolfe’s Bonfire of the Vanities and the Bonfire/Psycho double bill is excellent. Bonfire was written two years before Psycho and the influences on Ellis’ book are pretty visible (Bateman and McCoy both work at a place called Pierce and Pierce, for instance). Though Psycho is not a sequel by any means, reading the two back to back definitely enriches both works, and if you can stomach the combined 1100 pages (Bonfire’s ~700 and Psycho’s ~400), I’d read them in that order without too much of a break between.
The other book I would recommend is Budd Schulberg’s ‘What Makes Sammy Run?’ which is about how Sammy Glick, who starts out as a gopher in New York, makes it to the top of Hollywood. It’s narrated by his boss in New York who becomes his employee in LA, and is one of those books that should be a ‘Modern Classic’ or whatever you want to call it but has slipped through the cracks for whatever reason. Just how Bonfire and Psycho are still relevant commentaries on capitalism and greed, Sammy is current because it shows the world of a guy who would sell everybody out: cheat, swindle, lie, steal, just to climb one more rung on the ladder.
3:08 pm on February 4th, 2010
@Tremble
I figure it’s only a matter a cents for each book purchased on click-throughs. Not to mention that my Canadian brethren need to go to Amazon.ca anyway. I’ve added your Beach Music to my “to-read” list. Gates of Fire is already on there.
@Max
That’s awesome, I also read Bonfire of the Vanities and American Psycho in close proximity. And you’re right, the double bill provides quite possibly the greatest criticism of 80’s Big City corporate culture in existence. I’m currently reading Wolfe’s Electric Koolaid Acid Test, but I like Bonfire better. It was a long-ass book, but the accurate representation of race-relations and upperclass human politics is unforgettable. Highly recommended as well.
And thanks for the Schulberg recommendation. I can honestly say I’ve never even heard of that book. But, based our mutual appreciation for Ellis and Wolfe, I will pick it up. Sounds like a great read.
3:11 pm on February 4th, 2010
I just wanted to backup Griffin’s assessment of Tremble the Devil. I ran into it about a year ago (he PMed Griffin on the old Rudius board, then Griffin PMed me to see if the guy knew what he was talking about) and I couldn’t put it down – the guy’s insight into the dynamics of terrorism are up their with Schneier’s. If you actually want to understand what the hell’s been going on for the past ten years, you need to read the guy’s book.
Also: http://www.schneier.com/
3:25 pm on February 4th, 2010
@Aurini
Yeah, I honestly feel like a better person having read Tremble’s account of terrorism. It’s refreshing to see an honest analysis that isn’t concerned with bullshit partisan agendas.
Readers, give Aurini’s site a click too. The guy is a madman, his blood is 50% whiskey, but he tells it like it is. http://www.staresattheworld.com/
10:05 pm on February 4th, 2010
Chris,
I’ve been told by some smart people whose opinions I respect that the next Wolfe I should read is ‘A Man in Full.’ I struggled with ‘The Kandy-Kolored Tangerine-Flake Streamline Baby’ and never actually finished it, but that’s not a novel, so I’m not counting it as part of the Wolfe cannon. The problem with ‘A Man in Full’ is that it’s another one of those Wolfian heavyweights that weighs in at around 700 pages and is currently about 15 books deep on my ‘to read’ shelf. Honestly, Tom Wolfe could break book sales records and be considered one of the literary geniuses of our time (and if he is already, I mean more so) if he knew how to write something under 500 pages.
I don’t know how ‘good’ a Canadian you are, but for me, reading Richler’s ‘The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz’ was pretty much required for me. It’s especially good if you know anything about Montreal and the surrounding area. (The movie with Richard Dreyfuss not only made his career, but is one of those rare instances where a kick-ass book becomes a kick-ass movie, though it might be a little hard to find.)
As for Ellis, have you read ‘Less Than Zero?’ I couldn’t put it down and finished it in one sitting; that and Psycho are the only two I know, and once I finish Psycho, I’ll definitely be looking for another one of his books.
3:11 pm on February 5th, 2010
@Max
Yeah, I’m struggling through Koolaid Acid test too. It’s really dense. I could swear he wrote the thing while ripped on LSD, but people say he only did the drug once while on the bus, and hasn’t done it since. I don’t buy it. Once I finish it, I think I’ll take a break from Wolfe.
Have not read Duddy Kravitz. Parents grew up in Montreal so I’m somewhat familiar with the area will check it out. And Less Than Zero has slipped under my radar for a while now, but if you killed it in one sitting, I’m bumping it near the top of my list. I’m overdue for an Ellis binge, and that sounds like the perfect fix.
3:13 pm on February 9th, 2010
Read Wolfe’s The Right Stuff for that “book under 500 pages”. It’s my view that he did his best writing there, because he could take real events and then apply his world view upon characters that already lived and breathed.
Griffin and Aurini, have you read The Looming Tower or Assassin’s Gate? I bet Tremble and I have.
8:25 pm on February 9th, 2010
Griffin,
Awesome to see somebody else enjoyed any/all of A.C. Weisbecker. I stumbled upon Captain Zero on Amazon because I was moving to Costa Rica, and subsequently read all three of his books the next week. Since I am far from any Canuckleheads, I may as well ask you, are they really coming out with a Fubar 2?
@Max
The Informers is Bret Easton Ellis at his finest (aside from Am Psy, of course). If you liked Less than Zero, try NOT to read The Informers in one sitting. Rules of Attraction is 1,000 times better than the movie, and that even takes into consideration my love, Shannon Sossaman, is in it. Stay away from Glamorama and Lunar Park, though. Not bad books, but night and day from what I was used to.
10:54 am on February 18th, 2010
Griffin,
WTF? Jan 28th was the last tour update. One tour stop a month means you’ll be writing about this for two more years. Is this like the BH story now only on 3.5? I hope not; it kills interest.
1:08 pm on February 19th, 2010
@Tree Frog
Okay, now I’m definitely excited to read “The Right Stuff”. Will take a break from him first, though.
Have not read either of those books. But you’re probably right that Tremble has read them. I’ll ask Aurini if he’s read either. But after looking at them on Amazon they seem interesting. I’ll add them to the list.
@Zach,
Yessir, I do believe we will be seeing Fubar 2 in late 2010. Rockumentary seems to be a strong suit in Canadian film. The good shit that comes out of Canada almost always has to do with booze (Trailer Park Boys, etc.) but the rest of the stuff tends to be truly awful.
@Aint
Life’s been a bit of a whirlwind the last few weeks. I’ve got a bunch of new things going on, and February (and the beginning of March) is by far the busiest time for my real life job. I regret losing readers from lack of posting, but if I intend on improving, and keeping the quality up, it’s inevitable. I want the entries to be fun to write, which should translate in fun to read. If they become a burden, the result wont be pretty. Still, I definitely need to post more than once a month. I’ll have a lot more time for writing come March.
9:53 am on February 23rd, 2010
Thanks for the list! I’ve been looking for books to read that I’d like given that I love bret easton ellis, and I’ll be checking all these out presently.
12:08 pm on February 23rd, 2010
@Ona
Awesome. Hope you like them. If you check any out, let me know what you think. Likewise if you have any suggestions of your own.