Ex   Libris   Nomo

Welcome to the obligatory 'here's what i've read and i bet you're dead interested' bit.
If, due to some inconceivable flaw in your character, you don't give a toss, then feel free to bugger off.

Milan Kundera

Don't let the thousands of arty people who extol the virtues of symbolism in his books put you off. They really are good. The kind of books that make you think that the art of creative writing isn't dead yet. His style takes a bit of getting used to, though, so don't take it to the beach. Also, if you are stupid, you might not really enjoy Kundera. (He's a happy chap, though, ain't he?)

Recommended: The Book of Laughter and Forgetting; The Unbearable Lightness of Being

Best suited for: moments of existential crisis; wallowing in self-pity.

A Clockwork Orange - Anthony Burgess

Not a lot of people know this, but A Clockwork Orange is a book by Anthony Burgess which is at least as good as the better known film by Stanley Kubrick. The film's ok, and worth seeing if only to gain kudos among deprived british cinema-goers (it was banned after some members of the film going community mis-interpreted its message). However the real genius is the book. Not only does it contain all the gore of a Tarantino, but it doesn't make you fall asleep like Pulp Fiction will. Buy/steal/eat a copy now!

Best suited for: looking literate amongst bohemian adults, reifying the meaning of 'cult'

Alright droogies?!

American Psycho - Bret Easton Ellis

Ok, so it's written by a pink-faced New York yuppie. It's still bloody good! If you have ever despaired of Americans (New Yorkers especially), or if you just don't really like stupid people, then this is ideal bedtime reading.

Patrick Bateman is the quintessential american dream - young, rich, handsome... oh, and he has a homicide habit. The descent into madness is amusing at best and nauseating at worst. Even the most hardened gore-philes will have trouble reading this without feeling slightly sick. Still it only serves to drive home the message: although what the message is, is anyone's guess...

Best suited for: people who like to laugh at americans, people who like to murder americans

PS. for those with a sense of humour failure, it is a satire. Be warned.

Paul Auster

There's not much to write here; suffice it to say that every book by Paul Auster is a guaranteed good read. It's not junk but it doesn't over-intellectualize - just great writing, good stories etc. The kind of thing you wish you'd written.

Recommended: The New York Trilogy; Leviathan; practically anything with his name on it (although steer clear of tea-towels)

Best suited for: any time, anywhere.

AND WITH A FACE LIKE THAT PAUL,
I'LL READ WHATEVER YOU WANT ME TO...

Michael Marshall Smith

Silly name, but his books are good. Unlike anything else, his genre could (maybe) be described as 'pseudo-sci-fi-psycho-satire'. He is a gag-a-minute man, which is sometimes irritating but mostly funny. In MMS world, the time is the future, the heroes are flawed, the plot generally involves cats, so all in all it's quite surreal. Don't let the label of science-fiction put you off - it's not the conventional kind! MMS himself is hilarious, like a bloke you want at someone else's dinner party but not your own (slightly on the dark side - may offend those of a sensitive disposition. oh, and don't invite him home, because he'll swear at your mother). His books: Only Forward, Spares and One of Us, are out in a dark bookstore near you.

I SHOOK HIS HAND!!!

Recommended: Only Forward - the first and best; you'll be jealous or intrigued.

Best suited for: one sitting, alcohol on tap.

Alex Garland

Ok, so he's kid of the moment, but even an pseudo-intellectual snob like myself has to admit for a fondness for young Lex. The great thing about his books (all two of them) is that they're interesting without being too junky - they credit you with possessing more than half a brain cell, but you don't have to pretend that higher philosophical matters actually interest you.

As for the author, he's a bit of a poseur, but he's better than Milan!

Recommended: The Beach, although I'm still halfway through The Tesseract.

Best suited for: the beach, oddly enough. Somewhere warm. With a cool beer.

CURRENT READING: HUNTER S THOMPSON

The Proud Highway

So far, so good!

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