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July 05
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Mike
gave  to:
The Terror of Earrings (Unknown Binding)
by
Dennis Cooper
bookshelves:
2009
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my rating:
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read in July, 2009
Mike said:
"(Self-?)Published when Cooper was only 20 (!) these poems are actually pretty good in their earnestness, honesty, but totally divorced (stylistically) from what Cooper would become. A very interesting thing to read though, as the earliest seeds of h...more
(Self-?)Published when Cooper was only 20 (!) these poems are actually pretty good in their earnestness, honesty, but totally divorced (stylistically) from what Cooper would become. A very interesting thing to read though, as the earliest seeds of his obsessions are present.(less)
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Mike
gave to:
Binky Brown Meets the Holy Virgin Mary (Hardcover)
by
Justin Green
bookshelves:
2009
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my rating:
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read in July, 2009
Mike said:
"Th MZA said this is the most neurotic comic ever written, and I'm tempted to agree with him. It's pretty good, but nothing inherently special.
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Mike
gave  to:
Compact (Hardcover)
by
Maurice Roche
bookshelves:
2009
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my rating:
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read in July, 2009
Mike said:
"Beyond great; potentially a new favorite. Compact is a literal catalog of avant-garde textual techniques and how to apply them without resorting to gimmickry. The narratives entwined here are wholly enigmatic, yet affecting, and some of the words, ...more
Beyond great; potentially a new favorite. Compact is a literal catalog of avant-garde textual techniques and how to apply them without resorting to gimmickry. The narratives entwined here are wholly enigmatic, yet affecting, and some of the words, declarative statements, hit where one needs to be hit. Plan on re-reading soon.(less)
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Mike
gave  to:
Mount Analogue (Paperback)
by
Rene Daumal
bookshelves:
2009,
owned
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my rating:
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read in June, 2009
Mike said:
"This is fantastic, even being incomplete. Daumal's at his best when he's wandering, and this book is a quintessential wander as a whole. This is also, I think, completely different from Jodorowsky's Holy Mountain despite being the inspiration. I'm...more
This is fantastic, even being incomplete. Daumal's at his best when he's wandering, and this book is a quintessential wander as a whole. This is also, I think, completely different from Jodorowsky's Holy Mountain despite being the inspiration. I'm tempted to say it's better, but I really, really like the second fourth of Holy Mountain (though I mostly hate the rest of it). I have a net art project planned directly inspired by this. I am definately interesting in reading more Daumal.(less)
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Mike
gave to:
Roman Poems (City Lights Pocket Poets Series)
by
Pier Paolo Pasolini
bookshelves:
2009
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my rating:
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read in June, 2009
Mike said:
"Pasolini is beautiful. From reading P.P.P. a week ago I expected these to be a lot denser, more cryptic. They are mostly straight-forward, but that could be the translations. I transcribed my favorites here:
http://murdermystery.livejournal.com/433...
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June 28
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Mike
gave to:
Hans Bellmer (Hardcover)
by
Agnes de la Beaumelle
bookshelves:
2009
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my rating:
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read in June, 2009
Mike said:
"There are tons of typos, and a few images are annoyingly pixelated, but as far as I've found this is the most expansive catalogue of Bellmer's work, and that's what's important. Bellmer is easily my favorite artist associated/involved with the Surre...more
There are tons of typos, and a few images are annoyingly pixelated, but as far as I've found this is the most expansive catalogue of Bellmer's work, and that's what's important. Bellmer is easily my favorite artist associated/involved with the Surrealists, and the essays in this book are mildly illuminating about his life and work. Overall this is worth it for the brilliant images alone.(less)
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June 27
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Mike
gave to:
The Missing Men (Unknown Binding)
by
Dennis Cooper
bookshelves:
2009
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my rating:
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read in June, 2009
Mike said:
"In an interview Dennis has commented that he didn't feel like any of his work was doing what he wanted it to be doing until the chapbook The Tenderness of the Wolves came out in '81. This chapbook immediately followed. It is a definite improvement ...more
In an interview Dennis has commented that he didn't feel like any of his work was doing what he wanted it to be doing until the chapbook The Tenderness of the Wolves came out in '81. This chapbook immediately followed. It is a definite improvement over the pre-Tenderness... stuff, and there are some collages that I assume are from Dennis' notebooks thrown in to heighten the diegesis--something that I don't think happens in any of the other early chapbooks (although I guess there are multiple cover images in Tigerbeat). (less)
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June 26
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Mike
gave to:
Scrapbook (Paperback)
by
Adrian Tomine
bookshelves:
2009,
owned
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my rating:
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read in June, 2009
Mike said:
"Tomine seems to follow in the "clean line" steps of Daniel Clowes & Chris Ware et. al. (which he openly admits, and there's a very immediate shift something like between like 94 and 95). I have not read any of his work outside of stuff in...more
Tomine seems to follow in the "clean line" steps of Daniel Clowes & Chris Ware et. al. (which he openly admits, and there's a very immediate shift something like between like 94 and 95). I have not read any of his work outside of stuff in anthologies, but I just picked this up for a buck at a garage sale and it's pretty good stuff. I am a fan of the drawing style. His whole "depressed indie rocker i want a girl" thing gets old, but it's mostly absent here? To some extent. I find it slightly interesting that he writes so many stories from the point of view of a female protagonist.(less)
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Mike
gave to:
P.P.P.: Pier Paolo Pasolini and Death (Hardcover)
by
Michael Semff
bookshelves:
2009
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my rating:
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read in June, 2009
Mike said:
"I picked this up at the library arbitrarily after wandering in the stacks and being attracted to the cover. Flipping through it I realized that Pasolini was a total auteur that I had never given the time of day. I'm pretty glad I did, and I'm prett...more
I picked this up at the library arbitrarily after wandering in the stacks and being attracted to the cover. Flipping through it I realized that Pasolini was a total auteur that I had never given the time of day. I'm pretty glad I did, and I'm pretty it was this book, which highlights the esotericism of his practice--and most importantly, his pre-arranged death--that re-brought him to my attention. Some of this is really confusing (many of the poems mentioned aren't available in English), but as a conceptual whole, as a body of work, it's amazing.(less)
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Mike
gave to:
Place of Dead Roads (Place of Dead Roads)
by
William S. Burroughs
bookshelves:
2009,
owned
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my rating:
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read in June, 2009
Mike said:
"I will potentially move this up to a higher rating at some future point, but right now I'm pissed off at how annoying I found the last 100 pages (I just wanted it to be over). I read the first half of this when I was like 13 after getting it from th...more
I will potentially move this up to a higher rating at some future point, but right now I'm pissed off at how annoying I found the last 100 pages (I just wanted it to be over). I read the first half of this when I was like 13 after getting it from the library and it has been stuck in my subconscious ever since (at 13 I was mostly amused by the tight pricks and autonomous ephebes & adolescents). Cities of the Red Night is certainly "better" from a narrative point of view, but the sort of "tableau vivant" developed in Cities... is maxed out here. At times it's nice, but sometimes you lose interest.(less)
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