Jonathan Carroll's Blog, page 74

CarrollBlog 10.2

After watching a lot of MTV recently, I realized that almost all of their reality shows are now based on humiliation of one sort or another. How much money will it take to make you eat worms/take off your clothes/do something really stupid in public, etc? How will you respond when you're rejected for a date because the other girl is sexier? What will you say as you and two others watch a stranger of the opposite sex go through your bedroom drawer by drawer, looking for intimate or...

CarrollBlog 10.1

Those small stores, the side street shops, Mom and Pop markets with one aisle, two heads of wilted browning lettuce, a single sixty watt light bulb overhead inside for illumination. Or the "vintage" record shops with two men (never more than three) poring through the stacks looking for that one special "Zombies" 45 or the rare Charles Lloyd quartet album on the Blue Note label. How many of these shadowy, empty stores have these collectors visited over the years, always looking for...

CarrollBlog 9.30

I was invited over the weekend to a party at the house of a very rich woman via a mutual friend. The friend had been trying to introduce us for a long time because the woman loves books, loves all art. Loves it so much that in her villa she has a private gallery where she mounts a new vernissage every month. The purpose of this party was the opening of a new show. Very chi-chi and exclusive, supposedly. I went because what the hell. The house was astonishing, the party goers what you would...

CarrollBlog 9.29

Twitter, Facebook, and JC blog-pals: Today the paperback edition of THE GHOST IN LOVE is officially released in the US. It would be a great and generous thing if you bought a copy or two. Thank you. Here's a small excerpt for those who haven't read it yet:

Danielle put a hand against her chest. "We're born with everything in here -- everything we need to be happy and whole. But as soon as life starts frightening us, we give away pieces of ourselves to make the danger go away. It's an...

CarrollBlog 9.28

Out of the blue, his wife did a very bad thing to him and we were discussing it. Why had she done it? How could she? I said maybe there's something you missed or forgot; some word or significant event you overlooked that triggered her selfish, cruel act. He shook his head and snapped at me, 'No, I'm not doing that this time. I'm not going to try and search for some logical, acceptable reason because there isn't any. What she did was wrong, that's all: flat-out, black and white wrong. We're a...

CarrollBlog 9.27

"Part of life is a quest to find that one essential person who will understand our story. But we choose wrongly so often. Over the ensuing years that person we thought understood us best too often ends up regarding us with pity, indifference, or active dislike. Those who truly care can be divided into two categories: those who understand us, and those who forgive our worst sins. Rarely do we find someone capable of both."

-from GLASS SOUP

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Word of ...

CarrollBlog 9.26

Someone wrote in to say they had bought one of my books for a penny. That really made me smile. What on earth can you purchase these days for one penny? And whether you end up liking the book or not, buying it for a single cent has to be one of the greatest bargains still around. It reminded me of how much fun it is to poke around in used book stores, flea markets and yard sales, looking for the unknown or unknown treasures. The first collection of Charles Bukowski's poetry I read cost ten...

CarrollBlog 9.25

Riding through Vienna on a bus yesterday, something dawned on me that I'd never thought of before: While moving along, I kept seeing places and sites that live vividly in my memory because of events that happened there: The faded Czech gasthaus where I often ate dinner during a bitter cold winter and where one evening before the food came, I finished writing my book THE WOODEN SEA. The outdoor restaurant next to the Danube Canal where A and I sat one glorious summer afternoon while the...

CarrollBlog 9.24

As a boy, I knew a tough guy named Anthony who would always start fights the same way: he'd poke you in the chest and ask "What are you going to do about it?" If you did nothing, he shoved you harder and asked a little louder "What are you going to do about it?" again and again until you eventually got pissed off and swung at him. There are adults who do the same thing. Only instead of shoving you in the chest, they do little thoughtless, or mean, or bad...things, then bigger bad things...

CarrollBlog 9.23

One of the most famous children's books in America is Maurice Sendak's WHERE THE WILD THINGS ARE. The story, in short, is about a very bad little boy named Max who is sent to bed without dinner one night because he's been so naughty. But as soon as he gets to his room, The Wild Things-- wonderful monsters of all shapes and sizes-- appear and they all play happily together till morning. Max is delighted and has no fear of them. He's a brave little guy. Sendak has said readers often ask what...