Book recommendations for December, news about counter culture, revisiting Oral Sadism and The Vegetarian Personality, warm words about David Szalay, less warm words about Sensitivity Readers
Thank you and please don’t feel bad. I think from the point my own publishers apologized for me there was very little anyone else could have done. And I hope we have a chance to rebuild some freedoms now.
Agree about how shit Twitter has become, and I also agree about Kate Clanchy. (They are not entirely unconnected!) I think many more writers and publishers should have spoken up in Kate's defence, me included. None more than her own publisher, of course, but even so, if publishing collectively doesn't stand for free speech and defending what it publishes, what the hell does it stand for? It was all a very sad and sorry episode.
Yes, it was very sad. And, I think, ultimately bad for absolutely everyone involved. It did not increase the general happiness... (Except in the sense that we are finally learning some lessons from it all...)
As far as Kate Clanchy goes - I read her book Some Kids I Taught and What They Taught and dare I say found Kate Clanchy work inspirational - as a teacher perhaps my focus was on her teaching practices and the challenges of teaching...I bought her book How to Grow Your Own Poem which I warmly recommend - especially to teachers; I found it useful. So I am grateful to Clanchy for 'helping' a fellow teacher. I think she deserved the prizes she got.
As far as my reading goes - for the last 3 weeks I have been ploughing my way through A.S.Byatt's The Virgin in the Garden...don't quite know what to say. It is tedious for the most part - if you have never read Byatt better to start with Possession, otherwise you might be put off.
In any case, I am putting Byatt aside because I started reading Benjamin Myers new book this morning Jesus Christ Kinski. Wow! What a trip...and then at lunch time I picked up my copy of Telenovela - yes Sam it arrived safe and sound :)
I must listen to the Kate Clanchy podcasts. Having met her several times at events some years ago, and hearing her read and champion the poems of her students, many of whom wrote so movingly about their immigrant experiences, the whole cancellation and ensuing nasty business leaves such a bad taste in the mouth. She so deserved better.
I have just watched the film adaptation of Train Dreams by Denis Johnson on Netflix, and found it such a wonderful quiet film, true to the text, beautifully shot and acted. It makes me want to re-read the novella which is one of the best short novels I've read.
Good to have the return of the Links, Tips and Suggestions column. Equally glad that its delay is due to your publishing duties Sam. More books for me to read ASAP.
The book that blew me away these past few months was Fran Ross's Oreo. Easily the funniest book that I have read in years. I laughed out loud at least once every few pages. I don't want to describe it too much, because it just needs to be experienced. It felt like a gritty 70's Blaxploitation flick written by Mel Brooks, directed by John Singleton and choreographed by Quentin Tarantino. It's zany in the best way possible and it is gloriously full of Yiddish. It has that truly New York melding of Jewish and Black cultures into a unique stew of inner-city slang and conflict. The slang, the mush-mouth pronunications, the rhythm and wordplay... the book is gloriously untranslateable.
The other mind-blower was not funny at all. The opposite, it was truly a sobering, sometimes terrifying look at the marginalization of the mentally disturbed. Janet Frame's Faces In The Water was a far better look at the life of the institutionalized than either The Bell Jar or One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest and I have loved both of those books. The different levels of degradation, the howling, mewling, bludgeoning, screeching, the caprices of the nursing staff that defined levels of treatment, the lack of rigor or clinical structure underlying mental health treatments was truly eye-opening. It's almost a wild-west of medicine, therapies founded on cockamamie theories that send electric current through your brain or an ice pick through your eye socket. It was a book full of shame and absolutely understandable terror.
Enjoyed this, Sam! The recommendations. The oddest book titles. Your disdain for sensitivity readers - "...It’s like employing a vicar to change the brakes on your car because he claims to be better able to invoke divine protection." 🤣
Edgelords versus sensitivity readers... these two things are perhaps not unrelated (as you hint at, or perhaps, as the Marx book must touch on in more detail). One would hope that there is a sensible golden mean. But in general, I would prefer my writing was constructed and read with some sensitivity and awareness of the experiences and understandings of others rather than inadvertently become an edgelord bible... And I say that as someone who enjoys 'transgressive' literature – Bataille, Pierre Guyotat, Kathy Acker, etc. I am glad that I could explore that sort of thinking before the conflagration of today's social (media) world and the reactions and traces it carries.
Current reading has been the rather unique 'Brenner' by Hermann Burger (translated by Adrian Nathan West). I loved the careful construction of its sentences: the blending of reminiscence, literary analysis, and crystalline descriptions of places. I also learnt a lot about the tobacco industry (the leaves are fermented!) I would like to read his earlier work (all works are 'earlier', he committed suicide two days after 'Brenner' was published) 'Schilten', but it is as yet untranslated.
Why does no one think that they should be sacked for teaching Hemingway because he is awful rather than any bizarre moral judgements? The Sun Also Rises is just ##**ing awful, AWFUL. Awful about bull runs, awful about bullfights, awful about women and just terrible. I would like to say the sooner the English speaking world gets over Hemingway the better but it would all just pivot to Norman Mailer or Anthony Bourdain and UGH. (Edited to take out the swearing as not everyone is Glaswegian).
Thank you and please don’t feel bad. I think from the point my own publishers apologized for me there was very little anyone else could have done. And I hope we have a chance to rebuild some freedoms now.
Funny we seemed to have replied at the same time.
In any case, now I can thank you personally for 'helping' me teach poetry.
So thank you and best wishes for the future.
Agree about how shit Twitter has become, and I also agree about Kate Clanchy. (They are not entirely unconnected!) I think many more writers and publishers should have spoken up in Kate's defence, me included. None more than her own publisher, of course, but even so, if publishing collectively doesn't stand for free speech and defending what it publishes, what the hell does it stand for? It was all a very sad and sorry episode.
Yes, it was very sad. And, I think, ultimately bad for absolutely everyone involved. It did not increase the general happiness... (Except in the sense that we are finally learning some lessons from it all...)
As far as Kate Clanchy goes - I read her book Some Kids I Taught and What They Taught and dare I say found Kate Clanchy work inspirational - as a teacher perhaps my focus was on her teaching practices and the challenges of teaching...I bought her book How to Grow Your Own Poem which I warmly recommend - especially to teachers; I found it useful. So I am grateful to Clanchy for 'helping' a fellow teacher. I think she deserved the prizes she got.
As far as my reading goes - for the last 3 weeks I have been ploughing my way through A.S.Byatt's The Virgin in the Garden...don't quite know what to say. It is tedious for the most part - if you have never read Byatt better to start with Possession, otherwise you might be put off.
In any case, I am putting Byatt aside because I started reading Benjamin Myers new book this morning Jesus Christ Kinski. Wow! What a trip...and then at lunch time I picked up my copy of Telenovela - yes Sam it arrived safe and sound :)
A ĺot to keep me busy reading.
I must listen to the Kate Clanchy podcasts. Having met her several times at events some years ago, and hearing her read and champion the poems of her students, many of whom wrote so movingly about their immigrant experiences, the whole cancellation and ensuing nasty business leaves such a bad taste in the mouth. She so deserved better.
I have just watched the film adaptation of Train Dreams by Denis Johnson on Netflix, and found it such a wonderful quiet film, true to the text, beautifully shot and acted. It makes me want to re-read the novella which is one of the best short novels I've read.
Oh fantastic! Great tip. Thank you. I’m hoping to watch that soon. The book is wonderful, as you say.
One of my blurbers for Keshed mention Denis Johnson. Nearly fell over. AND Hubert Selby Jr, in the same sentence wtf
Good to have the return of the Links, Tips and Suggestions column. Equally glad that its delay is due to your publishing duties Sam. More books for me to read ASAP.
The book that blew me away these past few months was Fran Ross's Oreo. Easily the funniest book that I have read in years. I laughed out loud at least once every few pages. I don't want to describe it too much, because it just needs to be experienced. It felt like a gritty 70's Blaxploitation flick written by Mel Brooks, directed by John Singleton and choreographed by Quentin Tarantino. It's zany in the best way possible and it is gloriously full of Yiddish. It has that truly New York melding of Jewish and Black cultures into a unique stew of inner-city slang and conflict. The slang, the mush-mouth pronunications, the rhythm and wordplay... the book is gloriously untranslateable.
The other mind-blower was not funny at all. The opposite, it was truly a sobering, sometimes terrifying look at the marginalization of the mentally disturbed. Janet Frame's Faces In The Water was a far better look at the life of the institutionalized than either The Bell Jar or One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest and I have loved both of those books. The different levels of degradation, the howling, mewling, bludgeoning, screeching, the caprices of the nursing staff that defined levels of treatment, the lack of rigor or clinical structure underlying mental health treatments was truly eye-opening. It's almost a wild-west of medicine, therapies founded on cockamamie theories that send electric current through your brain or an ice pick through your eye socket. It was a book full of shame and absolutely understandable terror.
Another signal boost for Oreo! It really is almost impossible to categorise but I thought it was an absolute riot
Thank you! And thanks for more sterling recommendations too. Both sound excellent.
Enjoyed this, Sam! The recommendations. The oddest book titles. Your disdain for sensitivity readers - "...It’s like employing a vicar to change the brakes on your car because he claims to be better able to invoke divine protection." 🤣
Thank you! Glad you liked it.
Thanks for the shout out - for anyone who wants a few more reasons to read Second Hand Time, my reflections on the book (and oral histories in the era of AI) are here: https://open.substack.com/pub/akahinesy/p/word-of-mouth?r=rowyk&utm_medium=ios
I'm finally catching up on The Mountain in the Sea by Ray Nayler. Really enjoying it!
Edgelords versus sensitivity readers... these two things are perhaps not unrelated (as you hint at, or perhaps, as the Marx book must touch on in more detail). One would hope that there is a sensible golden mean. But in general, I would prefer my writing was constructed and read with some sensitivity and awareness of the experiences and understandings of others rather than inadvertently become an edgelord bible... And I say that as someone who enjoys 'transgressive' literature – Bataille, Pierre Guyotat, Kathy Acker, etc. I am glad that I could explore that sort of thinking before the conflagration of today's social (media) world and the reactions and traces it carries.
Current reading has been the rather unique 'Brenner' by Hermann Burger (translated by Adrian Nathan West). I loved the careful construction of its sentences: the blending of reminiscence, literary analysis, and crystalline descriptions of places. I also learnt a lot about the tobacco industry (the leaves are fermented!) I would like to read his earlier work (all works are 'earlier', he committed suicide two days after 'Brenner' was published) 'Schilten', but it is as yet untranslated.
Why does no one think that they should be sacked for teaching Hemingway because he is awful rather than any bizarre moral judgements? The Sun Also Rises is just ##**ing awful, AWFUL. Awful about bull runs, awful about bullfights, awful about women and just terrible. I would like to say the sooner the English speaking world gets over Hemingway the better but it would all just pivot to Norman Mailer or Anthony Bourdain and UGH. (Edited to take out the swearing as not everyone is Glaswegian).
The sensitivity reader here isn't even the most unsympathetic character, unbelievably!