"I cannot live without books." -- Thomas Jefferson

Monday, October 20, 2008

The Oxford Project by Peter Feldstein & Stephen G. Bloom


In starry/smoggy Los Angeles it's easy to loose touch with what Sarah Palin calls "The Real America". The Oxford Project is a beautiful journey to a different time and place. If you want to get past the red state vs. blue state BS pick up a copy before some Angeleo turn this into a movie of the week.

"In 1984, photographer Peter Feldstein set out to photograph every single resident of his town, Oxford, Iowa (pop. 676). He converted an abandoned storefront on Main Street into a makeshift studio and posted fliers inviting people to stop by. At first they trickled in slowly, but in the end, nearly all of Oxford stood before Feldstein's lens. Twenty years later, Feldstein decided to do it again. Only this time he invited writer Stephen G. Bloom to join him, and together they went in search of the same Oxford residents Feldstein had originally shot two decades earlier. Some had moved. Most had stayed. Others had passed away. All were marked by the passage of time."

Tuesday, October 14, 2008

Eat Hell by Joseph Mattson

Hewn from the piss stained streets of Los Angeles, "Eat Hell" is filled with dirty hope-- the kind we need most in the worst of times. Enjoy.

"Joseph Mattson is a monster of a writer." -- Beth Lisick


EAT HELL: Plus Two Variations on the Heart Going Down in L.A. is the wrenching, funny, and gut-maniacal new book of stories of unrequited love by Joseph Mattson, author of the much-anticipated forthcoming novel Empty the Sun, which will include a Soundtrack by Drag City recording artist Six Organs of Admittance. A Los Angeles trio of love gone south, Eat Hell occupies a special crux where humility, humanity, and insanity come together in the name of exquisite oblivion. Cover art by the incomparable Mel Kadel.

Monday, October 13, 2008

My Favorite Japanese Authors by Tosh who Works at Book Soup


Yukio Mishima


Osamu Dazai


Junichiro Tanizaki


Edogawa Rampo (say his name really fast, then slowly)