Staff Gift Recommendations: Believing Is Seeing: Observations on the Mysteries of Photography

Believing Is Seeing:
Observations on the Mysteries of Photography
by Errol Morris
Errol Morris is a brilliant filmmaker, and this new book is a strange kind of detective story... By exploring the stories behind specific photographs, he asks if the pictures obscure as much as they reveal. A beautiful treasure.

- Paige

Staff Gift Recommendations: Hollywood Rat Race by Ed Wood, Jr.

Hollywood Rat Race by Ed Wood, Jr.
For the slightly tilted Hollywood fan on your holiday list, give Ed Wood, Jr.'s Hollywood Rat Race a look. It's a fascinating glance at the ins and outs of show biz life through the eyes of one of Hollywood's favorite punching bags. Wood has put together a bittersweet memoir, a love letter, a hate screed, and a surprisingly practical guide to the film world. Written in the inimitable Wood style, Hollywood Rat Race is sure to tickle any fan of the movies.

- Manny

Staff Gift Recommendations: The Secret Diary of Laura Palmer

The Secret Diary of Laura Palmer by Jennifer Lynch
I know Twin Peaks hasn't been a "thing" in mainstream popular culture in some time, but that doesn't mean the devout fan base is any less rabid. The Secret Diary has been re-issued and makes the perfect companion gift for those amazing Twin Peaks Gold Box Sets, Lynch Coffee, The Blue Velvet Blu-ray, The David Lynch Lime Green Box Set, Crazy Clown Time (signed by Lynch) and the fantastic new big art book Works On Paper (Also singed). What fantastic maniac doesn't want all of this? & Book Soup carries them all.

- David

Staff Gift Recommendations: Love You Forever

Love You Forever by Robert Munsch
Pass on the message of unconditional love to a young tyke in your life! This book changed my life at four years old. My mother gave it to me for Christmas and I still have it to this day - beat & worn - and will forever cherish it.

For readers, ages 4 to 8. A tremendous gift with a powerful message that has the ability to touch a child's heart for a lifetime.

- Rebekah

"Why A Man Should Be Well-Dressed" by Adolf Loos

This book is not only about men's attire, but also the Vienna mindset from the author and great visionary architect Adolf Loos.  The structure of Austria's class system has a lot to do with how people dressed during the turn of the 19th into the 20th Century.  What's charming (and this book is nothing but charming) is Loos' writing style which seems to be geared for the fashion magazine of its time.   One thing that comes through is that Loos knows his landscape, and he knows how that landscape should look - so its natural for an architect to be also interested in clothing, because clothing is another form of architecture.   So what's fascinating about this book is not the subject matter itself, but how such an interesting man, a great designer, looks at the world of fashion and fabric.  And yes, a must for the dandy's book collection, without a doubt!

Adolf Loos

"No Longer Human" by Usamaru Furuya (based on Osamu Dazai's novel)

It has been a Usamaru Furuya month for me, since I read "Lychee Light Club early this month. And I liked it a lot - but this is really my cup of sake. "No Longer Human" is a classic and great Osamu Dazai novel, and Furuya does a good job in updating the story (slightly). 

A story of a wealthy young teenager who had everything but quickly loses it due to feelings of severe alienation. Yes, it could be a Who rock opera concept, but in the hands of Dazai its a poetic downsizing of a character slowly losing his sense of identity. His only hope really is becoming a writer. And the book (and graphic novel) is based on Dazai's personal life. I discovered this writer while living in Japan, and at the time (and still does to be honest) makes perfect sense to me. Whenever I write something I think of Dazai first. And its interesting Furuya has taken on this novel as a graphic piece of narration. His work is super great and sophisticated.  "No Longer Human" is a three part series. I can't wait till volume 2

"The Doors" by Greil Marcus

"The Doors" by Greil Marcus

Reading Greil Marcus is always a pleasure.  And its the reason why I am reading this particular book, because I really don't have a passion for the Doors or their imagery.  But on the other hand they are a band that's important to my personal culture.  Being raised in Los Angeles, I saw the Doors at the Whiskey, opening for Them with Van (the other) Morrison.   It may have been the first show in a club, not sure.  My mind I was around 12, but I think i was actually 14.   Nevertheless I went there with my Dad to see Them, and the Doors was a superb surprise.  I think it may have been before their first album was released, but I remember being really impressed with Jim Morrison's voice. It sooth as well as rocked.  And there was something quite personal in the way they communicated with their audience in the club.  On the other hand, Them was very cold and cool.  Not a bad thing mind you, but totally the opposite of the Doors.



The next I saw the Doors it was at an outside concert - and I thought they were boring.  They didn't have that concentration or the force of their show at the Whiskey.  And at this time it was around the height of "Light My Fire."  But the magic was gone, at least to my young ears at the time.

The other times were non-musical  - but I remember being invited (with my Dad) to the back stage of the first Crosby, Stills, Nash, & Young show at the Greek theater, and as we were walking to the entrance of the backstage, Morrison was being escorted out by a security guard.  Then all of sudden Stills shows up and tells the security guard to let Morrison stay.  And that was my memory of the evening!  The next time after that I saw him in Topanga Canyon, drinking beer in a brown bag behind a wheel of a parked Volkswagon bug.  Of course all of above could have just been a dream, but....



But back to the book, Marcus uses the Doors' culture and music as a springboard on his thoughts on 1960's American culture.  its basicially a long riff how culture and band connects and makes commentary on to each other.  Marcus is writing this book as not only a fan (and he's a very critical fan) but also the state of the world via the eyes of Jim Morrison and Co.

Dennis Cooper's "The Marbled Swarm"

A very beautifully layered novel that one can almost taste the narrative. Considering it deals with cannibalism among other things this may not be your type of flavor - but it is an essential read by one of the great English language writers alive. What strikes me about the novel for me personally is the jaded aristocratic voice that runs through it. All of Dennis Cooper's novels have a strong visual sense - and usually with the minimal language. "The Marbled Swarm" is different because the text is so dense and beautifully spread out - that its just a joy to go over the sentences over and over again. It has its own music, and the images that come from the "music" is both funny and highly poetic.

A lot of people will probably react to the violence and sex, but to me in the hands of M. Cooper its a beautiful instrument that plays a haunting melody. In about six months i am going to re-read this book - not only for the pleasure of the text, but also to dig into the narrative that is as twisted as the secret tunnels that are featured in this novel.

Shiro Hamao's "The Devil's Disciple"

"eroguro-nansensu" or as they say in English "erotic grotesque nonesense" was a school of writing in 1920's Japan. Decadent, druggy, kinky, and...fun. The most famous writer in that movement without a leader was Edogawa Rampo (yes it is a play on the name Edgar Allen Poe) and Shiro Hamao. Hamao was a lawyer by trade from a very well connected family. He threw that life away to become a crime writer, and an early supporter of gay rights in Japan. Died young, yet a dandy, Hamao had it all. And we can be thankful for Hesperus publishing these two short novels "The Devil's Disciple" and "Did He Kill Him?" 
Both stories are pretty pulpy, but it drips with Asakusa 1920's life, and both have a gay sensual quality. Imagine Cocteau writing a gay noir detective story - and that is pretty much what is here. So yeah, not a masterpiece, but nevertheless a fascinating writer in a fascinating country in a very exciting series of moments. 
Both stories deal with seduction that leads to a crime - and no regrets! One can only hope shortly that there will be more Shiro Hamao stories in English.

Ry Cooder's "Los Angeles Stories"

The stars are lined up perfectly for musicians who write books.  Some of my favorite books are by rock n' roll people i.e. Patti Smith's "Just kids," and Nick Cave's novels.   And now we have a superb collection of short stories by guitarist/songwriter Ry Cooder that deals with Los Angeles from 1940 to the mid-50's and its brilliant.  What you get is a series of snapshots of life in different neighborhoods of Los Angeles, and some of these places don't exist anymore - but yet they live via Cooder's writing.  After reading this book I wanted to rush off and locate volumes on Los Angeles history and its tall tales.

All narratives are strong, and very Noir in its approach and the way it looks at urban life.  Money is tight, the fear of communism is in the air, and more bad times are just around the corner - yet the eccentricity of the characters are incredibly endearing - even though they're very low-level criminal types or even murderers.  Nevertheless "Los Angeles Stories" is a classic of urban history research and fiction.   After each story and while reading them, I was consistently googling to see if they actually exist or not.  Some do and some don't and that's all part of the fun.   Essential!