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From the schemes to uni to skag: exploring renton’s dual-identities
Irvine Welsh’s latest novel, Skagboys, is a prequel to his infamous book, Trainspotting, and explores how the friends all became heroin junkies. It’s been a while since I’ve read Trainspotting (I’ve...
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My Ecstasy Meeting the Not-so-Filthy Irvine Welsh
So if anyone actually reads my blog they’ll know Irvine Welsh is one of my top author obsessions. I would apologize for repetition, but if anyone is kind enough to read, I’m sure they’ll indulge my...
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Creeping on my Friends’ Books
Whenever I go to someone’s home, I’m always drawn to their books: who are they reading, what editions they have, how they treat their books, and how they store/display them. Looking at people’s books...
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Recreating and Rewriting Reality in J. K. Rowling’s The Casual Vacancy
“You must accept the reality of other people. You think that reality is up for negotiation, that we think it’s whatever you say it is. You must accept that we are as real as you are; you must accept...
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Exploring a ranch to find places to read and feeling like Frodo in Sky City,...
So sometimes, soifollowjulian goes on vacation. And I never travel without a few books to read. Because that’s the greatest vacation of all: immersing yourself in a book in another state. I visited my...
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Books for Keeping and Looking but Not Necessarily Reading
Books no longer mean the same thing they used to. In the past, books were read and reread, shared with trusted friends, and handed down to the next generation. In city life, with apartments being so...
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Jack Kerouac and Allen Ginsberg Still Creating A Community
When I was 22 I went on a pilgrimage to Lowell, Massachusetts to visit Kerouac’s home. It was ill planned, we were walking in the snow, there were no signs, and what was worse, no one had even heard of...
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My Life Archived by Unintentional Bookmarks in My Books
Your book collection is a reflection of yourself, your tastes, your intellectual pursuits, your career, and your circumstances. Your books themselves can be unintentional markers of where you were or...
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Archiving my Life Through tidbits I’ve Found in my Books
Continuing from a previous post, I am going through all of my books and documenting what I find hidden in the pages. I remove each item, photograph them, and return them to the book. (Except for the...
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I’ve Met You Before, William S. Burroughs, Hipster and Junky
William S. Burroughs’ Junkie is written tight and clean, just like I like it. But there is no humor, no black humor, nor any dry humor. The book is dark and hopeless, just as Burroughs’ addiction is....
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Archiving My Life Through Objects I Find in my Books Part V
Part V of my ongoing quest to archive all the items I find in my books. Sometimes people store money or checks in their books. My friend Heather once found $20 in a book she found on the street. I...
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The Struggle for Authenticity in and out of NW by Zadie Smith
Zadie Smith’s NW is about different people living in Northeast London who are connected through time and environment. NW is a modern masterpiece. Smith easily weaves pop culture and classic literary...
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Book Borrowers Council Announces New Book Borrowers Contract
Book Borrowers Council Mission Statement The Book Borrowers Council (BBC) advocates and initiates safe environments for books to be borrowed and lent. The Council encourages reading and respect for the...
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Gifting Second-Hand Books for the Holidays
One of my favorite things to do is look for books at thrift stores. It’s a bit compulsive; I start to wonder if I’m missing out on great finds if I miss a week. The majority of books I buy are used....
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Collecting Arthur Rimbaud books for my Library
At eighteen I was introduced first to Jack Kerouac, then Henry Miller, after that Charles Bukowski, and then naturally, Arthur Rimbaud. All of these writers affected and influenced me. I became...
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The books I read for my thesis on Orpheus, John Lennon, and rock and roll in...
Writing my masters thesis was one of the most exciting periods of my life. Initially I wanted to write on James Joyce’s Ullyses (but who hasn’t?) or Vladimir Nabokov’s Lolita or Pale Fire (again, who...
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Clublands: The Fabulous Rise and Murderous Fall of Club Culture by Frank...
Frank Owen‘s Clubland: The Fabulous Rise and Murderous Fall of Club Culture delves into drug dealer Angel’s murder by club kids Michael Alig and Robert “Freeze” Riggs. It objectively states the facts...
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Everyone wants to be a savior in Chuck Palahniuk’s Doomed
Doomed by Chuck Palahniuk is the second book in a trilogy. Damned being the first; it’s about a young girl (whose parents are celebrities) who dies and is sent to hell. Doomed is about the same girl...
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Everyone is Looking to Score Something in Thomas Pynchon’s Inherent Vice
Thomas Pynchon‘s Inherent Vice is about a pothead private investigator asked by his ex-girlfriend to look into the disappearance of her new (married) boyfriend, who is a wealthy land developer. Set in...
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Choking with Excitement over Chuck Palahniuk @ Inforum
Chuck Palahniuk spoke through the Commonwealth Club’s Inforum group at San Francisco’s Castro Theater. If you are familiar with Chuck’s writing, you’ll understand that he doesn’t do anything like...
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