Favourite Biographies: "Edie: An American Biography" by Jean Stein and George Plimpton

 
I read this book a couple of years ago when I was really into the 1960s aesthetically and I absolutely raced through it. It perfectly captures New York (and in general America) in the 1960s and the burst of the post-modern art scene led by Andy Warhol. However, it does so in an intensely personal way, focusing entirely on Edie Sedgwick, a model, muse, actress and self-destructive victim of Warhol and his art machine.

Sedgwick has remained in the cultural milieu mainly because she "shone so bright" and then died young. There have been many portrayals of her on film and she is often cited as a style and overall touchstone for "it girls". Stein and Plimpton's biography of her captures the charisma and decline of Sedgwick and helps the reader understand why she is considered as special as she is. In a way her rise and fall aligns with that of the alternative art scene of the 1960s, at one point considered so glamorous and aspirational and then falling apart in drug addiction and poverty. Sedgwick is so closely related to this particular time and place that she kind of stands in as the personification of it.

What I really liked about the biography is that instead of being told in a straight-forward narrative like most it is told almost exclusively through interviews with those that knew her. Although the "narrative", for lack of a better word, is linear different people bring out different sides to all of the stories and aspects of her life. Because Stein and Plimpton present Sedgwick's life this way it comes across as being more personal and more truthful; inconsistencies and contradictions are left in as if Stein and Plimpton are aware that there can no longer be an absolute truth when it comes to recalling Sedgwick's life. That it was and continues to be so embellished and almost mythologized that they just let the inconsistencies lay where they fall. I have written before about how I prefer biographies to be a little bit different because today the basic story of someone's (particularly someone famous) life is so easily accessibly on websites like Wikipedia. This definitely ticks off all the boxes for me.

Overall I really enjoyed reading Edie and thoroughly recommend it if you enjoy biographies or even if your are interested in social history.

Have you read this book? What did you think? Feel free to let me know in the comments!

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Lots of love,
xoxo

*This post was not sponsored, all opinions are my own. Above image is not mine, sourced from here.

Review: "Chocolates for Breakfast" by Pamela Moore

Chocolates for Breakfast was originally released in 1956 when Pamela Moore was just eighteen. It was pitched and marketed as the "American Bonjour Tristesse" which had been released two years earlier and was a sensation. However, unlike Bonjour Tristesse which remained popular, Chocolates for Breakfast went out of print in 1967 and only reappeared in the market thanks to the Harper Collins Perennial re-issue in 2013.

The novel is a coming-of-age story centred around the (initially) 15 year-old Courtney Farrell, a privileged but confused young girl. The first half of the novel takes place at her boarding school and in LA where her mother, a film actress, lives. The second half of the novel is set in New York. It is easy to see why Moore's book is so heavily compared to Sagan's; both stories are about a young girl who is emotionally and some-what socially troubled as she tries to grow into the woman that she wants to be. That is one of the things that actually stuck out to me while I read the book, Courtney's struggle to become the type of woman that she envisages, wants and desires to be. She is very intentional in her actions and the choices that she makes. This, I think, is actually refreshing for such a young female character; she struggles between her naive misunderstanding of the world while pushing herself to become her "ideal" self. I think that this is something that most girls go through but I don't ever remember a novel that addresses this particular struggle as well as Moore's does. Because of this, even though the story is very much about the privileged class, it is quite a universal story.

In an interview about the the book Moore herself noted that she wanted to explore the drives of the self-destructive generation that Courtney belongs to. This is very much the undercurrent that runs beneath the story. There are depictions of mental illness, alcoholism, and abuse (if these are sensitive subjects for you then I would tread carefully. It is also worth noting that several times characters use derogatory terms for homosexuals which is jarring and offensive). Although Moore never really explicitly deals with or explains why certain characters have the failings that they do she still manages to explore the characters in a though-provoking way. She tends to point to the previous generation for the failings of the youth and for me that brings to mind the Second World War and the fall-out from that (and also the positive economic growth that the US saw in the 1950s) as one possible root cause that Moore is driving at.

I really enjoyed this book. At times it is an over-the-top and juicy gossip novel but then it also has a real grounding and emotional impact. When I finished the book I just sat staring into space, thinking about it for a good twenty minutes and it has been almost constantly on my mind ever since. Then end is perhaps a bit over-wrought and not very deftly dealt with but I definitely recommend the book as a whole, especially if you are fond of female-driven coming-of-age stories.

Have you read Chocolates for Breakfast? What did you think? Do you have any recommendations for other novels like this? Feel free to let me know in the comments!

First Published: 1956
Published By: Rhinehart (original). Re-issue by Harper Collins Perennial (pictured above)
Rating: 4/5



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Lots of love,
xoxo

*This post was not sponsored, all opinions are my own. Above image is not mine, sourced from here.

In the Mood for: Politics

If you're anything like me then over the last week you've been struggling against the intense desire to binge-watch House of Cards (I'm up to episode 8 - no spoilers). I study political science at university and so I guess that my love for a good-old Machiavellian political drama is to expected but I though that today I would give some of you some book recommendations that you can sink your teeth into if you are done with the third season, or are just looking for something a little political to read. I've actually been meaning to do this post for a while with it first coming into my mind around the time of the NZ elections last year. All of the books below were written for a popular (wide) audience and are accessible so even if you don't think you have a great political mind you can enjoy them too.

Guantanamo Diary by Mohamedou Ould Slahi (edited by Larry Siems) (Canongate Books Ltd.)

I haven't read this book yet but I have ordered it online and am waiting for it to arrive. This is the publication of Ould Slahi's diary as he is currently incarcerated in Guantanamo Bay.

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Dirty Politics by Nicky Hager (Craig Potton Publishing)

If you're more interested in reading something about NZ politics then I suggest you give Hager's book a go. Hager is NZ's most well-known investigative journalist and this was his major work last year which uncovered some of the 'dirty politics' that political parties in NZ employed during their most recent political campaign. This might not be the most shocking of reads for someone in politics themselves (or those with a healthy distrust of the political machine) but it caused quite a stir in NZ when it was released. More recently, Hager has been writing about spying that NZ is doing on behalf of the NSA. His house was recently searched by police and the documents of what he was working on were taken. He is currently trying to stop the police from looking at them in order to protect his sources. Here is his website and here is his blog if you're interested in investigative journalism and want to find out more.

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The Autobiography of Malcolm X by Malcolm X and Alex Haley (Penguin Modern Classics)

This is a bit of controversial choice for some but this is an incredibly important book and Malcolm X was an incredibly significant and important man. Although it is said to be an autobiography of the civil rights activist it is largely known to be embellished and presented in a specific way to suit Malcolm X's own ends. I don't really see this as an issue as long as the reader is aware of it before hand. The specific narrative arch that Malcolm X employs in this novel is actually very interesting and gives a lot of information away about what he wanted his legacy to be.

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Communist Manifesto by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels (Penguin Classics)

Whether you believe with Communist ideology or not, heck, whether you are right or left politically doesn't matter. If you are interested in politics then this is a must read. It is one of the most important political writings in history. I really like this edition of the manifesto because it contains the manifesto itself but also includes a wide-range of essays about it in order to help give context and understand its importance.

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Vindication on the Rights of Women by Mary Wollstonecraft (Penguin Great Ideas)

Do you want to read about 19th Century feminism written by the mother of Mary Shelley, the author of Frankenstein? Of course you do. Even today this remains a passionate and modern piece on how important equal rights between genders are.

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Nineteen Eighty-Four by George Orwell (Penguin Modern Classics)

And I bet you thought I would never get to fiction. This is kind of a no-brainer but I am always shocked by how many people just haven't read this yet. It is incredibly accessible, thrilling, depressing and thought-provoking (especially when you think about the use of information and media and then compare it to the current-day political climate). If you haven't read this already it's about time.

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A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess (Penguin Modern Classics)

This is quite similar to Nineteen Eighty-Four in that everyone seems to have heard of it and yet relatively few have taken the time to actually read it. It is actually quite interesting to read alongside Orwell's work and compare alternative dystopian futures.

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Midnight's Children and Shame by Salman Rushdie (Vintage)

These books are a little bit different in that they are not explicitly about politics but rather they deal with issues over state-hood and independent nation-hood. Midnight's Children deals with India, told through the life of a young man; Shame is about Pakistan and is told through the story of two families. Both are gorgeous narratives and incorporate elements of magical realism which balance nicely against the dramatic and sometimes violent events. If I had to pick I would say that I prefer Shame but you wouldn't make me choose, would you?

Goodreads/ Shame
Book Depository/ Shame
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What are some of your favourite political reads? Feel free to let me know in the comments! I always appreciate input into what I should be reading. Most of these books are written from a Western perspective so if you know of some others from a different perspective I would very much be interested.

Lots of love,
xo

*This post was not sponsored, all opinions are my own. Images in text are not mine and are sourced in the body.

A Truly Beautiful Title

I haven't read this book but as soon as I read the title I was completely blown away. It is such a beautiful, poetic turn of phrase.Go ahead, say it out-loud to yourself. "It Was Snowing Butterflies". It is so evocative it makes me want to write a poem, draw a picture, or at the very least get it tattooed somewhere on my body. Given that the essays included in the book are non-fiction and written by Darwin I doubt that the work itself is equally poetic but who knows? It's going on my wishlist either way.

Do you have a favourite book title? Have you ever been stunned by a title that you came across? Feel free to let me know in the comments.

Lots of love,
xo

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*This post was not sponsored, all opinions are my own. Above image is not mine, the source link is in the text.

Author Showcase: William S. Burroughs

Given that last week was very heavily Victorian I thought that this week we might focus on something (or someone) a bit more modern. William S. Burroughs is one of my favourite authors; I own six of his books that I all bought within about a month of each other (I remember because I got them from a bookstore that was closing down and was in a panic to buy everything that I possibly could). I don't know what it is exactly about Burroughs' writing that I like so much; it is rather 'unremarkable' in that he doesn't have a particularly distinctive style or cadence to his writing that other authors do but at the same time his voice comes through in all his works. Below are pictures and some thoughts on the books of his that I own and read.

And the Hippos Were Boiled in their Tanks (with Jack Kerouac)

I can't remember if this is the first book of Burroughs' that I read but it remains my favourite. I really like how you can read the difference between Kerouac's and Burroughs' styles and I think that both authors use their voices really effectively. The story is told from two different perspectives with Burroughs' writing one and Kerouac writing the other. The narrative details the real-life murder of one of their acquaintances by one of their friends. It is the same story that is covered in the (brilliant) film Kill Your Darlings.

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The Job: Interviews with William S. Burroughs

In which Burroughs talks about everything you can think of. At times this can be difficult to follow and you do sometimes have to concentrate to read it but it is well worth the journey into Burroughs' mind.

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My Education

This is similar to The Job but it's an extended essay on dreams rather than in interview format. The topics in My Education cover more about what it is to be an artist in general and a writer in particular.

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Junky

Burroughs' most well-known piece. It is a fictional (though largely autobiographical) account of drug dependency. This is an incredibly honest and sometimes brutal portrayal of drug addiction and how hard it is to break the cycle of cures and relapses. It can be quite a hard read and definitely isn't for everyone but is an incredibly important and valuable book.

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Nova Express

This book is the third part in a trilogy that Burroughs' did. I have unfortunately only read this one but I am planning on reading the others sometime in the near future. Nova Express is a science-fiction/dystopia novel which plays on themes of violence and media. If you like Anthony Burges' A Clockwork Orange, or if you're a fan of dystopian literature in general then I would thoroughly recommend this.

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The Yage Letters (with Allen Ginsberg)

If you're a fan of Ginsberg or Burroughs' but are looking for something that takes less commitment and time to read than the above books then this may be just what you're looking for. You can read this book in parts because it doesn't really have a central thrust or strong narrative drive. This book is a series of letters that Burroughs writes to Ginsberg when he is traveling through South America while experimenting with a drug called yage. Years after he does this Ginsberg mimics his journey which comprises the second part of the book. That description is pretty much exactly what is written on the back of the book because I couldn't for the life of me remember what was in the letters - though I remember enjoying reading it when I did. It might be time for a re-read.

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Have you read any Burroughs? Which book is your favourite? Could you recommend some others? Feel free to let me know in the comments below!

Lots of love,
xo
*This post was not sponsored and all opinions are my own. All books being from the same publication (Penguin Modern Classics) is simply because that was available to me when I was buying. No images above are my own, sources are linked in the text.

Mini Haul (I Went a Little Crazy on My Wishlist)

Recently I was lucky enough to have a wee bit of spare money hanging out in my account and so like the dedicated blog writer that I am (hopefully I didn't just jinx myself) I went to town on my Book Depository (BD) wishlist. I regret nothing. I do it all for you anyway. Anyway, because I haven't been reading that much lately I thought a haul might be in order. However, because I've been quite busy over the last couple of weeks you are deprived the classic, average photo of all the books in a pile that I usually do. I apologise. I'm sure you'll saddened to not be seeing my FABULOUS photography skills.

The Night is Darkening Round Me by Emily Bronte (Penguin Little Black Classic)

This is the book that started off my spending. I got an email form BD saying that this was now available and the rest is history. These little books are so cute and cheap and yes, I want them all.

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Chocolates for Breakfast: A Novel by Pamela Moore (Harper Perenial)

I have wanted this book forever and it's the one that I am most looking forward to reading. It is a coming-of-age story set in the 1950s in America. From what I've read about the book so far it sounds in a similar vein to Francoise Sagan, Anais Nin, and Jean Rhys. So a fabulous coming-of-age story filled with scandalous affairs and copious amounts of cocktails.

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To the Lighthouse by Virginia Woolf (Penguin Classics)

These editions of Woolf's work are simply beautiful. They look gorgeous online but they are even more stunning in person. I got To the Lighthouse because it was the first Woolf that I read and it remains my favourite.

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Emily Bronte: The Complete Poems (Penguin Classics)

To be honest I got this mainly because I don't own any of Bronte's poetry and I though that this edition would be a good, comprehensive place to start.

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Fugitive Colors: A Novel by Lisa Barr

This story follows a young American artist who ends up in Germany as the Nazi's rise to power. Some major themes according to the jacket are love, friendship, the value of art, and politics. Sounds right up my street (I should note that I studied 20th Century European history at University). And yes, that lack of a 'u' in the word 'colors' in the title bothers me to no-end. English spelling forever!

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Bright Star: The Complete Poems and Selected Letters of John Keats (Vintage Classics)

I really want to read more poetry this year and I am a big fan of Keats. However, my knowledge of his works is far from extensive. This edition features an introduction by Jane Campion is a movie tie-in with her film Bright Star which is well worth a watch if you're a romantic who loves costumes, nature, poetry, and a good cry (seriously, tissues are more than necessary).

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Goodreads (not sure if this is the same with a different cover or another book)
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Hangsaman by Shirley Jackson (Penguin Modern Classics)

Ever since I read We Have Always Lived in the Castle I've been wanting to read more of Jackson's work. For some reason I was just really drawn to the cover of this and the story sounds really great too.

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Have you made any purchases lately? Is there any book that I got that you particularly like the look of and want to see a review of? Feel free to let me know in the comments!

Lots of love,
xo

*This post was not sponsored. All books purchased with my own money. The BD links are above the Goodreads ones simply because I was part way through before I remembered my usual order and then couldn't be bothered to change it. None of the above images are my own. Image sources are linked in the body of the text.

Movie Tie-In: Madame Bovary

Gustave Flaubert's most famous work was first published in 1856. The narrative follows the life of Emma Bovary who in finding her married life completely unsatisfying has affairs and seeks comfort in consumption (haven't we all at least done the later?). Madame Bovary was Flaubert's first novel published and remains a classic that mostly everyone has heard of, if not read, ever since. Although the 'dissatisfied woman going to extreme lengths and thus ruining herself' was a common trope in Victorian fiction (see last week's tie-in for another example) Flaubert's work injects humour into the narrative which helps to give it lightness and stops the story from reading too melodramatic. My favourite quote from the novel would have to be "She wanted to die, but she also wanted to live in Paris". It perfectly captures the tone and whit of the novel. However, this isn't to say that the novel is satirical or that it doesn't have an emotional centre. It very much does. One of the reasons why this novel has lasted so well and is such a highly regarded classic is because the character of Emma Bovary is so well written and the reader is able to feel a great deal of empathy for her.

There have been many film adaptations of Madame Bovary but the one that I am writing about today is the most recent. It stars (my personal favourite) Mia Wasikowska as Emma Bovary, Paul Giamatti, Rhys Ifans, Ezra Miller, and Laura Carmichael. I think that the film comes out this year? I haven't seen any release date for it so far but fingers crossed it gets a decent release. It sure looks like a goodie!

What movie tie-in are you looking forward to? I can't wait for Far from the Madding Crowd though I haven't read Thomas Hardy's book yet (I think that it's in the mail as we speak). Have you read Madame Bovary? What did you think? What is your favourite adaptation? Feel free to let me know in the comments!

Youtube link to Madame Bovary trailer (in case the above video is still not working)
Imdb 

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Lots of Love,
xoxo

*This post was not sponsored, all opinions are my own. Above images are not mine, sourced from here and here.

Non Fiction Favourite: "Cultural Amnesia: Notes in the Margin of My Time" by Clive James

Cultural Amnesia is an anthology of over 100 essays about people of note in the 20th century. The essays cover writers, artists, actors, political thinkers and politicians. One of my favourite things about this book is the "Overture" at the very beginning which is about early 20th century Vienna. It really sets the tone and the loose theme of the rest of the essays and is incredibly interesting. The essays themselves tend to focus on one or two themes within the subjects' lives rather than just working as biographical essays. This is a real asset to the book which engages the reader fully and allows to you think, question and challenge rather than just blankly reading facts. In the age of Wikipedia (which I do love) where the facts of someone's life are more than just accessible biographies like these are all the more valuable.

One of the great things about a book like this is that you don't have to read all essays at once but you can dip your toe in every now and again. I don't think that I have read all the essays though I've had the book for more than a couple of years. I have great respect for a piece of work like this not only because of the amount of time and effort that would have gone into making it (James himself notes that it has "taken him forty years" to write) but also because it works as an educational work. For example, before opening this book I had never hear of Ann Akhmatova, a woman who wrote so beautifully through such an ugly time. She has since become one of my favourite poets.

Some of my favourite essays are on Akhmatova, Jorge Luis Borge, Albert Camus, Coco Chanel, Jean Cocteau, Albert Einstein, Federico Fellini, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Gustave Flaubert, Josef Goebbels, Franz Kafka, Thomas Mann, Mao Zedong, Marcel Proust, Leon Trotsky, and Evelyn Waugh.

Bonus: If you like biographies on your favourite authors I thoroughly recommend Wild Nights! by Joyce Carol Oats. The book contains fictional re-tellings of the last days of famous writers and each individual story mimics the tone and style of the subject writer. The Emily Dickinson story is my personal favourite and not exatctly what you would expect...

Have you read parts of Cultural Amnesia? What are some of your favourite essays? Feel free to let me know in the comments!

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Lots of Love,
xoxo

*this post was not sponsored, all opinions are my own. Above image is not mine, sourced from here.

Classics Corner: "Crime and Punishment" by Fyodor Dostoyevsky

I studied Crime and Punishment twice during my undergraduate study and loved it both times. The first time I picked up the book to read it, however, I was more than a little intimidated. 19th Century Russian literature is scary enough even if you ignore the fact that the novel itself is over 600 pages long. I shouldn't have been scared though and neither should you be (if, indeed, you are). Once you get into the rhythm of the novel and become more used to the less-conventional (in terms of Western European literature) naming of characters (most main characters have multiple names they are referred to by) this novel is incredibly satisfying to read.

The narrative follows the character of Raskolnikov after he commits a murder. The book is very much a study on the way his mind reacts to what he (intentionally) has done and the ways in which he is affected by his choice. It doesn't really sound like the most exciting book to read but it really works as a tense character study of Raskolnikov and although you may not particularly like his character as a reader you quickly begin to empathise with him.

Dostoyevsky also brings in secondary characters and story-lines which play with the themes of crime, punishment and the concept of justice. I think that these work really well together to push his themes home but at the same time you don't feel hit over the head with them. One of the most well-known secondary characters in the story is Sonya, a young girl who turns to prostitution in order to support her family. The interactions between Sonya and Raskolnikov are sometimes sweet, sometimes upsetting and mostly frustrating but I think they work well within the world and tone of the novel.

Is this a "feel good" novel? The short answer is no. I personally felt quite emotionally drained after reading it as Dostoyevsky does an incredible job of drawing the reader into the mind of Raskolnikov. However, I do think that it ends on a somewhat hopeful point so it's not all bad. If you haven't read it before I definitely recommend that you give it a read, as long as you have a tiny bit of patience you won't regret it.

Have you read this novel before? What did you think? Do you have a favourite translation? Let me know in the comments below! Also, if you have another Dostoyevsky favourite let me know what it is! I can't decide which one to read next.

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Book Depository (I couldn't find my Penguin Classics edition - pictured above - so this link goes to the Vintage Classics edition which is BEAUTIFUL)

Lots of Love
xoxo

*This post was not sponsored, all opinions are my own. Above image is not mine, sourced from here.