I've been sick for almost a week and I'm getting really tired of it.  One day, laying on the couch, I watched Blades of Glory, the Strangers with Candy movie, and The Royal Tenenbaums.  I've read David Goodis' Shoot the Piano Player.  And then there was the day I watched all these science shows on the History channel.  I know all about pot, cocaine, water, the Hittite Empire, UFOs, the Burmuda Triangle, and that the world is going to end in 2012.  We don't have cable, but somehow we get the History Channel.  I half-wish we didn't.

I've mentioned before that right now I'm on a strict reading-diet of  David Goodis, Jim Thompson, and Chuck Palahniuk.  Not that I don't like other authors, it's just that I've already read all their books (or at least the ones I want to read).  But it's not a problem yet, because there are plenty of those guys' books left for me to read.  For example, The Transgressors by Jim Thompson, which I just finished.

Both Thompson and Goodis write a noir-ish kind of novel (Thompson's book The Grifters was made into that great movie staring Anjelica Huston, John Cusack, and Annette Bening).  But where Goodis makes you want to slit your own throat in a dark closet, Thompson makes you want to throw a big party and hang yourself from the buffet table.  It's hopeless desperation vs. enthusiastic, balls out* desperation.

In The Transgressors particularly, Thompson throws you a happy curve ball at the end.  Somehow, after killing or maiming almost every character you ever meet in the book, he still comes up with a happy ending.  Are you kidding me?  It didn't make me mad.  I'm more amused than anything else.  It almost seems like the suits at the publisher made him tack on the happy ending.

Jim Thompson has an amazingly clear, direct, conversational way of writing which makes the words pour right into my head.  Reading his books are so effortless that I almost feel like I'm watching a movie or listening to an book-on-tape.  I'll be sad when I run out of Jim Thompson novels to read.

* I am totally shocked to learn that balls out refers to steam engines.  I thought it had to do with, well, balls.  It's not going to be as much fun to say anymore. :)

[photo taken 4/28/2007 in Philadelphia]

I used to read a lot.  I read books like I craft now.  I carried a book around with me everywhere I went.  I've become a lot more picky about what books I'll read.  The last couple years I've whittled my list of approved authors down to David Goodis, Jim Thompson, and Chuck Palahniuk.

Last night I finished Haunted.  I bought it a long time ago, but was kinda hoarding it.  I like to savor my books.  Recently I saw that he has a new one out, so I decided to read Haunted, since I know another one is waiting for me.

First, the cover is glow-in-the-dark.  I loved this.  It freaked me out the first time the glowing ghost face scared me on the bedside table.

Second, Chuck P (as I call him) completely succeeded at creating horror around ordinary things, the ordinary world - no supernatural monsters or magic. Sometimes, in the horror genre, whether it's a movie or a book, creators go way overboard with scares and weirdness.  You know what, the plain-old world can be a very disturbing, horrifying place.  And everyday-horror, that's the kind that crawls into your mind, your chest, and keeps your heart racing a little for days after you experience it.

Third, The book is organized with poems and short stories intercut with the chapters of the book.  Chuck P's books always seem effortless, simple, and straightforward.  Even with this intricate interweaving, the book is a breezy read.  Not to say I think he's slacking. I'm sure the appearance of simplicity and creating something easy-to-read takes an enormous amount of work and talent on his part.

Fourth, He wrote an Afterword, which is nice.  I like feeling like a part of the process, like the writer is thinking of me and talking to me.  And, to Chuck, "Thank you for writing."

Text goes here.

[photo taken DATE in CITY]

[title from the lyrics of "SONG" by BAND from "ALBUM"]

Oh Yes

there are worse things than
being alone
but it often takes decades
to realize this
and most often
when you do
it's too late
and there's nothing worse
than
too late.

Charles Bukowski

On our recent Lunaversary*, Andrew handed me a large, heavy, wrapped gift.  I weighed it in my hands and turned it over and over.  I had no guesses at all.  As I started to unwrap it ... Oh!  What a surprise!  It was the newly released three volume boxed set of Lost Girls!

Way back in August, I'd pointed out an interview on the AV Club** to Andrew.  The interview with Alan Moore was about Lost Girls, a project he had been working on for 16 years.  I was fascinated because it was one part graphic novel***, one part literary pornography****, and one part social commentary.

From the article: "Lost Girls teams up three icons of children's literature (Alice from Alice In Wonderland, Wendy from Peter Pan, and Dorothy from The Wizard Of Oz) and re-tells their stories with the fantasy elements stripped away, replaced by real-world sexual experiences."

I love that Alan and Melinda (the artist) are exploring sexual fantasy in a graphic novel, and have endeavored to create something removed from society's current atmosphere of stigma and shame surrounding sex.  I would love for there to be a more honest, healthy, and open attitude about sex in our country*****, and I think this book is a step in the right direction.

Andrew is the best present giver.  Ever.  He always gives me the most memorable and thoughtful gifts.  Thank you, it's perfect.

NOTES:

* Our Lunaversary falls on the 14th of every month.  We had a lot of great stuff happen on the 14th in different months (moving in together, engagement, marriage, etc.), so I dubbed it our Lunaversary.  Luna stands for moon, since the month's are kinda based on moon cycles. Well, it makes sense to me. :)  Usually, we just say "Happy Lunaversary" to each other, but occasionally, one of us surprises the other with presents. Yay!

** AV Club is the not-fake part of The Onion.  If you ever have time to kill, check out their interviews.   They aren't the normal "Hey, tell me about your upcoming movie" kind of interviews.  Maybe it's because they interview intelligent and interesting people.  I've learned about a ton of cool people reading the interviews in their archives.

*** When I first started reading comics, I was a Lobo girl.  This is the early 90s, and I bought a boxed set of Lobo graphic novels because it came with a poster and a pin that said, "Bite Me Fanboy."  Soon after, I graduated to Sandman (of course).  I was surprised that Neil Gaiman had written a book I'd already read (Good Omens - it's awesome!).  I thought that comic books were just kinda silly and fun up until then.  I spent a year or two buying each new Sandman comic (the *day* they came out) and then I would shell out the money for the graphic novel (a bound copy of all the issues I already owned), as well.  All of this doesn't even scratch the surface of my nerd-a-tude ... but it hints at it.

Oh!  There was also this series I collected of a woman who dressed up in this full-body, strappy/belty, bondage outfit, killed people with a sword, and ended up in lots of sex clubs.  I can't remember it's name.  I think it was set in San Francisco.  Argh! You can't do a Google search that includes both 'bondage' and 'San Francisco' and expect to find a comic book. It was a dark and gothy comic.  Tell me if you know the name of it.  I've emailed a comic book store to get professional assistance. (**EDIT** The comic book store was no help, but it finally came to me months later: The Extremist.  Loved this series!)

Anyway, it's been a long time since I read a comic or a graphic novel and I'm really looking forward to reading Lost Girls.  The experience of reading a novel with pictures is completely different than reading a novel with just words.

**** My first adult-ish exposure to written porn (that wasn't Penthouse Letters) was when I worked at a chain bookstore in High School.  They had a paperback reprint of the Victorian adult magazine, The Pearl.  I snuck a peek at it, as well as Anne Rice's porn novels, but only once or twice, because I didn't want to be caught.  Years later, in college, I stumbled across the complete collection of The Pearl in one thick paperback at a Thrift Store.  I was so nervous as I bought it.  Thank goodness the old biddy running the register at St. Vincent De Paul in Vermillion, South Dakota had no idea what she was selling me.

I'm not sure if it's because I was specifically named after Alice in Wonderland (Thank you, Pop.), but I've always had a fascination with Victorian sexuality.  Not only is the real life story of Alice Liddell and Charles Dodgson (aka Lewis Carroll) a strange and sexual tale, but the books, although never overt, have a magical, intoxicating, and sexual quality to them.  If you are also interested in turn of the century sexuality, I recommend the 1966 book, "The Other Victorians, a Study of Sexuality and Pornography in Mid-Nineteenth-Century England."

***** Don't even get me started on our country's attitudes about sex and sexuality.  Ugh!