What are you reading

[Matthias]

For fans of fanzine culture/independent press and trash cinema, the new book XEROX FEROX comes highly recommended. 800 pages (yep), interviews with Video Watchdog, Schock Xpress, Cinema Sewer, Sleazoid Express, Deep Red etc etc. Only a few chapters in but this is just too good. More info: http://www.headpress.com/ShowProduct.aspx?ID=126

[totalblack]

For fans of fanzine culture/independent press and trash cinema, the new book XEROX FEROX comes highly recommended. 800 pages (yep), interviews with Video Watchdog, Schock Xpress, Cinema Sewer, Sleazoid Express, Deep Red etc etc. Only a few chapters in but this is just too good. More info: http://www.headpress.com/ShowProduct.aspx?ID=126

wow this looks really great, definitely going to try and pick up a copy

[HongKongGoolagong]

Almost finished Gene Gregorits - Dog Days. I wasn't sure about this writer when I first heard of him what with Vice magazine press and the guy's infamous facebook habit. Happily his writing is very good and a long way from the hipster tripe of Tao Lin.

His influences are very clearly discernible - Bukowski, Celine, Burroughs' 'Cat Inside' - but he makes a beautiful elegiac and bittersweet book out of a failed love affair for part one, then erupts into hilarious farce for part two where he describes the sort of holiday none of us want to go on. I'd read Fishhook previously and enjoyed it - that one's very funny - but this really is extraordinarily powerful and affecting writing. I'd class this as the equal of Bret Easton Ellis and David Peace, for anyone who rates them.

[cr]

More Edward Lee:
'Haunter of the Threshold'
'Creekers'

and now starting 'The Bighead'

[P-K]

just started : http://www.schifferbooks.com/?main_page=product_book_info&products_id=5191, insanely detailed, day-by-day reports on tactics & casualties, some heavy reading

[re:evolution]

Not so much what I am reading, but I am really enjoying a contemporary art book I picked up brand new for $10.   It is a Saatchi Gallery book from 2009 called 'The Shape of Things to Come' and focuses on contemporary art sculptures. The book is full colour, close to 700 pages, about 11 x 11 inches and close to 10 pounds in weight, so a bulky read.

As with contemporary art, whether or not some pieces are genius or rubbish depends on the eye of the beholder. Probably the most 'well known' artists for underground interests is Banks Violette where his Sunn O))) collaboration piece is featured here.

These are not the types of books i normally check out - due to cost - but for $10 a great find.

More info here: http://www.amazon.com/Shape-Things-Come-New-Sculpture/dp/B008SM25HI/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1387598054&sr=8-2&keywords=the+shape+of+things+to+come+art

[Levas]

Got Fight?: The 50 Zen Principles of Hand-to-Face Combat by Forrest Griffin. The book for good laughs by ex MMA fighter. It's not that much about techniques etc., but about the worldview, attitude etc. Very good.

Facing Violence: Preparing for the Unexpected by Rory Miller. I've read quite a few recommendations about how this book is good. Will see. It's an interesting material about the violence and how to "prepare" for it etc.

And also going through Robert A. Heinlein books. Unfortunately most of the translations to Lithuanian are awful.

[Ernpe]

Recent biography of Finnish communist O.W. Kuusinen who exiled to Russia in 1918 and made a notable career in CPSU surviving Stalin's era and entering politbyro at Khrushchev's time.

The book is not based on new archive studies, so the base of the book seem to be in memoirs of his wife Aino ("Jumala syöksee enkelinsä") and Arvo "Poika" Tuominen as well as Kuusinen's writings. Perhaps because of that the book does not cover his last years when Kuusinen was at the height of his power at Soviet Union. Haven't read the Vihainen's book ("O.W. Kuusinen ja Neuvostoliiton ideologinen kriisi vuosina 1957-64") of his later years, perhaps I should check it next - as well as the memoirs of Aino Kuusinen and Arvo Tuominen.

Kuusinen's life until 1918 is also covered very lightly, I guess Paavolainen's biography of Väinö Tanner told more about Kuusinen's views of events 1917 than this book tells, hah. The author of the book says there is recent 900 page long French book of Kuusinen's early years. Sounds insane.

Anyway, nice look into life of a person who definitely is not only one of the most cold blooded Finnish politicians but also who became one of the most influental (internationally speaking) Finn.

This book: http://paasilinna.fi/kirjat/suomensyoja-otto-wille-kuusinen/

[selectivepestilence]

Finally picked up a copy of E.M. Cioran-A Short History of Decay. Pretty amazing stuff reminds me of Georges Bataille and essays by Gherasim Luca.

Found an original newspaper copy of Re/Search #2 has some solid interviews with DNA and Z'ev. Awesome layout style throughout the whole thing.
Also finished Ultra-Gash Inferno by Suehiro Mauro and recommend it highly! Most brutal and surreal manga I have read in years.
 

[HOGRA]

ASSIMILATE (A Critical History Of Industrial Music) by S. Alexander Reed
THE 30-DAY DIARRHEA DIET PLAN by Kurt Brecht
DEAD SOULS by Nikolai Gogol


 

[tiny_tove]

Martin Bladh - DES ... Excellent work in texts and images. Love the paper and the format. Bravo!

[Baglady]

Martin Bladh - DES ... Excellent work in texts and images. Love the paper and the format. Bravo!

I really enjoyed this one too. Beautiful book. The various news paper snippets, the photos of Nilsen-related locations, the letters and last but not least the staged photo series by Martin. Out of all of Bladh's many projects, this seems to tie it all together somehow. I'm sure he sees it differently, but that's what DES did for me at least.

Recently read Qualis Artifex Pereo, a book by Bladh and his partner in crime, Bo I. Cavefors. They interview each other, and the interview with Bladh, conducted by Peter Sotos, is also included. Interesting to say the least. The DVD that comes with this book was good too. It deserves some words itself, but I'd need to rewatch it first. Highly recommended!

[cr]

Werner Schwab: Fäkaliendramen
20 years after his death, he is still one of my greatest influences. Don't know if this was translated in other languages than german.

[krueleco]

The Golden bough, wrote by James Frazer. A great comparative study of mythology and religion.

[Mikerdeath]

The Kids Next Door: Sons And Daughters Who Kill Their Parents
Gregory W. Morris