A Few Of My Favorite Things

Three Books That’ve Twisted My Views On A Sane Lifestyle

by Mark Phinney

London Fields (by Martin Amis) – A shadowy fever dream that rips its way through the pool hall antics of our hero, Keith Talent. A brooding British murder dance that rips its way through your psyche. The characters who inhabit this chess board race possess quirks and ideas that give a reason to stay away from England all together. This is true hard-skinned murder, in every religious sense of the word.

Ladies and Gentlemen… Lenny Bruce (by Albert Goldman) – Goldman looks in on not only performances, but the hotel rooms in the wee hours of the morning, and throwing up on NYC sidewalks. We also see the genius the man held in his grasp and has still not let go of.

And The Ass Saw The Angel (by Nick Cave) – Not only does this white trash reverend preach his eulogies in song, he lures the written word into it as well. This book brings to mind in-breeding and backward towns in the South. A companion piece to the novel would be the Cave masterpiece album, Henry’s Dream.