DANCING WITH THE BEGGARS IN MY MIND.: January 2006

Under the Pepper Tree - Pukey Pete Greeley's Pharmacy

Pukey Pete Greeley's Pharmacy stank of cat's piss, a smell quite normal for a methamphetamine lab. As the pervading smell hit George, he snorted loudly and struggled against the iron chain. El Diablo was more concerned by the appearance of Pukey Pete and the Franchi shotgun pointed at him. Pukey Pete had bright white peroxide hair, enormous lips stuffed with about 353 cc of collagen and was wearing a tight pink polka-dotted dress, cut to just above his bollock line. As an immediate reflex LD put his hands up into the air ....... continue reading at Under the Pepper Tree

Hardbacks, paperbacks or E-book Reader ?

Hardbacks: I have always had a preference for hardbacks when it comes to buying books and often buy 1st editions from Abebooks. There is a certain solidity and permanence in a hardback that's missing in a paperback and generally bigger print as well. The Redhead says that they are too heavy to read in the bath !

Paperbacks : Paperbacks seem to have a sense of disposability, yet are convenient to travel with as they are lighter, but don't have the same reading satisfaction and pleasure as a hardback. Often due to the heat on a beach they fall apart and you spend your holiday fumbling with loose pages, coming home with a missing page.

E-Reader : The Sony Reader was displayed at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas a couple of weeks ago. Apparently a marked improvement on previous e-readers with a capacity of about 80 E-books, portability being the size of a paperback and a battery life of 7500 page turns. This already indicates a move towards digitization and is like an i-Pod for books. There is a long post at the Guardian predicting the future of the printed book and the eventual move towards e-books. It will be a sad day when a piece of fucking plastic and a bunch of pixels replace the standard paper book.

So what do you prefer, hardbacks, paperbacks or moving towards the idea of being an e-book reader ? Please leave a comment with your views.

Tags: Sony Reader + Hardbacks + Paperbacks + Books

Under the Pepper Tree - Slimy Sol's Sodom Bar

El Diablo zoomed along at 183 m.p.h. much to George's chagrin. George was getting tired of being strussed up by an iron chain in an awkard uncomfortable position. He hadn't slept or eaten for two days and was fed up of LD's 27.4 cm hoist up his rectum, continually pummeling his large intestine. He was being driven mad by the wind and the orange bugs splattering on his snout as the brimstone steed tore down the highway at full pelt ...... read more at Under the Pepper Tree.

Authors Interviews

There are over a 100 interviews of various authors available to read online at Powells providing some very interesting reading. They include Bill Bryson, Peter Carey, Deepak Chopra, Philip Pullman, Salman Rushdie, Martin Amis, Ian McEwan, Brett Easton Ellis , Zadie Smith, and Carl Hiaasen amongst several others.

Spike Magazine has a fascinating, long interview with Ralph Steadman about the death of Hunter S. Thompson and himself. 3:AM Magzine has a whole host of interviews including Dan Fante, Irving Welsh, and Toby Litt. J.G. Ballard talks to Salon about William S. Burroughs and ELF(Ecletic Literary Forum) talks to Allen Ginsburg a year before he slid into the box. More interview sites will be added as I come across them.

UPDATE : 30th Jan. Podcast interview of Stephen Fry talking about his new book at Slam Idol

There are over 300 interviews at the Paris Review on Nelson Algren, Truman Capote , Lawrence Durrell and many others.

Tags: Author Interviews + Bill Bryson + Peter Carey + Deepak Chopra + Brett Easton Ellis

Under the Pepper Tree - Jesus Flymo's Porcine Flagellation Station

A few Neo-Geo dogs were standing by the bar, and they swung around at the smell of the boar as LD entered. The boar growled at the dogs and a couple of them pissed themselves resulting in a viscous day-glo green frothy puddle on the floor. Sister Morphine was playing loud via an iPod behind the bar. JesusFlymo’s Porcine Flagellation Station was bathed in ultra-violet light .......... continued at Under the Pepper Tree .

Reading List 2006

Despite suffering quite badly from ADD, which makes reading and more so writing, fucking difficult due to an inability to retain a somewhat consistent focus, this is a list of books I bought recently and plan to read this year. (not in the order listed below, red text = read. )