I went on a personal narrative binge in the last couple of months and read some really good shit.
ANSWER ME! when I could get it locally. This book was written while he was incarcerated due to the events he talks about in the book. Excellent, probably one of the stand out books I read this year.
I read a couple of memoirs one post mortem and one while he was still alive by David Wojnarowicz. Both are disjointed at times and it's jarring to read someones personal journals after they are dead but it's a good window into his life. He was a very interesting person and I really enjoy his art.
I read a bunch of the Feral House catalog. I also read Gore Vidal's memoir Palimpsest. He was actually a lot funnier than I thought he would be. There were some bright spots in fiction too.
I finally read those James Frey books after all the bullshit about their origins was over. Taken as fiction they are reasonably well written with some amusing literary tricks in them. He uses repetitive sounds, (can't think of the actual literary term at the moment) in a clever way. Not too often but often enough to slow the reader down to his speed.
I read a one of the JT Leroy books as well. Same thing as above I waited for the bullshit to die down. I had read some of Jt Leroy's (or whatever the actual authors name is) work previously, excerpts on various lit mags and a couple of anthologies. It's okay. I wasn't stunned into literary orgasm over them. Quick reading for me. I do like how some of the elements that were supposed to be shocking were handled in a matter of fact manner rather than the over wrought manner that tell-alls seems to harp on.
Overall book wise I read some really excellent stuff. I've been reading some excellent essayists and spend too many hours searching down essay.
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