v e n u e c r a s h

Time after Time. (Red Letter Week)

God, I thought, Time has finally, finally, kicked all the other hi-circ mags in the ass and ditched the bonnie fuller fill up every millimeter with type and that screaming pink and "3,485 ways to pleasure yourself!" blurbs. Time finally has returned to it's elegant early covers that told a story with no need of words. The current cover was startling, sort of like, er.... 

May 7, 1945's cover.

Extend the series two more years: what possibilities.

How i choose books.

Method 1: area of interest: i am particularly drawn to histories of the period between the wars,and WWII. i also m enamored by vigorous, precise writing. which is why stuff like "Goodbye to All That" by William Manchester is such a gem. there's alot of trash written about this period; things written by participants seem most vivid ("Guadalcanal Diary").

Waugh. Before the war: "A Handful of Dust".

Method 2: Look at dust jacket photos of gay authors. Is the author cute? Is the subject anything but a sci-fi or a cheap allyson trade? Buy it. This is how i found Augusten Burroughs, in a tiny corner on the back of "Running With Scissors". I love Augusten, everything about him. One weekend in DC, while my BF and i were holed up in a hotel because i had a splitting headache from some new med my doc was trying out, we bought "Scissors" and "Dry", its predecessor, and read all day, handing the two back and forth as we finished. It was way better than looking at more pictures. Augusten has been thru alot, and i hope he has a happy life with his BF. And I hope he writes more stuff. And i had a chance to hear him read but i didn't, because of my rule of In-Person-Letdown.

OK, this is a very old pic, but i first noticed him in that ad. Was it for US News? i don't remember who cares, but it was big and weirdly provocative for a TNR editor. TNR! The deadly-dull rag i detested more than "Highlights for Children", and i associated that one with going to the dentist, to boot. TNR was nothing but words, words. At least the New Yorker had those snarky little quotes from rural newspapers stuck at the bottom of words, words. Then my college roomie started reading Harper's because he was from editor Willie Morris' hometown, so roomate thought he had an obligation. I decided to retaliate with TNR and to my delight, did not loathe it. In fact, it made dinner conversation interesting.."well, TNR says...." My family glazed over, but I subscribed. TNR was sane, quiet, a smidgen fun. Dependable. Then AS came along and churned things up and left, and I miss his editing so much. He scared the shit out of the mag. Now, it seems sort of listless, and graphically ugly. Andrew Sullivan, on the other hand, is graphically increasingly interesting. I heard him read awhile ago. Buy his books, any of them. They are good.

Dale Peck. I do not read fiction very much. But after the review of "Martin and John" I bought it, used, on Amazon. Good read. Thought about it, read it again. And again. I've had to read all his books at least three times, for both finding places of meaning I previously missed and for the prose. "What We Lost"...I just keep pulling it off the shelf, sometimes just to look at the cover, sometimes to just crack it open at any page, sometimes to search for a passage about a farmhouse dining table...sometimes to read it all. I took it on a week-long trip recently. Might as well chain it around my neck. He also collected his bash reviews of others' work in "Hatchet Jobs", which is funny as hell. And look at that mug. Jesus. 

I do not know where to file AC. I don't think the book very good. Another Mississippi connection. 

 

A rainy overnight in summer a few years ago, after an ocean swim. Fuck.