1) Carter Beats The Devil – Glen David Gold
The epic saga of a magician honing his craft in pre-depression era San Francisco.

2) Dream Brother: the Lives and Music of Jeff and Tim Buckley – David Browne
The tale of two of the most tragically parallel lives in the history of modern music, starting in the suburbs of Southern California and ending in the muddy Mississippi river.

3) Poker Nation – Andy Bellin
A light-hearted, report on the subculture of high stakes tournament poker.

4) Fast Food Nation – Eric Schlosser
The addictively muckracking saga of the rise and demise of the fast food business.

5) Almost: A Novel – Elizabeth Benedict
A recently separated women, now living in NYC, returns to the anonymous east coast island to attend the funeral of her ex-husband where her whole seems to converge upon her.

6) How To Be Good – Nick Hornby
Hornby’s take on the psyche of a modern woman dealing with the banality & lethargy of mid-life.

7) Everything is Illuminated – Jonathan Safran Foer
The cleverly overachieving novel written by a 24 year-old genius about his fictional Eastern European ancestors.

8) John Henry Days – Colson Whitehead
The story of a reporter on a record breaking PR junket that ends with a weekend covering the celebration of the life and times of the mythic John Henry.

I am not a book expert by any stretch of the imagination but I read a few
epic novels this year. I recommend them all to avid readers:

1) The Wind-Up Bird Chronicles - Haruki Murakami
2) The Ground Beneath Her Feet - Salman Rushdie
3) The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay - Michael Chabon
4) The Sleep Over Artist - Patrick Beller
5) Kitchen Confidential - Anthony Bourdain
6) Cruddy - Lynda Barry

It’s hard to say whether or not this biography would have been so enjoyable had I not been such a complete and total Nick Drake disciple. Less of a tabloid recounting than most rock bios, this is the story of an artist whose happy life suddenly turned very dark at the moment when his prospects, as a musician, became the brightest. Preoccupied at first with describing the physical places and social environments where Nick had lived, Patrick Humphries has written a story that seems to intentionally mirror the darkness and fragility of the music.

As a child we learn that Nick Drake was happy and popular, having attended one of the more prestigious prep schools in Britain and excelling at almost everything that he attempted. He was a star athlete, a good student, and a regular cigarette-sneaking teenager. He led a band in high school, had a good relationship with his parents and generally appeared to be upbeat and excited about every new day.

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“About A Boy,” the follow-up to Nick Hornby’s debut pop culture romp “High Fidelity,” is a surprisingly more entertaining and engaging tale than his first. Nothing much has changed in terms of tone and character except that we reenter the world of British slackers from a slightly different angle. In fact the seed idea for the protagonist in “About A Boy” was subtly explored in “High Fidelity.”

The book tells the story of Will Freeman, a slacker with a trust fund just large enough to allow him to get by without working. He lives, quite literally, off of the royalties of a cheesy Santa Xmas song, which ironically and invariably makes his life miserable around the holidays. Although he is articulate and well mannered, what Will does best is hang out, stay in touch with what’s cool, and remain as comfortably distanced from depression and responsibility as possible.
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I love movies, so as a result it should come as no surprise that I would love a book about the Bacchanalian excess of the 70’s in Hollywood. In fact, the book is so convincing and compelling that it actually yielded that same kind of easy, lucid narrative style that good movies usually succeed in accomplishing. Beginning with a look at the fall of the all-powerful studio system in the late 60’s, and the groundbreaking and critical success of “Bonnie and Clyde” and “Easy Rider,” Biskind primarily examines the producers and directors who managed to redefine Hollywood during the 70’s.

When Warren Beatty managed to convince a studio to allow him to make “Bonnie and Clyde” it took a critic to rescue the film from obscurity. Pauline Kael, who would arguably become one of the most influential film critics there will ever be, was also, in some ways, the savior of Hollywood. Her endorsement was often the straw that kept a movie in theaters and her love of non-traditional subjects and themes allowed creative luminaries to make films that didn’t necessarily need to reach a massive audience. And so, we are told, the film industry was reinvented.
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I’ve read my fair share of drug books over the years (”Fear and Loathing In Las Vegas,” “The Basketball Diaries,” “Dead Babies,” “Naked Lunch,” etc.). Most of these classics derive much of their uniqueness from the fact that they describe a sensation that most people haven’t or will never experience. Often these drug-oriented books breathe a strange stream-of-consciousness language that, for obvious reasons, just sounds differently than most other fiction. If anything is certain, it is that drugs, even when used recreationally, can and do generally change people. They provide a frame of reference, often impossible to achieve, without the drug-induced effect. In the end, it is either the long-term mental repercussions or the resulting addiction that really causes the transformation.

Addiction is usually conveyed, in books, movies and real life as this pathetic, debilitating evil that strips away humanity leaving only bones and disease in its wake. But in the “The Story of Junk,” the page turning, modern-epic about becoming a junkie in New York City 1982-6, Linda Yablonsky manages to tell about the experience of being and becoming a junkie by using a narrator who, through it all, still seems to understand the physical and emotional ramifications of her lifestyle.

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