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Reread: Bought this when it came out, pleasantly surprised that it won the Costa Book Award outright earlier this week.

I wonder is that the same Ian Gibson who wrote The Shameful Life of Salvador Dalí? Lashings (pun intended) of sexual guilt theories in that too as I recall... Edit: It is, yeah: http://www.uklitag.com/site/images/author_uploads/master_gibson_biblio_2009_sp.pdf

Ha! I'll have to track that one down. Fenton was a war correspondent for a while, so he probably knows how to take care of himself in sticky situations.

The other night I reread: Joycean. The Joyce of 'Penelope'. Last night: Ti-tum ti-tum ti-tum ti-tum ti-tum. Ho hum. Currently rereading: Comico-eroto-gastro-politico bildungsroman. Erm... Bohumil Hrabal was a genius, Czech him out if you haven't already. Failing miserably to read...

FILTH

Beautifully written short short stories about absolutely nothing. Been reading this off and on for a while now, hope to finish it this weekend. Recent article on him: http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/booksblog/2009/sep/29/arthur-machen-tartarus-press

That's an amazing book. An amazingly fucked-up book. I remember finding it in the library in college and reading it when I should have been revising for something-or-other. Last night I read: Like the cover says. Some meta-chuckles to be had.

Read too much of this last night. Picked it up in Borders closing down sale for €1. Contains Banville's "I hate everything I've ever written" interview.

Bought the Belle & Sebastian one yesterday second-hand for 7 euro. It's such a gorgeous looking book isn't it? I agree with you in the main about music books not being 'proper' books. There are some exceptions though. Notably: and

Haha. "...a spoonful of maple syrup helps the medicine go down"? Funny you should mention that term, 'passive agressive', in a way that's the sort of approach the authors recommend for the left: traditional electoral politics rather than radical action. Personally I thought their ideas held up...

Finished this yesterday:

Thanks for the link. The interview is alright, not terribly informative (but interviews with writers seldom are). Veers into Smash Hits-type banality at times: "Do you have a dog?", "Do you have a girlfriend?" etc. Probably not all Birnbaum's fault though.

He writes himself into his novels too, doesn't he? I think you told me about this before. They're all at it nowadays of course. Douglas Coupland does it in his new one apparently. Thing is, Vonnegut was parodying this lazy-ass device 30-odd years ago.

Due to insomnia I read 'Lunar Park' by Bret Easton Ellis. THIS JUST IN: Writer writes book about writing! With fictionalized version of self-same writer as main character/narrator! Revolutionary! "Bret, with these hackneyed post-modernisms you are really spoiling us." (Or maybe that's the...