“…what on Earth did they do?” asked the countess. Continue reading
Archive for the Reading Category
Policemen, Bears and Brothels
Posted in Reading with tags bears, brothels, policemen, Tolstoy, War and Peace on September 16, 2011 by Jarrod Boyle
Story of O
Posted in Pornography, Reading with tags A Book of Five Rings, Eugen Herrigel, Guernica Magazine, Last Exit to Brooklyn, Miyamoto Musashi, Pauline Reage, Story of O, Zen, Zen in the Art of Archery on September 14, 2011 by Jarrod Boyle
‘…for as a matter of principle he was participating in whatever might be demanded of or inflicted on her, and that it was he who possessed and enjoyed her through those into whose hands she had been given, by the simple fact he had given her to them.
‘She must greet them and submit to them with the same respect with which she greeted him, as though they were so many reflections of him. Thus he would possess her as a god possesses his creatures, who he lays hold of in the guise of a monster or a bird, of an invisible spirit or a state of ecstasy.
‘He gave her only to… reclaim her enriched in his eyes, like some common object which had been used for some divine purpose and has thus been consecrated.’
Story of O, P.31.
There is a special category of books I love into which Story of O falls, along with Hubert Selby Junior’s Last Exit to Brooklyn. These are books I HATED the first time I read them, went away and thought about, re-read and then discovered they had completely rewrought the way I thought. As books, they actually pushed me out of one phase of psychological maturity and into another. Continue reading
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Ivan Turgenev's 'First Love'
Posted in Journalism, Reading with tags First Love, Ivan Turgenev on September 6, 2011 by Jarrod Boyle
I have no intention of being mistaken for a feminist, but this short story has stirred a few different things in me.
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Marital Advice from Russia, circa 1860
Posted in Reading with tags First Love, Ivan Turgenev on August 27, 2011 by Jarrod Boyle
‘If we are to have made-up stories,’ said [Zinaida], ‘then let everyone quite definitely invent something and tell us that.’
Byelovzorov again was obliged to begin. The young hussar was acutely embarrassed. ‘I can’t think of anything to say,’ he cried. Continue reading
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The Riders
Posted in Reading with tags Australian fiction, Christos Tsiolkas, Gregory David Roberts, Miles Franklin Award, Shantaram, The Riders, The Slap, Tim Winton on July 22, 2011 by Jarrod BoyleT.C. Boyle – 'After The Plague'.
Posted in Reading, Writing with tags Second Edition, TC Boyle on July 12, 2011 by Jarrod Boyle
T.C. Boyle is a modern master.
Anyone who has been following my book and film reviews has probably, as a result, primarily formed a picture of me as a critic; embittered as a result of his own frustrated attempts to be published, etc. etc. Therefore, it comes as a great relief to be able to say that I have finally read something I really liked. Continue reading
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Hell's Angels
Posted in Reading, Real Men with tags Gonzo, Hell's Angels, Hunter S Thompson, Ken Kesey on June 17, 2011 by Jarrod Boyle
“No sympathy for the devil; keep that in mind. Buy the ticket, take the ride…and if it occasionally gets a little heavier than what you had in mind, well… maybe chalk it off to forced conscious expansion: Tune in, freak out, get beaten.”
No doubt Fear and Loathing is a fabulous read, but I’m disappointed it’s the book Hunter S. Thompson has become best-known for. As a teenager, I bought Hell’s Angels and it has become a stand-out amongst all the books I own. Continue reading
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Trauma and Recovery
Posted in Journalism, Reading with tags Judith Herman, Snowtown on May 30, 2011 by Jarrod Boyle
Considering the Lobster
Posted in Reading with tags Andre Agassi, David Foster Wallace, Franz Kafka, John McCain, Malcolm Knox, Sam De Brito, Tracy Austin on April 26, 2011 by Jarrod Boyle“David Foster Wallace is sui generis on a stick.”
– Robert McCrum, Observer
“He’s so modern he’s in a different time-space continuum from the rest of us. Goddamn him.”
– Zadie Smith
David Foster Wallace’s essay on Franz Kafka entitled, ‘Some Remarks on Kafka’s Funniness from Which Probably Not Enough Has Been Removed’, from the book Consider the Lobster is probably the best thing I have read all year. Continue reading
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The Devil’s Music
Posted in Reading, Slayer with tags Born of Fire, John Milton, Paradise Lost, Seasons in the Abyss, Slayer, The Marriage of Heaven and Hell, William Blake on April 11, 2011 by Jarrod Boyle 
One of my absolute favourite pieces of writing – ever – is William Blake’s The Marriage of Heaven and Hell. Please check it out at the link – the text has been reproduced with some of Blake’s actual illustrations. Continue reading
Theme Park at its Darkest 