A friend recently posted a list of her 2014 reads. I used to do the same rather religiously but haven’t in several years. I read much more slowly, but also more carelessly than I used to. I’m sure I’ve finished more than three books so far this year,  but possibly not.

So:
All the rage by Ian MacLagen. Great recount of 50 years in the music biz, punctuated by bouts of heavy drug use. Or perhaps it’s the other way around. (MacLagen played keyboards with the Small Faces/Faces,  the Stones and much later with Billy Bragg. Passed away late last year. Helluva life.)

Inherent Vice by Thomas Pynchon. Good stuff, though it is very much Spade meets Lebowski. Looking forward to seeing the movie. It takes place in LA in the wake of the Manson murders and had a number of settings I know from my childhood.

To kill a mockingbird by Harper Lee. Still potent, still a classic. Recent revelation that the novel had its genesis as a flashback in a different story of an adult Scout visiting home gives a stronger basis for the language the narrator uses. Much of Scout’s voice is too old,  but you never know how old.

Now working on a volume of short stories by Uri Kurlianchik,  one of the contributors to Red Phone Box called Israeli Storyteller. Some fantasy,  some horror. Quite compelling stuff. 

Debating whether to dive into Pynchon’s Bleeding Edge now or something else.