book recommendations

cover image	title \| author \| genre	about + excerpt
	Butcher's Crossing \|\| John Williams. fiction \| revisionist western.	This is an existential/nihilist western largely about bison slaughter and the misplaced idealisation of the west. Four men set out to harvest bison hides for a steep profit and return never-the-same-again: that is the bare-bones plot. Survivalist at times, short, and fairly well-written. I took my time with this one: there were several parts where I had to set it down (whether because of the gruesomeness of it or the absolutely decadent quality of writing--sometimes both). excerpt Andrews nodded. He looked at Charley Hoge, and beyond him; he was drowsy with the heat and with the warm effects of the whiskey he had drunk; in his mind were fragments of Miller's talk about the mountain country to which they were going, and those fragments glittered and turned and fell softly in accidental and strange patterns. Like the loose stained bits of glass in a kaleidoscope, they augmented themselves with their turning and found the light from irrelevant and accidental sources.
	Kinski Uncut \|\| Klaus Kinski. nonfiction \| autobiography.	Autobiography of (arguably) the most controversial actor in film history. Klaus Kinski was a German actor known for his (seemingly) unprovoked rages, hatred of directors, general egotism, and psychosexual nature. He's perhaps best remembered for his relationship with the (also highly controversial) German director Werner Herzog. Most of his autobiography is thought to be fictionalized: more of a final performance piece than an actual account of his life and filmography. Regardless, it is very well-written and at times even poignant (but also very smutty). Note: excerpt is not sexual. excerpt I need sunflowers! I walk many miles, trying to find some. If they're fresh, I kiss their honey faces. If they're dried, I put them on my windowsill, where they continue glowing. I saw a gigantic sunflower in a garden in Tempelhof. I can't risk stealing it, so I ask the owner to sell it to me. He lets me have it for free. I carry it by its light-green six-foot stem from Tempelhof to Brandenburgische Strasse. Its black, sticky face is framed by radiant yellow petals, while I wear jeans as blue as cornflowers and a T-shirt as red as poppy.
	Conquest of the Useless \|\| Werner Herzog. nonfiction \| epistolary.	Collected entries from dir. Werner Herzog's journals he kept during the filming of Fitzcarraldo. Herzog recounts in fragmented entries the entire process of the film's ideation and execution, which spans over 2 years: most notably, the ordeal of hauling the massive steamboat over the ridge between rivers. There are many Kinski mentions as well, as he makes his appearance about halfway through the book. excerpt Wearing his costume, Kinski poked around in the banana fronds outside my cabin and had Beatus take hundreds of pictures of him surrounded by the luxuriant leaves. Then the two of them moved a few meters to the edge of the jungle, where Kinski amorously leaned his cheek against a tree trunk and then began to copulate with the tree. He thinks this is immensely erotic: the child of nature and the wild jungle. Yet to this day he has not ventured so much as ten meters into the forest; this is one of his poses. His Yves St. Laurent jungle suit is far more important to him than the jungle itself, and I snapped at him without any real reason when he expected me to happily agree that the primeval forest was erotic. To me it was not erotic at all, I spat, only obscene.

cover image

title | author | genre

about + excerpt

Butcher's Crossing || John Williams.
fiction | revisionist western.

This is an existential/nihilist western largely about bison slaughter and the misplaced idealisation of the west. Four men set out to harvest bison hides for a steep profit and return never-the-same-again: that is the bare-bones plot. Survivalist at times, short, and fairly well-written. I took my time with this one: there were several parts where I had to set it down (whether because of the gruesomeness of it or the absolutely decadent quality of writing--sometimes both).

excerpt

Andrews nodded. He looked at Charley Hoge, and beyond him; he was drowsy with the heat and with the warm effects of the whiskey he had drunk; in his mind were fragments of Miller's talk about the mountain country to which they were going, and those fragments glittered and turned and fell softly in accidental and strange patterns. Like the loose stained bits of glass in a kaleidoscope, they augmented themselves with their turning and found the light from irrelevant and accidental sources.

Kinski Uncut || Klaus Kinski.
nonfiction | autobiography.

Autobiography of (arguably) the most controversial actor in film history. Klaus Kinski was a German actor known for his (seemingly) unprovoked rages, hatred of directors, general egotism, and psychosexual nature. He's perhaps best remembered for his relationship with the (also highly controversial) German director Werner Herzog. Most of his autobiography is thought to be fictionalized: more of a final performance piece than an actual account of his life and filmography.

Regardless, it is very well-written and at times even poignant (but also very smutty). Note: excerpt is not sexual.

excerpt

I need sunflowers! I walk many miles, trying to find some. If they're fresh, I kiss their honey faces. If they're dried, I put them on my windowsill, where they continue glowing.

I saw a gigantic sunflower in a garden in Tempelhof. I can't risk stealing it, so I ask the owner to sell it to me. He lets me have it for free.

I carry it by its light-green six-foot stem from Tempelhof to Brandenburgische Strasse. Its black, sticky face is framed by radiant yellow petals, while I wear jeans as blue as cornflowers and a T-shirt as red as poppy.

Conquest of the Useless || Werner Herzog.
nonfiction | epistolary.

Collected entries from dir. Werner Herzog's journals he kept during the filming of Fitzcarraldo. Herzog recounts in fragmented entries the entire process of the film's ideation and execution, which spans over 2 years: most notably, the ordeal of hauling the massive steamboat over the ridge between rivers. There are many Kinski mentions as well, as he makes his appearance about halfway through the book.

excerpt

Wearing his costume, Kinski poked around in the banana fronds outside my cabin and had Beatus take hundreds of pictures of him surrounded by the luxuriant leaves. Then the two of them moved a few meters to the edge of the jungle, where Kinski amorously leaned his cheek against a tree trunk and then began to copulate with the tree.

He thinks this is immensely erotic: the child of nature and the wild jungle. Yet to this day he has not ventured so much as ten meters into the forest; this is one of his poses.

His Yves St. Laurent jungle suit is far more important to him than the jungle itself, and I snapped at him without any real reason when he expected me to happily agree that the primeval forest was erotic. To me it was not erotic at all, I spat, only obscene.