Every 14 Days...(20)

Boy (Kitano Takeshi)

I often read about Kitano being a modern-day renaissance man, adding painting, writing and everything else possible to his more famous film and comedy work. But apart from some of his artwork appearing in his films, I had never actually consumed any of it.

‘Boy’ is my first dip into one of his many other sides, but is fairly typical of some of the themes present in his films, if you take ‘his films’ to mean ‘Kids Return’. But I’m being facetious. ‘Boy’ is three, very simple short stories about 3 boys growing up in Japan. There is nothing particularly ground-breaking here, but simple tales about how young men find themselves in the world. The simplicity seems to mirror his script writing: starting with a  basic story and watching it evolve as the film is made. 

But they are nice enough stories, showing the Kitano is a man with many talents, though maybe creating something visual is where his real skill lies.

Days to read: 5

Days per book: 15.7

Lush Life (Richard Price)

I read the Richard Price novel 'Clockers' and found it to be brilliant - definitely one of the best books I have read in recent times. But, while good, the two subsequent books of his I have read have gradually decreased in quality. 'Samaritan' was the next read, followed now by 'Lush Life'.

'Lush Life' is very much a variation on a theme from 'Clockers' and 'Samaritan': Once again an innocent man is hounded by the police who believe his story to be false. It starts well, drawing the reader in, as Price is skilled at doing. However, where 'Clockers' and 'Samaritan' switch mainly between the stories of two lead characters, 'Lush Life' seems to continually switch between various different characters in bite-size chunks. Like a Dan Brown novel, this makes it easy to read, but does become difficult to keep you interested, constantly switching between characters with every other page.

While another overall satisfying read, it just doesn't draw me in as much as 'Clockers', and with lots of side stories for the various characters starts to drag going passed the half-way point. But, that said, you always get your money's worth with Price.

Days to read: 20

Days per book: 15.7

Each of Us (Ben Moor)

After reading ‘More Trees to Climb’, all I wanted to do was see Ben Moor live. That isn’t all I wanted to do, of course; some toilet breaks were necessary. So, on hearing that his latest show was coming to a Tube station near me, I jumped at the chance to do something more interesting on a Sunday evening.

After the performance, I got a copy of ‘Each of Us’ signed by the rather shy and flustered Mr Moor. Reading it within a week or so of seeing the show, I was of course reading the script of what I had just seen performed. I, therefore, read it in the manner of the performance (in my head! That would just look peculiar on the Tube), picking up some of the clever wordplay that I missed live.

Seeing the story performed live and reading the book are two separate things that can both be equally enjoyed. Whether watching the performance or reading the never-ending puns, both are pretty damned splendiferous.

Days to read: 4

Days per book: 15.6

Flowering Blood: The Cinema of Takeshi Kitano (Sean Redmond)

On seeing ‘Flowering Blood’ come up online as a ‘suggestion’ of something I might like to purchase, I thought ‘what the flip, give it a go.’ But should have realised that there is little to really add to the analysis of the films of Kitano Takeshi beyond what has already been written. And lo, this proved the case.

Coventry-born Redmond’s analysis starts off fine enough, seeing the world through the eyes of a starry-eyed film fan, making a pilgrimage to Japan in search of the film locations he so loves. But, being an academic text, it soon becomes lost in its own sense of over-explanation. At times, it feels more a collection of different theories thrown together than a real look at his work, and struggles to grab the attention enough.

While there are a couple of additional bits of light shed on the films, it relies a little too much on the works of previous authors, not justifying its overall length, focusing more at academic theory than the films themselves.

Days to read: 11

Days per book: 15.5

Iron Man: The Cinema of Shin'ya Tsukamoto (Tom Mes)

For some reason - probably the recent re-release of both 'Tokyo Fist' and 'Bullet Ballet' in the UK by the excellent Third Window Films - I have been watching a lot of the films of Shin'ya Tsukamoto recently. In turn, this has prompted me to read Tom Mes' book charting his films up-to-and-including 'Vital'.

My previous reading of the works of Mes came with his two analyses of the works of Miike Takashi: one good, one less so. Luckily this falls under the former, charting his youth as an amateur filmmaker, experimenting with his brother, through his theatre days and working as an advertising director right through to his internationally recognised 'A Snake of June' and 'Vital'.

'Iron Man', the name of the film that first brought him fame, is an appropriate name for this analysis. His films always tend to be on the more extreme side, favouring fast camera work and graphic violence throughout, never letting up for a moment. And this is exactly how he works, not just as a director, but writer, actor, editor, cameraman and just about everything else that is required in the making of a film. Telling the story of how he works non-stop to produce and finance his films shows an all-round filmmaker doing whatever it takes to get a film completed.

Days to read: 10

Days per book: 15.5

Every 14 Days...(18)

Looking for the Lost (Alan Booth)

‘The Roads to Sata’ was a book I very much enjoyed. Beyond it being what I wish my life was, it is a very well written and interesting journey across Japan, by a sarcastic Englishman, walking all the way.

‘Looking for the Lost’ is very much a sequel, published posthumously, telling the tale of three further journeys across Nihon, following the path of famous Japanese before him. All three journeys find something of Japan’s past, now lost through the ages, and ultimately never found.

The first trip is one through Aomori, following the footsteps (or dirt tracks) of Dazai Osamu and his journey around his home region. The second takes Booth to Kyushu, following the rocky road of mythical warrior Saigo Takamori. The third then starts off in Nagoya, and the high-tech world of Nagoya's International Design Exposition, before traipsing north through some of Japan’s less explored areas, hoping to find something of its past.

The book acts as a bit of a metaphor for Booth’s reasons to be in Japan. Moving during the Seventies to study Noh theatre, he soon lost his passion for it, but remained in the country despite this. Almost as if trying to rediscover what brought him there to begin with, Booth searches for something intangible that he knows he will never find. The journeys coming at a time when he would succumb to bowel cancer seem all the more poignant, delivered with mild black humour references towards the book’s conclusion.  

It is sad that this and ‘The Roads to Sata’ are the only real lasting works of Booth, though leave enough for the start of another journey.

Days to read: 21

Days per book: 16.2

Can't Stop, Won't Stop (Jeff Chang)

I've read many a 'hip hop history' book, all written in different ways, by different people, most of which say the same old things. 'ego trip's Book of Rap Lists' is without doubt the pick of the bunch, aiming more to entertain, inform and educate, rather than simply do a chronological look at how the music progressed from the Seventies Bronx to the painful noises of today. Jeff Chang's go at writing a hip hop history book is long, but engrossing enough to keep you ploughing along through its considerable pages.

Bought for me as a birthday present based on a comment I must have made many years ago, I'm always sceptical of any hip hop history book, feeling it will probably annoy me for various reasons giving far too much page time to penises, like Puff Daddy, or whatever he now chooses to be called. I, therefore, started this with a sense of dread.

But, I was nicely surprised, finding myself quickly drawn in to the book, absorbing every word. Focusing less on the music, Chang places hip hop more in a wider social context, with the first few chapters looking at Fifties and Sixties New York town planning and the politics of the music industry in Jamaica.

Gradually, the music comes in and how the young stars deal with their newfound fame takes over, looking at the more controversial acts, like Public Enemy and Ice Cube. Groundbreakers, like Run DMC, the Beastie Boys and De La Soul feature less in this history, being that they are more remembered for their music, rather than the public outcry it created. This does mean that penises, like Raymond 'Benzino' Scott get a disproportionate amount of pulp dedicated to them.

A bit like hip hop music, the more time goes on, the less interesting it becomes, but there is more than enough here to keep your head nodding, in thought at interesting points, rather than the boom bap.

Days to read: 25

Days per book: 16.3

Japanamerica (Roland Kelts)

'Japanamerica' was part two of my two-part thirtieth birthday present from an old friend. Again, I was sceptical. A book written about the coming of anime into US consciousness seemed a bit of a cash-in on the sudden popularity of anime, manga and hardcore Japanese goblin sex snuff biscuits in the West. But, like the pre-conception-having twat that I am, my expectations were unjustified.

Focusing on some specific case studies, Japanese-American Roland Kelts looks more at how Japanese companies have perhaps failed to exploit the potential success of their offerings in the West, particularly America. This is the countered against products being shipped in the other direction, with American companies varying success in Japan.

There is more interest in the business models of marketing anime and manga both at home and abroad rather than the creative content. This would, I thought, be something that would leave my cock floppier than a flick through a copy of Geordie Readers' Wives.

'Japanamerica' isn't the greatest read, but does give some interesting little insights into how Japanese media makes its way to us ignorant gaijin baka.

Days to read: 10

Days per book: 16.2

Animal Farm (George Orwell)

It's been many a year since I last read 'Animal Farm' at school, and after some long reads, I fancied something short, but not so sweet...and I saw it on the cheap.

There's probably not much that I can say about the book that hasn't been said before, and much better (just like every other book I've ever read), so I won't bother pretending that there's anything I can particularly say about it, other than that it is the classic it is, though, for me, not Orwell's best.

Days to read: 7

Days per book: 16.1

More Trees to Climb (Ben Moor)

Ben Moor has always been a bit of a Kevin Eldon for me: pops up in the shows of more successful comedian friends. Though Moor was always a bit of a poor man's version. But the boy has talent!

The scripts from three Edinburgh shows, 'More Trees to Climb' is a collection of bizarre tales, but done with an earnest wit and charm that make their short length seem like a bit of a prick tease.

The manner of the writing (or delivery if you're lucky enough to have seen the shows) flows effortlessly, despite the peculiar nature of the subject matter and punbearable wordplay.

This is a book that is simultaneously hilarious, magical, endearing and all that other crap. Now, I simply want to see him in his own show...much like Kevin Eldon.

Days to read: 6

Days per book: 15.9

Mustn't Grumble (Joe Bennett)

With nothing on my book shelf that hadn't been read needing something to read, I dipped into my girlfriend's book collection, picking one of her many books by non-Aston Villa left back, Joe Bennett. Being English, I opted for 'Mustn't Grumble', the Englishman in Kiwiland's journey around the land, commenting on how we're all moaning bastards.

Following in the footsteps of Morton before him for much of the journey, 'Mustn't Grumble' is very much like fellow Englishman living abroad, Alan Booth's 'Looking for the Lost'. Taking the same route as someone before him, he journeys in pursuit of identifying a national identity, stopping off in as many drinking establishments as possible along the way. But while Booth chose to walk, Bennett chose the very thing Booth was against: hitchhiking, only to quickly find that this will never happen in modern day England, soon deciding to borrow the car of an old school friend.

'Mustn't Grumble' is also written in the same, dry, almost arrogant wit of Booth's travel accounts; often humorous, often insightful and well-observed, often borderline alcoholic. And while entertaining, Bennett doesn't quite have the same magic as Booth, though with many of his titles sat on my girlfriend's shelf, I'm sure I'll be polishing off some more of his titles soon.    

Days to read: 15

Days per book: 15.9

Samaritan (Richard Price)

'Clockers' is without doubt one of the best books I've read in a while. Richard Price's story of a battle-weary detective's working through a case that makes him rethink his preconceptions is a detailed account of the motivations around murder and how the authorities work to solve them. 'Samaritan' is a similar story, again looking at a veteran detective, working a final case before retirement, struggling to comprehend the motivations of victims and suspects alike.

Returning to the fictional town of Dempsey, New Jersey, Ray is an overly generous television writer volunteering at a local school who is attacked at his home. With the case lacking interest for most detectives, the soon-to-be-retired Nerese, an old school friend of Ray, takes the case on but finds her old pal unfriendly in volunteering information as to who may be involved in his attack.

Again, Price divides the telling of the story between the two sides, detective and victim, gradually piecing the puzzle together and leaving the reader guessing as to the final outcome. Again, this is an absorbing read, drawing you in and leaving you to play detective yourself; coming to your own conclusions from seeing both sides of the story, unlike the protagonists.

'Samaritan' is good: Price has a definite style to his writing which is evident from both this and 'Clockers'. However, while 'Clockers' has eye-opening revelation, the conclusion to 'Samaritan' fails to hit the same heights, perhaps due to so many potential suspects turning it into more of a whodunit than an in-depth, psychological piece as to motivation to crime.     

Days to read: 21

Days per book: 16.0