Book Reviews

I've read many books in my life but there are only a few that I'd care to recommend to others.

Why?

Well, simply because a book takes so much time, probably 50-100 hours, time that is often hard to come by. Consequently, it's a commitment to read a book, especially most that I recommend because they all need to be re-read. I've read each several times, I promise you!

Though there are other book reviews on this site, this is what I consider the cream of the crop, each a minor masterpiece of their time:

Adolf Hitler:

Albert Speer: His Battle With Truth The fascinating story of Albert Speer, the architect who became Nazi Armaments Minister, the the second most powerful man in Germany. Author Sereny takes us on a journey that explores the rise and fall of the Third Reich...and Speer's part in it. This is no ordinary biography, this is the story of a surprisingly well-balanced modern man who was seduced by both Hitler & Power

The Spandau Letters Albert Speer was convicted at the Nuremburg trials as a war criminal and sentenced to 20 years in jail. The Spandau Letters was constructed after his release from thousands of letters smuggled out, many dealing with his Nazi past:

• his friendship and disturbing ambivalence about Hitler
• his shock at finding out in full at Nuremburg, what he had been part of, in particular, The Final Solution
• at different times, impartial, scathing and compassionate observations of his fellow prisoners &
• his struggle with the de-humanizing effects of prison life

The Spandau Letters is an unusual book, as harrowing as any great dramatic work I've ever read...and strongly recommended. The scarey thing is, it could be you.

The Book Of Alfred Kantor   At this time in my life, I find The Holocaust is presently too terrible for me to contemplate, so, instead, I look at the simple artwork of one concentration camp survivor, Alfred Kantor.

The Spear Of Destiny Like Albert Goldman's The Lives Of John Lennon (see directly below), Trevor Ravenscroft's The Spear Of Destiny purports to be fact...but is so unbelievable that it's better being treated as a work of fiction than anything else.

In fact, as fiction, it's obviously the inspiration for George Lucas' Raider Of The Lost Ark. However ludicrous the words, there's also an archetypal common sense behind its analysis of Hitler's demonic posession (whether figurative or actual), one that has helped me greatly in pondering the horrific mystery that is The Third Reich.

Biography:

Peter Cook: A Biography: Harry S Thompson's superb biography is a must-read warts-and-all biography of Peter Cook, delivered with deep respect and genuine compassion. Highly recommended.

The Lives Of John Lennon Albert Goldman's ugly hatchet job gets numerous facts wrong...and frequently passes off conjecture as fact (e.g Lennon's supposed rampant bisexuality) but, for me, when talking about Lennon's art, gets closer to Lennon's spirit (Beatle & SOLO) than any other book.

A Thinking Man:

The Name Of The Rose The year is 1327 and William of Baskerville, an English Fraciscan monk with a touch of Sherlock Holmes about him, finds himself at a monastery that houses the largest library in Christendom, where monks are mysteriously dying. The brothers suspect Dark forces...but Baskerville thinks the killer has more earthly origins. Umberto Eco's The Name Of The Rose isn't an easy read...but it's damn interesting...and with 50 million copies sold worldwide (thanks in part to the  The Name Of The Rose movie)...obviously somebody agrees with me.

Foucault's Pendulum Foucault's Pendulum could easily be half its length...but then one would miss the numerous diversions, games and sense of fun (and self-importance) that pervades this flabby thriller. Part satire, part history of Italian post-Sixties academia, part God-knows-what, Umberto Eco's novel is a dry, oh-so-dry piece of fluff  that lampoons the New Age and conspiracy theories wonderfully.

The Magus A Sixties cult-classic in which a young man, existential and vane is chosen by The Laws of Hazard to be given the opportunity to learn how to Love & Live morally. Set in the Greek Islands of the 1950s, Nicholas Urfe, a young Englishman, is working as an ex-pat teacher while he decides what to do with his life. Meeting one of the islands residents, the mysterious Mr. Conchis, The Magus. Urfe slowly becomes enmeshed in a dangerous psychological game that's part-thriller, part-romance with not one...but two beautiful women, both of whom are happy to play by Conchis' mind-bending rules. 

Trippy in the extreme!  

In Search Of The Miraculous  Ouspensky's In Search Of The Miraculous is a recognized classic within its sphere. Simply speaking, it's the best introduction to the highly influential and frquently scandalous philosopher George Gurdjieff.  It's backed up by many anecdotes...and one gets a strong idea of how Ouspensky and his small group of friends felt that Gurdjieff, in his often intentionally chaotic way, was introducing them to ideas and concepts which were the long-lost origins of Christianity.

Struggle Of The Magicians Struggle Of The Magicians is a chronological look at the struggle (or perhaps strained interaction) between the philosopher Gurdjieff and his most high-profile student, Ouspensky. It's full of gossip about a number of peripheral Gurdjieff figures as well, making it a surprisingly entertaining read. 

Spalding Gray:

The  late, great American writer, monologue performer and occasional actor, Spalding Gray made a living from spilling every detail of his life. Gray's strength was that in his self-obsession, he enabled us to glimpse a little bit of ourselves.

Swimming To Cambodia Spalding Gray's breakthrough work would have had a more accurate title if it were Swimming To Cambodia...And Back. Like Woody Allen's Manhattan, it's also a brilliant documentation of a certain type of mid-1970s East Coast artiste...obsessed with Sex and occasionally, personal development fads.

Monster In a Box After the success of Swimming To Cambodia, Spalding Gray's agent gets in his ear and sells him the idea of writing a novel. Bad move: Spalding can only write the truth...and the truth is that he feels the need to write about his mother's suicide...even in badly disguised fiction. Monster In A Box is the hilarious retelling of all the reasons, diversions and dramas that Life threw at him to prevent him writing the sprawling manuscript, the monster that sits in a box on a table in front of him as he delivers the monologue. 

Gray's Anatomy Self-obsessed, melodramatic Spalding Gray totters towards official middle-age, convinced that his body is falling to pieces...and can't accept his doctor's diagnosis that all he needs is a minor corrective operation.  Instead, he runs to help from alternative healers across the USA, some extreme, some just plain weird...in an attempt to cure himself.