Rec. #187: Here Lies Love

What: David Byrne and Fatboy Slim join forces to make a concept album about Imelda Marcos. Because why not.

Comparable to: A list of the contributing artists should give you a good idea — Tori Amos, Theresa Andersson, Nicole Atkins, David Byrne, Camille, Charmaine Clamor, Steve Earle, Fatboy Slim, Cyndi Lauper, Nellie McKay, Allison Moorer, Sharon Jones, Natalie Merchant, Róisín Murphy, Candie Payne, Kate Pierson, Alice Russell, St. Vincent, Santigold, Sia, Martha Wainwright, Florence Welch, Shara Worden

Representative lyric: "And if I bang my head on the wall for hours/ Then I won’t feel the confusion no more/ The New York doctor—bright yellow pills he gave me/ Remind yourself what you’re doing it for—"

You might not like it if: You choose to hold your breath until they mention shoes, which would cause you to pass out from lack of oxygen.

Rec. #186 (v. abbrev.): Hark! A Vagrant (the book)

It even has an index!

(Please see Rec. #95 for additional context.)

Rec. #185 (abbrev.): Spellbound

What: Hitchcock flick, Ingrid Bergman, Gregory Peck, 1945, amnesia, psychiatry, murder, skiing, handwriting, fork tines, mental hospital, front page of a newspaper, hidden impulses, violin case, dream analysis, razor, impostor doctor, snow, train tickets, impaled on an iron fence, absolutely nothing to do with a youth spelling bee

Representative quote: "My dear girl, you cannot keep bumping your head against reality and saying it is not there."

Also: Dream sequence by Salvador Dalí, (see below)

Connections to previous Wreckage: Rope (Rec. #5), Shadow of a Doubt (Rec. #78), Family Plot (Rec. #120)

Rec. #184: The Angel's Game, as read by Dan Stevens

A note on audiobooks: Up to now, all the book recommendations I have made on this blog have been specifically for print books. I make no promises as to the relative success of any audio versions. This is because, in my opinion, books that you read with your eyes and books that you read with your ears are very different creatures.

I'm picky about both, but in entirely different ways. For audiobooks, the reader/voice talent/narrator can be as important as the author. For example, does the reader seem to be constantly speaking on a sigh? Out. If the reader is male, does he do female voices by whispering? Out. Does the reader, at any time, make mouth noises? Definitely out, possibly with throwing involved.

What: The Angel's Game, by Carlos Ruiz Zafón, might actually be kind of annoying to read in printed form. The main character is one of those frustratingly dense individuals who do seem to keep cropping up in fiction (especially fiction involving melodramatic conspiracies). And, although the story is a first-person narrative, the book is almost entirely silent regarding the hero's motivation for anything he does. The plot as a whole does not seem to follow logic of any sort, not even its own.

And yet. And yet we have memorable characters (including Isabella, who isn't present nearly enough), thick melodrama, and some truly delicious lines. All of this is shown to its best advantage in the reading by Dan Stevens, who does not sigh, whisper when voicing a woman, or make unseemly mouth noises. Indeed, his precisely distinct voices save the listener, who might otherwise get a bit muddled about which vaguely menacing character is which. Plus, honestly, as I mentioned in Personalized Wreck List #1, the whole thing is worth it just to hear Stevens lovingly bite off the word "flesh."

Representative quote: "Nothing is fair --- the most one can hope for is for things to be logical."

You might not like it if: You do not have a long commute that lends itself to audiobook-listening.

How to get it: In case I haven't made myself abundantly clear, I am specifically suggesting the audio version of this book, as read by Dan Stevens. Try your library.

Rec. #183 (abbrev.): Death in Zanzibar

What: Mid-century British mystery novel, M.M. Kaye, retro camp, skipping out on London, convenient mumps, travel, Dany, awkward disguise, glamourpuss mother, Lash, stolen passport, letters, Mr. Honeywood, midnight intruder, fake secretary, the House of Shade, whiskey, malice, Gussie Bingham, stepfather, theft, spectacles, Amalfi, jealousy, scribbling journalist, brandy, Kivulimi, revolution, Nigel, house party, death, Zanzibar

Representative quote: "I'm not as polygamous as I look."

List #10: 4 Internet Crushes

Because that's what Twitter is for, right?

1. John Allison (@badmachinery)

I strongly suspect that the creator of Bad Machinery (Rec. #138) is himself an elaborate fiction, because he seems too good to be true --- except for the fact that he lives thousands of miles away. [Although I believe he does underestimate certain people's (my) willingness to relocate.]

"Baby I'm gonna be so nice to you. I'm gonna put all your hats in alphabetical order."

"If I'd married well, my calendar would be clogged with charity banquets. But I messed up, missed out on the good dowries."


2. John Darnielle (@mountain_goats)

Yes, yes, yes, he is the indie rock band the Mountain Goats. But, more importantly, he says things like this on Twitter: "I can only ever be the robber because absolutely no-one, not even songbirds or wordless beasts of the field, will believe me as the cop."


3. Richard Lawson (@rilaws)

Pop culture commentary, ahoy. This is pretty much the only bit of Gawker you need. He has pop culture guilt-gushes, is almost uniformly sarcastic, and even has a little back-and-forth going with Jennifer Ehle. (Plus, he replied to me once on Twitter, and that was fun.)

"Eddie Cibrian's Don Draper impersonation is the saddest thing since La Pieta."

4. Jay Smooth (@jsmooth995)

He is always, always the voice of well-reasoned, articulate, compassionate common-sense. Get thee to his video commentaries on everything from Rick Perry to the BET Awards.

"But by then, it's too late, because the 'what they are' conversation is a rhetorical Bermuda Triangle, where everything drowns in a sea of empty posturing, until somebody just blames it all on hip-hop and we forget the whole thing ever happened."

[Or, if you're usually more inclined the other way, may I suggest Sarah Haskins (@sarah_haskins), Mindy Kaling (@mindykaling), and Martha Plimpton (@marthaplimpton)?]

Rec. #182 (abbrev.): Party Down

What: Another TV series from Rob Thomas (Veronica Mars), two seasons, Los Angeles, struggling actors, cater waiters, crisp white shirts, Adam Scott, alcohol, pink bow ties, Ken Marino, Soup 'R Crackers, helpful gay pirate, Lizzy Caplan, texting, spitting, crushes, Jane Lynch, singles seminar for seniors, prescription drugs, Martin Starr, Baja condos, prop gun, illegal drugs, Jennifer Coolidge, high school reunion, corporate retreat, Ryan Hansen, sun eggs, Uda Bengt, backstage party, Megan Mullally, funeral, company picnic, NFL draft party, wedding, the Gute, other guest stars galore

Representative quote: "It's not lying, it's... acting. Look, I was an actor; it's easy. You just use the true bits and you fake the fake bits. Most actors aren't bright, so it has to be simple."

Bonus representative quote:

"Hey Roman, Google me in ten years, that's going to be me."
"The only way I'm Googling you in ten years is if you get very creative in the way that you kill yourself."

Also: Veronica Mars (Rec. #168), and don't forget to visit Adam Scott on Parks and Recreation (Rec. #119)

And: Seriously, folks, it's time to get on this boat if you haven't already. We've already delved headfirst into the nostalgia phase of Party Down's life cycle.

Rec. #181: Told by an Idiot

What: In the satirical novel Told by an Idiot, author Rose Macaulay follows one family around the corner of the turn of the last century, from the last decades of the Victorian period to the end of World War I. Much like its primary heroine, Rome Garden, the book is jaded, amused, critical, perceptive, witty, and urbane.

Comparable to: It's like Virginia Woolf's Orlando in its cynical sweep, or like an Elizabeth von Arnim novel in its pointed and wry character descriptions.

Representative quote: "Stanley was like that --- enthusiastic, headlong, a deep plunger, a whole-hogger."

Bonus representative quote: "No teasing worried Una; she was as placid as a young cow."

[Note: Quotes were chosen at random. Roughly 80% of the novel is very, very quotable.]

You might not like it if: You're completely thrown off by the fact that the extreme specificity of the period detail is threaded with an absolute certainty that human nature is basically what it always has been (religious crises, fashionable radicalism, sex novels, and all).

How to get it: It's out of print, so check your library and used book sellers.

Connection to previous Wreckage: Macaulay presents a less sweeping, more personal societal satire in Crewe Train (Rec. #84).

Rec. #180 (abbrev.): Ghostwritten

What: David Mitchell's first novel, interconnected, episodic, East Asia, doomsday cult, jazz, money laundering, diabetes, tea shack, ghost, Russia, art heist, Mongolian hit man, UK, drummer/ghostwriter, world destabilization, men in suits, chance and destiny, casino, quantum cognition, on the run, goat, USA, late night radio, the Zookeeper, possible nuclear annihilation

Representative quote: "Perhaps in a few years some widower pig farmer might be persuaded to take me in as a mistress and nurse for his old age. If I was lucky. I resolved then and there not to be lucky."

Also: Black Swan Green (Rec. #72) and Cloud Atlas (Rec. #140)

Rec. #179 (abbrev.): Pleasantville

What: Remember when Pleasantville came out in (good grief) 1998? We quite liked it. It's still good! Modern teen siblings sucked into 1950s television show, Reese Witherspoon, innocence, complacency, irony, William H. Macy, jukebox, black and white, Tobey Maguire, nostalgia, censorship, Joan Allen, slow color, Mary Sue, painting, a bit of Jenny Lewis, courtroom, freedom of choice, bubblegum, Jeff Daniels, malt shop, Skip, rainstorm, poodle skirts, sweater sets, book burning

Representative quote: "Well, we're safe for now. Thank goodness we're in a bowling alley."

Rec. #178: The Half

What: The Half collects more than 300 photographs of actors backstage in British theaters over the past few decades. Photographer Simon Annand has captured the actors during the sacrosanct thirty minutes before curtain-up known as "the half." Here you'll find fascinating and revealing shots of dreamboats (Laurence Fox, Ioan Gruffudd, David Tennant), look-at-them-thens (Colin Firth in 1985!), stage goddesses (Judi Dench, Helen Mirren, Maggie Smith), and thespian lions (Jeremy Irons, Ben Kingsley, Ian McKellen) . . . I could go on.

Representative quote (caption): "Dan Stevens, Hay Fever by Noel Coward, Theatre Royal Haymarket, 2006. Leaping downstairs towards the stage, past Judi Dench's dressing room."

You might not like it if: You're looking at the book in my general vicinity and you get annoyed as I keep gasping about the presence of several of my personal favorites: Sinead Cusack, Anne Marie Duff, Jennifer Ehle, Stephen Fry, Romola Garai, Michelle Gomez, Richard E. Grant, Tamsin Greig, Damian Lewis, Joanna Lumley, Jonny Lee Miller, Maxine Peake, Rufus Sewell, Toby Stephens, David Suchet, Catherine Tate, Ruth Wilson . . . I could go on.

How to get it: Well, I just got it at the bookshop of the National Theatre in London. Not sure what you're going to do.