Read/reading: Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad, Norwegian Wood by Haruki Murakami.

This… didn’t impress me. I think that’s the first time I’ve said that in a while. I suspect part of it comes from the inevitable postcolonial reading you have to give this book - it’s horribly racist, and not in the sense where it’s satirising or highlighting the racism of others. There are still gripping moments, and the key moments regarding the (metaphorical) darkness of people’s psyches are still strong, but I suspect there’s a reason why people generally consider Apocalypse Now to have superseded the material upon which it’s (loosely) based.

In retrospect, I could have given this one a miss.

High hopes for Murakami. Either that, or Casey’s horribly wrong about everything.

Read/reading: The Curse of Lono by Hunter S. Thompson and Ralph Steadman, Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad.

That was quick.

This was an odd one. It feels a little like a collage, with Thompson jumping around a lot, and the resulting effect is that you don’t quite get the smack of a conclusion that appears in Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas. On the other hand, Steadman’s art is gorgeous (there’s a reason he’s co-credited - a lot of the images in the book are two-page illustrations, full of colour and odd detail) and there are some really choice lines. It demonstrates that Thompson’s gonzo spirit wasn’t limited to the seventies, and that his anarchic sensibilities continued until his death, and it’s worth reading if you can find a copy that isn’t incredibly expensive.

As for Heart of Darkness, I’m not sure what to expect apart from brevity. I loved the themes that Apocalypse Now explored, so I’m cautiously optimistic. We’ll see.