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.

Read/reading: The Rules of Attraction by Bret Easton Ellis, The Curse of Lono by Hunter S. Thompson and Ralph Steadman.

Not Ellis’s finest work, but there are points where it hit me right in the gut. There’s this mood that Ellis gets across sometimes that (and forgive me for being pretentious here) feels like a sense of melancholy at seeing the world a little clearer than most others, and it’s something he does startlingly well. What pushes this below his other books is a noticeable absence of plot - nothing really happens, here, and his stream-of-consciousness style isn’t very forgiving. Still an interesting read, though.

I have no idea where I’m going to keep Lono while I’m reading it. I have the huge hardback version.