Just some book talk...

I love sex and I love literature, so I thought I'd combine both of these passions in this blog.

A television show that I'd love to see - if I could will it into existence, I would - is a book review show, a high-brow, intellectual arts programme, in which a panel of people intelligently discuss books while simultaneously masturbating and/or having sex. It would combine the sexual and the literary, the carnal and the intellectual, and it would be stupendously hot. I'm not going to hold my breath for a programme like this to be commissioned any time soon, and even if it were it would probably have an audience of one: me. It's just a fantasy that exists in my fevered brain.

Although the creation of this blog was sparked off by my discovery of the cam site Chaturbate, and the content here is primarily sexual in nature, I've decided that I will occasionally include posts about any interesting books that I've read - not books that necessarily have any sexual content, just books that I enjoyed and I believe have merit. Just for the hell of it.

The following are some great books that I've read in recent months:

Middlesex - Jeffrey Eugenides: The creation of this blog was sparked by my discovery of the cam site Chaturbate, and this book was recommended by a broadcaster on Chaturbate, the exceptionally beautiful, smart, funny and thoroughly terrific Eliza Schatz, so it's only fitting and appropriate that I mention it here. It was possibly my first week of using Chaturbate, and Eliza just happened to mention this book, and offered it as a recommendation to everyone. I knew of the novel anyway, and had almost bought it earlier in the year, but instead I opted for another book by the same author, The Virgin Suicides - a book much loved by many people, but one which I didn't really enjoy and couldn't really connect with. But whereas I didn't enjoy The Virgin Suicides, I positively loved Middlesex. It tells the story of Calliope (or Cal) Stephanides, who was born intersex, that is, having characteristics that are both male and female, and being unable to be identified as either sex. However, this remained unidentified at birth and throughout childhood, and s/he was raised as a girl - until puberty hits, and then all hell breaks loose for Callie. It's a huge, ambitious novel, that spans generations and continents. Eugenides' writing evokes all the senses, and even now, several weeks after having read it, I can still recall much of it in vivid detail in my mind, which is rare for me because specific details of novels are usually quick to fade from my memory; I usually just remember the emotional reaction I have to a novel, rather than the specific details of what actually happened in it. But scenes from Middlesex are so crystal clear in my mind, in such vivid, multi-coloured, multi-sensory detail, it's almost as if I watched those scenes unfold in real life rather than just read them in a book, so real do they feel to me. There's also a great deal of humour in the book, much of it subtle and understated, but it's there, running through the whole thing, and it put a big smile on my face for much of the time I spent reading it. One thing that made me a little sad was that some of the characters who have such rich and interesting lives as young people (Desdemona and Lefty, Tessie and Milton) settle into such prosaic, mundane lives as they advance into middle age - and their inner lives felt neglected and unexplored as they got older. This isn't a failing of the novel, though, it is done by design. The book, after all, isn't their story. It's Callie's. It is, overall, a truly outstanding novel, and had I not discovered Chaturbate, and more specifically Eliza's room, I certainly wouldn't have read it, not after having been so underwhelmed by The Virgin Suicides. I'm just glad that I have read it, because it is a wonderful novel.

Apple Tree Yard - Louise Doughty: I loved this book. It's a literary thriller that is both gripping and exceptionally intelligent. It centres around a sexually intense middle-aged affair and a court trial, but beyond that I'll say no more. Structurally it is very clever, it's exquisitely suspenseful, and it's also an angry, impassioned book that has a great deal to say about inequality between the sexes and the way women are treated in the legal system.

The Goldfinch - Donna Tartt:  I read a lot of good books, some very good books, and some exceptionally good books, but very, very rarely, along comes a novel of a different order of magnitude entirely, a novel that instantly becomes one of my favourite novels of all time. And that's what this is. Nothing I say here can do justice to how utterly magnificent it is. It's about a boy, Theo Decker, his journey into adulthood and his lifelong connection with a Dutch painting, The Goldfinch. It might sound boring, but it is anything but - it is incident packed, and it is also very moving; this novel engages the heart as much as it stimulates the mind, and I can't remember the last time I connected so strongly emotionally with a novel as I did with this. The writing throughout is flawless, with not a single extraneous or unnecessary word anywhere to be found in its ample length. It is a perfectly formed masterpiece, and, basically, I am in awe of Donna Tartt.

I am Pilgrim - Terry Hayes: This one is a flat out thriller - a spy thriller - but whereas a lot of thrillers I read can feel formulaic or familiar, this one genuinely surprised me: it felt like something fresh and new, like nothing I've read before. Structurally, it is very clever, it is impeccably researched, and the level of detail in it is astonishing. But what's even more astonishing is that it never gets bogged down in its detail; the writing always feels crisp and fresh. I found it exciting, suspenseful, unpredictable, gripping and frequently surprising. Some parts of it may be a little implausible or too reliant on unlikely coincidences, but what the hell, I thoroughly enjoyed this novel.

We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves - Karen Joy Fowler: This is a bright, sparkly shining jewel of a novel about a young woman, Rosemary, and how her separation from her twin sister, Fern, at the age of five has subsequently affected and shaped her life. There is something odder about it than this, but the author withholds that information until page 77, so I won't reveal it here. But I truly loved this novel - it's a juicy, vibrant and wise novel, full of life, with a quirky edge to it. It's also very funny - until it isn't funny anymore and it becomes positively heart-breaking; underneath all of the quirkiness and humour there is something deeply angry and impassioned and serious, and the book raises ethical questions for which it offers no easy solutions. It is a glorious novel, which I will be recommending to people I know for a long time to come.