Under the Weather & Out From Under

     Since late last Wednesday, I have been pretty much out of commission with a combination upper respiratory/sinus/other ensemble of symptoms that kept me home from work and all until yesterday. I was so disoriented that I couldn't write, couldn't crochet, could barely read anything of substance. The one blessed exception was Patti Smith's M Train.

     Perhaps to some it qualifies as a sequel to her Just Kids memoir, but it's a very different tone, a very different book. It was easy for me to led Patti take the wheel, across time, across time zones and borders. I've seen some accuse the book of being a mere exercise in name-dropping, but with friends like William S. Burroughs and heroes like Jean Genet, why shouldn't they be mentioned?

     She mentions many, many books that stir her creativity, and at one point is tempted to suggest referring to it for reading suggestions when asked by a young fan in person. I've gone through the book again, perhaps not thoroughly since I'm not all here yet, and compiled a list for myself. Here it is, for your reading edification:

Reading List- Patti Smith, M Train

2666- Roberto Bolano

After Dinner Declarations- Nicanore Parra

After Nature- W.G. Sebald

Amulet- Roberto Bolano

The Beach Café- Paul Bowles

The Confessions of Young Torless- Robert Musil

Dance, Dance, Dance- Haruki Murakami

Dead Souls- Gogol

An Episode in the Life of a Landscape Painter- Cesar Aira

The First Man- Albert Camus

Kafka on the Shore- Haruki Murakami

Letters from Iceland- W.D. Auden

The Little Lame Prince- Mulock

The Master & Margarita- Mikhail Bulgakov

The Lovers- Marguerite Duras

A Night of Serious Drinking- Rene’ Daumal

The Petting Zoo- Jim Carroll

Rashomon- Ryunosuke Akutagawa

A Scarcity of Love- Anna Kavan

The Setting Sun- Osamu Dazai

Spinning Gears- Ryunosuke Akutagawa

The Thief’s Journal- Jean Genet

A Wild Sheep Chase- Haruki Murakami

The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle- Haruki Murakami

Women of Cairo- de Nerval

Authors:

Mohamed Mrabet

Isabelle Eberhardt

Vladimir Mayakovsky

Yoshitsune

Books:

Hell Screen

No Longer Human

The Laughing Policeman

Music:

Louis Armstrong: “(What A) Wonderful World”

Fleet Foxes: “Your Protector”

Golden Earring: “Radar Love”

John Coltrane: “Ole’”, “Live at Birdland”

Mighty Swallow: “Soca Dance”

Velvet Underground: “1969: Velvet Underground Live”

“Callas is Medea is Callas”

     I'm tempted to test out the Polaroid I've dragged around for years, but that may have to wait til summer. I'll head to the library on Saturday, and see what I can find from this list. At present, I am in the process of disabling my Amazon account, for many good reasons. Laziness is one of them.