MacDara Conroy: Self, aggregated

The Hardcore Diaries
Mick Foley
6/10

It does exactly as it says on the tin. Foley kept a notebook of his thoughts and ramblings in the run-up to his tag-team match with Terry Funk at the second ECW One Night Stand event last year, and this book is the result. Unsurprisingly, it’s not a patch on his first memoir, Have A Nice Day, but it still has some arresting insights on the politics of booking and the private lives of ‘the boys’.

Rock and the Pop Narcotic
Joe Carducci
7/10

A tribute to the essence of ‘rock’, and an indictment of its dilution into ‘pop’, from the former label manager at SST Records. If you can get over the attitude — and he’s got a lot of attitude — his ideas are just as interesting, thought-provoking and worthy as those of Lester Bangs, et al. He brims with enthusiasm for the sounds that a simple guitar-bass-drums set-up can produce, and it shows.

Black Hole
Charles Burns
8/10

Burns’ eerie, other-wordly tale of contagious mutation spreading among a group of Seattle high-schoolers in the 1970s is one of the best allegories for and meditations on the awkwardness and dis-ease of adolescence that I’ve read so far. Cult/horror movie fans, too, will get off on the simplistic yet detailed and evocative monochrome artwork.

Watchmen
Alan Moore & Dave Gibbons
8/10

The superhero mythos is expertly deconstructed by Moore (and superbly drawn by Gibbons) in one of the greatest examples of the comic book medium that yet exists. In its telling of a complex, adult story through the iconic visual style of comics’ Golden Age, Watchmen turns the whole genre inside out to engrossing effect.

Freakonomics
Steven D Levitt & Stephen J Dubner
6/10

Essentially, this book is a series of short lectures about fundamental economic principles, made understandable to the lay person by their interpretation through the dynamics of everyday life. It’s a gimmick, yes, but it’s quite an effective one, for what it is. And it should make home sellers more wary of their estate agents’ interests, at least.

The Blank Slate
Steven Pinker
6/10

It took me quite a long time to read this one. The text is quite small and it hurt my eyes, while the density of ideas hurt my brain. Pinker gives the reader a lot to think about in his attempt to debunk the widely-held belief that we are all born as tabulae rasae, and that nurture the sole determinant of our character or behaviour. And while some of his statements might be regarded in some quarters as ‘politically incorrect’, for the most part he doesn’t so much proselytise as put his propositions out there for contemplation. But he doesn’t half go on, though, and some his utterances and assertions (particularly on modern art and composition) betray significant personal prejudice. So take it with a pinch of salt.

Shooting History
Jon Snow
8/10

A very entertaining memoir by arguably Britain’s favourite news presenter/journalist par exellence. If you want to read about how many journalists work, or what kind of person gets involved in the first place, this is a good place to start.

The Brooklyn Follies
Paul Auster
8/10

I breezed through this, what many have regarded as Auster’s most light-hearted work. And while the title might on the surface seem self-referential — that the story represents a folly compared to the rest of his literary oeuvre — with Auster you can’t take things so literally. It’s probably his most accessible book, too, so it’s a good place to start for newcomers.

Down and Dirty Pictures
Peter Biskind
8/10

Biskind continues what he started with Easy Riders, Raging Bulls, this time tackling Hollywood in the 1990s and the rise (and fall) of independent film, in particular the fortunes of Miramax and the seemingly omnipotent Weinsteins. It’s fantastically pulpy and trashy, and the gossip and rumours flow thick and fast. In other words, it’s great.

The Quarry
Damon Galgut
7/10

A short, sharp morality tale set in the barren wastes of a South Africa undergoing incredible change while at the same time hardly changing at all. In the hands of a good cinematographer, this would make for a wonderful film.

The Fortress of Solitude
Jonathan Lethem
8/10

I’d love to visit Brooklyn, and it’s all because of Jonathan Lethem. Sure, the Brooklyn of the 1970s that he writes about in this sweeping coming-of-age story is now almost gone, but just enough of the old spirit remains to make it worth a pilgrimage.

A Short History of Nearly Everything
Bill Bryson
8/10

It took me a year to read this. That shouldn’t be taken as a slight; it’s just that there’s so much information at such great density, so many ideas at play within its pages, that I simply couldn’t digest it all in one go. Somebody should give Bryson a medal.

On Bullshit
Harry J Frankfurt
6/10

One could be smart and say that this tract is itself an exercise in bullshit, as it doesn’t really make its point till 40-something pages in. But you’ll read the whole thing in an hour or less, and it does throw up some thought-provoking ideas regarding the cultural significance of its subject.

Jimmy Corrigan: The Smartest Kid on Earth
Chris Ware
8/10

Anyone who believes that comics are ‘just for kids’ and lack the emotional resonance of ‘real’ literature will be soundly proven wrong by this amazing work. I defy you not to well up at least once.