Random
HOLLYWOOD LIT
showing how it's done
Being in L.A. at the moment, I read with interest this list at the Daily Beast titled The Five Best Novels on Hollywood. (Also, happy Oscar weekend! Turns out this is a big deal out here…) I like Day of the Locust and The Last Tycoon but I’m mezzo-mezzo on Play It As It Lays and The Player (admittedly it’s been a long time since I read either). The only one I haven’t read is Children of Light by Robert Stone. Anyway, I’d argue that two masterpieces are very, very missing from the list.
L.A. Confidential is the obvious missing one. Or, fuck it, just say the whole L.A. Quartet (which also includes, The Black Dahlia, The Big Nowhere, and White Jazz). A masterpiece taken as a whole, and maybe taken as individual novels too. Certainly L.A. Confidential is. It’s one of my favorite modern novels. My feeling is that Ellroy creates a new & unique dialect that forces you to learn how to read it the same way Gaddis makes you learn how to read JR. Thing is, Ellroy also builds a ridiculously complex/riveting/lurid narrative. (Please understand I’m not slagging on Gaddis here. I love JR. But I’m not on the edge of my seat when I read it.) I re-read L.A. Confidential every few years. Further ramblings on it from a while back here.
headbirth movies
The other novel which I’d put on that list above any of the ones currently there is, tragically, less obvious. I say tragically because it’s about as incredible as L.A. Confidential, but very few people know about it. The novel is Brand New Cherry Flavor by Todd Grimson. (Look closely at the cover and you’ll note the Ellroy blurb.) I read this last year and it fucking blew me away. I wrote about this one, too, at the time. It’s a horror novel, sort of, that seems to be a hybrid of Ellroy and Clive Barker, with some David Lynch thrown in. And yet it’s entirely unique. The book is soaked in L.A./Hollywood vibes and it also seems like a cartography of nightmares. The narrative drifts to Brazil and, if I remember, Paris, but mostly floats around L.A. and the surrounding desert, as zombies rape Hollywood players and surreal atrocities take place in secluded Hollywood Hills mansions. I can’t pimp this novel hard enough. It’s more of a Hollywood novel than L.A. Confidential, since it actually takes place in the movie business, so I feel like it should really be at the top of this list.
Tags: hollywood, james ellroy, l.a. confidential, todd grimson
A recent entry into the literary conversation about Hollywood is James Frey’s Bright Shiny Morning and I must say I loved that book. it captures LA quite well.
A recent entry into the literary conversation about Hollywood is James Frey’s Bright Shiny Morning and I must say I loved that book. it captures LA quite well.
I have been to Hollywood once. I will never forget the experience as it nearly killed me. I’ll be short. While driving into Hollywood from Anaheim with a friend who was a California native I asked him to let me know when we passed into Hollywood as I wanted to properly gauge how it felt to me. Soon after the request I had the sudden sensation of not being able to breathe – my throat was closing rapidly and my lungs were no longer taking in oxygen. I had not had this feeling at this point for about 7 years, those in the know realize that I was having a severe allergic reaction to something. My friend was a paramedic and knew what to do and thankfully was able to intubate after stabbing me in the leg with my epi pen all of which occurred on the Hollywood freeway. when I took a good first breath he said, and I’ll never forget it, “hey, welcome to Hollywood.” What I learned – I am allergic to Hollywood. Left as soon as we could turnaround and I’ve never been back. So, fuck Hollywood, but on this reccomendation I will read L.A. Confidential.
I have been to Hollywood once. I will never forget the experience as it nearly killed me. I’ll be short. While driving into Hollywood from Anaheim with a friend who was a California native I asked him to let me know when we passed into Hollywood as I wanted to properly gauge how it felt to me. Soon after the request I had the sudden sensation of not being able to breathe – my throat was closing rapidly and my lungs were no longer taking in oxygen. I had not had this feeling at this point for about 7 years, those in the know realize that I was having a severe allergic reaction to something. My friend was a paramedic and knew what to do and thankfully was able to intubate after stabbing me in the leg with my epi pen all of which occurred on the Hollywood freeway. when I took a good first breath he said, and I’ll never forget it, “hey, welcome to Hollywood.” What I learned – I am allergic to Hollywood. Left as soon as we could turnaround and I’ve never been back. So, fuck Hollywood, but on this reccomendation I will read L.A. Confidential.
‘children of light’ is the jam. highly recommend.
‘children of light’ is the jam. highly recommend.
Bruce Wagner has written some of the best books about the film industry. Force Majeure & I’m Losing You in particular.
Bruce Wagner has written some of the best books about the film industry. Force Majeure & I’m Losing You in particular.
“My feeling is that Ellroy creates a new & unique dialect that forces you to learn how to read […]”
Nick, that’s how I’ve been trying to describe that novel to myself for the past four years. Thanks for helping me clear that up inside my own headspace.
“My feeling is that Ellroy creates a new & unique dialect that forces you to learn how to read […]”
Nick, that’s how I’ve been trying to describe that novel to myself for the past four years. Thanks for helping me clear that up inside my own headspace.
L.A. Confidential is good training for reading Ellroy’s later work, which takes the stylistic conventions of that novel and compresses them to a crazy extent. That novel is where the elements of his mature style came together.
L.A. Confidential is good training for reading Ellroy’s later work, which takes the stylistic conventions of that novel and compresses them to a crazy extent. That novel is where the elements of his mature style came together.
stop slagging on Gaddis.
stop slagging on Gaddis.
never thought i’d see ellroy and gaddis in the same sentence (or the same anything)
never thought i’d see ellroy and gaddis in the same sentence (or the same anything)
Let’s not leave the late James Robert Baker’s sorely underrated (or more accurately, under-read) and hysterically funny “Boy Wonder” off the list.
Let’s not leave the late James Robert Baker’s sorely underrated (or more accurately, under-read) and hysterically funny “Boy Wonder” off the list.
Ask the Dust
Fante
Ask the Dust
Fante