Got the new issue of Classic Rock - it had a feature on Kate Bush + stuff on upcoming things that mentioned Billy Idol is due to release his memoirs soon. They also had Slash doing some sort of diary thing on the making of his new album + a review of the new Johnny Thunders documentary. And best of all, they had a feature on Jane's Addiction (who I ( Read more... )

Read The Thrill of It All by Joseph O' Connor which is a novel about a band that starts in the 80s but it's written as if it were a true story if that makes sense like it has extracts from interviews with band members interspersed. I really loved it, there is something about JO'C's writing that just sings + comes alive on the page. He has these ( Read more... )

I read In Plain Sight by Dan Davies which is all about Jimmy Savile. It's actually a really interesting book + so much more than just a quick cash-in. The author had interviewed JS a number of times over the years + has done a lot of research into his life. He doesn't really go into a lot of detail about the crimes JS has been accused of (and he ( Read more... )

Got Twee the new book by Marc Spitz. It’s about that sort of hipster indie aesthetic that’s characterised by things like the films of Wes Anderson, Belle + Sebastian, The Smiths, Zooey Deschanel, Lena Dunham + Girls etc. I really liked the book (tho’ I do love Marc Spitz’s writing in general) + thought it was an interesting read. He looked at the ( Read more... )

My new issue of Bust came the other day. It had some good interviews w/Carrie Brownstein (I still really want to see Portlandia - I can't believe C4 haven't picked it up yet), Brooke Candy + Caitlin Moran (I know Bitch magazine wouldn't interview her because of some of the things she's said in the past but Bust didn't address any of that in this ( Read more... )

Got new issue of Gay Times which has reviews of I Am Divine + Some Like It Hot (which is being re-released) plus a little mention for an Ursula the Sea-Witch cookie jar. They also had interviews w/Adore Delano + Courtney Act from RuPaul's Drag Race + an article about Elizabeth Taylor + how they're trying to get a blue plaque put up at her childhood ( Read more... )

So I read How To Build A Girl by Caitlin Moran, her new novel. It features a teenaged girl called Johanna Morrigan growing up in 90s Wolverhampton who changes her name to Dolly Wilde and starts writing for a London-based music weekly. I quite liked it, it's funny + it's an easy read + talks about how you create your identity as you become an adult ( Read more... )

Guardian last week had a big interview w/Caitlin Moran and a review of her new book, How To Build A Girl plus a big piece on Crash by J.G. Ballard (which is being reissued). They also had a little bit about Ivor Novello and Noel Coward getting involved with fascism in the 1920s ( Read more... )

Times at weekend had a couple of reviews of Caitlin Moran's new book and a mention of Entrepeneur Barbie, right at the bottom at its list of downs + dismissed as 'too 80s' (personally I think it's because the playline range has gone back to being a bit too pink/cheap looking as opposed to the more realistic outfits they used to do a few years ago ( Read more... )

I read an interesting book called The Feminist Porn Book which is a collection of essays by various people - not just academics and activists but also performers + producers of porn. The book also covers a wide variety of sexualities/genders + includes black + Asian voices. It includes pieces by Buck Angel, April Flores, Candida Royalle, Nina ( Read more... )