BOOKS OF THE YEAR 2010
This review of my top three books of the year is the last one under this format. Starting in 2011 I will try and add reviews of books on a more regular basis. My top picks this year are, Colin Insole: 'Oblivions Poppy, Quentin S. Crisp: 'Remember You're A One-Ball' and Richard Kaczynski: 'Perdurabo'.
Colin Insole 'Oblivions Poppy'
(Passport Levant 2010)
Passport Levant is an offshoot of Ex-Occidente Press. Both specialize in what we might loosly (and perhaps lazily) term weird fiction. E.O. tend to produce full length books while P.L.s output are landscape format novellas. All are produced in small editions, often only 100 copies.
2010 has seen a plethora of titles from both presses and it would now seem that both are to cease production in late 2011. The quality of fiction has generally been very high and the nice production values certainly make them attractive to read.
Each book retails at about £40.00+, a considerable sum with so many other presses clamouring for your money, and whilst you will do no wrong by buying Mark Valentines 'The Mascarons of the Late Empire', the pick of the bunch must be 'Oblivions Poppy' by the previously unknown (to me) Colin Insole.
The action is set in 1952, within a semi-closed retreat where people with dubious pasts are in residence. Although safe; it is far from being a refuge, as their work symbolically entails them re-living their sins in some way. This is bought into sharper relief by the arrival of some of their victims, each mysteriously invited by the leader of the Retreat. A reconciliation or ordeal is now inevitable, but not without the use of rites and a device that has lain forgotten for some centuries.
An air of mysticism and melancholy pervades the entire text. The plot itself slowly winds the reader into its enclosed gardens, caves and spartan rooms where one begins to feel the weight of each protagonists burden, either as a perpetrator of deeds that sit heavily upon them, or those of their victims, who are themselves lost souls; dispossessed of loved ones, or post-war geographical identity.
The writing steers clear of pathos by its beautiful turns of phrase. The text has a suffused twilight glow over it and the layers of the plot are slowly pulled away as one might perhaps gossamer silk layers from a scared treasure, with small jewels of language are constantly being exposed within their folds. I was reminded somewhat of M. P. Shiel, but whereas he can sometimes overload his texts and create too rich a texture 'Oblivions Poppy' maintains an air of restraint throughout making it an absolute joy to read.
Whilst one can buy direct from the press itself many people (myself included) have had problems with orders. Thus I personally recommend buying from Cold Tonnage Books
Quentin S. Crisp 'Remember You're A One-Ball'
(Chomu Press 2010)
(Chomu Press 2010)
Another "consummate prose stylist" as Mr. Joshi might say is Quentin Crisp. His tale 'Ynys-y-Plag' from his collection 'All Gods Angels Beware' (Ex-Occidente 2009) was the best short story I read that year. Whilst I have found Crisps stories a little too discursive at times, none of that is to be found in his wonderful debut novel.
This is grim (in the best possible!) way, and concerns the dark underside of school life and the equally strange currents that drive those who teach in it. I am sure everyone has been in situations where they feel that something that affects them is happening elsewhere and they are not a party to it. The power politics of school and school-yard are brutally exposed and it is not until some way into the book that the true horror of the situation begins to emerge. The protagonist has to decide whether to expose it or become of it.
Crisp, as always, writes beautifully honed barbs of prose which he elegantly but brutally shoves into the reader. Visceral is a term overused in the horror genre, though one could equally classify this book as satire. Neither term really reflects or does justice to this book. It is the best thing he has written to date- and there has been plenty of fine writing before this.
Chomu Press is relatively new but will certainly be one to watch in 2011 as its forthcoming book list looks wonderful.
Finally, everyone knows who Aleister Crowley is and there are no shortage of biographies ranging from the scurrilous (John Symonds) to the rubbish (Roger Hutchinson). All these are superceded by:
Richard Kaczynski 'Perdurabo'
(North Atlantic Books 2010)
For anyone who wants a thorough overview of this influential figure, this bulky volume will more than suffice. Kaczynski is a student (and one assumes, practitioner) of Crowleys system and this could be a recipe for disaster but, to his immense credit, he avoids this enormous pitfall and presents a very balanced overview of this complex and driven character. Crowley had many talents, offset by some remarkable blind spots and the author illuminates both sides.
Is it definitive as many suggest? No. For the truely fastideous who must know everything, there are Crowleys own diaries and 'Confessions', plus other books which draw upon his numerous letters.
Does that mean this biography will thus be superceded? I think not. This edition is the expanded version, and if I have any reservations over this volume it might be that it is in every sense, too exhaustive. However I doubt this will be a problem to many.
'Perdurabo' is readily available everywhere but North Atlantic Books direct link is here.
