The Fire Next Time by James Baldwin

James Baldwin’s impassioned plea to ‘end the racial nightmare’ in America was a bestseller when it appeared in 1963, galvanising a nation and giving voice to the emerging civil rights movement. Told in the form of two intensely personal ‘letters’, ​The Fire Next Time is at once a powerful evocation of Baldwin’s early life in Harlem and an excoriating condemnation of the terrible legacy of racial injustice. (Source: Goodreads.com)

Selected Poems by Frank O’Hara

The 1974 Selected Poems edited by Donald Allen (which Carcanet are here reprinting) contains 140 poems touching on a broad range of O’Hara’s output. But, inevitably, it’s not without problems; there are several works missing that, over the years, have been recognised as central – “A Party Full of Friends”, “At the Old Place”, “Poem/Lana Turner has collapsed!”.

What the book does deliver, however, is the brasher, messier, more avant-garde side of O’Hara, typified by the rich and challenging textures of “Easter” and “Second Avenue”. (Source: theguardian.com)

The Trial Of Henry Kissinger by Christopher Hitchens

In the words of Hitchens, Kissinger deserves prosecution “for war crimes, for crimes against humanity, and for offenses against common or customary or international law, including conspiracy to commit murder, kidnap, and torture.”. He further calls him “a stupendous liar with a remarkable memory.”

The book takes the form of a prosecutorial document, as Hitchens limits his critique to such charges as he believes might stand up in an international court of law following precedents set at Nuremberg and elsewhere. These link Kissinger to war casualties in Vietnam, massacres in Bangladesh and Timor, and assassinations in Chile, Cyprus, and Washington, D.C. (Source: Wikipedia.org)

Flaubert’s Parrot by Julian Barnes

Flaubert’s Parrot deals with Flaubert, parrots, bears and railways; with our sense of the past and our sense of abroad; with France and England, life and art, sex and death, George Sand and Louise Colet, aesthetics and redcurrant jam; and with its enigmatic narrator, a retired English doctor, whose life and secrets are slowly revealed. A compelling weave of fiction and imaginatively ordered fact, Flaubert’s Parrot is by turns moving and entertaining, witty and scholarly, and a tour de force of seductive originality. (Source: Goodreads.com)

Maldoror by Comte de Lautréamont

Little is known of the author of Maldoror, Isidore Ducasse, self-styled Comte de Lautréamont, except that he was born in Montevideo, Uruguay, in 1846 and died in Paris at the age of twenty-four. When first published in 1868-69, Maldoror went almost unnoticed. But in the 1890s the book was rediscovered and hailed as a work of genius by such eminent writers as Huysmans, Léon Bloy, Maeterlinck, and Rémy de Gourmont. Later, Lautréamont was to be canonized by the Paris Surrealists as one of their principal “ancestors.” (Source: Conmenders.com)

On The Road by Jack Kerouac

With “On the Road”, Jack Kerouac created the key work for the attitude towards life of an entire generation and turned his author into one of the iconic figures of the American counterculture. The original version of “On the Road” was written in New York in April 1951. Kerouac wrote the text non-stop within 20 days on a 40-metre-long roll of Telex paper. He then failed to find a publisher for years.

Almost penniless, he travelled between New York and San Francisco, where he lived for long periods with Neal Cassady and his wife. Between 1951 and 1957, Jack Kerouac wrote several books, which were only gradually published after his breakthrough with “On the Road”. (Source: ellingben.com)

Mr. Wilson’s Cabinet of Wonder by Lawrence Weschler

Mr. Wilson’s Cabinet of Wonder: Pronged Ants, Horned Humans, Mice on Toast, and Other Marvels of Jurassic Technology is a 1995 book by Lawrence Weschler primarily about the Museum of Jurassic Technology in Los Angeles, California, and, more broadly, the history and role of museums. The book is divided into two sections, called Inhaling the Spore and Cerebral Growth. Inhaling the Spore focuses on the Museum of Jurassic Technology itself. The author relates his experiences with the museum and its creator, the titular David Hildebrand Wilson. (Source: Goodreads.com)

Zanoni by Edward Bulwer-Lytton

Zanoni is an 1842 novel by Edward Bulwer-Lytton, a story of love and occult aspiration. By way of introduction, the author confesses: “…It so chanced that some years ago, in my younger days, whether of authorship or life, I felt the desire to make myself acquainted with the true origins and tenets of the singular sect known by the name of Rosicrucians.” A manuscript came into his hands written in the most unintelligible cipher, a manuscript which through the author’s own interpretation became Zanoni. (Source: Goodreads.com)

Private Eye (satirical magazine)

Private Eye is a British fortnightly satirical and current affairs news magazine, founded in 1961. It is published in London and has been edited by Ian Hislop since 1986. The publication is widely recognised for its prominent criticism and lampooning of public figures. It is also known for its in-depth investigative journalism into under-reported scandals and cover-ups. (Source: Wikipedia.org)

Viz (comic magazine)

Viz is a British adult comic magazine founded in 1979 by Chris Donald. It parodies British comics of the post-war period, notably The Beano and The Dandy, but with extensive profanity, toilet humour, black comedy, surreal humour and generally sexual or violent storylines. It also sends up tabloid newspapers, with mockeries of articles and letters pages.

It features parody competitions and advertisements for overpriced ‘limited edition’ tat, as well as obsessions with half-forgotten kitsch celebrities from the 1960s to the 1980s, such as Shakin’ Stevens or Rodney Bewes. Occasionally, it satirises current affairs and politicians, but it has no particular political standpoint. (Source: Wikipedia.org)

Please stay tuned for the final Part 10 – soon on theecool.com