Happy Birthday Jack Nicholson by Hunter S. Thompson

The Blurb On The Back:

High priest of hedonism and godfather of gonzo journalism, Hunter S. Thompson was renowned for his counterculture masterpiece Fear and Loathing in Law Vegas, which described his chemical-addled adventures in 1970s America. Taken from Thompson’s brilliantly entertaining autobiography, Kingdom of Fear - the last book published before his death earlier this year – these pieces provide a hilarious but now also painful insight into the life and mind of a true literary outlaw.

( The Review (Cut For Spoilers): )

The Verdict:

If you’re unfamiliar with Hunter S. Thompson’s work and are looking to get an idea of what it was about, I think that this is a decent primer. I don’t subscribe to his political and cultural beliefs, but you can see why he holds a place in America’s cultural pantheon and his articles following 9/11 seem particularly prescient today.

Seventeen Poisoned Englishmen by Gabriel García Márquez

The Blurb On The Back:

Admired by millions across the world, Gabriel Garcia Márquez first came to prominence as an imaginative writer of genius with his fantastical novel One Hundred Years of Solitude, published by Penguin in 1972. Alternately enchanting and disconcerting, the four tales in this volume describe the frailty of humanity and the bewitching force of the imagination, in a world where the lines between reality and dream and hopelessly blurred.

( The Review (Cut For Spoilers): )

The Verdict:

The collection’s worth checking out for the two stories ‘I ONLY CAME TO USE THE PHONE’ and THE WOMAN WHO CAME AT SIX O’CLOCK and I’m curious enough to want to read more of Márquez’s work.