Faces

Here are some faces from TV and the street, in my sketchbook. All guaranteed drawn today. Well, the girl was drawn yesterday. Back to school specials meant that there were a lot of deals on things such as sketchbooks, so I loaded up.

Maybe I'll be writing later. I promised reviews and things. But my work has been writing, coming up with ideas, and I've been busy at that. Don't feel like putting up sections of my journal. The books I've read have been disappointing, but don't feel like kicking the authors. Oh, all right.

"Symptomatic" by Danzy Sensa was about a journalist of mixed background, a prizewinner, starting out on her career in New York. But the people around her are terrible, and the book turns into a version of Stephen King's "Misery" because the woman who finds her an apartment turns out ot be a psycho. That's about it. Her earlier book, "Caucasian," was supposed to be a masterpiece of what it's like being a visible minority writer. That's out of print. This one seems to be a reaction to her fame, or at least recognition, and is totally joyless. She hates the work she does and the people around her. I hope she cheers up, or finds other work, or gets some glee into her misanthropy (see Martin Amis below). Nice feeling for New York in the book, however.

Next is "Sweet Grass Stories" by E.L. Doctorow, author of "Ragtime." This collection of short stories reads like second-rate Flannery O'Connor, but with the stakes raised as far as violence.

At the moment, I'm reading "Yellow Dog" by Martin Amis, which got totally panned in the press. But so far, I'm enjoying it, while not expecting much. He hates everyone as well, but it's so over the top, it's funny. I'm enjoying his take on the tabloid press, which is a little like what it is to write material such as that (I did photo captions for a tabloid, which meant absolutely making up stories about what was going on in the photo, but packing in as many stupid puns as possible.) The bile and hatred everyone in the book bears for everyone else is ludicrous enough to be funny. The sense of humour about it all is what makes it easier to take than "Symptomatic," which seemed to be in earnest.