Vlog: reading Bret Easton Ellis & Gavin Lambert

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Put on your sunglasses, babes - I read a couple of deeply Californian books
Books:
The Shards by Bret Easton Ellis (2023)
The Goodby People by Gavin Lambert (1971)
Some more California books:
Cassandra at the Wedding by Dorothy Baker (1962)
A Single Man by Christopher Isherwood (1964)
Slow Days, Fast Company. The World, the Flesh, and L.A. by Eve Babitz (1977)
Sex and Rage by Eve Babitz (1979)
Farewell to Manzanar by Jeanne Wakatsuki Houston and James D. Houston (1973)
Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? by Philip K. Dick (1968)
A Scanner Darkly by Philip K. Dick (1977)
The Joy Luck Club by Amy Tan (1989)
I was looking at the ceiling and then I saw the sky by June Jordan (1995)
Infinite City: A San Francisco Atlas by Rebecca Solnit (2010)
The Sellout by Paul Beatty (2015)
The Mothers by Brit Bennett (2016)
There There by Tommy Orange (2018)
How Much of These Hills Is Gold, C Pam Zhang (2020)
Something New Under the Sun, Alexandra Kleeman (2021)
Socials:
Insta (@sdelphis): / sdelphis
StoryGraph: @sdelphis
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Опубликовано:

14 окт 2024

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Комментарии : 37

@rebareads Год назад

Of the two, I’m definitely adding The Goodby People to my TBR. Sounds lovely and I love the California setting!

@bibliosophie Год назад

based on my (limited) knowledge of your tastes, I think it would really appeal to you!

@cs0p Год назад

I really enjoyed this vlog. I think you're pretty spot on about everything you said about bret. It's what makes him so divisive (which ofc you say). I love him, but I get not liking him. He is super repetitive and the music parts can get annoying, esp not being familiar with the songs. The gore parts are so chilling. lol I felt the part about wanting to tell bret the character to calm down. I love listening to a well-spoken reader with different book opinions than mine. I can't say how much I loved this video

@bibliosophie Год назад

🥹 thank you! even though I’d never read one of his novels before, I basically knew what I was getting into (I have a very soft spot in my heart for Mary Harron’s American Psycho). it’d be disingenuous of me to be “shocked” by some of the aspects of his writing that don’t react alchemically w my personality

@ameliareads589 Год назад

I've read a couple of Bret's books, not this one yet and the last one many years ago, but obviously his writing didn't change.

@bibliosophie Год назад

💀💀💀

@jameskatie Год назад

that's a hot list, thank you for sharing x

@bibliosophie Год назад

💚🌴🕶️

@DogEaredMusings Год назад

I haven’t read the shards, but I loved your analysis of it, that book gives me Secret History vibes lol-and I love your California list, I had forgotten that There There takes place in California!

@bibliosophie Год назад

definitely BIG Secret History mood in The Shards (unsurprisingly, given the common breeding ground for Tartt & Ellis) but with a California dirtbag twist

@pleasuresofthetext Год назад

definitely curious about those mcnally editions and i've never read bret easton ellis but i'm intrigued now. i always thought of him as the misogyny, shock-writer guy but maybe there's genius there too idk also love the outfit with the jacket, hat, and red lipstick

@bibliosophie Год назад

misogyny, shock-writer guy who’s awkwardly getting more and more reactionary with age (bc of course he is) is def accurate. I think there’s really no NEED to read his stuff, but I’d say this one was worth the read for me. that’s my kind of ambivalent take lol and thank you :) 🖤

@katsfieldnotes Год назад

I love a book that feels ephermeral and flit-y. Will def look into Goodby People (and also you are the GOAT for that list, thats for sharing it! )

@bibliosophie Год назад

I think it would make a glorious slow summer weekend read. and you’re most welcome!

@SpringboardThought Год назад

I haven’t read any Ellis before. It sounds like how I think it might go, based on cobbling together how people describe his writing. The massive redundancy reminds me of my reading of The Man Without Qualities.

@bibliosophie Год назад

ya, i think if you have any inkling of what Ellis is like, you’re probably right. he’s very much as (self-)advertised - which i think is also probably something appealing about him, too. re The Man Without Qualities: never read, but have been curious about that weird behemoth since i was a teenager. i doubt i’ll get to it…

@SpringboardThought Год назад

@@bibliosophie man without qualities is such a struggle. He makes a lot of declarative, misogynistic statements about women and strays into moral relativism, has no plot, doesn’t respect it’s own fiction with time and place, and is unfinished, and feels very much unfinished. If I hadn’t bought the audiobook on audible I doubt I’d have finished it. I’m pretty sure I have Less Than Zero around here somewhere.

@bibliosophie Год назад

@@SpringboardThought what an absolutely fabulous and CRUSHING book review

@nathansnook Год назад

i think you solidified my decision on going kindle for The Shards instead of getting a physical copy. i don't want to pay for that doorstopper! i read American Psycho ages ago before i saw the film and liked it very much in my angsty teen self who read too much Bukowski and Genet and Burroughs. so, i very much think he's the sort of writer that sticks with you at a certain point in taste in your life. The Goodby People is exquisite! felt like the BTS of all the parties of Eve Babitz in a wonderful way.

@bibliosophie Год назад

love that description of Goodby People. I would definitely recommend ebook for The Shards, if even just bc that big boy is HEAVY

@qlsocks132 Год назад

everything you disliked about Ellis is what I like about him haha. I have a deep love for his work and he is one of the few male authors that i read. i fell in love with his work after writing a paper for uni on American Psycho as a feminist work, there is so much written on that topic, so if you decide to read AP I highly recommend reading a few articles on that too. However his work might just not be for you, as the things that annoyed you about The Shards are what all of his work is known for. The simplistic language, for example, is sometimes he feels very strongly about and is intentional, as he wants the characters to speak as those characters would speak irl, he doesn’t want them to sound like poets or professors because that is not who they are. His books being written as a film is also something he does because of his deep love for film, he often says that what really inspires him is film and not literature

@bibliosophie Год назад

I definitely understand the appeal, and as you say, the aspects I dislike/am ambivalent about are really things that just aren’t tailored to me. it’s definitely clear that his narrative voice and plotting are absolutely purposeful - he knows what he’s doing, I know what he’s doing, and that’s that! :)

@AnnNovella Год назад

The goodby people is indeed very vibe-ish, loved The Shards

@bibliosophie Год назад

have you read/liked other Ellis books?

@AnnNovella Год назад

Are you going to read the new Houellebecq?

@AnnNovella Год назад

@@bibliosophie That’s the only one I’ve read and don’t feel like reading more.

@bibliosophie Год назад

@@AnnNovella ha ha ha I love that answer - I think I’m in a similar place. glad I read this one, don’t feel I need to read others (would probably enjoy some of them fine)

@bibliosophie Год назад

@@AnnNovella probably not. I’ve never gotten on well with Houellebecq truthfully

@r.enee.morris Год назад

I too don’t read goodbye in that way and though it was ‘good-b’

@bibliosophie Год назад

thank you for validating my brain’s unwillingness to be flexible :D

@amyb3737 Год назад

The name dropping, pop culture, and musical references are all over American Psycho as well. Paragraphs upon paragraphs of it. Although it has a satirical purpose in American Psycho it does get tiresome. I have yet to read The Shards but i just finished the podcast "Once Upon a Time at Bennington College" (def worth a listen) which delves into Bret Easton Ellis' early college/writing life and from what you've described it definitely sounds like this is a work of autofiction. Huge similarities to his life . Really enjoyed your video 😊

@bibliosophie Год назад

definitely got a version of The Secret History vibes from The Shards, speaking of the Bennington College years… that podcast’s been on my list of things to check out for a while. thanks for the rec/reminder!

@estherlouisal15 Год назад

Would you ever consider doing content in french? I know I would love it...but maybe you'd need a bigger french speaking audience. Know there's at least one of us out here!

@bibliosophie Год назад

as you say, my audience is predominantly anglophone + I’m reading mainly English-language books, so I don’t imagine I’ll be making videos in French, but it is good to know that it’s of some interest! thank you :)

@estherlouisal15 Год назад

Oh well, I have your lovely intro as a little french influence! Love your videos

@bibliosophie Год назад

@@estherlouisal15 🥹