Hello reader who is also a reader, and welcome back to Booked For The Week – our regular Sunday chat with a selection of cool industry folks about books! “Nic, you selfless paragon. You champion of the people. You prince among men. I can’t believe you put your favourite column on pause for several weeks to let me finish my book!”. Please. I’m sure you would have done the same, were you also a dashing genius with a moustache powerful enough to crack the pyramids.
To ring in the resurrection with style, it’s The Norwood Suite, Betrayal At Club Low, and Moves Of The Diamond Hand’s Cosmo D! Cheers Cosmo! Mind if we have a nose at your bookshelf?
What are you currently reading?
I’ve been slow-burning through the 20th Century Boys manga. Epic as it gets. A ragtag group of friends try to stop a seemingly unstoppable mega-cult. The mystery comes at you like paper coming out of a malfunctioning printer. Decades jump forwards and backwards with abandon. I first got into Urasawa’s work when Netflix adapted his Pluto manga. That was amazing, but this is sheer fun. If it gets an anime adaptation, it’s going to be an event.
What did you last read?
A History Of Bones, John Lurie’s autobiography. You might have seen him on HBO’s Painting With John or, the classic 80s film Down By Law. A lot of my inspiration for music and the arts stems out of this very specific cultural era in New York – the 80s and 90s. And Lurie’s anecdotes for how he got there and what happened once he arrived are vivid, strange and playful. It’s like listening to an odd old guy show up at your house and rattle off an endless chain of wild anecdotes. And the way he tells it, you believe every one.
What are you eyeing up next?
Honestly, three Shades Of Blue. Shout outs to Warren Spector and this column for the recommendation!
What quote or scene from a book sticks with you the most?
“The City And The City” by China Mieville. It’s set in a fictional city that’s actually two cities layered on top of one another. Paranormal laws prevent the citizens of one to set foot into the other and vice versa. They have to navigate them using balletic rituals of avoidance and unseeing. Uncovering this world and its rules was a slow-burning pleasure.
What book do you find yourself bothering friends to read?
The Blue Giant manga. It’s a counterpoint to History Of Bones in its conceit – a young sax player comes to a Big City seeking glory. As it’s geared towards younger readers, it’s quite earnest and open-hearted. It’s a bildungsroman. But it still feels authentic to the realities of trying to make it as a musician in a big city. Competition is fierce. It’s easy to cross paths with artists who have divergent agendas and perspectives. It gives space to the various motivations of why people pursue this dream, what drives them. And yet it also shows the cost that the whole process can take from them. I recommend this book because it’s optimistic, but also poignant and grounded.
What book would you like to see someone adapt to a game?
The Power Broker By Robert Caro. It intertwines political intrigue, civic planning, and human drama. It’s an epic portrait of a young idealist who would succumb to his lust for power, reshaping a city in the process. As a game, I see this as a blend of Sim City or Cities Skylines. But with the RPG political machinations of Crusader Kings. Frostpunk goes mid-century modern. You want to build a road there? Better lobby for the permits. You want those permits? Better cozy up with Rockefeller during the election cycle. And is it worth building a highway through the East Village? Well, there’s always a park you can construct around it to soften the blow. Yeah, like Sim City, but every button locked behind bureaucratic red tape. But you’ve got the scissors.
An unsuccessful return in terms of naming every book every written, but a successfully published column – a crucial step in naming all the books. Book for now!