Seth Morgan: Homeboy Review

I recently said that Tim Willocks' Green River Rising might be the best prison novel ever written but Seth Morgan's Homeboy runs it a close second. The only reason it misses out on the top spot is because so much of the book takes place outside prison.

Before the review starts though: a warning. If you like your novels to dive headlong into the sewers of human life and to wallow in vileness and desperation, with no action too foul for somebody to contemplate ... this is the book for you. If you really aren't strong-stomached, pass on Homeboy.

Musing On Music

I blogged a while ago about the house being taken over by piles of books - well, that's not strictly true, - the books fight for surface space with the CDs.

I'll always have something playing whilst reading (or writing). At the moment it's JJ Cale but I'll listen to almost anything. I do draw the line at rap, hip hop and pap that comes from a TV show but that leaves anything from Brahms to Beatles, Van Morrison to Van der Graaf Generator (who? I hear you cry). And another who? Who's the image on the left? Read on and I'll tell you.

Seth Morgan

Silver threads and golden needles cannot mend this heart of mine
And I'll never drown my sorrow in the warm glow of your wine.
You can't buy my love with money, for I never was that kind,
Silver threads and golden needles cannot mend this heart of mine

A verse from Janis Joplin, doubly relevant as Seth Morgan was Joplin's lover and fiancé and because he was a user of drugs through to his death.

Bought A Book At Tesco Recently?

I have, and I'm feeling a little ashamed of myself. It was cheap, it was something I'd read rather than something I desperately wanted, it caught my eye and I have problems walking past books without buying something.