Adam O'Riordan / Features / Untitled Books

"I saw this revived in Greenwich Village recently and it felt as fresh and current as ever."

Adam O'Riordan

Adam O'Riordan's first collection of poetry is In the Flesh.

The Lost Years by Christopher Isherwood

This memoir covers the years 1945 to 1951 which saw Isherwood living in Santa Monica, California. The book is sketchier and less complete than his other memoirs. Populated by a cast that includes writers, spies and composers as well as drifters and drop-outs. It presents a portrait of Isherwood by turns despairing, promiscuous, enlightened, catty (I like his use of the verb 'to bitch') mildly narcoleptic (especially when drunk at parties) altogether pleasingly messy and human. His grand romance with Don Bachardy still somewhere on the distant horizon.

Filthy Talk for Troubled Times by Neil LaBute

Remarkable for the pace and power of the dialogue. Seriously dark and side splittingly funny. I saw this, LaBute's first play, revived at the Luccille Lortel Theatre in Greenwich Village recently and it felt as fresh and current as ever.

Greene on Capri by Shirley Hazzard

An elegant and beautifully observed memoir that records the author's friendship with Graham Greene played out against the backdrop of Capri. Both the man and the island are presented in compelling and economical fashion. An immensely pleasurable book that is hard not to read in one sitting.

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In the Flesh is published by Chatto and Windus.

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Thursday, 5 August, 2010