The pen is a Kaweco Sport.

I've some thoughts on the "50 best memoirs" post that The New York Times recently posted.

Hilary Mantel's Giving up the Ghost looks wondrous:

I would, however, rather

However, as to why a known terrorist's diary is included here... It's probably due to the fact that The New York Times always adheres to US governmental policy.

Also, this.

Emmanuel Carrère's Lives Other than My Own seems interesting. He always does, regardless of what I seem to think of him, ever since I read a (long) interview with him in The Paris Review.

I like magic tricks.

Holy shit! How horrible does that sound? At the same time, I'm glad to know that Deraniyagala's planned suicide was averted.

Even though I'm allergic to most attempts to trauma-becoming-book—foremost due to how those books irritate the fuck out of me by lack of even a smidgen of decent style—this looks interesting.

Lars Eighner's Travels with Lizbeth sounds interesting.

I've only read a handful of books on homelessness, perhaps notably Lee Stringer's Grand Central Winter.

I love Austin, Tx.

I don't know why Edna O'Brien's Country Girl sounds like a good book. I care little for celebrity, but judging from a short excerpt of the book, it seems that her terse language and curt views on life make for excellent reading.

Well, reading about sexuality is seldom a wondrous and fantastical experience. I hope this can be.

David Wojnarowicz gets a shout-out from William S. Burroughs on the cover page of one of the editions of this book, Close to the Knives; the cover image alone (and definitely not the awful text styles) makes me want to read this: