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Essential LAD books of the 90's

Started by Blue Jam, August 28, 2021, 08:15:52 PM

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Blue Jam

LADerature? Nah, doesn't quite work...

I've just picked up The Kid Stays In The Picture by Robert Evans because I enjoy scandalous biographies, I know there are a few fans on here, and I'm interested to know how he influenced the character of Saul Goodman, so I thought I'd finally get round to it. I bought a cheap second-hand copy off eBay (for some reason it's not available in Kindle format), not this edition but I distinctly remember this cover staring at me from the "3 for 2"  book sections of HMV, Virgin Megastore, Fopp etc:



...and this reminded me that I once picked up Mr. Nice and Kitchen Confidential as part of the same multibuy deal. Probably had The Dice Man in there too. Felt like revisiting them, and those 90's edition covers:

Anthony Bourdain - Kitchen Confidential: Adventures in the Culinary Underbelly (2000):



Alright, this one was originally published in 2000 but I think it just qualifies. I revisited it after his death in 2018 and it's one that has stood the test of time. Never mind "It's not exactly Delia", it's also way beyond Gordon Ramsay. I may re-read it a third time just so I can enjoy it even more now I know Jamie Oliver burned his copy.

Howard Marks - Mr. Nice (1997)



The only book Jeremy from Peep Show has ever read, but he read it three times so it must be good. I picked this up as a massive Super Furry Animals fan wanting to know more about that intriguing chap who appeared on the cover of Fuzzy Logic about 40 times in about 40 different guises. Unfortunately I finished it wondering how a book about drugs and exotic locations and organised crime could be so very very dry. There's so much stuff about moving X tons of product from Seaport A to Airport B it reads like a geography lesson, and the fact that the product is a naughty drug fails to make it any more interesting. I remember one of the music mags at the time saying something like "The only bad thing the Super Furries ever did was relaunch the "career" of Howard Marks" and I ended up agreeing, though I did enjoy his guest appearance on Barry Welsh Is Coming where John Sparkes asked him the pressing question: "So you've been linked to MI6, the CIA, the IRA, the Mafia... out of all those,
Spoiler alert
which was your favourite
[close]
?". Still, I won't be reading it a second time, or indeed a third time.

Luke Rheinhart- The Dice Man (1971):



Novel, Loaded column, way of life. Also not actually published in the 90's but had a major revival then, probably thanks to Loaded naming him their "Novelist of the Century". Great concept, unfortunately I found it read like an airport novel and I couldn't finish it. Shame. Was never tempted to try "Dice Living" either, had a couple of friends who say they knew people who did it, always seemed a bit daft to me, especially if you've read the book because
Spoiler alert
I vaguely remember the dice commanding one thrower to murder someone
[close]
. And one of Loaded's writers claimed the dice ordered him to take heroin.

Bret Easton Ellis - American Psycho (1991) and Glamorama (1998):





Like a lot of children of the 90's I had read and enjoyed American Psycho and wanted to pick up Glamorama when I saw that oh-so-pretty shiny silver cover, and despite Select magazine absolutely ripping the piss out of it in their review. The Britpop references probably seemed dated the second the author typed them out. Couldn't finish it. I guess this was a case of lightning never striking twice, references to Hip To Be Square somehow worked much better than Champagne Supernova.

Alex Garland - The Beach (1996):



(Nick Hornby? Another big 90's name)

The story of a British backpacker in Thailand, so very 90's at a time when cheap air travel was making this more popular and the news frequently featured stories of hapless British tourists who had met this fun-loving and charming young man who kept them safe and showed them all the coolest bars in Bangkok and then offered to pay for their flight to their next destination if they'd just agree to deliver a package to his mate except the sniffer dogs got to it first and they ended up doing a 20-year stretch in Bang Kwang and hoping Douglas Hurd could have a word and get theking of Thailand to pardon them. Anyway, Danny Boyle made a film of this and his status and that of the book were such that he managed to get Leonardo DiCaprio on board and was criticised by Mark Kermode and others for going with Sproutface because "This should have been a Ewan McGregor film". Never read it but our dear Serge did. Thanks so much Serge:

https://www.cookdandbombd.co.uk/forums/index.php/topic,63318.msg3289752.html#msg3289752

Any more I really should read? Any I really, really shouldn't?

Famous Mortimer



I remember enjoying it a lot, but I'm not sure I could revisit it.

Blue Jam

In the interests of equality I feel we should probably have a 90's Chick lit thread but I haven't read any. I remember Helen Fielding's "Bridget Jones' Diary" column in the Independent (or was it the Telegraph?) and I've watched quite a bit of Sex And The City but I've never read the book. I gather those books were critically-acclaimed but a lot of the Chick lit that followed just seemed to be riding the zeitgeist.

Today I learned that "Lad lit" is actually a thing, and probably the proper term for all the books listed here.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lad_lit_(genre)

Maybe the precursor of the Difficult Men genre?

ProvanFan


Blue Jam

Heh, sounds like a precursor to this one, for older LADS:



2006 tho

Neomod

On a similar tip to The Kid Stays in the Picture



and Just scraping in from 1999.


Mr Banlon

The Guv'nor (Lenny McLean's autobiography)

Blue Jam

Quote from: Mr Banlon on August 28, 2021, 11:02:34 PM
The Guv'nor (Lenny McLean's autobiography)

Oh yes, East End London gangsters' autobiographies was a whole 90's LAD lit genre of its own. Possibly something to do with the British gangster film boom. Looks like Dave Courtney's first one was published in 1999 so that counts too.

Those books are so 90's even Alan Partridge expressed disdain that they were more popular than Bouncing Back:


Mr Banlon

Quote from: Neomod on August 28, 2021, 10:38:07 PM
On a similar tip to The Kid Stays in the Picture



and Just scraping in from 1999.


"As sharp and lethal as a Savile Row lapel"
Neither sharp, or lethal then.

Blue Jam

On the subject of Partridge, how could I have forgotten this classic from 1993?



Come on, own up, who here has actually read this?

badaids



This book, as you might imagine, is horrible brutal dogshit.  You'll find out about how Carlisle managed to beat the shit out of who else, who shited it and who is worthy of respect (i.e. stands up and take their beating like a man).  The only time these cunts stick together is to go abroad and beat the shite out of the Poles or the Dutch.  There's also a load of sectarian bollocks.  The big take away, if you needed it proved to you, is the utter pointlessness and idiocy of football hooliganism.

Blue Jam

...which brings us to:



Recommend by Irvine Welsh, and no-one's even mentioned Trainspotting yet.

A few themes emerging here LADS:

1. East End gangsters
2. Football hooligans
3. Backpackers
4. Drugs

Heh, I immediately thought of "Mr Nice" and Jeremy when I saw this thread.

Got to be something by Irvine Welsh in there:



Is Coupland a bit too esoteric for the average LAD? I remember reading Girlfriend In A Coma circa '99 but might be a bit too nerdy for the Loaded mob.



Some Hunter S Thompson would definitely be in there though:


chveik


Blue Jam

#14
Quote from: chveik on August 29, 2021, 12:43:30 AM
some chuck palahniuk shite

Good call. This one may be a critique of toxic masculinity but it still counts as Essential LAD reading:



I remember it being compared to A Clockwork Orange at the time, and like that book: 1. The film adaptation omits the final chapter, and 2. The film adaptation is much better than the book. Like The Dice Man I found it an example of "good concept, bad writing" which surprised me as I usually go for that sparse, economical style of prose.

Was also thinking about Chuck Palahniuk when I watched the water park episode of It's Always Sunny recently. That little subplot of Mac warning everyone not to put their arse near the water pump because it'll suck their guts out, but really only saying this because he likes the way it feels and wants it all for himself? Inspired by Guts wasn't it? I remember how that was hyoed up as the most depraved and horrifying bit of writing ever and then only being shocked at how badly-written it was:

https://genius.com/Chuck-palahniuk-guts-annotated

QuoteIf I told you how it tasted, you would never, ever again eat calamari.

You just did tell us how it tasted, Chuck. And surely it would taste more like sausage casing anyway? A nice bit of authentic chorizo or something?

Quote from: Ron Maels Moustache on August 28, 2021, 11:56:57 PM
Some Hunter S Thompson would definitely be in there though:



Oh yes, went through a big HST phase myself! Enjoyed that one and re-watched the film on New Year's Eve a couple of years back, turned out to be a good choice of NYE film and it still stands up. Gilliam and Depp before they both got #CANCELLED and when they were still worth watching. The only bit I don't like is that menacing and mildly rapey scene where they buy a lemon meringue pie from Ellen Barkin. That's not actually in HST's book but otherwise it's a pretty faithful adaptation and hugely enjoyable.

Kankurette

Quote from: Famous Mortimer on August 28, 2021, 08:40:14 PM


I remember enjoying it a lot, but I'm not sure I could revisit it.
I was reading it the other day. It's one of those books where all the characters are cunts (except the journalist on the train).

I love Coupland but Girlfriend in a Coma was so disappointing, gratuitous Smiths references aside. Worst. Person. Ever. was a turd of a book. Read Generation X instead.

McChesney Duntz

Quote from: Blue Jam on August 29, 2021, 08:46:57 AM
The only bit I don't like is that menacing and mildly rapey scene where they buy a lemon meringue pie from Ellen Barkin. That's not actually in HST's book but otherwise it's a pretty faithful adaptation and hugely enjoyable.

Wait, that's the "Back Door Beauty?" bit, isn't it? 'Cause that's absolutely in the book.



Twit 2

Quote from: McChesney Duntz on August 29, 2021, 06:44:09 PM
Wait, that's the "Back Door Beauty?" bit, isn't it? 'Cause that's absolutely in the book.

Yeah, from memory it's in there. I think the scene in the film is longer and it passes by more quickly in the book, though.

flotemysost

Quote from: Blue Jam on August 28, 2021, 09:02:51 PM
In the interests of equality I feel we should probably have a 90's Chick lit thread but I haven't read any. I remember Helen Fielding's "Bridget Jones' Diary" column in the Independent (or was it the Telegraph?) and I've watched quite a bit of Sex And The City but I've never read the book. I gather those books were critically-acclaimed but a lot of the Chick lit that followed just seemed to be riding the zeitgeist.

As a teenager I used to enjoy Lisa Jewell's novels (the most famous was Ralph's Party, published in 1998, but she had quite a few novels out in the late 90s/early-mid 2000s centering around people in their twenties living in London flatshares and doing loads of drinking and shagging, which basically formed the blueprint for how I hoped my adult life would pan out. Being written by a woman, they'd most likely have been classed as "chick lit" at the time (though that term's - understandably - fallen out of favour), but the male characters were just as well drawn as the women, and the prose was quite graphic and grubby at times.

The author has since (very successfully) reinvented herself in the "domestic thriller" genre, and some of her earlier "flatshare" novels were reissued with softer, more feminine-looking cover designs to capture that market, but I much preferred the original Jordi Labanda-designed covers, which properly ooze late 90s/early 2000s:






I've never read Bridget Jones' Diary either but that seems to be deemed the archetype of that genre/era - I think a lot in there would be considered pretty questionable these days (her obsessing over weight loss and thinking she's fat when she's a perfectly healthy weight, lots of hoary stereotypes about gender roles) but I suppose as a bit of fun escapism you could probably do worse.

Anyway, re: lad lit - much like chick lit it was essentially a marketing term/zeitgeisty thing rather than an actual genre, but all of the examples here definitely fall into that canon. The "organised criminal/general hard cunt memoir" seems to have been a massive thing back in the late 90s/early 2000s, they were being churned out in their droves - nightclub bouncers, East End gangsters, football hooligans, basically any white bloke with a few anecdotes about getting into scraps seemed to be fair game for a book deal.

Likewise I was underwhelmed by the notorious Guts - probably one for the "bit of writing that made you feel sick" thread, but I was more disgusted by a passage in Palahniuk's Doomed, where the protagonist
Spoiler alert
eats loads of chocolate and candy and sickly sweet stuff then gives someone a blowjob while her mouth is full of chocolate and uses the condom that's smeared in spitty spunky chocolate to make a curse
[close]
.

What about contemporary equivalents? I'd put John Niven in that category - his novels definitely tick a few of the "lad lit" boxes, but certainly his more recent ones seem a bit more tongue-in-cheek and "woke" (in a good way, and for want of a better term) rather than primarily aiming to be obnoxiously edgy or shocking.





chveik



BJBMK2

Not sure tbh, would this count?



Yeah, it wasn't published in the 90's, but I mean...look at that cover...

Mad fer it...

Famous Mortimer

Quote from: itsfredtitmus on August 30, 2021, 07:26:03 PM


though this ones good
Cass is so busy organising rumbles between opposing groups of football fans that he can't even put his phone down to be photographed for the cover of his own book.

jobotic

"Hold on mush, I've got Forest Green's top boy on the blower"

cosmic-hearse



Not written in the 90s but essential protolad

cosmic-hearse

A paperback of the True Romance screenplay that was free with a magazine