Eve's Hollywood
"Journalist, party girl, bookworm, muse, artist: by the time she'd hit thirty, Eve Babitz had been all of these things. Immortalized as the nude beauty facing Duchamp over a chessboard and as one of Ed Ruscha's Five 1965 Girlfriends, it turns out that Babitz was a writer with stories of her own. In Eve's Hollywood she gives us indelible snapshots of southern California's haute bohemians, of surpassingly lovely high school ingenues ("people with brains went to New York and people with faces came West") and enviably tattooed Chicanas, of burnt-out rock stars in the Chateau Marmont. In her deceptively conversational prose, we are brought along on a ride through an LA of perpetual delight: to a joint serving the perfect taquito, to the corner of La Brea and Sunset where we make eye contact with a rollerskating hooker, through the Watts Towers, and shopping at Central Market. This "daughter of the wasteland" is here to show us that her city is no wasteland at all, but a glowing landscape, swaying with fruit trees and bougainvillea, buffeted by earthquakes and Santa Ana winds. By the end, there is little doubt that Babitz herself is proof there's more to Hollywood than meets the eye"
Stats for nerds
2recommend
2mentions
2people
2023years
100% recommend
What Hacker News says
- Down The Drain by Julia Fox, fun memoir of a nyc fashion icon, it's a beautiful mess, "I know the influence, I know the impact, and I know the vibes, and the girlies love the vibes, and that's just what it's about."
How To Murder Your Life by Cat Marnell, recommended by Julia Fox in an interview, similar book, if you're interested in fashion, publishing or beauty and where it intersects with addiction. Super funny, super sharp, super bitchy, reading her 2nd book now
Walking Through Clear Water in a Pool Painted Black by Cookie Mueller, if you like Nan Golden or John Waters you know who Cookie is, a really fun and crazy ride, made me wish I was best friends with Cookie.
Black Friend by Ziwe Fumudoh, if you like Ziwe, then obvi. An interesting mini memoir, has some of the bite of her talk show but pulls back the mask and makes you realize how damn brilliant she is, really interesting refection of the experience of a 2nd generation Nigerian
I Was Better Last Night by Harvey Firestein, a fun look back at the alt theater scene in NYC, still listening on audible, he has the best voice ever, something that is a must listen
Feeding the Soul (Because it’s my business) by Tabitha Brown, if you fell in love with Tab’s vegan soul during the pandemic like me this audio book was like a warm hug from a super nice auntie. I don’t share a lot of the same beliefs as her, but it was interesting look at one person’s faith and how it made them the person they are
The Fuck Up by Arthur Nersesian, if you ever dreamed of living in the East Village in the 1980s this book was great, paints a lively picture of NYC at that time
The New Animals by Pip Adams, a kiwi fashion scene slice of life, like if Virgina Wolf had written Bret Easton Ellis' Glamorama. Some interesting musings on social media and it's place in the fashion world
Glamorama by Bret Easton Ellis, re-read after 20 years, really appreciated the non stop references, if you want to live in the late 90s fashion world for a bit it’s a great book
I Am Not Ashamed by Barbara Payton, old hollywood starlet who ended her life broke and addicted, an interesting look at the dark side of the old studio system and the seedier parts of Los Angeles. Picked up at Mast Books in the East Village (along with a few others on this list), highly recommend the book store, great selection of artsy fartsy stuff
The Shards by Bret Easton Ellis, didn’t finish it, mostly because it’s massive and I never could bring myself to pack it, intend to finish to next year, but if you like his other books, especially less than 0, it’s worth reading. Picked up at Literati in Ann Arbor, great bookstore near a few other great bookstores on the edge of Kerrytown, highly recommend
Eve's Hollywood by Eve Babitz, if you want to fall in love with a Los Angeles even more, great writing
An Attempt at exhausting a place in Paris by George Perec, a quick read can’t remember if it was the first book I bought from Wakefield Press at Artbook Hauser & Worth LA, but thankful for that bookstore introducing me to that press
Psychology of the Rich Aunt by Erich Mühsam, another Wakefield title, funny and still felt modern despite being a century old. The authors real life was really interesting to me, he was one of, (if not the first, I remember reading somewhere but can’t find the source), victim of the Nazis
The Sundays of Jean Dézert by Jean de La Ville de Mirmont, another Wakefield title, I read it one sitting (easy to do with this press, they publish almost entirely novellas from what I can gather), made me think of Notes From Underground and Seinfeld
Honey I'm Homo by Matt Baume, A really wonderful guided tour of LGBT representation in television. Was not expecting this book to hit so hard. I cried more times reading this than anything else this year. If you grew up gay in the 1900s, it's a really powerful reminder of how vital accurate and compassionate representation is. Made me realize how much things have changed for the better, really made me appreciate being alive today.
The Art Thief by Michael Finkel, really romantic crime non fiction about a prolific art thief, his girfriend, his family, extremely cinematic, would be shocked if it's not made into a movie very soon
Paris by Paris Hilton, a really dark look at the troubled teen industry, made me really respect Paris Hilton as a cultural engineer (she was mostly in on the joke) and abuse survivor. Also, a really dark look at revenge porn, consent, and technology in the aughts
Mean Baby by Selma Blair, really enjoyed the parts about her childhood, a very specific look at the Jewish Detroit suburbs at the last quarter of the 20th century
Unprotected by Billy Porter, if you watched Pose, and wanted to know more about the actor that brought Pray Tell to life . A memoir about demanding your place in the world
Spinning Plates by Sophie Ellis Bextor, read at the start of the year, but love that with Saltburn coming out “Murder on the Dancefloor” is everywhere again. Loved the early parts of the book and the britt pop teenage stories, the obvious music career throughout, and then interesting look at motherhood. She’s so charming, smart and talented, I’ve always wondered why she wasn’t as big as the other pop stars of her era but her podcast Spinning Plates is also great, and most recent album Hana is a charming love letter to japan.
Pageboy by Elliot Page, really made me want to go Nova Scotia, feels like a long late night conversation on a porch chain smoking cigarettes in college while a party is going on inside but the conversation is more compelling
When We Cease To Understand The World by Benjamín Labatut, suggested to me in last years version of this, really beautiful and thoughtful, lots of very specific truths in a fictional history
I’m Glad My Mom Died by Jenette McCurdy, a look back at being a child star, written as if it’s all happening in the present, interesting reflections on Mormonism and Nickelodeon
Atomic Habits, nothing earth shattering but a pleasant, picked up a few things from it i started doing day to day that increased my quality of life
Friends, Lovers, and The Big Terrible Thing by Matthew Perry, a really dark look at what addiction combined with fame does to a person, didn't enjoy reading it, but when Matthew Perry died I was glad I had.
The Woman in Me (Le Femme en Moi), currently enjoying this as an audio book in French, if you're learning another language and love pop culture, the vocab is simple, being able to slow down the speed on audible is really nice. Read the book in English first and it was a really interesting look at sexism in the media and the commodification of celebrity, super sad
Valid by Chris Bergeron, currently reading, trans dystopian sci fi in a near future Montreal. Enjoying it so far
Bunny by Mona Awad, also currently reading, reminds me of Heathers if it was made by Wilt Stillman
The Love of Singular Men by Victor Heringer, also still reading, really visceral writing, one of those books that really makes you feel like you are seeing what the author is writing about, was suggested by the staff at De Stille in Montreal on Duluth, a great english language bookstore highly recommend
- > Eve's Hollywood by Eve Babitz, if you want to fall in love with a Los Angeles even more, great writing
Goodreads recommended me this after I read Slouching Towards Bethlehem (which I really liked). Now I have a second opinion so I'll check it out. Thanks :)
