Novelist, comics writer, and librarian based in Portland, Oregon.
Dear Internet friends: I am a huge fan of writers who look closely at subcultures, and in so doing, illuminate a particular part of a city. Joseph Mitchell and Guy Trebay, among others, do it for New York.
Anyone have writers to recommend who take a similar approach, but focus on other places?
You've found Sara Ryan's website. I write books and comics for teens and others, I work as a librarian, and I blog about any number of things, though estate sales, thrift stores, and my cat are recurring themes. Some things you can do here: listen to me read my first novel, Empress of the World, read some of the comics I've written, and find out what I got certificates of achievement for in 1983.
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badfaggot Says:
Tuesday, October 10, 2006 at 9:43 am. |
I have enjoyed Hunter Thompson and Tom Wolfe on biker and hippie subcultures in the Bay Area in the 1960s (Hell’s Angels; The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test).
Jeff Chang’s Can’t Stop Won’t Stop is a transcontinental urban history viewed through the lens of hip-hop and taking in New York, Long Island, Los Angeles, Oakland, and Kingston (Jamaica).
This is just off the top of my head; if you scroll back through my LJ under the “reading” tag, there are likely to be many more.
thisisnotanlj Says:
Tuesday, October 10, 2006 at 4:41 pm. |
thanks! tom wolfe, absolutely — i like the purple decades too — but haven’t read can’t stop won’t stop, so that is going right on hold.
gair Says:
Wednesday, October 11, 2006 at 3:02 am. |
Not exactly, but a one-off recommendation would be Jenny Pausacker’s YA novel Dancing on Knives, which is a love song to Melbourne and books… you might have to order it from Australia though. Hmm.