Currently reading
Sir Thomas Malory's Morte Darthur: A New Modern English Translation Based on the Winchester Manuscript (Renaissance and Medieval Studies)
Thrill Me: Essays on Fiction
The Human Comedy: Selected Stories
Breaking the Maya Code
The Conquest of New Spain
Jungle of Stone: The True Story of Two Men, Their Extraordinary Journey, and the Discovery of the Lost Civilization of the Maya
A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man
We
Frankenstein
Beauty Is a Wound
The Last Opium Den
I've read several of Nick Tosches' longish pieces in various magazine. He is a very good writer. There are passages in this book that are incredibly lyrical. His descriptions of his opiated high are often fabulous.And yet, the book is just too short. We barely scratch the surface of what is actually a very deep subject. Tosches skirted around the edges of his subject, but didn't really take the time to engage with it.
I would've much preferred it if he had interspersed his personal vignettes with a more in depth cultural history of opium.
This book is what some would call a non-book, i.e., it is an article in book form.
I will keep reading Nick Tosches pieces--because he really is quite a good writer--but won't be recommending this one to friends.