Nathan Penlington

I'm not sure where the year went, but here we are again at my books of the year list. 

Like my previous books of the year posts, date of publication is not relevant for this list. This year I had to reread about 70 Choose Your Own Adventure books for a project - they are still as smart, funny, and engaging as ever, but as my love for those is so well documented I haven't included any here. 

So, these are the best books to find me - for the first time - in 2022.

#1 - My favourite thing is monsters - Volume 1 - Emil Ferris (2017)

This book is truly incredible, but not an easy read. 

Drawn mostly with Bic ballpoint pen, it breaks the conventions of graphic novels in many ways. On the surface Monsters is a coming of age story set in 60's Chicago, but it is a multi-layered narrative that catalogues monsters in all forms - those in pulp comics, those responsible for the horrors of the holocaust, and monsters that enable brutal sexual exploitation and abuse.   

It's embedded with sadness, weighed with the heaviness of human struggle, but shot through with light and love. A genuinely important work. 

Volume 2 is forthcoming, I hope in 2023. If so, I can't see it not making next year's list.

#2 - Acting Class - Nick Drnaso (2022)

I loved Nick's previous books - Beverly, and Sabrina - but Acting Class, for me, surpasses both. In Acting Class, as you'd expect, a disparate group of strangers join an amateur acting class. But what the title doesn't give away is the David Lynch like sense of uncanny, an under the surface oddness, which makes the ongoing narrative full of tension. It's compelling in every way.

  #3 - The Labyrinth - Simon Stålenhag (2021)

All of Simon's other books have made my previous books of the year lists, The Labyrinth deserves its place on this year's list too. 

In short The Labyrinth is a brutal sci-fi graphic novel, in which guilt and redemption collide. The art and words work together to build a darker world, where everyday horror seeps into an alternate past future.

  #4 - The Confidence Men - Margalit Fox (2021)

During the 1st World War, two British officers conspired to escape a remote Turkish prisoner of war camp. What follows is a true story of an elaborately planned, long running con, involving seances, spirits, and sleight of hand trickery. It's an outstandingly researched and written book. Film rights have been optioned by Fox, which doesn't surprise me, but the detail in the writing is a joy.

  #5 - Magritte in 400 images - Julie Waseige (2021)

Rene Magritte has been one of my favourite artists since discovering his work as a teenager, tucked away in the tiny Abergele library  in a book on surrealist painters.

This book covers a huge amount of his output, in chronological order. It's interesting to track his obsessions and motifs as they recur and develop. Magritte's use of the ordinary made strange creates a quiet unease, at odds with the more fleshy surrealism of someone like Dali. Magritte's work often playfully explores aspects of illusion and unreality, an area I'm constantly drawn to.  And the best children's book we've read this last year? My oldest daughter is now 6, she's learnt to read using the Biff, Chip and Kipper series (created by Roderick Hunt and illustrated by Alex Brychta in 1986). The illustrations are full of incidental details that are brilliant asides to a world bigger than the story. Creating compelling stories using a limited vocabulary is a constraint greater in challenge than anything used by George Perec.

  My daughter's favourite books have been the Pizazz series by Sophy Henn.

Another end of year, another list. Reading time took another hit this year, as we welcomed our 2nd daughter into our family. But I managed to cram quite a few books into the first half of the year in anticipation. 

The reason I started these annual Top 5s, was mainly because it’s good to share, but also because I started keeping a record of every book I read. With Evernote, or similar, I just take a photo of the cover when I start the book, and a few notes about it when I’ve finished. It helps solidify my thoughts, and I’m never stuck for an authors name or book title when someone asks for a recommendation. I should probably expand to films and games, but that’s perhaps on the edge of obsessive. I’m trying to keep away from that edge. But it’s an easy, and useful way of keeping track. 

As always date of publication is not relevant for this list. So, these are the best books to find me in 2021. #1 - Here be bunnies - Pseudonymous (2021)

Once again the pseudonymous magical writer and thinker known only as Andy makes the top 5 books of the year - this time with a book that is one of the most revolutionary in the illusionary arts. It's the first book exclusively devoted to world building in magic, creating and amplify immersion, and using narrative techniques that capitalise on the unique interactive moments. It's a subject that overlaps with quite a few of my primary interests, but beyond that it's a blueprint for what magic can become. #2 - Working - Studs Terkel adapted by Harvey Pekar (2009)

Working is a seminal oral history first published in 1974, 'People Talk About What They Do All Day and How They Feel About What They Do'. The book has been adapted by legendary comics writer Harvey Pekar (If you don’t know who that is check out his TV interviews on YouTube. You can thank me later). The stories recounted are often heartbreaking, detailing the everyday struggles of demanding low-pay work. It's sadly not astounding that these lives resonate so strongly in 2021, when work is still mostly badly paid, precarious, with workers rights being eroded by the minute.   #3 - Beyond look don't see - Christopher T Magician (2014)

I spent every weekend of my mid to late teenage years performing magic for children's parties. It is perhaps the most gruelling kind of performance, but also one of the most rewarding and fun. So before my oldest daughter turned 5, and once you didn't have to be a politician to have a party, I took a crash refresher course. For many kids in my daughters class her upcoming party would be the first they could remember attending, and definitely the first live magic they'd ever see. Both of those experiences are huge when you're still so small, and Christopher T Magician gives magic for children the serious respect it deserves. If you recognise children as intelligent, curious, and naturally funny humans you can't help but be inspired by this book.  #4 - The big con -  David W, Maurer (2000 edition)

Originally published in 1940 this is an unparalleled study into the working world of the old time big con. Based on oral accounts of the best confidence men of the time, it's a fascinating cultural history of a subculture hidden behind layers of secrecy, opaque lingo, and subterfuge. Although the opportunity for the elaborate con in the old style is few, it's not hard to see how some of these techniques are employed by more public hustlers of today - politicians, large corporations, etc. especially in regards to 'fixing' the system. In comparison, the cons carried out by people like Limehouse Chappie, Jimmy the Rooter, and The Clinic Kid, seem somewhat small fry. #5 - Roadrunner - Joshua Clover (2021)

Is it possible to write a book about a single song? It is when then song is the best song ever written, and it definitely is when you consider that song to be Roadrunner by Jonathan Richman and the Modern Lovers. And I do. I've said many times Jonathan is the greatest living singer-songwriter, and although I change my opinion about many things I stand by that consistently. Clover's book smartly takes the ring road in the song and uses it to circle back to the height of rock'n'roll, and then accelerates forward from the industrial America in decline of song's present to the Roadrunner call-backs used by M.I.A. among others. The book is a fusion of cultural anthropology and music history. Even if you're wrong enough to not rate Roadrunner now, you will within the first few pages.   Again, there are a few books that were just nudged out of the top 5: William Fredrick Pinchbeck - The Expositor; Nate Staniforth - Here is Real Magic; and Adrian Tomaine - Sleepwalk.

And the best kids book this last year? It's a tough call but we've read Imagine a Day by Rob Gonsalves and Sarah L Thomson a lot, and perhaps more importantly it's sparked many conversations. 

The Boy in the Book has been award nominated at IndieCade 2021.

IndieCade is a festival that celebrates the rich creativity behind games and game-like experiences. This year’s ‘Anywhere and Everywhere’ focus features 48 incredible games across genres, platforms, and experiences - encompassing digital platforms, board games, immersive, and beyond. 

The Boy in the Book nomination means we’re eligible for a prize in 5 separate categories, with an additional spotlight narrative game award. We’re up against some really amazing work, which I encourage you to explore by checking out the full list of nominated games: https://anywhere.indiecade.com/nominated-games/

Hold on to your laptops...The Boy in the Book has been nominated for the prestigious Webby Awards 2021. Dubbed the “Oscars of the Internet” by the New York Times, the Webby Awards have been celebrating excellence on the web for the last 25 years. 

The team behind The Boy in the Book has been nominated in the games category for best Independent Creator. While there is a judging panel, the Webbys also have a People’s Voice award voted for by YOU. So, if you’ve played, seen, or read, and more importantly, enjoyed, any version of The Boy in the Book - please vote, it would mean a lot to us. It’s not just the trophy, it would help keep the project online as a free to play experience. 

2020 was a hell of year for many - heartbreaking, full of worry and anxious distraction. For others it gave a bit of mental space, time away from the stress of normal routine, a chance to reflect. My year was more like the former, although I’m pleased to have finally been able to release the digital Boy in the Book, and I’ve had some brilliant full on time with my daughter.

That’s all a way of saying there hasn’t been much time or head room for reading this year, my pile of ‘to be read’ is bigger than ever - mostly of more newly published books. I realise this is a somewhat eclectic list, but it reflects where my current interests lie.

Same as previous books of the year posts date of publication is not relevant for this list. So, these are the best books to find me in 2020.

#1 - Killing and Dying – Adrian Tomine (2015)

As far a away as possible from superheroes we are living in the golden age of graphic novels and comics. This book contains six of the best short stories you’ll read anywhere. Adrian has completely captured the contemporary – a combination of loss and longing, the constant yearning for purpose and the need to be needed.

#2 - Wise Guy – Mike Caveney (1993)

Harry Anderson. If you don’t know who that is - go and lose yourself for a couple of hours on YouTube and then pop back here. Aimed squarely at magicians, the book chronicles Harry’s rise from street performing, the creation of Harry the Hat, to his legendary Saturday Night Live performances. If you perform magic the how-to’s are great, but it’s the inspiration behind the tricks that struck a chord.

#3 - Tales from the loop & things from the flood – Simon Stålenhag

This is kind of a cheat, as yes, these are two separate books and The Electric State was in my Top 5 last year – but hey, it’s my list. Tales from the Loop was adapted into an Amazon series, but film somehow fails to capture the scale, the uneasy world building, the tension between a familiar past and one which is purely imaginary. The text fragments bristle with humour, melancholy, nostalgia, and emotion, which alongside the stunning illustrations make a whole great than its elements.

#4 – The Books of Wonder – Tommy Wonder and Stephen Minch (1996)

This two volume set is up there among the best books on magic ever written. Tommy Wonder was a master at his art, and went to extraordinary lengths to achieve the perfect effect in the eyes and minds of his audiences. His legacy is not only in incredible magic pieces and his thorough analysis of deception psychology, but in the lesson to continue thinking about your work. Everything can always be improved, and if it can't, you're not thinking hard enough.

#5 – The Crap Hound Big Book of Unhappiness – Sean Tejaratchi (2019)

The seminal zine Crap Hound has finally realised a long held goal, two decades in fact, and it’s a staggering achievement. Think 12,500 images staggering. For those of you who don’t know – Crap Hound is dedicated to reproducing line illustrations from vintage magazines and ephemera. Taken collectively the book “documents pop-culture’s never ending quest to nurture and exploit our collective anxieties” – and I can’t think of a better time than now for the need to confront the propaganda we face on a daily basis.

A couple of 'almost made the top 5' entries - The Dairy Restaurant by Ben Katchor (2020), The Darkest Corners by Ben Hart and Neil Kelso(2020), and Memoirs of a Book Thief by Alessandro Tota and Pierre Van Hove (2019).

And finally, the best/most read kids book of 2020:

Story Path by Madalena Matoso (2016)

The interactive digital version of The Boy in the Book launched two months ago, and since then people from around the world have been following their own stories as they’ve tried to unravel the mysteries of Terence Prendergast’s diary. 

The response has been greater than I could’ve hoped for - I’m grateful for all the positive feedback, and I want to say thank you if you’ve taken the time to dive into the experience. If you’ve enjoyed it, please consider sharing. 

As the current situation continues to make live theatre impossible, I hope you find this project an immersive alternative. The main thread of the narrative is about coming through a difficult experience, and how you can find the strength to do so. If we put each other first, I hope the global situation will improve for us all. 

The Boy in the Book has generated some good press too, here are a few quotes from recent pieces. 

“When self-confessed ‘obsessive’ Nathan Penlington bought 106 second-hand copies of Choose Your Own Adventure books on eBay he thought he was just indulging a childhood passion. Little did he realise that when he found an extract from a troubling, hand-written diary inside one of them, it would set him off on a life-changing adventure of his own.” - BBC Arts - Culture in Quarantine

“An online interactive experience that blurs the lines between gaming and documentary filmmaking…there’s something about the intricate procrastination of The Boy in the Book that makes it feel like it was tailor-made for a lockdown. If there was ever a time to use multiple realities as a way to distract from our own, this is it.” - Time Out

“The discovery of diary pages inside an old inside an old Choose Your Own Adventure book sparks a choose-your-own-doc…probing, poignant - and free” - Total Film

"An immersive, fascinating experience which leads to a real emotional investment" - Starburst Magazine

“People say the books helped them think more about making decisions. Might our political leaders do worse than a crash course in the Packard oeuvre?” - Daily Telegraph

“Conflating fact with fiction, The Boy in the Book is a love letter to a forgotten genre that only stalwart fans could conjure up: life-affirming, celebratory, and devilishly constructed, the Choose Your Own Adventure-style production is like nothing else” - A Younger Theatre

It's been a long time in production, but I'm very excited to finally be able to announce that the new digital adaptation of The Boy in the Book launches today!

The live show had 1566 different versions, we lost the ability to calculate the possible permutations of the new interactive documentary when it hit the hundreds of thousands.

So the easier measures are that it contains 100 films, thirty characters, 100 original illustrations, and six distinct endings, spread over 10 chapters. So clear your calendar!

Made by myself and the rest of the team behind Choose Your Own Documentary, it's been commissioned by The Space, developed in collaboration with Joi Polloi, and stunningly illustrated by Jonathan Wilkinson.

It free to play across all platforms. 

The mind and hands behind one of my favourite zines of all time, Simon Moreton of Minor Leagues fame, has assembled and edited:

“an anthology of art made by old friends, new friends, strangers, and peers from all over the place; some of them make things for a living, some for a hobby. Some needed pestering to make anything at all, and some were already making things just for the sake of doing it.”

I fit into at least two of those categories. 

My submissions are part of a new series of poems and illustrations that I guess could be correctly termed constrained collage. I’m currently gathering them for a little book due in the next couple of months, but I’m very happy for their first appearance to be in Lettuce Bee. 

There is a huge variety of work in these pages, partly due to the open submission policy of ‘please send me something’, and partly due to Simon’s taste and reach among those working on various art fringes. 

December – the season of hourly spam email and lists of the ‘best’ things of the year.

My to be read pile is huge, amorphous, and evolving. Every year I make a large indent, and every year it somehow replenishes itself. 2019 was a slow year for reading – with 49 books completed (multi volume works I’ve counted as one. I’ve also not included zines, magazines, ebooks, kids books, etc, in the count, or in this list).

I’ve read quite a few newly published books, but date of publication is not relevant for this list. So, these are the best books to find me in 2019. Four of them could be said to present pretty bleak scenarios, but hey, fiction should hold a mirror to the world, right?

#1 - MFYL (2019)

As you may know if you’ve seen or read any of my work – I love magic. Not just the stuff you might see someone perform at a wedding or Christmas party, but the wider reach of the mystery arts. At the vanguard of pushing magic as an art into new contemporary territory is this book. Written pseudonymously it’s full of theory and practical ideas for an immersive, surprising, surreal, playful, approach to performance that seeks to reinvent what magic can be for a knowing 2020s audience.

#2 – The Electric State - Simon Stålenhag (2018)

An incredible work that combines visionary painted artwork with a cautionary sci-fi narrative. It’s like the best of Ballard and Gibson (and I don’t say that lightly!), that uses a photorealistic approach to illustration to form images that really harden in your brain. It’s haunting and unsettling. There is genius too in setting the story in the 1990s, with futuristic technology that seems possible yet already out of date.

#3 – Roadside Picnic -  Arkady Strugatsky, Boris Strugatsky (1972)

I don’t really know how it’s taken me so long to get around to reading this, having a cultural influence that’s so wide reaching. Despite being set in the aftermath of an anomalous event, the narrative has a human focus – how humans use and abuse resources, how corrupt bureaucracy operates. While the film Stalker has merits, I genuinely preferred the reach and vision of the book.  

#4 - The Tenant - Roland Topor (1964)

Kafkaesque gets used a lot as a description, but it’s never more appropriate than when applied to Topor. A young man moves into an apartment after the previous tenant tried to comment suicide. From such a seemingly mundane situation the narrative quickly becomes ominous and terrifying, as the new tenant is pursued into madness. Is it a result of paranoia, or something more sinister? Very much part of the absurdist movement of the 50s and 60s.  

#5 - I Hate the Internet - Jarett Kobek (2016)

While this book has elements of early Coupland, when he was at his best, I Hate the Internet is funnier, sharper, and more biting. How can you reclaim your reputation when the internet hates you? Maybe you can’t. As technology has been proven to directly interfere with our lives – think tory propaganda, think Cambridge Analytica – how we control the spread of misinformation in the 2020s is crucial. Let this book be a satirical reminder of how it can affect lives on a more personal level.

  Honourable mentions – because 5 is not enough:

Gef! The strange tale of an extra-special talking mongoose by Christopher Josiffe (2017), The 7th Function of Language by Laurent Binet (2017), and Fun Home by Alison Bechdel (2006), I thought were all outstanding in unique ways.

With a 3-year-old daughter I now read a lot of kids books – and there are some amazing newly publishing books out there. My daughter’s favourites are Bethan Woollvin’s takes on traditional fairy tales, and Jon Klassen’s shape trilogy. 

But one of her most requested ‘read me a story’ books is a lucky charity shop find from early this year – Bamboozled by David Legge (1995): a girl pays her weekly visit to her granddad, who lives in a world that is more Magritte than Magritte, but something isn’t quite right. It’s funny, filled with visual jokes and surreal oddities, and rewards close observation. I’m surprised it’s not more widely known.

One of the things I love most about reviewing zines for Syndicated Zine Reviews is coming into contact with new writers, illustrators, and makers on a regular basis. There is fantastic work out there that actively avoids mainstream channels of distribution, forging freedom in the process. One of my favourite zines of recent years is Bio Auto Graphic by Michael Nicholson. The zine is a combination of meditations on a variety of subjects - personal relationships, the senses, cultural history, class - combined with stunning graphic art.

A recent issue explores hands - how they express personality and, perhaps more crucially, how we consider our second most expressive body part.  To do so Michael "reached out to fellow travellers whose hands are a key to their creativity or livelihood". Each interview is filtered down into Michael's poetic prose, and illustrated by a full page colour portrait of that person's hand. Devoid of the other contexts we naturally try and attach personality to, we're left to consider how the wrinkles and scars reflect those lives and livelihoods. I feel extremely honoured that one of those hands are mine. In that issue you’ll get to learn how one single handshake led to the diagnosis of a condition that had been a mystery for decades.

I Want Everything to Happen, a new book edited by Thurston Moore of Sonic Youth fame, explores the life and counter-cultural influence of Liverpool poet Adrian Henri.  It just so happens that Adrian was my uncle.

On 9th June 2019 - as part of London’s Stoke Newington Literary Festival - I’ll be joining Thurston for an event which will explore Adrian’s continuing legacy. I’ll be discussing Adrian’s work, and performing some of his poems. 

My sister Nina will make a rare stage appearance to talk about Adrian’s influence on her own creative practice, Tim Wells - poet and editor of poetry zine Rising - will look at his work through the frame of the generation of working class poets that followed, plus local poet Lily Driscoll reads some of Henri’s poems.

Last week I spoke to the Dan Cockrill - author of the genuinely great ‘In The Beginning Was The Word, Then A Drawing, Then More Words, Another Drawing, And So On And So On’, and co-founder and host of the best poetry night on the planet Bang Said The Gun. 

I was honoured to be the second guest on his new podcast Poet Waffle. The format is simple, poets and writers that Dan likes are invited to his shed to chat. That’s it. Like all decent conversations the chat can lead anywhere.

If you went on the strength of these blog posts alone, it looks like I’ve vanished. For those of you who like what I do and make, you’ll be pleased to know I’m very much still here. (And those of you who don’t, what the hell are you doing reading this? You have the whole internet at your fingertips!)  If you’ve read The Boy in the Book you’ll be aware I have a lifelong medical condition that inevitably fluctuates, but my health took a more severe dive towards the second half of last year. It’s been a long slow climb back to where things were before, but I can confidently say I’m here again. In the meantime, projects have been ongoing, so this is a bit of heads up. 

The Boy in the Book: 

The team behind Choose Your Own Documentary have been working with the digital agency Joi Polloi and the Space to produce a digital adaptation of the live show and book. It’s been a complicated process, but it is looking fantastic, and we’re on track to release it Spring 2020.

Zines: 

I’m still reviewing zines, independent publications, artists books, and alternative comics, for Syndicated Zine Reviews. Posts go up regularly so it’s best to sign up for notifications if you want to know when reviews are live. Related zine and book posts also go up on my Instagram – so if you’re interested, you can follow me there too. https://www.instagram.com/nathanpenlington

I’ve also been working on a new zine that will go to print as soon as the illustrations are finished. More info to follow in all the usual places. In the meantime, there are a few copies left of Hi, it’s your dad here if you’d like to get your hands on one.     Live shows: 

For the reason stated above I’ve not been booking many live shows, but I’ll be returning to the stage in 2020 – both with Choose Your Own Adventure related material, and other work in progress performances. 

I’m excited to announce that Choose Your Own Documentary has been booked to open the Coastline Film Festival 2018 on 14th December 2018 in Old Colwyn.  

The reason I’m excited is that it will be the first time I’ve performed the show in North Wales, my homelands. The heart of the story explores my past, and as part of the exploration you might choose to visit Rhyl where I lived until I was 18. So, there is a direct, and emotional connection between the show and North Wales. I’m interested to see which of the 1566 versions of the show will be chosen for a local crowd!

Tickets are only £5.83 via Eventbrite. Which is cheap, and I understand they’re selling fast. And if you do come along, please come and say hi afterwards.

There are other interesting films and events on the programme too - details below. So, I encourage you to show your support for a great organisation. 

What do you get if you combine a piece of rubber tube, 2 pound shop funnels, 16 works of twentieth and twenty-first century literature, and an unnamed fetus?

 An experiment in literary incubation.

 Featuring JG Ballard, Eudora Welty, Jules Verne, Kurt Vonnegut, Richard Brautigan, Raymond Queneau, Rikki Ducornet, Guy J Jackson, Ray Bradbury, AF Harrold, Ernest Noyes Brookings, David Greenberger, Franck Pavloff, Angel idigoras, Peter Manseau, and PT Barnum. 

 A zine in the form of a pocket sized book, at pocket money prices. 

Limited edition of 100 - all copies signed and numbered. Published March 30th 2017.

44 pages, A6, with 24 hand drawn illustrations. Soft-touch laminated cover. 

 £5 + 90p p&p (UK):

Or rest of world: 

Only one more week to go until the new show at VAULT Festival, held in the tunnels under London’s Waterloo Station. 

Two shows only - both on the 26th February 2017 - 3:15pm & 4:45pm. All tickets only £9. 

Back in 1999 when I was young and idealistic, I spent a year interviewing poets who had focused a large body of their work in the realm of performance. 

I set out to interview both well-established poets who started performing in the 1950s, and those active or new to the scene at the start of the 2000s. The list is huge, but it includes: Adrian Mitchell, John Cooper Clarke, John Hegley, Salena Godden, Benjamin Zephaniah, Tim Wells, Bob Cobbing, Patience Agbabi, Roger McGough, Brian Patten, Adrian Henri, Tim Turnbull, and many more. People were mostly very happy to speak, and talk candidly about their careers, their work, and their views on poetry - on the stage and page.

What resulted was Don’t need English lessons to learn our lines: 50,000 words of oral history, cultural history, and archive.

Don’t need English lessons…now exists in one hard copy in my office (another hard copy might exist in the university basement); all the interviews are on cassette tapes and minidiscs; the word documents and images exist on floppy discs. That’s 1999 for you. The history deserves to be out in the world, but it’s a huge job to extract and convert the interviews to a digital form. It would be an amazing resource for both contemporary poets and audiences if the audio could also be restored and linked to the text. The poetry scene has changed massively in the past 17 years, to a significant degree. Ideally, I really want to revisit the whole history, update and re-evaluate. It’s a project for the future, one that is ripe for collaboration.  We’ve sadly lost a few of the poets I’d originally spoken to, like the poet and painter Adrian Henri. Adrian is also my uncle. While his work hasn’t been a direct influence on my own, Adrian’s career definitely opened my eyes to what you could do with your life, what art is, and what art can be.  

2017 marks the 50th anniversary of The Mersey Sound – the bestselling, hugely influential Penguin Modern Poets anthology containing the work of Brian Patten, Roger McGough and Adrian Henri.