Thursday, May 28, 2009

The Curse of Lono by Hunter S. Thompson

The piece of gonzo journalism from the legendary Hunter S. Thompson was reissued by Taschen a few years ago, but when I was hunting for it the book had been inexplicably out of print for years. And since I was a college freshman at the time I was not about to spend the $50+ it was going for on eBay (it seems laughable now that I couldn't bring myself to drop a measly 50 bucks for something I really wanted).

I finally found a cheaper copy, but regretted the purchase since the spine was kind of beat up and the glue so dry that I sweated over turning the pages to read it for fear of the whole thing falling apart (which, I am sad to say, just happened about an hour ago as I attempted to scan some of the pages). No matter though, it was inevitable--and it is now readily available in a brand-new version that will not fall apart, I bet. Sigh--another one for the list.

The book, by the way, is HST's coverage of the 1980 Honolulu Marathon and his subsequent stay in Hawaii, which involves miserable weather, colossal waves, and fishing.

The book is illustrated by Ralph Steadman, who accompanied HST on the 1980 trip to Kona. In some cases the illustrations appear in little boxes like this, but sometimes they take over the page, overlapping with the text.


All in all, a great book, and one of my favorites by HST. I really have no idea why it was ever out of print but hopefully it remains available.

No comments:

Post a Comment