The Idea

At sexy gypsy, we love books¹ just as much as we love film and music. This is why we started a words section, where we could share a bit about what we’re reading. This year, we’ve decided to take it a step further—the sexy gypsy Book of the Monthish.

Most blogs with projects like this have regular book of the month posts, with scheduled discussions and reflections and deadlines. But this is not how we get down with the get down when we get down. sexy gypsy’s Book of The Monthish will be a semi-regular event. It may last a few days, a week or a month. It won’t force you to read this many pages in that many days². It will be simple, painless, fun. Here’s how it’s going to work:

We’ll choose a book and give you a little background—who wrote it, what it’s about and why we picked it. Then we read. While everyone is going through the book, I’ll sticky the post to our front page. If you have something to say, just leave a comment in the post³. After we’ve finished reading the book, we’ll post a follow-up with our thoughts and there’ll (hopefully) be a discussion in the comments⁴. Simple, right?

So let’s get it started. Our first Book of The Monthish is Jim Thompson’s The Killer Inside Me

The Book

Jim Thompson’s 1952 novel, The Killer Inside Me was one of the first books to come up in our discussions for this project. It tells the captivating story of Lou Ford, a deputy sheriff in Texas, who happens to be one crazy motherfucker—kind of like Dexter, but without Harry’s code or a conscience. The first-person account follows Lou as he starts a destructive relationship with a prostitute, helplessly submits to his dark urges and commits a string of murders to cover his tracks.

In 1976, the booked spawned a Burt Kennedy directed film. More than 30 years later, it is being remade by sexy gypsy favorite Michael Winterbottom.

Winterbottom’s remake stars Casey Affleck in the lead role, along with Jessica Alba, Kate Hudson, Elias Koteas and Bill Pullman. Based on this cast and Wintterbottom’s name alone, we have high hopes for the film. The trailer is embedded at the bottom of the post if you want to check it out for yourself, but beware it is kinda spoiler-y. It premiered at Sundance this year to much controversy. Drawing comparisons to films such as Antichrist and Irreversible, The Killer Inside Me shocked audiences with its unapologetic violence, specifically towards women.

But we love controversy (and violence), so we figure The Killer Inside Me would be the perfect book to start our Book of The Monthish series. So please join us and leave a comment or two.