Fred Haley
Satan Was A Lesbian

Some books are not meant to be read, just like some albums are not meant to be listened to (Thriller by M. Jackson?) or some movies to be watched (Dune?) etc.

There are works that should be absorbed NOT for what they were created for, but for the world they can evoke at the mere perception, at the simple hearsay, or what they can convey to us at a subliminal or sensory level. In short, the time has come to absorb knowledge through other channels, right?

This little book bought for a few euros at the stalls is no exception.

The cover alone "speaks to you of a world" so clear and defined that there's no need to read it (in my opinion).

The sensational title, first of all, condensed into two words mixed with kitsch & trash, provocative and a touch blasphemous.

A cover with a 50s drawing as coherent and perfectly didactic, with that mix of gran guignol, pin-up, and vintage/soft eroticism of which every trace has been lost for decades, in the contemporary imagination of this early millennial youth.

In short, let's face it. Of the book, I read the first 6/7 pages (in English at that and not even very smooth) and after a while, I got bored: too demanding (him) and too little patience (me).

But once closed, I looked again for the 10th time at the cover and imagined at least 3/4 possible stories (seeing the poses of the illustrated characters, the clothes, and the dynamics between them).

A book, in short, that I DID NOT READ passively but "perfectly imagined" with a plot, a development, and a finale - with a twist added, which I won't reveal to you!

In short: sometimes, the books we remember the best are NOT necessarily the ones we have read, but the ones we have simply imagined by looking at the cover. And if then "my book" should be different from "yours" (or from what is written here by this Fred Haley) ... I have no problem with it. And you? :-)