Harvey Pekar

It's been 2 years since Harvey Pekar passed away. His last book, Cleveland, came out recently. A loving tribute to the city that raised him and buried him. An affirmation of the life he lived.

Here's my tribute to Harvey from 2 years back.

http://www.ideaship.com/CAA/uncleJAM/harveyPekar.pdf

Yayoi Kusama

Infinity Net, her autobio first published in Japan in 2002, is the best book I've read this year.
Finally translated into English and published by the Tate Modern in conjunction with a major retrospective of her works, this book is heartbreaking like Patti Smith's Just Kids. The poverty and poetry of living for your art in NYC in the late 50s and 60s, Kusama knew only one way to live.

"no matter how I may suffer for my art, I will have no regrets. This is the way I have lived my life, and it is the way I shall go on living."