The Pornographer Diaries [Kindle Edition]

I have re-read this book a couple of times now. It is funny every time- never old. The comic timing is spot on, and for a writer to be able to get you to laugh from reading words they need to have a special something about them. King has that. The story line is strong as is the narration.

I would recommend this to anyone. (As I would the rest of King's books)

In his wild youth, Danny King was a naughty boy and no stranger to trouble. He used these experiences to write his first (published) book, "The Burglar Diaries". This was followed by "The Bank Robber Diaries" and the seminal "The Hitman Diaries".

These were purely fiction, to my knowledge he has never robbed a bank or murdered anyone for money (though you never can tell...). Once he tired of petty crime, he sorted himself out and spent a few years editing boring hobby magazines for a living. This eventually lead to his becoming a sub editor and, finally, editor of one of the countries leading "top shelf magazines" (aka "Jazz Mags", "One handed reading material"...etc...), which could also, I suppose, in a way, be looked upon as hobby mags. Well, every boy needs a hobby...
It's from these years of being a porn editor that King has drawn the inspiration for "The Pornographer Diaries".

Now, to make one thing clear, neither "The Burglar Diaries" nor "The Pornographer Diaries" are autobiographies, they are fiction and should be read as such. It is, however, hard to believe that, in large sections, these books are not largely biographical and based around actual events. What's true and what's made up will probably only ever be known by King and those close to him, so it's really not worth worrying about. I won't. Besides, half the fun of this one is thinking that any of this could have actually happened!

The book follows the young and naive Godfrey Bishop who, as a keen purveyor of the medium of porn (i.e. a jazz mag fan), applies for a job as sub-editor of "Bling" magazine. Once he lands the job, he finds himself working alongside a colourful, but decidedly workshy, collection of immature, alcoholic misfits who seem to spend more of their working days in the pub next door than they do in the office and discussing things that, quite frankly, I cannot repeat here!

When he does get to work, he finds the answers to the most common job related questions including, are the Reader's Letters genuine? and do the staff get to, ahem, meet the models? He also finds himself increasingly frustrated (and very disappointed!) to discover that working on a sex mag is not the gateway to a life of hedonistic pleasure that he's hoped for (not unless he wants to do it with a photographer present, at any rate!).

During Godfrey's ("Please, call me God'...") journey, his encounters include; witnessing an increasingly out-of-hand 12-girl orgy, battling with angry feminists, getting arrested for public indecency and dealing with a crazy fan who thinks that Godfrey is solely responsible for ruining his chances with the mag's star centrefold, Jerry.

"The Pornographer Diaries" is crude, rude, filthy (though not nearly as filthy as you might expect), un-PC, chauvinistic, sexist and , it could even be said, highly offensive. I loved it!

It may not be highbrow (thank God!), but King certainly knows what's funny and this is truly hilarious stuff. I couldn't leave it alone once I'd started and was laughing out loud all the way through. His prose is sharp and patters along in a perfectly tight rhythm, his dialogue is absolutely believable and (in this book in particular) his use of colourful euphemisms and metaphors is quite astounding!

Of course, and it goes without saying, (but I'll say it anyway for the hard of thinking), if you (deep breath); are easily offended, have a feminist bone in you body (though he does generally provide both sides of most arguments, the one about women having the ultimate "Get Out Of Work Free" card is a particularly un-PC joy!), are shocked by bad language (there's lots here!) or simply have a pedestrian sense of humour, then don't touch this with a barge pole. It'll upset you, you poor little thing.

For the rest of you though, if you want a good old fashioned and bawdy belly laugh then you should read this. Really, it's great!

"The Pornographer Diaries", it may not last long, it may even be a little short for the more demanding of you, but, I promise, it'll leave you with a happy, satisfied glow!

Who wants to work on a porno mag? Me I hear you cry well lets be honest thats probably not gonna happen so the next best is this hilarious yarn which is everything you've ever dreamed off and a whole lot more