This time, no lengthy intro. And away we go:
- Lydia Davis, Samuel Johnson Is Indignant
I found this book unmemorable and vaguely annoying. Except for the hiccups story. That one I found very memorable for being specifically annoying. I almost quit reading the book and I almost threw it out a window. I didn't, though. - Land-Grant College Review #3
I know, I know: I'm a bad person. I don't read enough lit mags. But I've now read all three issues of Land-Grant College Review, each of which has contained several excellent stories. From issue #3, I especially enjoyed "Appalachian Spring" by Evan Lavender-Smith, "War Buddies" by Joan Silber (which, I hope this doesn't seem sexist of me, and I hope it comes off like a compliment, but, I hadn't noticed the author's name when I started this story, and about halfway through when I looked at the author's name, I was surprised to see a woman's name, because the narrator of the story has a very convincing "male" voice, the sort that it's sort of surprising to find that it was faked, if that makes any sense at all), "An American Son" by Lewis Buzbee (this might have been my favorite story of the issue), "Outlier" by Mary Swan, and "We Found Ourselves in Toronto" by Brock Clarke.
One of these days I'm going to spend a month or two reading nothing but other stuff written by the people who wrote my favorite stories in each issue of LGCR. That will be some good times. - Mary Gaitskill, Two Girls Fat and Thin
Mary Gaitskill's first novel, more accessible and immediate than last year's Veronica, but not as great as Because They Wanted To, her second collection of short stories. But still a darn fine book, I thought. Maybe you'll think so too, if you don't mind a book with some dirty parts in it. It's not a great book, mind you. But it certainly doesn't suck.
I've got her first story collection, Bad Behavior, over on the To Be Read pile (which I may or may not have mentioned is now a collection of piles of books and shelves of books, but TBR-CoPoBaSoB isn't a snappy acronym), and I still plan on re-reading Veronica sometime in the next six months, now in part because I suspect I entirely or significantly disagree with Dan Green's smack-down of the book but I'm totally unprepared to say why or how or even what he got wrong about the book. - Clive Barker, Weaveworld
Now, I know what you're thinking, and you're thinking, "Darby, what were you thinking?" And I'll tell you what I was thinking: I was thinking nothing, nothing at all, or, more specifically, I was thinking, "I want to really, really not think for a little while, now." So I read Weaveworld. I just needed something fun for a few days, something with mysterious creatures in it. I needed, nay, craved a tale of chaos unleashed upon an urban environment. This book hit the spot.
But then, check it: a couple days after I finished this book I was hanging with a couple friends, watching old reruns of Who Wants to be a Millionaire? on the Gameshow Network--no, mind-numbing narcotic drugs were not involved in the evening's proceedings--and we watched this guy get to like the $500,000 question, and it was totally about the Rub' al Khali, and I knew the answer even before Regis read the choices, because I'd just read Weaveworld. It was pretty awesome. - Cormac McCarthy, All the Pretty Horses
Annoyed and irritated the living hell out of me. Even though it was pretty at points. - Kevin Brockmeier, The Brief History of the Dead
- Kevin Brockmeier, The Truth About Celia
Kevin Brockmeier is up to something, and I think I'm going to like it more once he takes what he's up to and stops diffusing the majority of the suspense at the very beginning of the book. Yes, I know, these aren't meant to be "suspense novels," but that doesn't mean there shouldn't be a sense of tension here, some sense of mystery to keep you turning pages. Because strictly speaking you can see the whole playing field at the start of the books, and you can see what moves are left to the players, and you know essentially where everything's going to wind up once you turn the last page. For lesser writers this would be a sort of immediate literary stillbirth. But Brockmeier has a way of writing really good, beautiful prose, and it's generally worth reading for itself. Still, for as much as I enjoyed both of these novels, I felt a bit wanting at the end of them, as if I'd just watched a pre-legendary baseball player taking practice swings--as cool as it is to see that, you kind of can't wait to see what's coming next.
I'd personally suggest reading Brief History first because I think he gets closer to the home-run swing in that book than in Celia. There's more mystery to the world of the novel and more surprises to be found by the end of it. (Even though the character Laura's last chapter epitomizes the problems inherent in the "there's nowhere to go but where there's to go" fatedness quality of the book's plot. You're reading for the art of the writing, not the content of the text.) - Douglas Coupland, jPod
A big huge goofy sloppy delightful faux-pomo mess. I enjoyed it a lot. - Fyodor Dostoevsky, The Idiot
A big huge goofy sloppy...I kid. Seriously one of these days I'm going to unleash a big huge post about my Summer of Dostoevsky project to date. But not today.
I will say I liked this book a lot more this time than I did when I last read it a few years ago. Also it was even easier to like it once I was done with it and I could mentally gloss over the parts that are sort of blah blah blah whatever.
And you ask: "Oh wait, you mean to say that not every word Dostoevsky wrote was mad-genius?"
And I say: Blah blah blah whatever. - Robert Pirsig, Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance
Philip Sherburne, in his review of the Ellen Allien & Apparat album Orchestra of Bubbles (which, incidentally, is currently in the running for my Top Album of 2006), described the album as being "[l]ike some crazy amusement park ride, you feel yourself ascending and descending at the same time; it's a simultaneous come-up and come-down, a combo rocket takeoff and marshmallow-factory landing." I didn't really see the album that way--I thought it was just awesome music. But then my girlfriend had me read the Zen book all the kids love, and I felt exactly what Sherburne meant. The book really surprised me--I didn't think I'd care for it. But I found it interesting and it left me with a queer mixed feeling of inspiration and uncomfortable uncertainty.
Then I found out what happened to the kid after the book ends (the copy I read was published before what happened, happened, and so I lacked the explanatory preface that I suppose later copies contained) and I got super depressed.
Yeah. - H. D. F. Kitto, The Greeks
It was mentioned in the Zen book, but it didn't make me insane, which is just further proof that I'm not a raving genius.
Damn it. - Josef Pieper, The End of Time
I disagree with it. - Jean-Philippe Toussaint, Television
- Michael Martone, Michael Martone
A funny thing happened to me on my way to the last two LitBlog Co-Op Read This! selections.
I initially skipped the Spring 2006 selection, Television, when it was announced, because, honestly, what I read about it, I was convinced I wouldn't care about it in the slightest. But then I relented and read it and found it oddly delightful. In that quirky French way some books have going for them.
I then eagerly and immediately read the Summer 2006 selection, Michael Martone, because I was convinced I would love it. Turns out I was generally underwhelmed and often kind of bored. I sort of disliked the style of it a lot. Maybe I just read it the wrong day of the week. Dunno. Dan Green is quite enthusiastic about it. Keep your eyes on the LBC site for the upcoming discussion of the book. - Philip Roth, Portnoy's Complaint
Some part of me keeps thinking I shouldn't like Philip Roth. That has yet to stop me from liking his books, though. Not quite in a can't-get-enough-of-his-work kind of way, though. This is the third book of his I've read and I liked it. I'll probably read more of his books down the line, I'm sure. There's a chance I might like those books, too.
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