I bought two novels by Ismail Kadare from Barnes & Noble over the weekend, they were impulse purchases, as most of my purchases tend to be, bought along with the current Saint Anne’s Review that’s got a story by the lady who moderates my workshop—but I am now thinking of returning them, not because I [...]
. . . No one could ever accuse death of having left behind in the world some forgotten old man of no particular merit and for no apparent reason merely for him to grow ever older. We all know that, however long old people may last, their hour will always come. Not a day passes [...]
The thesis behind Natural Novel, the debut novel by Bulgarian writer Georgi Gospodinov:
My immodest desire is to mold a novel of beginnings, a novel that keeps starting, promising something, reaching page 17 and then starting again. The idea or nucleus of this kind of novel can be found in classical philosophy, and mostly in the [...]
Yesterday
Wrote early in morning at new writing space. ** Found out I’ll be attending a show of The Colbert Report in August, woo! ** Went to dance class after work, sweated like a mofo to Kelly Clarkson (ungh), but at least the lady who usually jazzes it up to nth degree in front row wasn’t there to [...]
Had lent a favorite book to a friend in grad school and never asked for it back. She had not read this Chinese writer yet, who at the time had become popular in America with a grand and romantic novel about thwarted love. It is a good novel, but I always point people to his [...]
A few years ago J and I watched three films* in the space of about a week, each of which ended eerily on the following note: It was all just a dream. I had objected to the transparency of two of these films, and felt pacified by the third for its pulling back from that direction at the last minute. And [...]
First sentences from Witold Gombrowicz and Margeurite Yourcenar have been added to my Shelf, as well as a couple of pieces from Franz Kafka’s and Robert Walser’s collections of short prose writings.
My desk at home has been moved to another corner of the room and tidied up. The pile of books to the left are [...]
I had started David Albahari’s Bait sometime last summer and finally finished it yesterday afternoon on the subway. As I had about five more stops to go, what else could I do but start reading from the beginning of the story again? It’s only a slim 117 pages, but I kept putting it down because the [...]
Just added new first sentences up on my Shelf from works by Paul LaFarge, Nathanael West, and Monique Wittig, as well as more by Italo Calvino and Rainer Maria Rilke.
Enjoy.
The Literary Saloon, my daily source and haven for any news related to international literature, points to a film adaptation of another Bohumil Hrabal novel, I Served the King of England. I’m going to devour the film as soon as it’s available here (screw the negative review). Which reminds me: I need to check on [...]
Kate’s Book Blog has proposed a neat challenge to readers: Reading Across Borders. It’s been getting an enthusiastic response from lit globbers like Turning Pages, A Work in Progress, and Of Books and Bicycles, among others. If you take up this challenge, too, I urge you to add two more books to your list: The [...]
. . . of Pär Lagerkvist’s The Dwarf and one of Dashiell Hammett’s stories in The Continental Op are now up on my Shelf.
Have a great weekend!
. . . on my Shelf from Italo Calvino, Eileen Chang, Julien Gracq, Franz Kafka, Lautréamont, Alberto Manguel, Albert Sánchez Piñol, and Rainer Maria Rilke.
Enjoy, read and write well, and see you in the new year.
For last year’s words belong to last year’s language
And next year’s words await another voice.
And to make an end is [...]
One of the things I heard over and over in my MFA program was: Read your professor. Then you’ll know what kind of reader is reading your work, and only then can you respond correctly and meaningfully to his or her criticism.
This seems obvious; I might also disagree just a little bit. But I didn’t [...]
A loud solitude occurs at one o'clock in the morning.
E-mail me: loudsolitude (at) gmail (dot) com.
Surprise me: Amazon wish list.
