Purgatory by Raúl Zurita

TITLE: Purgatory
AUTHOR: Raúl Zurita
READ: September
THOUGHTS: I really enjoyed this book of poems, and was almost certain that Zurita was used as inspiration for Bolano in his own works (specifically the sky-writing poems). These poems are very heavy; they establish a tone of confusion, tenderness, and desperation that grows exaggerated as the book progresses. Everything becomes a bit more dark and obscure. The religious imagery was closer to an Eckheartian mysticism than any sort of promulgation of conventional Catholicism, despite the Dante title; the central images are deserts, the empty sky, etc. Really neat.

The Suitcase by Sergei Dovlatov

TITLE: The Suitcase
AUTHOR: Sergei Dovlatov
READ: September
THOUGHTS: Picked this up out of nowhere and was blown away. Really, really loved this. I can't believe I haven't heard of this guy before. This is really more a collection of short stories than a novel, but what makes this work is Dovlatov's voice, which after only reading a few sentences was already incredibly engaging, hilarious, and unique. This book made me laugh out loud several times. I was also really impressed by his deft/economical sentence construction -- a very light touch! The voice reminded me a bit of a slightly more comical Bolano: the imposed self-irony, helplessness/fatalism-as-humor, seeming ambivalence re: being a 'writer,' etc. I even found his little anti-Communist remarks more endearing than 'political' or anything that would take itself too seriously. Would recommend this to everyone. Will probably be reading more of him in the near future.

The No Hellos Diet by Sam Pink

TITLE: The No Hellos Diet
AUTHOR: Sam Pink
READ: September
THOUGHTS: Really liked this. I think S. Pink 'steps up' the thing that he is pursuing w/ this one. The use of the second person is both impressive to me and well used. The narration style seems to be more of the same, w/ the 'absurd' thoughts/hypotheticals toned down a bit, which I think is for the better, because the aimlessness, shittyness, and 'despair-as-humor' works just as well without them. What I really liked was the very obvious (yet somehow implicit) interaction b/w the main character, which here I presume is really someone incredibly similiar to Sam Pink, and people that are not white and have come from suburbs. Someone should probably write about that.

Trout Fishing In America by Richard Brautigan

TITLE: Trout Fishing In America
AUTHOR: Richard Brautigan
READ: September
THOUGHTS: Could not get into this at all. Read only about half of it and put it down. Something about this book was incredibly unappealing and uninteresting to me; I really enjoyed In Watermelon Sugar a lot more. The qualities of Brautigan's prose that I didn't like in IWS were just more exacerbated here, and along w/ it a focus on abstract mini-narratives about fishing or some other bullshit. Maybe I could get into this at some other point in my life but not now.

Exercises In Style by Raymond Queneau

TITLE: Exercises In Style
AUTHOR: Raymond Queneau
READ: September
THOUGHTS: Enjoyed this book immensely; thought it was hilarious/very interesting/smart. The gist of this book is that a very banal and uninteresting story is repeated 99 times through different manipulations of language, narrative, and perspective. I think this, to me, is so effective because the story itself is lacking any sort of moral component, therefore lending to the variations the brunt of focusing on the 'writing' as opposed to anything else. It also works because Queneau is a really gifted writer with a deft ear. I went through this book in about two hours, and the more I read the less I began to pay attention to the story and the more I began to notice the ease and familiarity w/ which Queneau inhabited the recurring tropes of very disparate styles. I couldn't really get into the 'permutation' variations, or any of the ones that read like gibberish, but I mostly enjoyed this book greatly and will probably re-read it multiple times.

Jealousy by Alain Robbe-Grillet

TITLE: Jealousy
AUTHOR: Alain-Robbe-Grillet
READ: September
THOUGHTS: Felt similarly to this as I did to In The Labyrinth. This book complicated my ideas re: Grillet; I think his project w/ the novel is incredibly interesting/innovative, but I felt as if my participation in this project of his started to wane a bit 2/3 through the book, as I already had a pretty clear idea of what he was doing, and I knew that reading through the rest of whatever would happen would not really change anything for me about the book, which it didn't, which I also guess is part of the point since a large part of his project seems to be eschewing the privilege given to continuity, climax, linearity, ending, etc etc. I think I need to give myself some time before I read another book of his, but I am still very interested in reading more (and more about) Grillet.

The Mystery Guest by Gregoire Bouillier

TITLE: The Mystery Guest
AUTHOR: Greg something
READ: September
THOUGHTS: Enjoyed this book; went through it quickly. Never knew what to make of the voice, it was at times cloying/pedantic, sometimes very funny/out-there. Sort of walked a thin line for me, re: the effectiveness of a deranged 'unreliable male narrator' which I guess seems to be my thing re: first person narrative, but some pull it off better than others. I still liked this book a good amount; thought it worked well; would read something else by this guy.

In The Labyrinth by Alain Robbe-Grillet

TITLE: In The Labyrinth
AUTHOR: Alain Robbe-Grillet
READ: September
THOUGHTS: My first Robbe-Grillet; I think he is an incredible writer albeit a writer you (at least here) have to have serious patience with. The use of the looping structure I found to be incredibly effective, frustrating, tedious (in a good way), etc. Besides the general tedium that sometimes accompanied reading I was really impressed by its execution and found its 'objective' prose language as a 'ruse' or whatever to be incredibly innovative. Definitely a top doggie.

In Watermelon Sugar by Richard Brautigan

TITLE: In Watermelon Sugar
AUTHOR: Richard Brautigan
READ: September
THOUGHTS: Very readable novel with a very strange aesthetic. I don’t know if I really care for Brautigan’s prose style but I enjoyed this book a good amount and thought it was pretty interesting.

Try by Dennis Cooper

TITLE: Try
AUTHOR: Dennis Cooper
READ: September
THOUGHTS: This is the Cooper novel I have enjoyed the least so far; seems like it is retreading some themes that were dealt with more interestingly elsewhere. Still very funny and the narrative style of mixed third and first (the third being way more like a first person narrative) I found to be very effective.

An Episode In The Life Of A Landscape Painter by César Aira

TITLE: An Episode In The Life Of A Landscape Painter
AUTHOR: César Aira
READ: August
THOUGHTS: It was amusing to read Aira do a more conventional narrative though I will admit that I think this book is almost entirely forgettable. I guess I really do prefer it when he is in a zanier mood; I went through the book quickly and enjoyed it but I thought it was relatively dull.

The Trial by Franz Kafka

TITLE: The Trial
AUTHOR: Franz Kafka
READ: July-August
THOUGHTS: First Kafka novel I have read, enjoyed it; surprisingly didn’t keep my interest at parts. The fragmented/episodic quality works well. Found it to be unexpectedly very funny. My experience reading the book was strange. I had read pieces of Kafka before, but had never completed a full novel. Despite my lack of reading actual Kafka texts, I have probably read more 'about' him via pieces of criticisms, essays, other author interviews as well as in other fiction, etc than actually read him. Having that background it almost felt as if the actual text was a footnote for everything else that I had read about him, which made my reading of it both surprising and alienating but somehow familiar. That being said, I don't really know how I ultimately feel about this book. At parts I was surprised that it is considered the classic that it is -- the prose style seems 'authorial' in a sardonic and self-aware way but I don't know. I will probably need to read this again in five years or something, because I still feel a little confused and unsatisfied when I think about it.

The Insufferable Gaucho by Roberto Bolaño

TITLE: The Insufferable Gaucho
AUTHOR: Roberto Bolaño
READ: August
THOUGHTS: Another excellent collection, the longer short stories really worked for me -- the stories felt like they had novelistic proportion for a scant 20 to 30 pages, and the non-fiction was as good, too. For some reason didn’t expect to like this one as much as I did.

Kornél Esti by Deszö Kosztolányi

TITLE: Kornél Esti
AUTHOR: Deszö Kosztolányi
READ: August
THOUGHTS:  Episodic/fragmented novel about a sort of cool and funny bourgeois Hungarian poet. Some chapters were great, others forgettable; I think I would have enjoyed this book more if it had a little more direction, got a little bored toward the end. Still found Kosztolányi's prose style and imagination to be delightful to read.

Person by Sam Pink

TITLE: Person
AUTHOR: Sam Pink
READ: August
THOUGHTS: Enjoyed reading this book immensely. It has a great sense of humor that is both absurd and sad and something else that is both negative and confusing. This book in particular has made me think that this ‘ilk’ of writing perhaps has a future, but it needs to 'try harder,' as lazy as a criticism as that sounds. What it was doing for this book is fine but random absurd snapshots of a weirdos life can only make so many novels. Recently bought his two new books so I guess I will see soon.

Closer by Dennis Cooper

TITLE: Closer
AUTHOR: Dennis Cooper
READ: August
THOUGHTS: Somehow had low expectations for this novel because it was so early on but was really surprised by how much I enjoyed it/how good it was. I particularly really liked the 'David' and 'George' chapters. Really love how well Cooper crystallizes being a teenage weirdo and its attendant confusion/ennui.

A Green Light by Matthew Rohrer

TITLE: A Green Light
AUTHOR: Matthew Rohrer
READ: August
THOUGHTS: My first introduction to Rohrer, I really really enjoyed this collection. Good balance of wit/humor, appealing and discernible abstraction, and mystery or whatever. Feel like Rohrer's aesthetic is similarly minded to my own, though of course here it cohesive and intelligent whereas I am like an idiot or something I don't know.

The Face of Another by Kobo Abe

TITLE: The Face of Another
AUTHOR: Kobo Abe
READ: July
THOUGHTS: I was very interested in this book; felt that the discussion re: appearance/'the visual' as a problem of metaphysical conceit was very interesting/disquieting, but this book plodded. Incredibly slow and boring. I stopped reading about 100 pages in when I realized that picking up this book to read another 15 pages required titan effort. Probably one of the only books I have not finished after starting.

Richard Yates by Tao Lin

TITLE: Richard Yates
AUTHOR: Tao Lin
READ: July
THOUGHTS: Wanted to give another Lin book a try, was only interested in this for about 2/5 of the book. Something about it still makes me think that I 'liked' it. I don't want to be as cliche as to suggest that because the plot is incredibly meandering/aimless that this is a 'lazy' book, but I feel like Lin's writing is capable of a stronger story/novel. A lot of the 'issues' in the book seemed surprisingly Degrassi-esque, though I don't think that the actual problems are the central focus of the text. I am looking forward to the new one. Plot can be good too yes.

What Ever Happened To Modernism? by Gabriel Josipovici

TITLE: What Ever Happened To Modernism?
AUTHOR: Gabriel Josipovici
READ: July
THOUGHTS: I really liked this book; I thought it had a very cool thesis, convincing, and great use of examples, though it did seem a bit 'sweeping' at times. Seems like the nature of the argument necessitates glossing over a lot of stuff; it was also a slim volume dealing w/ a massive topic. Sometimes seemed unfair/a bit scathing, still found it very interesting and made me think a lot/want to e-mail this guy some questions since postmodernism appears to have been completely excluded from the history of literature in this guys account.

Ugly Man by Dennis Cooper

TITLE: Ugly Man
AUTHOR: Dennis Cooper
READ: June
THOUGHTS: I remember enjoying this book a lot when I read it but unfortunately I don't remember much about it; I think that most of the things in here are forgettable. The line-editor story sticks out in my mind, because it was innovative and funny, and "The Ash Gray Proclamation" which I thought was great/very funny and I like that its name is from a Robert Pollard song. Really like that Dennis Cooper put all those top 50 lists at the end of this book.

Cat's Cradle by Kurt Vonnegut

TITLE: Cat's Cradle
AUTHOR: Kurt Vonnegut
READ: June-July
THOUGHTS: Never read this; thought it was funny, very readable, heavy-handed, whatever. Thought it was 'cool'. To me the most valuable thing about Vonnegut, who is an author that I don't particularly love, is how readable he is, which is a quality I usually admire in fiction.

The Aleph by Jorge Luis Borges

TITLE: The Aleph
AUTHOR: Jorge Luis Borges
READ: July
THOUGHTS: I like this one slightly slightly less than Ficciones so for me it is still mind blowingly great and stuff yeah, read it or die or something. Every writer and lover of fiction has something to learn from Borges.

Ficciones by Jorge Luis Borges

TITLE: Ficciones
AUTHOR: Jorge Luis Borges
READ: June-July
THOUGHTS: Speaking of the top dogs of literature, here he is. I just don't know what to say about this book. You should probably read it and blow your brains out because things aren't going to get better for you afterward. What Borges does in these stories, which I would bargain to say is probably the best short story collection I have read and might ever read, seems to me completely unique, innovative, shocking, exciting, and a lot of other adjectives of praise and commendation. If you are a person slightly you should read this. Nicanor Parra sez "One should read Borges more."

Hopscotch by Julio Cortázar

TITLE: Hopscotch
AUTHOR: Julio Cortázar
READ: June-July
THOUGHTS: I had a lot of fun reading this book. I think the second part in Argentina is better than the Paris part, which is a little too heavy on conversations about Mondrian or abstraction or something that probably was cool in the 60's but just seems a little lame to me now. Regardless, I enjoyed this book immensely and I think Cortázar is the fucking top dog and stuff, yeah. I think the 'experimental' aspect of this novel falls a little flat, though I did enjoy reading the expendable chapters after reading the 'main' text straight, they were like little morsels of narrative that sometimes were forgettable, sometimes very pleasing to me. The scene with the windows and the plank stands out for me in particular as a scene in fiction that I will probably never forget.

Suicide by Edouard Levé

TITLE: Suicide
AUTHOR: Edouard Levé
READ: June
THOUGHTS: Very interesting book, although the one I am really looking forward to is Autoportrait, an excerpt of which I read and loved. I think I was a little underwhelmed with this one, though I really like the execution and general tone of this book. Expected it to be overwhelmingly sad and ended up feeling a very distant pang of something negative and confusing instead.

The Seamstress And The Wind by César Aira

TITLE: The Seamstress And The Wind
AUTHOR: César Aira
READ: May
THOUGHTS: First Aira that I didn't totally love, I still enjoyed reading it though. Something about it seemed lazy, a good amount of it was whimsical/funny in a way that I appreciated. I don't know, just didn't feel it.

Dance Dance Dance by Haruki Murakami

TITLE: Dance Dance Dance
AUTHOR: Haruki Murakami
READ: May-June
THOUGHTS: I first read this when I was 18 and loved it; first time re-reading it. Murakami knows how to write 'page turners,' definitely. Was surprised by the amount of clunkyness I found in some of the prose (awkward metaphors, dorky observations, whatever). Still liked it a lot. If he puts out a book of fiction I will probably always read it. This book made me realize that I really like reading about people's vacations.

Bed by Tao Lin

TITLE: Bed
AUTHOR: Tao Lin
READ: April-June
THOUGHTS: Had never read any Lin, had read a lot about him, wanted to give it a chance. Was surprised by how 'literary' a lot of the stories here were, or at least maybe I was just surprised because the page or two I had read of Shoplifting From American Apparel in a bookstore seemed to be some pretty deadpan prose. I remember liking the first three stories in this collection a good amount, and found the rest of it to be mostly forgettable. I lost steam with this one about 1/3 of the way through.

Distant Star by Roberto Bolaño

TITLE: Distant Star
AUTHOR: Roberto Bolaño
READ: June
THOUGHTS: I enjoyed this a good bit, though I think Nazi Literature is superior (the novel is an 'extended epilogue' of sorts to NL). A lot of the same old Bolaño stuff, its all good yeah.

Between Parenthesis by Roberto Bolaño

TITLE: Between Parenthesis
AUTHOR: Roberto Bolaño
READ: April-May
THOUGHTS: Great great yes. Some pieces in here are excellent and the worst is merely unmemorable. A list of recommendations that will probably last me years; Bolaño's central message, I believe, is that reading is always more important that writing, and that you should read more. Yeah doggie.

Never Any End To Paris by Enrique Vila-Matas

TITLE: Never Any End To Paris
AUTHOR: Enrique Vila-Matas
READ: May
THOUGHTS: Another really wonderful/hilarious/exciting novel by Vila-Matas. Felt very similarly about this book as I did to Bartleby & Co. Vila-Matas' style, execution, interests, and imagination encompass to me pretty much everything I like about literature. I wrote about this at greater length here.

The Sluts by Dennis Cooper

TITLE: The Sluts
AUTHOR: Dennis Cooper
READ: April
THOUGHTS: Thought this book was wonderful, very readable, and (at least to me) pretty innovative. Largely written in the form of Internet-based forms of writing and communication, the novel's gradual disintegration regarding anything that has discernibly happened I found to be incredibly effective. Made me think of Baudrillard I guess?

Pornografia by Witold Gombrowicz

TITLE: Pornografia
AUTHOR: Witold Gombrowicz
READ: April
THOUGHTS: I found this book to be insane/incredible. I don't think I have ever read anything quite like Gombrowicz's narrators; narrators that take the idea of 'unreliability' to their metaphysical/ontological extreme, emphasizing a level of humor, terror/uncertainty, and anxiety I have never seen elsewhere. Gombrowicz is a real weirdo def.

Period by Dennis Cooper

TITLE: Period
AUTHOR: Dennis Cooper
READ: March
THOUGHTS: Definitely my favorite Cooper, and probably one of my favorite novels. Very very funny, interesting/mysterious/confusing structure ('mirrors'), also made me realize that along with maybe William Gaddis Cooper is my favorite writer of dialog.

Frisk by Dennis Cooper

TITLE: Frisk
AUTHOR: Dennis Cooper
READ: March
THOUGHTS: First Cooper I read, really loved it. Distinctly remember that the second to last chapter in this book upset/disturbed me in a way literature has not ever done. Really love Cooper's prose style, which is equal parts influenced (at least I think) by weirdo/experimental French writing and the young California teenage reject/idiot vernacular; very very awesome.

Bartleby & Co. by Enrique Vila-Matas

TITLE: Bartleby & Co.
AUTHOR: Enrique Vila-Matas
READ: March
THOUGHTS: One of the best books I have read this year, and probably one of my favorite novels I have read. Reading this felt like I was reading something wholly new and exciting; I remember Bolano saying that he felt that this was perhaps a 'true 21st century novel.' The novel is written as a collection of footnotes toward an 'invisible text' regarding writers of the "no" -- writers who at one point decided that they needed to stop writing, or had found it difficult to continue (Rulfo, Kafka, Lord Chandos, and about like 50 others). Vila-Matas has become my master and I humbly accept his tutelage.

While The Women Are Sleeping by Javier Marias

TITLE: While The Women Are Sleeping
AUTHOR: Javier Marias
READ: March
THOUGHTS: Doubly cemented Marias' talent for me. Found his proclivity for weird sort of 19th century-type speech patterns kind of funny given that he is such a weirdo, or at least these stories are filled w/ a level of 'creepiness' that I find very exciting. Also found that the stories were varied enough that it kept my interest the whole way through. Great writer and collection.

The Deluxe Transitive Vampire by Karen Elizabeth Gordon

TITLE: The Deluxe Transitive Vampire
AUTHOR: Karen Elizabeth Gordon
READ: March
THOUGHTS: Also for school -- very cool grammar book that I had to read last semester. I would recommend it to people interested in remembering stuff about grammar.

Everything Is Illuminated by Jonathan Safran Foer

TITLE: Everything Is Illuminated
AUTHOR: Jonathan Safran Foer
READ: February-March
THOUGHTS: Had to read this for school -- expected to hate this book and found that it was actually very enjoyable. JSF is clearly a 'talented' writer, albeit definitely a writer 'writing to' a specific sort of audience, that audience being the kind of people whose taste in books I don't generally find agreeable, but this was fine. Definitely a lot of cheekiness or whatever that was a little much, and the 'dramatic' parts I found to be a bit cloying.

Ghosts by César Aira

TITLE: Ghosts
AUTHOR: César Aira
READ: February-March
THOUGHTS: Everyone told me this was the best Aira and I have to respectfully disagree. Story was kind of dry but the weirdness kept my interest definitely. A very good novel, but I have enjoyed others more

New Addresses by Kenneth Koch

TITLE: New Addresses
AUTHOR: Kenneth Koch
READ: February
THOUGHTS: I have been a Koch fan for a long while but this is the first 'full' book of poetry of his that I have read. Really wonderful; Koch is probably one of the poets I enjoy reading the most/Koch for president and stuff.

The Invention of Morel by Adolfo Bioy Casares

TITLE: The Invention of Morel
AUTHOR: Adolfo Bioy Casares
READ: February
THOUGHTS: I remember being very excited to read this and only felt slightly disappointed after finishing it; still liked it a whole lot. Another great 'unreliable' narrator type thing w/ a mixture of a disquieting atmosphere and a bizarre imagination.

How To Write A Sentence by Stanley Fish

TITLE: How To Write A Sentence
AUTHOR: Stanley Fish
READ: February
THOUGHTS: Somehow expected a little more from this. Very interesting/illuminating at times but it felt more like a scattered collection of thoughts and examples on 'good writing.' Lost interest about 2/3 the way through.

Senselessness by Horacio Castellanos Moya

TITLE: Senselessness
AUTHOR: Horacio Castellanos Moya
READ: February
THOUGHTS: A great short novel, enjoyed reading this a bunch. Very skillful/entertaining use of unreliable narrator that lends itself well to the subject of historical atrocity and the encroaching sort of madness/craziness that accompanies facing that.

Bad Nature, or With Elvis In Mexico by Javier Marias

TITLE: Bad Nature, or With Elvis In Mexico
AUTHOR: Javier Marias
READ: February
THOUGHTS: Enjoyed this book immensely; very funny, pithy/thought provoking, really great long/sinuous literary sentences. Made me think Marias was "the real deal."

Antwerp by Roberto Bolaño

TITLE: Antwerp
AUTHOR: Roberto Bolaño
READ: January
THOUGHTS: Couldn't get into this at all, which was surprising. Remember a few good lines or something here and there but I mostly have forgotten everything about this book completely.

The Skating Rink by Roberto Bolaño

TITLE: The Skating Rink
AUTHOR: Roberto Bolaño
READ: January
THOUGHTS: Unexpectedly great Bolaño novel, probably one of my favorite shorter ones. The more I read Bolaño the more I feel like the same people are speaking to me and I am incredibly excited to hear the same voices over again. Plot/pacing and atmosphere in this book seem mysterious, open, distant, something; very beautiful.

How I Became A Nun by César Aira

TITLE: How I Became A Nun
AUTHOR: César Aira
READ: January
THOUGHTS: Enjoyed this one a little less than The Literary Conference, but I still think this is great. Cemented my belief that Aira is a one of a kind type of writer -- very bizarre, readable, exciting, etc. Distinctly remember that this book ends (spoiler) from the perspective of the narrator dying inside of a vat of ice cream and thought that that was great/innovative.

Platform by Michel Houellebecq

TITLE: Platform
AUTHOR: Michel Houellebecq
READ: January
THOUGHTS: This novel made me re-think how I feel about Houellebecq, probably for the worse. He is very funny and very readable but I think this retreads a lot of what The Elementary Particles does a lot better/more convincingly. I found his didacticsm/moralism a little more palatable in EP, and also the ending of this book is absolutely stupid though still kind of funny I guess.