Jeff
in Venice by Geoff Dyer (25)
His
essays are better. Mentions James Turrell. Sent to Annabel with the
caveat there are descriptive scenes in India of having diarrhea.
The
Loser by Thomas Bernhard (23)
Pale
remake of Correction — suicidal postmortem focus is music instead
of architecture. Still worthy.
Out
of Sheer Rage by Geoff Dyer (18)
Dyer
finding his cantankerous voice brilliantly. Contrary,
self-deprecating, good thinking on the page.
The
Bushwhacked Piano by Thomas McGuane (3)
Reread
every year in an attempt to write better. I quote myself: “My
inability to emulate his style is hardly testament to its genius. I
suppose the thing that I take away from it more than any other is
Mcguane's steadfast refusal to communicate anything in a conventional
fashion. It reads fresh, alien even, every time.”
Yoga
for people who can't be bothered to do it by Geoff Dyer (7)
Dyer's
masterpiece.
Lady
Chatterley's Lover by DH Lawrence (17)
Unnervingly
erotic. Took one of my NAU's professor's breath away back in her
prime.
Gringos
by Charles Portis (12)
His
diction is sui generis. Prose almost haunting in its comedic tone and
execution.
The
Last Gentleman by Walker Percy (28)
The
first 50 pages I howled, the rest of it should be literally flushed.
Shocking piece of excrement.
Preparations
for the Ascent by Gilbert Rogin (8)
Gem
of rarefied high comedy. Does not suffer from gag fatigue.
Miss
Lonelyhearts by Nathanael West (9)
Can
hardly remember reading this as I was learning a hotel job at the
time, as a night custodian — what West was doing when he wrote it.
Did Nathanael West preheat waffle makers for strangers? Seems
unlikely.
Things
I Didn't Know by Robert Hughes (27)
Ambivalent
about this one. Hughes did way better things. Fatal Shore is awesome
and I love what he says about art.
The
Emigrants by WG Sebald (19)
A
very strange, haunting treatise on what we remember.
Killing
Time by Thomas Berger (13)
Phenomenal
treatment of the psychopath in this fiction desecrates Capote's big
effort. A depth of understanding perhaps only rivaled by
Dosteoyefski.
Let
me Count the Ways by Peter DeVries (22)
High
comedy. Succeeds where Last Gentleman fails.
On
the Road by Jack Kerouauc (15)
Moriarity's
self-absorbed hipster stinks up the page and Sal is covered in the
residual stench of it all, but it's a great american novel even
without the brotherhood (which is ultimately moving, despite a lot of
the doucheyness).
Thanatos
syndrome by Walker Percy (11)
Sequel to one of the great novels of the 20th century:
Love in the Ruins. Brilliant, mate.
Correction
by Thomas Bernhard (1)
Punk
rocker Richard Katz in Freedom exclusively reads Bernard. Doris, my
old housemate, grew up in his neighborhood. Her Dad tells me that the
notoriously reclusive Bernhard used to get lunch at the cafeteria of
the factory that he worked.
The
Collected Stories of Leonard Michaels (2)
This
man has strange powers. Find him, use those powers for your idle
literary intercourse.
63:
Dream Palace by James Purdy (4)
Darker
than Nathanael West, less comic, but overall, just as gigantic.
Julip
by Jim Harrison (5)
Three
novellas, three of his best.
Sylvia
by Leonard Michaels (14)
A
loan from H with the caveat: proceed with caution, this reminds me
of one of your old relationships.
Writing
Fiction by Janet Burroway (24)
Indispensable
source on craft.
Masters
of Atlantis by Charles Portis (6)
I
turned to this first, post-breakup. Emotionally, the tone was
spot-on. Dad loved it: “What a bunch of derelicts.” Funny.
Panama
by Thomas McGuane (10)
A
text, I realize, I borrow heavily from in my novella. So good. Rather weird.
The
Houseguest by Thomas Berger (29)
Avoid
this ugly novel. So misanthropic.
Memoirs
by Tennessee Williams (20)
Full
of gems like these: “The kitchen door banged open and past me
sailed a meatloaf, missing my head by inches. Then came a bowl of
succotash, once again missing its target, then the salad, even a
silex of coffee. I was so drunk that these missiles did not alarm me.
And when the kitchen door banged shut and Frankie charged off in the
car, I picked the meat loaf up off the tiles and ate it with as much
gusto as if it had been served me on a golden platter.”
Rediscovery
of North America by Barry Lopez (16)
What
Columbus did in the Americas is too incomprehensible even for
terrible fictions.
The
Great Leader by Jim Harrison (21)
Hell,
it's Jim, read it.
Turn
of the Screw by Henry James (26)
Meh.
Mile
Marker Zero by Jim Harrison (30)
An
interesting history clouded by the author's titillations of sleaze
and frankly sucky voice.
John had too
many death-defying ultimate frisbee altercations. He lives in a
trailer park. His landlord is Orson Welles's daughter. 
