Rolling Contemporary Literary Fiction

(One of the main characters in the book is a Hughes researcher; the book says clearly that he's on the Hughes "side" but doesn't go into the fight. One of the things I definitely do like about the book is how good it is on people taking the art they already like and using it to get through difficult times.)

Ok, that does sound like my thing, actually

this is good

Christian Lorentzen on "Obama-lit"

http://www.vulture.com/2017/01/considering-the-novel-in-the-age-of-obama.html

Colson Whitehead on George Saunders' new first novel, which I badly want to read

Has anyone read Joshua Cohen? I'm kind of curious about his Book of Numbers - there's a bit of buzz starting around his new book Moving Kings (which I'm not as interested in, but was just favourably reviewed by James Wood in the NY'er) which reminded me of it.

I'd thought about picking it up when it came out a few years ago but never followed through on it. Any thoughts on him? A lot of the reviews/blurbs seem to place him in a Pynchon/Delillo/DFW lineage but I'm also quite wary about those comparisons given the relative abuse of them over the past few years.

the new yorker review of moving kings was not particularly favorable - he liked cohen's use of language but thought it was kind of a mess otherwise

xp questionable as to if the wood review was favorable, he does call it an unsuccessful novel iirc

yea I read book of numbers, think I posted abt it on the y novels suck now or w/e thread

its dense, id recommend it

i just checked it out as an e-book from the library, i'll report back if i remember

I haven't read any of his books but this review he did of The Instructions was kinda petty: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/07/books/review/JCohen-t.html

On the other hand, I have friends who basically agree with his assessment (I really enjoyed it though). Can't say if he's protesting too much about the Wallace influence.

Ah, I only skimmed the review - I probably should have mentioned that or avoided generalizing the bits I read through for the whole review :(

Cohen's prose style does seem to interest me (based on the bits I skimmed from Wood's review) and also from the little else I've read about him (+ some of his book reviews).

From my post in 2016 these were all found and were all good-to-amazing:

Claire-Louise Bennett - Pond
U.R. Ananthamurthy - Samskara
Gerard Van Reve - Evenings
Arseny Tarkovsky - I Burned at the Forest
Alejandra Pizarnik - Extracting the Stone of Madness
Antonio Di Benedetto - Zama

Meh:
Agustin Fernandez Mallo - Nocilla Dream

2017 list:
João Gilberto Noll - Quiet Creature on the Corner/Atlantic Hotel
Wolfgang Hilbig - Old Rendering Plant
Sergio Pitol - The Magician of Vienna
Michel Leiris - Night as Days, Days as Night
Ann Quin - The Unmapped Country
Elizabeth Hardwick - Essays
Antonio Di Benedetto - Nest in the Bones
Tsvetaeva - Earthly Signs
Arthur Schnitzler - Late Fame
Pierre Michon - Winter Mythologies and Abbots*

*can't remember the last time I was interested in a contemporary French author - that piece sells it.

My most recent Contemporary etc. experience was A Horse Walks Into A Bar, as described on the Happy Families etc Reading thread. Wondering about some of these now:
https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/blog/2017/10/04/congratulations-to-our-national-book-award-finalists-for-2017/?aid=randohouseinc32916-20&ref=PRHF4B91C0A799A&linkid=PRHF4B91C0A799A&cdi=49C5BD5957C34D9EE0534FD66B0AC478&template_id=7364

otessa moshfegh is my latest fav in contemporary lit. read both her grisly historical novella 'mcglue' and grody hitchcock crossed with dariah novel 'eileen' this summer, both highly recommended. awarded a fancy prize by rivka g

huh will check that out maybe, luv rivka g

Michon: Winter Mythologies -- thought this was splendid

xxp im loving eileen, good rec flop

Despentes, Vernon Subutex 1: has anybody read it?

Read and done. All good-to-amazing

João Gilberto Noll - Atlantic Hotel
Wolfgang Hilbig - Old Rendering Plant
Pierre Michon - Winter Mythologies and Abbots

2017/8:

NYRB:
Chateaubriand - Memoirs
Curzio Malaparte - Kremlin Ball
Uwe Johnson - Anniversaries
Varlam Shamalov - Kolyma Tales
Marina Tsvetaeva - Earthly Signs
Arthur Schnitzler - Late Fame

Penguin:
Dag Solstad - Armand V/T Singer
Svetlana Alexivech - THe Unwomanly Face of War
Carlo Gadda - Experience of Pain

Archieplago:
Antonio Tabucchi - For Isabel: A Mandala/Tristano Dies
Antonio Di Benedetto - Nest in the Bones

Other Publishers:
Ann Quin - The Unmapped Country
Wolfgang Hilbig -The Tidings of the Trees/The Females
Helen DeWitt - Some Trick
Sergio Pitol- The Magician of Vienna/Mephisto’s Waltz: Selected Short Stories
Emily Wilson - The Odyssey
Gerald Murnane - The Plains

which of these would you rate highest? I'm looking to feed my lit maw.

I'll be curious to hear more about the Quin and DeWitt collections; I don't think Some Trick is supposed to be published in the States before this summer.

The Quin is interesting and has just come out, the editor spent years collecting the stories and fragments: https://frieze.com/article/our-gusts-and-storms

Omar - I've read something by all the writers except Uwe Johnson, Murnane and Chateubriand. The Uwe Johnson is what I rate highest but that's 2000 pages and undoubtedly the one book that will add the most to my life, should I chose to accept it that is.

Next is Chateaubriand, so that.

anyone read the new rachel kushner?

is it out yet? definitely looking fwd to it.

relevant to this thread i read assymetry recently & was v into it

oh true its out may 1

huh plot of asymetry is eerily similar to the kushner

excerpt of megan boyle liveblog to be published (550pp)

[1.jpg] starting today, march 17, 2013, i will be liveblogging everything i do. right now there is no one i talk to frequently enough to disappoint. the only person keeping tabs on my life is me. it’s always been as time has been passing, i’ve been feelhas that’s not the strange thing, i’ve always felt like i’m watching my life, but recently it feels like i’ve as time has been passing, my life has been feeling more like an event i’ve been feeling more like i’m attending the event of my life than actively participating my life has been feeling more like an event i’m attending due to being shackled in secondary/intermediate stage of 1. less like a [person dutifully keeping tabs, look up something re keeping tabs], my participation in my life has been feeling like it doesn’t belong to me or something, like it’s just this event i’m not participating in much, and maybe wasn’t invited. used to expect my life has been feeling like an event i might not have been invited to. i’ve been feeling an equally uncontrollable sensation of my life not belonging to me, it’s just this event i don’t seem to be participating in much, and am slowly discovering i wasn’t invited. i’m starting to get the feeling i wasn’t invited. it’s just this event i don’t seem to be participating in much, and maybe wasn’t invited. to be participating, and so am sort of failing. i witness myself allowing opportunities fading away myself allowing opportunites to fade due to my lack of follow-through on the tasks necessary to complete them, because for whatever reason, it’s hard for me to make myself do things that i know will make me happy sometimes. i can’t control getting older but i can control what i do as i age. also i feel like my memory is deteriorating. i used to like documenting my daily activities. i liked that. lately the things i’ve been doing haven’t felt worth remembering, but i think that could just be a mind trick and if i start writing again, i’ll remember everything is basically the same as however many years ago i felt more satisfied or hopeful or whatever it is i don’t feel now. **THIS IS NOT GOING TO BE INTERESTING** **I AM NOT GOING TO TRY TO MAKE THIS SOUND INTERESTING OR TRY TO MAKE YOU LIKE ME OR THINK ABOUT IF YOU ARE READING OR ENJOYING READING THIS, IT’S JUST GOING TO BE WHAT IT IS: A FUNCTIONAL THING THAT WILL HOPEFULLY HELP ME FEEL MORE LIKE IMPROVING MY LIFE** going to start a little earlier, with what happened earlier tonight: 2:00AM: pushed orange peel down garbage disposal and walked to my room. heard garbage disposal turn on, then dad’s voice announcing ‘oranges smell good’ to empty kitchen and living room. 2:30AM: walked to mom’s room to show parents youtube video of ‘the meaning of life’ by don hertzfelt. during opening credits dad said ‘oh wow, the sundance film festival,’ and ‘a long trip down a birth canal.’ mom gently quieted him. focused on eating my orange. parents laughed in a manner like they felt pressured, maybe, when the cartoons started talking. stars replaced the talking cartoons and dad said ‘oh, well now that made me like it,’ stressing ‘that.’ near the end of the video, a small alien is left alone to look at the stars. mom sounded teary and like she might be smiling. dad talked excitedly about not understanding what the video was trying to say but he really, really liked it, like ‘hoo boy did i ever like that.’ mom said ‘it’s not over yet, mike.’ dad adjusted his posture and said ‘oh! oh no, hush, let’s hush and see what else happens.’ i didn’t look at either parent. the poignant part of the video had passed. i said ‘yeah, so.’ credits scrolled over pretty galaxy-like orbs. i said ‘yeah, the guy, he didn’t use computers to make it.’ dad said ‘oh, no computers? oh wow it was just great, wow, really great, is there some kind of website i can get to, to get to this guy? i really didn’t quite get it but the flavor of it is just so, wow. it’s really something.’ i said ‘i don’t know his website.’ it was hard to look at dad. i said goodnight. mom smiled and dad thanked me again for showing him the movie. i walked back to my room, feeling like i had just missed a crucial, seemingly easily-made three-pointer and the other team had taken possession of the ball. 3:12AM: plugged drain and turned faucets. sat in my room, waiting for tub to fill. dad stood in hallway between bathroom and my room and asked about my symptoms, which stopped a few days ago, and i’m pretty sure were caused by drugs i did in new york. i haven’t wanted parents to worry so i’ve been feigning a slow recovery from a stomach flu. told dad i’m feeling better. he reminded me xanax would help me sleep and i thanked him. placed macbook on chair in front of tub, for ‘bathtub internet viewing station.’ retrieved papaya from fridge. snorted medium-large amount of heroin from cute box given to me by tao, from a recent trip to taiwan. it’s a square made of four smaller squares with lids. almost transparent blue color. tapped baggie until ‘herion quadrant’ was filled with an amount of powder, for next time. undressed and got in tub. 4:00AM: sort of ignored gchat from ex-boyfriend, then responded. he hasn’t yet. washed and conditioned hair. submerged all but eyes and nose under water. felt anemone-like. rubbed fingernails up and down legs and watched grayish flecks of skin float around body. thought about things i said i’d do by monday. replied to two emails with difficulty, typing with one hand and covering an eye with the other. rinsed with fresh water, unplugged drain, toweled dry. ate 1mg xanax. 4:10AM: peeled orange over kitchen sink, feeling calm and warm but also ‘is this…too much…does ‘too much’ feel like this?’ pictured dad in the morning, using garbage disposal and announcing ‘oranges smell good’ like he did earlier tonight, only i’m dead in my bed. 4:30AM: researched heroin/xanax interactions. seems like i’ll probably just sleep a lot tonight. probably wouldn’t hurt to vomit. 4:42AM: used variety of finger pressures/speeds to encourage chunks of mostly undigested fruit into toilet bowl. saw a little fresh blood on thumb. used to be able to vomit by like, tickling the back of my tongue. drank water and jumped/twisted abdomen, to stir anything that had settled, then kneeled for ‘the final emptying.’ legs felt weak. vomit was pretty, shades of orange. realized i was looking at it without thoughts/emotions, but some similarly dominant level of brain activity. flushed toilet. brushed teeth, washed face. ate raw ‘go pecan pie’ granola bar. 5:36AM: the things i’ve done tonight are not things i would normally tell people i did, i think. 6:11AM: stomach is making whale noises. starting to hear distant cars. it’s always bad when you start to hear cars. wish i wanted to masturbate. i feel like, 5000 years old, like leto ii in ‘god emperor of dune.’ 6:35AM: drinking unpasteurized milk mom said ‘comes right from the cow.’ holding four raspberry cookies. probably going to get seconds. 6:51AM: read liveblog from the beginning. forgot i’d eaten ‘go pecan pie’ bar, so i will not be getting seconds after all. thought ‘the helping is beginning already, excellent’ in monty burns’ voice. 6:56AM: looked at facebook and felt sad and bewildered and like ‘shit, what did i do’ about a person i like, who has indirectly communicated negative feelings about me. ‘in my younger, wilder days’ i probably would’ve tried harder to make amends. now i accept not being liked. that’s depressing, seems like faulty logic. when you give up/resign, you think you’re being open-minded because you’re accepting something you’d rather not, but really you’re just less open to possibilities other than ‘i will feel disappointed.’ i could type more about this but it feels better not to. interesting. want to eat two egg mcmuffins and hash browns and orange juice and for it to be night all tomorrow. 8:25AM: woke feeling as bad but not worse than yesterady. ate 1mg xanax for medicinal purposes. toasted ‘bagel thin’ condensed bagel. spread chive cream cheese on half that didn’t burn. want more sleep. smells like burning. 8:45AM: unplugged toaster. troubled by ‘sleeping at sunrise then waking every 2-3 hours until early evening’ routine. going to look at internet and wait for xanax to kick in. 11:00AM: woke to muffled talking sounds punctuated by basso voice of dad, who seemed to be agreeing with something a lot. covered head and macbook with blanket. 3:15PM: my job was to paint the freshmen’s tents pink. i knew earth would explode in a few minutes, because the universe was resetting. this had been shown to me in a kind of pre-flight safety video. the freshman looked human but acted like feral cats. they shared a brain with ‘feral cat concerns.’ i was their caretaker, kind of. they wanted sex with me. told dream to mom. she said ‘are you sure you want to be moving to new york right now?’ i said ‘i don’t know what else to do, i need to do something, i feel like i’m dying.’ spinach, avocado, cucumber, coconut water, banana in blender. mom described plot of murder mystery novel. i looked for another banana or a suitable second banana substitute. mom said ‘i’m so glad you don’t want to be an F.B.I. agent.’ i said ‘yeah, i thought about being one, back when i watched ‘silence of the lambs.’ they don’t let you do drugs though.’ she said ‘what?’ i said ‘it seems too hard.’ 3:53PM: mom said ‘meggie do you want dad to bring home some bananas? he should be home soon.’ i said ‘no thank you, that’s okay, i’ll get them.’ she said ‘it really wouldn’t be a problem.’ i said ‘i know, i know, i just feel like i want to take a drive,’ like napoleon dynamite. ate 10mg adderall. things i need to do today: -write letter recommending myself as if i am tao and he is my employer -ask keith (friend/former boss) if he’ll write short letter recommending me, or if he’ll endorse letter i’ll write as him -ask colin (real estate agent) what time and where in NYC he wants to meet tomorrow -write cover letter for apartment application binder -buy binder for apartment application binder -write article for vice column **TO ANYONE READING: I FEEL TERMINALLY OUT OF IDEAS FOR THINGS TO WRITE BESIDES LIVEBLOG. HARD TO BE FUNNY/CREATIVE. I THINK A PROMPT OR SOMETHING MIGHT HELP. IF YOU EMAIL ME A LIST OF 10-20 THINGS YOU’D LIKE TO READ, WRITTEN BY ME, I’LL PAY YOU SOMETHING. THANK YOU. THEMEGANBO✧✧✧@GM✧✧✧.C✧✧ IF INTERESTED** 4:11PM: texted keith, asked if he wants to get drinks tonight. texted colin. colin is three years younger than me, owns a small business, works tech support for cable company he might also own, has served in military, has yet to but will most surely definitely graduate college. dwarves me with his success. lives in the apartment across the hall from the one i want. 4:17PM: watching video of sam pink reading at KGB. he’s said ‘sour cream’ twice, so far. the lighting is making his face look like ‘what the other hitman would’ve been told not to remember.’ he looks handsome, like grecian god style. people laughed onscreen. sort of remember where i stood in relation to camera that night. would be crazy if i knew where i stood in relation to camera at all times. need to get my ass out the door to buy bananas. he said ‘sour cream’ again. 4:26PM: skipped to kitchen, making a noise like ‘blreelerleeloobleeloolooloo.’ opened four-pack steaz energy drinks and took one as a reward for ‘being so productive so far.’ skipped back to room thinking ‘how will i type blreelerloorlooleeloo’ noise?’ no responses from keith or colin yet. going to read liveblog i’ve written as a reward. this is not a reward. shit. i should just get moving instead. no, allow yourself small rewards, otherwise this won’t work. small rewards. shit. 4:32PM: keith texted ‘Dang. Id love to madge, but I’m afraid I can’t.’ **IF ANYONE READING THIS WOULD LIKE TO WRITE A SHORT LETTER RECOMMENDING ME, LIKE, PRETENDING YOU KNOW ME AS AN EMPLOYEE BUT HAVE COME TO THINK OF ME AS A FRIEND YOU TRUST THE WAY YOU TRUST A NEIGHBOR OR TENANT WHICH ARE BOTH AREAS YOU THINK I COULD EXCEL, COLIN SAID IT WOULD BE GOOD TO INCLUDE THE WORD ‘INTEGRITY,’ PLEASE EMAIL ME, WILL PAY YOU, NEEDS TO SOUND LIKE WE’VE KNOWN EACH OTHER FOR YEARS ** **MY LIFE IS………………………………….JESUS………..FEEL…..JESUS……………. 5:06PM: have been unfocused-ly switching from texts, emails, i don’t know, screens, i look like this right now, imagine this thing greeting you at the gates of hell: [2.JPG] 5:26PM: matthew donahoo has come to my rescue with a sweet letter of recommendation and writing topic lists. masha has started liveblog project. sam cooke emailed list too. my crotch smells like coconut oil.

tl;dr

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/099921862X/

tl;dr

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/04/12/books/man-booker-international-prize-shortlist.html?mabReward=ART_ACTM7&recid=13CtUwtP5E4oEMlinH4NCYXtRxX&recp=1&module=WelcomeBackModal&contentCollection=Style®ion=FixedCenter&action=click&src=recg&pgtype=article
Interested in all, esp. Frankenstein in Baghdad, also the latest by Han Kang, having recently read this:
https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2018/01/15/han-kang-and-the-complexity-of-translation

The Han Kang is amazing, Frankenstein in Baghdad disappointing

Refreshing comments on Delmore Schwartz's hand-annotated Finnegan's Wake, a constant and maybe crucial companion from age 17, now downloadable from a link in here---"from swerve of shore" indeed, must finally read FW, also more by this blogger:
http://peterchrisp.blogspot.co.uk/2018/04/delmore-schwartzs-wake.html

"A window, not a mirror": Karen Russell on Joy Williams, appropriately enough.The Changeling is being republished, and it's this good, I'm guessing.
https://www.newyorker.com/books/second-read/the-bracing-wisdom-of-joy-williamss-the-changeling

See that Mexican writer Sergio Pitol passed away last week. I've only read 2/3 from his Trilogy of Memory, and this tribute gets to why he is worth a go although nothing I've read about him gets to something more exact.

https://www.theparisreview.org/blog/2018/04/16/farewell-sergio-pitol/

Gerald Murnane was given a long profile recently:

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/03/27/magazine/gerald-murnane-next-nobel-laureate-literature-australia.html

Wow, perfect build, and for once the perfect use of this kind of presentation, thanks.

i enjoyed the new rachel kushner though not as blown away as i was by the flamethrowers. i haven't read much vollman but it reminded me a little of vollman, i guess because san francisco + prostitutes? like vollman meets orange is the new black.

ABN — It Is What It Is
ABN is Z-Ro and his cousin Trae tha Truth, although I guess now they’ve had a falling out? Z-Ro is incredibly underrated and should be way more famous than he is. “Rain” on this album is a killer. It was the soundtrack that played for a whole summer among the lives of some of my interconnected friends, and so it’s weighted with sentiment, nostalgia, and love, even if its message is brutal.

http://nymag.com/strategist/article/rachel-kushner-favorite-things.html

ive never felt more old and washed than getting hip hop recommendations from rachel kushner

I couldn’t get halfway through the flamethrowers. Felt like I’d heard that story before

Anybody here read Dusty Pink?

Read and done and happy:

Chateaubriand - Memoirs
Marina Tsvetaeva - Earthly Signs
Carlo Gadda - Experience of Pain
Sergio Pitol - The Magician of Vienna
Antonio Di Benedetto - Nest in the Bones

---

(Deleted some from the original post from back in Jan as not essential).

NYRB:
Uwe Johnson - Anniversaries
Varlam Shamalov - Kolyma Tales

Penguin:
Dag Solstad - Armand V/T Singer
Svetlana Alexivech - THe Unwomanly Face of War

Other Publishers:
Wolfgang Hilbig -The Tidings of the Trees/The Females
Helen DeWitt - Some Trick
Emily Wilson - The Odyssey
Gerald Murnane - The Plains

― xyzzzz__, Sunday, 21 January 2018 Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Adding these as notable new releases. Penguin have been doing good by euro/foreign fiction:

Pavese - The Beautiful Summer
Violette Leduc - The Lady and the Little Fox Fur

(But otherwise maybe Rachel Cusk, as I am bound to see it 2nd hand)

fun read re Murnane, intriguing too---"Is The Next Novel Laureate in Literature Tending Bar in a Dusty Australian Town?":
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/03/27/magazine/gerald-murnane-next-nobel-laureate-literature-australia.html

Damn--*Nobel* Laureate, though he is presented here as novel.

Some - to me - quite good and surprising picks in here and, after a quick scroll through, no immediately glaring omissions either, although I'm sure they'll come when I think on it a bit more.

(Of course 18 years is a hilariously short period of time to even think about a canon and even tho it is essentially a click-bait article, it seems like it would be of interest here).

http://www.vulture.com/2018/09/a-premature-attempt-at-the-21st-century-literary-canon.html

I skimmed that earlier today and i was thought to myself that all the things I had heard of seemed so obvious as to be boring choices, and the things I hadn’t heard of made me think I would’ve heard of them if they were all that canonical, and I conclude from these thoughts that I’m a ridiculous person and I should just read some more of these.

I don’t think Never Let Me Go is…good.

That #1 pick is otm though.

I endorse all lists as lists, it’s just nobody would’ve read this if the title were “a list of some recent books we like”

No Wolf in White Van, no The First Bad Man, no The Minotaur Takes a Cigarette Break, no My Year of Rest and Relaxation...

good list, lots there ive meant to read

I’ve only read The Road, Kavalier and Clay and the Potters. Tried to read the Hilton Als but found his prose too cumbersome. The Hate U Give is near the top of my current pile of things to read.

All this proves, I suppose, is that I haven’t read enough contemporary fiction, but Colm Toibin’s Brooklyn and John Darnielle’s Universal Harvester still feel like glaring omissions, to me.