I came up with a good idea for what I’d like to do with this blog thing.
The whole diary / journal concept never really appealed to me. Too femme, besides diaries are supposed to be secret, remember?
Nor could I summon the compulsion to bore the world with the details of my life in sunshine Del Mar, CA.
I enjoy Mark Sarvas’ blog, The Elegant Variation. I love Scott Esposito’s Three Percent even more. Every time I read them, I think to myself, “hey I can do that.” I don’t speak Spanish as well as Senor Esposito. I don’t steal, I don’t lie, but I can feel, I can cry. That is, I’ve read some books that don’t get much attention, let alone reviewed anywhere. I’d like to write a thing or two about them.
So the purpose of this weblog is to publish my thoughts and critiques of books I’ve read. Not Amazon-style four-star reviews (i.e. ” DH LAWRENCE is SOOO GOOOD!!!). Not happy Generation X “hey everybody let’s read a book and be different from our parents!” booster crap. Just some imaginitive, highly personal reactions to books that many people haven’t heard of, that many people might like to read.
TO WIT — I will start with my most recent, and go from there, backwards in time. Here is the list of what I’ve read, in reverse order:
The Artful Edit — Susan Bell
The Kingdom of This World — Alejo Carpentier
Death in Spring — Merce Rodoreda
The Best American Short Stories 2008 — Salman Rushdie (editor, he didn’t write any of these)
Henderson the Rain King — Saul Bellow
Troilus and Cressida — Wm. Shakespeare
2666 — Roberto Bolano
Can’t remember what I read before 2666. I started that one last Christmas, and it took a while. It was probably Cesar Aira or some other mestizo.
Still reading on the Artful Edit, so I will start with Carpentier’s Kingdom of This World. Check back soon!
