Monday, September 22, 2008

The Price of Klosterman

I finished Klosterman's novel, "Downtown Owl", this morning. It was sad, and funny, like everything he writes, but leaves you somewhat empty in the end. I don't know if I just didn't like the ending, or if it was too sad(I've read sadder books, goodness knows), or what-but he's a brilliant, funny young writer. It was a clearly, deeply imagined world, and I enjoyed being in it.

I started Richard Price's Lush Life this morning, but it's not really taking hold yet for me. I've heard him talk about it a couple of times, and it sure sounds like something I would enjoy, but it's real real jargony, and I haven't fallen deeply for it yet. I may drop it and come back to it later. Assuming I don't start bleeding uncontrollably again, I have plenty of time-too much time to spend any reading books I'm not enjoying.

I may go to Ethan Canin's novel "America America", or I may go to history-I have a Civil War, a Napoleonic War, and a Revolutionary War book I could dive into. Plus "The Dark Side", about torture, and that new David Foster Wallace book of essays I bought because I couldn't find the other one I have.

I think David Foster Wallace is chuckling somewhere over the fact that, since his death, I've bought two of his books. (I have a copy of "Infinite Jest" coming from Amazon, too.)

2 comments:

  1. Ya know, I can relate completely to the idea of not being able to get into books right away. The only one I was ever able to really "Grab hold and go with" from beginning to end was Salinger's "the Catcher in the Rye." I have high standards, and many-a-books fail to meet them. I believe this crosses over into my personal life as well, but that's a whole other bag that the cat's not out of yet :)

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  2. Yeah, I hear you. Let's keep cats in bags until they're ready to come out and play nice.

    I used to plow through, determined to finish, but now I am more of a mind to say, "You know what, Book? It's not you-it's me. I'm just not ready for you right now. I'm going to put you right back here on shelfy-poo until I'm in a better state of mind to handle you. K?"

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