i love banville but hate blogger

hi friends

it is easier for me this way:

'the book of evidence'
'ghosts'
--- john banville

'the spooky art'
--- norman mailer

'the sea came in at midnight'
--- steve erickson

i am sure there were others but i can't remember now.

+ banville is exquisite. i am sure that i join the ranks of many a lit critic when i say that i find his prose to be absolutely astonishing. he has vaulted to the forefront of my favourite writers. when i read his books i wish i wrote them. that's all, really. he inspires in me this deep, writhing jealousy that i think is my writerly self going "WRITE, DAMMIT, WRITE" and being all impatient, which is never really all that good for a state of mind about to write ... anyway.

i've only ever read one other book by banville, which is 'nightspawn,' something i picked up largely at random and having read mark sarvas go on & on about 'the sea,'i've been in love with the man's style ever since. in any case. 'ghosts' left me completely confused, and 'the book of evidence' destroyed me. i can't wait to get my hands on his other works.

+ steve erickson confuses me. i love his ideas. i love his mind. i love sentences he writes. but goddamn if sometimes i just don't understand what the hell is going on, what he's trying to say. i can't adequately describe how reading him makes me feel. i enjoy it, but i never feel totally satisfied.

+ norman mailer is an eighty-year old prick. i suppose, though, being eighty, he's kind of earned that privilege. in 'the spooky art', which i highly recommend, mailer spends a bunch of time talking about the books he's written and the books others have written. he writes gorgeous prose about marijuana, oddly enough, some of which is quoted on 'the wall' at my apartment (a big piece of paper with sharpies hanging from it), discourses at length about truman capote and et cetera. the man is a force of nature. his strength in writing is undeniable. i have never read anything by norman mailer other than this book. but now i kind of want to. god, he's SUCH a prick. but its a great book.


okay, that's all. next: amnesiascope, by steve erickson ... maybe also only revolutions, which i'm about three chapters into ... i don't know.

also, i hate blogger but wish i had a blog that was cool.

short story gluttony.

these days i cannot sit still. i cannot sit still, i cannot pay attention, maintain interest in lengthy plots... honestly, writing for dell 8 hours a day is enough to make any girl ADD. and because of this compromised attention span, i've taken to reading short stories. besides a handfull of chekhov, miranda july, kelly link, paul auster, and dave eggers, this is a section of my personal library that's severely lacking.

so, i went on a book safari the last couple weeks to get recommendations and bulk up.

purchased:
white walls by tatyana tolstoya

the elephant vanishes by haruki murakami

call if you need me by raymond carver

(noteable but not a short story collection: the brooklyn follies by paul auster)

ordered:
looking for jake by china mieville

i also have a number of recommendations not acted on yet, but if you've anything you feel strongly about, please feel free to contribute to the lump.

* murakami- it's noteworthy that i enjoy his short stories tremendously. his novels? not so far...

* raymond carver- unexpectedly domestic.