Friday, March 20, 2009

A Shift in Emphasis

I have given up online poker. I will have less money but I will gain in time, time and mental clarity. Now I will read. Read and read and read and read. For the last year or two I have not been reading, not enough, not with intensity. Now I will. In the queue: Hunger (K Hamsun); The Way Through Doors (Jesse Ball); Diaires, Vol I (Gide); The Dead Fish Museum (Charles D’Ambrosio); Collected Poems (Alan Dugan); Anglo-Saxon Attitudes (Angus Wilson). Also, screenplays—all and sundry.

3 comments:

JMW said...

Wow. No more online poker. The end of an era.

I really didn't like Jesse Ball's previous book, Samedi the Deafness. I'll be curious to hear what you think of this one...

ANCIANT said...

So far the new Jesse Ball is blowing my mind. I'm hoping to write up some thoughts about it. Some time in August maybe. I'm surprised to hear his first one wasn't great. I think this one is the best book by a new young writer I've read for a long while.

I can see, though, how one might not like it. If you don't like Borges, the films of Charlie Kaufman, or Barthelme you will not like this book.

Unknown said...

That's good. You'll get all that heady tortured literary young man stuff out of the way just in time for a good hearty dose of woman-intensive mainstream commercial historical fiction.

Your favorite!