Child of God54 reviews Cormac McCarthy Vintage, 1993 Sick! But interesting and a dark and desperate adventure. + Child Of God - A Macabre Masterpiece + Written in 1973! "Child of God" is a story of a poor, lonesome and demented redneck named Lester trying to survive in a poor redneck town. From the beginning we see that he has gotten the boot from society (be it as it may) and has been forgotten and left on his own to survive and pursue his own interests, which ...             The Verificationist: A Novel16 reviews Donald Antrim Vintage, 2001 Taking the novel to a new place + Out of Body Experience in a Pancake House + Great experimental yet accesible novel Somehow I think the definitive novel is one that is free to say anything about anything as Antrim does here and in his other novels. The trick is( or the art is) if its enjoyable and interesting. Antrim 'Verificationist' takes writing freedom to it's limits in a wonderful spell-binding way.Strange, ...             A Supposedly Fun Thing I'll Never Do Again: Essays and Arguments87 reviews David Foster Wallace Back Bay Books, 1998 Sheer genius. + Excellent + A national treasure + Detailing certain paradigms w/r/t what can loosely be considered the contemporary pomo condition + 4.5 stars             The Box Man: A Novel9 reviews Kobo Abe Vintage, 2001 It's hip to be square... + Soul of the Minimalistic Realism Having put off reading this book until I moved back to Tokyo I'd say the box man mentality fits nicely with foreigners trying to understand Japan. Someone first descibed living in Tokyo to me like floating in a warm bubble. Unless you speak the language or fit in culturally you'll always be a ...             Project X (Alex Awards (Awards))23 reviews Jim Shepard Knopf, 2004 Adults have no idea + "Shepard's Best Novel Absolutely Riveting" + Never have I read better + Project X             The Deltoid Pumpkin Seed4 reviews John McPhee Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 1992 For a sense of wonder and anticipation that stays with you + Another great McPhee work This is the first McPhee book I ever read-- way back when it first came out. How well I remember it! How many years I have continued to look for news of the needed technology for large scale commercial use of lighter than air craft finally being mastered (and we still seem on the brink of ...             Dock Ellis in the Country of Baseball2 reviews Donald Hall Fireside, 1989 Oddity? Sure. Fun as Hell? You Bet! + excellent insight into baseball in the 60's & 70's, strange Now that Donald Hall has been named poet laureate of the United States, maybe Dock Ellis in the Country of Baseball will get a little of the attention it's long deserved. This is one of those fun books (like David Foster Wallace's A Supposedly Fun Thing I'll Never Do Again, or Nicholson Baker's U ...             Pale Fire85 reviews Vladimir Nabokov Vintage, 1989 brilliant + Enjoyable at Multiple Levels + Mind bending! + A strange and brilliant work             In the Lake of the Woods190 reviews Tim O'Brien Penguin (Non-Classics), 1995 Mystery and depth + The mystery of the human heart + interesting... another hit from O'Brien + In the Mind of PTSD             Airships12 reviews Barry Hannah Grove Press, 1994 They loved her at the Bargain Barn... + Fiction that explodes like a bottle rocket + good short story collection + all-in-all very good, yet something irked me . . .             Chasing the Sea: Lost Among the Ghosts of Empire in Central Asia54 reviews Tom Bissell Pantheon, 2003 Been there, done that, GREAT BOOK + A Highly Readable Book + You can go home again....but maybe you shouldn't Ever since reading Stein many years ago, I *knew* that I had to go to Central Asia someday to see what was there. Having just covered the same geography as the author [overland], I would recommend this book as the most realistic on Central Asia of the current batch out there. Yes, he obsesses ...             The Emigrants41 reviews W. G. Sebald, Michael Hulse New Directions Publishing Corporation, 1997 The trail of the butterfly man: homage to Vladimir Dimitrovich + Literature like none else in desolation and despair + The Emigrants + Shadows of the past + Memorable             All We Read Is Freaks1 review William S. Bowers Harcourt, 2005 Gut Bustingly Hilariousity! I don't read much, but after growing up in South Carolina and visiting Florida many times, I found this book to be quite hilarious. Unless you are a jackass, you will love this book. My wife is a teacher and this stuff happens to her all the time (except her students are even wilder-like from ...             The Bloody Chamber35 reviews Angela Carter Penguin (Non-Classics), 1990 Gothic writing at it's best! + Serendipity! + Sexy twists on classic tales + Angela Carter - The Bloody Chamber             Whores for Gloria: A Novel (Contemporary American Fiction)5 reviews William Vollmann Penguin (Non-Classics), 1994 Hors commerce (mais bien sur) + Messes with your mind, in a good way + Gritty and Compelling + Tiny greatness. + A well-crafted walk on the wild side             Running After Antelope10 reviews Scott Carrier Counterpoint, 2002 Addicting + Wonderful Book + Somber yet darkly funny commentary + An enjoyable and edifying quick read + A remark             Gilead: A Novel296 reviews Marilynne Robinson Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2004 Gilead by Marilynne Robinson + Grace + Touching but occassionally boring + Being blessed meant being bloodied...             The Black Veil9 reviews Rick Moody Back Bay Books, 2003 Neglected Literary Classic Destined To Be Remembered Alongside "Angela's Ashes" + Young adult years + Very worthwhile and important With "The Black Veil", Rick Moody has written a brilliantly realized memoir which I suspect will one day be remembered as well as Frank McCourt's "Angela's Ashes". Indeed there are many passages throughout "The Black Veil" which rank alongside "Angela's Ashes" for their elegant literary quality. If ...             Letters to Wendy's24 reviews Joe Wenderoth Wave Books, 2000 What a book! + Reads like a tone poem, fits like a ..... heel? + fluorescent ceilings ETC + Wendy's is the latest thing in literature             The Lime Twig2 reviews John Hawkes New Directions Publishing Corporation, 1961 An experience well worth the effort Each week on a Monday I go to the library and read plots. This is a way that I get ideas for my own writing. One day I ran across one of the most interesting and imaginative plots I had ever seen and of course I had to get the book. John Hawkes, a Gothic novelist, must be the least read novelist of ...