Member: jodavid

Wow, that was quick.

And I miss the poetry group, too.

posted by anisoara at 1:32 pm (EST) on Aug 18, 2009

Great - I hope that you enjoy it!

posted by anisoara at 2:39 pm (EST) on Aug 16, 2009

Oh do definitely read some of his poetry. He's got a collected poems with Bloodaxe called The Puberty Tree, though I think that was published a good ten years ago, or more. He's got recent collections out dealing with his second wife, Denise, and his family. The first is called Not Saying Everything, with Bluechrome, and the other is Dear Shadows, brought out by Fal Books (or maybe Fal Press, can't remember offhand).

If I were you I'd read some of his poetry and then feel free to write to him. He's also got a blog ... here's the link: http://don-whitehotel.blogspot.com/ (He hasn't updated it for a few months though!)

I write poetry too. Most of it is rubbish.

posted by anisoara at 2:27 pm (EST) on Aug 14, 2009

No, I haven't read any Alexander Theroux. Let me know what you think of Darconville's Cat.

I too love D M Thomas ... and I'm proud to say we're friends, too. He's a brilliant poet as well as a novelist.

I also find the high coincidence of books in our collections amazing - that's half the fun of LibraryThing. Well, maybe not half, but a significant proportion. I also enjoy tagging my books, shopping by browsing other people's libraries and doing the 50-book etc challenges. And more. What a wonderful and bizarre site.

posted by anisoara at 1:46 pm (EST) on Aug 14, 2009

Hi, Your books are amazng

posted by CassandraRichmond at 6:28 am (EST) on Aug 10, 2009

Thank you so much for being my friend..

posted by CassandraRichmond at 9:30 am (EST) on Jul 18, 2009

Thanks for the friendship!

posted by AuthorsandExperts at 1:46 am (EST) on Jun 8, 2009

Hi, Joseph:

It's been a while since I wrote you. Your latest entry, A Life Full of Holes, was given to me years ago by a very dear friend of mine, who, as life often goes, long since disappeared into the invisible world (as did the book). My friend knew, or had met, the guy who wrote the book. At any rate, after you read it, keep me in mind and tell me what you thought of it (if you don't intend to review it); that is, whether you found it worthwhile.

Thanks,
Peter

posted by copyedit52 at 4:39 pm (EST) on May 15, 2009

Yeah I can understand that. DFW might be a love him or hate him kinda guy (I think I love him or have loved his short stories and journalism at least... jury's still out on uber longform fiction though). In any event, I'll let you know what I think of Last Opium...

: )

posted by lorettalu at 2:31 pm (EST) on Apr 8, 2009

Infinite Jest. About 400 pages in. Any advice? Of course I've never read anything quite like it. Paragraph-long sentences, clauses within clauses within clauses, you swear he's lost but he finds his way out. It's beautiful and cool-headed and I don't give a rat's ass about any of the characters really but I don't think he did either. That's my 400-pages-in impression.

posted by lorettalu at 9:54 pm (EST) on Apr 7, 2009

Nothing like hanging out on LT to make you realize how much you haven't read. I looked up Nick Tosches' Last Opium Den. Never heard of it or him but I added it to my wish list.

I have a portly cat myself - 18 lbs. Our vet keeps suggesting hiding his food, a bit here and there, to get him to work/exercise. We haven't tried it. He's cute fat but I know I shouldn't think so.

posted by lorettalu at 4:42 pm (EST) on Apr 7, 2009

Why do I suddenly feel as if I've dropped down a rabbit hole? Okay, got it. Note to self: write and publish invisible book; gain access to special place.

I've done some thinking about saliva. I like mine tinged with a little ocean water. But that's way too prosaic compared to the taste of dead geniuses so maybe I'll keep thinking.

What are you reading, you with 63 of my books? I'm reading Infinite Jest. Though "reading" doesn't quite get at it. I'm... "re-inventing the way I think about syntax"ing Infinite Jest. And how fat is your cat?

posted by lorettalu at 11:24 am (EST) on Apr 7, 2009

Aha! The guy with the wonderful 'about me.' I read that when I found your library a few days ago. I'm pretty sure I've never really thought about what might constitute my favorite all-time saliva. So who do I have to suck up to to get into the invisible library group? Sounds intriguing. FYI, I can write invisible words. See below for a great example.

.

posted by lorettalu at 6:11 am (EST) on Apr 7, 2009

Sorry for the shameless self-promotion, but I thought you might like to know that my new novel, Dirty Little Angels, is now available. Thought you might be interested since people have compared it to Flanney O'Connor, who I noticed was on your shelf. By the way, if you'd be willing to read the book and post your comments here (and on amazon.com possibly), I'd be glad to send you an e-book version of the book by e-mail. Let me know. Here's a summary in case you're interested:

Set in the slums of New Orleans, among clusters of crack houses and abandoned buildings, Dirty Little Angels is the story of sixteen year old Hailey Trosclair. When the Trosclair family suffers a string of financial hardships and a miscarriage, Hailey finds herself looking to God to save her family. When her prayers go unanswered, Hailey puts her faith in Moses Watkins, a failed preacher and ex-con. Fascinated by Moses's lopsided view of religion, Hailey, and her brother Cyrus, begin spending time down at an abandoned bank that Moses plans to convert into a drive-through church. Gradually, though, Moses's twisted religious beliefs become increasingly more violent, and Hailey and Cyrus soon find themselves trapped in a world of danger and fear from which there may be no escape.

If you'd like to read the first chapter, you can read it here:
http://christophertusa.com/blog/?page_id...

Take care,

Chris

posted by cmtusa at 11:04 pm (EST) on Mar 16, 2009

I have The Books in My Life, somewhere. And since writing earlier, it occurred to me that since you're in play, so to speak, it's best to wait and see what the results are. If you're very lucky, maybe you'll actually win the lottery. Keep me apprised.

posted by copyedit52 at 2:15 pm (EST) on Feb 13, 2009

Joseph:

Miller's advice was, basically, to live by my wits and "trick" the powers that be into publishing me. (And I'd been hoping he'd give me an intro to Barney Rosset at Grove Press.) The publishing industry is an awful world, and I say this as a person who's worked in it (though out of my house) as a freelance editor for almost thirty years ... and also as a writer who's tried to get published for even longer than that. I could go on for quite a while on the subject, including subsets on agents (I've had a few, and they soured me on writing for awhile, like a bad flu). Eventually, I realized that dealing with the marketplace of publishers was near impossible and decided to publish myself, through one of the companies that does that (Xlibris), which is when I Think, Therefore Who Am I? came to fruition. There's a lot I can say about that experience too, if you decide to go that way: things I did that I wouldn't do again, things to watch out for. If you want, perhaps we can take this further in another venue. Pretty much all I do is edit and write, so it wouldn't be a hardship; and, in truth, I'm a pretty generous guy.

posted by copyedit52 at 9:23 am (EST) on Feb 13, 2009

I should read The Books in My Life, which a comment you made to someone brought to mind. I don't know why I haven't; I've read nearly everything else by Miller, some books more than once. And I wrote him a letter too, asking advice as to how to get my book (then in progress) published, which he was kind enough to answer, in his own handwriting, on his particular stationary: to sell to collectors when he died, was my guess, so I'd have something to live on.

posted by copyedit52 at 9:53 am (EST) on Feb 11, 2009

Guhreetings,

Enrique
Freeque

Slow slithers like a snake off the tip of the tongue.

posted by EnriqueFreeque at 1:52 am (EST) on Nov 1, 2008

Another Kadare fan. And the other 41 books we share.

posted by tros at 12:00 am (EST) on Oct 9, 2008

How did you find Peter Handke?

posted by dutts at 10:51 am (EST) on Apr 23, 2008

109 books in common -- not bad!

posted by GlennCooper at 6:11 am (EST) on Apr 1, 2008

I'll make a copy for you then. Do you want to e-mail me your address and then I could mail it to you? It shouldn't take long to get to you since you live quite close to me.

posted by amillay at 4:38 pm (EST) on Sep 27, 2007

Thanks so much for the suggestions! I was able to find several of Madeline Gins' works online, and it looks like amazon has a couple copies of "Word Rain." Clarice Lispector sounds fascinating--I just ordered a couple of her books, so am quite appreciative of the recommendations.
Actually, Wilson planned to write a book called "The Female Outsider" at one point as the second half of "The Outsider"; he seemed to be taking an angle based on Maslow's theories of dominance and self-actualization. I have a copy of his outline for it--it's just a small pamphlet that is probably difficult to find for sale, but I'd be happy to photocopy it for you if you're interested.
Hmmm ... the notion of women outsiders being more rare than men is interesting. I suppose that matches my observations, though I keep coming across more historical women that fit the description.

posted by amillay at 10:16 am (EST) on Sep 25, 2007

Great collection--It's interesting to see someone who likes both Henry Miller and Colin Wilson. I'm doing reseach on "female Ousiders" for a book--if you have any suggestions along those lines, I'd love to hear your thoughts.
Cheers.

posted by amillay at 5:22 pm (EST) on Sep 23, 2007

Recommendations? Hmmmm....I'm likely to get long-winded, so forgive me in advance. =)

Anything by Kurt Vonnegut, fiction or non-fiction, is golden.
The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova sorta has a similar feel to it as In the Hand of Dante, except without mobsters, but with Dracula and Dracula-lore as opposed to Dante-lore. You would probably like this even if you like neither Buffy nor Anne Rice.
The Time-Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger. The main character has come unstuck in time, kind of like Billy Pilgrim, but not really. I loved this book so much that I made my dad read it; he would recommend it too.
Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell by Susanna Clarke is about magic in 19th century Britain. Trust me, it doesn't have the feel of a fantasy novel, it feels more literary than that (if that makes any sense).
Christopher Moore writes some of the funniest books I have ever read. My favorites are Practical Demonkeeping, A Dirty Job, and Lamb: The Gospel According to Biff, Christ's Childhood Pal.

posted by Jessiqa at 9:36 pm (EST) on Aug 21, 2007

Based on your recommendation, I picked up In the Hand of Dante. I'm about half-way through it now and totally enjoying it. It certainly has me pulling on the history and Latin classes I took in college. Sometimes, I think it might be wise to find my Latin dictionary and have it handy when reading this book. =) Thanks for putting me in the way of this book.

posted by Jessiqa at 11:13 pm (EST) on Aug 17, 2007

Brothers Karamazov is also my favorite; how can you not immediately fall in love with Alyosha, y'know?
I haven't read Don Quixote yet. I picked it up a few weeks ago when my library was disposing of duplicate copies of titles. (This was part of a major weeding project we just finished in fiction.)
I was inspired to pick it up, not only because I've never read it and I'd like to, but because I recently saw "Lost in La Mancha" which is the documentary of the non-making of a film. Terry Gilliam was trying to make a film based on Don Quixote but almost everything imaginable went wrong. I really hope he's able to make the film one day, because from what little I've seen in this documentary, it'll be golden.

posted by Jessiqa at 11:51 pm (EST) on Jul 19, 2007

Thanks. Have you read Streets that Smell of Dying Roses yet? I picked it up at a used bookstore a few months ago, but have not yet had the opportunity to sit down with it. You also seem to be a Dostoevsky fan--fabulous. =)

posted by Jessiqa at 8:44 pm (EST) on Jul 17, 2007

I notice that one book we have in common is A Thousand Plateaus: Capitalism and Schizophrenia by Gilles Deleuze. With the intention of reading it one day, I picked it up at a University book store; While "stuffing" my book inventory into Libray Thing, I opened it and started reading. This caused a great "pause" in my "cataloguing"; now I am thoroughly engrossed in it and quite regretting the failure to read earlier as it certainly changes the present direction of my own "existential probing". Have you read it yet?

posted by Naren559 at 10:29 am (EST) on Jun 24, 2007

Hi! We share 66 books. As one of those who list A Book of Contemplation by Dagobert D. Runes in their library, I dropped by to visit your collection

posted by Naren559 at 1:27 pm (EST) on Jun 21, 2007

What a great library - glad to see it is not just me that appreciates Bataille!! x

posted by Isambard at 11:12 am (EST) on Jan 15, 2007

It has been several years since I read Dombrovsky and I do not recall being impressed, but that sometimes happens on a first read. I'm currently submerged in victorian fiction (Dickens and Hardy) and have begun yet another traversal of The Brothers Karamazov (truly one of the heights of literature). Another of my true favorites is Musil, whose Man Without Qualities I regard the best twentieth century novel.

posted by jwhenderson at 6:37 am (EST) on Oct 10, 2006

I'm intrigued by your library! We share an common interest in Lagerkvist and other European literature and philosophy.

posted by jwhenderson at 10:36 am (EST) on Oct 9, 2006

Great bookshelves you've got there! :)

posted by InPerpetuity at 10:29 pm (EST) on Aug 7, 2006