Self-tagged
Found while out foraging this morning. How this tag works:(a) Fiction book
(b) Autobiography
(c) Non-fiction book
(d) A fourth book of your choice, from any genre
Explain why the books are essential reads, in 30 words or less. (For maximum fun, try for 30 words exactly).
Against the Day (Thomas Pynchon): Pynchon's belated daddiness seeps deep into this long ride, lamentations and genres abounding, comic seriousness and heartbreaking comedy, wild west and Venice and all else in between, whatcha waitin' for?
The Edge of Taos Desert (Mabel Dodge Luhan): Imperial Mabel in her aesthetic fiefdom, her hollyhock empire, summoning Lorenzo and Georgia as if it were all her due, but the poet still shines through her escape to reality.
Rimbaud in Abyssinia (Alain Borer; translated by Rosemary Waldrip): Early star-shot Arthur, writing into and out of the silences and desolations of Harar, bloodthirsty hyenas in the dark nights, AB/RW in meditative pursuit. Genius lurking in these quiet exiles.
American Noise (Campbell McGrath): Poems of the first rank, whether chasing Kerouac in a blue dead Lowell night, sugar skulls in Oaxaca, or love and wild horses in the placemats of the woolly west.
Tag, y'all are all IT.
posted by murat11 at 7:17 AM
4 Comments:
Your gifts never cease to amaze me. With barely 120 words, you've taken four unknown, never noticed (by me, anyway) titles and turned them into irresistible reading. The Edge of Taos Desert looks especially interesting... maybe something for my Christmas break.
anno: Mabel is great winter reading. Pynchon is always an acquired (and extended) taste, but Campbell and Rimbaud are both quite beautiful. Rosemary's translations of the Rimbaud snippets in the book are the best AR translations I've ever found, better than any of the standard lauded ones. Wish she would someday publish a whole mess of 'em.
I can honestly say I've never heard of any of them but thank you for introducing us. :)
Noise or Rimbaud are for you, Ms Mood. Show them Cantabrigians who's boss, girl!
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