M. Sarki's Blog: Mewl House, page 2

Tough Cops and Mobs

The Accidental Pallbearer by Frank Lentricchia

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


Frank Lentricchia has style and it derives from his Utica, New York upbringing and his coursing Italian blood. The Accidental Pallbearer is no different from his previous fiction except for one thing. Instead of being a high-minded high-art affair connected with film, teaching, love, and traveling, this is a "hardboiled" detective novel of the first rank. The two key operatives here are "hardboiled" and "first rank". I explain myself more clearly and more personally here:

http://mewlhouse.hubpages.com/hub/Fra...



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EXTINCTION

Extinction by Thomas Bernhard

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


There is nobody I have ever read who speaks to me more clearly and like-minded than Thomas Bernhard does. It is so life-affirming to have the good fortune of reading a writer like this. He is an amazing talent and continues on as strongly as ever for anyone interested in examining his complete works. I wrote a longer, more detailed review that you can read here:

http://hub.me/aeBxG



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Triple No. 2

Triple No. 2 by M. Sarki

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


I was very pleased with this new number by Ravenna Press. Quality throughout. I am certainly always toughest on myself, but it was surprising to me how well my twenty-nine poems hold up through this included period from 1996 to 2011. In addition, Harold Bowes and Kathryn Rantala have both provided their own poems of the first rank and I am thrilled to share this space with both of them. I wrote a rather lengthy introduction to the section NO ENTRY where my poems may be found, and the longish prose piece serves as a biographical statement about those writers, editors, teachers, lovers, and friends who have helped me along the way in my personal quest to make literary history. And that is not a pretentious statement on my part at all, but rather a position that is necessary to any writer worth his or her salt. It is my hope that the readers here will support the northwestern publishing house that makes these books possible.



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A Sordid Life

D. H. Lawrence: Portrait of a Genius But-- by Richard Aldington

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


A well-written and extremely fair account of the life of a very good friend. Back when Richard Aldington wrote the biography of D.H. Lawrence he was rediculed for being mean-spirited and too harsh. But history has proven that Aldington was actually kind and sensitive by leaving a whole lot out of his pal's sordid life. I write about the book and other things here:

http://mewlhouse.hubpages.com/hub/Liv...



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The Talented Ander Monson

Neck Deep and Other Predicaments: Essays by Ander Monson

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


For the most part these essays of Monson's were so very good. The only reason I couldn't give this book five stars is I had to skip some because of their layouts. But the seven of twelve I did read were fantastic, amazing even, and I highly recommend this book to essay lovers. I write about it in more interesting detail here:

http://mewlhouse.hubpages.com/hub/Nec...



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Funny Man

Duck! by Brian Beatty

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


There is much to like about this "first" book from Brian Beatty. Expect more from this funny man who sometimes isn't too funny as hard as he makes you look. I explain more here for those of you interested:

http://mewlhouse.hubpages.com/hub/Bri...



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Fakes

Fakes: An Anthology of Pseudo-Interviews, Faux-Lectures, Quasi-Letters, "Found" Texts, and Other Fraudulent Artifacts by David Shields

My rating: 2 of 5 stars


The book was OK. I may have expected more of it because of the great title and thus I was a little disappointed when I couldn't find much of what I was looking for. I did find a few surprises and certain artifacts of great interest to me in this book of fakes. But there were more than enough areas of disagreement regarding certain selections made by the editors. I elaborate in greater detail in an article I wrote here:

http://mewlhouse.hubpages.com/hub/My-...



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The Ongoing Moment

The Ongoing Moment by Geoff Dyer

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


What an engaging and scintillating read! Though I disagreed with many of Dyer's examples of common threads in the photographic tradition, I thoroughly enjoyed reading all of this book. Complaints by other reviewers about Dyer's photo examples as being too small were not issues for me in my study. I have written the longest and most personal critical review of my career regarding this book. For those interested it can be found here:

http://mewlhouse.hubpages.com/hub/Sul...



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Christoph Meckel

The Figure on the Boundary Line: Selected Prose by Christoph Meckel

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


The first half of the book and through the novella, Tullipan, could have been written by a fellow in the throes of a horrendously engaging acid trip. Nonsense abounds as does a silliness sometimes a little disconcerting. But after moving on past the novella, Tullipan, the work gets rumbling on a new fast-speed track and the work becomes itself something remarkable and magnificent. There is no weakness in the last half of the book at all. Comments here on goodreads.com comparing Meckel to Walser and others like him are accurate. The quality of Meckel's writing is amazing. But the beginning pieces are enough to scare some readers away, readers who have little enough faith in a reviewer such as myself who promises the glory at the end of the road. It seems that the first dozen pieces at the beginning introducing Meckel's nonsense prepares us for, and excuse the biblical reference here, the brilliant resurrection to come. Midway through reading the book I wrote a piece about it or something else that you can read here:

http://hub.me/aelBL



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There is something wrong here

Enough about You: Adventures in Autobiography by David Shields

My rating: 2 of 5 stars


There must be something wrong with me. I just can't get into this fellow who is obviously somebody others might adore. I explain why here:

http://mewlhouse.hubpages.com/hub/Dav...



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