Nate > Recent Status Updates

The essay on Gabriel Garcia Marquez made me want to drop everything and re read 100 Years …

Setting this aside, on the back burner for now. Interesting , but life is too short and other books are calling for my affection. I do hope to eventually return to it, if anything because Sheila Heti loves it. Best cover design I’ve seen in ages.

Picked this up again, after setting it aside for a few months. I’m startled by how rich it is (though how could I forget?) Might be my go to holiday read, in my current stack.

Excellent … highly readable and hypnotic, considering the style. It reads with more gentleness and “ease” than other long sentence books. Would’ve been perfect for the long train journey I did a few months back , as I think this book could be devoured in very few sittings. But since life is busy atm, I’m just going to have to read it in increments and micro doses of excellence.

Phenomenal so far.
This has been my least exciting reading year in a while but this book will likely be my favorite thing read in 2023.
Still — it’s on the back burner until I finish DH Lawrence and Adam Thirwell. I’m tired of juggling so many books at a time and am going to change that in 2024 😂

Interesting and psychedelic — but not mind blowing or stunning. I’ll probably stick with it anyway. Best cover art of the year by far.

Going to return to this in the winter …

Been slowly reading this for a bit over a month. It’s good but drags a bit for me.

Slow reading because life has been busy but I have some time off this week and hope to make progress in this giant book. The section I just read was ecstatic and incredible. Cosmic surrealism.

3 stories left. Really nice collection so far.

Great so far. Not sure if I’ve ever encountered such a blend of surrealism and Proustian “autofiction” — inspiring. I’ve always wanted to write something that combined similar genres — glad this exists :) A little grotesque and nightmarish tho — which I love in novellas — but it’s quite a mood to spend this much time in haha.

Olivia Laing has a strange way of entering my life via coincidence when I need her words. Like her previous books I’ve read (which I found in free piles), I saw this one without looking for it. I don’t know if I’ll ever love her writing enough to give 5 stars, but I find it comforting and fascinating. This one is long bio-essays about lonely artists. Just finished the Warhol one which was great.

I’ve read a couple of his novels ; and my first impression is that his short prose is even better. Emotionally devastating tales of the after effects of violence — written with a style that echoes Cortazar (but without the magical realism). Same themes as the novels but they seem more powerful in short form, to me at least.

For whatever reason, I’ve been reading more “long” novels this year — tho I tend to enjoy the novella format best. Juggling this with Solenoid makes a nice contrast. This one is soft and dreamy, while the other is jagged and surreal. Also, fun coincidence — I flipped Solenoid to a random page today and it happened to mention this novel ! Seemed like a sign. These two books will likely dominate my summer.

Barely into it; but each page is stuffed with surreal details and descriptions. I can tell I’m going to enjoy this long read. The writing style, so far, reminds me of Too Loud a Solitude.

Surprised there isn't more hype around this novel. Quite amazing so far.

So far, liking this better than Book One. But both pale in comparison to Rachel Cusk's trilogy, which might have been partly inspired by this? (She wrote a glowing review of Book Two before she wrote Outline)

Currently enjoying this more than Book One of his series.
Great read, but its no Rachel Cusk !

I wonder if I’ll ever finish this lol.

Picking this up again after a half year hiatus.

Beautiful writing and translation. I got lost with the character names so googled them to remember who is who; which led to a HUGE SPOILER about the ending 😭😭😭 Such a bummer haha. Never again will I look up characters online 🤦🏻‍♂️