A couple days ago, I sent out an email asking a fairly large group of writer, editor and publishing friends to send me their nominations for “top 3 books published this year.” I told them to interpret “top” any way they chose to, and to feel no pressure to expound on their choices in any particular way. The plan is to publish a large list of all the Top 3 lists next week (so far I’ve received 20 contributions, and they’re still coming in) but yesterday I kicked off the festivities early by posting one response by Zak Smith in advance of the full list. Today I’m offering up my own selections, prefaced by a short explanation of the way I chose to interpret my own injunction to choose the “top” books of the year.
I spent large swaths of 2009 struggling with fiction, especially novels, while also struggling to write one. (Anyone see a relationship between those two facts? … Didn’t think so.) Here are three novels that challenged and expanded my notion of what a novel could, should, or ought to be, but more important than that: they provided me with enormous entertainment and edification. The three are vastly different, but each is, I think, a work of startling interiority, and this seems to be what I needed in ’09. Each book in its own way offered me succor and deliverance from the confines of myself, by offering up for a getaway space the extraordinary confines of some other self, and I returned from each readerly excursion in better shape than when I left.
Shoplifting from American Apparel by Tao Lin.
The Interrogative Mood by Padgett Powell.
The Anthologist by Nicholson Baker.
ALSO: A special shout-out to My Vocabulary Did This to Me: The Collected Poetry of Jack Spicer, which has a 2008 © in it but didn’t really surface until early ’09. A massively important book and instantly among the most important and treasured Collecteds I own.
Tags: My Vocabulary Did This To Me, shoplifting from american apparel, the anthologist, The Interrogative Mood
The Anthologist sounds really great. I think, I’ll send myself a Baker book for X-Mas.
The Anthologist sounds really great. I think, I’ll send myself a Baker book for X-Mas.
You really really should. For a novel that’s mostly actually an essay about the history of verse, it’s more than just “readable”–it’s an edge-of-your-seat thriller. I ripped through it in I think a day.
You really really should. For a novel that’s mostly actually an essay about the history of verse, it’s more than just “readable”–it’s an edge-of-your-seat thriller. I ripped through it in I think a day.
Oh cool, I thought that Jack Spicer had gone out of print just as quickly as it came into print..but Amazon says there are copies available. I’m putting that on my x-mas list…thanks for the reminder, Justin.
Oh cool, I thought that Jack Spicer had gone out of print just as quickly as it came into print..but Amazon says there are copies available. I’m putting that on my x-mas list…thanks for the reminder, Justin.
Look I am King Of The Forest
Says The King Of the Forest
As he growls magnificently
Look, I am in pain. My right leg
Does not fit my left leg.
I am King of the Forest
Says The King Of The Forest.
And the other beasts hear him and would rather
They were King of the Forest
But their right leg
Would fit their left leg.
“Beauty is so rare a thing,” Pound sang.
“So few drink at my fountain.”
– Spicer, “Fifteen False Propositions Against God” (Part II)
Look I am King Of The Forest
Says The King Of the Forest
As he growls magnificently
Look, I am in pain. My right leg
Does not fit my left leg.
I am King of the Forest
Says The King Of The Forest.
And the other beasts hear him and would rather
They were King of the Forest
But their right leg
Would fit their left leg.
“Beauty is so rare a thing,” Pound sang.
“So few drink at my fountain.”
– Spicer, “Fifteen False Propositions Against God” (Part II)
I would also put Padgett Powell in my top three.
I would also put Padgett Powell in my top three.
I keep buying more books…
I keep buying more books…
Me too. I will always and forever feel hopelessly behind in my reading!
Me too. I will always and forever feel hopelessly behind in my reading!
[…] Smith has this and Justin Taylor this at HTML […]
“a work of startling interiority”
“a work of startling interiority”
At least Justin doesn’t offer the usual HTML Giant praise, which often takes the form of “XX book [peeled/sucked/drained/ate/fucked] my [brain/dick/face/meat/language hole]”, so I think he should be commended for that. You can probably translate ‘startling interiority’ into HTMLGiant encomium-speak as “[the books] split my dick’s brain into a thousand juicy lobes.”
At least Justin doesn’t offer the usual HTML Giant praise, which often takes the form of “XX book [peeled/sucked/drained/ate/fucked] my [brain/dick/face/meat/language hole]”, so I think he should be commended for that. You can probably translate ‘startling interiority’ into HTMLGiant encomium-speak as “[the books] split my dick’s brain into a thousand juicy lobes.”
Ha – didn’t Sontag say that instead of a hermaneutics of lit we needed juicy lobes of brain dick draining for our fucked language asses? And wasn’t Padgett Powell Mr. Taylor’s teacher (and didn’t PP blurb JT’s forthcoming collection?) and isn’t Tao his former roommate/friend? (Blatant cronyism, as they say, no?) I’ve read both books (loved Powell’s) but if Tao’s book is “a work of starling interiority” I’m going to have to demonstrate to you all what a startling work of externalized interiority really looks like by blowing my freakin’ brains out.
Ha – didn’t Sontag say that instead of a hermaneutics of lit we needed juicy lobes of brain dick draining for our fucked language asses? And wasn’t Padgett Powell Mr. Taylor’s teacher (and didn’t PP blurb JT’s forthcoming collection?) and isn’t Tao his former roommate/friend? (Blatant cronyism, as they say, no?) I’ve read both books (loved Powell’s) but if Tao’s book is “a work of starling interiority” I’m going to have to demonstrate to you all what a startling work of externalized interiority really looks like by blowing my freakin’ brains out.
You’re right, isn’t that passage from Sontag the origin of the phrase ‘fucked language asses?’ She was so on point with that shit. I would rather eat a pile of stillborn babies (hey, another HTMLG catchphrase!) than drag my eyes through any more of Tao’s book. I read the beginning chunk and felt all human ambition and hope draining out of me–is that the point of SFAA? To create feelings of despair and species-reflexive hatred in the reader?
You’re right, isn’t that passage from Sontag the origin of the phrase ‘fucked language asses?’ She was so on point with that shit. I would rather eat a pile of stillborn babies (hey, another HTMLG catchphrase!) than drag my eyes through any more of Tao’s book. I read the beginning chunk and felt all human ambition and hope draining out of me–is that the point of SFAA? To create feelings of despair and species-reflexive hatred in the reader?
Yes, when you read SLFAA you too are supposed to feel “fucked” — ie, feel that “all life is suffering.” Apparently all the flat descriptions of interiors and exteriors are rather buddistical. Startling interiority is suggested by flat affect and minimal description. If you don’t understand this you must be old, Eliza.
Yes, when you read SLFAA you too are supposed to feel “fucked” — ie, feel that “all life is suffering.” Apparently all the flat descriptions of interiors and exteriors are rather buddistical. Startling interiority is suggested by flat affect and minimal description. If you don’t understand this you must be old, Eliza.
Grumpy bastards. ;)
Grumpy bastards. ;)
So SFAA is like right in the wheelhouse of prepubescent depressives? That makes sense. Also I guess this is why Urban Outfitters decided to carry his book, so they can beef up their share of that lucrative niche market! Catch the Single-Quote Distemper, Y’all: Read Tao Lin!
So SFAA is like right in the wheelhouse of prepubescent depressives? That makes sense. Also I guess this is why Urban Outfitters decided to carry his book, so they can beef up their share of that lucrative niche market! Catch the Single-Quote Distemper, Y’all: Read Tao Lin!
Prepubescent kids reading literature would be nice.
Eliza: what author would you like to be seen sold in Urban Outfitters? And if you say ‘nobody at all’ I’m going to snot.
Prepubescent kids reading literature would be nice.
Eliza: what author would you like to be seen sold in Urban Outfitters? And if you say ‘nobody at all’ I’m going to snot.
Today at Urban Outfitters, accessorize your totally generic and actually sort of dated single-quote hipster outfit with a charming little narrative number by +!O0o(o)o0O!+ called “*$#(* $&*($& @#^$* $*@(” . . . Everyone knows you’re a functionally illiterate style fucker who doesn’t single-quote have time for fiction, but this little narrative number has no words, only symbols you may or may not understand. Twitcion move over! This here’s the future of literature. You’ll find it very relatable, as it’s totally suggestive of the startling empty interiority of anyone who buys books at single-quote cool chain clothiers.
Today at Urban Outfitters, accessorize your totally generic and actually sort of dated single-quote hipster outfit with a charming little narrative number by +!O0o(o)o0O!+ called “*$#(* $&*($& @#^$* $*@(” . . . Everyone knows you’re a functionally illiterate style fucker who doesn’t single-quote have time for fiction, but this little narrative number has no words, only symbols you may or may not understand. Twitcion move over! This here’s the future of literature. You’ll find it very relatable, as it’s totally suggestive of the startling empty interiority of anyone who buys books at single-quote cool chain clothiers.
Congrats, eyeshot, you caught everything that nobody was trying to hide. Where the rest of us see facts of biography, you have discerned a conspiracy. Yes it is godawful that people who appreciate one another might say so! In public no less! And with absolutely no money on the line! What is this old world coming to? And after you answer that one, why don’t you tell me how I know Nicholson Baker. He’s someone I’ve always wanted to have been old cronies with.
Congrats, eyeshot, you caught everything that nobody was trying to hide. Where the rest of us see facts of biography, you have discerned a conspiracy. Yes it is godawful that people who appreciate one another might say so! In public no less! And with absolutely no money on the line! What is this old world coming to? And after you answer that one, why don’t you tell me how I know Nicholson Baker. He’s someone I’ve always wanted to have been old cronies with.
Here are three novels that challenged and expanded my notion of what a novel could, should, or ought to be, but more important than that: they provided me with enormous entertainment and edification. The three are vastly different, but each is, I think, a work of startling interiority, and this seems to be what I needed in ’09. Each book in its own way offered me succor and deliverance from the confines of myself, by offering up for a getaway space the extraordinary confines of some other self, and I returned from each readerly excursion in better shape than when I left.
Click my single-quote name for the apt Hemingway quote.
Here are three novels that challenged and expanded my notion of what a novel could, should, or ought to be, but more important than that: they provided me with enormous entertainment and edification. The three are vastly different, but each is, I think, a work of startling interiority, and this seems to be what I needed in ’09. Each book in its own way offered me succor and deliverance from the confines of myself, by offering up for a getaway space the extraordinary confines of some other self, and I returned from each readerly excursion in better shape than when I left.
Click my single-quote name for the apt Hemingway quote.
Shit. I screwed that up. Ha. Click my name to this one . . .
This site is so single-quote sticky I can’t stop posting stupid shit on it – sorry, Mr. Taylor.
Shit. I screwed that up. Ha. Click my name to this one . . .
This site is so single-quote sticky I can’t stop posting stupid shit on it – sorry, Mr. Taylor.
‘You’ll find it very relatable, as it’s totally suggestive of the startling empty interiority of anyone who buys books at single-quote cool chain clothiers.’
Gimme a break, cool kid. You keep to your kind at the lunch tables, too?
‘You’ll find it very relatable, as it’s totally suggestive of the startling empty interiority of anyone who buys books at single-quote cool chain clothiers.’
Gimme a break, cool kid. You keep to your kind at the lunch tables, too?
@Ken B-
Thank you for defending “tween ‘n’ teen” reading. Young people have their whole lives ahead of them to refine their tastes in literature (and I think SFAA is more sophisticated than some of the stuff they might read). I work with teens and young adults, some of whom struggle to read, and frankly, reading something is better than reading nothing. If selling SFAA at UO contributes to that “cause”, then great. I like to take the hopeful, positive, long and broad view.
@Ken B-
Thank you for defending “tween ‘n’ teen” reading. Young people have their whole lives ahead of them to refine their tastes in literature (and I think SFAA is more sophisticated than some of the stuff they might read). I work with teens and young adults, some of whom struggle to read, and frankly, reading something is better than reading nothing. If selling SFAA at UO contributes to that “cause”, then great. I like to take the hopeful, positive, long and broad view.
[…] [For the complete version of this response, see here.] […]
[…] additional claim that Gay never read the book), Gay’s response to an AWP questionnaire, and Taylor’s HTML Giant assessment of Tao Lin’s Shoplifting from American Apparel as “a work of startling […]