April 29th, 2010 / 12:26 pm
Snippets

What’s the last thing you read that really bit your head?

142 Comments

  1. Brian Foley

      Pop 1280 by Jim Thompson. Crueler than usual.

  2. anon

      dickbiter

  3. Merzmensch

      “Theory of the Avant-Garde” by Peter Bürger. This non-fiction thing bit my head especially because I should re-write parts of my dissertation now. Why hadn’t I read this book sooner?..

  4. Tom Elias

      shadows of sirius. going to see merwin read on monday, i fully expect it to change my life.

  5. magick mike

      when i ‘read’ todd hido’s between the two monograph i imagined myself reborn as a heterosexual drifting through the world of sex and abandon

      and when i read jon leon’s the painting show i couldn’t imagine any part of the future other than this vague concept that leon’s poems were that, literally: text-as-future.

      AND WHEN I READ MAURICE BLANCHOT’S THE LAST MAN I COULDN’T REORIENT MYSELF INTO ANY SORT OF TIME-LINE THAT OUR WORLD EXISTS IN, PREFERRING, INSTEAD, TO ERASE THE IDEA OF RELATIONSHIPS.

      I HAVE BEEN BITTEN. I HAVE BEEN BITTEN, I BLEED, ETC.

  6. stephen

      does “witz” qualify for that in your book, blake? i’m anxious to read it. yall see this excerpt?: http://benmarcus.com/smallwork/preparations/

      i dunno if this excerpt by itself “bit my head,” but i liked it.

      quite honestly, “no shameless promo whore,” but “during my nervous breakdown…” actually bit my head right off. i was alone in my apartment and feeling emotional, but still.

  7. demi-puppet

      Fucking hell, Paradise Lost, bit my head clean off. I’d never read it straight through (had read the first few books for class before), and holy hell. I’m kind of obsessed with it currently, reading a sweet bio of Milton right now. It has a very weird power for me, an odd demonic pull. It’s similar in intensity to the force Emerson’s essays exert over me, but in kind it’s much more. . . I don’t know? Emerson compels me toward generosity; Milton makes me want to build something big and tall and expensive and then burn it and giggle.

  8. ZZZZZIPP

      THE VIRUS IS SPREADING

  9. James Johnson

      A Number by Caryl Churchill

  10. ce.

      Recently read “Molting” by Aaron Burch and can’t get that shit out of my head.

  11. JScap

      “Permission” and “Rafters,” two stories from Kevin McIlvoy’s collection “The Complete History of New Mexico.” Wow. The kind of stories that don’t just retell or “show” states of wonder, but do their damndest to actually recreate those states of wonder in the reader. And in the narrator too. (The states are similar in both, but not the same. And definitely complementary. Both get bitten on the head.)

  12. jh

      Human Smoke by Baker
      Dusk by James Salter

      Everyone should go out and grab a copy, it’s like 4 bucks at Borders right now

  13. Nathan Tyree

      I love that book. Right up there with The Killer Inside Me

  14. Jeff

      Footnotes from Gaza by Joe Sacco
      Concrete by Thomas Bernhard

  15. j

      how do you folks have so much time for all this obscure literature? don’t you have jobs or anything?

  16. j

      i don’t mean that as an insult, genuinely curious where all this time comes from

  17. Adam R

      Black Life by Dorothea Lasky, I guess.

  18. Ryan Call

      not insulting. just sort of a weird question, i guess.

  19. magick mike

      i work in a library & read while i’m at work & am obsessive & don’t watch tv other than gossip girl and lost which i download so no commercial & i’m really good at maximizing my time & i don’t watch a ton of movies any more & i only sleep six hours a night

  20. aaron

      wow. chris is my new fave person.

  21. Matthew Simmons

      Mc rules.

  22. Matthew Simmons
  23. Matthew Simmons

      I work in a bookstore. Also, I like to read HTML Giant.

  24. Lily Hoang

      yes to WITZ, no to Nervous Breakdown. How are they even remotely comparable?

  25. Lily Hoang

      Ourednik’s CASE CLOSED. Before that, ALTHOUGH OF COURSE YOU END UP BECOMING YOURSELF.

  26. Blake Butler

      is the ourednik on the market now? man i really really really want that.

  27. Blake Butler

      agreed, really loved it. Reading his new novel next.

  28. Roxane Gay

      That is by far my favorite story in that book. Every time I read it, I just think, goddamn.

  29. Roxane Gay

      Ben Greenman’s What He’s Poised to Do. Still shocked by how blown away I have been by this book.

  30. Kathleen Rooney

      Olive Kitteredge by Elizabeth Strout.

  31. Amber

      I don’t watch much tv, I don’t work out or participate in team sports, and I’m an old married lady with a husband who also likes to read and buy books and read about books. So, that’s what we do besides work.

  32. Lily Hoang

      Not yet, but god damn it’s good.

  33. Amber

      Calvino’s Cosmicomics.

  34. demi-puppet

      How could I not have time for it??

  35. davidpeak

      Brian Kubarycz’s story in the latest issue of New York Tyrant. Can’t remember the title. I was thrilled by it. Anyone know what the title is?

  36. Amber

      ooh, and Pink and Hot Pink Habitat. That practically bit my face off it was so good.

  37. Drew Johnson

      Lucinella by Lore Segal

  38. rk

      the lime works by thomas bernhard.
      going rogue by, er, attributed to sarah palin. i don’t know who wrote it.

  39. Roxane Gay

      I just make the time. And I read fast.

  40. joe

      Jonke’s Homage to Czerny

      I wanted Moya’s Senselessness to.

  41. Milton Friedman

      Daniel Clowes’ Wilson

  42. darby

      the compeltel works of marvin k mooney. its swelling me to swelldom.

      also re-read a particular fizzle last night that had me at what is

  43. darby
  44. j

      is it weird? i don’t know. every time i read this web site, i leave feeling like there are ten more books that invoke meta elements that i NEED to read, and i’m lucky to get through two a week

  45. Brian Foley

      Pop 1280 by Jim Thompson. Crueler than usual.

  46. anon

      dickbiter

  47. Merzmensch

      “Theory of the Avant-Garde” by Peter Bürger. This non-fiction thing bit my head especially because I should re-write parts of my dissertation now. Why hadn’t I read this book sooner?..

  48. Tom Elias

      shadows of sirius. going to see merwin read on monday, i fully expect it to change my life.

  49. ce.

      Ha. Seriously a great story, dude. I snagged HTTYA, &c. at AWP read it over coffee Friday morning, and thought, “That might be the best story I’ve read in 2010,” though Bell’s story, “The Receiving Tower,” in the latest Willow Springs is a close 2nd.

      Good words, man.

  50. Janey Smith

      Poems For Teeth, Richard Loranger.

  51. magick mike

      when i ‘read’ todd hido’s between the two monograph i imagined myself reborn as a heterosexual drifting through the world of sex and abandon

      and when i read jon leon’s the painting show i couldn’t imagine any part of the future other than this vague concept that leon’s poems were that, literally: text-as-future.

      AND WHEN I READ MAURICE BLANCHOT’S THE LAST MAN I COULDN’T REORIENT MYSELF INTO ANY SORT OF TIME-LINE THAT OUR WORLD EXISTS IN, PREFERRING, INSTEAD, TO ERASE THE IDEA OF RELATIONSHIPS.

      I HAVE BEEN BITTEN. I HAVE BEEN BITTEN, I BLEED, ETC.

  52. stephen

      does “witz” qualify for that in your book, blake? i’m anxious to read it. yall see this excerpt?: http://benmarcus.com/smallwork/preparations/

      i dunno if this excerpt by itself “bit my head,” but i liked it.

      quite honestly, “no shameless promo whore,” but “during my nervous breakdown…” actually bit my head right off. i was alone in my apartment and feeling emotional, but still.

  53. ce.

      Lunch breaks, coffee breaks, stretch breaks, bathroom breaks, line breaks, face breaks, &c. breaks.

  54. demi-puppet

      Fucking hell, Paradise Lost, bit my head clean off. I’d never read it straight through (had read the first few books for class before), and holy hell. I’m kind of obsessed with it currently, reading a sweet bio of Milton right now. It has a very weird power for me, an odd demonic pull. It’s similar in intensity to the force Emerson’s essays exert over me, but in kind it’s much more. . . I don’t know? Emerson compels me toward generosity; Milton makes me want to build something big and tall and expensive and then burn it and giggle.

  55. ZZZZZIPP

      THE VIRUS IS SPREADING

  56. James Johnson

      A Number by Caryl Churchill

  57. ce.

      Recently read “Molting” by Aaron Burch and can’t get that shit out of my head.

  58. JScap

      “Permission” and “Rafters,” two stories from Kevin McIlvoy’s collection “The Complete History of New Mexico.” Wow. The kind of stories that don’t just retell or “show” states of wonder, but do their damndest to actually recreate those states of wonder in the reader. And in the narrator too. (The states are similar in both, but not the same. And definitely complementary. Both get bitten on the head.)

  59. Daniel

      Dear Everybody, Kimball

      Stoner, John Williams

      A lot of people said they would. They did.

  60. jh

      Human Smoke by Baker
      Dusk by James Salter

      Everyone should go out and grab a copy, it’s like 4 bucks at Borders right now

  61. Nathan Tyree

      I love that book. Right up there with The Killer Inside Me

  62. Jeff

      Footnotes from Gaza by Joe Sacco
      Concrete by Thomas Bernhard

  63. j

      how do you folks have so much time for all this obscure literature? don’t you have jobs or anything?

  64. j

      i don’t mean that as an insult, genuinely curious where all this time comes from

  65. Adam Robinson

      Black Life by Dorothea Lasky, I guess.

  66. Ryan Call

      not insulting. just sort of a weird question, i guess.

  67. magick mike

      i work in a library & read while i’m at work & am obsessive & don’t watch tv other than gossip girl and lost which i download so no commercial & i’m really good at maximizing my time & i don’t watch a ton of movies any more & i only sleep six hours a night

  68. aaron

      wow. chris is my new fave person.

  69. Matthew Simmons

      Mc rules.

  70. Matthew Simmons
  71. Matthew Simmons

      I work in a bookstore. Also, I like to read HTML Giant.

  72. lily hoang

      yes to WITZ, no to Nervous Breakdown. How are they even remotely comparable?

  73. lily hoang

      Ourednik’s CASE CLOSED. Before that, ALTHOUGH OF COURSE YOU END UP BECOMING YOURSELF.

  74. Blake Butler

      is the ourednik on the market now? man i really really really want that.

  75. Blake Butler

      agreed, really loved it. Reading his new novel next.

  76. Roxane Gay

      That is by far my favorite story in that book. Every time I read it, I just think, goddamn.

  77. Roxane Gay

      Ben Greenman’s What He’s Poised to Do. Still shocked by how blown away I have been by this book.

  78. Kathleen Rooney

      Olive Kitteredge by Elizabeth Strout.

  79. Amber

      I don’t watch much tv, I don’t work out or participate in team sports, and I’m an old married lady with a husband who also likes to read and buy books and read about books. So, that’s what we do besides work.

  80. lily hoang

      Not yet, but god damn it’s good.

  81. Amber

      Calvino’s Cosmicomics.

  82. demi-puppet

      How could I not have time for it??

  83. davidpeak

      Brian Kubarycz’s story in the latest issue of New York Tyrant. Can’t remember the title. I was thrilled by it. Anyone know what the title is?

  84. Amber

      ooh, and Pink and Hot Pink Habitat. That practically bit my face off it was so good.

  85. Drew Johnson

      Lucinella by Lore Segal

  86. rk

      the lime works by thomas bernhard.
      going rogue by, er, attributed to sarah palin. i don’t know who wrote it.

  87. Roxane Gay

      I just make the time. And I read fast.

  88. joe

      Jonke’s Homage to Czerny

      I wanted Moya’s Senselessness to.

  89. Bobby Peru

      scorch atlas. no fun – i am serious.

  90. Donald

      seems like the consensus is that this story is some sort of literature/miracle crossbreed. where might I purchase it? is it part of a collection?

  91. JScap

      Oh man, he’s so great. Have you read “Little Peg”?

  92. Milton Friedman

      Daniel Clowes’ Wilson

  93. darby

      the compeltel works of marvin k mooney. its swelling me to swelldom.

      also re-read a particular fizzle last night that had me at what is

  94. darby
  95. j

      is it weird? i don’t know. every time i read this web site, i leave feeling like there are ten more books that invoke meta elements that i NEED to read, and i’m lucky to get through two a week

  96. Rawbbie

      With Deer, Aase Berg
      A Plate of Chicken, Matthew Rohrer

  97. ce.

      Ha. Seriously a great story, dude. I snagged HTTYA, &c. at AWP read it over coffee Friday morning, and thought, “That might be the best story I’ve read in 2010,” though Bell’s story, “The Receiving Tower,” in the latest Willow Springs is a close 2nd.

      Good words, man.

  98. Janey Smith

      Poems For Teeth, Richard Loranger.

  99. ce.

      Lunch breaks, coffee breaks, stretch breaks, bathroom breaks, line breaks, face breaks, &c. breaks.

  100. Daniel

      Dear Everybody, Kimball

      Stoner, John Williams

      A lot of people said they would. They did.

  101. ce.
  102. Bobby Peru

      scorch atlas. no fun – i am serious.

  103. Donald

      seems like the consensus is that this story is some sort of literature/miracle crossbreed. where might I purchase it? is it part of a collection?

  104. JScap

      Oh man, he’s so great. Have you read “Little Peg”?

  105. Tim Horvath

      Crawling at Night by Nani Power.

  106. Rawbbie

      With Deer, Aase Berg
      A Plate of Chicken, Matthew Rohrer

  107. ce.
  108. Tim Horvath

      Crawling at Night by Nani Power.

  109. Donald

      everything is comparable. I wish people would stop asking that question. it’s absurd.

      also, is saying “this thing bit my head off. also, this thing did” really implying a comparison?

  110. Donald

      I second this. Paradise Lost is incredible. Satan is such an interest character, as well–almost Dostoevskian.

  111. Donald

      interesting*
      (blah)

  112. Donald

      ah, cool. cheers

  113. Ryan Call

      sorry, j. i shouldnt have dismissed your q so quickly. i think i understand now wat you were asking.

  114. Donald

      everything is comparable. I wish people would stop asking that question. it’s absurd.

      also, is saying “this thing bit my head off. also, this thing did” really implying a comparison?

  115. Donald

      I second this. Paradise Lost is incredible. Satan is such an interest character, as well–almost Dostoevskian.

  116. Donald

      interesting*
      (blah)

  117. Donald

      ah, cool. cheers

  118. ael

      Frankenstein. Have you heard of it?

  119. ce.

      friday, bottoms up.

  120. Ryan Call

      sorry, j. i shouldnt have dismissed your q so quickly. i think i understand now wat you were asking.

  121. ael

      Frankenstein. Have you heard of it?

  122. ce.

      friday, bottoms up.

  123. mimi

      “Those of Us in Plaid” by Seth Fried

      It didn’t bite my head, but it did nibble at my brain in a way that tickled all the way down my spine.

  124. mimi

      “Those of Us in Plaid” by Seth Fried

      It didn’t bite my head, but it did nibble at my brain in a way that tickled all the way down my spine.

  125. jonny ross

      dusk, yes yes.

  126. jonny ross

      would that make raskolnikov or the underground man or [one of the nihilists from ‘demons’] miltonian?

  127. jonny ross

      end zone, donny d.

      football and nuclear war and language breakdown and authorial intrusion and picnics and other good things. his second book. a dandy.

  128. jonny ross

      dusk, yes yes.

  129. jonny ross

      would that make raskolnikov or the underground man or [one of the nihilists from ‘demons’] miltonian?

  130. jonny ross

      end zone, donny d.

      football and nuclear war and language breakdown and authorial intrusion and picnics and other good things. his second book. a dandy.

  131. stephen

      @Lily Hoang: who said i was comparing? the only link is the potential for “head-biting,” whatever that is. i was asking if witz bit butler’s head, and stating that breakdown bit mine. there are probably many varieties of “head-biting” and they are all subjective, lily.

  132. stephen

      thanks for the reminder, lily. need to get “although of course” ASAP

  133. stephen
  134. stephen

      here are my favorite lines from the book:

      “i want to turn into wild grass and get eaten by a soft moose”
      “if i could get all the text messages and emails that i will
      receive during my life right now there would be no more
      questions and i could move on”
      “i would have rather flown into outer space with you/stared into a telescope with you next to me/or committed suicide together/or something”
      “i said i am sending you a song and we will feel closer/you said can this song play when we meet”
      “i feel like a tired robot/on my way to the store i thought about you/i thought about everyone/i feel like a dead echinacea flower”

  135. mimi

      I have been using “during my nervous breakdown…” in a “Communication Skills” class I’m teaching, in an attempt to make poetry “more accessible” to young people. (I also use Emily Dickinson & Robert Frost. Al Young, Robert Hass & Brenda Hillman. David Berman. Tao Lin & BSG. – all kinds of stuff)

      I got into just a little bit of trouble a few weeks ago when a parent saw the title “face annihilation” (“That’s terrible!”) and I had to “explain” my way out of it.

  136. Donald

      Yeah, I kind of mirrored the terms (could that be an accurate description of it?) for the sake of convenience.

      I think the key word is ‘almost’, since none of them are entirely identical, but yeah, I wrote an essay a couple of months ago on the similarities between Milton’s Satan, Hamlet, Raskolnikov, the Underground Man, and also some of the characters from ‘The Brothers Karamazov’. The emphasis was on Satan, and obviously the points of overlap differed from one character to another.

      I haven’t read ‘Demons’, though.

  137. stephen

      @Lily Hoang: who said i was comparing? the only link is the potential for “head-biting,” whatever that is. i was asking if witz bit butler’s head, and stating that breakdown bit mine. there are probably many varieties of “head-biting” and they are all subjective, lily.

  138. stephen

      thanks for the reminder, lily. need to get “although of course” ASAP

  139. stephen
  140. stephen

      here are my favorite lines from the book:

      “i want to turn into wild grass and get eaten by a soft moose”
      “if i could get all the text messages and emails that i will
      receive during my life right now there would be no more
      questions and i could move on”
      “i would have rather flown into outer space with you/stared into a telescope with you next to me/or committed suicide together/or something”
      “i said i am sending you a song and we will feel closer/you said can this song play when we meet”
      “i feel like a tired robot/on my way to the store i thought about you/i thought about everyone/i feel like a dead echinacea flower”

  141. mimi

      I have been using “during my nervous breakdown…” in a “Communication Skills” class I’m teaching, in an attempt to make poetry “more accessible” to young people. (I also use Emily Dickinson & Robert Frost. Al Young, Robert Hass & Brenda Hillman. David Berman. Tao Lin & BSG. – all kinds of stuff)

      I got into just a little bit of trouble a few weeks ago when a parent saw the title “face annihilation” (“That’s terrible!”) and I had to “explain” my way out of it.

  142. Donald

      Yeah, I kind of mirrored the terms (could that be an accurate description of it?) for the sake of convenience.

      I think the key word is ‘almost’, since none of them are entirely identical, but yeah, I wrote an essay a couple of months ago on the similarities between Milton’s Satan, Hamlet, Raskolnikov, the Underground Man, and also some of the characters from ‘The Brothers Karamazov’. The emphasis was on Satan, and obviously the points of overlap differed from one character to another.

      I haven’t read ‘Demons’, though.