Horsmanistan

I just picked up a copy of George Saunders' Pastoralia, which has a cover quote from the reclusive Thomas Pynchon. Curious, I did a quick google search and turned up this bibliography of Pynchon that ends with a list of books he has provided blurbs for (scroll down to Endorsements). His is a recommendation that I'd take pretty seriously and there's a number of books and authors here that I've never heard of.

I'm working my way through two good books: A Random Walk Down Wall Street, which is a very interesting book for a financial illiterate like myself; and John Crowley's Little, Big. The Crowley novel is just beautiful, and the weird thing is that even though it was originally published in 1981 it's only in the last year or so that I've become concious of all these glowing recommendations for it. People have been talking about this novel for ages, but somehow it all passed me by. I'm happy about that: even though it's been disproved again and again, every now and then I worry that I've encountered all the literary treats there are in the world, and the rest of my life will be filled with good books but nothing that floors me. A silly anxiety to have no doubt, but there it is.

Other recently discovered evidence: Kyril Bonfiglioli.

Oral Gratification

I'll give you something to drink about; I'll give you a topic.
A subject to build a grand addiction around,
A frame to slap the bottles against, a viscous puddle to catch the shards,
And thou beside me, dancing in the booze infused air.

I'll give you something to smoke about; I'll give you a statement.
You build a thesis up above like strips of papier mache:
Pop the balloon, the argument remains
But the core is gone, and exists only as its negative.

I'll give you something to eat about; I'll give you a silence.
Fill the void with words or laughter or both,
Give shape to nothing from the inside out
And expand the shape outwards to infinity.