Kevin, thanks for the review. It was very informative and interesting. Didn't know much about the 'brat pack' writers. I was too busy reading all the greats, the old guys, Hemmingway, I never read BLBC when it came out. I was writing my own book at the time and was, maybe, likely, a little jealous of al the attention the writer was getting. I've been reading the old guys, Mailer, Bellow, Theroux... (I'm currently reading W&P, 600 pages in and hoping I can get through it as my TBR pile is growing.)
I stumbled on Canin a couple years ago and really liked Emperor of the Air. Read something by Carver, can't recall which. I liked Matthiessen's At Play in the Fields of the Lord. I also love the war writers and their work from the 60s and 70s, Vonneget and Heller.
I have a set of Fitzgerald books. Never liked Gatsby, actually, never 'got it,' whatever it was. (Thanks for your analysis of same. It's on my shelf but I doubt I'll re-read it.) Same with Catcher in the Rye, which I read in HS. I loved McCarthy's Border Trilogy. I don't want to read The Road, seems too grim.
I loved The Bonfires of the Vanities, and A Man in Full by Wolfe. Never read Douglas Kennedy. Loved Updike's Rabbit series.
Speaking of 'The canon of Serious American Literature,' does such a thing exist anymore? Seems like whatever was in there might now be in the trash bins in the alleys behind the workhouses of Big Publishing.
I see you're in Sac. I'm across the border in the Reno area. (Has California Forest Fire Setting Season started yet? I haven't see any smoke yet.)
I'll let you go now.
PS. My most recent (unpublished) book, The Fake Memoir of a Mid-List Writer, has been both long-listed and short listed, but still hasn't found a home with a publisher. (You might like it as it could compared to BLBC, but the POV character is lower middle class, a returned Vietnam vet, who meets and falls in love with a girl from the wealthy suburbs. Anyway, I'm sure it's not a great book, but I'm also sure it's a damn good one. I hope to publish it before I end up somewhere over the rainbow. Question, do you know any houses that would consider a book from a writer without an agent? AND... Do you know of anyone who reviews unpublished books (so the writer will have some kind of review before the book hits the streets?
Kevin, thanks for the review. It was very informative and interesting. Didn't know much about the 'brat pack' writers. I was too busy reading all the greats, the old guys, Hemmingway, I never read BLBC when it came out. I was writing my own book at the time and was, maybe, likely, a little jealous of al the attention the writer was getting. I've been reading the old guys, Mailer, Bellow, Theroux... (I'm currently reading W&P, 600 pages in and hoping I can get through it as my TBR pile is growing.)
I stumbled on Canin a couple years ago and really liked Emperor of the Air. Read something by Carver, can't recall which. I liked Matthiessen's At Play in the Fields of the Lord. I also love the war writers and their work from the 60s and 70s, Vonneget and Heller.
I have a set of Fitzgerald books. Never liked Gatsby, actually, never 'got it,' whatever it was. (Thanks for your analysis of same. It's on my shelf but I doubt I'll re-read it.) Same with Catcher in the Rye, which I read in HS. I loved McCarthy's Border Trilogy. I don't want to read The Road, seems too grim.
I loved The Bonfires of the Vanities, and A Man in Full by Wolfe. Never read Douglas Kennedy. Loved Updike's Rabbit series.
Speaking of 'The canon of Serious American Literature,' does such a thing exist anymore? Seems like whatever was in there might now be in the trash bins in the alleys behind the workhouses of Big Publishing.
I see you're in Sac. I'm across the border in the Reno area. (Has California Forest Fire Setting Season started yet? I haven't see any smoke yet.)
I'll let you go now.
PS. My most recent (unpublished) book, The Fake Memoir of a Mid-List Writer, has been both long-listed and short listed, but still hasn't found a home with a publisher. (You might like it as it could compared to BLBC, but the POV character is lower middle class, a returned Vietnam vet, who meets and falls in love with a girl from the wealthy suburbs. Anyway, I'm sure it's not a great book, but I'm also sure it's a damn good one. I hope to publish it before I end up somewhere over the rainbow. Question, do you know any houses that would consider a book from a writer without an agent? AND... Do you know of anyone who reviews unpublished books (so the writer will have some kind of review before the book hits the streets?
Thanks again for an enjoyable post!