Not sure why this didn't work for me. I'm amazed at the creativity but meh at the storytelling.

Gonna do it. Last published words by the best writer.

Whoa. A sci fi adventure blending elements of spirituality, metaphysics, sexual awakening, intergalactic travel, and the strangest murder mystery you will ever read. What a blast. And To think this was written nearly 50 years ago.

A small taste from the late pages of this 70s Japanese new wave classic.

Even better than volume one. If I weren't a part of the problem, I'd be a highly NC part of the solution.

Another slim, innovative book, but this one has some psychological heft to it. Read it in a sitting but it'll linger for sure.

Not a perfect little book, but a joy and a gem you can read in one sitting.

I've read each of these books multiple times, but when anyone asks me what my favorite Denis Johnson book is, I always come back to ALREADY DEAD. I've heard it referred to as a minor work, but it has impacted me profoundly as a reader and writer and human. I could, of course, say the same for everything he wrote. I will miss him.

I missed the boat on this when it came out in 2000, but I'm so glad it came back around. Exquisitely tender writing about the minutia of daily life, against a backdrop of the eternal need to belong. Stunning and wonderful. Please read it.

I don't read horror, but this one gave the genre a good name. Fast, intelligent, masochistic fun.

I feel ridiculous for not being more impressed with this book. It didn't live up to WAITING FOR THE BARBARIANS imo. Still better than most books, but not as great as I'd expected. Kind of just a regular book.

This book is so good. I read it everywhere.

So glad this exists.

Better than so-so but I didn't quite love it. Great pace, great setting, and a good job of keeping the readers on our toes. I suspected everyone, but found the reveal slightly convenient.

Not sci-fi... Not polemic... But super smart and fun and strange. It's an exploration of art and creativity and activism, and how these interact with technology in the Internet age.

For fans of Krakauer's INTO THE WILD, this account of a real life hermit in Maine is difficult to put down. While Christopher Knight's motivations are never fully explained, I came away with a profound respect for a man who spent 26 years(!) with only a single episode of human interaction. What a mystery of an existence.

Maybe the best book I read last year? Written by the publisher of my favorite book the year prior... Good things coming out of St. Louis.

Add this one to the list of impressive debut novels. Classy and elegant writing, deeply felt and original characters, and boy what a heartbreaking plot.

Here's what I came away from #heartlandfallforum most excited about.

My first Litsy post. I have only more respect for Moshfegh's work as I continue to read it.

Briefly met the author and got awesomely photobombed.

Best bookstore haul ever.

Some of the structural experiments in this book didn't work for me, but despite that it was still a fascinatingly original pseudo-history of a great cultural icon. It doesn't hurt that Barry is a sentencesmith of the highest order.

This book is so true to my feelings toward John Lennon: it's wild and original and presents a skewed vision of the world. That world is inviting and peculiar and full of the promises of our fullest potential, but ultimately unattainable.

The latter half of the book gets almost bogged down with plottiness while reuniting the estranged characters, never delving into the complexities of the taboo issues the novel prods in its first half (Who's asking it to? This isn't that book). In the end it isn't the social taboos that reverberate but the stunningly unique characters. Each of them are believably fallible, even if the entire situation in which they're (mis)laid is unbelievable.

I wish these tiny humans would just let me read.

I do this thing where I find an author I connect with and then I resist reading their other books. Then I pick one up and love it and wonder why I wasted all that time reading books by other authors. I mean, I know why I do it: to find more writers I connect with and in different ways. What I'm saying is that I really like Nell Zink.

Just getting into this one. Fun unreliable and snarky narrator from a small upper Midwestern town. Reminds me a bit of Ottessa Moshfegh's EILEEN, except a bit more irreverent.

I enjoyed the Woolfian malaise and the general aimlessness of this book, but turns out when there's no story or substantial character interaction there's little incentive to keep reading. I feel like I could pick this up and open to any page and get an equal sense of the character and style.

If we have lost the knack of living, it is a safe bet to presume we have forfeited the magic of dying.

I have no idea what this book is about, or what its goals are, but I find it mesmerizing. So many gorgeous, peculiar sentences.

Sadly I cannot follow anyone else, in honor of this mystifying epic. #thepartaboutthereallygoodbook

While I enjoyed the style and tone, i was frustrated by the focus on these characters' respective depressions. Their dependencies were isolated, rather than mutual, and the celestial metaphor sufficed with reflecting the stasis of self pity, rather than inspiring the characters (or this reader). Or maybe I wasn't in a mood for a sad book.

Tomine is writing some of the best short stories around, but he's also one of the most vital illustrators in the game. He's at the forefront of this combination of genres, and this collection proves that he's still expanding his creative potential for each.

Easy reading as far as criticism goes, but don't mistake this for anything other than criticism. Lerner's gifts with language make it a pleasant 80-page essay, but his thesis (there has never been a perfect poem because our expectations for poetry are impossible) isn't the most profound of insights.

"The fatal problem with poetry: poems."

Had to tag this because RASL wasn't showing up. Been meaning to check it out for a while. Historical sections about Tesla and the explorations of electricity were fabulous, especially the intersections of physics and native creation myths. But the neo-noir plot was a bit sexist and disappointing.

Am I planning to read this because it shares a name with my favorite 90's indie rock band? No, I'm going to read it because the first page is some of the best writing I've read all year. But the name thing helps.

A topical, insightful delight of a page turner, less for its overall plot than for its charming array of characters and a satisfyingly juxtaposed network of subplots.

I did not intend to read this book. The first two chapters did little for me. Then the third chapter happened, and now I'm halfway through and I don't want it to end. Total blast.

And if we do not? Yet still don't really read it? What then, Mr. Lerner? I look forward to discovering your reply in this slim and well reviewed pamphlet.

I've loved everything I've read from Ottessa Moshfegh.

It's been a long time since I've been so simultaneously enamored with and demoralized by the intelligence and candor of a narrator's voice. I'm looking forward to reading every word Nell Zink writes.

Stephen possesses the indefinable divine spark that arises from friction between an infinitely complex universe and the unfathomable enigma of subjectivity. (Later on the same page) There's more real art going on in one square inch of Midwest than in all of New York City.

PSYCHED!

In the end it won me over. Exceptional pacing and thematic depths. Also loved the third person disguised as a first person technique.

This far into it and nothing has happened. Yet I read on... I. Read. On.

Just saw Ben Lerner at a coffee shop and told him I liked his books. He said, "thanks." Then I thought about how much I liked his books. I sure did like his books.

Excited to finally crack open THE DOOR after numerous bookseller recommendations.

I wasn't planning to read this book but I made the mistake of opening it, and now it won't let me put it down. Curse you @Graywolfpress