I don’t know what made me want to do this. This is unlike me. Also did not mean to have 26 favorites. That’s too cute, you know, going into the new year. Won’t cut one out to avoid that, though.
The Long Dry – Cynan Jones
Omon Ra – Victor Pelevin
Confessions of Zeno – Italo Svevo
The Dig - Cynan Jones
House of Prayer No. 2 - Mark Richard
Lives Other Than My Own – Emmanuel Carrère
Soft Water – Robert Olmstead
So Long, See You Tomorrow – William Maxwell Jr.
Days Between Stations – Steve Erickson
“92 Days” (story/novella within Big Bad Love) - Larry Brown
Gilead – Marilynne Robinson
Inland - Gerald Murnane
The Hawk is Dying – Harry Crews
Childhood – Harry Crews
Reasons to Live - Amy Hempel
A Trail of Heart’s Blood Wherever We Go – Robert Olmstead
Zeroville - Steve Erickson
The Bear - William Faulkner
Brown Dog of the Yaak - Rick Bass
In These Loyal Mountains - Rick Bass
Travels with Charley - John Steinbeck
Stupid Arbitrary Goal - Tamara Shopsin
Leisure and the Basis of Culture - Josef Pieper
The Timeless Way of Building - Christopher Alexander
“Stream System” (story/essay/novella within Invisible Yet Enduring Lilacs) - Gerald Murnane
1095 Short Sentences - Donato Loia
*Note 1—could affect the list: I’m currently reading The Kingdom by Emmanuel Carrère, No Man is an Island by Thomas Merton, and doing another re-read of A Trail of Heart’s Blood…
*Note 2—on the book I blurbed: I really liked One, None, and a Hundred Grand by Luigi Pirandello, but didn’t want to include it in the list/be bought off by my being flattered. I really like Archipelago press. So despite my feelings on blurbs, it was a nice surprise to be on their radar.
*Note 3—explanation for what’s on and off the list: I read a number of other non-fic/theory/philosophy books that did not move me. I started reading the novel version of Where the Sea Used to Be by Rick Bass (a long-time favorite) and couldn’t do it despite loving the novella version.
Travels with Charley hell yes
The Bear >