re Robert Stone

[Malignd]

<<Masters of Atlantis; Gringos; Dog of the South

I've not read anything by Portis.  How would you rank
the above against each other?  I always appreciate new
reading suggestions from those whose opinions I
respect.>>

He was out of print for a long time, but everything
has been reissued.

I think I like Dog of the South better than Masters of
Atlantis, but they're both good.  There's anoter novel
called Norwood, which is also good; plus he wrote True
Grit, which is not a comic novel in the style of these
others, but it's good too.

Richard Ford is a big fan of his (by the way).

Flann O'Brien is an Irish writer who wrote under a
number of different names (also Myles na gCopaleen,
Brian O'Nolan).  The novels are all, I think as by
O'Brien.  

His most well-known book is probably At Swim Two
Birds, which is wonderful--they're all wonderful.  He
writes very well and he's very very funny.

James Kyllo suggested The Dalkey Archive, which is
good in and of itself, but O'Brien was a boozer and
some of his later work is uneven.  There are whole
pieces of The Dalkey Archive that were pirated from
The Third Policeman, which is in much the same vein
and I think, overall, better.  And very odd.  

He wrote The Poor Mouth in Gaelic, a perverse gesture
that assured the book virtually no audience.  It's
well translated--reads just like his other books--and
also very funny.  About the abysmally poor,
downtrodden, and ignorant Irish peasantry.

 

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