Lists of favorite things

[Michael Bailey]

It is a really good book, beyond all the specifics of anything I've
brought to the discussion or am likely to be inspired to.  I mean it's
the kind of book I could read on my own and enjoy without discussing.
I had set it aside in favor of other things but knew I would return.

 However, it's even more fun with a discussion.


couldn't help myself, bought a copy of Pale King and got hooked...it's
really pretty good, it's not the kind of thing that I would write, but
that's why I read, eh...darn shame, as his editor said - he probably
could have made it a lot better....similar vibe to IJ in terms of
there isn't a really fun thing about it but it's so well wrought that
you almost don't miss that, and you root for the characters to for
pete's sake at least have a little bit of fun and they never do but
you care about them anyway
- people say there's a lot of structure and coding and stuff, I always
usually skip worrying about that but I appreciate the way things go
boink and slide into place and play off each other - that may be what
they're talking about - anyway, there's a lot of that
- there is just super word flow
- there are images and characterizations that are palpable and you
feel like you are a better person for contemplation of them
- there are offhanded observations that merit profound agreement

like IJ there's a greater amount of existential terror than I can
relate to - sheltered life on my part, maybe, or endogenous
endorphins, like the guy in Lucky Slevin?  Except I think most people,
even nutty writers, are a little jollier than DFW in outlook (aren't
they?)

unlike IJ where all along I was debating whether I was in fundamental
agreement and not till the very end did I kind of accept [what I
understood to be] the premise and smile on it, I was grooving with PK
right away, some because of knowing IJ, but some because there really
is a sort of a different vibe aborning...hard to describe...

i was seriously bummed when he orffed himself....

hope my TR recognitions can seed more cogent contributions, but I did
have this kind of urge to spout about PK

a-and Catcher in the Rye is an immortal classic!

and I'd say Confederacy of Dunces is a wonderful read,
once...self-indulgence and self-involvement in the political context
of the South which the salvific arrival of the New York girl in her VW
is destined to redeem...

but twice might spoil it though