Welcome to Litsy!

Outstanding, I love stuff like this. A composite of the works found on Bolaño‘s hard drive after he had passed. These are stories; the beginnings of novels; lectures; experiments.

A lot of the reviews I read say these are supplementary writings, for Bolaño completists. For me that‘s not the case, as I find it to be work in which he‘s pushing himself the most, constantly striving for something fresh and interesting to put on the page.

“and then I lay down and spent a while trying to decide whether to go into the sea or not, I could think of lots of reasons to go in but also some not to (the children playing at the water‘s edge, for example), until at last it was too late and I went home, and the next morning I bought some sunscreen and I went to the beach again, and around twelve I headed”

I had to chop this from a large sentence; I love this type of writing for some reason.

Brave stuff.

Sure it‘s nearly impossible to understand anything that‘s going on, but the writing is so forceful and unpredictable that I had to love it. I just buckled in and let the...um, narrative? take me wherever it wanted.

It takes a lot to pull off a book like this—you really have to come with some vibrant, visceral prose and moods—but this definitely passes the test. I loved the challenge of it and feel like I learned a lot to boot.

A bookshop in Antwerp (including the bloke in the hat who I've been tagging along with on this trip)

The words underneath are what is above the Windows on each side of the building

Apologies for spamming you #ScreamsByMail #HorrorPostalBookClub book tribe. Here is round two (and final one, promise!) of my book picks, including the two novels that seemed ok for most. Lemme know if there‘s anything here you‘d like me to avoid. Top picks? Special requests?

This is a tiny book that's making me wrap my brain in new directions. 😏

#QuotsyMarch18 Day 2: This is the kind of #Exile I think I can live with. I am still hoping I can read my Bolaño soon. I have several of them unread books on my shelves.

“... Maybe it was the mafia. Maybe they committed suicide. Maybe it was all a dream. The wind in the rocks. The Mediterranean. Blue.”

This novella, told in vignettes, is said to be the author‘s favorite of his works. I liked the experimental nature but still thought it felt a little sketched out and unfinished.

Only in chaos are we conceivable. #robertobolano #2666