What books are currently on your nightstand?
Best of the South (Last Ten Years) - Short Story Anthology
War of the Dons - Peter Rabe
Last Notes from Home - Frederick Exley
Cold Spring Harbor - Richard Yates
Who is your all-time favorite novelist?
Probably a tie between Frederick Exley and Richard Yates.
What book might we be surprised to find on your shelves?
Rabbi Jesus by Bruce Chilton, a study of the historical, Rabbinical Jesus.
Who is your favorite fictional character?
Ignatius Reilly from John
Kennedy Toole's A Confederacy of Dunces. I felt more comfortable with
being an outsider after reading of Reilly's expoits. Neither of us can
get along very well in society and, like Reilly,
I have spent more time and energy avoiding becoming a regular Joe than
it would have taken to just behave myself. At one point, I almost
changed my name legally to Ignatius.
What book do you return to?
A Fan's Notes by
Frederick Exley. One of the funniest and, simultaneously, saddest pieces
of work I've ever encountered. A true triumph.
Jonathan Ashley is the author of Out of Mercy and The Cost of Doing Business. His work has appeared in Crime Factory, A Twist of Noir, LEO Weekly, Kentucky Magazine and Yellow Mama. He lives in
Lexington, KY.
OUT OF MERCY has been praised by heavyweights such as Jerry Stahl ("The kind of flat-out, heart-stopping, psycho-emotional thrill ride that just might put this author on the map with the giants."), Scott Phillips ("A savage, horrifying and gut-bustingly funny Western.") and Benjamin Whitmer ("Hard, stark and brilliant, Out of Mercy is the best Western I've read in years.").
OUT OF MERCY has been praised by heavyweights such as Jerry Stahl ("The kind of flat-out, heart-stopping, psycho-emotional thrill ride that just might put this author on the map with the giants."), Scott Phillips ("A savage, horrifying and gut-bustingly funny Western.") and Benjamin Whitmer ("Hard, stark and brilliant, Out of Mercy is the best Western I've read in years.").
11 comments:
I'm a big fan of A FAN'S NOTES too, as well as A CONFEDERACY OF DUNCES.
Jeff M.
Me, too. And Richard Yates. This guy and I have a lot in common.
And Richard Yates, too.
Interesting. Certainly very different tastes from me, but that's fine!
I love CONFEDERACY OF DUNCES. It's one of my all-time favorites. I recently read A FAN'S NOTES (after Frank Gifford died) and while I thought it was beautifully-written, the story was too sad for me.
I read PAGES FROM A COLD ISLAND immediately after A FAN'S NOTES but still haven't read the third book in the trilogy, LAST NOTES FROM HOME, though I have it.
Jeff M.
I was able to read it in my twenties not sure I could now. Funny how you get softer as you age. In all ways.
Last Notes from Home wasn't as depressing as I thought it might be, but I was so much older then. What really got to me was a friend's eulogy (don't remember who) who said a drunken Exley in his last days would call up acquaintances in wee morning hours and blather away at them for hours, evidently so lonely he couldn't bear it.
As to Confederacy, a book by an old schoolmate, Joel Fletcher, is really depressing. He shows the frustration Toole experienced trying to get his book published, how close he came before Robert Gottleib at Simon and Schuster finally gave up on the book and rejected it, and Toole, who evidently was a closet gay, then started his decline into drunkenness and suicidal depression. Ken and Thelma
So few great books are not dismal, depressing, dire. I am used to it.
Hi Patti
Here's my FFB:
http://inkquilletc.blogspot.in/2015/10/forgotten-book-face-in-night-by-edgar.html
The Face in the Night by Edgar Wallace
Thanks.
So glad to see this feature back! And it's always fascinating to 'meet' someone who's read books that are not the same as I have. I learn so much that way.
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