First off the voice is glorious. Voice-driven fiction is my favorite, but I need solid elements to latch onto. For instance in 'Heartburn' the voice is strong, but it's depicting objects in a world I can grasp. Perhaps the biggest of these is food and recipes, a very hands-on series of usable information.
Likewise in "The Secret History" the narrator is a money-starved scholarship student in a private university, but his world seems more concrete.
Once dreamy elements pile up I'm attacked by the Third Grade panic that 'I'm not getting this on any level.' It's not surprising that I preach clarity and the "Stained Glass Window" concept of beginning with the sandals (the simple concepts) before eventually escalating to the abstraction of halos.
I rarely give up on a book (maybe 4 out of the thousands I’ve finished?) but I just had to quit André Aciman’s “Eight White Nights”. I feel guilty, but… I have a stack of books and spending another week on something I wasn’t enjoying doesn’t seem right.
Likewise here. When first reading "Jesus' Son" I hated it. But because it's short stories I could tackle it from different points. Eventually the stories I initially enjoyed led me to reattempt the others, and now the entire book is a favorite.
These days I find myself giving a novel about 30 pages to grab me - then will scan forward - then read the last few pages to see what the ending is because endings matter - they show what the author thinks of life and the world... prefer short stories too.
Chuck, sorry but I'm a different Tom - the one who wrote the Charles Manson letter to Shirley Jackson. I'm not the guy who knew Spanbauer. But I would have gone to that party for sure - or crashed it if I could have.
That's about 15 pages more than I can give these days. I also like to fast forward to the ending like that as well. I'm trying to broaden my reading to include books and genres I normally would not pick up. But I can't seem to turn off the ChuckP minimalism editor in my head now.
Summer is upon us. Please consider revisiting your favorite books from school vacations. It's way to reconnect with Modernism. Last summer, Ray Bradbury helped me rediscover Modernism, as did "Jaws."
I had that problem. To override my minimalist filter, I read writers who craft their language well and write varied stories with things I know little about.
Both a happy and disappointing sight is a stack of reading materials - books, magazines, print off documents - piled three feet high beside my bedside.
I feel for the ones in the bottom because they’ll be last in relief and are doing all the work balancing.
For several years, our household had no such stack. The online world and streaming held us captivated. Now we're back at bookstores -- including Goodwill -- and the house looks like a used book store. I can actually see Mike's interests. We can trade off. It feels like summer vacation and reading stacks of books our teachers would disapprove of. I wish magazines were more in the mix, but perhaps they will come back.
I've had a blast taking those old photos you guys wrote messages for, and salting them into used books at shops. The physical book can carry so many troubling extras.
This is one of my favorite books so far for 2025, but I’m definitely gonna need a reread. Margaret Atwood has openly called Mona Awad her literary successor and while I don’t usually even notice back-cover blurb stuff like that, it’s enough for me to pay more attention to what she’s writing.
Let’s go!
Please let Dennis at The Cult know your snail mail. It might go out as early as tomorrow.
Sounds good Chuck, thanks! I’ll give it a shot 🤷🏼♂️
https://www.chuckpalahniuk.net/
And please include a name. The UPS Store gets uppity otherwise.
Done!
Would love it !
I would just love it!!
damn
Damn...
Delivery only within the United States? Not overseas? It’s official: the tariffs have gone too far.
Yeah, well if you didn't throw up such a trade wall against imported scones.
Consider it karma for all the tea that was dumped in the ocean a few hundred years back
Rats, I'm late to the punch. I'll look around for it.
Wet your toe. It's not for everyone.
Love you Chuck! This is my first comment ever! Would you say more about what led you to bail? “If you were my student, I’d tell you to…… “
First off the voice is glorious. Voice-driven fiction is my favorite, but I need solid elements to latch onto. For instance in 'Heartburn' the voice is strong, but it's depicting objects in a world I can grasp. Perhaps the biggest of these is food and recipes, a very hands-on series of usable information.
Likewise in "The Secret History" the narrator is a money-starved scholarship student in a private university, but his world seems more concrete.
Once dreamy elements pile up I'm attacked by the Third Grade panic that 'I'm not getting this on any level.' It's not surprising that I preach clarity and the "Stained Glass Window" concept of beginning with the sandals (the simple concepts) before eventually escalating to the abstraction of halos.
I rarely give up on a book (maybe 4 out of the thousands I’ve finished?) but I just had to quit André Aciman’s “Eight White Nights”. I feel guilty, but… I have a stack of books and spending another week on something I wasn’t enjoying doesn’t seem right.
Likewise here. When first reading "Jesus' Son" I hated it. But because it's short stories I could tackle it from different points. Eventually the stories I initially enjoyed led me to reattempt the others, and now the entire book is a favorite.
These days I find myself giving a novel about 30 pages to grab me - then will scan forward - then read the last few pages to see what the ending is because endings matter - they show what the author thinks of life and the world... prefer short stories too.
Tom! Do you know if Sage ever threw that long-promised party to celebrate Tom's passing?
It was rumored to be in Jan/Feb but seems to have not happened. Word?
Chuck, sorry but I'm a different Tom - the one who wrote the Charles Manson letter to Shirley Jackson. I'm not the guy who knew Spanbauer. But I would have gone to that party for sure - or crashed it if I could have.
My mistake! I know you're you, but I also thought you'd been at Tom's table for a stretch.
That's about 15 pages more than I can give these days. I also like to fast forward to the ending like that as well. I'm trying to broaden my reading to include books and genres I normally would not pick up. But I can't seem to turn off the ChuckP minimalism editor in my head now.
Summer is upon us. Please consider revisiting your favorite books from school vacations. It's way to reconnect with Modernism. Last summer, Ray Bradbury helped me rediscover Modernism, as did "Jaws."
You mean go back to the Hardy Boys...? Egad.
I had that problem. To override my minimalist filter, I read writers who craft their language well and write varied stories with things I know little about.
Both a happy and disappointing sight is a stack of reading materials - books, magazines, print off documents - piled three feet high beside my bedside.
I feel for the ones in the bottom because they’ll be last in relief and are doing all the work balancing.
The good news?
For several years, our household had no such stack. The online world and streaming held us captivated. Now we're back at bookstores -- including Goodwill -- and the house looks like a used book store. I can actually see Mike's interests. We can trade off. It feels like summer vacation and reading stacks of books our teachers would disapprove of. I wish magazines were more in the mix, but perhaps they will come back.
So stacks is better than doom surfing.
With stacks at least you're choosing what you engage with. And you're engaging in depth.
Keeps me human.
Empathising for stacks.
That’s why the plugged in get pity and judgement.
When your life’s work is entirely on a cloud it’s still ephemeral and reliant on constant power supplies.
Better to build idyllic monuments that age and wear and you can care about.
I've had a blast taking those old photos you guys wrote messages for, and salting them into used books at shops. The physical book can carry so many troubling extras.
You are the sweetest. What a gift you are to the world.
Sometimes that child size stack of “to be read” books has just gotta got to the book drop.
This is one of my favorite books so far for 2025, but I’m definitely gonna need a reread. Margaret Atwood has openly called Mona Awad her literary successor and while I don’t usually even notice back-cover blurb stuff like that, it’s enough for me to pay more attention to what she’s writing.