/lit/ - Literature

/lit/ hates him, I love him.

Thanks for posting the name in the filename, OP. Great thread.

I loved In the Country of Last Things by greatly disliked Travels in the Scriptorium. The later seemed like some gross combination of cliche and masturbatory postmodernism. The first was a pleasingly surreal and vague post-apocalyptic work.

>>3128202
It's Paul Auster.

His creepy fucking face should be cemented in your memory, if you've ever seen him before.

Oracle Night is probably my favorite. The Music of Chance is fun.

What I don't like about Paul Auster's works is that I feel like he is sucker punching me in the face at the end of most of his books. I felt that particularly with Sunset Park...kind of like the end of Herman Hesse's The Glass Bead Game and Joseph Knecht accidentally drowns, the end.

>>3128226
I really disliked Oracle Night for me Man in the Dark was great. I just bought Timbuktu for 50cents how is it?

>>3128246
Agreed, Man in the Dark was fantastic. I haven't read Timbuktu. I just read Winter Journal last night - it's kind of hilarious to read about his sexual exploits. I wonder what his wife might think, even if he effuses limitless praise on her in the book.

I've been meaning to read something by him, so I picked up Oracle Night when I saw it at Barnes & Noble Bargain Priced at $3.99. I'm guessing it's not the best starting point, but whatever.

Has anyone else read it?

>>3128254
It was my starting point and I recommend that you proceed. It is a fun one. You will get punched in the face by the ending but it is the kind of punch in the face where you respect the guy for doing so. I recommend you proceed with extreme prejudice.

>>3128264
>I recommend you proceed with extreme prejudice.
That all sounds good, but what did you mean by that last sentence?

>>3128338
I'm making a joke referring to Apocalypse Now. Basically, I'm encourage you to dive right in and enjoy the ride.