In retrospect I realized I’d read a very positive review of this in the NYT not too long ago. It’s a very short book, comprised of short chapters (or stories), written in a spare style. I was a bit scared on the first couple of pages due to the use of first person plural (which I tend not to like) but I was impressed with the style in which it was used here, and to see the shift to first person singular later on in the book.

I really enjoyed the episodic style of store, and the use of imagery. The scene where the narrator dances in front of a film clip of Niagara Falls, or where the boys fly garbage bag kites are quite stunning.

I especially love the Hard Case Crime series for it’s covers. I’m currently enjoying this one from Mickey Spillane. I felt as though my reading habits were getting a little too high brow

This was just shortlisted for the Man Booker prize… and I’d be entirely taken aback if it won. Would I recommend it? Sure, though not before a whole list of other recent books. It’s worth the few hours it takes to read – though I couldn’t help thinking that there were likely a lot of other books out there just like it…

65 stories by Nabokov in 750 pages. The stories are mostly quite short, and read as somewhat ambiguous moral tales. The book that this reminds me of most is Calvino’s folktales, so I’m using the same tactic of reading a few stories consecutively between reading other books. So far so good.

BTW – I love the covers that Vintage designed from this Nabokov series. I love the use of what appear to be shadow boxes, though are likely specimen cases – as Nabokov studied butterflies…

See them all here.

Click on the thumbnails for enlargements. Too bad that they didn’t do a version for Lolita as well…

I’ve read both of Bolano’s larger works (Savage Detectives and 2666) and was immensely impressed by both. The Skating Rink is the first of Bolano’s shorter works of fiction that I’ve read, and I was pleased to find same mastery at work in it.

A Note on Translations:

I was initially concerned that Bolano translated by a different translator might make a significant difference. Savage Detectives and 2666 are both brilliantly translated by Natasha Wimmer. The shorter fiction coming out of New Directions Press are translated by Chris Andrews. I was happy to find that Andrew’s translation was as fluid as Wimmer’s.

I’m a little picky about translators… especially with authors I admire. A good example is Marguerite Duras. Richard Seaver and Barbara Bray are both excellent translators of Duras’ writing. In recent years I’ve read a number of Duras books by other translators, where Duras’ writing felt flat and disjointed. An entirely different experience – tho it has occurred to me to blame the author herself…

A few of the many recent books I’ve read include:
Remainder by Tom McCarthy; Ghostwritten and Number9Dream by David Mitchell; Blasted by Kate Story; a couple Lew Archer by Ross MacDonald; and the non-fiction The Hilliker Curse by James Ellroy.

I listened to the audiobook version of The Hilliker Curse narrated by Ellroy – quite an experience that.

Currently Reading: Mental Models: Aligning Design Strategy with Human Behavior.
by Indi Young

This is a book from a series from Rosenfeld Media. The series includes Design is the Problem:The Future of Design must be Sustainable, Prototyping: A Practitioner’s Guide and Web Form Design: Filling in the Blanks.

What I’m enjoying most about this book is the practical advice for integrating UCD into less formal design processes. I’m only part way through, and there’s a lot of “real” information.

2666: A Novel
by Roberto Bolano, translated by Natasha Wimmer

The Cheese Monkeys & The Learners
by Chip Kidd

Fun reading – especially for anyone who has ever been to art school or worked in advertising. Not often you encounter a passage on time sheets, billable and non-billable hours, or a pitch in a novel…

The Informers
by Bret Easton Ellis

I originally read this book of interconnected stories a quite some time ago. I was surprised as I was rereading that I was able to recall some of the stories quite vividly – and others not at all. While I’m hesitant to recommend anything by B.E.E. simply on the grounds that it’s likely to offend – I found this book to be a very enjoyable reread.