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Tag: McSweeney’s

May 2024 Books and Reading Notes

John Winkelman

May was a pretty good month for reading. I had some down time and managed to fill it with books, like I did regularly when I was much younger.

Acquisitions

  1. Eva Baltasar (Julia Sanches, translator), Mammoth (And Other Stories) [2024.05.07] – This is the most recent addition to my collection from my subscription to And Other Stories.
  2. Vanessa Angélica Villareal, Magical Realism: Essays on Music, Memory, Fantasy, and Borders [2024.05.18] – This was an impulse buy I made after seeing the title mentioned favorably by Jeff VanderMeer on one social media account or another.
  3. Zig Zag Claybourne, Breath, Warmth, & Dream (Obsidian Sky Books) [2024.05.20] – This was a Kickstarter reward from a recently-completed campaign. I met Zig Zag at ConFusion, back in, I think, 2016. He is a superb writer and overall a most excellent human being.
  4. Dinara Mirtalipova, Russian Tales: Traditional Stories of Quests and Enchantments [2024.05.28] – This was a birthday gift from my partner. It is gorgeous!

Reading List

Books

  1. Ian Monk and Daniel Levin Becker (editors), All that is Evident is Suspect: Readings from the Oulipo 1963 – 2018 [2024.05.08]
  2. Daniel Suarez, Kill Decision (e-book, re-read) [2024.05.10]
  3. Silvia Moreno-Garcia, Mexican Gothic [2024.05.13]
  4. João Gilberto Noll (Adam Morris, translator), Atlantic Hotel [2024.05.16]
  5. Sarah Hans, An Ideal Vessel [2024.05.18]
  6. César Aira, The Proof [2024.05.20]
  7. Corey Robin, The Reactionary Mind [2024.5.28]
  8. Glen Cook, The Black Company (e-book, re-read) [2024.05.31]

Short Prose

  1. Oskar Pastior, “Rules of the Game”, All that is Evident is Suspect [2024.05.01]
  2. Hervé Le Tellier, “A Few Musketeers”, All that is Evident is Suspect [2024.05.02]
  3. Pierre Rosenstiehl, “Frieze of the Paris Métro”, All that is Evident is Suspect [2024.05.02]
  4. Jacques Jouet, “Poem of the Paris Métro”, All that is Evident is Suspect [2024.05.02]
  5. Harry Mathews, “Sainte Catherina”, All that is Evident is Suspect [2024.05.02]
  6. Jacques Jouet, “The Republic of Beau-Locks”, All that is Evident is Suspect [2024.05.03]
  7. Ian Monk, “We Did Everything”, All that is Evident is Suspect [2024.05.03]
  8. François Caradec, “On the End of Time”, All that is Evident is Suspect [2024.05.03]
  9. Paul Fournel, “Novels”, All that is Evident is Suspect [2024.05.03]
  10. Anne F. Garréta, “N-evol”, All that is Evident is Suspect [2024.05.04]
  11. Olivier Salon, “Invisible Cities: Lille”, All that is Evident is Suspect [2024.05.04]
  12. Jacques Roubaud, “Arrangements”, All that is Evident is Suspect [2024.05.04]
  13. Frédéric Forte, “99 Preparatory Notes to 99 Preparatory Notes”, All that is Evident is Suspect [2024.05.04]
  14. Pablo Martín Sánchez, “Metric Poetry”, All that is Evident is Suspect [2024.05.05]
  15. Étienne Lécroart, “Eodermdromes”, All that is Evident is Suspect [2024.05.05]
  16. Harry Mathews, “Narrative Sestinas”, All that is Evident is Suspect [2024.05.05]
  17. Étienne Lécroart, “Counting On You”, All that is Evident is Suspect [2024.05.05]
  18. Hervé Le Tellier, “Liquid Tales”, All that is Evident is Suspect [2024.05.05]
  19. Bernard Cerquiglini, “A Very Busy Year”, All that is Evident is Suspect [2024.05.05]
  20. Olivier Salon, “Shark Poem”, All that is Evident is Suspect [2024.05.06]
  21. Ross Chambers, “Brief Encounter”, All that is Evident is Suspect [2024.05.06]
  22. Daniel Levin Becker, “Writer’s Block”, All that is Evident is Suspect [2024.05.06]
  23. Jacques Roubaud, “⊂”, All that is Evident is Suspect [2024.05.06]
  24. Marcel Bénabou, “Our Beautiful Zeroine”, All that is Evident is Suspect [2024.05.06]
  25. Paul Fournel, “The Beautiful Appetite”, All that is Evident is Suspect [2024.05.06]
  26. Valérie Beaudouin, “Northern Line”, All that is Evident is Suspect [2024.05.07]
  27. Michèle Audin, “Caroline, October 21, 1935”, All that is Evident is Suspect [2024.05.07]
  28. E. Berti & P. Martin Sánchez, “Microfictions”, All that is Evident is Suspect [2024.05.07]
  29. Daniel Levin Becker, “Epithalamia”, All that is Evident is Suspect [2024.05.07]
  30. Frédéric Forte, “The Pitch-Drop Experiment”, All that is Evident is Suspect [2024.05.07]
  31. Clémentine Mélois, “Louise”, All that is Evident is Suspect [2024.05.07]
  32. Michèle Audin, “No One Remembers”, All that is Evident is Suspect [2024.05.08]
  33. Ian Monk, “Return(s)”, All that is Evident is Suspect [2024.05.08]
  34. Eduardo Berti, “An Ideal Presence”, All that is Evident is Suspect [2024.05.08]
  35. Jim C. Hines, “Daddy’s Little Girl”, Patreon [2024.05.29]
  36. Jim C. Hines, “Gift of the Kites”, Patreon [2024.05.29]

April 2024 Books and Reading Notes

John Winkelman

April was National Poetry Month, and I didn’t read as much poetry this time as I have in past years. Part of that was my specific choices for poetry books, and part was general business and mental exhaustion. As you can see from the list below, I have spent most of my reading time buried in All that is Evident is Suspect, a collection of writing from members of Oulipo (Ouvroir de littérature potentielle, or “Workshop for Potential Literature”). The writing therein is frying my brain in the very best way. Highly recommended.

Acquisitions

  1. Lauren T. Davila (editor), To Root Somewhere Beautiful: An Anthology of Reclamation (Outland Entertainment) [2024.04.10] – Purchased through a Kickstarter campaign run by Outland Entertainment.
  2. Frantz Fanon (Richard Philcox, translator), The Wretched of the Earth [2024.04.20] – Purchased from a fantastic new store which opened the weekend of 4/20: Black Dog Books and Records. I see myself shopping there a lot.

Reading List

Books and Journals

  1. Ernest Hemingway, A Moveable Feast [2024.04.07]
  2. Paul Celan (John Felstiner, translator), Selected Poems and Prose of Paul Celan [2024.04.12]
  3. Kirk Jones, Aetherchrist [2024.04.16]
  4. Jean Daive (Norma Cole, translator), A Woman With Several Lives [2024.04.18]

Short Prose

  1. Raymond Queneau, “Slept Cried”, All That Is Evident Is Suspect: Readings from the Oulipo 1963 – 2018 [2024.04.18]
  2. Jacques Duchateau, “Lecture on the Oulipo at Cerisy-la-Salle”, All That Is Evident Is Suspect [2024.04.19]
  3. Latis, “The Atheist Organist”, All That Is Evident Is Suspect [2024.04.20]
  4. Marcel Duchamp, “Correspondence With the Oulipo”, All That Is Evident Is Suspect [2024.04.20]
  5. Albert-Marie Schmidt, “Letter to the Oulipo”, All That Is Evident Is Suspect [2024.04.21]
  6. Claude Berge, “Letter to Jacques Roubaud & Georges Perec”, All That Is Evident Is Suspect [2024.04.21]
  7. François Le Lionnais, “Idea Box”, All That Is Evident Is Suspect [2024.04.21]
  8. Jean Lescure, “The N+7 Method”, All That Is Evident Is Suspect [2024.04.21]
  9. Georges Perec, “Alphabet for Stämpfli”, All That Is Evident Is Suspect [2024.04.22]
  10. Italo Calvino, “How I Wrote One of My Books”, All That Is Evident Is Suspect [2024.04.22]
  11. Luc Étienne, “Bilingual Palindromes”, All That Is Evident Is Suspect [2024.04.22]
  12. Stanley Chapman, “Letter to Valérie Guidoux”, All That Is Evident Is Suspect [2024.04.23]
  13. André Blavier, “Literary Lunatics”, All That Is Evident Is Suspect [2024.04.23]
  14. Jean Queval, “Circular Reflections from an Immobile Insect”, All That Is Evident Is Suspect [2024.04.24]
  15. Michèle Métail, “Fifty Oscillatory Poems”, All That Is Evident Is Suspect [2024.04.25]
  16. Marcel Bénabou, “Ebony Cup and Ivory Ball, All That Is Evident Is Suspect [2024.04.25]
  17. Jacques Bens, “How to Tell a Story”, All That Is Evident Is Suspect [2024.04.25]
  18. Paul Braffort, “Invisible Libraries”, All That Is Evident Is Suspect [2024.04.26]
  19. Noël Arnaud, “The Last Minutes”, All That Is Evident Is Suspect [2024.04.26]
  20. Michelle Grangaud, “Gesture”, All That Is Evident Is Suspect [2024.04.26]

Weekly Round-up, April 20, 2024

John Winkelman

[The above photos is of a blossom on one of the pear trees we planted in our back yard last summer.]

It’s been an even crazier week than usual, which for this year is really saying something. In the coming days I might make a long post about the intersection of homelessness, carceral capitalism, and West Michigan Nice. But for now I need to keep my focus narrow.

Reading

Back in October I bought Jean Daive’s book Under the Dome, which was a memoir of sorts of Daive’s friendship with the poet Paul Celan.

Last week I finished Celan’s Selected Poetry and Prose, and found it…underwhelming. Perhaps my mind was not in the right place to appreciate his work, or perhaps I am simply not the target audience for his poetry.

A few days ago I finished Daive’s A Woman With Many Lives, and also found it not to my taste. I’m not saying the poetry was bad. Daive is a talented writer. I just…didn’t vibe with it.

All of this is a little confusing for me, because Under the Dome was one of my favorite reads of the past several years.

Now I am reading All that is Evident is Suspect: Readings from the Oulipo 1963 – 2018, which I purchased from McSweeney’s a few years ago.

Writing

This Week’s Writing Prompt

Subject: Super Powers, Fae
Setting: Ship
Genre: Slipstream

Listening

I picked up Bowie’s album Never Let Me Down on cassette tape, and listened to it A LOT on the ride to and from the Eaton Rapids pickle factory during the summer of 1987. This was my holding pattern between the end of high school and the start of my extended stay at Grand Valley State University. This is the first time I have seen the video for “Time Will Crawl”, despite having listened to the song for literally decades.

Interesting Links

 

New Reading Material This Week

John Winkelman

Apex Magazine, McSweeney's, Poets & Writers

Last week was light on new reading material arriving at the house, in no small part because I’m taking a break from buying books because I’ve spent so much money recently on new books. These are all from subscription. From the top: Apex Magazine #111, McSweeney’s #53 and the September/October issue of Poets & Writers.

McSweeney’s has a waterproof vinyl cover and arrived in a plastic Ziploc bag similar to one which might be found in a department store, containing an assortment of underwear of t-shirts. The bag also contained a number of balloons, each of which has printed upon it a paragraph of text which may or may not be part of a short story if the balloons were all inflated and arranged in the proper order. Oh, McSweeney’s. Never stop being wonderful.