I’m almost done with all my work for the semester. All I have left is an analytical paper for my Theory class and a creative assignment for my literature class. Over the past three-and-a-half months, I read fifteen books. Yowza. And now, the mini-reviews (in no particular order):

Books That Brian Will Hereafter Force upon Others and Make Them Read ASAP, Lest They Burn in Eternal Damnation (So Help Them God) (a.k.a. The Ones I Really Liked)

--Jesus’ Son by Denis Johnson: A short collection (yay short books!) of linked short stories. Johnson does cool stuff with language. I thought he captured the gritty desperation of living in a rural area quite well. (Kind of reminds me of what life must’ve been like for the townies in Harrisonburg.)

--Pedro Paramo by Juan Rulfo: Another short book. I haven’t read Marquez, so take that into consideration when I say: Pedro Paramo is the best surrealist/magical realism book I’ve ever read. Lots of fun. Kind of creepy, at times, but fun.

--The Hour of the Star by Clarice Lispector: You have to be a fan of post-modern authorial intervention to enjoy this book, otherwise you will quickly become annoyed with the narrative. But if you’re cool with that, then you’re in for one amazing ride. I read the New Directions translation and couldn’t believe it was a translation.

--A Wild Sheep Chase by Haruki Murakami: I mentioned this book earlier, and how I read the first hundred pages in the span of 24 hours. Crazy. Of all the books on this list, this is by far the easiest to read. The most non-English major-y, if that makes sense. It has an engrossing story, and, unlike Pedro Paramo, it’s fun without being creepy. Well, depending on your definition of "creepy," I guess.

--The Daydreaming Boy by Micheline Aharonian Marcom: I really got absorbed into this story. The world Marcom creates was incredibly vivid to me. Couple that with her stylistic elements, and you have yourself a very talented writer. I thoroughly enjoyed this read. (It’s pretty short, too. Er, reads quickly, anyway.)

Books That Brian Would Most Likely Object to Tossing into a Bonfire, Were This Germany, Circa 1933 (a.k.a. The Ones I Thought Were Pretty Good)

--Stick Out Your Tongue by Ma Jian: Ever want to shatter that image of Tibetans as peaceful, quiet people that only do good? Read this book. It’s fiction, but fiction-based-on-real-life.

--Ideas of Heaven by Joan Silber: A series of five short stories that have subtle links tying them together. My favorite piece is the titular story.

--Paris Stories by Mavis Gallant: We only read five or six of the stories in this collection, so, technically, I didn’t read the entire book. Whatever. She’s a French-Canadian writing stories about French-Canadians (for the most part).

--By Night in Chile by Roberto Bolano: My second Bolano read. I liked it better than The Savage Detectives. He’s still not my favorite, but I feel like this is a good introduction to him. (Who do I think I am? Some sort of Bolano expert, having read two of his books?)

--The Cattle Killing by John Edgar Wideman: I read this book out loud. Not only because it helped me concentrate on the text, but also because Wideman has a fantastic ear for language. I was particularly impressed with the tonal qualities of his words.

Books That Brian Would Recommend Maybe Checking Out (If You’re into That Sort of Thing), Should You Find Them in the Bargain Bin Somewhere (a.k.a. The Ones I Thought Were Okay)

--S/Z by Roland Barthes: You have to be in a structuralist/post-structuralist literary-theory mindset to want to read this book. It’s dense, but there are some amazing moments to it, if you understand it. And therein lies the problem: I had a hard time understanding most of it.

--Practicing New Historicism by Catherine Gallagher and Stephen Greenblatt: This book is six chapters long (plus an introduction). The intro and first two chapters are about New Historical tendencies. It’s not the most interesting read in the world, but important to getting a gist for who they are. The last four chapters are hit-or-miss discussions using New Historicism in practice. You won’t look at potatoes ever the same again, if you read chapter four.

--Swann’s Way by Marcel Proust: Even with three weeks, I still feel like I had to rush through Proust. Maybe I would’ve enjoyed it more if I had the chance to read him at a more leisurely pace. I don’t know. What I can say: I’m glad that I read it. And when Proust is on, he is fucking on. More than any other writer I can think of, he tackles issues about what it means to be human. Unfortunately, a lot of what it means to be human is incredibly esoteric and, thus, hard to follow in his stream-of-consciousness style.

--Austerlitz by W.G. Sebald: It’s very much like Proust, but not as interesting as Proust. Enough said. (Okay, fine, one more thing: There are pictures in this book. That’s cool.)

Burn, Burn, Burn, Motherfucker! (a.k.a. The One I Didn’t Like)

--Winesburg, Ohio by Sherwood Anderson: I didn’t actually read this book, so maybe I would’ve liked it if I had finished it. But I read the (very cool) introduction and the (very disappointing) first couple stories before realizing it wasn’t worth it for me to continue reading. I liked what he did with his characters, but I couldn’t stand the writing itself. Read the synopses, not the stories themselves.