…one of the greatest living writers of short fiction, if not the greatest.
This one, in terms of theme, reminds me a little of Steinbeck’s Chrysanthemums.
I was browsing Amazon for a particular edition of Lolita and this popped up 🫣
Absolutely adore the Fitzcarraldo blue.
By far, the prettiest book I own.
This is the Liveright edition from 2021 with great annotations by Merve Emre (professor of English at Oxford)
“Loneliness is an absolute discovery.”
I dunno if anyone else keeps track of something like this…
I'm lucky enough to have a job where my boss isn't a hard-ass, as long as the work gets done on time. I'm not sure which year I started doing this, but these are the books I've read exclusively at work since Jan/Feb 2026. Like during lunch or cigarette breaks, if I've come in too early, or on days when work isn't too hectic.
My top 3: Muriel Spark’s Driver’s Seat, Bhavika Govil’s Hot Water, and Samanta Schweblin’s Fever Dream…
The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger
Some mornings, I wake up and all I want to do is spend the day re-reading books from my childhood.
My current copy is the Penguin reissue with the original artwork of the first 1951 edition. But I remember finding a tattered copy of this novel in a church library, taking it home, and reading it in one sitting. I was 13 and I’d read mostly Enid Blyton and a couple of easy classics up until then. I have such a clear memory of me sitting in my living room in Calcutta, having read the last page, and thinking, “books aren’t supposed to end that abruptly.” I actually thought pages were missing or something haha Simpler times. As Holden says, “Certain things, they should stay the way they are. You ought to be able to stick them in one of those big glass cases and just leave them alone.”
Some mornings, I wake up and all I want to do is spend the day re-reading books from my childhood.
My current copy is the Penguin reissue with the original artwork of the first 1951 edition. But I remember finding a tattered copy of this novel in a church library, taking it home, and reading it in one sitting. I was 13 and I’d read mostly Enid Blyton and a couple of easy classics up until then. I have such a clear memory of me sitting in my living room in Calcutta, having read the last page, and thinking, “books aren’t supposed to end that abruptly.” I actually thought pages were missing or something haha Simpler times. As Holden says, “Certain things, they should stay the way they are. You ought to be able to stick them in one of those big glass cases and just leave them alone.”