Not Something I Do a Lot, But...

When I started this blog, I swore off a few things save for only the most excruciating moments: left-wing politics (there are many many many others who do this far better than I), movies, and books, even though these things consume a fair amount of my time. But just having finished all-but one part of Roberto Bolano's newest (and sadly last; he died in 2003) book 2006 I am now not only about to break a rule by discussing, but I am also going to praise heavily a book I've not yet finished.

It looks daunting, weighing in at just under 900 pages, but whoa man does it fly! Borges meets Cormac McCarthy with double acts worthy of Pessoa or Charlie Kaufman. Lit crit, brutal murder, politics, film, all of it mixed into a gorgeous south-of-the-border bouillabaisse and roasted on high heat for just under a thousand pages.

More when I finish it, but for fellow New Yorkers who fear the simply wrist-crushing weight of the hardback, why not instead purchase the conveniently partitioned paperback boxed set?

And FYI, what got me to rush out was Jonathan Lethem's carefully considered and brilliantly written review in the Times.