Here is Alex's week in his own words.
"When it comes to reading material, this past week was all endings and beginnings, with no middles. I tend to read two books at once, usually a novel as well as a memoir or essay collection. I gravitate toward nonfiction in the morning while I’m drinking coffee, but I prefer a story when I’m winding down at the end of the day.
The week divided itself neatly in half. I finished rereading my favorite bits of This is the Story of a Happy Marriage by Ann Patchett, and I wrapped up Faceless Killers by Henning Mankell.
Anyone who writes or hopes to write, for a living (or as a hobby), ought to seek out Patchett’s Happy Marriage. Particularly her essay “the Getaway Car.” I read the whole book through once in order, and now I go back to it occasionally, rereading random chapters for inspiration. Especially when I’m having a tough time with something I’m writing.
I’d heard of Mankell’s Wallander books, but somehow they didn’t pop up on my radar until the BBC adaptation aired here in the states. Then I found a blog that somehow likened my work to Mankell’s books and I decided I ought to take the plunge. Halfway through reading Faceless Killers I went ahead and bought the next book in the series (the Dogs of Riga, which I’ll get to next week, I suppose). I don’t know that Mankell’s style and my own are actually similar, but I’m tickled by the comparison. I just wish I could read them in the original Swedish. I always wonder what I’m missing when a book’s been translated.
After re-shelving those (Patchett’s book stays in my office, Mankell’s novel belongs in our home library), I started both Writing in Restaurants by David Mamet, and Ripley’s Game by Patricia Highsmith.
I’m not enjoying Writing in Restaurants as much as I did Mamet’s Three Uses of the Knife or On Directing Film, but anything by Mamet is worth seeking out.
I’m slowly working my way through the five Ripley books (I have WW Norton’s beautifully designed box set sitting on the windowsill in my library) before moving on to the rest of Highsmith’s oeuvre. The prose is meaty and engaging, but Tom Ripley’s such a nasty protagonist that I have to take little breaks to cleanse my palate between each book in the series. Ripley’s Game is the toughest yet because I made the mistake of seeing the movie first. So there are no surprises here, but Highsmith’s word choices are a pleasure.
Friday afternoon the mailman delivered a guilty pleasure: the League of Regrettable Superheroes by Jon Morris and I couldn’t resist dipping into it a bit over the weekend. Each page is an encyclopedic entry that delves into the weirdest corners of American comic book history, so I don’t feel especially obligated to read it in order.
And, finally, there are the many metric tons of magazines that pile up around here. I managed to get through a New Yorker and an issue of the Believer this week before the recycling truck came by, so when I’m eventually buried alive under paper the pile might be a wee bit lighter than it might otherwise have been."
Alex's week in a nutshell
This is the Story of a Happy Marriage (2013)
Faceless Killers (1991)
Writing in Restaurants (1986)
Ripley's Game (1974)
League of Regrettable Superheroes (2015)
Lost and Gone Forever comes out May 17th 2016
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