160 pages left to go in It. This is taking forever.

I've always thought that Stephen King writes a great story, but his endings are generally shithouse. Report back once you are done - I'd appreciate your thoughts.

This is fascinating: http://www.theatlantic.com/technology/a ... picks=true

Will do.

I've never really had the same issues with his endings that most others seem to have. Though, I do admit that the destinations are rarely as good as the journey.

Jesus' Son, Denis Johnson.

Interesting read for sure. This may not be the debate the writer wants to inspire with that piece, but I really think a place like The Atlantic should be paying all of its writers. If they're not, they should probably think about scaling back the website. I could be mistaken, but I think I read more than half of what the New Yorker puts up every day, because its a manageable amount. The quality is high on every piece. Not every website needs to cover every topic, not every website needs to be a one-stop shop for everything. Scale back and you don't need to dig through shitty freelancers that you can't pay. His argument is more applicable for something like the Huffington Post, that does need to strive to be comprehensive, or some start-up blog, that doesn't have any money or any readership.

Agreed. The author of that piece touches on the fact that there's no escaping the quantity vs. quality trade-off. And the The Atlantic website has been surely focusing on quantity over quality. The same thing has been happening at Slate for a while now.

Overall, I liked the book. It's overlong. You could easily cut 300-400 pages out of the book without missing anything. The end was good. Didn't have any real issues with the ending. There is one event that is really strange and perhaps forced. But overall, it feels like a good ending for the story. The epilogue is gorgeous.

I'm working on the first portion of my PhD comprehensive exams this week, so I'll be re-reading enormous chunks of the authors I'll be writing about. David Foster Wallace, William T. Vollmann, Michael Martone, Jeffrey Eugenides, and David Markson all look like they'll be featured prominently...I'll keep everybody updated!

I've only read Middlesex. But I'm guessing you'd recommend digging through more of his stuff?

I've only read Middlesex! So, not surprisingly, that's what I'm writing about (mostly, probably, how it engages history, both personal and communal). I'd really like to read "The Marriage Plot," for all the shit it's stirred up. Maybe this summer!

Same. Except I'm not writing a paper.

Go write a paper on it! Who's stopping you?

I finished Slaughterhouse Five last night. very good for those that don't know it.

Catch-22 is next.

I'm on a bit of a war fix.

Fantastic book. If you want something longer from the same author, try Tree of Smoke as well.

I'm reading Austerlitz-W.G. Sebald.

This was great, definitely worth taking a look at.


and I bought this one yesterday for four bucks. I hope to get to it soon.

I miss reading, guys.

Me too.

What happened?