Fiction, travel writing, poetry, philosophy.
Other people who think that there should be a statue of Cormac McCarthy in every town square, that Marilynne Robinson's sentences are so perfect they hurt just a little bit, that Thomas Pynchon is way overdue for a Nobel, that George Saunders' heart encompasses the world. And more widely: other writers and artists of all kinds, as well as the people who support them by editing, publishing, buying, reading, observing, and/or just generally liking their work. Good bloggers, too, this goes without saying, yes? A few of my favorites: Maud Newton , Tod Goldberg , Moorish Girl , Attention. Deficit. Disorder. , Bookslut , Gina Frangello , Sue Henderson , Pia Ehrhardt , Dong Resin’s Joint , TMFTML , Riley Dog , and Language Hat .
Hendrix, Dvorak, Bela Fleck and the Flecktones, Brad Mehldau, Satie, Monk, the Stones, Jeff Buckley, Segovia, Radiohead, Ben Folds, Verdi, Elliott Smith, Tom Waits, Leonard Cohen, Coltrane, Green Day, Broonzy, Abigail Washburn, Carmen McRae, They Might Be Giants, Chet Baker, Tori Amos, Bessie Smith.
Kings and Queens, Devil on the Doorstep, Reservoir Dogs, Kontroll, Shower, 2046, Dog Day Afternoon, Office Space, The Big Lebowski, Shaun of the Dead, Junebug, The Squid and the Whale, Blade Runner.
Arrested Development, Mr. Show, The Office (both versions), Rome, The Wire.
At least one each by Andric and Asturias and Abbey and Agee and Albanov, Borges and Barthelme and Bolaño and Berryman and Beckett and Bell (Madison Smartt) and Bishop (Elizabeth), Calvino and Cortázar and Cheever and Carver and Chekhov and Collins (Billy) and Canetti, Davis (Lydia) and DeLillo and Dostoevsky and Dixon and Durrell, Eggers and Earley and Eliot, Faulkner and Foer and Ford and Fitzgerald and Fuentes, Gass and Greene and Ginzburg (Carlo) and Graham (Jorie) and Gide and Giono and GarcÃa Márquez, Harte and Hemingway and Heaney and Hannah and Holub, Joyce and Johnson (Denis), Kierkegaard and Kesey (Ken) and Kafka, Lipsyte and Levi and Lutz and Lethem and Lu Xun, Markson and Milosz and Merwin and Millhauser and McPhee and Mann and Mandeville and McCarthy (Cormac), Neruda, O'Brien (Flann and Tim) and O'Connor (Frank and Flannery) and Oquendo de Amat, Percy (Walker) and Powell (Padgett) and Pavic and Prevert and Portis and Pynchon, Robinson (Marilynne) and Rilke and Rorty and Ribeyro and Richard (Mark), Salinger and Saunders and Suskind and Spinoza and Sebald and Stevens (Wallace), Thomas (Dylan and R.S.) and Tomasi di Lampedusa and Toole, Vonnegut Jr. and Vargas Llosa and Vallejo, Wittgenstein and West (Nathanael) and Woolf and Wallace (David Foster). Plus a bunch of others whose last names may or may not begin with the letters I, Q, U, X, Y or Z.
That kid standing in front of that tank. You know the one.