i can't really sing, so

David Markson New York Times obituary: here . --I've been waiting for this one. It's simple and earned and honest. James Yeh, a tribute on & to the late great writer: here . --in an unpretentious imitation of Markson's style, Yeh resurrects the spirit of his life and work in a small but concise piece on the author. A.D. Jameson on Markson: here . --this I found thru Yeh's piece, and I found it sly and even funny. Markson reading at Strand books: here . --where he was more comfortable browsing than speaking, but still told a good story even behind a microphone. What are the two best novels you've never heard of? find out here . --and then go read them. Crime fiction blogger weighs in on Markson with an emphasis on his earlier work: here . -- there is a list, too, at the bottom of her post of many things Markson related. If you don't find enough here, I recommend it. Scott Bryan Wilson calls Markson "a completely unfuckwithable writer": here . If you...

June 5, 2010 :: elegy in essay form I found out this morning via Jim Behrle's facebook and then his twitter that David Markson has passed away. "David Markson has died." Behrle doesn't blither. Quick search on the web, and I've got nothing, but this makes sense to me. Markson, a giant of postmodernism-- if you're true to the word-- maintained closer friendships than he courted publicity. His life and work are intertwined, and his memory will live on in those he touched as well as in his works of art. Perhaps I find my method of discovery at his passing ironic considering Markson himself would have never found out about anything the way I did. He would tell me, visiting the poetry and literary non-fiction stacks of Strand Bookstore, how he still used a typewriter to write, wrote things down on notecards when planning his novels, only took calls on his landline and didn't feel he had any need for a cell phone or computer. It wasn't that he was against te...

My summer has been fast and busy. I didn't get much reading done in June due to my two week trip to Egypt, so I decided to combine June and July. books read: June & July The Pyramids: Great Mysteries of Archeology by M.R. Luberto Lots of pictures and short paragraphs and information from all over the historical, religious and archeological perspectives and opinions about the facts and fictions and mysteries of the only one of the Seven Wonders of the World left standing. The Romantic Dogs by Roberto Bolaño Good as a companion piece to his other books, but perhaps they all work together like that anyway. Bolaño believed more in the genre of poetry than in the genre of fiction, yet his fiction leaves a longer impression than his poetry. Pinocchio by Carlo Collodi The original before Disney got their hands on it version of the little wooden puppet. The original Pinocchio is a little brat who by the end deserves to be a real boy, but much like St. Au...