Reading in 2007 - Tenuous Intent

Written by:Ben Granger.

Tis the season now for general bilious apathy, and in that rancid spirit I hereby decree some unremittedly half-arsed semi-intentions for my reading year.

1. Read at three or four of the authors I’ve been meaning-to-read-for-years-but-haven’t-got-round-to-yet. Candidates for this include Saul Bellow (probly Herzog), Luis Borges, Kafka (probly The Trial), Hunter S. Thompson (I know, I know, the heresy of not having done etc. etc.) Jack Kerouac, Wyndham Lewis (probly Tarr due to Splinters readers’ kind suggestions to myself) Hermane Hesse, Emile Zola, Milan Kundera, Jaroslev Hasek, Gogol, Virginia Woolf, Daniel Defoe, William Gibson, and/or Arthur Machen.

2. Read at least a couple novels from authors I’ve really liked but have still only read one book by. Prime candidates are Vladimir Nabokov (which I still never got round to), Robert McLiam Wilson (if he gets his act together and releases his new facking book out this year, Extremists still not here), James Joyce, and/or Kurt Vonnegut.

3. Another one by either/and/or Dostoyevsky, Genet or Burroughs to extend my adoration.

4. A new one of either Ballard Or Welsh.

5.One of either Hardy or Dickens, both of whom I’ve loved in the past but haven’t read for years.

6. One decent long work of history, a genre which I’ve neglected for years (degree put me off probly.)

7. Mark E. Smith’s autobiography! Can it really be true?!

8.Two new-out-this-year novels AND REVIEW THEM PROPERLY for the great Spike. Ideally, one that I like, and one I don’t like so much.

Will I complete these Herculean labours? And in keeping with the general jadedness of this post and my current state of mind, do I really care? And given that, why should you?

Still, passes the time dunnit?

Posted on January 12th, 2007.

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