A Quotation from Bolano

August 20th, 2009

I know, I know, I have already posted once today, and at length, but I promise that this will be short.  I began reading Roberto Bolano’s The Savage Detectives this afternoon, and came across a phrase that encapsulates my understanding of the world so simply and so truly that I felt compelled to share it.  “Every book in the world,” Bolano says, “is out there waiting to be read by me.”  I can hardly think of a more beautiful sentence.

Posted in Literature, Reading | 5 Comments »

5 Responses to “A Quotation from Bolano”

  1. d Says:
    August 20th, 2009 at 7:46 pm

    Yes! I’m glad you finally got on the Bolano bandwagon.

  2. jeremylukehill Says:
    August 21st, 2009 at 8:58 am

    d,

    I have not read very far yet, but I am enjoying him very much. His style reminds me very much of Chaucer, for reasons that will need a whole post to explain.

  3. d Says:
    August 21st, 2009 at 12:39 pm

    The comparison in my mind right now is between Pynchon’s ‘V.’ and Bolano’s ‘The Savage Detectives’.

    A friend and I are reading ‘2666′ together in October, which will be an exciting, dark journey.

  4. jeremylukehill Says:
    August 21st, 2009 at 12:42 pm

    d,

    I picked up 2666 at the same time as Savage Detective. I will probably read it at camp next week, but I will hold any reviews until you have finished it as well.

  5. From Word To Word » Blog Archive » Roberto Bolano on Coincidence Says:
    March 18th, 2010 at 1:14 am

    [...] who would remain with me.  I wanted to write something about 2666 immediately, but I had made  a promise to a reader that I would wait until he had finished it, and this served as a convenient excuse to avoid the reality that I had no ready way to articulate [...]

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