(If you haven’t read them already) you might be interested in some of the Dino Buzzati books from NYRB Classics. The most recent is a collection of stories that reminded me a lot of Morel, but which I enjoyed a little more. A similar “literary Twilight Zone” feeling.
Oh yes I read The Tartar Steppe a few years ago (titled The Stronghold by NYRB I think?) and I really liked that actually, thank you for reminding me to seek out more! Definitely of a similar ilk.
As much as I love Stoner and know that it's a quintessential Quiet book, I do think Butcher's Crossing impact stands out a bit more. So cinematic, so different from Stoner in really interesting ways.
Consider me influenced by your review of Butchers Crossing! I haven't read any Williams before, always intended to read Stoner but it hasn't happened yet, but maybe I will start with BC!
I read Invention of Morel last summer and equally felt very trapped in how to review it without spoiling it! It was so bizarre - but I enjoyed the weirdness. I wish I had someone to talk about it with at the time, finishing it with no one around who had experienced it was jarring, so I think in that sense, this was a really good book club pick! The ending is something I googled *a lot* because I wasn't quite sure if I was grasping the bigger messaging? But I think it was a v fun attempt at discussing our relationship to reality, and frankly spooky that Casares wrote a book about the immortality of images and technology so many decades before it became so common place.
I also compared Morel to Piranesi so I love that you did a back to back read!
What a wonderful reading month! Just added Morel to my TBR list. Always enjoy finding others who like Williams. Butchers Crossing was a great book for me too. I think my favorite is his last one, Augustus. Fairly unflashy writing but so well done an, and like Butchers Crossing, an education in its own self. Augusta is historically more or less accurate, with some of course filling in the unknowns.
I never studied the classics but read them later in life. I was surprised how incredible they are (duh!). Hope some time you can check out the Iliad and the Aeneid—I bet you’ll enjoy them too. I am a bit of an anti-academic in terms of what has happened with lit and writing but am very glad I did not let that keep me from appreciating the classics on my own terms.
I really liked Augustus too! But I do love the way Williams approaches American life which I think I missed a bit in this last, though it is still undoubtedly a highly accomplished work.
I definitely would like to get to the Iliad and the Aeneid sooner rather than later!
(If you haven’t read them already) you might be interested in some of the Dino Buzzati books from NYRB Classics. The most recent is a collection of stories that reminded me a lot of Morel, but which I enjoyed a little more. A similar “literary Twilight Zone” feeling.
Oh yes I read The Tartar Steppe a few years ago (titled The Stronghold by NYRB I think?) and I really liked that actually, thank you for reminding me to seek out more! Definitely of a similar ilk.
As much as I love Stoner and know that it's a quintessential Quiet book, I do think Butcher's Crossing impact stands out a bit more. So cinematic, so different from Stoner in really interesting ways.
Consider me influenced by your review of Butchers Crossing! I haven't read any Williams before, always intended to read Stoner but it hasn't happened yet, but maybe I will start with BC!
I read Invention of Morel last summer and equally felt very trapped in how to review it without spoiling it! It was so bizarre - but I enjoyed the weirdness. I wish I had someone to talk about it with at the time, finishing it with no one around who had experienced it was jarring, so I think in that sense, this was a really good book club pick! The ending is something I googled *a lot* because I wasn't quite sure if I was grasping the bigger messaging? But I think it was a v fun attempt at discussing our relationship to reality, and frankly spooky that Casares wrote a book about the immortality of images and technology so many decades before it became so common place.
I also compared Morel to Piranesi so I love that you did a back to back read!
What a wonderful reading month! Just added Morel to my TBR list. Always enjoy finding others who like Williams. Butchers Crossing was a great book for me too. I think my favorite is his last one, Augustus. Fairly unflashy writing but so well done an, and like Butchers Crossing, an education in its own self. Augusta is historically more or less accurate, with some of course filling in the unknowns.
I never studied the classics but read them later in life. I was surprised how incredible they are (duh!). Hope some time you can check out the Iliad and the Aeneid—I bet you’ll enjoy them too. I am a bit of an anti-academic in terms of what has happened with lit and writing but am very glad I did not let that keep me from appreciating the classics on my own terms.
I really liked Augustus too! But I do love the way Williams approaches American life which I think I missed a bit in this last, though it is still undoubtedly a highly accomplished work.
I definitely would like to get to the Iliad and the Aeneid sooner rather than later!
Thanks for this! And for another reminder that I am long overdue to read Piranesi!
Oh I would very much look forward to your review!