Anyone read / reading Paul Auster Travels in Scriptorium

[gingerninja]

I have questions. Not sure I can put them into a sentance but I have questions. Anyone read it?

Not read or reading, but will read.

I came across some Paul Auster in Granta. Can you recommend any particular books of his?

Well, I've only read this one, the New York Trilogies and Oracle Nights. I really love his work but I suspect it's a bit sophisticated for me really. There are so many sub plots going on that I don't get especially in this new one, hence the thread. However, I've thoroughly enjoyed them and would recommend them to anyone wanting a bit of a challenge.

Oh I have given up on Paul Auster
Used to love him but he can't get off his theme and it's depressing after a while

Yeah, I know what you mean. I imagine in another couple of books I might feel the same. I'm still finding it all a bit of a novelty at the moment because it's so different to the sort of thing I'd normally read.

HMMM something new. I have not heard about this book..or writer....but it sounds intrigueing. Some more info pls?

I've read it. Might similarly be at a loss to say what I thought though! What are the questions?

(And I'm new. Hello!)

Firefly, I don't think it's a good Auster book to start with. Personally I loved the New York Trilogies. In my (totally unsophisticated) opinion his work generally feels like a mystery but without the mystery, a 'who done it' but without a crime and a thriller but without a plot. It's odd, indescribable but intriguing.

Lulu, (welcome to MN) Well, not really sure where / how to start. I've since found out that there are many references to his other works in the book that I just didn't pick up on, ie character names. I get the impression that Auster is playing with the reader, getting them in a right old muddle and enjoying the confusion. I was quite confused about Mr Blank in this one. At the begining you're told he remembers nothing about why he's there or his past, yet there are occasions where he either recounts people or situations and no reference is made to this being an achievement. I don't know, I think my main question is WTF, not sure I get any of it. LOL What did you think?

This sounds like stuff by Ian M Banks / Ian Banks (same guy different style books) If you have ever read Bridge or Look to windward.....

Wiil try the New York Trilogies.

I've read the Crow Road but ages ago so can't remember it well. I think the Graeme Greene stuff I've read has similarities too. (which is ltd to about 3 books I may add) Hope you enjoy it

I think Paul Auster is more like Italo Calvino than Ian/Iain M Banks. Auster is playing games with the reader, being deliberately obtuse or inconsistent at times. Perhaps even in the tradition of Lawrence Sterne (Tristram Shandy).

I'd agree with you gingerninja. It drove me mad, and I like Paul Auster. I could see what he was trying to get at (an idea, I suppose, of the artist creating himself in his work; and in the other novels of his I've read, issues of identity and self-actualisation are important) but it just irrated me immensely and I felt that the end was one of those 'it was all a dream' cop-outs, of sorts. I felt really disappointed with it.

I haven't read much Calvino, ClerkKent, but I'd agree with you.

Ginger, do you like Don Delillo? I find there are lots of similarities between the two.

I also found Scriptorium a bit annoying, and I also like Paul Auster. I also loved the Book of Illusions.
One writer that I find extremely impressive is Percival Everett. Try Erasure, it is his most famous book here. It is one of the best things I've ever read.

I asked DW if we had any Auster, and she reminded me that I read Oracle Nights a couple of years ago. I also found Leviathan on the shelves - I must have read it, but it can't have made much of an impression.