back(?) for Roberto Bolaño's 2666

hello. how've you been? thought i'd drop by to invite you to this:

http://groups.google.com/group/bolano-l/web/2666-group-read-schedule-final

Roberto Bolaño is so amazingly good he makes me want to hang up my pen (metaphorically speaking, of course, i rarely write with a pen these days, but anyway Pam is much too useful for other things for me to 'hang her up' just like that, metaphorically or otherwise), like, he makes me think, 'he's done just about anything and everything good that i could (and quite a few things that i couldn't) imagine could be done with fiction, why bother when what you do will now more certainly then ever only be relegated to the "Sturgeon's 90%" bin,' which isn't, by itself, necessarily enough to make me choke on my own literary inadequacies, if it weren't for that he also makes it seem absolutely effortless.

anyway: this year, his second (and last) novel, 2666, has: been translated into English by Natasha Wimmer (who did an amazing job with The Savage Detectives, not that i've read the original Spanish, or that i can read Spanish at all, but still, if you've seen the book, if you've read it, you'll know what i mean); been published by Farrar, Straus & Giroux in two lovely editions (hardcover and three-volume [paperback] boxed set); made a number of 'top books' lists, and been called Best Book of 2008 by Time Magazine, if that sort of thing means anything to you. i signed up to lead a discussion for the free copies but found copies already available at Kinokuniya just hours after, so although the free copies haven't arrived (one of which--we were promised two--i've had sent to Paul), i finished reading the Part About the Critics today and am settling into the Part About Amalfitano, meaning that i should be done with my pages by the time February comes round. hurrah! ...and, well, to be honest: ulp.

if you don't already have a copy, go out and find yourself one. steal a copy if you have to, i don't know if Bolaño would approve, i'm sure his heirs and publishers wouldn't, and this was written for their sakes after all, but he used to steal books, so, if your circumstances prevent acquiring a copy any other way, why not?, only i'm kidding, sort of, but anyway just get yourself a copy.

if you already have one, start reading, and i hope to see you at the reading group.

meanwhile, i'm going off on vacation. i'd meant to get in shape for the discussions by posting my thoughts on the book as i read it, but, bugrit, i'm going on vacation.

so, after all this time, it's good to see you, but i'm afraid this is hi and goodbye, just like that, though i hope to see you in Jan 09.

oh, and Happy Holidays!