Books

The Internet Phone Book has been talked about for a while now and it has finally come into being. For those of you who remember the White or Yellow Pages, TIP is like that but for web people: a physical volume listing the names of bloggers or web creators and their associated sites. I've ordered a copy and am curious to see my listing. Get yours at TheInternetPhonebook.net.

Jon Fosse is a Norwegian writer who seems to be having a bit of a day in the North American sun since winning the Nobel Prize a couple years back. He was already well-known outside of North America as he’s the most produced living playwright in Europe. So respected is he in his native land, the Norwegian government has granted him a lifetime stipend for his future output.

Fosse refers to himself as a writer of Mystical Realism (as opposed to Magical Realism). He’s probably most famous for, in many of his best-known works, a lack of full stops and the repetition of very simple language. Though Cormac McCarthy's use of punctuation was spare, it does not match Fosse's. For instance, there is not a single period to be found in Septology’s 700+ pages. It compares to no other writer I’m familiar with and if forced to create some sort of analogy, I’d probably go to the hypnotic music of Philip Glass. You think it’s the same thing being repeated ad naseum until you allow yourself to be escorted by it and begin to feel the subtle differences make contact with you. It is an eye-opening revelation when it hits you. David Milch once said of this realization, “Oh! This guy’s been fucking walking with me!,” though he was referring to Kierkegaard.

Let me illustrate the repetition with the opening of Boathouse, one of my favorite books by Fosse, written before he ditched the full stops:

I became aware of Fosse after reading Ruth Margalit’s review of Septology, with the most compelling bits being:

Fosse’s writing is bleak, impassive, mournful, circuitous, almost insistently inscrutable. It is also deeply spiritual — and not in the manner of Instagram-friendly New Age aphorisms. …

At times while reading the first two books of Septology, I walked around in a fugue-like state, wondering what it was that I was reading, exactly. A parable? A gospel? A novel bereft of the usual markings of plot, time, and character? The answer appeared to be all of the above, but although I usually balk at anything mystical, the effect was haunting and cumulative. …

Fosse’s interest[ed] in doubling: both the multitudes we each contain — all the roads not taken — and how we grow estranged from ourselves over time.

This doubling is all throughout his work — at least in everything I've read: Septology, Boathouse, Aliss at the Fire, Trilogy, Morning and Evening, A Shining. I'm not talking about doppelgängers, but repeated names and characteristics existing both simultaneously and throughout time, many of the stories becoming ouroboroses of theme and language.

Again, my mind goes to David Milch, as it often does, as he is a firm believer in the connectedness of all things. Sort of a panpsychism but not that individual everythings have conscience, but that there is one conscience of which we're all part. I'm not religious but suspect such a belief disagrees with Fosse's Catholicism — though I'm happy to believe that both men are correct and that there is no conflict. (Mickey Newbury once asked:* "Did God make time to keep it all from happening at once?" and James Lee Burke has repeatedly said we're all "in a dream in the mind of God.")

Of course, I am reading Fosse in translation, mostly by Damien Searls — a man who learned Nynorsk (the language Fosse writes in) specifically to read Fosse. Some of the Fosse I’ve finished I haven’t read myself, but have had it read to me. The master narrator of his work is actor Kåre Conradi. Here he is reading the same Boathouse excerpt as above:

Conradi reads Boathouse by Jon Fosse

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Try that for four and a half hours — or 28 in the case of the seven volumes that make up Septology! Fosse, especially as read by Conradi, has a way of burrowing into your conscience until, yes, he is walking with you.

*Here’s Bonnie Prince Billy covering that Newbury track:

Next month, top-notch film streamer Mubi will start publishing books under the imprint MubiEditions.

They're taking pre-orders for their first title, READ FRAME TYPE FILM, but obviously this isn't an endorsement as I haven't seen it yet.

Bound to sell out, like all issues of Notebook, a magazine they've been publishing for years now. Each issue is gorgeous and filled with great content.

I've mentioned Craig Mod and his books and walking before and over the last couple days have been enjoying his two lengthy conversations with Tim Ferris. Craig is an American who’s been living in Japan for ages, writing and publishing — creating his own books to his own high standards, and living a life dedicated to his art.

When he goes on his lengthy walks (1000s of kilometres so far), he walks for 8 hours a day, stopping to talk to locals, have lunch, take photos, and understand where he is and where he’s going, and then he writes 4 hours per day. He’ll do this every day for his weeks- / month-long journeys. He does this by paring down his device use with Freedom and understanding Sister Corita’s 7th rule: The only rule is work. (I’m putting words in his mouth here.)

You can find the podcast in the usual places by searching for the Tim Ferris Show and then looking for Craig Mod, or you can stream them via YouTube:

Part One

Part Two

Apple is offering a free download of Dr. Ricken Lazlo Hale's The You You Are in ebook or audiobook form (read by the actor).

For the confused among you, this is a fictional copy of a non-fiction book featured in the fictional Apple TV+ show, Severance.

In addition, the newly release Season 2 has an extraordinary new opening credits:

The sequence was created by Oliver Latta (A/K/A Extraweg), who has been making fantastic work for years:

Drawn and Quarterly has published a collection Edward Steed's delightful comic panels.

In November, I received copies of two books by writer and walker Craig Mod. I've been a fan of his for many years, but these are the first of his books I've purchased. Shipping from Japan to Canada, on top of the cost of the books, was what had always stopped me in the past, but I do my best to support artists directly when I can so decided now was the time.

If you're not familiar with Mod, he's mostly known for his work in the book world. He also has a wonderful podcast on bookmaking called On Margins, though he might have killed that as it's been a long time since he's put out an episode. It's well worth listening to if you're into creating things.

Since Craig is a walker and a writer, these books are about walking.

Craig describes Kissa by Kissa as "a book about walking 1,000+km of the countryside of Japan along the ancient Nakasendō highway, the culture of pizza toast (pizza toast!), and mid-twentieth century Japanese cafés called kissaten."

Craig's books are gorgeous. Cloth-bound with debossed covers. The paper is lovely to touch and the photos and essays are wonderful:

Things Become Other Things is Craig's latest book. He describes it as "a 30 day walk in Japan. A memoir. Fishermen, foul-mouthed kids, and terrible miserable wonderful coffee."

You can purchase the fifth edition of Kissa by Kissa here. The first edition of TBOT is here. Both titles are cheaper for members of Craig's Special Projects. Those memberships are how Craig makes his living.

If you'd like a better overview of Craig's work, you can find it here.

Anecdote Alert

These books are the kinds of things I used to bring in for customers of my shop, Volver — beautiful items that I personally own and can recommend — before I stopped carrying non-records. This was an effort to spread awareness and get better prices for my customers by eliminating the cost of shipping.

I did this most successfully, book-wise, with Wendy Erskine's Dance Move, a brilliant collection of short stories which still hasn't been published in Canada. I can't recall how many copies I brought in (20 or so), but they all sold out and still no other shop in the city took it upon themselves to import copies.

I have no idea if Craig would be into this (offering me bulk, wholesale pricing), but I'd consider approaching him if enough Bell Ringers wanted me to try.

Literary Hub re-ups their annual Ultimate Best Books List, where they read all the other annual lists and compile them.

As a bonus, here's Moss & Fog's Very Best Books About Architecture.

The Ultimate Best Books of 2024 List

The end of the year is approaching, the universe is expanding, and the internet is updating—right now, it is mostly updating its Best Of lists. Therefore, per Literary Hub tradition, I now present …

Literary HubEmily Temple

NPR's Books We Love offers up 12 years and counting of their favorite books. Some great filters as well. For example:

• Eye-opening reads from 2022
• Seriously Great Writing from 2013
• Tales From Around the World from 2017.
• Etc.

Terrific resource, very well presented.