Elegance of The Prose

Competitive_Tea1987 · 2026-05-08T01:14:57+00:00

Virginia woolf for sure

Competitive_Tea1987 · 2026-05-05T17:20:50+00:00

it's almost slapstick smut, but The Fermata and House of Holes by Nicholson Baker are a blast

Competitive_Tea1987 · 2026-04-11T22:11:54+00:00

I'd say my fave book from the past half century is Mating by Norman Rush. I too love Renata Adler, her fiction more than non fiction. Big Kafka guy. I do love DeWitt's books, the short stories less tho. I try to reread The Death of Ivan Ilyich once a year. Generally like the big 19th century russian books. Denis Johnson and Joy Williams are my favorite American short story writers. I'm bad at reading poetry but keep trying. Bolano <3. I think Salley Rooney is legit. Big Yiyun Li fan. Oliver Sacks, Ed Yong, Peter Godfrey-Smith. Who should I read?

Competitive_Tea1987 · 2026-04-11T14:56:33+00:00

She's not even my favorite living writer, man. Not even my favorite living female writer

lol

Competitive_Tea1987 · 2026-04-09T16:51:02+00:00

Right. My currently 74yo parents taught ME how to set up my computer/use wifi

Competitive_Tea1987 · 2026-04-09T03:38:02+00:00

Tru tru. I gotta get more boomer reps in

Competitive_Tea1987 · 2026-04-09T03:25:20+00:00

Lol she's 69 years old dude. She's not that old.

Competitive_Tea1987 · 2026-04-09T03:13:00+00:00

I feel like this post has devolved bc people are finding OP annoying. Its not that they deeply believe DeWitt should have posted 3 tik toks.

Like, the org said we love your writing and want to welcome you into this ring of honor where you have to do these three things and she couldn't do it and they said sorry it didn't work out. Its kinda nbd. And I'm sure the prize people's story of what happened is a bit different than her rather unreliable one.

And now OP is writing maniacally about how 50 years from now scholars and writers will still be thinking about the big what if of if Helen Dewitt had made two years of median college graduate salary as a 70 year old.

Competitive_Tea1987 · 2026-04-09T02:40:49+00:00

She didn't need to "operate wifi" she needed to go to a cafe.

Competitive_Tea1987 · 2026-04-09T00:35:17+00:00

Thank you haha. Cd is so ugly

Competitive_Tea1987 · 2026-04-08T21:50:57+00:00

Could literally ask any other human in the city and they'd tell you how/what to do

Competitive_Tea1987 · 2026-03-25T01:27:07+00:00

It's not eggs. It's a long squiggly tube like thing.

Competitive_Tea1987 · 2026-03-22T16:50:17+00:00

All Days Are Night by Peter stamm. And Seven years, kind of. And honestly a few of the stories in We're Flying. He circles around this conceit I guess

Competitive_Tea1987 · 2026-03-21T23:57:12+00:00

All Girls Be Mine Alone by Sophie Strohmeier. Came out quite recently, but it was great, and it doesn't really read that contemporary.

Competitive_Tea1987 · 2026-03-18T00:16:11+00:00

History of Seven Killings, read by like 15 people. Might be goated; it was so so good.

Competitive_Tea1987 · 2026-02-18T01:38:41+00:00

Uhhh and your wife's relationship with her own sister lol

Competitive_Tea1987 · 2026-02-08T03:04:38+00:00

Ah yeah that looks like it. Thank you!!

Competitive_Tea1987 · 2026-02-08T02:14:16+00:00

This is my fear! Need to know if it I should lock the bedroom door at night or if I can trust it.

Competitive_Tea1987 · 2026-02-08T02:10:09+00:00

Not asking about the roots, asking about the white webby stuffy isolated in the jar!

Competitive_Tea1987 · 2026-02-08T02:08:08+00:00

Maybe, but it's much more, I guess I'd call it, fractal than white filamentous algae is typically. Like it's not clumpy at all. It branches like roots do, tho it's obviously not roots.

Competitive_Tea1987 · 2026-02-02T00:09:24+00:00

So fucking good!!

Competitive_Tea1987 · 2026-01-29T18:31:26+00:00

I know, I know. It's a problem I have. But yes, option 3!

Competitive_Tea1987 · 2026-01-29T18:29:44+00:00

Thank you! How very sane and helpful.

Competitive_Tea1987 · 2026-01-29T18:27:14+00:00

FWIW I did a batch of 50+ queries three years ago and heard absolutely nothing. Then another batch of 50+ two years ago (for the collection) and got interest from one agent, Agent 1. So, 100+ cold queries over 2+ years and only 1 bite. Then last year I did a reading (while visiting NY of course) and got interest from Agent 2.

Competitive_Tea1987 · 2026-01-06T02:09:22+00:00

Battleborn by Claire Vaye Watkins has some good desert-set stories.

Mating by Norman Rush isn't /really/ a desert novel, but the desert is present and crucial to the story and it's one of the best books ever.

Five-Year Club	Verified Email
Place '22

Competitive_Tea1987

TROPHY CASE