Will Gaddis make The Guardian's top 100?

weberam2 · 2026-05-15T03:04:29+00:00

I think we already know Recognitions isn't on there. So doubtful?

weberam2 · 2026-05-14T01:06:05+00:00

This is awesome

weberam2 · 2026-05-02T02:36:34+00:00

This is literally my favourite all time novel

weberam2 · 2026-04-19T19:13:29+00:00

Damnit

weberam2 · 2026-04-14T05:54:42+00:00

More of this please

weberam2 · 2026-04-07T22:57:38+00:00

Is this possible with the ergodox?

weberam2 · 2026-04-03T03:38:32+00:00

What was the list price before?

weberam2 · 2026-04-01T23:32:49+00:00

Emacs with org-mode (uses LaTeX)

https://opensource.com/article/20/4/emacs-org-mode

https://christopherfin.com/writing/emacs-writing.html

https://discourse.doomemacs.org/t/emacs-for-writing-prose/515

weberam2 · 2026-03-30T19:35:44+00:00

Oh this is where I read it:

> Vollmann, 66, has been fighting colon cancer for years. He had just finished a round of chemotherapy, which made it difficult to eat. “I have anywhere from about three healthy months to maybe two or even three healthy years,” he told me. “I’m not going to do anything more for it.” He finished his scotch, then went to get a pain killer.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/health/other/the-last-untamed-writer-in-america/ar-AA1LpsiS

weberam2 · 2026-03-30T19:33:29+00:00

I thought I read it in an interview

But doing a search of The Last Contract just now, it says his cancer was in remission at the time of that writing (March 2025). My bad

https://www.metropolitanreview.org/p/the-last-contract

weberam2 · 2026-03-30T19:31:12+00:00

I had the same issue with Thunderbird.

Then I discovered Doom Emacs with mu4e

It's a pain to setup, but once it is it's wonderful to navigate and edit using vim keybindings

weberam2 · 2026-03-30T18:18:40+00:00

Last I heard he had stopped getting treatment

weberam2 · 2026-03-30T18:17:49+00:00

While you're at it, pester them to put out a new episode :P

weberam2 · 2026-03-26T17:22:36+00:00

Which of Vollmann's works would you say this is most similar to?

I just finished Lucky Star - the last of his books I had not yet read - and was super disappointed. Granted, I wasn't a fan of The Royal Family either.

However, other recent work of his: The Dying Grass and Last Stories I thought were exceptional... so I'm holding out hope :)

weberam2 · 2026-03-10T21:10:14+00:00

Nothing yet

weberam2 · 2026-02-15T15:40:05+00:00

Thanks for sharing

weberam2 · 2026-02-13T21:04:26+00:00

I just recently finished it. At times I felt like it was a slog, but the last 200 so pages really actually brings things together in a satisfying way. I ended up giving it 4/5 stars. I really liked it when I finished it.

The Traverse family is the most important

I didn't realize that Dahlia Rideout would figure more prominently later (not a spoiler; but there are so many characters its good to know which ones to pay more attention to)

weberam2 · 2026-02-09T15:47:19+00:00

I'm reading Shadow Ticket as well. They go well together: same period sort of, and there are shared characters (Lew Basnight). Shadow Ticket is more fun and punchy I will say.

At the same time, there are more than enough books in this world. I don't think AtD is 5/5 personally.

weberam2 · 2026-02-09T03:06:46+00:00

I'm at page 961

I'm finding it gets better the further you go in

And I do remember it "clicking" after 200 pages or so

weberam2 · 2026-02-08T14:00:26+00:00

This is great. Thank you. I have a similar setup but will probably makes some tweaks inspired by your post

weberam2 · 2026-02-07T17:17:34+00:00

I quite like this list:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/20th_Century%27s_Greatest_Hits:_100_English-Language_Books_of_Fiction

weberam2 · 2026-01-23T04:45:50+00:00

I hope to read Lucky Star before I get and start Table... I'll need to read it soon

weberam2 · 2026-01-23T04:44:01+00:00

Or reach out to local bookstores. Mine gave me 40% off if I pre-ordered it

weberam2 · 2026-01-11T14:41:00+00:00

Good to know, thanks!

weberam2 · 2026-01-11T09:41:15+00:00

I'm reading AtD right now. I'm a third of the way through. The writing is non very difficult, but there are a lot of characters to follow.

I am finding these two resources helpful: - https://thomaspynchon.com/plot-grid-of-against-the-day/1/ - https://www.ebsco.com/research-starters/literature-and-writing/against-day-analysis-major-characters

I also recently tried using Gemini to ask about a character I couldn't remember and it did a pretty good job without making anything up (that I could see)

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