6 thoughts on “Boldly Go!”

1. louisb May 12, 2005 at 1:32 pm

   When you say “the obvious one” I assume you’re referring to Fortress, but you could just as well be talking about Motherless Brooklyn too. His book of essays was an excellent companion-piece to his work, and Gun, With Occasional Music qualifies I think as a kind of modern masterpiece. I definitely recommend more JL.

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2. dave worsley May 12, 2005 at 7:07 pm

   I’m an unabashed fan, but Lethem fans perhaps lean toward the genre-influenced early stuff or Motherless Brooklyn onward. I’m the latter, but his early stuff is still solid.
   I’ll second the above, enthusiastically

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3. patricia May 12, 2005 at 9:30 pm

   I’m curious as to which ‘obvious one’ you mean. I highly recommend Motherless Brooklyn if you haven’t already read it. Fortress was interesting, but in the end, a big disappointment, I think. I’m in the middle of Disappointment Artist and could go either way at this point. But his collection of stories from Men and Cartoons was overall very enjoyable, especially ‘Super Goat Man’.

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4. louisb May 13, 2005 at 5:20 am

   I went and got a copy of Edward Dahlberg’s 1964 autobiography When I Was Flesh after reading JL’s The Disappointment Artist, where he not only touts the book to high heaven, but identifies Dahlberg as the artist of his title, and I found it as spectular as anything I’ve read this year, really an amazing book.

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5. bookdwarf May 13, 2005 at 1:03 pm

   When I said the ‘obvious’ one, I meant Motherless Brooklyn, but I can imagine that wasn’t clear. I’ve heard mixed reviews about Fortress of Solitude. The Disappointment Artist sounds good though. Which Lethem should I read?

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6. louisb May 13, 2005 at 1:43 pm

   In The Disappointment Artist JL says he’s moved on from Fortress and its milieu, but I think it’s nearly impossible to appreciate his work without reading it, arguably his best book and one I love.

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