-Last week, Nerve‘s The Hype Line claimed Doug Dorst’s The Surf Guru as one of the five things it couldn’t look away from. Writes Ray Rahman: “When you pick up a book written by a guy who knows that a ‘chigoe’ is a sand-dwelling variety of a flea (Jeopardy! Episode #4985, for $400), you’re pretty much guaranteed some great, left-of-center storytelling.” Suite 1o1 reviewer Alex Sharp senses that “Dorst seems to channel a sense of doom…the Surf Guru is creepy and fun.” And Karla Starr from The Oregonian admires Dorst’s adaptibility, the way “his chameleonic style consistently nails the right voice for each story.” Steve Bennet interviews Dorst for his Express-News interview, calling his new novel “very Zen, with a simple serenity that feels almost like haiku.”
-Want to know what Dorst is thinking about right now? This playlist may lead you somewhere close. It was compiled by Dorst for the blog Largehearted Boy, and features the songs that Dorst considers the soudtracks for the stories in the collection.
-Books and Authors recommends John Brandon’s Citrus County for those who admire “the stark, gritty writing of modern authors like Denis Johnson and Mary Robison.” Geoff Schumacher of Las Vegas Review of Books puts Citrus County at the top of his “What we’re reading right now list.” Though “incredible so far,” remarks Schmacher, “it’s hard to explain exactly why.” You’ll also want to see Kevin Thomas’s review of Citrus County here on this site. It’s in comic form, by the way (no big deal).
-Last week we told you all about Tao Lin’s contest, whereby anyone can compete for cash prizes by following Lin’s careful instructions. We’ve noticed some interesting submissions, including Pettquarrel blogger’s conversation with herself, neonada’s preemptive review of Lin’s forthcoming Richard Yates, and Sara Wilcox’s filmed conversation between uninformed parties. Particularly inspired? Still not too late to join the contest.
-Speaking of Lin, he gives “An Account of Being Arrested for ‘trespassing’ NYU’s bookstore” on Gawker, the blog that once called him “maybe the most single irritating person we’ve ever had to deal with.”
And that’s a wrap. Stay tuned for more Book Club news updates, every Friday on The Rumpus.
