I had a similar experience last year. I knew about the three month buffer before flying though, so I was just trying to get my passport two weeks before leaving.

For ME, the collections “Pastoralia” and “In Persuasion Nation” are the two standouts. In particular, the story “Pastorialia” and the story “Jon” (from Persuasion Nation) are my two favorite short stories of his. “Victory Lap” is definitely in my top ten though.

“Red Bow” (from Persuasion Nation) and “Exhortation”…

I more or less agree with you. I’m a giant Saunders fan, and I’d put Bardo only at about fourth or fifth in his pantheon. My favorite collections of his are Pastoralia and In Persuasion Nation, and my favorite two stories are Pastoralia and Jon (the latter found in the Persuasion Nation collection).

I’m writing this…

Josh Modell: you wrote

“Big chunks of the book are from historical source material—some
real, some made up”

Saunders has said in interviews that all the “historical source material” is real. Early reviewers seemed to assume that some were fake and some were real, and everyone repeats that now like it’s fact.

Agreed, 100%.

I partially agree with your fourth rule:

The fact that Adam Horovitz announced publicly that he stood with the women accusing his father SO quickly after the allegations were made makes me think he and his Dad have some father/son issues they need to work out.

1) Magnolia
2) The Master
3) Boogie Nights
4) Punch Drunk Love
5) Inherent Vice
6) Hard Eight
7) There Will Be Blood

Three notes:

1) I’m predisposed to like PTA because I grew up in the San Fernando Valley, like he did (and where Magnolia, BN, and PDL were set).

2) Magnolia was named, in part, after Magnolia Ave. I grew up a…

1) Magnolia
2) The Master
3) Boogie Nights
4) Punch Drunk Love
5) Inherent Vice
6) Hard Eight
7) There Will Be Blood

Three notes:

1) I’m predisposed to like PTA because I grew up in the San Fernando Valley, like he did (and where Magnolia, BN, and PDL were set).

2) Magnolia was named, in part, after Magnolia Ave. I grew up a…

I’m white. Are pesto (paragraph four) and avocados (final paragraph) white things? If so, why don’t black people eat pesto or avocados? Just curious.

Well, they didn’t ban me, but they *did* remove my post, and gave me a strong warning about community standards.

I just posted “Men are Scum” on Facebook, along with a comment to my friends with a link to this article and an explanation about why I posted it. I also asked my friends to please flag my post.

I’ll report back on the results.

Not sure the current sexual-political climate is going to hit Armisen. As I understand it, he’s a garden-variety womanizer. And somehow that seems to still be ok.

That was hideous, verging on sick. And went well past the show’s well-established internal logic. It’s totally unbelievable that Carol and Erica would be trying to set up a ten-ish year old boy with discipline issues with their baby daughters without realizing that they’re encouraging him to start sexual relationships…

NO AIMEE MANN ?!? I reject this list.

Thanks, Lucille. I'll keep that in mind on my next reading, which will probably be in a fairly soon. I wind up re-reading Saunders' entire body of work about once a year.

I've read Bardo three times now (one of them listening to the audiobook) and that's the one thing I can't figure out. Everyone else's fates seemed fairly clear, but not the Reverend's. Too bad.

More or less agree with you about Lincoln/Bardo, though I liked it maybe a bit more than you did. But Saunders is my favorite writer, bar none, so yes, I was predisposed to like it.

The cover isn't visible anymore at the original address, but I found it here: http://www.motherjones.com/…

>… including the National Enquirer, which is perhaps most famous for bringing Bat Boy into the world.