Cheever channels Kafka and Fitzgerald in his “Collected Stories and Other Writings”.
DIY MFA Reading List: “Middlemarch” by George Eliot
a Satire on the Current U.S. Economic and Political Debate
DIY MFA Reading List: “2666″ by Roberto Bolaño
Roberto Bolaño explores the intersections of art, power, and murder in his disturbing masterpiece “2666″.
DIY MFA Reading List: “Libra” by Don DeLillo
Don DeLillo gets to the heart of the Kennedy assassination plot – and the murderous American soul – in his psychological thriller “Libra”.
In The Deep End
“The shade held no allure for me – I was here for a belly full of booze and the insouciant regret of a peeling sunburn. I’d sleep it off tomorrow and be back in the rotation on Monday with a fresh take on Herb’s high-minded theories on risk versus reward.”
DIY MFA Reading List: “Gravity’s Rainbow” by Thomas Pynchon
Thomas Pynchon puts most other writers to shame with “Gravity’s Rainbow,” his surreal, mind-melting, madcap romp through post-war Europe.
DIY MFA Reading List: “Independence Day” by Richard Ford
A father enlists the Founding Fathers to try and teach his increasingly maladjusted teenage son the true meaning of “independence”, in Richard Ford’s lyrical sequel to “The Sportswriter”.
DIY MFA Reading List: “Slaughterhouse-Five” by Kurt Vonnegut
Listen up: Kurt Vonnegut speaks truth to power (and yes, he’s talking directly to YOU), in this melancholy meditation on the psychological costs of war and violence.
DIY MFA Reading List (Double Header): “The Elegance of the Hedgehog” and “Anna Karenina”
“Don’t Worry, Be Happy!” – Muriel Barbery channels Leo Tolstoy (and Bobby McFerrin) in this rich little literary treatise on time.
DIY MFA Reading List: “Jesus’ Son” by Denis Johnson
Denis Johnson’s starry-eyed protagonist fumbles towards ecstasy, in this lyrical collection of linked short stories about addiction, loss, and recovery.