Amazon Purchases

Seems like it would be fun and perhaps a bit revealing to check in every so often and see what readers are buying through the Amazon links on this site. So here’s the first in what will be an occasional look at what you bought through my links.

I went back to April 1 to compile this list–6 months.

• By far, the most popular purchase was The Invention of Morel by Adolfo BIoy Casares. These purchases were quite obviously in direct correlation to this post, in which I exhorted everyone to read Morel after writing a short piece on the book for Boldtype. Those of you who took on Morel after my recommendation should read my essay on Bioy for more on this work and others by him.

• After Morel, the second-favorite purchase was B.S. Johnson’s famous novel-in-a-box, The Unfortunates. Since I’ve mentioned The Unfortunates a lot already, readers can click back through my coverage for more info.

• Then comes a book I haven’t yet read, Rock Crystal. These purchases go directly to a post I wrote. It seems that this book’s popularity derived from well-regarded recommenders; in this case Sebald, Gabriel Josipovici, and Stephen Mitchelmore. 

• After that, we get into a few books that tied: Senselessness, 2666, The Siege of Krishnapur, and A Rhetoric of Irony are among them. Senselessness I’ve mentioned a lot, so I’ll refer readers back to my previous remarks on that book. Ditto for 2666.

  The Siege of Krishnapur is a novel I read a number of years ago. Its one of my favorite reads of the last few years, but it’s fairly neglected (NYRB Classics publishes it in the U.S.). I was inspired to write about it after it became a finalist for the Booker of the Bookers and received a wave of media attention.

  A Rhetoric of Irony I haven’t gone out of my way to single out for attention, but I have had reason to mention it in a few posts. It’s a great, very readable work of criticism by a great critic.

• Lastly we get into the books that I didn’t recommend. These are books that you bought, and I’m glad you did because they look incredible. Among these we have
  • Searching for Sebald
  • The Cinema of Naruse Mikio
  • Speaking to the Rose
  • The Blue Flowers
  • The Hakawati
  • The Marx Family Saga

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