Read years ago, during my studies in Innsbruck.

I recently picked up a pretty edition with larger print, so I've decided to let this one travel on. Safe journey, little book, and may you find lots of appreciative new readers!

Wishlist tag for mcsar. Enjoy! (And Happy New Year!) :)

Arrived quickly and safely. Thank you. Looking forward to reading a book you like so much that you only parted with it when you had a nicer edition.

Loved it. This was such an extraordinary reading experience. Beautiful writing that just draws one in. The book is a bit hard to describe, but it is surely one I want to share. This is my pick for the Favourite Book Roundabout 2020.

Reading order:

1 valpete USA
2 Icila France
3 Paulanni Finland
4 grovalskii Germany
5 Fifna Netherlands
6 dark-draco UK
7 Cross-patch UK
8 earthcaroleanne UK
9 Poodlesister UK
10 greenbadger UK
11 mathgirl40 Canada*

Happy reading!

Beginning its journey in the Favourite Book of 2020 Roundabout. Happy reading!

Received...It'll be a while...2 up before this one. I forgot to make Release notes; however, it's on its way to Icila. I'm not sure what to say about this book. I loved it; however, I wasn't always sure I was "getting" everything. I don't think I've ever read a book like this before. It will be one that sticks with me for a good while. I wish there were a literature course on this author and his writings; I'm sure I missed a lot. Thanks, Mscar, for including this in this year's Roundabout.

The book just arrived, a little delayed because the zip code was wrong on the Post Form sticker.
I tried to read Paul Auster, who was very famous and appreciated here in France some 20 years ago. He was a guest in Saint-Malo "Festival des Etonnants Voyageurs" and some BCers and I saw him there at the beginning of Bookcrossing.
I w'll give this book a second chance.

I tried and tried and eventually read the last story. Clever and so dark.

On its way to Paulanii in Finland.

The book finally made it to Finland! This will be my first Paul Auster book, and after reading all your comments I am quite curious about it.

My first Auster was quite a fascinating read, and I'd not know if this collection of three short novels was a good place to start. He certainly knew how to keep me on my toes. Or what would you say about the set up of the first novel, City of Glass:
The main character is Quinn, a writer who has stopped writing poems and has started authoring detective novels under the pseudonym of William Wilson. Wilson's private-eye narrator is Max Work.
"Over the years, Work had become very close to Quinn. Whereas William Wilson remained an abstract figure for him, Work had increasingly come to life. In the triad of selves that Quinn had become, Wilson served as a kind of ventriloquist. Quinn himself was the dummy, and Work was the animated voice that gave purpose to the enterprise."

And if that is not enough about the multiple identities of a writer, one day Quinn's phone rings, and a voice asks to speak to Paul Auster, a private detective. For some reason, Quinn says that he is Auster and decides to accept the detection job offered, under the name of Paul Auster. Later, Quinn needs to find this person Paul Auster, and one with the same name lives not far from Quinn's own apartment. When meeting Auster, Quinn is surprised to learn that Auster is not a private investigator, but a writer. What a tangled web of identities!

I didn't understand all of it, either, but there's something very clever, odd and still intriguing in the way Paul Auster writes. He makes the city of New York one of his characters while he explores identity and writing. Thank you to mcsar also from me for sharing this book in the roundabout and introducing Paul Auster.

The book has started its travel to grovalskii.

The book is with me now. Thanks for sending it, Paulanni, and thanks for the bookmark! Great words by Henry Ford. :)

I find Paul Auster hard to read at times. I do love his writing, because it challenges me, but sometimes it's just so hard to follow his train of thought! In this case, the first of the three stories was the hardest for me. There were some side tangents that seemed relevant to the story but then never were followed up on, and then there were the several characters that were acting as narrators in the story. That made it confusing. But like I said, I do enjoy a challenge at times. :) I think I found the second story easiest to read.

Arrived safely, thanks grovalskii! I've read and enjoyed several of Paul Auster's books, so looking forward to this.

I've loved other books by Paul Auster and this was no exception. These three stories play mind games with you and send your thoughts all over the place. And by the time you're done with the third story, you really need to go back to the first one again! Very enjoyable and a good pick for the roundabout. Thanks for sharing.

Travelling to dark-draco.

Received… thank you.

CITY OF GLASS
Hmmm - a thought provoking book. I was quite surprised by how much I enjoyed this weird little mystery. Who is who and who is lying? Half the time you didn't really know what was going on, but I really didn't mind that - the writing is what makes this story pop. You kind of get lost in the words and forget that the plotline doesn't make a whole lot of sense as Quinn descends into madness - or does he? I was very intrigued about the notion of learning to speak God's language and the whole Tower of Babel stuff ... as I said, very thought provoking.

GHOSTS
Another wonderfully written piece by Paul Auster. The reader (as is the main character, Blue) is largely left in the dark about what is going on. Who is Black and why does he have to be watched? Is he a criminal or is a crime going to be done against him ... or is he some innocent person that is being used to set up Blue? These are the questions that Blue tries to work out, even as the reader is pondering the same things. And they are never answered ... but that doesn't matter all that much. The ending is somehow satisfying enough even though you never find out what the hell it was all about.

THE LOCKED ROOM
Of the three books in the trilogy, this feels like it has the most pronounced 'story', in that it starts off as a more straight forward tale of a man asked to step in to help when his friend disappears. Left with the choice to publish his friend's written work or not, he ends up falling in love with the wife and stepping more into his friend's life than he wanted. But then the story starts to unravel and echoes of the previous two stories reverberate between the words as the ghost of Fanshawe hovers around their life. Unlike the other two books, I also felt there was a bit of hope at the end - The narrator is forced to face some of his own past and some of his own internal issues, even as he ends up having to face Fanshawe. But in the end, some sort of compromise is reached and life continues - just as it would in the real world.

Apologies - I thought I'd posted this before I went away last weekend, but just found it in my To Do pile :( Off to the next reader now.

Arrived - I was getting worried because I’d seen a while ago that it was on its way. Looking forward to it, as I have had my own copy for a couple of years now and haven’t got around to reading it yet!

Very clever, but without a heart. I don’t remember a time when I have been so stimulated by a book, yet not enjoyed the experience. Definitely a good choice for the Roundabout or where else would one read difficult choices? Indeed.

Good luck.

Arrived today.

I really wasn't sure how I was going to review this but I laughed when I read dark-draco's sentence "you never find out what the hell it was all about". I know it was a trilogy but I feel it might have been easier if they had been read separately.

Sending on in the roundabout.

Arrived with a lovely box of Christmas goodies.

I enjoyed the descriptions of New York City but found the main characters really irritating. And the descriptions of women were all so one dimensional and mainly about their attractiveness to the men. I just didn’t care what happened or didn’t happen. Not the book (or author) for me.

Will post to greenbadger as soon as I can.

Post has been a bit disrupted due to covid recently but this arrived today, thank you!

This is a very strange set of stories. In the first, City of Glass, a writer gets repeated calls for a private detective and ends up taking the case. In the second, Ghost, the private detective Blue is hired by White to watch Black. The final book, The Locked Room, has characters which are brought a little more to life than the others as the narrator takes on the life of a childhood friend. The common theme is studying someone else's life to the point of obsession - it's entirely unclear to me why, for example, Blue doesn't just walk away. It's clever but not that enjoyable a read. I was surprised to find that it was written in the 80s, it felt quite modern.

Going on to mathgirl40, next in the ray.

This book is with me now, and I believe I am its final reader for this roundabout!

The three stories each concerns a main character that becomes so obsessed with another person's life that it affects his own identity. I'm not sure I understood all the connections, but I did find the writing beautiful and compelling.

This was a good introduction to Auster for me. It's also nice to check another book off Peter Boxall's 1001 Books to Read Before You Die list.

Thank you, mcsar, for offering this book to the roundabout!

This book is on the last leg of its journey (for now, anyhow), on its way back to mcsar!

Thank you for sending it back to me, mathgirl40. I am happy that the book has finished its round, and it is interesting to read all your comments, and I am happy that some of you enjoyed the book.