I miss letters and people who used to write them

I have never read Paul Auster, but am enough of a Coetzee admirer to have been drawn to this. Reading such recent correspondence is strange, as these e-mails and letters reference events barely receding into the recent past (the final pages introduce the Arab Spring) and the project feels, despite the clear permission of both authors, invasive. Auster and Coetzee share some compelling thoughts on the nature of men's interest in sports, friendships between men, and family rituals, while exchanging details of their personal lives, and indulging in a sweet friendship. The two marvel at their closeness and intimacy towards the end of the collection, but I do not find their letters thought-provoking in the way of others' (from my reading this year, Sontag and Plath come to mind as writers whose letters are always meat for discussion). I don't know what to take from these, but would cautiously recommend to those enormously interested in either writer. A quick read.

This is what I would call a duo-memoir in the form of correspondence between my favorite author, Paul Auster, and his friend, a recent favorite of mine, J.M. Coetzee. Both authors maintain their individual writing style infused with a sense of fun not often found in their fiction. I have read nearly everything that Paul Auster has written now and upon reading this, I am eager to read more of J.M. Coetzee's works. Ah, there aren't enough hours in the day!

I really enjoyed reading the correspondence between these two authors, specially because Paul Auster is one of my favorite (and his wife Siri also). In addition, I rejoice to see how we agree on several topics, above all the whole fact of moving the Israelis in Minnesota, but surely it would be more correct to say that it is I who think like them and not the other. It was also quite interesting the backgrounds that the authors have provided for some of their works,but as far as I had already read Winter Journal of P. Auster, some things I had already knew.

Mi é piaciuto molto leggere la corrispondenza tra questi due autori, di cui Paul Auster é uno dei miei preferiti (e anche la moglie Siri). Inoltre gioisco nel constatare come la pensino come me su parecchi argomenti, su tutto il fatto di spostare gli israeliani in Minnesota, ma sicuramente sarebbe piú corretto dire che sono io che la penso come loro e non il contrario. Sono stati inoltre parecchio interessanti, i background che gli autori hanno fornito ad alcune delle loro opere, per quanto avendo io giá letto Winter Journal di P. Auster, alcune cose le avevo giá lette.

THANKS TO NETGALLEY AND PENGUIN GROUP VIKING FOR THE PREVIEW!

أتمني لو ينشر جزء تاني من الرسائل
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النبرة الأخوية بين أوستر وكوتزي جميلة للغاية

I'm drawn to all things Paul Auster, so when I found this gem in Half-Price Books, I had to have it. Despite being 50% -not- Paul Auster, it didn't disappoint. My favorite quote about reading books (as to opposed to experiencing the story via other media): "But isn't reading the art of seeing things for yourself, of conjuring up images in your own head? And isn't the beauty of reading all about the silence that surrounds you as you plunge into the story, the sound of the author's voice resonating inside you to the exclusion of all other sounds?"

Los intercambios epistolares entre autores son siempre atractivos: ofrecen el lado humano de los escritores sin menoscabo de su autoridad (están siempre pendientes de la frase justa). Lo disfruté.

Sadly, this seemed more of a gimmick than anything else. Coetzee and Auster are two of my favorite authors so I really wanted it to be good. There are some nuggets but also it just sort fell flat for me.