For Tony Tulathimutte Book Piles Are “Metaphysical Constructs”

Date:

Share post:


Tony Tulathimutte’s novel, Rejection, is available now from William Morrow, so we asked him a few questions about writing, reading, organizing books, and more.

Article continues after advertisement

*
How do you organize your bookshelves?

Here’s the thing, my buddy Jeff offered to put up my bookshelves in exchange for a six-pack of Coronas, which was really generous of him, but possibly due to the six-pack, one of the shelves keeps falling off the wall. So I organize my bookshelves alphabetically, and I even do that thing where you use a ruler to make the spines flush with each other. (INTJ / double virgo, don’t really believe in that stuff but the shoe does fit.)

All except for that one fucking shelf, which used to begin with Lorrie Moore and end with Darryl Pinckney, and is now just the Slop Shelf, where I just throw any random book I don’t feel like sorting.

*
How do you decide what to read next?

Article continues after advertisement

I have two piles of books that I alternate between, the Have To and the Get To. In the Have To pile are books I’m compelled to read for some other reason than curiosity, to review them, blurb them, read them for research, read them out of some vague sense it’ll fill a gap in my reading, or because I’ve chained myself to some project like reading all of a particular author’s work (currently on Philip Roth book #24 and intensely regretting it).

The Get To pile is stuff I’m just eager to read based on curiosity, recommendation, or vibes, and at the top right now I’ve got Javier Marias’s The Infatuations, Vigdis Hjorth’s Will and Testament, Katie Kitamura’s Intimacies, Halle Butler’s Banal Nightmare, Frankie Barnet’s Mood Swings, and Samuel Delany’s Times Square Red, Times Square Blue.

Since I read on both print and tablet, these piles are more metaphysical constructs than tangible heaps.

*
Which non-literary piece of culture—film, tv show, painting, song—could you not imagine your life without?

If by “piece of culture” you mean medium, it’s easily video games. I’ve been gaming since I was three, from the Atari 2600 onward, with a brief two-year interregnum in San Francisco when I was busier with alcohol.

Article continues after advertisement

If we’re talking about a specific work of art, probably Neon Genesis Evangelion, which was my first experience with getting so obsessed with something that I wanted to learn all about how it was made, watch everything by the artist and studio that made it, read all the criticism and every text it referred to, buy bootleg fansubbed VCDs off eBay, wear merch, etc. This is the kind of process that makes you want to make art yourself eventually.

*
If you weren’t a writer, what would you do instead?

Ideally I would be playing music in a sunny room with a dog. Realistically I would probably be working in tech, I’d have 4K+ MMR in Dota 2 and spend my evenings seeing how long I can hold my hand over a candle flame.

*
Which book(s) do you reread?

Probably the one thing I’ve reread more than anything else, though it’s been a while, is Rumiko Takahashi’s Maison Ikkoku. It does something I always really enjoy, which is to initially present itself as light fare, in this case a love triangle rom-com about a guy struggling to get into college who’s in love with the widowed proprietor of his boarding house, and over fifteen volumes it expands into something much deeper—not necessarily more complex, but certainly more layered and mature, and it’s reflected in the refinement of the art style over its eight-year serial run.

Article continues after advertisement

God why did this come out sounding like Patrick Bateman?

______________________________

Rejection by Tony Tulathimutte is available via William Morrow.

Article continues after advertisement



Source link

Nicole Lambert
Nicole Lambert
Nicole Lamber is a news writer for LinkDaddy News. She writes about arts, entertainment, lifestyle, and home news. Nicole has been a journalist for years and loves to write about what's going on in the world.

Recent posts

Related articles

JD Vance quoted a sociopathic serial killer to make some asinine point.

November 8, 2024, 6:12pm I’m no pundit, but I think one reason Why We’re Here has to do...

Find your next great read with a few simple—and delightfully weird—questions.

November 8, 2024, 12:10pm Good news for readers, literary magazine supporters, quiz-lovers, and weirdos: n+1‘s Bookmatch is back!...

Dorothy Allison, author and force of nature, has died.

November 8, 2024, 11:28am Dorothy Allison, the lesbian feminist activist, beacon, poet, parent, and award-winning author of novels...

Here’s the winner of the 2024 American Library in Paris Book Award.

November 8, 2024, 10:00am Today, the American Library in Paris announced the winner of their 2024 Book Award,...

What If the Covid Safety Net Had Been a Starting Point For Change?

What if the pandemic safety net cobbled together in 2020 had been a new beginning?Article continues after...

Here are the bookies’ odds for the 2024 Booker Prize.

November 8, 2024, 9:01am Next week, the UK’s most prestigious book prize, the Booker, will announce its 2024...

Lit Hub Daily: November 8, 2024

The Best of the Literary Internet, Every Day ...