Miranda July, Jamel Brinkley, and More on Their Favorite (Re)reads

The Case for Dipping Back In

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Ed Park

I am eternally dipping into the world of Charles Portis (especially The Dog of the South and True Grit), Nicholson Baker’s U and I, Renata Adler’s Speedboat, The Memoirs of Lady Hyegyöng. Sebald, too—mainly The Rings of Saturn. Lately I am losing myself again in the Samguk Yusa, a thirteenth-century collection of ancient Korean lore.

I recently reread The Catcher in the Rye and Breakfast of Champions. I didn’t fully grasp the depths of sadness in both when I encountered them as a young reader.