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From Old Notebooks
From Old Notebooks, an "anti-masterpiece of an anti-novel" (Rain Taxi), begins as simply a writer's list of ideas—ideas for stories, films, novels, essays—but soon the writer's attention turns toward meditations on family, fear of death, literary fame, drug use, teaching, terrorism, pornography, and the weather. The book's seemingly disparate concerns coalesce to depict a writer writing his way through life and his first book at one and the same time.
- GenresMemoirNonfictionPoetry
220 pages, Paperback
First published March 11, 2010
6 people are currently reading
717 people want to read
About the author
Evan Lavender-Smith
7 books47 followersEvan Lavender-Smith is the author of From Old Notebooks and Avatar. His writing has appeared in The Sun, The Southern Review, New England Review, The White Review, New York Tyrant, Egress, BOMB, and other magazines. He lives in Blacksburg, Virginia, and teaches in the MFA Program in Creative Writing at Virginia Tech.
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Displaying 1 - 28 of 28 reviews
March 31, 2010
I received a copy of From Old Notebooks through GoodReads first reads giveaways. I wasn't sure what to expect of a book described as a "memoivel" but I was eager to find out. I absolutely loved this book. The random musings of Evan Lavendar-Smith at times had me laughing out loud (see page 65 for a hilariously accurate description of changing dirty diapers), thinking introspectively about religion, America, philosophy. and cringing at some of his absurdity. My copy is filled with post-it notes tagging different thoughts and reflections throughout the book and I will without a doubt be returning to those pages. I really enjoyed this book and the authors thoughts on a variety of subjects. A unique and enjoyable book with so many great lines and insight (I also now have a strange desire to read Ulysses).
April 2, 2010
"The fact is that each writer creates his precursors. His work modifies our conception of the past, as it will modify the future."
-Jorge Luis Borges, "Kafka and His Precursors" [1:]
In the past two weeks, I have been completely engrossed in three books [2:]: David Shields's Reality Hunger, Geoff Dyer's Out of Sheer Rage, and Evan Lavender-Smith's From Old Notebooks. Obviously, this isn't coincidence.
Qua Shields: "The word essay used to describe that formally daring writing once described by the word novel." Pretty good summary of my review of Reality Hunger.
Qua Dyer: too many wonderful vignettes to list here [3:]. Isn't this the meat of the book, what separates it-- and F.O.N. takes pains to do so-- from the philosophy that F.O.N. is constantly turning over, sifting through, turning over again?
The Borges above, it should be noted, is nothing to do with From Old Notebooks and everything to do with my reading of it. Each book seeming both the progenitor and the product of the book that I read before it. So, of course, it is everything to do with F.O.N.
F.O.N. as perfect example of Shklovsky's prose: "Perhaps I insist on calling F.O.N. a novel because I'm leaving all the crap in." Literally.
[1:] Funny that this epigraph should come from Borges, an avowedly politically conservative writer (of whom Lavender-Smith says "Nowadays [they:] cannot seem to produce art"); from which my mind, searching for a contemporary example, finds also Houllebecq-- no?
[2:] Which is not say that I haven't been busy reading others, only that these three were read almost without setting them down.
[3:] Maybe purely out of habit, but I read these as the structural underpinnings of F.O.N., the pegs to which we tie the lines of poetry, aphorism, and philosophy that gradually form a web around the book's idea of itself.
-Jorge Luis Borges, "Kafka and His Precursors" [1:]
In the past two weeks, I have been completely engrossed in three books [2:]: David Shields's Reality Hunger, Geoff Dyer's Out of Sheer Rage, and Evan Lavender-Smith's From Old Notebooks. Obviously, this isn't coincidence.
Qua Shields: "The word essay used to describe that formally daring writing once described by the word novel." Pretty good summary of my review of Reality Hunger.
Qua Dyer: too many wonderful vignettes to list here [3:]. Isn't this the meat of the book, what separates it-- and F.O.N. takes pains to do so-- from the philosophy that F.O.N. is constantly turning over, sifting through, turning over again?
The Borges above, it should be noted, is nothing to do with From Old Notebooks and everything to do with my reading of it. Each book seeming both the progenitor and the product of the book that I read before it. So, of course, it is everything to do with F.O.N.
F.O.N. as perfect example of Shklovsky's prose: "Perhaps I insist on calling F.O.N. a novel because I'm leaving all the crap in." Literally.
[1:] Funny that this epigraph should come from Borges, an avowedly politically conservative writer (of whom Lavender-Smith says "Nowadays [they:] cannot seem to produce art"); from which my mind, searching for a contemporary example, finds also Houllebecq-- no?
[2:] Which is not say that I haven't been busy reading others, only that these three were read almost without setting them down.
[3:] Maybe purely out of habit, but I read these as the structural underpinnings of F.O.N., the pegs to which we tie the lines of poetry, aphorism, and philosophy that gradually form a web around the book's idea of itself.
March 29, 2010
Don't take life too seriously.
Evan says everything I want to say about the things I'm thinking about.
Intelligent, and so funny that I laughed until tears rolled down my cheeks. Kudos to Evan Lavender-Smith.
This book is not a one time read. If you happen to lose perspective on life it's a great reminder. This book is a keeper!!
Thank you.
Evan says everything I want to say about the things I'm thinking about.
Intelligent, and so funny that I laughed until tears rolled down my cheeks. Kudos to Evan Lavender-Smith.
This book is not a one time read. If you happen to lose perspective on life it's a great reminder. This book is a keeper!!
Thank you.
November 14, 2011
Here our author collected his every drunken or stoned scribble through his college years, and in retrospect, believed them to be intelligible enough to compile into this aptly named compendium. My issue then is with the publisher, that the ramblings be worthy of an audience. Lost early on while positing something along the lines of: 'If forced to choose between poetry and pornography...' I guess if most authors had this question forced upon them, we would have a rare few who would answer honestly, but I'm simply glad someone finally asked.
April 5, 2010
This book is either a novel constructed of aphorisms, a book of philosophy constructed of flash fictions, a prose poem of enormous length, or a collection of jottings from old notebooks. Or all of the above. Or none of the above. I like (a lot) that the genre identity of this book can't be characterized, and I like the writing, sentence by sentence and paragraph by paragraph, better. A wonderfully groovy book.
June 22, 2010
I learned about this book from the Goodreads giveaways.. I didnt win it but I was excited about reading it. So, when I looked it up at the bookstore, I was pleasently suprised by it. It was a great book about keeping things in perspective and had me laughing out loud to the point that people were staring. I'm thankful I found this on here and that I was motivated to read it. It is a book that I will surely read again and recommend to others.
September 25, 2010
"The great tradition of modern philosophy and letters, from Nietzsche and Artaud to Deleuze and Houellebrecq, has taught us this much: maintaining the old grammers, figures and style of humanist narrative wioll never allow us to think. While sustaining a beauty of textual expression Lavender-Smith has nevertheless created a new genre of literature and a new mode and style of thought. This work is at once intellectually compelling and creatively breathtaking. This is a book to be read slowly, carefully and with thoughtful pleasure."
~~Claire Colebrook, author of Milton, Evil and Literary History
"Scenes, plots for possible stories and novels. Whimsical, fearful, lusty, philosophical, and scatological notes on books, moods, dreams, domestic events. Carrying this book around, the reader will look into it from time to time to jiggle quiescent corners of the brain."
~~Alphonso Lingis, author of The Community of Those Who Have Nothing In Common
I really wanted to like this book, to like it so much I would give it lots of stars and a glowing review. I won it in a giveaway, and I am grateful for authors who put their books out into the Universe to find their proper homes. But from the title, I thought it would be about reading old journals, or piecing together a coherent story from various entries in old diaries -- an archaeology of past writings.
It wasn't. It was disjointed entries by the author about whatever crossed his mind, in a sort of stream-of-consciousness style of thinking. It didn't make much sense to me. And I couldn't finish the book. But then I never read Ulysses either. I guess I'm just not a stream-of-consciousness kind of person.
~~Claire Colebrook, author of Milton, Evil and Literary History
"Scenes, plots for possible stories and novels. Whimsical, fearful, lusty, philosophical, and scatological notes on books, moods, dreams, domestic events. Carrying this book around, the reader will look into it from time to time to jiggle quiescent corners of the brain."
~~Alphonso Lingis, author of The Community of Those Who Have Nothing In Common
I really wanted to like this book, to like it so much I would give it lots of stars and a glowing review. I won it in a giveaway, and I am grateful for authors who put their books out into the Universe to find their proper homes. But from the title, I thought it would be about reading old journals, or piecing together a coherent story from various entries in old diaries -- an archaeology of past writings.
It wasn't. It was disjointed entries by the author about whatever crossed his mind, in a sort of stream-of-consciousness style of thinking. It didn't make much sense to me. And I couldn't finish the book. But then I never read Ulysses either. I guess I'm just not a stream-of-consciousness kind of person.
May 16, 2013
I read this not only because I wanted to but because I was teaching a nonfiction workshop and wanted to challenge myself and my students as to what nonfiction was or could be.
An essay written by the writer but told from a different point of view, and not your usual 2nd or third person POV, but, like a different-than-the-author 1st person POV. Is that an essay?
A review of a book that's aware of itself as a book and of an author aware of himself in the act of being an author but also aware of that as a construct.
In Sartre's Nausea Roquentin becomes aware of the distinctive qualities of objects in the world being merely human constructs, which are therefore meaningless, thus his "nausea."
From Old Notebooks: A fantastic, rich, rewarding read.
An essay written by the writer but told from a different point of view, and not your usual 2nd or third person POV, but, like a different-than-the-author 1st person POV. Is that an essay?
A review of a book that's aware of itself as a book and of an author aware of himself in the act of being an author but also aware of that as a construct.
In Sartre's Nausea Roquentin becomes aware of the distinctive qualities of objects in the world being merely human constructs, which are therefore meaningless, thus his "nausea."
From Old Notebooks: A fantastic, rich, rewarding read.
October 10, 2010
Possibility #1:
Evan Lavender-Smith keeps notebooks. Old notebooks. And in these old notebooks he writes snippets: movie plots, story ideas, funny things his wife or children said, potential inventions, et cetera. Evan Lavender-Smith writes these snippets in these old notebooks and, somewhere down the line, decides that he has a dozen or so old notebooks lying around and, instead of just chucking them in a storage box or, worse yet, the garbage bin, he compiles them into a single document, culls and cuts until it is a book-sized endeavor...[ read the rest of this review in The Southeast Review: http://southeastreview.org/2010/05/bo... ]
Evan Lavender-Smith keeps notebooks. Old notebooks. And in these old notebooks he writes snippets: movie plots, story ideas, funny things his wife or children said, potential inventions, et cetera. Evan Lavender-Smith writes these snippets in these old notebooks and, somewhere down the line, decides that he has a dozen or so old notebooks lying around and, instead of just chucking them in a storage box or, worse yet, the garbage bin, he compiles them into a single document, culls and cuts until it is a book-sized endeavor...[ read the rest of this review in The Southeast Review: http://southeastreview.org/2010/05/bo... ]
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June 10, 2013Review at HTMLGiant:
http://htmlgiant.com/reviews/105871/
"It’s hard to analyze experimental works because the experience the reader has is so subjective and without making assumptions about the author’s intent, a huge part of the critique, for me, comes down to how the work resonates on a personal level. Explorations of infinity and thought stripped away from form involve literary techniques that are invented along the path of creation, and as a result, often defy formulaic definition. That is what makes these works so bold and compelling. Part of the allure of From Old Notebooks, then, is its accessibility."
http://htmlgiant.com/reviews/105871/
"It’s hard to analyze experimental works because the experience the reader has is so subjective and without making assumptions about the author’s intent, a huge part of the critique, for me, comes down to how the work resonates on a personal level. Explorations of infinity and thought stripped away from form involve literary techniques that are invented along the path of creation, and as a result, often defy formulaic definition. That is what makes these works so bold and compelling. Part of the allure of From Old Notebooks, then, is its accessibility."
Read
April 15, 2010i have not had a chance ta read it yet author i will get the chance g.o.d. williing....dr. phd peter rock treacy campbell...i am adding as a reminder ta self...at 3:05 april 15th....2010
must get back ta work
-j.a.f.o.*p.r.c.
must get back ta work
-j.a.f.o.*p.r.c.
June 9, 2010
Definitely some dog-ear worthy passages strewn throughout, particularly the ones that touch on the reader's experience while reading. But I ended up mistrusting the book's formal conceit, even as I admired the essential chutzpah of the guy pulling its strings.
March 23, 2010
Excellent piece of work. My favourite line is 'I should like to teach at a university where the bathrooms are
stocked with two-ply toilet paper.'
stocked with two-ply toilet paper.'
May 17, 2010
It is a tribute not only to the grandiosity of the writer, all writers, and the writer's belief that readers care about what they think, but the fact that we actually do care, and that we have to.
January 13, 2019
i love books very much, and this is only the second one i've ever thrown away.
October 12, 2024
I feel like either 2 stars or 4 stars are *equally* defensible "grades" for me.
Mostly, tweets on literature, writing, philosophy, family life, "cute" toddler babble etc.
It feels cheap and easy (unlike Markson, which feels incredibly effortful - both writing it and reading it -for better or worse).
But in the end I sort of enjoyed it.
I'm also in a similar stage of life as the "protagonist" of this book, so there is some undeserved relatibility bonus (this is an ideal book to read when having toddlers - short, episodic to fit between tantrums, diapers etc.).
My main gripe is: I think he succeeds in painting a very good picture about his family life, relationship to writing, teaching, sports etc.
But what about this "death anxiety"? He constantly *tells*, but I have to scrape the bottom of the barrell to find where he *shows*. Feels either fake or failed on this point...
Mostly, tweets on literature, writing, philosophy, family life, "cute" toddler babble etc.
It feels cheap and easy (unlike Markson, which feels incredibly effortful - both writing it and reading it -for better or worse).
But in the end I sort of enjoyed it.
I'm also in a similar stage of life as the "protagonist" of this book, so there is some undeserved relatibility bonus (this is an ideal book to read when having toddlers - short, episodic to fit between tantrums, diapers etc.).
My main gripe is: I think he succeeds in painting a very good picture about his family life, relationship to writing, teaching, sports etc.
But what about this "death anxiety"? He constantly *tells*, but I have to scrape the bottom of the barrell to find where he *shows*. Feels either fake or failed on this point...
January 2, 2026
I added this book to my TBR back in 2010; back then I was in a postmodern reading phase.
Finally reading it 15 years later, my expectations were low. I've moved on from postmodernism, really, and so has the world. But this was short and available at my local library.
In a lot of ways the author/MC reminds me of many white male English majors a few years older than me that I've known. I know exactly what this guy was like in college, and I don't like that guy. But his voice here, as a parent and a person making ends meet, softens him (and softened me towards him). There is intelligence and humanity behind all that ego.
The entries here are overall better than I expected too. I anticipated there would be a lot of the types of things here that writers leave in "old notebooks" for a reason. There are certainly some. But a lot of this is interesting, funny and/or real. And taken as a whole, gives a great picture of a person and a life.
Finally reading it 15 years later, my expectations were low. I've moved on from postmodernism, really, and so has the world. But this was short and available at my local library.
In a lot of ways the author/MC reminds me of many white male English majors a few years older than me that I've known. I know exactly what this guy was like in college, and I don't like that guy. But his voice here, as a parent and a person making ends meet, softens him (and softened me towards him). There is intelligence and humanity behind all that ego.
The entries here are overall better than I expected too. I anticipated there would be a lot of the types of things here that writers leave in "old notebooks" for a reason. There are certainly some. But a lot of this is interesting, funny and/or real. And taken as a whole, gives a great picture of a person and a life.
July 6, 2024
Unbearably pretentious.
There are nodes of talent here. An interesting premise that admittedly shares some commonalities with bits and pieces of my own work (though others have utilized similar narrative formats far better). The most irksome thing about it was the author's faux seriousness in undertaking something like this. No, name dropping Pynchon and Heiddeger does not add depth to your writing. Sorry... I was guilty of this in my early years when I lacked maturity and substance and quickly realized how distasteful it is. Overall, this book is a mess of pseudo-intellectual scribbles. If you've ever been high with your roommates talking philosophy you'll find nothing new here.
There are nodes of talent here. An interesting premise that admittedly shares some commonalities with bits and pieces of my own work (though others have utilized similar narrative formats far better). The most irksome thing about it was the author's faux seriousness in undertaking something like this. No, name dropping Pynchon and Heiddeger does not add depth to your writing. Sorry... I was guilty of this in my early years when I lacked maturity and substance and quickly realized how distasteful it is. Overall, this book is a mess of pseudo-intellectual scribbles. If you've ever been high with your roommates talking philosophy you'll find nothing new here.
April 18, 2021
A little concerning when a book has to have so many bona fides in its description. Pointillism, yes. Stream of consciousness such as Ulysses or Tristam Shandy? Absolutely not, those books had a structure.
The musings are clever and enjoyable yet simply a collection of fragments that I grew tired of quickly.
The musings are clever and enjoyable yet simply a collection of fragments that I grew tired of quickly.
April 2, 2013
I plowed through this book faster than any other I've read since Hunter S. Thompson's "Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas" when I was a teenager, and I think "From Old Notebooks" is by far the healthier choice. The format of aphorism-like short bits of collage that come together in a mosaic story, both erudite, moving and funny, was inspiring. Repeatedly, I was sent to my Twitter feed to offer my own serialized notebook. But my typing was nothing compared to Lavender-Smith's genre-less genre that defies and embraces all genres, from fiction to nonfiction, poetry to prose, philosophy to humor, and more, and less, and how! This completes the trilogy of the best books I've read this millennium, which also includes "The Last Samurai" by Helen DeWitt and "Treasure Island!!!" by Sara Levine. Of course, I have no idea what a trilogy means, so expect other tomes to join these in coming days.
December 19, 2011
Evan is a friend, but what's glorious about F.O.N., which I have just read for the second time, is that he is your friend as well. That is, this book is a good friend to anyone of overweening literary ambition, who has ever been young, who has ever been uncertain, who has ever feared death or its cousin oblivion, who has ever dreamed that Leopold Bloom is his homeboy. There are a vanishingly small number of books that I go to for that highest and rarest of literary commodities, the thing Von Humboldt Fleisher died for lack of: company. From Old Notebooks is one of them.
September 6, 2010
At the risk of name-dropping:
I don't want to say too much about how I love this book- I'm pretty sure Evan has plenty of ego, already, and enough hubris to carry it. And I can say that, since I know him. :) Good job, Evan. Really good.
I don't want to say too much about how I love this book- I'm pretty sure Evan has plenty of ego, already, and enough hubris to carry it. And I can say that, since I know him. :) Good job, Evan. Really good.
May 4, 2013
I give this five stars for imagination and take one star away because the author didn't know when to quit ... it went from being a delightful read to being a trudge. I finished it but my time could have been better spent.
I'd like to see how this author develops over time. He shows real potential.
I'd like to see how this author develops over time. He shows real potential.
March 23, 2010
Tremendous!
October 18, 2010
Great first book. Inventive and delivers on some of the energy and precision in his short stories. Highly recommended.
February 20, 2011
Not too bad, however some of the thoughts could have been left in the old notebooks. It was somewhat freaky to realize I have had some of the same observations about life.
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December 29, 2012Admired the range of this book: cerebral, mawkish, tender, absurd.
May 20, 2018
"Novel/film that takes place entirely inside automobiles."
Displaying 1 - 28 of 28 reviews