Luis Panini
@luispanini.bsky.social
Reader / Writer / Architect. Major mottoes: "I would prefer not to," "yes I said yes I will Yes," "I can't go on, I’ll go on."
Years ago, while dining with Michael Silverblatt, Orhan Pamuk came up as a topic. He said, “You know, I was supposed to have dinner with him tonight.” “Why didn’t you?” I asked. “I had already made plans with you,” he said. “You’re nuts!” I yelled.
Dear Michael, I will miss you.
Dear Michael, I will miss you.
February 16, 2026 at 6:56 AM
Years ago, while dining with Michael Silverblatt, Orhan Pamuk came up as a topic. He said, “You know, I was supposed to have dinner with him tonight.” “Why didn’t you?” I asked. “I had already made plans with you,” he said. “You’re nuts!” I yelled.
Dear Michael, I will miss you.
Dear Michael, I will miss you.
So excited about this reading project. 2026 will be The Year of the Faustian Bargain for me and these are the books I’ll read, except my own novel (it’s in the picture because it features a Faustian bargain, a topic I’m passionate about and one I hope to revisit someday).
February 13, 2026 at 7:58 PM
So excited about this reading project. 2026 will be The Year of the Faustian Bargain for me and these are the books I’ll read, except my own novel (it’s in the picture because it features a Faustian bargain, a topic I’m passionate about and one I hope to revisit someday).
Done with The Guermantes Way. Another jewel, although not as beautiful as volumes 1 and 2, but the 47 pages (425-471) in which the Narrator describes his grandmother falling ill and eventually passing contain some of the most beautiful and heartbreaking passages I’ve ever read.
February 9, 2026 at 7:19 PM
Done with The Guermantes Way. Another jewel, although not as beautiful as volumes 1 and 2, but the 47 pages (425-471) in which the Narrator describes his grandmother falling ill and eventually passing contain some of the most beautiful and heartbreaking passages I’ve ever read.
I know I’m rather late to the Thomas De Quincey party, but I’ve arrived.
February 7, 2026 at 6:33 PM
I know I’m rather late to the Thomas De Quincey party, but I’ve arrived.
“Stellar” doesn’t even begin to describe today’s book mail. Finally, John Cowper Powys is in my house. I know a new edition of A Glastonbury Romance is coming out fairly soon, but I couldn’t resist owning the one featuring Jan Provoost’s work on the cover.
January 3, 2026 at 10:02 PM
“Stellar” doesn’t even begin to describe today’s book mail. Finally, John Cowper Powys is in my house. I know a new edition of A Glastonbury Romance is coming out fairly soon, but I couldn’t resist owning the one featuring Jan Provoost’s work on the cover.
In January of 2024 I read Swann’s Way and since then I set out to read one volume of In Search of Lost Time every January, so it’s time for The Guermantes Way. While reading Proust I like to picture everything as if it belonged in an impressionist painting, which makes it even more beautiful.
January 1, 2026 at 6:37 PM
In January of 2024 I read Swann’s Way and since then I set out to read one volume of In Search of Lost Time every January, so it’s time for The Guermantes Way. While reading Proust I like to picture everything as if it belonged in an impressionist painting, which makes it even more beautiful.
‘Tis the season of Norwegian arrivals. I’ve been told that Tarjei Vesaas only wrote masterpieces. Looking forward to reading his work in 2026.
December 29, 2025 at 8:58 PM
‘Tis the season of Norwegian arrivals. I’ve been told that Tarjei Vesaas only wrote masterpieces. Looking forward to reading his work in 2026.
Up next, the complete works of Fleur Jaeggy, whose succinct books can be read in a single seating, but linger in your mind with the resilience of a brain virus.
December 21, 2025 at 7:40 PM
Up next, the complete works of Fleur Jaeggy, whose succinct books can be read in a single seating, but linger in your mind with the resilience of a brain virus.
A thing of beauty and the closest thing to a miracle: when a poet decides to write a novel. This 568-page brick collects essays about novels or “novelistic attempts” written by such creatures. I’ve been dipping in and out of it and I’m absolutely fascinated by the topic.
December 17, 2025 at 6:35 PM
A thing of beauty and the closest thing to a miracle: when a poet decides to write a novel. This 568-page brick collects essays about novels or “novelistic attempts” written by such creatures. I’ve been dipping in and out of it and I’m absolutely fascinated by the topic.
A 20 years in the making translation has reached my front door. Peter Weiss’ magnum opus has been criticized for being “plotless,” “nonsensical,” and for featuring “unpsychological [?],” characters (everything I want in a novel!). W.G. Sebald admired it. That’s good enough for me.
December 6, 2025 at 7:38 PM
A 20 years in the making translation has reached my front door. Peter Weiss’ magnum opus has been criticized for being “plotless,” “nonsensical,” and for featuring “unpsychological [?],” characters (everything I want in a novel!). W.G. Sebald admired it. That’s good enough for me.
Up next: the dramatic works of Jean Genet.
December 1, 2025 at 7:08 PM
Up next: the dramatic works of Jean Genet.
This novel is wild. Don’t be misled by the title. Haven’t read much Mailer, but enough to know that this is absolutely unMailer. A combo of open-mic mixed with a bit of Finnegans Wake, some nakedlunchesque joie de vivre, stream of consciousness galore and profanity up the wazoo.
November 29, 2025 at 6:38 PM
This novel is wild. Don’t be misled by the title. Haven’t read much Mailer, but enough to know that this is absolutely unMailer. A combo of open-mic mixed with a bit of Finnegans Wake, some nakedlunchesque joie de vivre, stream of consciousness galore and profanity up the wazoo.
Done with Camus. The Fall is his masterpiece, followed by The Plague. The short story The Renegade is his most abstract and best piece of writing. His essay Reflections on the Guillotine is a brilliant analysis of capital punishment and how it engenders a Sisyphean cycle of revenge.
November 24, 2025 at 5:45 PM
Done with Camus. The Fall is his masterpiece, followed by The Plague. The short story The Renegade is his most abstract and best piece of writing. His essay Reflections on the Guillotine is a brilliant analysis of capital punishment and how it engenders a Sisyphean cycle of revenge.
To say that I was elated a few days ago when I found out that a Peter Matthiessen biography (by Lance Richardson) had been published is selling it short. His Far Tortuga, which is phonetically and structurally challenging, is one of the finest novelistic achievements in American fiction.
November 22, 2025 at 11:51 PM
To say that I was elated a few days ago when I found out that a Peter Matthiessen biography (by Lance Richardson) had been published is selling it short. His Far Tortuga, which is phonetically and structurally challenging, is one of the finest novelistic achievements in American fiction.
I blame the purchasing of 15 biographies, 6 volumes of letters, 2 memoirs and 1 volume of diaries on a recent monthlong bout of literary nonfiction fever. Now I must remain optimistic and believe that I’ll have time to read them all. I’ll start with May Swenson’s biography.
November 21, 2025 at 5:58 PM
I blame the purchasing of 15 biographies, 6 volumes of letters, 2 memoirs and 1 volume of diaries on a recent monthlong bout of literary nonfiction fever. Now I must remain optimistic and believe that I’ll have time to read them all. I’ll start with May Swenson’s biography.
Two tomes were acquired. Two.
October 29, 2025 at 8:13 PM
Two tomes were acquired. Two.
Rewatched Béla Tarr’s The Turin Horse. I understand why so many abhor this film, but if you’re willing to abandon all hope, surrender to its grueling monotony, and be governed by its sepulchral atmosphere you’ll have one of the most transcending cinematic experiences of your life.
October 22, 2025 at 4:23 PM
Rewatched Béla Tarr’s The Turin Horse. I understand why so many abhor this film, but if you’re willing to abandon all hope, surrender to its grueling monotony, and be governed by its sepulchral atmosphere you’ll have one of the most transcending cinematic experiences of your life.
Masterpiece! Camus turns the book into a confessional and the reader into a priest. It features one of the darkest, most reprehensible narrators (thankfully). If I ever dare to write a Top 20 of the best novels I’ve read, it wouldn’t surprise me to see this one on that list.
October 16, 2025 at 11:28 PM
Masterpiece! Camus turns the book into a confessional and the reader into a priest. It features one of the darkest, most reprehensible narrators (thankfully). If I ever dare to write a Top 20 of the best novels I’ve read, it wouldn’t surprise me to see this one on that list.
Fresh from the press and my latest addition to the Gertrude Stein pile. Probably the 113th book in my home library written by (or about) the matriarch of Modernism.
October 12, 2025 at 5:57 PM
Fresh from the press and my latest addition to the Gertrude Stein pile. Probably the 113th book in my home library written by (or about) the matriarch of Modernism.
Come on board the Kraszna train, darlings. You won’t regret it.
October 9, 2025 at 7:35 PM
Come on board the Kraszna train, darlings. You won’t regret it.
Worked all day. Went to a bookstore. Both titles were sold out. Drove to another. Found them a few minutes ago. Can’t read them now. Still happy to have them.
October 8, 2025 at 3:44 AM
Worked all day. Went to a bookstore. Both titles were sold out. Drove to another. Found them a few minutes ago. Can’t read them now. Still happy to have them.
Pausing the Dostoevsky read through I started at the beginning of the year (I need a short break from his voice). Up next: the complete fiction of Albert Camus.
October 4, 2025 at 10:29 PM
Pausing the Dostoevsky read through I started at the beginning of the year (I need a short break from his voice). Up next: the complete fiction of Albert Camus.
How does one engage with a writer whose body of work seems to represent the epitome of solipsistic creation? His purported novels are no more than countless vignettes conjoined in a universe of hopelessness, solitude, and total indifference. Award the Nobel Prize to Botho Strauß.
October 4, 2025 at 4:06 PM
How does one engage with a writer whose body of work seems to represent the epitome of solipsistic creation? His purported novels are no more than countless vignettes conjoined in a universe of hopelessness, solitude, and total indifference. Award the Nobel Prize to Botho Strauß.
She’s recorded in a tongue on the verge of collapse a litany of transposable voices and disjointed perspectives that reject Manichaean dualities, all to create the foundations of refurbished identities that can neither be named nor described. Award the Nobel Prize to Chus Pato.
October 3, 2025 at 3:49 PM
She’s recorded in a tongue on the verge of collapse a litany of transposable voices and disjointed perspectives that reject Manichaean dualities, all to create the foundations of refurbished identities that can neither be named nor described. Award the Nobel Prize to Chus Pato.