wellingtonsquarebooks:

housingworksbookstore:

“I now just take money from anyone that offers it to me, in part because I know I’ll spend it on more socially responsible things than they will. Mostly independent organic vegan restaurants and grocery stores and co-ops” (via Tao Lin: On Drugs, His Father’s Troubles with the SEC, & Why He’ll Take Money From Just About Anyone - BlackBook)

And used books from a place that fights AIDS and homelessness?

I just read Tao Lin’s book, Richard Yates. It’s about a couple who find love over the internet— a twenty-three-ish man and a 16 year-old girl. Their relationship starts out sweet but then turns totally dysfunctional and horrifying as the guy, an urban vegan writer like Tao Lin, makes a project out of helping his girlfriend find herself, eat well, and be a better person. I had to close the book a couple of times and made “ugh”/”augh” noises to myself alone in the house.

I had the same reaction. I think it was an interesting subversion of his alleged shallowness as a writer, to be able to get into such visceral and ugly material while still maintaining a narrative distance. I hadn’t been super impressed by his prose util this point- it was sort of funny but forgettable- but I think Richard Yates managed to capture some of the wounded irony of his poetry.