Book Review - House of Holes

I recently finished Nicholson Baker's new novel House of Holes (2011). The novel is subtitled "a book of raunch", and that it was. I am a fan of Baker overall, and it doesn't hurt that he attended my alma mater, but this is without a doubt the most worthless piece of drivel I have read in a very long time. Other Baker novels have had a strong sexual flavor to them, and are very explicit in places. I have nothing against that as a general rule, and would by no means consider myself a prude. But this is 262 pages of self-indulgent literary masturbation with no redeeming qualities that I could discern. It was uncomfortably like listening in on someone else's waking wet dreams. If you want to read porn, read real porn. Or if you want to go up-scale, read real "erotica". Just don't read this.

Yuck.

1.5 stars out of 5. Well written for what it was I suppose, but lacking in plot, characters or anything else you would typically expect out of a novel.

Books read in 2011: 4 (totaling 954 pages)
Published in 2011: 3 (including this)
New authors: still 1
Classics: none

Next up... something better. But then again, anything would be better.