Welcome to Paul Auster Reading Week 2025

Paul Auster is my absolute favourite author. Five years ago I hosted my first Paul Auster Reading Week, and since his death last year, I decided to host another. However, timing it to coincide with his birthday which is today, Feb 3rd rather than the anniversary of his death in April; he would have been 78. Wrapping up on the 10th, we’re including books by his wife Siri Hustvedt too.

Our buddy read is his last published novel ‘Baumgartner‘. It’ll be interesting to hear your comments on it.

This post will remain sticky for the duration. Please do comment – here are a few prompts to get you talking…

  • Which is your favourite of his books?
  • Have you tried one of his volumes of memoir?
  • What about his favourite themes of chance and coincidence and echoes from the past amongst many others…
  • Which of Hustvedt’s books do you like best? Do they resonate with Auster’s?
  • I’ve not included her, but Auster was married for five years in the mid-late 1970s to Lydia Davis before Hustvedt? Thoughts on her books?
  • Has anyone read or is contemplating reading his 800 page biography of Stephen Crane, Burning Boy?

If you post a review on your blog during the week (or want to draw attention to one you’ve previously posted), please do leave a link – either in the Mr Linky below or as a comment.

I’m looking forward to reading your posts and comment. Thank you for joining in.

24 thoughts on “Welcome to Paul Auster Reading Week 2025

    • AnnaBookBel says:

      I was lucky to come across his New York Trilogy a while after it’s publication in the late 1980s. It was so daring, stylised but still very readable. Followed him ever since!

    • AnnaBookBel says:

      One of my favourites is The Brooklyn Follies, which is fun. Our buddy read Baumgartner is gentle and nostalgic (and short). The New York Trilogy is iconic but stylised but wonderful.

  1. deniz says:

    I love Auster’s writing <3 Hand to Mouth and some of his other memoirs and essays… I remember how I found The New York Trilogy at the home of a cousin in Paris, and read it in one weekend. There are still books of his that I haven't read (1 2 3 4 and Burning Boy) and I have a couple of Hustvedt's books but haven't read them yet! I'll move them up the pile <3

    • AnnaBookBel says:

      Hi Deniz, Glad to find another fan. You’ll enjoy 4 3 2 1. Not being American and at all knowledgeable about Stephen Crane beyond his name, I think Burning Boy will probably be the only one of his I won’t read!

  2. Litlove says:

    I’m rather quick off the mark! I’ve reviewed The New York Trilogy. If I get a chance to read The Invention of Solitude this week, I’ll do that too.

  3. Calmgrove says:

    I might have time to get round to reading my copy of the New York Trilogy by the end of April but, unfortunately, I just can’t manage it now. I shall still read commentary posted for this week as and when I come across it!

  4. Rebecca Foster says:

    I hadn’t thought to compare Auster and Davis. I’ve only read her most recent collection, which contains her typical legions of flash fiction. Similarities include the randomness of events, playing with language, and bits of autofiction and metafiction.

    • AnnaBookBel says:

      I’ve never read her, as I read very few short stories. He was in his late 20s when they married and newly back from several years in France, and working primarily in translation at that point, so interesting that they still share some themes.

  5. Jonathan says:

    I’ve been re-reading some of Auster’s work over the last few months, such as Oracle Night and one of my favourite’s by the author, The Book of Illusions but there are still a few works that I haven’t yet read, most noticeably, 4 3 2 1. However, I started reading Baumgartner on Sunday as it just seemed the right book at the right time; the first chapter almost seemed like a farce or a sit-com, very un-Auster like, but subsequent chapters have settled down into more familiar territory. I’m about half-way through and enjoying it so far.

    • AnnaBookBel says:

      I have two of his novels left to read now. I had been saving The Book of Illusions and 50 pages in am loving it. Baumgartner which I read at the weekend was lovely – my thoughts soon!

  6. Marcie McCauley says:

    I think The Book of Illusions is a good one to have “saved”. My first of his was, like you, one of The New York trilogy. (I would have to check my log to see if I read one of them before learning it was a trilogy, or whether I knew before hand, and read them in order.) It left me wanting to make a note every few pages–so smart, so fun!! I had hoped to participate in this, but the local library system’s ordering system has been unpredictable and this “new” one is still showing as on-order, several months later. But from now on, if I see something when I’m browsing in second-hand shops, I’ll pick up what I can find, with your celebratory weeks in mind. (And I’ll hope for the NYTrilogy of course.)

    • AnnaBookBel says:

      Oh well, you tried! You can always link back whenever. The Book of Illusions is proving to be brilliant – I’m nearly finished,

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