Now reading...

[paul secor]

Rohinton Mistry: Family Matters

Paul, what's your take on the Mistry books? I have "Family Matters" sitting about here, wonder if it is worth reading.

I've only read Family Matters and enjoyed it very much. Interesting characters and situations - gave me a sense of how people and families have similarities, no matter what the culture.

[Matthew]

A. A. Milne: The Man Behind Winnie-the-Pooh by Ann Thwaite. Picked this up on a whim at Half-Price Book, and it is fascinating, I'm discovering a Milne I never new before -- a Milne who wrote interesting adult books, lead a different life than I imagined. It's completely changed my very weak image of him. Great book, and a long one too.

Edited September 5, 2014 by Matthew

[BillF]

Francis Paudras, Dance of the Infidels: A Portrait of Bud Powell

[Matthew]

Francis Paudras, Dance of the Infidels: A Portrait of Bud Powell

A very interesting book, well worth the read.

[Head Man]

I love James Salter's writing and this, his latest, is as good as anything he's written. A wonderful novel.

[Jazzmoose]

I ordered this online late one night, thinking it was a history book. Seeing "a novel" on the cover was a bit of a shock, but once I got over it, I figured I'd give it a try. I wouldn't say it's great literature, but so far it's a great story, which is fine by me. It appeals to my 'history buff' side as well, so that worked out.

[jazzbo]

[jlhoots]

Nickolas Butler: Shotgun Lovesongs

[Simon8]

[paul secor]

Elizabeth Taylor: The Devastating Boys

(The English writer, not the actress)

[BillF]

Elizabeth Taylor: The Devastating Boys

(The English writer, not the actress)

Now, I've read a lot of Elizabeth Taylors, but not that one. Do you recommend it?

[Leeway]

ANGLO-SAXON ATTITUDES - Angus Wilson - 1956

The central story is that of an archaeological hoax (on the order of Piltdown Man), which has the effect of corrupting the lives and work of the men and women directly or indirectly connected with it. The story presents a large network, personal, social, political and religious, of associated figures viewed and described with a deeply satiric eye. Wilson creates some marvelously hideous characters. This is in essence an academic novel, but, oddly, one with no particular university or college connected to it; the scholars are all seen away from their schools or are independent researchers. Anthony Burgess called it "one of the five greatest novels of the century," surely hyperbole. I would not rank it nearly that high, but it is one of the better modern British fictions.

[paul secor]

Elizabeth Taylor: The Devastating Boys

(The English writer, not the actress)

Now, I've read a lot of Elizabeth Taylors, but not that one. Do you recommend it?

I do. It's a very good collection of stories and the first Elizabeth Taylor book I've read. I'll be reading more.

[A Lark Ascending]

ANGLO-SAXON ATTITUDES - Angus Wilson - 1956

The central story is that of an archaeological hoax (on the order of Piltdown Man), which has the effect of corrupting the lives and work of the men and women directly or indirectly connected with it. The story presents a large network, personal, social, political and religious, of associated figures viewed and described with a deeply satiric eye. Wilson creates some marvelously hideous characters. This is in essence an academic novel, but, oddly, one with no particular university or college connected to it; the scholars are all seen away from their schools or are independent researchers. Anthony Burgess called it "one of the five greatest novels of the century," surely hyperbole. I would not rank it nearly that high, but it is one of the better modern British fictions.

I loved that book when I read it in the 80s or early 90s. There was also an excellent TV series based on it in the UK.

'The Old Men at the Zoo' is good too.

[ejp626]

Elizabeth Taylor: The Devastating Boys

(The English writer, not the actress)

Now, I've read a lot of Elizabeth Taylors, but not that one. Do you recommend it?

I do. It's a very good collection of stories and the first Elizabeth Taylor book I've read. I'll be reading more.

NYRB has decided to reissue a handful of Taylor novels and a collection of short stories.

I'm tempted but it looks like an awful lot were in the New Yorker, and I still have the Complete New Yorker on DVD. So... not sure.

Oops - forgot the link: http://www.amazon.com/Youll-Enjoy-When-You-There/dp/1590177274

Edited September 16, 2014 by ejp626

[Leeway]

ANGLO-SAXON ATTITUDES - Angus Wilson - 1956

The central story is that of an archaeological hoax (on the order of Piltdown Man), which has the effect of corrupting the lives and work of the men and women directly or indirectly connected with it. The story presents a large network, personal, social, political and religious, of associated figures viewed and described with a deeply satiric eye. Wilson creates some marvelously hideous characters. This is in essence an academic novel, but, oddly, one with no particular university or college connected to it; the scholars are all seen away from their schools or are independent researchers. Anthony Burgess called it "one of the five greatest novels of the century," surely hyperbole. I would not rank it nearly that high, but it is one of the better modern British fictions.

I loved that book when I read it in the 80s or early 90s. There was also an excellent TV series based on it in the UK.

'The Old Men at the Zoo' is good too.

Thanks for the suggestion. I liked this work enough to want to read more AW.

One thought I had about this novel was how similar its society is to those found in Iris Murdoch's novels (roughly contemporary). There is almost a stock cast of characters in these novels (the Irishman, the homosexual(s), the juvenile delinquent, the ancient servant, et al). Iris treats such characters as part of a Platonic scheme, while Wilson might be said to treat them in Aristotelian fashion. This is a pretty simple demarcation, but may serve as a starting point for comparison.

[BillF]

ANGLO-SAXON ATTITUDES - Angus Wilson - 1956

The central story is that of an archaeological hoax (on the order of Piltdown Man), which has the effect of corrupting the lives and work of the men and women directly or indirectly connected with it. The story presents a large network, personal, social, political and religious, of associated figures viewed and described with a deeply satiric eye. Wilson creates some marvelously hideous characters. This is in essence an academic novel, but, oddly, one with no particular university or college connected to it; the scholars are all seen away from their schools or are independent researchers. Anthony Burgess called it "one of the five greatest novels of the century," surely hyperbole. I would not rank it nearly that high, but it is one of the better modern British fictions.

I drew a blank on Angus Wilson. The plethora of characters in Anglo-Saxon Attitudes (IIRC he has to give a list of them at the beginning) defeated me - in part due to my habit of reading in 20-minute bursts, no doubt. So I moved to his Late Call which didn't have this (for me) problem, but here I found the narrative mired in the long-forgotten minutiae of mid-20th century English life. His writing seems to be bound by those long departed times - unlike Murdoch who latches on to universally relevant issues.

Have just finished this, McEwan's latest. (Public library has loads of copies):

As always with McEwan, slight, but beautifully written. I'd be very surprised if those who come after us will be discussing it at the end of the century :-)

[ejp626]

As always with McEwan, slight, but beautifully written. I'd be very surprised if those who come after us will be discussing it at the end of the century :-)

That's a very tall order. I suspect that little of what I read from second half of 20th C. or early 21st C. will be discussed at century's end. Probably Don DeLillo (esp. White Noise), Thomas Pynchon, probably Margaret Atwood, Alice Munro (but only in the context of a few stories that get anthologized), maybe Salman Rushdie. I suspect there are some who maybe shouldn't be (Jonathan Franzen). It's just so hard to say, given that the literary landscape is so fragmented. And it depends if we are talking about authors being read in the context of a university course or being more generally popular. In my view, Dickens, Fitzgerald, Hemingway and sometimes Faulkner still have a pretty wide readership, i.e. not just English lit. students. Probably Dostoevsky and Kafka as well. Not as sure about Tolstoy -- his books are just so long.

[paul secor]

Aminatta Forna: The Hired Man

[Leeway]

RODERICK HUDSON - Henry James -1875

So my latest plan is to return every so often to Henry James, and in the interim continue with my general reading of authors that interest me. I've read pretty much all of James, some titles 2 or 3 times, but I find him endlessly fascinating, which is amusing as I had a dread of him earlier in my reading "career."

Anyway, "Roderick Hudson" is James' first full-length novel in book form (there were some previous periodical publications). Only the buds and shoots of James' later style are here, yet James' philosophical and psychological concerns are already present: America v Europe, art v reality (or the everyday), the artist v the non-artist, the role of money, especially gifts and bequests of money, morality, women, male relationships, etc. I've read some fairly persuasive arguments that the relationship between Roderick Hudson, a sculptor, and Rowland Mallett, his benefactor and friend, is essentially a study in male homosexual relations, more openly expressed that in James' later works. I think that is definitely an element, as well as those others I cited. However, I find the novel above all a homage to Nathaniel Hawthorne, whom James admired. In a sense, "Roderick Hudson" is James' "The Marble Faun" or "Blithedale Romance."

[BillF]

Moving on from Spark to another mid-20th century British female writer. Excellent - I shall certainly read another Drabble.

Just finished another one, The Waterfall. Powerful interior monologue - a good read.

[ejp626]

Moving on from Spark to another mid-20th century British female writer. Excellent - I shall certainly read another Drabble.

Just finished another one, The Waterfall. Powerful interior monologue - a good read.

It's so sad that it is clear in the past I read too fast, particularly in the mid 90s. I look over lists of books that I read and can remember very little about them.

AFAIK, I read Drabble's trilogy (The Radiant Way, A Natural Curiosity and The Gates of Ivory) and that's it. There is one fairly powerful image I remember from The Gates of Ivory and that's about it. Maybe someday I will make a dedicated run through her novels (a second time in some cases), though it is not a particularly high priority.

[johnblitweiler]

Earlier this week I quit "the Waterfall" on about page 40. I lost all symnpathy with the childish heroine, she was too much like me.

[Jazzmoose]

I started Verne's Journey to the Center of the Earth. Pretty good stuff; I haven't read Verne since the seventh grade!

[Leeway]

Earlier this week I quit "the Waterfall" on about page 40. I lost all symnpathy with the childish heroine, she was too much like me.

That's funny! I guess in that way, the novel works. Reading Drabble's "Jerusalem the Golden," I also found it hard to be sympathetic to the heroine. The question I'm still uncertain of, is whether Drabble too found her unsympathetic, and was treating her ironically, of if she identified with the heroine, and meant for the heroine to be taken on her own terms. Maybe it's not an either/or. I have "The Waterfall" hanging about, so will eventually see if there is the shock of recognition.