Now reading...

[jlhoots]

Chris Pavone: The Accident

[A Lark Ascending]

Very dull.

Almost a list of places he visited and who he went to parties with.

Very little engagement with the music.

Now just skimming so I can read something more involving.

Edited September 26, 2014 by A Lark Ascending

[jazzbo]

[A Lark Ascending]

Read this short book in one gulp today as a prelude to the more detailed:

Very much as a result of a 'Turner' TV programme last week.

Edit: Read the first 60 pages of the Holmes this afternoon - gripping! The Story of Joseph Banks' journey to Tahiti with Cook. After the porridge of the Schubert book over recent weeks this is just what is needed.

Edited September 28, 2014 by A Lark Ascending

[paul secor]

Javier Marias: A Heart So White

[ejp626]

Wrapped up Dostoevsky's Demons (The Possessed). I enjoyed it a lot. I may do a proper review or just link to the one on my blog.

Currently in the middle of Dostoevsky's The Double. Entertaining, though I do agree with the critics who said it was shamelessly derivative of Gogol's short stories (at least the set-up).

[Leeway]

BRIEFING FOR A DESCENT INTO HELL (1971) - Doris Lessing

Lessing called it an "inner-space fiction." It reminded me of DeQuincey's Confessions of an English Opium Eater and , rather surprisingly, Anthony Burgess' The Doctor is Sick, although each author's mythopedia is wildly different. I think the influence of R.D. Laing is also apparent, as Lessing seems to agree with Laing that the insights of "madness" might be more useful than the "normal" or conventional mind. Lessing was getting at this in Four Gated City, which is strongly interested in mental illness, treatment of such illness, indeed, whether there is such a thing as mental illness. There is also the underlying belief that people can conduct that inner voyage themselves to free themselves of dull conventions and reflexive thinking. There is some wonderful imagery in this book, some wonderfully-delineated scenes. Lessing expertly draws upon probably half a dozen genres in this book, but it is still a difficult read because there is a lack of dramatic tension for the most part. I suppose being inside one's head is more interesting when it's your own.

[jlhoots]

Francine Prose: Lovers At The Chameleon Club (Paris 1932)

One of my favorite writers.

[Matthew]

Zane Grey: His Life, His Adventures, His Women by Thomas H. Pauly. A writer, who once ruled the best-selling charts, but has fallen into neglect. An interesting look at Grey's life, with the most salacious aspect being that Grey had a lot of affairs after his marriage, and his wife was pretty much okay with that (I'm clutching my pearls as I type!). Been slowly reading his books, which I've come to enjoy, in small doses.

[Leeway]

Zane Grey: His Life, His Adventures, His Women by Thomas H. Pauly. A writer, who once ruled the best-selling charts, but has fallen into neglect. An interesting look at Grey's life, with the most salacious aspect being that Grey had a lot of affairs after his marriage, and his wife was pretty much okay with that (I'm clutching my pearls as I type!). Been slowly reading his books, which I've come to enjoy, in small doses.

I didn't know about ZG's personal life, which seems um, interesting, but from my used book scouting days I discovered a thriving collector's market in two types of Zane Grey titles: the Westerns, but they had to be in original dust jackets (usually pretty colorful), and the real-life hunting and fishing adventures. The latter can bring serious money. I hope the wife got the copyrights.

[ejp626]

Currently in the middle of Dostoevsky's The Double. Entertaining, though I do agree with the critics who said it was shamelessly derivative of Gogol's short stories (at least the set-up).

In the end, I found this really disappointing. Not so much due to the ending, which I found awfully obscure, but the main character (the "hero") seems so vacillating and really unappealing. Also, he had these same characteristics even before he encountered his double. Ultimately, I didn't really care whether he triumphed or not.

I will press on with The Gambler, and then turn to some of Tolstoy's novellas.

[Jazzmoose]

BRIEFING FOR A DESCENT INTO HELL (1971) - Doris Lessing

Lessing called it an "inner-space fiction." It reminded me of DeQuincey's Confessions of an English Opium Eater and , rather surprisingly, Anthony Burgess' The Doctor is Sick, although each author's mythopedia is wildly different. I think the influence of R.D. Laing is also apparent, as Lessing seems to agree with Laing that the insights of "madness" might be more useful than the "normal" or conventional mind. Lessing was getting at this in Four Gated City, which is strongly interested in mental illness, treatment of such illness, indeed, whether there is such a thing as mental illness. There is also the underlying belief that people can conduct that inner voyage themselves to free themselves of dull conventions and reflexive thinking. There is some wonderful imagery in this book, some wonderfully-delineated scenes. Lessing expertly draws upon probably half a dozen genres in this book, but it is still a difficult read because there is a lack of dramatic tension for the most part. I suppose being inside one's head is more interesting when it's your own.

That one sounds interesting; I'll have to check it out.

[Simon8]

[Leeway]

WAITING FOR THE BARBARIANS (1980) - J.M. Coetzee

Life goes on sleepily in this far-flung outpost of the Empire under the benign and just administration of the Magistrate. That is, until Colonel Joll shows up with his security forces and the military to wage war against the Barbarians. Joll initiates a program of torture and killing at the outpost and against the barbarians. Eventually, the Magistrate himself falls victim to Joll. Military campaigns against the barbarians are launched, at first successfully, later catastrophically.

A lot of the feeling of Kafka in this tale of an unnamed Empire, at an unchronicled time, with characters we only know by their positions or roles. I think the political allegory is apparent, and maybe more relevant now than even when the book was published. Coetzee writes beautifully. My main complaint about the novel is the character of the Magistrate. Although eminently decent and understanding and imbued with principles of justice and humanism, he yet comes off as a kind of Polonius, talking on --and on. His virtues are quite passive, his politics rather cloudy, his reactions often befuddled, his actions are sometimes simply stupid (at least for someone who runs an outpost). He is as soft as a marshmallow (but as flexible too I suppose), endlessly preoccupied with women and sex and eating well. I suspect a feminist reading of this story would be rather negative. Despite this, the insights of the book are well worth attending to.

[BillF]

WAITING FOR THE BARBARIANS (1980) - J.M. Coetzee

Life goes on sleepily in this far-flung outpost of the Empire under the benign and just administration of the Magistrate. That is, until Colonel Joll shows up with his security forces and the military to wage war against the Barbarians. Joll initiates a program of torture and killing at the outpost and against the barbarians. Eventually, the Magistrate himself falls victim to Joll. Military campaigns against the barbarians are launched, at first successfully, later catastrophically.

A lot of the feeling of Kafka in this tale of an unnamed Empire, at an unchronicled time, with characters we only know by their positions or roles. I think the political allegory is apparent, and maybe more relevant now than even when the book was published. Coetzee writes beautifully. My main complaint about the novel is the character of the Magistrate. Although eminently decent and understanding and imbued with principles of justice and humanism, he yet comes off as a kind of Polonius, talking on --and on. His virtues are quite passive, his politics rather cloudy, his reactions often befuddled, his actions are sometimes simply stupid (at least for someone who runs an outpost). He is as soft as a marshmallow (but as flexible too I suppose), endlessly preoccupied with women and sex and eating well. I suspect a feminist reading of this story would be rather negative. Despite this, the insights of the book are well worth attending to.

A fine book, Leeway, which I read some time ago. I recall thinking how visually evocative it was and what a great film could be made of it. The volume has an honoured place on my bookshelf, along with Life & Times of Michael X and, of course, Disgrace.

[mjazzg]

Read this short book in one gulp today as a prelude to the more detailed:

Very much as a result of a 'Turner' TV programme last week.

Edit: Read the first 60 pages of the Holmes this afternoon - gripping! The Story of Joseph Banks' journey to Tahiti with Cook. After the porridge of the Schubert book over recent weeks this is just what is needed.

I thought "The Age of Wonder" a gripping read throughout. Marvellous book.

I'm reading something very different now

James Baldwin - Tell Me How Long The Train's Been Gone

[Leeway]

WAITING FOR THE BARBARIANS (1980) - J.M. Coetzee

Life goes on sleepily in this far-flung outpost of the Empire under the benign and just administration of the Magistrate. That is, until Colonel Joll shows up with his security forces and the military to wage war against the Barbarians. Joll initiates a program of torture and killing at the outpost and against the barbarians. Eventually, the Magistrate himself falls victim to Joll. Military campaigns against the barbarians are launched, at first successfully, later catastrophically.

A lot of the feeling of Kafka in this tale of an unnamed Empire, at an unchronicled time, with characters we only know by their positions or roles. I think the political allegory is apparent, and maybe more relevant now than even when the book was published. Coetzee writes beautifully. My main complaint about the novel is the character of the Magistrate. Although eminently decent and understanding and imbued with principles of justice and humanism, he yet comes off as a kind of Polonius, talking on --and on. His virtues are quite passive, his politics rather cloudy, his reactions often befuddled, his actions are sometimes simply stupid (at least for someone who runs an outpost). He is as soft as a marshmallow (but as flexible too I suppose), endlessly preoccupied with women and sex and eating well. I suspect a feminist reading of this story would be rather negative. Despite this, the insights of the book are well worth attending to.

A fine book, Leeway, which I read some time ago. I recall thinking how visually evocative it was and what a great film could be made of it. The volume has an honoured place on my bookshelf, along with Life & Times of Michael X and, of course, Disgrace.

I fully agree with you about the novel being quite visually evocative and should have emphasized that more in my comments. While appreciating that aspect while I was reading, the nature of the allegory and the character of the Magistrate, through whom we see the action of the story, took my attention also. For all the virtue of the latter, I nevertheless found him an ambivalent figure, as I commented.

[A Lark Ascending]

I thought "The Age of Wonder" a gripping read throughout. Marvellous book.

I'm 2/3rd through and utterly enthralled. I love that sense of a world where science and the 'artistic' spheres are still very close. People doing mad experiments (inhaling carbon monoxide to see what happens!) and then writing poems.

Intrigued by Humphrey Davy - I know about his discovery of nitrous oxide as an anaesthetic and the invention of the miner's safety lamp but did not realise how important he was in general. That statue in Penzance is duly deserved.

Edited October 8, 2014 by A Lark Ascending

[uli]

e

This morning I read a review of Patrick Modiano's (with whom I was not familiar until today) " Place de l’Étoile" where it was mentioned that he was impressed by above. Since i just didn't know what to read I startet on gutenberg this morning, an entertaining German classic.

[BillF]

This excellent book focuses - as its title suggests - on the Kenton orchestra. As such it whets my appetite to know more about Stan the man. Any other biography recommendations?

[sidewinder]

This excellent book focuses - as its title suggests - on the Kenton orchestra. As such it whets my appetite to know more about Stan the man. Any other biography recommendations?

The one by his daughter?

[alankin]

[BillF]

This excellent book focuses - as its title suggests - on the Kenton orchestra. As such it whets my appetite to know more about Stan the man. Any other biography recommendations?

The one by his daughter?

Pretty disturbed family - the biog I read refers in passing to Kenton Jr's murder rap.

Edited October 10, 2014 by BillF

[paul secor]

Vance Bourjaily: The Man Who Knew Kennedy

[Larry Kart]

Vance Bourjaily: The Man Who Knew Kennedy

If you can find a copy, try his big (in size and reach) novel "The Violated." I read and loved it when it came out (1958), and it holds up on re-reading.