Now reading...

[BillF]

Still with the albeit flawed novels of Stanley Middleton. Perhaps it's because he writes of the middle-class life of northern English cities that I know so well.

Not read any of Middleton, but sounds like he has affinities to Arnold Bennett (stories of the Five Towns, etc) ?

Yes, a similar world geographically and I suppose socially to Bennett, except that he's more or less of our own times.

[paul secor]

Tom Stoppard's The Real Thing

[Leeway]

A deserved classic but perhaps more problematic as a depiction of pre-colonial tribal life in Nigeria and the onset of colonialism than it initially appears. But the book is rich in humanity and quiet humor. Moving on to No Longer at Ease.

[ejp626]

Nearly done with 1919 (second in USA Trilogy).

This one happens to be illustrated with a bunch of sketches by Reginald Marsh (one of the New York Ashcan artists of the 1920s/30s). Dos Passos's cynicism about everything really comes through here, and perhaps is even stronger in The Big Money. You can sort of see why he eventually broke with all progressive political movements.

Anyway, the Marsh line drawings are pretty cool. (They aren't in the Modern Library version and I don't believe they are in the L.O.A. edition that came out recently.) I went back and forth for a while, but just ordered a set that is supposed to have all the illustrations from all three books in the trilogy. It just wasn't clear whether I could track these down at the local libraries. Still, the likelihood of my reading the USA Trilogy a second time is fairly low, but I guess I can envision thumbing through the pictures from time to time...

For a complete change after this, I am going to read Pullman's His Dark Materials trilogy. This is largely to see if my son is old enough to handle this material (probably so).

Then The Diary of a Nobody. I've gotten about 25% through in the past, but want to just push on this time. A bit later in the year, I plan on reading Three Men in a Boat (to Say Nothing of the Dog). Something light from time to time to cleanse the mental palate I guess...

[Matthew]

The Untouchable by John Banville. By far, my favorite Banville, the writing is top-notch, and the character of Victor Maskell is finely drawn. Very nice touches and lines through out the book.

Edited April 2, 2015 by Matthew

[Leeway]

NO LONGER AT EASE - China Achebe

The 2nd volume of the African Trilogy, focusing on Obi Okonkwo, the grandson of the fierce warrior in Things Fall Apart. The latter was set circa 1890, while this novel is set in1950s Nigeria. I quite enjoyed it. It's written with a kind of urban cool style, in keeping with its subject matter.

[ejp626]

NO LONGER AT EASE - China Achebe

The 2nd volume of the African Trilogy, focusing on Obi Okonkwo, the grandson of the fierce warrior in Things Fall Apart. The latter was set circa 1890, while this novel is set in1950s Nigeria. I quite enjoyed it. It's written with a kind of urban cool style, in keeping with its subject matter.

This sounds a bit more up my alley, though I've haven't read it (yet). I just wasn't that into Things Fall Apart.

[A Lark Ascending]

I loved Wilson's Spanish/Portuguese based novels. This is another superb, tense thriller set mainly in London but with the odd trip out to Mumbai and Dubai.

[BillF]

Perhaps more accurately titled "Me and Lennie", autobiographical musings on jazz by a Brit who was part of the New York scene from 1949.

Central is Peter's view that jazz reached its improvisational peak in 1945-55, after which there was a decline linked to the commercial promotion of some musicians at the expense of others like him and Lennie.

Of particular interest to me was Peter's recollection of his time as a teacher on the jazz course at Leeds College of Music when I knew him and Lennie's appearance at the Harrogate festival when Peter took me to meet Lennie.

[jlhoots]

Oxford American - Texas music issue

[paul secor]

Oxford American - Texas music issue

Anything on Doug Sahm in that issue?

[jlhoots]

Oxford American - Texas music issue

Anything on Doug Sahm in that issue?

Yes - quite a bit.

[paul secor]

Oxford American - Texas music issue

Anything on Doug Sahm in that issue?

Yes - quite a bit.

Thanks. I'll probably pick it up.

[kinuta]

A fast and easy read after the oppressive final parts of the Frank Capra biography.

[A Lark Ascending]

Second Lawton I've read. Detective series set in 30s/40s Britain (though lots about mainland Europe too). This one takes half the book before the main character (Inspector Troy) takes main stage, moving between the Nazification of Austria and Auschwitz and the Manhattan Project before arriving in post-war Britain. The centre is a Cold War theme. Strong musical references too - the inspector is an amateur pianist with a fondness for Debussy and Art Tatum; a cellist and professional pianist are key characters too.

Very enjoyable though not as convincing as Alan Furst.

[kinuta]

How is this book? I'd like to read something about Capra that delves a little deeper than the usual "Mr. Optimism" take.

It delves very deeply into his character, forever dispelling the popular image of Capra as a Norman Rockwell type champion of the little man.

It covers his life in detail, from his early life in Sicily to his death at 93.

It puts his major films in clear historic and social perspective, shows what a disaster WW2 was for him, he never really found his feet again, apart from the final supernova of It's A Wonderful Life.

The parts that cover the postwar years are depressing reading as it charts his decline and the fearful cloud of MaCarthyism and the House Unamerican Activities, studio blacklist era that really did much to destroy his spirit. His screenwriting collaborations are thoroughly covered.

It's worth reading if you are a Capra fan and don't mind having the way you look at his films substantially altered.

The same author has written two other important director biographies, John Ford and Stephen Spielberg. They are both on my reading list.

[jlhoots]

Smith Henderson: 4th Of July Creek

Edited April 5, 2015 by jlhoots

[Matthew]

How is this book? I'd like to read something about Capra that delves a little deeper than the usual "Mr. Optimism" take.

It delves very deeply into his character, forever dispelling the popular image of Capra as a Norman Rockwell type champion of the little man.

It covers his life in detail, from his early life in Sicily to his death at 93.

It puts his major films in clear historic and social perspective, shows what a disaster WW2 was for him, he never really found his feet again, apart from the final supernova of It's A Wonderful Life.

The parts that cover the postwar years are depressing reading as it charts his decline and the fearful cloud of MaCarthyism and the House Unamerican Activities, studio blacklist era that really did much to destroy his spirit. His screenwriting collaborations are thoroughly covered.

It's worth reading if you are a Capra fan and don't mind having the way you look at his films substantially altered.

The same author has written two other important director biographies, John Ford and Stephen Spielberg. They are both on my reading list.

Many thanks for the review, I'll have to get it.

[Leeway]

ARROW OF GOD - Chinua Achebe. 3rd volume in the African Trilogy.

The story of a high priest whose pride and arrogance makes him lose his followers and his own mind. Situated temporally between "Things Fall Apart" and "No Longer at Ease," this is probably the most difficult volume in the trilogy. The mass of folklore, custom and religious belief, while interesting, often overwhelm the narrative.

[Jazzmoose]

I'm embarrassed. It never occurred to me to look for other books by Achebe; didn't even know I'd read part of a trilogy. Jeez.. Next thing you know, someone will tell me Harper Lee has more than one novel...

[A Lark Ascending]

Two very different worlds...though both involve self-indulgent arty types.

Enjoyable Easter reading.

Edited April 7, 2015 by A Lark Ascending

[BillF]

Two very different worlds...though both involve self-indulgent arty types.

Enjoyable Easter reading.

I found Romantic Moderns very readable.

[ejp626]

60 pages to go in The Big Money (vol. 3 of USA Trilogy). I'll cross the finish line tonight. It definitely has some interesting moments. What is a bit dispiriting is how many of his characters end up as slightly bad-tempered functional alcoholics, even during this Prohibition Era. I guess he was mostly interested in showing how the grind of trying to make a living in the US (and how many phonies there were and scam artists) broke almost everyone down eventually. One character in particular went from being a good airline mechanic and inventor to a pampered executive who screwed his workers but still thought he was one of the guys. He was one of the biggest lushes in the book. Where Dos Passos is quite frustrating is that few of his storylines (and we follow at least a dozen main characters throughout the trilogy) have any kind of wrap up. He simply stops writing about them. It's sort of akin to a long running TV series but with no finale. I guess this was kind of radical for its time, but I found it frustrating.

As I said, Diary of a Nobody quite soon and, believe it or not, a SF novel set primarily in Lagos: Nnedi Okorafor's Lagoon.

[Leeway]

THE HEART OF THE MATTER - Graham Greene

Based on Greene's time in Freetown, Sierra Leone, the novel only ostensibly is an African novel. It has the usual tropical tropes: heat, rain, bugs, "boys," etc. But Greene's type of portable (and potable, considering the among of alcohol drunk) misery could be set anywhere from Asia to Mexico and the Caribbean, and has. The absence of any real African life might be more telling than what is here. Anyway, still a great novel, even if at times I hear the apparatus of religion clunking too noisily away.

60 pages to go in The Big Money (vol. 3 of USA Trilogy). I'll cross the finish line tonight. It definitely has some interesting moments. What is a bit dispiriting is how many of his characters end up as slightly bad-tempered functional alcoholics, even during this Prohibition Era. I guess he was mostly interested in showing how the grind of trying to make a living in the US (and how many phonies there were and scam artists) broke almost everyone down eventually. One character in particular went from being a good airline mechanic and inventor to a pampered executive who screwed his workers but still thought he was one of the guys. He was one of the biggest lushes in the book. Where Dos Passos is quite frustrating is that few of his storylines (and we follow at least a dozen main characters throughout the trilogy) have any kind of wrap up. He simply stops writing about them. It's sort of akin to a long running TV series but with no finale. I guess this was kind of radical for its time, but I found it frustrating.

As I said, Diary of a Nobody quite soon and, believe it or not, a SF novel set primarily in Lagos: Nnedi Okorafor's Lagoon.

I read Dos Passos trilogy back in grad school. It always felt quite cinematic to me, as if Dos Passos took Sergei Eisenstein as a model.

Although I have an allergy to most SF, I'll give Okorafor's "Lagoon" a try if you recommend it.

[ejp626]

I read Dos Passos trilogy back in grad school. It always felt quite cinematic to me, as if Dos Passos took Sergei Eisenstein as a model.

Although I have an allergy to most SF, I'll give Okorafor's "Lagoon" a try if you recommend it.

That's a good metaphor. I'm not in love with it, but it is interesting and I'm glad to cross it off the list.

As far as Lagoon, I need to get a bit further in before I can give it a rating. At the moment I am trending slightly towards the negative.