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[BillF]

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.

Perhaps it's time I went back to The Heart of the Matter - I haven't read it in 40 years, but remember I liked it.

The only Dos Passos I read - in the 1960s - was Manhattan Transfer and I don't think I managed to get to the end of it.

[ejp626]

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.

I don't think I'd bother with Lagoon. I'm probably not going to finish it myself. I am pretty allergic to books, even those written by Africans, with pidgin English.

[kinuta]

[A Lark Ascending]

Read that one last year - absolutely superb. I don't know a great deal about science in history (or science full stop) - this got me absolutely fascinated, linking it in with Romanticism.

Edited April 10, 2015 by A Lark Ascending

[paul secor]

Ali Smith: There but for the

[ejp626]

Ali Smith: There but for the

The reviews (by average people not literary reviewers) are all over the map. Interesting. You sometimes get this wide range of opinion on Douglas Coupland's work as well. Looks like one I might borrow from library but definitely not purchase.

Anyway, going to launch into Diary of a Nobody today.

[paul secor]

Ali Smith: There but for the

The reviews (by average people not literary reviewers) are all over the map. Interesting. You sometimes get this wide range of opinion on Douglas Coupland's work as well. Looks like one I might borrow from library but definitely not purchase.

Anyway, going to launch into Diary of a Nobody today.

I got the copy I read from the library and didn't know what to expect. I enjoyed it so much that I bought a copy yesterday. It's a book that I'll reread and/or delve into sections of in the future.

[ejp626]

Ali Smith: There but for the

The reviews (by average people not literary reviewers) are all over the map. Interesting. You sometimes get this wide range of opinion on Douglas Coupland's work as well. Looks like one I might borrow from library but definitely not purchase.

Anyway, going to launch into Diary of a Nobody today.

I got the copy I read from the library and didn't know what to expect. I enjoyed it so much that I bought a copy yesterday. It's a book that I'll reread and/or delve into sections of in the future.

Ok, good to know. I'll definitely try to get around to it some day. I have just the vaguest idea of its plot, though actually it sounds in this case the comparison to Coupland is apt -- some aspects sound a bit like Generation A (not a misprint, a newish book -- which has garnered divisive reviews). I've liked some of Smith's other work.

[paul secor]

Ali Smith: There but for the

The reviews (by average people not literary reviewers) are all over the map. Interesting. You sometimes get this wide range of opinion on Douglas Coupland's work as well. Looks like one I might borrow from library but definitely not purchase.

Anyway, going to launch into Diary of a Nobody today.

I got the copy I read from the library and didn't know what to expect. I enjoyed it so much that I bought a copy yesterday. It's a book that I'll reread and/or delve into sections of in the future.

Ok, good to know. I'll definitely try to get around to it some day. I have just the vaguest idea of its plot, though actually it sounds in this case the comparison to Coupland is apt -- some aspects sound a bit like Generation A (not a misprint, a newish book -- which has garnered divisive reviews). I've liked some of Smith's other work.

Haven't read the Coupland (or any Coupland). I'll have to try him someday.

[Leeway]

ONITSHA - 1991- J.M.G. LeClezio

Another reading in Africana fiction. I came across this book on the shelves of the local library (which are pretty threadbare) purely by happenstance. Never heard of the book or the author, who it turns out is a Nobel Prize winner in Literature. The story of a young boy and his Italo-French mother who leave France shortly after WWII to rejoin father, an Englishman who has taken up a trading position in Onitsha, a trading port on the banks of the Niger river. Exposure to the remnants of colonial life leaves a bitter impression on the boy and his mother, and they become increasingly sympathetic to the natives. The Nobel prize refers to Le Clezio's "poetic adventure and sensual ecstasy" and that is certainly the nature of this book.

[BillF]

Yet another mid-20th century English female novelist! This prize-winning first book from 1950 has some compelling scenes, but also some plotting lapses and lurches into melodrama. Kept me reading though!

[ejp626]

I found Diary of a Nobody a bit exhausting. So many mishaps in one household. However, you can clearly see that Mr. and Mrs. Pooter (and Mr. particularly) are the putative ancestors of Hyacinth Bucket from Keeping Up Appearances. (A show about social strivers that pretty much left me cold.)

Just starting John A. Williams' !Click Song. So far I am liking it a bit better than The Man Who Cried I Am.

This month and next month are set aside to go through novels I've carted around for over 10 years in some cases without cracking them. Now is the time to find out if it was worth it.

In addition to !Click Song, I am tackling The Burn by Vassily Aksynov and Bleeding London by Geoff Nicholson. This should keep me fairly busy. After this, I will read Of Human Bondage, where I am fairly certain I will enjoy the book.

[Matthew]

Decline and Fall by Evelyn Waugh. Granted, this is a very light-weight book, so light, I need to tie it down so it doesn't float away when I read it. Given that, I still find this one of the most enjoyable Waugh novels to read, it has that uniquely English humor that reigned in pre-WWII England, and in this aspect, lies its genius.

[A Lark Ascending]

Decline and Fall by Evelyn Waugh. Granted, this is a very light-weight book, so light, I need to tie it down so it doesn't float away when I read it. Given that, I still find this one of the most enjoyable Waugh novels to read, it has that uniquely English humor that reigned in pre-WWII England, and in this aspect, lies its genius.

Just finished that myself a couple of hours back.

Didn't care for it at all. Privilege making fun of the world of privilege he was happily luxuriating in.

[Matthew]

Decline and Fall by Evelyn Waugh. Granted, this is a very light-weight book, so light, I need to tie it down so it doesn't float away when I read it. Given that, I still find this one of the most enjoyable Waugh novels to read, it has that uniquely English humor that reigned in pre-WWII England, and in this aspect, lies its genius.

Just finished that myself a couple of hours back.

Didn't care for it at all. Privilege making fun of the world of privilege he was happily luxuriating in.

I can understand what you're saying, not just about this book, but about Waugh in general. His unpleasant personality and snooty misanthropy, do tend to bleed into his novels.

Edited April 14, 2015 by Matthew

[A Lark Ascending]

I read 'Brideshead' years ago and recall enjoying it.

But there was something about 'Decline and Fall' that grated.

I'd hoped to enjoy the book and then work through some of the other novels. But I've decided against that.

[BillF]

Decline and Fall by Evelyn Waugh. Granted, this is a very light-weight book, so light, I need to tie it down so it doesn't float away when I read it. Given that, I still find this one of the most enjoyable Waugh novels to read, it has that uniquely English humor that reigned in pre-WWII England, and in this aspect, lies its genius.

Just finished that myself a couple of hours back.

Didn't care for it at all. Privilege making fun of the world of privilege he was happily luxuriating in.

I can understand what you're saying, not just about this book, but about Waugh in general. His unpleasant personality and snooty misanthropy, do tend to bleed into his novels.

20th century literary masterpiece as far as I'm concerned, and my favourite book by Waugh. Yes, he was a very unpleasant character - I've read a biography - but he produced books of superlative literary merit. There's a very serious and tragic undertone to Decline - I'd call it a satirical tragicomedy. And, Bev, if it hadn't been for the opening passage of this book, I wouldn't have realised the significance of our leaders' Bullingdon Club membership when the media got on to it a few years ago.

[BillF]

I read 'Brideshead' years ago and recall enjoying it.

But there was something about 'Decline and Fall' that grated.

I'd hoped to enjoy the book and then work through some of the other novels. But I've decided against that.

Wow, we really are differing today! The only Waugh I don't like is Brideshead. For me its sentimental nostagic romanticism comes as a real disappointment after the incisive, beautifully handled satire of the early novels, of which the best is Decline IMHO.

[A Lark Ascending]

Yes, I noticed the Bullingdon reference (thanks to the copious explanatory notes at the back of my edition).

The book actually reminded me of Grand Budapest Hotel (the film). I didn't like that either!

I read 'Brideshead' years ago and recall enjoying it.

But there was something about 'Decline and Fall' that grated.

I'd hoped to enjoy the book and then work through some of the other novels. But I've decided against that.

Wow, we really are differing today! The only Waugh I don't like is Brideshead. For me its sentimental nostagic romanticism comes as a real disappointment after the incisive, beautifully handled satire of the early novels, of which the best is Decline IMHO.

Well, it must be 20 years at least since I read it. Can't have enjoyed it that much as I never followed up on Waugh until now (it was that 'Romantic Moderns' book that made me pick D&F up).

I'm happier with Orwell in the 30s. From a pretty similar social background to Waugh but looking a different way.

A while since I read anything by him but I always enjoyed Huxley too - he seemed to write about that 'Bright Young Things' world.

Edited April 14, 2015 by A Lark Ascending

[BillF]

Yes, I noticed the Bullingdon reference (thanks to the copious explanatory notes at the back of my edition).

The book actually reminded me of Grand Budapest Hotel (the film). I didn't like that either!

I'm happier with Orwell in the 30s. From a pretty similar social background to Waugh but looking a different way.

Another great favourite. In a way they're like two sides of the same coin. I've read just everything by both of them. Probably the two greatest writers of English prose in their century.

[A Lark Ascending]

I'm not really a reader of 'literature' as such so quality of prose does not register (consciously, at least). I'm afraid I read fiction for the story lines, characterisation and the social angles.

You'll not be surprised that both 'The Waves' and 'Ulysses' utterly defeated me!

Orwell was the first 'literature'-type writer who grabbed me. Going through most of his books (including the Penguin volumes of his letters and reviews) between the ages of 15-18 probably had more influence on my view of the world than anything else.

Edited April 14, 2015 by A Lark Ascending

[BillF]

Orwell was the first 'literature'-type writer who grabbed me.

Me too! First read 1984 at the age of 16 and am still fascinated by it.

[Matthew]

Decline and Fall by Evelyn Waugh. Granted, this is a very light-weight book, so light, I need to tie it down so it doesn't float away when I read it. Given that, I still find this one of the most enjoyable Waugh novels to read, it has that uniquely English humor that reigned in pre-WWII England, and in this aspect, lies its genius.

Just finished that myself a couple of hours back.

Didn't care for it at all. Privilege making fun of the world of privilege he was happily luxuriating in.

I can understand what you're saying, not just about this book, but about Waugh in general. His unpleasant personality and snooty misanthropy, do tend to bleed into his novels.

20th century literary masterpiece as far as I'm concerned, and my favourite book by Waugh. Yes, he was a very unpleasant character - I've read a biography - but he produced books of superlative literary merit. There's a very serious and tragic undertone to Decline - I'd call it a satirical tragicomedy. And, Bev, if it hadn't been for the opening passage of this book, I wouldn't have realised the significance of our leaders' Bullingdon Club membership when the media got on to it a few years ago.

I'd agree on the "very serious and tragic undertone to Decline", as it shows people adrift in the world and society that is "indifferent" -- though the good does win out, and even Grimes gets out alive. Speaking of Grimes, he has one of my all-time favorite lines: "I can’t quite explain it, but I don’t believe one can ever be unhappy for long provided one does just exactly what one wants to and when one wants to. The last chap who put me on my feet said I was ‘singularly in harmony with the primitive promptings of humanity.’" This line alone, made the book for me.

[Leeway]

Orwell was the first 'literature'-type writer who grabbed me.

Me too! First read 1984 at the age of 16 and am still fascinated by it.

Joyce has always been my literary lodestar: "Dubliners," "Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man" and "Ulysses." Never got far with "Finnegan's Wake" though.

[Leeway]

KING LEOPOLD'S GHOST - Adam Hochschild

Decided to read some history related to the African fiction I've mostly been reading. This is a horrifying account of the brutal exploitation of Congo-Central Africa resources and people by King Leopold and his minions. Leopold pretty much owned it and ran it as his personal fiefdom. Forced labor, mutilation, murder--all part of Leopold's system for extracting the maximum amount of ivory and rubber. A chapter on Conrad, who spent 6 months there, whose Kurtz expressed the state of things, "The horror! The horror"!