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[A Lark Ascending]

(it has been said that there's a superior English-language bookstore elsewhere in Paris)

The last time I saw Paris there was a WH Smith that was a million times better than your average WH Smith in the UK (W.H. Smith is the main stationary/newspaper/book shop you find in nearly every British town).

It seems to still be there, not far from the Louvre.

http://www.whsmith.fr/

I suspect there are other independents.

One of the best places I've been to for English language books outside English speaking countries is Sweden. Every book shop had a large English section. Didn't have to worry about using up my holiday reads.

Edited June 21, 2015 by A Lark Ascending

[alankin]

Alan Furst - Blood of Victory

 

[paul secor]

Colin Dexter: The Riddle of the Third Mile

[jlhoots]

Szwed's Billie Holiday book

[alankin]

Donald E. Westlake writing as Richard Stark – The Blackbird

[Head Man]

Just finished this. An interesting story but I found the writing style rather uninvolving...something lost in translation, maybe?

 

[ejp626]

I have wrapped up The Restless Supermarket.  It is quite an interesting achievement.  I would definitely recommend it for fans of word play.  It doesn't quite rise to the level of Nabokov or Joyce, but not too far off.  However, it is somewhat difficult to stomach the main character (a retired proof-reader of all things) who is a very conservative stick-in-the-mud, who is fairly racist as well.

Curiously, the novel I've just started is Gabrielle Roy's The Cashier, which stars a man in his late middle ages, who largely disapproves of society and modernity in particular.

It's like they are both contenders in the get-off-my-lawn derby.  Nonetheless, it is a useful corrective, as I have been a bit crankier than usual of late (moving will do that to you!) and this is a reminder that it is not a characteristic that is particularly appealing to others.

[ejp626]

I went to the Lowry Museum last Sunday. As well as the Lowry art, there was a collection of photographs of the Salford slums of the early 20th century, complete with quotes from a Robert Roberts. So inspired was I, I ordered a copy of this. Really enjoying it so far. 

 

I've been there!  I made a trip to Manchester more or less solely so that I could then make a side trip to Salford to see that museum.

[A Lark Ascending]

I went to the Lowry Museum last Sunday. As well as the Lowry art, there was a collection of photographs of the Salford slums of the early 20th century, complete with quotes from a Robert Roberts. So inspired was I, I ordered a copy of this. Really enjoying it so far. 

The 'Classic' Slum! They don't make slums like they used to. Though, I imagine IDS has plans. 

Vaguely recall seeing it in the days when I spent time in university bookshops.  

[Leeway]

 

MAURICE GUEST - (1908) - Henry Handel Richardson (nom de plume of Ethel Florence Lindesay Richardson.

Set in the last years of the 19th century in the music city of Leipzig, Germany, the novel tells the story of "nice guy" Maurice Guest, a music student, who falls into erotic obsession over femme fatale, Louise. Aside from the grim downward spiral of Maurice and Louise, the novel offers many interesting glimpses of the music life of the students who flock to the town. Perhaps not the masterpiece some have deemed it, it is still a very accomplished novel in the great realist tradition. If one enjoys Arnold Bennett, one would probably like this novel. Interestingly, Richardson and Iris Murdoch were related. 

Edited June 27, 2015 by Leeway

[BillF]

Extraordinarily precious and urbane. Influenced according to a review by Ronald Firbank, whom I think I recall reading about 40 years ago, but never again! But I did get to the end, though at 120 pages that wasn't a great achievement.

 

Edited June 29, 2015 by BillF

[A Lark Ascending]

The second Waters I've read. Enjoyed 'The Little Stranger' very much and this is very engaging. Reminds me in style of someone like Daphne du Maurier (though far more sexually explicit) - that same feeling of discomfort with and anxiety for the main characters. 

Gives a vivid picture of London just after World War I with the war haunting everything, new thoughts and ideas stirring but not daring to burst forth beyond the curtains. 

[Leeway]

Extraordinarily precious and urbane. Influenced according to a review by Ronald Firbank, whom I think I recall reading about 40 yeras ago, but never again! But I did get to the end, though at 120 pages that wasn't a great achievement.

 

"Precious and urbane," I like that. Brophy was a big admirer of Firbank, and wrote critical essays praising him. 

Just finished Flesh (1962). The story of Nancy, who is good at sex, and Marcus, who is good at nothing much. They marry, and live an elliptical life, precious and urbane you might say. The themes of the story, which is more fable than novel, are Jewishness, obesity, Rubens.  By the end of the story, Marcus has become a "Rubens woman." Hard to say if this story is a satire by Brophy of her own marriage, or a "coded" work on straight and gay sex. Interestingly, the work is dedicated to Iris Murdoch, Brophy's friend and lover. 

[page]

"Soleil de nuit" - Jacques Prévert and "De mooiste van Jacquest Prévert" - Jacques Prévert

[kinuta]

 

 

An absorbing, compulsive page turner. She writes beautifully. Very highly recommended.

[A Lark Ascending]

The second Waters I've read. Enjoyed 'The Little Stranger' very much and this is very engaging. Reminds me in style of someone like Daphne du Maurier (though far more sexually explicit) - that same feeling of discomfort with and anxiety for the main characters. 

Gives a vivid picture of London just after World War I with the war haunting everything, new thoughts and ideas stirring but not daring to burst forth beyond the curtains. 

Well, this proving rather tiresome now. 600 pages to tell a tale that could have been polished off in 300. Long chapters that seem to go on and on with descriptions of conversations and minor characters. Just want to finish the thing now. 

[jlhoots]

Julia Alvarez: Saving The World

[ejp626]

Back on Molly Keane after a long break (mostly reading Russians).  I'm starting Good Behaviour, which maybe believe to be her best novel of all.

After that (assuming it has turned up) it will be Proud Beggars by Albert Cossery.

[BruceH]

Just read "The Martian."   Fun read.

[Leeway]

BRAVE NEW WORLD - 1932- Aldous Huxley

Decided to re-read this dystopian classic and found it still quite amusing and intellectually engaging, but also surprisingly full of Huxley's own racial and sexual biases and prejudices. 

[BillF]

BRAVE NEW WORLD - 1932- Aldous Huxley

Decided to re-read this dystopian classic and found it still quite amusing and intellectually engaging, but also surprisingly full of Huxley's own racial and sexual biases and prejudices. 

Yes, I go back to it every few decades too. Continues to hold its fascination - particularly with that Fernand Léger cover!

Just finished the engaging and often hilarious autobiography of jazz singer George Melly's Liverpool suburban childhood. So taken by this I'm planning a little walk around Mellyland myself! 

Edited July 6, 2015 by BillF

[Simon8]

[BillF]

Ah yes, in memory of Mr Salter. I've read it, but the earlier works, especially The Hunters, remain my favorites.

[Simon8]

I'll make The Hunters my next Salter read. Light Years was a somewhat frustrating read: brilliant, often gorgeous writing at the service of insufferably bourgeois characters and settings. But beautiful, nevertheless.  

[Head Man]

Salter's a beautiful writer, there's nothing he's written that I've not enjoyed. I particulary enjoyed his non-fiction ...."Gods of Tin" & "Burning the Days" and his last (fiction) book "All That Is".