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[Leeway]

On September 24, 2016 at 10:00 AM, BillF said:

Here's another that fits your category. Or does an Italian-set fiction with Italian characters by an English author fit your category?

No rule here, but I typically have in mind English characters acting in an Italian setting, among themselves, or with Italians. Knowing Fitzgerald, though, I'm confident there are interesting variations being made. 

[ejp626]

I'm about a quarter into Lethem's Chronic City.  Still finding it interesting.  It almost strikes me as a lost novel by Don DeLillo, though it is interesting that there is a subplot involving an astronaut (and 4 cosmonauts) stuck in a space station, probably never to return.  I wonder if this is a shout-out of sorts to PKD's Dr. Bloodmoney.  I would be a bit surprised if Lethem had not read Dr. Bloodmoney.  (Actually, I did a quick search and Lethem is a huge fan of PKD and has read essentially all of his work.)

[Leeway]

Howards End - E.M. Forster

Moving ahead with more Forster. This is a more substantial and ambitious novel than Where Angels Fear to Tread. It has many virtues but I'm not quite in sympathy with Forster's project of uniting Imperialism with Humanism (I'm simplifying drastically here). "Only connect" says Forster.  It should be so simple. 

[fasstrack]

Not reading it quite yet, but Terry Waldo's This Was Ragtime looks quite promising.

I often listen to Terry's groups playing hither and yon in NYC. I've heard him lecture informally on Ragtime, Geeche and Gulla culture as recently as this past Sunday at his regular afternoon gig at Fat Cat. Between his very knowledgeable playing, song list, speaking and even sorta charming singing he seems to really know his onions.

Perhaps worth a gander. I'm sure it is obtainable at amazon or elsewhere...

 

 

Edited September 28, 2016 by fasstrack

[Leeway]

Another Italianate novel from Forster. Quite readable. 

[BillF]

1 hour ago, Leeway said:

Another Italianate novel from Forster. Quite readable. 

I had it 1st year university as a set text, but I subsequently read all the Forsters and think all great, with the exception of Maurice. (This isn't for reasons of prejudice - I just think he'd lost the touch by the time he got to writing that one.)

[A Lark Ascending]

Part of Walker's 'Bruno' series - standard police procedural but set in Perigord with a lovely sense of place, mouthwatering accounts of cooking local dishes (you could probably cook the dish yourself if your local supermarket has truffles) and a very fetching new puppy. Essentially a larger than life yarn (won't be being studied in a university English Department near you any day soon) but great fun and idle for winding down. 

Edited September 28, 2016 by A Lark Ascending

[paul secor]

2 hours ago, A Lark Ascending said:

Part of Walker's 'Bruno' series - standard police procedural but set in Perigord with a lovely sense of place, mouthwatering accounts of cooking local dishes (you could probably cook the dish yourself if your local supermarket has truffles) and a very fetching new puppy. Essentially a larger than life yarn (won't be being studied in a university English Department near you any day soon) but great fun and idle for winding down. 

I have the first novel in that series on my "mysteries to read" list.

[jlhoots]

Ann Patchett: Commonwealth

[Leeway]

Perhaps Forster's best novel; I think it just has the edge on Howards End, although I could certainly see the other side of that question. Passage is even more impressive when viewed through the prism of Indian Independence and Partition, and the subsequent rise of a more militant Islam. Although I think there is always a question when Westerners write about colonial subjects, I think Forster pulls it off in a very credible way. 

 

[BillF]

1 hour ago, Leeway said:

Forster's best novel.

 

I agree. (Not aware of anyone who doesn't.)

[Leeway]

Relentlessly downbeat depiction of the life of the Parisian demimonde and the pathetic female protagonist. As Rhys puts it in the story, "The drably terrible life of the under-dog."  The story is based to some extent on Rhys' affair with Ford Madox Ford and FMF's female partner. 

Edited October 2, 2016 by Leeway

[paul secor]

Arne Dahl: Misterioso

There's a connection in the book with Monk's 1958 Five Spot recording (and an unreleased track). OK, but I found that the plot was too convoluted and there were too many characters for me to keep track of without looking back on what I'd already read. There are better Swedish mysteries out there.

[Leeway]

Much in the same vein as Quartet.  This book could justly be titled, Down and Out in Paris and London." Although the female protagonist exhibits the limits of pathos, she remains curiously unsympathetic for the most part. Definitely in the school of hard knocks. 

[ejp626]

I just wrapped up Lethem's Chronic City.  I'd have to say it has become my favorite Lethem novel, edging out Motherless Brooklyn.  I have not read Fortress of Solitude (probably will in 2018!) but I suspect Chronic City will still be number one.  As I said, it definitely feels a bit like a lost DeLillo novel with a preoccupation on what is real and what is simulation.  (If you do read Chronic City, it is best to have read Dr. Bloodmoney beforehand.)

I'm starting Kay's Lucky Coin Variety now, then I'll probably tackle a pop-sociology book called Floating City.

[jlhoots]

2 hours ago, ejp626 said:

I just wrapped up Lethem's Chronic City.  I'd have to say it has become my favorite Lethem novel, edging out Motherless Brooklyn.  I have not read Fortress of Solitude (probably will in 2018!) but I suspect Chronic City will still be number one.  As I said, it definitely feels a bit like a lost DeLillo novel with a preoccupation on what is real and what is simulation.  (If you do read Chronic City, it is best to have read Dr. Bloodmoney beforehand.)

I'm starting Kay's Lucky Coin Variety now, then I'll probably tackle a pop-sociology book called Floating City.

I believe you'll like Fortress Of Solitude.

[jlhoots]

Craig Johnson: An Obvious Fact

[ejp626]

3 hours ago, jlhoots said:

I believe you'll like Fortress Of Solitude.

It does look fairly interesting.  I'll see if I can move it up a bit on the list...

[A Lark Ascending]

Two books about egocentric young men causing havoc and not giving a damn about the impact on those around them:

The Led Zeppelin is a fairly standard rock bio. Tells the tale of the music reasonably well, documents their rise to success (and their very rapid fall) and all the bad behaviour that is well known. Most shocking revelation was Plant announcing to a concert audience that they were off into tax exile and that the Chancellor of the Exchequer could stuff it (or maybe Page saying he intended to vote for Thatcher in 1979 and had voted Tory last time). Not sure why I should be surprised that rock stars vote Tory. Saddest part was watching Page's demise into addiction and then endlessly waiting for a Led Zeppelin revival. Written in 2009 so before he carried out yet another recycling of the catalogue. 

'The Plantagenets' is a very enjoyable dash through 300 years of history in 600 pages. Studied quite a lot of this in some detail 40 years ago at uni but it's an area of history that only get covered in bite-sized chunks in schools - 1066, Castles, Bad/Good King John, Black Death etc - so it was good to reacquaint, especially in the area in which I was fuzziest - Henry III, Edward III in particular. An old fashioned 'men fighting battles and making laws' type history but a strong, driving sense of narrative. He tends to start each chapter imaging a scenario - Richard I standing over Henry II's corpse and imagining , for example - standard school teacher starter stuff but a bit unsettling in a book. How does he know Richard thought that? No referencing so it's hard to tell how much is sourced and how much imagined (the latter I expect). Battle scenes are somewhat hackneyed - lots of standard blood and guts description. Most shocking part - a description of Edward III launching his invasion of France and riding through Normandy murdering and burning indiscriminately. Why? Because he wanted to be king of France as well.

Recommended if you want a strong narrative tale of this part of the Middle Ages (though there are a fair few individual bios by the likes of Marc Morris and Ian Mortimer that I suspect will be broader). I'll certainly read his follow up on the 15thC ('The Hollow Crown').   

Now onto something calmer:

 

  

Edited October 6, 2016 by A Lark Ascending

[Leeway]

My least favorite of the Forster novels I have read.  I found the tone problematic, and the story unpersuasive. Forster's habit of coincidence and killing off characters is to the fore here. I do like the image of Cambridge he presents, and the character of Ansell.  I understand this was Forster's favorite among his works, which goes to show artists don't always get it right either. I suspect it was because of the Maurice-like themes that percolate beneath the surface, as well as the more poetic aspects of the narrative. 

[ejp626]

On 10/3/2016 at 6:58 PM, ejp626 said:

I'm starting Kay's Lucky Coin Variety now, then I'll probably tackle a pop-sociology book called Floating City.

I generally wasn't that impressed with Floating City, as I didn't think the underlying concepts were all that insightful.  He also seems to be having a nervous breakdown all through the second half of the book (which is really more of a memoir than any sociological research).

I liked several aspects of Kay's Lucky Coin Variety, though there were some frankly unbelievable plot twists towards the end.  Though if one is interested in the younger generation of Koreans living in Canada then it is a good starting point.

I'm going to read Deyan Sudjic's The 100 Mile City, which should be somewhat more intellectually rewarding (than Floating City) and Madison Smartt Bell's Waiting for the End of the World.  I read this years ago and really liked the book.  I am a bit nervous I will have changed in the meantime and not like it as much any longer.  I guess I'll know soon.

 

 

 

[Leeway]

This book was influential for me when I was young. I still admire it, but I fear the emotional resonance is gone. 

[BillF]

4 hours ago, Leeway said:

This book was influential for me when I was young. I still admire it, but I fear the emotional resonance is gone. 

Haven't read it since I was a Young Man, but would probably feel the same way. 

[BillF]

Le Carré's latest - an assorted ragbag of readable anecdotes.

[alankin]

Richard Russo - Straight Man