A Lark Ascending Posted May 2, 2012 Report Share Posted May 2, 2012 (edited) Enjoyed his first two so much I've put off reading this for 18 monthseven though it's been on my shelves that long. Now the 1974-9 sequel is upon us + a TV documentary so I thought I'd better pull my finger out.: First 100 pages whizzed by. As always, he's very good at placing the politics in a social context; also at bringing out the continuities between eras where standard accounts tend to exaggerate change. He most definitely does not like Tony Benn (though generally quite detached, his right of centre sympathies seep through). A pity he's chosen one of the eras most annoying records to title the sequel: How much does this add to the currently running four part tv series ? I've videoed (or freeviewed!) the series to watch after reading the books - should have no. 3 finished in about ten days. I imagine I'll leave it a while befoire reading 4.. Then I'll watch the series. I get the impression the series is based around books 3 + 4. Can't imagine the films can get close to the detail of the books. He's very, very easy to read. This is popular history rather than coalface historian stuff. Edited May 2, 2012 by A Lark Ascending Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kinuta Posted May 4, 2012 Report Share Posted May 4, 2012 (edited) Finished All Hell Let Loose, which was excellent, and have started this. Edited May 4, 2012 by kinuta Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jazzmoose Posted May 4, 2012 Report Share Posted May 4, 2012 I'll be honest; I sure wish I'd ordered the right book-if you want to try Inferno, just let me know... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BillF Posted May 6, 2012 Report Share Posted May 6, 2012 Have now read all of the Le Carré spy novels ... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Valeria Victrix Posted May 9, 2012 Report Share Posted May 9, 2012 Rereading Banks lately - he's one of the very best sci-fi authors currently writing IMO. This one is - as always - a damn fine read, but not quite up with his best. I enjoyed it much more first time round. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
B. Goren. Posted May 10, 2012 Report Share Posted May 10, 2012 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jazzmoose Posted May 10, 2012 Report Share Posted May 10, 2012 I picked this one up just to get over the free shipping level, basically, but it's a very good read. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BillF Posted May 10, 2012 Report Share Posted May 10, 2012 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BruceH Posted May 12, 2012 Report Share Posted May 12, 2012 Rereading Banks lately - he's one of the very best sci-fi authors currently writing IMO. This one is - as always - a damn fine read, but not quite up with his best. I enjoyed it much more first time round. There are some books in which his sadism gets the upper hand. This is one of them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Head Man Posted May 12, 2012 Report Share Posted May 12, 2012 I chanced on a broadcast on Radio 4 where Julian Barnes & Hermione Lee discussed this novel and so decided to give it a go. It is the first and only novel of a French writer who died in the early days of World War 1 and is very evocative of time and place. A delightful read. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thedwork Posted May 12, 2012 Report Share Posted May 12, 2012 (edited) halfway through this and am literally laughing-out-loud every page. fantastic. a much welcome respite from the last few years of my exclusive non-fiction/political journalism reading... Edited May 12, 2012 by thedwork Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BillF Posted May 12, 2012 Report Share Posted May 12, 2012 halfway through this and am literally laughing-out-loud every page. fantastic. a much welcome respite from the last few years of my exclusive non-fiction/political journalism reading... Yes, it was a good read! Liked this one, too - just the thing for those who discuss music on the internet! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lazaro Vega Posted May 12, 2012 Report Share Posted May 12, 2012 (edited) "Blond" by Joyce Carol Oates. Edited May 12, 2012 by Lazaro Vega Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jazzbo Posted May 12, 2012 Report Share Posted May 12, 2012 I joined the Pete Campbell Book of the Month club. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Tapscott Posted May 12, 2012 Report Share Posted May 12, 2012 (edited) Great book. Parts of it read like an exciting spy novel, except of course, this was for real. Edited May 12, 2012 by John Tapscott Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paul secor Posted May 12, 2012 Report Share Posted May 12, 2012 Great book. Parts of it read like an exciting spy novel, except of course, this was for real. Saw a documentary film on Bonhoeffer about a year ago. A fascinating tragic life. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
T.D. Posted May 14, 2012 Report Share Posted May 14, 2012 I may live to regret this (the first 200 pp. have been good enough, but have scarcely made a dent in the total): recently started a one-volume (not just a brick, more like a cinder-block) edition of Paul Scott's The Raj Quartet. Believe it or not, I've almost finished! Rather strange, but very good. I can't outright recommend the series for general consumption due to length (over 1,900 pp.!). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Valeria Victrix Posted May 17, 2012 Report Share Posted May 17, 2012 I may live to regret this (the first 200 pp. have been good enough, but have scarcely made a dent in the total): recently started a one-volume (not just a brick, more like a cinder-block) edition of Paul Scott's The Raj Quartet. Believe it or not, I've almost finished! Rather strange, but very good. I can't outright recommend the series for general consumption due to length (over 1,900 pp.!). That was televised in a classic series back in the 80s by the Beeb. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jazzmoose Posted May 17, 2012 Report Share Posted May 17, 2012 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
T.D. Posted May 17, 2012 Report Share Posted May 17, 2012 I may live to regret this (the first 200 pp. have been good enough, but have scarcely made a dent in the total): recently started a one-volume (not just a brick, more like a cinder-block) edition of Paul Scott's The Raj Quartet. Believe it or not, I've almost finished! Rather strange, but very good. I can't outright recommend the series for general consumption due to length (over 1,900 pp.!). That was televised in a classic series back in the 80s by the Beeb. I know of the series, but never saw any episodes. Now, having read the whole quartet, I'm amazed it was TV-serialized! Doesn't seem like very telegenic material, and I don't know how they managed to cut it down to a manageable size. Maybe I should check out a DVD or two. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paul secor Posted May 17, 2012 Report Share Posted May 17, 2012 I may live to regret this (the first 200 pp. have been good enough, but have scarcely made a dent in the total): recently started a one-volume (not just a brick, more like a cinder-block) edition of Paul Scott's The Raj Quartet. Believe it or not, I've almost finished! Rather strange, but very good. I can't outright recommend the series for general consumption due to length (over 1,900 pp.!). That was televised in a classic series back in the 80s by the Beeb. I know of the series, but never saw any episodes. Now, having read the whole quartet, I'm amazed it was TV-serialized! Doesn't seem like very telegenic material, and I don't know how they managed to cut it down to a manageable size. Maybe I should check out a DVD or two. About ten years ago, my wife and I watched the Raj Quartet series over the period of a few weeks. During that period of time, she also read the entire book. Better she than I! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
B. Goren. Posted May 18, 2012 Report Share Posted May 18, 2012 Just started this one: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Head Man Posted May 18, 2012 Report Share Posted May 18, 2012 I may live to regret this (the first 200 pp. have been good enough, but have scarcely made a dent in the total): recently started a one-volume (not just a brick, more like a cinder-block) edition of Paul Scott's The Raj Quartet. Believe it or not, I've almost finished! Rather strange, but very good. I can't outright recommend the series for general consumption due to length (over 1,900 pp.!). That was televised in a classic series back in the 80s by the Beeb. I know of the series, but never saw any episodes. Now, having read the whole quartet, I'm amazed it was TV-serialized! Doesn't seem like very telegenic material, and I don't know how they managed to cut it down to a manageable size. Maybe I should check out a DVD or two. It's brilliant and not that expensive here: Jewel In The Crown Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ejp626 Posted May 18, 2012 Report Share Posted May 18, 2012 I decided to start with Barometer Rising. Not enjoying it very much. I'm having a lot of trouble entering the mindset of characters from WWI. It's completely scandalous that this woman is having dinner with a known drinker, etc. The novel was actually written in the late 1940s but portrays this earlier period. The book does get better after this enormous explosion that rocks Halifax (this actually did occur during WWI) and we see who pulls through. A little unrealistic in that virtually everyone who does survive becomes much nobler during the aftermath, but that can be overlooked. Still, not likely a book I'd return to. I am mostly done with Callaghan's A Fine and Private Place and it is a bit more engaging though somewhat meandering. I note that, similar to Bissoondath's The Innocence of Age, a cop gets involved in a shooting. Wonder how many cops show up in novels and don't shoot someone? Pretty few, I'd wager. It's probably a corollary that if a gun shows up in the first scene (of a play or movie), it has to go off in the last scene. (Sometimes attributed to Hitchcock or Godard, it is more likely that it stems from Chekov.) Also read Nikki Giovanni's Bicycles. Awful. and Sailing Alone Around the Room, by Billy Collins. A few poems are keepers, but in general the poems are flabby, the stakes are too low and there just isn't enough of a point to these poems. Not sure what I will tackle next. I probably should get back to Mahfouz's Cairo Trilogy, but I'm thinking that since the family will be away almost the entire summer, I'll read it then when I don't have as many distractions. Most likely I will go for a Toronto novel trifecta -- Atwood's Cat's Eye, Findley's Headhunter and Skvorecky's The Engineer of Human Souls. That should keep me pretty busy until the summer. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paul secor Posted May 21, 2012 Report Share Posted May 21, 2012 Toni Morrison's Home Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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