A Lark Ascending Posted July 29, 2012 Report Share Posted July 29, 2012 Patrick O'Brian - Master and Commander Tried this about ten years back and got overwhelmed by the rigging. Enjoying it much more this time (though I could still do with a very detailed labelled diagram of the ship - hope to find a good guide in Plymouth later in the week. The book shops there are strong on nautical stuff) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
crisp Posted July 30, 2012 Report Share Posted July 30, 2012 The Two Faces of January by Patricia Highsmith. I keep meaning to read more Highsmith and this one was in the flat, so here goes. It's another "sinister gooseberry" novel, ie, about a sexually ambivalent third party who latches on to a couple in peril for obscure reasons. About a third of the way through it's starting to feel like an account of a typical Greek holiday with a low-energy murder-manhunt attached. Well written, so I'll stick with it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jazzmoose Posted August 1, 2012 Report Share Posted August 1, 2012 Indeed, Arnaldur Indriðasonur is also my countryman. I'm a twofer. Danish name dropping? How Bohring... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ejp626 Posted August 1, 2012 Report Share Posted August 1, 2012 Just a quick update -- am really disliking Northanger Abbey. The main character is such a stupid drip. I realize this is the point of the novel (she is overly influenced by romance novels), but it is so tedious to read. If this was the first Austen I had ever read, I can't imagine going on to the others. Curiously, I have won a great big box of books by Canadian authors (from reviewing Canadian books on another blog). Most I'll pass on to others or donate to the library, but I'll try to make my way through Michael Crummey's Galore and The Sea Captain's Wife by Beth Powning. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BillF Posted August 1, 2012 Report Share Posted August 1, 2012 Just a quick update -- am really disliking Northanger Abbey. The main character is such a stupid drip. I realize this is the point of the novel (she is overly influenced by romance novels), but it is so tedious to read. If this was the first Austen I had ever read, I can't imagine going on to the others. Agreed! I could only cope with Austen when my reading led to an exam: "Analyse satirical techniques in ...", etc. Even my university tutor - and his subject was English Literature - said, "After reading Austen, I feel like taking a bath in Rabelais"! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pete C Posted August 1, 2012 Report Share Posted August 1, 2012 (edited) I'm a twofer. But not a Keepnews twofer! Indeed, Arnaldur Indriðasonur is also my countryman. I'm a twofer. Danish name dropping? How Bohring... That one is Icelandic name dropping. Edited August 1, 2012 by Pete C Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sidewinder Posted August 5, 2012 Report Share Posted August 5, 2012 Fascinating homage to a road I use pretty well every day. Subject of a pretty good TV documentary too ! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
A Lark Ascending Posted August 5, 2012 Report Share Posted August 5, 2012 Fascinating homage to a road I use pretty well every day. Subject of a pretty good TV documentary too ! Saw that in Waterstones in Exeter (the only shopping mall in Britain with its own medieval cathedral!) yesterday - looked intriguing. Think it was one of our routes to civilisation when I was a kid. Currently reading a bio of Francis Drake by John Sugden. Very detailed and interesting but I'm sceptical about has attempts to distance Drake from the savagery and racism of the era. About to commence the second Patrick O'Brian Jack Aubrey novel - utterly captivated by the first, especially the description at the end of the Battle of Algeciras as viewed (up to a point) from Gibraltar. I'm usually a bit wary of historical fiction set much more than 100 years ago. Often comes across as contemporary people with contemporary mindsets in fancy dress. But O'Brian is completely convincing - and the book had so many dimensions apart from the nautical adventure story. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BillF Posted August 7, 2012 Report Share Posted August 7, 2012 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ejp626 Posted August 7, 2012 Report Share Posted August 7, 2012 Travels with my Aunt I'd say this is actually my favorite of all of Greene's books. At any rate, it is the only one that I have kept on my shelves. I'm planning in a couple of years to read Steinbeck's Travels with Charley and then pair it with the more overtly comic Travels with my Aunt. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BillF Posted August 7, 2012 Report Share Posted August 7, 2012 Travels with my Aunt I'd say this is actually my favorite of all of Greene's books. At any rate, it is the only one that I have kept on my shelves. I'm planning in a couple of years to read Steinbeck's Travels with Charley and then pair it with the more overtly comic Travels with my Aunt. You know, that's a Steinbeck I've never read. I must give it a try. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shawn Posted August 7, 2012 Report Share Posted August 7, 2012 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pete C Posted August 7, 2012 Report Share Posted August 7, 2012 I love both the Greene and Steinbeck travels, but it's far from my favorite of either (closer with Steinbeck, as Cannery Row is the only of his novels I really love). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jlhoots Posted August 7, 2012 Report Share Posted August 7, 2012 Daniel Silva : The Fallen Angel Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jlhoots Posted August 10, 2012 Report Share Posted August 10, 2012 Timothy Hallinan: The Fear Artist Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jazzbo Posted August 10, 2012 Report Share Posted August 10, 2012 Savored this one slowly and just finished it. Amazing book. Caused much thinking on my part. Not sure what to start next. Second book in a row about Paul. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pete C Posted August 10, 2012 Report Share Posted August 10, 2012 (edited) It just screams "I am a serious, serious author I find that Garcia-Marquez screams that with every literary breath he takes. It's an attitude that turns me off to a number of very different authors, but who have this flaw in common: Thomas Mann, Margaret Atwood, Saul Bellow (maybe the most overrated American novelist?), Milan Kundera, and others. Nabokov has enough humor and verbal brilliance to counteract this tendency. Edited August 10, 2012 by Pete C Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ejp626 Posted August 10, 2012 Report Share Posted August 10, 2012 It just screams "I am a serious, serious author I find that Garcia-Marquez screams that with every literary breath he takes. It's an attitude that turns me off to a number of very different authors, but who have this flaw in common: Thomas Mann, Margaret Atwood, Saul Bellow (maybe the most overrated American novelist?), Milan Kundera, and others. Nabokov has enough humor and verbal brilliance to counteract this tendency. So I like a few of the authors on your list but can't bear Nabokov. I cannot find a way to take any interest in anything any of his characters get up to. I didn't realize this before I actually got into his earlier works --- and I ordered the Library of America set of his novels written in English. I'm still trying to make my way through a few more of his later novels, but can tell that before too much longer, I'll give up and donate the set to the library. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jazzbo Posted August 10, 2012 Report Share Posted August 10, 2012 I sortof agree about Mann, but I have to say I think all his Joseph in Egypt novels are fascinating and among my favorite novels. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pete C Posted August 10, 2012 Report Share Posted August 10, 2012 Nabokov. I cannot find a way to take any interest in anything any of his characters get up to. Not even Quilty? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ejp626 Posted August 10, 2012 Report Share Posted August 10, 2012 Nabokov. I cannot find a way to take any interest in anything any of his characters get up to. Not even Quilty? I'm stuck halfway through Lolita. I don't think I've made it to the introduction of Quilty, unless he started off as a very minor, incidental character. I actually wished I enjoyed these books more, since I know Nabokov is an important writer, but I don't connect with them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jazzbo Posted August 10, 2012 Report Share Posted August 10, 2012 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BruceH Posted August 11, 2012 Report Share Posted August 11, 2012 It just screams "I am a serious, serious author I find that Garcia-Marquez screams that with every literary breath he takes. It's an attitude that turns me off to a number of very different authors, but who have this flaw in common: Thomas Mann, Margaret Atwood, Saul Bellow (maybe the most overrated American novelist?), Milan Kundera, and others. Nabokov has enough humor and verbal brilliance to counteract this tendency. I'm with you on most of those authors, but personally, I think Bellow had some verbal brilliance at times (at other times he could be a bit annoying and pretentious.) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ejp626 Posted August 11, 2012 Report Share Posted August 11, 2012 It just screams "I am a serious, serious author I find that Garcia-Marquez screams that with every literary breath he takes. It's an attitude that turns me off to a number of very different authors, but who have this flaw in common: Thomas Mann, Margaret Atwood, Saul Bellow (maybe the most overrated American novelist?), Milan Kundera, and others. Nabokov has enough humor and verbal brilliance to counteract this tendency. I'm with you on most of those authors, but personally, I think Bellow had some verbal brilliance at times (at other times he could be a bit annoying and pretentious.) I think Augie March is quite good, and I also enjoyed The Dean's December. My problem with Bellow is that he truly seemed to be writing the same story over and over (conniving family members, particularly the uncles), the narrator is almost always a not-very-settled family man with a roving eye or a man in the midst/recovering from a painful divorce. Women always seem to be the root of the problem in a Bellow novel. I don't always care for where Philip Roth goes in his writing, but I think he ended up expanding well beyond his original template or imaginative world. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Magnificent Goldberg Posted August 11, 2012 Report Share Posted August 11, 2012 Savored this one slowly and just finished it. Amazing book. Caused much thinking on my part. Not sure what to start next. Second book in a row about Paul. Interesting. I knew Saul/Paul was a Farisee and proud of it; and a member of the ruling classes; and a Roman Citizen not above pulling rank when accused of sedition. All that stuff in his writings about 'being a new creature' was hype, because you can see that he remained what he was; someone who really thought that the Government should be obeyed, that slaves should obey their masters, and hadn't much conception of what people (even now) had/have to do to get by. MG Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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