Now reading...

[A Lark Ascending]

I read a marvellous book by Dobbs on the Cuban Missile Crisis during the winter. Couldn't resist this one as I'm starting to teach the beginning of a Cold War course again in a couple of weeks. Just got the big three returning from Yalta - nothing particularly new but you get a real insight into the human drama (and the lack of bathrooms!), the very different personalities and the growing frustration of Churchill as he sees Britain falling rapidly into a very poor third place. Amazing the number of diplomats there who were carrying terminal illnesses yet still kept going.

Edited June 2, 2013 by A Lark Ascending

[BillF]

[jlhoots]

Adam Johnson: The Orphan Master's Son

[paul secor]

John Gregory Brown: Audubon's Watch

[ejp626]

On the final stretch of Dostoevsky's The Idiot (last 100 or so pages). I'm really not feeling it for a lot of reasons, mostly that everybody just sits around and has all these misunderstandings but Prince Myshkin is such a super guy (based on little more than his good nature, since he isn't called upon to actually, you know, do much of anything) that he tries to set things right. I am just finding it very, very boring. What worries me slightly is that I really enjoyed Notes from the Underground and Crime and Punishment as a young adult, and it would pain me to find that I didn't care much for his (very talky) style as an older (apparently grumpy) adult.

Also dipping into Pu-239 by Ken Kalfus. The title story is fairly brilliant. Not as interested in the other stories, and in fact I completely skipped over one after a few pages where I found the main character so terribly (and unbelievably) obnoxious that I didn't want to spend any more time in his company (even to see if he got his comeupance). I think I'll mostly end up skimming and discarding this one...

[JohnJ]

[crisp]

What worries me slightly is that I really enjoyed Notes from the Underground and Crime and Punishment as a young adult, and it would pain me to find that I didn't care much for his (very talky) style as an older (apparently grumpy) adult.

I read and "enjoyed" the Idiot as a young adult, also Karamazof and Crime and Punishment (twice). I wonder now if I was making allowances to bolster how clever I thought I was being.

I'm currently reading The Finkler Question by Howard Jacobson. Laugh-out-loud funny and very educational.

[ejp626]

What worries me slightly is that I really enjoyed Notes from the Underground and Crime and Punishment as a young adult, and it would pain me to find that I didn't care much for his (very talky) style as an older (apparently grumpy) adult.

I read and "enjoyed" the Idiot as a young adult, also Karamazof and Crime and Punishment (twice). I wonder now if I was making allowances to bolster how clever I thought I was being.

I'm currently reading The Finkler Question by Howard Jacobson. Laugh-out-loud funny and very educational.

I probably will reread Crime and Punishment in the next couple of years. I suspect that one will still grip me, but hard to say. All of Dostoevsky's novels are basically concerned with interior thoughts, so he spends scads of time telling you things that aren't apparent from the surface of conversations. (This is what I am reacting badly to.) I think, but can't entirely recall, that The Idiot is the most extreme in this regard.

Speaking of Jacobson, I never "got" Kalooki Nights at all. I'm also fairly sure I wouldn't like The Finkler Question, but his very latest (Zoo Time) looks interesting enough that I might give it a go.

[Head Man]

Described in The Observer a few weeks ago as ..."the best writer nobody's heard of", he really does write beautifully. I read this series of reminisciences from his life in a single go, it was "un-put-down-able".

I've also just finished this by him:

which is the story of his time as a fighter pilot before and during the Korean War. Again, it's beautifully written.

Can anyone recommend any of his fiction?

[crisp]

Speaking of Jacobson, I never "got" Kalooki Nights at all. I'm also fairly sure I wouldn't like The Finkler Question, but his very latest (Zoo Time) looks interesting enough that I might give it a go.

This is my first Jacobson novel, having long enjoyed his TV documentaries and general demeanour in the media. I think I made an attempt at Coming From Behind but gave up. I strongly recommend The Finkler Question, however. I'll try Kalooki Nights next I think.

[paul secor]

Described in The Observer a few weeks ago as ..."the best writer nobody's heard of", he really does write beautifully. I read this series of reminisciences from his life in a single go, it was "un-put-down-able".

I've also just finished this by him:

which is the story of his time as a fighter pilot before and during the Korean War. Again, it's beautifully written.

Can anyone recommend any of his fiction?

I recently read All That Is. Here's my Goodreads review:

I had two reactions to All That Is - the narrative/story line wasn't much - basically a man who thinks that the next woman is going to be "the one", with a nasty bit of revenge thrown in. That gets three stars. I would never reread the novel for that.

I may return to it because of the craft with which Mr. Salter writes.

There are innumerable sentences, paragraphs, and scenes which I would like to reread just in order to study what the author has done. The revenge passage, for example, was so well written that I was almost able to forget about the evil involved. Five stars for the craft of the writing.

[steve(thelil)]

My non-fiction (especially memoir) addiction is continuing. I think one of the things I like about non-fiction is that I don't get confused reading several books at once. With fiction, I lose the plot if I don't read a book start to finish.

Just finished

The Kindness of Strangers: Penniless Across America

by Mike McIntyre : About a guy who hitchhiked across the US with no money on him. Loved it.

Finishing:

In the middle of:
1982 by Jian Gomeshi

Pleasant but lightweight coming of age memoir by the host of CBC's "Q" radio magazine Also in the middle of

Backing into Forward by Jules Feiffer

Good memoir by very accomplished writer, cartoonist,playright.

Also in middle of Bruce by Peter Ames Carlin

Springsteen Bio. The stuff about his childhood and early career was fascinating. Well written

Edited June 6, 2013 by steve(thelil)

[Head Man]

Described in The Observer a few weeks ago as ..."the best writer nobody's heard of", he really does write beautifully. I read this series of reminisciences from his life in a single go, it was "un-put-down-able".

I've also just finished this by him:

which is the story of his time as a fighter pilot before and during the Korean War. Again, it's beautifully written.

Can anyone recommend any of his fiction?

I recently read All That Is. Here's my Goodreads review:

I had two reactions to All That Is - the narrative/story line wasn't much - basically a man who thinks that the next woman is going to be "the one", with a nasty bit of revenge thrown in. That gets three stars. I would never reread the novel for that.

I may return to it because of the craft with which Mr. Salter writes.

There are innumerable sentences, paragraphs, and scenes which I would like to reread just in order to study what the author has done. The revenge passage, for example, was so well written that I was almost able to forget about the evil involved. Five stars for the craft of the writing.

Thanks for that, Paul.

The recent publication in the UK of "All That Is", was the reason he was featured in The Observer recently.

I think I'll try his earlier novel "A Sport and a Pastime" first, and see how I enjoy that.

[BillF]

Described in The Observer a few weeks ago as ..."the best writer nobody's heard of", he really does write beautifully. I read this series of reminisciences from his life in a single go, it was "un-put-down-able".

I've also just finished this by him:

which is the story of his time as a fighter pilot before and during the Korean War. Again, it's beautifully written.

Can anyone recommend any of his fiction?

I recently read All That Is. Here's my Goodreads review:

I had two reactions to All That Is - the narrative/story line wasn't much - basically a man who thinks that the next woman is going to be "the one", with a nasty bit of revenge thrown in. That gets three stars. I would never reread the novel for that.

I may return to it because of the craft with which Mr. Salter writes.

There are innumerable sentences, paragraphs, and scenes which I would like to reread just in order to study what the author has done. The revenge passage, for example, was so well written that I was almost able to forget about the evil involved. Five stars for the craft of the writing.

I have read two novels and a short story collection by Salter: The Hunters, A Sport and a Pastime and Dusk and Other Stories. I was very impressed by the novels, particularly the first, Korean War one. I'm just about to start All That Is, which has just been published in the UK and which has been supplied by my public library.

[ejp626]

I have read two novels and a short story collection by Salter: The Hunters, A Sport and a Pastime and Dusk and Other Stories. I was very impressed by the novels, particularly the first, Korean War one. I'm just about to start All That Is, which has just been published in the UK and which has been supplied by my public library.

I picked up Dusk and Other Stories recently. I haven't cracked it yet, and probably won't for some time, but I have certainly heard good things about it.

(It was actually lost/stolen at my local library, and assuming I finish it in any reasonable time frame, I will donate it as a replacement (probably).)

[alankin]

Charles Williams - Dead Calm

[BillF]

The entanglements of the plot defeated me on this one, so gave up after 100 pages.

[John Litweiler]

Charles Williams - Dead Calm

The first half of The Diamond Bikini by Charles Williams is excellent and he wrote a couple of other enjoyable caper stories. Makes me want to find more of his novels in his manic mode. He wrote some depressive ones too - conventional more-or-less noir.

[Larry Kart]

Charles Williams - Dead Calm

The first half of The Diamond Bikini by Charles Williams is excellent and he wrote a couple of other enjoyable caper stories. Makes me want to find more of his novels in his manic mode. He wrote some depressive ones too - conventional more-or-less noir.

Read everything I could find by Williams a few years back. IIRC, I particularly liked "Man on a Leash."

[erwbol]

RIP Iain M. Banks.

[erwbol]

T.C. Vilabier's 26th String-Specific Sonata For An Instrument Yet To Be Invented, MW 1211.

[Jerry_L]

The Elegant Universe: Superstrings, Hidden Dimensions, and the Quest for the Ultimate Theory [Paperback]

Brian Greene (Author)

Brian Greene is an excellent science author. He's a darn good explainer.

[Jazzmoose]

Kurt Vonnegut - Bluebeard (my favourite Vonnegut)

I think that's mine as well.

Finishing:

Just out of curiosity, have you read Veeck as in Wreck? A fun book.

[BillF]

Described in The Observer a few weeks ago as ..."the best writer nobody's heard of", he really does write beautifully. I read this series of reminisciences from his life in a single go, it was "un-put-down-able".

I've also just finished this by him:

which is the story of his time as a fighter pilot before and during the Korean War. Again, it's beautifully written.

Can anyone recommend any of his fiction?

I recently read All That Is. Here's my Goodreads review:

I had two reactions to All That Is - the narrative/story line wasn't much - basically a man who thinks that the next woman is going to be "the one", with a nasty bit of revenge thrown in. That gets three stars. I would never reread the novel for that.

I may return to it because of the craft with which Mr. Salter writes.

There are innumerable sentences, paragraphs, and scenes which I would like to reread just in order to study what the author has done. The revenge passage, for example, was so well written that I was almost able to forget about the evil involved. Five stars for the craft of the writing.

Just finished All That Is. Fully agree with your assessment, Paul. Numerous paragraphs could function perfectly on their own as brief short stories.I wonder just how autobiographical this book is.

[ejp626]

Just begun Anna Karenina. Looks fairly promising, but very long. I hope I can maintain sufficient focus throughout.