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[A Lark Ascending]

Read that many years ago - the sort of book that makes you realise how lucky you are to be living in a largely stable country. I finished a long history of modern China a couple of weeks back and the same thoughts came to me - wave after wave of natural and political disaster. How do you stay sane with such uncertainty? Edited August 6, 2013 by A Lark Ascending

[rdavenport]

I remember Wild Swans being hugely popular here, maybe 15 years ago. It was a bit like "Captain Corelli's Mandolin" - every home had one. Maybe I'll get round to it one day - my mother has a copy.

[B. Goren.]

Read that many years ago - the sort of book that makes you realise how lucky you are to be living in a largely stable country. I finished a long history of modern China a couple of weeks back and the same thoughts came to me - wave after wave of natural and political disaster. How do you stay sane with such uncertainty?

My thoughts, exactly.

redavenport, it's not an easy book but I recommend.

[ghost of miles]

[BruceH]

Just got 300 pages in and they've just started shooting. Exemplary explanation of the tensions and misunderstandings that led up to the war. I never knew about the early claims on Cuba or the filibuster raids there and on Nicaragua (well I might have done 40 years back!).

Clearly I should re-read it.

[jlhoots]

Philipp Meyer: The Son

[A Lark Ascending]

Just got 300 pages in and they've just started shooting. Exemplary explanation of the tensions and misunderstandings that led up to the war. I never knew about the early claims on Cuba or the filibuster raids there and on Nicaragua (well I might have done 40 years back!).

Clearly I should re-read it. Well worth it. Just got to The Wilderness. Fascinating how this war seemed to change from one of movement to one that starts to resemble the First World War.

The only problem with the edition I have is the maps are very dark. My geography of the USA is very general so it can get a bit confusing knowing who is going where. I'm away from home so can't use my usual map sources.

One day soon I must do one of those holidays visiting some of the sites in the Virginia area. I've always found visiting the WWI sites very powerful.

Edited August 10, 2013 by A Lark Ascending

[paul secor]

My wife occasionally comments that she's puzzled by the battle reenactments that take place in the south. Granted, most of the battles took place there, but it is surprising that the side that lost the war would still be so tied into it.

[A Lark Ascending]

My wife occasionally comments that she's puzzled by the battle reenactments that take place in the south. Granted, most of the battles took place there, but it is surprising that the side that lost the war would still be so tied into it.

We get that over here too, though not with the same cultural charge. People spend weekends dressing up as Roman legions, Napoleonic forces and, most famously, as English Civil War soldiers, fighting mock battles.

Edited August 11, 2013 by A Lark Ascending

[king ubu]

[A Lark Ascending]

Read one of Loades books when I was a student in the mid-70s. Amazing he's still writing.

Was looking for a non-fluffy book on Henry VIII - this seems to be doing the job.

Edited August 14, 2013 by A Lark Ascending

[ejp626]

So I have been away for over a week with very limited internet access. Kind of good to unplug for a while (certainly worth remembering that I can get a lot more done when I don't obsessively check internet news sites). Anyway, I read 6 books over this span, as well as saw 3 plays at the Stratford Festival (the best was Waiting for Godot with Brian Dennehy in the Pozzo role -- definitely worth checking out -- wouldn't be surprised if this version transfers to the Goodman in Chicago).

Probably the best book from a pure writing standpoint was All Aunt Hagar's Children by Edward P. Jones. I do find the stories very depressing. He also wrote Lost in the City. Also depressing. I was a little surprised that two stories depart from pure naturalism with one featuring the Devil. I'm not saying that a writer can't do whatever he or she wants, but this seemed a bit out of character.

City of Marvels by Mendoza also has this weird mix where much of the novel is naturalistic (if maybe just a bit too much Ragged Dick with a twist) but then various saints and indeed the Devil come down and talk with the Mayor (of Barcelona) and the city fathers. I didn't really love it; I didn't really hate it. That's pretty much how I felt about all these books. Of course, I had chosen them specifically as books that I would read and discard upon my journey in various airport lounges and cafes.

John Nichols' The Empanada Brotherhood was slight but entertaining, as he relates his early life and career in Manhattan (right before he became a published author and his life changed). He hung out with a random bunch of South Americans at an empanada stand in Greenwich Village in the 60s. While my post-college career was quite different, I can relate to how I hung out with some odd characters, who might well have made an interesting story (if not quite a novel).

The least satisfying for me was a book that combined Hanif Kureshi's Intimacy (a novella) and Midnight All Day (short stories). I simply couldn't get past the idea that Kureshi simply detested all his characters, focusing obsessively on the fact that these couples were awful people who split up with no concern at all for their children. I honestly don't think writers should write stories where they detest all the characters in their stories. Leave that to the sociologists and modern anthropologists. I also just don't think Kureshi really got the details about class correct in Intimacy.

Have just a small bit remaining for Klima's Love and Garbage, which I will wrap up as soon as I get home (tomorrow). The parts where he is on the city-cleaning crew in Prague are pretty good. The bits where he vacillates between his wife and his lovers are unbearably boring. So another novel that I can't imagine rereading.

This weekend I should be able to launch into Faulkner's Light in August. I am a bit more hopeful I will enjoy this novel.

Edited August 15, 2013 by ejp626

[John Litweiler]

Anyway, I read 6 books over this span, as well as saw 3 plays at the Stratford Festival (the best was Waiting for Godot with Brian Dennehy in the Pozzo role -- definitely worth checking out -- wouldn't be surprised if this version transfers to the Goodman in Chicago).

looking forward to that - I saw Dennehy in Krapp's Last Tape at the Goodman

[ejp626]

Anyway, I read 6 books over this span, as well as saw 3 plays at the Stratford Festival (the best was Waiting for Godot with Brian Dennehy in the Pozzo role -- definitely worth checking out -- wouldn't be surprised if this version transfers to the Goodman in Chicago).

looking forward to that - I saw Dennehy in Krapp's Last Tape at the Goodman

Yes, I thought he was very good as Krapp. Not entirely sure Godot will transfer, but maybe someone knows more than me. I was at first a bit sorry that he wasn't Gogo or Didi, but on reflection, I think that would have upset the balance of the play too much (he has just a bit too much star power). Dennehy really gets to chew the scenery in both faces/phases of Pozzo.

[jeffcrom]

My wife occasionally comments that she's puzzled by the battle reenactments that take place in the south. Granted, most of the battles took place there, but it is surprising that the side that lost the war would still be so tied into it.

The Battle of Atlanta started a few blocks from where I live, so once a year I awaken to the sounds of cannons.

I will say that the Civil War reenactors seem to be folks who love history, not guys who have Confederate flag bumper stickers on their pickup trucks.

(Stream-of-consciousness digression warning!)

For the most part, I've said little here about being a southerner. It's a strange thing for a thoughtful person. Every day I look at my state and my region and am horrified by what I see. But at the same time, it's in my blood. When I'm away I miss it - the barbecue and greens, the plants, the heaviness of the air, the flat-out weirdness you encounter every day here. My wife has family in Seattle and Bellingham, Washington; on one of our visits, she was indulging in a luxury for her - watching cable TV. (We don't have it.) She was watching the Food Network, or something like that, and they had a feature on a restaurant in Memphis that specializes in fried chicken. The camera panned the dining area, which was filled with folks who were very different from each other, but who all appeared to be manifestly southern. There were weird old guys (like me), African-American matrons, and good old boys with big bellies and bandanas. Sitting there, as far away from the south as I could possibly be in the continental United States, I blurted out, "Those are my people!" I hadn't planned on saying that - it was a reaction from somewhere pretty deep.

I hate it here sometimes, but I love it more than that. I think that all Southerners are, in one way or another, haunted by the past in a way that most Americans aren't.

Try that last sentence on your wife, Paul.

[TedR]

My wife occasionally comments that she's puzzled by the battle reenactments that take place in the south. Granted, most of the battles took place there, but it is surprising that the side that lost the war would still be so tied into it.

The Battle of Atlanta started a few blocks from where I live, so once a year I awaken to the sounds of cannons.

I will say that the Civil War reenactors seem to be folks who love history, not guys who have Confederate flag bumper stickers on their pickup trucks.

(Stream-of-consciousness digression warning!)

For the most part, I've said little here about being a southerner. It's a strange thing for a thoughtful person. Every day I look at my state and my region and am horrified by what I see. But at the same time, it's in my blood. When I'm away I miss it - the barbecue and greens, the plants, the heaviness of the air, the flat-out weirdness you encounter every day here. My wife has family in Seattle and Bellingham, Washington; on one of our visits, she was indulging in a luxury for her - watching cable TV. (We don't have it.) She was watching the Food Network, or something like that, and they had a feature on a restaurant in Memphis that specializes in fried chicken. The camera panned the dining area, which was filled with folks who were very different from each other, but who all appeared to be manifestly southern. There were weird old guys (like me), African-American matrons, and good old boys with big bellies and bandanas. Sitting there, as far away from the south as I could possibly be in the continental United States, I blurted out, "Those are my people!" I hadn't planned on saying that - it was a reaction from somewhere pretty deep.

I hate it here sometimes, but I love it more than that. I think that all Southerners are, in one way or another, haunted by the past in a way that most Americans aren't.

Try that last sentence on your wife, Paul.

I grew up in northern Ohio, lived in Florida for over 20 years and worked throughout the South for ten years or so. One of my best friends lived in Alabama and I commented on how formal the dress code was at the various businesses we worked with. His response was that southerners still feel a sense of inferiority and resentment toward the north over the civil war and the formal dress was a way of compensating. That surprised me until I realized that we are only two generations separated from the civil war. I heard occasional jokes such as a good northerner was one who visited the south and went back north again, a bad northerner was one who visited and stayed.

[jazzbo]

[Jazzmoose]

Found a copy of Neil Gaiman's Neverwhere at the used book store last week. I remember the television series well, and I have to say, if you have fond memories of it like I do, you'd love the book.

[BillF]

[John Litweiler]

Anyway, I read 6 books over this span, as well as saw 3 plays at the Stratford Festival (the best was Waiting for Godot with Brian Dennehy in the Pozzo role -- definitely worth checking out -- wouldn't be surprised if this version transfers to the Goodman in Chicago).

looking forward to that - I saw Dennehy in Krapp's Last Tape at the Goodman

Yes, I thought he was very good as Krapp. Not entirely sure Godot will transfer, but maybe someone knows more than me. I was at first a bit sorry that he wasn't Gogo or Didi, but on reflection, I think that would have upset the balance of the play too much (he has just a bit too much star power). Dennehy really gets to chew the scenery in both faces/phases of Pozzo.

Yes, Pozzo is a great role for scenery-chewers. In NYC saw John Goodman as Pozzo: a great set-up for Lucky's intense centerpiece.

[Jazzmoose]

On to The Unforsaken Hiero by Sterling Lanier, a sequel to Hiero's Journey that I didn't even know existed until a couple of years ago.

Edited August 18, 2013 by Jazzmoose

[paul secor]

Rachel Kushner: The Flamethrowers

Not much there.

[rdavenport]

Ordered this from an Amazon recommendation, which doesn't happen often, given the sometimes odd nature of their suggestions. Enjoying it so far.

I read this and I'll be curious what your take is when you finish reading it.

I finished the book. I don't know what I can tell you...

I enjoyed the sober prose style, and the fact that what did happen tended to do so quietly, under the surface (much like life I suppose).

I don't know what I thought of Stoner himself. Part of me thought him a fool for not leaving his wife when they were so obviously unsuited, and part of me thought he could have been a bit more involved with his daughter. That said, I admired his stoicism, and I'm sure any person, on reviewing one's life, would find things they would have done differently.

So, yes, a very human tale I suppose. Sorry that's all I have, I'm no literary critic (grade U at English Lit A Level, 1987).

[paul secor]

Ordered this from an Amazon recommendation, which doesn't happen often, given the sometimes odd nature of their suggestions. Enjoying it so far.

I read this and I'll be curious what your take is when you finish reading it.

I finished the book. I don't know what I can tell you...

I enjoyed the sober prose style, and the fact that what did happen tended to do so quietly, under the surface (much like life I suppose).

I don't know what I thought of Stoner himself. Part of me thought him a fool for not leaving his wife when they were so obviously unsuited, and part of me thought he could have been a bit more involved with his daughter. That said, I admired his stoicism, and I'm sure any person, on reviewing one's life, would find things they would have done differently.

So, yes, a very human tale I suppose. Sorry that's all I have, I'm no literary critic (grade U at English Lit A Level, 1987).

I think that you and I had pretty much the same take on it. Here's my short Goodreads review:

"What do you with a quiet, elegant, starkly written book that you admire for its style but little else, and you know you'll never read again? Donate it to the local library for the next book sale. "

[B. Goren.]