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[jlhoots]

Viet Thanh Nguyen: The Sympathizer

[Brad]

Am about to start Mikhail Lermontov's A Hero of Our Time.  Lermontov is considered one of the founders of modern Russian literature. 

[BillF]

6 hours ago, Brad said:

Am about to start Mikhail Lermontov's A Hero of Our Time.  Lermontov is considered one of the founders of modern Russian literature. 

Great avatar, Brad! Georges Braque?

[Leeway]

The 2nd novel in Mishima's "Sea of Fertility" tetralogy. Perhaps not quite up to the mark of his Spring Snow, but clearly a major effort from Mishima. It's fascinating, if disturbing, to watch Mishima engage with the subject of ritual suicide (seppuku), knowing that's how he ended his own life. 

[Brad]

9 hours ago, BillF said:

Great avatar, Brad! Georges Braque?

Bill,

Thanks.  Think it's Picasso. 

[Leeway]

I used to enjoy watching Hitchens on America TV; his witty repartee (even when he was wrong) was refreshing in an often anodyne cultural landscape. His relatively early passing was unfortunate. The memoir is interesting, occasionally amusing, and occasionally plodding. I wonder if he's remembered even now?

[BillF]

42 minutes ago, Leeway said:

I used to enjoy watching Hitchens on America TV; his witty repartee (even when he was wrong) was refreshing in an often anodyne cultural landscape. His relatively early passing was unfortunate. The memoir is interesting, occasionally amusing, and occasionally plodding. I wonder if he's remembered even now?

We still hear a great deal about him in this country. Usually disapproval from my favorite media outlets.

[alankin]

John Irving - The Cider House Rules

[BillF]

Particularly interesting on his formative years, less so when he subsequently became a writing - and money-generating - machine.

[jlhoots]

Timothy Hallinan: Everything But The Squeal

[ejp626]

Just wrapped up Fontane's On Tangled Paths.  I have to say, it is laughably conflict-free. 

 

(SPOILERS follow.)

Aristocrat starts affair with seamstress.  She tells him it is all wonderful, but she knows it won't last long.  His family pressures him to marry a wealthy cousin.  He does so, but every now and then pines for the girl he left behind.  The end.

I get that the novel was daring in its time, but everybody acts so sensibly and they all follow the roles/rules society expects and imposes upon them, that it is rather boring, I'm afraid.

 

I have a bit more to go with Jefferson's Notes on the State of Virginia, and then on to Faulkner's Absalom, Absalom.

 

[paul secor]

W.P. Kinsella: The Miss Hobbema Pageant

Ugly cover - good stories

[rostasi]

[jlhoots]

Vicki Croke: The Elephant Company

[Leeway]

The third novel in Mishima's Sea of Fertility tetralogy. No doubt an ambitious effort on Mishima's part, but the novel as a whole just fell flat for me. 

[Matthew]

The Ambassadors by Henry James.

Edited February 26, 2017 by Matthew

[gdogus]

 

Just finishing Dostoevsky's Crime and Punishment, which I'm re-reading after 35 years or so in this great translation by Pevear and Volokhonsky. Much different than I remember.

[BillF]

I always find DeLillo since White Noise readable, though the best IMO remain the ones on my bookshelf: White Noise, Libra, Mao II and above all Underworld.

[Leeway]

On 2/26/2017 at 10:31 AM, Matthew said:

The Ambassadors by Henry James.

Love this book.

 

On 2/26/2017 at 1:37 PM, BillF said:

I always find DeLillo since White Noise readable, though the best IMO remain the ones on my bookshelf: White Noise, Libra, Mao II and above all Underworld.

Still have to read Underworld.  Don't know why I haven't.  The others you cited are indeed superlative. 

[alankin]

Philip K Dick -  Dr. Bloodmoney, or How We Got Along After the Bomb

Very vivid.  Glad I finally got to it.  The image above is from the first edition.

[jazzbo]

1 hour ago, alankin said:

Philip K Dick -  Dr. Bloodmoney, or How We Got Along After the Bomb

Very vivid.  Glad I finally got to it.  The image above is from the first edition.

Great book!

[BillF]

On 2/26/2017 at 3:31 PM, Matthew said:

The Ambassadors by Henry James.

Said to be very difficult. I did, however, read it at university, but an exam ahead of you is quite a incentive. I remember a very dense prose style.

[Brad]

Just finished Mikhail Lermontov's A Hero of Our Time and am now reading Hillbilly Elegy. 

[jazzbo]

Re-reading for probably the second time.

[Leeway]

The 4th and last novel in Mishima's Sea Of Fertility tetralogy. This novel is something of a throwback to his earlier novels in style. The quartet of novels are challenging to read.