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[The Magnificent Goldberg]

When I was about ten, passing a bookshop, I stopped my mother and asked if I could have this.

Coo, it's a bit big, ain't it?

Well, it was a Penguin edition of 'A history of Europe' by H A L Fisher. Written in 1936, it blew my mind! I'd never realised what you got at school was the merest fraction of what there was. I read it time and again, them moved on to the history of France and so on. I'm sure I wouldn't have passed my history exams without the perspective it gave me.

Eventually it got trashed, I'd read it so much.

So I asked my wife to get it for my birthday last year and she got me a 1940 hardback edition, that looks a bit like the illustration only without the cover  I started reading it again a few weeks ago and am just over a third of the way through.

There are things I never noticed about it before. It seems to have taught me to write. I keep being DELIGHTED at some of his phrasing and frequent emotionally over the top descriptions - he wasn't an unbiased guy.

I found out, when I started working on education policy in 1974, that Fisher is one of the very few Britons who have given their name to an Act of Parliament (unlike US Acts, British Acts are all tabled by the Government) and that's because they had a big part in writing and pushing through a very important Act; in Fisher's case, it was the Education Act 1918, which raised minimum school leaving age to 14 and laid down the basis of further education. He was the equivalent in those days of Minister of Education under Lloyd George. So he'd probably have been pleased someone learned to write from his book. (He was Virginia Woolf's first cousin.)

Anyway, I'm revelling in it.

MG

[Brad]

25 minutes ago, jlhoots said:

Haven't read Lincoln In The Bardo. For some reason a few of the reviews scared me off. I'll reconsider.

My recollection was that the reviews were positive.  

[jlhoots]

1 hour ago, Brad said:

My recollection was that the reviews were positive.  

Yes - but the format sounded very complicated, convoluted, maybe obscure. Maybe that's all good.

[Brad]

It's a bit convoluted or complicated before you grasp the story. 

[BillF]

Third reading of this one, but then there's a 25 year gap between each reading. All-time classic as far as I'm concerned.

[ghost of miles]

Long-awaited, just arrived in the mail this morning, will start reading tonight after work:

Berenice Abbott: A Life In Photography

 

[HutchFan]

On 3/29/2018 at 10:14 PM, Brad said:

I am almost halfway to reading 10 Russian novels to read before you die.  http://offtheshelf.com/2014/10/10-russian-novels-to-read-before-you-die/

Interesting list. 

But one oddity: There are only nine books listed. I presume that the "missing" tenth book is Tolstoy's War & Peace. 

You really can't have a list of important Russian novels without Lev Nikolayevich!  

 

 

[jlhoots]

Christine Mangan: Tangerine

[Brad]

29 minutes ago, HutchFan said:

Interesting list. 

But one oddity: There are only nine books listed. I presume that the "missing" tenth book is Tolstoy's War & Peace. 

You really can't have a list of important Russian novels without Lev Nikolayevich!  

 

 

Here’s the original list as published in the Daily Beast. Yes, W & P was missing. 

https://www.thedailybeast.com/10-russian-novels-to-read-before-you-die

The writer is a Professor of Russian Literature at the University of Virginia so I think he knows what he’s talking about   

He’s also written a good guide to W & P: Give War and Peace a chance. I found it very helpful when reading W & P. 

[HutchFan]

4 minutes ago, Brad said:

Here’s the original list as published in the Daily Beast. Yes, W & P was missing. 

https://www.thedailybeast.com/10-russian-novels-to-read-before-you-die

The writer is a Professor of Russian Literature at the University of Virginia so I think he knows what he’s talking about   

He’s also written a good guide to W & P: Give War and Peace a chance. I found it very helpful when reading W & P. 

Good deal.   

War & Peace is among my very favorite books, and Tolstoy is my favorite author.  So, regardless of the list-maker's bona fides, I would have wondered about him if Tolstoy wasn't there!  

[ejp626]

Strongly disliked DeLillo's The Body Artist.  I was tempted to just toss it, but it is so short (120 pages with wide margins) that I finished it.  Will see if the used book store will take it.

In addition to Vierci's The Imposters, I've got I.B Singer's Enemies on the bench.

[Brad]

Thought this might be of interest.  Occasionally on Fridays, the Times has a column called The Enthusiast, where a person rights about authors they love, who may not be so well known today, and pinpoints books to start with.  The series has been running since July 2017.

The Enthusiast

Edited April 13, 2018 by Brad

[ghost of miles]

1 hour ago, Brad said:

Thought this might be of interest.  Occasionally on Fridays, the Times has a column called The Enthusiast, where a person writes about authors they love, who may not be so well known today, and pinpoints books to start with.  The series has been running since July 2017.

The Enthusiast

Thanks for the heads-up about this. 👍

[jlhoots]

Magda Szabo: The Door

[Brad]

On 4/17/2018 at 2:07 PM, jlhoots said:

Magda Szabo: The Door

Terrific book. I’ve read all her stuff that is available in English from NYRB Classics and recommend them all. 

[ghost of miles]

5 hours ago, Brad said:

Terrific book. I’ve read all her stuff that is available in English from NYRB Classics and recommend them all. 

NYRB Classics is a great series in general—I’ve picked up a number of them over the years. Hoping to get to J.G. Farrell’s The Singapore Grip soon.

[Brad]

They are phenomenal.  I belong to their book club.  I’ve received very few books from them that weren’t interesting and many of the books I received I probably wouldn’t have otherwise. I first got started with them when I picked up Zweig’s Beware of Pity (a great book; his only full length novel) and I’ve been hooked ever since. 

[Utevsky]

This is one of the best books I've read in a while.

 

[ejp626]

Wrapped up I.B. Singer's Enemies.  I just couldn't get into it.  I so thoroughly disliked the main character, who had no redeeming qualities whatsoever, but still was irresistible to several women.  It was even more inexplicable than Woody Allen's magnetism in Manhattan.  At least Woody was funny (then), which is attractive in its own way.

I've been trying to read Musil's 5 Women, but have not made much progress.  Maybe will shelve it for now and try again at some later date.

A few random books on the horizon, but the one I am perhaps anticipating the most is rereading Melville's The Confidence-Man.  I liked it a lot in grad school and wonder if I will still enjoy it (if reading just for pleasure).

[mjzee]

11 minutes ago, ejp626 said:

Wrapped up I.B. Singer's Enemies.  I just couldn't get into it.  I so thoroughly disliked the main character, who had no redeeming qualities whatsoever, but still was irresistible to several women.  It was even more inexplicable than Woody Allen's magnetism in Manhattan.  At least Woody was funny (then), which is attractive in its own way.

You must, must, must see the movie that was made of Enemies.  The inexplicable is made explicable.  A memorable, haunting movie, with great acting and direction:

[Brad]

I picked this up based on The Enthusiast column in The NY Times a couple of weeks ago.  I can't say I'm completely loving it yet but it is funny in spots. 

[jazztrain]

[Brad]

On 4/29/2018 at 6:28 AM, Brad said:

I picked this up based on The Enthusiast column in The NY Times a couple of weeks ago.  I can't say I'm completely loving it yet but it is funny in spots. 

I finished this today.  Well worth the time for a good look at pre-WW II British society and very funny also. 

*****

This may be of interest. Last week the New Yorker published a previously unpublished short story by Isaac Bashevis Singer.  It’s very short. 

The Boarder

Edited May 6, 2018 by Brad

[jlhoots]

Cristina Garcia: The Aguero Sisters

[Brad]

History written in a very unusual way, broken down into each month of the year and further broken by occurrences in cities. 

Here’s a review for those who may be interested. 

https://mobile.nytimes.com/2018/04/06/books/review/1947-elisabeth-asbrink-modern-totalitarianism.html