Now reading...

[ghost of miles]

New book by Aaron Cohen, former DownBeat contributor, author of the 33 1/3 volume about Aretha Franklin’s Amazing Grace, and annotator of Mosaic’s Bee Hive set:

[BFrank]

[kinuta]

[ejp626]

On 2019-11-01 at 9:23 PM, ejp626 said:

The opening of Oz's Judas is solid.  I hope the rest of the book is at the same level.

By the last third, I felt there was too much repetitiveness, including what must have been the 10th time that the old man warned the younger man not to fall in love with the middle-aged woman (who once upon a time was his daughter-in-law).  I also found the ending to be a bit of a damp squib.  But it is thought-provoking, both about the history of Israel and the role of Judas in the crucifixion (though Borges got here first).

On to Salter's Light Years.

[Matthew]

A Search for Solitude: Pursuing the Monk's True Life, The Journals of Thomas Merton, Volume 3: 1952 - 1960. The pivotal volume of the Journals of Merton, as it records his increasing dissatisfaction with what is going on at the Abbey of Our Lady of Gesthsemani. What he sees is a shallowness in thought and religious life, and he decides he wants out -- badly. In 1959 he tries to get official permission to leave, and finally, on December 17, 1959, he gets his answer: NO!

It's a devastating answer, and one that, to my mind, he never recovers from. In the last eight years of his life, he seems to remove himself more and more from that original vision of religious life that he had when he entered in 1941, which leads to a lack of focus, a sense of something not right, to his life. It's interesting however, that the Merton most people are interested in is from these eight years, where his attention is turned to Eastern religion, civil right and non-violence. Strange how things work out, Merton spent so much time and energy thinking about about getting away from Gethsemani, then files to Asia in 1968 to give conferences, dies there (almost nine years to the day of the rejection of his request to Rome, December 10, 1968), and is now buried at Gethsemani, the one place he so badly wanted to escape. 

[kinuta]

[soulpope]

[ejp626]

I liked Salter's Light Years (which I found thematically similar to Updike's Rabbit saga, but more poetic).  I do feel the hype can be a bit over the top for this novel (at least amongst some reviewers), and it didn't quite live up to the hype, but it was fine overall.

Now working through Eiseley's The Night Country, which is good but not at the same level as The Invisible Pyramid.

Maxwell's The Folded Leaf next and then Powell's The Locusts Have No King!  (Hope the Powell lives up to the hype...)

[kinuta]

[kinuta]

[Matthew]

Figures for an Apocalypse by Thomas Merton

[jlhoots]

16 hours ago, kinuta said:

On my "short" list. Is it good?

[kinuta]

7 hours ago, jlhoots said:

On my "short" list. Is it good?

Yes, it's great. I read the first half in one sitting.

If you like her previous books ; Olive Kitteridge, My Name Is Lucy Barton and Anything Is Possible then you'll love it.

[Brad]

 

Unusual book about an Israeli harpist sho returns home to see if her mother will move into a retirement home and to pass the time she becomes an extra in movies and tv. However, is she an extra in her family’s life, an extra to her ex-husband or even an extra to the symphony in the Netherlands she plays for.  

Edited November 13, 2019 by Brad

[jlhoots]

2 hours ago, kinuta said:

Yes, it's great. I read the first half in one sitting.

If you like her previous books ; Olive Kitteridge, My Name Is Lucy Barton and Anything Is Possible then you'll love it.

Ordered!!

[Larry Kart]

3 hours ago, Brad said:

 

Unusual book about an Israeli harpist sho returns home to see if her mother will move into a retirement home and to pass the time she becomes an extra in movies and tv. However, is she an extra in her family’s life, an extra to her ex-husband or even an extra to the symphony in the Netherlands she plays for.  

Unusual for sure. I liked it a lot.

[Brad]

Just now, Larry Kart said:

Unusual for sure. I liked it a lot.

It took me about a third of the book to appreciate it. Then I couldn’t put it down. 

[Matthew]

Preaching in Hitler's Shadow: Sermons of Resistance in the Third Reich edited by Dean G. Stroud. Fascinating book.

[ejp626]

This probably belongs in a different category - what books are you looking forward to reading - but anyway this is a really interesting piece (with a happy ending) about a fairly obscure SF writer - John M. Ford: https://slate.com/culture/2019/11/john-ford-science-fiction-fantasy-books.html

I don't read much SF and fantasy any more, but I will very likely read The Dragon Waiting and then Aspects when they are published (or republished) by Tor, starting fall of 2020.

In the meantime, I have launched into Powell's The Locusts Have No King, and, so far, it is as good as advertised. 

[medjuck]

Probably the 3rd or 4th time I've read The Big Sleep but this is really good.   Every facing page is reserved for annotations some of which are mini essays, almost all are interesting.  Maybe it will even explain who killed Owen Taylor. 

[kinuta]

[Matthew]

4 hours ago, medjuck said:

Probably the 3rd or 4th time I've read The Big Sleep but this is really good.   Every facing page is reserved for annotations some of which are mini essays, almost all are interesting.  Maybe it will even explain who killed Owen Taylor. 

Thanks for posting this! I'll be ordering it in the next coup of days.

[HutchFan]

Just starting this:

[John Tapscott]

[jlhoots]

18 hours ago, kinuta said: