ejp626 Posted November 1, 2019 Report Share Posted November 1, 2019 The opening of Oz's Judas is solid. I hope the rest of the book is at the same level. Have a lot of things I'm looking forward to this fall, including Powell's The Locusts Have No King, but probably by the tail end of fall or early winter, I'll read some of Rushdie's latest novels, including The Golden House and Quichotte. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brad Posted November 1, 2019 Report Share Posted November 1, 2019 (edited) On 10/25/2019 at 6:31 PM, Brad said: The new LeCarre book. It’s evident that he’s still writing at a high level and there is some good bits in here but it’s also a commentary or almost a screed on Trump and Brexit, both of which he obviously detests. The plot is less interesting than the current state of spydom and the UK, which he draws exquisitely. Edited November 1, 2019 by Brad Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kinuta Posted November 1, 2019 Report Share Posted November 1, 2019 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ghost of miles Posted November 1, 2019 Author Report Share Posted November 1, 2019 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: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BFrank Posted November 2, 2019 Report Share Posted November 2, 2019 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kinuta Posted November 2, 2019 Report Share Posted November 2, 2019 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ejp626 Posted November 5, 2019 Report Share Posted November 5, 2019 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. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matthew Posted November 5, 2019 Report Share Posted November 5, 2019 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. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kinuta Posted November 6, 2019 Report Share Posted November 6, 2019 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
soulpope Posted November 6, 2019 Report Share Posted November 6, 2019 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ejp626 Posted November 8, 2019 Report Share Posted November 8, 2019 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...) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kinuta Posted November 8, 2019 Report Share Posted November 8, 2019 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kinuta Posted November 12, 2019 Report Share Posted November 12, 2019 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matthew Posted November 13, 2019 Report Share Posted November 13, 2019 Figures for an Apocalypse by Thomas Merton Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jlhoots Posted November 13, 2019 Report Share Posted November 13, 2019 16 hours ago, kinuta said: On my "short" list. Is it good? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kinuta Posted November 13, 2019 Report Share Posted November 13, 2019 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. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brad Posted November 13, 2019 Report Share Posted November 13, 2019 (edited) 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 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jlhoots Posted November 14, 2019 Report Share Posted November 14, 2019 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!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Larry Kart Posted November 14, 2019 Report Share Posted November 14, 2019 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. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brad Posted November 14, 2019 Report Share Posted November 14, 2019 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. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matthew Posted November 15, 2019 Report Share Posted November 15, 2019 Preaching in Hitler's Shadow: Sermons of Resistance in the Third Reich edited by Dean G. Stroud. Fascinating book. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ejp626 Posted November 15, 2019 Report Share Posted November 15, 2019 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. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
medjuck Posted November 15, 2019 Report Share Posted November 15, 2019 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. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kinuta Posted November 15, 2019 Report Share Posted November 15, 2019 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matthew Posted November 15, 2019 Report Share Posted November 15, 2019 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. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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