Now reading...

[GA Russell]

[Brad]

On 8/2/2023 at 1:50 PM, Matthew said:

I know this isn't his best writing but I really love this novel. 

It was a bit of a struggle but finished it. Due to the way he put it together, it’s uneven.  I can’t say I loved it but glad I read it. 

[rostasi]

Lil’ Darlin’

[GA Russell]

[jlhoots]

Claire Keegan: Small Things Like These

[GA Russell]

[ejp626]

Salman Rushdie The Enchantress of Florence

Managed to get most of the way through this book on a very long bus trip.  It's an interesting tale of how the Mogul Empire and Renaissance Florence were linked through an Indian princess written out of history but restored through the telling of (tall?) tales.  I should be able to finish it in the next few days.

And then I will turn to Maugham's Cases and Ale,  an amusing story with some very catty writing about the London literary world.  I should have gotten further on this, but I was wrapping up Austen's Mansfield Park, which I felt was quite a dud, and the final stories in Mavis Gallant's Varieties of Exile.

Edited August 20, 2023 by ejp626

[BillF]

[medjuck]

4 hours ago, BillF said:

Funny I just finished an obscure Highsmith called "Found on the Street" and recently read a short story by Flynn that reminded me of her (Highsmith). I've never seen a quote from Flynn about her before  but  I've joked that I wouldn't want to live next door to either of them. 

Edited August 20, 2023 by medjuck

[BillF]

2 hours ago, medjuck said:

Funny I just finished an obscure Highsmith called "Found on the Street" and recently read a short story by Flynn that reminded me of her. I've never seen a quote from Flynn about Highsmith but  I've joked that I wouldn't want to live next door to either of them. 

Not so obscure! I've read it. I liked its Greenwich Village location - something different for Highsmith.

[Brad]

[adh1907]

Love, Leda by Mark Hyatt. Interesting mid 60s London novel only recently discovered and published. Takes a while to get into the staccato poetic style. As an aside, trying to work out which jazz club operated on Museum St. https://www.theguardian.com/books/2023/feb/23/a-great-lost-work-love-ledas-candid-tale-of-1960s-gay-life-is-a-touching-time-capsule

[ghost of miles]

[GA Russell]

[BillF]

[Referentzhunter]

[ghost of miles]

Clearing the decks to read John Szwed’s new biography of Harry Smith:

[GA Russell]

 

Memo to Joe Medjuck:  Good plot, bad writing.  Reads like he was paid by the metaphor.

[Brad]

Incredible book. The author, who was born before the Spanish Civil War and brought up in the US, is the son of Spanish writer Ramon Sender, who would never discuss with him nor his sister (nor would his Spanish relatives) what happened to his mother. After his father died in 1982, he decided to find out and this book is about the search, his mother (who was executed by the fascists in the first few months of the War) and the War itself. It’s only 190 pages but a deeply moving book. 

[BillF]

[ejp626]

Just wrapping up Maugham's Cakes and Ale.  Very entertaining.  From the introduction, there is quite a bit on how Maugham himself was very thin-skinned and threatened another author (who was lampooning him) with legal action.  A bit sad, but it doesn't stop one from enjoying this novel.

Will be reading Waugh's Decline and Fall next and then for something completely different, Narayan's The Man-Eater of Malgudi.

[jlhoots]

Isabel Allende: The Wind Knows My Name

[BillF]

2 hours ago, ejp626 said:

 

 

👍

[GA Russell]

[GA Russell]

I thought his earlier works were better.