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I'm finding I have no particular interest in any of the characters in Lucky Jim and don't care what happens to them.  (Furthermore, David Lodge writes much more pointed satire of academia.)  I'll finish it, as it is fairly short, but I am already looking ahead to The Good Soldier, which I liked very much in my 20s, so I hope I still feel the same now.

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http://images.penguinrandomhouse.com/cover/9780735225114

Deliciously well written and enjoyable.

It really does feel like a long lost , previously unpublished part of the cold war series.

He brilliantly recaptures the prose, mood and atmosphere of his great work.

So good I'm keeping in check my natural impulse to binge read the whole thing.

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6 hours ago, kinuta said:

http://images.penguinrandomhouse.com/cover/9780735225114

Deliciously well written and enjoyable.

It really does feel like a long lost , previously unpublished part of the cold war series.

He brilliantly recaptures the prose, mood and atmosphere of his great work.

So good I'm keeping in check my natural impulse to binge read the whole thing.

Copy reserved at public library. Am about number 50 on the list!

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On 9/4/2017 at 10:33 PM, ejp626 said:

 I'll finish it, as it is fairly short, but I am already looking ahead to The Good Soldier, which I liked very much in my 20s, so I hope I still feel the same now.

I definitely felt The Good Soldier was a bit too drawn out this time around and a bit too needlessly convoluted.  We get the gist of what happened by p 50 or even sooner, and then the rest is sort of a baroque filling in of a lot of details and much more back story.  Which would be fine if some of it didn't seem just so repetitive.  The last few pages do redeem it a fair bit where we finally get a sense that the narrator isn't quite the angel he often portrays himself as.

It's still a solid book, but I wasn't blown away by it as I was in my 20s.

Carr's A Month in the Country next, and I am also trying to wrap up Fontane's Irretrievable (NYRB).  I compared Irretrievable and No Way Back (Penguin) and finally plumped for the (older) translation published by NYRB.

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On 9/11/2017 at 11:40 AM, crisp said:

I read this a few weeks ago. An interesting book. Reminded me of The Killer Inside Me in its psychopathic narrator. I haven't seen the Nicholas Ray film.

A great study of the criminal mind that builds in intensity. 

On 9/14/2017 at 8:44 PM, kinuta said:

http://images.penguinrandomhouse.com/cover/9780735225114

Deliciously well written and enjoyable.

It really does feel like a long lost , previously unpublished part of the cold war series.

He brilliantly recaptures the prose, mood and atmosphere of his great work.

So good I'm keeping in check my natural impulse to binge read the whole thing.

I'm a big fan of the Karla Trilogy having read it several times and countlessly watched the Alec Guinness portrayals of Smiley.  Can't wait to get it. 

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Only benefit of the hurricane was ample time for reading. Finished these two in the past week:

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Fascinating piece of reporting, in his own way the 'good' Bulger was as dirty as the 'bad' one.

And this was a mind-blower:

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Imagine growing up with a love/hate relationship with your father, becoming a homicide detective, re-connecting with your father before his death, then discovering photos of the Black Dahlia murder victim in his personal album, undertaking your own homicide investigation, and figuring out that your father killed the Black Dahlia and probably many, many others - while you were a boy living in his house.

 

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On 9/16/2017 at 11:10 AM, Brad said:

IMG_0087-X2.jpg

A powerful book. 

This is simply an amazing book. The author, a psychiatrist, survived four concentration camps, and a good part of the book (the book is 160 pages in length) details those experiences and how he survived. The remainder revolves around his theories that we can find meaning from suffering.  He quotes Nietzsche that he who has a "why" to live for can bear with almost any "how."

This a good article about the book, http://benjaminmcevoy.com/7-lessons-learned-mans-search-meaning-viktor-e-frankl-book-review/

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6 hours ago, BillF said:

I think that was the Herman biog I read some years ago. Full of fascinating insights.

I have two other Herman bios on my shelves - a shorter one called "Woody Herman" by British writer Steve Voce, and "The Leader of the Band" by Gene Lees (which typically is 1/3 Lees and 2/3rds Herman, but has good insights, too).

I'm enjoying Clancy's book which is very good on Herman's early years (pre First Herd). 

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https://www.lwcurrey.com/pictures/medium/111864.jpg

Skippable.

I did like the parts that dealt with interstellar travel and navigation and filled in details of the galactic exploration.

The story itself was boring.

On 20/09/2017 at 2:15 AM, BillF said:

I know what you mean. My reservation is now number 23 in a list of 74. There are 7 copies circulating.

 

I  haven't read The Pigeon Tunnel

Is it worth getting or just a rehash of themes explored in The Perfect Spy ?

The new one is very good.

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9 hours ago, kinuta said:

https://www.lwcurrey.com/pictures/medium/111864.jpg

Skippable.

I did like the parts that dealt with interstellar travel and navigation and filled in details of the galactic exploration.

The story itself was boring.

I  haven't read The Pigeon Tunnel

Is it worth getting or just a rehash of themes explored in The Perfect Spy ?

The new one is very good.

Pigeon Tunnel is very scrappy. Series of anecdotes thrown together. Definitely missable.

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