BillF Posted February 18, 2014 Report Posted February 18, 2014 TIME FOR A TIGER - Anthony Burgess. First book in his "Malayan Trilogy." Have always found Burgess interesting. Have read "A Clockwork Orange" (Kubrick's movie might very well be better than the book) and the Enderby books (due for a re-reading). Has anyone dipped into the Malayan books? I found his autobiographical volumes, Little Wilson and Big God and You've Had your Time fascinating. Of course, the fact that he was from Manchester was of special interest to me - he had the "look" of people from round here. Saw him once arriving in a limo with his exotic Italian wife for a book signing. Quote
Leeway Posted February 18, 2014 Report Posted February 18, 2014 TIME FOR A TIGER - Anthony Burgess. First book in his "Malayan Trilogy." Have always found Burgess interesting. Have read "A Clockwork Orange" (Kubrick's movie might very well be better than the book) and the Enderby books (due for a re-reading). Has anyone dipped into the Malayan books? I found his autobiographical volumes, Little Wilson and Big God and You've Had your Time fascinating. Of course, the fact that he was from Manchester was of special interest to me - he had the "look" of people from round here. Saw him once arriving in a limo with his exotic Italian wife for a book signing. I'm always amazed by people like Burgess, who seem to live enough for several lives, and nothing humdrum about it. Yes, a most interesting life. The Burgess Society headquarters and museum are located in Manchester; might be an interesting place to spend an afternoon. Quote
jazzbo Posted February 18, 2014 Report Posted February 18, 2014 TIME FOR A TIGER - Anthony Burgess. First book in his "Malayan Trilogy." Have always found Burgess interesting. Have read "A Clockwork Orange" (Kubrick's movie might very well be better than the book) and the Enderby books (due for a re-reading). Has anyone dipped into the Malayan books? Oh yes, read those over twenty years ago. I liked 'em. Quote
BillF Posted February 18, 2014 Report Posted February 18, 2014 TIME FOR A TIGER - Anthony Burgess. First book in his "Malayan Trilogy." Have always found Burgess interesting. Have read "A Clockwork Orange" (Kubrick's movie might very well be better than the book) and the Enderby books (due for a re-reading). Has anyone dipped into the Malayan books? I found his autobiographical volumes, Little Wilson and Big God and You've Had your Time fascinating. Of course, the fact that he was from Manchester was of special interest to me - he had the "look" of people from round here. Saw him once arriving in a limo with his exotic Italian wife for a book signing. I'm always amazed by people like Burgess, who seem to live enough for several lives, and nothing humdrum about it. Yes, a most interesting life. The Burgess Society headquarters and museum are located in Manchester; might be an interesting place to spend an afternoon. Must look in someday! Quote
A Lark Ascending Posted February 18, 2014 Report Posted February 18, 2014 Conductor, farmer, now a writer of very long books. He'll be doing his own cookery programme next. Really enjoyed the 2 hour doc he did on Bach around last Easter, from the same sources as this. Some nice context setting in the first 50 pages. Quote
jlhoots Posted February 21, 2014 Report Posted February 21, 2014 Jo Nesbo: Cockroaches (finally in English) Quote
jazzbo Posted February 21, 2014 Report Posted February 21, 2014 Started Judge Dee and the case of the giant carrots? It's a mandrake! Quote
BillF Posted February 25, 2014 Report Posted February 25, 2014 Biography of novelist and short story writer Elizabeth Taylor. Quote
jazzbo Posted February 26, 2014 Report Posted February 26, 2014 (edited) ginseng The story involves mandrake root, and it looks very similar to ginseng. Of course the cover is an anthropomorphic stylization. Edited February 26, 2014 by jazzbo Quote
Leeway Posted February 28, 2014 Report Posted February 28, 2014 Well, I finished Anthony Burgess' Malayan Trilogy: Time for a Tiger, The Enemy in the Blanket, and Beds in the East. I found it quite interesting and sufficiently entertaining. The books likely had a topical interest at the time of publication, at which time the British were ceding control of their southeast Asian possessions, but is still relevant now as Burgess expends a good deal of attention on Moslem culture. The novels are filled with a sort of mordant humor, always a bit mocking in tone. Burgess' love of wordplay and vocabulary is already evident. Within a short span of pages, I noted the following words: hypnopaedia, crepuscular, rhotacigmus, omphalic, ingurgitation, exopthalmic. It's not all like that, but a reader is likely to trip over one of these every handful of pages or so. A segue to Joseph Conrad's southeast Asian fiction would probably make sense, but I'll stick with Burgess for a while. Just starting: THE DOCTOR IS SICK - Anthony Burgess Quote
paul secor Posted March 3, 2014 Report Posted March 3, 2014 The O. Henry Prize Stories 2013 About what I expected from a year's best anthology like this - a few that I truly enjoyed; a few that were ok; and a bunch that were forgettable. Quote
jazzbo Posted March 4, 2014 Report Posted March 4, 2014 (edited) No, it's one of the latest (the first though in internal chronology) of a series of novels about "Quarry," a Viet Nam vet turned professional hitman that Collins has written. Quite nice escapist fun to read, for me at least, I've read all the novels previous to this I believe. Edited March 4, 2014 by jazzbo Quote
Bright Moments Posted March 4, 2014 Report Posted March 4, 2014 A graphic novel? GGA!!!Lon - have you read anything by Connie Willis? Quote
Jazzmoose Posted March 4, 2014 Report Posted March 4, 2014 Since you bring up Connie Willis, has she written anything that doesn't involve time travel? I have To Say Nothing of the Dog and Doomsday Book, but both are time travel stories, and I loathe time travel stories. I just gave up this week and moved them off of the "to be read" shelf. Quote
alankin Posted March 5, 2014 Report Posted March 5, 2014 I have read Connie Willis "To Say Nothing of The Dog" which I enjoyed. I haven't read any Max Allan Collins. Have you read any Richard Stark books? I like the Parker series. Quote
Bright Moments Posted March 5, 2014 Report Posted March 5, 2014 I enjoy time travel stories! Currently reading timeline by Crichton. Willis is very good!!! Haven't yet read Collins or stark. Quote
ejp626 Posted March 5, 2014 Report Posted March 5, 2014 Just read Michel Tremblay's Stories for Late Night Drinkers, which is a very early work of his. Rather than being an investigation of working-class Montreal (like most of his later novels and plays), these are short, fantastic fables sort of in line with the unsanitized version of the Grimm fairy tales. They're ok, but I think his other work is better. I've checked out The Fat Woman Next Door is Pregnant, which I hope to get to by the end of the month. I'm about halfway through two novels: Molly Keane's The Rising Tide and Marisha Pessl's Special Topics in Calamity Physics. Calamity Physics started off pretty strong, but it's dragging on me as I find myself losing interest in the main character and her travails (being in high school and trying to fit in with the popular crowd and dealing with this film teacher who has sort of adopted them all). Maybe the problem is that as the teacher's life begins spiraling out of control, the whole book is getting just too melodramatic, though maybe that is appropriate after all, since almost nothing is as dramatic as teenagers and their status games. Quote
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