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[BillF]

After Brodie, this novella is probably the one I've enjoyed most so far. Spark seems to do well when dealing with young women.

[Leeway]

After Brodie, this novella is probably the one I've enjoyed most so far. Spark seems to do well when dealing with young women.

Yes, that is one of her finer works. I would agree about the young woman character being her forte, but followed closely by the quirky/troubled young man type. I'm reading her late Territorial Rights novel at the moment.

[Matthew]

Morte D'Urban by J. F. Powers. A great, comic novel about a hustler of a priest, a retreat house, a golf course, every now and then God, and coming to terms with your life. This book is also, without a doubt, the most realistic novel about the Catholic priesthood that I've read. Powers' short stories are very interesting also.

Edited July 4, 2014 by Matthew

[ejp626]

Morte D'Urban by J. F. Powers. A great, comic novel about a hustler of a priest, a retreat house, a golf course, every now and then God, and coming to terms with your life. This book is also, without a doubt, the most realistic novel about the Catholic priesthood that I've read. Powers' short stories are very interesting also.

Yes, I like this one. It has some quite profound moments in addition to the humor. I even turned my cousin on to it (he's moved to Wisconsin, which is close enough).

I bought a copy of the short stories, but haven't read them. Late in life, Powers published another novel (Wheat That Springeth Green) which is supposed to be pretty good. I have a copy of this as well, but haven't tackled it yet. (The cover of the NYRB edition is odd -- you are looking into a refrigerator.)

Given that all my books are going to be in transit for a while, after I finish The Tin Flute, I think probably I can get a library copy of Grass's The Tin Drum, which I've never read.

[Leeway]

Morte D'Urban by J. F. Powers. A great, comic novel about a hustler of a priest, a retreat house, a golf course, every now and then God, and coming to terms with your life. This book is also, without a doubt, the most realistic novel about the Catholic priesthood that I've read. Powers' short stories are very interesting also.

Yes, I like this one. It has some quite profound moments in addition to the humor. I even turned my cousin on to it (he's moved to Wisconsin, which is close enough).

I bought a copy of the short stories, but haven't read them. Late in life, Powers published another novel (Wheat That Springeth Green) which is supposed to be pretty good. I have a copy of this as well, but haven't tackled it yet. (The cover of the NYRB edition is odd -- you are looking into a refrigerator.)

Given that all my books are going to be in transit for a while, after I finish The Tin Flute, I think probably I can get a library copy of Grass's The Tin Drum, which I've never read.

I hope you find The Tin Drum more engrossing than I did. I finally gave up on it about half-way through "with prejudice" as they say in legal circles; i.e., made me not want to read any more Gunter Grass. I was pretty surprised by that, considering its "classic status," but I just found it tedious, and, something in the tone or attitude of the book (can't recall exactly) really put me off.

[BillF]

Morte D'Urban by J. F. Powers. A great, comic novel about a hustler of a priest, a retreat house, a golf course, every now and then God, and coming to terms with your life. This book is also, without a doubt, the most realistic novel about the Catholic priesthood that I've read. Powers' short stories are very interesting also.

Yes, I like this one. It has some quite profound moments in addition to the humor. I even turned my cousin on to it (he's moved to Wisconsin, which is close enough).

I bought a copy of the short stories, but haven't read them. Late in life, Powers published another novel (Wheat That Springeth Green) which is supposed to be pretty good. I have a copy of this as well, but haven't tackled it yet. (The cover of the NYRB edition is odd -- you are looking into a refrigerator.)

, but it didn't appeal to me as a 30 year old.

Given that all my books are going to be in transit for a while, after I finish The Tin Flute, I think probably I can get a library copy of Grass's The Tin Drum, which I've never read.

I hope you find The Tin Drum more engrossing than I did. I finally gave up on it about half-way through "with prejudice" as they say in legal circles; i.e., made me not want to read any more Gunter Grass. I was pretty surprised by that, considering its "classic status," but I just found it tedious, and, something in the tone or attitude of the book (can't recall exactly) really put me off.

It's about 45 years since I tried to read it - without success. It was something of a cult book with the 17-year-old art students whom I was teaching at the time, but it didn't appeal to me as a 30 year old.

[jlhoots]

Deaver: The Skin Collector

[duaneiac]

In which John Waters hitchhikes from his home in Baltimore to San Francisco. The book is divided into three sections: first, he imagines the best possible adventures this trip might bring; second, he imagines the worst possible adventures which might occur; third, he relates the trip as it actually happened. I'm in the first part now and it's quite entertaining as he imagines being picked up by (among others) a prison escapee being pursued by the police, a demolition derby driver who takes him along for the ride during a competition, an underground carnival in which he is put to work in the freak show as "The Man With No Tattoos", and in a very sweet chapter, he is picked up by Edith "Egg Lady" Massey, an iconic actress featured in several of Mr. Waters' films and who, in this account at least, faked her own death to escape the film world and now runs a second hand convenience store in Hermann, Missouri.

[Shawn]

Larry Niven - Protector (1973)

[BillF]

Not very happy with this Spark novella, but then it seems others weren't either:

http://www.theguardian.com/books/booksblog/2010/may/13/lost-booker-muriel-spark-drivers-seat

[Leeway]

That is a new one to me. I can see why it wouldn't make a lot of friends. Her later novels seems to lose some of that joyous, or at least buoyant, quality that helped balance the acerbity.

BTW, the Washington Post is promising something (not sure if review, article, or maybe forthcoming bio) on Spark this Thursday. Will post on that when I see it.

[BillF]

That is a new one to me. I can see why it wouldn't make a lot of friends. Her later novels seems to lose some of that joyous, or at least buoyant, quality that helped balance the acerbity.

BTW, the Washington Post is promising something (not sure if review, article, or maybe forthcoming bio) on Spark this Thursday. Will post on that when I see it.

Could be this one that appeared in the Guardian yesterday. These things are often syndicated internationally.

http://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2014/jul/05/i-lived-with-muriel-spark

[Leeway]

Yes, that seems the likely reason for the article, although the Washington Post might gets its own reviewer (I would guess Michael Dirda, but let's see). Will advise.

I found the article on Penelope Jardine quite interesting. I can see why the character of the quirky, difficult young man is a recurrent one in Spark. I was also thinking how the move to Italy affected Spark and her work, although I don't have that aspect precisely figured out. I don't think it was a positive move though.

[BillF]

Yes, that seems the likely reason for the article, although the Washington Post might gets its own reviewer (I would guess Michael Dirda, but let's see). Will advise.

I found the article on Penelope Jardine quite interesting. I can see why the character of the quirky, difficult young man is a recurrent one in Spark. I was also thinking how the move to Italy affected Spark and her work, although I don't have that aspect precisely figured out. I don't think it was a positive move though.

The article has whetted my appetite for this, which I began today. I'll probably break off from time to time to read other Spark novels.

[Leeway]

Yes, that seems the likely reason for the article, although the Washington Post might gets its own reviewer (I would guess Michael Dirda, but let's see). Will advise.

I found the article on Penelope Jardine quite interesting. I can see why the character of the quirky, difficult young man is a recurrent one in Spark. I was also thinking how the move to Italy affected Spark and her work, although I don't have that aspect precisely figured out. I don't think it was a positive move though.

The article has whetted my appetite for this, which I began today. I'll probably break off from time to time to read other Spark novels.

Yes, I noted the Stannard; now on my list. My recent used book hunt, which turned up "Territorial Rights," also turned up:

I need to dip into it a bit. Also, don't forget "The Comforters"-- that first book is quite revealing and often the template for what follows.

[Matthew]

Weird Scenes Inside the Canyon: Laurel Canyon, Covert Ops & The Dark Heart of the Hippie Dream by David McGowan. Very definitely a What The Heck??? book, but interesting none-the-less. Trying to make the case that whole Laurel Canyon/Los Angeles/Hippie thing was a CIA diversion to take away any real power from the anti-war movement, among other things.

[BillF]

Yes, that seems the likely reason for the article, although the Washington Post might gets its own reviewer (I would guess Michael Dirda, but let's see). Will advise.

I found the article on Penelope Jardine quite interesting. I can see why the character of the quirky, difficult young man is a recurrent one in Spark. I was also thinking how the move to Italy affected Spark and her work, although I don't have that aspect precisely figured out. I don't think it was a positive move though.

The article has whetted my appetite for this, which I began today. I'll probably break off from time to time to read other Spark novels.

Yes, I noted the Stannard; now on my list. My recent used book hunt, which turned up "Territorial Rights," also turned up:

I need to dip into it a bit. Also, don't forget "The Comforters"-- that first book is quite revealing and often the template for what follows.

I can see me reading The Comforters when I reach that stage in the biography. There's a library copy waiting for me.

[ghost of miles]

Gary Marmorstein's Lorenz Hart bio.

[Leeway]

TERRITORIAL RIGHTS - Muriel Spark (1979). That is the American First Edition cover. As indicated, the novel is set in Venice. An ingenious and nasty young man is at the heart of it (of course), surrounded by a cast of characters with a corrupt or shady past, much of it the product of their activities during WWII. The young man's parents are either oblivious or stupid or both. Let's just say the milieu is seedy even when (or because ?) the characters have money (except for a few down-at-the heels refugee types).

The story winds itself up into a mystery/detective type plot (not one that would give Agatha Christie any sleepless nights) and unwinds itself at the end like spaghetti on a fork. If Spark likes Italy, she keeps it carefully concealed here. For the most part, the Venetians are a bunch of people rowing gondolas and generally making themselves unpleasant, or just the decorative background for the expats busy exploiting each other. Spark's wit, rapier-dialog and amusing sense of sophistication are all here, which makes it rather a breezy read. The morality though is as toxic as one of those Venetian canals.

[BillF]

TERRITORIAL RIGHTS - Muriel Spark (1979). That is the American First Edition cover. As indicated, the novel is set in Venice. An ingenious and nasty young man is at the heart of it (of course), surrounded by a cast of characters with a corrupt or shady past, much of it the product of their activities during WWII. The young man's parents are either oblivious or stupid or both. Let's just say the milieu is seedy even when (or because ?) the characters have money (except for a few down-at-the heels refugee types).

The story winds itself up into a mystery/detective type plot (not one that would give Agatha Christie any sleepless nights) and unwinds itself at the end like spaghetti on a fork. If Spark likes Italy, she keeps it carefully concealed here. For the most part, the Venetians are a bunch of people rowing gondolas and generally making themselves unpleasant, or just the decorative background for the expats busy exploiting each other. Spark's wit, rapier-dialog and amusing sense of sophistication are all here, which makes it rather a breezy read. The morality though is as toxic as one of those Venetian canals.

It's on my list :-)

[paul secor]

Just finished reading:

[BruceH]

Actually, I am glad that the field has space for PKD and Farmer and Delany and Harlan Ellison (who almost never writes "hard" SF) and certainly Zelazny, but I still wouldn't give the awards out to the trippiest stories and novels.

Agreed. Well, except for Ellison; I think he's pretty much a waste of space, a man who's schtick became tiresome long ago. There was a lot of silliness involved in the "new wave". I'd compare it to the Sex Pistols in rock, as an interesting, if embarrassing, necessary step to get to what was next, but overrated on it's own. (Except for Effinger's What Entropy Means to Me; for some reason I love that book!)

I remember a story by someone (I think it was Spinrad, another author I like) riffing on John Dos Passos (forgive if I'm spelling wrong) being praised as something amazing, and I just didn't get it. I might have been more impressed if Heinlein hadn't already done the same thing in Stranger in a Strange Land, but I guess he was too old guard to count. Silly, silly, silly...

The book you're thinking of may be Brunner's Stand on Zanzibar. It certainly copied the style of John Dos Passos' USA Trilogy. A flawed but interesting novel. On the other hand, as far as Stranger In A Strange Land goes, I could never get on board the bandwagon for that one. At a certain point, about 1959 or so, Heinlein became a windy, stiff-necked, get-off-my-lawn old man. I find most of his later stuff patchy to insufferable.

[ejp626]

I remember a story by someone (I think it was Spinrad, another author I like) riffing on John Dos Passos (forgive if I'm spelling wrong) being praised as something amazing, and I just didn't get it. I might have been more impressed if Heinlein hadn't already done the same thing in Stranger in a Strange Land, but I guess he was too old guard to count. Silly, silly, silly...

The book you're thinking of may be Brunner's Stand on Zanzibar. It certainly copied the style of John Dos Passos' USA Trilogy. A flawed but interesting novel. On the other hand, as far as Stranger In A Strange Land goes, I could never get on board the bandwagon for that one. At a certain point, about 1959 or so, Heinlein became a windy, stiff-necked, get-off-my-lawn old man. I find most of his later stuff patchy to insufferable.

I read Stand on Zanzibar, but don't remember much of it at all (same thing with Zelazny's To Die in Italbar).

The thing about Heinlein, is he definitely went through this crochety phase where he was just sure that engineers and the military would end up running societies (esp. Starship Troopers and The Moon is a Harsh Mistress, though I generally like the latter one). But then he went all 70s with the pansexual books he wrote after that (I Will Fear No Evil, Time Enough for Love, Number of the Beast, To Sail Beyond the Sunset). Friday is probably the least creepy of these late books, but it is still a bit odd to see a male author "Mary-Janeing."

I'm sure I would be a lot less impressed with Heinlein's wisdom today than I was as a teenager.

[Jazzmoose]

The book you're thinking of may be Brunner's Stand on Zanzibar. It certainly copied the style of John Dos Passos' USA Trilogy. A flawed but interesting novel. On the other hand, as far as Stranger In A Strange Land goes, I could never get on board the bandwagon for that one. At a certain point, about 1959 or so, Heinlein became a windy, stiff-necked, get-off-my-lawn old man. I find most of his later stuff patchy to insufferable.

No, it was a short story in one of the Dangerous Visions anthologies. Stand on Zanzibar was the chess one, wasn't it? I never managed to finish it or Shockwave Rider, unfortunately. I should probably give that one another try.

[Jazzmoose]

The thing about Heinlein, is he definitely went through this crochety phase where he was just sure that engineers and the military would end up running societies (esp. Starship Troopers and The Moon is a Harsh Mistress, though I generally like the latter one). But then he went all 70s with the pansexual books he wrote after that (I Will Fear No Evil, Time Enough for Love, Number of the Beast, To Sail Beyond the Sunset). Friday is probably the least creepy of these late books, but it is still a bit odd to see a male author "Mary-Janeing."

I'm sure I would be a lot less impressed with Heinlein's wisdom today than I was as a teenager.

Personally, I thought Starship Troopers was just as good as The Moon is a Harsh Mistress. I didn't mind that part of his career at all (although Stranger was just too much); it was the later phase (won't bother naming the offenders as you already have). Though I Will Fear No Evil certainly deserves special mention as particularly pathetic. I know Number of the Beast is often held up as his worst, but I'd much rather read that the the embarrassingly bad Fear No Evil. But even then, I thought Friday and Job: a Comedy of Justice were worth reading.

In the long run, I'm afraid Heinlein will be remembered for his hand in creating the conventions of the genre rather than for his actual writing. Except for All You Zombies; criticize that one and I'll turn back into a teenaged fanboy and go batshit!