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[BillF]

Back to Bellow with my old copy, inscribed 1966! A very different sort of novel from the English tradition stuff I usually read. Curiously, the nearest to it (apart from Bellow himself) I've read is L'étranger, which is nearly contemporaneous. I suppose the Bellow does have something of the existential about it.

[Matthew]

7 hours ago, paul secor said:

That looks interesting.

It is an interesting anthology.  It's great to especially hear the voices from the past preaching to the congregation! The book also contains sermons from non-Christians, so it is a good overview of the topic.

Edited March 10, 2016 by Matthew

[jazzbo]

After reading Anne R. Dick's book, I want to re-read several Dick novels, and am starting with this one.

[crisp]

Practically the last of Wodehouse's fiction that I hadn't read. There are a few short books that Everyman has published (I have the whole series apart from two) that aren't on the official checklist I've been using, plus some non-fiction such as Over Seventy. This one read like a patchwork of several short stories; rambling in other words, but easy reading. Archie is like a blend of Bertie Wooster and Monty Bodkin with a touch of Ukridge. I found this one pretty funny and liked the Archie character.

[A Lark Ascending]

Enjoyed this...intriguing historical counterfactual novel with alternative life directions explored. A bit overlong - the (admittedly evocative) Blitz section seemed to make much the same point in several scenarios. 

Wonderful popular history. Tried to read John Julius Norwich's book on Venice 15 years back and had to give up after 1/3 through as I got my doges muddled. This focuses on the seaborne empire from 1204 though to the 16thC. Especially good in the great set pieces - the sack of Constantinople, the rivalry with Genoa, the Cretan revolt, the Battle of Chioggia, the fall of Negroponte and Lepanto. Good lord it was tough living in the Middle Ages (though it's tough living today if you are unfortunate enough to be in Syria or Iraq). All things I either only had a dusting of knowledge of or no knowledge at all. 

Have his book on the Mediterranean clash between the Ottomans and the West leading to the battle of Lepanto heading my way now. 

Also two music books:

The Bartok is an excellent read - polished off in just over a week (just to indicate how compelling it was!) - a clear biography but with extensive commentary on the music (a bit too technical for me, but clear enough to use later when listening). I'm in the middle of the second - a beautiful and very humble book from the first violinist of the Takacs Quartet, tracing his arrival as the 'new boy' in the 90s through to becoming an established member. Explores his musical and human relationships with the other members, getting to know the music ever more deeply and the evolution of the quartets themselves in Beethoven's time. 

[Jazzjet]

2 hours ago, A Lark Ascending said:

Enjoyed this...intriguing historical counterfactual novel with alternative life directions explored. A bit overlong - the (admittedly evocative) Blitz section seemed to make much the same point in several scenarios. 

 

I also enjoyed 'Life After Life' immensely. I'm currently nearing the end of the (sort of) sequel, 'A God In Ruins' which concentrates on Ursula's brother, Teddy. Very enjoyable and a bit more conventional than 'Life After Life'. Next up, I'm starting Kate Atkinson's 'Jackson Brodie' books.

[ejp626]

I'm mixing my reading list up just a bit, since we will be traveling, and I wanted a longer book.  I'm going to tackle Smollet's Roderick Random.  Then back to the Brian Moore book.  Also, I need to fit in Emmanuel Bove's A Man Who Knows, since it is due at the end of the month and cannot be renewed (but it is quite short).

[BillF]

1 hour ago, ejp626 said:

I'm mixing my reading list up just a bit, since we will be traveling, and I wanted a longer book.  I'm going to tackle Smollet's Roderick Random.  Then back to the Brian Moore book.  Also, I need to fit in Emmanuel Bove's A Man Who Knows, since it is due at the end of the month and cannot be renewed (but it is quite short).

Roderick Random is a fine novel. Mind you, I read it as part of a course on 18th century English Literature, so the antiquated language was no shock.

[A Lark Ascending]

6 hours ago, Jazzjet said:

I also enjoyed 'Life After Life' immensely. I'm currently nearing the end of the (sort of) sequel, 'A God In Ruins' which concentrates on Ursula's brother, Teddy. Very enjoyable and a bit more conventional than 'Life After Life'. Next up, I'm starting Kate Atkinson's 'Jackson Brodie' books.

You'll love the Brodie's. Very quirky. Plots never go where you expect them. I picked up 'A God in Ruins' in one of those supermarket deals (I know, I know, another sale lost to the local bookshop...except the nearest one is 16 miles away!). Want to read one or two other things first. 

[Jazzjet]

On 3/12/2016 at 3:47 PM, A Lark Ascending said:

You'll love the Brodie's. Very quirky. Plots never go where you expect them. I picked up 'A God in Ruins' in one of those supermarket deals (I know, I know, another sale lost to the local bookshop...except the nearest one is 16 miles away!). Want to read one or two other things first. 

According to the author's note at the end of 'A God In Ruins', which Kate Atkinson sees as a companion piece to 'Life After Life' rather than a sequel, she talks about wanting to examine the two most important episodes of WW2 (as she sees it) - the London Blitz (in the first book) and the strategic bombing campaign (in the second).

Looking forward to the Brodie's after my next book, 'A Foreign Country' by Charles Cumming, a spy thriller. His 'Trinity Six' was very good so I have high hopes for this one.

[A Lark Ascending]

9 hours ago, Jazzjet said:

According to the author's note at the end of 'A God In Ruins', which Kate Atkinson sees as a companion piece to 'Life After Life' rather than a sequel, she talks about wanting to examine the two most important episodes of WW2 (as she sees it) - the London Blitz (in the first book) and the strategic bombing campaign (in the second).

Looking forward to the Brodie's after my next book, 'A Foreign Country' by Charles Cumming, a spy thriller. His 'Trinity Six' was very good so I have high hopes for this one.

The end note in 'Life after Life' talks about her World War II interest. She's a bit older than me but I recognised the point she made about growing up in a world where World War II was everywhere. I don't recall anything like bomb damage but TV, film, comics were obsessed with it. I was an avid collector of little Airfix soldiers as a kid and those sets were dominated by different armies from the participants of World War II. Growing up on RAF bases I saw a Spitfire or Hurricane every time I went in or out of a camp. Until I was in my mid-teens WWII was more real to me than the current Cold War!  

I enjoyed 'Trinity Six' and another of his set in China. Think it was 'Typhoon'. Explored internal terrorism in China from minorities in the Islamic areas of the far west, something we hear little about. 

[Jazzjet]

2 hours ago, A Lark Ascending said:

The end note in 'Life after Life' talks about her World War II interest. She's a bit older than me but I recognised the point she made about growing up in a world where World War II was everywhere. I don't recall anything like bomb damage but TV, film, comics were obsessed with it. I was an avid collector of little Airfix soldiers as a kid and those sets were dominated by different armies from the participants of World War II. Growing up on RAF bases I saw a Spitfire or Hurricane every time I went in or out of a camp. Until I was in my mid-teens WWII was more real to me than the current Cold War!  

I enjoyed 'Trinity Six' and another of his set in China. Think it was 'Typhoon'. Explored internal terrorism in China from minorities in the Islamic areas of the far west, something we hear little about. 

I grew up in docklands London, near Tower Bridge, and the landscape was mostly bombsites until well into the early 60s. Most of my childhood was spent playing on those bombsites, a wonderfully exciting place for a kid although I'm not sure we had much appreciation at the time of the devastation that had caused them. My Dad was a navigator on Lancaster bombers towards the end of the war. I remember him as a pretty awful map reader in the car so how we didn't end up bombing Coventry is a mystery to me.

[A Lark Ascending]

My father was just too young for the war - he joined up in 1945 (the usual lying about his age thing) as a way of getting out of Tregony! One of his older brothers was at Dunkirk and subsequently invalided out; another was at sea and sunk at least twice (he also told a chilling tale of picking up some Spaniards in the late 30s and looking back to shore as the ship sailed out to see executions taking place on the streets. Never worked out if it was Republicans or Fascists doing the shooting). Also had two uncles by marriage, one who went over in the days after D-Day; the other was in North Africa and then Italy. When he died my cousins came across his diaries from the time. Amazing reads - it's as if he'd modelled his writing style on WWI diaries/letters home. There's an astonishing part where he describes the opening of an offensive. Eventually we worked out he was describing the start of El Alamein. 

As is usual, none of them talked much about their war experiences.Though the uncle in the desert had a love of Italy and things Italian for all his life.  

[ejp626]

On ‎11‎/‎03‎/‎2016 at 6:18 AM, BillF said:

Roderick Random is a fine novel. Mind you, I read it as part of a course on 18th century English Literature, so the antiquated language was no shock.

I find Roderick is a bit too hot-headed for my tastes.  I tend to think he deserves much of what happens to him, though it is his companion Strap who keeps getting drenched in urine.  It's a missed opportunity that Mayall and Edmondson never did a version of Smollett (here I am thinking of Steve Coogan tackling Sterne).  Anyway, I'll probably skim Peregrine Pickle, though most reviewers say it falls off sharply after the first 50 pages, and then later in the year, I'll read Humphrey Clinker.  That should be enough Smollett for me.

[BillF]

39 minutes ago, ejp626 said:

I find Roderick is a bit too hot-headed for my tastes.  I tend to think he deserves much of what happens to him, though it is his companion Strap who keeps getting drenched in urine.  It's a missed opportunity that Mayall and Edmondson never did a version of Smollett (here I am thinking of Steve Coogan tackling Sterne).  Anyway, I'll probably skim Peregrine Pickle, though most reviewers say it falls off sharply after the first 50 pages, and then later in the year, I'll read Humphrey Clinker.  That should be enough Smollett for me.

I recall that Humphrey Clinker threw a lot of light on the changing 18th century society and as a readable novel - yes, it was OK.

[jlhoots]

Jesmyn Ward: Salvage The Bones

[BillF]

20 hours ago, BillF said:

I recall that Humphrey Clinker threw a lot of light on the changing 18th century society and as a readable novel - yes, it was OK.

Of course, we're at a very primitive stage in the development of the novel with Smollett. If you want to get really primitive, try Defoe. I think Moll Flanders is the best. From that general period my favourite is Fielding's Joseph Andrews though - wonderful, incisive humour!

[BillF]

Back to the elder Amis - an old favourite!

[paul secor]

Richard Russo: Straight Man

I laughed a lot reading this, but there's much more than humor in it.

[A Lark Ascending]

Superb. Counterfactual tale where Roosevelt is defeated in 1940 by Lindbergh on an isolationist platform and the subsequent rise in anti-semitism. I enjoyed 'The Man in the High Castle' with a similar premise but this one really hooked me. Excellent at showing the way such extraordinary events can tear families apart internally. 

Some very clever touches - at one point after the assassination of Walter Winchell he comments that this was the last assassination of a leading public figure until Robert Kennedy was shot in June 1968. Which has you thinking 'How did that still happen at that time given the disruption to history?' And then you think 'What happened to Jack?'

Brilliant at the sort of everyday description that roots the fiction in reality - from stamp collecting to a kid getting stuck in a bathroom.  

Couldn't help thinking about the current Presidential campaign whilst reading the descriptions of the lionising of Lindbergh. 

[A Lark Ascending]

Read the first (Greek half) of this a couple of years back and then got distracted by something else. Read the Rome bit over the last week. Although I've covered a fair bit of Roman history in my time (including an excruciating two term subsidiary course in Ancient History taught by classical statues back in the 70s) I've never properly got my head round the chronology, especially during the Republic. This sorted that out (though after Hadrian is still a blur - Fox stops there). 

Did the job without being wildly exciting. I got the impression that Fox would rather be writing for academics but kept having to remind himself this was for a general reader. Like a lot of 'proper' historians, got a bit bogged down in his sources (Cicero, Tacitus etc) which put the breaks on the narrative. 

I intend to read Tom Holland's book on the Republic, 'Rubicon', soon (and his early Empire one when it comes out in paperback). He's a popular writer with a real flair for narrative drive - his book on the Persians, 'Persian Fire', was a model of popular history writing. 

[paul secor]

Christopher Morley: Parnassus on Wheels

Lightweight, but a charming story

[alankin]

On 3/17/2016 at 4:15 PM, A Lark Ascending said:

Superb. Counterfactual tale where Roosevelt is defeated in 1940 by Lindbergh on an isolationist platform and the subsequent rise in anti-semitism. I enjoyed 'The Man in the High Castle' with a similar premise but this one really hooked me. Excellent at showing the way such extraordinary events can tear families apart internally. 

Some very clever touches - at one point after the assassination of Walter Winchell he comments that this was the last assassination of a leading public figure until Robert Kennedy was shot in June 1968. Which has you thinking 'How did that still happen at that time given the disruption to history?' And then you think 'What happened to Jack?'

Brilliant at the sort of everyday description that roots the fiction in reality - from stamp collecting to a kid getting stuck in a bathroom.  

Couldn't help thinking about the current Presidential campaign whilst reading the descriptions of the lionising of Lindbergh. 

Yes that was a good one and has come to mind from time to time over the last few months of our Presidential campaign.

[A Lark Ascending]

1 hour ago, alankin said:

Yes that was a good one and has come to mind from time to time over the last few months of our Presidential campaign.

I was really impressed by 'American Pastoral' earlier in the year, my first Roth. Have 'I Married a Communist' to read in a few novels time. 

[BillF]

Novel based on biographies that explores the inner life of composer Shostakovich across several decades.