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[A Lark Ascending]

Finished 'The Honourable Schoolboy' last week (long book!). Very, very good. Le Carre of this vintage spoils you for thriller writing - he takes his time with the narrative, often losing you in insider jargon, half-references to things you don't quite understand and there are long passages which are essentially about bureaucracy (a tremendous chapter about a meeting where Smiley tries to get approval for an operation from competing mandarins - the way he brings out the internal politics and jealousies and tracks Smiley's restrained nudging of the agenda is masterful). The main character - a foppish, seedy public school boy who is actually a ruthless operator - immediately put a picture of Boris Johnson in my head which stayed with me through the book! Wonderful depictions of Hong Kong, Vietnam, Laos, Thailand and Cambodia in 1975 especially in the second half when the 'action' picks up. 

Also Saul David's marvellous book on the Zulu War of 1879 - only ever knew about Rorke's Drift from the classic film. Turns out that it was quite a minor event and a lot of the VC awarding was something of a smokescreen to deflect attention from the main action at Isandlwana where the British were comprehensively beaten and massacred.  

Archaeologist goes on nine walks (well, one's a boat journey and another a motorbike trek) through landscapes associated with 'Dark Age' Britain. Chapters interspersed with short sections about a walk along Hadrian's Wall taken over a year from his home nearby. Highly evocative of both the landscape and the historical period. Gets a bit huffy at points about lack of people walking and some of the contemporary estates he comes across but very enjoyable. He has a book on the golden age of Northumbria that I'll read in the autumn.

Just started:

  

Did a lot of reading about prehistory several decades back. At some point it disappeared off the secondary school curriculum (some genius secretary of state deciding that older history was best suited to primary children, later to secondary!) and my interests went elsewhere. A visit to Stonehenge last week (and a recent TV documentary series) made me want to re-familiarise myself with pre-Roman Britain. This one puts the focus on family and home as a guiding theme. 

[BillF]

10 hours ago, A Lark Ascending said:

Finished 'The Honourable Schoolboy' last week (long book!). Very, very good. Le Carre of this vintage spoils you for thriller writing - he takes his time with the narrative, often losing you in insider jargon, half-references to things you don't quite understand and there are long passages which are essentially about bureaucracy (a tremendous chapter about a meeting where Smiley tries to get approval for an operation from competing mandarins - the way he brings out the internal politics and jealousies and tracks Smiley's restrained nudging of the agenda is masterful). The main character - a foppish, seedy public school boy who is actually a ruthless operator - immediately put a picture of Boris Johnson in my head which stayed with me through the book! Wonderful depictions of Hong Kong, Vietnam, Laos, Thailand and Cambodia in 1975 especially in the second half when the 'action' picks up. 

 

 

Agreed - masterful writing. Really enjoyed that one - as I did all the more recent Le Carrés, which I discovered late.

[A Lark Ascending]

1 hour ago, BillF said:

Agreed - masterful writing. Really enjoyed that one - as I did all the more recent Le Carrés, which I discovered late.

I'm working my way forward, slowly. I read at least one of his more recent ones a few years back. Enjoyed it but it seemed more straightforward than his earlier style - you don't get the bureaucratic fogs that can be trying but ultimately give much of the atmosphere to the books. I have the recent biography on the shelves to read fairly soon - intrigued to know where all this came from.  

[BillF]

1 hour ago, A Lark Ascending said:

I'm working my way forward, slowly. I read at least one of his more recent ones a few years back. Enjoyed it but it seemed more straightforward than his earlier style - you don't get the bureaucratic fogs that can be trying but ultimately give much of the atmosphere to the books. I have the recent biography on the shelves to read fairly soon - intrigued to know where all this came from.  

His novel, A Perfect Spy (1986), has strong autobiographical elements. A good read, too - as always with Le Carré.

[HutchFan]

2 hours ago, A Lark Ascending said:

I'm working my way forward, slowly. I read at least one of his more recent ones a few years back. Enjoyed it but it seemed more straightforward than his earlier style - you don't get the bureaucratic fogs that can be trying but ultimately give much of the atmosphere to the books. I have the recent biography on the shelves to read fairly soon - intrigued to know where all this came from.  

I agree with you, Bev.  Le Carre's post-Cold War novels aren't as compelling as his earlier books.

However, there is one that I would unreservedly recommend -- Absolute Friends from 2003. 

[Leeway]

Had a resurgence of interest in Warhol lately:

                          

 

                             

[jazzbo]

Re-reading. . . probably for the third time.

[A Lark Ascending]

23 hours ago, BillF said:

His novel, A Perfect Spy (1986), has strong autobiographical elements. A good read, too - as always with Le Carré.

About three or four down the list! 

Just started the bio today:

 

What an awful childhood he had - spiv of a father living well beyond his means, bankrupted, imprisoned yet always up for the next dodgy deal; and a mother who vanished when he was 5. A boyhood spent in public schools, worried that the nature of his father would be found out. Just got him to Bern in 1948 having walked out of his school, studying German language and literature even though he was not yet really up to the standards and was living hand to mouth. And he's just been recruited! 

No wonder the characters of his books are so oily and untrustworthy.  

23 hours ago, HutchFan said:

I agree with you, Bev.  Le Carre's post-Cold War novels aren't as compelling as his earlier books.

However, there is one that I would unreservedly recommend -- Absolute Friends from 2003. 

I've only read the one so can't comment really - more familiar with the films/TV series! I did enjoy that one...it just seemed less murky and imprecise. Those 60s 70s novels leave you with loose ends and bits you don't quite get, not to mention the prevailing murky atmosphere of a Britain sinking into decline as a world power. I want to read the later ones but will work that way roughly chronologically ('Smiley's People' is next). 

Edited August 7, 2016 by A Lark Ascending

[ejp626]

I am not liking Roth's Sabbath's Theater at all.  It's almost as if Roth got so fed up at being called a sexist writer that he decided to write one of the most misogynistic and frankly unpleasant characters he could come up with.  There are a few moments that are sort of ripped off from Boudu Saved From Drowning but with less elan.  I think Roth (or rather his character) has crossed an unforgivable line when Mickey Sabbath is staying at a friend's house, and he goes through the teenage daughter's dresser and starts sniffing her panties etc. etc. etc.  Really?!?  I'm going to take a bit of a break and come back to this in a week, but I think I'm done with this book.

[fasstrack]

Just finished Whisper Not, the autobiography of Benny Golson (with Jim Merod). Here are my observations:http://www.organissimo.org/forum/index.php?/topic/79433-new-benny-golson-autobiography/#comment-1501948 

 

[HutchFan]

14 hours ago, ejp626 said:

I am not liking Roth's Sabbath's Theater at all.  It's almost as if Roth got so fed up at being called a sexist writer that he decided to write one of the most misogynistic and frankly unpleasant characters he could come up with.  There are a few moments that are sort of ripped off from Boudu Saved From Drowning but with less elan.  I think Roth (or rather his character) has crossed an unforgivable line when Mickey Sabbath is staying at a friend's house, and he goes through the teenage daughter's dresser and starts sniffing her panties etc. etc. etc.  Really?!?  I'm going to take a bit of a break and come back to this in a week, but I think I'm done with this book.

I had the same reaction, ejp. I think Roth is an incredible writer -- but that one is just too much.

[Royal Oak]

Just finished Jack Kerouac's "The Dharma Bums". Blaaaaahhhh, at least I managed to finish it.

[fasstrack]

1 hour ago, rdavenport said:

Just finished Jack Kerouac's "The Dharma Bums". Blaaaaahhhh, at least I managed to finish it.

Couldn't make it through On the Road myself...

[Big Beat Steve]

2 hours ago, fasstrack said:

Couldn't make it through On the Road myself...

I could. Easily. And enjoying it.

You might want to read itwhile far away from home, e.g. on holiday at a far away place after having covered a good stretch of road.

 

[BillF]

1 hour ago, Big Beat Steve said:

I could. Easily. And enjoying it.

You might want to read itwhile far away from home, e.g. on holiday at a far away place after having covered a good stretch of road.

 

Another  for On the Road.

[jlhoots]

I liked On The Road too.

Now reading Keith McCafferty: Crazy Mountain Kiss

[Royal Oak]

I have read "On The Road", and not all that long ago, but don't recall very much of it, which tells you all you need to know I suppose.

The Dharma Bums was alright, as Karl Pilkington might say, but I wouldn't walk to Buxton to read any more Kerouac.

[jazzbo]

I love Kerouac. The "Scroll Version" of On the Road is the way to go.

[fasstrack]

7 hours ago, Big Beat Steve said:

I could. Easily. And enjoying it.

You might want to read itwhile far away from home, e.g. on holiday at a far away place after having covered a good stretch of road.

 

V was even worse...

[A Lark Ascending]

All those times you sat down with a good book instead of going to the gym were not in vain:

Book up for a longer life: readers die later, study finds

[Leeway]

THE SUN ALSO RISES - Ernest Hemingway

I realized that t has been a good long time since I read (again) any Hemingway. It's like meeting a long-lost friend, albeit one you were never too sure of. This novel must rate as one of the longest drinking parties in literature (I'm sure there are others). 

[BillF]

Long time sin

8 hours ago, Leeway said:

THE SUN ALSO RISES - Ernest Hemingway

I realized that t has been a good long time since I read (again) any Hemingway. It's like meeting a long-lost friend, albeit one you were never too sure of. This novel must rate as one of the longest drinking parties in literature (I'm sure there are others). 

Long time since I read Hemingway. At one time I was a fan and read just about all of his work, but more recent attempts to get back into it have failed. Perhaps will try again one day.

[Brad]

I read several of his books years ago.  Nowadays, I don't have that much interest in reading him.  I think his abrasive personality now colors my views of him.

[fasstrack]

I'm on a autodidact musical self-improvement bender. Currently reading Something to Live For (Walter van de Leur), which analyzes examples of Billy Strayhorn's pieces---and I just ordered Don Sebesky's The Contemporary Arranger (not so 'contemporary' anymore, I believe it came out around '79, but still a great arranging textbook/CD)...

[danasgoodstuff]

https://www.amazon.com/Man-Muscle-Shoals-Journey-Shame/dp/1941437524/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1471024249&sr=1-1&keywords=rick+hall+the+man+from+muscle+shoals

Just finished Rick Hall's autobio.  To be taken with a grain of salt, no doubt, but an enjoyable read.  Especially the first part about him growing up dirt poor near Muscle Shoals.