BillF Posted July 7, 2012 Report Share Posted July 7, 2012 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pete C Posted July 7, 2012 Report Share Posted July 7, 2012 (edited) Edited July 7, 2012 by Pete C Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
B. Goren. Posted July 16, 2012 Report Share Posted July 16, 2012 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jazzmoose Posted July 16, 2012 Report Share Posted July 16, 2012 Michael Chabon - The Yiddish Policemen's Union I got about five pages into that and decided maybe I should start with a few of his short stories as an introduction. After reading a few of his short stories, I feel I must apologize to any writers I have previously described as "overrated". Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ejp626 Posted July 16, 2012 Report Share Posted July 16, 2012 Michael Chabon - The Yiddish Policemen's Union I got about five pages into that and decided maybe I should start with a few of his short stories as an introduction. After reading a few of his short stories, I feel I must apologize to any writers I have previously described as "overrated". I guess he can be a bit hit or miss, but I did enjoy The Yiddish Policemen's Union. Obviously, there are strong hints of PKD's The Man in the High Castle, but also a dash of Stefan Zweig's Chess Story. Anyway, I was clearing out old newspapers/reviews/etc. when I came across someone who was raving about I Could Ride All Day In My Cool Blue Train by Peter Hobbs. These are short stories by a UK writer. Took some doing, but I got it from the library. Not doing anything for me, though I guess I am only 1/3 in. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jazzbo Posted July 16, 2012 Report Share Posted July 16, 2012 Second book in a row about Paul. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paul secor Posted July 16, 2012 Report Share Posted July 16, 2012 Teju Cole: Open City Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jlhoots Posted July 21, 2012 Report Share Posted July 21, 2012 (edited) Jo Nesbo: The Redbreast I guess I'm hooked. Edited July 22, 2012 by jlhoots Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BillF Posted July 22, 2012 Report Share Posted July 22, 2012 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
crisp Posted July 23, 2012 Report Share Posted July 23, 2012 Green for Danger by Christianna Brand (best known today as the originator of Nurse Matilda/Nanny McPhee). I've seen the excellent Launder and Gilliat film so I know whodunnit and how, but it's still a great read, packed with fascinating little character insights and wartime atmosphere. Plus I'm quite enjoying seeing how she reveals/conceals the killer's identity and scatters red herrings about. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
T.D. Posted July 23, 2012 Report Share Posted July 23, 2012 Just read this: A real sleeper: I didn't know anything about Van Ronk (except for the bit I read in Lawrence Block's Matt Scudder novel When the Sacred Ginmill Closes), and knew/cared little about the Greenwich Village Folk scene. But this is a delightful book, very well put together (Van Ronk died before it was completed). In a weird final touch, I bought an excellent condition hardback for $1 from the local thrift shop, and discovered after finishing that it was a signed edition (by the co-author and Van Ronk's second wife). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Head Man Posted July 24, 2012 Report Share Posted July 24, 2012 A sequel to her award-winning "Wolf Hall" and just as good. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ejp626 Posted July 24, 2012 Report Share Posted July 24, 2012 A sequel to her award-winning "Wolf Hall" and just as good. I've heard pretty good things about these books, but I also heard good things about Beyond Black (by the same author), and I didn't like that much at all. Probably going to wait quite a while before tackling Wolf Hall. Finally wrapped up Reed's Flight to Canada, which I didn't like at all. I liked his earlier work and its chaotic energy, but I think he went off the rails here. Now reading These Festive Nights by Marie-Claire Blais. Not far enough into it to even have an impression. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Christiern Posted July 24, 2012 Report Share Posted July 24, 2012 After far too many years, I am revisiting my countryman's wonderful stories, and doing so in Danish as well as English. The translations are decent, but the original is more rewarding. One is never too old to be enriched by Andersen's work. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pete C Posted July 24, 2012 Report Share Posted July 24, 2012 I thought Arnaldur Indradason was your countryman. Finally wrapped up Reed's Flight to Canada, which I didn't like at all. I liked his earlier work and its chaotic energy, but I think he went off the rails here. Interesting. For me that one and Mumbo Jumbo are his best novels. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Christiern Posted July 24, 2012 Report Share Posted July 24, 2012 Indeed, Arnaldur Indriðasonur is also my countryman. I'm a twofer. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ejp626 Posted July 24, 2012 Report Share Posted July 24, 2012 I thought Arnaldur Indradason was your countryman. Finally wrapped up Reed's Flight to Canada, which I didn't like at all. I liked his earlier work and its chaotic energy, but I think he went off the rails here. Interesting. For me that one and Mumbo Jumbo are his best novels. No I didn't like this at all. My favorite is The Free-lance Pallbearers, but I also enjoyed Yellow Back Radio Broke Down, though it has been ages since I read it. Maybe I wouldn't appreciate it as much now. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pete C Posted July 24, 2012 Report Share Posted July 24, 2012 I like the verbal exuberance of those 2 earlier ones, but I think the two books I mentioned keep that with more sociopolitical gravitas and more control of structure. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ejp626 Posted July 24, 2012 Report Share Posted July 24, 2012 I like the verbal exuberance of those 2 earlier ones, but I think the two books I mentioned keep that with more sociopolitical gravitas and more control of structure. Haven't read Mumbo Jumbo, but honestly Flight to Canada struck me as an Afro-centric version of "We Didn't Start the Fire" put through a blender. I definitely wasn't in the right frame of mind for it, that's for sure. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pete C Posted July 24, 2012 Report Share Posted July 24, 2012 Mumbo Jumbo would have a special resonance for anyone familiar with the sociopolitical climate and cultural criticisms surrounding early jazz. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ejp626 Posted July 25, 2012 Report Share Posted July 25, 2012 Also started These Festive Nights (Soifs) by Marie-Claire Blais. Too early to say how I'll like it. So I returned to this and got a few pages in when it struck me that while it starts off looking like all interior monologue, the perspective must keep changing. One starts off in the head of the wife of a youngish judge (on vaction) but then you are definitely in the head of a conservative priest (presumably a Protestant denomination as he has a son (turning into a thug) and two whorish daughters -- his thoughts not mine). So it is sort of a very dizzying omniscient narrator perspective. Added to this most sentence run on for a page or two. And then it struck me, there are no paragraph breaks in the entire 300 page book! I'm not sure that Garcia Marquez was particularly well-served by this in Autumn of the Patriarch -- the final chapter is a 30+ page long sentence (and obviously no paragraph markings). But he leads you to this point gradually. I'm really turned off by this (particularly in the Blais book). It just screams "I am a serious, serious author and I can't be bound by convention or even giving readers a bit of structure to help them into the narrative." I'll probably go another 25 or so pages to see if I can get past this, but I'd say I will probably bail. I'm not an English lit major anymore, and I no longer have to read such self-important fiction. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BillF Posted July 27, 2012 Report Share Posted July 27, 2012 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
A Lark Ascending Posted July 27, 2012 Report Share Posted July 27, 2012 Martin O'Brien - Blood Counts Another excellent yarn based round a Marseilles based detective. Alan Hurst - Spies of the Balkans Latest in Hurst's seemingly endless succession of books set in and around WWII. Eric Siblin - The Cello Suites And best of all: Sam Willis - The Fighting Temeraire - superb history of both the ship captured by Turner as it was towed to its death bed and it's predecessor, captured from the French in the 7 Years War. Really gets to grips with just how hard it was to sail one of these boats; and amazes with how sophisticated the logistical organisation was in the 18thC. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paul secor Posted July 27, 2012 Report Share Posted July 27, 2012 The Collected Stories of Mavis Gallant This thing is as big as the Bible - 45 years worth of stories. I'd never read any of her work before I picked this up from the library. I've skipped around and read 8 or 9 stories and have liked what I've read so far. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ejp626 Posted July 29, 2012 Report Share Posted July 29, 2012 (edited) Working my way through lots of books that I have collected and should have read but haven't. Currently on Jane Austen's Northanger Abbey. I gather it picks up steam after the first half when Catherine finally makes it to the titular Abbey. Up to that point, the comedy of manners is a bit strained. I realize this was a very early work for Austen, but I am just not engaged. With Pride and Prejudice, it takes a while to get into the spirit of the story, but not 100 pages! Decided to give up on the newest Blais books for the time being. They just strike me as too slavishly imitative of V. Woolf. Have a long trip coming up in a couple of weeks, and I plan on bringing Skorvecky's The Engineers of Human Souls (finally). Edited July 29, 2012 by ejp626 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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