BillF Posted April 14, 2015 Report Share Posted April 14, 2015 Yes, I noticed the Bullingdon reference (thanks to the copious explanatory notes at the back of my edition). The book actually reminded me of Grand Budapest Hotel (the film). I didn't like that either! I'm happier with Orwell in the 30s. From a pretty similar social background to Waugh but looking a different way. Another great favourite. In a way they're like two sides of the same coin. I've read just everything by both of them. Probably the two greatest writers of English prose in their century. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
A Lark Ascending Posted April 14, 2015 Report Share Posted April 14, 2015 (edited) I'm not really a reader of 'literature' as such so quality of prose does not register (consciously, at least). I'm afraid I read fiction for the story lines, characterisation and the social angles. You'll not be surprised that both 'The Waves' and 'Ulysses' utterly defeated me! Orwell was the first 'literature'-type writer who grabbed me. Going through most of his books (including the Penguin volumes of his letters and reviews) between the ages of 15-18 probably had more influence on my view of the world than anything else. Edited April 14, 2015 by A Lark Ascending Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BillF Posted April 14, 2015 Report Share Posted April 14, 2015 Orwell was the first 'literature'-type writer who grabbed me. Me too! First read 1984 at the age of 16 and am still fascinated by it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matthew Posted April 14, 2015 Report Share Posted April 14, 2015 Decline and Fall by Evelyn Waugh. Granted, this is a very light-weight book, so light, I need to tie it down so it doesn't float away when I read it. Given that, I still find this one of the most enjoyable Waugh novels to read, it has that uniquely English humor that reigned in pre-WWII England, and in this aspect, lies its genius. Just finished that myself a couple of hours back. Didn't care for it at all. Privilege making fun of the world of privilege he was happily luxuriating in. I can understand what you're saying, not just about this book, but about Waugh in general. His unpleasant personality and snooty misanthropy, do tend to bleed into his novels. 20th century literary masterpiece as far as I'm concerned, and my favourite book by Waugh. Yes, he was a very unpleasant character - I've read a biography - but he produced books of superlative literary merit. There's a very serious and tragic undertone to Decline - I'd call it a satirical tragicomedy. And, Bev, if it hadn't been for the opening passage of this book, I wouldn't have realised the significance of our leaders' Bullingdon Club membership when the media got on to it a few years ago. I'd agree on the "very serious and tragic undertone to Decline", as it shows people adrift in the world and society that is "indifferent" -- though the good does win out, and even Grimes gets out alive. Speaking of Grimes, he has one of my all-time favorite lines: "I can’t quite explain it, but I don’t believe one can ever be unhappy for long provided one does just exactly what one wants to and when one wants to. The last chap who put me on my feet said I was ‘singularly in harmony with the primitive promptings of humanity.’" This line alone, made the book for me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Leeway Posted April 14, 2015 Report Share Posted April 14, 2015 Orwell was the first 'literature'-type writer who grabbed me. Me too! First read 1984 at the age of 16 and am still fascinated by it. Joyce has always been my literary lodestar: "Dubliners," "Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man" and "Ulysses." Never got far with "Finnegan's Wake" though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Leeway Posted April 15, 2015 Report Share Posted April 15, 2015 KING LEOPOLD'S GHOST - Adam Hochschild Decided to read some history related to the African fiction I've mostly been reading. This is a horrifying account of the brutal exploitation of Congo-Central Africa resources and people by King Leopold and his minions. Leopold pretty much owned it and ran it as his personal fiefdom. Forced labor, mutilation, murder--all part of Leopold's system for extracting the maximum amount of ivory and rubber. A chapter on Conrad, who spent 6 months there, whose Kurtz expressed the state of things, "The horror! The horror"! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kinuta Posted April 15, 2015 Report Share Posted April 15, 2015 I've been meaning to read this for a long time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
T.D. Posted April 15, 2015 Report Share Posted April 15, 2015 KING LEOPOLD'S GHOST - Adam Hochschild Decided to read some history related to the African fiction I've mostly been reading. This is a horrifying account of the brutal exploitation of Congo-Central Africa resources and people by King Leopold and his minions. Leopold pretty much owned it and ran it as his personal fiefdom. Forced labor, mutilation, murder--all part of Leopold's system for extracting the maximum amount of ivory and rubber. A chapter on Conrad, who spent 6 months there, whose Kurtz expressed the state of things, "The horror! The horror"! An excellent book. I found it very informative. I just finished this: and started this: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Leeway Posted April 18, 2015 Report Share Posted April 18, 2015 ANTHILLS OF THE SAVANNAH - 1987 - Chinua Achebe Uneven but nevertheless interesting novel of political corruption and how governments slide ineluctably towards one-man rule and dictatorship. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BillF Posted April 18, 2015 Report Share Posted April 18, 2015 Just finished Bruce Turner's highly entertaining autobiography, full of quirky humour. For example, Bruce could not resist spoonerisms and always spoke of Jack Clayton's Bum Sessions and Denny Baker's Cousin. Geddit? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Van Basten II Posted April 20, 2015 Report Share Posted April 20, 2015 The Goldfiinch Enjoyable page turner, well crafted, writing wise. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ejp626 Posted April 20, 2015 Report Share Posted April 20, 2015 In the middle of a few books, which always makes me a bit edgy, so I am trying to wrap at least one up tonight. I'm about halfway done with both Williams' !Click Song and Wideman's Philadelphia Fire. Of the two, I like !Click Song a bit better, but neither of these is going to become a perennial favorite or anything like that.After I wrap these two up, I'll probably read Stoppard's Travesties, in honor of just having seen it (in Montreal no less!). And perhaps move on to The Real Thing and Night and Day. I find Stoppard is an acquired taste, but I acquired that taste a while back and think he is probably the most interesting playwright of our time. I'm still waiting to see if New York or Chicago will be staging his latest play, The Hard Problem, anytime soon. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ejp626 Posted April 21, 2015 Report Share Posted April 21, 2015 In the middle of a few books, which always makes me a bit edgy, so I am trying to wrap at least one up tonight. I'm about halfway done with both Williams' !Click Song and Wideman's Philadelphia Fire. Of the two, I like !Click Song a bit better, but neither of these is going to become a perennial favorite or anything like that.In the end I really disliked Philadelphia Fire. It was such an unstructured novel with Wideman going in 3 or 4 directions and not resolving anything. While it may have been inspired by Invisible Man, it ultimately felt to me like one of those saggy postmodern novels without an ending. It could have been quite something if he had just picked one thread and saw it through, but jumping around so much was just annoying and (to me) pointless.I'll be going through Travesties tonight and seeing what references I missed in the staged production, which was quite enjoyable.I should be wrapping up !Click Song shortly and probably start Vasily Aksyonov's The Burn over the weekend. Next week I hope to launch into Of Human Bondage. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
A Lark Ascending Posted April 21, 2015 Report Share Posted April 21, 2015 Second and third in Hill's detective series. Enjoyed the first but was horrified to find a lovely main character killed off! Read 'The Pure in Heart' very quickly last week...to find the mystery spilled over into the third book so had to jump there. Very enjoyable books in a well worn genre - murder and abduction in a lovely imaginary place in England, drawing on the leafy suburbs and the more disadvantaged estates. Serrailler is a nicely buttoned up, emotionally inhibited main character. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Leeway Posted April 21, 2015 Report Share Posted April 21, 2015 KARL MARX: A NINETEENTH CENTURY LIFE - Jonathan Sperber Read a chapter here and there while following more literary lines, satisfying an historical/biographical interest in Marx. Came away from this very even-handed work with not much regard for Marx as a person or, surprisingly, as a contemporary political thinker (he was often wrong on such key developments as Indian uprising, Italian unification, and the Franco-Prussian war, just to cite some examples). He was a formidable theoretician though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Leeway Posted April 23, 2015 Report Share Posted April 23, 2015 THE MIMIC MEN - 1967 - V.S. Naipul A difficult book, mostly due to the quite unpleasant first-person narrator, "Ralph" SIngh, a self-styled dandy, which here I suppose means snob, dilettante, and monumentally disaffected person. I suppose he can be considered something of an existentialist anti-hero. I would not e surprised to find that this novel served as Naipul's apologia pro vita sua in breaking with Trinidad and becoming an English ex-pat. If the lead character is a bit hard to tolerate, the writing itself is marvelous. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HutchFan Posted April 23, 2015 Report Share Posted April 23, 2015 Just started reading this: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
B. Goren. Posted April 25, 2015 Report Share Posted April 25, 2015 Baking Cakes in Kigali. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Leeway Posted April 25, 2015 Report Share Posted April 25, 2015 Teacher, intellectual and l'honnete homme, Oidili, contests personally and politically with corrupt and rapacious government minister, M.A. Manga, for personal and political integrity. Predecessor (1967) to "Anthills of the Savannah," which also concerns itself with fighting corrupt power. Achebe's innate geniality, reasonableness and personable literary style make it a good read but perhaps keeps it from the ranks of the strongest political novels. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kinuta Posted April 27, 2015 Report Share Posted April 27, 2015 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HutchFan Posted April 27, 2015 Report Share Posted April 27, 2015 Just picked this up from the library: A Power Stronger Than Itself: The AACM and American Experimental Music by George E. Lewis Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
johnblitweiler Posted April 27, 2015 Report Share Posted April 27, 2015 Hutchfan, don't be surprised if you have to renew your library borrow. Fascinating book. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jazzbo Posted April 27, 2015 Report Share Posted April 27, 2015 I just love these Parker novels. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Leeway Posted April 30, 2015 Report Share Posted April 30, 2015 (edited) GUERRILLAS - V.S. Naipaul - 1975 Jane, something of a thrill-seeker from England, and Roche, her lover, a white South African who had been tortured by the regime, come out to an unnamed Caribbean island (modeled on Trinidad), where they hook up with an erstwhile revolutionary, Jimmy Ahmed. You know something bad is going to happen--and it does. The tension in the book remains palpable from the start. As in much of Naipaul, there is hardly room for a smile (after those early novels); it's all deadly earnest (literally). But beautifully crafted. Edited April 30, 2015 by Leeway Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
johnblitweiler Posted April 30, 2015 Report Share Posted April 30, 2015 What I got from "Guerillas" was Naipaul's contempt for his characters. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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