paul secor Posted February 5, 2011 Report Share Posted February 5, 2011 Louis Armstrong - A Self Portrait Short book consisting of Louis Armstrong's words from a magazine interview plus some photographs. Nice to read Louis' own words without some critic/sociologist interpeting them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ejp626 Posted February 6, 2011 Report Share Posted February 6, 2011 Enjoyed Shamsie's Broken Verses quite a bit. Wasn't that taken with the last quarter or so of Narayan's Mr. Sampath. I found the first third of Narayan's The Financial Expert kind of hard going, but it has picked up midway. I think my favorite of his books so far is The Bachelor of Arts, but I also enjoyed The English Teacher. On deck - Shamsie Burnt Shadows Nabokov Invitation to a Beheading and finally Mahfouz Cairo Trilogy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BillF Posted February 6, 2011 Report Share Posted February 6, 2011 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jlhoots Posted February 7, 2011 Report Share Posted February 7, 2011 Karen Russell: Swamplandia! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
A Lark Ascending Posted February 13, 2011 Report Share Posted February 13, 2011 (edited) Really enjoyed this very disturbing book about a young, isolated narcissist. Psychological issues lead him to forget points of stress in his life - the book unfolds what happens in the gaps. Set in Cambridge at the time I was at University elsewhere - very good sense of time and place and, like Jonathan Coe's 'The Rotter's Club', bang on in its musical references. Edited February 13, 2011 by A Lark Ascending Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paul secor Posted February 14, 2011 Report Share Posted February 14, 2011 Really enjoyed this very disturbing book about a young, isolated narcissist. Psychological issues lead him to forget points of stress in his life - the book unfolds what happens in the gaps. Set in Cambridge at the time I was at University elsewhere - very good sense of time and place and, like Jonathan Coe's 'The Rotter's Club', bang on in its musical references. Read it a couple of years ago and enjoyed it. As you say, it is a disturbing book. I'm sure that some of the academic references went by me, but I did enjoy what I was able to pick up on. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BillF Posted February 14, 2011 Report Share Posted February 14, 2011 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matthew Posted February 14, 2011 Report Share Posted February 14, 2011 Raymond Chandler :wub: :wub: With each passing year, my appreciation of him grows and grows. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ejp626 Posted February 14, 2011 Report Share Posted February 14, 2011 Enjoyed Shamsie's Broken Verses quite a bit. I found the first third of Narayan's The Financial Expert kind of hard going, but it has picked up midway. and finally Mahfouz Cairo Trilogy Well, in the end I didn't care too much for The Financial Expert. Essentially none of the characters felt worth investing any emotional energy in. While that isn't the only criterion for a good novel, if you have no sympathy for any of the characters, it can be really slow going. Ironically, that is also at least part of my problem with Nabokov. Most of his characters are either cyphers or complete shits. Most of the way through Invitation to a Beheading, which is perhaps the most Kafkaesque and least Nabokovian of his novels, and I still can't get into it. He just leaves me completely cold. I think I will just read Lolita, since I am this far in -- and then sell off the Library of America set, since I just don't care at all for his work. Anyway, I was able to borrow the newish Library of America set of H.L. Mencken's Prejudices. He has some sharp writing no doubt, but probably at least 3/4s of the essays are devoted to completely obscure literary and cultural figures of the day. I'm not going to spend the time to find out about them in order to "get" his jibes at them. So I can't really see investing in buying this set or doing much more than skimming it actually. But it's nice it is back in print at least. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matthew Posted February 15, 2011 Report Share Posted February 15, 2011 Wide As The Waters: The Story Of The English Bible And The Revolution It Inspired by Benson Bobrick. Fascinating story of the King James Bible and some of the unintended consequences the KJ Bible had on English history. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ghost of miles Posted February 20, 2011 Author Report Share Posted February 20, 2011 A Legend In The Making: The New York Yankees In 1939 by Richard J. Tofel. Nice book on the '39 Yankees, which was the year that Lou Gehrig had to quit baseball because of ALS (which in America in known as "Lou Gehrig's disease). Many consider this one of the best teams of all-time. Interesting cast of characters, with Joe DiMaggio, Bill Dickey, Red Ruffing, etc. Ghost of Miles: If you haven't read it yet, I think you'd enjoy it. Thanks, Matthew, I will check that out--interested in it for all kinds of reasons. Right now: ...and about to start the Scott LaFaro biography as well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jlhoots Posted February 20, 2011 Report Share Posted February 20, 2011 Arnaldur Indridason: Voices Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paul secor Posted February 20, 2011 Report Share Posted February 20, 2011 Laurence Cosse: A Novel Bookstore A wonderful read as an ode to the love of literature. Less satisfying as an ode to personal relationships. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rdavenport Posted February 21, 2011 Report Share Posted February 21, 2011 William Styron - Sophie's Choice. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paul secor Posted February 23, 2011 Report Share Posted February 23, 2011 Georges Simenon: A Man's Head Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jlhoots Posted February 24, 2011 Report Share Posted February 24, 2011 Emma Donoghue: Room Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
A Lark Ascending Posted February 24, 2011 Report Share Posted February 24, 2011 Bouncing between two compelling reads: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jlhoots Posted February 25, 2011 Report Share Posted February 25, 2011 Alice Hoffman: The Red Garden Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BillF Posted February 26, 2011 Report Share Posted February 26, 2011 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paul secor Posted March 4, 2011 Report Share Posted March 4, 2011 Henry Roth: Mercy of a Rude Stream - Volume One - A Star Shines Over Mt. Morris Park Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ejp626 Posted March 4, 2011 Report Share Posted March 4, 2011 (edited) Henry Roth: Mercy of a Rude Stream - Volume One - A Star Shines Over Mt. Morris Park Well, I don't think it is nearly as good as Call It Sleep, but I did make it through 4 volumes of this (pretty sure I read all of it). As you probably know, some of it is disturbing indeed, since it is so biographical. One urban novel I almost never seen discussed now is Sol Yurick's The Bag. I thought this was really very interesting. Gave up on the rest of Nabokov, but am reading Lolita, which at least holds my attention. Edited March 4, 2011 by ejp626 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ghost of miles Posted March 6, 2011 Author Report Share Posted March 6, 2011 Finished James Cain's DOUBLE INDEMNITY last night and am about halfway through this: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BillF Posted March 6, 2011 Report Share Posted March 6, 2011 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jazzmoose Posted March 6, 2011 Report Share Posted March 6, 2011 Finished James Cain's DOUBLE INDEMNITY last night... So what's your ending preference, the movie or the book? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
A Lark Ascending Posted March 6, 2011 Report Share Posted March 6, 2011 Recall enjoying Kent's stuff in the NME in the 70s, even though he was on a different musical (and lifestyle!) path to my own. Read this very quickly over the weekend - a bit like reading an account of somewhere you once knew (the 1970s) from a very different angle. A pretty harrowing account of descent into self-indulgence and serious addiction. Good to read his completely unsentimental take on punk (unsurprisingly as he suffered a serious beating from Sex Pistols associates) and irritation at the way the history of the era has been written. He may have had no time for much of the music I liked in the 70s (though he does put a Yes track in his list of recommendations at the end!) but a real sense of musical obsession comes across. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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