Now reading...

[BillF]

Just a quick update -- am really disliking Northanger Abbey. The main character is such a stupid drip. I realize this is the point of the novel (she is overly influenced by romance novels), but it is so tedious to read. If this was the first Austen I had ever read, I can't imagine going on to the others.

Agreed! I could only cope with Austen when my reading led to an exam: "Analyse satirical techniques in ...", etc. Even my university tutor - and his subject was English Literature - said, "After reading Austen, I feel like taking a bath in Rabelais"!

[Pete C]

I'm a twofer.

But not a Keepnews twofer!

Indeed, Arnaldur Indriðasonur is also my countryman. I'm a twofer.

Danish name dropping? How Bohring...

That one is Icelandic name dropping.

Edited August 1, 2012 by Pete C

[sidewinder]

Fascinating homage to a road I use pretty well every day. Subject of a pretty good TV documentary too !

[A Lark Ascending]

Fascinating homage to a road I use pretty well every day. Subject of a pretty good TV documentary too !

Saw that in Waterstones in Exeter (the only shopping mall in Britain with its own medieval cathedral!) yesterday - looked intriguing. Think it was one of our routes to civilisation when I was a kid.

Currently reading a bio of Francis Drake by John Sugden. Very detailed and interesting but I'm sceptical about has attempts to distance Drake from the savagery and racism of the era.

About to commence the second Patrick O'Brian Jack Aubrey novel - utterly captivated by the first, especially the description at the end of the Battle of Algeciras as viewed (up to a point) from Gibraltar. I'm usually a bit wary of historical fiction set much more than 100 years ago. Often comes across as contemporary people with contemporary mindsets in fancy dress. But O'Brian is completely convincing - and the book had so many dimensions apart from the nautical adventure story.

[BillF]

[ejp626]

Travels with my Aunt

I'd say this is actually my favorite of all of Greene's books.

At any rate, it is the only one that I have kept on my shelves.

I'm planning in a couple of years to read Steinbeck's Travels with Charley and then pair it with the more overtly comic Travels with my Aunt.

[BillF]

Travels with my Aunt

I'd say this is actually my favorite of all of Greene's books.

At any rate, it is the only one that I have kept on my shelves.

I'm planning in a couple of years to read Steinbeck's Travels with Charley and then pair it with the more overtly comic Travels with my Aunt.

You know, that's a Steinbeck I've never read. I must give it a try.

[Shawn]

[Pete C]

I love both the Greene and Steinbeck travels, but it's far from my favorite of either (closer with Steinbeck, as Cannery Row is the only of his novels I really love).

[jlhoots]

Daniel Silva : The Fallen Angel

[jlhoots]

Timothy Hallinan: The Fear Artist

[jazzbo]

Savored this one slowly and just finished it. Amazing book. Caused much thinking on my part.

Not sure what to start next.

Second book in a row about Paul.

[Pete C]

It just screams "I am a serious, serious author

I find that Garcia-Marquez screams that with every literary breath he takes. It's an attitude that turns me off to a number of very different authors, but who have this flaw in common: Thomas Mann, Margaret Atwood, Saul Bellow (maybe the most overrated American novelist?), Milan Kundera, and others. Nabokov has enough humor and verbal brilliance to counteract this tendency.

Edited August 10, 2012 by Pete C

[ejp626]

It just screams "I am a serious, serious author

I find that Garcia-Marquez screams that with every literary breath he takes. It's an attitude that turns me off to a number of very different authors, but who have this flaw in common: Thomas Mann, Margaret Atwood, Saul Bellow (maybe the most overrated American novelist?), Milan Kundera, and others. Nabokov has enough humor and verbal brilliance to counteract this tendency.

So I like a few of the authors on your list but can't bear Nabokov. I cannot find a way to take any interest in anything any of his characters get up to. I didn't realize this before I actually got into his earlier works --- and I ordered the Library of America set of his novels written in English. I'm still trying to make my way through a few more of his later novels, but can tell that before too much longer, I'll give up and donate the set to the library.

[jazzbo]

I sortof agree about Mann, but I have to say I think all his Joseph in Egypt novels are fascinating and among my favorite novels.

[Pete C]

Nabokov. I cannot find a way to take any interest in anything any of his characters get up to.

Not even Quilty?

[ejp626]

Nabokov. I cannot find a way to take any interest in anything any of his characters get up to.

Not even Quilty?

I'm stuck halfway through Lolita. I don't think I've made it to the introduction of Quilty, unless he started off as a very minor, incidental character. I actually wished I enjoyed these books more, since I know Nabokov is an important writer, but I don't connect with them.

[jazzbo]

[BruceH]

It just screams "I am a serious, serious author

I find that Garcia-Marquez screams that with every literary breath he takes. It's an attitude that turns me off to a number of very different authors, but who have this flaw in common: Thomas Mann, Margaret Atwood, Saul Bellow (maybe the most overrated American novelist?), Milan Kundera, and others. Nabokov has enough humor and verbal brilliance to counteract this tendency.

I'm with you on most of those authors, but personally, I think Bellow had some verbal brilliance at times (at other times he could be a bit annoying and pretentious.)

[ejp626]

It just screams "I am a serious, serious author

I find that Garcia-Marquez screams that with every literary breath he takes. It's an attitude that turns me off to a number of very different authors, but who have this flaw in common: Thomas Mann, Margaret Atwood, Saul Bellow (maybe the most overrated American novelist?), Milan Kundera, and others. Nabokov has enough humor and verbal brilliance to counteract this tendency.

I'm with you on most of those authors, but personally, I think Bellow had some verbal brilliance at times (at other times he could be a bit annoying and pretentious.)

I think Augie March is quite good, and I also enjoyed The Dean's December. My problem with Bellow is that he truly seemed to be writing the same story over and over (conniving family members, particularly the uncles), the narrator is almost always a not-very-settled family man with a roving eye or a man in the midst/recovering from a painful divorce. Women always seem to be the root of the problem in a Bellow novel.

I don't always care for where Philip Roth goes in his writing, but I think he ended up expanding well beyond his original template or imaginative world.

[The Magnificent Goldberg]

Savored this one slowly and just finished it. Amazing book. Caused much thinking on my part.

Not sure what to start next.

Second book in a row about Paul.

Interesting. I knew Saul/Paul was a Farisee and proud of it; and a member of the ruling classes; and a Roman Citizen not above pulling rank when accused of sedition. All that stuff in his writings about 'being a new creature' was hype, because you can see that he remained what he was; someone who really thought that the Government should be obeyed, that slaves should obey their masters, and hadn't much conception of what people (even now) had/have to do to get by.

MG

[BillF]

It just screams "I am a serious, serious author

I find that Garcia-Marquez screams that with every literary breath he takes. It's an attitude that turns me off to a number of very different authors, but who have this flaw in common: Thomas Mann, Margaret Atwood, Saul Bellow (maybe the most overrated American novelist?), Milan Kundera, and others. Nabokov has enough humor and verbal brilliance to counteract this tendency.

I'm with you on most of those authors, but personally, I think Bellow had some verbal brilliance at times (at other times he could be a bit annoying and pretentious.)

I think Augie March is quite good, and I also enjoyed The Dean's December. My problem with Bellow is that he truly seemed to be writing the same story over and over (conniving family members, particularly the uncles), the narrator is almost always a not-very-settled family man with a roving eye or a man in the midst/recovering from a painful divorce. Women always seem to be the root of the problem in a Bellow novel.

I don't always care for where Philip Roth goes in his writing, but I think he ended up expanding well beyond his original template or imaginative world.

I used to be very keen on Bellow in the 60s, when I was in my twenties and he was the latest thing, but I could never get into the ones after Herzog. In later years the only ones I've gone back to and re-read have been the earliest: Dangling Man and The Victim.

[Matthew]

Savored this one slowly and just finished it. Amazing book. Caused much thinking on my part.

Not sure what to start next.

Second book in a row about Paul.

Interesting. I knew Saul/Paul was a Farisee and proud of it; and a member of the ruling classes; and a Roman Citizen not above pulling rank when accused of sedition. All that stuff in his writings about 'being a new creature' was hype, because you can see that he remained what he was; someone who really thought that the Government should be obeyed, that slaves should obey their masters, and hadn't much conception of what people (even now) had/have to do to get by.

MG

I think the reality of Paul is WAY more complicated than what you suggest, but that's what makes him such an interesting figure.

[jazzbo]

I'm with Matthew.

Plus there's Paul, and half the writings attributed to him but no likely written by him.

Anyway, I've read two fascinating books about Paul this year that have really made me think. And I pay no higher compliment to a book or an author.

[BillF]