ejp626 Posted August 23, 2012 Report Share Posted August 23, 2012 Finished reading Five Seasons by A. B. Yehoshua. Really hard to understand how this made the Man Booker list (maybe just the longlist though). I found it a total damp squib of a book. The main character has been taking care of his wife when she finally dies of complications from breast cancer. It then traces his misadventures over the next five seasons as he sort of comes back into the realm of dating and considering remarriage. I found the character to be fairly unlikeable, obsessed with money and to a slightly lesser degree status. To some extent, his profession (accounts auditor) does reinforce these tendencies. But beyond this, almost everyone in the book has a very mercenary approach to relationships (ranging from a professional matchmaker who contacts him too early to his old camp counselor, who has an unusual proposition for him). Frankly, I would consider it on the anti-Semitic side if it hadn't been written by an Israeli. Certainly not my thing. On the positive side, I have finally cracked Skvorecky's The Engineer of Human Souls and am enjoying it tremendously. What a relief after a summer of largely disappointing novels (though the poetry has generally been fun to read). This is a fairly epic novel, and is probably best considered Skvorecky's fictional autobiography. The main character (Danny) is an unambitious professor of literature in suburban Toronto with a troubled past (he had been forced to work for the Nazi war efforts in occupied Czechoslovakia). The action shifts back and forth between his memories of these times (including a hair-brained scheme to damage some German war planes) and his interactions with his students as well as the exiled Czech community in Toronto. I didn't realize until recently that this novel was written in 1977, so long, long before the Velvet Revolution (and indeed not all that long after the war). I haven't reached the section where Danny escapes and his other friends don't make it out (including a figure who is clearly supposed to stand in for Vaclav Havel). Definitely a good read so far. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BillF Posted August 28, 2012 Report Share Posted August 28, 2012 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TedR Posted August 28, 2012 Report Share Posted August 28, 2012 Because of a number of posts about Philip K. Dick, I picked up In Milton Lumky Territory at our local library book sale. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
crisp Posted August 29, 2012 Report Share Posted August 29, 2012 Just finished another Wodehouse: Doctor Sally. Adapted from a play, which makes it more interesting (in a technical sense) than especially good. At least it was short, and would have been even shorter if he hadn't padded it out with so much repeated dialogue, eg, "I'm angry" "You're angry?" "I'm angry." I'm working through the gaps in my Wodehouse knowledge. Hot Water is chronologically the next unread title, so I'll read that then possibly look for something more substantial. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pete C Posted August 29, 2012 Report Share Posted August 29, 2012 At least it was short, and would have been even shorter if he hadn't padded it out with so much repeated dialogue, eg, "I'm angry" "You're angry?" "I'm angry." Maybe someone could do a dissertation on the Wodehouse influence on Pinter's dialogue. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BruceH Posted August 29, 2012 Report Share Posted August 29, 2012 Just finished another Wodehouse: Doctor Sally. Adapted from a play, which makes it more interesting (in a technical sense) than especially good. At least it was short, and would have been even shorter if he hadn't padded it out with so much repeated dialogue, eg, "I'm angry" "You're angry?" "I'm angry." I'm working through the gaps in my Wodehouse knowledge. Hot Water is chronologically the next unread title, so I'll read that then possibly look for something more substantial. At one point in the 80's I methodically worked my way through about 40 Wodehouse novels. I love Wodehouse, but I'd be the first to admit that I probably won't ever re-read quite a few of those. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
crisp Posted August 30, 2012 Report Share Posted August 30, 2012 I started reading him because I liked the Everyman hardback editions and fancied collecting them. I was rather unenthusiastic about his writing at first, being an English graduate used to literary fiction, but as I kept buying them and reading them I gradually began to get it. Much of his humour is about repetition, such as using lofty quotes to describe facetious situations, and you also laugh whenever one you've seen in one story recurs in another. Just reading a list of them, such as the one here, makes me smile. I can do without the repetitive dialogue, however. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jazzbo Posted August 30, 2012 Report Share Posted August 30, 2012 Because of a number of posts about Philip K. Dick, I picked up In Milton Lumky Territory at our local library book sale. Not his most dynamic novel, but an interesting one! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ejp626 Posted September 3, 2012 Report Share Posted September 3, 2012 On the positive side, I have finally cracked Skvorecky's The Engineer of Human Souls and am enjoying it tremendously. ... This is a fairly epic novel, and is probably best considered Skvorecky's fictional autobiography. Still enjoying this, but it is so long, and I seem to have so little time to read (mostly just the bus two or three days a week -- other days I bike to work, which is great exercise but not so good for reading). I have been reading or perhaps more accurately skimming a great deal of poetry, trying to uncover interesting transportation-related poetry. I've just submitted the project to a publisher but figure I can still tweak the table of contents a bit if they decide they are interested in proceeding. As a bit of a lark, I also picked up Pitouie by Derek Winkler, which is about an island in the middle of the Pacific that is being pitched as the perfect garbage disposal site by its corporate owners. It looks like a fun, fairly quick read. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
A Lark Ascending Posted September 3, 2012 Report Share Posted September 3, 2012 4th book in the series - I am absolutely loving these. Improving my geography no end; and by the time I get to the last in the series I'm sure I'll be able to rig a frigate. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BillF Posted September 4, 2012 Report Share Posted September 4, 2012 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ejp626 Posted September 4, 2012 Report Share Posted September 4, 2012 Waugh - Men at Arms Are you planning on reading the trilogy in one go? I haven't tackled this, and indeed, currently it is packed up (only a small portion of Waugh is on the shelves at present). I guess I am afraid of a let-down. Several people/reviewers told me that Ford Maddox Ford's Parade's End was his finest achievement, far outshining The Good Soldier, but I found it turgid and flat and barely made it through. There could be many reasons for my reaction, though in general I don't like reading war stories, or at least traditional ones. I was moved by Nemirovsky's Suite Francais. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matthew Posted September 4, 2012 Report Share Posted September 4, 2012 Waugh - Men at Arms Are you planning on reading the trilogy in one go? I haven't tackled this, and indeed, currently it is packed up (only a small portion of Waugh is on the shelves at present). I guess I am afraid of a let-down. Several people/reviewers told me that Ford Maddox Ford's Parade's End was his finest achievement, far outshining The Good Soldier, but I found it turgid and flat and barely made it through. There could be many reasons for my reaction, though in general I don't like reading war stories, or at least traditional ones. I was moved by Nemirovsky's Suite Francais. You have to read the trilogy, it's my favorite Waugh, especially Men At Arms, where everything comes under Waugh's cynical eye. No wonder the military gave him leave to write a book, I can only imagine what he must have been like as an officer. Indeed, in Waugh's world, God cares very much about the English Catholic Aristocracy! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BillF Posted September 4, 2012 Report Share Posted September 4, 2012 This is a return to a book I read and really enjoyed some years ago. Curiously though, I wasn't able to get into the second and third books in the trilogy - don't know why. So I won't be moving on to those - will probably take up another Barbara Pym. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pete C Posted September 4, 2012 Report Share Posted September 4, 2012 I had a girlfriend for a few minutes who pronounced Evelyn Waugh "Evvalynn Woof." That's one of the reasons it lasted not much more than a few minutes... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paul secor Posted September 4, 2012 Report Share Posted September 4, 2012 Margaret Millar: Beyond This Point Are Monsters A dark book. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
johnlitweiler Posted September 4, 2012 Report Share Posted September 4, 2012 Not long ago I read Lies, Inc. by Philip K. Dick. It turned out to be The Unteleported Man with a middle section added, at a publisher's demand, to pad it out, make it longer. The new middle section was written some long time after the original novel and is a description of a long, static drug trip that has no relevance to the original story. There's so much of this stuff in Dick and from the reviews his writings on "theology"/"philosophy" must be impenetrable. Why on earth do some people consider him a Thinker? Okay, so he took drugs and saw God. Can't they take their own drugs and see God themselves, firsthand, instead of relying on Dick? A biography of Dick indicates he made all this stuff up as a middle-aged guy in order to impress naive young ladies. One of his best is Confessions Of A Crap Artist. Great vivid characters in this novel. The villainess was said to have been based on Dick's ex-wife. Apart from his drugged-out stuff his stories always grabbed me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BillF Posted September 10, 2012 Report Share Posted September 10, 2012 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BruceH Posted September 10, 2012 Report Share Posted September 10, 2012 4th book in the series - I am absolutely loving these. Improving my geography no end; and by the time I get to the last in the series I'm sure I'll be able to rig a frigate. I read the whole series with pleasure, more than once, and I still couldn't tell a yardarm from a thingamajig. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jlhoots Posted September 10, 2012 Report Share Posted September 10, 2012 Gunther Schuller: Early Jazz Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
crisp Posted September 11, 2012 Report Share Posted September 11, 2012 Hot Water by Wodehouse was superb, so I've started on the next one in my list: Luck of the Bodkins. I'm pleased to see it's also set in France (where I think the author was living at the time). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BillF Posted September 11, 2012 Report Share Posted September 11, 2012 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jazzmoose Posted September 13, 2012 Report Share Posted September 13, 2012 Eric Foner's Reconstruction: America's Unfinished Revolution. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pete C Posted September 13, 2012 Report Share Posted September 13, 2012 I saw the New York premiere of Mountain Language as the opener to a bill that had The Birthday Party with Jean Stapleton. She was perfect! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BruceH Posted September 14, 2012 Report Share Posted September 14, 2012 I had a girlfriend for a few minutes who pronounced Evelyn Waugh "Evvalynn Woof." That's one of the reasons it lasted not much more than a few minutes... It would be hard not to reply, "Nice doggie." Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
_forumlogo.png.a607ef20a6e0c299ab2aa6443aa1f32e.png)
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.