Now reading...

[Leeway]

Short story: "The Assassination of Margaret Thatcher"

My library finally surfaced a copy of "The Assassination of Margaret Thatcher," a short story collection by Hilary Mantel. SInce I am involved with Clarissa (near page 1000!), I didn't have time to read the entire group of stories, just the title story, which I understand has been quite controversial in UK.

Interested in reactions to the story. Is it possible to have a literary reaction to the story that isn't also political? What is the political reaction?

I believe some UK media have posted the story online if anyone is interested.

[Jazzmoose]

http://www.theguardian.com/books/2014/sep/19/hilary-mantel-short-story-assassination-margaret-thatcher

[BillF]

Now completed my reading of Fitzgerald's novels with this one, her last. Here she has mastered her "new" style: a series of fragmentary impressions in stripped-down prose from an age and place that she never knew personally, but as I've said before, it's her earlier, more conventional fiction that I prefer.

[Leeway]

I've just finished a run of Hubert Selby jr books - Requiem for a Dream, The Demon, Waiting Period and Song of the Silent Snow. All utterly grim and quite stomach-churning in places, especially Requiem and The Demon.

I notice that a very large number of Selby's stories feature a protagonist named Harry. Anyone know why? I googled to no avail.

Now nearly finished London Fields by Martin Amis, which I have enjoyed greatly. I feel very late to the party with this one - I see it was published in 1989.

Have you read "Last Exit to Brooklyn"? Considered his major work; do you see it that way?

Selby's nickname was "Cubby," so "Harry" might be a slight shift to establish a similar but not identical persona (?)

[A Lark Ascending]

[ejp626]

Wrapped up An Ermine in Czernopol. It was a good read.

I'm about 1/4 through Molly Keane's Devoted Ladies. It's definitely a major change in setting from the majority of her novels set in Ireland. This time around she is investigating the literary set in London. It's funny but not quite as funny as she thinks it is. For instance, the main focus is on a lesbian couple but one of them is a bit unhinged and beats the other one. Such overt domestic violence just doesn't sit that well with Noel Coward-type wit, though now that I think about it, Private Lives has some domestic violence played for laughs.

[BillF]

Excellent literary biography.

[Matthew]

A Wrinkle In Time by Madeleine L'Engle. I have not read this book in ages, not since Jr. High, at least, and so when I reread it this time, I discovered how much of AWiT, especially the religious aspect, went over my head all those years ago. A very good book, which like all good "children's books" have a lot to say about adult life. The themes cover areas like family, trust, creativity, etc., and I must admit that I enjoyed it so much, I'm going on to read the rest of the A Wrinkle In Time Quintet.

Edited February 11, 2015 by Matthew

[ejp626]

A Wrinkle In Time by Madeleine L'Engle. I have not read this book in ages, not since Jr. High, at least, and so when I reread it this time, I discovered how much of AWiT, especially the religious aspect, went over my head all those years ago. A very good book, which like all good "children's books" have a lot to say about adult life. The themes cover areas like family, trust, creativity, etc., and I must admit that I enjoyed it so much, I'm going on to read the rest of the A Wrinkle In Time Quintet.

I picked this up for my son a while ago, and I was pretty flabbergasted to see it had been expanded from a trilogy to a quintet. Talk about feeling out of it.

Similarly, Ursula LeGuin added three books to her Earthsea Trilogy. I will at some point find time to read them, but I am trying to find the time to read Pullman's His Dark Materials trilogy first, since I am not entirely sure he is ready for it.

[ejp626]

Wrapped up Keane's Devoted Ladies. The action moves pretty quickly from London to Ireland, where she was on firmer footing. Not completely convinced by the ending and most of the characters were pretty annoying, but it wasn't a bad little book...

I'll be starting Bowen's The House in Paris by the weekend. It's supposedly one of her hardest to get into, so we'll see how it goes.

Also some short stories by Kafka and Alice Munro.

[BillF]

Finished Fitzgerald - now back to Drabble!

[Jazzmoose]

[niels]

Just finished "The Red and the Black" from Stendhal. Very strong book about the son of a peasant, living in post-napoleon times, trying to work his way up the social ladder in a Machiavellian manner.

And now something a bit lighter, "Encounter" from Kundera. A collection of observations and reflections on artists and art. Very enjoyable to read so far, and I think Kundera's observations are many times an interesting view of perception.

[johnblitweiler]

Finally read "the Aspern Papers" by Henry James in a copy that previous owners had underlined and scribbled all over. The only reason I read such an awfully defaced copy was to punish myself for not looking for scribbles before I paid that $1 in Half-Price Books.

[ejp626]

My copy of Bowen's The House in Paris is in very rough shape (and I probably should have complained to the seller), though no underlining as far as I can tell.

I'm about 1/4 through it. As far as I can tell, the structure is fairly similar to Three Days of Rain (the play). Present, then long flash-back to explain the present situation, then back to the Present to wrap things up. It's going ok so far.

[rdavenport]

I've just finished a run of Hubert Selby jr books - Requiem for a Dream, The Demon, Waiting Period and Song of the Silent Snow. All utterly grim and quite stomach-churning in places, especially Requiem and The Demon.

I notice that a very large number of Selby's stories feature a protagonist named Harry. Anyone know why? I googled to no avail.

Now nearly finished London Fields by Martin Amis, which I have enjoyed greatly. I feel very late to the party with this one - I see it was published in 1989.

Have you read "Last Exit to Brooklyn"? Considered his major work; do you see it that way?

Selby's nickname was "Cubby," so "Harry" might be a slight shift to establish a similar but not identical persona (?)

Just in the middle of Last Exit. It's more of the same grimness. Another unpleasant Harry involved, as I suspected!

[ejp626]

My copy of Bowen's The House in Paris is in very rough shape (and I probably should have complained to the seller), though no underlining as far as I can tell.

I'm about 1/4 through it. As far as I can tell, the structure is fairly similar to Three Days of Rain (the play). Present, then long flash-back to explain the present situation, then back to the Present to wrap things up. It's going ok so far.

I ended up not liking this very much. I did like the first "The Present" section but that was about it. It's hard to pinpoint exactly the problem, but really much ado about a fairly pedestrian affair and a number of high-strung characters that didn't seem particularly believable.

Anyway, I am starting Elizabeth Taylor's A Game of Hide and Seek today.

[BillF]

My copy of Bowen's The House in Paris is in very rough shape (and I probably should have complained to the seller), though no underlining as far as I can tell.

I'm about 1/4 through it. As far as I can tell, the structure is fairly similar to Three Days of Rain (the play). Present, then long flash-back to explain the present situation, then back to the Present to wrap things up. It's going ok so far.

I ended up not liking this very much. I did like the first "The Present" section but that was about it. It's hard to pinpoint exactly the problem, but really much ado about a fairly pedestrian affair and a number of high-strung characters that didn't seem particularly believable.

Anyway, I am starting Elizabeth Taylor's A Game of Hide and Seek today.

Both my wife and I foundered somewhere after the first section of The House in Paris. The good news is that I found A Game of Hide and Seek moving and memorable.

[Leeway]

Aeschylus, The Oresteia. I'm balancing three translations: Robert Fagles (Bantam Classics), Peter Meineck (Hackett), Hugh Lloyd-Jones (U. of California Press). Primal stuff. Fagles has a gnarled power at best but can get too "poetic" and obscure to the point of near incomprehensibility, excellent notes and a intriguing long introduction (these the work mostly of editor W.B. Stanford); Meineck is admirably clear (it's a version designed to be staged) and powerful, lighter on notes than I would wish; Lloyd-Jones has few literary pretensions, fine notes, much scholarly learning stands behind it all, shines light on virtually every puzzling/obscure passage.

Progress Report:

I'm now somewhat past the midpoint of my giant Penguin edition of Clarissa (p. 780 of 1500). I find the book absolutely brilliant, but like a mountain climber halfway up a tall slope, I'm both thrilled, and chastened that there are still more steps to take to get to the end. It's not drudgery at all, just simple effort or focus. The story, as Dr, Johnson pointed out, is nothing very complicated, but the mass of feeling, thoughts, ideas, social habits, etc, requires the closest attention, and rewards it too. This is really Ground Zero of the modern novel. It bursts the bounds of its own epistolary form, yet uses it to great effect in terms of vividness and immediacy. Anyway, it's really a remarkable work. Now to get up the rest of the mountain.

Best of luck!

Read it in college for an 18th Cent. English Lit. class. Could have read an abridged version but volunteered to read the whole thing just for the hell of it. Resulting paper was not as good as it should have/could have been, but I got a good grade for persistence, I think. A great work, as you're finding out. I'd like to hear Robin Holloway's opera "Clarissa." There is an excerpt on YouTube.

FINISHED!!! Finished Clarissa: 1499 pages, 537 letters in the Penguin (1st) edition.

A challenging read, but a marvelous experience. I had hoped to finish it on Valentine's Day, because, after all, it is a love story, albeit gone seriously wrong. I can see why this novel typically ranks high on lists of "best English novels." Richardson does a magnificent job maintaining voices and characters through the many hundreds of epistles. Furthermore, the social texture of the novel is extraordinarily dense and rich. Questions of sex and gender, rich and poor, virtue and vice, individual and community, tradition and modernity, so many other fundamental elements, it gives the novel the quality of myth. I'm truly glad I read it.

Edited February 19, 2015 by Leeway

[jlhoots]

Tarnoff: The Bohemians

[ejp626]

FINISHED!!! Finished Clarissa: 1499 pages, 537 letters in the Penguin (1st) edition.

A challenging read, but a marvelous experience. I had hoped to finish it on Valentine's Day, because, after all, it is a love story, albeit gone seriously wrong. I can see why this novel typically ranks high on lists of "best English novels." Richardson does a magnificent job maintaining voices and characters through the many hundreds of epistles. Furthermore, the social texture of the novel is extraordinarily dense and rich. Questions of sex and gender, rich and poor, virtue and vice, individual and community, tradition and modernity, so many other fundamental elements, it gives the novel the quality of myth. I'm truly glad I read it.

Congrats, that is quite an accomplishment. I have to admit this was not even on my radar, but you have piqued my curiosity. I don't intend to add it to my reading list at any point in the near future, but perhaps someday...

Did you start with Pamela? That seems more my speed, and if I make it through that ok, I might eventually consider Clarissa...

Edited February 19, 2015 by ejp626

[erwbol]

Thomas Pynchon - Inherent Vice

Finished the first of the four Fall Revolution novels by Ken MacLeod yesterday. Now quickly on to Pynchon's Inherent Vice so the movie's Blu-ray won't spoil the book for me.

[Leeway]

FINISHED!!! Finished Clarissa: 1499 pages, 537 letters in the Penguin (1st) edition.

A challenging read, but a marvelous experience. I had hoped to finish it on Valentine's Day, because, after all, it is a love story, albeit gone seriously wrong. I can see why this novel typically ranks high on lists of "best English novels." Richardson does a magnificent job maintaining voices and characters through the many hundreds of epistles. Furthermore, the social texture of the novel is extraordinarily dense and rich. Questions of sex and gender, rich and poor, virtue and vice, individual and community, tradition and modernity, so many other fundamental elements, it gives the novel the quality of myth. I'm truly glad I read it.

Congrats, that is quite an accomplishment. I have to admit this was not even on my radar, but you have piqued my curiosity. I don't intend to add it to my reading list at any point in the near future, but perhaps someday...

Did you start with Pamela? That seems more my speed, and if I make it through that ok, I might eventually consider Clarissa...

Thank you. Actually Clarissa was enjoyable, one gets caught up in the deep psychology and sociology of the story, just requires perseverance. No, I have not read Pamela, just jumped into the deep end first. But I do have Pamela on my list to catch up with.

[jazzbo]

[kinuta]