PD James didn’t hit the mark with her mystery fans and the new readers she gained by using the characters from P&P aren’t thrilled with the book either. I give her credit for trying something new, but I don’t think it worked.
Was in Lenox, MA recently near the home of Edith Wharton and realized that I’d never read anything she wrote. Decided to start with Age of Innocence (she won a Pulitzer Prize for it–first woman to receive the award). Picked it up at the library the other day and plan to start it on a road trip this weekend. (My H can’t read in the car and it doesn’t bother me at all.)
“To all the people who recommended “Sometimes A Great Notion”: THANK YOU. I am so very grateful to all of you for introducing me to one of the best books I’ve “read” in a long time.”
Slithey, so glad you enjoyed it; when I was halfway through, I knew it was one of the best books I had ever read. I am surprised it is not talked about more in the company of the best American novels. It took a long time to get through, though, because it was so intense, and I was so invested in the characters that it was almost physically painful when something bad happened to them.
I will have to try the audiobook in a few years, as this will definitely be a book I will read again, and I almost never say that. What I did like about reading the book was the way he used different styles in the same paragraph to express different points of view. He would be in the 3rd person with character A in regular print, then use parenthesis for what character A was thinking, use brackets for what character B was doing/thinking, and maybe italics for another character thinking something in a totally different place. It was confusing at first, but easy to get the hang of it. I wonder how this was done on the audiobook? Just the different voices?
Onward, I read “Handmaid’s Tale” in my mid 20’s; I think it is time for a return, though it might be too close to real life now for comfort.
Yes. In one particular section, which IIRC stretched over a couple of CDs (two hours listening time), you can physically sense the looming disaster without knowing exactly how it will take shape. And when you finally can see clearly what is going to happen, you start fearing how painful it’s going to be to read/hear about it. Amazing writing on Kesey’s part that it ended up being handled with such grace.
But there are also moments of great humor. Dunno how it came across in the book, but Henry’s yarn about the fox hunt, ending with the line about “Your dog was tied for third…with the fox!” was a LOL audiobook performance. I’m still laughing about it.
Then comes the end, and you reread the poem that started the entire thing…and wow, just wow.
That’s it, I’m ordering a copy. Too much great writing to capture from the audio.
LOL, I loved Hardy in high school, but I’m not sure I could deal with all that depressing reading now! I read a whole bunch on my own, but even I could not deal with the hapless Mayor of Casterbridge!
Beryl Bainbridge, Master Georgie. I don’t read books for a second time especially right after a first run through. I am almost through a second time. Bainbridge won the Booker for this one as posthumous prize. She should have gotten it the first time around. It is amazing. Maybe it is just me. The style, the characters, the words! She was a genius.
I don’t think I have ever read Sometimes a Great Notion, but I was a Kesey fan, growing up in Oregon and going to school in Eugene. Will have to read it.
Because of my long commute, i have gotten back into audiobooks. Right now I am listening to The Art of Choosing. It is nonfiction, but highly engaging. I’m also listening to Caleb’s Crossing, so far so good.
Just finished Rules of Civility. It was like watching a stylish, vintage, 1940’s black and white movie, complete with witty,snappy dialog, and a plot with some twists and turns.
The main character, Katie Kontent, could be Peggy from Mad Men series, thirty years earlier. I like Peggy lots. Perhaps that’s why this book was so captivating, or perhaps my recent visit to NYC, especially the Lower East Side/ Chelsea, and the Village helped me visualize it all. Helps to be familiar with NYC.
Loved this book
I just finished the Pulitzer Prize nominee “Train Dreams” by Denis Johnson. It was so good! After about page 30, I had trouble putting it down. It is short, and I sort of wished it had been longer, but the length suits the nature of the story perfectly.
“Tenderness of Wolves” by Stef Penney was mentioned on this thread (by Onward) way back in 2007-- I just finished it, and I do highly recommend it. The Times of London called it “an original and readable Mixture of Mystery and History, with a good dollop of old-fashioned adventure.”
I came to it after reading her second novel “The Invisible Ones”.
I’m currently reading All the Devils Are Here, nonfiction about the origins and development of the financial and housing crises. I won’t pretend I understand the more technical bits, but I don’t need to; the book does an excellent job of explaining the last 30 ugly years for a non-expert like me. Oddly, it’s so well-written that I’m finding myself in can’t-put-it-down mode. It’s scarier than my last read, The Hunger Games! :eek:
The Life Boat by Charlotte Rogan. Had read some reviews and felt intrigued by the scenario (a ship wreck with survivors on a life boat shortly following the Titanic). Well, the book was very hard to put down, a very enigmatic protagonist who seems to be at the cusp of feminism, not a crusader but a survivor. The book has stayed with me for several days after finishing. I gave it to my DD to read so we can discuss.
I’m excited about this writer and want to read more by her.
^I loved Alas, Babylon. I read it for a high school class and recently happened across it again… am looking forward to finishing Persuasion so I’ll have time to reread it. That’ll be a jarring transition.. haha.
Recommending “The Lady in Gold,” by Anne-Marie O’Connor, a non-fiction account of the amazing story behind Gustav Klimt’s famous ‘gold’ painting of the Jewish socialite Adele Bloch-Bauer. This book has everything: love, sex, art, history, politics, the Holocaust, family discord, heartbreak, vindication, greed - and then some. Plus, it’s a page-turner - written in a breezy but very compelling prose.
Two recommendations–a novel, "Once Upon a River’ by Bonnie Jo Campbell–beautifully written, big-hearted, worth reading.
And a memoir–this is from left field (har har) but the pitcher R.A. Dickey, a 37 year old knuckleballer who finally found a major league home on the Mets a couple years ago, wrote what many have said is the finest baseball memoir in many years, “Wherever I Wind Up,” which I just read and really loved. He’s a former English major who loves literature, metaphor, and narrative, and who unfortunately had a fairly horrific childhood and issues continuing into adulthood, and he writes with class, honesty, and wit. A definite recommendation.
