Recently finished books?

[Clarissa]

Pearl Buck? Why not Virginia Woolf, female writing in English at the same time as Pearl Buck and a much better writer...

[Mirabell]

Pearl Buck? Why not Virginia Woolf, female writing in English at the same time as Pearl Buck and a much better writer...

It was the period between the wars and Buck's pacifism seemed much more relevant at the time. Plus, outside of anglophone reach, Buck was, at the time, the much more well known writer. Plus, Buck won the first time she was nominated. Right place, right time etc.

Plus, your literary opinion is just that. Yours. There's a clear and obvious importance of Buck's work, it's still reprinted, it's still taught and read. Want me to make a list of novelists who I consider to be vastly better than Orhan Pamuk? Or poets better than Szymborska? Yet I wouldn't dispute their Nobel-worthy stature. The Nobel academy needs to make a choice out of a vast field of contenders. SOmetimes they fall prey to their prejudice (Eucken), sometimes they severely miscalculate someone's literary importance (Heyse), but mostly they make a pretty good choice.

Granted, Buck is THE bad example, she engendered the Pearl-s-buck-rule that says a writer has to be nominated twice to be eligible etc. I don't however think she was that obviously unfit to win the prize. Eucken however....

[Clarissa]

Ah well, I think more 'great writers' did not win the prize as opposed to those who did... As you say, Mirabell, all about the right time and the right place - and the right supporters.

However, I must add that thanks to the Nobel Prize for lit., I have read many writers I had never heard of before. The one that springs to my mind is Naguib Mahfouz among others who left less of a lasting impression.

[Mirabell]

Ah well, I think more 'great writers' did not win the prize as opposed to those who did...

True. Because in 110 years there were only 110 prizes. It's simple logic. I can just look at German literature and say that Heinrich Mann, Arno Schmidt, Christa Wolf, Franz Werfel, Heiner Müller, Siegfried Lenz, Reinhard Jirgl, Thomas Kling, Thomas Bernhard, Paulus Böhmer, Alfred Döblin, Heimito von Doderer, Hugo v. Hofmannsthal (and many more) were/are all Great writers, with a capital G, yet look at how many writers writing in German have won already, and 90% of them deservedly so. This is just one language but we could fill half a century with Great writers. It stands to reason that this creates an imbalance, no?

[Rumpelstilzchen]

True. Because in 110 years there were only 110 prizes. It's simple logic.

I have never really understood why the nobel literature prize is not distributed among several people regularly as are the others. Doing this some of the imbalance metioned above by Mirabell (thanks for making this very important and SIMPLE statement that is not understood by 99% of all the people arguing in the usual stupid discussions about nobel-worthy authors) might be decreased.

[e joseph]

Mumbo Jumbo - Ishmael Reed
Fun and a train-wreck all at the same time. Reed's style and ideas immediately make you want to read more though.

[sirena]

http://www.worldliteratureforum.com/forum/images/flags/gb.gif Under the Greenwood Tree - Thomas Hardy ***00

[Daniel del Real]

http://www.worldliteratureforum.com/forum/images/flags/es.gif Miguel Delibes, El Príncipe Destronado (The Dethroned Prince)***00

A very short novel, not among Delibes best works. The highlight in the book is how accurate is the description in a day of a 3 year old child eager for attention after been displaced by a younger sister. However, as this is a vision of a 3 year old, it's limited and can't go deeper.

[Bjorn]

I have never really understood why the nobel literature prize is not distributed among several people regularly as are the others. Doing this some of the imbalance metioned above by Mirabell (thanks for making this very important and SIMPLE statement that is not understood by 99% of all the people arguing in the usual stupid discussions about nobel-worthy authors) might be decreased.

Well, for the most part, the ones that are shared - in medicine, physics, etc - are shared by people who actually worked together or at least worked on the same things. Most writers, of course, write alone. Also, the different Nobel prizes are decided by different organizations using different criteria. Plus, a couple of shared prizes didn't work out too well - the Martinson & Johnson debacle in 1974, all the hubbub surrounding the HIV virus, or that time when von Hayek and Myrdal shared the Economics prize for diametrically opposed theories.

[Bjorn]

Barbara Ehrenreich, Nickel And Dimed. Acclaimed writer goes undercover as minimum wage earner - bussing tables, cleaning houses, hanging t-shirts - and writes about what it's like for all the people surviving below poverty level. Good idea, flawed execution; Ehrenreich is too busy writing about her own shock at how she has to live to actually give a good picture of how it's like for those who can't just get out their VISA card anytime they're sick of it. Ganz Unten von Oben. **000

The first volume of Mircea Cartarescu's Orbitor, which is absolutely astounding. A huge, messy, laser-guidedly sprawling autobiographical novel that shifts seamlessly from realistic depictions of growing up in communist Romania to Eco-like mysticism to Lovecraft-meets-Cronenbergian horror with enough physical themes to make Freud's head explode. *****

[Rumpelstilzchen]

Well, for the most part, the ones that are shared - in medicine, physics, etc - are shared by people who actually worked together or at least worked on the same things. Most writers, of course, write alone.

Well at least in physics, where I have some knowledge of, a non-shared prize is the exception, at least in the last decades. Sure the topics are often the "same" or at least similar or connected, but rather seldom people really worked together in the normal sense. Also there are examples where the prize was divided for different topics. If I remember the rules correctly it goes something like this: up to three people share the prize for the same topic or (1+1 or 2+1) people share the prize for two different topics, but I am not 100% sure...

And I think both solution would be applicable in literature, at least they could give the prize to two authors every year. I mean, one could also think about shared topics, I do not know, like making relevant contribution to the evolution of German drama or magic realism or something (sorry maybe bad examples) or maybe a joined prize for improving on the understanding between two different cultures, say Israel and Palestine maybe? You are the experts, probably you can come up with some better ideas. It would be possible, I am sure

[Rumpelstilzchen]

At least this would improve the situation. Of course in physics they are already complaining that ONLY three people can share the prize for one topic... which is a very hot topic at the moment... who will get the prize if they discover the Higgs particle, for example? In recent talks people quote like ~5 names that contributed relevant stuff... and from an experimental point of view you can completely forget about making sensible decisions about such issues with collaborations that surpass the 1000 people barrier (next they will have to start giving the nobel prize in physics to organisations like the peace prize...).

[Elie]

Just finished the Heart Of The Matter. Perhaps the best Greene yet. I've only got Our Man In Havana left now and am quite sad about this - what shall I buy next?

[Colonel Green]

Enemies, A Love Story by Isaac Bashevis Singer ***00

Pretty good, though not in the same league as Singer's The Slave, which was just beautiful

[errequatro]

I absolutely adored this book. It's very very good... The only one I read by Singer though... :)

[johnw1]

The Leopard by Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa *****

Brilliant, but eventually very sad. The Prince is a very charismatic character at the heart of it all and I also liked Tancredi and Bendico the dog! The last two chapters are the most powerful but also the most painful; the preceding chapters were very well written - lyrical, evocative, ironic - but it was really the last 3rd of the book that makes it so outstanding because of the sense of loss and things running down after the liveliness and colour of the rest.

[SlowRain]

Graham Greene - why did he never get the Nobel Prize for literature???
Some people speculate that the triviality of his purely thriller novels weighed him down. There's also the religious aspect to some of his novels that likely affected this, too.


Just finished the Heart Of The Matter. Perhaps the best Greene yet. I've only got Our Man In Havana left now and am quite sad about this - what shall I buy next?
I also enjoyed The End of the Affair, A Burnt-out Case, The Comedians, and The Hounourary Cosnul.

[Sherry02]

i have recently finished Huckleberry Finn written by Mark Twain. I quite liked the theme of the novel and the the character of Jim in particular.:)

[Polly Parrot]

Dame Siriþ, author unknown (1272-1283)

[Remora]

Oblivion -- David Wallace

Well, not technically as I skipped over a story which I didn't like for some reason and as I was in a hurry (the book was a library loan). There were four stories there, however, that I would go back to again and again. Not the best percentage as there were eight stories in all but on the strength of those four I'm motivated to give Infinite Jest the old college try.

[Bjorn]

Jean Giono - Hill Of Destiny (France) ****0

One of those books that's probably better than I give it credit for if read in context. But as early ecological eschatology goes, it's fascinating and gets a lot done in 150 pages.

[Eric]

The anecdotal, but not entirely implausible, reason I heard why Graham Greene did not get the Nobel Prize is that Greene was supposed to have nicked Artur Lundkvist's girlfriend when Lundkvist was a leading member of the Nobel Committee.

There is no way of knowing whether this gossip is true, but it would be rather charming if it were.

Lundkvist's Wikipedia entry is here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Artur_Lundkvist

[JTolle]

Speaking of Greene:

The End of the Affair -- Graham Greene *****

Loved it start to finish, much looser and warmer than The Power and the Glory, but just as good in its way (well, maybe not since I still like The Power and the Glory better). A compelling read, as well, it's obvious Greene had a knack for creating engaging characters and quick-paced plots, which, of course, predicts the success of his thrillers.

[Colonel Green]

In the Skin of a Lion by Michael Ondaatje ***00

Michael Ondaatje's second novel (part of my continuing voyages through Canadian literature), and actually a precursor to his most famous work, The English Patient, introducing both Hana and Caravaggio in supporting roles (the leads, Patrick and Clara, are both mentioned in the latter book). I wasn't aware of that at the time I read the latter, and neither are most people, which seems like rather inept marketing. I think I liked this more than The English Patient (the novel), though I'm still not a big fan of Ondaatje's postmodernist scattershot narrative style.

[Rumpelstilzchen]

****0 Le Sabotage Amoureux, Nothomb
Best Nothomb book so far... was very much impressed by the depiction of the girls' worldview and how she judges boys and the behaviour of adults. In addition one gets some interesting insights into China as experienced by foreigners (diplomats and their families) during the 70s. Though being a rather quick read (as usual) I found it much denser than the other Nothomb books I read.

[sirena]

http://www.worldliteratureforum.com/forum/images/flags/us.gif Big Fish: A Novel of Mythic Proportions - Daniel Wallace ***00

[SlowRain]

The anecdotal, but not entirely implausible, reason I heard why Graham Greene did not get the Nobel Prize is that Greene was supposed to have nicked Artur Lundkvist's girlfriend when Lundkvist was a leading member of the Nobel Committee.

There is no way of knowing whether this gossip is true, but it would be rather charming if it were.
That certainly would fit with Greene's character.

[Clarissa]

Cherchez la femme -
The anecdotal, but not entirely implausible, reason I heard why Graham Greene did not get the Nobel Prize is that Greene was supposed to have nicked Artur Lundkvist's girlfriend when Lundkvist was a leading member of the Nobel Committee.
If it's true, seems a bit petty to me... After all, this had nothing to do with Graham Greene's writing.

[Peeping Tom]

A Study in Scarlet by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, the first Sherlock Holmes novel, which introduced us to Dr. Watson and his somewhat odd but fascinating new roommate, as well as a mysterious murder case (or two). ****0

[JTolle]

A Clockwork Orange -- Anthony Burgess (reread) *****
Valparaiso -- Don DeLillo ****0+

Very weird and beautiful. A play to ponder, but far less ambiguous than most of his novels.

Downstream -- J. K. Huysmans trans. Robert Baldick ****0

My first Huysmans, and it definitely lives up to the dark, bitter reputation that name carries. Against the Grain and Becalmed are also on-hand and I look forward to these, hopefully, even better novels.

[ReadCentral]

hii Gud evening every one
well just read Dracula's Guest by Bram Stoker
Awsome book must read itz a scary book

[Daniel del Real]

http://www.worldliteratureforum.com/forum/images/flags/pe.gif Mario Vargas Llosa, El Sueño del Celta ****0+

After a bad step with Travesuras de la Niña Mala he comes back with a powerful novel more in the syle of El Paraíso en la otra esquina. Not as effective as the one mentioned but with a great character to describe in Roger Casement.

[Bjorn]

Andrés Stoopendal, Maskerad (Sweden) ****0

Very interesting debut, a coming-of-age story about a 14-year-old boy starting to become acutely aware of all the big questions of who he might be, who he might become, trying on different roles and thoughts for size... Possibly slightly too literary-minded for its own good, but a fascinating book nonetheless.

[Clarissa]

Susan Sontag - The Benefactor - mediocre novel.

I have also read two other novels from her The Volcano Lover and In America. I was not overly impressed but they were better than The Benefactor

However, two remarkable books by Sontag: Where the Stress Falls and Regarding the Pain of Others. With these two, I can understand her reputation. Thinker, essayist, yes, novelist no.

and

Stéphane Hessel - INDIGNEZ VOUS (sic) - a short political pamphlet by a 93 year old. A runaway bestseller. I found this banal. 'Nothing new under the sun...' Probably his age and his past as a VIP on the international political stage, as well as his feats in the French Resistance during WWII gave it its selling klout. Why some people should have been outraged because he said the Israelis maltreated the Palestinians is beyond me. The world press regularly report on this.

More about Hessel:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stéphane_Hessel

[Mirabell]

The world press regularly report on this.


I'm not sure the verb "report" is appropriate here, but yeah. The book is banal and much less annoying than, for example, Chomsky's pamphlets. I really don't see why anyone would even pay for this.L'Insurrection qui vientis much more interesting (see the slightly overlong essay I linked to that you commented on).

[Mirabell]

ha. I think I forgot to post some books.

anyway, most recently

All Star Superman, Vol. 2, Grant Morrison. Frank Quitely, Jamie Grant

The Summer without Women, Siri Hustvedt

[Colonel Green]

Gone With The Wind by Margaret Mitchell *****

1937's Pulitzer Prize winner is a bit of an awkward novel for me to assign a ranking to, because on the one hand it's a quite convincing historical epic with extremely well-drawn and memorable characters; and on the other hand, it's astonishingly racist. I mean, the movie has issues, but compared to the book it's a Spike Lee production. At one point, Rhett kills a black man for insulting a white woman - yes, Rhett Butler lynched Emmett Till. Outdated assumptions underlying older novels is nothing new - it's all over the place in Shakespeare, for instance, and he's the greatest writer who ever lived. But I've rarely come across such a pronounced example, particularly in contrast to writing that is otherwise very modern in its feel.

[kpjayan]

Encounter : Essays by Milan Kundera : Collection of some wonderfully written essays, especially the essays on Anatole France ( on 'The God's are Thirsty) , and on Malaparte. Some interesting observations on some of the 20th century masterpieces, few music related essays and a different view point on Francis Bacon's paintings. Good collection of essays.

Turing's Delirium by Edmundo Paz Soldán : Cyber-crime enabled political thriller. Good book, with some strong statements on the globalisation and exploitation, beyond the written words. Lot of short comings, in terms of the flow, the characters and the theme. Language and style often drifts from brilliance in one chapter to mediocre in the next.

[JTolle]

Gargoyles -- Thomas Bernhard (trans. Richard and Clara Winston) ****0+

My first Bernhard, totally absorbing. Look forward to more, though his bleakness and blackness should be counteracted with something more hopeful, I think, in the future.

[Stiffelio]

Turing's Delirium by Edmundo Paz Soldán : Cyber-crime enabled political thriller. Good book, with some strong statements on the globalisation and exploitation, beyond the written words. Lot of short comings, in terms of the flow, the characters and the theme. Language and style often drifts from brilliance in one chapter to mediocre in the next.

I Loved this book when I read it. What you comment about unevenness of style and language is probably the result of a crummy translation. Paz Soldán intented to write a choral or poliphonic novel and each chapter is written from the point of view and language style of each character: I remember one of them being addressed to in second person singular, which I thought was very effective.

[Bjorn]

Laura Restrepo - Leopard In The Sun (Colombia) ****0

As mythical rewrites of Scarface go, it's pretty damn enjoyable. Still not sure whether her language is Too Much or Just Enough, but I like the squabbling Greek chorus feel where the 1st-person-plural narrator is constantly interrupted by themselves. There's a point to the tired old magical realism when it's so obvious that it's the narrator, rather than the author, using it.

[Rumpelstilzchen]

****0, Schipino, Svenja Leiber
http://www.bosch-stiftung.de/content/language2/html/31347.asp

Tells the story of a German around 40 that drops out of his job, leaves his normal life and accepts an offer of a Russian friend to live with him and others for the summer inside some kind of community somewhere in the middle of the Russian countryside next to a shabby Ex-Kolkhoz. The community is a mixture of social dropouts of various kinds or people who just need a timeout from normal life or a holiday. In the end the protagonist is going to stay there over the winter with one of the women. Very strong, dense and fresh use of language. Partly because of this it is a book that I had to read rather slowly even though it is written in German and I am a native speaker. In addition the story is vague and many things are not resolved or are only indicated. Overall a very interesting first novel of a young author of ~36 you should look out for. Apparently the author spent some time in Russia thanks to a so-called Border Crossers scholarship:
http://www.bosch-stiftung.de/content/language2/html/1100.asp
The same scholarship was granted to Herta Mueller during her preparations for her latest "novel" Atemschaukel.

[learna]

The Bear by William Faulkner.

*****

[Daniel del Real]

Gargoyles -- Thomas Bernhard (trans. Richard and Clara Winston) ****0+

My first Bernhard, totally absorbing. Look forward to more, though his bleakness and blackness should be counteracted with something more hopeful, I think, in the future.

This was also my frist Bernahrd and I truly adored it. Bernhard is not an easy writer to begin with, but I guess this one is good for it, bleak of course but it doesn't stick with one character as it describes the whole community. Frost would be a difficult starting point.


Laura Restrepo - Leopard In The Sun (Colombia) ****0

As mythical rewrites of Scarface go, it's pretty damn enjoyable. Still not sure whether her language is Too Much or Just Enough, but I like the squabbling Greek chorus feel where the 1st-person-plural narrator is constantly interrupted by themselves. There's a point to the tired old magical realism when it's so obvious that it's the narrator, rather than the author, using it.

She's got a book called Delirium that it's a very entertaining read. It's the only one I've read so far, but it deals with the figure of Pablo Escobar, and it describes the character as a constant shadow that is always present in the city of Medellín. Let's say his presence is always there even though he is not presented as a character. Good Book.
The problem with her, is that I don't like her person, she's really boring and this is why I haven't read any other of her books.

[Daniel del Real]

http://www.worldliteratureforum.com/forum/images/flags/jp.gif Yukio Mishima, Forbidden Colors ***00

Took me ages to finish this book. Never happened with Mishima before and altough it's a long book (590 pages in my edition), it shows little coherence at times, and the monologues tend to be dull and without much meaning to the plot. Dealing principally with homosexuality and beauty, it is not as well developed as The Temple of the Golden Pavillion regarding aesthetic issues.

[Rumpelstilzchen]

****0, Schipino, Svenja Leiber
http://www.bosch-stiftung.de/content/language2/html/31347.asp



You can find an excerpt here:
http://www.schoeffling.de/content/buecher/leseprobe-489.html

[sirena]

http://www.worldliteratureforum.com/forum/images/flags/jp.gif What I Talk About When I Talk About Running - Haruki Murakami ***00
http://www.worldliteratureforum.com/forum/images/flags/gb.gif The Return of the Native - Thomas Hardy ***00
http://www.worldliteratureforum.com/forum/images/flags/cl.gif 2666 - Roberto Bolaño ****0
http://www.worldliteratureforum.com/forum/images/flags/ru.gif Nevsky Prospekt - Nikolai Gogol ****0

[Mirabell]

You can find an excerpt here:
http://www.schoeffling.de/content/buecher/leseprobe-489.html

Oh yuck. thanks for warning me.

[Rumpelstilzchen]

Oh yuck. thanks for warning me.

Hehe :), yeah, but it gets better, really... they should not have taken the beginning...

[Rumpelstilzchen]

http://www.worldliteratureforum.com/forum/images/flags/cl.gif 2666 - Roberto Bolaño ****0


So what's the matter?

[JTolle]

Brighton Rock -- Graham Greene *****-

People say it's Greene just shy of his great work, but I thought this one sidled up fine with the two other of his books I've read, both masterpieces. He's becoming one of my favorite authors, and Brighton Rock had just enough pulp and just enough substance to keep me reading and horrified, in the best way. Vivid and chilling.

[johnw1]

Manzoni - The Betrothed ***00+

The main characters didn't quite come alive and rarely go beyond being 'types' and the plot wasn't exactly taut so I didn't find it especially gripping. However, some of the scenes were memorable: the bread riots and, especially, the plague. Overall, a good romantic historical novel - better than Scott's I think - and by all accounts an important step forward for Italian literature at the time.

[Loki]

Manzoni - The Betrothed ***00+

The main characters didn't quite come alive and rarely go beyond being 'types' and the plot wasn't exactly taut so I didn't find it especially gripping. However, some of the scenes were memorable: the bread riots and, especially, the plague. Overall, a good romantic historical novel - better than Scott's I think - and by all accounts an important step forward for Italian literature at the time.

Indeed! A very important step. I'm pretty sure it's among the first novels in Italian literature. But The Betrothed is important not only for our literature, but also for the language he used: there were three editions, and while in the first (1827) he used quite a lot of dialect, latinisms, in the third edition (1840) he made important corrections that influenced the way we now speak.
I'm glad non-italians still read this.

[Bjorn]

Mattias Hagberg, Herredjuret (Sweden) ****0

I swear, I didn't mean to continue the theme started when I read Jean Giono, but it seems to be a theme that's in the air right now. Hagberg straddles biography, fiction and moral philosophy, starting off with the huge stuffed elephant at the Museum of National History in Gothenburg, trails the hunter who killed and stuffed it, and from there moves on into ruminations on man's place in nature. Short, punchy.

[Rumpelstilzchen]

****0+, Flughunde, Marcel Beyer (1995)

I would call it a modern German classic by a very very good author (born 1965). Apparently it was translated into English as "The Karnau Tapes", don't know if the translation is good... the German title refers to "Flying Foxes", the largest bat-like animals (a literal translation from the German would be "Flying Dogs").

[Mirabell]

Shadowplay, Tad Williams

No Country for old men, Cormac McCarthy

[Rumpelstilzchen]

**000-, Intet, Janne Teller
(read it in German translation, title: "Nichts")

****0+, La Peur, Gabriel Chevallier
(also in German translation as "Heldenangst")
If you take into account that it was finished around 1930 it should get a *****++++ of course, similar in importance to Remarque's "All Quite on the Western Front", equally strong, showing the same thing from the French side and therefore also showing that it was exactly the same shit independent on what side they were fighting for nothing.

[Clarissa]

Just Kids - Patti Smith - interesting account of the New York scene (Andy Warhol, Allen Ginsberg, Sam Shepherd et al.) in the '70s. Moving personal biography of Patti Smith's relationship with Robert Mapplethorpe. I must be very square and uncool, I found some of the passages frankly distasteful.Not the S&M not the homosexuality but some of the graphic descriptions related to these were not really my cup of tea...

[sirena]

http://www.worldliteratureforum.com/forum/images/flags/ru.gif Winter Notes on Summer Impressions - Fyodor Dostoevsky ****0
http://www.worldliteratureforum.com/forum/images/flags/ru.gif The Nose - Nikolai Gogol ***00
http://www.worldliteratureforum.com/forum/images/flags/ru.gif Notes from Underground - Fyodor Dostoevsky ****0

[accidie]

A Life on Paper, Chateaureynaud, and very good it was. Short stories, often with a slightly fantastic element.

Sirena, I learned of Winter Notes only recently and am looking forward to soneday getting the edition illustrated by Philippe Jullian--don't suppose that's the one you read?

[learna]

http://www.worldliteratureforum.com/forum/images/flags/ru.gif Winter Notes on Summer Impressions - Fyodor Dostoevsky ****0


I have just downloaded Winter Notes on Summer Impressions and looking forward to reading it.

Sirena, did you read it in Russian (if I am not misteken, you wrote that you know it)?

Vera.

[e joseph]

Votaire's Candide and
The Darkest Child, by Delores Phillips. A pretty interesting, capably written story about a poor black family headed by a crazy mother in a 1950s backwoods Georgia town. Good quick read, nothing earth shattering.

[sirena]

I have just downloaded Winter Notes on Summer Impressions and looking forward to reading it.

Sirena, did you read it in Russian (if I am not misteken, you wrote that you know it)?

Vera.

Unfortunatelly, I'm still not able to read literature in Russian. I've been learning it for a while, however, "I put it aside" in order to concentrate more on Spanish.

[Mirabell]

Votaire's Candide and
The Darkest Child, by Delores Phillips. A pretty interesting, capably written story about a poor black family headed by a crazy mother in a 1950s backwoods Georgia town. Good quick read, nothing earth shattering.


How'd you like Candide?

[e joseph]

How'd you like Candide?
It was OK. Didn't necessarily find anything fantastic about it, but I'm also horrendously out of touch with 18th century France.

[JTolle]

Yes -- Thomas Bernhard (trans. Ewald Osers) ***00+

Bernhard's style is continually engaging even when the story is somewhat dull and hopeless.

The Moment of Christian Witness -- Hans Urs von Balthasar (trans. Richard Beckley)

Who knew theology could be so finely written and accessible?

A Mercy -- Toni Morrison ****0

[Bjorn]

Suzanne Collins, The Hunger Games. Have to say I'm pretty impressed so far. Sure, it's basically equal parts The Running Man and Battle Royale with a bit of Buffy sprinkled on top, but those are some pretty good things to be influenced by. ****0 for what it is, probably one star less if you put it through the whole critical machine - it's the kind of book that makes you want to not notice the flaws. Will definitely be reading the complete trilogy.

[pesahson]

Elif Shafak Lustra miasta (Polish title) Şehrin Aynaları (original Turkish title). I don't think there is an English translation. ***00

Vasily Grossman Everything Flows ****0 ++

[Mirabell]

Suzanne Collins, The Hunger Games. Have to say I'm pretty impressed so far. Sure, it's basically equal parts The Running Man and Battle Royale with a bit of Buffy sprinkled on top, but those are some pretty good things to be influenced by. ****0 for what it is, probably one star less if you put it through the whole critical machine - it's the kind of book that makes you want to not notice the flaws. Will definitely be reading the complete trilogy.


I love this. my sister forced the whole trilogy on me. Awesome.

[JTolle]

The Woman Warrior -- Maxine Hong Kingston ***00+
The Shawl -- Cynthia Ozick (reread) *****

The only work of fiction I've read by Ozick and a masterpiece. Short, painful, gorgeously written. Coming back to this book again, now that I know about her affection for Henry James, I realize I should have seen that influence the first time through.

Plainwater -- Anne Carson *****-

Some of her best work is gathered in this book, including the long series of prose-poems "The Anthropology of Water," which is what I hear critics were bowled over by when Carson first came out of the woodwork. No surprise, it's studied, violently original, affecting stuff. Also totally unprecedented considering it came from a 42 year-old, previously unpublished poet. The big drawback of Plainwater is the long poem "Canicula di Anna." About a female philosopher Carson's narrator has an obvious girl-crush on, and the Italian painter Perugino. Think Ashbery's "Self-Portrait in a Convex Mirror," but more narratively driven, and infinitely, incalculably weaker. By far the worst poem I've read by her.

[Clarissa]

The Shawl -- Cynthia Ozick (reread) *****

The only work of fiction I've read by Ozick and a masterpiece. Short, painful, gorgeously written. Coming back to this book again, now that I know about her affection for Henry James, I realize I should have seen that influence the first time through.

I agree. I have also read her The Puttermesser Papers but was less taken by it. However, that may have been a question of reading it at the wrong time.

[Bjorn]

I love this. my sister forced the whole trilogy on me. Awesome.
Yeah, I had to dig into volume II pretty much immediately.

N. Katherine Hayles, How We Became Posthuman (USA) ***00

Fascinating book on the cyborgification of (the rich bits of) humanity, though definitely not written for the pop market. I could have used a few more volumes of Lacan and Foucault and that gang under my belt to make the most of it. The fact that the book is 10 years old and already a bit obsolete in some points doesn't help either. But I really want to read Greg Bear's Blood Music and some more Philip K Dick after her analyses of them.

[e joseph]

Tomato Red - Daniel Woodrell
Initial reactions be damned, I ended up really liking the book. Fuck-ups from the Ozarks, well, fuck up. Once the movie's a little less fresh in my mind, Winter's Bone will get the once over.

[Mirabell]

Yeah, I had to dig into volume II pretty much immediately.

N. Katherine Hayles, How We Became Posthuman (USA) ***00

Fascinating book on the cyborgification of (the rich bits of) humanity, though definitely not written for the pop market. I could have used a few more volumes of Lacan and Foucault and that gang under my belt to make the most of it. The fact that the book is 10 years old and already a bit obsolete in some points doesn't help either. But I really want to read Greg Bear's Blood Music and some more Philip K Dick after her analyses of them.


Is it an improvement on Donna Haraway's canonical text(s)?

[Mirabell]

I agree. I have also read her The Puttermesser Papers but was less taken by it. However, that may have been a question of reading it at the wrong time.


Really? I LOVED PPs. I am still shivering with admiration just thinking about it.

[Clarissa]

Really? I LOVED PPs. I am still shivering with admiration just thinking about it.

Like I said, probably the wrong book at the wrong moment...

[Bjorn]

Is it an improvement on Donna Haraway's canonical text(s)?

I honestly have no idea as I've never read Haraway. Should I?

[Liam]

Is it an improvement on Donna Haraway's canonical text(s)?M, if you can translate Haraway into Standard Modern English for me, I'd be much obliged, :).

I honestly have no idea as I've never read Haraway. Should I?Well, as M suggests, the text (Manifesto for Cyborgs or some such crazy shit) is canonical in the realm of modern theory. It's not a very long essay, anyway, you can probably read it in one sitting, so give it a try, but I found it masturbatory, overwritten, overtheorized and intellectually exhausting.

L.

[Mirabell]

I honestly have no idea as I've never read Haraway. Should I?


She's thin on theory, basically a watered down critical writer, and not very insightful. BUT she's insanely influential, mostly because she's been championed by the right people and the fact that she's easy to read and understand will have played its role. Her theory isn't bad, per se, but it's a good idea and a bad writer. She's like Bruno Latour, I guess. Easy to read, influential (hence also important to read), but thin on substance beyond what could be summarized in one or two densely written paragraphs.

Er. To sum up: yes, you should read her. One of the more influential thinkers.

[kpjayan]

I curse the River of Time - Per Petterson : Dark , Gloomy book, detached writing. My first book of Per Petterson and I liked it.

[Mirabell]

Yeah, I had to dig into volume II pretty much immediately.

I haven't read the others yet, and when I cracked open volume II two days ago, I noticed I forgot much of Vol I, so I reread it.

The Hunger Games, Suzanne Collins


It's better than I remembered. I wonder how a book with so obvious an anti-imperialist/communist metaphor at its center did so well in the US.

[Bjorn]

I haven't read the others yet, and when I cracked open volume II two days ago, I noticed I forgot much of Vol I, so I reread it.

The Hunger Games, Suzanne Collins


It's better than I remembered. I wonder how a book with so obvious an anti-imperialist/communist metaphor at its center did so well in the US.

I just breezed right through Volume II, and you're not kidding*. OK, the reality-show fascism she describes would never actually work, but it's still interesting to see a hit YA novel get so obviously political. And it feels very spot-on that they've cast Jennifer Lawrence from Winter's Bone to play the lead in the Hunger Games movie - it's basically the same story writ large. With post-nuclear mutants.

* Though it would be interesting to compare the political/cultural differences between the Hunger Games and the very similar Battle Royale.

[Mirabell]

I just breezed right through Volume II, and you're not kidding*. OK, the reality-show fascism she describes would never actually work, but it's still interesting to see a hit YA novel get so obviously political. And it feels very spot-on that they've cast Jennifer Lawrence from Winter's Bone to play the lead in the Hunger Games movie - it's basically the same story writ large. With post-nuclear mutants.

* Though it would be interesting to compare the political/cultural differences between the Hunger Games and the very similar Battle Royale.

I'm 150 pages into the second volume now, and it's mindboggling. The first district to rebel are the weavers? Really? Maybe it's my Germanic bias, but I immediately had to think of Heine (http://www.literaturwelt.com/werke/heine/weber.html).

It's not that it wouldn't work. I think it's not about the future, it's about how our world works right now. Right fucking now. This is the politically most radical novel I've read in a while. Maybe I'm overreaching. ;)

[Bjorn]

Just wait until you get to the point where Katniss realises that the reason her district is so consistently fucked in the games is that they're the only ones who don't have child labour... :)

[e joseph]

Way to time this discussion out with a borrowed copy of The Hunger Games sitting on the table. Well played.

[mesnalty]

I spent much of the last month reading Anthony Powell's A Dance to the Music of Time. Worth every minute.

[Liam]

...cyborgification of humanity, though definitely not... for the pop market...How about this for the pop market, :):

http://www.worldliteratureforum.com/forum/showthread.php/21804-The-youtube-music-video-thread?p=85376#post85376

L.

[Flower]

I curse the River of Time - Per Petterson : Dark , Gloomy book, detached writing. My first book of Per Petterson and I liked it.
You have some good books in tall for you then! :)

[Clarissa]

Deutscher's Through the Language Glass- easy to read, difficult subject (for me). A few fascinating insights and well worth the effort.Think I learned a lot...

[Bjorn]

One of the good things about being confined to the couch with a nasty cold is you can breeze through a book in a day. Suzanne Collins, Mockingjay, ****0. And damn, Collins doesn't chicken out. If anything, it's the opposite. And this is supposed to be for 14-year-olds?!? (Says the guy who grew up on Stephen King, but damnit, we were tougher back then.)

[Mirabell]

One of the good things about being confined to the couch with a nasty cold is you can breeze through a book in a day. Suzanne Collins, Mockingjay, ****0. And damn, Collins doesn't chicken out. If anything, it's the opposite. And this is supposed to be for 14-year-olds?!? (Says the guy who grew up on Stephen King, but damnit, we were tougher back then.)


Almost done with vol2, and I can't see why it would be anything less than 5 stars (but then this system is generally puzzling to me).

[Bjorn]

Truth be told I have no idea what the stars mean either. I mean, on the one hand, they're riveting books, with great characters and a pretty tough political undertone. On the other hand, let's not pretend they're literary masterpieces; Collins is a good writer, better than she needs to be, but there are points where she gets a little too fond of clichés (especially with the overdone love triangle, even if it's handled far, far better than some other current YA series I could mention). That said, I thought volume II was the (comparatively) weakest, and if you loved that, you'll either adore volume III or love hating it. I'm betting on the former. It gets... harsh.

[Mirabell]

let's not pretend they're literary masterpieces

well you just wait for my review. I have, so far, like five pages of notes.

[Mirabell]

Catching Fire. Suzanne Collins. Well. Last third not as good as first third. First third is brillinat because it settles and contextualizes all the tropes. Last third is necessary, I guess, but largely weaksauce. now onto volume 3.

[JTolle]

The Loser -- Thomas Bernhard (trans. Jack Dawson) ****0
Cat's Cradle -- Kurt Vonnegut Jr. ***00-

I love absurdity when it's funny, Waiting for Godot and Catch-22 make me roar, I'm embarrassed to read either in public, Cat's Cradle however, was a boring and underwhelming experience. Luckily it didn't labor me. Still in awe of Slaughterhouse-Five, though.

[Rumpelstilzchen]

Cat's Cradle -- Kurt Vonnegut Jr. ***00-

I love absurdity when it's funny, Waiting for Godot and Catch-22 make me roar, I'm embarrassed to read either in public, Cat's Cradle however, was a boring and underwhelming experience. Luckily it didn't labor me. Still in awe of Slaughterhouse-Five, though.

Funny, for me it is exactly the opposite: I found Catch-22 sooo boring and repetitive, there are some fun scenes and the general idea is great, but in my opinion you could cut away like 40% of the novel without loosing anything. Cat's Cradle in contrast is among my favorite books, Slaughterhouse-Five and Breakfast of Champions are also great books by the way.

Some recent reads:
****0 Onitsha, Le Clezio
****0+ Le Grand Voyage, Semprun
***00- Quel Beau Dimanche, Semprun (some parts are so boring because of all the digressions, in general it is very interesting read nevertheless)

[Mirabell]

****0+ Le Grand Voyage, Semprun


Oh I love that book so much!

[Clarissa]

So do I... Semprun gives an extraordinary account, as did Primo Levi - without hatred, without bitterness...

[Mirabell]

So do I... Semprun gives an extraordinary account, as did Primo Levi - without hatred, without bitterness...

Can't find it now, but I even wrote something on my blog. Really good. Haven't read the other one yet...

[Rumpelstilzchen]

Can't find it now, but I even wrote something on my blog. Really good. Haven't read the other one yet...

I also like it very much. I enjoyed his technique of jumping around in time to past and future and the reminiscences of Proust. I am not sure, but for me it did not work out nearly as well for the second book, where he also comes to terms with communism and the GULAG.

[Rumpelstilzchen]

Can't find it now, but I even wrote something on my blog. Really good. Haven't read the other one yet...

here (in German unfortunately):
http://shigekuni.wordpress.com/2007/10/16/wovon-man-nicht-sprechen-kann-uberarbeitet/

[Mirabell]

Mockingjay, Suzanne Collins

[johnw1]

Amin Maalouf, Leo the African ****0

He had an astonishing life and the extent of Leo's travels mean this book gets to cover the fall of Granada to the Spanish, Fez, Timbuktu, the fall of Cairo to the Ottomans, Renaissance Rome - which is an historical novelists dream I guess. All very well written.

Orhun Pamuk, My Name is Red ****0

Somewhat baffling at times but thoroughly absorbing and refreshingly different and successful narrative technique (each chapter with a different narrator - sometimes a person, sometimes a dead person, sometimes a picture, object etc).

[Eric]

A book I've just finished reading is Lotta Lotass' "Sparta". This is a mixture of an extended prose poem and a kind of meditation on war. It is quite hard to describe, being a book in an undecided genre, but there is movement, there are spaces and a lot of stones and sand. That may sound an odd description, but you can judge for yourselves if you can find the book on the internet (I have not yet done so) as the author is said to have posted it on a website.

There is a seminar on it literally right now at Gothenburg University, the results of which will be published soon. I've also written my short review for the Swedish Book Review.

[Daniel del Real]

http://www.worldliteratureforum.com/forum/images/flags/pt.gif José Saramago, El Año de la Muerte de Ricardo Reis (re-read) *****
http://www.worldliteratureforum.com/forum/images/flags/es.gif Javier Marías, Mañana en la Batalla Piensa en Mí ***00
http://www.worldliteratureforum.com/forum/images/flags/at.gif Joseph Roth, Tarabas ****0+

[e joseph]

A Visit from the Goon Squad, Jennifer Egan

Really enjoyable read. Heartfelt characters, effortless prose.

[Hemmo]

Just finished The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym of Nantucket by Edgar Allen Poe. It starts off as one of those sea narratives you've read a hundred times before but slowly descends into something more horrific that feels way ahead of its time. The horror is genuine and dark (think cannibalism and murder...) before it ends of an almost euphoric note - a lot to pack into less than 200 pages - but still the longest thing Poe wrote. Fascinating - though it hasn't prompted me to go back to read more Poe - not for a while anyway... ****0

[Liam]

Glad you liked it, but when will people get it into their heads that his name is spelled with an A? :mad::rolleyes::p

[kpjayan]

The Woman who waited - Andrei Makine : ****0 Very good.

[Rumpelstilzchen]

***00+ Heimsuchung, Jenny Erpenbeck

Mostly well done and sometimes even impressive novel by another emerging German author (available in English translation as Visitation, nonimated for the Best Translated Book award). Even though several people have criticized the author here and elsewhere at least this book is definitely worthwile reading. A piece of land in East Germany is the setting for brief glimpses of one century of German history. More information at the Complete Review:
http://www.complete-review.com/reviews/ddr/erpenbj.htm

[Flower]

Just finished "Nada" by Carmen Laforet.

Must admit I was a bit dissapointed. Didn't like the prose very much, it was clumsy at times and then other times it worked fine.
- Guess its hard for any author to compeed with Mercé Rodoreda's "The Time of the Doves" which I loved. Now moving onto "The Doll's Room" by Llorenc Villalonga in my Catalonian adventure and "Waiting for Godot" is still on my desk, but I do not seem to be in the mood to pick it up.

***00

[Elie]

Primo Levi - If Not Now, When?
Primo Levi - The Periodic Table

Next up - If This Is A Man. Really enjoying his writing so far.

[Caodang]

"Concrete" by Thomas Bernhard *****

A highly humane piece of writing, full of emotional charge and readiness for compassion with other beings, however deeply these are buried under heaps after heaps of apparently unending rage towards the whole mankind.

[JTolle]

"Concrete" by Thomas Bernhard *****

A highly humane piece of writing, full of emotional charge and readiness for compassion with other beings, however deeply these are buried under heaps after heaps of apparently unending rage towards the whole mankind.

Glad to hear this is humane, some of his work definitely doesn't let you know how much he actually enjoys other human beings, and I like him best when he shows affection for something other than Schopenhauer and Bach. (Speaking of which...)

Wittgenstein's Nephew -- Thomas Bernhard (trans. David McLintock) *****-

The first of Bernhard's novels I've found totally sympathetic, and its subtitle ("A Friendship") is an immediate indication of the importance of the human drama which is portrayed in the friendship between a lightly fictionalized Thomas Bernhard and a wholly fictional Paul Wittgenstein, the nephew of the very real Ludwig Wittgenstein. My one gripe is that Wittgenstein's Nephew seems downright sentimental at times, though in the context of almost any other author's oeuvre, the level of sentimentality would be negligible.

The Jew of Malta -- Christopher Marlowe ****0+

On to The Merchant of Venice!

[Caodang]

Glad to hear this is humane, some of his work definitely doesn't let you know how much he actually enjoys other human beings, and I like him best when he shows affection for something other than Schopenhauer and Bach. (Speaking of which...)



An extraordinary person like Thomas Bernhard surely is a complicated being, a heap of contradictions, containing a drastic tension between different aspects or parts of himself. I believe he frankly hated other human beings and at the same time truly loved them, or at least honestly wanted to love them, wanted to and was acutely painful to find it hard to.

[Loki]

Next up - If This Is A Man. Really enjoying his writing so far.

You'll like it. A bit sad, of course.

[kpjayan]

Just finished "Nada" by Carmen Laforet.

Must admit I was a bit dissapointed. Didn't like the prose very much, it was clumsy at times and then other times it worked fine.***00

Did you read it in English ? I was impressed with the book (Edith Grossman's translation).

[Flower]

Did you read it in English ? I was impressed with the book (Edith Grossman's translation).

Yes as I do not read or speak Spanish. Have you read any other Catalan authors?

[kpjayan]

Yes as I do not read or speak Spanish. Have you read any other Catalan authors?

No. I'm hugely under read. Need to catch up on some more Spanish writers.

[sirena]

http://www.worldliteratureforum.com/forum/images/flags/gb.gif Going Postal - Terry Pratchett ****0
http://www.worldliteratureforum.com/forum/images/flags/gb.gif The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring - J.R.R. Tolkien ***00

[miercuri]

Mao II - Don DeLillo ***00+
Liked the concept and the insight, but found the writing very repetitive and disconnecting. I think I need to try something esle by DeLillo.

[Rumpelstilzchen]

http://www.worldliteratureforum.com/forum/images/flags/gb.gif Going Postal - Terry Pratchett ****0
http://www.worldliteratureforum.com/forum/images/flags/gb.gif The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring - J.R.R. Tolkien ***00

Can you give me some insight on how your rating system works? I am a bit surprised that a Terry Pratchett book gets the same rating as 2666 for example. Is this a bit like Roger Ebert's film rating, where he gives 0-4 stars for entertaining films as well as for "serious" movies, meaning that a 4 star rated Batman (just guessing) should not even be compared to a 4 star rated 2001, but let's say to a 3 star rated Superman (again guessing) and 2 star rated Spawn (guess)?

[Eric]

Walter van den Broeck - De Beiaard en de dove man (The De Beiaard Tavern and the Deaf Man) novel, 2004.

As you may not have heard of the author, a word of introduction. Fleming WvdB has just celebrated his 70th birthday and has a large ouevre behind him. His books often deal with the tensions between sons and fathers, and this one is no exception. It is a tragicomedy where the son wants to give his father a decent present for Christmas and hires someone called Chico to arrange a carillion from the local church tower. The book consists of conversations and observations in what must be a very typical provincial Belgian pub. Chico is late, the son gets agitated, the deaf father continues to be irritatingly hard of hearing and perceptive by turns. It is an entertaining novel, and the climax at the end is well written.

WvdB has written plays and novels, often involving working class families and sometimes a member of one who finds himself in a strange limbo, either staying in some country mansion or even a royal palace, surrounded by a ragtag of other people. He has also written plays on similar themes.

[sirena]

I am a bit surprised that a Terry Pratchett book gets the same rating as 2666 for example.

Why not?! :confused:

[Rumpelstilzchen]

Why not?! :confused:

Well, I would say the answer to your question depends very much on the rating scheme, no?

[Liam]

My guess is that she rates books based on personal enjoyment, which is how one is supposed to rate them anyway. It's all about taste, ain't it?

I usually try to derive some kind of a golden middle between what I personally think of the book and what the centuries-old critical establishment thinks of it. Then I add up the two numbers and divide them by half, :).

[Rumpelstilzchen]

My guess is that she rates books based on personal enjoyment, which is how one is supposed to rate them anyway. It's all about taste, ain't it?

I usually try to derive some kind of a golden middle between what I personally think of the book and what the centuries-old critical establishment thinks of it. Then I add up the two numbers and divide them by half, :).

I do not know, should one? There are many other possibilities, right? At least one should know how someone is doing it to get an idea how the rating can decoded, right? Or alternatively one should have a general idea about how the other person thinks or what interests her.

But your approach also sounds interesting :)

[sirena]

[QUOTE=Liam;86306]My guess is that she rates books based on personal enjoyment, which is how one is supposed to rate them anyway. It's all about taste, ain't it? /QUOTE]

Bingo! :D

[Daniel del Real]

Just finished "Nada" by Carmen Laforet.

Must admit I was a bit dissapointed. Didn't like the prose very much, it was clumsy at times and then other times it worked fine.
- Guess its hard for any author to compeed with Mercé Rodoreda's "The Time of the Doves" which I loved. Now moving onto "The Doll's Room" by Llorenc Villalonga in my Catalonian adventure and "Waiting for Godot" is still on my desk, but I do not seem to be in the mood to pick it up.

***00

Ok, it seems that I'm been pushed to read this novel, cause lately is comingo to my ears very often. Last week I finished a novel called Primera Memoria (First Memory) writen by a Catalan author Ana María Matute, who writes in Spanish and is the most recent winner of the Cervantes Prize. The novel deals with how the childhood in the late 30's perceived the Civil War, and even though there are no direct narrations of the war in the novel it is present everywhere as an entity that impregnates everything, specially the life of the teenagers going from 11 to 17 years that lead the novel.
I'm also a bit disappointed, but for very different reasons than you Flower. Contrary to what you didn't like about Nada, I found the prose of this woman beautifully written, full of methapohrs and a perfect imagery of the island in which the story is developing. The plot of the story is what appears weak to me. There are a lof of disconnections between the characters and the dialogues are just very plain. I expected more.


"Concrete" by Thomas Bernhard *****

A highly humane piece of writing, full of emotional charge and readiness for compassion with other beings, however deeply these are buried under heaps after heaps of apparently unending rage towards the whole mankind.

And that makes us three Bernhard fans. This is an author that you need to take a breath from one book to another (can't think myself reading 4 or 5 books of him in a row) and after reading and absoloutely enjoying Frost in January I might read another one of his books in May.

[Daniel del Real]

http://www.worldliteratureforum.com/forum/images/flags/es.gif Ana María Matute, Primera Memoria (First Memory)***00
http://www.worldliteratureforum.com/forum/images/flags/fr.gif Georges Perec, El Secuestro (A Void) ****0
Probably much better in French, however a very interesting exercise not only by the author but from the translators.

[Flower]

Ok, it seems that I'm been pushed to read this novel, cause lately is comingo to my ears very often. Last week I finished a novel called Primera Memoria (First Memory) writen by a Catalan author Ana María Matute, who writes in Spanish and is the most recent winner of the Cervantes Prize. The novel deals with how the childhood in the late 30's perceived the Civil War, and even though there are no direct narrations of the war in the novel it is present everywhere as an entity that impregnates everything, specially the life of the teenagers going from 11 to 17 years that lead the novel.
I'm also a bit disappointed, but for very different reasons than you Flower. Contrary to what you didn't like about Nada, I found the prose of this woman beautifully written, full of methapohrs and a perfect imagery of the island in which the story is developing. The plot of the story is what appears weak to me. There are a lof of disconnections between the characters and the dialogues are just very plain. I expected more.



The island? The story takes place in Barcelona! And what do you consider to be the plot of the story?

[Eric]

I like the expression "like a red-and-yellow striped rag to a Castilian bull". Can't remember where I read it, but you can't deny it's amusing. http://www.worldliteratureforum.com/forum/images/flags/catalonia.gif - instead of a Smiley.

[Stevie B]

I like the expression "like a red-and-yellow striped rag to a Castilian bull". Can't remember where I read it, but you can't deny it's amusing. http://www.worldliteratureforum.com/forum/images/flags/catalonia.gif - instead of a Smiley.

I prefer the mooning gnome.
http://t1.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcREtRh2WH0b0wOoD1mR4j0Y2tpbZrrwb-avV5s1tDxVqwgk1JPF

[Stiffelio]

co Juan Gabriel Vásquez: La Historia Secreta de Costaguana (The Secret History of Costaguana) ****0

[sirena]

http://www.worldliteratureforum.com/forum/images/flags/fr.gif The Elementary Particles - Michel Houellebecq ***00+

[Mirabell]

Beware The Cat, William Baldwin (eds. William A. Ringler, Jr, and Michael Flachmann)

The Lives of Animals, J.M. Coetzee (ed. Amy Gutmann)

[pesahson]

Deutscher's Through the Language Glass- easy to read, difficult subject (for me). A few fascinating insights and well worth the effort.Think I learned a lot...

Finished it this afternoon. I was hoping for a broader approach, analysing more languages and from many different point of view, but still, I enjoyed it a lot. I'll definately buy his next book.

[Loki]

I completely missed Clarissa's post. From both comments, Clarissa's and pesahson's, it seems an interesting read. Also, it seems a book addressed to non-specialists. I would read it if I had enough time.

[sirena]

http://www.worldliteratureforum.com/forum/images/flags/gb.gif Pyramids - Terry Pratchett ***00+

[sirena]

http://www.worldliteratureforum.com/forum/images/flags/pt.gif The Notebook - José Saramago ***00

[Bjorn]

Read a bunch of books over the last few weeks - travelling to book fairs and whatnot does that to you.

Gryning i Kalahari and Skymningssång över Kalahari by Lasse Berg (Sweden) - *****
Journalist and anthropologist Lasse Berg traces humanity from six million years ago until today, trying to figure out how we became what we are, how we became who we are, and just who that is. It's a refreshing perspective, as his theory is that the one thing that sets us apart from all other species, our big evolutionary advantage, is that we are inherently friendly and cooperative, and that the violence of the last few thousand years is an aberration caused by the species-wide cultural shock of shifting from (six million years of) hunting-collecting to highly structured agrarian societies. While I think he overemphasizes some aspects, he makes a very interesting and convincing case and offers some interesting ideas on how to move forward. The first book has been translated as Dawn Over The Kalahari (http://www.realafricabooks.com/Show/object.asp?oid=24).

Salome by Mara Lee (Sweden) ****0
Debut, recasting the biblical myth of Salome among teenagers in a small Swedish town. Playful, dark, creepily similar to Black Swan in some aspects.

Tjärven by John Ajvide Lindqvist (Sweden) ***00
The author of Let The Right One In blows off some steam from the psychological horror of his last novel with a quick, dirty gorefest of a zombie novel borrowing its setting from Tove Jansson's Moominpappa At Sea. Lightweight, but lots of fun.

Mort by Terry Pratchett (UK) ****0
I keep reading the Discworld novels out of order... this one comes years before the most obvious sequels Soul Music and Reaper Man, and isn't quite as good as those two, but very entertaining nonetheless.

[Stiffelio]

jp Haruki Murakami: After Dark ***00+
An experimental novel about chance, alternative realities, alienation and the passage of time. Not his most appealing book but still worth reading.

ar César Aira: Varamo (2000) ****0
What could possibly be the link between a counterfeit bank note given as paycheck to an obscure civil servant in 1920s Panama and his writing, within the next twelve hours, of a poetic masterpiece of Latin American literature? Read this funny little gem of a novel to find out (too bad it's not yet in English!). Once again, Aira has written one of the most 'deliriously rational' pieces of Argentine literature. As usual, Aira 'carefully' improvises, creating stories after stories, a permanent fugue if one would describe his style in musical terms.

ar César Aira: El Mármol (2011) ****0
The narrator of this outlandish short novel is checking out of a Chinese cash-only supermarket in a Buenos Aires neighbourhood, only to find out that the cashier is out of small change. A common practice in these convenience stores, the cashier offers him to choose from an ample variety of plastic, Chinese made trinkets, apparently of no much use. Upon exiting the store, the narrator is accosted by a derelict looking, young Chinese man, who speaks no word of Spanish but who seems to be in desperate need of his help. A bizarre adventure of kafkian proportions ensues, involving, among other things, all the useless trinkets the protagonist had received plus a mysterious marble toad and an invasion of extraterrestrial Chinese. Told in the typical "escape forward" improvised fashion, this is a very good example of Aira's trademark style.

[Clarissa]

The Procrastination Equation - Dr. Piers Steel. The title explains my interest in this 'self help', 'how to' book. Surprising insights but not really much help!

[Stiffelio]

be Amélie Nothomb

Les Catilinaires (1995) ****0+

Cosmétique de l'Ennemi (2011) ****0

I read these two novels in tandem on purpose, as I believe they complement each other. In each of them Nothomb treats similar subjects such as the invasion of privacy, psychological abuse and induced paranoia. But she approaches them from opposite directions, each with its own plot twist. These are very entertaining psychological thrillers, written in her usual, apparently simple style but creating tension to the point of exasperation.

[Daniel del Real]

co Juan Gabriel Vásquez: La Historia Secreta de Costaguana (The Secret History of Costaguana) ****0

This man has been in the news for quite a while, first for his novel Los Informantes and recently because he won the Premio de Novela Alfaguara 2011 with his new novel I don't remember the title. He's in the list for the next reading of contemporary Latin American authors I haven't read with Abilio Estévez, Rodrigo Rey Rosa, Alan Pauls, Edmundo Paz Soldán etc.

Have you read him?

[Daniel del Real]

http://www.worldliteratureforum.com/forum/images/flags/pt.gif José Saramago, El Último Cuaderno (The Last Notebook) ****0
http://www.worldliteratureforum.com/forum/images/flags/cl.gif Roberto Bolaño, Los Sinsabores del Verdadero Policía ****0
http://www.worldliteratureforum.com/forum/images/flags/mx.gif Juan José Arreola, Lectura en Voz Alta **000+

[Eric]

Of the books mentioned in the past few postings, the most interesting authors for me (apart from Nothomb, who is always in my good books) are Mara Lee and César Aira. I'd love to read Aira, but the only book I can find is in Spanish, which is still to hard for me. Mara Lee's been much reviewed in the Swedish press.

[Stiffelio]

This man has been in the news for quite a while, first for his novel Los Informantes and recently because he won the Premio de Novela Alfaguara 2011 with his new novel I don't remember the title. He's in the list for the next reading of contemporary Latin American authors I haven't read with Abilio Estévez, Rodrigo Rey Rosa, Alan Pauls, Edmundo Paz Soldán etc.

Have you read him?

Who do you mean? Of course I've read Vásquez!! Of the others, I've read something or other from all but Estévez.

[Stiffelio]

I'd love to read Aira, but the only book I can find is in Spanish, which is still to hard for me.

True, there are only a few English translations of Aira's novels, but I got word that New Directions has a few more translations in the pipeline. I'd love to pitch in and translate him myself, if only somebody would hire me :-)
Aira has been luckier in French, however, so if you are more comfortable with that language you'll have a wider choice.

[Daniel del Real]

True, there are only a few English translations of Aira's novels, but got word the New Directions has a few more translations in the pipeline. I'd love to pitch in and translate him myself, if only somebody would hire me :-)
Aira has been luckier in French, however, so if you are more comfortable with that language you'll have a wider choice.

The problem I see with Aira is that he doesn't have a definite work, a novel that you can tell this is his masterpiece, the one you should be reading. It's very interesting to manage all of his ouvre by novellas and keep a cumulative work, but still misses that important part in a writers career. The same thing happens with Mario Bellatín, an avant garde writer I truly admire but lacking one raelly impressive work.
I don't know what do you think about that. Can a writer truly consolidate without it?

[Manuel76]

El señor presidente-Miguel Ángel Asturias. ****0
Important dictator novel. Writen about the same time as Valle-Inclán’s wonderful Tirano Banderas. Both are very sophisticate works, technically and verbally, more personal and sustained in tone Tirano Banderas, more varied and experimental El Señor Presidente. My clear preferences go for Tirano Banderas, a perfectly crafted jewel with astounding prose writing, while El Señor Presidente is more uneven and lacks plot interest. Page after page the book is almost always fascinating and Asturias seems to control all styles and techniques, but as a whole the book drags because of its lack of really interesting content. Asturias indulges in his love for exaggerations, for the grotesque and cruelty. Even if it could be proved that some disgusting episodes really took place, the book makes them implausible. Above all the situation is so extreme that you can’t connect with the facts or characters at all. It could work in a shorter, tighter book (as it does with Tirano Banderas) but El Señor Presidente is definitely too long. Anyway every page have a sentence or a paragraph of amazing beauty and originality.


The end of the affair.- Graham Greene. *****
First novel by Green I’ve read. A very good novel about a believer man who desperately needs not to believe in God, and his love story with a kind of saint woman. Last part of the book is a bit exaggerated. I was expecting a crime novel and found a very deep love story.


Steepenwolf- Hermann Hesse. ***00+
Never had read any work by Hesse before. Even if I had read about this book as a dated and adolescent minded novel I was very interested and really thought I’d like it. Not up to my expectations. Sometimes weird, more often simply childish and stereotyped story about a lonesome and supposedly very intelligent character.


L’Homme qui regardait passer les trains.- Simenon *****
Wonderful novel about a man who cuts all his connections with society and becomes the most looked after criminal in Paris. A very entertaining book and a very interesting analysis of liberty and isolation. I will definitely look for other Simenon novels. Wonderfully written in a very simple and effective style, Simenon proves to be a very direct and natural writer who always has something important to say.


The member of the wedding- Carson McCullers *****++

One of McCullers best works. Three unforgettable and lonesome characters spending the summer the best they can and talking in the kitchen about their past and future, they needs and angst . McCullers is by far my favourite American novelist after Faulkner, this novel proves me once more she was at the same time the most enjoyable one too. Perfect and touching.

[Remora]

Infinite Jest -- David Foster Wallace ****0
The chief complaint aimed at Wallace is that his stories have no closure, but I find that to be a non-issue. To be kept in thrall is what matters and Wallace knows how to do exactly that. I give it only four stars, however, because Hal Incandenza's story isn't nearly as compelling as Don Gately's, making the novel somewhat lopsided.

The Recognitions -- William Gaddis ???
I don't know what to say about this one. I loved the first 100 pages or so, and along the way there were some funny jokes, interesting predicaments, fun dialogue, and a number of indelible characters but none of it seemed to cohere.

[Flower]

The member of the wedding- Carson McCullers *****++

One of McCullers best works. Three unforgettable and lonesome characters spending the summer the best they can and talking in the kitchen about their past and future, they needs and angst . McCullers is by far my favourite American novelist after Faulkner, this novel proves me once more she was at the same time the most enjoyable one too. Perfect and touching.

Thanks for reminder of Carson McCullers! I have read "Heart is the lonely hunter" and would like to read more of her work. I loved her style and quirkey characters! :cool:

[Stiffelio]

The problem I see with Aira is that he doesn't have a definite work, a novel that you can tell this is his masterpiece, the one you should be reading. It's very interesting to manage all of his ouvre by novellas and keep a cumulative work, but still misses that important part in a writers career. The same thing happens with Mario Bellatín, an avant garde writer I truly admire but lacking one raelly impressive work.
I don't know what do you think about that. Can a writer truly consolidate without it?

Well, that's my point with Aira. He's best appreciated by reading him cumulatively. When you look back at his over 70 nouvelles, you realize he's kind of a (minor, grant it!) genius. Eric just opened a thread where we are discussing this type of writer/reading experience.

[Stiffelio]

Infinite Jest -- David Foster Wallace ****0
The chief complaint aimed at Wallace is that his stories have no closure, but I find that to be a non-issue. To be kept in thrall is what matters and Wallace knows how to do exactly that. I give it only four stars, however, because Hal Incandenza's story isn't nearly as compelling as Don Gately's, making the novel somewhat lopsided.


I found both strands of the novel equally compelling. Gately is, of course, the more "likeable" character because he represents a success story, quite the opposite to what happens to Hal. I think the novel is pretty well balanced, not at all lopsided.

[Remora]

I found both strands of the novel equally compelling. Gately is, of course, the more "likeable" character because he represents a success story, quite the opposite to what happens to Hal. I think the novel is pretty well balanced, not at all lopsided.

I didn't mean to give the impression that the writing was subpar with regards Hal if that's what I actually did. It's just that Gately's strand was so extraordinary that it overwhelmed Hal's. Even more remarkable is knowing the biographical similarities shared by the author with Hal that Wallace could have possibly have given Gately equal time (pages) and make it as equally plausible and real, and yet to me he not only did that but he made Gately's strand even more so.

[Eric]

Stiffelio (#3412) have you tried American publiishers such as Open Letter? They like Latin American literature. I shall try and read Aira cumulatively, once I know enough Spanish.

Daniel, I understand what you mean about "one really impressive work", but can't writers be read and translated without that single book having to exist?

Manuel76, thanks for the books read comments. You have catholic reading tastes (English idiom, not Ratzinger-reading). I'd like to read McCullers. Simenon wrote quite a few social novels without Maigret, so I've heard.

[JTolle]

The end of the affair.- Graham Greene. *****
First novel by Green I’ve read. A very good novel about a believer man who desperately needs not to believe in God, and his love story with a kind of saint woman. Last part of the book is a bit exaggerated. I was expecting a crime novel and found a very deep love story.


The member of the wedding- Carson McCullers *****++

One of McCullers best works. Three unforgettable and lonesome characters spending the summer the best they can and talking in the kitchen about their past and future, they needs and angst . McCullers is by far my favourite American novelist after Faulkner, this novel proves me once more she was at the same time the most enjoyable one too. Perfect and touching.

I also recently finished The End of the Affair, my feelings are almost exactly in line with yours. In retrospect, perhaps the end was over the top, but Greene made me want it so badly that I unconditionally forgave the, perhaps sentimental, excess. Though I've yet to read The Heart of the Matter, the other two "Catholic" novels are masterpieces, as well.

I guess it's been so long since I read The Heart is a Lonely Hunter that I had begun wondering whether McCullers was as exceptional as I remembered, I was on the verge of attributing my regard for that book to youthful enthusiasm. Thanks for rectifying that opinion. I'll probably pick up Ballad of the Sad Cafe sometimes soon.

[Peeping Tom]

The Feast of the Goat by Mario Vargas Llosa. I generally don’t like historical novels, but Vargas Llosa has a way of transforming historical events into a singular vision all his own. Excellent. *****

[sirena]

http://www.worldliteratureforum.com/forum/images/flags/de.gif Every Man Dies Alone - Hans Fallada *****

[JTolle]

Huckleberry Finn -- Mark Twain *****

I may have read this before, but either it's been far too long, or it made zero impression, because I had no recollection of how complex or crafted this novel is. A thoroughly engaged moral debate, as well as hilariously and smoothly delivered. Twain's imitation of dialects and Huck's language help to make this novel a pinnacle in American literature. Arguably, the Great American Novel.

David Schubert: Works and Days *****

A tremendous amalgam, composed of a book of poetry, letters, anecdotes, historical background, juvenilia, reviews, articles, and appraisals of, surrounding, by, about the "inadvertently neglected" poet David Schubert (1913-1946). The book of poetry, Initial A, is Schubert's only completed work and a meager 76 pages, including some translations of Baudelaire. But it's a stunning book nonetheless, even more so considering Schubert's youth, and one that is only truly visible and appreciable after prolonged attention and repeated rereadings. Despite such limited output, Schubert's light, musical, nervous poetry has had its influence on poets from Frank O'Hara to John Ashbery. I'll be starting a thread on this wonderful poet, soon.

[Mirabell]

Hell's Angels, Hunter Thompson. reread, still great.

[accidie]

War and War, Laszlo Krasznahorkai. Was so bowled over by it that I turned to non-fiction after finishing it because other fiction would have annoyed me. 4 1/2 stars.

Eric, don't know that I'd call Simenon's romans dur social novels; they're bleak, very spare, and more psychological than social. I love 'em.

[sirena]

http://www.worldliteratureforum.com/forum/images/flags/gb.gif The Colour of Magic - Terry Pratchett ****0

[Clarissa]

Wolf Hall - Hilary Mantel ****0
The Thosand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet - David Mitchel l****0

[Bubba]

La Storia (History), Elsa Morante. Morante apparently had an interesting life: an occasional prostitute, I read somewhere or other, mistress to (or wife of, I can't remember) Alberto Moravia, generally considered the most important Italian woman novelist of the twentieth century, etc.

All the same, it took me forever to get through La Storia; I got three overdue notices from the public library, which must have eventually figured I'd never return the book--I found the third notice in my mailbox some time ago. When I do return the book I'll have to pay an overdue fine big enough for me to have bought two new copies of the thing.

It took me so long to read because I didn't really find it very compelling. In some ways, it's a Madonna and Child made into a novel. But it also has a nearly epic backdrop more usually associated with novels by men. The problem is that it's too long and it's humorless--I laughed at a bitter joke in the very good opening pages and not once in the 600 pages that followed. It's not, to my mind, the best or most important Italian novel of the twentieth century, as some critics have said. It's not even close. It's not a bad novel, either (it has bad parts), but I think I regret spending so much time with it. I didn't like it nearly as much as Natalia Ginzburg's thematically similar All Our Yesterdays.

I read it because I'd happened to see, in the very last pages of the book, Morante's acknowledgments of the books she drew on for characters and episodes in her novel: two of these few books, L'ultimo fronte and La strada del davai, were by Nuto Revelli (http://www.worldliteratureforum.com/forum/showthread.php/26752-Nuto-Revelli), and I wanted to see what use Morante made of these two books. And as it happens, one of Morante's minor characters, Clemente, aka "Manonera," a survivor of the Russian campaign, is straight from La strada del davai. The black glove on his hand hides the two fingers that, frost-bitten and gangrenous, were lopped off with a pair of pruning shears in a shed on the Russian steppe. Clemente's account of the "surgery" coincides, down to the pruning shears, with that in the testimony, taken by Revelli, of one Giovanni Marro, born in San Gregorio, Argentina, in 1912 and survivor, like "Manonera," of Mussolini's Russian misadventure. I prefer the Revelli/Marro account.

[waxwing]

From the last couple of months.....

Surfacing by Margaret Atwood ***00
The Plague of Doves by Louise Erdrich **000
A Dance to the Music of Time by Anthony Powell *****
The Year of the Death of Ricardo Reis by Jose Saramago ***00
The Summer Without Men by Siri Hustvedt **000

[Mirabell]

From the last couple of months.....

Surfacing by Margaret Atwood ***00
The Plague of Doves by Louise Erdrich **000
A Dance to the Music of Time by Anthony Powell *****
The Year of the Death of Ricardo Reis by Jose Saramago ***00
The Summer Without Men by Siri Hustvedt **000

I see lol I would also disagree about the Erdrich, the Atwood and the Saramago.

[Clarissa]

The Double - José Saramango (translated by Mararet Jull Costa) *****

[Bjorn]

Haruki Murakami - 1Q84, Vol 1

No stars as of yet. Have to see where this is going first. It's a chinese box of a novel, several narratives nested in each other. I think.

[kpjayan]

Red April - Santiago Roncagliolo : Good beginning and till midway through. But ended like any other Crime thriller. A bit disappointed.

[Daniel del Real]

http://www.worldliteratureforum.com/forum/images/flags/es.gif Enrique Vila-Matas, Doctor Pasavento ****0
http://www.worldliteratureforum.com/forum/images/flags/in.gif Aravind Adiga, White Tiger ****0
http://www.worldliteratureforum.com/forum/images/flags/ni.gif Sergio Ramírez, Margarita está Linda la Mar *0000

[JTolle]

The Tunnel -- Ernesto Sábato (trans. Margaret Sayers Peden) ****0+
Beloved -- Toni Morrison ****0

Ornate language, some gorgeous metaphors, an unrelentingly uncomfortable story. Anyone who reads Morrison has to acknowledge that the woman is one of America's most poignant transgressive authors. But, not as good as Song of Solomon. Perhaps her desire to evoke sympathy snaked dangerously toward preaching and archetypal characterization.

In Praise of Prejudice -- Theodore Dalrymple ****0-

Solid book, but Dalrymple needs to support some of his claims a little more. And other than the aspect of this book which is just Dalrymple intellectually fencing with John Stuart Mill, it's a relevant criticism of certain aspects of liberal philosophy as illustrated in the British underclass.

[DB Cooper]

Whores for Gloria-William Vollmann

Slim volume, pretty much a novella at around 150 pgs. Had some nice bits of writing, but not too much substance. Easily my least favorite Vollmann to date.

[Stiffelio]

[Beloved -- Toni Morrison ****0

Ornate language, some gorgeous metaphors, an unrelentingly uncomfortable story. Anyone who reads Morrison has to acknowledge that the woman is one of America's most poignant transgressive authors. But, not as good as Song of Solomon. Perhaps her desire to evoke sympathy snaked dangerously toward preaching and archetypal characterization.



I agree. To me Song of Solomon is her best book. But I still loved Beloved; puns and some punches under the waist aside, it's nevertheless a great novel

[miercuri]

I'm reading Beloved at the moment, only 50 pages in but I am definitely loving it. My first Morrison, I'll make sure to pick Song of Solomon next. Those of you who've read more from her, how would you rank her books?

[Bjorn]

Haruki Murakami, 1Q84 vol 2.

Still not sure what to make of this. The ending works as an ending, but it's an ending to a novel that's a pretty distinct ***00. But of course there's a third volume on its way, and there are lots of little things in the novel that seem like hooks you could hang more layers and ideas on. I'm going to sleep on it. Well, not literally as it's about 850 pages.

[e joseph]

The Tunnel -- Ernesto Sábato (trans. Margaret Sayers Peden) ****0+
Beloved -- Toni Morrison ****0

Ornate language, some gorgeous metaphors, an unrelentingly uncomfortable story. Anyone who reads Morrison has to acknowledge that the woman is one of America's most poignant transgressive authors. But, not as good as Song of Solomon. Perhaps her desire to evoke sympathy snaked dangerously toward preaching and archetypal characterization.

Read Beloved earlier this year. It was sort of in one ear out the other. Ditto The Tunnel a year or two ago. Or maybe it's just that Infinite Jest (200 pages in) is sort of taking over all book related brainspace? You're quite right though, regarding Beloved's ornate language.

[Daniel del Real]

I spent a great week with this two magnificent books; a writer I've always liked and admire and another one that finally pays off after reading his 4th book

http://www.worldliteratureforum.com/forum/images/flags/ar.gif Ernesto Sábato, El Túnel (re-read) ****0
http://www.worldliteratureforum.com/forum/images/flags/gf.gif J.M.G. Le Clézio, Desert ****0+

[Mirabell]

Die Schattenboxerin, Inka Parei. Quite good. It's been translated into English by our very own Katy.

[errequatro]

file:///C:/DOCUME%7E1/Jody/LOCALS%7E1/Temp/moz-screenshot-5.pngfile:///C:/DOCUME%7E1/Jody/LOCALS%7E1/Temp/moz-screenshot-6.pnghttp://www.worldliteratureforum.com/forum/images/flags/es.gif Enrique Vila-Matas, Suicidios Ejemplares ****0
http://www.worldliteratureforum.com/forum/images/flags/es.gif Enrique Vila-Matas, Paris no se acaba nunca ****0
http://www.worldliteratureforum.com/forum/images/flags/es.gif Enrique Vila-Matas, El viaje vertical ****0

Mind my Vila-Matas phase, but I had to read the first two for a paper and I got hooked. I am thinking about stopping before I read Lejos de Veracruz.
The reason I gave them the same score is because they are very different from each other and cant be compared. Still, they are the best I read by Vila-Matas. My favorite, i have to admitm was Suicidios Ejemplares.

[errequatro]

http://www.worldliteratureforum.com/forum/images/flags/es.gif Enrique Vila-Matas, Suicidios Ejemplares ****0
http://www.worldliteratureforum.com/forum/images/flags/es.gif Enrique Vila-Matas, Paris no se acaba nunca ****0
http://www.worldliteratureforum.com/forum/images/flags/es.gif Enrique Vila-Matas, El viaje vertical ****0

Mind my Vila-Matas phase, but I had to read the first two for a paper and I got hooked. I am thinking about stopping before I read Lejos de Veracruz.
The reason I gave them the same score is because they are very different from each other and cant be compared. Still, they are the best I read by Vila-Matas. My favorite, i have to admit was Suicidios Ejemplares.

[JTolle]

Life at the Bottom -- Theodore Dalrymple ****0-

By all accounts this should have been his definitive collection, but as sharp and clean and well-aimed as all the essays were, they were simply too repetitive to be great. At times, Dalrymple literally lifts whole phrases from one essay to another. Still a harrowing look at poverty in England and recommended.

As I Lay Dying -- William Faulkner *****

One of the most perfectly crafted novels I've ever read. Didn't hit me like Light in August though.

The Writer in the Catastrophe of Our Time -- Ernesto Sábato (trans. Asa Zatz) *****

Beautiful, beautiful, beautiful. Sábato's got me hooked, I was just nodding along to almost everything he had to say. The final portion is a series of short essays in which he mulls over Leonardo Da Vinci's life; simply melancholy and so profound.

[waxwing]

Troubles JG Farrell *****

The post WW1 "troubles" in Ireland seen from the Protestant point of view. It's as much a comedy of manners wih tragic undertones as it is an historical re-creation. And an ending so aesthetically satisfying, deepening the metaphors and themes Farrell so artfully employed. Highly recommended.


In This House of Brede Rumer Godden ****0

15 years of nuns in a Benedictine monastery. I still don't understand why someone would choose a celibate lifestyle, turn one's back to real life, immerse oneself in endless hours of liturgical prayer, but then I don't have a mystical bone in my body. Godden eshews psychological reasoning, it's simply a direct calling from God. To me, more a reflection of the infinite human capacity for self-delusion. Even so, delusions can make for interesting entertainment, and Godden is quite adept at evoking the poignancy in her characters abiding devotion to their vocation.

[sirena]

http://www.worldliteratureforum.com/forum/images/flags/gb.gif The Light Fantastic - Terry Pratchett ***00+

[Rumpelstilzchen]

http://www.worldliteratureforum.com/forum/images/flags/gb.gif The Light Fantastic - Terry Pratchett ***00+

Hey Sirena, are you planning to read all of the Pratchett books? Could you do me a favour and give a summary of your Terry Pratchett reading in the end? Which books you found particularly interesting and for what reason? I would be very interested because I never really could get the hang of his books, maybe I just read the wrong ones...

[Mirabell]

http://www.worldliteratureforum.com/forum/images/flags/gb.gif The Light Fantastic - Terry Pratchett ***00+

so yeah Light fantastic is not his best work, but it boggles my mind that you would rate Going Postal (and Thief of Time) higher than that?!

[sirena]

Hey Sirena, are you planning to read all of the Pratchett books? Could you do me a favour and give a summary of your Terry Pratchett reading in the end? Which books you found particularly interesting and for what reason? I would be very interested because I never really could get the hang of his books, maybe I just read the wrong ones...

Yes, that's my intention, I mean to read all his novels (there're 39, I think). When I reach the end (God knows when that will be), I'll be glad to make a summary of his books for you, and others who're interested in the subject as well. So far, I recommend Going Postal.

[sirena]

http://www.worldliteratureforum.com/forum/images/flags/gb.gif The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby - Charles Dickens *****

[Loki]

It's great you can read so many books, sirena: I wish I could read as many books as you. I've read something like 3 books starting from October. :(


P.S. how would you pronounce "there're"?

[Liam]

...how would you pronounce "there're"?I imagine it would be something like THER-ur for us Yanks; no idea how the Brits would say it, :rolleyes:.

[accidie]

Don't intend to sound snide, but I'm not sure that anyone except Yanks would use 'there're'. In Britain & Ireland, the 'are' might be said quickly, but I've not come upon that contraction over here.

Sadly, I've not come upon my favourite American pronunciation here either: 'She' pronounced in 3 syllables, as I once heard it said in a small town in Ohio.

[Liam]

'She' pronounced in 3 syllablesHow is that even possible, :eek::eek::eek:?

[Loki]

Liam, I guess it would be pronounced like that, but it does sound strange. I would like to hear it to see if I would get it.

As for the rest, I'm waiting for this mysterious pronounciation of "she" in three syllables...

[Stiffelio]

us Raymond Carver: Cathedral *****
This is an extraordinary collection of short stories. It's been a long time since I had last read Carver so the pleasure was even greater. This is his second from last book, published in 1983, and there is a noticeable change from his earlier collections. Stories tend to be longer and the prose style is more polished. Two of the stories, namely A Small, Good Thing and Fever are so powerful and moving that they are now among my all time best. A really beautiful book that I strongly recommend.

[kpjayan]

us Raymond Carver: Cathedral *****
This is an extraordinary collection of short stories... A really beautiful book that I strongly recommend.

Absolutely. This is the only book I've read of him. Is there any other works others can recommend?

[Loki]

Umberto Eco, Il nome della rosa. ****0+

[learna]

Sandro of Chegem by Fazil Iskander.

*****+

[Peeping Tom]

us Raymond Carver: Cathedral *****
This is an extraordinary collection of short stories.

I agree with you, especially abut A Small, Good Thing. Amazing short story.

As for me, I just finished Hard-boiled Wonderland and the End of the World by Haruki Murakami. This is a re-read for me. I read it when it first came out in 1991. The second time around is much better. *****

[Daniel del Real]

http://www.worldliteratureforum.com/forum/images/flags/es.gif Enrique Vila-Matas, Suicidios Ejemplares ****0
http://www.worldliteratureforum.com/forum/images/flags/es.gif Enrique Vila-Matas, Paris no se acaba nunca ****0
http://www.worldliteratureforum.com/forum/images/flags/es.gif Enrique Vila-Matas, El viaje vertical ****0

Mind my Vila-Matas phase, but I had to read the first two for a paper and I got hooked. I am thinking about stopping before I read Lejos de Veracruz.
The reason I gave them the same score is because they are very different from each other and cant be compared. Still, they are the best I read by Vila-Matas. My favorite, i have to admit was Suicidios Ejemplares.

Really glad someone else in the forum is reading Vila-Matas who I consider a fascinating writer with works that are a perfect blend between prose and essay. He's also the kind of writer that cannot stop talking about literature, even in his fiction, and thus he is always encouraging the reader to look up for some names that he spreads all over his books.

Have you read more of his books or these are your first 3 errequatro? I have to agree with you that all his books have a similar quality and probably I wouldn't dare to tell which one is my favorite. So far I've read Una Casa para Siempre, La Asesina Ilustrada, Doctor Pasavento & Bartleby y Compañía, probably being my favorite the last one by a slight margin.
I'll try Suicidos Ejemplares next.




The Writer in the Catastrophe of Our Time -- Ernesto Sábato (trans. Asa Zatz) *****

Beautiful, beautiful, beautiful. Sábato's got me hooked, I was just nodding along to almost everything he had to say. The final portion is a series of short essays in which he mulls over Leonardo Da Vinci's life; simply melancholy and so profound.

I'm glad that people all over the world is reading Sábato. It must be an honor to him, a man that in his most depressing days he turned to his friends and readers to escape from death.
Yesterday I started reading his last book España en los Diarios de mi Vejez (Spain in the Diaries of my Old Age) and it's wonderful to see the tales of a 90 years man going back to Spain, to meet his friends again, to feel alive and full of energy after being recognized by his colleagues as an amazing writer and human being. Really touching and at the same time full of wisdom of the way Sabato contemplated life in the early XXI century. I really recommend you to get it.

[Daniel del Real]

Reading José Emilio's potry again. Ah how splendid he is! personally the best Spanish language living poet. He definitely should be more read worldwide:

http://www.worldliteratureforum.com/forum/images/flags/mx.gif José Emilio Pacheco, Los Elementos de la Noche (The Elements of the Night)
http://www.worldliteratureforum.com/forum/images/flags/mx.gif José Emilio Pacheco, El Reposo del Fuego (The Rest of Fire)

[JTolle]

Sandro of Chegem by Fazil Iskander.

*****+

That's a pretty rave review; I'm intrigued. Could you elaborate?


Yesterday I started reading his last book España en los Diarios de mi Vejez (Spain in the Diaries of my Old Age) and it's wonderful to see the tales of a 90 years man going back to Spain, to meet his friends again, to feel alive and full of energy after being recognized by his colleagues as an amazing writer and human being. Really touching and at the same time full of wisdom of the way Sabato contemplated life in the early XXI century. I really recommend you to get it.

I've heard he grew increasingly disillusioned and bitter as he aged, the deaths of his son and his wife surely contributed to that bleakness. Alas, I'm convinced I need to get back on the language train and learn something. Otherwise, I'll have to wait a while before I can get a hand on this book. Do update us when you finish it. BTW I picked up some volumes of José Emilio Pacheco (in translation) on your recommendation. :D

[Daniel del Real]

I've heard he grew increasingly disillusioned and bitter as he aged, the deaths of his son and his wife surely contributed to that bleakness. Alas, I'm convinced I need to get back on the language train and learn something. Otherwise, I'll have to wait a while before I can get a hand on this book. Do update us when you finish it. BTW I picked up some volumes of José Emilio Pacheco (in translation) on your recommendation. :D

Hey, it's great news my international campaign promoting José Emilio Pacheco's poetry is finally getting its first recruit. Which volumes did you get? Please let mek now.

Regarding Sábato, it is very interesting how he described those internal fights he always had against melancholy, specially when he got old. He described himself as rejuvenated with his trip to Spain. He was really touched when he watched all the recognition and how everyone pay so much attention to what he had to say; the tributes, the honors, the reunion with old friends (There's a really emotional moment with Saramago who traveled to Spain to give a speech for Sabato's honoris causa event) made him feel even better than being at home. At some moments, as normal to everyone specially for something at 90 years old, he got tired of all the traveling and the tiresome journeys made him to be bad tempered. I think at that moment he was still fighting against depression, a battle he finally lost when he got blind years later.

[JTolle]

Laboratories of the Spirit -- R.S. Thomas *****
Between Here and Now -- R.S. Thomas ***00+

Laboratories of the Spirit really snuck up on me, I mean I had no idea who R.S. Thomas was and I honestly expected something flabbily poetic. Turns out I ran into a minor masterpiece. It's a difficult job writing the kind of plain poetry Thomas does, it's perhaps a little underappreciated, as well, but he knows how to cleave and hew until there's nothing left save angst, spirit, and poignancy. Between Here and Now was obviously a somewhat disappointing turn, but an interesting idea nonetheless. The first section is made up of poems inspired by paintings (e.g. Van Gogh's "Portrait of Dr. Gachet" or Manet's "The Balcony") but it's more interesting than inspired.

The Man of Feelings -- Henry Mackenzie

A strange, strange sentimental novel. At times it's unintentionally hilarious, and at other times it's accidentally poignant. I'll be following this up with Sterne's A Sentimental Journey, I think.


Hey, it's great news my international campaign promoting José Emilio Pacheco's poetry is finally getting its first recruit. Which volumes did you get? Please let mek now.

I got No me preguntes cómo pasa el tiempo (trans. Alastair Reid) and Battles in the Desert and Other Stories (trans. Katherine Silver) which consists of material collected from three of Pacheco's books, but is annoyingly only 117 pages. Based on what I've read of his poetry, I'm convinced he's a great writer, now I just have to figure out exactly what it is that he's doing to make me think so. I'm also looking forward to seeing how other translators work with his poetry; Reid seems to be doing a satisfactory job from what I can tell, but I think he's missing something.

[learna]

That's a pretty rave review; I'm intrigued. Could you elaborate?


JTolle, Sandro of Chegem is a roman devided into short stories which are linked by a protagonist - an old man - Sandro from Chegem, a small Abkhaz village. From the first view, it seems nothing special, the novel was written in a simple style. But this is a case when we - I think -can say about the simplicity of genius. It is interesting that you can feel even an Abkhazian accent, I do not mention wonderful - I would say - poetical humour. There is any tragedy or a sad story.
As I wrote on another thread, I do not know how, but I felf homesickness for the land where I had never been to :).
Sandro of Chegem belongs to rare genuine novels that explaining your love for this book has something common with explaining your love for your family or love for your native land :).

[Daniel del Real]

I got No me preguntes cómo pasa el tiempo (trans. Alastair Reid) and Battles in the Desert and Other Stories (trans. Katherine Silver) which consists of material collected from three of Pacheco's books, but is annoyingly only 117 pages. Based on what I've read of his poetry, I'm convinced he's a great writer, now I just have to figure out exactly what it is that he's doing to make me think so. I'm also looking forward to seeing how other translators work with his poetry; Reid seems to be doing a satisfactory job from what I can tell, but I think he's missing something.

No me preguntes cómo pasa el tiempo is a very solid choice to start with his poetry. It was his third poems book and it shows a young but also very gifted poet already. I read it about a year and a half ago and although I think there are better set of poems (El Silencio de la Luna/The Silence of the Moon is my favorite so far) this one is very good. The choice of words in Pacheco's poetry is not complicated, he uses a very simple set of words, and that's why he is so admired by young people too. Translation shouldn't be a problem in that instance, no rhyme either, but I don't remember how much content of Mexican myths or pop culture are used in that book that could make the translation more difficult.
Battles in the Desert is a very short novel that shows the truth beauty of 1950's Mexico City, a city that sure was beautiful and that none of us will ever see again. It is full of magic, a simple story that you can't avoid failling in love with. Very popular also, a common read for high schoolers in here.

[bookbug]

Piano Angel Esther Woolfson
Dreamland Kevin Baker
A Month in the Country J. L. Carr

[learna]

That's a pretty rave review; I'm intrigued. Could you elaborate?


J Tolle, Sandro of Chegem is a novel divided into short stories which are linked by a protagonist - an old man - Sandro from Chegem, a small Abkhaz village. From the first view, it seems nothing special, the novel was written in a simple style and there is any tragedy or a sad story. But this is a case - I think - when we can say about the simplicity of genius. It is interesting that you can feel even an Abkhaz accent, I do not mention wonderful - I would say - poetical humour.
As I wrote in another thread, I did not know how, but this book made me feel homesickness for the land where I had never been to.
Sandro of Chegem belongs to those rare genuine books when explaining your love for this novel has something common with explaining your love for your native land :).

I hope this time my post will be accepted. I tried to answer yesterday, but something was wrong.

[accidie]

How is that even possible, :eek::eek::eek:?


As I remember, it was 'shah-aye-eee' , like a distorted & drawled version of 'shy'.

Have just read Siamese by Stig Saeterbakken. Nothing earth-shattering about it, but it becomes more intense, even impressive, toward the end and is well worth reading.

[JTolle]

J Tolle, Sandro of Chegem is a novel divided into short stories which are linked by a protagonist - an old man - Sandro from Chegem, a small Abkhaz village. From the first view, it seems nothing special, the novel was written in a simple style and there is any tragedy or a sad story. But this is a case - I think - when we can say about the simplicity of genius. It is interesting that you can feel even an Abkhaz accent, I do not mention wonderful - I would say - poetical humour.
As I wrote in another thread, I did not know how, but this book made me feel homesickness for the land where I had never been to.
Sandro of Chegem belongs to those rare genuine books when explaining your love for this novel has something common with explaining your love for your native land :).

Sounds like a book that'll make me nostalgic, I look forward to taking a look at it. And thanks for alerting me to this author.

On the Mountain -- Thomas Bernhard (trans. Russell Stockman)

I'd probably say it's essential reading for any big Bernhard fans because of it's autobiographical content and because it's a revealing product of an author trying to come to grips with his style, but it's also a great, garbled, one-of-a-kind beast in its own right.

Don't Ask Me How the Time Goes By -- José Emilio Pacheco (trans. Alastair Reid) ****0
Battles in the Desert and Other Stories -- José Emilio Pacheco (trans. Katherine Silver) *****-

I was impressed by the poetry, but absolutely taken with the stories. Pacheco mixes the inevitable nostalgia age evokes with enough critical realism to banish the notion that the past was any better, in most ways, than the present. The story "August Afternoon" also employed some very effective experimentation, though "Battles in the Desert" was of course the best in the book.

[errequatro]

Have you read more of his books or these are your first 3 errequatro? I have to agree with you that all his books have a similar quality and probably I wouldn't dare to tell which one is my favorite. So far I've read Una Casa para Siempre, La Asesina Ilustrada, Doctor Pasavento & Bartleby y Compañía, probably being my favorite the last one by a slight margin.
I'll try Suicidos Ejemplares next.


No Daniel:) I've also read Bartelby Y C. (wonderful book), Hijos sin Hijos, Estranha Forma de Vida, Breve Historia de la Literature Portatil (Great, great book).
In fact, I like Vila-Matas so much that I've decided to include him in my PhD project, along with Antonio Lobo Antunes and Janet Frame.

He makes me laugh so much... His books are funny, witty and haunting.

Good to know we are in tune.

By the way, I wish I was the one with Saramago's picture as my avatar!

[Bjorn]

Varlam Shalamov, Kolyma Tales (Russia, or maybe I should say Soviet Union) ****0+

Wow. Tempting to draw comparisons to Solzhenitsyn, but probably unfair to both of them.

Michel Onfray, Nietzsche (France) ***00

Nietzsche's life, retold as graphic novel. Tells you more about the person than the ideas, and revels a bit too much in hero worship, but interesting.

[Daniel del Real]

Don't Ask Me How the Time Goes By -- José Emilio Pacheco (trans. Alastair Reid) ****0
Battles in the Desert and Other Stories -- José Emilio Pacheco (trans. Katherine Silver) *****-

I was impressed by the poetry, but absolutely taken with the stories. Pacheco mixes the inevitable nostalgia age evokes with enough critical realism to banish the notion that the past was any better, in most ways, than the present. The story "August Afternoon" also employed some very effective experimentation, though "Battles in the Desert" was of course the best in the book.

I'm really happy you liked Pacheco, and it's surprising you liked more his short stories than his poetry. I like to call Pacheco the poet of Memory (I'm sure I'm not the first one to tag him like that) and Time is always present in his works, wether it's poetry or prose. He cannot avoid being a poet and the description he uses in his short stories are a proof of that. Battles in the Dessert is exquisit and I'll have to look for August Afternoon because I don't remember it. Probably I haven't read it or maybe it was translated with a different name, I don't know.


No Daniel:) I've also read Bartelby Y C. (wonderful book), Hijos sin Hijos, Estranha Forma de Vida, Breve Historia de la Literature Portatil (Great, great book).
In fact, I like Vila-Matas so much that I've decided to include him in my PhD project, along with Antonio Lobo Antunes and Janet Frame.

He makes me laugh so much... His books are funny, witty and haunting.

Good to know we are in tune.

By the way, I wish I was the one with Saramago's picture as my avatar!

It's great we share admiration for Vila-Mata's works. I will continue reading him and enjoying his peculiar writing style.
About Lobo Antunes I truly admire the poetry laying in his prose sentences, it's absolutely beautiful as it is demanding for the reader. My first approach to him was Fado Alejandrino, a very bad choice to start reading him because it's a very long book, and if you don't know what you're dealing with it, it can become an overwhelming experience as it happened to me. After that I read a shorter novel called Conocimiento del Infierno, which is about a mental institute. If you have any recommendations where to re-take Lobo Antunes please let me know.

[Daniel del Real]

http://www.worldliteratureforum.com/forum/images/flags/ar.gif Ernesto Sábato, España en los Diarios de mi Vejez (Spain in the Diaries of my Old Age) *****
Amazing. At 90 years old, traveling through Spain, fightin with all his inner demons, his corporal pain and his always present tendency to depression; still spreading his wisdom and his fate to life. A lot of similarities with the thoughts of Saramago regarding modern life and it's consequences.

[sirena]

http://www.worldliteratureforum.com/forum/images/flags/us.gif East of Eden - John Steinbeck *****

[Mirabell]

Final Crisis, Grant Morrison, JG Jones et al.

in fucking credible.

[Heratix]

A friend gave me a fantasy book called Drylor The First Artifact. He didn't really care for it and knowing I was such a giant fantasy nerd (I play WoW and everything) he figured I'd like the book and... well... he was right! I loved it!

[Bjorn]

Zakes Mda, The Whale Caller (South Africa) ****0

It's a love triangle between a man, a woman, and a right whale. And it's often kind of beautiful even when it's messed up as hell.

[sirena]

http://www.worldliteratureforum.com/forum/images/flags/gb.gif Mrs Dalloway - Virginia Woolf *****

[Eric]

I've just finished reading a small poetic suite called "CV" about how the unemployed are treated. This little book examines, humorously but with underlying seriousness, the way that the unemployed are treated by what are termed "job coaches", often themselves unemployed people who have found no other work. It was written by the Swede Peo Rask, who runs the Black Island Books publishing house in Luleå, which, despite its name publishes Swedish-language literature, mostly written by people from the north of Sweden.

[Clarissa]

Ill Fares the Land - Tony Judt ***00

Höchste Zeit - Harry Mulisch (translated into German by Maria Csollány) ****0

[Eric]

I've just finished translating a small poetic suite called "CV" about how the unemployed are treated. This little book examines, humorously but with underlying seriousness, the way that the unemployed are treated by what are termed "job coaches", often themselves unemployed people who have found no other work. It was written by the Swede Peo Rask, who runs the Black Island Books publishing house in Luleå, which, despite its name publishes Swedish-language literature, mostly written by people from the north of Sweden.

[Mirabell]

I've just finished reading a small poetic suite called "CV" about how the unemployed are treated. This little book examines, humorously but with underlying seriousness, the way that the unemployed are treated by what are termed "job coaches", often themselves unemployed people who have found no other work. It was written by the Swede Peo Rask, who runs the Black Island Books publishing house in Luleå, which, despite its name publishes Swedish-language literature, mostly written by people from the north of Sweden.




I've just finished translating a small poetic suite called "CV" about how the unemployed are treated. This little book examines, humorously but with underlying seriousness, the way that the unemployed are treated by what are termed "job coaches", often themselves unemployed people who have found no other work. It was written by the Swede Peo Rask, who runs the Black Island Books publishing house in Luleå, which, despite its name publishes Swedish-language literature, mostly written by people from the north of Sweden.

have you translated it twice, then?

[Stiffelio]

nl Gerbrand Bakker: The Twin ****0+
This is a powerful, disturbing novel about Helmer, a 55 y.o. Dutch farmer, who takes stock of his life and tries to come to terms with the trauma caused by the tragic death of his twin brother more than 35 years ago, and who has since developed a restrained bitterness towards his now dying father. The novel is about Helmer's search for identity and self worth, about concealed emotions and, above all, about coping with loneliness. Bakker writes in a beautiful, dry language, with vivid depictions of the Dutch rural environment and with a deft ear for dialogue. Added to that is the subtle use of symbolism and metaphor. This is Bakker's first adult novel, so I was amazed at how dexterously paced it is: mixing up descriptions of Helmer's obsessive farming rituals, his interaction with his father, his nosy neighbour and her two kids, his dead brother's former fiancée's wayward son whom he takes up as a farmhand and, on the other hand, giving rein to contemplative meditation and longing. As sad and bleak as the story may be, it is not devoid of sporadic, wry humor. The only, minor drawback I found in the novel were some contrived twitches to the plot toward the end, but Bakker crowns this cathartic tour-de-force with an ambiguous open-ending, which I took to meaning that it is never too late to change a life or to assume a new destiny. The excellent, free flowing English translation is by David Colmer.

[pesahson]

Watermark by Joseph Brodsky. ****0 +

I was always more of a fan of his essays than poetry and this particular work did not dissapoint me. I still prefer some pieces from Less Than One, though.

[Bjorn]

Georges Perec, Cantatrix Sopranica L. ***00 Hilarious, but minor.

[tomas]

The last book that i read was "Poltic" by Michael Ikevos. I did not get it at the end, maybe because i am not so into that kind of business and politics stories. It is interesting enough to fill your lunch break.

[Jayaprakash]

Hostage: London by Geoffrey Household. Didn't quite have the singular intensity and focus of Rogue Male, but still a gripping and thought-provoking thriller.

[sirena]

http://www.worldliteratureforum.com/forum/images/flags/ru.gif Resurrection - Leo Tolstoy ****0

[JTolle]

She Stoops to Conquer - Oliver Goldsmith
Our Man in Havana - Graham Greene
Housekeeping - Marilynne Robinson

I'm intrigued enough to read at least Gilead, or Home, whichever makes itself available when I'm ready, but Robinson takes herself way too seriously. She writes admittedly gorgeous and very subtle prose, but there's something almost battering and certainly draining about the insistent seriousness of Housekeeping.

[Eric]

#3485: This is called wit. Wit in this case involves changing one word and repeating the rest of the message. It does not mean, repeat, does not mean, translating the book twice. This is also an example of wit, or British humour, if you like. Humour is spoilt by explanation. Humour is even funny when spelt like this.

But I haven't finished another book lately, so I've nothing to add.

[Daniel del Real]

http://www.worldliteratureforum.com/forum/images/flags/pt.gif José Saramago, La Caverna (re-read) *****

[Bjorn]

Lars Husum, Mit venskap med Jesus Kristus (Denmark) ***00+

The theme is atonement, forgiveness and personal responsibility. I'm not sure exactly where he winds up, which is refreshing in a way. Ho-hum prose-wise, but intriguing.

[Clarissa]

Paris Revealed - The Secret Life of a City- Stephen Clarke ***00

An amusing insider's view of Paris written by an Englishman who has lived there for many years.

[waxwing]

Season of Migration to the North (1966) by Tayeb Salih
Mating (1991) by Norman Rush
The City & The City (2009) by China Mieville

These were all interesting novels but I was disappointed with each for various reasons. I probably liked Mating the most, Rush ably pulls off a tricky first-person female narration, and the Kalahari Desert local-color satisfied my armchair travel urges.

[Remora]

A House for Mr. Biswas by V. S. Naipaul

There's a scene in the book when the main character consults a carpenter about building a house and a hen starts to squawk, signifying a laid egg, and the carpenter says how the hen will live to see another day for it had been slated to be cooked and eaten what with its fallowness.

In addition to having me laugh aloud, the scene exemplifies a world that I think most, if not all, of us here are far removed from: a Third-World humdrum existence. And it's the world Naipaul devotes 500 and plus pages to in A House for Mr. Biswas, the dreariness of which, coupled with an onslaught, in the first chapter, of hard to pronounce and, initially, contextless foreign names, had me nearly give up on the book.

Needless to say, I soldiered on. My conclusion? It's a beautiful albeit unspectacular story told in a textbook and workmanlike prose. ****0

[Eric]

Naipaul is an author I have not yet tackled. But I came across description of him in Anthony Powell's memoirs. I must read one of his novels one day. I shouldn't worry about the foreign names, by the way. As we are all foreigners to people in other countries, and world literature is therefore full of foreign names.

[Caodang]

Thomas Bernhard, Correction *****
Thomas Bernhard, The Loser ****

[Remora]

Blood Meridian by Cormac McCarthy -- ***00

I never could get into Faulkner, so that may have biased me against McCarthy. At any rate, my main objection to McCarthy and Blood Meridian is the seeming lack of modulation from scenes as disparate as the drinking of coffee by a campfire and the beheading of a man with a bowie knife. Both carry the same emotional tenor, apocalyptic, and though that works well when describing the landscape, which is bleak, vast, and beautifully forbidding, when it pervades every plot twist, every turn of phrase the story is deprived of any sense of buildup, suspense, and momentum.

[Liam]

Wislawa Szymborska: Here (2010), ****0-. Liked it much less than her previous collection, Monologue of a Dog (2006), but can see how she's trying to make sense of her life at this late stage. Many reflections on the nature/experience (but not the ultimate purpose) of existence, and not just human existence: one of the poems addresses a microbe; another one talks about geologic formations deep within the earth. The short, succinct little poem about Vermeer is currently my favorite of the bunch.

[Daniel del Real]

A House for Mr. Biswas by V. S. Naipaul

There's a scene in the book when the main character consults a carpenter about building a house and a hen starts to squawk, signifying a laid egg, and the carpenter says how the hen will live to see another day for it had been slated to be cooked and eaten what with its fallowness.

In addition to having me laugh aloud, the scene exemplifies a world that I think most, if not all, of us here are far removed from: a Third-World humdrum existence. And it's the world Naipaul devotes 500 and plus pages to in A House for Mr. Biswas, the dreariness of which, coupled with an onslaught, in the first chapter, of hard to pronounce and, initially, contextless foreign names, had me nearly give up on the book.

Needless to say, I soldiered on. My conclusion? It's a beautiful albeit unspectacular story told in a textbook and workmanlike prose. ****0

The other day I saw in a newspaper that Naipaul was present at the Hay Festival on Wales the last weekend. The curious part wast that he arrived to a sort of place where all writer meet and there was writer Paul Theroux. The article explains that Theroux and Naipaul were great friends until the mid 90's when Naipaul accepted he sold a book that Theroux had dedicated to Naipaul many years ago. From that incident both exchanged bad critics and some trash talking and hadn't seen each other for years.
When Naipaul came in, all the writers and reporters were expectant of the reaction, but apparently everything went ok as they huged each, and Naipaul said Theroux he had miss him. It's a funny anecdote of a writer I've onle read once with his book Miguel Street. I really liked it and I don't know why I haven't come back to an author I found that good. Most people say A House for Mr. Biswas is his main work, however I'm intimidated by its length and probably will read something shorter before.

[Daniel del Real]

http://www.worldliteratureforum.com/forum/images/flags/es.gif Gonzalo Torrente Ballester, La Isla de los Jacintos Cortados **000+

[Remora]

The other day I saw in a newspaper that Naipaul was present at the Hay Festival on Wales the last weekend. The curious part wast that he arrived to a sort of place where all writer meet and there was writer Paul Theroux. The article explains that Theroux and Naipaul were great friends until the mid 90's when Naipaul accepted he sold a book that Theroux had dedicated to Naipaul many years ago. From that incident both exchanged bad critics and some trash talking and hadn't seen each other for years.
When Naipaul came in, all the writers and reporters were expectant of the reaction, but apparently everything went ok as they huged each, and Naipaul said Theroux he had miss him. It's a funny anecdote of a writer I've onle read once with his book Miguel Street. I really liked it and I don't know why I haven't come back to an author I found that good. Most people say A House for Mr. Biswas is his main work, however I'm intimidated by its length and probably will read something shorter before.

I'd like to see Naipaul give Rushdie a bear hug. From what I hear they have a very contentious relationship.

The only other book that I've read by Sir Vidius is A Bend in The River. It's alright (and is a lot shorter than Mr. Biswas) but it's nowhere near the compelling story that A House for Mr. Biswas is. If I remember correctly, Mr. Biswas is based on his father, the one person who means more to him than any other.

[Daniel del Real]

I'd like to see Naipaul give Rushdie a bear hug. From what I hear they have a very contentious relationship.

The only other book that I've read by Sir Vidius is A Bend in The River. It's alright (and is a lot shorter than Mr. Biswas) but it's nowhere near the compelling story that A House for Mr. Biswas is. If I remember correctly, Mr. Biswas is based on his father, the one person who means more to him than any other.

From what I've heard Naipaul has several feuds with a lot of different characters in the cultural elite. I'm sure someone can even edit a book talking about it (There is already one book at least about the feud between Mario Vargas Llosa and Gabriel García Márquez). Naiupal has the fame of being one of the less palatable writers and very annoying person, same situation with J.M. Coetzee.

[Stiffelio]

us Pete Dexter: Paris Trout ***00

[adaorardor]

A House for Mr. Biswas by V. S. Naipaul

There's a scene in the book when the main character consults a carpenter about building a house and a hen starts to squawk, signifying a laid egg, and the carpenter says how the hen will live to see another day for it had been slated to be cooked and eaten what with its fallowness.

In addition to having me laugh aloud, the scene exemplifies a world that I think most, if not all, of us here are far removed from: a Third-World humdrum existence. And it's the world Naipaul devotes 500 and plus pages to in A House for Mr. Biswas, the dreariness of which, coupled with an onslaught, in the first chapter, of hard to pronounce and, initially, contextless foreign names, had me nearly give up on the book.

Needless to say, I soldiered on. My conclusion? It's a beautiful albeit unspectacular story told in a textbook and workmanlike prose. ****0

"Workmanlike" prose?? My God, what a tin ear...

Anyone who hasn't read Biswas, I recommend it like very few other books written by a living author in the English language.

[Remora]

"Workmanlike" prose?? My God, what a tin ear...

Anyone who hasn't read Biswas, I recommend it like very few other books written by a living author in the English language.

For the first two days he pretended not to notice.
On the third day he asked, 'What happen to you?'
She didn't reply, sitting next to him at the table, sighing, watching him while he ate.
He asked again.
She said, 'Talk about ungrateful!' and was up and out of the room.
He ate with diminished appetite.
That night Shama blew her nose repeatedly, and turned over in bed.
Mr. Biswas prepared to stick it out.
Then Shama was silent.
Mr. Biswas thought he had won.
Then Shama snuffled, very low, as though ashamed that the sound had escaped her.


How would you characterize this passage? I call it workmanlike because it's spare and because it takes the textbook subject-verb-object construction with very little variation. There's nothing wrong it, it's perfect, it gets the job done...it's workmanlike... or, since you find the association demeaning, it does yeoman's work. Are we happy now?

(The passage is quoted from pages 142-43 of V. S. Naipaul's A House for Mr. Biswas, First Vintage International Edition, March 2001.)

[lenz]

"Workmanlike" implies a lack of inspiration, intense consideration, or sense of dramatic necessity. This is much more than workmanlike -- I think it is a carefully constructed and deeply felt piece of narrative prose that is almost poetry.



(http://www.worldliteratureforum.com/forum/tags.php?tag=For%20the%20first%20two%20days%20he%2 0pretended%20not%20to%20notice.%3Cbr%20/%3E%20%20%20%20On%20the%20third%20day%20he%20asked ,%20%27What%20happen%20to%20you?%27%3Cbr%20/%3E%20%20%20%20She%20didn%27t%20reply,%20sitting%2 0%20next%20to%20him%20at%20the%20table,%20sighing, %20watching%20him%20while%20he%20ate.%3Cbr%20/%3E%20%20%20%20He%20asked%20again.%3Cbr%20/%3E%20%20%20%20She%20said,%20%27Talk%20about%20ung rateful%21%27%20and%20was%20up%20and%20out%20of%20 the%20room.%3Cbr%20/%3E%20%20%20%20He%20ate%20with%20diminished%20appe tite.%3Cbr%20/%3E%20%20%20%20That%20night%20Shama%20blew%20her%2 0nose%20repeatedly,%20and%20turned%20over%20in%20b ed.%3Cbr%20/%3E%20%20%20%20Mr.%20Biswas%20prepared%20to%20stic k%20it%20out.%3Cbr%20/%3E%20%20%20%20Then%20Shama%20was%20silent.%3Cbr%2 0/%3E%20%20%20%20Mr.%20Biswas%20thought%20he%20had%2 0won.%3Cbr%20/%3E%20%20%20%20Then%20Shama%20snuffled,%20very%20l ow,%20as%20though%20ashamed%20that%20the%20sound%2 0had%20escaped%20her.%3Cbr%20/%3E)For the first two days he pretended not to notice.
On the third day he asked, 'What happen to you?'
She didn't reply, sitting next to him at the table, sighing, watching him while he ate.
He asked again.
She said, 'Talk about ungrateful!' and was up and out of the room.
He ate with diminished appetite.
That night Shama blew her nose repeatedly, and turned over in bed.
Mr. Biswas prepared to stick it out.
Then Shama was silent.
Mr. Biswas thought he had won.
Then Shama snuffled, very low, as though ashamed that the sound had escaped her.
(http://www.worldliteratureforum.com/forum/tags.php?tag=For%20the%20first%20two%20days%20he%2 0pretended%20not%20to%20notice.%3Cbr%20/%3E%20%20%20%20On%20the%20third%20day%20he%20asked ,%20%27What%20happen%20to%20you?%27%3Cbr%20/%3E%20%20%20%20She%20didn%27t%20reply,%20sitting%2 0%20next%20to%20him%20at%20the%20table,%20sighing, %20watching%20him%20while%20he%20ate.%3Cbr%20/%3E%20%20%20%20He%20asked%20again.%3Cbr%20/%3E%20%20%20%20She%20said,%20%27Talk%20about%20ung rateful%21%27%20and%20was%20up%20and%20out%20of%20 the%20room.%3Cbr%20/%3E%20%20%20%20He%20ate%20with%20diminished%20appe tite.%3Cbr%20/%3E%20%20%20%20That%20night%20Shama%20blew%20her%2 0nose%20repeatedly,%20and%20turned%20over%20in%20b ed.%3Cbr%20/%3E%20%20%20%20Mr.%20Biswas%20prepared%20to%20stic k%20it%20out.%3Cbr%20/%3E%20%20%20%20Then%20Shama%20was%20silent.%3Cbr%2 0/%3E%20%20%20%20Mr.%20Biswas%20thought%20he%20had%2 0won.%3Cbr%20/%3E%20%20%20%20Then%20Shama%20snuffled,%20very%20l ow,%20as%20though%20ashamed%20that%20the%20sound%2 0had%20escaped%20her.%3Cbr%20/%3E)

How would you characterize this passage? I call it workmanlike because it's spare and because it takes the textbook subject-verb-object construction with very little variation. There's nothing wrong it, it's perfect, it gets the job done...it's workmanlike... or, since you find the association demeaning, it does yeoman's work. Are we happy now?

(The passage is quoted from pages 142-43 of V. S. Naipaul's A House for Mr. Biswas, First Vintage International Edition, March 2001.)

[Remora]

"Workmanlike" implies a lack of inspiration, intense consideration, or sense of dramatic necessity. This is much more than workmanlike -- I think it is a carefully constructed and deeply felt piece of narrative prose that is almost poetry.




I see. You may just have convinced me to re-read the book sooner than I would ever have thought of doing.

[lenz]

I see. You may just have convinced me to re-read the book sooner than I would ever have thought of doing.

Thanks. I'm not a big Naipaul fan, but he is certainly a master stylist.