Recently finished books?

[Daniel del Real]

http://www.worldliteratureforum.com/forum/images/flags/jp.gif Kenzaburo Oe, Hiromisha Notes ****0
http://www.worldliteratureforum.com/forum/images/flags/mx.gif Leonardo da Jandra, Distopía ***00+

[Caodang]

I feel eager to read Sethu's book in English translation! Is there any hope the book will be translated, kpjayan?

[Worldeater]

Joseph Roth-Hotel Savoy *****

[Worldeater]

Jaroslav Hašek-History of the Party of Moderate and Peaceful Progress Within the Limits of the Law *****

[kpjayan]

I feel eager to read Sethu's book in English translation! Is there any hope the book will be translated, kpjayan?

Hi, not this book. But one of his more acknowledged book is available in English. I'm sceptical about the quality of translation, though. Let me check next time I visit the book store. Will let you know.

Here is the link for your info..http://www.flipkart.com/pandavapuram-0333923081/p/itmczz2mqzgrzzsn?pid=9780333923085&_l=gWxQa0snNjHUHKJhnj_y0w--&_r=HuFjdp97SEk0jyRETX%20kVw--&ref=f99c0f50-669c-42e2-a028-49ad69062ae1

[kpjayan]

Umberto Eco - The Prague Cemetery : Not sure if anyone else has read this here. I am not very convinced with the end result to the level of hype it created . It is a good book, but definitely not in the same league as Foucault's Pendulam, Name of the Rose or even Islands of the Day before. I guess, it got into the mess of its on plot of creating one incident to the next within the scope of Jew/ Freemason conspiracy. Though Eco, claims that most of the characters here really existed, not necessarily in one person, and he has given them a fictional form through one individual protagonist, it gets into the uncertain terrain of fiction versus the historical document at times. Whole lot of big names thrown around and and few indirect references. On the whole, it is captive and engaging read. But not among the best of Eco ***00+

[sirena]

http://www.worldliteratureforum.com/forum/images/flags/fr.gif Le rêve - Emile Zola **000+

[Daniel del Real]

Umberto Eco - The Prague Cemetery : Not sure if anyone else has read this here. I am not very convinced with the end result to the level of hype it created . It is a good book, but definitely not in the same league as Foucault's Pendulam, Name of the Rose or even Islands of the Day before. I guess, it got into the mess of its on plot of creating one incident to the next within the scope of Jew/ Freemason conspiracy. Though Eco, claims that most of the characters here really existed, not necessarily in one person, and he has given them a fictional form through one individual protagonist, it gets into the uncertain terrain of fiction versus the historical document at times. Whole lot of big names thrown around and and few indirect references. On the whole, it is captive and engaging read. But not among the best of Eco ***00+

I've been meaning to read it for long time ago with no results. Probably once I finish with my "to be read pile" I'll go ahead and read it. I think my father has a copy. However I wouldn't be of great help because I haven't read any other novel by Ecco, thus can't be comparing it with his previous works. However as much as I've heard praise to The Name of the Rose and Focault's Pendulum I've also heard bad comments about Queen Loana for example. Would you consider his works as a novelist uneven?


http://www.worldliteratureforum.com/forum/images/flags/fr.gif Le rêve - Emile Zola **000+

How far are you in the Rougon-Maquart series?

[Daniel del Real]

After reading the three last poetry books by Borges in January, this month I decided to read his first three. Very interesting experiment with a lot of contrasts but also patterns to follow. Also interesting to check why after this three youth poem books the next one is 31 years distanced. Something I'd like to investigate.
Fervor de Buenos Aires (1923) ****0+
Luna de Enfrente (1925) ***00+
Cuaderno San Martín (1929) ****0

Don't know why I forgot to write it down but I also finished this book last week:

http://www.worldliteratureforum.com/forum/images/flags/pt.gif Antonio Lobo Antunes, The Return of the Caravels ****0

[kpjayan]

Would you consider his works as a novelist uneven?

Not really. His novels are the development of plots/theme into fiction. They are cerebral and fact rich. You hardly experience emotional/sentimental upheaval as you read them. They appeal to the brain and not to the mind. His ideas and schemes are profound though.

His fiction also had gone through the familiarity issue. I was stunned with Foucaults Pendulam and Name of the Rose. to a lesser extend by Islands of the Day Before. However both Bodolino and 'The Queen' did not really excite me. Prague Cemetery is probably above the last two in my ranking. However, this by far is the simplest of his book to read. I would suggest you start with Foucault's Pendulam or The Name of the Rose as a starting point.

[Daniel del Real]

Not really. His novels are the development of plots/theme into fiction. They are cerebral and fact rich. You hardly experience emotional/sentimental upheaval as you read them. They appeal to the brain and not to the mind. His ideas and schemes are profound though.


This sounds Borges-like. Do you find any similarities between them?

[Daniel del Real]

http://www.worldliteratureforum.com/forum/images/flags/se.gif Tomas Tranströmer, The Sad Gondola ****0+
http://www.worldliteratureforum.com/forum/images/flags/se.gif Tomas Tranströmer,The Great Enigma ***00+

Some random thoughts at the Tranströmer thread.

[Raphael Lambach]

Borges - Nove contos Dantescos & A memória de Shakespeare
Camius - The Fall

[Peeping Tom]

This sounds Borges-like. Do you find any similarities between them?

You should read The Name of the Rose. One of the central characters in that novel is modeled after Jorge Luis Borges. That particular character is a monk named Borges, who is a librarian in charge of a Babelesque library, etc., etc. In other words, Eco is very much influenced by Borges.

Also, I'm almost half-way through The Prague Cemetery and so far I feel the same way about it as kpjayan. I've read The Name of the Rose (and loved it very much) and Foucault's Pendulum (and loved it). But that was a long time ago. I remember The Name of the Rose, but for some reason I can't remember what Foucault's Pendulum was all about (is that a bad sign?).

[kpjayan]

Dan, I am not too familiar with Borges ( Its a shame, I know), having read only a couple of books. However, I was told Eco was greatly influenced by Borges.

Tom, Is that a Bad sign ? I dont think so. Me too read FP and Name of the Rose long ago. However, the movie visuals of Name of the Rose continue to linger.

[Daniel del Real]

Well, if the Name of the Rose is superior by all means to The Prague Cemetery, then it is a mayor reason to read the later first.That way I will like the Prague Cemetery and enjoy more The Name of the Rose.

[Daniel del Real]

http://www.worldliteratureforum.com/forum/images/flags/se.gif Tomas Tranströmer, Memories Look at Me ***00+

Don't know what it is, but there is something in the memoirs of poets than the ones of prose writers lack. This is an example of a very well achieved and sincere autobiography of the early days, mainly childhood. Reminded me to the semi fictionalized version of the early days of Patrick Modiano, Un Pedigree, that cuts off the book at the moment where the figure of the writer starts and the children fades away. It seems there is an intention with those two authors to let the inner child speak and reveal what are the bases on everything else that came later. I like this perspective, because as interest it is to describe the life of a writer with all their relationships (friendships or enemies) with intellectuals and some other people, these type of works are easily used as propaganda, creating a super hero out of the figure of the author. The only complaint about this memoir is its brevity, as I really wish he could have expanded way more in a lot of topics and aboard some others he left untouched and that I'm sure are very important to the lifer and further development of Tranströmer personality and ouvre.

[sirena]

How far are you in the Rougon-Maquart series?

I've just finished the 5th.

[kpjayan]

Olga Tokarczuk - Primeval and Other Times : Thanks to the recommendation from Nightwood, I ended up reading it. Made some notes at the appropriate thread. Very well written book. ****0

[Daniel del Real]

http://www.worldliteratureforum.com/forum/images/flags/se.gif Tomas Tranströmer, The Truthbarrier ****0+
Tranströmer keeps fascinating me; Schubertiana is a hell of a poem and his whole vision of the world is terrific. Will re-read Baltics and will rest it some time for a later read this year.

http://www.worldliteratureforum.com/forum/images/flags/it.gif Alessandro Baricco, Next, Essays about globalization and the upcoming world ***00+
A lot if interesting facts about globalization that makes you think. The problem is that Baricco never seems to take a side thus the core of the book deludes easily and seems purposeless. It is like really long prologue with no later work to read.

http://www.worldliteratureforum.com/forum/images/flags/gf.gif Jean Echenoz, L'équipée Malaise **000
The worse Echenoz I've read by far. Seriously, if this is supposed to be a satire of a novel of adventures, don't make it that dull and pointless. On contrary of other Echenoz books I've read, this one lacks the main qualities of the author; agility and humor.

[Daniel del Real]

http://www.worldliteratureforum.com/forum/images/flags/es.gif Miguel Delibes, Señora de Rojo sobre Fondo Gris ****0+
A very brief novel but very concise and solid through beginning to the end. Delibes teaches a lesson on how to create an admirable female character, honoring his wife, a woman capable of stealing a simple with her simple presence. A nouvelle that can touch very deep feelings with a ease situations and a very agile prose.

http://www.worldliteratureforum.com/forum/images/flags/se.gif Tomas Tranströmer, Baltics (re-read) *****
Just when you think epic chants are a question of the middle ages, Tranströmer takes us to his landscapes and flood us in the vivid images of his family from mid XIX century to the present days. A land he knows very well, inherited from people who carried it in their veins, his grandparents. Part three reminded me so much of The Waste Land, very mythic with a lot of cult references you have to slowly decipher to obtain the whole immensity of the poem. Magnificent work!

[sirena]

http://www.worldliteratureforum.com/forum/images/flags/gb.gif Framley Parsonage - Anthony Trollope ****0

[Daniel del Real]

http://www.worldliteratureforum.com/forum/images/flags/hu.gif Laszlo Krasznahorkai, War & War ****0

In this first trip to the land of eternal sentences (I consider From North a Hill... more like a prologue to his works) I found a novel I didn't expected; Korin's episodes are full of humorous situations, specially at the moment he arrives to NYC, was prepared for that. I didn't expect either to been able to read his prose that easily, having no trouble with the long sentences and paragraphs everyone had warned me about.
A lot of connections to other writers came to me: the first one José Saramago. Their narrative is similar in the punctuation as both separate the ideas by comas and not periods and both make it very readable and fluent. Also the figure of this historian/archivist brought back this character from All the Names, Don Jose, who is also an archivist and suddenly a finding in the archive shelves change his life.
Then there is the figure from Yukio Mishima, from whom I had foreseen a connection since I read From North a Hill. On different premises of course, but Krasznahorkai and Mishima, both have this constant purpose of finding beauty trough nature, observing every corner trying to see an aesthetic world.
I'll drop some more comments about the novel later. I still have pending the reading of Isaiah has come back probably will read it tonight

[kpjayan]

E H Gombrich - A Little History of the World : Bought it as a gift to one of my nephew, but I ended up reading it first. It also gave a break from fiction for a while. Beautifully written, concise history of the world in 40 short chapters.

[Rumpelstilzchen]

http://www.worldliteratureforum.com/forum/images/flags/hu.gif Laszlo Krasznahorkai, War & War ****0


If this did not put you off from Mr. K. then I would recommend to go for the Melancholy of Resistance at some point in the future. And if you can find it, then I can only advise to watch Werckmeister Harmonies as company. This film is far up in my personal top 10 of the 2000s.

[Daniel del Real]

If this did not put you off from Mr. K. then I would recommend to go for the Melancholy of Resistance at some point in the future. And if you can find it, then I can only advise to watch Werckmeister Harmonies as company. This film is far up in my personal top 10 of the 2000s.

No way he put me off, I ended up liking it. Yesterday I read Isaiah has come, and I'm still re-reading it as I found it more dense on content than War & War. Also, I still don't know how this text is linked to a predecessor of War & War; I know Korin is present, but the topics dealt in here are in some way different than the ones is the novel.
I'll take a deep breath from LK right now, but for sure I want to read something else by him in a few months. So you think is better to read first MoR over Satantango? The advantage is we have a Spanish translation from MoR and Satantango must be in English, but hey, you're the expert here so I'll go for what you say.

[Rumpelstilzchen]

No way he put me off, I ended up liking it. Yesterday I read Isaiah has come, and I'm still re-reading it as I found it more dense on content than War & War. Also, I still don't know how this text is linked to a predecessor of War & War; I know Korin is present, but the topics dealt in here are in some way different than the ones is the novel.
I'll take a deep breath from LK right now, but for sure I want to read something else by him in a few months. So you think is better to read first MoR over Satantango? The advantage is we have a Spanish translation from MoR and Satantango must be in English, but hey, you're the expert here so I'll go for what you say.

Oh, storywise the Isaiah text happens just before the events in War and War, so for example it gets clear where he got his gunshot wound from :D. If you read the background info on his webpage you will find out that K. actually published excerpts from this prologue in several literary journals before War and War was published. It sets the mood in some sense, also Korin's motivations and worldview are detailed.

I read his books in this order: Satantango, Animalinside, MoR, Seiobo, From North..., War and War, Relations of Grace. I would say that all of them can be read independently of each other, does not matter if Satantango first or MoR. My personal opinion is that MoR might be the stronger book from the two. But they are very different even though both deal with the aftermath of communism on some level, so topicwise they are somehow related. MoR is more universal than Satantango and his most demanding book. So since MoR is available in Spanish, why not go for this one.

I am looking forward to reading Satantango a second time, this time in English.

[Stiffelio]

If this did not put you off from Mr. K. then I would recommend to go for the Melancholy of Resistance at some point in the future. And if you can find it, then I can only advise to watch Werckmeister Harmonies as company. This film is far up in my personal top 10 of the 2000s.

Would watching the movie if I haven't read the book ruin my reading experience later on, or are they somehow independent from each other? I ask because I've watched two terrific Béla Tarr movies based on LK's screeplays (Damnation and Turin's Horse) but I have on purpose refrained from watching Warckmeister Harmonies, as I might be reading MoR in the near future.

[Rumpelstilzchen]

Would watching the movie if I haven't read the book ruin my reading experience later on, or are they somehow independent from each other? I ask because I've watched two terrific Béla Tarr movies based on LK's screeplays (Damnation and Turin's Horse) but I have on purpose refrained from watching Warckmeister Harmonies, as I might be reading MoR in the near future.

Then you have not seen his best films yet ;) I think watching the movie first is no problem. I actually saw it also before I read the book, for Satantango it was the other way around. Werckmeister Harmonies is the movie that started my enthusiasm for K. in the first place. Watching the movie first gives you an idea of some of the issues, but much has been left out (nevertheless the movie stands on its own), so the book will add to the experience.

[Daniel del Real]

http://www.worldliteratureforum.com/forum/images/flags/ar.gif Jorge Luis Borges, El Hacedor *****
http://www.worldliteratureforum.com/forum/images/flags/at.gif Joseph Roth, The Emperor's Tomb ****0
http://www.worldliteratureforum.com/forum/images/flags/ru.gif Andreï Makine, The Life of an Unknown Man ****0

What can I say. Great readings this month, I couldn't be happier :o

[kpjayan]

Juan Gabriel Vasquez - The Secret History of Costaguana : I am in two mind. At one side, he did a clever job of mixing Panaman history into the fiction form in the pretext of correcting the injustice done by Joseph Conrad in Nostromo and redeeming himself in front of the 'jury of readers'. On the other hand, it lacked some of the fine fictional elements, getting into a history session, most of the part ( though the initial pages were very good). But, as a writer, he is brilliant. There were many brilliant passages.

Half way through the read, I had to give it a break and do some research on the "Panama Rail Road company" , the Panama Canal history and the history of independence of Panama, which helped the further course.

[Daniel del Real]

Juan Gabriel Vasquez - The Secret History of Costaguana : I am in two mind. At one side, he did a clever job of mixing Panaman history into the fiction form in the pretext of correcting the injustice done by Joseph Conrad in Nostromo and redeeming himself in front of the 'jury of readers'. On the other hand, it lacked some of the fine fictional elements, getting into a history session, most of the part ( though the initial pages were very good). But, as a writer, he is brilliant. There were many brilliant passages.

Half way through the read, I had to give it a break and do some research on the "Panama Rail Road company" , the Panama Canal history and the history of independence of Panama, which helped the further course.

I'm glad you read Vásquez. He is such a young promisory writer, someone who I think we'll be hearing a lot from him in future years. I agree with you he still has to polish his style in some aspects, but the he's got the main skills to make it through. He's got three novels so far; I've only read his last one, who deals with how his generation started witnessing the rising of drug trafficking in Colombia. Not a perfect novel, but very well crafted. I'll keep looking to get this novel, as I mentioned before, his works are not distributed in Mexico.

[Daniel del Real]

http://www.worldliteratureforum.com/forum/images/flags/al.gif Ismail Kadare, Chronicle in Stone ****0


Started a little weak but it gained presence as the story evolved. Exasperating to be the witness of the different occupations the city suffers (Italians, Greeks, Germans, even communists), all through the eyes of a young boy who is as helpless as the rest of the adults from Gjirokastër. The description of the city embedded in the hillside, all grey made out of stone it's absolutely marvelous.
Not the best Kadare I've read, but very illustrative and representative of a period of years of total distress not only for Albanian people but from Europe as well.

[Daniel del Real]

http://www.worldliteratureforum.com/forum/images/flags/ar.gif Jorge Luis Borges, El Otro, El Mismo ****0
http://www.worldliteratureforum.com/forum/images/flags/ch.gif Peter Stamm, Unfinished Landscape ***00

[kpjayan]

Juan Marse - Lizard Tails : Fascinating book. I loved the shifting of voice from realism to surrealism. Dont know if this wasnt widely read in the English speaking world. There are hardly any reviews in the internet. ****0

[Clarissa]

Voyage au bout de la nuit - Céline.

A masterpiece - extraordinary use of language. One of the great 20th century writers - up there with James Joyce, Marcel Proust, Samuel Beckett. Quite quite extraordinary. *****

[Daniel del Real]

Juan Marse - Lizard Tails : Fascinating book. I loved the shifting of voice from realism to surrealism. Dont know if this wasnt widely read in the English speaking world. There are hardly any reviews in the internet. ****0

Marsé is a major writer in the Spanish speaking world, along with legends like Juan Goytisolo, Carlos Fuentes and Mario Vargas Llosa. Unfortunately, he's not that well known worldwide, not as he should be. Don't know how much of his works are translated, but as Jayan said, the're not available and commented in the same proportion to the authors I previously mentioned.


Voyage au bout de la nuit - Céline.

A masterpiece - extraordinary use of language. One of the great 20th century writers - up there with James Joyce, Marcel Proust, Samuel Beckett. Quite quite extraordinary. *****

I can't believe I haven't read this book. This is one of my biggest debts that I really really want to pay off this year.

[MichaelS]

Juan Marse - Lizard Tails : Fascinating book. I loved the shifting of voice from realism to surrealism. Dont know if this wasnt widely read in the English speaking world. There are hardly any reviews in the internet. ****0


Marsé is a major writer in the Spanish speaking world, along with legends like Juan Goytisolo, Carlos Fuentes and Mario Vargas Llosa. Unfortunately, he's not that well known worldwide, not as he should be. Don't know how much of his works are translated, but as Jayan said, the're not available and commented in the same proportion to the authors I previously mentioned.

Thanks for the recommendations, I'll keep my eyes peeled - I'm one of the seemingly sizable number who've never heard of him.

And yes, Daniel, you definitely need to read Celine, that novel is a beast.

[Daniel del Real]

http://www.worldliteratureforum.com/forum/images/flags/de.gif W.G. Sebald, Austerlitz ****0+

Oh my, here comes another author I really want to read all of his works.

[Liam]

http://www.worldliteratureforum.com/forum/images/flags/gb.gif Tim Robinson, Stones of Aran: Pilgrimage *****
http://www.worldliteratureforum.com/forum/images/flags/at.gif Hugo von Hofmannsthal, The Lord Chandos Letter ****0

[JTolle]

http://www.worldliteratureforum.com/forum/images/flags/at.gif Hugo von Hofmannsthal, The Lord Chandos Letter ****0
I am reminded: absolutely adoring Elizabeth Costello​! Only I hope that the word "adoring" doesn't lead anyone to believe it's a cuddly book.

[Daniel del Real]

http://www.worldliteratureforum.com/forum/images/flags/it.gif Antonio Tabucchi, Indian Nocturne ***00+

[Baudelaire Theorist]

pl Couple of days ago I finished Olga Tokarczuks short story collection "Der Schrank", at mere 110 pages a nice 2-hours-read, (German translation by Esther Kinsky), "Szafa" that is in original plus some additional stories where I could not discover if they have been published somewhere else or been translated into English. (most likely not).

Again there is this typical trademark of Tokarczuk, a fine tuned mixture of philosophy and psychology, worlds between fantasy and reality, myth and dream. A couple who moves into a new flat; a developer of computer games playing God and creating/destroying worlds (the motif of Genesis once again like in "Primeval and other times"); a young woman who with her newborn son and her mother looking for the father of her child; a bank clerk hearing a voice in her dream who tells her that she is loved and travels all over Poland to meet the man she believes belongs to this voice. But the most impressive story is the one of a maid in a behemoth of a hotel imaging the belongings of the guests are coming to life, inventing stories and lifes.

Absurd, strange and disturbing as those stories may seem they have a quiet, meditative strength full of character, different as they are. Not as impressive as her novels but still clearly above average. But me loves everything by Tokarczuk, no matter what.

Those who have read this already: please ignore it then :p

fi Asko Sahlberg - The Brothers (Finish Original: He, translated into English by Fleur Jeremiah and Emily Jeremiah), a Shakespearian epic just in 100 pages; poetic, compact, measured - more later.

nl Cees Nooteboom - Paradies verloren (Dutch Original: Paradijs verloren, translated into German by Helga van Beuningen). (more later).

The latest three books I have read/finished.

[pigeonweather]

The Literary Conference - Cesar Aira *****

This was my initial encounter with Cesar Aira and a very happy one at that. I loved the way he leads you on, lulling you into a sense that now you think you know what's going on and then, out of the blue (so to speak), the story takes a leap in an entirely different direction. In the end you find he's led you up a sort of storytold pyramid to a most sublime and ridiculous conclusion.

[lenz]

I like your word, "storytold." It sounds like a literal translation of a non-English word. Is it? Or, did it just leap out of the blue and insist on existing?

[kpjayan]

nl Cees Nooteboom - Paradies verloren (Dutch Original: Paradijs verloren, translated into German by Helga van Beuningen). (more later).

How did you like it ? This was my first Nooteboom and I though I started at a wrong place, reading Nooteboom.

[Worldeater]

Antal Szerb-The Pendragon legend ****0


This was a good fun to read, didnt expect another "Journey by moonlight'' so i wasn't disappointed.

[Hamlet]

Douglas Coupland, Canadian writer, I've recently finished Generation A, an easy read and makss sense of our current world of internet and technology, and the digital overdrive, what I liked about Coupland's book is how it puts forward reading as one of the defences against the electronic chatter and bubble of the web and the wired world in general.

He treats his characters with respect.

I've read two of his novels now, and so have ordered a third one, he seems very relevant to our modern lives and he's fun.

However, have started two classics, DECAMERON, and ORLANDO FURIOSI, so Coupland will follow these, I seem to be mxing the modern and the ancient, and it works quite well, light/heavier...

[Liam]

It's Furioso, actually, and good luck, that book bored me to tears--

[Hamlet]

That's rude. :p

It is, and I should have my laptop closer, and 'get' these typos!

It's probably not my thing, either, but I'm interested in reading it nonetheless.

[kpjayan]

Vicki Leon - Working IX to V : Non - Fiction. Curious collections of 'professions' that existed during the Greek-Roman hay days.

Isaac Bashevis Singer - The King of the Fields : This is my first book of Isaac Singer. I understand this was last work of fiction. I dont know if I missed something, but this was way too disappointing. A Polish Fable of tribes - changes in the civilisation - the hunters turning into farmers , arrival of Jewish and Christian believes...

[pesahson]

Isaac Bashevis Singer - The King of the Fields : This is my first book of Isaac Singer. I understand this was last work of fiction. I dont know if I missed something, but this was way too disappointing. A Polish Fable of tribes - changes in the civilisation - the hunters turning into farmers , arrival of Jewish and Christian believes...

I haven't read that one but I quite enjoyed Gimpel the Fool. I prefer his stories where the tales are about the supernatural then the everyday life of Jews in pre-war Poland, which, it seems, you didn't enjoy immensly either. "Shadows on the Hudson" is one I haven't read, either. From friends who read it, I heard nothing but praise. It's about Jewish immigrants in New York after the war. If you want to give Singer another try, maybe give this book a go.

[kpjayan]

Thank you pesahson. Some readers refer "The King of the Fields" is about the creation of modern Poland ( if that interest you), from the hunters to a civilization of farmers. It said the world "pola" means field.

[Worldeater]

Joseph Roth-The legend of the holy drinker ****0
Joseph Roth-Weights and measures *****

[kpjayan]

Ferdinand Oyono - Houseboy : Colonial literature from Africa. Originaly written in 1956 , four years prior to the independence of Cameroon. Importantbook when it was pblished, and may be significant for historians of African and colonial Literature. Reading the the book now after 55 years of its publication, one is not moved s much as I was expecting it to be.

[sirena]

http://www.worldliteratureforum.com/forum/images/flags/gb.gif The Small House at Allington - Anthony Trollope ****0

[Daniel del Real]

Here are some books I've finished during last month:

http://www.worldliteratureforum.com/forum/images/flags/de.gif Herta Müller, Even Back Then, the Fox Was the Hunter ****0
http://www.worldliteratureforum.com/forum/images/flags/us.gif Paul Auster, Invisible **000
http://www.worldliteratureforum.com/forum/images/flags/il.gif Amos Oz, The Same Sea *****
http://www.worldliteratureforum.com/forum/images/flags/us.gif Raymond Carver, Begginers ****0+
http://www.worldliteratureforum.com/forum/images/flags/ar.gif Jorge Luis Borges, Para las Seis Cuerdas ***00+
http://www.worldliteratureforum.com/forum/images/flags/ar.gif Jorge Luis Borges, Elogio de la Sombra ****0

[Hemmo]

Just finished a long biography of Louis XIV (about whom I knew nothing) by Francois Bluche. It took me forever - which I guess says it all. Will shortly finish 'Mangeclous' by Albert Cohen. Not seen much on here about him and I'll post as soon as I finish...

[kpjayan]

Closely Observed Trains - Bohumil Hrabal : I've read this book at least 3 times, in last 4-5 days. Sweet gem of a book. Brilliant.

[Daniel del Real]

Closely Observed Trains - Bohumil Hrabal : I've read this book at least 3 times, in last 4-5 days. Sweet gem of a book. Brilliant.

I've always wanted to get round Hrabal with no results. Probably I should start with this one.

[pesahson]

Closely Observed Trains - Bohumil Hrabal : I've read this book at least 3 times, in last 4-5 days. Sweet gem of a book. Brilliant.


I've always wanted to get round Hrabal with no results. Probably I should start with this one.

You definately should Daniel. It's such a short book, but as I've read someone put it in an Amazon review I think, it leaves you feeling you've lived a life. I remember I had a strange reaction with it. I've read it, enjoyed it, but only after a few days did it hit me how much I love this book. I've never had that reaction before.

[Daniel del Real]

You definately should Daniel. It's such a short book, but as I've read someone put it in an Amazon review I think, it leaves you feeling you've lived a life. I remember I had a strange reaction with it. I've read it, enjoyed it, but only after a few days did it hit me how much I love this book. I've never had that reaction before.

I was looking for this book at Amazon at this books has two different titles: Closely Watched Trains and Closely Observed Trains. I think different editions have different translator also. Which one should I pick guys?

[Amichai]

I was looking for this book at Amazon at this books has two different titles: Closely Watched Trains and Closely Observed Trains. I think different editions have different translator also. Which one should I pick guys?

If you are talking about the book in English translation it´s the same one. Translated by Edith Pargeter, just one is sold in the USA ("watched") and the other is the UK edition ("observed") with the slightly different title. I have both by mistake.

[sirena]

http://www.worldliteratureforum.com/forum/images/flags/fr.gif La Conquête de Plassans - Émile Zola **000+

[Daniel del Real]

http://www.worldliteratureforum.com/forum/images/flags/fr.gif La Conquête de Plassans - Émile Zola **000+

I know, quite boring this book was to me.

[Peeping Tom]

The City and the City by China Miéville. ****0

This is my first China Miéville novel. I found his style to be somewhat jarring, which may be a good and/or bad thing, and found myself leaning towards being dismissive about this novel. But in the end, after having finished the novel, I find myself still thinking about it. And that has to be a good thing.

[Daniel del Real]

http://www.worldliteratureforum.com/forum/images/flags/ie.gif Bram Stoker, Dracula ***00+

Very different from what I expected, as I thought it would be a more agile narrative. Very slow at times and I have to say it, dull at some other moments. The first part, with the Jonathan Harker's journals from Dracula's castle are just amazing, breathtaking and full of suspense. Then it falls down in a very monotone set of letters, journals and gazette's notes to finally recover for the last 100 pages. It's hard to think this average book and be so representative and important through our days, just by a few moments, situations and images. Not bad, but I definitely expected way more from a book it is considered a classic.

[kpjayan]

William Styron - Sophie's Choice : It was pending with me for a long time (almost 10 years). At 630+ pages, this demanded a lot more time dedicated. The first reaction after finishing was on how brilliantly he constructed the book, from chapter 1 till the end. One day if I ever get to write a book, this will be one I go back for guidance. I am very impressed.

[Colonel Green]

The Stories of John Cheever by John Cheever ****0

Part 1 of my attempt to develop more of a taste for short fiction (as well as another Pulitzer-winner notched), this mammoth (700 page) collection of the so-called "Chekhov of the suburbs" is quite a good way to start trying the genre (I've previously read some short detective stories by Doyle and Chesterton, but detective fiction isn't really a major interest of mine). There's some okay stuff here, but a number of really standout stories. I know that Matthew Weiner, the creator of Mad Men, has talked a lot about his love for Cheever, and you can see some influences (there's even a character named "Joan Harris" in one of them, as well as another story with a Madison Avenue advertising executive). Some of my favourites would be "The Children", "The Duchess", "The Five-Forty-Eight", "Clementina", and "The World of Apples".

[Liam]

http://www.worldliteratureforum.com/forum/images/flags/is.gif The Saga of Burnt Njal ****0
http://www.worldliteratureforum.com/forum/images/flags/fr.gif Bernardin de Saint-Pierre: Journey to Mauritius *****
http://www.worldliteratureforum.com/forum/images/flags/hu.gif László Krasznahorkai: Satantango *****

The last one of these is probably one of the best books of the century; hard to believe it was LK's first published novel.

[Daniel del Real]

http://www.worldliteratureforum.com/forum/images/flags/is.gif The Saga of Burnt Njal ****0
http://www.worldliteratureforum.com/forum/images/flags/fr.gif Bernardin de Saint-Pierre: Journey to Mauritius *****
http://www.worldliteratureforum.com/forum/images/flags/hu.gif László Krasznahorkai: Satantango *****

The last one of these is probably one of the best books of the century; hard to believe it was LK's first published novel.

Wow, you finally were seduced under the charm of Krasznahoraki. Too sad Rumpy is no longer here to witness it, he'd be in tears by now.

[Daniel del Real]

http://www.worldliteratureforum.com/forum/images/flags/ar.gif Jorge Luis Borges, El Oro de los Tigres ****0

One more book and I'll complete all his poetry :)

[Liam]

Rumpy'd be in tears by now.Seriously--but tell him I loved the book over at the Woods. I gave him my email address before he left but the fucker doesn't deign to communicate, :cool:. Too cool for school or something? LOL

[Daniel del Real]

Seriously--but tell him I loved the book over at the Woods. I gave him my email address before he left but the fucker doesn't deign to communicate, :cool:. Too cool for school or something? LOL

Haven't been at the Woods for a while now. This fucking job has been killing me for month and a half now.

[Liam]

Just be grateful you have one, you bleedin' SoB, :D.

[pigeonweather]

Stuart Ayris - Tollesbury Time Forever
http://www.amazon.com/Tollesbury-Time-Forever-ebook/dp/B006TJDJKE

I recently came across a thread on Goodreads discussing "what makes a good read". For one person, it was "a cute couple and a happy ending", but for me, I think I'd say it's a matter of "voice". I like a book that has a clear, individual, compelling voice that I feel I can hear as I read. This book has that. The narrative is strong and pulled me in from the start and kept me interested throughout. I felt as if I was following a sort of Ariadne's thread, knowing full well it was leading on to monsters within. It's a contemporary, self-published novel about the inner voyage of a paranoid schizophrenic, written by a psychiatric nurse who has some insight into such conditions. It's not a perfect book. In particular I thought the female characters were lacking in definition, though at least they weren't just there for the wanking as in so many novels.


(http://www.amazon.com/Tollesbury-Time-Forever-ebook/dp/B006TJDJKE)

[Loki]

http://www.worldliteratureforum.com/forum/images/flags/ie.gif Bram Stoker, Dracula ***00+

Very different from what I expected, as I thought it would be a more agile narrative. Very slow at times and I have to say it, dull at some other moments. The first part, with the Jonathan Harker's journals from Dracula's castle are just amazing, breathtaking and full of suspense. Then it falls down in a very monotone set of letters, journals and gazette's notes to finally recover for the last 100 pages. It's hard to think this average book and be so representative and important through our days, just by a few moments, situations and images. Not bad, but I definitely expected way more from a book it is considered a classic.

They must have made a mistake, then. I think we should stop considering it a classic.

[Liam]

I think we should stop considering it a classic.Easier said than done. A classic doesn't simply cease to be a classic because a bunch of readers are left dissatisfied, :p. And I say that as no particular admirer of either Bram Stoker or Count Dracula.

[Hamlet]

Jpod by Doug Coupland -- light, satirical and fun.

I'm interested in pretty much everything Coupland has written, he's put the work in to assessing the experience of living in the wired world, but occasionally I do think, well --- we could just switch off, or ignore advertising... and it all goes away. We're not all dupes. But Coupland does suggest there's this pull and push of the web, it inspires/ it infuriates.... we can't do without it/ sometimes we wish it would implode, and the party just ends.

Anyway.... along with FIRE SEASON, by Phillip Connors there's two finished books.

I've also picked up some new reads .... such as Steinbeck's THE MOON IS DOWN... and Cormac McCarthy's CHILD OF GOD.... and around 8 other novels to sample-read to see how they take...

[Loki]

Easier said than done. A classic doesn't simply cease to be a classic because a bunch of readers are left dissatisfied, :p. And I say that as no particular admirer of either Bram Stoker or Count Dracula.

I know. I was just saying that maybe they've all been wrong in considering it a classic!

[Hamlet]

As with Dracula, so with Frankenstein when I read them, not overwhelmed, but maybe that's my problem, a thousand adaptations, and the Count has become a bit of dullard, with his pointy ears, sharp teeth, and bellowing cape... but then two weeks ago I watched a history documentary ostensibly about Grimsby and when you heard about how Stoker's count came ashore as a dog, and here's the cliff he scaled... it freshens it up... you pick up on the initial impact, pre-commodification of ole Drac.


A difficult and uncertain literary career, if I recall hte basic bio, struggled to get recognition thereafter and stuck us with Buffy and Twilight. :cool::D

[Colonel Green]

Frankenstein is a personal favourite, whereas I find Dracula dull. Shelley's novel has the advantage of being much more thoughtful than most media representations would suggest.

[Daniel del Real]

Frankenstein is a personal favourite, whereas I find Dracula dull. Shelley's novel has the advantage of being much more thoughtful than most media representations would suggest.

Frankenstein had the same effect on me as Dracula, probably even worse. So far, my experience reading terror classics have been this way, dull and disappointing. The only one I can think of being an absolute gem of terror and highly hailed as these two mentioned was The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr Hyde, an absolutely stunning, terrifying short book.

[Daniel del Real]

http://www.worldliteratureforum.com/forum/images/flags/ar.gif Jorge Luis Borges, La Rosa Profunda ****0+

Final book on my Borges complete poetry project. Can't be happier finally being able to read all his marvelous poetry, however it's sad to think there is no more poetry available from this genius to tackle. Doesn't matter, now I'll focus reading all his short stories I have left :o

[Colonel Green]

Two very different authors (Ebert grading scale in effect, as always):

The Serpent's Shadow by Rick Riordan ***00

Nobody will ever confuse Riordan with a "serious" author, but at his best he produces some very fun, intelligent YA adventure stories. This isn't his best work. It's competent, but this trilogy never took off like his preceding quintology about Percy Jackson, or the sequel series running alongside it. Probably a bit of it is that I don't have the same soft spot for Egyptian mythology as I do for Egyptian, but the final battle with Apophis doesn't come close to the feeling of the apocalyptic showdown with Kronos in his earlier series. But I do like a white author doing an entire YA trilogy with no major non-white characters.

Poems New and Collected, 1957-1997 by Wislawa Szymborska *****

#52 on my Nobel reading project; almost halfway there (though the bastards keep adding new ones). I'm not typically a fan of 20th century poetry (particularly the second half of the century; though ironically I spent a year as a research assistant on a professor's project on Anthony Hecht), but Szymborska (assisted by Clare Cavanagh and Stanislaw Baranczak, obviously) is one of the best I've read from the period. One of the most pleasant surprises I've had while doing this reading project. There's a lot of meditations on chance and circumstance, as well as impermanence, but there's also some little fun things thrown in as well.

[Liam]

the bastards keep adding new onesSomebody needs to bomb the Swedish Academy, :).

[Eric]

As Liam jocularly points out, those "bastards" of the Swedish Academy keep adding new names. But what on Earth makes someone want to systematically read all the Nobel Winners? Do you think that by skipping all the plebs who didn't win a prize decided by eighteen Swedes you will somehow be enlightened as to what "good literature" or "works of genius" are? And what's more, as the Nobel prizewinners win for all their work, not just for one book as with the Booker, you might be spending the rest of your life reading all the Nobel prizewinners' books. Just reading everything by the 1929 prizewinner Thomas Mann is a few months' reading in itself. And there are about 100 prizewinners by now. Reading only one work by each Nobel prizewinner is cheating. That means you never get into their oeuvre, and are merely skim the surface of each laureate's efforts.

[Aldawen]

But what on Earth makes someone want to systematically read all the Nobel Winners?

I've done that too, just to get an impression. I knew before that I wouldn't understand all the decisions (which proved to be more than true), but I also found some writers I never would have touched otherwise but enjoyed the reading. And: No, I don't think that this prize defines what "good literature" is. But now I can say in discussions which decisions I don't understand and (at least in most cases) WHY I don't do it.


And what's more, as the Nobel prizewinners win for all their work, not just for one book as with the Booker, you might be spending the rest of your life reading all the Nobel prizewinners' books. Just reading everything by the 1929 prizewinner Thomas Mann is a few months' reading in itself.

Thomas Mann is a bad example. First, compared to the laureates nowadays he was quite "young" when he received the prize (just 51). That means, that larger parts of his work weren't even written, especially true for the Joseph tetralogy. And second, he was awarded the prize "principally for his great novel, Buddenbrooks, which has won steadily increased recognition as one of the classic works of contemporary literature" ("The Nobel Prize in Literature 1929". Nobelprize.org. 16 May 2012 http://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/literature/laureates/1929/). So in this case it's perfectly ok to go along with just one book ;) – although I would recommend to read more, he's been one of my favourite writers for years (not to talk of decades ...)

[Colonel Green]

As Liam jocularly points out, those "bastards" of the Swedish Academy keep adding new names.
That was me, actually.


But what on Earth makes someone want to systematically read all the Nobel Winners? Do you think that by skipping all the plebs who didn't win a prize decided by eighteen Swedes you will somehow be enlightened as to what "good literature" or "works of genius" are? And what's more, as the Nobel prizewinners win for all their work, not just for one book as with the Booker, you might be spending the rest of your life reading all the Nobel prizewinners' books. Just reading everything by the 1929 prizewinner Thomas Mann is a few months' reading in itself. And there are about 100 prizewinners by now. Reading only one work by each Nobel prizewinner is cheating. That means you never get into their oeuvre, and are merely skim the surface of each laureate's efforts.
I don't read "just one". I identify something that looks like a good starting point, and if I like it, I generally read more in time. In 25 of the 52 cases (Kipling, Yeats, Shaw, Undset, Mann, Galsworthy, Bunin, Pirandello, Eliot, Faulkner, Russell, Lagerkvist, Churchill, Hemingway, Steinbeck, Sartre, Kawabata, Solzhenitsyn, Boll, Singer, Mahfouz, Morrison, Szymborska, Coetzee, Pamuk) I've read what could reasonably be called more than one work, and there are others where I intend further followup (Golding, for instance; I've got a few of his books bought but unread). With others, I make an assessment that reading anything else by them is a low priority (Muller). And, of course, with a lot of these foreign authors there's a limit to what's available, so that's convenient.

As to why, well, partly I can say that I did it. But it's an interesting cross-section of the century's writers, across numerous different cultures. Many of the writers I've come across are ones I probably wouldn't have gotten to otherwise (Singer, Mahfouz, Szymborska, Pamuk).

[Daniel del Real]

http://www.worldliteratureforum.com/forum/images/flags/fr.gif Marguerite Yourcenar, Oriental Tales ****0

[Liam]

http://www.worldliteratureforum.com/forum/images/flags/pe.gif Mario Vargas Llosa: In Praise of the Stepmother (1988): ****0

Not exactly War and Peace, but it left me reeling. I liked, in particular, the snarled morality lying at the heart of the book: if carnal pleasure is the single most unifying principle you build your life upon, once it betrays you, you are left with absolutely nothing. A very Catholic book, too, despite all the frankness regarding sex with minors, etc.

I don't know if the original Spanish edition is illustrated, but the American paperback version is supplied with five or six gorgeous illustrations printed on artbook-quality paper: after a progression of Renaissance and Rococo beauties, and Bacon's terrible "portrait" of agony, the last painting in the book is Fra Angelico's Annunciation: a very touching and fitting conclusion to an otherwise opulent and sensual little novel.

The thought also crossed my mind that the novel was a kind of Lolita-in-reverse.

The translation, by Helen Lane, is excellent. My next two Vargas Llosa novels are translated by Edith Grossman, so let's see how the two women compare...

[kpjayan]

James Kelman - A Chancer : Race course, casino, dog races and Domino.. It is not easy to read his novels. I get a feeling of being abandoned by the author along with his protagonist. There are no moving forward of the story apart from one gambling den to the next. A loner, nothing to look forward to in life, no clear direction, easily bored with confined life. May be that is what was the intention. And I dont know any other writer who fill in as many swear words per page.

[sirena]

http://www.worldliteratureforum.com/forum/images/flags/ru.gif The Adolescent - Fyodor M. Dostoevsky ****0

[Colonel Green]

Bring Up The Bodies by Hilary Mantel *****

Mantel returns with the second volume in what will now be a trilogy about Thomas Cromwell. Unusually for a sequel, it's markedly slimmer than the first book, but since this grew out of plans for a single successor volume that would account for it. It's damn hard to say anything new about this particular period in history, which has been fodder for writers pretty much since it happened (Shakespeare himself wrote one of his more minor, propagandistic works on the subject; it's fun to imagine what he might have done with the story if writing a more truthful account wouldn't have gotten him hung, drawn and quartered), but Mantel manages to make things somewhat fresh, the principal reason being the use of the uncommon perspective of Cromwell. He's wouldn't make the top ten most common POVs for these events, and after reading the book it's still clear why: most novels aren't interested in making their hero a ruthless apparatchik with no particular qualms about doing whatever the king tells him to do. At the same time, Mantel makes him relatable/likeable (though that's the thing with POV). She does a great job of evoking the atmosphere of the court, and how everyone is constantly dancing to the king's whims and changeable moods (Mantel's take on Henry himself, glimpsed through Cromwell, is also interesting; as with most portrayals he's a creature of appetite, but he comes across as basically unconscious of what he's doing, and how he's constantly rewriting events to suit whatever he wants now).

[Liam]

http://www.worldliteratureforum.com/forum/images/flags/pe.gif Mario Vargas Llosa: Death in the Andes (1993): *****

Amazing, amazing novel; rich, poignant and page-turningly good. I felt like reading it all over again when I reached the last page; V-Ll is one Latin American author I'm becoming increasingly interested in.

[kpjayan]

Good to see this Liam. If you ask MVLL readers to pick th top 3 of their choice, I don't see many picking this one. But, this will be in my list... Your next choice Feast of the Goat is brilliant too..

[Liam]

http://www.worldliteratureforum.com/forum/images/flags/ie.gif Benjamin Black, Elegy for April: ****0
http://www.worldliteratureforum.com/forum/images/flags/us.gif Shane Jones, Light Boxes: ***00
http://www.worldliteratureforum.com/forum/images/flags/us.gif Jonathan Franzen, Freedom: ****0

*

Pleasantly surprised with Freedom. I am usually not a fan of overtly politicized fiction, but this book was truly explosive. The subplot involving the Republican son was ridiculous; I also hated the fact that all ends well for EVERY SINGLE CHARACTER (except the Indian girl, of course)--surely after 550 pages of misery some of those people would still have gone on being miserable? Something just doesn't ring true about their ultimate happiness. But all in all, a solid piece of kitchen-sink realism.

John Banville also pleasantly surprises with his cold little mystery set in 1950's Dublin. Beautiful writing, and insanely plotted. My only regret: there are two gay "subplots" that went absolutely NOWHERE. Why put them in the book if you're not going to use them???

Light Boxes was a disappointing little allegory about the political state of affairs in the US. February takes over the land and suddenly we are all chilled to the bone. Beautifully written but slim.

[Old Possum]

I've recently read two plays of the in-yer-face theatre - Blasted by Sarah Kaine and Shopping and F***ing by Mark Ravenhill. Very harsh texts, literally knocking you over and almost force-feeding you the(ir) reality. Not exactly a hardcore fan of the type, but I suppose one must not overlook its immense significance in contemporary literature. After all, violence has always been an ugly truth, and in our times, perhaps even more so. As Edward Bond, another great playwright, puts it "I write about violence as naturally as Jane Austen wrote about manners".

[Colonel Green]

Gimpel the Fool and Other Stories by Isaac Singer *****
The Fall of the King by Johannes Jensen ***00
Troubles by J. G. Farrell ****0
Rites of Passage by Sir William Golding ****0

[Caodang]

The witness by Juan José Saer *****
The investigation by Juan José Saer ****0+

[Worldeater]

Erich Kästner-Fabian ****0

I didnt liked the ending, however i think this book is great,it reminds me of Ödön von Horváth.

[Colonel Green]

The Three Musketeers by Alexandre Dumas *****

This is the Richard Pevear translation (available in Canada in a deluxe edition with illustrations by the artist who did the graphic novel autobiography of Louis Riel, for some reason), and he's evidently as good with French as he is with Russian (though he needs his wife for that; here he's working solo). This is one of those stories that has been adapted up the wazoo for as long as there have been media for it to be adapted into (I fondly recall the Albert the Fifth Musketeer animated show when I was a kid), but most of them don't include a good amount of it (though there's not nearly so much unadapted material as there was in, say, The Count of Monte Cristo). One can see why this is often held up as the greatest adventure novel ever written.

[kpjayan]

Harold Pinter - The Room and The Dumb Waiter : Brilliant , especially the second.

Boris Akunin - She Lover of Death : Regular thriller, light read , nothing spectacular.

[Daniel del Real]

The witness by Juan José Saer *****
The investigation by Juan José Saer ****0+

I've been meaning to read Saer for a while but haven't. Caodang, could you please tell us more about these two readings you seemed to enjoy?

[Daniel del Real]

Some of the books I finished while the forum was in a coma:

http://www.worldliteratureforum.com/forum/images/flags/de.gif W.G. Sebald, On the National History of Destruction ****0+
http://www.worldliteratureforum.com/forum/images/flags/ar.gif Jorge Luis Borges, La Moneda de Hierro *****
http://www.worldliteratureforum.com/forum/images/flags/it.gif Italo Calvino, If on a Winter's Night, a Traveler...*****
http://www.worldliteratureforum.com/forum/images/flags/es.gif Manuel Rivas, Books Burn Badly ***00
http://www.worldliteratureforum.com/forum/images/flags/hu.gif Sandor Marai, The Right Woman ****0+
http://www.worldliteratureforum.com/forum/images/flags/gf.gif Laurent Binet, HHhH ***00
http://www.worldliteratureforum.com/forum/images/flags/ee.gif Jaan Kross, The Czar's Madman ****0+

[Stiffelio]

http://www.worldliteratureforum.com/forum/images/flags/hu.gif Sandor Marai, The Right Woman ****0+



Did you actually read that book in English? As far as I know it has not been published as such. If you meant you read La Mujer Justa in Spanish, let me refresh what I wrote some time ago here:

http://www.worldliteratureforum.com/forum/showthread.php/885-S%C3%A1ndor-M%C3%A1rai?highlight=Marai

The Spanish translation is a composite of two books (from three instalments Marai wrote at different times).

[Daniel del Real]

Did you actually read that book in English? As far as I know it has not been published as such. If you meant you read La Mujer Justa in Spanish, let me refresh what I wrote some time ago here:

http://www.worldliteratureforum.com/forum/showthread.php/885-S%C3%A1ndor-M%C3%A1rai?highlight=Marai

The Spanish translation is a composite of two books (from three instalments Marai wrote at different times).

Yes, I read the Spanish translation. That explains why I felt the third part was weak compared with the first two that I found magnificent.

[JTolle]

Some of the books I finished while the forum was in a coma:

http://www.worldliteratureforum.com/forum/images/flags/de.gif W.G. Sebald, On the National History of Destruction ****0+


I've still got Sebald's Vertigo sitting on my bookshelf, marker on page 46 or somesuch - begging for me to finish it, which I will... But, anyway, in the mean time it's nice to see people giving him praise.

Some books I have read recently:

The Sacred Desert - David Jasper
Striving Towards Being: The Letters of Thomas Merton and Czeslaw Milosz
How to Be an Atheist - Denys Turner
The Little Book of Unsuspected Subversions - Edmond Jabes (trans. Rosmarie Waldrop)

[Utopia]

F. Scott Fitzgerald - The Great Gatsby
Georg Büchner - Woyzeck (ok, not really a book)

[Caodang]

I've been meaning to read Saer for a while but haven't. Caodang, could you please tell us more about these two readings you seemed to enjoy?

I'm afraid I'd be not able to write as well as I intend to, English is not my mother tongue and, on the other hand, I'm not used to write book review-like pieces of writing, although I do read a lot. But, anyway, I'll try to summarize my readings of Saer in the most concise and exhaustive way I could:

The investigation: A superb blending of a "detective" plot, a highly intelligent - and sensitive - police chief trying to find out the culprit of a series of bloody murders, and a "purely literary" pursuit, involving several highly bookish types seeking the true author of an obscure - and brilliant - novel.

The witness: the story of a teenager 16-century European trapped in an Indian tribe, about how, after having lived for 10 years among those "Others", the now young man came to realize that those Indians were indeed more human than anybody of the "more civilized world" he now lived in. A fantastic, deeply thought-provoking book about how people should and could identify her/himself.

In short, I truly love Saer's long, beautifully and masterfully crafted sentences, the razor-sharp edge of his mind, the profundity of his thinking. And I'm really curious/surprised at why Saer could not gain more international attention, something he's far more than deserving of.

I'll definitely try to lay my hand on his other books, such as Scars.

[Liam]

http://www.worldliteratureforum.com/forum/images/flags/gb.gif Barry Cunliffe, Europe Between the Oceans: *****

An amazing history of the last ten thousand years of the European continent; loved it.

[Daniel del Real]

http://www.worldliteratureforum.com/forum/images/flags/mx.gif Carlos Fuentes, The Great Latin American Novel ****0+
If you want to have a very wide and deep perspective from the novel in Latin America since the beggining this is the place to start. Hope this book can get translated soon as this is a very deep and intelligent approach not only to the topic, but to a man who had an amazing perspective not only of his country but his continent and his language. His knowledge for young writers and his new novels talks about the greatness of Fuentes, who despite being a consummate writer he always pay attention to all the literary movements and figures that were ascending not only in Mexico but everywhere, specially in the Spanish language novel.
Masterfully written, brilliant a times, just taking half star out because I can't believe he only mentioned once Ernesto Sábato and not once Roberto Bolaño.

http://www.worldliteratureforum.com/forum/images/flags/pt.gif José Saramago, Claraboia ***00+
An embryonic novel for the later Nobel prize winner, much more associated with the social realism than with the allegory and fable tone he later reached. In this youth exercise, that felt like a shortened Portuguese version of Cela's The Hive, the Saramago reader can work as an archaeologist and start digging up the origin that led up to what later became a fantastic world of situationes and ideas, with his very own fluid prose and emotive characters. Silvestre and Abel can be considered as a diatribe between the pessimistic Saramago and the humanistic one; both will get together and create the mature writer that later became. Very illustrative to admire the gestation of an amazing novelist.

http://www.worldliteratureforum.com/forum/images/flags/mx.gif Tomás Segovia, Anagnórisis ***00+
A long disruptive poem talking about exile, memory and the construction of the inner poet and human being, accompanied by chants and brief prose poetry. The soul of Segovia, one of the victims of the Spanish civil war and who emmigrated very young to Mexico to live all his life here, is unveiled in deep and symbolic poetic figures, the key to decipher his vast personality and his warmness as a person.

[Stiffelio]

I can't believe he only mentioned once Ernesto Sábato and not once Roberto Bolaño.


It is indeed unbelievable but Fuentes always refused to read Bolaño. I think it was initially a snobbish pose and then he stubbornly stuck to it.

[Liam]

Why is it so unbelievable? I refuse to read Bolaño too, :D.

[Daniel del Real]

Why is it so unbelievable? I refuse to read Bolaño too, :D.

Yes but you're no one :o and Fuentes was one of the most authorized voices to speak about Latin American literature. It is indeed strange he refused to read Bolaño, as he was always trying to find new narrative voices and spread it all over the continent. In the mentioned essay, he mentions authors that I'm sure are well known in their countries, but that unfortunately their works are not fully distributed in all the Spanish speaking world. I mean, we all know that Fuentes was some sort of snob, but he was always open to young writers. Don't know what were the reasons behind that denial of reading Bolaño.

[Daniel del Real]

Here are a couple of articles I fond about this Fuentes-Bolaño feud. He claims that he didn't want to read Bolaño until his posthumous literary success settles down. The articles also quote the omissions of such important writers as Guillermo Cabrera Infante, Manuel Puig, Sergio Pitol, Andres Neuman and the already mentioned Sabato.

http://www.prisaediciones.com/ve/noticia/carlos-fuentes-excluye-a-bolano-de-los-herederos-del-boom-latinoamericano/

http://www.nolapeles.com/2011/08/28/carlos-fuentes-ignora-a-roberto-bolano/

[Aldawen]

Apart from some rather obscure stuff from various Pacific islands I've more or less entertained myself with these:

http://www.worldliteratureforum.com/forum/images/flags/gd.gif Jacob Ross: Pynter Bender ***00
I've found this review which sums up exactly my thoughts on the novel: http://caribbeanreviewofbooks.com/crb-archive/19-february-2009/family-matters/

After 25 years of negligence due to a bad French teacher in my last school years I'm trying to come to terms with this writer:
http://www.worldliteratureforum.com/forum/images/flags/fr.gif Albert Camus: The Plague ***00+
I didn't really like the way the narrator puts himself towards his report, somewhat distancing himself although it is clear from the start that he's very much involved. That left me with the feeling of a constrained "objectivity". But apart from that the thoughts about the effects of the enclosure with the danger of the plague were interesting.
http://www.worldliteratureforum.com/forum/images/flags/fr.gif Albert Camus: The Fall ****0
Liked this one better, as it was – for me – more consistent when it comes to content and its presentation.

http://www.worldliteratureforum.com/forum/images/flags/ng.gif Kachi A. Ozumba: The Shadow of a Smile ****0
One of the blurbs called it funny. Hm, perhaps. But only if you can be sure never to encounter a legal system, police and jail administration like the one described here for Nigeria. The protagonist is not only detained on false accusation based partly on ethnic hatred but also the events he faces in prison are ... alarming, to say the least.

[Liam]

Yes but you're no one...Working on that, though. Don't say I didn't warn you when I take over the world and paint everything... pink, :p.

[Daniel del Real]

Working on that, though. Don't say I didn't warn you when I take over the world and paint everything... pink, :p.

I'll try to be there to be your co-moderator as well and avoid you converting the world in a medieval care-bear look a like existence. :D

[Daniel del Real]

http://www.worldliteratureforum.com/forum/images/flags/ar.gif Jorge Luis Borges, Universal History of Infamy ****0
His first book of short stories, very different from Fictions and The Aleph. Much more plot oriented and with a very baroque style some of them. Not a typical baroque though, but the baroque of "la pampa", dry, withered, flat ground just like the large grazing land of Argentina. Yet we can see the start of the Borges myth,already fascinated with the Persian & Arab tales, the figure of the labyrinth, Swedenborg and his angles, etc.

[kpjayan]

Christophe Isherwood - Mr.Norris Changes Trains : One of the famous Berlin stories of Isherwood. Written and published in 1935, during the rise of Hitler. Good book, but "A Singleman" is better.

[Hamlet]

- as background reading to the 16/17th century I guess:-

"Reprobates: The Rise and Fall of the Cavaliers before, during and after The English Civil War" by John Stubbs, the lives of certain characters and poets who came out of the circle located around Ben Jonson, a nonfiction account of England's path towards Civil War, Cavaliers and roundheads and religious attitudes of the time.

Stubbs appears to be an author on the up, his "John Donne The Reformed Soul" looks interesting.

"The Stripping of the Altars" by Eamon Duffy, made quite a splash apparently in the 90s when first released, England's Catholic past, reappraised.

[Hamlet]

oh, and 20 pages off the end of DON QUIXOTE, hopefully that counts as being as good as across the line, but a "reading" judge on these matters might disagree.

[Worldeater]

Antonio Tabucchi-Pereira maintains *****
Witold Gombrowicz-Diary *****

[pesahson]

Antonio Tabucchi-Pereira maintains *****
Witold Gombrowicz-Diary *****

Gombrowicz's Diary has been on my bookshelf for years now. I don't know whether I'll ever get around to reading it. I'm glad you liked it. The opening words are memorable. "Monday. Me. Tuesday. Me. Wednesday. Me. Thursday. Me" :)

http://www.worldliteratureforum.com/forum/images/flags/us.gif The Invisible Gorilla: How Our Intuitions Deceive Us Ch.F. Chabris and D. Simons.

Noting groundbreaking but I enjoyed it and learned a lot. It covers the following subjects: illusion of attention, illusion of memory, illusion of confidence, illusion of knowledge, illusion of cause, illusion of potential.

http://www.worldliteratureforum.com/forum/images/flags/gf.gif N'espérez pas vous débarrasser des livres (This is Not the End of the Book) Jean-Claude Carriere, Umberto Eco and Jean-Philippe de Tonnac.

My first book entirely read in French. The only reason I got it was for a learning experience, but surprisingly, I understood 90% without much effort.
This book is like following a conversation between well-read and passionate people. Both Eco and Carriere are book collectors and it was a great pleasure to read/hear them talk about what they love.

[Eric]

There's a lot of good stuff in Gombrowicz' diaries, Pesahson. The main merit of the books is that he gives honest opinions about everyone, usually scathing ones. One of the butts of his attacks is the exile Polish community, with which you would have thought he would sympathise. But he finds many such people nostalgic and stuck in an old-fashioned world that perhaps never really existed in the first place. He doesn't mince words and has opinions on many things, not least on literature. Though there is certainly an element of narcissism in the diaries.

For those of you that read Spanish, there are interesting glimpses into his life in Argentina at:

http://www.literatura.org/wg/wgea.htm

I think that at least the first two volumes of Gombrowicz' diaries are available in English. I've only got the first one, which only covers the years 1953-1956, but even in that you get a good idea of his diary style.

I've not got him as my avatar for nothing (although I don't look a bit like him).

[sirena]

http://www.worldliteratureforum.com/forum/images/flags/gb.gif The Woodlanders - Thomas Hardy *****
http://www.worldliteratureforum.com/forum/images/flags/gb.gif The Last Chronicle of Barset - Anthony Trollope ****0

[Colonel Green]

Crime & Punishment by Fyodor Dostoyevsky *****

Not quite what I was expecting, in many ways. Given Dostoyevsky's reputation, the last thing I imagined was a redemptive ending. Anyway, this is one of those novels where you can immediately see why it became a classic. It also, interestingly, deconstructs Nietzche decades before he even started publishing his theories. The plot is becomes a little Dickens-style contrived in places, but that's the 19th century novel for you.

The Magician of Lublin by Isaac Bashevis Singer ***00

The third of Singer's novels that I've read, and perhaps The Slave (the first) set a particularly high bar, but neither of the next two really measured up to that or to the short story collection that I've read by him. This isn't a bad story by any means, and has some very tense scenes, but I've seen this listed as one of his best works, and I don't think I'd quite put it up there.

New and Collected Poems (1931-2001) by Czeslaw Milosz ****0

I've been picking my way through this over the last month or so; there's only so much of one man's poetry that you can read at a time, and this thing is 750 pages. Huge poetry collections like this are a bit hard to rate; there's a lot of five-star material here, and long sections of poems (and some prose; there's a great piece on the death of Christopher Robin Milne) that didn't especially interest me. I thought the best work were from the first two post-World War II collections (the scraps of material from the 1930s are pretty unremarkable) and toward the end, where he becomes especially fixated on his own mortality (and rivers). I'd previously read his non-fiction The Captive Mind.

[Bubba]

Ladro contro assassino (Thief versus murderer), a slim crime novel by the interesting Ukraine-born Italian writer Giorgio Scerbanenco, who died the year of my birth but whose books are still being read and reprinted and even, I think, translated into English. He's an odd one, and to my mind his books are far better than those of that sentimental French lefty--his name escapes me just now--whose Marseille-based crime novels were inexplicably popular ten years or so ago. Scerbanenco's political sympathies are harder to pin down; in Ladro contro assassino he makes fun of Italian hippies, but they also turn out to be positive characters. In a lot of his work, his extraordinary sympathy for his women characters is also evident--though they often have bad things happen to him (not always are they passive victims). That he made a living as a writer for women's magazines may account in part for this show of sympathy, but it also strikes one as genuine, a fairly rare quality in a lot of Mediterranean (French and Italian, that is) noir, which, when it comes to women, often veers wildly between the opposing poles of mawkishness and machismo, if not downright misogyny.

[Daniel del Real]

Crime & Punishment by Fyodor Dostoyevsky *****

Not quite what I was expecting, in many ways. Given Dostoyevsky's reputation, the last thing I imagined was a redemptive ending. Anyway, this is one of those novels where you can immediately see why it became a classic. It also, interestingly, deconstructs Nietzche decades before he even started publishing his theories. The plot is becomes a little Dickens-style contrived in places, but that's the 19th century novel for you.

The Magician of Lublin by Isaac Bashevis Singer ***00

The third of Singer's novels that I've read, and perhaps The Slave (the first) set a particularly high bar, but neither of the next two really measured up to that or to the short story collection that I've read by him. This isn't a bad story by any means, and has some very tense scenes, but I've seen this listed as one of his best works, and I don't think I'd quite put it up there.

New and Collected Poems (1931-2001) by Czeslaw Milosz ****0

I've been picking my way through this over the last month or so; there's only so much of one man's poetry that you can read at a time, and this thing is 750 pages. Huge poetry collections like this are a bit hard to rate; there's a lot of five-star material here, and long sections of poems (and some prose; there's a great piece on the death of Christopher Robin Milne) that didn't especially interest me. I thought the best work were from the first two post-World War II collections (the scraps of material from the 1930s are pretty unremarkable) and toward the end, where he becomes especially fixated on his own mortality (and rivers). I'd previously read his non-fiction The Captive Mind.


Very interesting triad of books Colonel. Haven't read Crime & Punishment but this is something I want to remedy in the next months. On the other hand I've been looking to read Singer, specially the Slave, for months now; right now, reading Job by Joseph Roth is encouraging me more to do so with all the description of Polish and Ukrainian Jews and how a language denied and banned for so many centuries like the Yiddish played a very important cultural and life role fir them.

[Daniel del Real]

http://www.worldliteratureforum.com/forum/images/flags/es.gif Juan Goytisolo, Coto Vedado (memoir)

It is truly impressive the mastery of Spanish language this man posses. He takes total control and domain of a language that at the beginning was strange to him and later became the way of his expression, sometimes to denounce and condemn the injustice he has witnessed all his life of his own country towards minorities. This is the first part of his memoirs, comprehending from the origins of his family from both sides, to the year 1956. He would continue this task in a second volume named En Los Reinos de Taifa, a book I need to get after being surprised with this terrific way of viewing life only Goytisolo has.

[Liam]

Haven't read Crime & Punishment
Oh gawd. OK, I won't say anything, :).

[kpjayan]

Gil Courtemanche - A Sunday at the Pool in Kigali : AIDS, sex, violence, in the expected lines. Cruel, gruesome account of the 1994 genocide in Rwanda. Most of the characters and places are real and their 'real names' are used, claims the writer. It begin reassuring to the readers that "This Novel is a Novel'. Graphic description of violence and rape, off-putting at times.

Immediately after reading the book I watched the 'Hotel Rwanda' again last night. Incidently both claims to be based on real characters. Events in both, the book and the movie are happening at Hotel des Mille - Collins. Both happening at the same time and through two different perspective. While the movie, restricts its focus on the 1994 genocide ( a week to 10 days probably), the book has larger canvas, including the AIDS epidemic and the initial build up of the violence. Movie appealed in the visual sense, but the book seems to have been much more deep into the conflict, through the personal experience.

[pesahson]

***00+++ Dan Ariely Predictably Irrational: The Hidden Forces That Shape Our Decisions

[Daniel del Real]

Gil Courtemanche - A Sunday at the Pool in Kigali : AIDS, sex, violence, in the expected lines. Cruel, gruesome account of the 1994 genocide in Rwanda. Most of the characters and places are real and their 'real names' are used, claims the writer. It begin reassuring to the readers that "This Novel is a Novel'. Graphic description of violence and rape, off-putting at times.

Immediately after reading the book I watched the 'Hotel Rwanda' again last night. Incidently both claims to be based on real characters. Events in both, the book and the movie are happening at Hotel des Mille - Collins. Both happening at the same time and through two different perspective. While the movie, restricts its focus on the 1994 genocide ( a week to 10 days probably), the book has larger canvas, including the AIDS epidemic and the initial build up of the violence. Movie appealed in the visual sense, but the book seems to have been much more deep into the conflict, through the personal experience.

Rwanda's genocide is a very interesting and terribly bleak historical passage. I also was very impressed when I watched the movie Hotel Rwanda and tried to get more information about the causes of all this tragedy. Found a illustrative novel, Murambi, The Book of Bones by Senegalese writer Boubacar Boris Diop. Read it three years ago and it helped providing a historical context of the Tutsis and the Hulus and how it came to the point where all this horrible situation got unchained back in 1994. We have a thread about it here at the forum.

http://www.worldliteratureforum.com/forum/showthread.php/23375-Boubacar-Boris-Diop-Murambi-Book-of-Bones?highlight=boubacar

Hadn't heard about the novel you read before, but I'll look for it as this is a theme that frightens and interests me at the same time, due to the connection to human evilness and what unleashes it to its final and most devastating consequences.

[Daniel del Real]

http://www.worldliteratureforum.com/forum/images/flags/at.gif Joseph Roth, Job *****

One of the best prosists out there, no doubt about it.

[Worldeater]

Great one but my favorite by Roth is Hotel Savoy.

[Stiffelio]

Great one but my favorite by Roth is Hotel Savoy.


Mine is The Radetzky March.

[Daniel del Real]

I've read Hotel Savoy and it's also incredible, very close to Job, can't tell which one is better. I also loved Tarabas. Will be reading Radetzky March later this month. It is highly praised as his master work so probably I'll be finding my Roth's favorite as well :)

[Colonel Green]

Close Quarters by Sir William Golding ***00
Fire Down Below by Sir William Golding ****0

I read the first book in the "Sea Trilogy" about a month ago, and had to wait a while for the two sequels to come out. I doubt Golding intended this to be a trilogy initially; the first one won the Booker and set him up for the Nobel, and there was a seven-year gap between Rites of Passage and Close Quarters (Fire Down Below came out two years after). Moreover, Rites told what was basically a complete story, and the two sequels use a different narrative style. While the first book was a sort of comedy of manners turned surprise morality play, the second and third books are a more straightforward sea story (Golding shows off a lot with regard to his knowledge of Nelsonian sailing ships, sort of like if Tom Clancy was writing about the period); the second is okay, the third much better. They're also markedly more optimistic than a lot of Golding's other work.

[Daniel del Real]

http://www.worldliteratureforum.com/forum/images/flags/es.gif Miguel Delibes, El Hereje (The Heretic) ****0

After a very intriguing prologue, the novel is divided in three parts. First part, in which we are taken to the years previous to Cipriano Salcedo's being born is dull and very static in terms of the prose; it also takes some time to the reader to get used to the language and wording used to describe landscape of a XVI century Valladolid. Thus this section of the novel is what rests brilliance to the rest as it could have been shortened without great loss to the book. After this the book goes in crescendo, telling how the Luteran group from Valladolid formed and how it started getting adepts. The final part, describing the "auto de fe" it's just amazing. The description of how Inquisition worked with his prisoners, the trials, punishments and final sanctions to the heretics just frightened me; had to stop reading once in a while to recover of reading such horrors, one after another. Breathtaking read at the end and although the first part didn't work for me I can see why this novel is catalogued by many critics as Delibe's best. If not the whole book, the last part it's the best I've read for him so far.

[Loki]

Charlotte Lennox - The Female Quixote. Immensely funny. It's a pity that the last part was written quite hurriedly. :( Anyway, it's a *****.

Susanna Kaysen - Girl, interrupted (Ragazza interrotta), translated by the students of SETL. An interesting novel, not from a stylistic point of view, but from a tematic point of view. I've always been fascinated by psychiatric illnesses: it's a bit scary, I know, but it's incredible to think of what the mind can make you do or think. ****0

Isaac Asimov - Tales of the Black Widowers (I racconti dei vedovi neri), translated by Mario Fois. These tales are terrific! I've liked every single one of them, except maybe the first one, since it's easy to guess the solution. The general idea is great, and all the mysteries are quite original I think. I'll surely read the other collections, too. ****0+

Ian McEwan - The daydreamer (L'inventore di sogni), translated by Susanna Basso. My first McEwan, and I've loved it. The best chapter was the one about Peter's bossy schoolmate. I'd like to try his adult fiction as well: any advice? ****0++

[Stiffelio]

Susanna Kaysen - Girl, interrupted (Ragazza interrotta), translated by the students of SETL. An interesting novel, not from a stylistic point of view, but from a tematic point of view. I've always been fascinated by psychiatric illnesses: it's a bit scary, I know, but it's incredible to think of what the mind can make you do or think. ****0



Ian McEwan - The daydreamer (L'inventore di sogni), translated by Susanna Basso. My first McEwan, and I've loved it. The best chapter was the one about Peter's bossy schoolmate. I'd like to try his adult fiction as well: any advice? ****0++

They made a very good movie out of Girl, Interrupted, with great performances by Winona Ryder and Angelina Jolie.
McEwan: I'm partial to him and would recommend you to read each and every one of his books, but perhaps you should read two contrasting books of his: his early novel The Comfort of Strangers and then Atonement.

[Loki]

I've already watched the film: I've really enjoyed it, despite some differences from the book. And I agree: great performances from the both of them.

Thank you for the advice. :)

[kpjayan]

Live Green 30 - Ajith Janardanan : A short novella in Malayalam, in the similar lines of "Death at Intervals". The Earth divided into the world of 'immortals' and the world of 'status quo', post the discovery of anti-aging, death preventing dru called Live Green 30. Curious book, trying to work around the internal conflicts within these two worlds.

Chowringhee - Sankar : Bengali Literature orignially written in 1962, translated to English in 2007. Set in 1950s, just after the departure of the British from India, where the urban elite continue to cherish the life under the rule of British. The novel set in a Hotel, a microcosm of the world outside, with each anecdotes and tales filling in to the mosaial effect of the narrative. Interestingly, this book was published 4 years before Aurthur Hailey's Hotel, which I remember is similar in content. I haven't read Hotel Savoy of Joseph Roth. Would be interesting to see how these two compare.

[Colonel Green]

Les Miserables by Victor Hugo ****0

Legendary behemoth of French 19th century literature. It's full of five-star material, but there are also many sections of it that drag, in keeping with the 19th century novel. Many of the digressions are interesting, others just lose me entirely. Probably the single-biggest drag in the second half of the novel are the sections focused on the Friends of the ABC, who really aren't very interesting. All the same, and particularly for the first half, it's got plenty of powerful stuff, and one can fully see why it's still remembered 150 years later. Call it four-and-a-half, perhaps.

[Liam]

Re-read Virginia Woolf's A Room of One's Own on my trip to Boston (a 4-hour bus ride, and then back); side by side with her diary, where she worries that the book may have been a little too thin.

I think this shows in places, but for the most part it's beautiful. Where it falls apart, I believe, is in being a coherent, joint essay in six chapters--funny how it became a foundational text for much of contemporary feminism. But all in all, a joy to read.

[Daniel del Real]

http://www.worldliteratureforum.com/forum/images/flags/lb.gif Amin Maalouf, The Crusades Through Arab Eyes *****

This is not fiction, it is a very detailed study on what the Muslim historians wrote at the time. Fascinating to be a witness how the present relations between West and Middle East is still dictated in a huge part on what happened during these two key centuries going from 1096 to 1300. The short but concise epilogue with which Maalouf closes the books is very illustrative on the reasons on why, even when the Muslims were able to defend their territories and expel the invaders, it was after the Crusades that Europe became the center of ideas and the light for the world and how the Arab territories fell into a period of obscurantism.

[Old Possum]

I read Ivanov by Chekhov--a marvelous blend of comedy and serious drama. Very lifelike.

Next up, The Seagull.

[kpjayan]

Underworld - Don DeLillo : Finished yesterday and still mulling over it. A flow of contradicting thoughts. Glorious at times, Boring and pretentious at places, engaging and interstingat plces, yet dull and dragging at other times. Its massive, by size and accomplishment. Its definitelty not an easy read and not easy to fuly comprehend. I think he manages to bring out the frustration, fear, anxiety and related major events during the cold war years. Stylist, good at forming sentences and paragraphs ( may be too much of perfection). More over a sense of relief.

[Hamlet]

Underworls - Don DeLillo : Finished yesterday and still mulling over it. A flow of contradicting thoughts. Glorious at times, Boring and pretentious at places, engaging and interstingat plces, yet dull and dragging at other times. Its massive, by size and accomplishment. Its definitelty not an easy read and not easy to fuly comprehend. I think he manages to bring out the frustration, fear, anxiety and related major events during the cold war years. Stylist, good at forming sentences and paragraphs ( may be too much of perfection). More over a sense of relief.

I struggled with Underworld, Kpjayan, the opening was very nicely written, the flow and style, and it's been referred to as the best 3000 words in modern Amercan fiction, at least according to an Amercan writer I used to speak to who by chance knows DeLillo, but that is perhaps a little too subjective and difficult to prove.

But after the opening, I enjoyed it in places, found it a little flat in others, and basically decided I'd not understood it, stream of consciousness and a great deal of post-modern techniques at work in it, I'm sure, but I still experienced a sense of disconnect.

It may be worth reading some of DeLillo's other works before tackling Underworld, this is the conclusion I reached, and I may read it again, as it is very highly praised.

[Colonel Green]

The Collected Tales of Nikolai Gogol by Nikolai Gogol ****0

Another Pevear/Volokhonsky translation -- I've read at least something by most of the major Russian writers of the 19th century now, I think. I thought Gogol was quite an interesting writer, certainly different in tone from the others (though one can see how he influenced Dostoyevsky). Some of the stories came across as being less than the some of their parts (hence, the four star rating), but there are several other real classics. Two of my favourites ("A Terrible Vengeance" and "The Portrait") use the same basic storytelling structure, both to great effect; "The Overcoat" is also a standout.

[kpjayan]

I struggled with Underworld, Kpjayan, the opening was very nicely written, the flow and style, and it's been referred to as the best 3000 words in modern Amercan fiction, at least according to an Amercan writer I used to speak to who by chance knows DeLillo, but that is perhaps a little too subjective and difficult to prove.

But after the opening, I enjoyed it in places, found it a little flat in others, and basically decided I'd not understood it, stream of consciousness and a great deal of post-modern techniques at work in it, I'm sure, but I still experienced a sense of disconnect.

It may be worth reading some of DeLillo's other works before tackling Underworld, this is the conclusion I reached, and I may read it again, as it is very highly praised.

I see we both are in the same boat. It is difficult to understand and as you said, it does not connect with you. I haven't read a great deal of Do DeLilo though to fully appreciate his techniques.

[Loki]

Dan Brown- The Lost Symbol​. ****0-

[Liam]

Are you for real? This masterpiece stands outside the rating system. I cannot believe it was written by a mere mortal, like you and me, :p.

[Anja]

Nikolay Gogol: Dead Souls
It's pretty funny. Too bad he didn't complete it because I'm really interested in how it would end.

[Flint]

A visit from the goon squad, by Jennifer Egan.
Very second rate.

[Stiffelio]

A visit from the goon squad, by Jennifer Egan.
Very second rate.

WHATTT? :confused: I thought it was awesome; one of the best novels I read last year: clever, innovative, wildly imagined and for the most part quite moving.

[Flint]

Sorry about that. You liked it, I didn't. You know, one man's meat is another man's poison.

[Hamlet]

Reading some lighter fare at the moment, MISS WYOMING and HEY NOSTRODAMUS!, by Douglas Coupland. I say lighter but by that I mean easy to read and get through, even though Coupland asks the big questions and attempts to answer them without being too preachy!

[Colonel Green]

One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn ****0

This is one of those novels where the historical significance dwarfs any discussion of its literary merit, which is still considerable. It's a slim, effective story that hits pretty much all the right notes within its premise of giving us a single day in this guy's life. The artistic nerve required to even publish it just adds to it. Like a lot of stories, I suppose it has lost a bit of its impact with time, since its description of the gulag doesn't have the same novelty it did in 1962.

[AmieJane]

I'm having to go back in time and read a notable list of classics from American Authors for the American Literature class at university. So the books I've just finished are:

The Scarlett Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne
The Great Gatsby by F Scott Fitzgerald
The Road by Cormac McCarthy
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain

Surprisngly I had never read any of these books as yet, but I would have to say my two favorites amongst this lot would be, The Great Gatsby and The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.

[Peeping Tom]

The Scarlett Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne
The Great Gatsby by F Scott Fitzgerald
The Road by Cormac McCarthy
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain


What an interesting list! Of those I’ve read, my favorite is The Great Gatsby (I haven’t read The Scarlet Letter, for which I a duly embarrassed).

Back on topic, some of my recent reads:

Episode in the Life of a Landscape Painter by César Aira ****0 1/2
Starts out like a well-written travelogue, but explodes into something more.

Number9Dream by David Mitchell ****0
My least favorite from David Mitchell, but still worth a read. Lots of winks at Haruki Murakami.

Varamo by Ceasar Aira ****0
Started out better than Landscape Painter, but the ending fizzled for me.

The Spies of Warsaw by Alan Furst ****0
My first Furst. A very good thriller. He has a sophisticated prose style. His dialogues are exceptional, crisp and telling, and he captures the atmosphere of pre-WWII Europe.

[Hamlet]

I'm having to go back in time and read a notable list of classics from American Authors for the American Literature class at university. So the books I've just finished are:

The Scarlett Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne
The Great Gatsby by F Scott Fitzgerald
The Road by Cormac McCarthy
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain

Surprisngly I had never read any of these books as yet, but I would have to say my two favorites amongst this lot would be, The Great Gatsby and The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.

I found The Scarlett Letter quite hard going, in terms of its appeal, and that's a shame because I admire Hawthorne and have tried some of his other works.
How did you get on with it, Amie? Did you have any input on the Puritan tradition and historical aspects, to assist with comprehension?

[Stiffelio]

Episode in the Life of a Landscape Painter by César Aira ****0 1/2
Starts out like a well-written travelogue, but explodes into something more.



That's a good description. All of Aira books explode into many different things from what they started off being.

[Colonel Green]

In Canada, it's quite common for government figures (including the various viceroys) to be involved in stuff like that.

The Singapore Grip by J. G. Farrell *****

The only novel in the "Empire Trilogy" to not win the Booker Prize, but it's my favourite of the three. All three novels have the same basic formula (various characters fiddling while figurative Rome burns, and various follies and tragedies are exposed), with this being the most overtly political of the three, in the sense that one of the characters periodically gets into arguments with everybody else about the nature of British economic policy and its effects on the locals. I'm seen some reviews that found this a bit heavy-handed, and that's probably not inaccurate, but I didn't really mind; I don't mind a bit of tract in a novel (consequence of all those big 19th century ones I've read). Farrell successfully juggles a large cast of characters, including a number of historical figures (his depiction of Arthur Percival is especially compelling). Ends on an effectively ambiguous note (unlike the other novels).

[kpjayan]

To get back to the original intention of this thread....

Fermat's Enigma - Simon Singh : If you have seen the BBC Documentary on Andrew Wiles achievement in proving the Ferma't Last Theorem, this is a kind of elaboration of the same. However Simon Singh progresses the book neatly from the Pythegoran times through the history , alexandria, the Arab-Indian works around the Mathematics to the medieval Europe ( OMG, there we go again to Medieval times). Smooth reading, not un-comforting you with those Mathematcal equations, I found it rather neatly presented.

[Daniel del Real]

http://www.worldliteratureforum.com/forum/images/flags/at.gif Joseph Roth, Radetzky March ****0
http://www.worldliteratureforum.com/forum/images/flags/es.gif Miguel Delibes, Five Hours with Mario ****0+
http://www.worldliteratureforum.com/forum/images/flags/lb.gif Amin Maalouf, In the Name of Identity: Violence and the Need to Belong ***00
http://www.worldliteratureforum.com/forum/images/flags/es.gif Eduardo Mendoza, The Amazing Journey of Pomponio Flato ***00+
http://www.worldliteratureforum.com/forum/images/flags/nl.gif Cees Nooteboom, Tombs of Poets and Thinkers ****0

[Colonel Green]

http://www.worldliteratureforum.com/forum/images/flags/gb.gif Darkness at Noon by Arthur Koestler *****
http://www.worldliteratureforum.com/forum/images/flags/gb.gif The Power and the Glory by Graham Greene *****
http://www.worldliteratureforum.com/forum/images/flags/gb.gif The End of the Affair by Graham Greene ****0
http://www.worldliteratureforum.com/forum/images/flags/gb.gif The Quiet American by Graham Greene *****

Amusingly, my mother bought tickets for a stage version of Travels With My Aunt without my knowing on whose work it was based, so this is has been a very Greene-oriented period.

[kpjayan]

Since I last posted here.

1. The Magic Flute - Part 1 of the Krishnavatara Series : K M Munshi

- Slightly text bookish language in the beginning ( probably due to the translation). Difficult to write a novel based on scriptures. But I thought, he did a commendable job.

2. The Monkey King - Timothy Mo : his first book. Family saga, of a Hongkong rich post WWII. Beautiful first part , dull and boring second, before a decent finish. Very oriental styled writing with lots of 'chinglish' phrases and local idioms. Good book, not great. I might not have grasped the connection to the Chinese folktale of 'Legend of the monkey King' , as intended.

3. The Rival - Sheridan : I think, on screen version of this had better appeal. The dramatic effects aren't as evident in the words. Not forgetting that it was written almost 3 centuries ago.

[Eric]

Unlike Colonel Green I've not finished any book about intelligence operative Graham Greene (though he's mentioned in one I'm reading), but have just finished a pleasant volume called "The House at Pooh Corner" by A.A. Milne (who is also mentioned there, as asked after by Wodehouse-in-Exile), which book was recommended to me some 35 years ago. I've finally got round to reading it, as I was wondering for those three and a half decades who Tigger was.

[Daniel del Real]

http://www.worldliteratureforum.com/forum/images/flags/pk.gif Tariq Ali, The Book of Saladin *****

[Flint]

Leaving the Atocha Station (Ben Lerner (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ben_Lerner))
Clever, intellectualish, with a sense of humour. Contains (among other things) scenes that illustrate wonderfully the struggle for communication between people who speak different languages.
You don't have to know the place (Madrid) where, and the time (the terrorist attacks in March 2004) when the story takes place, but it helps.

[kpjayan]

http://www.worldliteratureforum.com/forum/images/flags/pk.gif Tariq Ali, The Book of Saladin *****

I'm curious.. Could you give us a hint. Especially when you have rated it so high...

[Daniel del Real]

I'm curious.. Could you give us a hint. Especially when you have rated it so high...

Well, after reading The Crusades Through Arab Eyes last month, a new whole world came to my eyes. One of the most fascinating characters mentioned by Maalouf in that chronicle was the Sultan Salah-Al Din, who was able to reconquest Jerusalem in 1187 after almost a hundred years of Christian dominion. Ali takes this mythic figure and explores his life without distancing himself from history but filling the blanks the books didn't tell with fiction. I just love novels getting deep in the skin of historic characters, but it's not an easy task. This is the case where the reader has a perfect mix of history and fiction. Great great book.

[sirena]

http://www.worldliteratureforum.com/forum/images/flags/gb.gif Can You Forgive Her? - Anthony Trollope ****0

[Hamlet]

"Voices from the Great War" by Peter Vansittart
Pimlico.


divided up into each year, following a prelude, 1914-18, the voices belong to poets and politicians and variious other figures, many well known, many completely forgotten now, make this a very vivid and worthwhile (and fairly brief !) read on the path and insanity of WW1. I found it immensely useful for setting writers such as Hemmingway, Ford Madox Ford, and many others into context. Generally, I tend to think "some" historical background is useful for literature,but for the early 20th century, I'm beginning to think that it is key, to try and understand that generation, or the lost generation without it seems, almost, but not quite, impossible.

Oh, and I've just picked up John Steinbeck, A Life in Letters.

I'd also like to get hold of Working Days, his journal detailing his writing of The Grapes of Wrath, but that wont happen anytime soon.

[Mystic Melody]

i recently read "Disgrace" by J.M.Coetzee.....beautiful.......

[Colonel Green]

Shame by Salman Rushdie *****

The first of the two Rushdie novels I read is essentially a companion piece to Midnight's Children, focusing on Pakistan. It has a similar level of quality and inventiveness; Rushdie in his prime is definitely one of the most interesting prose stylists of the last 40 years.

Monsignor Quixote by Graham Greene ***00

The professor at UPEI who taught the course on John Milton was a big Greene fan, and espoused the virtues of this novel on a number of occasions (particularly the scene with the half-sized Holy Spirit bottle, which came up when we discussed the concept of the Trinity). It's a very pleasant read, even if it lacks the epic quality of earlier novels. Greene still can't be beat for his depiction of the questioning Catholic mind.

Dead Souls by Nikolai Gogol ***00 1/2

Having read a collection of his short-stories recently, I also read his main novel, part of unfinished trilogy (he burned the second part shortly before his death, apparently), has a lot to like, but it's, well, unfinished, and it feels like it.

Grimus by Salman Rushdie ***00 1/2

Salman Rushdie's first novel, which from what I've read he is apparently not that fond of. Rushdie's skill with prose is evident, but it's messier than his later novels; it doesn't feel like he has quite the same handle on the extremely convoluted plot. There are some really amazing pieces of writing here, though (the description of Gorf civilization is especially neat), and for people like me mainly familiar with his famous 80s novels this is an interesting departure.

[Daniel del Real]

http://www.worldliteratureforum.com/forum/images/flags/hu.gif Magda Szabo, The Door ****0
http://www.worldliteratureforum.com/forum/images/flags/hu.gif Sandor Marai, The Stranger ***00+

[Anja]

Sophie Kinsella: I've Got Your Number. :)

[kpjayan]

Christopher Isherwood - Prater Violet : Very good read. I think, he convey the sentiments of the people and nations of pre-Worldwar II build up , the best.

Mario Vargas Llosa - The Dream of the Celt : Impressive. Similar to his other history/biographical novels. The third part on Ireland, read more like a history textbook, and a biography than a work of fiction. Despite that, it is still a good book.

[Colonel Green]

The Killer Angels by Michael Shaara ****0

I had seen Gettysburg, the film adaptation, years ago on History Television (back when that channel wasn't a complete laughingstock). The book is a very good read, an example of what might be called historical docu-fiction. There's a minimum of invention, focusing on dramatizing historical figures' accounts of the battle, for the most part (helpfully including maps of all the troop movements).

Amsterdam by Ian McEwan ***00

Most of the way through I think this was at least a four-star novel, but the ending (for the two main characters; the coda is quite delicious) feels forced, and not a direction the story would have naturally gone.

[Daniel del Real]

http://www.worldliteratureforum.com/forum/images/flags/ar.gif Ernesto Sabato, Antes del Fin (Before the End) Memoir *****
Makes me mourn even more for his death. Keep thinking the loss of terrific writers + excellent human beings has been devastating in the last two years with the departure of Saramago, Sabato & Bradbury.

http://www.worldliteratureforum.com/forum/images/flags/ar.gif Guillermo Saccomanno, El Oficinista (The Office Worker) **000+
Expected much more from this short novel. It's like a Paul Auster dystopic novel without even being entertaining.

[Hamlet]

It would be interesting for those of us who are not quite so familiar with some of the authors mentioned within here to initially read a few lines about the concerns of these writers, perhaps a little bio, a few themes, and what the author is up to in the particular novel you've just read. I know we all do it, but it would make more sense of the "personal reaction" to the book.

We're just a consortia of opinions on here otherwise, and it can read very dry at times.

nb-just a polite a request, not aimed at anybody in particular.

[Daniel del Real]

I agree with you. I used to make a more formal review of the book or create a particular thread of the author, but now I have a lot of things to do at work and have become very lazy as well. Will try to be back in the good path ;)

[Daniel del Real]

http://www.worldliteratureforum.com/forum/images/flags/us.gif Ray Bradbury, The October Country ****0+

[kpjayan]

Bohumil Hrabal - Too Loud a Solitude : Astonishing. Wanting me to read more of this writer. Phenomenal book, even better that Closely observed trains. You don't need a 1000 pages to make the impact.

K M Munshi - Wrath of the Emperor (Krishnavathara II ) : Continuing with the second book of K M Munshi's epic on Lord Krishna. It was impressive to see him writing about the Yadava Prince, marred with political infighting of his tribe, the political and military maneuver of his enemies, which sounds contemporary. The 'divinity of the Lord' is at the background, and a struggling young prince trying to protect his sect is portrayed very well.

[Daniel del Real]

http://www.worldliteratureforum.com/forum/images/flags/ar.gif Jorge Luis Borges, El Informe Brodie ****0
http://www.worldliteratureforum.com/forum/images/flags/it.gif Alberto Moravia, Time of Indifference ***00+

[Hamlet]

I agree with you. I used to make a more formal review of the book or create a particular thread of the author, but now I have a lot of things to do at work and have become very lazy as well. Will try to be back in the good path ;)

Daniel, it's only because you guys are mentioning some interesting great reads, and I can tell by the snippets posted that people are enjoying these reads. I'm fairly weak on contemporary literature so it's part of why I'm here to expand the range of reading. It may well be that I only become *aware* of many of them, as quite a few may not be available, or time and personal choices mean that we have our own pile of books that are chosen for all sorts of personal reasons, but there's always the chance of discovering that new read, or even an author who becomes somebody we return to...

That aside - I will personally try to set out some upfront info, even for well-known authors, some bio, the plot/theme without spoilers etc.

Otherwise we fall into that web weakness, a propensity for making lists, interesting lists, but lists with little utility.

(nb- I do scribble down authors, and make a quick Wiki check, but like you, time is often an issue, I have peaks and troughs)

[sirena]

http://www.worldliteratureforum.com/forum/images/flags/gb.gif Phineas Finn - Anthony Trollope ****0

[Daniel del Real]

http://www.worldliteratureforum.com/forum/images/flags/mz.gif Mia Couto, Sleepwalking Land ****0
To be honest I expected much much more from this novel. Found it good, but with too many details that could have helped to build a better novel if corrected at the right moment. The main problem I see is that the author is so busy trying to keep the magic and mysticism of the wild Africa by creating legends, traditions, beliefs, superstitions, ghosts etc, that he loses the track of the narrative and misses the orientation of the plot. Liked the language he uses (what I still can perceive from the translation) as he tried to keep the oral tradition alive, creating verbs from nouns for example. Overall is a good read, but consider it inferior from his other novel I read, Venenos de Dios, Remedio del Diablo.

http://www.worldliteratureforum.com/forum/images/flags/ma.gif Tahar Ben Jelloun, The Last Friend ****0+
I like beter this author when he keeps it simple, with a straight forward narration. In this case he achieves a really good friendship story, with two fond characters that tell each other's story in first person. I found this novel very much in the style of a Sandor Marai novel, with a deep analysis of a relationship like very few authors can do, with a very solid creation of characters and situations. Overall, a memorable novel about a topic with a lot to explore yet.

[Cleanthess]

http://www.worldliteratureforum.com/forum/images/flags/ar.gif Jorge Luis Borges, El Informe Brodie ****0


The titular story of that collection overwhelmed me. A primitive society whose God is a termite? The fact that they geld their king to resemble the termite queen? Or the detail about their actual queen displaying favor by inflicting pain with needles?
Two inferior (when compared with Borges' tale) works with a similar premise are George P. Elliot's Among the Dangs and Juan Jose Saer's El entenado. A precursor would be Alvar Cabeza de Vaca's Naufragios.

[Ventis]

Philip Roth: Everyman - disappointingly banal. I was told his other novels are better, but I'm reluctant to try.
Nicole Krauss: Great House - I didn't really finish it. No matter how I tried, I couldn't force myself to keep reading. I loved her other two books, but this... very boring chaos.
Haruki Murakami - Wind Up Bird Chronicle - loved it. One of his best, I think. :)

[Flint]

Philip Roth: Everyman - disappointingly banal. I was told his other novels are better, but I'm reluctant to try.
I too found Everyman very disappointing. I'd suggest American Pastoral.

[Stiffelio]

Philip Roth: Everyman - disappointingly banal. I was told his other novels are better, but I'm reluctant to try.


Start with the earlier Roth. Portnoy's Complaint will have you laughing out so loudly that your neighbors will call 911. The first three Zuckerman novels are superb; you can find them together as Zuckerman Bound. The first one of this trilogy, i.e. The Ghost Writer, is a little masterpiece.

[Heteronym]

Philip Roth: Everyman - disappointingly banal. I was told his other novels are better, but I'm reluctant to try.

I haven't read it, but from what I know of Roth, it belongs to his period of decline. You should try his earlier novels:

Portnoy's Complaint
My Life as a Man
Operation Shylock
American Pastoral
I Married A Communist
The Plot Against America

are all strong, funny, complex novels.

[Raphael Lambach]

I just ended up Jules Verne's Uma Cidade Flutuante (A Floating city - I didn't know if it has an English edition).
Now I'm starting Bruno Schulz's Ficção completa- which is a vollection of Schulz ficctional works released in Brazil a couple of months ago.

[kpjayan]

August Strindberg - Six Plays : Collection of six plays ( The Father, Miss Julie, The Stronger, Easter, A Dream Play, The Ghost Sonata ). I am reading Strindberg for the first time. Mostly used to the newage plays, I found some of them very refreshing. I loved 'the father' and 'A Dream Play '.


Peter Hoeg - The Woman and the Ape : His name is in the Ladbroke's probables for the Nobel ( at 100/1). I had two of his books in my shelf for a while and I thought this might be the appropriate time to read him. Finished it this morning and I would say, I am not overwhelmed by this. Interesting subject and fairly intelligent writing. But, I am not a great fan of this kind of literature.

[Stevie B]

August Strindberg - Six Plays : Collection of six plays ( The Father, Miss Julie, The Stronger, Easter, A Dream Play, The Ghost Sonata ). I am reading Strindberg for the first time. Mostly used to the newage plays, I found some of them very refreshing. I loved 'the father' and 'A Dream Play '.

I think it's great that you took the time to read this collection, Jayan. I've always thought our local playhouse should perform a Strindberg production as part of their summer season. Not only would it be a departure from the usual lighter fare that is offered, but since so many people in northern Minnesota boast Scandinavian roots, it might increase the production's chances of being financially successful. Unfortunately, in a time of major cuts in state funding for the arts here, play selection decisions are often grounded in a production's potential to put butts in seats.

[kpjayan]

I think it's great that you took the time to read this collection, Jayan. I've always thought our local playhouse should perform a Strindberg production as part of their summer season. Not only would it be a departure from the usual lighter fare that is offered, but since so many people in northern Minnesota boast Scandinavian roots, it might increase the production's chances of being financially successful. Unfortunately, in a time of major cuts in state funding for the arts here, play selection decisions are often grounded in a production's potential to put butts in seats.

The "Bangalore Theater Festival", concluded last month had "Miss Julie", performed by one of the New Delhi based amateur troupe. Which, in fact, prompted me to read this book.

[Ladybird]

Few days ago I finished “The Master and Margaret”, by Russian author Mikhail Bulgakov. Actually it was the 3rd time I read it, but every time I return to this novel I understand it in a bit different way, I suppose it’s because I’m getting older as the first time I read it I was just 17 and now I’m 28… Anyway this is my favorite book for all the times and I’m sure it was not the last time I read it)

[Cleanthess]

Few days ago I finished “The Master and Margaret”, by Russian author Mikhail Bulgakov. Actually it was the 3rd time I read it, but every time I return to this novel I understand it in a bit different way, I suppose it’s because I’m getting older as the first time I read it I was just 17 and now I’m 28… Anyway this is my favorite book for all the times and I’m sure it was not the last time I read it)

I share the admiration, Master and Margarita is my second favorite novel of all time (the first being The Story of the Stone). It still hurts when I remember the handkerchief put back on the night table every evening... And how Margarita sacrifices her one wish to put an end to that punishment :(.

[Daniel del Real]

http://www.worldliteratureforum.com/forum/images/flags/fi.gif Sofi Oksanen, Purge *****

[Hamlet]

Few days ago I finished “The Master and Margaret”, by Russian author Mikhail Bulgakov. Actually it was the 3rd time I read it, but every time I return to this novel I understand it in a bit different way, I suppose it’s because I’m getting older as the first time I read it I was just 17 and now I’m 28… Anyway this is my favorite book for all the times and I’m sure it was not the last time I read it)


I haven't yet read this book, but I should do so.

It was recommended a few years ago to me, and since then I've kind of dipped into it, or read up on it. It's interesting when a book like this suddenly crops up on a forum and you think "...... it's another sign!....." a subtle hint informing one from somewhere out in the Cosmos that one must read this book!

But it will have to wait.

[kpjayan]

http://www.worldliteratureforum.com/forum/images/flags/fi.gif Sofi Oksanen, Purge *****
That's interesting. My rating was the same !

[DouglasM]

http://www.worldliteratureforum.com/forum/images/flags/fi.gif Sofi Oksanen, Purge *****

Can you tell us a bit about this book, please? Looks promising, I almost bought it today.

[pesahson]

http://www.worldliteratureforum.com/forum/images/flags/fi.gif Sofi Oksanen, Purge *****


That's interesting. My rating was the same !

Two five star ratings. Hmmm, you convinced me ;). I checked it out from a library today. I hope it won't let me down.

[Daniel del Real]

That's interesting. My rating was the same !

It is a very good novel; probably the final could have been stronger, as the brief epistolary pages didn't completely work for me.

[Daniel del Real]

http://www.worldliteratureforum.com/forum/images/flags/fi.gif Arto Paasilinna Reverend Huuskonen's Beastly Manservant ****0

In these days, where good literature is supposed to be serious, this authors comes with a series of picaresque novels, in which, with a splendid and very clever sense of humor, deals with some of the worse problems & issues of the human genre. This time, all of these clown-like behavior of humans are reflected through the image of a bear, a gift for Reverend Huuskonen for his 50th birthday. The humanizing process of the bear is the passage that Paasilinna takes advantage to, in a constant hilarious mood, take us to an epic journey through different motives as religion, love relationships, nationalism, wars, etc. I was laughing in every page and at the same time realizing how deep and caustic was his criticism to modern western society.
I've said it before and I confirm it with this novel: Paasilinna is a refreshing breath for modern literature.

[DouglasM]

http://www.worldliteratureforum.com/forum/images/flags/pt.gif O filho de mil homens (The Son Of A Thousand Men), Valter Hugo Mãe ***00

[Daniel del Real]

http://www.worldliteratureforum.com/forum/images/flags/pt.gif O filho de mil homens (The Son Of A Thousand Men), Valter Hugo Mãe ***00

Hey Douglas, could you tell more about this book and your impressions of it? Yesterday I bought a máquina de fazer espanhóis and I'll be assisting to a lecture he'll be giving early October. Really interested to see what this young author has to offer.

[DouglasM]

Hi, Daniel.

He was the sensation of last year's FLIP, Brazil's foremost literature fair, where he released a máquina de fazer espanhois. O filho de mil homens is my first contact with him, and I actualy enjoyed the reading. It tells the story of a man who reaches the age of 40 without having a son. Because of that he considers himself only half a man - and that's an autobiographical account of his own life. To sum things up: the narrative follows Crisóstomo as he pursues happiness and how it comes knocking at his door. It's a simple, but touching story. His prose is beautifully written, probably a fruit of his years writing poetry. His style is unique.

But somehow, despite all that, something is lacking. This justifies my three starts. I think he's often too naive, which is irritating sometimes. However, for some people this innocence is where the true beauty of this novel resides. If I were you I'd give Hugo Mãe a chance, specially if you're in the mood for a very sensible but soothing reading.

[Daniel del Real]

Hi, Daniel.

He was the sensation of last year's FLIP, Brazil's foremost literature fair, where he released a máquina de fazer espanhois. O filho de mil homens is my first contact with him, and I actualy enjoyed the reading. It tells the story of a man who reaches the age of 40 without having a son. Because of that he considers himself only half a man - and that's an autobiographical account of his own life. To sum things up: the narrative follows Crisóstomo as he pursues happiness and how it comes knocking at his door. It's a simple, but touching story. His prose is beautifully written, probably a fruit of his years writing poetry. His style is unique.

But somehow, despite all that, something is lacking. This justifies my three starts. I think he's often too naive, which is irritating sometimes. However, for some people this innocence is where the true beauty of this novel resides. If I were you I'd give Hugo Mãe a chance, specially if you're in the mood for a very sensible but soothing reading.

Thanks Douglas. I read the first chapter and I can tell he has a very particular and peculiar narrative mode. He seems to have a lot of influence by Saramago on how his prose flows without many punctuation; he doesn't even use capital letters (don't know if this is something recurrent in his narrative or it's only for this book). However, Saramago seems to be more achieved and fluent in this kind of recurrent thinking flow, but hey, I can't judge him by only one chapter ah?

From what I've read Mae has a set of novels (four I think) that go through different ages of human being. This novel I bought is about tha last stage, and old man of 84 years. I would love to read them chronologically, but unfortunately don't have the right material at my disposition.

[Daniel del Real]

http://www.worldliteratureforum.com/forum/images/flags/jp.gif Kenzaburo Oe, Changeling ***00+

Let me start saying this is not a book for everyone. Not even for someone who wants to start reading this great author. Kenzaburo Oe is known for incorporating a lot of his own life and experience into his novels, so this is not something new. Every author in such a way follows this tendency, but all Oe readers will agree his situation is something different. Now this novel, although it shares that characteristic with his other works, can be described as something more cryptic and specialized as he tackles many of the situations and problems he had previously refer on may other novels. Lots of innuendos or sometimes direct references to personal conflicts he had dealt before in novels like The Silent Cry, A Personal Matter, etc. You also have to be very carefully as he easily switches from present to past when detailing his relationship with his friend and brother in law Goro. Even the present tense is switched to what happens at the moment and the time Kogito (Oe) spends listening the tapes of his deceased friend through a sort of walkman and headphones. This is a very personal novel that englobes many important events on the life of Kenzaburo and that enlightens the reader on the real maze present at this also brilliant mind.

[Stiffelio]

http://www.worldliteratureforum.com/forum/images/flags/jp.gif Kenzaburo Oe, Changeling ***00+

Let me start saying this is not a book for everyone. Not even for someone who wants to start reading this great author. Kenzaburo Oe is known for incorporating a lot of his own life and experience into his novels, so this is not something new. Every author in such a way follows this tendency, but all Oe readers will agree his situation is something different. Now this novel, although it shares that characteristic with his other works, can be described as something more cryptic and specialized as he tackles many of the situations and problems he had previously refer on may other novels. Lots of innuendos or sometimes direct references to personal conflicts he had dealt before in novels like The Silent Cry, A Personal Matter, etc. You also have to be very carefully as he easily switches from present to past when detailing his relationship with his friend and brother in law Goro. Even the present tense is switched to what happens at the moment and the time Kogito (Oe) spends listening the tapes of his deceased friend through a sort of walkman and headphones. This is a very personal novel that englobes many important events on the life of Kenzaburo and that enlightens the reader on the real maze present at this also brilliant mind.

I haven't yet read the Changeling so I can't judge, but you must read The Silent Cry and A Personal Matter first.

[Daniel del Real]

I haven't yet read the Changeling so I can't judge, but you must read The Silent Cry and A Personal Matter first.

Already did :)

[Daniel del Real]

http://www.worldliteratureforum.com/forum/images/flags/us.gif Cormac McCarthy, Blood Meridian *****

Quite a challenge but it was all worth it. Need time to fully digest this immense biblical novel but after finished I was shocked by the grotesque finale. Judge Holden is one of the purest form of evil I've witnessed in a character, terrible semi-god/demon form, omnipresent and gigantic. I'll try to comment more later.

[kpjayan]

(http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/13188126-adayalangal)Stupid Guy Goes to India - Yukichi Yamamatsu (graphics novel): If you are an non-Indian and have experienced India, you are likely to rate this book high. Coming to India for job, Yamamatsu a Manga artist, lands up In Delhi. The next 200 pages are his attempt to find foot hold in India trying to publish Manga Books here in India. His attempt to find accommodation, translators, printing , trying to sell the book. It's a casual read. Funny & hilarious if you are a non-Indian and a bit underwhelming if you are an Indian. It has all the ingredients you expect a foreigner to see in India; cows on the road, crowded market places, general confusion with the language, improper mannerisms, lack of ethics and professionalism, dirty lanes, pickpockets, prostitutes, cheaters , filthy slums etc etc. The art per se, is brilliant. His drawings of Indian Deities, Mahatma Gandhi and multiple Indian characters are very good. However, beyond some good drawings and his general experiences and 'conformation' of the general view about India, this book has nothing else to offer.

അടയാളങ്ങൾ ( atayalangal - the signals / the markings ) - Sethu : Conflicts in a mother-daughter relationship. At the outset, a standard, cinematic, cliched plot. Except for the clever incorporation of the subplots related to her work as an HR head of a private firm, and the story of a sugar factory, where the workers commit suicide at the age of 59( one year before their retirement), in order to get the job to their direct descendant, the book is a very very ordinary read.

[Daniel del Real]

http://www.worldliteratureforum.com/forum/images/flags/es.gif Ramón del Valle Inclán, Luces de Bohemia (Bohemian Lights) *****

A brief review on a thread on its own.

[Stevie B]

James Baldwin: Giovanni's Room ****0

Must have been a ground-breaking novel when it was first published in 1953. I really enjoyed this book and I was impressed at Baldwin's ability to create mood and write dialogue. My only fault with the novel is not knowing enough about David, the book's narrator. He is so closed off emotionally that it is difficult to understand how Giovanni became so infatuated with him. On the other hand, I imagine Baldwin was probably wanting to emphasize how difficult it was for a gay man to come to terms with his sexuality during the early '50s.

[kpjayan]

James Baldwin: Giovanni's Room ****0

Must have been a ground-breaking novel when it was first published in 1953. I really enjoyed this book and I was impressed at Baldwin's ability to create mood and write dialogue. My only fault with the novel is not knowing enough about David, the book's narrator. He is so closed off emotionally that it is difficult to understand how Giovanni became so infatuated with him. On the other hand, Baldwin was probably wanting to emphasize how difficult it was for a gay man to come to terms with his sexuality during the early '50s.

I liked this book, better than 'Go Tell it on the Mountains'.

[kpjayan]

Louis-Ferdinand Celine - Journey to the End of the Night : Dark and pessimistic. First 100 pages went smoothly and then it start getting on to you. Laboring through the rest of the pages. One can see, why he is considered a master. In the end it leave you perplexed as to what was so great, apart from the general nihilistic view of life.

Ayn Rand - The Night of January 16th : Court room drama of a murder mystery trial. Apart from the anticipated twists and turns, it did not have the class. Decent , not great.

[Stevie B]

Louis-Ferdinand Celine - Journey to the End of the Night : Dark and pessimistic. First 100 pages went smoothly and then it start getting on to you. Laboring through the rest of the pages. One can see, why he is considered a master. In the end it leave you perplexed as to what was so great, apart from the general nihilistic view.

This novel is frequently referenced in the Forum. Part of me has been tempted to read it, but another part has been a bit intimidated. I think I've feared the "laboring" you noted, especially when it involves such a lengthy novel.

[Daniel del Real]

http://www.worldliteratureforum.com/forum/images/flags/ar.gif Alan Pauls, Wasabi ***00+
At some moments it can be similar to Bolaño, but it lacks the punch and of course the natural talent he had as a narrator.

[Davus]

Ruth Prawer Jhabvala, Heat and Dust ***00
Nice portrait of two women changed by the "atmosphere" of India during and after British colonialism but it is not utterly convincing and a little bit too shallow in its construction suggesting similarities and pointing differences in the fate of those women.
Orhan Pamuk, Istanbul: Memories and the City ***00+
At some moments (especially when Pamuk analyzes cultural texts about Istanbul) it is very interesting but those parts in which he tries to describe his childhood, family and his connection to the City are too repetitive and uninspiring. His novels Snow and The White Castle are IMO much, much better.

[huajima]

Here's what I read in 2011:




The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, Stieg Larsson
Le Morte D'arthur, Thomas Malory,
Knots and Crosses, Ian Rankin,
A Sport and a Pastime, James Salter,
White Teeth, Zadie Smith,
Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother, Amy Chua,
Mozart in the Jungle, Blair Tindall,
War and Peace, Leo Tolstoy,
The Odyssey, Homer,
The Collected Stories of Jean Stafford, Jean Stafford,
The Killer Inside Me, Jim Thompson,
Thank You, Jeeves, P. G. Wodehouse,
The Sea, John Banville,
Him with His Foot in His Mouth and Other Stories, Saul Bellow,
The Devil, Ken Bruen,
London Boulevard, Ken Bruen,
Captain Corelli's Mandolin, Louis de Bernieres,
Geek Love, Katherine Dunn,
Silas Marner, George Eliot,
The Gathering, Anne Enright,
Women with Men, Richard Ford,
Where Angels Fear to Tread, E. M. Forster,
Tinkers, Paul Harding,
The Return of the Native, Thomas Hardy,
Richard III, William Shakespeare,
Schindler's Ark, Thomas Kineally,
The Girl Who Played With Fire, Stieg Larsson,
The Stepford Wives, Ira Levin,
The Brothers Bulger, Howie Carr,
Moonlight Mile, Dennis Lehane,
Solar, Ian McEwan,
Elbow Room, James Alan McPherson,
House Made of Dawn, N. Scott Momaday,
Jazz, Toni Morrison,
The Bird Artist, Howard Norman,
Afternoon Men, Anthony Powell,
Tooth and Nail, Ian Rankin,
Strip Jack, Ian Rankin,
Nemesis, Philip Roth,
Mating, Norman Rush,
Mohawk, Richard Russo,
Blindness, Jose Saramago,
The Quantity Theory of Insanity, Will Self,
Candide, Voltaire,
On Beauty, Zadie Smith,
Gilgamesh, Stephen Mitchell,
The Oedipus Cycle, Sophocles,
A Far Cry From Kensington, Muriel Spark,
Too Far to Go, John Updike,
Wampeters, Foma & Granfalloons, Kurt Vonnegut,
The Girl Who Kicked the Hornets' Nest, Stieg Larsson
The Code of the Woosters, P. G. Wodehouse
Revolutionary Road, Richard Yates
Cat's Eye, Margaret Atwood
Pere Goriot, Honore de Balzac
The Actual, Saul Bellow
Headstone, Ken Bruen
The Professor's House, Willa Cather
Journey to the End of the Night, Louis Ferdinand Celine
Poor Miss Finch, Wilkie Collins
Out of Africa, Isak Dinesen

[Hamlet]

... that's a very nicely balanced list of readiing huajima!


nb- I wonder what you're 2012 list will end up looking like?

[Hamlet]

Fabulous, keep going. ;) "10" to go to match last year's total.

Actually, I'd like to read Birdsong sometime, how did you find it... Tales of Genji is interesting, isn't it, a big read though and fairly specialist... (are you aware of the Diary of Lady Murasaki btw, a very slim volume publshed by Penguin. I only became aware of it because it was sitting next to the T of Genji at my library, an interesting background companion... )

Bright Lights, Big City, pleased I read it without knowing about all of the fuss to do with the author's life and it being based [at least in part] on him, and so forth... very upbeat and perfect ending IMHO.

How did you find Return of the Native, I used to be a big Hardy reader, thinking of going back to him - esp the poetry which I barely know at all, I had to study Jude the Obscure so that experience more or less ruined it for me. But know, it would be worth a peak again.

[Hamlet]

oh, to add, just saw The Counterfeiters by Gide, not sure if I knew of that volume, may have stumbled across it recently, but had read "Straight is the Gate".

I tended to warm towards Albert Camus, when/if going for all things "existentialist", wasn't too taken with Sartre, Nausea, Roads to Freedom et al, but would probably look at some Gide again.

Again, that's a nice mixture ...

How about Under the Volcano, by Malcolm Lowry, I'm reading it at the moment, and it's not an easy read, but it's worth the effort IMHO. You also have some crime fiction in there I see, a Dennis Lehane, I'm not a big crime reader, but discovered Scott Phillips a few years ago, The Ice Harvest, Cottonwood, The Adjustment, which I'd recommend for something a bit different, but as always it's a taste thing.

[kpjayan]

Fabulous, keep going. ;) "10" to go to match last year's total.

May be the list should go here... Its not been updated for a while.

http://www.worldliteratureforum.com/forum/showthread.php/49256-WLF-Reading-List-2012?highlight=Reading+list+2012

[Hamlet]

I hadn't come across that Jayan, thanks, will have to have a look at those lists when I get a sec...

[huajima]

Fabulous, keep going. ;) "10" to go to match last year's total.

Actually, I'd like to read Birdsong sometime, how did you find it... Tales of Genji is interesting, isn't it, a big read though and fairly specialist... (are you aware of the Diary of Lady Murasaki btw, a very slim volume publshed by Penguin. I only became aware of it because it was sitting next to the T of Genji at my library, an interesting background companion... )

Bright Lights, Big City, pleased I read it without knowing about all of the fuss to do with the author's life and it being based [at least in part] on him, and so forth... very upbeat and perfect ending IMHO.

How did you find Return of the Native, I used to be a big Hardy reader, thinking of going back to him - esp the poetry which I barely know at all, I had to study Jude the Obscure so that experience more or less ruined it for me. But know, it would be worth a peak again.




I have another 10 years worth in my "diary" but I don't want to be obnoxious about it..

I found Birdsong to be ok. I understand it was a huge bestseller in the UK a few years back. Pat Barker's Regeneration trilogy is much better. I also liked Evelyn Waugh's Sword Trilogy.

Tale of Genji didn't do much for me.

I am a big Thomas Hardy fan, with The Mayor of Casterbridge being my favorite

[huajima]

oh, to add, just saw The Counterfeiters by Gide, not sure if I knew of that volume, may have stumbled across it recently, but had read "Straight is the Gate".

I tended to warm towards Albert Camus, when/if going for all things "existentialist", wasn't too taken with Sartre, Nausea, Roads to Freedom et al, but would look at some Gide once more.

Again, that's a nice mixture ...

How about Under the Volcano, by Malcolm Lowry, I'm reading it at the moment, and it's not an easy read, but it's worth the effort IMHO. You also have some crime fiction in there I see, a Dennis Lehane, I'm not a big crime reader, but discovered Scott Phillips a few years ago, The Ice Harvest, Cottonwood, The Adjustment, which I'd recommend for something a bit different, but as always it's a taste thing.



The Counterfeiters was so so for me. You didn't enjoy The Age of Reason by Sartre? I did

I didn't get Under the Volcano at all.

My "degree of separation" with Dennis Lehane is a 2, so I have read all of his novels, which are all signed first editions. I do enjoy crime fiction somewhat. Thanks for the tip on Scott Phillips. Have you tried Ken Bruen's Jack Taylor series?

[pesahson]

In the last couple of days I finished some novels and here’s my update. The Purge by Sofi Oksanen was a little underwhelming. I had high hopes for this one. It’s not a bad novel by any means, but I can’t help but notice that some subplots weren’t credible enough. The Book About Blanche and Marie by Per Olov Enquist on the other hand, started uninterestingly for me but in the end I really liked it. The first 100 pages were confusing, the narration is defragmented as POV uses Blanches diary and we just get bits and pieces in achronological order. Fortunately by the end of this rather short book (only 230 pages in the Polish edition) everthing makes sense. I recommend that one.
I also had high hopes for Tranquility by Attila Bartis and they were met. This book is brutal and funny and beautifully written. Highly recommended. If only anything else by Bartis was available for me. His debut has been translated into French but I don't know it well enough to be able to enjoy it.

[maidenhair]

I also had high hopes for Tranquility by Attila Bartis and they were met. This book is brutal and funny and beautifully written. Highly recommended. If only anything else by Bartis was available for me. His debut has been translated into French but I don't know it well enough to be able to enjoy it.

Dear Pesahson, does that mean that the book is really funny in the common sense? From the blurb etc I would expect something deeply negative and depressing, from which I would like to stay away from for the time being. How would you summarise the general atmosphere of the book? Thanks!

[pesahson]

Dear Pesahson, does that mean that the book is really funny in the common sense? From the blurb etc I would expect something deeply negative and depressing, from which I would like to stay away from for the time being. How would you summarise the general atmosphere of the book? Thanks!

I meant that there were moments that I laughed out loud. Maybe it's just my twisted sense of humour but those moments had to do with violent expressions of emotions. I didn't find this book depressing although it deals with some heavy topics (I don't want to give anything away). I think it's because of the writing, I found myself entranced by it at times.

[Hamlet]

I have another 10 years worth in my "diary" but I don't want to be obnoxious about it..

I found Birdsong to be ok. I understand it was a huge bestseller in the UK a few years back. Pat Barker's Regeneration trilogy is much better. I also liked Evelyn Waugh's Sword Trilogy.

Tale of Genji didn't do much for me.

I am a big Thomas Hardy fan, with The Mayor of Casterbridge being my favorite

Not obnoxious at all, but that might take you some time to type up, hey. :o A "diary" , hmm, sounds slightly mysterious.

I'll look up the Regeneration trilogy. I only skimmed Genji, it's quite a task, often compared to Proust, but I think it's one of those "a lot of work to be put in" to really appreciate, works myself.
Evelyn Waugh is a favourite, I recently watched a new TV production of Brideshead... haunting...

[Hamlet]

and re your second post:

Sartre and "Roads", well, it was "big" in a way with a set of college friends, in fact the whole existential canon was fascinating for a while for us, a long while, but I think it's partly because Sartre's reputation has dimmed somewhat for many, so the man may be affecting my perceptions, dim now, of what I previously enjoyed. There's a few comments that cut to it in "Cultural Amnesia", by Clive James, a sort of whistlestop, but still fairly rigourous tour of 20th century key personalities, and James' comments on Sartre sum it up, if you're passing that book in a bookstore and get a chance to dip in you'll see what I mean - too longwinded to explain on a web board?!

Under the Volcano requires at least three reads, apparently, to get it. A time investment. I have only indulged in 'one', but I really enyoyed what I saw, the prose and execution and so forth...

No, I didn't know of Ken Bruen's Jack Taylor series, but I'm reading more and more crime fiction these days it seems, if you are in the USA, and can get Radio 4 by way of digital radio btw, there's a major 15 episode series about European crime writing on soon, with the actual authors dropping in .... will begin in a week's time, we get something called "Iplayer" over here, so we can just watch it anytime as a type of podcast, and with time zones and all of that, it may not suit you?

But it looks very interesting and seems to be one of those very rare and high quality broadcasts, with 45 minute slots, Mark Lawson hosting... 17 or so major crime authors reviewed and the whole Scandinavian explosion ...

Say hello to Dennis for me. I've watched him interviewed, I think it was him at least, he said something like "most people say life is too short, I say it's too long... " and then went on to explain his fiction and outlook -- roughly paraphrased.

[Cleanthess]

Not obnoxious at all, but that might take you some time to type up, hey. :o A "diary" , hmm, sounds slightly mysterious.

I'll look up the Regeneration trilogy. I only skimmed Genji, it's quite a task, often compared to Proust, but I think it's one of those "a lot of work to be put in" to really appreciate, works myself.

I didn't like Under the Volcano. At. All. The way Lowry peppers Spanish things throughout the book was painful to read:

"Adiós," she added in Spanish, "I have no house only a shadow. But whenever you are in need of a shadow, my shadow is yours."
"Thank you."
"Sank you."
"Not sank you, Señora Gregorio, thank you."
"Sank you.”

Or as the Rolling Stones put it better:
"Baby, you can rest your weary head right on me / And there will always be a space in my parking lot / When you need a little Coca Cola and sympathy"

Sadly, Genji must be read with notes and commentary to bridge the 1000 years between the world of Murasaki and ours. A critical commentary will warn you about the Readers' Pass (I kinda remember it being around chapter 16, Sekiya), where most readers drop the book, so that you can skip a few pages around that point and keep going.

The notes will also let you know that one jilted female character, during her sleep, is haunting as a ghost her rival female character. We know this because when the morning comes the hair of the nightly ghost-becoming woman smells like the incense burned at her rival's house.

[Daniel del Real]

At some moments (especially when Pamuk analyzes cultural texts about Istanbul) it is very interesting but those parts in which he tries to describe his childhood, family and his connection to the City are too repetitive and uninspiring. His novels Snow and The White Castle are IMO much, much better.

This is one of the few books I've stayed away from reading it. Something curious happened to me reading Pamuk: I was a big fan because apparently I started by his best books (My Name is Red, The Black Book, Snow, The White Castle) and then later his glitter and talent seemed to faded out and the last two I read, The New Life & The Museum of Innocence were completely tedious and uninteresting for me. Reading your review didn't precisely makes me jump to get the Istanbul.


May be the list should go here... Its not been updated for a while.

http://www.worldliteratureforum.com/forum/showthread.php/49256-WLF-Reading-List-2012?highlight=Reading+list+2012

You're right, just merged it to the referred thread.

[Daniel del Real]

In the last couple of days I finished some novels and here’s my update. The Purge by Sofi Oksanen was a little underwhelming. I had high hopes for this one. It’s not a bad novel by any means, but I can’t help but notice that some subplots weren’t credible enough.

Can you please detail on those uncredible subplots? I read it last month and thought it was a really good novel, but probably I'm missing something you didn't as you're closer to the sport and the history surrounding these events.


.
I also had high hopes for Tranquility by Attila Bartis and they were met. This book is brutal and funny and beautifully written. Highly recommended. If only anything else by Bartis was available for me. His debut has been translated into French but I don't know it well enough to be able to enjoy it.

Just amazing. Atrocity claims a place in magnificent literature in these pages.

[Hamlet]

I didn't like Under the Volcano. At. All. The way Lowry peppers Spanish things throughout the book was painful to read:

"Adiós," she added in Spanish, "I have no house only a shadow. But whenever you are in need of a shadow, my shadow is yours."
"Thank you."
"Sank you."
"Not sank you, Señora Gregorio, thank you."
"Sank you.”

Or as the Rolling Stones put it better:
"Baby, you can rest your weary head right on me / And there will always be a space in my parking lot / When you need a little Coca Cola and sympathy"

Sadly, Genji must be read with notes and commentary to bridge the 1000 years between the world of Murasaki and ours. A critical commentary will warn you about the Readers' Pass (I kinda remember it being around chapter 16, Sekiya), where most readers drop the book, so that you can skip a few pages around that point and keep going.

The notes will also let you know that one jilted female character, during her sleep, is haunting as a ghost her rival female character. We know this because when the morning comes the hair of the nightly ghost-becoming woman smells like the incense burned at her rival's house.

I can imagine as many as 9/10 people, not liking UTV. I remember the lines you mention, they struck me as a little discordant.

The Rolling Stones are always a pleasure, personally I'd keep them separate from Lowry, just in case of accidents.

Genji: I'm not convinced that notes alone would do the trick Cl, I suspect that for many a background or "backlight" of ancient Japanese Literature and being a speaker and a few other "tools" perhaps would be required to switch on the light.

[pesahson]

Can you please detail on those uncredible subplots? I read it last month and thought it was a really good novel, but probably I'm missing something you didn't as you're closer to the sport and the history surrounding these events.


I was waiting for some continuation with Oksana. She seems to appear just to give impulse for the character to become victim of human trafficers. And then there's no mention of her. It seemed very "fictional" for me. Zara doesn't think about her anymore (neither with regret nor anger). It seems she is just a plot device.
I also wish there was more about her mother and grandmother after there were forced to leave Estonia. The book would have to be longer because of that, but I think it would have really added to the drama.

[Daniel del Real]

I was waiting for some continuation with Oksana. She seems to appear just to give impulse for the character to become victim of human trafficers. And then there's no mention of her. It seemed very "fictional" for me. Zara doesn't think about her anymore (neither with regret nor anger). It seems she is just a plot device.
I also wish there was more about her mother and grandmother after there were forced to leave Estonia. The book would have to be longer because of that, but I think it would have really added to the drama.

I agree with you, it doesn't go as deep as it should go to the human traffic plot. Also the epistolary ending lack the punch the rest of the novel had. It would've been better to finish the novel 40 pages before when the plot at the cabin has its ending. However I enjoyed it so much that I forgave those details and gave it a 5 star.

[Flint]

Lorry Moore, The Collected Stories

[Cleanthess]

Lorry Moore, The Collected Stories

Mr. Flint, so good to see you around. So, how did you like 'em Lorrie Moore's apples? I particularly enjoyed her 'Two boys' (for every girl) story from the 'Like Life' collection.

[Daniel del Real]

http://www.worldliteratureforum.com/forum/images/flags/ro.gif Mircea Cartarescu, Nostalgia ****0

I've spoken about overall impressions of the book as I was reading it at the authors thread. Still need to fully digest it so I can give my final thoughts on this very peculiar "novel". What I can say by now is that this is something totally different to what I have previously read.

[Flint]

http://www.worldliteratureforum.com/forum/images/flags/ro.gif Mircea Cartarescu, Nostalgia ****0

I've spoken about overall impressions of the book as I was reading it at the authors thread. Still need to fully digest it so I can give my final thoughts on this very peculiar "novel". What I can say by now is that this is something totally different to what I have previously read.

Sounds interesting. I've got to do some research on this novel.

[Flint]

Mr. Flint, so good to see you around. So, how did you like 'em Lorrie Moore's apples? I particularly enjoyed her 'Two boys' (for every girl) story from the 'Like Life' collection.
Thank you! I've been travelling with very little technology at my disposal and very little time to make use of it - that's why I've not been participating lately.

Re Lorry Moore, I'd already read some of her stories in The New Yorker as well as one of her collections - Birds of America - then in a bookshop I often go to I found a volume of The Collected Stories (2009) and snapped it. You see, these days my fiction reading is like ninety per cent short stories - I don't generally speaking have time or storage space in my brain for novels. (Sometimes it's mini or micro-stories, like Lydia Davis's or John Robert Lennon's).

Funny you should mention 'Two Boys', which was also one of the stories I liked best. There's a passage in it which I think is one of the best pieces of description I've found in English-language literature:

"She lived in a small room above a meat company-Alexander Hamilton Pork-and in front, daily, they wheeled in the pale, fatty carcasses, hooked and naked, uncut, unhooved. She tried not to let the refrigerated smell follow her in the door, up the stairs, the vague shame and hamburger death of it, though sometimes it did".

Worth a Nobel Prize