Recently finished books?

[Stewart]

Have just this minute finished The Brief Wondrous Life Of Oscar Wao by Junot Díaz. It's been an exhausting read and I think, for the most part, reading it is akin to the white boy in the wrong neighbourhood stereotype with its reams of ghetto Spanglish that were often unintelligible from the context. Not to mention the bucketload of sci-fi references that meant nothing to me. And pages of lengthy disruptive footnotes. It's strange, despite all this, the narrative has such an energy that it, at the very least, engages and propels to the end.

[nnyhav]

Doris Lessing, The Golden Notebook.

[saliotthomas]

ignorance by Milan Kundera

Amsterdam by Ian mcEwan booker price98

[Stewart]

Originally Posted by saliotthomas

Amsterdam by Ian mcEwan booker price98

I liked Amsterdam. What annoys me most is the people who say it shouldn't have won the Booker and Atonement should have. Well, a bok can only stand up against the others in the same competition and the judges deemed Amsterdam the best of that year. Atonement, as should be obvious, was a completely different year. There can't be a valid comparison, as far as the competition goes.

[saliotthomas]

Maybe with the reading of another of his books i might find it better.I just found the all a bit too tidy,the 2 friends so different,both on a special work,the failure,the poisoning?,the cheated husband revenge,...clockwork.There are good parts,specialy in the creation of music,the lakes and clive charactere,but again i found the all to purposefull,(but it seem that since Makine it's something i see i all books).And very British,local in the treatement of the press work.
But i really need to read more McEwan.

[Stewart]

I think the general concensus with McEwan is that he's a great short story teller and his novels, for the most part, are just overlong short stories. I really must read Atonement one day.

[nnyhav]

Originally Posted by Stewart

I really must read Atonement one day.

Only when you have something for which you feel you must atone ...

[Mirabell]

Originally Posted by nnyhav

Only when you have something for which you feel you must atone ...

agreed.

[Mirabell]

yeah point is, my online bookseller told me to go fuck myself, he doesn't stock it any more. So I thought of ordering it over amazon. meh. after the first comment there was a possibility I wouldn't need to. now I'll have to. damn.

[cuchulain]

My reading has really slowed recently.

Recently finished Boris Vian's wonderful L'Ecume Des Jours, translated by Brian Harper as Foam of the Daze.

First time I read it, it was translated as Mood Indigo. Wonderful book. Dada. Pataphysics. Slap stick. Crazy, with a bit of satire and social commentary thrown in.

Any book that has Jean Sol Partre in it, and lists all of his books as various riffs off of (and synonyms for) Nausea is going to be good.

[saliotthomas]

Originally Posted by cuchulain

Recently finished Boris Vian's wonderful L'Ecume Des Jours, translated by Brian Harper as Foam of the Daze.

First time I read it, it was translated as Mood Indigo. Wonderful book. Dada. Pataphysics. Slap stick. Crazy, with a bit of satire and social commentary thrown in.

I shall re-read it soon too.With your help we might give Boris Vian a chance with our friends here.He is a interesting item in the French literature,far more than the better known names of the beat generation.

[cuchulain]

The new translation reads better, IMO. It's supposed to be based upon a definitive text. Mood Indigo, apparently, wasn't.

I was amazed that Boris Vian is actually on youtube. I used one of his videos for a brief blog post here (about Vian and movies, among other things). Wrote the post before my reread of his novel.

[nnyhav]

B.S.Johnson, The Unfortunates

[Sybarite]

Just finished Graham Greene's Our Man in Havana.

[nnyhav]

Osamu Dazai, The Setting Sun: a bit of a disappointment for this reader, quite a bit of disappointment for the author. But I'll be giving No Longer Human a shot.

[cuchulain]

Originally Posted by nnyhav

Osamu Dazai, The Setting Sun: a bit of a disappointment for this reader, quite a bit of disappointment for the author. But I'll be giving No Longer Human a shot.

Surprised you didn't like it. Remember being very impressed by the book.

Liked your review of B.S. Johnson's book. Are you at liberty to at least give a thumbs up or thumbs down?

:>)

As for my own "just finished" book. It wasn't literature. But it was very good, and heartbreaking. A non-fiction look at RFK's last 82 days, called The Last Campaign.

Amazing to think that he went into that last campaign thinking he'd probably be shot. His aides thought he'd probably be shot. Friends and foes alike thought it would happen as well. He still went forward with it. And he seems not to have done anything to reduce the chances of assassination. In fact, he felt his best chance to win the presidency was to walk among the people, let them touch him, grab him, pull him into their world. He campaigned mostly in the old "whistle-stop" manner, completely vulnerable, completely in the open.

From this and other studies, and from my own memories of the time, I think he was America's last best chance. A man who transformed himself into someone who would have altered the course of our history for the better. Despite his many flaws and faults, I think he finally achieved greatness of soul in his last few years, especially the final year of his short life . . . .

Jumping back into literature, I'm rereading The Red and the Black, by Stendhal. The new translation by Burton Raffel.

[fausto]

I've read a while ago Tim Weiner's Legacy of ashes, 2007 non-fiction NBA winner. It's the history of the CIA. Honestly, this "RFK, last best chance" thing is not likely to come unharmed of this reading.

[Mirabell]

Originally Posted by fausto

I've read a while ago Tim Weiner's Legacy of ashes, 2007 non-fiction NBA winner. It's the history of the CIA. Honestly, this "RFK, last best chance" thing is not likely to come unharmed of this reading.

good?

[fausto]

As a cohesive whole , not necessarily -- you have to draw your own conclusions, he won't do it -- but as a suite of revealing anecdotes, at times shocking revelations and overall interesting panorama of the Agency, I don't think there is a better book on the subject out there. Lots of exclusive info with declassified files, etc.

[cuchulain]

Originally Posted by fausto

I've read a while ago Tim Weiner's Legacy of ashes, 2007 non-fiction NBA winner. It's the history of the CIA. Honestly, this "RFK, last best chance" thing is not likely to come unharmed of this reading.

Which is why I mentioned his transformation. RFK changed dramatically after his brother was killed. He changed dramatically when he visited poverty-stricken towns and villages in Central and South America. And when he visited poverty-stricken places in America, especially the Mississippi Delta.

But perhaps the most profound agent of change was his visit to the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota. As a senator, he made Native American rights a major focus of his time in office. As a candidate for the presidency, he made that and poverty issues the central focus, along with race and ending the Vietnam War.

Yes, he made terrible mistakes during JFK's administration. Which he later regretted. I think he changed more than any other American politician in that span of time (1963-1968). There is no one today talking about the things he talked about in 1968. And no one who is even remotely comparable in sincerity, authenticity, and drive to effect positive, progressive change.

That's my view of it, anyway . . .