Recently finished books?

[cuchulain]

Another quick point about politics and such. The perfect is often the enemy of the good . . . or so the old saying goes.

As in, when we look at politicians, we should think in terms of comparing apples with apples, rather than with ideals of perfection, etc.

They are very flawed human beings. Like all of us. But it's probably heightened when it comes to politicians, because of the dynamics of power, the climb up the ladder to that power, and all of the compromises one necessarily has to make to gain that power.

It is rather easy for us who remain outside the political system to keep our ideals and principles intact, clean and pure. We're typically not asked to make compromises to achieve this or that objective. We can just think what we think without much in the way of obstacles.

Politicians, OTOH, of necessity, never, ever can get exactly what they want. Because they're (obviously) dealing with other politicians who want what they want as well. And different constituencies, etc. etc. Battling for what they want. Agon and so on.

So, to make a long story short . . . I compare RFK with other pols of the time and today . . . and I see him as the best of the whole lot . . . insofar as . . . someone who was more likely to achieve progressive goals within the system . . . and reform that system.

Apples with apples. RFK was the best apple of the bunch, IMO.

[ions]

Haroun and the Sea of Stories by Salman Rushdie. So much fun that it almost makes me want to knock someone up just to have the joy of reading this to a child of my own.

[Cocko]

Ever After by Graham Swift... I started a thread, but the short and sweet appraisal is, I didn't like it much. A disappointment in comparisons to Waterland and Last Orders.

[Sybarite]

Kafka on the Shore by Haruki Murakami.

[Mirabell]

Sterben und Auferstehen, Frans Eemil Sillanpää

[Mirabell]

A Severed Head, Iris Murdoch

wow

[Cocko]

Coming Through Slaughter by Michael Ondaatje... a beautifully written tapestry of tangents, the most impressive book I've read in a long time. I started a thread.

[nnyhav]

L.P.Hartley, The Go-Between. Conventionally good, stylistically even better, but a tad heavy symbolically.

[Sybarite]

Just finished Mrs Dalloway by Virginia Woolf. Very, very good.

[Stewart]

Originally Posted by Sybarite

Just finished Mrs Dalloway by Virginia Woolf. Very, very good.

Well done. I never could.

[Sybarite]

Originally Posted by Stewart

Well done. I never could.

It's not the 'easiest' book I've ever read, but I found it really rewarding: there's such a huge number of ideas and themes in it.

[saliotthomas]

Matha quest by Doris Lessing ,it toke me forever to finish it,i could not get into it.But it has nothing to do with the quality of the writing,more to do with deep incompatibility betwin the book and i.Some of the images i found a bit dated,the tex avery reference to the wolf all along was ennoying.

[Mirabell]

Bone by Jeff Smith


as so often in the past two years, I am very thankful for this recommendation, funhouse.

what a ride/read.

[ions]

Underworld by Don Delillo

[nnyhav]

back online again ...
Günter Grass, The Tin Drum (trans Ralph Manheim, don't see the prob; saved nearly the best for nearly the last)
Francis Carco, Streetcorners (trans Gilbert Alter-Gilbert; teens Parisian demi-monde atmospherics)
Camilo José Cela, The Family of Pascual Duarte (trans Anthony Kerrigan; called the Spanish L'Étranger, superior to it)
the last two acquired last week, as was more, cf the other Recently ...

[ions]

Coming Through Slaughter by Michael Ondaatje

[Sybarite]

From A to X by John Berger.

[Beth]

Animal's People by Indra Sinha, though I hated to turn the last page. Don't know when I've laughed out loud so consistently all through a novel, and at the same time felt hugely the inadequacy of how the world responds to disaster. Animal unforgettable is.

[Stewart]

Originally Posted by Beth

Animal's People by Indra Sinha, though I hated to turn the last page. Don't know when I've laughed out loud so consistently all through a novel, and at the same time felt hugely the inadequacy of how the world responds to disaster. Animal unforgettable is.

Yes, his voice is wondeful. I can still, a year on, hear him in my head. The thread's here, if you have anything more to add.

[Mirabell]

Play it as it lays by Joan Didion.


Wow. Great, great novel.
Joan Didion: Play It As It Lays