Recently Begun Books

[Stiffelio]

Reading Mario Vargas Llosa's In Praise of the Stepmother/Elogio de la Madrastra (1988), which came today, and laughing like the drain. What a funny and wicked little book. I forgot the last time I thought a frankly delineated sex-scene was also simultaneously wildly funny, .

I'm glad you're liking it. It goes to show MVLL's range as a novelist that he can make you have a laugh once in a while. You may want to read also Los Cuadernos de Don Rigoberto, a follow-up of sorts to Elogio de la Madrasta. And of course you should read Aunt Julia and the Scriptwrier and Captain Pantoja..., both of which have hilarious passages.

[Colonel Green]

Just started Hilary Mantel's Bring Up The Bodies, the first sequel to Wolf Hall.

I'm also slowly making my way through the Pevear/Volokhonsky Selected Stories of Anton Chekhov.

[Liam]

Mario Vargas Llosa: Death in the Andes

Knocked my socks off right from the first chapter. Will see how it goes; my second book by the author; and my god, can he tell a story!

[Stiffelio]

Mario Vargas Llosa: Death in the Andes

Knocked my socks off right from the first chapter. Will see how it goes; my second book by the author; and my god, can he tell a story!

I'm glad you are liking MVLL,... and you're just skimming the surface with the two books you've picked! You may want to sink deeper into his real good stuff, i.e his early novels, all of them masterpieces IMHO.

[kpjayan]

Mario Vargas Llosa: Death in the Andes

Knocked my socks off right from the first chapter. Will see how it goes; my second book by the author; and my god, can he tell a story!

Great. This one of my favorite as well.. Hopefully I get a chance to read him soon, with the English Translation of hisnew book. Having said that, his recent books have been a let down.

[Liam]

Yeah, with Death in the Andes especially, I am loving both the story and the way he tells the story (split narratives, constant switching back-and-forth between the present and the past). I also don't remember the last time I read a great book that was also a great page-turner, and here we have that, with the mystery surrounding the disappearances of the men.

I also looked up the Shining Path on Wiki thinking V-Ll had invented them for this book, but no, they're real as shit. Scary.

I have The Feast of the Goat on my list next, and will probably end up borrowing some of his early novels, per your suggestion, from the library. I'm thinking, the Cathedral one and the War of the End one.

[kpjayan]

Underworld - Don De Lillo :Taken up another mammoth book after Sophies Choice. 830 pages in microprint is going to take 'forever' to finish. I might do this with couple of breaks at least to save my eyes from sore.

[Liam]

You may want to sink deeper into his real good stuff, i.e his early novels, all of them masterpieces IMHO.

How would you rate them, in order of importance? Say, four or five of his best early novels?

[Stiffelio]

How would you rate them, in order of importance? Say, four or five of his best early novels?

I must confess that I haven't yet read what, by general critical consensus, is his very best novel, i.e. Conversation in the Cathedral ('75). I guess I subconsciously procrastinated my decision to read it, saving the best (and longest) for last. From the novels I've read, in order of importance, my ranking is:

The Time of the Hero ('66) (an essential bildungsroman)
The War of the End of the World ('84)
The Green House ('68) (stylistically, his most difficult to read book)
Captain Pantoja and the Special Service ('73)
Aunt Julia and the Scriptwriter ('77)
The Feast of the Goat ('00) (partly autobiographical)

Although for sheer joy of reading a great story and at the same time having a good laugh (followed by a good cry!), I'd go to Captain Pantoja.... and then to Aunt Julia.... There's also a fine movie based on Captain Pantoja that you may want to watch. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0190611/

I've read a few more of his books but, while always no less than good, they are not essential literature. Of his non-fiction I'd recommend his wonderful memoir A Fish in the Water '93, written right after he lost the Peruvian presidential elections.

[Daniel del Real]

Currently alternating between a novel, an essay and some poetry. They complement each other very well: José Saramago/Claraboia, Carlos Fuentes/ The Great Latin American Novel & Tomás Segovia/Anagnórisis.
Three writers I admired and passed away in the last two years. This month reading is like a tribute to my recently deceased heroes.

[Liam]

Tim Robinson, Stones of Aran: Labyrinth

Part II of his stupendous 1,000-pp. Irish travelogue.

[Daniel del Real]

July I'll be reading only three authors I adore: Joseph Roth, Miguel Delibes and Amin Maalouf.
Started with Roth's Job and it's magnificent so far. There is a mythic/biblical tone in every page and blended with the tremendous skills Roth had to recreate atmospheres and human feelings this book promise to be one of the best from him I've ever read.

[Aldawen]

I agree on the tone Roth manages in Job, but in fact overall - for me - it was too much of it in the end, although I usually enjoy Roth's novels very much. Regarding Delibes: So far I've only read El hereje a couple of years ago and found it interesting. It seems that only a limited number of his works has been translated to German, haven't checked for English translations so far. What would you recommend most? I'm afraid I will need some more years before being able to read Spanish but perhaps I'm lucky and you pick something which is translated

[pesahson]

I'm intrigued with Delibes as well. I've never heard his name before. A quick search shows that you liked his The Holy Innocents. My library has it, it's pretty short, I'm eager to give this guy a try. I'm really underread when it comes to Spanish writers.

[Daniel del Real]

What Aldawen says is true, Delibes name is not spread worldwide as he should; however he is a tremendous figure in Spain and recognized in the Spanish language world. This is because of the lack of translations, specially to English, and the few available are very old editions not in stock anymore. But if you ever find something by him in any language you guys can read I really encourage you to pick it and read it.
The Holy Innocents is a fantastic book and a great start to Delibes. Try it pesahson, it is a very slim volume, you won't regret it.
Started reading The Heretic judged by many critics and readers as his best. A novel set in Valladolid, Spain in the XVI century, the time of the schism between Catholic church and Lutherans. Language challenging to the reader as Delibes employs many terms of clothing, food, habits from that period. Still enticing and robust.

[Liam]

Virginia Woolf: A Writer's Diary. Incredibly moving, and amazingly, if breathlessly, written. There's a quotable sentence on every page. I always say that Virginia Woolf is my favorite 20th century author, and definitely my favorite novelist of all time, and with reason. Everyone who writes, and who struggles with their writing, ought to read her diary.

[Colonel Green]

I'm about 150 pages into Les Miserables right now. This one'll take a while.

[Eric]

Liam, who is this Ginny Wolf chappie? Did he write transgender novels about Italian princes, or did he want a womb of his own?

Yours short-tonguedly and all that... Was he related to the tribade who used the pseudonym Les Miserables?

I'm reading a novel called "Between the Acts". What sort of acts? Shakespearean, Apostolean, or tantrumistic?

[Liam]

Eric, you sure you're not "losing it," my friend?

Between the Acts is, of course, V. Woolf's last novel, and one of her best. She killed herself within a few days of finishing it (due to the onset of another illness and the fact that England was supposed to be invaded by Germany that week; both she and Leonard were sure that the English would lose).

My favorite two books from her remain To the Lighthouse and Mrs Dalloway, which was recently popularized by Michael Cunningham in his Pulitzer Prize-winning novel The Hours.

[Daniel del Real]

Amin Maalouf's The Crusades Through Arab Eyes.


What a total mess this was! Not only Christians versus Muslims, but a whole plethora of tribes, with different origins and imposed governments fighting only for their personal interests without caring about beliefs or nationalities. Muslim cities fighting each other without caring the weakness it caused to their own armies and the advantage the Francs will take from it. Reaching the absurd of Muslim and Christian armies getting together to fight against other combined armies. The only thing in common for everyone is the cruelty, the treason and the savagery in the battlefield and the conquering.
Very complex set of situations but illustrative and clearly deciphered and explained by the author.