tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26428110.post2792610764182265876..comments2023-07-08T09:00:54.916-07:00Comments on A Common Reader: Books you love, have reviewed, and recommend (but don't see anyone else reading)Dwighthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13688525659034403580noreply@blogger.comBlogger18125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26428110.post-25946816714213613672015-02-27T00:27:22.331-08:002015-02-27T00:27:22.331-08:00Ah good, I've got that. Now I'm really loo...Ah good, I've got that. Now I'm really looking forward to it.obookihttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03885121629202810216noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26428110.post-55820681936223005622015-02-26T17:45:57.879-08:002015-02-26T17:45:57.879-08:00A Fable, though, that book stinks. Faulkner's...<i>A Fable</i>, though, that book stinks. Faulkner's worst.Amateur Reader (Tom)https://www.blogger.com/profile/13675275555757408496noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26428110.post-49844594697970889142015-02-26T16:08:12.800-08:002015-02-26T16:08:12.800-08:00I've been meaning to comment on this. I'd ...I've been meaning to comment on this. I'd like to recommend:<br /><br />The later work of Faulkner - even though I'm currently pledged to reading his early work - which I never hear anyone talking about (it's always The Sound and The Fury or As I Lay Dying). I think I might go on to read the Snopes trilogy next.<br /><br />Ermanno Cavazzoni's <i>The Voice of the Moon</i> - a writer I've never heard anyone else ever mention, and who seems largely ignored in English (he has 2 books translated, I think), but who is quite mad and wonderful and amusing. I find myself laughing now again at the man whose garden is in the middle of the Battle of Waterloo.<br /><br />And Emmanuel Bove's <i>My Friends</i>, which I must read again and review. I only bought it because on the cover it said he'd been championed by Colette and Beckett. He wrote a lot of stuff which isn't as good, but this and Armand are meant to be his best works.<br /><br />Also, I agree about Isak Dinesen: I find her one of the finest writers of the c20th, but one who suffers no doubt for being a pure storyteller in an age which liked to feign disinterest in storytelling.<br /><br />I shall read some of these others. In fact, I've recently started on Banffy, though I'm not sure how actively committed I am on this front.obookihttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03885121629202810216noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26428110.post-31510966484288596392015-02-25T02:11:58.829-08:002015-02-25T02:11:58.829-08:00Atiq Rahimi's Curse on Dostoevsky got fair cov...Atiq Rahimi's Curse on Dostoevsky got fair coverage in the national papers, but I'd love to see some of the blogs I read share their thoughts.<br /><br />Grace Dane Mazur's Hinges: Meditations on the Portals of the Imagination deserves to be widely read, an intimate study of life, myth and fiction but utterly charming.<br /><br />Nick Hunt's Walking the Woods and the Water: In Patrick Leigh Fermor's footsteps from the Hook of Holland to the Golden Horn, a homage to Paddy Leigh Fermor's epic walk with all the charm of its inspiration.<br />ABhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00424190778506425886noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26428110.post-84452699228728859862015-02-25T02:11:13.440-08:002015-02-25T02:11:13.440-08:00This comment has been removed by the author.ABhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00424190778506425886noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26428110.post-48175764863532124462015-02-25T02:07:53.989-08:002015-02-25T02:07:53.989-08:00This comment has been removed by the author.ABhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00424190778506425886noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26428110.post-34169284125782648872015-02-21T09:29:22.097-08:002015-02-21T09:29:22.097-08:00Umbagollah,
Thanks for the tip. I will check out...Umbagollah,<br /><br />Thanks for the tip. I will check out the blog.Fredhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10233846613173866140noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26428110.post-73354383787092704692015-02-21T08:59:31.150-08:002015-02-21T08:59:31.150-08:00Fred, if you like Dance have you tried Levi Stahl&...Fred, if you like <i>Dance</i> have you tried Levi Stahl's blog, Ivebeenreadinglately? I enjoyed those books while I was reading them but they haven't lasted in my head. Lautréamont I like very much. Nerval, I don't know: I've only read him through once and it wasn't enough. But I wish people would read Christina Stead's <i>House of All Nations</i>, because everybody tells you to read <i>The Man Who Loved Children</i>, and nobody mentions <i>House</i>, which is less shapely and graspable, and probably much harder to teach, or to write about, or to clutch to your heart, but it's a cold and gleeful, happy book – about banking. There's also <i>Miss MacIntosh, My Darling</i>, by Marguerite Young. Everybody should try to read that one, even if they hate the author afterwards.Umbagollahhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14556344092820711893noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26428110.post-46508765426089088092015-02-19T12:34:10.514-08:002015-02-19T12:34:10.514-08:00Many thanks to everyone who has responded so far. ...Many thanks to everyone who has responded so far. Except for the fact that I'm ordering used books like crazy...several of these are going in my TBR stack now and I'm sure many will be added later. I'll probably avoid the big ones for now, like Banffy, Powell and Musil, simply because I have several big books already (like The Thibaults) and a few more "projects" I want to tackle this year.<br /><br />Please...anyone stumbling across this keep adding to it. I appreciate everyone's response. <br /><br />Richard, I had added some of those works mentally, but I'll do so physically. I'm glad everyone got the gist of where I was going with this!Dwighthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13688525659034403580noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26428110.post-49481990826478838112015-02-18T20:38:29.512-08:002015-02-18T20:38:29.512-08:00The Nerval would likely have been the next on my l...The Nerval would likely have been the next on my list.Amateur Reader (Tom)https://www.blogger.com/profile/13675275555757408496noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26428110.post-59552675893870106052015-02-18T19:20:56.909-08:002015-02-18T19:20:56.909-08:00Dwight, I'm surprised more people don't gi...Dwight, I'm surprised more people don't give Robert Musil's "The Man Without Qualities" a try despite its size. It's not like it's that much longer than Mann's "The Magic Mountain," which gets a ton more play on the blogs I frequent, and it's so exhilarating and thought-provoking.<br /><br />Augusto Roa Bastos' "Yo el Supremo/I the Supreme," often branded as "a Lat Am dictator novel" but so much more than that, is more demanding than the norm whatever that is, but it's another one of a kind, absolutely unhinged attack on language that I think you and many of the other commenters would really enjoy.<br /><br />Gérard de Nerval's "Aurélia," Lautréamont's "Maldoror" and Roberto Arlt's "Los siete locos/The Seven Madmen" are three short works I wish more people would try; Tom/Amateur Reader has written about all three of them, of course, but he's probably the only other blogger I'm aware of who has. All are startling, startlingly original or both, although the Lautréamont and the Arlt might push too many buttons for more, ahem, sensitive readers.Richardhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01746599416342846897noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26428110.post-15033636382586922782015-02-18T14:22:54.533-08:002015-02-18T14:22:54.533-08:00I understood what you meant Fred, but I can see th...I understood what you meant Fred, but I can see the possibility for confusion. Thanks for clearing that up. I've seen those movies and have enjoyed them, but never thought of reading the books for some reason.<br /><br />And Powell has long been on my wish list. I've seen a few post on it, but not often...a great inclusion.Dwighthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13688525659034403580noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26428110.post-41665346782574610102015-02-18T14:07:37.597-08:002015-02-18T14:07:37.597-08:00Bad case of pronoun reference in my previous messa...Bad case of pronoun reference in my previous message. It is the man who is hunting the cat and he becomes somehow the prey instead.Fredhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10233846613173866140noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26428110.post-22644339927985840022015-02-18T14:05:29.605-08:002015-02-18T14:05:29.605-08:00I read both No. 3s--Parade's End and The first...I read both No. 3s--Parade's End and The first Circle--and I agree.<br /><br />If I were to recommend anything, I would mention Anthony Powell's massive set: A Dance to the Music of Time, which I am now half way through. I have found someone else who has read it, but only after I mentioned it. It's an extraordinary picture of growing up after WWI in England. <br /><br />Since I'm mentioning multiple works by an author, I will bring up one other name, who gets little if any mention today: Walter van Tilburg Clark. I would recommend all three of his novels:<br /><br />The Ox-Bow Incident--two men trapped into joining a lynch mob for fear that that may be interpreted as sympathy for the killers, adapted for film starring Henry Fonda; <br /><br />The Track of the Cat--one of the great novels of a man hunting for a cattle-killing cat who somehow becomes the prey. adapted for film starring Robert Mitchem:<br /><br />The City of Trembling Leaves--a young boy growing up in early 20th century Reno to become his own person.<br /><br />I reread all three regularly and have a few entries about them on my blog.Fredhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10233846613173866140noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26428110.post-79524352793286178902015-02-18T14:00:06.128-08:002015-02-18T14:00:06.128-08:00No problem Jean. Glad to see you've read two o...No problem Jean. Glad to see you've read two of them.<br /><br />AR, I have been wanting to read <i>The Entail</i> (and other books by Galt) since you posted on it. Unfortunately my county library doesn't have any of his books, so it looks like I'm going the used book route.<br /><br />Richard, I'll have to check out those books. Several have been on my wish list for a while. Oh, and we're headed your way on Saturday to see <i>The Balcony</i> at The Old Mint. Looking forward to it!Dwighthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13688525659034403580noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26428110.post-79738925880884721612015-02-18T12:22:10.138-08:002015-02-18T12:22:10.138-08:00Hey! I read two of those, and one of them was on ...Hey! I read two of those, and one of them was on your recommendation. So there. (I'm obsessed with Solzhenitsyn anyway. Uh, come to think of it, my avatar features that book.) It's true, though, that I don't do the long writing and analysis that you like to do.<br /><br />I'll have to give some thought to this question and come back later.Jeanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14247515387599954817noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26428110.post-87900571075869213332015-02-18T11:49:02.215-08:002015-02-18T11:49:02.215-08:00I recently bought a copy of La Regenta, which is a...I recently <i>bought</i> a copy of <i>La Regenta</i>, which is a good first step.<br /><br /><i>Seven Gothic Tales</i> was son complex and insane that I did not know how to write about it. That's my excuse. Maybe next time.<br /><br />The one book I always push is <i>The Entail</i> by John Galt (1822). To my horror, I googled the book to double-check the date and discovered that my site comes up second, after Wikipedia. Man, that ain't right. <br /><br />The novel is a ruthless and funny century-long Scottish family saga. It features three of the greatest characters in 19th century British literature, which is a lot.Amateur Reader (Tom)https://www.blogger.com/profile/13675275555757408496noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26428110.post-84006130301901984282015-02-18T11:35:12.910-08:002015-02-18T11:35:12.910-08:00What fun - a post almost tailor-made for one to in...What fun - a post almost tailor-made for one to indulge. First, a hearty second for <i>La Regenta</i>, which I read this past year - easily one of the highlights of my reading for many past years. I'll also second <i>The First Circle</i>, the title of the first translated version, which I wolfed down in a single day while recovering from wisdom tooth extraction at age 17. <br /><br />Like probably every other reader, I have a whole list of works and writers I’d like to see given more attention. It’s difficult to pick just three, so I’ll go with four (or five even):<br /><br />First, Count Miklós Bánffy's Transylvanian trilogy. To be fair, it's getting some more attention now that it's finally available again in the newish Everyman's Library edition. <br /><br />Second, <i>Bomarzo</i>, by Manuel Mujica Láinez, long a favorite for its splendid recreation of the darker side of the Italian Renaissance.<br /><br />A book about which I have not yet written but that I always feel compelled to recommend is a curious little New York novel from the 1940's, Vincent McHugh's <i>I Am Thinking of My Darling</i>. This is hardly high-brow literature. The unusual plot, however - an epidemic that hits the city causing everyone to become deliriously happy - is too appealing to resist, and there are a lot of wonderful asides about illness, viruses, jazz, art, social conditions, and the indomitable spirit of New Yorkers that make it a book I treasure. (I’ll sneak in a plug for Terry Andrews' <i>The Story of Harold</i> too, speaking of terrific New York novels.). <br /><br />Finally, though Isak Dinesen is a household name, I’m surprised to see so little discussion of her work on literary blogs. Maybe I’m just not looking in the right places, and to be fair I’ve read two posts about her fairly recently. But I’d certainly like to see more, especially of her masterpiece <i>Seven Gothic Tales</i>. <br />seraillonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17654593356535433945noreply@blogger.com