The Book Discussion Thread

[Mara]

For a light-hearted change of pace, my new commuting book on CD is Sense and Sensibility and Sea Monsters. So far, it's striking me as far funnier than Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, but that may be because it's hilarious to hear it read in an extremely correct, Received Pronunciation accent.

[Marley]

Marley, here is a really great collection of articles on Muriel Spark.

Sorry, I somehow managed to overlook your post. This link is very helpful, thanks Davis! Also, your review of "The Comforters" has gotten me even more psyched to read it especially the connection you make to PKD. The story sounds insane. :lol:

And the conversations! Forster can write a dialogue between two characters with so many levels and implications that it's like watching a choreographed dance. One conversation near the end-- referred to later, repeatedly, as a "tragedy"-- is so tightly woven and emotional that only one participant is actually following it, and the other person doesn't even realize that his world has just ended. It's dizzying.

Well, I did eventually manage to finish Howards End but did not end up loving it as much as you did, Mara. In fact, I pretty much had a completely opposite reaction and found the majority of the novel dull, contrived and lacking any sort of emotional resonance whatsoever. Sure, there are moments when Forster provides wonderful insight but other than that, the novel left me cold in its detached style. The major tragic moment at the end was inevitable but there is no emotional weight behind it at all and just sort of incoherently happens without any genuine motive because this scene occurs only to serve to emphasize Forster's political and social purposes. As you mention, the way Forster utilizes conversation in many intriguing ways to emphasize the underlying subtext is worth noting but the haughty diction sure got annoying fast in its snotty obnoxiousness, geez. Oh well, this just isn't the type of novel for me.

[Mara]

I'm sorry you didn't like it much. I'm liking it even more in retrospect... just spoke to me, I guess.

[Marley]

I'm sorry you didn't like it much. I'm liking it even more in retrospect... just spoke to me, I guess.

Granted, there were many wonderful and beautiful passages that I copied down for future reference. He's a great writer, no doubt about that. I just wish his story-telling abilities were on the same level.

[Marley]

Geez, Henry James is really starting to piss me off with his flowery run-on sentences. I've never encountered an author who uses so many colons, semi-colons and line breaks. I'm only 10 pages into The Ambassadors and already feeling the urge to bang my head against the wall in frustration.

[Kurosawa Fan]

I kind of loved James' style in Portrait of a Lady, though that's all I've read by him.

[Our Aurora]

I have been re-reading all of James Baldwin's novels in preparation for my thesis. Just finished Another Country and I found myself on the verge of tears throughout much of the text. I found it to be more visceral this time around. The characters were relatable in a way I had not encountered during my first reading.

The characters and the story are so beautiful, I am apprehensive to defile, and destroy them for myself, with academic analysis.

[ledfloyd]

i finished reading madame bovary. i liked it quite a bit, but am hesitant to say that i loved it. it's weird reading novels with such imposing reputations, if you're not absolutely enamored with them it always feels like a bit of a disappointment. i've practically memorized this line though "Language is a cracked kettle on which we beat out tunes for bears to dance to, while all the time we long to move the stars to pity." i love it.

[Marley]

I kind of loved James' style in Portrait of a Lady, though that's all I've read by him.

I've only read "A Turn of the Screw" along with a bunch of his other short-stories and much like the Ambassadors, I find his writing to be insufferably discursive. I can only assume that 'Portrait of a Lady' shares a similar flamboyant style but holy hell is it ever annoying. There is no need to stretch sentences to half a page with useless wordplay, get to the bloody point! Ugghhhhh.

[Marley]

I have been re-reading all of James Baldwin's novels in preparation for my thesis. Just finished Another Country and I found myself on the verge of tears throughout much of the text. I found it to be more visceral this time around. The characters were relatable in a way I had not encountered during my first reading.

The characters and the story are so beautiful, I am apprehensive to defile, and destroy them for myself, with academic analysis.

Wouldn't a thorough analysis actually help you appreciate the texts more? I suppose it cuts both ways.

If you don't mind me asking, is this a thesis for a BA or PHD in English? My initial plan was to major in English Lit but self-doubt is forcing me to reconsider. I really don't think my writing and reading comprehension skills are up to par for this degree. We'll see how it goes.

The only Baldwin that I have read is "Go Tell it to the Mountain" which was excellent. It is one of the most powerful meditations on Christianity and faith that I have ever come across in a novel. Since you are an expert on his work, I'd be curious what you think of this one.

[Our Aurora]

Wouldn't a thorough analysis actually help you appreciate the texts more? I suppose it cuts both ways.

If you don't mind me asking, is this a thesis for a BA or PHD in English? My initial plan was to major in English Lit but self-doubt is forcing me to reconsider. I really don't think my writing and reading comprehension skills are up to par for this degree. We'll see how it goes.

The only Baldwin that I have read is "Go Tell it to the Mountain" which was excellent. It is one of the most powerful meditations on Christianity and faith that I have ever come across in a novel. Since you are an expert on his work, I'd be curious what you think of this one.

Well I'm far from an expert... haha. I remember Go Tell it on the Mountain being as you describe it in your post. I have yet to re-read it. Although now that I think about the book it quite neatly aligns with the ideas of masculinity which I believe Baldwin sculpts over his body of work -- I'll begin it tomorrow morning... thanks!

He has an amazing talent for presenting characters in crises, but they never seem whiny or incoherent, as the problems are honest. You should try out some more of his work, because Go Tell it on the Mountain is singular, as it is one of the only works of fiction in which he almost solely focuses on religion. Religion is a topic which pops up throughout, but his successive works focus more on sexuality and gender roles, in a deeply racist world.

This is actually for a BA in African American Studies. I am double majoring in English and the aforementioned, but English was my initial choice. Once I entered my current University most of the classes which appealed to me happened to be in the Black Studies program. Instead of only minoring, I chose to "go for it," and went for the double major. You are quite right in suggesting that careful analyses can be fruitful, and precipitate a deeper appreciation of a work. But at the same time tedious combing of the minutiae can lessen the impact of the initial reaction from his stark honesty. I can only hope that I will be choking back tears in public when I read Another Country in the upcoming months.

I've read many of your posts and I highly doubt that your reading and writing skills are subpar for an English degree. Classes will only heighten your abilities. If it is something that you truly enjoy you should just get after it...

[Hugh_Grant]

Two words on James Baldwin: "Sonny's Blues."

I love that story. Holds up just fine under academic scrutiny, too.

[Mara]

For a light-hearted change of pace, my new commuting book on CD is Sense and Sensibility and Sea Monsters. So far, it's striking me as far funnier than Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, but that may be because it's hilarious to hear it read in an extremely correct, Received Pronunciation accent.

This has prompted me to revisit Ang Lee's Sense and Sensibility and I still think it's top tier. Lovely and light, funny and clever. Hugh Grant is sort of obnoxious, but the rest of the cast is excellent.

Alan Rickman is dead sexy.

[Mysterious Dude]

I'm one tenth of the way through War and Peace. I finally got to the war part. And then I realized that I hardly understand military jargon at all.

[Our Aurora]

Two words on James Baldwin: "Sonny's Blues."

I love that story. Holds up just fine under academic scrutiny, too.

Yeah... I think my worries about the whole academic scrutiny thing were rash. I love what I'm doing with these texts. I was feeling a little bitter the other night. The idea of writing this thesis is overwhelming.

"Sonny's Blues" is a fantastic story -- as is the rest of Going to Meet the Man. My introduction to Baldwin was his short fiction, but I am finding his longer works to be just as powerful.

[D_Davis]

Picked up some more Murial Spark this weekend:

The Stories of Murial Spark - which claims to have all of her short stories, and yet it is missing some, including one that I got in...
The Snobs
The Ballad of Peckham Rye
The Bachelors

The Pechham Rye sounds especially awesome - Sparks 1960 comic novel follows Dougal Douglas, who is hired by a company to poke into the private lives of its employees. Douglas turns out to be a demonical researcher who butts in so much he begins to influence his subjects actions rather than just observe them.

Can't wait to read it.

[dreamdead]

Although I like the dry humor inherent to Warren Ellis's Crooked Little Vein, so much of it is a mash-up of internet esoterica and hard-boiled Chandlerisms that it can never really rise above its premise. The idea that the internet legitimizes how mainstream any fetish is interesting, but too often the narrative strives for excess and absurdity. Meh, which is sad since I generally enjoy Ellis's themes.

Marilynne Robinson's Housekeeping is equally disappointing, since its acclaim feels largely tied to Robinson's prose but not its ideas here. The general mood is almost one of a nostalgic indifference, two concepts that can't actually co-exist, though the book somehow strives for it.

Alexie's Reservation Blues, however, is pretty good. I'll have to look into other works by him in the future. For now, though, I've started Don DeLillo's Underworld, and have just about finished the magnificent 1951 Pennett Race prelude.

[Duncan]

For now, though, I've started Don DeLillo's Underworld, and have just about finished the magnificent 1951 Pennett Race prelude.

Just started this myself. That is a great, great opener. Close to perfect for 60 pages.

[Milky Joe]

I'll never forget when an English prof of mine told me that he thought Delillo had a "cheap mind." Guy was the worst kind of pompous.

[Derek]

I'm one tenth of the way through War and Peace. I finally got to the war part. And then I realized that I hardly understand military jargon at all.

Maybe you're not supposed to understand it. You know Tolstoy's original title was going to be War: What is it Good For?

[Ezee E]

Gotta get back into reading...

A few of the books I want to get from the library are checked out. So I'll try Inherent Vice.

[ledfloyd]

Gotta get back into reading...

A few of the books I want to get from the library are checked out. So I'll try Inherent Vice.

i hope you have a better time with it than i did.

[Morris Schæffer]

I started reading:



I'm enjoying it so far. It chronicles the birth and history of the world's most notorious bike gang. I've always had a soft spot for the period (50/60's California) and I bought the book during a time when there were a few killings committed, allegedly, by the Hell's Angels or a rival gang here in Belgium, near where I live.

[Ezee E]

Fantastic book Morris. It's the best I've read from Hunter so far.

[Morris Schæffer]

Fantastic book Morris. It's the best I've read from Hunter so far.

It's the first I've read from him although I've seen Gilliams "Fear and Loathing" movie, which was...interesting.