What are you currently reading?

[Spotted Horses]

How it All Began, by Penelope Lively.



This is "literary fiction," but on the light side. At the beginning of the story an older lady is mugged and has to stay with her daughter during her recuperation of some months. The novel centers how the effects of this event propagates outward and significantly effects the lives of people who don't even know her.

The narrative technique bears some superficial similarity to William Faulkner's As I Lay Dying, with the story told by different characters. However in this case, it is like different cameras viewing different parts of the same scene from different angles. We don't have the dramatic differences of interpretation by the various characters. A pleasant read, not earth-shattering.

I came across this book by Book Bub, a service that notifies you of deep discounts on ebooks from a list of your favorite authors. I think Lively is on my list because I liked another of her novels, The Photograph.

[Jo498]

Galbraith: Troubled Blood

-snip-

What I did not know, until I finished the book, was that Robert Galbraith and JK Rowling are one and the same person.

This is a remarkable feat. You might have been one of the last persons in the Western World to be unaware of this fact. They "leaked" the identity around the publication of the first book of the series years ago (I think the current one is the 5th) when it became clear that it would not sell well on its own merits...

My sister collected the first few, so I think I read all/most of the earlier ones but this one eventually but I don't think I will suffer through almost 1000 pages as I was not at all fond of #4 "Lethal White". They were not horrible but not getting better either and I came to thoroughly dislike the protagonists. In any case, fwiw I think the first two (if you have not read them) are better than the following ones.

[Ganondorf]

Finally finished Mcteague. It's a rather short book yet it took me ages to read it because the first half or so was mostly terrible and not up to the Stroheim's film adaptation. The second half was much better although I still prefer the film.

[André]

Finally finished Mcteague. It's a rather short book yet it took me ages to read it because the first half or so was mostly terrible and not up to the Stroheim's film adaptation. The second half was much better although I still prefer the film.

One of the most compelling films ever made. Well, what we have of it. Stroheim's work was taken from him and butchered by the Goldwyn studio.

[Karl Henning]

On my e-reader, I've just started a novella by a chap I follow on Twitter: Green Door by Wm Meikle. In print, starting to re-read A Handful of Dust by Evdeleyn Waugh.

[Artem]

I can tell you that it's not at all typical of her nonfiction and highly recommend at the very least her collections Slouching Towards Bethlehem and The White Album as a more representative introduction to her work and style.

Thank you for your suggestion. I'll consider it next time I'm buying books.

[SimonNZ]

Thank you for your suggestion. I'll consider it next time I'm buying books.

If you're seriously considering them then I'd suggest getting the Everyman edition that contains her first seven volumes of nonfiction called  We Tell Ourselves Stories In Order To Live (the title is the opening sentence of Slouching Towards Bethlehem). That volume also contains the book Miami which I praised earlier.

Edit ; just double checked that and actually it's the opening sentence of the second volume The White Album.

[vers la flamme]

TD: still going with the book on Thatcher's Britain, but in the meantime finished this:

Well, thanks for mentioning this book and opening my eyes to what it's about. Thoroughly enjoying it so far, though it can be a bit of a tough slog at times. There was a part that totally cracked me up, where Kinbote's commentary to part of Line 80, which reads "my bedroom", instantly relaunches into an ongoing story about the prince of Zembla which goes on for some 4 pages, without actually tying in how this has anything to do with the line in question from the poem. I like how the commentator has a political ulterior motive for his whole edition thing. Hilarious. Nabokov is a fine writer. I look forward to reading more of his work once I make it through this one.

[aligreto]

Somerset-Maugham: Creatures of Circumstance





This is another collection of short stories which reflects Maugham's inimitable take on human nature.

[Dry Brett Kavanaugh]

Salome, Oscar Wilde.

[vers la flamme]

Vladimir Nabokov's Pale Fire

Finished last night. This ended up being really, really good—way better than I had imagined it would be at the beginning or even at the halfway point. Wow. I'm impressed with the deep ambiguity of the work. Really gave me a lot to think about. Nabokov is a phenomenal writer. I can't wait to read more of his work.

[Dry Brett Kavanaugh]

Jfyi, an article about "Drive My Car," a movie adaptation of Haruki Murakami's work.

https://www.indiewire.com/2021/07/drive-my-car-movie-review-1234650289/

[Ganondorf]

Salome, Oscar Wilde.

I've always been interested in this play because it was basis for one of my favorite operas by Richard Strauss.

[Dry Brett Kavanaugh]

I've always been interested in this play because it was basis for one of my favorite operas by Richard Strauss.

A theatrical performance of this play maybe great. But for reading, this is just average for my personal preference.

[vers la flamme]

Jfyi, an article about "Drive My Car," a movie adaptation of Haruki Murakami's work.

https://www.indiewire.com/2021/07/drive-my-car-movie-review-1234650289/

Awesome! I did not hear about this film. I'm not sure whether or not I've mentioned this before, but Men Without Women, which contains the story "Drive My Car", was my introduction to Haruki Murakami's fiction and I've been hooked ever since.

[vers la flamme]

I've stared Vladimir Nabokov's Pnin



Nabokov is an unbelievably skilled English prose stylist, all the more remarkable when considering English was a third language for him. This book is a farcical take on the Russian immigrant experience in America. So far, so good; quite funny in a very Russian way. I'm hooked on Nabokov's writing style after reading Pale Fire. Need to get around to reading Lolita one of these days, and then there are about 5 other Nabokov books that I'd love to read.

[aligreto]

Waugh: The Loved One





Published in 1948 this short novel is a comic and biting satire on the shallow values of Californian life at the time.

[Dry Brett Kavanaugh]

Awesome! I did not hear about this film. I'm not sure whether or not I've mentioned this before, but Men Without Women, which contains the story "Drive My Car", was my introduction to Haruki Murakami's fiction and I've been hooked ever since.

My gut feeling is that the movie will come to the States next year. It won Best Screenplay Award at Cannes this summer.

[Daverz]

Waugh: The Loved One





Published in 1948 this short novel is a comic and biting satire on the shallow values of Californian life at the time.

I don't know how true it is to the book, but this was made into a wonderfully quirky film in the '60s.  The screenplay was by Terry Southern and Christopher Isherwood.

"The film stars Robert Morse, Jonathan Winters, Anjanette Comer and Rod Steiger. Among those making appearances in smaller roles are John Gielgud, Robert Morley, Roddy McDowall, James Coburn, Milton Berle, Dana Andrews, Tab Hunter and Liberace."  -- Wikipedia

They missed that Paul Williams is in there as well.  Rod Steiger plays "Mr. Joyboy"!

[aligreto]

I don't know how true it is to the book, but this was made into a wonderfully quirky film in the '60s.  The screenplay was by Terry Southern and Christopher Isherwood.

"The film stars Robert Morse, Jonathan Winters, Anjanette Comer and Rod Steiger. Among those making appearances in smaller roles are John Gielgud, Robert Morley, Roddy McDowall, James Coburn, Milton Berle, Dana Andrews, Tab Hunter and Liberace."  -- Wikipedia

They missed that Paul Williams is in there as well.

Cheers, Dave. I was not aware of that film and I will try to find it. It would make for interesting viewing for me.