Other good and easy to get into NYRBS would be:
LJ Davis: A Meaningful Life (also very nastily funny)Gifford's 'The Big Clock' (which is more immediate and less experimental than Clark Gifford's Body, though CGB is great stuff)Barbara Comyns: The Vet's DaughterJohn Wyndham: The Chrysalids
― You're fucking fired and you know jack shit about horses (James Morrison), Thursday, 21 April 2011 00:09 (2 years ago) Permalink
i mentioned jg farrell upthread, gonna mention him again. 'troubles' is weird and absurd and often hilarious. the story is not "funny" but the major's interior monologue of bafflement at what's going on around him is hysterical.
― omar little, Thursday, 21 April 2011 00:15 (2 years ago) Permalink
yeah i remember looking for the farrell around xmas time & only finding another edition - vantage mb? - i should see if i can pick that up tomorrow. was there a long write-up of elaine dundy in the newyorker? if thats who im thinking of than i think ill pick that up too
― dearth of the hipster (Lamp), Thursday, 21 April 2011 00:28 (2 years ago) Permalink
i dont think so - i've read some elaine dundy so i think i would remember
― just sayin, Thursday, 21 April 2011 07:40 (2 years ago) Permalink
(but who knows)
― just sayin, Thursday, 21 April 2011 07:44 (2 years ago) Permalink
I can't find a dedicated thread for the magazine, but: this is one of those issues where I want to read every article.
― 40% chill and 100% negative (Tracer Hand), Thursday, 26 May 2011 15:38 (2 years ago) Permalink
i am reading a house and its head for book club
so far i am finding it infuriatingly badly written on a technical level, but quite funny.
― caek, Wednesday, 17 August 2011 15:58 (1 year ago) Permalink
really? i remember your post asking about ivy c-b and hoping youd get a response since i picked up the nyrb edition of 'manservant and maidservant' but havent gotten around to reading it yet.
― Monstrous TumTum (Lamp), Wednesday, 17 August 2011 16:02 (1 year ago) Permalink
to be fair to ivy c-b, i'm only 30 pages in.
― caek, Wednesday, 17 August 2011 16:14 (1 year ago) Permalink
I've only read one Ivy CB, and had a similar reaction. Since several people told me that all of her books were basically the same, I never tried another.
― not bulimic, just a cat (James Morrison), Wednesday, 17 August 2011 23:10 (1 year ago) Permalink
it's basically 200 pages of dialogue afaict. it's like reading a really long play, but it's even more exhausting because her style makes who is actually speaking terribly obscure.
― caek, Thursday, 18 August 2011 08:17 (1 year ago) Permalink
i've read many of these but the ones that really stuck with me and still live on my shelf are
- radiance of the king
- adventures and misadventures of maqroll
- hindoo holiday
- a life like any other
- fancies and goodnights
- the bog people
- the world of odysseus
― mr peabody (moonship journey to baja), Thursday, 18 August 2011 17:37 (1 year ago) Permalink
oh and warlock, duh
― mr peabody (moonship journey to baja), Thursday, 18 August 2011 17:38 (1 year ago) Permalink
but it's even more exhausting because her style makes who is actually speaking terribly obscure.
Henry Green can be like that but when it clicks finally, it's kind of thrilling.
― Cuius regio, eius radicchio (Michael White), Thursday, 18 August 2011 18:04 (1 year ago) Permalink
x-post I read the World of Odysseus recently and liked it a lot.
― President Keyes, Thursday, 18 August 2011 23:34 (1 year ago) Permalink
<3 <3 <3 Maqroll the Gaviero! Other perennial NYRB favorites: Envy, Anatomy of Melancholy, and especially Memoirs of My Nervous Illness, one of the most heartbreaking and fucked up things ever written.
― bentelec, Friday, 19 August 2011 00:22 (1 year ago) Permalink
well now i have to read it
― based god #swag #lilb (Lamp), Friday, 19 August 2011 00:27 (1 year ago) Permalink
upcoming titles include 'the letter killers club' by sigizmund krzhizhanovsky which at least one ilxor is v excited about
― Lamp, Tuesday, 23 August 2011 05:46 (1 year ago) Permalink
Also the stories of Robert Sheckley!
― President Keyes, Tuesday, 23 August 2011 09:51 (1 year ago) Permalink
I'm another ilxor very excited about it (the krzhizhanovsky )!
Shecklety! THat's great!
― not bulimic, just a cat (James Morrison), Tuesday, 23 August 2011 23:41 (1 year ago) Permalink
sheckley! at least my third or fourth favourite bad writer
― thomp, Tuesday, 23 August 2011 23:41 (1 year ago) Permalink
fuck i can't type today
― not bulimic, just a cat (James Morrison), Tuesday, 23 August 2011 23:42 (1 year ago) Permalink
i wasn't correcting your spelling, just exclaiming
― thomp, Tuesday, 23 August 2011 23:48 (1 year ago) Permalink
it kind of words as one of those almost-after-the-fact bowdlerisations. like 'oh shhhugar.'
― thomp, Tuesday, 23 August 2011 23:49 (1 year ago) Permalink
Sheckley? Really? Will there be any overlap with with The Masque of Mañana?
thomp, do you really consider Robert Sheckley a bad writer? If so, I believe you will bring the wrath of the Sluglords down on your head.
― Viriconium Island Baby (James Redd and the Blecchs), Wednesday, 24 August 2011 01:58 (1 year ago) Permalink
sorry--didn't read it as a correction, it was just an xpost :)
― not bulimic, just a cat (James Morrison), Wednesday, 24 August 2011 04:24 (1 year ago) Permalink
starting to get into the ivy cb a bit more. i still maintain that the style is totally exhausting and reader hostile for absolutely nothing in return, but she draws a good character, and it's very funny. almost like a victorian 'the office' at times.
― caek, Wednesday, 24 August 2011 10:15 (1 year ago) Permalink
anyone read Hav, the Jan Morris travel fiction thing that they have forthcoming. Usually enjoy morris, am tempted.
― you don't exist in the database (woof), Wednesday, 24 August 2011 15:00 (1 year ago) Permalink
insert question mark
Saw that on the website, with a blurb from UKLG.
― Zingling Baby (James Redd and the Blecchs), Wednesday, 24 August 2011 15:06 (1 year ago) Permalink
Any good NYRB non-fiction recommendations along the lines of 'The World of Odysseus' & 'The Thirty Years War'?
& to hijack the NYRB thread with some Melville House, I was greatly entertained by slowly stumbling across these in the first large bookstore I've had the chance to visit in a while:(If I knew how to create a poll ...)
― etc, Wednesday, 24 August 2011 19:46 (1 year ago) Permalink
I've read 4 of those before, and they were all excellent. The Conrad is also very funny.
― not bulimic, just a cat (James Morrison), Wednesday, 24 August 2011 22:57 (1 year ago) Permalink
Henry Green can be like that but when it clicks finally, it's kind of thrilling.― Cuius regio, eius radicchio (Michael White), Thursday, August 18, 2011 7:04 PM (1 week ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink
― Cuius regio, eius radicchio (Michael White), Thursday, August 18, 2011 7:04 PM (1 week ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink
haha this has turned out to be otm.
― caek, Sunday, 28 August 2011 14:36 (1 year ago) Permalink
another nice NYRB nonfiction is "the bog people"
― mr peabody (moonship journey to baja), Sunday, 28 August 2011 16:50 (1 year ago) Permalink
ive been dipping in and out of "when the world spoke french" which is nice and has a lot of primary sources but seems to lose some of its impact due to... not being in french
― max, Monday, 29 August 2011 20:47 (1 year ago) Permalink
anyone besides Michael White read The Unpossessed?
― Anakin Ska Walker (AKA Skarth Vader) (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Monday, 19 September 2011 17:28 (1 year ago) Permalink
Thought about it, but no, not yet.
― When I Stop Meming (James Redd and the Blecchs), Monday, 19 September 2011 17:37 (1 year ago) Permalink
was not able to finish. too bawdy for my taste.
― mr peabody (moonship journey to baja), Monday, 19 September 2011 17:39 (1 year ago) Permalink
Fwiw, I'm presently reading 'Quand l'Europe parlait français'.
― em vee equals pea queue (Michael White), Monday, 19 September 2011 17:48 (1 year ago) Permalink
"bawdy" ooh la la!
― Anakin Ska Walker (AKA Skarth Vader) (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Monday, 19 September 2011 17:51 (1 year ago) Permalink
It was just bawdy enough for me as I recall.
― em vee equals pea queue (Michael White), Monday, 19 September 2011 17:54 (1 year ago) Permalink
Elizabeth Hardwick introduction + similarities to my beloved Dawn Powell = easy sell
― Anakin Ska Walker (AKA Skarth Vader) (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Monday, 19 September 2011 17:57 (1 year ago) Permalink
I enjoyed it, Alfred.
― em vee equals pea queue (Michael White), Monday, 19 September 2011 17:58 (1 year ago) Permalink
Just read the NYRB collection of Elizabeth Hardwick's stories, which was really excellent (although the last few were a bit too similar stylistically to be best enjoyed all read together).
― not bulimic, just a cat (James Morrison), Monday, 19 September 2011 23:42 (1 year ago) Permalink
Just picked up the Theophile Gautier book, My Fantoms.
― Work Hard, Flunky! (R Baez), Monday, 19 September 2011 23:55 (1 year ago) Permalink
Read the first few stories in the collection James M just mentioned and yes, they were all aces
― When I Stop Meming (James Redd and the Blecchs), Tuesday, 20 September 2011 00:36 (1 year ago) Permalink
Which I probably said upthread in exactly the same words
― When I Stop Meming (James Redd and the Blecchs), Tuesday, 20 September 2011 00:50 (1 year ago) Permalink
Maybe it was another thread
― When I Stop Meming (James Redd and the Blecchs), Tuesday, 20 September 2011 01:19 (1 year ago) Permalink
I just got this from the library.
― tokyo rosemary, Tuesday, 20 September 2011 04:15 (1 year ago) Permalink
the recent run of titles over the last month has been so excellent. i guess it was in one of the 'what are you reading' threads and not here but i also wanted to thank ilb for mentioning albert cossery which lead me to pick up the latest one theyve published, 'proud beggars'.
― 0010101 (Lamp), Tuesday, 3 January 2012 22:07 (1 year ago) Permalink