but the content itself is awful
the appearance of the content, i mean. the stories are great.
― caek, Friday, 24 July 2009 15:53 (3 years ago) Permalink
(if a little racist)
i think a lot of them--and this seems to be true of a lot of smaller (and i assume poorer) boutique and academic publishers like verso--seem to just re-use the same type setting as whatever the last edition was, which can lead to v jarring differences in font, spacing, layout etc., among books ostensibly in the same series
― max, Friday, 24 July 2009 15:56 (3 years ago) Permalink
I love them. They are my favourite classics publishing house by some way. They are nice to look at and often to read, and just have the most interesting titles. Some random favourites: The Glass Bees, The Invention of Morel, The Lore and language of Schoolchildren, A Month in the Country, all that Simenon. But I'd have to look at my shelves. Oh - the Notebooks of Joseph Joubert. And yes, Tim Robinson, absolutely. And Kaputt!
(Londoners: generally a lot of NYRB remainders upstairs in the Gower St. Waterstone's)
― woofwoofwoof, Friday, 24 July 2009 15:59 (3 years ago) Permalink
thanks for the tip
― caek, Friday, 24 July 2009 16:01 (3 years ago) Permalink
i read the invention of morel and was not really feelin it tbh
― max, Friday, 24 July 2009 16:01 (3 years ago) Permalink
Really? THat's too bad. Love that one and The Glass Bees.
Good point about the jarring fonts of others. Also good point by M. White about the forewords and afterwords.
― Horace Silver Machine (James Redd and the Blecchs), Friday, 24 July 2009 16:03 (3 years ago) Permalink
One publishing house that I've gone off is Europa Editions. They've got some good Italian stuff, but a lot of what they put out is just kind of Euro-bestsellers with some dusting of intellectual pretension.
― Horace Silver Machine (James Redd and the Blecchs), Friday, 24 July 2009 16:06 (3 years ago) Permalink
These are some of my favorites from this year.
The Dud Avocado - Elaine Dundy
The Old Man and Me - Elaine Dundy
Summer Will Show - Sylvia Townsend Warner
Memoirs of Montparnasse - John Glassco
That Awful Mess on the Via Merulana - Carlo Emilio Gadda
Beware of Pity - Stefan Zweig
The Unpossessed - Tess Slesinger
Just reading through their catalogue makes my mouth water...
― Le présent se dégrade, d'abord en histoire, puis en (Michael White), Friday, 24 July 2009 16:07 (3 years ago) Permalink
Been meaning to read That Awful Mess, but I'm afraid it will just go on the shelf next to the others I've gotta get around to.
― Horace Silver Machine (James Redd and the Blecchs), Friday, 24 July 2009 16:09 (3 years ago) Permalink
multi-xp
I liked Morel a lot a few years ago - for me got the mix of reality-twisting oddness and 19th-century Stevenson-y island adventure about right (ie it worked as middle-distance Borges), but I think I was moping about unobtainable women at the time so I might find it a bit less appealing now.
Haven't got more than a few pages into his one about a dog though.
― woofwoofwoof, Friday, 24 July 2009 16:12 (3 years ago) Permalink
I enjoyed 'The Awful Mess...', but from what I gather, it's what Bierce disdainfully referred to as 'novel in dialect' - apparently Gaddo captured Roman slang really, really well though how you would translate that is a complete mystery to me.
Is 'Morel' by Bioy Casares? Wasn't he pals w/Borges or something?
― Le présent se dégrade, d'abord en histoire, puis en (Michael White), Friday, 24 July 2009 16:14 (3 years ago) Permalink
Yes, they were great mates I believe. Also collaborated with him on some stories. So Morel being Borges-y is very understandable, but I meant it's successful in that - doesn't seem like a rip, seems to be synthesising the same stuff well over a different length.
― woofwoofwoof, Friday, 24 July 2009 16:23 (3 years ago) Permalink
borges wrote an intro to morel, that i believe is included in the NYRB edition
i was disappointed by morel in part because it was recommended to me very highly--it had the borgesian plot mechanics w/out the economy of style that makes borges so gripping; i felt like the man himself could have done the same thing twice as well in half as many pages
― max, Friday, 24 July 2009 16:25 (3 years ago) Permalink
Well, that is Borges' forte, isn't it?
― Le présent se dégrade, d'abord en histoire, puis en (Michael White), Friday, 24 July 2009 16:44 (3 years ago) Permalink
i would read all these nyrb books.
seriously, they all look appealing to me. of the ones i've seen.
― scott seward, Friday, 24 July 2009 18:39 (3 years ago) Permalink
― Horace Silver Machine (James Redd and the Blecchs), Friday, 24 July 2009 18:40 (3 years ago) Permalink
Warlock by Oakley Hall
^^^ i think this may be the only one of these i read but it was dope. oh - looking ive also read the stephen leacock nonsense novels, which was okay.
― here comes the slug line (Lamp), Friday, 24 July 2009 18:47 (3 years ago) Permalink
For those who enjoyed Morel, I also recommend his similarly Wells-ian Plan of Escape. His later stuff I don't like too much.
― Horace Silver Machine (James Redd and the Blecchs), Friday, 24 July 2009 18:55 (3 years ago) Permalink
Oh, Michael, I really liked The Dud Avacado -- you recommend the other Dundy as well?
It's true, these things have always looked a cut above, from the get-go.
― nabisco, Friday, 24 July 2009 20:33 (3 years ago) Permalink
Cesare Pavese - The Moon and the Bonfire
Really on the WILL WILL read: Victor Serge - The Unforgiving Years, and Henry De Montherlant
As for the Gadda - The 'mess' is part of the point and integral, but this seems amplified by the almost impossible job of translation of those linguistic puns! Still it does hold its fascination and the guy has written widely on a range of topics. I really hope that bringing this translation out will mean more novels and writings to come in English, but I do fear it was the wrong book of his to bring out, as much as I liked it.
― xyzzzz__, Friday, 24 July 2009 20:36 (3 years ago) Permalink
I really liked The Dud Avacado -- you recommend the other Dundy as well?
Yes! Unfortunately it's in England as opposed to France but the plot is neater and the ending far superior to the ending of TDA, which I found a little artlessly abrupt. You can tell that Dundy is more grown-up or something. It's a hoot.
I find Montherlant rather depressing. His prose is rather gorgeous in French but he's such a bitter misogynist.
I seriously, like scott seward, would read almost all of these (except for the translations from the French) but the one that's next for me is probably Zweig's 'The Post-Office Girl'.
It's a posthumous novel, just now translated into English and it's a 2009 PEN Translation Prize Finalist. Also, I just love Zweig.
― Le présent se dégrade, d'abord en histoire, puis en (Michael White), Friday, 24 July 2009 20:45 (3 years ago) Permalink
yah the zweig u linked sounds fantastic
― here comes the slug line (Lamp), Friday, 24 July 2009 20:49 (3 years ago) Permalink
turn yr zweig on
― max, Friday, 24 July 2009 21:01 (3 years ago) Permalink
The Post Office Girl is, indeed, fantastic. I love NYRB--beautiful books, and most of those I've read have been great.
― When two tribes go to war, he always gets picked last (James Morrison), Saturday, 25 July 2009 02:40 (3 years ago) Permalink
wasn't there a thread on this before?
i have read and enjoyed:
the Joyce Cary trilogy - Herself Surprised/The Horse's Mouth/To be A PilgrimDarcy O'Brien - A Way of Life Like Any OtherJ.F. Powers - Morte D'UrbanGeorges Simenon - Three Bedrooms In Manhattan
― velko, Saturday, 25 July 2009 09:14 (3 years ago) Permalink
oh yeah, High Wind In Jamaica - Richard Hughes too
and i have The Go-Between on my shelf,bought it a few years ago and forgot it so I will start that in the next couple of weeks
― velko, Saturday, 25 July 2009 09:32 (3 years ago) Permalink
Darcy O'Brien - A Way of Life Like Any Other
― Horace Silver Machine (James Redd and the Blecchs), Saturday, 25 July 2009 12:17 (3 years ago) Permalink
Sleepless Nights by Elizabeth Hardwick Seconding this one too. Will take this opportunity to recommend Great Granny Webster by Caroline Blackwood. I think they've got another one by her as well.
― Horace Silver Machine (James Redd and the Blecchs), Saturday, 25 July 2009 12:24 (3 years ago) Permalink
i really like the thing mentioned upthread, where the typesetting is a slightly wonky copy of the previous edition's. it's nice to have that reminder of er the history of the book you're reading as a series of previous physical objects
(/wank)
their children's books are occasionally quite gorgeous; i bought this for my nephew and never actually gave it to him
― thomp, Saturday, 25 July 2009 15:22 (3 years ago) Permalink
Didn't Buzzati write 'The Tartar Steppe'?
― Le présent se dégrade, d'abord en histoire, puis en (Michael White), Saturday, 25 July 2009 17:19 (3 years ago) Permalink
Think it was called The Desert of The Tartars but yeah, that's the same guy.
Found another one to recommend: The Waste Books by George Chistoph Lichtenberg. Perhaps will post some cherce nuggets in the near future.
Found a bunch more I've purchased but never gotten round to reading. It's a little depressing. Ah, M. White! Ah, humanity!
― Horace Silver Machine (James Redd and the Blecchs), Saturday, 25 July 2009 22:41 (3 years ago) Permalink
!!!!! these dudes have been str8 killing it w/east european translation l8ly
also nice that they put out that mavis gallant collection - penguin canada had a slim and pretty collection of eight stories that i have but this one seems tighter and better chosen also bought memoirs of an anti-semite, vladimir sorkin's ice and the chrysalids (lol)
― as the hart pants after the water brooks even so my blashphemous soul (Lamp), Wednesday, 23 September 2009 09:34 (3 years ago) Permalink
That's just up my alley
― xyzzzz__, Wednesday, 23 September 2009 20:48 (3 years ago) Permalink
Memoirs of an Anti-Semite and The Chrysalids are arse-kickingly good. Must read Memories of the Future!
― When two tribes go to war, he always gets picked last (James Morrison), Wednesday, 23 September 2009 23:43 (3 years ago) Permalink
i would like to read memoirs of an anti-semite. i have a couple of these on my shelf that i haven't read (because they're on my shelf...). they're very pretty!
― steamed hams (harbl), Wednesday, 23 September 2009 23:46 (3 years ago) Permalink
I have been enjoying some of those mid-century novels of the American left, which I barely knew existed: "Clark Gifford's Body" by Kenneth Fearing; "The Unposessed" by Tess Schlesinger; "What's For Dinner" by James Schuyler, that Lionel Trilling novel, all variously fine, I'm sure there were one or two more.
I love publishing houses I can trust when I'm not sure whether to take a punt or not. I recently took a punt on "The Ten Thousand Things" by Maria Dermout, and I was pleased I did. It ended up reminding me of "Sleepless Nights" by E. Hardwick herself, which is somewhere near where we came in.
It's costing me money, though: now I want the nice NYRB editions not inferior editions from elsewhere. Time was I'd have been very pleased to pick up the Virago copy of "The Old Man And Me" available for pennies off Amazon...
― Tim, Thursday, 24 September 2009 13:19 (3 years ago) Permalink
After reading Stephen Vizinczey's review of The Death of My Brother Abel I don't plan to read anything by von Rezzori.
― alimosina, Thursday, 24 September 2009 19:20 (3 years ago) Permalink
haha that's funny because i got memoirs out today. but it was the viking edition :(
― steamed hams (harbl), Thursday, 24 September 2009 19:39 (3 years ago) Permalink
Really good turn for these guys to give away some of the essays for free -- really enjoyed reading Toni Morrison on Camara Laye.
Right now I really want to have a look at the Walser short story collection. Really.
One slight negative => Let me suggest the way its bound/the design of the books doesn't quite suit anything over 250 pages. But I speak as someone who has not given an awful lot of thought to the way books are designed.
― xyzzzz__, Wednesday, 7 October 2009 21:28 (3 years ago) Permalink
vladimir sorokin's ice
this was weird its not "good" but it was surprisingly tense and creepy. i missed my subway stop one night - sunday maybe? - reading part I and i wish that hed kept up with that. the socialist realist parody section was grating i mean i guess it was supposed to be? and the level of contempt is hard to forgive - it feels like a book that has everything figured out and doesnt really want to know its world any better just to heap derision on its many failings. also it was really violent...
im going to try some of the tatyana tolstaya stuff they have next
― h3len k. (Lamp), Wednesday, 21 October 2009 03:35 (3 years ago) Permalink
Anyone checked out Andrey Platonov? Read an intro to one of the books on the NYRB page, the translator does compare him to Musil/Proust elsewhere but those comparisons always come across as more like blind enthusiasm.
― xyzzzz__, Wednesday, 21 October 2009 10:00 (3 years ago) Permalink
I picked up the NYRB edition of the Opies' Lore and Language of Schoolschildren yesterday (which my Amazon reseller seems to have liberated from Newton le Willows library) which looks fantastic on first glance (includes an extensive etymology and mapping of the use of "fainites"!).
― Stevie T, Wednesday, 21 October 2009 10:09 (3 years ago) Permalink
Really on the WILL WILL read: Victor Serge - The Unforgiving Years
oh man this is so good, check out his Memoirs of a Revolutionary too.
I've read one Platonov for a class - The Foundation Pit. It's weird as hell and terribly sad. I think I liked it, I was probably the only person in class to finish it. I checked out one of his books of stories which I never really gave a chance to; about 20 pages in it was getting so over-the-top in Russian misery that I was having trouble not laughing, and then I had to return it to the library.
― clotpoll, Wednesday, 21 October 2009 10:37 (3 years ago) Permalink
I try to get these for the library whenever I see them. Lately we've gotten No Tomorrow by Vivant Denon, The Cost of Living by Mavis Gallant, and Hard Rain Falling by Don Carpenter.
Other paperback publishers who consistently make me happy: New Directions, Editions Gallimard.
― Virginia Plain, Thursday, 22 October 2009 02:51 (3 years ago) Permalink
I've read one Platonov for a class - The Foundation Pit. It's weird as hell and terribly sad. I think I liked it,
Read, not for a class, but for "fun" -- very sad, very odd, sometimes hard-going, I _think_ I liked it as well.
Summary: a bunch of Soviet workers are digging the foundations for a massive utopian communist self-contained city thing, but it may actually be a Stalinist mass grave
― When two tribes go to war, he always gets picked last (James Morrison), Thursday, 22 October 2009 03:42 (3 years ago) Permalink
i think Foundation Pit is one of Platonov weakest stories (actually, it's a novella) maybe cause it's super realistic,dry,too political and with too much dialouge while Platonov merits are in creating a poetic,lyrical,closed to surreal, but very gentle atmosphere, which is closer to Kafka, Schultz, Gombrowicz and a little Cortazar than anything else
― Zeno, Thursday, 22 October 2009 08:33 (3 years ago) Permalink
Well I do have a taste for political fiction -- I read the intro to Soul (the short story collection also bought out NYRB) and what did draw my attention was the politics (with one eye on the craft of writing; 'dry' and 'political' needn't necessarily go together), and that he wrote the majority of his works (which includes essays on many subjects, writers that do write really widely is a good sign to me) in that 1917-1929 period in Russian history, as I'm really interested in Russian fiction from that period.
It would probably be disappointing to me if it was some kind of Kafka knock-off.
― xyzzzz__, Thursday, 22 October 2009 09:31 (3 years ago) Permalink
it isn't a Kafka knock-off - it's very unique,though it resemble Kafka .in a way,all of Platonov's writing is political, but the genius of his writing,imo,is when the political issues are the subtext of the story,not the story itself: isnt that (among other things) what makes a great art - the beauty of the transformation from "message" to "imagery"?he did it not only because he was a talented writer but also because of the censorship and fear of the goverment,but sometimes,ironically those restaints produce great art..
― Zeno, Thursday, 22 October 2009 11:39 (3 years ago) Permalink
"Soul" is fantastic, Jules. Summary: geezer goes to be Soviet rep dude to some dwindling, semi-migratory tribe, goes fairly native. You can have a lend of my copy if you want (it's a Harvill not an NYRB, soz). It didn't feel like Kafka, to me. I liked "The Foundation Pit" too, and have read the stories in "The Return" and the feeling I came away with wasn't really gentleness but a slightly panicky inability to move.
(I note that in his Wikipedia page Andrey is being played by Denholm Elliott: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andrei_Platonov.)
"The political issues are the subtext of the story, not the story itself" - yes, this, but (in "Soul" and "TFP" I think) it's a subtext which makes the story wrench and scream.
― Tim, Thursday, 22 October 2009 11:51 (3 years ago) Permalink
sorry about stupid typos
― dow, Sunday, 26 February 2012 20:34 (1 year ago) Permalink
i've never read Boston Adventure! i should check it out. i think of Molly as a character that defies any attempt at readerly sentimental identification, but i don't know if she's a villain, exactly. she's terrifying.
― horseshoe, Sunday, 26 February 2012 20:43 (1 year ago) Permalink
She does defy it, and she's scary, but o shit, where Stafford takes her and the reader, the ending o shit
― dow, Sunday, 26 February 2012 21:00 (1 year ago) Permalink
paging scott seward btw; have you read jean stafford? i think you would enjoy jean stafford.
― horseshoe, Sunday, 26 February 2012 21:01 (1 year ago) Permalink
I saw The Mountain Lion at my local bookstore last year and didn't buy it -- a mistake. Should I start with that one or BA?
― Exile in lolville (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Sunday, 26 February 2012 21:04 (1 year ago) Permalink
Hard to say--The Mountain Lion is shorter, not as dense, which might be good or bad; you can't forage for so many consolation prizes if you get tired of the main line of development. Boston Adventure starts like its title suggests, oh a plucky underdog's gonna make it after all. Might have some tense moments, but some wry me resolutions, not so unusual then. Probably got into some school libraries that way. But it keeps tunneling into, for instance, scenes with a mental mother, very convincing, beyond standard coming of age etc novels then; It's not only about such relationships, doesn't settle even for them, though could have, re merited reviewer-bait.
― dow, Sunday, 26 February 2012 21:27 (1 year ago) Permalink
Oh yeah, and here's an description, for non-subscribers like me, of a Stafford collection's title story:http://www.newyorker.com/archive/1948/02/21/1948_02_21_023_TNY_CARDS_000214532
― dow, Sunday, 26 February 2012 21:31 (1 year ago) Permalink
Weirdly, all 3 of Lowell's ex-wives are now published by NYRB: Jean Stafford, Caroline Blackwood, Elizabeth Hardwick. All 3 are really great writers, too
― Not only dermatologists hate her (James Morrison), Sunday, 26 February 2012 23:03 (1 year ago) Permalink
Don't know Blackwood's work, is it good?
― dow, Sunday, 4 March 2012 20:13 (1 year ago) Permalink
The one I read was good, and others here have repped for some of the others.
― Why Does Redd People Never Want To Blecch? (James Redd and the Blecchs), Sunday, 4 March 2012 20:17 (1 year ago) Permalink
Oh yeah, now I see mention of Great Granny Webster, what's the writing like?
― dow, Sunday, 4 March 2012 20:33 (1 year ago) Permalink
Remember it being witty and funny, byt it was a while ago, I couldn't tell you more. Maybe I should read this copy of Corrigan sitting right here.
― Why Does Redd People Never Want To Blecch? (James Redd and the Blecchs), Sunday, 4 March 2012 20:49 (1 year ago) Permalink
Please do! I'll look around online when not so lazy.
― dow, Sunday, 4 March 2012 20:51 (1 year ago) Permalink
Yeah, Blackwood is witty and funny and often pretty dark, too. Good stuff.
― Not only dermatologists hate her (James Morrison), Sunday, 4 March 2012 22:38 (1 year ago) Permalink
Forgot to mention the darkness. Enjoying first pages of Corrigan. May stick with it
― Why Does Redd People Never Want To Blecch? (James Redd and the Blecchs), Sunday, 4 March 2012 23:16 (1 year ago) Permalink
'an ermine in czernopol' is just really, really good
― Lamp, Tuesday, 3 April 2012 02:22 (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, August 24, 2011 11:00 AM (8 months ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink
just read this, really enjoyed it. its actually two books in one -- one set in 1985 and one in 2005 -- the first is better but the second works fine as a companion piece
― max, Wednesday, 9 May 2012 02:50 (1 year ago) Permalink
Oh yeah, I gotta have Hav. The travel non-fiction I've read was rich, dense but very clear, very careful, with no hesitation.Comes from climbing all those mountains, incl the ones w streets. Also liked Conundrum, re the sex change. Haven't read the pre-op, Desmond era adventures, but I better.
― dow, Monday, 14 May 2012 21:19 (1 year ago) Permalink
Lethem praises Patrick Hamilton's NYRB editions in current Rolling Stone, mentions that Hamilton provided the basis of Hitchcock's Gaslight and Rope (the latter with a little help from Leopold and Loeb, or so I assumed)
― dow, Friday, 25 May 2012 19:59 (1 year ago) Permalink
reading the sheckley story collection right now, very fun
― congratulations (n/a), Friday, 25 May 2012 20:13 (1 year ago) Permalink
Patrick Hamilton is so much one of my favourite writers
― seven league bootie (James Morrison), Sunday, 27 May 2012 04:21 (1 year ago) Permalink
from http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/books/2012/06/bookexpo-america.html
I also discovered that, starting this fall, N.Y.R.B. is launching a new e-book-only imprint, made up of literary novels and books in translation singled out by the writer Sue Halpern. “Our logic is very simple,” Halpern writes. “Since, as the argument goes, it is too risky and expensive to bring out these sorts of books, we will take advantage of digital’s lower costs to expand the reading universe.” The first three offerings will be Lindsay Clarke’s “The Water Theatre” (September); Zena el Khalil’s “Beirut, I Love You: A Memoir” (October), and Yoram Kaniuk’s “1948” (November). The project is one answer to the lament about print’s demise; think of what’s now possible in the cheaper e-book form.
― congratulations (n/a), Thursday, 7 June 2012 18:19 (1 year ago) Permalink
Me too, and I think I first heard of him on ILB.
That ebook thing sounds excellent.
― franny glass, Friday, 8 June 2012 15:50 (1 year ago) Permalink
Anybody get Ride a Cockhorse? The original novel was published in '91.
― a regina spektor is haunting europe (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Sunday, 8 July 2012 23:36 (11 months ago) Permalink
I've ordered it, but it hasn't come in yet--looks good, though
― an inevitable disappointment (James Morrison), Monday, 9 July 2012 00:12 (11 months ago) Permalink
struggling with the wedgwood
I keep reading sentences but they're not going in; she has an imperceptibly queer style. lots of sentences seem straightforward but don't seem to make a lot of sense. maybe I'm just in the wrong headspace rn
― skrill xx (cozen), Wednesday, 18 July 2012 12:11 (11 months ago) Permalink
finished reading 'the mountain lion' which i liked a lot and thought felt kinda sui generis like it wasnt really a story about childhood or coming-of-age but it also wasnt a fable, really, although it has strong elements of both?
i think of Molly as a character that defies any attempt at readerly sentimental identification, but i don't know if she's a villain, exactly. she's terrifying.
she is terrifying! i didnt hate her and they way stafford slopes in and out of her pov, mixing her and her brother up makes it hard to get a real sense of her somehow? idk i almost felt like despite everything she was still a mystery to me, nothing she did would surprise but everything seemed uncertain and unpredictable too.
― Lamp, Tuesday, 24 July 2012 04:08 (10 months ago) Permalink
i've been going to the park on my lunch breaks and reading renata adler's 'speedboat' over and over because parts of it stick in my mind w/o really holding shape or meaning so i keep reading it and bits pieces and puzzling over it and i think i'm somewhat obsessed with it in a shameful sort of way, i want to start to talking and writing the way she does but not really having the knack for it, the ear for it i guess and no one i know has read it or wants to talk about it at all and every mention of her on ilx is either in relation to pauline kael (christ) or feminism (jeez) and i mean
― Lamp, Sunday, 2 June 2013 06:23 (2 weeks ago) Permalink
Or about the ponytail.
― Roddenberry Beret (James Redd and the Blecchs), Sunday, 2 June 2013 12:00 (2 weeks ago) Permalink
Reading/enjoying Elizabeth David's A Book of Mediterranean Food. Written as a kind of food/luxury porn in 1940s food-rationed Britain, full of then-obscure ingredients like cilantro. Recipes in prose form. Fun.
― The End**^ (Eazy), Sunday, 2 June 2013 14:17 (2 weeks ago) Permalink
If my shopping trip today is anything to go by cilantro is still obscure in Britain. wtffffff
I recently finished Varieties of Exile by Mavis Gallant. It was enjoyable but a lot of the stories are the sort that I think I'd get more out of if I had ppl to discuss them with. I have The Tenants of Moonbloom waiting to be read now, which I'm looking forward to.
― salsa shark, Sunday, 2 June 2013 15:25 (2 weeks ago) Permalink
speedboat was on sale at my favourite local bookstore i`ll see what i can do
― flopson, Sunday, 2 June 2013 17:33 (2 weeks ago) Permalink
Salsa - not sure where you are in the UK but cilantro is generally un-obscure here. We do call it coriander, mind.
― Tim, Sunday, 2 June 2013 17:46 (2 weeks ago) Permalink
so annoyed to have been beaten to that
― the bitcoin comic (thomp), Sunday, 2 June 2013 18:22 (2 weeks ago) Permalink
(Psst. Don't tell salsa shark about the rocket/arugula thing just yet)
― Roddenberry Beret (James Redd and the Blecchs), Sunday, 2 June 2013 18:32 (2 weeks ago) Permalink
Speedboat was great. I read it around a month ago.
― mimicking regular benevloent (sic) users' names (President Keyes), Sunday, 2 June 2013 20:40 (2 weeks ago) Permalink
Haha! Okay this is dumb but I had no idea that cilantro = coriander. For some reason it never even occurred to me that they might be the same thing (yes, obv idiotic since they look exactly the same, I just thought it was a coincidence). Well, thanks for that. :$
― salsa shark, Monday, 3 June 2013 07:01 (2 weeks ago) Permalink
Reading/enjoying Elizabeth David's /A Book of Mediterranean Food/. Written as a kind of food/luxury porn in 1940s food-rationed Britain, full of then-obscure ingredients like cilantro. Recipes in prose form. Fun.
cooked suleiman's pilaf just last night - one of my all time favourite dishes.
― Fizzles, Tuesday, 4 June 2013 07:52 (2 weeks ago) Permalink