Currently reading a new NYRB: Iris Owens's 'After Claude', which I'm really enjoying, despite/because of the narrator being one of the most repellent people EVER.
started this on the train today and lolled
― mookieproof, Friday, 17 December 2010 22:16 (thirteen years ago) link
It's a lot of fun. The ending is pretty freaky.
― buildings with goats on the roof (James Morrison), Monday, 20 December 2010 00:35 (thirteen years ago) link
http://blog.mpl.org/mke_reads/hard_rain.jpg
i keep seeing this and i wanna read it, it seems like something i would be into
― plax (ico), Friday, 7 January 2011 22:49 (thirteen years ago) link
i havent seen that one before but yeah it also seems pertinent to my interests
― just sayin, Friday, 7 January 2011 22:54 (thirteen years ago) link
ones i've read recently:stoner by john williams - well-written but pretty depressing for my tastesthe quest for corvo by a.j.a. symons - conceptually cool, got kind of repetitive after a while and i stopped reading it about 50 pgs before the endon the yard by malcolm braley - really awesome prison novel written by a dude who was in prison for like 20 years
― congratulations (n/a), Friday, 7 January 2011 23:11 (thirteen years ago) link
Stephen Benatar - that's a name to conjugate with
― the pinefox, Friday, 7 January 2011 23:33 (thirteen years ago) link
I like the John Collier a lot. Although I've only read, er, about eight stories since I bought it in 2006-ish. Seems like the perfect bathroom book to dip into once every 15 months for the rest of your life.
― Chuck_Tatum, Monday, 10 January 2011 14:26 (thirteen years ago) link
i got 3 of these books in the mail. i just started tove janssssssson, the true deceiver. it sure is weird how all three have different typefaces!
― positive reflection is the key (harbl), Friday, 14 January 2011 20:09 (thirteen years ago) link
Just picked up Platonov - The Fierce and Beautiful World. Guy at the bookstore really talked it up.
― hey boys, suppers on me, our video just went bacterial (Hurting 2), Friday, 14 January 2011 20:17 (thirteen years ago) link
xpost Paris Review has a fair number of interviews archived on their site. C'mon and feel the exhilaration of getting away from writing via talking about writing (I do it too, but have to manage without an audience)
― dow, Friday, 14 January 2011 21:35 (thirteen years ago) link
i finished the true deceiver. ouch! should i read warlock or beware of pity next, or flip a coin
― positive reflection is the key (harbl), Monday, 17 January 2011 16:02 (thirteen years ago) link
warlock
― max, Monday, 17 January 2011 16:57 (thirteen years ago) link
I feel like I should just read all of these NYRB Classic since I've dug every one I have read. The Outward Room by Millen Brand was pretty minimal, but hit me hard. I'm reading Vasily Grossman's "The Road" now.
― President Keyes, Tuesday, 18 January 2011 01:11 (thirteen years ago) link
cassandra at the wedding by dorothy baker, picked it up because of carson mccullers blurb & deb eisenberg's afterword, it was great. now starting warlock by oakley hall. i l u nyrb books
― just sayin, Thursday, 7 April 2011 22:40 (thirteen years ago) link
so theyve collected vladimir sorokin's ice trilogy in one volume which includes 'ice' (as book 2).
recently read & loved:- riders in the chariot- an apartment in athens
― ─►.butt.tko (Lamp), Monday, 18 April 2011 20:18 (thirteen years ago) link
an apartment in athens is great. I've bought the Ice trilogy, but not tackled it yet.
― You're fucking fired and you know jack shit about horses (James Morrison), Monday, 18 April 2011 23:59 (thirteen years ago) link
haha youve read everything!! is there anything youd recommend in particular, kinda outta stuff to read atm. also have had a not bad really but less enjoyable patch lately w/ nyrb i didnt really like williams 'stoner' & couldnt even finish gadda's 'that awful mess...' (which is staring reproachfully @ me as a type this) or sciascia's 'to each his own'. also was disappointed w/ 'the invention of morel' although i finished that one
― S C R æ M (Lamp), Tuesday, 19 April 2011 07:47 (thirteen years ago) link
what did you not like about the gadda? i started it but it didn't grab me as promised, and i had other things to do.
― j., Wednesday, 20 April 2011 03:28 (thirteen years ago) link
Have you read Clark Gifford's Body? Or The Strangers in the House, by Simenon? They're a couple of the most straightforward enjoyable ones I can think of.
― clotpoll, Wednesday, 20 April 2011 04:21 (thirteen years ago) link
j i just found 'that awful mess' too dense & associative, i think? i had hard time following what was happening even while i was reading, my focus just sort of bouncing off the page. a lot of times id catch myself thinking abt something trivial and realize i couldnt recall anything that had happened in the last couple of pages
i might try 'clark gifford's body' but im not really in the mood for simenon atm
― c( ☠_ ☠ ) ↄ (Lamp), Wednesday, 20 April 2011 06:45 (thirteen years ago) link
The same thing happened to me with the Gadda, it's fairly rare for me to abandon a book. Perhaps I should try again.
The two Elaine Dundy novels are light and enjoyable; I love "Hadrian The Seventh", I love "Ringolevio" (though my copy is Canongate / Rebel Inc. FOR SHAME) both political romps in their very different ways; I found "In Hazard" by Richard Hughes an absorbing and intense wonder; "Sleepless Nights" by Elizabeth Hardwick herself is an odd favourite of mine: it's wispy and intangible, I've read it a few times and each time I start thinking "oh there's nothing to this" and end in raptures of one kind or another. Again, my cop is a 1980s Virago Classic so perhaps I should just shut my mouth about it.
I'm reading "Warlock" and it keeps reminding me of the song "Pancho and Lefty". I think it's the phrase "he only did what he had to do". Sometimes I hear it in the voice of Emmylou Harris and sometimes in the voice of WIllie Nelson, but that doesn't seem to relate to the character speaking the words.
― Tim, Wednesday, 20 April 2011 08:34 (thirteen years ago) link
The desert's quiet and Cleveland's cold.
― the pinefox, Wednesday, 20 April 2011 10:36 (thirteen years ago) link
No spoilers.
― Tim, Wednesday, 20 April 2011 10:53 (thirteen years ago) link
Acquainted with Grief -- the only other Gadda novel available in English -- is well worth tracking down. That Awful Mess... is, well, an actual mess -- intended by its author, and perhaps the execution of its translation added to this.
You and your Virago classics Tim! I think I've seen that Hardwick in a 2nd hand shop whenever I pass through...
― xyzzzz__, Wednesday, 20 April 2011 19:09 (thirteen years ago) link
to go along with the hadrian the seventh recommendation, i see they also publish a.j.a. symonds' quest for corvo which is entertaining and well worth a read if you're into rolfe/corvo. don't think i've actually ever seen a nyrb publishing publication (though that radiguet cover looks familiar).
― no lime tangier, Wednesday, 20 April 2011 20:13 (thirteen years ago) link
Actually you may well find Quest for Corvo fascinating, even if you know nothing about Corvo/Rolfe--I'd never read him when I read it, and really enjoyed it.
― You're fucking fired and you know jack shit about horses (James Morrison), Thursday, 21 April 2011 00:06 (thirteen years ago) link
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 (thirteen years ago) link
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 (thirteen years ago) link
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 (thirteen years ago) link
i dont think so - i've read some elaine dundy so i think i would remember
― just sayin, Thursday, 21 April 2011 07:40 (thirteen years ago) link
(but who knows)
― just sayin, Thursday, 21 April 2011 07:44 (thirteen years ago) link
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 (twelve years ago) link
i am reading a house and its head for book club
http://assets.nybooks.com/media/img/books/9780940322646.jpg
so far i am finding it infuriatingly badly written on a technical level, but quite funny.
― caek, Wednesday, 17 August 2011 15:58 (twelve years ago) link
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 (twelve years ago) link
to be fair to ivy c-b, i'm only 30 pages in.
― caek, Wednesday, 17 August 2011 16:14 (twelve years ago) link
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 (twelve years ago) link
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 (twelve years ago) link
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 (twelve years ago) link
oh and warlock, duh
― mr peabody (moonship journey to baja), Thursday, 18 August 2011 17:38 (twelve years ago) link
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 (twelve years ago) link
x-post I read the World of Odysseus recently and liked it a lot.
― President Keyes, Thursday, 18 August 2011 23:34 (twelve years ago) link
<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 (twelve years ago) link
well now i have to read it
― based god #swag #lilb (Lamp), Friday, 19 August 2011 00:27 (twelve years ago) link
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 (twelve years ago) link
Also the stories of Robert Sheckley!
― President Keyes, Tuesday, 23 August 2011 09:51 (twelve years ago) link
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 (twelve years ago) link
sheckley! at least my third or fourth favourite bad writer
― thomp, Tuesday, 23 August 2011 23:41 (twelve years ago) link
fuck i can't type today
― not bulimic, just a cat (James Morrison), Tuesday, 23 August 2011 23:42 (twelve years ago) link
i wasn't correcting your spelling, just exclaiming
― thomp, Tuesday, 23 August 2011 23:48 (twelve years ago) link
it kind of words as one of those almost-after-the-fact bowdlerisations. like 'oh shhhugar.'
― thomp, Tuesday, 23 August 2011 23:49 (twelve years ago) link