Harold Bloom was famously a big fan of Voyage to Arcturus: “I have read it literally hundreds of times, indeed obsessively I have read several copies of it to shreds.” The much-shredded book has, he says, “affected me personally with more intensity and obsessiveness than all the works of greater stature and resonance of our time.”
― gravalicious, Sunday, 29 November 2020 12:24 (three years ago) link
challop of all challops! conventional wisdom that FSF finds himself with Gatsby is correct
― Guayaquil (eephus!), vrijdag 27 november 2020 19:15 (two days ago) bookmarkflaglink
Guilty as charged :) I know it's not a popular opinion, and 'This Side of Paradise' certainly has its flaws, but it's my fave of him, and I find it eternally re-readable. Gatsby 'perfect' and fully formed, with this one he's still finding his way, which appeals to me.
― A Scampo Darkly (Le Bateau Ivre), Sunday, 29 November 2020 13:37 (three years ago) link
Read Cheri earlier this year and it's ✔️✔️✔️
― xyzzzz__, Sunday, 29 November 2020 14:09 (three years ago) link
I was a bit hesitant to vote Voyage to Arcturus - it's singularly and impressively strange but I haven't read it in years and its advocates oversell it a bit (tho' this could be my allergy to allegory - even a cosmic-gnostic Bunyan can't quite get me over the taste coming through). Did vote for it in the end because the few other books that I've read here seem a bit staid in comparison - I know how to read them.
― woof, Sunday, 29 November 2020 14:16 (three years ago) link
I saw The Ancient Allan and assumed it must be Quartermain, now seeing its the 10th book about him. Hadn't realised how much of a pulp repeat character he was.
― Stevolende, Sunday, 29 November 2020 14:36 (three years ago) link
I read Cheri and The last of Cheri about ten years ago and I remember absolutely nothing, plot summary rings no bells and I was even surprised when I learned the title character is male :(
― ledge, Sunday, 29 November 2020 17:21 (three years ago) link
I apparently read Age Of Innocence a few years ago and same.
― koogs, Sunday, 29 November 2020 18:25 (three years ago) link
I saw the film a couple of decades ago. I know I picked up th ebook but haven't looked at it.
― Stevolende, Sunday, 29 November 2020 18:27 (three years ago) link
Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.
― System, Monday, 30 November 2020 00:01 (three years ago) link
Wherein We Elect Our Favourite Novels of 1921
― Daniel_Rf, Monday, 30 November 2020 17:05 (three years ago) link
Midway through The Age of Innocence, it's hard going! Full of awful people who have used their wealth to incarcerate themselves inside a dreadful prison. There is a measure of irony in Wharton's prose which suggests some amusement in her gaze, mine is just one of horror.
― ledge, Monday, 8 February 2021 09:41 (three years ago) link
Well it's a masterpiece obviously, May Welland gets a raw deal though. Would be interested to know others' thoughts on Newland and the ending - maybe I'm being harsh but I think it's another example of his selfishness and cowardice.
― ledge, Wednesday, 10 February 2021 11:11 (three years ago) link