tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23400750.post5887454831912954346..comments2023-11-03T11:32:01.540+00:00Comments on Thought Experiments : The Blog: 100 Books to Read After You DieBryan Appleyardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08276787058430388582noreply@blogger.comBlogger34125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23400750.post-70750962952692141962008-05-25T17:09:00.000+00:002008-05-25T17:09:00.000+00:00Steve, I'm with you. But then, literature is alway...Steve, I'm with you. But then, literature is always about what you bring to it. Perhaps there's some trembling chord in Bryan that really resonates when he reads Hazzard.<BR/><BR/>Moi-meme, I can agree with him on Marilynne Robinson -- at least, on "Housekeeping"; "Gilead" didn't have the same effect on me -- but there are reasons why the great writers are considered great by a majority of Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23400750.post-11783938373721986242008-05-24T07:04:00.000+00:002008-05-24T07:04:00.000+00:00Nige, based on the high regard you and Bryan had f...Nige, based on the high regard you and Bryan had for Shirley Hazzard, I am half way through "The Great Fire", and unfortunately I can't share the enthusiasm. I am in fact considering abandoning it.<BR/><BR/>I found it said in a couple of reviews that her prose can be "oblique" or even cryptic. I say that it is overworked and frequently opaque. The sentences are clearly carefully crafted, yet Stevehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04108945551064939734noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23400750.post-23836235276537720912008-05-23T21:27:00.000+00:002008-05-23T21:27:00.000+00:00I guess a list like that is for someone studying n...I guess a list like that is for someone studying novels, not a real reader. But why more than one book by an author? <BR/>Pretty sure I can cross off all of James Fenimore Cooper until I'm gone, and hope the book burns up from all the heat that I expect will be there.<BR/>I was glad to see Graham Greene. He can write sentences and paragraphs that stop me in my tracks with their beauty.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23400750.post-33645942563750864572008-05-23T20:21:00.000+00:002008-05-23T20:21:00.000+00:00Guess we cancerians bounce (21/07/42)Guess we cancerians bounce (21/07/42)maltyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02936465848907794425noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23400750.post-21056479327935168852008-05-23T19:04:00.000+00:002008-05-23T19:04:00.000+00:00Hey Malty, ease off the gas - sounds like you need...Hey Malty, ease off the gas - sounds like you need a dose of na Gopaleen, not Nige - when you get inside this Joyce-manque you will appreciate his erudition - his column often appeared in Irish, with chunks of Latin and Greek, and he little cared whether anybody understood him.<BR/>'buchhandlung' he knew better than you or me was not the word he needed, literally - he just loved the look of it onmahlermanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14469854614938507153noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23400750.post-10612695771369590602008-05-23T18:54:00.000+00:002008-05-23T18:54:00.000+00:00The most worrying lists are those either to port o...The most worrying lists are those either to port or staboard, didn't do the Barham a lot of good.maltyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02936465848907794425noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23400750.post-1278793101317327902008-05-23T18:20:00.000+00:002008-05-23T18:20:00.000+00:00Ah, lists!Try this one:http://littlefrigging.wordp...Ah, lists!<BR/>Try this one:<BR/>http://littlefrigging.wordpress.com/2008/05/09/the-top-10-most-annoying-things-on-the-web/David Hadleyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05510828634517689127noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23400750.post-33466025195683029552008-05-23T17:56:00.000+00:002008-05-23T17:56:00.000+00:00'buchhandlung', just means bookshop or bookseller,...'buchhandlung', just means bookshop or bookseller, not book distresser. Good idea though, try it in front of Sugar.<BR/>There's a local guy who sells "genuine antique French country furniture, made under a Peripehique arch at Clinancourt, last week.maltyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02936465848907794425noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23400750.post-75571006308794099902008-05-23T17:47:00.000+00:002008-05-23T17:47:00.000+00:00That's brilliant Mahlerman - thanks!That's brilliant Mahlerman - thanks!Nigehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13314891387515045404noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23400750.post-56736502439821026492008-05-23T16:53:00.000+00:002008-05-23T16:53:00.000+00:00Nige - a useful tip for you originating from the g...Nige - a useful tip for you originating from the great Brian O'Nolan, writing before and after the war in the Irish Times as Myles na Gopaleen and Flann O'Brian. Instead of investing your valuable time reading anything, or your money buying walls of book-spines to impress your friends, why not mimic his inspired and surreal idea of 'book handling' or 'buchhandlung'?<BR/>This idea, particularly mahlermanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14469854614938507153noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23400750.post-40800112950853487282008-05-23T16:44:00.000+00:002008-05-23T16:44:00.000+00:00"Anna Karenina" was a big disappointment for me af..."Anna Karenina" was a big disappointment for me after loving "War and Peace" but it was still a decent read.<BR/>I find Dickens' "Hard Times" and "A Tale of Two Cities", Most of Henry James and Joseph Conrad after when writing about spies to be vastly over rated.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23400750.post-20223237484008771482008-05-23T16:04:00.000+00:002008-05-23T16:04:00.000+00:00I'm coming to this late as I've actually had to --...I'm coming to this late as I've actually had to -- gasp -- work for living lately.<BR/><BR/>My thoughts on James are detailed in the last Ode to Shirley Hazzard post Bryan sent in. <BR/><BR/>Do love Anna K. and I recently read "War and Peace," which was fantastic once you excerpted all of Tolstoy's musings on war and coincidence from the story itself.<BR/><BR/>A group of writers that I hate but Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23400750.post-32896238392693251292008-05-23T09:56:00.000+00:002008-05-23T09:56:00.000+00:00i think my problem with Anna K was there seemed no...i think my problem with Anna K was there seemed no plot after the initial seduction, so i had no real interest in finding out what happened next...<BR/><BR/>With The Brothers Karamazov, i'd say if the first 1/3 doesn't interest you, the rest won't either. Probably a good rule for most books.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23400750.post-75077439232153365812008-05-23T09:34:00.000+00:002008-05-23T09:34:00.000+00:00I'm about a third of the way through The Brothers ...I'm about a third of the way through The Brothers Karamazov and really struggling. Should I persevere?Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23400750.post-42905897960635641282008-05-23T09:13:00.000+00:002008-05-23T09:13:00.000+00:00Surprising reaction to Anna K there, Elberry - rat...Surprising reaction to Anna K there, Elberry - rather the reverse with me, even the 2nd time. And Levi, this is Nige, not Bryan, who is somewhere Lost in America...Nigehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13314891387515045404noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23400750.post-29745129016392325832008-05-23T08:48:00.000+00:002008-05-23T08:48:00.000+00:00i found Anna Karenina oddly unrewarding. Easy to r...i found Anna Karenina oddly unrewarding. Easy to read but each time i put it down i felt no interest in taking it up again. By the time i realised it wasn't going to improve i'd already read 350 odd pages and thought i might as well continue...<BR/><BR/>i find most supposed classics, if they're more than 50 years old, are genuinely good, even if not my cup of tea. Very different when you get to Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23400750.post-37836750752744034092008-05-23T00:38:00.000+00:002008-05-23T00:38:00.000+00:00Bryan,You and I are on opposite sides on A Dance t...Bryan,<BR/>You and I are on opposite sides on <I>A Dance to the Music of Time</I>. If I could have one book (stretching the definition) with me on a desert island, the choice would come down to Proust, <I>Anna Karenina</I>, and <I>Dance</I>.<BR/><BR/>Dry wit, a keen eye for social distinctions and social change, a real love of art and understanding of how it fits in life, and an unparalleled Levi Stahlhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11094919454842047688noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23400750.post-32000442689792987792008-05-22T22:18:00.000+00:002008-05-22T22:18:00.000+00:00Listen Nige, if I take my selection with me and I'...Listen Nige, if I take my selection with me and I'm cremated (just to make sure the miserable sod's dead, no doubt), will that constitute a book burning, if so, the local council crem employees are a bunch of Nazis.maltyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02936465848907794425noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23400750.post-81576918559031839352008-05-22T21:35:00.000+00:002008-05-22T21:35:00.000+00:00Himself, has mentioned that we have pulled the win...Himself, has mentioned that we have pulled the wings from his blogaflies, now and again. What does he expect, when it is exactly how we are trained. But 'tis hoped it is seen as gentle and an attempt at amusement.<BR/> Any list more than ten is a bit of an insult and there will be enough with the soil to keep you down (on the off chance) without a ton of jaded crap keeping you there on the off Vincehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09442327549417743472noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23400750.post-44270304486273697342008-05-22T21:27:00.000+00:002008-05-22T21:27:00.000+00:00Before James Thin was taken over by you know who, ...Before James Thin was taken over by you know who, they had a bookcase for their "favourites", a not very brief description handwritten in the same style as the gastro pubs chalked menu, I was duped by this once, serve me right.<BR/><BR/>A number of the books on the list became movies, from memory many were better than the books they were based upon (Death in Venice, The Third Man etc)maltyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02936465848907794425noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23400750.post-13700776167861189232008-05-22T21:03:00.000+00:002008-05-22T21:03:00.000+00:00Henry James a page-turner? I found it virtually i...Henry James a page-turner? I found it virtually impossible to turn the page because I couldn't figure out what I just read. Here is an example that I think captures the charm of James in a short sentence. If ever a man was to write a sentence with more commas than words, it would have been James.<BR/><BR/>"Such things naturally left on the surface, for the time, a chill that we vociferously Tom P.https://www.blogger.com/profile/05638283790763940692noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23400750.post-69081580440364770452008-05-22T21:01:00.000+00:002008-05-22T21:01:00.000+00:00The curious selection of pre-1700 works can be exp...The curious selection of pre-1700 works can be explained by the full title of the book, which includes the subtitle: "A Comprehensive Reference Source, Chronicling the History of the Novel". It's meant to be a list of novels and their antecedents.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23400750.post-80456753266964481412008-05-22T17:36:00.000+00:002008-05-22T17:36:00.000+00:00The radio adaptation terrible indeed - as were all...The radio adaptation terrible indeed - as were all previous adaptations, I think. Could be problem with the source material...<BR/>I didn't expect to uncover such ill feeling about Henry James - even The Turn of the Screw, as near as he got to a page turner (and short).Nigehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13314891387515045404noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23400750.post-18975134104455729252008-05-22T16:40:00.000+00:002008-05-22T16:40:00.000+00:00On the incomparable Dance, haven't you found the r...On the incomparable Dance, haven't you found the radio adaptation incredibly disappointing?<BR/><BR/>Doesn't get the tone of it at all.Unknownhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16184096128095811923noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23400750.post-57805105136624126532008-05-22T15:58:00.000+00:002008-05-22T15:58:00.000+00:00I see that Edna O'Brien's in there, read her books...I see that Edna O'Brien's in there, read her books and you do die, the Ikea catalogue's more absorbing. Wot, no Alastair Campbell or Lucrezia Blair ?<BR/>I only mention Campbell because at the forthcoming Melrose bookfest he and one Douglas Hurd are on the list of speakers, oh boy, no thanks, don't ring us, we'll ring you.<BR/>Just finished two books I read at the same time, no not both at once maltyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02936465848907794425noreply@blogger.com