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tonybob
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« Reply #150 on: 07:24:17, 31-01-2008 » |
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Goethe 'Faust part one' in the translation byRandall Jarrell; it is extremely beautiful indeed.
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sososo s & i.
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tonybob
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« Reply #151 on: 17:01:25, 09-02-2008 » |
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Voltaire's 'Candide', in the translation by Tobias Smollet, which i find much funnier than John Butts'.
or John's Butt.
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sososo s & i.
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A
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« Reply #152 on: 22:47:32, 09-02-2008 » |
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I have begun re-reading Anthony Trollope, I like the slightly unusual ones .. I am reading 'Ayala's Angel' at the moment. He is such a wonderful writer, the characters live and the humour is infectious.
A
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« Last Edit: 23:10:30, 09-02-2008 by A »
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Well, there you are.
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harmonyharmony
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« Reply #153 on: 22:54:32, 09-02-2008 » |
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I went a bit mad in Waterstones when I was in Birmingham and bought the latest Iain Banks, Michael Chabon's Kavalier and Clay and Chimimanda Ngozi Adichie's Half of a Yellow Sun which I'm about two thirds of the way through.
I found the Banks formulaic and a bit irritating (but at the same time I enjoy reading his stuff, it's only when I become aware of his formulaicisim [eh?] that I get annoyed), I really enjoyed the Chabon and can't wait to lend it to my brother, and I'm really enjoying the Adichie. I knew nothing about Nigerian history before (well apart from The Famished Road) so it's really interesting.
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'is this all we can do?' anonymous student of the University of Berkeley, California quoted in H. Draper, 'The new student revolt' (New York: Grove Press, 1965) http://www.myspace.com/itensemble |
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time_is_now
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« Reply #154 on: 23:47:19, 09-02-2008 » |
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Michael Chabon's Kavalier and Clay Is that the very long one, hh? |
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The city is a process which always veers away from the form envisaged and desired, ... whose revenge upon its architects and planners undoes every dream of mastery. It is [also] one of the sites where Dasein is assigned the impossible task of putting right what can never be put right. - Rob Lapsley
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harmonyharmony
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« Reply #155 on: 23:52:19, 09-02-2008 » |
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Michael Chabon's Kavalier and Clay Is that the very long one, hh? Um. Don't think so. It certainly didn't take me that long (three days). Hang on. It's 636 pages long. |
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'is this all we can do?' anonymous student of the University of Berkeley, California quoted in H. Draper, 'The new student revolt' (New York: Grove Press, 1965) http://www.myspace.com/itensemble |
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tonybob
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« Reply #156 on: 06:57:03, 10-02-2008 » |
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you read, then, but didn't eat, sleep, drink or interact?
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sososo s & i.
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Catherine
Gender: 
Posts: 32
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« Reply #157 on: 14:03:57, 10-02-2008 » |
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Um. Don't think so. It certainly didn't take me that long (three days). Wow, that book took me three months! |
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tonybob
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« Reply #158 on: 15:38:13, 10-02-2008 » |
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Michael Chabon's Kavalier and Clay Is that the very long one, hh? Um. Don't think so. It certainly didn't take me that long (three days). Hang on. It's 636 pages long. have you read 'a suitable boy'? if so, how long did that take you? |
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sososo s & i.
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Don Basilio
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« Reply #159 on: 15:48:55, 10-02-2008 » |
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have you read 'a suitable boy'?
if so, how long did that take you?
Please, sir, please, sir! Sir! Sir! I've read it. Honest I began it on Eurostar round lunch time on 13 November and finished it before breakfast on 22 November in Nicosia. Under nine days. And I managed to go to Il Trovatore at Bucharest and read the first part of Olivia Manning's Balkan Trilogy during that time. Bear in mind that most of the while I had nothing to do but stare our of the window of Romanian, Turkish or German trains after nightfall, which gave me a lot of spare time. Can you let me off homework now, sir? |
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To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under heaven.
A time to weep, and a time to laugh: a time to mourn, and a time to dance
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Il Grande Inquisitor
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« Reply #160 on: 15:51:51, 10-02-2008 » |
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have you read 'a suitable boy'?
if so, how long did that take you?
Please, sir, please, sir! Sir! Sir! I've read it. Honest I began it on Eurostar round lunch time on 13 November and finished it before breakfast on 22 November in Nicosia. DB, what was A Suitable Boy like? I really enjoyed An Equal Music, which I read some years ago, but have always been put off by the 'width' of the earlier novel. |
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Our chief weapon is surprise...surprise and fear...fear and surprise.... Our two weapons are fear and surprise...and ruthless efficiency
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Don Basilio
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« Reply #161 on: 16:04:15, 10-02-2008 » |
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IGI
I really enjoyed it. Very humane, gentle and amusing. I won't give away which of her three charming and intelligent suitors the heroine chooses, because if you are going to read it you need some suspense. Anything in particular you wanted to know?
It is not some silly "heart-warming" family saga.
I would not have dared start it without a long journey: I left my copy with our friends in Cyprus to lighten my baggage on the way back. He has a job with a lot of hanging around in airports, and said it might come in handy.
I read Great Expectations and Dominic Sambrooks's White Heat on the return journey and never got round to re-reading Anna Karenina.
What's Equal Music like? After A Suitable Boy I thought I should like it.
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To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under heaven.
A time to weep, and a time to laugh: a time to mourn, and a time to dance
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tonybob
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« Reply #162 on: 16:04:55, 10-02-2008 » |
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if i can butt in here, i'm about 3/4 of the way throught it, and it's a fantastic read; i don't know if you agree DB, but i think it's rather like a soap opera.
fyi - i *hated* an equal music with a passion.
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sososo s & i.
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Morticia
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« Reply #163 on: 16:11:06, 10-02-2008 » |
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I loved 'A Suitable Boy' although the ending left me feeling rather frustrated. I devoured it in about 5 days, as I recall. It`s a very different beast from 'An Equal Music' which is much darker in tone. Just about to open up his 'Two Lives'.
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Don Basilio
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« Reply #164 on: 16:11:48, 10-02-2008 » |
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A very superior soap, maybe. (Just as Gwendolen in The Importance had never seen a spade, I have never seen a soap for years.)
There are three or four inter-related families, with different interests. The pretentious Anglophile brother reminded me of an inlaw.
Is An Equal Music all English? I fear one of the good things about A Suitable Boy is that it is describing very Indian situations in very articulate English, with lots of the characters speaking and thinking in highly articulate English, and it makes me think unconsciously "O they're just like us." A racist and colonialist attitude I am sorry to say. I hope the book helps me overcome that.
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To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under heaven.
A time to weep, and a time to laugh: a time to mourn, and a time to dance
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