Last Book You Read....

[Monkey Tennis]

Just finished Educated by Tara Westover.

Disturbing and impressive.

Think a non-fiction Sunset Song set in Idaho.

[Ya Bezzer!]

Therese Desqueyroux by Francois Mauriac.

Rating * * *

In France Mauriac is considered one of the great novelists but there isn't a lot out there translated into English.  In fact one of the issues I had with this was the so so translation which seems to be quite old and has some readability issues.   Putting that aside the story concerns the wife of a landowner who is returning home having been found not guilty of attempting to poison her husband.  The trial was a sham, her husband, despite knowing the truth, gives evidence to support her not guilty plea, while her father, a local politician, pulls strings both legal and journalistic to ensure there is no 'scandal'.  Family honour comes before justice. Therese Desqueyroux tells her story in flashbacks as she travels back to the remote family home out in the pines, before coming face to face with the husband she tried to kill.

As you often get in French literature, especially of this period, there is the contrast of rural and urban France.  Here we are introduced to a blasted heath land at the ends of the world, full of gossipy rustics, a community of tutting conservative farmers wives where everyone knows everyone else's business.  Therese despises her life there among people she has nothing in common with so the key to the text is about identity.  What kind of identity?  I guess that's down to interpretation.  My theory is that she secretly identifies as a lesbian until meeting Jean Azevedo, an intelligent and worldy man quite unlike the locals.  Soon after Therese dreams of escaping the suffocating local scene for Paris.  Although she doesn't exactly fall in love with Jean it does open up a contrast between Jean and her husband and, I'd suggest, shatters her sense of self identity and drives her towards a period of mental illness. Others will disagree with that.

Overall this is a psychological novel with depth  behind it but outside of Therese confronting her husband there isn't much plot.  As I said earlier there are a few issues with the translation and the layout.  It's not a bad book but I wouldn't openly recommend it.

NEXT - Goodbye To All That  by Robert Graves

[Granny Danger]

Spent the last couple of days packing books.  Getting rid of almost all of them but keeping a few old favourites.

[Fact177]

Picked: The Road To Wigan Pier as a thread recommendation, unexpected & enjoyed it more than I thought I would. where next on Orwell?

[Granny Danger]

2 hours ago, Fact177 said:

Picked: The Road To Wigan Pier as a thread recommendation, unexpected & enjoyed it more than I thought I would. where next on Orwell?

Assuming you have read 1984, then Coming Up For Air or Keep The Aspidistra Flying. 
 

ETA Down and Out In Paris and London is better than either of these but more of a ‘novel’ might be good before you try it.

Edited April 29, 2020 by Granny Danger

[Silverton End]

On 25/04/2020 at 23:08, Granny Danger said:

Spent the last couple of days packing books.  Getting rid of almost all of them but keeping a few old favourites.

Some of those paperback cover illustrations are great looking.

[Lex]

Just finished ‘His Bloody Project’ by Graeme Macrae Burnet.

Interesting book that’s completely fictitious but designed in a way that’s made to look factual. It’s set in the 1860’s highlands and it’s about a 17 year old crofter who murders 3 of his fellow villagers and the aftermath of it.

Runs out of steam a bit towards the end but would definitely recommend. 7/10.

[D.A.F.C]

Reading ant Middletons book its pretty good. Sometimes cant help reading it in his daft voice though.

[Guest JTS98]

On 23/04/2020 at 04:12, Monkey Tennis said:

Just finished Educated by Tara Westover.

Disturbing and impressive.

Think a non-fiction Sunset Song set in Idaho.

Twenty years on from being made to read it at school the mention of Sunset Song still makes me want to inflict physical violence on anybody in my vicinity. Fortunately, there's nobody here. So good timing.

I've just re-read Underworld by Don DeLillo, surely mentioned on here before. Magnificent. First time in a while I'd read it from start to finish, I often just dip in and out and read a chapter or two. It's my desert island book, for sure.

After that I read DeLillo's Point Omega. A 150-pager which is easy enough to batter through in a day. Enjoyed it, but think it requires a second reading.

Also read a fun book about the history of maps and cartography by Simon Garfield called 'On the Map'. Very enjoyable.

[Guest JTS98]

15 hours ago, Lex said:

Just finished ‘His Bloody Project’ by Graeme Macrae Burnet.

Interesting book that’s completely fictitious but designed in a way that’s made to look factual. It’s set in the 1860’s highlands and it’s about a 17 year old crofter who murders 3 of his fellow villagers and the aftermath of it.

Runs out of steam a bit towards the end but would definitely recommend. 7/10.
 

I enjoyed that as well. Share your view that it runs out of steam a little bit, but overall very enjoyable.

I was surprised by it. Didn't fancy it from the sound of it, but a mate of mine nagged me into reading it.

[tongue_tied_danny]

2 hours ago, JTS98 said:

Twenty years on from being made to read it at school the mention of Sunset Song still makes me want to inflict physical violence on anybody in my vicinity. Fortunately, there's nobody here. So good timing.

I've just re-read Underworld by Don DeLillo, surely mentioned on here before. Magnificent. First time in a while I'd read it from start to finish, I often just dip in and out and read a chapter or two. It's my desert island book, for sure.

After that I read DeLillo's Point Omega. A 150-pager which is easy enough to batter through in a day. Enjoyed it, but think it requires a second reading.

Also read a fun book about the history of maps and cartography by Simon Garfield called 'On the Map'. Very enjoyable.

I've started Underworld about 4 or 5 times but I've never got past the first couple of chapters.

I may give Point Omega a go. My attention span isn't what it was so 150 pages sounds about right.

[Monkey Tennis]

2 hours ago, JTS98 said:

Twenty years on from being made to read it at school the mention of Sunset Song still makes me want to inflict physical violence on anybody in my vicinity. Fortunately, there's nobody here. So good timing.

I felt the same at that age.

I'd urge you to re-visit it now.  Skip the prologue bit this time, saving it until the end. 

[Guest JTS98]

2 hours ago, Monkey Tennis said:

I felt the same at that age.

I'd urge you to re-visit it now.  Skip the prologue bit this time, saving it until the end. 

You're probably right, it probably would be a different experience now, but I'd need to lose a bet to read Sunset Song again.

Read Nutshell by Ian McEwan today. Really enjoyed it. Based on Hamlet from the point of view of an unborn baby and set in modern London. Very funny in places and surprisingly exciting for a story with an ending we can guess at.

[Guest JTS98]

3 hours ago, tongue_tied_danny said:

I've started Underworld about 4 or 5 times but I've never got past the first couple of chapters.

I may give Point Omega a go. My attention span isn't what it was so 150 pages sounds about right.

I took a while to get into Underworld the first time I read it. Wouldn't say I started enjoying it until maybe a third of the way through. Glad I persevered with it. It's unquestionably my favourite thing to read.

The prologue, Pafko at the Wall, is probably the best piece of sports-based writing I've ever read. Sport as culture. Sport as history - "all falling indelibly into the past".

I think the obsession with that baseball match that is carried on throughout the book appeals to anyone with a lifelong love of a sport. The clinging to and idealisation of the past, the desire to collect, the knowingly absurd behaviour of the fanatic. But it also frames a love of sport as diminishing over time in the general theme of decay and waste. I think as a fitba fan that's quite relatable.

But there are other great things running through it too. The looming presence of The Bomb and destruction in general. The Lenny Bruce stuff. Nuns.

I fucking love it.

[Monkey Tennis]

4 hours ago, JTS98 said:

You're probably right, it probably would be a different experience now, but I'd need to lose a bet to read Sunset Song again.

How about losing the bet afterwards?

I bet you that you really like the book this time.

 

Seriously, indulge me and read it.  The adult you will see it very differently.

[Dan Steele]

12 hours ago, JTS98 said:

I've just re-read Underworld by Don DeLillo

Excellent stuff. White Noise is a great one of his and not as heavy as Underworld.

[Guest JTS98]

1 hour ago, Monkey Tennis said:

How about losing the bet afterwards?

I bet you that you really like the book this time.

 

Seriously, indulge me and read it.  The adult you will see it very differently.

---Inhales sharply through teeth---

I'll give it some thought. Will consider this in a few days time.

[DiegoDiego]

Excellent stuff. White Noise is a great one of his and not as heavy as Underworld.

I thought White Noise was pretty terrible. It doesn't help that any time I pick up literary fiction where the main character is a literature professor I mentally roll my eyes.

[Raidernation]

How about losing the bet afterwards?
I bet you that you really like the book this time.
 
Seriously, indulge me and read it.  The adult you will see it very differently.

Hmmmmmmmmmm, well I had the same bad experience, made worse because the English teacher ( wid) knew my family was from Aberdeen so wanted me to do a “Mearns accent”

If I can find a copy in the local library once it reopens them mibbies aye

[Dan Steele]

47 minutes ago, DiegoDiego said:

I thought White Noise was pretty terrible. It doesn't help that any time I pick up literary fiction where the main character is a literature professor I mentally roll my eyes.

Yeah, I can understand that. But the literature prof is a good ironic voice to take us on the exploration of America. Top post-modern novel. Maybe worth another try?