they're stacking up.
this was last week.
& after a week of reading emails, blogs I mentally see the stack increasing-
granted some remain from last year. some are being read again. some have to be referred to-here and close by.
now reading Parrot and Olivier in America by Peter Carey. just what I was looking for. I am hooked on the first few pages.
ongoing- Diana Cooper's Autobiography.
what do you really think of the Stieg Larsson books? Having read the first very recently, I thought not to read the second. Since a friend read it and loaned me a copy- I will go forward with the series. It is disturbing. Yes, I know that is the intended reaction, but still.
Have you read BLEAK HOUSE? No light Dickens- that.
If you have read any in my stack-tell me if it's worth it.
how are yours stacking up?
.
I need to replenish my stack. Your stack looks very ambitious...I may need to borrow a few titles.
ReplyDeleteMrs. G- as I say the stack is really a hydra. I doubt some will be cracked open. Gaye
ReplyDeleteI haven't read any of the books in your stack, but that Brian Howard one definitely appeals to me! Let me know how it goes. My stack seems to never end, and with the library I feel I never even get to the ones I own. Just started 'Little Stranger'...up next 'mr. rosenblum dreams in english' then a gore vidal! I have to say i love the feeling of knowing you will never read it all...such promise for your future!
ReplyDeleteWhat a great stack! I see some of the Lucindaville library on that table. I just read a good review of the Peter Carey. He wrote one of my fave books, Oscar and Lucinda. Wonder why....
ReplyDeleteSo, read Party of the Century next, or Milking the Moon or the Brian Howard... just take a week off...
Well, speaking of bleak. after reading the heartless, nihilistic ending of Graham Greene's Brighton Rock back when I was in college, I quit reading anything that might be termed 'disturbing'. Dense & convoluted is fine, but not dark. Call me shallow, but I get disturbed enough just reading the daily news. Who needs more of that?
ReplyDeleteBut Bleak House? I mean, what's not to like? Dickens' memorable descriptions of people, places & weather wraps around a giant cast of characters from every level of Mid-Victorian London society, from the absolute bottom to the very top, all of them lined up & just waiting to collide: on one side of the glass, good & beautiful people in their cotton-wool world of tinkling teacups at cozy firesides & country walks through dew-dappled meadows, and on the other side of the glass, a seething mass of hard-luck humanity: children born out of wedlock, orphaned children, homeless children, drunkenness, drug abuse, domestic abuse, depression, hypocrisy, exploitation, pollution, pestilence, poverty, squalor, greed, suicide, blackmail, revenge, madness & murder. No wonder Bleak House has been called the greatest novel in the English language.
Been looking for the Cooper autobiography, that's on my list!
ReplyDeleteTime & Again is one of my favorites--I've always been a sucker for the idea of time travel. I very much enjoyed Them, and I'm dying to read Party of the Century and the Brian Howard. Just got Cooper's Autobiography from a used book dealer, and that's next up after I finish re-reading Brideshead Revisited (SO good!). I liked the second book in the Stieg Larsson trilogy the best, but they can be very disturbing--as intended. When you consider that the original Swedish title of "Dragon Tattoo" was Men Who Hate Women, you appreciate the point he's making.
ReplyDeleteDaniel-I think that is the attitude to adopt in future. I love that philosophy. Since you have convinced me I am going to have to check out some of these others you are reading.
ReplyDeleteLucinda- Lord, you are well represented definitely. I have to go back to the Milking the Moon-I found a dvd about him as well. I did read O & L-it was excellent.
ReplyDeleteArabella It is wonderful-she wrote 3 and this has all of them-I have such good luck with used booksellers on Abe books-I think that is where I found this one.
ReplyDeleteMs Cyn- I am so glad you mentioned the used books too-the absolute best for finding older books. I had not heard of Time & Again and a friend insisted I would love it,so happy to have your recommendation too. You are making much better headway on MY list than I am. MADRESFIELD The Real Brideshead, by Jane Mulvagh(which I think I have archived) You have to read! I did not know that about the SL books- yes all the hints with the statistics were right there- I have prepared for the 2nd.
ReplyDeletepgt
Magnaverde-Dickens had it all-everything. I am intrigued by every book of his I have read- this one has loomed large in a Dickens set I was given. I agree about complexity- dense and convoluted is fine- The one very redeeming thing about these trilogy books of Larsson is the atmospherics- Sweden, the pastoral countryside, and within all this madness and murder. That sense of storytelling he is very good out over rode the other-but I did have to shake it off with a few English titles. I am going to forge ahead with Bleak House when the weather eases up in the South-which will not be soon enough for me. Gaye
ReplyDeleteAlthough I liked the first "Girl" book (sexual crimes always disturb me) the second and third were by far my favorites. Keep reading. I think you will find that you like them. My stack is ridiculous. I've put myself on a book buying hiatus until I work thru the three leaning towers of "litura" near my bed! Book buying is one my greatest pleasures.
ReplyDeleteI totally agree on the G.w/The Dragon Tattoo - would not read a second book by him - in spite of all the hype - but book I enjoyed so much:
ReplyDeleteSolar by Ian McEwan - am currently plowing through Marie Antoinette, The Journey, by Antonia Fraser - her new book is eagerly awaited by me:
Must You Go, the love story of her years with Harold Pinter - rave review by Tina Brown - available here in November - already a best seller in Merry Olde England
Also enjoyed One Day by David Nicholls - or for sheer escitement, AaPearl in the Storm, the ecounting of the one woman crossing the Atlantic in a rowboat - author Tori Burden - fantastic and terrific woman/book.
Suzanne on St. Simons
Party of the Century is a good one. Wait til you read the recipe for the Chicken Hash on the menu. Just reading it will shoot your cholesterol over the moon!
ReplyDeleteNo intellectual nor literature right at the moment. I am engrossed in the story of the tragedy on K2 in 2008. I love reading about adventures,especially about mountain climbing. I am training for my second trip to the Himalayas (trekking at fairly high altitude) and there is nothing better to motivate me to get in shape than reading about stories of life, death, heroism, will power while facing the mountains.
ReplyDeleteSuzanne-all sound good, especially the Fraser.
ReplyDeleteLinda- It was recommended by Lucinda. It should be a fast read and a fun one as well. Thanks for the warning!
Francine-it is true we have to tailor our reading- check out the recommended reading of s.c hill above A Pearl in the Storm, of the one woman crossing the Atlantic in a rowboat - author Tori Burden - fantastic and terrific woman/book. pgt
ReplyDeleteI'm pretty sure the slenderest one is Mary Frances' "Serve it Forth." I give it away to the young whenever one shows the slightest sign of humility - and of course, I do not mean "manners."
ReplyDeletei am a fan of elizabeth bowen and remember reading that you are too on one of the earliest little augury posts that i read - so bowen's court looks interesting to me -haven't read it yet - so i can't comment on it... the dragon books have not pulled me in - the first one has been hanging around our house for a couple of years -
ReplyDeleteStick your nose immediately into The Age of Comfort
ReplyDeleteI just made out the Anne Sebba book on Kingston Lacey. I found it a little flat, but still an interesting tale of the unimaginable: buying and furnishing a stately home from exile in the early 18th c. Worth reading, but something was missing. Worst part about it - no real pictures of the house in color!
ReplyDeleteL- yes, a friend did gave my first MFK Fisher to me some years ago-I have a few extra copies around that go out for & to similar. thanks for coming by
ReplyDeleteMarnie-EB is a constant referral for me as mentioned. Bowen's Court is her family history-a sort of love affair really. I am still on the fence about the GDTattoo -though I have gotten some good feedback.
ReplyDeleteMichele, It sounds pretty interesting. I love a photograph or 2 in a book. It is a burden to the writer to make it all come alive. this is a recommendation from several bloggers. I should come back and do a post about it when finished. Gaye
ReplyDeleteToad, with a recommendation like that-How can I resist. thank you for coming by. I have read your blog and followed some of your posts through Catherine. I am now a loyal follower on my own. Gaye
ReplyDelete