June 09, 2008
Fiction: War with the Newts, by Karel Capek
Our June challenge book.
Really sharp political/societal commentary. First section is really rollicking fun. Second and third, a bit darker. Sometimes very sad.
Poignantly predictable, in a way, given world history now in 2008, but probably less predictable and more predictive in its time (first published in 1936).
Loved it.
By the way, Capek is the dude who came up with (created? originated? whateva!) the word "Robot" (in his play R.U.R.). This is also the first book to cause some random stranger to come up and talk to me on public transportation IN MY LIFE and given that I have 5 yrs in Chitown and 13 yrs in NYC reading on public transit every work day, that's saying something.
Posted by Duff at 04:37 PM | Say What? | filed under Books, Challenge 08, Readin', Recommending
Short Stories: The Collected Stories, by Isaac Bashevis Singer
The May challenge book. I had the '96 Farrar Straus edition so we went off its TOC for what we read (Dad has the Complete vs. the Collected).
Very entertaining, really liked a lot of them. Intensely detailed, plotted down to the last moment (even when there's not much of a plot), really great dialogue, and lots and lots of crazy neurotics ("The Admirer", for example. nuts!).
That said, they were arranged (way) too thematically. I mean four or five stories into dybbuks and devils tormenting innocent jews (I really didn't realize there were that many devils in Judaic tradition) and they all start to seem a little too much the same (and you've still got another 20 on that topic to go). Then at the other end of the book, all the NYC stories were lumped together as well. Mixing the disparate types together might have made it an more enjoyable read (or I could have instituted my own mix and read out of order, but how was I to know they were grouped by type?) -- not that it wasn't enjoyable, but there were definitely stories where I thought "another one of these? just like the last four? really?".
When you get to the NYC stories, there are quite a few where you suddenly see the influence he's had on Philip Roth. "Old Love" for example shares so many of Roth's current themes and similar personal details on the part of the protagonist. Dad thinks Singer (rather than Malamud) is really the model for Roth's E.I. Lonoff (an elder writer who appears in some of Roth's Zuckerman books).
Posted by Duff at 04:14 PM | Say What? | filed under Books, Challenge 08, Readin'
May 24, 2008
Fiction: The Death of Virgil, by Hermann Broch
The April challenge book. Certainly the toughest read so far, for both Dad and me.
The language is rich, gorgeous and elegaic; much like reading Virgil himself (or Homer. or Ovid). It's dreamy and powerful and image-full. But...
Part 1: Interesting. Lovely imagery and prose. Nice.
Part 2: Interminable. Almost the death of ME, let alone Virgil. Sentences so long, you can't remember where they began or if anything has even happened in them. And what? Did he just suggest burning the Aeneid? WHAT?!?!
Part 3: Hey, there's some stuff happening again! Still a very high-toned literary experience, but now the drama with Octavian really pulls things along. Some very neat imagery, the landscape arising out of nothing (much easier to do in film than in prose). His yearning is so strong, you can really feel it. [According to Dad the slave boy and Plotia play a very similar role here to that of Jessica Lange in "All That Jazz." I was then castigated for not having seen that recently enough to be able to agree (or not). p.s. just between you, world wide web, and me, I'm not even sure I've ever seen it all the way through!] Really enjoyable.
Part 4: Ugh, we're back to part 2-like process again. Dad: "It's like 2001 the Space Odyssey. At first it's kinda cool and then after a while you just get really, really bored." Me: Hard to know what's happening here, when he's actually dead, what is dream sequence vs. reality vs. post-mortem? (And in this part, hard to care. If this was written like Part 3, I'd be all over it!)
Glad to have read it, but certainly never going to need to read it again. Definitely a challenge.
Posted by Duff at 04:41 PM | Say What? | filed under Books, Challenge 08, DadReaction, Readin'
April 13, 2008
Short Stories: The Complete Stories by David Malouf
The March selection in Dad's and my reading challenge. I had read a few Malouf novels so this was one of my suggestions.
LOVED it. [Both of us did.] Had no idea going in, but the dude is a MASTER of the technique and these are certainly some of the best stories I've ever read, and probably the best overall collection. [Dad might not be QUITE as nutty about them as I am.]
Seems he can write from any angle, any point of view: young boy, middle-aged woman, loner, popularity queen, happy, sad, criminal, just. The atmosphere is rich and vivid (and reeks of Australia, I could feel myself there again). The language is thick and layered and sensual [reminded Dad of D.H. Lawrence stories]. Really beautiful. In many stories, a BIG event has taken place "offscreen" (never to be known), with the focus on the human reactions and following chain of effects.
My favorite stories were: "Every Move You Make", "The Domestic Cantata", "Sally's Story", "Great Day", and "A Traveller's Tale".
Highly recommended.
Posted by Duff at 02:42 PM | Say What? | filed under Books, Challenge 08, DadReaction, Readin', Recommending
March 05, 2008
Fiction: "The Good Soldier Svejk" by Jaroslav Hasek
The February book in Dad's and my reading challenge.
Eastern European classic, Dad bought it years ago based on a Kundera recommendation. Total farce, hilarious comic novel. Bumbling anti-hero, a miserable idiot...or is he? Really a lot of fun to read. The never-ending "Well that reminds me of" stories and the contretemps...just indescribable. We both loved it. Humbly report, sir...
Somewhat in the tradition of Don Quixote or Tristram Shandy, although Svejk is a bit more self aware than DQ.
Posted by Duff at 10:35 AM | Say What? | filed under Books, Challenge 08, DadReaction, Readin', Recommending
February 09, 2008
Stories: "The Oxford Book of English Short Stories" edited by A.S. Byatt
The January book for me and Dad's 2008 reading challenge. We picked this b/c Dad had (recently) so enjoyed V.S. Pritchett's Oxford short story collection.
However, the selection of stories in this book felt very bizarre to both of us. Byatt's particular idea of "what makes an English short story" was a very specific type and some of the things she claimed were "very particularly Britishly funny" in her introduction were things we either found a) not funny or b) not very British feeling (to us, both non Brits, of course).
So while there were some stories we really loved (some we both loved), there were a lot of stories that we didn't like / I wouldn't recommend the collection as a whole.
There were a lot of stories that were supposed to be (per her intro) scary = but weren't. Or stories that would be scary if they were written differently, but a LOT of stories in this book were very distant / the heavy presence of a "storyteller" telling the story (a very passive voice relating the action) on top of the writer made what was happening in the story seem very far away and hard to connect with. There were a lot of stories I call "afterschool specials" = you know, "message" or "lesson" stories.
And there were a lot of stories that seemed very atypical of their authors. In other words, my dad said, "if the story in this book were the first A.E. Coppard story I read, I would never have been interested in reading him again." Same goes for Dickens, Hardy, D.H. Lawrence and T.H. White. All great writers, all represented here by bad stories.
While we had different faves, these are eight we both liked.
Dad's faves were: ""Wireless" by Rudyard Kipling, ""At Hiruharama" by Penelope Fitzgerald, and "An Englishman's Home" by Evelyn Waugh.
Mine were: "The Tremendous Adventures of Major Brown" by G.K. Chesteron, "Solid Objects" by Virginia Woolf, "A Widow's Quilt" by Silvia Townsend Warner (and not because of the quilting), "A Dream of Winter" by Rosamond Lehmann, and "Telephone" by John Fuller.
We'd both recommend those (and some others), but not this particular collection. And we both thought "The Destructors" by Graham Greene was a really good story but had an incredibly devastating (and not funny at all) ending.
Given our experience with this collection, and his previous love for the Pritchett, we've added that one to our challenge for our last set of stories (even though he's read it already).
Posted by Duff at 01:12 PM | Say What? | filed under Books, Challenge 08, DadReaction, Readin'
February 06, 2008
Dad's and My Reading Challenge for 2008 [Updated]
Alternating short stories & Eastern European novels.
January: "The Oxford Book of English Short Stories" edited by A.S. Byatt
February: "The Good Soldier Svejk" by Jaroslav Hasek
March: Complete Short Stories, David Malouf
April: "The Death of Virgil" by Hermann Brach
May: Collected Short Stories, Isaac Baschevis Singer
June: "War with the Newts" by Karel Capek
July: Stories TBD"The New Granta Book of the American Short Story" edited by Richard Ford
August: "The Man Without Qualities, Vol 1" by Robert Musil
September: Stories TBD"Dead Boys: Stories" by Richard Lange
October: "The Man Without Qualities, Vol 2" by Robert Musil
November: Stories TBD"The Oxford Book of Short Stories" edited by V.S. Pritchett
December: "The Trial" by Kafka
Posted by Duff at 09:35 AM | Say What? | filed under Books, Challenge 08, DadReaction, Lists, Readin'
