Tag: classics

THE PEARL BY JOHN STEINBECK

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source – personal copy

John Steinbeck was probably on of Americas greatest writers in the middle period of the twentieth century ,his books caught the character of America in the depression .He won the Nobel prize for literature in 1962 .He is a name that makes many people jump after being made to read of mice and men at school ,but would ask people to give him another try this very short novella is a perfect book to get yourself reaquainted with him or discover him .

The book is set in a small Mexican fishing village and follows a poor Mexican fisherman Kino   .He finds a huge wonderous Pearl .

And the beauty of the pearl ,winking and glimmering in the little candle ,cozened his brain with its beauty .So lovely it was ,so soft ,and its own music came from it -its music of promise and delight guarantee of the future ,of comfort ,of security .

Kino looking at the pearl .

The pearl has his fortune in it but as it turns out his downfall as well ,at the same time .the book was a retelling of a Mexican folk tale ,Kino his wife Junna and son Coyotito are all effect by the finding of the pearl .The book has a moral theme running through it that is we should be happy who we are and that greed and wealth ,which is what the pearl represents isn’t all it is meant to be .The story remind me of a quote from a Basil Rasthbone Sherlock Holmes film the pearl of death about a famous pearl the bourgeis pearl he said for its beauty it is cover in the blood of many a man and should really be thrown back in the sea .That is what Kino should have done but instead he Kept the pearl got greedy want more and more money for it and eventually when his wife decided the pearl was too much of burden it led to a shocking  conclusion .The book is very short ninety pages long and can easily be read in an evening .The book shows Steinbeck powers of writing taking a simple folk tale and expanding it to a full novella .

Have you a favourite Steinbeck ?

Decline and Fall by Evelyn Waugh

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Evelyn Waugh is probably one of the best known writers of the first half of the twentith century ,he born in london ,his father was a editor and publicist he studied at oxford where he met henry green andbrian howard and numerous other of the leading lights of the bright young things ,he work as as journalist before the publication of this book his debut novel .

Decline and fall ,focuses on Paul Pennyfather ,he is the archtypical charcater of waugh’s book a man that studies at Oxford like waugh himself ,Pennyfather has a spot of trouble and is sent down from Oxford for indecnt behaviour ,unable to get any money from his family he has to go out in to the wide world and get a job ,this draws him to wales and a lowly public school as a master ,he arrives at the school and meets a wonderful cast of  misfits and rogues the are the masters of the school ,he has many mishaps at the school whilst ,on the sportsday he meets and v=eventually gets employed by the beautiful Margot Beste Chetwynde to teach her ,having accidently shoot someone on the sportsday a hasty retreat is required ,he falls for this glamorous women ,and wants to marry her ,but he dosen’t know she runs a high class brothel andthat is the source of her money .

Margot Beste -Chetwynde had two houses in england one in London and the other in Hampshire her London home was built in the reign of William and Mary ,was,by universal consent the most beautiful building between bond street and Park lane ,but opion divide on the subject of her country house this was very new indeed ,in fact it was scarcely finished when Paul went to stay there at the beginning of the easter holidays .

the opening of the second part of Decline and fall when Paul and Margot start to get together .

The book is still funny after all this time and has in the authour notes the restored words of Waugh please bear in mind it is meant to be funny ,penneyfather is like Jim Dixon thirties years before Amis wrote lucky Jim ,a bungler ,a man that falls from one diaster to the next ,it is also one of the best school comdies I ve read ,humour isn’t always the first think you think of when you think of Waugh ,shame he actually did it rather well .So if you want to spend a coup[le of days or a long evening having a good laugh and revisiting 20’s and the bright young things I recomend this book highly .

Party Going by Henry Green

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SOURCE -LIBRARY

Henry green the non de plume of Henry Vincent Yorke  was one of the bright young things of the twenties ,he was born Tewksbury and went to Eton and Oxford he knew Anthony Powell and Evelyn Waugh his two great contemporaries of the time .and was considered a modernist writer along side Virginia Woolf ,frank Kermode describe the book as a mythical allusion .

The book centres on a group of the bright young things  as they are due to travel to a country house party all the rage them days ,but are delayed over night due to the london fog ,stopping the train and are confined to the nearest hotel ,the station hotel .so as the hotel fills we meet max and his beauty of an on off girlfriend the beautiful Anabella ,in no doubt based on one of the numerous beauties of the bright young thing era .,we also dash in and out of the servants as the dutifully look after the belonging of the party ,so over the space of the book and the next four hours we find out bits about the characters and there lives which on the surface seem rich and for-filled ,in fact aren’t that much .There lives being quite one dimensional party ,image and keeping up with the friends.

It did make Julia nervous and she moved to Alex where he happened to be teasing Angela because he might be nervous too which would comfort her .People who weren’t nervous were useless because they didn’t know what it meant ,but however he was ,and if he wasn’t than Julia felt she would like to make him be ,he would comfort her after all he was a man .

early on Julia and Max and the station

The is much humor in this book and also pathos for the characters as there obviously based on some of greens circle at the time ,the story does at time darts here and there and is quite hard to follow at times but it all adds to the hustle and bustle of the busy station ,on surface this is a great story ,whether Kerrmode’s was right about the links to Greek myths is right I can’t fully tell there are passages in this book that reminds me of what little I ve read of greek myths ,but I ve not the knowledge of greek myths to go in to full depth so as a story of four hours in a hectic station hotel as a group of characters in  the thirties it works for me the shallowness of the main characters is all to easy to see ,also how the people who deal with them I.E the servant struggle at times with their madness .A great read and there first of the three bright young thing books I ve chosen to read a review of Waugh decline and fall will follow .and a review of Anthony Powell very soon .

Winstons books new and old

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Some recent arrivals at Winston’s towers –

second-hand book sale –

The rendezvous and other stories by Daphne Du Maurier I ve read a couple of her novels Rebecca being my favourite ,saw this collection of haunting stories and thought they’d make perfect winter evening reading stories focus on husbands breaking loose ,a married women committing suicide and a steamer being saved by a mysterious ship ,sounds wonderful .

Agents and Patients by Anthony Powell –

Now this book is from his dance to the music of time cycle ,it flows another young man Blore-smith from Oxford via paris and Berlin in the thirties with a large chunk of humour ,should be interesting Simon at inside books recently reviewed another Powell here and found his humour had dated slightly ,so be interested to see if this is still fresh .

Clochemerle by Gabriel Chevaller

This is a satire from a french writer ,has been reprint a number of times last time 2004 ,this is a 50’s penguin thou my main reason for buying it as I love the old orange and white covers ,set in a french village follows the struggle as they try to build public toilets in the village ,sounds funny .

Journey by Moonlight by Antal Szerb –

A real find a Pushkin press book ,from a Hungarian writer ,it is the story of follow Milahy on his honeymoon in Italy as he struggles with his past and marriage  considered on of the best novels from Hungary .

FROM A BLOGGER

from Annabel at Gaskell ,the Balkan Trilogy by Olivia Manning ,I was reading about this after remember the tv series a few weeks ago and had marked it down as a book to get the a few day later Annabel was want to get rid of some books and this was one ,I was lucky to be sent it thank her greatly ,the books follow Guy and Harriet a couple through the Balkans during the second world war .

received for review –

Urn Burial by SIR Thomas Browne

Thomas Browne was a writer ,Physician among other things ,a look at Kevin’s site aquarium of vulcan will tell you loads about him ,this slim volume a new edition by New Directions in the pearl series ,is a discussion musing on the discovery of roman urns in the 17th century and to mans experience on this mortal coil and struggle with mortality ,there is a forward by W G Sebald from rings of saturn were he talks about Browne and seeing his skull .

CAN YOU READ THE BOOK IF YOU DON’T LIKE THE WRITER ?

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The other day on twitter a German twitter friend Nachdufter (Tati) ask what I was reading I said Cat and mouse ,she  said she had a problem with grass and like his book ,but not the man so much .So a quick question on twitter last night and some great replies from Rachel and John brought up Marquez because of his views is unpopular in some latin american communities .Evelyn Waugh well he was a very strong and opinionated character .Dickens due to his disregard in real life to the poor and Nietzsche  who’s beyond good and evil I read but has had connections with fascism ,mainly to his sister promoting his book as a right-wing work .Now another I can think I ve read is Aleister Crowley whose novel the diary of a drug fiend  I read many years ago he was called the great beast and dabbled in the occult   .

SO HAVE YOU EVER READ A BOOK BY A WRITER YOU DON;T LIKE AS A PERSON ?

Sam Riley to star in Burgess book

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I am a huge fan of the books written by the late Anthony Burgess so ,was amazed to hear on the film grapevine that a film is to be made of the book starring Sam Riley who starred in control the film about Joy Division where he played Ian Curtis .He is down to play the Elizabethan playwright ,in burgess book about Marlowe Dead man in Deptford which was one of the last novels he wrote and last published in his life time I read the book in 93 when it was first published  ,but have decide to reread it and review it for the blog  as I loved it loads first time round .Look forward to the film as he was meant be a spy so can see dark alleys and taverns in this film .

my first blogs

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wow, this is an easy one my two favourite blogs have and will always be the first two I followed and the main reason I blog ,these two guys are the nicest most genuine people on the blogosphere and twitter ,always there when you need them they are –

ROB OF ROBAROUNDBOOKS  – Robs blog is amazing his passion and range of reading is amazing ,a guy with unbridled passion for books and even the smell of books his tastes are similar to mine and he always bring great books to people’s attention ,he post wonderful book pictures and has a wonderful before and after  review system that he came up with ,that others have copied .so if you love short stories ,translation ,books in general you’ll love rob .

SIMON OF INSIDEBOOKS –Simon is an editor by day and a blogger by night ,his tastes are amazing he is the nearest to mine in so many ways he is not swayed by reading the now books and cuts a  path through great books that you may have missed and great classics like Powell and Isherwood ,Simon is also a great friend via twitter a geniue caring guy with a true passion for books .

these guys made me blog ,and I started blog but didn’t really start proper blogging to this year and these two have been great supports in my blogging adventures .

Winston’s coffee and muffin

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Well another week has gone its Sunday and another round us of news and books .
News –  the shortlist for German book prize was announced the 6 books show the diversity of German writing at moment a number of books from people who came to Germany from the conflicts in eastern Europe in the nineties .one book in particular Melinda Nadj Abonji tauben fliegen auf ,a book about being an outsider and the Yugoslavian war as a back drop .I hope this and the others make it in to english soon they look wonderful.


I ve signed up for a read along of midnight children on biblio junkie starting in Nov I read it many years ago and not to join one in summer but didn’t find my copy to the other day when I had a good look round after reading Jov post about the read along .I m really interested to see if the book has change in 20 years since I read it as an innocent teen also how the book has weathered .so if you want to join in sign up at JOV’S  BIBLIOJUNKIE SITE

There was a great piece on books on the nightstand as ever about how do you read sip I.E read bit at a time but all through the day or gulp I.E sit for a half hour or more and saviour the book .well I gulp myself tend to try and have three sessions a day of half hour or more reading a day .also the is a passionate review of the David Grossman book by Ann from the show .

BOOKS ON RADAR

well there a two from Dalkey Archive that I ve my eye on the first is –

Best european fiction 2011 – i m still reading the 2010 one but this is meant to be bigger and have more countries and better quality writing as they had more to choose from this year a last year is Edited by Aleksandar Hemon .

The second is three book series they have released to tie in with Ljubljana the capital of Slovenia being world book city this year ,these 3 book all seem good but the holocaust one necropolis ,which has a good synopsis on the dalkey page

book food a spanish meal -want join in ? for the Don

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As you all know I m doing a Don Quixote readalong ,well when I was starting the read along one of my good friends from twitter Rachel who lived in Spain for nearly 20 years said she want to join in with readalong ,when I ask about the food of the time in spain ,she kindly said she do some research and provide a recipe for us to do well she has and now is doing a cook along via twitter making the traditional spanish dish escabeche (escabetx in Catalan) a chicken dish , which would have been round in Cervantes time so I ll include a link to here to Rachel’s page ,where you can find out about her and maybe want join one of her catalan cooking class .so even if your not doing the readalong you may enjoy cooking and following how everyone gets along via twitter full details of Rachel’s twitter account and a # hashtag for the night .hope some of you choose to join in or follow us for the night .

booker shortlist !

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well the booker been announced and here are the 4 shortlisted books for the booker ,and what a bunch they are sure see a rush in sales for them .

HOWARDS END BY E M FORSTER

A story of a family the fourth novel from this up and coming writer ,his last room with a view was shortlist for the booker but only made shortlist .is the bookies favourite at moment !

THE HISTORY OF MR POLLY BY H G WELLS

A comic novel by the past booker winner ,we follow Alfred Pollys story in this funny novel

P SMITH IN THE CITY BY P G WODEHOUSE

An interesting character from Wodehouse a new young novelist with a grand hand at comic writing ,all about mike and psmith also a dollop of cricket thrown in for a good turn .

PRESTER JOHN  BY JOHN BUCHAN

A novel about david crawfords adventures in spouthern africa during the recent zulu uprisng a novel about our empire ,the judges said

Well  thats the booker 1910 shortlist what do you think ?

will these books stand the test of time ?

DON QUIXOTE WEEK 6 IS THIS LORD OF THE RINGS ?

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well we start again after a weeks break ,a graduate samson starts to question sancho over his master,we find out about the donkey and his return strangely,then the squire persuade his wife to let him and the Don hit the road again they travel to a new town Toboso ,in search of a lady the don wants to impress ,they are then in some woods then there are dark tales and magicians mentioned .

the end of this section again as a few times before had me recalling Tolkien ,he must have read Don Quixote dark wood and tales being told are some of the main parts of The lord of the rings . 

the song from Don Quixote musical .

WHAT DID YOU ENJOY ON WEEK 6 ?

Is there a connection between don and the lord of the rings ?

Thumbing through thoreau

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SOURCE – REVIEW E BOOK FROM TRIBUTE BOOKS

This is a collection of pieces brought together by Kenny Luck from various Thoreau books ,Henry David Thoreau in my opinion was one of the greatest american writers in the 19th century his influence is still felt today via books films and political movements ,a writer that is hard to pigeon-hole ,my first encounter with Thoreau was via the film dead poets society where he is mention by on of the characters .he is most well-known for Walden the book he wrote after spending 2 years 2 months living in a log cabin by Walden pond in the 1850’s ,which make up the first part of this collection ,he was also a noted journal writer which the later part of the books covers .

The book is a collection of what Hector in the film History boys would call gobits ,little gems that capture beautiful the feel of Thoreau’s writing ,along with the gobits ,there are illustrations by Jay luke and Ren Adams ,the illustrations are all black and white and what may be described as primitive in style or maybe simplistic like japanese block art they wonderful capture the nature of Henry David Throeau’s work .the is a video on you tube about the book .Kenny luck who compiled the book is a writer on the weekender and also has a masters in history and political science .

So where to start as my e reader broke just as I got the book I ve had to read it via my adobe reader on the computer over a week or two .The book is also nice set out using various size typography to draw you into the quotes .In places I felt Kenny may Have picked different quotes from Thoreau but like most things every one has their favourites and on the whole it gave a great view on Thoreau’s writing and made me want to get his Journals something I ve want to read for a while ,this book would make a great coffee table book to be picked up and glance through all the time also is a great gift for someone who maybe wants to try Thoreau but is a little nervous of Walden .It is also good for kids as a intro with the pictures .the book also received the full approval of the Thoreau society .

there has been a number of stops already on the tribute book tour for thumbing through Thoreau ,you can also follow tribute on twitter .

HAVE YOU READ THOREAU ?

show me the books I ll show you the man ,a life in books

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Well I ve come up with a great idea ,I loved the bbc programm rock tree where you follow bands via members and styles in a huge family tree so I was thinking why don’t I do the same with my books start with child hood books over weeks then teen and adult books and show how each book opened up options to other books thus building a reading tree for my self .

HOLMES –

Well I ll start with a true hero of mine Sherlock Holmes ,I found this in my christmas presents in 1983 (oh yes I m that old ),it is one of my most treasured books from my mum as my parents separated when I was at primary school I knew it had cost her a lot and was thus valued by myself ,it contains three main short stories collection and three novels ,it gave me endless hours of under the covers reading of murders ,robberies,midget’s and hell hounds .I have always loved any films no matter how bad connect to Holmes and have a good many on dvd and of course the wonderful Jeremy Brett tv series .Holmes gave me a foot hold in adult books at a tender age and led on too .

  1. the other Doyle books like lost world and more adventures ,via the YA Willard price adventure series the adventures of Hal and Roger as they collect creatures around the world in places such as the amazon ,also Arthur Ransomes swallows and amazons books .
  2. Maigret I read a few Maigret books by the prolific Belgian writer Georges Simenon ,this gave me a taste of french life and another great detective to follow ,he is different to holmes as a family man but like Holmes is deep thinker
  3. Alternative fiction ,I read books based on Holmes stories containing sci-fi and stories with Holmes like character ,there are many out there and still new ones being written although I didn’t read many along this line the style of writing use an existing character in other books or a historic character has cropped up in a lot of books I ve read .

 So there is part one of my book history one book three leads from that one book .

What books lead your reading as a child ?

2011 100years of tolstoy ,lets have a war and peace readalong to celebrate

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Now 2010-1 is Tolstoy’s centenary year he died in november 1910 ,so I ve enjoyed doing my summer Don Quixote read along I want to do a war and peace read along at start 2011 last 20 weekes I d say ,I m think of using the New ,well out in October Oxford World Classic centenary tie in updated version of the definitive translation by Louise and Amy Mandelker .Now like Don Quixote this has been one I ve started a few times but never got more than couple of hunderd pages in ,now with a nice new edition and a confidence in doing a read along I want to ,this book is the masterpiece of russian literature and I know I should have read it already and always feel a pang in my heart that I haven ‘t so if you want to join in let me know and we can wrestle through the Napoleonic wars with the Rostov’s and Bolkonskys together in the winter of 2011 guys and gals.The new edition is available in both hard and Paperback hopefully in october see here