A Bookish Thread
I know Pete did a blog on this last year and I hope he will not be insulted if I do one now. In view of the dreadfully wet summer: how about a thread on good books to read since there is no point going outside? I am mainly into older books and have recently read two short classics which were very both good as stories (they are also great literature but I do not feel well qualified to comment on that): Alexander Solzhenitsyn’s One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich (I happened to have read it shortly before he died) and Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness. The one I have read most recently, however, is a modern one: Cormac McCarthy’s The Road. This is a dreadful, awful, terrifying, captivating, brilliant book which I began reading in an airport departure lounge and did not put down until I had finished it at home at 10pm. I hardy spoke to Elenwe and the children till I had finished it. It is about a man and his son walking across a sort of post apocalyptic America. I do not know if it was even more arresting for me as the father of two small boys but it was breath taking. Anyhow any other good (or bad) books anyone wants to talk about?
malachi @ 02:15 PM:
Everybody should refer, instantly, to Malachi’s own blog for his account of a wake.
I wish I could write that well.
Malachi good – thanks Malcolm. There’s an old thriller called “Marathon Man” – William Goldman I think – film Ok but book totally magnificent.
Pitch perfect, Malachi. Pitch perfect.
Malcolm Redfellow: We all wish you could write that well, too. ;o)
I hope McCarthy picks up the Nobel, he deserves the recognition. I agree that it’s unremittingly grim but the writing is amazing.
Maybe try Don DeLillo for a more humourous American author, or David Mitchell’s Cloud Atlas for a great British read.
Gum,
It is also in a way an uplifting story; almost a redemption tale. I must admit to so wishing the father and son well and to very significantly identifying with the father who seemed to be a decent, educated man who was willing to do anything to protect his son. As McCarthy put it “Each the other’s world entire” and that the boy was “His warrant.”
Brilliant yet utterly awful: I find it difficult to get the book out of my mind and I will not let my wife or mother read it. Not being condescending but knowing them it would distress them a great deal.
The only thing I cannot accept is that it is a great call for environmentalism: I think that is going too far.
“I will not let my wife or mother read it.”
Yes, but ask yourself this, “Is this the type of book you would want your servants to read?”. Which is the question the judge put to the jury at the culmination of the Lady Chatterly trial.
What if your wife or mother prove to be disobedient? I suppose you could always poke their eyes out.
“I have a friend who travels in time not unlike the ‘Time Travellers Wife’, another good read. He told me that top of the best seller lists in Borders Belfast for 2018 were”
1. Saville Report
Just finished Brian Rowan’s new book, How the Peace was Won, which is not bad at all if you’re a NI political/security anorak. Perhaps he puts himself at the centre of things a bit too much (although he does agonise about this), but I did enjoy it. The style’s tad melodramatic sometimes, and it’s very pro-Process (if you know what I mean), but it’s something that I found readable and informative. I always think Rowan’s books are done in the style of whoever does the deep-sounding voiceovers for Hollywood thrillers.
Bought that book Brian Walker mentioned, Blood & Rage, though I don’t expect to be overly impressed. Next on the list is Terror and Consent, which I have higher expectations of.
Rory,
Yes I need some servants. Unfortunately they seem quite expensive these days and my house is too small to have a servants’ wing. I am hoping that with property prices falling I may be able to get such a house but unfortunately my house seems to be falling in value as well. A bit annoying that.
Even if I got a suitable house paying servants would be rather difficult: any suggestions?
‘The Road’ is an absolutely brilliant book. I found it hard to put the book down. As for other good reads, and pardon if I don’t remember authors:
The bookseller of Kabul
A thousand splendid suns (I know it’s already been mentioned, but it’s a fantastic book!)
Bury my heart at Wounded Knee ( which I’m now reading for the 20th – at least! time! This book breaks my heart!)
And the best book I’ve read in the past 2 years – The book thief. If you haven’t already read this, do yourself a favour and read it now! Absolutely beautiful!
Bury my heart at Wounded Knee
O yes Seimi – fantastic
Spotted Mrs Gonzo reading a detective book earlier that seemed to contain a subliminal message for Sinn Fein on the devolution of justice: The Summer that Never Was, by Peter Robinson.