July's Jesuitical Journeyings Through Literary Juxtapositions

[Pyan]

... but if you are struggling with The Magus perhaps that's another one to look out for?

Thanks, Goll - I will.

 

[GOLLUM]

....now reading "Grey Area" by Will Self.

VERY interested to read your thoughts on this one F.E. That's the story collection yes?

 

[Fried Egg]

VERY interested to read your thoughts on this one F.E. That's the story collection yes?

Yes. The only story from it that I've read before is "Scale" which I've always been fond of. I've read a few of his novels but haven't read anything for a few years (since reading "Book of Dave").

 

[antiloquax]

Trying to get into The Magus, by John Fowles.

I have his novel A Maggot, purchased on the assurance from a very knowledagble contact that it was his best work.

I read The Magus years ago. I can't remember very much about it confused except that I enjoyed it. Other than that, I have only read The Collector and a non-fiction book called The Aristos. The latter is amazing - a philosophical work inspired by Fowles reading of pre-socratic philosophy. Definitely worth a read.
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[Connavar]

Trying to get into The Magus, by John Fowles.

I have a brother who doesnt read often but who has nagged me for months, a year or two to read The Magus. He was so impressed by it. It and Catch 22 is one of few books he likes enough to recommend.

Other than those only books he read is some historical fiction.

 

[elvet]

I'm reading The Marriage of Sticks by Jonathan Carroll. I found it in the fantasy section of a second hand shop. Now that I'm halfway through, I'm somewhat dismayed to find it has some horror elements in it (not something I like). Despite my distaste, the story is very engaging, and his way of writing is quite elegant. There's not much more to go, as it is a slim volume, so I think I will finish it.

 

[Vertigo]

Finished Weber and Flint's Torch of Freedom. The first 200 pages of 600 total were dreadful; literally 200 pages of pure info-dumping via conversations across desks and dinner tables. I very nearly threw the book away. The latter two thirds were much better and in line with Weber's usualy quality. However that first third was inexcusable in my opinion. First time I've ever come down that heavily on a Weber book which I usualy enjoy throughout.

 

[slack]

Flew through Nobody Move in about three days. The story involves several losers who all try to scam each other and make off with a couple million. Pretty light reading. Johnson normally has quite a way with words and can sometimes stop your heart, but only a little of that talent is on display here.

 

[woodsman]

Flatland - Abbott.

Love it - can't believe I Haven't read this before. A work of genius.

 

[slack]

Moving on now. The Big Sleep, Raymond Chandler and Get Shorty, Elmore Leonard. Which one to read first, decisions decisions. Think I'll go with Chandler.

 

[AE35Unit]

Gonna have to restart Asimov:s The Gods Themselves. I ran out of oomph and my partner read it instead!

 

[soulsinging]

Moving on now. The Big Sleep, Raymond Chandler and Get Shorty, Elmore Leonard. Which one to read first, decisions decisions. Think I'll go with Chandler.

Can't go wrong with Chandler. Marlowe is a character for the ages.

 

[j d worthington]

Things have been rather hectic for a good long while, so my reading has not been "up to snuff" the past few months. Nonetheless, I have managed to read:

(by Nathaniel Hawthorne):

Dr. Grimshawe's Secret -- a novel left unfinished and unpolished at his death, cobbled together by his son Julian, with some editorial changes -- a very interesting little piece which varied from some of Hawthorne's most impressive prose to some of his worst, with a fair amount in-between

The Scarlet Letter -- one I read many, many years ago, but not since... and I've been missing a fantastically good book as a result. The writing here is superb, and the air of eeriness and the presence of the unseen permeates the book, handled in a manner which alternates between a naïve intensity and a finely artistic understatedness

Fanshawe -- his first novel, of which he later destroyed all copies he could find. Seriously flawed, but with some fine touches here and there

The House of the Seven Gables -- Lovecraft calls this "New England's greatest contribution to weird literature" and, while I wouldn't go quite that far, I do think he's not off by much. A finely crafted, well-balanced novel, with a great deal more going on than the surface would lead a casual reader to believe; and the chapter with Judge Pyncheon's vigil remains in itself one of the greatest eerie passages in literature

The Blithedale Romance -- another quite flawed performance, but one which nonetheless holds the interest; a quirky set of characters based (at times loosely) on those Hawthorne knew at Brook Farm, and with a powerful denouement which will not easily be forgotten

The Marble Faun -- somewhat less balanced than Seven Gables, but also more subtle in its suggestion, this is one which would repay repeated readings; the central air of mystery and guilt which permeates the latter part of the novel are handled with considerable strength, and the novel's only major flaw is Hawthorne's provoking comment in the afterword, where he indulged in his periodic vice of being just a bit too coy in tone

Twice-Told Tales, Mosses from an Old Manse, The Snow-Image, an odd little collection titled after the short story "The Great Stone Face" (all of the above being story collections), and some other unfinished "romances" published as "Septimius Felton", "Septimius Norton", and "The Dolliver Romance", along with a fragmentary piece, "The Ancestral Footstep", his English and American notebooks (in the edition prepared by his widow, Sophia Hawthorne), and a volume of his letters (two others to go).

His short stories are quite wide in both tone, manner, and subject, but at his best (a significant percentage of the time), he is an unique and marvelously effective writer with a light touch, given to allegory but not often to deleterious effect; more frequently concerned with pathos and a quiet melancholy than a fevered depiction of the unreal (though such exceptions as "Ethan Brand" certainly show he can be quite strong in that line); a writer sadly underread today, and deserving of much more consideration by those who love fantasy and the weird, as well as American literature in general.

Aside from this, several selections of essays, Wasp, by Eric Frank Russell, a handful of Sturgeon, a Spider Robinson tribute to Robert A. Heinlein (The Free Lunch); and am working on reading Cormac McCarthy's Blood Meridian, an intriguing book which goes from the crude and rough to the lyrical in its approach.

I have also read Bierce's In the Midst of Life: Tales of Soldiers and Civilians and am in the midst of reading Can Such Things Be?, both of which I have read before, though not for many years. Those I will address at another time, save to say that I think my appreciation of Bierce has grown with the years, and while his approach can at times seem rather angular, his precision is remarkable, and his ability to turn irony to horror (and vice versa) is one of the most unusual experiences in all my reading....

 

[No One]

Not sure when I'll be starting them, but it'll be Philip Pullman's Dark Materials trilogy for me next, starting with Northern Lights.

 

[HoopyFrood]

Finally! Took you long enough!

 

[Red 13]

Not sure when I'll be starting them, but it'll be Philip Pullman's Dark Materials trilogy for me next, starting with Northern Lights.

Those are absolutely brilliant books. Its actually those books that got me reading fantasy. (without counting The Lord Of The Rings obviously,lol.)

 

[Coolhand]

FINALLY getting around to reading Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince, and Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, courtesy of my sister's who's loaned me her copies. I read and enjoyed the hell out of the first four books, thought the fifth wasn't very good and lost my enthusiasm. Now I'm approaching the last two books at long last and, despite having had most of the sixth book spoiled for me by simple cultural osmosis, I'm still looking forward to them.

Here goes nothing...

 

[Rosemary]

The Devil's Diadem by Sarah Douglass
The Undivided by Jennifer Fallon
Tymon's Flight by Mary Victoria

Re-reading The First Law by our Joe Abercrombie.

 

[Connavar]

Im a bit undecided if i should read Journal of the Gun Years by Matheson or Maske Thaery by Vance. My 3rd Vance in a row is tempting very tempting but Matheson novel is also short,different so i can step out of SF,fantasy read/world to historical, western novel for short while.

Journal of the Gun years i started on the bus to work early today and i hate to leave books half read, books i like that is

 

[Hober Mallow]

Gonna have to restart Asimov:s The Gods Themselves. I ran out of oomph and my partner read it instead!

I read that a few months ago. I thought it was an awesome book.