What Book Did You Read Last Night??? (5 Viewers)

I’m really glad you got so much out of it. I’ve never done a reading group like that and think it’s probably one of the books that benefits most from that format. Was this an online thing?
 
I’m really glad you got so much out of it. I’ve never done a reading group like that and think it’s probably one of the books that benefits most from that format. Was this an online thing?
It grew out of an in person Ulysses group i had with some friends, there was only three of us doing FW in the end. With things as they were the entire thing bar the very last chapter ended up being over Zoom so it's probably for the best there wasn't more. It was only supposed to take a year but between people having babies, people getting Covid and a period of about three months where we just gave up it ended up taking two.

Joyce doesn't come naturally to me (I've met people who seemingly just took to Ulysses but that's not me) so I really have to dedicate myself to it by doing loads of reading around it and MAKING it rewarding or I'd never get it done. FW is by far the hardest thing I've ever read and it's not even close.
 
To bring the threads together, a good LRB piece from 20 years ago on Joyce and Tolkien


I only managed about half of that, it goes on quite a bit, doesn’t it? It’s strange seeing someone really tackling Tolkien’s writing and place in literature but who is clearly embarrassed at having once liked something so crass as a children’s story.
 
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I only managed about half of that, it goes on quite a bit, doesn’t it? It’s strange seeing someone really tackling Tolkien’s writing and place in literature but who is clearly embarrassed at having once liked something so crass as a children’s story.
I guess what I enjoy about it is someone taking Tolkien seriously without being a fanboy. I don't mind the harsh criticism if there's thought behind it and an attempt to work out what it all means.


(In my memory there was a lot more Joyce in that piece but reading it again, no, he barely features)
 
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Read The Dispossessed by Ursula Le Guin whilst on holiday. It's fucking amazing, it's a proper "Why you can't set up a different system whilst you have to trade/compete with capitalism" commentary. Anarchist cookbook.
This book is incredible. Nice one. I just read it on my holidays
 
Over the past few months I’ve been going back deep on my Tolkien. I’ve done Unfinished Tales, The Silmarillion, Beren and Lúthien, and just coming to the end of The Hobbit. Have the first two volumes of The History of Middle-earth lined up next. All the while I’m building an excel file of quotes, personalities, locations, and items which I’m going to use while running games of The One Ring RPG with my friends. I’ll be speaking in Sindarin by the end of the year.
 
3 or 4 chapters into a wild sheep chase by Murakami (my first by him). Enjoying the economy of language, very abrupt in its descriptiveness, reminds me of the one Hemmingway book I've read.

Recently finished Beloved by Toni Morrison, which was very good.
 
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Also my first Murakami book. Good. Reading another right now, Norwegian Wood, and enjoying quite a bit.

Also enjoying the love for The Dispossessed here. Fab book, one that really stuck with me.
The Disposessed is as good as books get. A beaut.

I just got her other big one The Left Hand Of Darkness..havent opened it yet
 
Some more Irish, literary and sci fi. Sure why not.

Dance Move by Wendy Erskine
Decent collection of some brilliant, some not so brilliant (but still good) short stories. I think I preferred her first collection, Sweet Home, which was more consistent. But this was still good. She’s very funny and that’s what does it for me.

Seven Steeples by Sara Baume
This was a beautifully written, plotless novel about two people who up sticks and move to the countryside, cutting themselves off from society.

Dog Soldiers by Robert Stone
This was pretty good, I thought. Pretty straightforward tale about hippies importing and selling dope and getting way out of their depth in a world of gangsters. Plenty of action and good characterisation and seedy California in the 1970s. Told from a position of what felt like authority. I guess he was probably a hippie himself.

Lambda by David Musgrave
Strange sci fi set in an alternative present and featuring fish people and sentient toothbrushes. It started well but by the final third I was losing interest. I felt it could have done with a significant edit as it really had too much going on to the point that I felt the writer wasn’t even sure what his point or story was. Still, had swashes of weird humour and absurdity that I liked. The author is a visual artist of some repute and as far as I can tell this is his first novel.

Foundation by Isaac Asimov
I enjoyed this way more than I expected and loved its neat, original ideas. I’m not sure how good a writer Asimov was but he sure could spin a yarn. This is classic, archetypal sci fi, so much so that some of the speculative ideas feel like they’ve been done to death, until you realise that maybe this was the first time they were done. Other observations: just ONE woman in the entire book – and a minor character at that. All the heroes are midwestern US, wise-cracking, sexy 1950s types like Ronald Reagan who shoot from the hip and don’t take any shit. All the villains are finger-steepling, anally retentive oldies who say things like “ah” and are vain and easily hoodwinked. But who cares, it’s all good fun. I’ve not seen the TV show of this. Not sure if I should.

Walk the Blue Fields by Claire Keegan
A set of short stories by one of Ireland’s masters. She gets a lot of comparisons with John McGahern, whom I don’t like all that much, and I’ve read that she thinks this comparison is facile, simply because she sets her stories in rural Ireland. I actually think it’s to do with the music of the dialog, which to me is slightly off – similarly so for John McG. But I’d say she’s a better writer generally, and some of these stories hit home for me, especially the title story.

Before the Coffee Gets Cold by Toshikazu Kawaguchi
Cute Japanese sci fi that was originally a radio play. Didn’t really set me on fire and was a bit repetitive, but nice.

Percival Everett by Virgil Russell by Percival Everett
Completely nutty meta-meta-fiction in which you’re not sure who’s telling the story and a plot that hops about like a sand flea. Still a good, if difficult, read.

The Parable of the Sower by Octavia E. Butler
This was pretty good. Not sure why it’s considered one of her best, though. I far preferred e.g. Kindred, which was a knockout. Still, very good, even if it dragged in places. The ideas are seminal and the characters rich – and of course there’s lots of shocking brutality, as always with OEB.

The Memory Librarian by Janelle Monae
The less said about this, the better. DNF.

The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald
Indulged myself in a classic. This was just great.

Norwegian Wood by Haruki Murakami
This was a multi-million seller in its day and it’s not hard to see why. A love-triangle story against the backdrop of late-‘60s Japan. Beautiful, and dirty as fuck. I really enjoyed this immensely (and not just the sexy bits).

The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Diaz
This book won the Pulitzer prize so while it was all right it should have been better. Despite the fact that it's sold as a Dominican Republic book, and is partly set there, it's an American book, and even though it's full of Spanish words, it's tonally American and sounds and feels just like the likes of Jonathan Frantzen, Jonathan Lethem, Michael Chabon etc. The same book over and over.
 
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Some more Irish, literary and sci fi. Sure why not.

Dance Move by Wendy Erskine
Decent collection of some brilliant, some not so brilliant (but still good) short stories. I think I preferred her first collection, Sweet Home, which was more consistent. But this was still good. She’s very funny and that’s what does it for me.

Seven Steeples by Sara Baume
This was a beautifully written, plotless novel about two people who up sticks and move to the countryside, cutting themselves off from society.

Dog Soldiers by Robert Stone
This was pretty good, I thought. Pretty straightforward tale about hippies importing and selling dope and getting way out of their depth in a world of gangsters. Plenty of action and good characterisation and seedy California in the 1970s. Told from a position of what felt like authority. I guess he was probably a hippie himself.

Lambda by David Musgrave
Strange sci fi set in an alternative present and featuring fish people and sentient toothbrushes. It started well but by the final third I was losing interest. I felt it could have done with a significant edit as it really had too much going on to the point that I felt the writer wasn’t even sure what his point or story was. Still, had swashes of weird humour and absurdity that I liked. The author is a visual artist of some repute and as far as I can tell this is his first novel.

Foundation by Isaac Asimov
I enjoyed this way more than I expected and loved its neat, original ideas. I’m not sure how good a writer Asimov was but he sure could spin a yarn. This is classic, archetypal sci fi, so much so that some of the speculative ideas feel like they’ve been done to death, until you realise that maybe this was the first time they were done. Other observations: just ONE woman in the entire book – and a minor character at that. All the heroes are midwestern US, wise-cracking, sexy 1950s types like Ronald Reagan who shoot from the hip and don’t take any shit. All the villains are finger-steepling, anally retentive oldies who say things like “ah” and are vain and easily hoodwinked. But who cares, it’s all good fun. I’ve not seen the TV show of this. Not sure if I should.

Walk the Blue Fields by Claire Keegan
A set of short stories by one of Ireland’s masters. She gets a lot of comparisons with John McGahern, whom I don’t like all that much, and I’ve read that she thinks this comparison is facile, simply because she sets her stories in rural Ireland. I actually think it’s to do with the music of the dialog, which to me is slightly off – similarly so for John McG. But I’d say she’s a better writer generally, and some of these stories hit home for me, especially the title story.

Before the Coffee Gets Cold by Toshikazu Kawaguchi
Cute Japanese sci fi that was originally a radio play. Didn’t really set me on fire and was a bit repetitive, but nice.

Percival Everett by Virgil Russell by Percival Everett
Completely nutty meta-meta-fiction in which you’re not sure who’s telling the story and a plot that hops about like a sand flea. Still a good, if difficult, read.

The Parable of the Sower by Octavia E. Butler
This was pretty good. Not sure why it’s considered one of her best, though. I far preferred e.g. Kindred, which was a knockout. Still, very good, even if it dragged in places. The ideas are seminal and the characters rich – and of course there’s lots of shocking brutality, as always with OEB.

The Memory Librarian by Janelle Monae
The less said about this, the better. DNF.

Norwegian Wood by Haruki Murakami
This was a multi-million seller in its day and it’s not hard to see why. A love-triangle story against the backdrop of late-‘60s Japan. Beautiful, and dirty as fuck. I really enjoyed this immensely (and not just the sexy bits).

The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Diaz
This book won the Pulitzer prize so while it was all right it should have been better. Despite the fact that it's sold as a Dominican Republic book, and is partly set there, it's an American book, and even though it's full of Spanish words, it's tonally American and sounds and feels just like the likes of Jonathan Frantzen, Jonathan Lethem, Michael Chabon etc. The same book over and over.
Ooh Junot Diaz got cancelled. Better delete this post
 

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