What Book Did You Read Last Night??? (6 Viewers)

Last night I finished Argall: The True Story of Pocahontas and Captain John Smith by William Vollman.

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The Blurb said:
In Argall, the newest novel in his Seven Dreams series, William T. Vollmann alternates between extravagant Elizabethan language and gritty realism in an attempt to dig beneath the legend surrounding Pocahontas, John Smith, and the founding of the Jamestown colony in Virginia-as well as the betrayals, disappointments, and atrocities behind it. With the same panoramic vision, mythic sensibility, and stylistic daring that he brought to the previous novels in the Seven Dreams series-hailed upon its inception as "the most important literary project of the '90s" (The Washington Post)-Vollmann continues his hugely original fictional history of the clash of Native Americans and Europeans in the New World. In reconstructing America's past as tragedy, nightmare, and bloody spectacle, Vollmann does nothing less than reinvent the American novel

This took me ages to read. And it took me a while to forget about the Elizabethan language and weird use of large/different fonts for the odd word here and there.

Anyway, it started off very strong and throughout it had the kind of rich and warm characterization that I'd associate with Peter Carey but a big chunk in the middle is very similar to Fathers and Crows (vol 2 of the Seven Dreams series, Argall is vol 3) which was 800 pages of french jesuits and indians sailing up and down a river in Canada trading with and butchering each other. This is set around the same time and has a lot of english protestants and indians sailing up and down rivers in Virginia trading with and butchering each other. For a while I thought it was just more of the same but I was totally won over by the end. I was finding the language very charming and the general buzz a bit harrowing. Recommended!

I recently got The Dying Grass which is vol 4 in the series but it's 1400 pages and weighs a fucking ton so I'm gonna read a few short books first. I've just started Beware of Pity by Stefan Zweig which looks promising.
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also reading

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about 2/3s the way through. Its hilarious, boring, infuriating, and excellent, in equal measures.

finally finished this last night. Its absolutely wonderful. It goes all 'East of Eden' in the last part where you feel it might start rambling on and on about generations and generations of the main family, but it ties everything up really nicely.

So yes, its overwritten in parts, a chore in parts, but ultimately I can totally see what all the fuss is about.
 
I was feeling lazy recently, so went back to a strong favourite from my teenage years.

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1st book is as good as I remembered.
2nd is pretty goooood
3rd is really quite poor
4th sucks
sad.
 
finally finished this last night. Its absolutely wonderful. It goes all 'East of Eden' in the last part where you feel it might start rambling on and on about generations and generations of the main family, but it ties everything up really nicely.

So yes, its overwritten in parts, a chore in parts, but ultimately I can totally see what all the fuss is about.
NO IT'S TERRIBLE. YOU ARE TERRIBLE.



(i'd fairly tuned out at that point, I can't even remember it. Maybe i'll read it again some day except I definitely will not)
 
Amazon product ASIN 0316261246
It is the present-day, and the world is as we know it: smartphones, social networking and Happy Meals. Save for one thing: the Civil War never occurred.
A gifted young black man calling himself Victor has struck a bargain with federal law enforcement, working as a bounty hunter for the US Marshall Service. He's got plenty of work. In this version of America, slavery continues in four states called "the Hard Four." On the trail of a runaway known as Jackdaw, Victor arrives in Indianapolis knowing that something isn't right--with the case file, with his work, and with the country itself.

VG. Would recommend.
 
Beware of Pity by Stefan Zweig
An interesting story but way too drawn out and related by an absurdly hysterical drama queen of a narrator who is supposedly a fine, bright young star of the military. A bit of a drag, this one.

Agostino by Alberto Moravia.
Freud looms large over this coming of age tale of a young lad on holidays by the beach with his mom. Mom finds new boyfriend on the beach, young lad gets jealous and angsty. Not bad, a short east read.

The Visitor by Maeve Brennan.
Another short easy read, bitter people living joyless lives in Dublin, probably in the first half of the 20th century. Excellent.


The first two there are translations. I'm getting a bit confused with translations, I don't know what to make of them anymore. Some of the writing in the Zweig is so dull that I think it must be the translator's fault. I dunno.
 
Beware of Pity by Stefan Zweig
An interesting story but way too drawn out and related by an absurdly hysterical drama queen of a narrator who is supposedly a fine, bright young star of the military. A bit of a drag, this one.

Agostino by Alberto Moravia.
Freud looms large over this coming of age tale of a young lad on holidays by the beach with his mom. Mom finds new boyfriend on the beach, young lad gets jealous and angsty. Not bad, a short east read.

The Visitor by Maeve Brennan.
Another short easy read, bitter people living joyless lives in Dublin, probably in the first half of the 20th century. Excellent.


The first two there are translations. I'm getting a bit confused with translations, I don't know what to make of them anymore. Some of the writing in the Zweig is so dull that I think it must be the translator's fault. I dunno.

Shame about the Zweig, I've been meaning to read him, but might put him on the back burner again.

Also read The Visitor recently. One of the best things I've read this year. It enticed me to buy the Springs of Affection collection - most of which is on par with The Visitor.
 
I just finished "Angst" by Zweig and really enjoyed it. It's about the psychological state of a married woman afraid that her affair will be revealed. It's a very short novel. I had the same experience as you - I tried one of the longer works and quickly lost interest. But this was short and snappy.
 
GOD: I own you like I own the caves.
THE OCEAN: Not a chance. No comparison.
GOD: I made you. I could tame you.
THE OCEAN: At one time, maybe. But not now.
GOD: I will come to you, freeze you, break you.
THE OCEAN: I will spread myself like wings. I am a billion tiny feathers. You have no idea what's happened to me.”

Dave Eggers: The Only Meaning of the Oil-Wet Water
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