Greg’s Comments (group member since Jul 02, 2014)

Greg’s comments from the All About Books group.

LauraT wrote: "I'm almost half way through and I'm liking it quite; interesting, distressing, unnerving"

It is certainly all of those things Laura!

spoko wrote: "She keeps things close to the ground, in a sense. It’s not that she never addresses grand, sweeping ideas, but she always does so in the context of very particular characters & scenes. ."

I agree entirely spoko!

I don't worry too much about the label because many books are hard to categorize; it's so common nowadays for writers to mix or transcend genre categories.

But as you say, the most important thing here is the human story . . . and especially what happens internally inside of these characters as a result of being thrown into this other cultural environment.

Though Leslie, I know what you mean. Sometimes mistaken expectations can color books for me too, and I go back to them later and feel differently.

Alannah wrote: "This is a non-fiction book. Not suitable for this thread"

Darn, I guess that's true.

But Nidhi, please nominate it on our next non-fiction go around. I'd love to read it!

Great nominations everyone! I would be excited to read or re-read several of these!

Nidhi wrote: "I nominate The World of Yesterday by Stefan Zweig. Pgs. 416 published 1942.
It is a memoir."

I second The World of Yesterday

Kathleen wrote: "Tumbleweed Words wrote: "Marquez is a literary style all of his own - unique and powerful - what a writer"

Absolutely. I read One Hundred Years of Solitude decades ago, and have been th..."

Maybe nominate it as a group classic read some month Kathleen. I would love to read it, and it's certainly complex and deep enough that some conversation during reading could enrich it!

I recently finished a novel, a novella, and a short story that I enjoyed:
Ymir (Rich Larson) ★★★★ (4.0),
Heart of a Dog (Mikhail Bulgakov) ★★★★ (4.0), and
A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings (Gabriel García Márquez) ★★★★★ (4.5)

Now, I'm reading:
Brick Lane (Monica Ali),
The Sailor on the Seas of Fate (Michael Moorcock), and
Flowers of Evil and Other Works/Les Fleurs du Mal et Oeuvres Choisies : A Dual-Language Book (Dover Foreign Language Study Guides) (Charles Baudelaire).

Yes, both great suggestions Tumbleweed Words and spoko!

I'll nominate A Lost Lady by Willa Cather. I haven't read that one yet, and I've enjoyed others by her.

Tumbleweed Words wrote: "If i can recommend, Baudelaire's Flowers of Evil and Neruda's collection - both astouding works of despairing and timeless poetry that comine realism with longing crafted in beautiful verse."

I just started reading Flowers of Evil and Other Works/Les Fleurs du Mal et Oeuvres Choisies : A Dual-Language Book (Dover Foreign Language Study Guides) yesterday, and I quite like it!

I think I'd been mixing up Baudelaire and Arthur Rimbaud. The translation of Rimbaud that I read before I wasn't crazy about, but this one of Baudelaire is quite daring and beautiful.

Ruth wrote: "I’m going to bed soon because I worked last night, not a lot of excitement here. Lol"

Ha ha Ruth, well, I guess sometimes when I'm tired, sleep is the absolute best thing, better than anything else! :)

Ruth wrote: "Happy Easter to all those that celebrate."

Definitely! You too Ruth!

Does anyone have any interesting Easter plans? We're keeping it simlle this year - just cooking a dinner with Ron's family. Or maybe I should say heating, ha ha, as most of it was purchased pre-made. :)

Dale wrote: "My review of The Women of the Copper Country by Maria Doria Russell

4 stars
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show..."

I quite liked her The Sparrow Dale!

Tumbleweed Words wrote: "Thank you! means alot and from one poem share ot another, here is the late and great poet Jim Harrison

Death Again"

Wow Tumbleweed Words, I love that poem! It's so unpretentious, and the turn in the second half is quite beautiful. Although the poem seems simple, it's profound.

I'm embarrassed to say I'd never heard of Jim Harrison before, though when I just looked him up, I see he associated with other poets I know. I will have to find one of his books!

The poem you posted reminds me a little of some poems by Nâzım Hikmet. Have you ever read him before? He's a Turkish poet who was imprisoned on and off by the authorities, but he was so beloved by the population that they didn't dare do anything more to him. The guards used to pass food and messages to him from outside; even they revered him. He wrote some wonderfully unpretentious poems about death that were both "real" and profound like this, recognizing the beauty that's a part of life, that's so hard to let go of.

There's a poem "The Last Bus" from Things I Didn't Know I Loved that ends like this:

from The Last Bus [1957]

...
I'm pouring bowls of light over my head,
I can look at the sun and I'm not dazzled.
And perhaps--what a pity--
     the most beautiful lie
          will no longer seduce me.
Words can't make me drunk any more,
neither mine nor anyone else's.
That's how it goes, my rose.
Death is now awfully close.
The world is a world more beautiful than ever.
The world was my suit of clothes,
          I started undressing.
I was at the window of a train,
     now I'm at the station.
I was inside the house,
     now I'm at the door--it's open.
I love the guests twice as much.
And the heat is blonder than ever,
     the snow is whiter than ever.

Tumbleweed Words wrote: "Thank you Greg. Totally agree, i'm here for like minded lovers of poetry first and only. But thank you for the kind words :) thread is a good idea, i like to read up and coming modern day poets and attend many open mic nights to see them - be good to give voice to talent, but also - keep on topic :)"

My pleasure, as long as the promotional part can be collected in one place, I don't see any harm to it. And I wouldn't mind reading some things that were posted there.

Thanks for sharing, and thanks for your thoughtful comments on the other threads as well. Great to have you in the group!

Leslie wrote: "I just realized this morning that April is National Poetry Month here in the U.S. so I should add a book of poems to my list. Problem is that I don't know which one to choose! Any suggestions would..."

Hi Leslie, sorry about the long delay - this has been a pretty stressful work week with all the things Ron needed and all the things my work needed. I have felt a little like that baby in the Solomon story.

Have you read Philip Levine before? His poems are accessible and moving, lots of poems about working class life in Detroit.

And if you want to go in a completely opposite direction, not too long ago I read a book of poetry by Wendell Berry, and I just loved it so much! His poetry combines spirituality and a deep love for the natural world. Sabbaths was the one I read, but I'm suspecting that many of his books of poetry will be similar - he wrote a whole series of books in that vein.

I'm trying to recommend poets that you might not have read many times already. But among the more familiar choices, I re-read a wonderful book of poetry Fully Empowered by Pablo Neruda recently. One of my favorites! But I figured you had already read him before many times, and it might be hard to find a good translation - there are some clunky translations out there; I really like the translation I linked, and it's dual language with the Spanish on the left and the translated English on the right. That's always an extra bonus!

Tumbleweed Words wrote: "Translation is vital much like editing - someone like Murakami could never of traveled so wide without great translation - but the writing feeds it of course.

Greg no hard sell but i wirte poetry, check it out if you wish or don't of course. Just a free creative share from a small press published writer of poemas :)"

Absolutely, translation is so vital!

I did read the poem at the link, and I like the ending, the undiscussed dull thud. It has a thoughtful resonance, and I like the suggestiveness in terms of what goes undiscussed and why.

We don't allow author advertisements in the group right now because we don't want the threads to be cluttered by different authors promoting their work. But maybe we should create a special thread somewhere that authors can use to post in - it would be nice to have a legal place for you to post things like this. I'll discuss it with the other moderators and see if they are ok with that.

Tumbleweed Words wrote: "oh my word - this line 'I am weary neither of being nor of non-being.'

and the end line BLOW MY MIND. Thank you for this, never read the poem before and instantly love it. He had a taut delivery,..."

My pleasure Tumbleweed Words, and I completely agree with you when you say "simple yet rich language." It's as though Neruda repurposes the simplest words and turns them into something extraordinary and unfamilar!

And this translator Alastair Reid does a great job of capturing that quality, the words in the original Spanish and in the translated English are so carefully and perfectly chosen.

Tumbleweed Words wrote: "A Dog Has Died by Neruda is one of the grat poems of its and any time."

I don't know if I've read that particular poem Tumbleweed Words. I'll look for it. I think my favorite two poems in Fully Empowered were "El Constructor / The Builder" and "Plenos Poderes / Fully Empowered." But there are many poems in the book that I love.

Fully Empowered

I write in the clear sun, in the teeming street,
at full sea tide, in a place where I can sing;
only the wayward night inhibits me,
but, interrupted by it, I recover space,
I gather shadows to last a long time.

The black crop of the night is growing
while my eyes in the meantime measure the plain.
So, from sun to sun, I forge the keys.
In the half light I look for locks
and keep on opening broken doors to the sea
until I fill the cupboards up with foam.

And I never weary of going and returning.
Death in its stone aspect does not stop me.
I am weary neither of being nor of non-being.

Sometimes I wonder where--
from father or mother or the mountains--
I inherited all my mineral obligations,

the threads spreading from a sea on fire;
and I know I go on and go on because I go on
and I sing because I sing and because I sing.

There is no way of explaining what happens
when I close my eyes and waver
as between two underwater channels--
one lifts me in its branches toward dying
and the other sings in order that I may sing.

And so I am formed out of non-being,
and as the sea goes battering at a reef
in wave on wave of salty white-tops
and drags back stones in its ebb,
so what there is of death surrounding me
opens in me a window out to living,
and, in a spasm of being, I am asleep.
In the full light of day, I walk in the shade.

Jordi wrote: "Hello everyone! I'll be reading Mythos by Stephen Fry this month. If anyone cares to join on the readalong, I'd be more than happy to discuss the book. I'm also planning on reading the next titles ..."

Hi Jordi, sorry about the lag in responding. Several of these sound good - I would be interested in joining in on Mythos: The Greek Myths Retold, Men Without Women, or Piranesi. All three of those have been on my mental to-read list for a while.

I don't think I can start immediately though. If you can wait on one of these until toward the end of the month, I'd be happy to join you and we could create a readalong thread for others to join if they wanted.

Damini wrote: "I'm watching Junji Ito's "Japanese Tales of the Macabre" on Netflix, and it's incredible. So disturbing, so dark, trully brilliant."

That sounds interesting Damini - I hadn't heard of it; I'll search for it!