Poll

#Pollwatch




At the time of writing, and with a healthy looking lead (8 votes and counting), I've already ordered my copy of A Question of Upbringing.

Actually I've gone the whole hog and ordered A Dance To The Music Of Time: Spring which contains...

Spring

A Question of Upbringing – (1951)
A Buyer's Market – (1952)
The Acceptance World – (1955)

Roll on June.

Checkout this beautiful cover of The Master and Margarita....


http://24.media.tumblr.com/a7a89193ad...

Nigeyb wrote: "I've already ordered my copy of A Question of Upbringing."


I picked it up this very day.

Roll on June x 2

I'm poised to start reading....




A Question of Upbringing - our June 2014 BYT fiction read.

^ Early days, however, so far, so wonderful. I've got a good feeling about this book.

As I near the conclusion of A Question of Upbringing (our June BYT fiction group read triv fans), I thought I'd just mention that I am really enjoying it. I think we should have fun discussing it and I hope to see lots of BYTers joining in the fun.

I've just finished our June 2014 fiction choice and am now every excited about that particular discussion. Roll on June. I forget who nominated it now. Whoever you are, give yourself a pat on the back.

In the meantime, and by way of trying to inspire my fellow BYTers, here are my thoughts....



A Question of Upbringing by Anthony Powell

"A Dance to the Music of Time" is a twelve-volume cycle of novels by Anthony Powell, and "A Question of Upbringing" is the first of the twelve volumes.

I've wanted to read "A Dance to the Music of Time" since discovering that Julian Maclaren-Ross features somewhere in the series as a character called X. Trapnel. Such is my interest in Julian Maclaren-Ross (I am, of course, assuming you have already read "Fear and Loathing in Fitzrovia: The Bizarre Life of Writer, Actor, Soho Raconteur Julian Maclaren-Ross" by Paul Willetts) that this is sufficient to inspire me to tackle one of the longest works of fiction in English literature. You probably feel exactly the same.

Published in 1951, "A Question of Upbringing" is the reminiscences of Nick Jenkins (presumably based on Powell himself) who recounts his last few years at public school around 1921, a summer spent in France, and then onto university. It's a familiar world of gilded privilege, akin to the early sections of "Brideshead Revisited", though with very little by way of drama or narrative. Instead the reader is introduced to a variety of disparate characters and some prescient anecdotes. I say prescient as Jenkins hints at the ways in which their lives will turn out.

What makes this book a delight is the beautiful writing, which really captures the era and milieu, aligned to regular doses of humour. Powell captures the transition of adolescence into adulthood perfectly: the insecurities, the naivety, the fast changes, the gaucheness, the way friendships may evolve and fracture, and how life choices made at this stage can shape whole lives.

I suspect this series will get better and better and "A Question of Upbringing" lays the groundwork for what it is to follow. I cannot wait to find out.

4/5

Thanks to Susan for nominating A Question of Upbringing for the BYT June 2014 fiction read.


Thanks to everyone who nominated books and who voted in the June 2014 poll.

Click here to join in with our June 2014 fiction discussion about "A Question of Upbringing" by Anthony Powell.

See you there.

Who could have guessed that this poll would have resulted in me reading all 12 volumes of “A Dance to the Music of Time” between then and now? Not me that's for sure, however that's exactly what happened.

Thanks so much to Susan for the nomination - I doubt I would have read these books without it. That's the wonder of BYT. What a wonderful group we have here.

Overall “A Dance to the Music of Time” is magnificent.

Reading the series has been such a fabulous experience. Anthony Powell is a master. Although the books can be read and enjoyed individually, and on their own terms, the real pleasure is in reading all twelve books, and enjoying a narrative that takes place over a seventy year time span. Calling his series ''A Dance" is a perfect metaphor, as Anthony Powell is akin to a choreographer, who intricately keeps track of over four hundred characters across more than a million words. It's a stunning achievement, and throughout, his beautiful writing is as much of a joy as the ingenious plot and his ambitious, and completely successful, cultural and social history of England throughout the twentieth century.

The star of the series is arguably Kenneth Widmerpool, one of the most memorable characters I have ever encountered in a book. Widmerpool is a contemporary of narrator Nick Jenkins and, despite not being friends, he crops up somewhere in every volume. Whilst narrator Nick, along with many of the characters, represent musicians, poets, novelists, painters etc., Widmerpool is the opposite, a ruthlessly ambitious person but a deeply flawed human being. I wonder to what extent he might represent the triumph of commerce and bureaucracy, over more aesthetic considerations, that appears to be one of the main aspects of twentieth century history.

I have a copy of To Keep the Ball Rolling: The Memoirs of Anthony Powell which looks like another wonderful book and, according to the cover, is "especially illuminating to students of A Dance to the Music of Time". I am really looking forward to reading both, in addition to re-reading this marvellous series again.

“A Dance to the Music of Time” is a masterpiece - and one of the best literary experiences I have ever enjoyed. Profound, funny, dramatic, and remarkably accessible and easy to read. It is a series I will return to again. I cannot praise it highly enough.

This is our BYT hot books/small group reads > "A Dance To The Music Of Time" thread.