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B the BookAddict
(last edited Jun 13, 2016 01:57PM)
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Jun 13, 2016 01:57PM
Stop rubbing it in, John:)
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I'm starting to feel like Charlaine Harris has just given up all together...https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Yes, but we can't buy a pie floater on North Parade like you can, BtheBA!
Sara - we have been warned, thank you!
Oh, so you've been to Adelaide, have you? Adelaide had the reputation of 'city of churches ' for quite some time (as spoken by we Victorians, lol) :)
Sorry, BtheBA, for some reason I momentarily thought you were from SA. I should have said, 'at least you can have a great meal in Federation Square. Then work it off in a stroll in the Royal Botanical Gardens.' Sorry!
Esther wrote: "John wrote: "Pamela; or, Virtue Rewarded by Samuel RichardsonVery difficult to judge/grade this very famous and early (1740) novel. In the form of letters from 15yo servant-girl to her parents ab..."
I seem to remember many years ago hearing that 'Pamela' was supposed to be the first true novel. Don't know if that's true or not?
Pam, although these things are impossible to decide, and Daniel Defoe wrote Robinson Crusoe in 1719, and Moll Flanders in 1722, 'people' seem to say Pamela in 1740 was the first true novel. Rather like wondering when the first true human being appeared, I reckon!
This was a winner, everyone! Beyond Fear Written by Jaye FordMy review:
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
John wrote: "Pam, although these things are impossible to decide, and Daniel Defoe wrote Robinson Crusoe in 1719, and Moll Flanders in 1722, 'people' seem to say Pamela in 1740 was the first true novel. Rather ..."Not to mention Oroonoko from 1688 or The Princess of Cleves from 1678...
Dóra wrote: "Finished Eye of the Needle, which was really good. 5*"I like Ffollett too though I haven't read any recently.
4★ for real-life 'movie-script' Melbourne Cup winning jockey Michelle Payne's autobiography Life As I Know It, written with a lot of help from sportswriter John Harms. One of 11 kids, widowed father, all into horses. She lives and works with youngest brother who has Downs Syndrome and was a strapper for the Cup winner.
She's gorgeous, funny, and absolutely indefatigable! Perseverance personified!
She's had many injuries over the years, and has now just gone home from hospital after another dreadful fall.
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Leslie wrote: "John wrote: "Pam, although these things are impossible to decide, and Daniel Defoe wrote Robinson Crusoe in 1719, and Moll Flanders in 1722, 'people' seem to say Pamela in 1740 was the first true n..."How about The Rover which is 1677. I read that at university and truly loved it.
Looking them up, never having heard of them, wasn't 'The Rover' a play, and The Princess of Cleves in French?Oh, who knows about the first? Wikipedia says:
The English novel has generally been seen as beginning with Daniel Defoe's Robinson Crusoe (1719) and Moll Flanders (1722),[1] though John Bunyan's The Pilgrim's Progress (1678) and Aphra Behn's Oroonoko (1688) are also contenders, while earlier works such as Sir Thomas Malory's Morte d'Arthur, and even the "Prologue" to Geoffrey Chaucer's Canterbury Tales have been suggested.[2] Another important early novel is Gulliver's Travels (1726, amended 1735), by Irish writer and clergyman Jonathan Swift, which is both a satire of human nature, as well as a parody of travellers' tales like Robinson Crusoe.[3] The rise of the novel as an important literary genre is generally associated with the growth of the middle class in England.
Other major 18th-century English novelists are Samuel Richardson (1689–1761), author of the epistolary novels Pamela, or Virtue Rewarded (1740) and Clarissa (1747–48); Henry Fielding (1707–1754), who wrote Joseph Andrews (1742) and The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling (1749); Laurence Sterne (1713–1768), who published Tristram Shandy in parts between 1759 and 1767;[4] Oliver Goldsmith (1728–1774), author of The Vicar of Wakefield (1766); Tobias Smollett (1721–1771), a Scottish novelist best known for his comic picaresque novels, such as The Adventures of Peregrine Pickle (1751) and The Expedition of Humphry Clinker (1771), who influenced Charles Dickens;[5] and Fanny Burney (1752–1840), whose novels "were enjoyed and admired by Jane Austen," wrote Evelina (1778), Cecilia (1782) and Camilla (1796).[6]
A noteworthy aspect of both the 18th- and 19th- century novel is the way the novelist directly addressed the reader. For example, the author might interrupt his or her narrative to pass judgment on a character, or pity or praise another, and inform or remind the reader of some other relevant issue.[citation needed]
That last paragraph you quote, John, is the main thing I like about these early novels. I so like it when the author decides to speak to the reader ie me! by interrupting the narrative.
Gill - me too, right up to Trollope. Some people hate it, I know!
John wrote: "Pam, although these things are impossible to decide, and Daniel Defoe wrote Robinson Crusoe in 1719, and Moll Flanders in 1722, 'people' seem to say Pamela in 1740 was the first true novel. Rather ..."A lesson from the scholars...: A 'novel' is a long narrative, normally in prose, which describes fictional characters and events, usually in the form of a sequential story. The genre has also been described as possessing "a continuous and comprehensive history of about two thousand years". This view sees the novel's origins in Classical Greece and Rome, medieval, early modern romance, and the tradition of the novella. The latter, an Italian word used to describe short stories, supplied the present generic English term in the 18th century. Ian Watt, however, in The Rise of the Novel suggests that the novel first came into being in the early 18th century. Miguel de Cervantes, author of Don Quixote, is frequently cited as the first significant European novelist of the modern era; the first part of Don Quixote was published in 1605.
Conduct books are a genre of books that attempt to educate the reader on social norms. As a genre, they began in the mid-to-late Middle Ages, although antecedents such as The Maxims of Ptahhotep (ca. 2350 BC) are among the earliest surviving works. Conduct books remained popular through the 18th century, although they gradually declined with the advent of the novel.
Richardson began writing Pamela as a 'conduct book', but as he was writing, the series of letters turned into a story. He then decided to write in a different genre: the new form, 'the novel', which attempted to instruct through entertainment.
Your post is also very informative, John.
B the BookAddict wrote: "John wrote: "Pam, although these things are impossible to decide, and Daniel Defoe wrote Robinson Crusoe in 1719, and Moll Flanders in 1722, 'people' seem to say Pamela in 1740 was the first true n..."Here is The Guiness Book of World Record holder for the oldest extant novel which was written in Latin and this copy apparently comes from 123 AD.
http://www.guinnessworldrecords.com/w...
Leslie wrote: I like Ffollett too though I haven't read any recently."For me this was the first book I read by him, but I plan on reading more in the future.
Dóra wrote: "Leslie wrote: I like Ffollett too though I haven't read any recently."For me this was the first book I read by him, but I plan on reading more in the future."
His books seem to me to split into two types - thrillers and historical fiction epics. I like both but in case you don't, make sure that you pick one of the type you like.
Karin - thank you. To save others looking: Chariton's Chaireas & Callirhoe, subtitled Love Story in Syracuse, is the oldest extant novel. The novel, which was written in the first century AD,narrates the adventures of a beautiful bride named Callirhoe.
I certainly recommend Corrag. I gave it five stars. It is a beautifully told story based on the Glencoe Massacre of 1692.My review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
I have finished Half of a Yellow Sun and really liked it. I wanted to rate it with 5 stars but at the end I decided for 4,5 stars. It is an interesting and enthralling book about the civil war in Nigeria, but also about relationships. I didn't give it full 5 stars because though I was moved and felt for the characters, I felt them "far away". I don't know how to explain....I felt for them but I was also detached, I wasn't fully involved though it's a real pageturner and I couldn't stop reading.
I have Half a Yellow Sun to read Dely, must get round to it. Glad you enjoyed it.
Leslie wrote: "John wrote: "Pam, although these things are impossible to decide, and Daniel Defoe wrote Robinson Crusoe in 1719, and Moll Flanders in 1722, 'people' seem to say Pamela in 1740 was the first true n..."Thanks John and Leslie. I don't know why the earlier works were not meant to be true novels by whoever passed on this 'received wisdom' to me years ago.
John wrote: "Looking them up, never having heard of them, wasn't 'The Rover' a play, and The Princess of Cleves in French?Oh, who knows about the first? Wikipedia says:
The English novel has generally been s..."
You are quite right John, The Rover is a play - temporarily lost marbles :)
I just finished One for the Money my review is at - http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/...
Talking of fairly early novels, the first gothic novel was 'The Castle of Otranto' by Horace Walpole in 1764. I didn't read that one but I did many years ago read the later 'archetypal' gothic novel by Ann Radcliffe, 'The Mysteries of Udolpho' (1794) which is the one Jane Austen sends up in 'Northanger Abbey'.
From the sublime to the cosy crime genre, I've just read Blood in the Cotswolds, number 5 in the series by Rebecca Tope. And a children's supernatural story by Margaret Mahy, The Haunting.
Pam wrote: "Talking of fairly early novels, the first gothic novel was 'The Castle of Otranto' by Horace Walpole in 1764. I didn't read that one but I did many years ago read the later 'archetypal' gothic nove..."Hi Pam, did you like The Mystery of Udolpho? I am planning to read it for a challenge.
dely wrote: "I have finished Half of a Yellow Sun and really liked it. I wanted to rate it with 5 stars but at the end I decided for 4,5 stars. It is an interesting and enthralling book about the c..."I gave it 4 stars, but tend to rate a bit low often. I'm glad you liked it; she writes very well.
Pam wrote: "Talking of fairly early novels, the first gothic novel was 'The Castle of Otranto' by Horace Walpole in 1764. I didn't read that one but I did many years ago read the later 'archetypal' gothic nove..."Both of those are on my long list TBR. I have heard that The Mysteries of Udolpho is a bit of a slog -- what did you think?
By the way, have you seen this tongue-in-cheek guide to gothic novels? Hilarious!
http://www.theguardian.com/books/inte...
Any Aussie voters here? 5★ for Independent Tony Windsor's Windsor's Way.
Terrific inside look at the decisions that went into forming and running Australia's hung 43rd Parliament, plus some before and after comment (Rudd-Gillard-Rudd).
The differences between the leaders of the two major parties couldn't be starker. Lots of colourful anecdotes and heartfelt country wisdom
My review
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
I got the idea to read more about the First Ladies having enjoyed Upstairs at the White House: My Life with the First Ladies. I preferred that book over First Ladies, Still it is not bad. It depends on what you are looking for.My review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Linda wrote: "Pam wrote: "Talking of fairly early novels, the first gothic novel was 'The Castle of Otranto' by Horace Walpole in 1764. I didn't read that one but I did many years ago read the later 'archetypal'..."Can't recall a lot about it now Linda, as I read it long long ago though I think it was quite a long book and a bit slow. In the wordy style of the time of course.
Leslie wrote: "Pam wrote: "Talking of fairly early novels, the first gothic novel was 'The Castle of Otranto' by Horace Walpole in 1764. I didn't read that one but I did many years ago read the later 'archetypal'..."Sorry, Leslie, as I said to Linda I don't recall a lot about Udolpho now, but I think it was a bit of a slog. I read it in my teens around the same time as I also read 'War and Peace'....
Had a chuckle over that Guardian piece but it contains a few spoilers here and there for anyone who hasn't read them e.g. which ones are not really a ghost story ....
I just read a netgalley ARC called Blood Virus - I'm a total sucker for pandemic narratives. Sadly it was only two stars, most for the sexism but I thought the racism could have had a more nuanced handling as well. My review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
The Teenage Spy
read it many times. I recommend this to action and spy lovers and everyone too take a look at it! Ilove it! Amazing plot
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and this is another amazing book! Loved it too.. For romance lovers!!The Substitute
Hales wrote: "I have Half a Yellow Sun to read Dely, must get round to it. Glad you enjoyed it."I have a copy of Half a Yellow Sun but a friend has disappeared off with it. She was one of the reasons that in my new apartment my book shelf is in the bedroom. I got fed up with dinner guests rifling through my TBR pile while I was serving up the potatoes.
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