The Mookse and the Gripes discussion
General Non-Book Discussions
>
Getting to Know You
Yes welcome Derek and thanks for your wonderful novel.And thirded on the Saramago love. He's my author with most books on my shelves - and indeed (unusually for me) I've kept all the physical copies. I count 21, plus his stories in an anthology and my pride and joy, the stamps issued to celebrate his Nobel win.
Indeed I am such a fan I still remember (a la Kennedy assassination / death of Princess Diana) exactly where I was on October 9th 1998 (*) when I heard the news of his Nobel Prize - eating breakfast in the top floor of the Hotel Westin in Ebisu, Tokyo.
'who with parables sustained by imagination, compassion and irony continually enables us once again to apprehend an elusory reality.'
(* actually it was the day after Japan time, although still Oct 9th Europe time, as I read it in the newspaper)
How lovely to see the love for Saramago here. I just discovered him this year with Blindness and Seeing so it's good to know I have so much more to explore. Baltasar and Blimunda is next for me. Hi Derek - another fan of your book here! I just listened to the audio book wonderfully read by Kobna Holdbrook-Smith.
Worth saying we have a dedicated Saramago thread in case we derail this one - https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...Although in true M&G tradition, the Saramago thread got diverted on to a discussion of Pamuk!
I have 20 books and I thought I had all that had been translated to English. What am I missing? I have a DVD of Jose and Pilar that I watch just to see him walk and talk even though I don’t understand Portuguese. I’m envious of your Nobel Stamp Paul. Paul, can you meet at the Saramago thread and help me figure out which book I’m missing? No need, it’s Journey to Portugal: In Pursuit of Portugal's History and Culture.
Hi everyone and happy new year. I have been lurking in the darkness, following the discussions of this brilliant group for a while now enjoying every moment. I first joined to get inspiration for reading more fiction and as part of my challenge to detox from factual reading (4 months of ‘clean’ reading) which I managed and felt renewed. As a result of reading your lists and comments my fiction bookshelf has grown and looks really exciting now. Thank you for that.
I am starting this year with a new challenge to myself. No new books for 5 months to try and get over what I already have.
Looking forward to following your conversations in 2021 and reading as much good literature as I can.
Mod
Welcome Ruth.
Mod
Welcome, Ruth. This is a great group for discussions and what to read next as a few of the members are sent ARCs to review and get the buzz going, which gives the rest of us a head start on books that are likely to show up on literary award Longlists. I am sometimes surprised by books on the lists of books to watch for in the coming year because this group has already discussed the books.
Ruth wrote: "Hi everyone and happy new year. I have been lurking in the darkness, following the discussions of this brilliant group for a while now enjoying every moment. I first joined to get inspiration for r..."Glad to welcome another lurker to the group! After a couple of tough years of parent caregiving I'm ready to treat myself to some seriously good literature. The discussions here are outstanding.
I’m sure those were difficult years, Margaret. I’m glad you’re here and can devote time to yourself and books.
WndyJW wrote: "Welcome, Ruth. This is a great group for discussions and what to read next as a few of the members are sent ARCs to review and get the buzz going, which gives the rest of us a head start on books t..."Thank you Wndy. I must admit I had to Google what ARC is but once I did a few things I noticed before are suddenly making more sense to me. Like the very early mentions of books I couldn't find to buy! Looking forward to more of these early 'tips'!
Glad to welcome another lurker to the group! After a couple of tough years of parent caregiving I'm ready to treat myself to some seriously good literature. The discussions here are outstanding.
Hi Margaret, its a pleasure to e-meet you. I wish 2021 to be a year of joy and of self-indulgence for you. I hope you read as much as you humanly can and enjoy every moment of it, and other small (and big things) that you had pass over during those difficult years. I have a feeling that 2021 will be a very special year.
I’d like to say to the lurkers, as an ex-lurker, I know it can feel a bit intimidating to join in discussions. I’ve heard this from a few people and I felt that way myself. This group has been around for awhile so many members know each other fairly well, some are able to meet in person, and at least two are related, closely related, as closely related as two people who aren’t clones can be, which means there is the occasional “in-joke,” which can make new members feel excluded. That is never anyone’s intention and once you become a regular member you’ll have your own in-jokes to share.Some of the discussions are about books not yet released because a few members are in the loop: they get ARCs in exchange for reviews so while a lot of us dash off a quick paragraph with our thoughts about a book, the reviewers among us take time to write a polished, well thought out review. They are not trying to impress anyone, but they know that their reviews will be read by publishers, possibly authors, and are used to get a buzz going for the books, so they need to put more thought and effort into their reviews than those of us who are writing mostly for ourselves or the friends that follow us. No one who writes a long review with quotes and a summary is judging those of us who write like we talk. The upside to this, for those who follow the Booker, Women’s Prize, Costa, etc., is we can take advantage of their early reading and opinions to find out which books are likely to be nominated for awards and can get a jump on our reading. And because they attend some meet and greets with authors they can share some of what is happening behind the scenes with prizes.
I did not read widely when I joined the group, I wasn’t aware of the indie presses that are often mentioned here or the Republic of Consciousness prize which recognizes the indie press that published the best book that year. I didn’t read experimental fiction and didn’t know about the Goldsmith Prize which awards the novel that expands the boundaries of the novel form. I hardly read novels in translation, so I felt out of my league here, I knew I didn’t have anything intelligent or new to offer, but we are all readers and readers love to talk about books and favorite authors and I quickly discovered that asking about authors or books that I wasn’t familiar with initiated great discussions and my reading horizons have expanded beyond what I knew was available. (I still don’t have anything intelligent or new to offer, but I’m comfortable here so I don’t care!)
Maybe I’m projecting my initial insecurities onto lurkers; I just don’t want anyone to feel that the confidence with which some of the long time members here discuss books and authors means that they aren’t interested in hearing the thoughts and reactions from new members or that they ever judge anyone’s reading choices, comments or reviews.
We all share a passion for books and for discussing books, we all have insights to offer and can all learn from the insights of others, so come out of the shadows, lurkers. I did and it was the best thing I’ve done for my reading life.
Thank you, everyone, for your warm welcome and kind thoughts.
Yo! Only five years late to the party. Can't believe I've only just found this little corner of the web tucked away on GoodReads. Though it's probably because I've not really used GR much over the years; certainly nowhere near as much as when I first joined.Anyway, glad to be here, and looking forward to digging through all the conversations.
Mod
I'm so happy to have a member of the old crew back! Welcome, Stewart.
Hi everyone,Another longtime lurker here 🙂, a bit intimidated initially by the "older" members, but now mostly happy with the great recommendations from this group and a few people from here that I've been following for a while.
I'm from Ghent, Belgium; I work in risk management for a bank and rediscovered my love for reading about 8 years ago (after a few years astray, partly because of good reasons - kids - but glad I'm back on the right track). I mostly read in English (I even prefer English translations of Italian, ... books, much to one of my local book dealer's dismay), my all time favorites are Ali Smith and Nicola Barker. The Goldsmiths Prize is probably the Prize that best matches of preference, but very glad to discover the Republic of Conciousness Prize and many small presses, thanks to a.o. this group.
Welcome Bart - I love Ghent (Paul and I used to stay there a lot to watch cycle races)And its great to have a fellow financial services risk person on the forum.
Gumble's Yard wrote: "Welcome Bart - I love Ghent (Paul and I used to stay there a lot to watch cycle races)And its great to have a fellow financial services risk person on the forum."
As a Belgian, I obviously love cycling. Did/do you follow road or track cycling?
Road mainly - We have been over (more pre children) for many RvV’s and a few times the Omloop Het Volk’s (as it was then). Plus Paris Roubaix and LBL (but of course we did not stay in Ghent for those)
We have been to the Ghent Six a few times but not really a track fan.
Mod
Welcome, Bart. I know nothing about risk management or cycle races, but I remember kids and the time they take.
I believe it was a Belgian and an American (Bruyneel & Armstrong) that got me hooked on Welcome, Bart!
Welcome Bart, pleasure to read-meet you!
Marc wrote: "I believe it was a Belgian and an American (Bruyneel & Armstrong) that got me hooked on doping cycling.Welcome, Bart!"
Ah, yes, Bruyneel 🙈. He's completely shunned in Belgian cycling milieus now. I got hooked some years earlier, but like many 90s cyclists, a few of my favorites also were caught with doping.
Oh, and in my mind, it's still Omloop Het Volk.
And in mine.
.00072% of the U.S. population know who Bruyneel is. Armstrong had a big fall from grace, but I don't know how shunned he is given cycling is pretty far down the ladder in terms of popular American sports.I know extremely little about Belgian literature beyond a vague familiarity with Hergé's TinTin.
Marc wrote: ".00072% of the U.S. population know who Bruyneel is. Armstrong had a big fall from grace, but I don't know how shunned he is given cycling is pretty far down the ladder in terms of popular American..."I think there are less famous Belgian authors than famous cyclists. One Nobel Prize winner, from Ghent, Maurice Maeterlinck, but that was a long time ago. If I had to recommend a few, I would say Jacqueline Harpman ('I who have never known men'), Amélie Nothomb ('Fear and Trembling' and many more) and Paul Verhaeghen ('Omega Minor', in my opinion the best book in Dutch of the 21st century, he translated it into English himself).
WndyJW wrote: "I’d like to say to the lurkers, as an ex-lurker, I know it can feel a bit intimidating to join in discussions. I’ve heard this from a few people and I felt that way myself. This group has been arou..." I just saw this post and you gave voice to all my worries before I started to post here more. Are my reviews good enough, am I read enough, I also read genre lit, will the others take me seriously? I am no longer a lurker and I enjoy discussing wit all of you but it took time to get over my first impression of the group. Nobody bites, now I know that. :))
It’s great having you in the group, Adina!
Since I've gotten fixated on defending An Inventory of Losses, I should introduce myself... :)I'm an academic librarian in Vancouver, Canada. My favourite literary prizes are probably the Best Translated Book Award (which does not seem to be getting its promised retrospective this year), the International Booker Prize and the Nobel Prize in Literature (I know, I know). For whatever reason, the books I tend to read seem to circle around ruminative types, usually with unusual states of mind, though I try to mix things up. It's nice when at least some loose framework of narrative or plot exists, but it can be more or less anything.
It's been nice to find a book club that concentrates on some of the lesser known books out there!
Welcome Michel
Welcome Michel. And yes the BTBA retrospective appears to have not happened so far - and indeed we'd threatened to have our own 2021 BTBA on this site, and then also failed to take it forward.
Michel wrote: "Since I've gotten fixated on defending An Inventory of Losses, I should introduce myself... :)I'm an academic librarian in Vancouver, Canada. My favourite literary prizes are probably the Best Tr..."
Welcome Michel. I'm from Vancouver too, though I haven't lived there for many years.
Mod
Welcome to the group, Michel! Glad you've joined us.
The Mookse and the Gripes
Books mentioned in this topic
Intimacies (other topics)Lote (other topics)
Seven Steeples (other topics)
Outline (other topics)
Assembly (other topics)
More...
Authors mentioned in this topic
David Mitchell (other topics)Jonathan Safran Foer (other topics)
Margaret Atwood (other topics)
Michael Cunningham (other topics)
Jeanette Winterson (other topics)
More...
Jose Saramago is my very favorite writer, although I haven’t read him in quite awhile. I think his core best books are Blindness, The Gospel According to Jesus Christ, The Cave, The Year of the Death of Ricardo Reis, The History of the Siege of Lisbon, my favorite All the Names, The Stone Raft, and Saramago’s favorite of his books, Baltasar and Blimunda. I’ve read all these except the last two. I also loved Raised from the Ground, his memoir of the lives of his grandparents. I have all of his books that have been translated into English, including his children’s book The Lizard. I am very aware that Derek saying The Double is one of his favorite books was not an invitation for me to tell everyone how much I like Saramago, but I can not apologize for taking the opportunity to go on and on about Jose Saramago and will gladly talk to anyone about him anytime they want.