Café Quito: 'pub' thread for general discussions Showing 851-900 of 1,432

[WndyJW]

I know we’re all in the midst of 3 prize lists, but I just came across Christoph Ransmayr and I’m wondering if anyone else has read much by him? I just ordered Cox: or The Course of Time and added The Flying Mountain to my Wish List.

[Robert]

Yes - I read the last world and I didn't like the translation at all

[WndyJW]

So you didn’t write this of The Last World: “Acclaimed as a modern masterpiece and as one of the most important novels of our time.” :)
I just looked at the reviews and there are as many 1 stars as 5 stars! This is a loved it or hated it book.

[Paul]

I read
The flying Mountain
Which was on the International
Booker previouslt
It wasn't really
"Flying Line" prose at all
Just
Sentences randomly
Split up

And it rather reminded me of this site which makes poetry from things like washing machine manuals and, here, instructions on how to care for your hermit crab

https://verbatimpoetry.blogspot.com/2...

That said the book itself once one looks through the gimmick is actually very good

[WndyJW]

I never understood free verse, black verse, or prose poetry. I know it’s about meter, but I don’t see the point. Perhaps it evolved from the oral tradition of story telling where the orator’s rhythm kept the audience focused.

Those are hilarious.

[Gumble's Yard - Golden Reviewer]

Really hoping you meant to type blank

[WndyJW]

Lol. I did mean blank verse.

[WndyJW]

Without making fun of me for wanting yet another Greek retelling can someone give me the name of a good (or favorite and reliable) independent book store in the UK so I can preorder the special edition copy of Stone Blind: Medusa's Story, please.
There are special editions with designs on the fore-edges for indie shops and a different design for Waterstones. I would like to support an indie shop and I like the trident, owl, moon and stars stencil a bit better than the spear and snake design at Waterstones.

[Paul]

I'd be in googling mode as I, sorry to say, rarely buy books from book shops.

Book-ish,co.uk which won a best indy bookshop award in 2020 are advertising the book as available to order from them (signed limited edition)

https://www.book-ish.co.uk/product/97...

[WndyJW]

Great. Thanks!

[WndyJW]

Paul, I think you should add audio narration to The Outsider, that might generate renewed interest in the book. Who doesn’t love a British accent?

[Paul]

Authors narrating their own audio book is usually a bad idea.

[Gumble's Yard - Golden Reviewer]

I could do it. No one including us could tell the difference - and I could channel my double Sharman reading prize skills.

[WndyJW]

That would be a nice little gift to Paul, GY. I think you should do it.

[Paul]

I know how to turn a word doc into a Kindle on Amazon (it is surprisingly easy to do that actually) using KDP.

Is there an audiobook equivalent (i.e. G does a voice over file and you press a couple of buttons and hey presto is it on Audible?)

[WndyJW]

I have no idea how that works, but someone at worked mentioned whispersync.

[WndyJW]

While looking for a couple of books to loan to my (trustworthy) neighbor this morning I was reminded of why I buy and keep books, I found a number of books I forgot I bought when they were first talked about here and was as pleased about finding them on my shelves this morning as I was when they first arrived in my mailbox.

I went with the aforementioned neighbor to pick up her car that broke down and was repaired almost 3 hours away so I joined audible. I now have a few books to listen to while my hands are occupied or the infrequent times I have to drive anywhere. There are a number of free classics which is nice.

[WndyJW]

Happy Mother’s Day to the moms and to the kind hearted who provided loving mother energy to those in need of it.

[Tracy]

I second that! Have a wonderful day, Moms!

[Gumble's Yard - Golden Reviewer]

6 weeks late though

[WndyJW]

Not in the US!

[Paul]

Happy Mom’s day is this weekend
Happy Mum’s day was 6 weeks ago

The nice thing to do is celebrate both!

[Robert]

Paul wrote: "Happy Mom’s day is this weekend
Happy Mum’s day was 6 weeks ago

The nice thing to do is celebrate both!"

It's Mum's day over here and we were an ex British colony :D

[Paul]

Probably another thing to blame on Brexit!

[Alwynne]

I daren't get started on my views about Brexit, said something I thought was relatively mild re: the govt in another group and was summarily unfriended by a key member, and have been avoiding it ever since!

[WndyJW]

And we want this to be a book site, not a debate or even vent about politics site. I regret bringing up politics in another thread.
Unless of course we are discussing politics in the context of a book.

I received a gift card to B&N and used it to get more Euripides and Aeschylus. I only have a few plays left by Euripides to find.

[WndyJW]

Brandon Taylor is feeling some kind of way, as the kids say today. He posted in Twitter that Maggie O’Farrell, Ian McEwan, and Jon Banville have books coming out, “Fiction no longer dying on the vine.” In the spirit of bookish banter I replied that I liked all those authors, but fiction hasn’t been withering in the vineyards of indie presses…” to which he replied, “Wendy, pls get a grip.”! Maybe a small press hurt his feelings once.

[Marc]

He’s a bit of a drama queen on Twitter, IMO.

[WndyJW]

Apparently.

[Gumble's Yard - Golden Reviewer]

His Booker book was published by Daunt Books - who are a very small press (apparently)

[Paul]

Ian McEwan has a new book out and that means fiction is no longer withering on the vine? Is this the 1980s?

[Emmeline]

I don't understand his tweet at all. Was he being sarcastic? And, erm, rude to you Wendy.

I'm with Paul re: Ian McEwan!

[WndyJW]

I think he was petulant. I already wasn’t interested in his book, now I’m glad I didn’t!

[Lee]

His twitter feed is a bit frenetic, whew. Someone give him a copy of Lockwood, lol.

[David]

I think you should be honored, Wendy. One of these days, someone will publish the collected tweets of Brandon Taylor and you will be included. Although surely only an indie press would do that.

[WndyJW]

Ha! I guess he forgets that publishing is a business. Not smart to get snippy in a public platform for no reason. Besides which it was an odd response to my tepid comment about books.

[David]

I think snippy is his brand.

[Gumble's Yard - Golden Reviewer]

Back to the McEwen link - the worst parts of Taylor’s (in other places very good) debut novel reminded me a lot of McEwen (and I referenced that in my review) with the tennis game described in tedious detail (like McEwen and squash) or the insistence on including all the science/medical research details.

[WndyJW]

It seems there’s not a lot of love for McEwan. I’ve only read one book by him, but I liked it. Saturday was pretty good I though. I’ve seen other authors trash McEwan on social media which I though was in poor taste.

[Tracy]

I’ve felt for a while now that McEwan is like Jodi Picoult- he chooses in-the-news topics to write about.

[Robert]

WndyJW wrote: "It seems there’s not a lot of love for McEwan. I’ve only read one book by him, but I liked it. Saturday was pretty good I though. I’ve seen other authors trash McEwan on social media wh..."

I like McEwan's earlier works a lot. The turning point was Atonement and that was when I noticed a slip in quality. For me, the last great McEwan novel was On Chesil beach

[WndyJW]

I read that also. I haven’t read recent books by McEwan. So is it that McEwan is included in discussions of “literary” writers, but isn’t that “literary” that singles him out for criticism? Not that he’s the only author criticized, but he seems like the Coldplay of authors.

[Cindy]

Just popping up to be a brave McEwan fan. His earlier books are certainly different from his later ones, but I like quite a lot of what he's written, including The Children Act and Nutshell. I think he's very talented. And just to circle back, I am not a Taylor fan at all.

[WndyJW]

I have 7 books by McEwan so I will be reading more of him. I expect I’ll enjoy the books. I don’t have a bad impression from reading him, I just wonder why other authors feel it’s okay to dismiss him.

[Alwynne]

I think, like Martin Amis, he's seen as someone who peaked in the 80s, when he and Amis were very much literary stars in the UK. I find his work well-crafted just not very exciting/interesting.

[WndyJW]

I didn’t realize McEwan had been around that long.

[Robert]

Alwynne wrote: "I think, like Martin Amis, he's seen as someone who peaked in the 80s, when he and Amis were very much literary stars in the UK. I find his work well-crafted just not very exciting/interesting."

Incidentally I feel the same way about Martin Amis - I lost interest in his books when I tried to read Yellow Dog. The early stuff is fantastic, especially Money and London Fields. although I will admit his first three novels are a bit puerile. I'll be reading The Information very soon which is the only book from early MA I haven't read.

[Alwynne]

Robert wrote: "Alwynne wrote: "I think, like Martin Amis, he's seen as someone who peaked in the 80s, when he and Amis were very much literary stars in the UK. I find his work well-crafted just not very exciting/..."

I thought 'Money' had a lot of plus points, but haven't wanted to read much else, I was given a copy of his Holocaust novel The Zone of Interest but couldn't get through it, what I did manage to read felt more than a little exploitative/redundant.

[Emmeline]

WndyJW wrote: "I didn’t realize McEwan had been around that long."

Wendy, I was amazed when reading a biography of Angela Carter to find photos of her with McEwan and Ishiguru... they were all of the same writing generation. If you ask me, she's the best of them, but I guess her early death means she hasn't had a chance to lose her luster. :-)

[Alwynne]

I agree Angela Carter definitely the most interesting and inventive of that grouping. Also found her non-fiction really stimulating, a very singular way of looking at the world.