What are we reading? 12/02/2024

[Gpfr]

Dick Lochte's Sleeping Dog is my second Penguin Modern Classics Crime & Espionage.

Crime this time. Set in Californis, a 14-year-old girl and an ex-cop private investigator get thrown together into a tangled case. The story is narrated alternately by the two protagonists.

I enjoyed this, but some people might prefer not to read it — dog fighting is one strand of the story, although not dwelt on too much and another dog is killed (the actual killing not described). Ruby, for instance, I think you wouldn't want to read this.

[Bill]

A question prompted by my current reading, as well as coming across this in an NYRB review of The Last Days of Roger Federer: And Other Endings:

Inspired by Theodor W. Adorno’s essay fragment “Late Style in Beethoven” (“an important early reference point for this book about last things”), Dyer devotes many memorable pages to the late styles of D.H. Lawrence, J.M.W. Turner, Bob Dylan, Friedrich Nietzsche, Giorgio de Chirico, Ernest Hemingway, Jean Rhys, Don DeLillo, and various other writers, artists, athletes, and musicians.

Did anybody ever talk of a "late style" in music, painting, literature, or anything else before Beethoven, or did grappling with the works of that composer's last decade give rise to the concept?

[scarletnoir]

MK wrote: "Any Donna Leon fans here? April must be on its way as my library already has an ON ORDER spot for her latest - A Refiner's Fire."

I have read two (or maybe three) of the Brunetti books, and liked them up to a point - but not to the point where I wanted to read the whole series. For some reason (can't remember enough to be precise) they were 'near misses' for me. The sort of author I might try again in desperation if nothing else was working!

[scarletnoir]

Gpfr wrote: "@scarletnoir
I don't know if you've seen, but there's a new John Russell book by David Downing coming out: Union Station."

Thanks for that - I'll certainly read this one. Philip Kerr brilliantly managed to extend his Bernie Gunther series into the post-WW2 world... let's hope Downing can also do a good job on it.

(It'll be interesting to compare Downing's take on 50s LA with that of Ross Macdonald!)

[Gpfr]

I will be closing this thread shortly.

[scarletnoir]

Bill wrote: "If discussing a book requires talking about plot developments their critics appear free to do so."

How much can be revealed in a review depends, rather, on the type of story being told. I think that for any tale an outline or indication of the direction of travel is fair enough. If the final 'punch' depends crucially on (say) who lives and who dies, or on who gets to live happily and who doesn't, then I think reviewers should keep their pens in their top pockets!

Having said that - as I indicated earlier, I care far less about 'reveals' than I do about the quality of writing and the information gleaned along the way, be it about wartime Berlin, LA in the 50s, Bombay in the 1920s or 40s... or whatever.

[scarletnoir]

AB76 wrote: "Attention should be drawn to the alarming groups of publishers printing nazi and anti-semitic guff in the name of memoirs and other such books. i found one of these on amazon where a reviewer ave it 5 stars and said " this will teach you the truth about the jews..." ughhh.....despicable."

Indeed.

Unfortunately, there do seem to be many people who delight in denigrating others purely on the basis of their origins, skin colour or religion. (Each individual should be judged on their own merits, based on their actions - IMO.) The very worst of this sort of stuff can apparently be found on certain online sites (of course, I don't look for it and would immediately switch elsewhere should I accidentally end up there). It is a pity that certain individuals who are prominent in politics - in many countries - whip up this sort of thing, even though they pretend that they are not being 'racist'. They think it's a vote winner - and so it is, with dyed in the wool bigots.

[scarletnoir]

Bill wrote: "scarletnoir wrote: "I can't read a crime book - or any book - which is either boring, badly written, or which expects the reader to believe in all sorts of plot contortions merely to suit the autho..."

I found it pretty entertaining - anything in which evildoers get their comeuppance can appeal to me in certain circumstances. It's a bit cartoonish - true - but there is plenty of verve. I think of the three points, the one about 'plot contortions' is the most valid here, but it's not a book to be taken too literally. (iirc, it also tells us about historic trends in Swedish politics and about modern Swedish life, so 'background'.)

This is not a book I'd die on a hill for, though!