Literature in the News

[Ken]

One book that I've never "been reading" is a Dick Francis book. Thus, I cannot offer fond farewells to the horsey cover guy.

I did, however, go through a Robert Parker phase once upon a time. Thought Spenser was great stuff and the second coming of Sam Spade. Not quite, but his stuff was fun even if I stopped reading it while he kept churning it out. Parker died like any writer might hope to -- at his computer writing while his wife was out shopping. A quick seize-up of the heart and the rest is across the dark river where he can compare notes with Raymond Chandler and Dashiell Hammett. RIP, Robert P.

[Carol]

I still like to read Dick Francis. The last couple of ones have not been up to his usual though. Talk about formulation writing. He just churned them out in the 70's and 80's.

[Ruth]

I'd never even heard of Dick Francis before I saw people noting his death.

[Carol]

He wrote about the English Steeplechase races. They were basically murder tied into the racing circuit. Some were quite good.

[Carol]

I have not heard of Anne McCaffrey. So I learned something tonight.

[Carol]

Will do. Thanks!

[Ken]

Dragons? Deb will be here any minute!

[Ken]

The ALA's literary awards are rife with titles seemingly in Greek (to me), including the "ALEX" category of teen books of interest to adults (I should be up on that, but alas...):

http://www.ala.org/ala/newspresscente...

[Robin]

Dragons, NE not nice to say that tsk, tsk.

[Debbie, sardonic princess of cheerfulness]

Robin, this was a very old conversation (February) and NE was not calling me a dragon,; he knew from previous posts that I like dragons......or would if they existed.

[Robin]

Yes, I was just commenting on it. Open mouth, insert foot. We have a dragon fronting our new playground. Not finished yet.

[Carol]

Wasn't Leona Helmsley woman called the Dragonlady. It was not a flattering adjective though in that case.

[Robin]

I know, I am sorry for the earlier thread, I did not know the extent of Debbie's love of dragons, and I know NE can be a jokester, so I should not have made any comments. The lady doth know not of what she speaks A bad quote of Shakespeare, or may be coined by me, just made it up?

[Carol]

Has anyone read Freedom? It is getting good reviews from people here on goodreads.

[[deleted user]]

Congratulations to Mario Vargas Llosa on winning the 2010 Nobel Prize for Literature.

[Debbie, sardonic princess of cheerfulness]

Sounds interesting....has he been published in English....I have never heard of him.

[Ken]

All his novels amount to News To Me.

[Ruth]

I think all or most of his novels have been translated into English. I've read Aunt Julia and the Scriptwriter. I wasn't crazy about it.

[Ken]

It's too bad the choice is as political as it is literary.

[[deleted user]]

Newengland wrote: "It's too bad the choice is as political as it is literary."

Aren't all international prizes political as much as literary?

[Sonali]

i have read an erotica by Llosa- The Notebooks Of Don Rigoberto. i liked it very much.but i didnt like his more political writings-too violent for my taste.

[Carol]

I have not read any of Llosa's books. I have one on order from the local library though. I think it is The Feast of the Goat: A Novel. I don't mind too much political upheaval in a novel. It is good to be aware of what is transpiring in the world.

[Sonali]

yes, but sometimes the world is" too much with us."

[Carol]

Sonali wrote: "yes, but sometimes the world is" too much with us.""

I would like to chat more with you please join me in my thread.

http://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/3...

[Ken]

The world is too much with us...? William Wordsworth, is it?

[Ken]

Here's the poem I (and obviously Sonali) had in mind:



The world is too much with us; late and soon,
Getting and spending, we lay waste our powers;
Little we see in Nature that is ours;
We have given our hearts away, a sordid boon!
This Sea that bares her bosom to the moon,
The winds that will be howling at all hours,
And are up-gathered now like sleeping flowers,
For this, for everything, we are out of tune;
It moves us not.--Great God! I'd rather be
A Pagan suckled in a creed outworn; (1)
So might I, standing on this pleasant lea, (2)
Have glimpses that would make me less forlorn;
Have sight of Proteus (3) rising from the sea;
Or hear old Triton (4) blow his wreathed horn.

-- William Wordsworth

[Carol]

NE are you going to read the autobiography of Mark Twain?

http://www.amazon.com/Autobiography-M...

[Ken]

I downloaded the newly-released Part One on my Kindle ($9.99). Haven't looked at it, though, as my reading has been slowed down BIG time by teaching commitments and my own writing tasks.

Nevertheless, I'm quietly enjoying A High Wind in Jamaica and its detached tone (despite the violence).

[[deleted user]]

Some might be interested in this, or perhaps not.

[Debbie, sardonic princess of cheerfulness]

Interesting!

[Savvy]

I'd like to have the time to devote to it! I work well under pressure.
Right now we've just purchased a little bigger Casita here in AZ and totally gutted it...so pressing project!...big time!

Thanks DD!....interesting to see those classics that were churned out so fast!

[Ken]

Do any of today's National Book Award winners look interesting to you?

FICTION:
Lord of Misrule by Jaimy Gordon


NON-FICTION:
Just Kids by Patti Smith


POETRY:
Lighthead by Terrance Hayes


YA LIT:
Mockingbird by Kathryn Erskine

[Ruth]

Never even heard of them. Wait a minute, I take that back. Somewhere today (LA Times?) I read a complimentary review of Patti Smith's book.

[Ken]

The fiction winner (Lord of Misrule) puts me off because it appears to be a "horse book." The only horse book I've ever enjoyed is Gulliver's Travels.

[[deleted user]]

Unsurprisingly across the pond, I've never heard of them but I'll check out the Literary Review.

[Ken]

One of my favorite "dark horse novels" of all time was a National Book Award winner in 1972, .

[Jan]

What is the 'American demimonde' referred to in the review of Lord of Misrule?

[Ken]

For that matter, what is a "demimonde"? A Demi Moore's sister?

[Jan]

Apparently the YA novel has a school shooting incident in it. Some of the reviewers here on Goodreads said it is definitely not a children's book and were concerned that children would find it attractive due to the pretty colour of the cover and the heart. Does winning this award mean that it will automatically find it's way into school libraries across America, at both elementary and secondary level? What do people think about this?

[Ken]

Jan, you've found the trouble in YA Land -- there's a divide between the Intermediate Reader YA's and the Teen YA's. The teen YA's have become increasingly "edgy" and almost seem to cater as much to adults as to kids. Certainly a lot of them "hook" young readers with their use of "realism" (read: profanity, violence, sexual references, drinking and drug using, etc.).

As for school shootings, I have a special sensitivity about it and purposely avoid all books that include it because I'm so wary of the "copy cat" phenomena. I'll take it off my list, in other words.

[Jan]

Good for you, NE. What is wrong here? We don't let kids roam around in the natural world because we're so protective....yet in many schools they'll be reading about school shootings???????? Is it just me or does there appear to be some inconsistency here?

[Ken]

Irony grows well in all climates. It's no different than people spending all manner of money for pesticide-free food while at the same time dumping pesticides on their lawn just so it's green.

Back to the "American demimonde" in the National Book Award winner... does anyone have an answer to Jan's pregunta?

[Savvy]

Jan's pregunta?....of course!

Demi-monde

a group of people in society who are not considered to behave according to the moral or social standards accepted by most people
*American English synonyms or related words for this sense of demi-monde*
People who live in a particular way: beatnik, bohemian, demi-monde, drifter, dropout, exile, free spirit, hippie, hippy, hunter-gatherer...

[Debbie, sardonic princess of cheerfulness]

I have always seen demimonde used to refer to a bohemian woman who is free with her sexual favours.....

[Aryn]

Newengland wrote: "Jan, you've found the trouble in YA Land -- there's a divide between the Intermediate Reader YA's and the Teen YA's. The teen YA's have become increasingly "edgy" and almost seem to cater as much ..."
May I suggest that banning books is not the way to stop bad behavior? (Yes, I know. Take it to the kitchen sink.)

[Ken]

No, you're on topic Aryn because we're discussing literature (YA, in this case) and the news (school shootings).

I don't think not buying a book is the same as banning it. If so, we're all banning an awful lot of books.

[Aryn]

Newengland wrote: "No, you're on topic Aryn because we're discussing literature (YA, in this case) and the news (school shootings).

I don't think not buying a book is the same as banning it. If so, we're all bannin..."

You are right; I sit corrected.

[Ken]

I sit corrected? That's my line (unless I'm standing)!

[Aryn]

Newengland wrote: "I sit corrected? That's my line (unless I'm standing)!"
Precisely my point.

[[deleted user]]

Congratulations to Elyse Fenton on winning this most prestigious prize. For a US poet to trounce our native Welsh poets is both surprising and worrying. We need to try harder.