Currently reading anything by a British writer? Showing 551-600 of 1,160

[Rosemarie]

Carol, you are not the only one who has a lot of books on the go. I try to read different types so I don't confuse the character, as much.

[Werner]

Personally, I think of Henry James as an American writer (and studied him as such in American Literature class in high school and college). But he certainly has a British connection --he lived much of his adult life in England, set many of his writings there, and became a British citizen shortly before he died. I'm currently reading his The Turn of the Screw for the third time, taking part in a common read in another group.

[Werner]

Following up on my reread of Henry James' The Turn of the Screw, I'm now reading . I'd originally had this on my "read" shelf, but I'm thinking now that I only read part of it the first time around.

[Alicia]

Saw your interesting review.

If I had known, when I read it, that it was a ghost story, I would not have read. The supernatural stuff isn't my forte.

I found it ambiguous - and I prefer my reading when it is all neatly explained at the end. Just me - I also prefer happy endings (as long as they're earned). I want the author to do the work, not set up questions I don't find until I've read most of the thing. De gustibus non disputandum est.

[Werner]

Alicia wrote: "I also prefer happy endings (as long as they're earned)."

So do I, Alicia! (view spoiler)[For me, that was the factor that cost this novella a star. (hide spoiler)] Of course, unlike you, I'm drawn to the fiction of the supernatural. (Or, as one former co-worker at the BC library put it years ago, "Werner's into the weird!" :-) )

[Alicia]

Werner wrote: "Alicia wrote: "I also prefer happy endings (as long as they're earned)."

So do I, Alicia! [spoilers removed] Of course, unlike you, I'm drawn to the fiction of the supernatural. (Or, as one former..."

There are readers for everything - and writers to supply them. My personal tastes only dictate what I read - and especially what I write.

We are adults. I may find some trope silly, but it may be someone else's favorite kind of read. I love that the indie movement has provided work in areas that were not considered profitable by traditional publishers.

The more people read, the more I like it.

I just need to find MY tribe - because I know it's out there, and some of them have found me.

[Werner]

Your book's on my to-read shelf, Alicia, so I hope to be part of your tribe soon! :-)

[Alicia]

Werner wrote: "Your book's on my to-read shelf, Alicia, so I hope to be part of your tribe soon! :-)"

That would be a treat - would love to hear what you think.

[Werner]

Thanks, Alicia. It's hard to make time for everything I want to read, but your book is definitely one I'm very interested in.

[Alicia]

At least I know you have the classical education and the religious background to understand it.

It used to be all educated people had heard of the Book of Job (in western cultures). What the kids are being taught instead, I do not know.

We all struggle with things like conscience, and how it matters who rears the children - books help.

[Werner]

Alicia wrote: We all struggle with things like conscience, and how it matters who rears the children - books help."

That's very true, Alicia!

[Alicia]

I think British writers, especially the ones I read when much younger, were of a stern Protestant (Anglican?) tradition, with honor and duty and principles emphasized.

I loved it in Dorothy Sayers' books, and many an Agatha Christie; didn't care for it so much in Tess of the D'Ubervilles. British tradition goes deep.

Not saying it was necessarily perfect - I would have hated to belong to the servant class, for example - but there WAS a right and wrong.

[Jane]

Alicia wrote: "I think British writers, especially the ones I read when much younger, were of a stern Protestant (Anglican?) tradition, with honor and duty and principles emphasized.

I loved it in Dorothy Sayers..."

I do agree about the Protestant ethic, both of work and morality. Being an English writer of a certain age I can actually trace the roots of my own work to such a position. My characters often swear like troopers and get a bit naughty in their sex lives, but there is still a huge element of right and wrong in their stories. I wouldn't change that if I could.

Also am so with you about Tess. Wanted to take The flat of my hand to Angel Clare.

[E.M.]

Jane Jago wrote: "Wanted to take The flat of my hand to Angel Clare."

A book I had to read at school - and probably the first time I consciously encountered true sexism. I recall being hugely upset by it at the time and it put me off Hardy for life.

On mature reflection I eventually realised that this was actually completely wrong of me since his entire purpose was to highlight that very hypocrisy - but teenagers can be harsh and unforgiving and I have never gone back to Hardy which is, I am sure, my loss.

[Rosemarie]

The Hardy book that I found most moving is The Woodlanders. I have almost all of the Hardy novels except Jude the Obscure, which I plan to start reading in January. My list of books for 2016 keeps growing!

[Werner]

Alicia wrote: "I think British writers, especially the ones I read when much younger, were of a stern Protestant (Anglican?) tradition, with honor and duty and principles emphasized.... Not saying it was necessarily perfect - I would have hated to belong to the servant class, for example - but there WAS a right and wrong."

The dominant literary tradition among British writers, down through the early 20th century, definitely was strongly moral and concerned with right and wrong. In Britain, this was largely shaped by Anglican Protestantism, with some Dissenter influence (John Bunyan's The Pilgrim's Progress was popular all through this period), and also characterized by a particularly British glorification of stoicism --the famous "keep a stiff upper lip" mentality--and a class-conscious code of how a "gentleman" or a "lady" was expected to behave.

That British tradition, though, was just a localized expression of the broader Judeo-Christian tradition of a fundamentally moral view of the world and the cosmos; you can find the same basic moral orientation on both sides of the Atlantic and on the Continent, and in Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox writers like Undset and Dostoevsky as well as Anglican ones. With the (for now) triumph of moral relativism, nihilism and hedonism as the established orthodoxy of the West, this tradition is no longer dominant; but it survives as a counter-cultural strand in current literature.

E.M. and Jane, I'm with you in being totally repelled by Angel's sexism --though, as you said, E.M., the author's attitude was the exact opposite of Angel's. Having read all of his major novels (not The Woodlanders, though!) and several of his short stories, I'd say that though not himself a Christian, Hardy stands in the tradition of morally-oriented fiction. But he can be a depressingly pessimistic writer; and Rosemarie (just by way of friendly warning) I'd say that Jude the Obscure is the novel where he's at his grimmest and most depressing!

[Rosemarie]

Werner, that is why I have been putting it off for so long!

[Werner]

Rosemarie wrote: "Werner, that is why I have been putting it off for so long!"

I hear you, Rosemarie!

[E.M.]

Werner wrote: "But he can be a depressingly pessimistic writer"

I think I'll still avoid him on that basis alone for now - quite enough of all that around not to want to engage in it in my escapism.

Which makes me think of a good topic to post....... ;)

[Jane]

See I can't cope with Hardy. I have tried quite a lot, but whenever I think I'm getting to like him something else makes my teeth itch. I have given up.

[Carol]

Jude the Obscure Yes, indeed, this book is so powerful and so utterly sad, it takes you to a place of despair you did not know was in you. Yet, that is the mark of a great writer. I was a big Hardy fan for quite a while. I read most of his books, biographies of him as well, trying to figure him out. At times, I feel like re-reading one of his books, but then, I think, "do I want to be depressed?", no, and I reach for Dorothy Sayers. But his descriptions are utterly incredible, and his people are so real you can touch them.

[Carol She's So Novel꧁꧂]

So many Carols here!

I've accepted Hardy isn't for me.

I'm reading The Murder of Roger Ackroyd with another group. I've already read it a few times, but this time I'm enjoying watching Christie lay her clues.

[Rosemarie]

This is one of the classic Agatha Christie mysteries. Enjoy.

[Alicia]

Werner wrote: " it survives as a counter-cultural strand in current literature ..."

Without knowing the cultural traditions, much modern stuff falls flat - you have to KNOW a traditions to flaunt it.

Dorothy Sayers was both modern and traditional. Which is why I love Harriet and Peter. They fight SO hard for what they get.

[Alicia]

Found myself unexpectedly re-reading the whole second half of Gaudy Night (Dorothy L. Sayers). I need to be in that mood to write the book I'm writing.

And I still haven't a clue about what all the dons and traditions mean, and who is who.

But the way the dialogue goes takes my breath away every time.

[Andrea]

I am reading Poor Things. I hope I will like it more than the rest of the neo-Victorian fiction I have read so far.

[Rosemarie]

I am reading Doctor Thorne by Anthony Trollope. It is third part in the Chronicles of Barsetshire and the books are addictive. They are a lot of fun to read.

[Jane]

This is the only Trollope book I've READ and I enjoyed it but I've seen TV adaptations and heard radio serials plus on talking book. The fairly quiet steady world the author portrays is the world our Victorian ancestors knew. I tried to watch the TV version of Dr Thorne but all the actors looked wrong to me! In this book is an instance of the word "kiddie" used by Trollope showing it was in use in Victorian England and is not a dreadful USA import as some would have it. In my area the word "kiddie" traditionally means a young man who is grown up but not mature and Trollope uses it in that sense.

[Rosemarie]

I haven't watched any TV adaptations of books for a long time, one of the reasons being what you mentioned-- they don't look the way they are supposed to IMO.
The other reason is my enormous to read list and the fact that I would rather be reading than watching. My daughter jokes and says, " Mom doesn't watch TV or movies." I do like to go to see plays and musical concerts instead- with live performers.

[Jane]

Yes,a show at the theatre is much better than just tv. I'm hoping to book to see The Miser by Moliere at Bath Theatre Royal in Feb.

[Rosemarie]

That play by Moliere brings back memories from university days- ages ago. Both my daughters are in their 30's, to indicate just how long ago.

[Melanie]

Two new British authors to me = Adam Chance's "An Ungentlemanly Act" and Andrew Williams's "To Kill a Tsar". I've just started them and so far, so good.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/UNGENTLEMANL...

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Kill-Tsar-An...

[[deleted user]]

I just received The Cazalet Chronicles: Five Novels in One Collection by Elizabeth Jane Howard. So excited to begin reading. I should be good through Christmas.

[Rosemarie]

They sound like my kind of books. I like novels set during that time period. Happy reading.

[Karen M]

I'm about the start an ARC of Deceptive Practices by Simon Wood who started life in England although he now resides in California.

[Oksana]

I started rereading The Road To Mars by Eric Idle today just to cheer up a bit. I might declare the next month the Month of British Comedy in my house.

[Carol]

I read the Lucia books by E F Benson many years ago, and every now and then I re-read Lucia or Miss Mapp when I need respite from our world. I am now listening to it on Audible, and as familiar as I am with the story, I appreciate the dry British humor even more listening to it.

[[deleted user]]

I just started The Cazalet Chronicles: Five Novels in One Collection by Elizabeth Jane Howard.

[Jane]

E.F Benson's Mall & Lucia are fantastic books,so wickedly funny. My favourite is Lucia in London where she really meets her match in social climbing but does triumph in a way.

[Rosemarie]

I am reading Brideshead Revisited by Evelyn Waugh. I watched the series on PBS years ago when it was first aired, starring Jeremy Irons and Anthony Andrews. I liked the series, but I think I like the book better. Charles is a stronger character in the book than in the series, I think. It has been a long time since I watched it, but I remember him always as an observer, not active.

[Werner]

Although it's been decades since I read it, I loved Brideshead Revisited. (It's a book that I've never reviewed, though --I need to remedy that one of these days!) But I haven't seen the miniseries, so I can't compare the two.

[Melanie]

I've just started reading
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/3... by Adrian Searle.

Living in the area described during this WWII story, I'm finding it especially intriguing.

[Rosemarie]

That sounds intriguing, Melanie, since I enjoy reading history from that period of time.
I am almost finished reading Brideshead Revisited. I recommend it to everyone who hasn't read it yet. I will definitely be reading more books by Evelyn Waugh.

[Melanie]

Rosemarie wrote: "That sounds intriguing, Melanie, since I enjoy reading history from that period of time.
I am almost finished reading Brideshead Revisited. I recommend it to everyone who hasn't read it yet. I will..."

Yes, Brideshead Revisited is charming, Rosemarie. Evelyn Waugh's books are much revered.

Adam Searle is an historian. This is the first book I've found by him and I look forward to reading more of his work.

[Carol]

Both these books sound great; I have to put them on my list. There is just so much I want to read!!

[Astrid Elena]

Waugh is one of my favorite's English authors and that book is specially precious to me. Really love it and recommend. Great. And he also have some marvelous books with a great sense of humor!

[Linda]

Im finishing Then she was gone by Lucas vest. Then I will begin Cold Earth by Ann Cleeves

[Rosemarie]

I am reading The Compleet Molesworth, which is about life in a boys' school in England. It is a lot of fun. There was a series of films about a girls' school, St. Trinian's, based on novels. Does anyone remember them? The mood in the Molesworth books is the same.

[Jane]

The original St Trinian's films are very funny. That's the ones with George Cole and Joyce Grenfell at al in.They come on afternoon TV sometimes. I've never read the books,but have had glimpses of the cartoons. I'm including The Great St Trinians Train Robbery with Stratford Johns as well,that ones funny too. Film makers in them days knew how far to go with vulgarity without crossing a line.

[Theresa]

I am currently reading A Tale of Two Cities and I am having a very hard timing getting "into it". I just finished Jane Eyre a few weeks ago and I couldn't put it down until I had reached the last page, so a very different experience this time.