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Constant Reader
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October: What Are You Reading?
John, I don't remember a thing about Austerlitz. Sorry. That often happens to me. You can always see what we are reading next by going to the front page of Constant Reader. Next up is The Surrendered by Chang-rae Lee. We'll start discussing it on November 15th. There is no Classics book this month.
Ruth, what's a madeleine pan and what's it got to do with Proust? Don't tell me I have to read him to find out.
[image error]It was the taste of a madeleine that sent Proust off into his interminable trip through memory lane.
Ruth I got about 80 pages into Proust , so I didn't even make it out of the foothills.
I just finished The Nazi Officer's Wife: How One Jewish Woman Survived the Holocaust. I gave it 4 stars, really great story.
Susan, yes, the "Brothers Karamazov." Just let me know when you're ready. Give yourself a couple of weeks, it's a lot to think about.
Ruth wrote: "It was the taste of a madeleine that sent Proust off into his interminable trip through memory lane."
Ruth, I don't suppose you could make us any tisane to go with.
Sherry wrote: "John, I don't remember a thing about Austerlitz. Sorry. That often happens to me. You can always see what we are reading next by going to the front page of Constant Reader. Next up is The Surrender..."Sherry, that's probably a common problem with people who read as much as everyone here does.
How do you guys pick your books of the month? I'm going to stop asking silly questions now and go visit the Constant Reader frontpage now!
John wrote: "Susan, yes, the "Brothers Karamazov." Just let me know when you're ready. Give yourself a couple of weeks, it's a lot to think about."Kitty wrote: "Ooh I have been wanting to read BK also. Like you Susan I have really enjoyed Russian novels after the P&V translations came out."
Well maybe we can coordinate. One of my non-CR friends wants to read it also and we had discussed Christmas time as a possibility. Is there a way to set reminders here on the site?
John wrote: "Ruth wrote: "It was the taste of a madeleine that sent Proust off into his interminable trip through memory lane."
Ruth, I don't suppose you could make us any tisane to go with."
Wrong book. Isn't it Hercule Poirot who always drinks tisane?
Ruth wrote: "John wrote: "Ruth wrote: "It was the taste of a madeleine that sent Proust off into his interminable trip through memory lane."
Ruth, I don't suppose you could make us any tisane to go with."
Ruth, he very well might, but Proust explicitly mentions both a madeleine and tisane (depending on the translation, sometimes you get something like "lime tea" or "herb tea.") I'm not absolutely sure, but I think "tisane" is how Moncrieff translated it.
John asked "How do you guys pick your books of the month?" We have a nomination and election process. You just missed this six-month period, although the voting is still going on for the Classics list. For more about our group and its inner workings go to the Orientation folder in the Welcome topic.
A book appeared on two recent nomination rounds but did not win. The synopsis had intrigued me so I’m reading it: The Spare Room. I’m about ¾ done. For those who crave the sophisticated, densely rich prose in our most recent book, Tinkers, you won’t find that here. However, the plotline and characters have drawn me into their lives. A woman agrees to have a dear out-of-town friend stay with her while undergoing alternative medical treatments at a local facility for her stage four cancer. The hostess loves her friend, but views the treatments as quackery and increasingly becomes frustrated with her friend’s denial of reality.
Janet, I read The Spare Room this past summer for my in-person fiction seminar. I think you've summed it up very well. I found the book quite engrossing as well, no doubt in part because a close family member has been battling cancer for nearly thee years now. To self-analyze a bit, maybe that's why though I read and enjoyed the book I completely forgot to show up for the actual discussion! I was hoping it might win for our Reading List, but we had so many wonderful choices.
Perhaps, when I've finished, we can discuss it on a separate thread. It's a rather quick read despite having a great deal to say. Maybe there are others who’d like to join in since there isn’t a book selection to be discussed beginning 11/1.
That sounds good, Janet, and I would definitely join in the discussion to some extent, at least, though I still haven't started on our Nov. 15th selection, The Surrendered, and still have a Ray Bradbury to read before that for my in-person book club. So many books, so little time!
Philiip, which Bradbury are you discussing in the in-person group? I'm finishing the Armstrong book on the Crusades (Holy War) and racing through Mark Doty's small jewel, Still Life With Oysters and Lemon: On Objects and Intimacy.
Kitty wrote: "Dr. Zhivago is underrated sometimes due to the movie."I actually first read Dr. Zhivago because I'd seen the film -- how could that film NOT entice a person to read the book would be my response? So many small bits of history flash by -- so enticing.
Some people think the book is strictly a love story but it is love of country and the ravages of war.
Dottie wrote: "Philiip, which Bradbury are you discussing in the in-person group? I'm finishing the Armstrong book on the Crusades (Holy War) and racing through Mark Doty's small jewel, [book:Still Life With Oys..."I just added the Mark Doty book to my TBR list. That's going to need some pruning I think.
I adore Oysters and Lemons. And I'm just sick that I can't find my beautiful little autographed hardback copy.
I read a couple of his poems at Poet.org. And I read about him. The book sounds very interesting. I hope your copy shows up Ruth.
John wrote: "Has anyone else tried Sebald's "Austerlitz"? I'm finding it a really mesmerizing experience."John, I read Austerlitz last year when my husband's book club was reading it. Both my husband and I enjoyed it very much (though the rest of the book club loathed it). I read The Emigrants years ago and liked it as well. I have also read Swann's Way (and loved it), but the comparison didn't occur to me. I suspect because I feel Sebald and Proust each to be in a class unto themselves.
This month has been taken up so far with Les Miserables.
John, I'm a little behind the curve here, but I've read The Emigrants and The Rings of Saturn (not yet Austerlitz by Sebald, and I count them among my favorite books. I especially recommend Rings.
Erika, I thought they had a lot in common. Thematically, memory, identity, and history inform their work a lot. And stylistically, they have sort of a lingering, discursive style that I found really effective considering what they were writing about.I've found by asking around, however, that he (Sebald, I mean) seems to be one of those writers that one either totally takes to, or is completely turned off by. Which may be another thing that classes him with Proust. I can only speak for myself, but I haven't heard a lot of people react to to the question "How do you like Proust?" with a resounding "Eh, so-so."
Geoff, "Austerlitz" is my first foray into Sebald, but I certainly plan on making more of them. Until now I hadn't seen anyone making recommendations, but now I'll make sure that it's "Rings of Saturn." Thanks!
John wrote: "Erika, I thought they had a lot in common. Thematically, memory, identity, and history inform their work a lot. And stylistically, they have sort of a lingering, discursive style that I found rea..."John, true on all counts! Especially chuckling over the "so-so" remark.
How is Les Mis proceeding, Erika? I remember having to read an abridged version in high school and thinking it was like pulp fiction in the nineteenth century must have been.
I read The False Friend most of yesterday and finished it this morning. I'm a big Myla Goldberg fan, and this was also quite good, although it left me with a unsettled feeling. Mostly about what we remember and how, it concerns a woman in her 30's who thinks she lied about the disappearance of a friend when they were 11. That the missing girl was the protypical "mean girl" and that others remember the events differently (as well as the fact that at around the same age I was closed out of a group of girls I'd grown up with) makes for a excellently told and felt story.It's just unnerving me today.
I finished off Driving on the Rim, which is possibly McGuane's best in years. One of the interesting things in play here is McGuane giving a sly nod towards his buddy Jim Harrison; it is almost as if he sat down and thought, "I'm going to write a Jim Harrison story."I did get around to finishing YOU comma Idiot (that second-person narrative) and to putting up a review. In summary, underwhelming: the book can't decide if it's a lightweight comedy or something more complex, and fails to be convincingly one or the other.
And now, on to Gently Down the Stream by Ray Robertson, a sadly underappreciated writer.
Sara wrote: "I read The False Friend most of yesterday and finished it this morning. I'm a big Myla Goldberg fan, and this was also quite good, although it left me with a unsettled feeling. Mos..."Aren't you glad those days are long past. Here is a cheerer upper for today.
I always wonder about those whose favorite times were high school!!
Philip wrote: "Janet, I read The Spare Room this past summer for my in-person fiction seminar. I think you've summed it up very well. I found the book quite engrossing as well, no doubt in part because a close ..."I'd love to discuss this with you also! I nominated it twice here because while I was reading it, I could not put it down.
Phillip and Mary Ellen, I started a thread for it in the CR folder. Let's give it until 11/1 in case anyone else wants to have some time to read it and join in. It's just a week away, but a quick read.
Dottie wrote: "Philip, which Bradbury are you discussing in the in-person group? Dottie, we'll be discussing Something Wicked This Way Comes. All nearby libraries had their copies already in circulation, and it seems to be out of print, so I despaired of finding it in time for my Nov. 9th meeting. But then I found it used for $3.99 on Amazon and it should arrive on my doorstep in a day or two. Something good this way comes, I hope :)
Erika wrote: "This month has been taken up so far with Les Miserables."I loved Les Misérables. I read it when my sons were little and I was working, so it took me a full year to complete it. But, I still have memory flashes from it.
I finished This Body of Death by Elizabeth George today. In some ways, it was intriguing but in other ways, I was disappointed. Can't say more without huge spoilers. I found some of the things some characters do, a bit unbelievable. But good plotting, and I put her writing style in the same category as PD James. Has anyone else read it? Would love to discuss it briefly if you have!I'd put Guns, Germs and Steel, which I'm reading with another GR group, aside as I didn't want to get ahead of the group, but now must catch up again (they read 2 chapters/week) and I also just dipped into The Surrendered by Chang-Rae Lee for our discussion next month. Already gripped by it!
I'm reading the short stories of Lorrie Moore in Like Life. She is so very good. I highly recommend them.
I'm reading our next Reading List book, Surrendered. A little too early, but that's when it showed up at the library. I hope I retain enough to discuss it.
I completed Tinkers. Now I'm completing Anna Karenina and then I'll move on to House of Mirth.
I am reading Freedom. Don't know how I got it so soon. I was 334 on the list and I walked into the library today and there it was on the new book shelf.
Mary Ellen wrote: "I finished This Body of Death by Elizabeth George today. In some ways, it was intriguing but in other ways, I was disappointed. Can't say more without huge spoilers. I found some ..."Mary Ellen,
I read THIS BODY OF DEATH back in May. I don't know if I remember it well enough to discuss it, but I will try. I really liked it.
I am also reading THE SURRENDERED, and I love it!
I am reading Too Big to Fail: The Inside Story of How Wall Street and Washington Fought to Save the Financial System from Crisis—and Themselves. This is not my usual type of book, but the author is coming to town in November, so I want to read the book before hearing him talk. It's like watching a train wreck unfold, only more slowly.
Kitty wrote: "Some people think the book is strictly a love story but it is love of country and the ravages of war."Oh yes, so much more than just a love story in both book and film which is why it bothers me to think folks avoid it!
Erika wrote: "This month has been taken up so far with Les Miserables."Such a wonderful way for a motnh to be taken up though. i've read it several times in several forms -- the last being the full, unabridged book and I will likely visit it again. Also enjoyed stage and film versions of it!
Philip wrote: "Dottie wrote: "Philip, which Bradbury are you discussing in the in-person group? Dottie, we'll be discussing Something Wicked This Way Comes. All nearby libraries had their copies..."
Something good definitely comes your way. What other Bradbury have you read? Your favorite of his? I remember reading Fahrenheit 451 aas a teen and I think that was about all of his I read for many, many years until CR voted in Dandelion wine -- and I discovered the other Bradbury works! Fahrenheit 451 remains my favorite though -- one of the most powerful books I know.
I'm reading The Lay of the Land - on page 100 and it is way better than I expected. Recently I have started and put down about 4 books. But this one is going to take. Elephant's Journey just wasn't my cup of tea right now. The Appointment is half done - and I'll get back to it when we read it as a group. Started Ape House and couldn't do it. Then started Parrott and Olivier in America and I can see that it might be a good read, but my patience level just wasn't high enough. So - Richard Ford it is.
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Alas, I have failed in three tries to scale the Proustian mountains. First time, I got about halfway through the first book before I fell by the side of the tra..."
Oh Ruth, this is so funny...
Thank you for the smile