The Rory Gilmore Book Club discussion
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norman mailer
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I heard that on the Today show this morning, and stopped dead in my tracks...Sad, because that man was a brilliant journalist/writer. I even vaguely remember something about his working on a new book...
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Well, if we pick "The Executioner's Song" just be aware that it's over 1,000 pages in paper back. BUT, his writing is amazing and his genius is apparent. I whole heartedly support reading one of his books for the club. (Perhaps, if such a long book is selected, we pick it in December but it's not due until January--to discuss? Just as an example.)Anyway, there was an interview with Tom Wolfe on CNN, who discussed Mailer. (They go way back and even had a mini-feud when Wolfe criticized one of Mailer's works...apparently Wolfe said Mailer stole from War & Peace. It was a back-handed compliment as he was saying it was a stolen idea but that his writing was as good as Tolstoy.) It was pretty interesting and amazing how long and rich Mailer's career spans.
"The Armies of the Night" is an interesting account of the Vietnam era that's really well-written, but not particularly compelling, from what I remember.Maybe we could give it a try and I can revisit it.
Or we could go for "The Naked and the Dead," his most famous work. I haven't read it yet, but I'm pretty sure this is the book that Lorelai mentions Rory read when she was really young...
Oh to have read what Rory read by the age she read it. Although thinking back to my childhood, I was a precocious reader, but I think what she read would have gone completely over my head!
LOL @ Meghan's comment. I read The Naked and the Dead for the first time when I was quite young and yes, a lot of it did go over my head, but I kept investigating and researching until I completely understood it.
But then again, I was a very stubborn little girl.
Good for you Dee! I on the other hand was rather lazy and if I didn't get it that was that. I have a tendancy to re-read books so I'd reread a book when I was older and go "OH! So THAT'S what that meant." Yep, lazy. But at least I would eventually catch on. heh
NEW YORK - Norman Mailer, the macho prince of American letters who for decades reigned as the country's literary conscience and provocateur with such books as "The Naked and the Dead" and "The Executioner's Song" died Saturday, his literary executor said. He was 84.
Mailer died of acute renal failure at Mount Sinai Hospital, said J. Michael Lennon, who is also the author's biographer.