Member: lriley

Larry - you must have had that conversation with somebody else - either that or my memory is totally out of control, I hadn't heard of this bunch until I heard one of them being interviewed on radio recently. You like the Luther Blissett book?

posted by papalaz at 11:23 am (EST) on Nov 8, 2009

Larry - this http://www.wumingfoundation.com/english/... might interest you. BTW recently tried to set up a writing collaboration with Helen de Witt but she is too busy. I've started to think I'm moving toward a Warhol/Hirst factory model for my writing - latest idea is a book that contains only an index and footnote explanations!!!

posted by papalaz at 1:03 pm (EST) on Nov 7, 2009

bailey1739@yahoo.com
is the guy's e-mail.

posted by berthirsch at 6:18 pm (EST) on Oct 29, 2009

sorry for all the crap you have to deal with - hope Mae's visit the best.

here's the link on the writer doing a piece on LibraryTHing
From: jeff bailey
Subject:
To: berthirsch@yahoo.com
Date: Tuesday, October 6, 2009, 6:27 PM

Bert:

enjoyed talking with you yesterday. Thanks. If you can encourage your friend in Elmira to be in touch with me, that would be super.

Jeff Bailey
773-772-9772

posted by berthirsch at 6:16 pm (EST) on Oct 29, 2009

Hi! Don't know if you remember, but about a year and a half ago you and I were discussing Another Hill by Milton Wolff, a novel about the Lincoln Brigade written by the brigade's last commander. We were having this discussion on a thread in the Spanish Civil War group. You mentioned being interested in finding this book but noted that the only place online you found it was too expensive. I thought of you today because believe it or not I found a copy of this book in very, very good condition on a $1.00 shelf in a used bookstore. I happened to remember our conversation, so I picked it up. So if you'd still like the book, let me know. It's all yours for the cost of shipping. Best, Jerry

posted by rocketjk at 6:23 pm (EST) on Oct 27, 2009

did you ever talk to that writer form Reader's Digest?

posted by berthirsch at 1:21 pm (EST) on Oct 27, 2009

I must be slipping - I had not heard of her - sounds like a much better choice than the Booker - d'you have any of her stuff?

posted by papalaz at 10:52 am (EST) on Oct 8, 2009

the subject matter intersets me.

posted by berthirsch at 1:23 pm (EST) on Oct 7, 2009

Just read your review of my book, Larry. I like that you use your own experience and times as a fulcrum of sorts to comment on my times and drug experiences; I agree with the things you said. I also like your acknowledgment of the writing itself. I do work hard on that. Thanks.

posted by copyedit52 at 10:46 am (EST) on Oct 6, 2009

Hi Larry, good to see you back. That's a pretty interesting site you found there. I've been quiet myself of late and haven't even reviewed the last 3 or 4 books I've read. I just don't have the - whatever. Winter wil be with us soon and when it is I intend to kick it off with The Savage Detectives, followed by House of Leaves followed by Infinite Jest - that should bring spring around.

I enjoyed the Antunes a lot but not as much as you clearly did. I'm reading the Izzo right now and it's OK - no Manchette tho. Also read Vernon God Little and felt exploited by it!

posted by papalaz at 10:51 am (EST) on Sep 27, 2009

I have the same sentiment about French writers, a surprising number of whom I come across are worth reading. My favorite (only incidentally a mystery) is by Henri de Monfreid, who apparently wrote about eighty books, only one of which is (somewhat) available in English: Hashish, also published under the title Adventures of a Red Sea Smuggler. But closer to the Himes front, do you know The Conjure Man Dies, by Rudolph Fisher? "The first known mystery novel written by an African-American," according to the back cover blurb. Also, of course, situated in Harlem. A terrific book.

posted by copyedit52 at 5:35 pm (EST) on Sep 15, 2009

I read the Himes book you just reviewed, liked it as well ... and thanks for the Jean-Patrick Manchette reference. I recently came across Sebastien Japrisot, and now I've got another French whodunit writer to look into.

posted by copyedit52 at 2:42 pm (EST) on Sep 15, 2009

Larry, knowing your penchant for South American writers - do you know of this one? http://www.nybooks.com/articles/23051 - opinions?

posted by papalaz at 8:59 am (EST) on Sep 6, 2009

Larry, hope your daughter settles in and knuckles down - wish her good luck from me.

Yeah - Kazantzakis is not a quick read and as for Vollman well I think I gave up on him some time back - way to indisciplined (and I do not mean discursive) to hold my effort and attention. The reviews I read of Europe Central confirmed it as another of those BIG messy books he seems to dedicate himself to. On the other hand I loved Whores for Gloria.

I just finished the Houllebecq and thought it frankly over-rated and suspect that he probably under considered his theme. I've just started the Antunes (thank you) and it really rips along - I'm adoring it. I had promised myself to save it for winter but after a few disappointing reads decided to treat myself - I can always read it again in winter (it reads like a re-reader).

papalaz

posted by papalaz at 4:30 am (EST) on Aug 31, 2009

Larry just go to listen to the CD and I like it - reminded me oddly of a cross between The Specials and Was Not Was!!!! Go figure.

Thanx

posted by papalaz at 4:44 pm (EST) on Aug 30, 2009

Hi Larry,

Like you, I also have a few hundred unread books lying about, books that I am eager to read (like "Aunt Julia and the Scriptwriter" or "The Satanic Verses") but haven't gotten to, with all of the new books that I buy. I'm going to try to curtail my book purchases over the next couple of years, in order to make a dent into these books, and limit my book buying to books that I absolutely must have. We'll see how that goes...

I'm curious to get your take on "Europe Central". I've heard good things about it, but I don't remember anyone from LT whose threads I follow discussing it. If you're gobsmacked by it, I'll add it to my wishlist. I'll also be interested to get your take on "Honeymoon Suite" by Richard Bean. Although the play "England People Very Nice" was fantastic, the script didn't begin to capture its vitality and brilliance (though there was nothing wrong with it).

Uh oh, the T-storm that hit the ATL airport has made its way to midtown Atlanta, so I'll close here.

Cheers,
Darryl

posted by kidzdoc at 10:45 pm (EST) on Aug 26, 2009

Hi Larry,

Sorry for the late reply; I just realized that this is a different post from the one you previously posted!

The two books I've read by Zweig, "Chess Story" and "Journey into the Past" were both excellent. "Chess Story" is a New York Review Books reissue, as is "The Post-Office Girl", so those may be good ones to start out with. I bought "Journey into the Past" in London, along with "Beware of Pity", and I'm not sure how available either one is in the US.

"Midnight's Children" is on my all-time favorites list. If you haven't already, check out TomcatMurr's recent review of it. I liked "Shalimar the Clown" and, to a slightly lesser degree, "The Enchantress of Florence", and I plan to read "The Satanic Verses" later this year, probably in October after I finish my current Bookerthon.

"Gate of the Sun" was my first Archipelago book, which I bought after listening to Michael Silverblatt's interview of Khoury on "Bookworm", the weekly radio program from KCRW in Santa Monica. (Hmm, I haven't listened to him for awhile, I need to catch up; he is a brilliant interviewer, and is another source of good reading material.) I've only read three of the Archipelago books I've received as part of my 2009 subscription, so I'll start reading some of those soon, especially "Wonder" by Hugo Claus and "A Mind at Peace" by Ahmet Hamdi Tanpinar (sp?).

Has Godine released the new edition of "Life: A User's Manual" yet? Oh yes, I just looked at the web site, it is out. Sigh...another book I'll try to get to later this year. Too many books, etc.

I definitely want to read "Aunt Julia and the Scriptwriter" soon. If you don't have it, I have an extra used copy that I'd be happy to send to you. I bought Llosa's "The Time of the Hero" in London, so I'll probably read that first. BTW, I posted the books I bought while I was there on my Club Read and 75 Books threads.

I completely agree with your treading water analogy ("There's just an ocean of stuff out there and sometimes I think of myself as treading water--picking up this, picking up that."), and I know a lot of other LTers would agree. I'm amazed to hear anyone say that they can't find a good book to read! It will be quite a while before I'm able to retire, but my current job gives me plenty of time off to read and travel.

I'll be checking your thread and profile pages more regularly (not that I need to buy anything else to read in the next 3-4 years!).

Cheers,
Darryl

posted by kidzdoc at 10:21 am (EST) on Aug 26, 2009

Hi Larry - yes I found the CD thanx and the signature on the Antrim - you are so good to me

Thanx again

papalaz

posted by papalaz at 10:05 am (EST) on Aug 20, 2009

Larry, got your parcel today - many many thanks - brilliant choices - I look forward to winter as I am now fully stocked for a long hard one!!!

BTW - the package was opened your end and certified OK as media post and then it was opened this end and surcharged 3 euros - figure that if you can -

Again Larry thanks for everything - you didn't even mention the Izzo but it looks like another good one!!!

All our best to you and your family!

D&G

posted by papalaz at 8:12 am (EST) on Aug 20, 2009

Larry - new review - Vanishing Point - it's the book that prompted me to find Archipelago

posted by papalaz at 9:15 am (EST) on Aug 18, 2009

Larry, I know you love work in translation and am aware that you are familiar with The Dalkey Archive who are now awarding scholarships in translating but I just came across these people ( http://www.archipelagobooks.org/index.ph... ) and wanted to bring them to your attention - 'njoy

posted by papalaz at 8:34 am (EST) on Aug 18, 2009

Hi Larry,

Thanks for your reply to my post. I appreciate your recommendations; I suspect that I'll add most, if not all, to my wish list.

For the next two months or so I'll be working on the Booker Prize longlist and some other books that I purchased in London, especially the new translation of "Life: A User's Manual" by Perec, "Blood and Guts" and "Madmen" by the medical historian Roy Porter, and "Beware of Pity" by Stefan Zweig. I'm sure I'll also read Le Clezio's "Desert", which came by mail during my trip. After that I'll read J.D. Salinger's and the rest of Kazuo Ishiguro's books for the Author Theme Reads group, and I'd like to finally tackle "The Satanic Verses", which has been staring at me for a couple of years at least. I've given up on reading Dostoevsky for lilisin & deebee's group, but I might sneak in one of his tomes before year's end. And, if time permits, I'd like to tackle several recent biographies about Naipaul, Borges and Fanon. Hmm...I had planned to read some of the medicine & public health books that have piled up over the past couple of years, but most of those will probably have to wait until next year. Oh, and there's the books from my 2009 Archipelago Books subscription to get to. I'll have to be very selective over the next 4-1/2 months to reach these goals -- and stop buying so many books!

Cheers,
Darryl

posted by kidzdoc at 6:11 am (EST) on Aug 18, 2009

P.S. On the other hand, I'm sure that several other Club Read members would also like to know what you're reading. Just a thought.

Darryl

posted by kidzdoc at 8:04 am (EST) on Aug 17, 2009

Hi Larry,

I enjoyed your latest reviews, of Desert (which I have) and A Rage in Harlem (which I will get soon). However, I'm wondering where you are posting your reviews, since they are not on Club Read. I'd like to see what you are reading, as you are definitely included in a small group of LTers whose reviews and recommendations I follow closely. Please don't do anything differently on my behalf, though; I can always look at your profile page every week or two to see what you've been up to.

Cheers,
Darryl (kidzdoc)

posted by kidzdoc at 8:02 am (EST) on Aug 17, 2009

Tara sounds like she is for a fabulous life experience and education. English lit, jewish hx and roomates from around the world - how great. thanks for the update.

today my Logan is moving to the city- sharing an apt with 2 of his friends down in the Financial District. these are the moments that make parenthood quite an adventure.

recently read and reviewed a short contemporary Chinese novella- Twenty Fragments of a Ravenous Youth - Tara would probably love it , as you would too.

posted by berthirsch at 9:25 am (EST) on Aug 15, 2009

I think leaving the plot out is a great improvement in your reviews - I've read a lot of Himes and he is consistently good stuff.

Picked up a copy of Michel Houellebecq's Atomised in Xania this afternoon (think it was published as Elementary Particles in the US - do you know it?

posted by papalaz at 3:14 pm (EST) on Aug 14, 2009

I'm so glad you enjoyed it - good review - I too love the stripped down ready to roll quality of his writing too

posted by papalaz at 3:37 am (EST) on Aug 14, 2009

Thank you for such a helpful review of Doctor Antunes' work:

"...Lobo Antunes has a unique writing style. Two of his literary heroes being William Faulkner and Louis Ferdinand Celine. One could make some comparisons to the tremendiimo effects...". I am not sure I see the Faulkner influences, although he may be an admirer. I was thrilled to see that you picked up on the "tremendiimo effects", which are so splayed, so invoked, so vented. Loved the work.

posted by keylawk at 3:51 am (EST) on Aug 12, 2009

you are a diamond geezer Larry - I look forward to the surprise element

posted by papalaz at 3:52 pm (EST) on Aug 11, 2009

Larry - now I'm really excited

posted by papalaz at 12:48 pm (EST) on Aug 11, 2009

thanx Larry - I shall keep an eye open for it and wait with bated breath

posted by papalaz at 11:41 am (EST) on Aug 11, 2009

It's quite good actually Larry - indispensible when you need it.

posted by papalaz at 11:25 am (EST) on Aug 9, 2009

I agree--there's nothing really unique about it. Instead of thinking 5-7 years before retiring--it may be a bit closer to the 5 years--wasting too much life on other people's bs. At least for me there is some light--or more light at the end of the tunnel.

Retiring early was one of the best things I've ever done. No boss is pretty much the same as no hassle (well not a total absence but you get my drift: the concerns are at least your own. WRT light at the end of the tunnel - did you read Gass's The Tunnel - I'm sure I remember you mentioning it.

Infinite Jest sounds like great fun and no I do not have it.

Hang on in there

PS hearing good if puzzling reviews of Pynchon's new book

posted by papalaz at 11:42 am (EST) on Aug 4, 2009

Hi Larry-
FYI

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/04/health...

will catch up at another time.

posted by berthirsch at 7:02 am (EST) on Aug 4, 2009

Larry, that whole piece sounds strangely familiar - a typical response - and bugger the humans involved. It doesn't get better over time - there is in fact a determined refusal to learn. Money rules

posted by papalaz at 1:14 pm (EST) on Aug 3, 2009

Glad it arrived so quickly Larry. The musician is Nikos Ksilouris a big favourite here despite being dead - thought it would go with the Kazantzakis.

Work sounds like a nightmare - autonomy is great - the more of it the merrier.

Enjoy

posted by papalaz at 1:16 pm (EST) on Aug 1, 2009

Larry, I have The Savage Detectives and, along withe House of Leaves I'm saving it for next winter. The seven madmen fascinates me since I see it every time I see you here. And of course any unread Sorrentino would be most welcome. Since the post here is awful in August don't break sweat on it. Thanx for thinking of me.

Papalaz

posted by papalaz at 2:00 am (EST) on Jul 25, 2009

don't feel obliged Larry

posted by papalaz at 3:43 pm (EST) on Jul 24, 2009

Larry, package went in the post to you today - might take a while - August is holiday month here in Greece - keep an eye open for it.

Papalaz

posted by papalaz at 9:46 am (EST) on Jul 24, 2009

I agree it's essentially an anglophone list but it's nice to see it - we have to disagree on The Hundrerd Brothers - I loved it

posted by papalaz at 2:54 pm (EST) on Jul 22, 2009

Good list here Larry - http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/jacketco...

Papalaz

posted by papalaz at 12:48 pm (EST) on Jul 22, 2009

Larry re Himes look out The Harlem Cycle - great stuff. Just finished The Egyptian and have no idea where to start with a review! Good luck with work and to your daughter - I'd go with Eng Lit from the modernists onwards

posted by papalaz at 3:37 pm (EST) on Jul 20, 2009

Larry - glad you liked the Chandler - have you read Chester Himes? I love his stuff.

Following up on the NOLOGO this article - http://www.newyorker.com/arts/critics/bo... - is fascinating

posted by papalaz at 7:53 am (EST) on Jul 19, 2009

You are right. We do share similar tastes. I will have to hit you up for some hidden gems I need to add. (Check out my library when you have time)

If you are bored, you are encouraged to kill some time @ my blog (link from my profile page). Its pretty young, and lacks comments..(probably should tell me something about the quality of my posts.....)

posted by promtbr at 12:12 pm (EST) on Jul 13, 2009

Don't despair, friends always manage to communicate and, by the way, our books can give us a big hand. English is my second language after Spanish, I hope it is pretty decent. When I saw Roberto Arlt in your bookshelf I knew we were walking the same street and that we could became friends!!!
Thank you for accepting me as a friend and I hope, I really do, we keep on touch.
Yours, Romeo.

posted by biblioTCa at 12:49 pm (EST) on Jul 9, 2009

great review Larry - sounds like vintage Celine

posted by papalaz at 9:55 am (EST) on Jul 2, 2009

Congratulations to Tara and to you and her mom! Hope you got to make up some rest after all the celebrating. Where did she decide to go next year? I never heard. (I'm now looking in your library to see whether you have/have read Shantaram by Gregory David Roberts. I just got it, and I wish I could read as quickly and as well as you do so that I could lap it up now.
Peggy

posted by LizzieD at 6:57 pm (EST) on Jun 28, 2009

Larry, re Chandler I'd probably go for The Long Goodbye or The Big Sleep

posted by papalaz at 3:55 pm (EST) on Jun 27, 2009

Thanks, Larry. I don't know MacLeod's name, but I have at least bought a used copy of the Urquhart book on your previous recommendation. I don't know when I'll start either of them since I have so many things partly read right now, but I thought I'd just as well buy *Cathedral* while amp had a reasonably priced copy. (I fancy that I'm beginning to time my used book purchases correctly - that is, when the price has gone down about as far as it's going and before it starts going up again because the book is so old.) And I regularly write down characters' names just as soon as I realize that I'm into something that is confusing.
I finished *Stone Angel* and liked it even more than you did. In a lot of ways Hagar does seem to be Everywoman to me - sorry to say so, but there it is.
Good to speak to you!
Peggy

posted by LizzieD at 8:43 pm (EST) on Jun 26, 2009

Good assessment of his later works. Yeah I figure NOLOGO is a bit dated now but relevant nonetheless.

Saramago - speaks - http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment...

posted by papalaz at 2:03 pm (EST) on Jun 26, 2009

Hi, Larry. I just used your name on a what-I-am-reading thread to say that I picked up The Stone Angel to a great extent because of your review. Thank you! I am really enjoying it and have ordered the next one in the sequence. I also bit the bullet - or at least gummed it - to buy a used copy of Conversation in the Cathedral. So your influence is a lasting one.
Hope all is well with you and yours.
Peggy

posted by LizzieD at 1:41 pm (EST) on Jun 26, 2009

Hi Larry re Celine - I sensed with North et al that his powers were waning toward the end and find Rigadoon etc a little disappointing.

Naomi Klein is definitely onto some interesting analyses

Just finished a biography of Raymond Chandler - oh why do I bother with lit biog?

Currently reading The Egyptian by a Finn - fun stuff

posted by papalaz at 1:05 pm (EST) on Jun 26, 2009

i am hardly reading at anything close to your pace. Have 10 pages to go with Lush Life and have enjoyed it thoroughly. it is kind of exciting ending a book because now i can think about which of so many books i have to read next.

posted by berthirsch at 6:20 pm (EST) on Jun 12, 2009

Red April sounds like fun - I'm reading some Philip K Dick at present and wondering why.

Do you remember I scanned all my spines and tagged all my books so that they'd show up on cover view just as they are on my shelves? Well, they changed cover view here and it no longer works - bastards!!!!!!!!!

posted by papalaz at 11:55 am (EST) on Jun 5, 2009

Larry - just reviewed Chapel Road - a hard one

posted by papalaz at 1:40 pm (EST) on Jun 2, 2009

Larry - just finished Chapel Road - I strung it out as long as I could - it's a great book - thanks so much - the review is gestating now - 'twill take a while

posted by papalaz at 3:52 pm (EST) on May 30, 2009

sounds like he has loads of strengths which could bring him satisfaction, success , etc in life. It is all so relative and there are so many personal differences. enjoy being his dad.

posted by berthirsch at 4:32 pm (EST) on May 25, 2009

If I am not mistaken there are some guides out there for colleges for people with "special needs". i'll bet there is loads of info on the internet-stuff you are probably aware of.

A doc I work with suffers with this condition as does his son. he may have some info?

posted by berthirsch at 12:22 pm (EST) on May 21, 2009

Hey Larry-
this past weekend we attended our son's graduation and it was fabulous. Its so exciting to see your children accomplishments and to be there as they move on in the world secure, smart, energetic, etc. We truly feel blessed. Bragging just a little - he graduated Magna Cum Laude with Phi Beta Kappa and his job is still secure. Best of all one of his roomates told us that he "was the man" that ..."he had inspired others to work hard and to have good values". How lucky are we or what.

i am also excited for you, your wife and daughter as she starts her colleg adventure.

posted by berthirsch at 1:06 pm (EST) on May 20, 2009

Larry, my name here should be LizzieI(mpulse)D. We seem to encourage each other to be spendthrifts here, and I don't need the encouragement. I have, therefore, listed your recommendations and will hope to explore them soon. (I suppose that you know that PBS has been running "Wallander" stories on Mystery!. Husband was watching the one Sunday night as I played around here, but I didn't realize what it was. I used to be a Sjowal/Perloo [spelling got me!] fan.)
I don't really recommend the Vaachs books because I don't remember a lot about them except that Burke lives outside society in NYC, has a big dog and a disturbed/disturbing sidekick, and gets into some really seamy stuff. I may have to go back to the attic to track these down - and maybe I'll find the Factory with them.
I always appreciate being in touch with you.
Peggy

posted by LizzieD at 11:00 am (EST) on May 20, 2009

Larry, for some reason I think we've had this conversation before, but I'll do it again just in case. Thanks for the recommendations of other noir thrillers. The Factory is about as dark as I want to go. Another author that I don't see in your library is Andrew Vaachs who is a lawyer handling child abuse cases in real life. His protagonist is Burke, a denizen - but not citizen - of NYC. It's been a long time since I read one, so I don't even know whether he's still writing.
Hope you're having a good weekmiddle.
Peggy

posted by LizzieD at 11:02 am (EST) on May 19, 2009

Hi Larry! I use Benet's regularly (since I am too old to think of the Internet first) and Oxford Companion to English Literature even more because I'm so firmly entrenched in British/American lit. I see that you've just reviewed *GoST*; that is a favorite book. I remain spellbound with Roy's ability to play or devastate with language.
And although you did not know it, you gave me back Derek Raymond, whose Factory novels I enjoyed and then consigned to the attic. I couldn't remember his name, couldn't find the box, and had given up because nobody else in my reading circle had ever heard of him. Thank you!
Peggy

posted by LizzieD at 9:43 am (EST) on May 18, 2009

Thanks for acceptance!!!

posted by JeffRiveraAuthor at 12:20 am (EST) on May 18, 2009

Larry, I have not read him, but do let me know how you like him. Sounds a bit bloody, though, with an axe murderer and such. One has to wonder what's in the water in Sweden, eh? - Lois

posted by avaland at 2:05 pm (EST) on May 11, 2009

Good reviews Larry - I like 'em both

posted by papalaz at 10:26 am (EST) on May 8, 2009

I like your philosophy!

posted by avaland at 7:28 pm (EST) on May 4, 2009

Dang it, Larry, it's your fault I just scooted over to the BookDepository.com and bought the next two indridason's (Arctic Chill and Hypothermia). One isn't released until September, but I pre-ordered anyway. I read so few mysteries these days, it seems, but the Indridason's are some that I do. :-)

posted by avaland at 4:43 pm (EST) on May 4, 2009

Larry, glad to see you enjoyed the Indridason! Do you think you will be on the lookout for the subsequent books? Also, you might be able to get the Icelandic movie made of "Jar City" through something like Netflix. It was pretty good, no Hollywood actors in this movie! Best, Lois

posted by avaland at 2:07 pm (EST) on May 4, 2009

Larry - I'm reading Chapel Road and am really enjoying it - thanx for that

posted by papalaz at 2:09 am (EST) on May 1, 2009

...am enjoying Richard price's THe Lush Life. the "lingo" is fabulous.

posted by berthirsch at 12:07 pm (EST) on Apr 30, 2009

Good try Larry from the Finnish list I got:
1 Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen
7 The Name Of The Rose - Umberto Eco
5 Ulysses James Joyce
9 If On A Winter's Night - Calvino
10 Lolita Nabokov

my full list (well done on the Derek Raymond by the way) was:

1) I Was Dora Suarez Derek Raymond

2) G - John Berger

3)APOTAAAYM JJ

4) Finnegans Wake JJ

5) Crash JG Ballard

6) A Void - Georges Perec

7) Mulligan Stew - Gilbert Sorrentino

8) JTTEOTN Celine

9) Gerald's Party - Robert Coover

10) Imagination Dead Imagine - Samuel Beckett

11) House Mother Normal - BSJ

12) Too Loud A Solitude - Bohumil Hrabal

13) Stephen Hero - JJ

Greta news today - Serpent's Tail will publish THE OPEN VEINS OF LATIN AMERICA by Eduardo Galeano, (as given to Obama by Chavez), on 21st May - and they do free P&P anywhere in the world!

posted by papalaz at 11:16 am (EST) on Apr 30, 2009

good piece here - http://chronicle.com/temp/reprint.php?id...

posted by papalaz at 12:03 pm (EST) on Apr 26, 2009

On a lighter note, I got this thru on FB today from a Finnish friend and thought of you so I made my own:

1. Pick ten books from your shelves. - Poimi kymmenen kirjaa hyllystäsi.
2. Take a sentence or a couple from their beginning. - Ota jokaisen kirjan alusta yksi tai useampi lause.
3. Choose a number of yours friends to guess the books in question. - Valitse joukko ystäviäsi arvaamaan, mitkä kirjat ovat kyseessä.
4. Googling is cheating. - Googlen käyttäminen on huijaamista.

(I chose books according to my liking, not their easiness or difficulty)

1. It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in a possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife.

2. Jukolan talo, eteläisessä Hämeessä, seisoo erään mäen pohjaisella rinteellä, liki Toukolan kylää.

3. Löytäisinkö maagisen Magan? Useimmiten riitti kun käännyin rue de Seineltä Quai de Contille vievälle holvikaarelle, ja tuskin ehdin nähdä joen yllä leijuvan oliivinharmaan valon, kun jo erotin hänen hoikan hahmonsa kävelemässä Pont des Arts -sillalla puolelta toiselle tai nojaamassa kaiteeseen. (transl. from Spanish)

4. Vårt land, vårt land, vårt fosterland, / Ljud högt, o dyra ord!

5. Stately, plump Buck Mulligan came from the stairhead, bearing a bowl of lather on which a mirror and a razor lay crossed.

6. Pirunkorpi. / Katsoin sen vanhan puhelinluettelon kartasta.

7. On August 16, 1968, I was handed a book written by a certain Abbé Vallet

8. Eräänä kesäisenä iltapäivänä rouva Oedipa Maas tuli kotiin tupperwarekutsuilta (transl. from English)

9. You are about to begin reading Italo Calvino's new novel,

10. [word omitted], light of my life, fire of my loins. My sin, my soul.

this is mine

1) Interrupted by her because she had come to see what was happening next door while he was still finishing up with the girl, the killer came up to the old woman without a word, got hold of her as if she were a load of last week's rubbish and hurled her through the front of her grandfather clock which stood just inside the door of the flat, using strength that even he didn't know he had.

2) The father of the principal protagonist of this book was called Umberto. He was a merchant from the city of Livorno and he dealt in candied fruit. He was a short fat man who looked shorter because of the largeness of his head.

3) Once upon a time and a very good time it was there was a moocow coming down along the road and this moocow that was coming down along the road met a nicens little boy named baby tuckoo. . . .

4) riverrun, past Eve and Adams, from swerve of shore to bend of bay, brings us by a commodius vicus of recirculation back to Howth, Castle and Environs.

5) Vaughan died yesterday in his last car-crash.

6) Incurably insomniac Anton Vowl turns on a light. (from the French)

7) Dear Gil,
I'm afraid I simply can't hold on to the manuscript of "TITLE OMITTED" any longer, much as I'd like to, and so I am returning it to Marv.

8) It all began just like that. I hadn't said anything. I hadn't said a word. (from the French)

9) None of us noticed the body at first.

10) No trace anywhere of life, you say, pah, no difficulty there .... (from the French and translated by the author)

11) Friend (I may call you friend?) these are also our friends.

12) For thirty-five years now I've been in wastepaper, and it's my love story. (from the Czech)

13) ... anyone spoke to him mingled a too polite disbelief with its expectancy

posted by papalaz at 2:58 pm (EST) on Apr 24, 2009

Larry - re your latest piece, I have just been reading some essays by Kathy Acker and this stopped me in my tracks: "... neither American society nor American culture is cultured. To analyze and sound the faults of the American way of life in educated bourgeois terms and modes is a spurious exercise. For in its cultural, social, and political behaviour, the United States resembles a giant baby, perhaps mongoloid, almost uneducated and increasingly uninterested in questioning and education, who not maliciously but unknowingly breaks everything it meets as it crawls around in chaotic paths. According to Piaget, a baby regards the world as an extension of his or her own identity; for a baby, there is no other."

posted by papalaz at 11:39 am (EST) on Apr 24, 2009

Larry, I forgot to say that I finished The Very Rich Hours and am so grateful to have found it now rather than later. Thank you!
I was just looking and see that you haven't read or at least haven't catalogued any Patrick White. I have so wanted to return your kindness by suggesting somebody whose writing you might like. That's my attempt. Or did you read him long ago and ....?
I hope the whole family is enjoying Tara's final process of choosing her college. With such good prospects, it should be a happy time.
Peggy

posted by LizzieD at 9:52 am (EST) on Apr 24, 2009

Larry - I do enjoy your rants - it's good to know not all americans are a s stupid as their governments. Re Cuba - babysteps indeed! Too timid by far and as for the boycott of the UN conference on racism - what ever happened to "talking to our enemies as well as our friends"?

posted by papalaz at 12:47 pm (EST) on Apr 22, 2009

Good news for Galeano here - http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/8007... - must get Hugo to push my book

posted by papalaz at 11:39 am (EST) on Apr 20, 2009

No shock Larry but a sadness nonetheless. I just looked out the obituary I wrote for him last February and thought you might appreciate it. - http://poundemonium.blogspot.com/2008/02...

posted by papalaz at 11:10 am (EST) on Apr 20, 2009

Bad news Larry - Jim Ballard is dead

posted by papalaz at 3:20 pm (EST) on Apr 19, 2009

Larry - I take your point I was venting myself today - sometimes it just boils over - 3 blogs in one day!!! http://poundemonium.blogspot.com/

BTW - I have you down for some Kazantzakis at our next swap!!!

posted by papalaz at 2:43 pm (EST) on Apr 17, 2009

Quick question - I know you like reading lit in translation so - have you read any Kazantzakis?

posted by papalaz at 1:09 pm (EST) on Apr 17, 2009

Reading some essays by Kathy Acker at present but the Boon is next up - looking forward to it

posted by papalaz at 2:39 am (EST) on Apr 17, 2009

Appreciated the Parra review!

posted by slickdpdx at 6:24 pm (EST) on Apr 16, 2009

Larry, just reviewed Red The Fiend - brilliant stuff

posted by papalaz at 1:57 pm (EST) on Apr 16, 2009

I have heard of Montalban's Quintet but never saw it.

have you read nathan Englander's Ministries of Special Cases. is excellent.

my son graduates from TCNJ (College of NJ;another highly rated state college) on May 15th. He absolutely loved it and got a first rate eduaction and happily has been hired (in this shitty economy) by the largest world public accounting firm- PWC. the schools Tara is considering are all fabulous.

take care.

posted by berthirsch at 6:36 am (EST) on Apr 16, 2009

Hi Larry. Hope the college visits are providing some clarity. I'll be excited to learn what she chooses.
I'm still reading P. West: wow! This is my kind of stuff, but I've had to bone up a little on the actual chronology. (I've also ordered The Place in Flowers Where Pollen Rests which looks good to me.)
Take care ~ Peggy

posted by LizzieD at 8:16 pm (EST) on Apr 15, 2009

hey larry- looks like your daughter has some great schools to choose from. a hard decision but i suspect, once made, she will be happy wherever she ends up.

i was quite engaged in the March Read at reading Globally- right up my alley - argentina. I have yet to read Aira will be interested to hear what you think.

I just splurged on The Lush Life- Richard Price, The INvention of Morel- Bioy Casasres and a remainder- The Buenos Aires Broken Heart Club. I also have on reserve at my library-Everything Ravaged,Everything Burned by Wells Tower - great title and some good reviews.

take care, bert

posted by berthirsch at 1:18 pm (EST) on Apr 15, 2009

Oh, I didn't think it was overdone, it's great. Anyway, your revised shorter version now gives me a starting point and then I can move on from there. I was wondering where your interest came from, actually, but thought it might be nosey to ask so thanks for telling me!

Rachel

posted by rachbxl at 6:39 am (EST) on Apr 14, 2009

Thanks for leaving me such a comprehensive list! I really appreciate it. A couple of them I've read, others are on my radar, but, best of all, you've given me a few titles I hadn't heard of before.

Somewhere I still have the reading list for the Latin American lit paper I did for my degree -- I'm curious to compare the 'dictatorship novel' section (which I didn't do) with your list...

Thanks again.

Rachel

posted by rachbxl at 4:36 am (EST) on Apr 14, 2009

---just wanted to stop by and say that I don't forget you. Among other things (bad habits that don't really want to die, don't) I'm reading The Very Rich Hours---. I haven't gotten past the second section, but I'm glad that I own this book and that you pointed it out to me.
Hope all is well with you and yours.
Peggy

posted by LizzieD at 3:34 pm (EST) on Apr 11, 2009

Thanks for your post about Senselessness. What other novels on Central and Latin American dictactorships would you recommend? I have read some (although not for a while now), but am always keen to get someone else's perspective.

Regards,

Rachel

posted by rachbxl at 2:54 pm (EST) on Apr 10, 2009

This - http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment... - sounds like fun

posted by papalaz at 12:52 pm (EST) on Apr 8, 2009

Hope you enjoy it. You haved a fascinating library.
Best --
Colum

posted by ColumMcCann at 11:58 am (EST) on Apr 8, 2009

many tha nks ... I am quite new to this whole cyberworld and it's nice to know that there are readers out there
man thanks
Colum

posted by ColumMcCann at 4:36 pm (EST) on Apr 5, 2009

Larry - just reviewed The Busconductor Hines - started the Sorrentino last night and am loving it already

posted by papalaz at 11:57 am (EST) on Apr 4, 2009

Larry - we all have holes and I have only read a few of those short storyists - not read Barthelme - I think The Tunnel took me about a month!!! Enjoy it!

posted by papalaz at 4:29 am (EST) on Apr 2, 2009

found the head site - http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/series/a...

posted by papalaz at 1:55 pm (EST) on Apr 1, 2009

Larry - came across this today - http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/booksblo... - I must look out the previous 14

posted by papalaz at 1:53 pm (EST) on Apr 1, 2009

Larry my friend you are what I would call in my dialect "a diamond geezer". We trotted off to the post office today and picked up your amazing gifts - surprise? - I should say so! - another from the master - as you rightly say 1 I didn't have and 1 I shall cherish - GS did not, afaik, write a bad piece and I look forward to this with anticipation - as I do the Boon

I notice though that the USPS is a lot pricier than are their Hellenic equivalent.

Thanx once more

Laz

posted by papalaz at 6:28 am (EST) on Apr 1, 2009

Larry - some fun here - http://www.bu.edu/agni/essays/online/200...

posted by papalaz at 10:36 am (EST) on Mar 27, 2009

I love surprises! Capitalism red in tooth and claw will never understand the concept of public service - bastards

posted by papalaz at 9:43 am (EST) on Mar 24, 2009

Good news all round Larry - my confidence in the Greek overseas postal service has been boosted tremendously

posted by papalaz at 3:48 pm (EST) on Mar 23, 2009

Hi,

Was wondering if you'd be interested in reviewing my new novel and posting your comments here as well as a few other book-related sites. Saw you liked Butcher Boy, and I thought you might like my novel since it's also about a disturbed adolescent and a bit dark. I could e-mail you the novel in an e-book format if you'd like. Let me know if you're interested. Here's a link to a summary in case you're interested:

http://christophertusa.com/blog/?page_id...

Thanks,

posted by cmtusa at 2:12 pm (EST) on Mar 23, 2009

Guffaw - Ayn Rand stinks both morally and styistically - don't know about Atlas, I just threw the thing across the room narrowly missing the bin but I got it in the bin eventually thank Turing

posted by papalaz at 1:58 pm (EST) on Mar 20, 2009

I think Klein is a very good analyst (not as good as Chomsky but good) and I'm sure you'll enjoy No Logo - I could have sent it with the last one had I known!!!

posted by papalaz at 12:39 pm (EST) on Mar 20, 2009

great new on the Boon. Re Naomi Klein - I read her No Logo and really enjoyed it - the one you are reading is on my list of things to look for and won a UK prize recently : http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2009/feb...

posted by papalaz at 1:46 pm (EST) on Mar 19, 2009

Kelman up for international Booker - http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment...

posted by papalaz at 3:36 pm (EST) on Mar 18, 2009

Larry - the Kelman went in the post 30 minutes ago

Enjoy

posted by papalaz at 6:23 am (EST) on Mar 18, 2009

Sorry for the shameless self-promotion, but I thought you might like to know that my new novel, Dirty Little Angels, is now available. Thought you might be interested since people have compared it to Flannery O'Connor, who I noticed was on your shelf. Here's a summary in case you're interested:

Set in the slums of New Orleans, among clusters of crack houses and abandoned buildings, Dirty Little Angels is the story of sixteen year old Hailey Trosclair. When the Trosclair family suffers a string of financial hardships and a miscarriage, Hailey finds herself looking to God to save her family. When her prayers go unanswered, Hailey puts her faith in Moses Watkins, a failed preacher and ex-con. Fascinated by Moses's lopsided view of religion, Hailey, and her brother Cyrus, begin spending time down at an abandoned bank that Moses plans to convert into a drive-through church. Gradually, though, Moses's twisted religious beliefs become increasingly more violent, and Hailey and Cyrus soon find themselves trapped in a world of danger and fear from which there may be no escape.

If you'd like to read the first chapter, you can read it here:
http://christophertusa.com/blog/?page_id...

Take care,

Chris

posted by cmtusa at 10:53 pm (EST) on Mar 16, 2009

Wow wow wow - Larry you are such a lucky boy - http://www.wordswithoutborders.org/?post...

ENJOY!!!

posted by papalaz at 11:59 am (EST) on Mar 13, 2009

The Tunnel is simply stunning

posted by papalaz at 3:53 pm (EST) on Mar 11, 2009

and a new William Gass

posted by papalaz at 1:54 pm (EST) on Mar 11, 2009

Larry - heads up for you - http://www.dalkeyarchive.com/catalog/sho... - available for preorder - hooray

posted by papalaz at 1:41 pm (EST) on Mar 11, 2009

Sounds like an interesting one Larry - I'm a big big fan of Galeano's trilogy. I'll let you know when I ship the Kelman.

Read this today - http://www.laweekly.com/2009-02-12/art-b... - and was amazed that Ballard's latest has no publisher in the US - it's not like it needs to be translated!

posted by papalaz at 12:42 pm (EST) on Mar 11, 2009

Larry - here's a list of the contents of Not Not While The Giro

He Knew Him Well
An Old Pub Near the Angel
Ten Guitars
Nice to be Nice
The Bevel
Charlie
The House of an Old Woman
Away in Airdie
The Chief Things About This Game
Remember Young Cecil
The Habits of Rats
The Block
Jim Dandy
Acid
The Melville Twins Page 82
Zuzzed
A Wide Runner
No Longer The Warehouseman
Keep Moving and No Questions
Double or Clear plus a Tenner
A Notebook to do with America
The Hitchhiker
Le Jouer
Roofsliding
Not Not While The Giro

posted by papalaz at 10:55 am (EST) on Mar 9, 2009

I must have got it form BookMooch. Actually I had Cozarinsky's The Moldavian Pimp on my "wishlist" and this past week someone(who is also involved in this site,too) sent it to me.

Binghamton would be great- they are all very good schools and i am sure wherever she goes she will have a great experience.

posted by berthirsch at 4:17 pm (EST) on Mar 8, 2009

Hola Larry-
I just posted a review of Sabato's The Tunnel. I also posted it on Reading Globally - the March theme-Argentina.

I thank you again for sending me this little treasure.

hope you and yours are well. Bert

posted by berthirsch at 12:51 pm (EST) on Mar 8, 2009

someone just gave me a copy of Not Not While the Giro - do you have it? I have it already

posted by papalaz at 6:23 am (EST) on Mar 7, 2009

Depressing news here - http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment...

61% - J K Rowling?
turn to the end to find out what happens?

there is no hope

posted by papalaz at 6:48 am (EST) on Mar 6, 2009

Larry - the Boon sounds like a wonderful choice.

Re suicide I think it has to be an option - I usually keep at least one lethal dose in the house somewhere safe. My wife and I have an agreement on that very topic but because of our remoteness here there is a very good chance that if either of us has a massive stroke or heart attack we shall die of it (one of the reasons we moved here actually)

It's good you have glad memories of her.

posted by papalaz at 6:06 am (EST) on Mar 6, 2009

That's amazing - posted last Friday - standard postage not express!!! I'm amazed.

Enjoy

Condolences re your loss - Finnegans Wake comes to mind

posted by papalaz at 2:43 pm (EST) on Mar 4, 2009

Larry - I assembled the pieces in The Lavender Way on copyrite into a semi-learned article and sent it to Lawrence Lessig who wrote back and was very complimentary and asked if he could use some of the argumentation.I agreed he could.

I couldn't agree more with you on the idea that the music, film and publishing industries are having their business models (which were pretty gouging anyway) and are just resisting - they will be steamrollered out of the way.

posted by papalaz at 7:29 am (EST) on Mar 3, 2009

I find a lot to like in your idea of --an informal collective ownership of everything and nothing - but my work is mine until I decide to share it in the public domain - in fact it isn't actually a work until I say it is

posted by papalaz at 3:09 pm (EST) on Mar 2, 2009

Larry - I take your point and I'm pretty sure that his publishers "convinced" her. Speaking as a writer I'd say if I didn't publish it or submit it for publishing then leave it be and if I'd asked for it to be destroyed well that's simple disrespect

posted by papalaz at 1:26 pm (EST) on Mar 2, 2009

This - http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment... - bothers me - if he had wanted it published - if it were finished - he had every chance to execute - as it is he left it unfinished and buggered off - publishers as hearse chasers

posted by papalaz at 12:15 pm (EST) on Mar 2, 2009

There will be blood?

posted by papalaz at 2:53 pm (EST) on Feb 27, 2009

Jut reviewed Vitoux

posted by papalaz at 12:25 pm (EST) on Feb 27, 2009

oops missed the link - http://www.newyorker.com/arts/critics/at...

posted by papalaz at 11:54 am (EST) on Feb 27, 2009

nice piece here on Damon Runyon - I like his stuff a lot - even thought about doing something in that style myself one day

posted by papalaz at 11:54 am (EST) on Feb 27, 2009

Larry - House Mother Normal went in the post today - let me know how long it takes to get to you.

BTW have you read any Upton Sinclair? I've heard a lot about him recently and some of the prose I heard read out on radio reminded me somewhat of Robbe Grillet in its fine grain detailing - any views?

Also was doing some research on Kathy Acker recently and discovered that when she died she had amassed 30,000 books in her library !!!! Wowee!

New addition to the Future of the Book thread is a piece from Salon on how amazon could change the entire publishing industry - and not in a good way

posted by papalaz at 9:13 am (EST) on Feb 27, 2009

Hi Larry! I just finished The Lost Steps and left a little off-the-top-of-my-head review. I did enjoy the book! And now it's on to P. West as I try to read too much too fast with too much distraction. I'd like to know how you manage to get through so much with such thoughtful results......
Peggy

posted by LizzieD at 11:23 am (EST) on Feb 26, 2009

Happy weekmiddle!
Peggy

posted by LizzieD at 11:00 pm (EST) on Feb 23, 2009

Larry - American Rust sounds like a good one. Re HMN - was that a yes or a no to me sending it?

BTW - the Future of the Book thread is ongoing and I've posted a couple of external links recently to interesting takes on the thing

posted by papalaz at 7:41 am (EST) on Feb 23, 2009

Larry - just found I have an extra copy of House Mother Normal - do you have one?

posted by papalaz at 5:13 am (EST) on Feb 22, 2009

Thanks, Larry - another entry for me to archive for later reference. I knew generally what the Rich Hours is about but not how dark it is. I also just did about 30 seconds of research to learn that Dietrich Bonhoeffer had some contact with the conspirators. He gets kudos from me even though apparently his credibility is not high in the Jewish community. I have to finish something before I start reading the book - even something light will do, and I always have a scifi and a mystery going somewhere.
I found at least one Angela Carter, Heroes and Villains from 1969. For some reason I thought she was younger than that. AND on the strength of your review, I ordered The Stone Carvers, one of my penny delights from amp. I look forward to its arrival along with another couple of things. (I don't buy books or CD's during Lent. I'm not sure what virtue there is in that since I really stock up before Lent arrives.....)
Wishing you a restful, entertaining weekend!
Peggy

posted by LizzieD at 6:21 pm (EST) on Feb 20, 2009

It's always nice to hear from you, Larry. I've been buried in volunteer paperwork and not reading much this week, but the lovely thing about retirement is that I'll be back soon! I'm looking forward to the Very Rich Hours, but not yet! This weekend I'll hope to get back to Anathem and The Lost Steps and maybe The Mammoth Cheese by Sheri Holman, my current necessary woman's voice.
Hmmmm. I have some Angela Carter. Wonder where she is? And I'm off to look at your review of Stone Carvers.
Thanks, friend. Happy weekend!
Peggy

posted by LizzieD at 10:56 pm (EST) on Feb 19, 2009

Hola Larry-

I just read the 2666 review you did, very thorough and, as i have been reacting to most of the reviews i have read, it might not surpass Savage Detectives which I ABSOLUTELY adored.

Regarding ClubRead- you are all speed readers or live to read. I LOVE reading but am currently distracted by a long commute (2.5 hours per day) and a meandering eye- staying up with the weekly New Yorkers is often enough to do.

I recently finished What Is THe What by Dave Eggers which was excellent and am now reading Denis Johnson's Jesus' Son- the 2nd story was amazing.

I will try to keep up with the March Theme Read on Reading Globally which is on Argentina- my adopted 2nd country. My Cousin Sophie, an English Lit tenured teacher at Stuyvesant High School in NYC (many consider it the best High School in America) and a Yalie- is now on break in Argentina and LOVING IT - she hooked up with a friend of mine- a cousin of an old schoolmate - who leant her a cell phone for the week and it is, in the end, the people of Buenos Aires along with teh European influence which is the main attraction.

For the March Theme Read I am planning to start with EDrnesto Sabato's The Tunnel - did you hear that he is on the "short list" for the Nobel Prize.

Did your daughter make any decisions yet- March 1 is right around the corner.

Ciao mi amigo, Bert

posted by berthirsch at 4:13 pm (EST) on Feb 18, 2009

Wow - thanx Larry - great review

posted by papalaz at 4:33 am (EST) on Feb 18, 2009

BTW Lary Helen de Witt joined the New of the book discussion

posted by papalaz at 12:27 pm (EST) on Feb 15, 2009

Yeah the acting was great and the location looked spectacular.

I love Angela Carter--one of our very best. And short stories are her forte. Salman Rushdie's Midnight's Children bored me senseless and John Banville lost me a s a reader some years back. I've heard good things of the Norwegian

As to Eduardo Galeano--I've read the whole trilogy and it is brilliant - I love the format and his writing - truly excellent.

posted by papalaz at 12:25 pm (EST) on Feb 15, 2009

We watched In Bruges recently and loved it - the script was brilliant and his dialogue is beautifully accurate

posted by papalaz at 7:37 am (EST) on Feb 15, 2009

Great review Larry - I prefer Atrocity Exhibition too - structurally much more interesting. Have you seen the Cronenberg film of Crash? He makes a decent fist of it. Not great but not bad.

posted by papalaz at 3:32 pm (EST) on Feb 13, 2009

First review of my latest is in - from a reader:

"I am exhausted

You are sooooo hyper, I became breathless whilst reading,

But never have I seen so much - Swearing
Sweat
Sick
Shit

in one novel....but its gripping"

Is that good or bad I wonder?

posted by papalaz at 3:29 pm (EST) on Feb 13, 2009

I think that what Fidel has done for the Cuban people is remarkable and more so when you consider the burden that the US embargo has placed those people under. His record on education and health is second to none. His record on what we declare as human rights much less so but when I look at the rolling back of personal privacy and autonomy in the name of the "War on Terror" I can see how it came to pass. It is also interesting that Castro implememnted a model of democracy that differs significantly from our own but has a lot to commend it.

US foreign policy in this area (and much of Latin America) has, from outside always looked like the behaviour of a spoiled playground bully and I would draw attention to Guantanamo. No - not the prison camp - the naval base that the US has imposed on Cuba despite it's protestations over 50 years. If Obama were serious he'd clear all US presence from areas where it is not welcome and would start with Guantanamo.

I take your point about exiled communities forcing the hand of domestic politicians and nod sadly when you mention the Jewish/Zionist lobby.I also see your parallel with Northern Ireland politics in the UK but do not consider that issue as settled by a long way - the right answer would have been to give northern Ireland back to Ireland.

I hope you are right when you say "The page has turned there and hopefully a page will turn here as well".

posted by papalaz at 9:18 am (EST) on Feb 12, 2009

Hi Larry - being a nosy sod I just read a couple of notes to you that mention my opinion on history - only to disagree with it! I think it's fascinating this socialising nature of the internetwebthingy. BTW the Castro book I was referring to is called Nothing Can Stop the Tide of History - a very soundly argued work. http://www.librarything.com/work/1084251... - LOL only one other LT member has a copy!

posted by papalaz at 12:08 pm (EST) on Feb 11, 2009

Larry - thanx for joining in on that thread - it's getting interesting now

As to Obama - I hope to hell that he does put the population ahead of vested interests - it would help us all. Someone once said to me that all cynics are disappointed romantics. As a young man I was very politically active and saw the insides (the cancerous regions) of a few political organisations and as such my skepticism is high. Yet and all I remain an optimist.

I look forward to your review with some excitement and trepidation!

Have you seen this - http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment... - re Updike's final work? A little like The Lavender Way perhaps?

posted by papalaz at 12:01 pm (EST) on Feb 11, 2009

I think that being alive gives us a lot to cope with! I read because I have to. I can remember being pre-kindergarten, sitting with a book and trying my damndest to make the black marks on the page become a story - and my mama walking by and turning the book right-side up.
(amp is Amazon Marketplace..... I think most of the sellers make their money from the standard $3.99 shipping fee. I'm always jazzed when I can find something I want for a penney + shipping.)
(I had a nasty e-bay experience with PayPal, and haven't felt like giving them my business since. I have at least heard of Half.com, but what I like about amc is that only Amazon has my credit card info. I don't know why I'm so protective of the poor little thing, a function of my age and Scottish heritage, I expect.)
So now I am off to see your review of *Infinite Jest* and then I do believe I'll read a little! I'm getting into Lost Steps....
---uh---if individuals don't make a difference in the world, who/what does? I don't know anything at all about economics, but otherwise, I have a hard time faulting BO so far.

posted by LizzieD at 5:53 pm (EST) on Feb 10, 2009

Hey Larry - thanks for your message. I actually added you after stumbling upon your review of Infinite Jest, which I enjoyed. Then, of course, I found your profile and your huge library and it was like a late christmas present! I think i'll have some fun going through it and your reviews to find some new gems.

ps I disagree with papalaz- we have to believe that determined individuals can make a difference.

pps glad you liked my Rand review. I don't think I will ever forget reading that book and the internal monologues that I had at the time, trying to work out my thoughts and feelings about her desired world order. As one of society's "over-achievers", I understood the appeal of her thesis and some of what she had to say resonated, but ultimately good old-fashioned reason won the day. My husband read it straight after I had finished with it, and it provoked some interesting discussions between us.

I find the polarising effect this book has on people intriguing. On any given favourite book list, there will always be Rand-lovers in the comments page declaring the list bogus for lack of Rand's inclusion and various other responses declaring her books the worst ever written and her fans idiots. She clearly did something right. It is the marmite of the book world!

posted by Pummzie at 3:38 pm (EST) on Feb 10, 2009

Larry, how gratifying that you like some of the entries in The Lavender Way - I'm really looking forward to your review.

I've just started a thread here that I'd like you to take part in - http://www.librarything.com/topic/57428 - it could get interesting

As to Obama I'm afraid I'm with Castro on this one - individual men do not make history - history selects men. Personaly I have little to no faith that BO will make any significant difference to world affairs unless the real powers that be want such change to happen - and that I do not see. Obama seems like a nice enough guy but he isn't likely to make much difference.

My sciatica has been much better this year! Now I'm pushing 60!

posted by papalaz at 2:47 pm (EST) on Feb 10, 2009

Thank you for the links, Larry. Now I see why your first "Interesting Library" belongs to my new friend Miriam. It's a great big world out there, and I think I'll put Meredith aside for as long as it takes me to read *The Lost Steps* which Miriam recommended and I bought. What a lot of work you put in - and how great to give yourself the opportunity to find out what you really think by writing it down - or is that only the way my mind works? I'll be back.
(Meanwhile, I'm compiling lists for when prices come down at amp. I know other people have had bad experiences there, but I've never been burned, and I like giving business to non-chain bookstores and keeping my credit card info in one place.) Thanks!!
Peggy
(Meanwhile, I'm suffering through a nasty cold which has turned to fever this afternoon and has gotten into my eyes so that I can't read more than a page or two at a time. Not fun.)

posted by LizzieD at 1:17 pm (EST) on Feb 10, 2009

Well, common wisdom says that the most expensive schools give the best financial aid. I trust that Tara will be happy and thrive with her choice.
Meanwhile, I'm on my way to look at *Conversations in the Cathedral.* I don't know why it hadn't occurred to me to look for more by VLl. I also need to look on the shelf to see whether I can find the non-fiction account of the war ----.
I think I don't envy your being in upstate NY - even with friendly professorial booksellers. Too cold..... We've had snow on the ground twice this year and that's really plenty. (I think I'm bragging. I'll stop.)
Peggy

posted by LizzieD at 10:48 pm (EST) on Feb 9, 2009

Larry, it's fascinating to peek into other people's lives, isn't it! I'm sorry for your work schedule - at least when I was doing my 9 hours at school every day, it was 7:00-4:30 (with a whole 20 minutes for lunch). I also sort of envy your being in NYC where friendly professors can open bookstores and guide a reader to South America. My nearest bookstore is in Fayetteville, the army town, some way up the road. I don't make it up there with any regularity, and the only guidance I get is what I fall into as I said earlier.
I have read here and there in SA and have opinions based on nothing much.... *War of the End of the World* continues to be my favorite SA novel; I really had to force my way through *100 Years* (Sorry. I know many people love it better than any other book in the whole world. I just thought the language was self-indulgent. In fact, I wrote a parody of it that nobody appreciated but me.) I thought *Love ---- Cholera* was a lot better. So it goes. As for French, I haven't read much past the existentialists, so I'll maybe get back to France at some point in my retirement. It's a good thing. No. It's a wonderful thing. The trick is to live small enough to be able to afford not to work part-time. So far, so good.
Meanwhile, I'm hoping that your children are getting a real education unlike what passes for one here.
Back to Meredith, whom I've neatly avoided all day.

posted by LizzieD at 7:00 pm (EST) on Feb 9, 2009

I can't pretend to be up on anything but the classic British and American texts. When I stumble on somebody like Murakami, it's just that. I do think that you'd find Wind-up Bird satisfyingly modern, and I thought that the translation was wonderful. If the Japanese is a lot better, then Murakami is better than I think. *Kafka* ( a retelling of Oedipus) is not as successful, but still worthwhile. I see that we also share *Soul Mountain.* Again, I just happened on it; didn't particularly "like" it; couldn't stop reading it, so that was another lucky find.
Thank you for mentioning Oe. In fact, your list of favorite authors is an invitaton to buy more books, and I'm adding yours to my "interesting libraries" list with your permission. (My husband will not thank you.)(Same husband, btw, was stationed on the Eastern Shore of Maryland on a CG cutter in the Viet Nam era.)
Currently, I'm trying - again - to read George Meredith, *The Egoist.* I believe I can discipline myself this time to make it through, but so far (and that's not very far), I could put this one down without a qualm. An English major ought to have read at least one Meredith. And I have *Anathem* by Neal Stephenson that we don't share, that I really want to read, but he requires some concentration..... Retirement is splendid!
Peggy

posted by LizzieD at 10:24 am (EST) on Feb 9, 2009

Actually, since the 62 books we share are wonderful, I'd say that's a pretty good thing!
My first Richard Powers was *Goldbug Variations.* I'm a musician of sorts, so I loved the Bach part of that. The same is true for *The Time of our Singing.* He always seems to weave at least 2 content areas into the plot. I also enjoyed *Gain* less than *EM.* My least favorite so far is *Plowing the Dark.* He gets a little mystical, or maybe just fuzzy, so that one didn't work as well for me although I still read it with pleasure.
I see that you are a Bolano fan. I'm waiting until I can afford *2666* from amp; soon, I hope. I'm surprised that you don't own *Wind-up Bird Chronicle* or *Kafka on the Shore.* I think that Murakami is amazing - esp. *W-UBC.*
There you have my few cents worth; I'll be glad any time you have some mental money to spend at my place!
Peggy

posted by LizzieD at 8:58 pm (EST) on Feb 8, 2009

Dear Larry,

I hope you like it!

Regards
Tim

posted by timjones at 12:31 am (EST) on Feb 8, 2009

Thanks for your *Echo Maker* review. I don't think I have much of his stuff catalogued, but I do love his work. Otherwise, we don't seem to have a whole lot in common, but I'm always interested in piling up new books.
Peggy

posted by LizzieD at 7:16 pm (EST) on Feb 7, 2009

Larry - just saw this and thought - lordy I could go on for ever on this topic -
http://news.bbc.co.uk/today/hi/today/new...

posted by papalaz at 12:56 pm (EST) on Feb 4, 2009

Hi Larry, I'm reading the Celine biog and boy is it slowing me down - fascinating stuff tho' I think the writer assumes rather a lot of foreknowledge - maybe too much for a Celine ingenue.

BTW - I finished today the online novel competition that I've been taking part in - if you check out my blog - http://poundemonium.blogspot.com/2009/02... - for today there is a complete list of the headline episodes/

We are having warm sunny weather here - and you?

posted by papalaz at 12:41 pm (EST) on Feb 4, 2009

Sorry, I've only just noticed the post you left on my Club Read thread about Bolano - I didn't read back far enough. I like your jigsaw puzzle analogy. What amazed me was how he can juggle all those different voices and keep them quite distinct. Have you read anything else of his? (I see you added 2666 to your library recently). I plan to, but perhaps not for a little while. I have a habit of devouring everything I can get my hands on when I find a writer I like, but this time I'm trying to pace myself...

Rachel

posted by rachbxl at 12:33 pm (EST) on Jan 28, 2009

Larry,

What did you have in mind when you said "your review needs just a little bit of cleaning up"?

Interesting and accurate observation of yours that Auster's a Europeanized American writer.Personally I think he is a indeed a very good writer but I differ as to whether he will ever do anything really great. In fact in my book his New York Trilogy is a better book/work than anything Roth has managed. It's only an opinion mind you. As for McEwen - I've given up on him doing anything significant now that he is churning stuff out on a publisher's schedule. British modern fiction is being destroyed by the book a year or so demands. Frankly after one or two books the only experience they have to write from is all used up.

posted by papalaz at 11:05 am (EST) on Jan 27, 2009

Larry, reviewed Paul Auster's Moon Palace

posted by papalaz at 12:15 pm (EST) on Jan 26, 2009

thanks- i'm sold on 2666. will buy it after the move.

posted by berthirsch at 11:31 am (EST) on Jan 26, 2009

well thanks again- we will probably (finally) get to the apt by May. I have not yet bought 2666, have read most of everything I can about it and I look forward to see what you think. Right now I am reluctant to take on 900+pages but I am pretty sure I will not be able to resist for too long.

sounds like your daughter will have a few really good schools to choose from;an exciting time in her life (and yours).

let me know if you make it down here in Feb.

ciao mi amigo

PS there is an interesting Group theme on Reading Globally-in March they are doing a thing on Argentina

posted by berthirsch at 4:34 pm (EST) on Jan 25, 2009

Hey Larry- i just opened my mailbox and found a package/present form you: Allistair MacLeod's No Great Mischief- I am unfamiliar with his writing but it looks good, again, thank you so much.

I must put INfinite Jest on my must read list. I am so glad to hear that you are enjoying Oscar wao- I thought it was just fabulous and have been recommending it at work. Also I read both Everyman and iNdignation and both were very good; Roth is a true maestro- worthy of the Nobel Prize...have you read The Ghost Writer yet- another shorter novel.

hope the winter is not too brutal- another frigid blast coming tonight- good time to light the fire and read a good book.

I am finishing up What Is The What- Dave Eggers- very good!

posted by berthirsch at 6:42 pm (EST) on Jan 24, 2009

great review of The Unfortunates Larry

posted by papalaz at 12:41 pm (EST) on Jan 23, 2009

excellent - I think Arno would agree with that one - as do I

posted by papalaz at 5:19 am (EST) on Jan 23, 2009

You packed them really well and they are in such good nick ! ! I love people who respect books.

Re writers' lives : Joyce was a bit of a jerk, BSJ was a bit of a jerk, Genet was a lot of a jerk, Celine likewise but if you read Flann O'Brien's biography he seems to have been nothing but a jerk. Beckett on the other hand appears to have been a diamond. I don't expect great artists to be nice people - it's not likely - I'm not such a nice guy myself.

posted by papalaz at 1:20 pm (EST) on Jan 22, 2009

Larry, picked up the books from the PO this morning. So generous of you. I look forward to reading them both - hope you are well and bearing up thru winter

Papalaz

posted by papalaz at 7:30 am (EST) on Jan 22, 2009

Larry,

I have just read a number of your reviews and must compliment you on their thoughtfulness. You give the reader faced with a huge mountain of TBR books just enough commentary to make the choice easier and of course you prompt the purchase of new books, for which you should not be getting thanked :-). Thanks.

posted by polutropos at 11:28 am (EST) on Jan 20, 2009

Hi Larry, it's strange thinking of you reading the stuff I wrote then - it was where I really worked out a lot of pastiche and parody and stuff to get myself properly muscled up for real writing tho having looked thru it recently I'm still pleased with it.

Are you enjoying The Unfortunates"? I sure hope so.

Re Eco - I love his semiotics but think him a second rate novellist - I think his translators do him a lot of favours. Mind you - my Finnish friend has just finished his MA on The Name of the Rose which I did like a lot.

Just listened to a wonderful review of 2666? Bolano - the woman reviewing it was pretty much creaming her jeans!!!

As to the swearing - I went to a boys only school and then did 12 years in a male only environment - my father likewise worked in a men-only job so I think it got imprinted on me at a very early stage

posted by papalaz at 2:48 pm (EST) on Jan 19, 2009

Hi Larry - nothing yet but we'll be going again around Thursday this week (no w/e service here)- glad to hear it hasn't been returned. Plus we are harvesting olives right now so it's all hands to the pump during daylight hours.

I've not seen the Jonathon Coe intro to The Unfortunates but I assume it's in my newer copy - might check it out.

Hope you enjoyed the entry on swearing - I barely recall having written it and had to look it up in my own copy - sounds like you're like me with the liberal spattering of daily speech with gratuitous "swearing" or simple "common" language as it really is.

BTW - got a shock today - Adrian McKinty whose book (The Bloomsday Dead) I reviewed (not unreservedly favourably) recently, posted a comment on the review on my blog - http://poundemonium.blogspot.com/2009/01...

Will let you know when the post is next checked!!!

Papalaz

posted by papalaz at 11:18 am (EST) on Jan 19, 2009

Larry - great review - I think I'd better look for a hardback copy - I genuinely look forward to reading this one - over and over maybe

posted by papalaz at 11:58 am (EST) on Jan 14, 2009

Larry - Infinite Jest is top of my list right now - might get someone to bring one over in the early spring.

re. the political commentary -- yeah I realsie that that will hapen but in a sense it dates the book in a god way - as in putting it firmly in historical time and given the rate of change that's not sych a bad thing AFAIC

re: Powell - yeah he was as we say - done up like a turkey - but do I see Hilary making a better fist of it than Condy? - not really

re olives - LOL we live in an olive grove and at this time of year (olive harvest) I'm no great lover of them but sunce they provide our cooking and eating oil I suppose I ought not complain - and BTW we have 3 cherry trees not one of which has fruited yet (the locals tell us we're too low but we shall see)

posted by papalaz at 7:38 am (EST) on Jan 14, 2009

thanx for that Larry - I shall start visiting my post office regularly from next week - building a decent TBR shelf for 2009 now

posted by papalaz at 1:10 pm (EST) on Jan 9, 2009

its too bad you don't work on our little team- egalitarian we all work hard to make sure that we are all "empowered" in our work setting with a common cause to treat our veterans with dignity and respect. on a small setting this kind of ethic is possible but it needs to be protected and closed off from the larger institution which does tend towards a top heavy viewpoint, the administrators making sure that their little universes are untouched by cuts and sacrifice.

the social worker in me is alive and well.

posted by berthirsch at 6:44 pm (EST) on Jan 6, 2009

did you hear the NPR broadcast this am on the Postal Service- it was interesting.

posted by berthirsch at 11:55 am (EST) on Jan 6, 2009

sounds like you have some interesting stuff coming up - re Colin Wilson see if you can find a copy of The Killer

posted by papalaz at 3:26 pm (EST) on Jan 3, 2009

Just reviewed Derek Raymond's final book.

posted by papalaz at 5:33 am (EST) on Jan 3, 2009

I've skimmed it and the layout must have been a nightmare for the printer - not as bad as BSJ's book that has the hole thru the pages but a bugger nonetheless but I am worried - my copy is a paperback and I'm not sure it's that well made that it will survive multiple readings!!! We shall see.

I'm no churl and since you are offering I'll take a copy of the Celine biography and the Lobo Atunes please - ta very much

BTW - I've just started an email discussion with Helen de Witt re hypertext - let's see how that goes.

PS the ebook 6 or 2 3s has now been downloaded 100 time - wow

Have a great 2009

posted by papalaz at 12:11 pm (EST) on Jan 1, 2009

its amazing how in a bureaucratic org. the people who reach the top fit a certain personality type- much as the supervisor you describe- i have met her/him over and over again. i do belive that the Peter Principle is quite common- that people keep getting promoted until they reach a position within which they are clearly incompetent. I have several candiadtes in my hospital for The Peter Principle Poster Contest.

my survival instinct w/in the bureaucracy is to keep my head down - fly below the radar, avoid any/all meetings I possibly can and relate well to those w/in my immediate environs and especially supervise down-making sure those who are responsible to you are satisfied and less concern at supervising up to those above me.

so much for my work philosophy- I read a lot of Irving Goffman, Max Weber and kafka in college.

happy new year!

posted by berthirsch at 9:25 am (EST) on Jan 1, 2009

i am sorry to say i have not read Vollman although i did get a copy of his ice-shirt on bookmooch...alas so many books to read with so little time.

wishing you a most healthy new year and don't let the post office get you down...in this economy its good to be working...i , too, am now planning to hump it for 6 more years...thank g-d my position is ideal- the many years i have under my belt has resulted in "good credit"- at times it almost feels like the job runs on its own- BUT- i always end up getting humbled by a particular case/situation.

happy new year!!!!

posted by berthirsch at 7:39 am (EST) on Dec 31, 2008

I just read your comment on the Club Read music thread - I almost fell over from the shock that someone else listens to the Fatima Mansions.

posted by jargoneer at 7:02 pm (EST) on Dec 30, 2008

an interseting question- off the top of my head no one comes to mind. this particular book has a reportage kind of feeling to it...it depicts the story in real time with flashbacks and is a narrative by the main character-Valentino Achak Deng- one of the Lost Boys of Sudan-hundreds of whom have found their way to the USA and form a tight network amongst themselves.

Maybe Tom Wolfe or Truman Capote-this is a form of the new journalism - a fictionalized account of real events.

posted by berthirsch at 7:16 pm (EST) on Dec 29, 2008

Larry - great interview here with Helen de Witt - http://www.futureofthebook.org/blog/arch... - she seems so sympathetic to my own views as a writer that it is scary - and where she talks of David as her editor reminds me of you to me

posted by papalaz at 11:13 am (EST) on Dec 29, 2008

and , of course, i wish you and your family a very happy holiday and healthy new year.

currently reading What is the What by dave Eggers- very engaging.

all the best, bert

posted by berthirsch at 9:39 am (EST) on Dec 26, 2008

good postal service you have - hope you enjoy it - one day I'll sign it for you

posted by papalaz at 1:34 pm (EST) on Dec 25, 2008

another list you might like here - http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/global/... - I disagree violently with a lot of it

posted by papalaz at 8:27 am (EST) on Dec 21, 2008

Larry - good review of the De Witt - I'll be looking for a copy during 2009 on the strength of your review.
Your work sounds fun but inconvenient - and no wonder you empathised with Bukowski.

As for your opinion of my work let me explain: I have never before had anyone review my stuff whose opinion I both valued and trusted so to have someone whose taste in literature is so like my own opine that it is worth me continuing is no small thing. I know well that those who have more traditional tastes find a lot of my work baffling and not to their liking and I had all but given up on the notion that I would find a kindred spirit to say such nice things about my travails. So - once more thanx.

posted by papalaz at 9:57 am (EST) on Dec 10, 2008

Larry, I am sitting here blushing and with tears in my eyes - I can hardly believe that you took so much trouble over 6 or 2 3s - I am flattered immeasurably. Thank you for your kind words which seem to me to be completely honest and considered. I shall take your observations to heart.

Re your work schedule - it sounds like a nightmare that is about to get worse- OMT - my working days are done, thank Turing, at least my days of working for money. I wish you strength in these difficult times.

Saw this oday and it chimed with my outlook s a writer so I thought I'd share it with you - http://www.languagehat.com/archives/0033...

Derek

posted by papalaz at 2:34 pm (EST) on Dec 8, 2008

Hi Larry:

You mention in another thread that you have "something on the line of Russian literature in the Stalin and post Stalin years." If you have it easily available, I would love the link. I am in a group which started out as a Dostoevsky group but I suspect will soon enough spread out throughout Russian literature, so this could be very useful eventually.

Thanks,

A.

posted by polutropos at 11:26 am (EST) on Dec 7, 2008

oh..keeping the ax in the family is fine, of course! We keep all sorts of books around on the assumption that sometime our son might want them for one reason or another. Guitars are just more idiosyncratic and can be far more aesthetically lovely instruments than the electric Yamaha pianos we have. A nice grand can be gorgeous..but we don't have the room and who the hell wants to move one?

posted by bobmcconnaughey at 9:46 pm (EST) on Dec 6, 2008

one sad fact of life, learned belatedly..NEVER sell an instrument you love. I had a lovely, hollow body Gibson electric jazz guitar, circa 1946, that I sold when i bought a Hammond M3 for the band i played in. Though the guitar was far more than i deserved musically; it WAS a gorgeous instrument in every sense of the word and i wish i still had it. And then the Gibson melody maker I half ruined attempting to replace the pickup.

posted by bobmcconnaughey at 6:29 pm (EST) on Dec 6, 2008

Larry, just when I was out of new books this: http://www.amazon.com/review/product/189... turns up in the post - excellent

posted by papalaz at 6:55 am (EST) on Dec 5, 2008

Charles Bukowski and hte US Post Office:

http://quarterlyconversation.com/post-of...

posted by berthirsch at 12:26 pm (EST) on Dec 1, 2008

Larry - just put my first ebook together - 3 poems and 3 short stories - http://www.feedbooks.com/userbook/2515

posted by papalaz at 8:28 am (EST) on Dec 1, 2008

LOL - poverty and location are the keys - I have plenty of re-reading available and yes Ulysses is up there on the list - haven't read it for 3 years now (and that might be a record)

posted by papalaz at 8:19 am (EST) on Dec 1, 2008

HI Larry and thanx for your kind words. Re plot: I find not having a plot a positive advantage and only mentioned it to clarify things. I agrre of course that he Kelman is vastly superior to Doyle and also to Welsh although there is one Welsh book you should read - Marabou Stork Nightmare - which is superior to the rest of his stuff. I'm reading Angel's Ashes at present and what a dreary contrast it makes to the Kelman - if I had anything else around unread I'd drop the McCourt tomorrow. Still Xmas is coming so I live in hope.

posted by papalaz at 9:16 am (EST) on Nov 30, 2008

Infinite Jest is one I plan to get...I just read an interseting review that Wallace did on the Borges bio by Edwin Williamson- Borges On THe Couch-NY Times Nov 7,2004-while not overly complimentary about the bio it has some fabulous insights into Borges- agreat little article.e all in.

Don't you love do the college visits- when we went with Logan 4 years ago I kept on fanatsizing going to each one.

By March or April I should be back in Manhattan.

have a happy healthy new year.

i am still very pumped up on Barack even though I realize what a huge mess we (the world) are in.

posted by berthirsch at 8:50 pm (EST) on Nov 29, 2008

Larry - just reviewed A Disaffection - I loved the book and didn't do it justice in the review

posted by papalaz at 3:23 pm (EST) on Nov 29, 2008

Larry - I wish you and your family a good Holiday.

posted by berthirsch at 11:44 am (EST) on Nov 26, 2008

Hi Larry:

The two book parcels I sent to the US at the same time as yours have now arrived. Has yours? And did I in fact put in the Diaz signing picture, or did I forget? I know I forgot to include a short story by him which I set aside for you, but that will be included next time.

Andrew

posted by polutropos at 12:52 pm (EST) on Nov 25, 2008

i confess that i am currently "in love" with Barack- i think he is an exceptional person...did you catch the 60 Minutes interviews? he and michelle are very real, focused and centered.

posted by berthirsch at 12:51 pm (EST) on Nov 18, 2008

Larry, I'm with you vis a vis her dualist analysis - I think it's overly simplistic. As to her writing talents - I think they are slim and somewhat in an american rather than English mode - not one of my favourites and I wouldn't bother with another of her books.

I sent the article mainly for her views on The Atrocity Exhibition

posted by papalaz at 2:43 pm (EST) on Nov 15, 2008

Larry - you may have seen this already but I thought I'd bring i to your attention - http://www.nybooks.com/articles/22083

posted by papalaz at 2:42 pm (EST) on Nov 14, 2008

i see Begich is now ahead- i am starting to believe that the world is at a tipping point!

posted by berthirsch at 6:25 pm (EST) on Nov 13, 2008

Larry - I have Infinite Jest on my amazon wishlist so fingers crossed for xmas! Sounds wonderful. I cannot recall whether I have told you about Serpent's Tail ( http://www.serpentstail.com/ ) before but I just took delivery of my first order - it arrived in 10 days and was shipping free - and looking over their growing list I found quite a few things that really interested me - check out their World Literature section!

posted by papalaz at 10:55 am (EST) on Nov 13, 2008

your Alaskan observations sound quite saavy- have you seen it reported in the media- if not - you should write to The Nation, HuffingtonPost, daily Kos, etc.

posted by berthirsch at 12:31 pm (EST) on Nov 10, 2008

Great review Larry - I put it on my wish list on that basis. I'm currently reading the Kellman A Disaffection and really enjoying it. Have you read my blog recently? Reviews (kind of ) of the two exhibitions we went to in London.

posted by papalaz at 12:15 pm (EST) on Nov 10, 2008

i couldn't be more thrilled with the results am in big time hope that obama will fulfill much of what we all expect of him. i am impressed with the preciseness of your pre-election calls and only in Alaska , i believe , would they elect a convicted felon...if palin even thinks she can deal with being a US Senator (let aloneVP) she's got a rude awakening waiting.

posted by berthirsch at 11:45 am (EST) on Nov 7, 2008

a new day has arrived, i feel uplifted. a black vet who comes to my program told me was pleasantly surprised this morning when all these white people in his neighborhood all of a sudden were wishing him a "good morning".

the symbolism of Obama's win can not be overstated.

posted by berthirsch at 1:20 pm (EST) on Nov 5, 2008

Hey IRiley,
I didn't say that I wanted to see our Country blown up again
just so I could say, I told you so four years later. I only
said that Bush must be doing something right because it has now been over seven years and we haven't been attacked again. And
I also said that I hope Obama is only a one-term President and that if anythng goes wrong next time people won't have the Republicans to blame. Because next time people can blame the Democrats 100% since they control the House, Senate and now also the White House too.

Beatles1964

posted by beatles1964 at 1:07 pm (EST) on Nov 5, 2008

Definitely push the Coover up the list - you will love it - it is brilliant. Good job we don't worry about the market value although it might be fun for LibraryThing to show you your ten most valuable books! The Kelmann is next on my list - thanx for the heads up.

Think you are talking about Henri "le douanier" Rousseau - some good stuff. The Rothko exhibition literally made me cry, gasp, and took my breath from me as well as slowing my heartbeat to a trickle - a physical response like certain pieces of music - amazing stuff!!!!! http://www.tate.org.uk/modern/exhibition... - the size, density and transposition of the pieces is magisterial - this guy does it for me - like Jussi Bjorling's voice

posted by papalaz at 1:59 pm (EST) on Nov 1, 2008

Crash is another great book. London was cold, crowded and it snowed. However, we saw everyone we wanted to, nobody we didn't want to see and got to see exhibitions by both Rothko (breathtaking) and Bacon (stunning). Brought back a couple of B S Johnson firsts and another Kelmann as well as a Greek book I've been looking for in translation for years and a first of Coover's Gerald's Party (which is a spectacular book) - all ex-libris but nice to have

posted by papalaz at 12:28 pm (EST) on Nov 1, 2008

Greta review Larry - you liked it then?

Just got back from London where a very good friend gave me a few things he had found for me - I'll post more in a day or two when the craziness setlles - sounds like you got a few bargains at the latest sale

posted by papalaz at 11:12 pm (EST) on Oct 31, 2008

I think he's wonderful. He's one of those interesting writers where there is no one book which seems outstanding, and yet taken as a whole his body of work just seems essential. I suppose Riddley Walker is the famous one, and it is excellent, although not really representative. I find him very creatively inspiring – and like a true expat, he writes brilliantly about his adopted home, London.

posted by Widsith at 2:17 pm (EST) on Oct 30, 2008

Just wanted to say how much I relished your review of The Atrocity Exhibition. I clicked through to read some of your others and thought they were all sensitive and insightful. I am awed by your library, and I must say it's amazing and inspiring to see an American reader with such a deep understanding of and interest in European literature. I'll definitely be keeping an eye on your reading list! Cheers.

posted by Widsith at 4:21 am (EST) on Oct 30, 2008

RANGERS_caught the last 8 minutes of regulation and then ot and shoot-out- what a great exciting win against Pitt. they are racking up the points so far.

posted by berthirsch at 12:14 pm (EST) on Oct 26, 2008

just got your French care package- looks like a real treat. its so nice of you.

i just finished Roth's new INDIGNATION...a novella , not very deep, a minor work but worth reading- it is very short and easy to digest.

posted by berthirsch at 5:24 pm (EST) on Oct 23, 2008

Yup - an artist and director (won the Turner a few years back).

Re Irish history have you seen The Wind that Shakes the Barley? Truly wonderful film about the black and tans

posted by papalaz at 1:33 pm (EST) on Oct 20, 2008

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steve_McQue...(artist) LOL

posted by papalaz at 8:41 am (EST) on Oct 19, 2008

Larry - I do not envy you having to vote in that election and yes you are so right about whoever you vote for letting you down!

Re my previous I heard about an upcoming review of the Steve McQueen movie Hunger - but it isn't the Hamsun novel but a tale of the Irish Famine - at least this time I know

posted by papalaz at 3:03 pm (EST) on Oct 18, 2008

Larry - The Jade Cabinet is very good.

This might give you a laugh - heard a trailer on radio4 today for the arts programme later on when they would review Oliver Stone's new film W. You can prbably guess that I sat down expecting to hear how Stone had tackled this great Perec work only to be disappointed and disabused - the film is about Monkey Boy Bush - and is not, so the reviewers thought, even controversial let alone good! Such things happen - maybe I am too literary minded.

posted by papalaz at 3:21 am (EST) on Oct 18, 2008

Larry- that would be great, please attach an invoice:

Bert Hirsch
39 Hickory Trail
Sparta, NJ 07871

posted by berthirsch at 4:58 pm (EST) on Oct 14, 2008

Long story Larry - when I said source I meant find a copy to buy. It appears that the original publisher was bought out and the new owners discontinued the book. It now transpires that the author bought all the unsold copies and is selling them himself. I made contact with him just after I wrote the last message.

I think your musings on the mystery of the Nobel are spot on and I'd agree with you about Marquez et al. I'd have to disagree on Roth but if we all liked the same things it's be a dull old world.

posted by papalaz at 4:20 am (EST) on Oct 10, 2008

Am trying to source a copy of this - http://paperpools.blogspot.com/search/la... - at the moment - it fascinates me

posted by papalaz at 4:14 pm (EST) on Oct 9, 2008

Programme on Radio4 this morning talking about "Why more Americans don't win the Nobel prize for literature" featured A S Byatt. When asked for an American writer deserving of the Nobel she said something to the effect that Philip Roth HAD to get the Nobel one day despite the fact that she is always desperately depressed when in his company. And that was it - no one else even mentioned!!! I did laugh though

posted by papalaz at 4:00 pm (EST) on Oct 9, 2008

Fascinating Fall list here - http://www.dalkeyarchive.com/news/show/1...

posted by papalaz at 12:50 pm (EST) on Oct 9, 2008

LeClezio it is - http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment...

posted by papalaz at 7:50 am (EST) on Oct 9, 2008

last roll of the dice - John Berger

posted by papalaz at 3:55 am (EST) on Oct 9, 2008

Larry - your latest reminded me of the excitement I had when I got my copy of The Atrocity Exhibition. I've never seen a hard bound copy but am fascinated. It is a great work - enjoy!

posted by papalaz at 3:39 pm (EST) on Oct 8, 2008

Re Lustig I particularly like Night and Hope. I think you are missing out with DuCornet - I'd recommend Phosphor in Dreamland and The Fountains of Neptune - she is a genuine talent

posted by papalaz at 3:39 am (EST) on Oct 6, 2008

last one for now - Rikki DuCornet

posted by papalaz at 3:05 pm (EST) on Oct 5, 2008

I would get seriously, happily drunk if Rios were to get it

posted by papalaz at 1:53 pm (EST) on Oct 5, 2008

Interesting ist that I assume the bookies drew up on their own - some real clunkers in there - writers I wouldn't spit on - nice to see William Gass on the list by why no Gaddis (is he dead already)? Lustig is good

posted by papalaz at 1:51 pm (EST) on Oct 5, 2008

Obama is looking very good, McCain looks like he is getting desperate and will blow the whole thing if he goes on the attack and does not address the serious issues our country (and the world) is now facing... your 250 is looking good.

you will definitely not be dissappointed in Diaz- he is fabulous! the book is now out in paperback so the hardcover prices should drop pretty quickly.

posted by berthirsch at 10:02 pm (EST) on Oct 4, 2008

Larry - have you read McGrotty and Ludmilla or The Fall of Kelvin Walker by Gray - both very good.

How about John Berger as an outsider for the Nobel?

posted by papalaz at 9:24 am (EST) on Oct 4, 2008

woops - forgot that Brian Moore was dead! I agree no dead people are likely to win.

posted by papalaz at 3:32 am (EST) on Oct 4, 2008

just put the Banville review up

posted by papalaz at 4:29 pm (EST) on Oct 3, 2008

for Ireland Brian Moore - they are leaking out slowly

posted by papalaz at 2:58 pm (EST) on Oct 3, 2008

from America Harry Matthews

posted by papalaz at 2:05 pm (EST) on Oct 3, 2008

Two outsiders for the Nobel - Alasdair Gray and Michel Tournier

posted by papalaz at 2:03 pm (EST) on Oct 3, 2008

A well thought out response Larry and thought provoking:

re the Americans - Roth no, Oates no, Auster not yet, McCarthy is a possibility as are Pynchon and De Lillo but of your list Coover really deserves it now that Sorrntino is dead especially as he confounds all the points made against American writers.

re the Canadians: Attwood is a possibility but I would not approve.

re the French: Le Clezio a definite possibility

re the British: James Kelman - yes but unlikely, J. G. Ballard would be my pick, Ian McEwen for me never, Jeanette Winterson a future yes. A. S. Byatt please no.

re the Irish: William Trevor - would be worthy . John Banville has yet to write the great book he is capable of (I'm currently struggling with a review of one of his books.

re the Spanish: Juan Goytisolo - must be up there in the next few years.

re the Italians: Antonio Tabucchi must be a runner, Umberto Eco - a novelist you are kidding me right?

re the Czech; Milan Kundera must be up there.
re the Portugese: don't know Antonio Lobo Antunes but Saramago must be a possible.

re Peru--Mario Vargas Llosa must be up there.

re Nigeria: Chinua Achebe must be up there.

re Australia: any of Thomas Keneally, David Malouf and Peter Carey must be due if Australia get it

posted by papalaz at 3:12 pm (EST) on Oct 2, 2008

Larry - just heard an interview with Tim Waterstone on Radio4 commenting on the busiest day in UK publishing. NOthing spectacular except his assertion that the UK has 800,000 books in print at any time - 5 times as many as the US!!! Cannot confirm this at present but it does make one think

posted by papalaz at 12:53 pm (EST) on Oct 2, 2008

I'll look out for the Saramago film thanx for the heads up. There is some fighting talk here : http://3quarksdaily.blogs.com/3quarksdai... from the Nobel committee - what's your take on the opinions?

posted by papalaz at 3:50 am (EST) on Oct 2, 2008

Larry - seems like Saramao has a blog - Portugese or Spanish - and I know you read Spanish - http://caderno.josesaramago.org/

posted by papalaz at 3:28 pm (EST) on Sep 30, 2008

The very same - maybe I was thinking more of grotesques when I penned it - certainly several of Genet's characters fit, Sologub's The Petty Demon, Lowry's Under the Volcano, a few guys from The Good Soldier Schwiek and one or two from Alasdair Gray's ouevre

posted by papalaz at 4:12 pm (EST) on Sep 28, 2008

Larry - this made me think - http://www.telegraph.co.uk/arts/main.jht... - where is Ignatius P Reilly in that list?

posted by papalaz at 12:53 pm (EST) on Sep 26, 2008

I'LL KEEP THAT CALENDER DATE IN MIND- it'll be great to be back in NYC for these kind of events.

if they don't sign the bailout the credit markets will freeze up - Buffet came out and supported it- i kind of trust him (he is big Obama guy) I do think they should restrict executive pay in any company that participates. it is a frigging mess!

posted by berthirsch at 12:50 pm (EST) on Sep 24, 2008

I can feel myself falling into a depressive phase again. I hope not. I'm wondering if I'm not somewhat bi-polar.

Thanks for the complement, but you know, it's so much easier when events bear out what one has said all along, than just being a "voice crying in the wilderness".

posted by geneg at 1:28 pm (EST) on Sep 20, 2008

likewise - 15 - did you see this? - http://www.nytimes.com/2006/08/20/sports...

posted by papalaz at 12:31 pm (EST) on Sep 19, 2008

Larry - Helen de Witt is on librarything - http://www.librarything.com/catalog/hele...

posted by papalaz at 11:39 am (EST) on Sep 17, 2008

currently trying to source a copy of this - http://paperpools.blogspot.com/search/la...

posted by papalaz at 3:34 pm (EST) on Sep 16, 2008

I noticed that too - Katherine O'Flynn helped do the obit for him on tonight's Radio 4 arts programme - very good - I have him listed. Forced to speculate I'd suggest that teaching creative writing would force any truly creative writer to suicide - I am so lucky not to have to earn a living from writing.

Re H DeWitt - this http://paperpools.blogspot.com/search/la... tickled me

posted by papalaz at 2:59 pm (EST) on Sep 15, 2008

That looks identical to the last copy I bought a few years back - the reprint. Have a look here at the 1969 prices - http://www.alibris.co.uk/booksearch?qwor...*listing*buyused

wow!

I think I liked Suttree too.

posted by papalaz at 3:38 pm (EST) on Sep 13, 2008

Larry - I love Albert Angelo too. It's a shame you aren't having any luck with The Unfortunates - maybe I should send you one of my copies (not the first edition of course). BTW I just gave an oddly mixed review to Suttree

posted by papalaz at 10:37 am (EST) on Sep 13, 2008

it does sound like a good book- did you see the review and interview it got in Quarterly Review/Converstaional Reading (Moya talks about Bolano in the interview)...i'm glad Housing Works was a good turn-I got 1 book from them - Cozarinsky's THe Bride From Odessa.

How's the college search going...i am kind a glad Logan is now a senior- it turns out he got a first rate fabulous education from a state liberal arts college and he already has a job offer waiting for him upon graduation.

we closed on the apt. in NYC and should be there by the spring.

hoping all is well-
bert

posted by berthirsch at 7:45 pm (EST) on Sep 10, 2008

Larry - great review - I'll put that on my list. This is fascinating to me: http://www.lrb.co.uk/v30/n17/turn03_.htm... - trying as I am to develop a 21st century novel replacement/evolution

posted by papalaz at 12:58 pm (EST) on Sep 9, 2008

Larry: I read the Jones book some time ago and thought I had done a review on it, but I see I don't even have it my library; I must have borrowed it from someone. I recall it as very good.

posted by John at 6:44 pm (EST) on Sep 5, 2008

can you belive what a lame pick McCain made for VP. Talk about judgement. He picks a someone who is 2 steps away from the PTA...he could of picked the mayor from any small town in Upstate NY. Its really astounding given his own age and health - does he really believe she could lead our country given all the dangers to our economy, security, etc. I saw on a blog today that she does not think Global warming is man made and she is in favor of teaching Creationism in the schools.

I am dumbfounded but also happy- what a gift to Obama.

posted by berthirsch at 10:39 am (EST) on Aug 30, 2008

Larry, I've tried for a couple of days to leave a message here but the formatting of the page went beserk. It didn't occur to me until today to try it with a different browser. Seems to work fine now.

Anywho, read and enjoyed your review on Children of the New World when I saw it come up on connection news. I'm always glad to see Djebar being read.

Best, Lois

posted by avaland at 11:43 am (EST) on Aug 29, 2008

ps- i just did a brief review of a short Robert Walser novel from 1909.

posted by berthirsch at 6:25 pm (EST) on Aug 25, 2008

Hi Larry - I've heard a few reviews of the film and they have been less than charitable but I suspect I will go see it if I can.

Re The Unfortunates - I must reread it this winter - it's been a year or two now. Hope you get a copy soon.

Just reviewed 2 books against each other (on my blog - http://poundemonium.blogspot.com/2008/08... ) - an interesting exercise prompted entirely by serendipity

Heard a very sniffy review of the new Paul Auster novel - it sounds really interesting and though I'm not sure that the novel is his form I shall look out a copy in due course.

Too hot and dry here - hope you are having a more bearable summer

posted by papalaz at 1:13 pm (EST) on Aug 24, 2008

Larry you are right it does remind a little me of Too loud a solitude. In some ways it also brought Hasek to mind but it was definitely Magnus Mills that it most resembled--are you familiar with him? If not I would heartily recommend Three to see the King.
Your current readings sound fascinating (I've pencilled them onto my scrap pad of "To Reads)

posted by papalaz at 8:09 am (EST) on Aug 9, 2008

i guess beer at least has some grains to it...here's to healthy living!

i am on a one a day quota of diet pepsi, for the long commute home at the end of the day...we just decided to move back to Manhattan so w/in 6 months or so i can say goodbye to the heavy gas bills, the hum of traffic on the interstate and the 2 1/2 hours wasted except for my daily NPR fix.

posted by berthirsch at 9:27 pm (EST) on Aug 8, 2008

new review today - The Howling Miller - just discovering some Finnish literature

posted by papalaz at 3:07 pm (EST) on Aug 8, 2008

The Human Stain and Goodbye Columbus were both made into films- Human Stain with Anthony Hopkins, Ed Harris , Nicole Kidman was rather good. Goodby Columbus is over 20 years old, may be dated?

posted by berthirsch at 6:21 pm (EST) on Aug 6, 2008

re THe Elegy film- thanks for the tip - this one escaped me though, THe Dying Animal, is not what I consider one of Roth's better pieces- a minor novel amongst his opus.

posted by berthirsch at 3:27 pm (EST) on Aug 4, 2008

nice issue by Everyman - http://www.bostonreview.net/BR33.4/boyla...

posted by papalaz at 12:51 pm (EST) on Aug 1, 2008

my son Logan was accepted at BU, Lehigh, Delaware,w/l at Bucknell and chose to go to THeColegeofNewJersey(TCNJ) the top state school in Jersey where he got a1/3 academic scholarship...its ranked in Barron's Most Selective Colleges- going to a state school was a great choice for him- he thought the campus was beautiful, the kids were some of the smartest in jersey and he got a great education-small classes, was heavily recruited by business for internships and was just got a job offer for when he graduates school next year ( with PriceWaterhouseCoopers-he likes business)...he also partied, played tennis, etc...i am sure that if your daughter goes to a good state school she could have a similar experience (it was also 1hr45min from home) perfect to go visit forlunch/early dinner or for him to come home on occassions. It also has great journalism - one of the yooung profs there is on Granta's list of top ten young fiction writers in USA- Jess Row. I have 2 2nd cousins who went to Binghamton and loved it - they are in their mid 20's now. one is an engineer the other a teacher.

your son sounds interesting - i have a colleague- a psychiatrist who has Aspergers and his son does too- he is very bright, witty and well respected, just a tad shy/awkward but a good guy.

good luck with the adventure.

posted by berthirsch at 7:58 pm (EST) on Jul 30, 2008

i actually enjoyed the whole process of going to different campuses with our son Logan- i eneded up liking every school we looked at and wished that i was returning to college myself- reading and learning and writing all day long- how bad is that?

posted by berthirsch at 12:15 pm (EST) on Jul 30, 2008

I suppose we can expect lots of NY visitors if the article does its job. Will you be among them?

Hope you enjot the Perec - I was amazed by the translator as much as by the author but have to admit to enjoying The Exeter Text more.

Just reviewed Runar Schildt's short story collection The Meat Grinder and other Stories - excellent stuff.

posted by papalaz at 9:21 am (EST) on Jul 29, 2008

of course you know you can access all the columns all week long on - line

posted by berthirsch at 12:36 pm (EST) on Jul 24, 2008

i saw both Rich and Friedman columns and fully endorse both, also did you see Bob Herbert's yesterday-excellent

posted by berthirsch at 12:15 pm (EST) on Jul 23, 2008

Larry - fine list here - http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2008/jun...

posted by papalaz at 10:14 am (EST) on Jul 23, 2008

the middle is thye only place to get elected in America...change, here, will come incrementally.

posted by berthirsch at 3:25 pm (EST) on Jul 20, 2008

NOW I KNOW WHY WE TALK...IN Members with Your Books- a long list- you come uo #1 on weighted list for most books we share. serendipitous.

posted by berthirsch at 11:31 am (EST) on Jul 18, 2008

loved your review of Roth...i am so glad the book was a hit with you. Roth is clearly one of my literary giants/heroes.

i just finished reading a very interesting journal: Habitus#3 Buenos Aires- A Diaspora Journal. One particular piece, a short story by Marcelo Birmajer, was excellent, but the whole journal was a fabulous read.

Birmajer will have his 1st english translation coming out in the Fall- i look forward to it.

I am now reading a Robert Walser tale-Jacob Von Gunten- a curious, odd tale yet engrossing in a very subtle fashion.

posted by berthirsch at 7:17 pm (EST) on Jul 17, 2008

Hint, Larry: knowing that you like to read French lit, have you ever read The Opposing Shore, by Julien Gracq? It's a slowly going, oniric, very well written novel from the 1950s. Best wishes. F

posted by Pepys at 4:59 am (EST) on Jul 17, 2008

Yes, I've read Queaneau (1 of his books) and Bolano. He's amazing, I think but I still have a lot more to read from him. Just recently picked up "Savage Detectives" but I haven't gotten to it yet. Have you read that one yet?

posted by Julian_Gallo at 5:54 pm (EST) on Jul 10, 2008

Sorry for not posting before - I did get the media guides and they are great - love the young Ken Hodge (he does the radio color for BC now). (You got the $ for postage, as well, I hope)

FYI, I shot Rangers baby camp last Friday. Only have the college-related kids here - http://www.uscho.com/pictorial.php/129

posted by mwade at 12:52 pm (EST) on Jul 1, 2008

Just finished Too Loud A Solitude and read your review. I liked it, but not as much as you did. I suppose we can all see Hanta like aspects/opportunities in our jobs if we are so inclined. Do you think your postal position played a role in making Hanta's situation more poignant for you?

posted by slickdpdx at 1:50 pm (EST) on Jun 25, 2008

i recently finished Vila-Matas' Bartleby and Co. 0- a curious rumination on writers ...have you read it? Now I am reading Auster's ORACLE NIGHT.

posted by berthirsch at 1:27 pm (EST) on Jun 24, 2008

interesting-i platy tennis every week with a top sales exec from GM and he told me a couple of months ago that in 10 years we will all be driving hybrids.

posted by berthirsch at 8:23 pm (EST) on Jun 19, 2008

More books I'll have to find.

I actually started off by moving stuff I had added into a Facebook application first which was just the hockey stuff. Still have a lot to go. Just added a couple more Lawrence-related books - that's one of my mini-collections (emphasis on mini). I've added a "could-move" tag for the books I come across that I either don't know why I ever had them or just don't need them as I'm not really keeping books that don't fit in a group unless there is a sentimental attachment.

Unfortunately I don't think I've ever dusted the shelves and man, those low shelves are bad so I think this will be a slow process.

posted by mwade at 8:53 pm (EST) on Jun 13, 2008

Thanks, $s are in the mail and print has been ordered.

posted by mwade at 2:17 pm (EST) on Jun 13, 2008

My Dubinsky's aren't that good, though you are welcome to choose one. There are several Marc Staal photos from the 2007 WJC in Sweden - http://www.photoshelter.com/usr-show?I_D... - just tell me the file name and I'll get one printed off, in addition to paying for the postage, of course. I really like Cherepanov - I was bummed the Rangers got him (though more that he dropped so far) after the 2007 WJC, he came out of the dressing room still sniffling after the gold medal loss that year and handed one of his sticks to one of the many Canadian kids that were hanging over the tunnel entrance without saying a word before going back into their dressing room - it was very sweet, though you might have to have been there.

posted by mwade at 6:44 pm (EST) on Jun 11, 2008

Thanks. If you'd like an 8x10 of a Ranger prospect, just check my website and send me the file name. http://hockeyphotography.com Taking a quick look at the Rangers website, I've shot Cherepanov, Hagelin, Pyatt, and Ryan, though you aren't limited to choosing from Ranger babies.

posted by mwade at 6:56 pm (EST) on Jun 10, 2008

...and my 20 year old Logan is into Obama- the first time he has expressed any interest in politics and voting!

posted by berthirsch at 7:07 pm (EST) on Jun 6, 2008

Barack is the man...i am truly excited and hope he picks a VP who will help him over the top...a real chance for this country to move in a whole new direction.

posted by berthirsch at 7:51 pm (EST) on Jun 5, 2008

Deregulation is one of the biggest jokes of "modern" economic-polical thought. To think that the marketplace is good and correct, that greed does not exist, is , of course, pure folly.

The Republican Party is totally adrift and disconnected from the reality of most Americans and one can only hope that the giant give-away to the wealthy class will be moderated by some judicious use of regulation.

posted by berthirsch at 12:38 pm (EST) on May 28, 2008

you have my vote.

posted by berthirsch at 11:18 am (EST) on May 19, 2008

i saw it live- the guy is a complete jerk and idiot as rae most of the conservative blowhards- Hanratty is the biggest of them all- they just shout and call people names but there is absolutely no depth nor common sense to any of their arguements.

i am hoping we have reached a tipping point as a country- witness the last 3 special Congressional elections that the REpublicans have lost in their own backyards.

this country is lost if McCain gets in.

posted by berthirsch at 9:26 pm (EST) on May 17, 2008

re Argentine books- I also have Artificial Respiration - not read- and still look forward to your translation of Roberto Arlt's sequel to 7 Madmen. Did you notice how highly acclaimed he was in that essay?

posted by berthirsch at 7:55 pm (EST) on May 5, 2008

as far as I can see signing up involves you agreeing not only to read it but also agreeing to review it within 6 weeks of receiving it - I got The Witches of Eastwick - how is that a Classic? Hope you enjoy the Sebald - I'd hate to mislead

posted by papalaz at 1:09 pm (EST) on May 3, 2008

hey larry- thanks - i saw that on Complete Review and I did buy Manguel's WITH BORGES a while back...Manguel sounds quite interesting in his own right.

i found a fascinating link on Argentine literature that I will post on the South American Lit group site.

The rangers are certainly having a hard luck series.

posted by berthirsch at 6:43 pm (EST) on May 1, 2008

you might fancy this Larry - just got a book myself - http://www.blogapenguinclassic.com/site/...

posted by papalaz at 2:34 pm (EST) on May 1, 2008

As a reader I want to read the book - as a writer I think the author should have his wishes respected. I end up as a writer first and a reader somewhere behind.

Hope you enjoy the Sebald as much as I did

Reading Graves' Greek Myths right now and not liking it much.

posted by papalaz at 8:34 am (EST) on Apr 27, 2008

Larry - the waiting is over - Dimitri betrayed his father - http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment...

posted by papalaz at 4:37 am (EST) on Apr 27, 2008

Well Larry sounds like you did well on the sale - I do admire Winterson though the Powerbook is not one of her best. Re Sebald I agree that there are writers that one takes a while to click with Goncharov was one for me. Odd you mention Borges as he was one of Sebald's self declared influences. I'm just starting on Robert Grave's Greek Myths - we shall see.

posted by papalaz at 6:42 am (EST) on Apr 25, 2008

sounds good Larry - I'll look for it. Just posted a review of W G Sebald's Rings of Saturn - fascinating writer

posted by papalaz at 1:29 pm (EST) on Apr 24, 2008

Lush Life sounds great- I read Price many, many years ago- Bloodbrothers was very good- working class family drama.

I have Ladies Man but never read it- i will someday- now I have re-visited THe Old patagonian Express and reading the Argentine sections.

posted by berthirsch at 5:09 pm (EST) on Apr 21, 2008

interview with Kellman here - http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/arts/frontro... - good stuff especially about the class structure in British writing

posted by papalaz at 2:52 pm (EST) on Apr 21, 2008

GO RANGERS!!!!!!!
I loved Avery's comments about the handshake snub.

how about Callahan controling the puck behind the Devils net for close to a minute....was an exciting series...when you are ready with a scouting report on the next series let me have it-your Hockey analysis is almost as good as your literary reviews.

bert

posted by berthirsch at 11:37 am (EST) on Apr 19, 2008

i'll bet you've been enjoying the Devils series.

posted by berthirsch at 12:50 pm (EST) on Apr 18, 2008

thanx for that Larry - a good piece - maybe I'll reread some DR this summer - maybe I'll even spring for the posthumous one just published by Serpents Tail

posted by papalaz at 3:34 am (EST) on Apr 12, 2008

The Delta is a nice hotel...pretty centrally located, about a 20 minute walk from my place, or to the market. I do hope you are able to arrange the visit. Not looking good for the Sens! Hard to believe how they were sweeping the league in at the first of the year...having three top players out certainly isn't helping, but I have to say the mood around town is pretty gloomy!

posted by John at 9:54 am (EST) on Apr 11, 2008

Larry - thanks for taking the time to explain - now you mention it his writing reminds me somewhat of the wonderful Ford Maddox Ford though not as interesting not as clean- I shall reconsider Roth in this new light

posted by papalaz at 12:53 pm (EST) on Apr 9, 2008

Larry - just posted a surprising review of Roth's Everyman

posted by papalaz at 7:46 am (EST) on Apr 9, 2008

did you see that Javier Cercas Speed of Light was short-listed for the IMPAC Prize?

posted by berthirsch at 7:17 pm (EST) on Apr 3, 2008

Your timing is perfect...I would love to get together and to show you and your family something of the city...although I know you already know it pretty well. Let's stay in touch as your plans firm up.

Can't believe the Senators lost again tonight!!

posted by John at 1:47 am (EST) on Apr 2, 2008

i'll be rooting for the Rangers!

posted by berthirsch at 6:18 pm (EST) on Apr 1, 2008

It has been awhile Larry...too long. I am travelling a lot with the negotiations that I am now doing, and they have put quite a dent into my reading and reviewing time. But..I wanted to follow-up on your suggestion that you might come north early July! I hope that includes Ottawa as I remember that you have fond memories of my fair city. It would be great to meet, talk books, see the city... Between negotiating sessions and a family wedding in BC, afraid that I'm away the weeks of the 6th and the 21st. Let me know if Ottawa and timing work for you and we will definitely set something up.

posted by John at 9:19 am (EST) on Apr 1, 2008

sounds like a good NY experience...what do you think the Rangers will do in the playoffs?

posted by berthirsch at 8:14 am (EST) on Apr 1, 2008

Larry - I'm not sure the phrase --"a very iconoclastic writing style" makes sense when you consider when he was writing - there were no novelistic icons at that time and I think that that is a key to how Sterne did what he did - nobody had told him he couldn't. Enjoy NYC..

posted by papalaz at 12:17 pm (EST) on Mar 25, 2008

Larry - I'm not sure the phrase --"a very iconoclastic writing style" makes sense when you consider when he was writing - there were no novelistic icons at that time and I think that that is a key to how Sterne did what he did - nobody had told him he couldn't. Enjoy NYC..

posted by papalaz at 12:17 pm (EST) on Mar 25, 2008

you're getting deep into Roth- don't overlook THe Ghost Writer...sorry to say I haven't heard of Amichai...you scored a good one with Rushdie- I am sure there were loads of requests for him...enjoy your trip, if my plans change,i'll give a buzz...i look forward to hearing about your NYC experience.

posted by berthirsch at 7:42 am (EST) on Mar 25, 2008

Nice review Larry - Jealousy was a key work in my own development as a writer. Hope you've enjoyed Tristram as much as I do - Happy Easter belatedly

posted by papalaz at 3:33 am (EST) on Mar 24, 2008

OF COURSE I TOTALLY AGREE - I WAS "MERMERIZED" BY SAVAGE dETECTIVES.

posted by berthirsch at 12:03 pm (EST) on Mar 20, 2008

regarding Bolano i just left the following on the S.American Group

for all those Savage Detective fans i offer the following link:

http://www.themorningnews.org/tob/Round2...

hopefully the paperback edition will be out soon and Bolano will win further praise and exposure!

posted by berthirsch at 6:11 pm (EST) on Mar 19, 2008

Early Review Books- I was just informed I did get one of the March books: Strange Ways by Rokhl Faygenberg...looks like it might be interesting.

did you get any ?

posted by berthirsch at 1:13 pm (EST) on Mar 18, 2008

there has been a little inflation in BA but prices are still relatively cheap.

i remember Richard Price from many years ago- his The Wanderers was excellent and I recently mooched THe Clockers although it will, for awhile, find its place on the shelf. Currently I am trying to catch up with several weeks worth of New Yorkers and finishing off Hornby's latest book of reviews.

next week may be tricky- I was hoping for THursday the 27th but I just found out we have to meet with our accountant. the 26th may be a possibility- when bis it you get to town?

posted by berthirsch at 1:11 pm (EST) on Mar 18, 2008

Hi Larry - glad you're getting into The Shaggy Dog Story - Sterne prefigured both modernism and to some extent post modernism - bloody brilliant. I'll read the review later but for now - I know you like poetry so here's a link to a Cavafy piece - Cavafy is a national institution here in Crete and a damn fine poet as well. Link - http://www.lrb.co.uk/v30/n06/simi01_.htm...

posted by papalaz at 11:39 am (EST) on Mar 18, 2008

today i am home- tomorrow i will check my work schedule and let you know...we recently went to MOMA and it was fabulous- a Lucien Freud exhibit was great - i am not sure when it ends. regrading BA there was a fabulous article in Sunday Times Travel section.

posted by berthirsch at 12:34 pm (EST) on Mar 17, 2008

i ran across an interseting take on Spitzer:

Richard Russo:"My fictional Eliot [Spitzer] would be complex, would contain paradoxes. He would not be a hypocrite. My Eliot would believe with his whole heart in his crusades against the corrupt and the powerful and the privileged, even as he worked studiously to undermine his legacy. Fiction can accommodate such paradoxes, provided they're explained."

posted by berthirsch at 9:50 pm (EST) on Mar 15, 2008

Larry - Glad you enjoyed -The crust on its uppers - if you get a copt of Not Till The Red fog Rises you'll love that too. How did you likew Ballard's Cocaine nights? Funny that Tristam Shandy is taking you so long - when I first found it I read the whole thing in a couple of days absolutely enthralled by how much of the history of the english novel it presaged - he just didn't know that you couldn't do all that stuff so he did.

posted by papalaz at 2:29 pm (EST) on Mar 15, 2008

for my last b'day...a few weeks ago...lisa and logan got me an 80gig IPOD...I am in love...busy putting my whole music collection on to it.

posted by berthirsch at 12:41 pm (EST) on Mar 15, 2008

I have had my eye on Speed of Light (i love the title) for some time and have read the first couple of passages while hanging out at Borders...it certainly sounds like it is right up my alley- Spanish writer, Vietnam Vet, Sebald-

i appreciate your long quote regarding evil and Spitzer- I certainly don't think he's evil, more a fallen man, felled by his weakness of character, his inability to maturely delay his gratifaction and impulses...it certainly would have been easier to watch some porn and masturbate...the damage he unknowingly did to so many others-his family and his colleagues and, of course, the voters of NY- was a rash act of a non-thinking immarure and underdeveloped person...not the acts of a wiser person ready to lead others by example.

posted by berthirsch at 4:04 pm (EST) on Mar 14, 2008

You're take on Spitzer is certainly kind and forgiving...my immediate reaction is a more judgemental one- focusing on his hubris, his seeming cavalier attitude...more along the fable lines of flying too close to the sun. I am continuously surprised (even at this advanced age) how those in power either forget where they came from or their personal attitude of entitlement. While I certainly feel bad for his wife and daughters and wonder what kind of message he sends to themm about how he devalues a woman...i sympathize with the dozens of talented and bright staff people who tied their careers to his coattails.

it will be interesting to see what kind of Governor Patterson will be and while I didn't think of Bloomberg waiting in the wings I did think of another ambitious pol: Andrew Cuomo.

posted by berthirsch at 3:58 pm (EST) on Mar 12, 2008

Larry- thanks for the encouragement. Regarding Piglia I have his Absent City (which I have not read yet)- if I ever get through that I'll check out Artificial Respiration...I actually am missing BA these days and may not get back there for several months.

posted by berthirsch at 1:57 pm (EST) on Mar 12, 2008

All the Zuckerman books are good reads- the 1st- Ghost Writer was very good- almost more of a novella.

regarding review copies i did get one on the first offer- HedgeFund Managers- by a Bloomberg journalist- it was ok- i gave it to my son who is an accounting/finance major...since then though I ,too, have struck out - I think the site has a lot more members now.

i am real ghlad to hear of your brothers progress, good luck.

i just finished Englander's novel and did a review.

posted by berthirsch at 5:08 pm (EST) on Mar 11, 2008

Re WWII and Salamis - I was fascinated by the story of Miralles after he had left Spain. It seems one of those forgotten stories, about Spanish refugees from the civil war almost immediately being caught up in WWII. Perhaps this is due to much of the writing on the Spanish civil war being by non-Spaniards, especially British and American writers - has the silence in Spain meant that some stories are now lost?

I wonder if any English language publisher will take up the task of publishing Bolano's last novel, the 1000 page plus 2666. I thought of picking up a Spanish copy when I was in Madrid last year but with my level of Spanish it would take me longer to read it than it took Bolano to write it. I like the idea that thanks to Salamis Bolano is almost more famous in Spain for being a 'fictional' character - I could see this appealing to Bolano himself.

Have you seen the film of Salamis? It is worth seeing but different - for one, Javier Cercas is changed into a female investigative journalist.

posted by jargoneer at 10:49 am (EST) on Mar 5, 2008

Thought I would respond to your comment re Soldiers of Salamis in the war poetry here instead: rather than hijack the thread.

I really enjoyed it as well but it wasn't the book I thought I was going to read. From the packaging, the blurb, etc, I got the impression it was going to be a straight-forward narrative of the civil war. In retrospect, I found the second segment which related the civil war story was the weakest: the third section, the best, and a lot of that was down to the character of Bolano. I would be interested to know how much of it was true: how much was Bolano and how much was Cercas - it appeared that Bolano got most of the best lines.

What struck me about the novel was that although it was a Spanish work, the writer it most reminded me of was Italo Calvino - possibly because he is the master of writing about a place/incident/etc while appearing to write about something else.

Re - Pat Barker's trilogy. I live in Edinburgh and used to work near Craiglockhart Hospital where Sassoon and Owen, amongst others, were treated. Unfortunately, rather than being a museum on the war and psychiatry, it is part of Napier University's Business School, and they build a horrible modern annex onto the old building.

posted by jargoneer at 7:22 am (EST) on Mar 3, 2008

Thanx for that heads up Larry - I shall watch out for Bowker in future

Here's an interesting site and one that more LibraryThingers should know about - http://www.youwriteon.com/

posted by papalaz at 6:39 am (EST) on Mar 2, 2008

Larry- here's hoping you stick with Barack...and are not pulled in by Nader who, when he announced today sounded like an angry , narrow-minded has been.

posted by berthirsch at 1:25 pm (EST) on Feb 24, 2008

Larry - I picked up my copy of NO LOGO for 2 euros second hand. Your description of the Bolano brings to minf the Roth thing The Plot Against America.

Have you read The Cement Garden? His best in my opinion. Enduring Love was the last of his I enjoyed.

posted by papalaz at 12:00 pm (EST) on Feb 23, 2008

The Bolano sounds great but I have to admit to having run out of road with McEwan sometime around Saturday - maybe before - it all seems so repetitive and predictable. Good on you for getting to Sterne. I'm reading NO LOGO at present and loving the content and hating her style or lack of it.

posted by papalaz at 2:47 pm (EST) on Feb 22, 2008

More from the Vian entry -
L'écume in English means foam, froth or spume, but the expression l'écume des jours is a bizarre and unnatural concoction, typical of Vian's light and surrealistic touch. Critics comment that in L'Écume des Jours -- which Raymond Queneau called 'the most heartbreakingly poignant modern love story ever written'

As for the trade-off - yeah I'll stick with the life we chose, and when necessary I'll re-read the greats! And remember I don't work either!! Well not what you'd call work

posted by papalaz at 12:29 pm (EST) on Feb 20, 2008

Larry - damn I forgot Michel Tournier who I think is always underrated. And Francoise Sagan And Maguerite Duras

I picked this up from Boris Vian's Wikipedia entry - it must be the ultimate piece of film criticism:

On the morning of June 23, 1959, Boris Vian was at the Cinema Marbeuf for the screening of the film version of his controversial "Vernon Sullivan" novel, J'irai cracher sur vos tombes ("I Shall Spit On Your Graves"). He had already fought with the producers over their interpretation of his work and he publicly denounced the film stating that he wished to have his name removed from the credits. A few minutes after the film began, he reportedly blurted out: "These guys are supposed to be American? My ass!" He then collapsed into his seat and died from sudden cardiac death en route to the hospital.

posted by papalaz at 12:07 pm (EST) on Feb 20, 2008

Yup - Robbe-Grillet indeed - http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment... - Jealousy is my favourite of his. On the French I agree on Celine and Quenau but would say a word for Vian, Jarry, Roussel, Roubaud. de Sade - I could go on for a long while before mentioning Sartre.

As to your current list - put Sterne at the top - you'll not regret it.

I have the opposite problem - I could never buy all the books I want to read.

LOL

posted by papalaz at 10:31 am (EST) on Feb 20, 2008

Larry - on the Ballard front I'd go - in no order - for The Atrocity Exhibition, Crash, Coacaine Nights and the Complete Short Stories. Re DR look out for Dora Suarez but you know that and maybe Not till the Red fog rises - can't recommend the posthumous novel but will let you know when I have read it. You heard, I assume, of the death of ARG? Sad news

posted by papalaz at 2:49 pm (EST) on Feb 19, 2008

thanx Larry - that makes 3 people who are giving him a chance because of me - I feel oddly proud

posted by papalaz at 8:52 am (EST) on Feb 17, 2008

Larry - you might enjoy this - http://poundemonium.blogspot.com/ - my goodbye to JGB in advance of the actuality

posted by papalaz at 6:13 am (EST) on Feb 17, 2008

check out today's COVERSTAIONAL READING post - there is a long piece on Englander's book.

i am glad you have connected with Obama...his speeches are uplifting and I am willing to take a "leap of faith"...none of the alternatives inspire me.

posted by berthirsch at 1:12 pm (EST) on Feb 14, 2008

I just finished the chapter where the mother, Lillian, laments that she no longer has her own nose and, now that her son Pato is dissappeared, she can no longer recognize his face in hers when she looks in the mirror...a touching , potent scene.

posted by berthirsch at 7:06 pm (EST) on Feb 13, 2008

HI Larry - yeah it appears he has advanced prostate cancer. I agree as to the likelihood of his getting the Nobel but I do honestly think he deserves it - his body of work stands all tests. Now that Sorrentino is dead he is the most worthy in my book. Hope you get to Sterne real soon. BTW did another review yesterday.

posted by papalaz at 3:05 pm (EST) on Feb 13, 2008

Ballard review here - http://www.literaryreview.co.uk/leith_02... - Now that he is dying will they give him the Nobel he so richly deserves?

posted by papalaz at 7:54 am (EST) on Feb 13, 2008

Larry- good to hear from you. Omega Minor does sound quite interesting, touches on themes thhat I have a deep interest in. I am currently reading Englander's THe Ministry of Special Cases- I am thoroughly enjoying it!

posted by berthirsch at 6:05 pm (EST) on Feb 11, 2008

look what I found on amazon - http://amazon.co.uk/gp/product/185242799...
or http://tinyurl.com/3caykt

posted by papalaz at 7:35 am (EST) on Feb 6, 2008

Larry - came across this today and thought you'd appreciate it - http://www.serpentstail.com/content_item... It turns out that Serpent's Tail deliver FREE wordwide. And they have the new Derek Raymond - Nightmare in the Street - think I'll order it along with the book of essays by Kathy Acker - http://www.serpentstail.com/book?id=1079...

posted by papalaz at 12:30 pm (EST) on Feb 5, 2008

Larry - glad you liked the review - The Sheltering Sky is a very good book but to be honest his short stories are vastly superior

Papalaz

posted by papalaz at 2:55 am (EST) on Feb 4, 2008

Larry - new review

posted by papalaz at 3:09 pm (EST) on Feb 3, 2008

That is amazing...and I can't think of a better guy to be immortalized like this. Not because I wish your demise, but because you are such a broad and active and interesting reader!

posted by John at 4:58 pm (EST) on Feb 1, 2008

Larry - I've only read The HIve by him - nice review BTW

posted by papalaz at 6:59 am (EST) on Jan 28, 2008

you better start sitting with your back to the wall and one eye on the door in.

posted by berthirsch at 7:23 pm (EST) on Jan 24, 2008

"the ranch-hand Larry Riley" ? excellent stuff - beats the peasant's assistant title I have

posted by papalaz at 3:07 pm (EST) on Jan 24, 2008

glad you liked the Bolano story- not surprised.

as you get closer to your trip we can see if we can meet up.

posted by berthirsch at 6:58 pm (EST) on Jan 22, 2008

Two new reviews today - enjpy - if you can.

Kafka comes to mind for me too but my decision is firm - BURN IT. I suspect Nabokov was hoping to finish it and wanted it destroyed if not done - a fair call. And his widow let him down. The work belongs to the author until he decides to let it out. I hope Dmitri understands this and respects it.

Hope you are enjoying Murphy - I'm about to move onto a little Paul Bowles. And enjoy Sterne - I wouldn't necessarily bother with the notes - your opinion is much more valuable

posted by papalaz at 12:44 pm (EST) on Jan 18, 2008

Larry - I am toatally convinced that you will love Tristram Shandy. I shall post reviews of the Manchettes in the next few days - favourable ones. There's a fascinating piece here : http://www.slate.com/id/2181859/ - my own view is "BURN IT". Keep the professional arseholes off of the work.

posted by papalaz at 7:42 am (EST) on Jan 18, 2008

thanks for the heads up larry, will have a look now

posted by tartalom at 6:58 pm (EST) on Jan 17, 2008

good analysis of draft, neocons, etc.

very sad story on front page NY Times today, close to my heart...in depth story about large number of homicides committed by combat vets back home.

untold story, to this day, the vast number of psychological casualities of this (and any) war.

posted by berthirsch at 2:19 pm (EST) on Jan 13, 2008

i am very encouraged and hopeful by these numbers- hopefully the country will now turn in a new and saner direction. can you imagine if there was a draft- no one under 30 would be a republican.

saw the rangers won tonight

posted by berthirsch at 10:11 pm (EST) on Jan 12, 2008

Larry - what can I say? Nobody interested in the novel should omit it - it is a seminal work. It is also totally brilliant. It is hugely funny - the original shaggy dog story and amazingly inventive stylisticaally and technically. Sterne is the boss of post modernism way before modernism.

posted by papalaz at 5:38 am (EST) on Jan 12, 2008

Good review Larry but I'd quiblble with your ranking and give it 4 and a half stars. Did you not think Tristram Shandy when you read it? I did. I have GS up there as probably the best american writer of the 20th century - the best by quite a way. Still it's all opinion.

I am really enjoying the Manchette - thanx for the recommendation.

I am currently talking to a pal about the 10 funniest books I've ever read! A really difficult choice. Any thoughts on the subject?

So far we've agreed on the Good Solidier Schweik and that's all - I've got him reading Confederacy of Dunces and hope to convince him of that one - yet to ccnvince him re Kafka and Beckett but we might settle on At Swim Two Birds or maybe the Third Policeman

posted by papalaz at 1:23 pm (EST) on Jan 11, 2008

excellent summary of the mess the republican party is in. there is no realistic alternative unless bloomberg makes a move, i'll still go democrat despite their weakness in congress i still believe that htey stand for issues that speak to my philosophy.

redroom.com...you should check it out...i ended up sending an e-mail to Ethan Canin the writer and got back a rather long,nice reply. it was fun to talk books with him.

posted by berthirsch at 5:00 pm (EST) on Jan 10, 2008

my son and i for obama, my wife is for Hilary...we all agree that whoever gets the nomination we will vote democrat.

posted by berthirsch at 7:09 pm (EST) on Jan 9, 2008

glad the US Mail is doing its job.

regarding the DEMS it certainly now will get interesting...there is no doubt that Obama is the most inspirational speaker we have seen, i'd say, in decades- my 20 yr old son caught his speech after the Iowa Caucas and immediately fell in love.

i agree that now he will need to , along with the soaring oratory, fill in the blanks, come out with some issue plans, and i totally agree that your frinds are so off base- he is middle of the road when it comes to advisors- it is my understanding that 1/2 of the old Clinton crowd is in his camp.

posted by berthirsch at 3:37 pm (EST) on Jan 9, 2008

Larry - have you read The Sky Changes? excellent but still think Mulligan Stew is his masterpiece- just reviewed More Pricks Than Kicks - 3 to kill next

posted by papalaz at 2:21 pm (EST) on Jan 8, 2008

Larry - looking forward to 3 to Kill - Blue Pastoraql is a great work - make sure you read Mulligan Stew though - a tour de force up there with the biggies - great reading for 2008 - 'm just finishing up More Pricks Than Kicks - amazing

posted by papalaz at 1:01 pm (EST) on Jan 7, 2008

If you'd like to meet up at Strands i'll be around.

regarding the primaries...halluyah the end of GWB is in sight-hope we make it to the finish line.

i'm leaning towards Obama BUT i would not vote for a 3rd party candidate because i'd be frightened to hell that a Republican could then sneak in...after 8 years of George this country CAN NOT afford a continuation of his policies or slant.

posted by berthirsch at 6:15 pm (EST) on Jan 2, 2008

Hi Larry and a Happy 2008 - Santa brought me The Prone Gunman and Three to Kill so I am a very happy boy - should get January off to a bang - also a wonderful Rothko calendar

posted by papalaz at 6:55 am (EST) on Jan 2, 2008

As usual, you are a one-man reference point...a great source of new readings! We have talked about Ledig whom I quite like; I have Savage Detectives but have not got around to it yet...high praise from you so I will move it up the list. I did not know half.com and had a look at it. I'm sure we have talked about ABEbooks which is the best used book website that I have seen; have you tried it?

Manguel was originally Argentinian, now Canadian and living somewhere in France in a converted something-or-other with his massive library. He wrote one very good novel, News From a Foreign Country Came, but has made his name as an anthologist and writer of non-fiction. His History of Reading, is very good. I thought of you in connection with him recently when I was reading The City of Words, a collection of lectures that he gave earlier this year because he spoke very highly of Doblin, his art, his philosophy of literature, his approach to writing. He wrote, "Sadly, Doblin's work, with the exception perhaps of Berlin Alexanderplatz, has been largely and undeservedly forgotten. Nevertheless, his conception of language as an instrument both to shape and understand reality remains, I believe, utterly valid today." I think you would enjoy his piece.

posted by John at 4:07 pm (EST) on Dec 30, 2007

I have not read The Crossing so will enjoy your review. Have you seen the movie, No Country for Old Men, from the McCarthy novel? A very good movie and very true to the book, which I did enjoy. Have you read The Road? Bleak but a powerful story.

I thought of you this morning when I saw a short piece in one of our papers from Alberto Manguel, one of a selection of "notables" who shared their best reads of 2007. Manguel focussed on translations of European writers, so of course you popped to mind. He talked about Antal Szerb (Hungarian) and two books: The Pendragon Legend, gothic fantasy, and Oliver VI, political comedy. Also mentioned Sandor Marai's The Rebels; I know we have talked about Marai before. The other writers are Spaniards: Carmen Lafort's, Nada, "great classic gives a searing inward picture of the spiritual and material devastation brought on by Franco". The other is Enrique Vila-Matas. Seems his most famous book, Bartleby & CO, is about wrtiers who don't write and his lastest, Montano, is about a man who has read too much: "Vila-Matas is essential reading for anyone interested in the workings of literature".

posted by John at 8:56 am (EST) on Dec 29, 2007

Larry: I hope this finds you and your family well. I have been a poor correspondent of late...and even a poor reader, I must admit. I don't know if I told you, but I have taken on a project as a negotiator of native lands claims in the Northwest Territories. I have two "tables" to manage and they take me up to the NWT two weeks out of every month, add preparation and reporting time and my retirement phase is becoming a distant memory. But I am enjoying the challenges and the opportunity to get to know a part of Canada that I have not visited before.

Reading recently has included Thomas Rick's, Fiasco, about the US invasion of Iraq; a scathing catlogue of hubris, criminally poor planning and so, so many missed opportunities. Now reading The Dream Life Of Sukhanov by Olga Grushin which is very good; her first book written in English and the writing is pretty impressive.

We are enjoying a very white winter this year, and the Senators are flying high, so all is well in the nation's capital!

Cheers....John

posted by John at 11:50 am (EST) on Dec 27, 2007

I started reading Roth's Exit Ghost and I think it is fantastic...he deliciously rips into George W. big time and also focuses on the whole aging process which i am starting to experience on my own. Given the mixed reviews this book received I am pleasantly surprised at how easily emngaged i became in the tale.

I caught Ron Paul on Meet the Press and he is an original thinker and plain and out-spoken in his views , a man who has no problem speaking to power as they say. I am still undecided on who i really like, leaning to Barack but definitely committed to whoever the Dems put up.

posted by berthirsch at 6:09 pm (EST) on Dec 26, 2007

Larry - a xmas poem for you here: http://poundemonium.blogspot.com/2007/12...

posted by papalaz at 10:51 am (EST) on Dec 25, 2007

Sound good Larry. This guy sounds interesting - http://3quarksdaily.blogs.com/3quarksdai...

posted by papalaz at 12:39 pm (EST) on Dec 24, 2007

A
happy and Healthy Holiday and New Year to all.

posted by berthirsch at 9:02 am (EST) on Dec 24, 2007

Season's Greets to you and yours L

posted by papalaz at 10:34 am (EST) on Dec 21, 2007

My strongest recommendation for a show is definitely : Spring Awakening- i consider it a must see...you should, of course, check out the reviews.

My favorite early DeLillo's are EndZone and Libra.

I have seen the reviews on Tree of Smoke and it sounds like a Robert Stone book-which is a high recommend- I recently purchase his Jesus Son collection and will crack that first.

I answered one of your posts on Books Compare: kafka-Orwell.

posted by berthirsch at 5:58 pm (EST) on Dec 16, 2007

i will copy and send to you after the xmas post office madness.

posted by berthirsch at 1:36 pm (EST) on Dec 16, 2007

Nice xmas selection Larry - I put my wants on an amazon wishlist so people have guidance!!!! I love Ken Loach too - we clearly think alike! Murphy or More Kicks than Pricks next up I think for me.

posted by papalaz at 1:58 am (EST) on Dec 14, 2007

thanx Larry - generally speaking we don't get blizzards - thank Turing - our weather here - http://www.wunderground.com/global/stati... - I'm hoping for books for Xmas - and you? Reading The Unnamable right now and loving it.

posted by papalaz at 12:50 pm (EST) on Dec 13, 2007

thanx for that Larry - another one to go on my list- season greetings to you and your family

posted by papalaz at 3:44 am (EST) on Dec 13, 2007

I did see that and on the plane back from Argentina( we arrived this morning)I read a fantastic essay on Bolano by Natasha Wimmer the translator of Detectives- I believe I originmally printed this off of the FSG Publisher website- you should try to find it and if you can't- let me know - i will send you a copy.

sorry to be back here on the brink of what sounds to be a nasty winter storm- the weather in BA was muy bien and the people are so fabulous.

posted by berthirsch at 8:33 pm (EST) on Dec 12, 2007

Larry - just put up a review of Molloy. See you have just added Roth's I Married A Communist - I was not impressed I'm afraid

posted by papalaz at 3:11 pm (EST) on Dec 7, 2007

Savage Detectives as a kind of Rashomon? Maybe, but I've got to bail
on this one. I really wanted to like it after all the good comments I've
heard. Pretty wild and amusing. Not enough to overcome the fragmented form,
though.

posted by tros at 11:47 pm (EST) on Nov 21, 2007

the Counterlife review is excellent and I am very pleased that you enjoyed it.

posted by berthirsch at 8:24 am (EST) on Nov 21, 2007

March sounds good for our "annual" Strands fix.

posted by berthirsch at 8:21 am (EST) on Nov 21, 2007

Hi Larry - sad to hear your worrying news - I sure hope your brother pulls thru this thing. I used to be registered as a bone marrow donor in the UK but they took me off the list when I hit 55! If you can donate that would be great.

Thanx for the nice things you said about the web site - BTW JohnTierney is back in the US for a year or so and is aiming to exhibit widely so maybe you'll get to see one of his shows - we love his stuff. Kepp an eye on his website for exhibitions or maybe I'll let you know if he's showing near you (where are you again?).

Such a nice offer re the Boon and Manchette and if I can organise something I'll be sure to take you up on it!

Sadly my book is only available thru LuLu.com AFAIK but it does have an ISBN so maybe some local retailer could order it up for you - it was on Amazon's list for a year but that deal has lapsed - if things change I'll let you know.

Papalaz

posted by papalaz at 10:36 am (EST) on Nov 19, 2007

Regarding Roth I don't think you can ever go wrong...he is a Heavyweight!

in fact when i come back from Argentina I will borrow Ghost Exit from my library...in fact Te Ghost Writer has always been of my favorite of his books.

I invite you to take a look at a new topic I began on Books Compared- its about Bolano and Kerouac.

posted by berthirsch at 5:20 pm (EST) on Nov 18, 2007

Larry - I soooooo agree with you on McCabe - especially Breakfast which is a real mess in my mind. Haven't read the early piece you mention.

BTW I'm just overhauling my web pages and thought you'd appreciate the images on my writings pages - http://papalaz.spymac.com/WritingsIndex....

posted by papalaz at 12:04 pm (EST) on Nov 18, 2007

THE RANGERS ARE HOT!!!!!!!!!!!

i read Cormac's Border trilogy and i think i liked Pretty Horses the best.

never read Carpentier will put him on the list

posted by berthirsch at 7:07 am (EST) on Nov 16, 2007

I read your excellent review of Savage Detectives. I'm struggling to get through it. I'm about a 1/3 of the way through and not sure
I can finish it. All of the short 1st person comments are annoying after a while and seem to make it very "choppy", fragmented.

posted by tros at 11:18 pm (EST) on Nov 15, 2007

Yes I saw the reviews on Vargas' Bad Girl- my library should be getting it, it will be on my endless list of books to read...i strongly recommend anything by McCarthy.

posted by berthirsch at 11:37 am (EST) on Nov 14, 2007

sounds very good Larry. Personally thought Bucket of Tongues was overrated so am not surprised by your notes. I do love McCabe though

posted by papalaz at 2:54 am (EST) on Nov 14, 2007

Larry - just reviewed The Late Mr Shakespeare by Robert Nye - are you on FaceBook?

posted by papalaz at 1:38 pm (EST) on Nov 13, 2007

if it's Bucket of Tongues then I think you'll like it - enjoy

posted by papalaz at 1:20 pm (EST) on Nov 9, 2007

Larry - just reviewed Little Infamies Good luck with the Carver - it's great.

I have just started Molloy and boy oh boy I had forgotten just HOW good Beckett is. I'm loving it and taking my time

posted by papalaz at 2:29 pm (EST) on Nov 7, 2007

Larry- i am real sorry to hear about your brother and i hope the prognosis turns out to be ok...good luck. I lost my mom when i was 17, my best friend when he was 35 and my cousin/brother when he was in his 50's. all these losses (not wishing anything on your brother) have made me appreciate each new day as a gift.

reading- i am nearing the end of Savage Detectives- i must say i have floated in and out of it BUT i really think its great...i reviewed a review copy of Hedge Hunters i got from LibraryThing- it was pretty good- i have a passion for investing so it held my interest.

in a few weeks we're off to Buenos Aires- probably a good time to read Englander's novel- but i'll probably not get to it until later down the road- i think i might dive into an Auster novel- i still haven't read Oracle Night nor Brooklyn Follies- both of which i own.

what's your initial take on what you've seen of the Rangers?

posted by berthirsch at 1:59 pm (EST) on Oct 31, 2007

re. chavarria, his second book "tango for a torturer" is much more sophisticated in that he includes world politics and history into his story. you will learn a lot:)
"adios muchachos" is a romp. has some pretty grisly scenes, but funny all in all.

i just finished "savage detectives" and am totally impressed. what a book!

posted by criswellj at 9:33 am (EST) on Oct 30, 2007

It's a Picador paperback that collects: Molloy, Malone Dies and The Unnameable - if you're talking about the one I bought yesterday. If it's Imagination Dead Imagine then that one is the shortest novel in the world ever and runs to about 14 paqges of large type - it is spectacularly brilliant and is the book I'd memorize if I were in the last chapter of Fahrenheit 451. The entire text is online somewhere.

Boon is on my list - good piece.

posted by papalaz at 4:02 am (EST) on Oct 30, 2007

Panos Karnezis indeed - might be different for someone who doesn't live among it day by day - he graduated from the UEA creative writing course I think. I just love Beckett's early work - the novels especially. For overlooked Beckett it has to be Imagination Dead Imagine

posted by papalaz at 3:44 pm (EST) on Oct 29, 2007

Must get me a copy of Chapel Road. Re Ballard the Atrocity Exhibition is a great work but challenging - so you'll probably love it.

Remember me saying that I was thinking of re-reading Becketts novels this winter? Well I went into the second hand shop today and there on the shelf was a good condition copy of The Beckett Trilogy at 2.80 euros - serendipity indeed and it'll save my copies from further wear. Sammy boy here I come - just need to finish off Little Infamies (which is so so) and I'll be back with the master for a while

posted by papalaz at 1:09 pm (EST) on Oct 29, 2007

Latest on the Carver scandal here : http://www.thesmartset.com/article/artic... - I tend to agree with the writer. BTW have you read The Scandal of Ulysses? (interesting stuff)

If you enjoyed Ballard sufficiently you should read the Cocaine Nights and Super Cannes duology -preferably in that order

posted by papalaz at 1:34 pm (EST) on Oct 27, 2007

Larry, I don't think you ruined it but I prefer the original

posted by papalaz at 3:42 pm (EST) on Oct 26, 2007

glad you're enjoying the Ballard. don't tinker with the review - it's good as it is.

posted by papalaz at 12:28 pm (EST) on Oct 24, 2007

great review Larry - did you choose not to note the parallels between S and Quin herself - especially her demise? I've read it a couple of times now and I'm pretty convinced that there is a) more than a grain of self-reference in it and b) there is some unspoken relationship, possibly sexual, between S and one of the marrieds (maybe 3rd time round I'll work out which one - or both). I do think it is one of those books that I will always enjoy re-reading or should that be reading since every time is a totally fresh experience and perspective

posted by papalaz at 7:43 am (EST) on Oct 24, 2007

I don't think the details on editions has been fully revealed yet...but from some of the developers side comments in the talk threads, it sounds as if the book/work mechanism is going to be extended by allowing members to state that different books within a work represent the same or different editions of that work. I think the intent is to allow greater specificity between variants (translations, abridgements, reprintings, etc.), while still being able to loosely group them together as the same work for the purpose of connections and recommendations.

So...if I understand all this correctly...we will eventually be marking editions within works (and maybe even combining some editions that are now being kept separate). Associated with each edition will be a yet-to-be-specified set of Common Knowledge fields (the first one that comes to mind that I would like to see would be series -- publisher's series, that is, not author's series, which would belong on the work).

At any rate, it's fun imagining this stuff, but until we actually have it, it is really hard to project just how everything will work.

posted by SilentInAWay at 8:08 pm (EST) on Oct 21, 2007

Some of this may be made easier when Tim & crew introduce the idea of "editions" (which sounds like it will be coming close on the tail of collections -- whenever that is). Chris has already made it clear that editions will have their own CommonKnowledge! Of course, editions will inevitably raise as many questions as they help us answer...just enough to keep things perpetually interesting, I'm sure.

posted by SilentInAWay at 10:26 am (EST) on Oct 21, 2007

Hi there. Chris (conceptDawg) has recommended that literary awards associated with specific books be listed on the corresponding CK work page, rather than the author's CK page. He plans on enhancing the Common Knowledge feature so that this work data is automatically rolled up to the author page. I've been moving entries to the work pages as I find them.

I just wanted to give you a heads up so that you did't think that your CK entries have disappeared.

posted by SilentInAWay at 9:04 pm (EST) on Oct 20, 2007

LOL - why not me? - http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/engla...

posted by papalaz at 8:55 am (EST) on Oct 19, 2007

great title indeed - for Ballard think of a literate Philip K Dick sad rather than angry

posted by papalaz at 3:06 am (EST) on Oct 19, 2007

Crawford sounds interesting. BTW I really like Mathews' work especially The Sinking of the Odradek Stadium.

Don't worry about the sci-fi tag - Ballard is far from a sci fi writer and he writes like a dream while dealing with nightmare scenarios set in a soon to be future. I'm pretty sure you'll like him. My own view is that he may well be the best English writer around. Much overlooked because of the sci-fi tag he is a great writer with a unique and truthful dystopian vision.

posted by papalaz at 1:45 am (EST) on Oct 19, 2007

What a bummer re the NYT - the link I sent just took me straight in (no registration required) - however to cut to the chase, the gist is that Gallagher wants to publish the versions of the stories that Carver sent to the publishers. Lish was Carver's editor and apparently did an awful lot of work on the texts. Knopf are refusing to go for the long original versions and are threatening to sue if she publishes elsewhere. I suspect that Tess is trying some kind of re-appraisal and is at the same time trying to generate some more revenue for the estate but I could be wrong. In some respects it reminds me of the Kafka problem. The early stuff is so sparse and so pared down that it takes your breath away - very working class, trailer trash if you will - and the contention is that Lish may have done the paring. The point is that Carver's reputation was built on this succinct and direct style - what does Tess think she is doing? Even if Carver himself didn't approve at least he knew which side his bread was buttered. It does raise the issue of how much influence an editor can bring to bear.

Vermillion Sands sounds like a good selection - hope it has some stuff about the auditory sculptures in it.

Re Carver faves : What we talk about when we talk about Love, also Fires.

2nd - after Harry Mathews?

posted by papalaz at 3:03 pm (EST) on Oct 18, 2007

Great review of the Borges Larry. If you read French this link might interest you - http://oas2000.proxis.be/gate/jabba.sg.s...

posted by papalaz at 12:59 pm (EST) on Oct 18, 2007

Hi Larry - there seems to be a literary spat brewing here - http://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/17/books/... - that has a truly fascinating core to it. I am and have been a Carver fan for goodness knows how long and to be frank from what I read in this article I genuinely prefer the work done with Lish rather than without. How would you call it?

posted by papalaz at 11:09 am (EST) on Oct 18, 2007

hello L riley,
i just found your librarythingys yesterday 10.16.07 and you are doing a fantastic job on librarything. great work.
yes i have read manchette's 2 novels and really like them. i will pursue more celine and queneau.
i have 3 recommendations for you on latin american noir:

daniel Chavarria has two books out Akashic, they are great cuban picaresque noir

leonardo padura has 3 books out from bitter lemon press about a havana police detective

and

juan carlos onetti "the shipyard" from serpent's tail press is a fantasticly dark moving novel of the back water of uruguay.

keep up the good work,
jay

posted by criswellj at 10:03 am (EST) on Oct 17, 2007

...by the way, The Pope of Greenwich Village by Vicent Patrick, was an excellent read, i remember reading it before it was made into a movie.

posted by berthirsch at 6:58 pm (EST) on Oct 16, 2007

thanks for keeping me updated on your literary journeys...i am out of breath just imagining keeping up with your pace...can you belive i am still into Savage Detectives- I must say I have been distracted as of late with a history of Argentina and Jack Kerouac's Desolation Angels (which is the book that echo's Bolano's voyage...a book i read many,many years ago and have never forgotten).

i was also "tickled pink" when my local library invited me to a select focus group to discuss future directions and efforts...i am encouraging them to build up a Foreign Film collection- i generally find foreign films to be more literate and interseting in their approach.

posted by berthirsch at 12:34 pm (EST) on Oct 16, 2007

good and thoughtful review Larry - I shall borrow that for my duties over at the 'flue

posted by papalaz at 12:26 pm (EST) on Oct 15, 2007

TOO MANY YEARS AGO I READ SOME OF thE gOLDEN nOTEBOOKS...TOO LONG AGO TO REMEMBER.

posted by berthirsch at 12:30 pm (EST) on Oct 12, 2007

Three is a great piece - I love it.

Three cheers for Doris Lessing - http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment...

posted by papalaz at 11:02 am (EST) on Oct 11, 2007

i love it- Dylan would be a Transformational pick!

posted by berthirsch at 6:31 pm (EST) on Oct 9, 2007

thanks for the Nobel gossip- I enjoy being a Book Groupie!

posted by berthirsch at 6:09 pm (EST) on Oct 9, 2007

Iriley,
thanks for the message. You really do make this a great site. I'm always looking to see if you've written any new reviews.
Queneau is a favorite, and I haven't read Children of Clay yet. I've been amazed by Bolano lately, and I'll be checking out Nicanor Parra soon. One book that you don't have in your catalogue that you might like is How I Became A Nun, by Cesar Aira, an Argentinean novelist. He is an eccentric. Very prolific. How I Became A Nun seems to be about how he makes up stories. It's got the most unreliable narrator I've ever encountered.
thanks again,
Jesse

posted by gbusters at 2:38 pm (EST) on Oct 9, 2007

great reviews!

posted by berthirsch at 1:25 pm (EST) on Oct 9, 2007

Ballard - Empire of the Sun is probably the least representative of Ballard as a writer being autobigraphy. Cocaine Nights and its companion piece Super Cannes are good starting points but I do recommend the short stories. He is a craftsamn and an artist.

Berger - hard work but very rewarding

Bolano - when I find Savage Detectives I shall devour it

posted by papalaz at 4:43 am (EST) on Oct 9, 2007

great reviews Larry - as you love short stories I'd suggest that you check out the Complete Short Stories by J G Ballard who is one of our great short story writers - these are perfect little gems of his dystopian vision

posted by papalaz at 11:54 am (EST) on Oct 8, 2007

Iriley
right-o I'll have a look at them this evening. T

posted by tartalom at 10:51 am (EST) on Oct 8, 2007

i am sure the bothy of you are pleased with the weather, which has been summer like- good for working on the house.

Amulet was my first Bolano read and i loved it.

posted by berthirsch at 4:26 pm (EST) on Oct 7, 2007

there is also an excellent, almost haunting, biography on Delmore I believe by James Atlas- i read it a coupple of years ago- the story of an artist consumed by his own flame.

i can't believe the NHL is playing already- i don't start paying attention to the Rangers until after the New Year. what's your prediction/scouting report for them this year?

posted by berthirsch at 12:35 pm (EST) on Oct 5, 2007

i recently bought Jesus Son (at Strands) and must tell you that I am old fan of Bellows- his Humboldt's Gift, a take on Delmore Schwartz' life, was a great read back then, and more recently Ravelstein- a short piece, was also well done.

posted by berthirsch at 5:55 pm (EST) on Oct 4, 2007

On my recent Strands/St Marks PLace Bookstore trip I went wild for:

Einsteins Dreams-Alan Lightman
Molanos's Malady and Bartleby-Enrique Vila-matas
Saul Bellow Collected Short Stories
Sylvia- Leonard Michaels

posted by berthirsch at 12:31 pm (EST) on Oct 4, 2007

Hi Larry sounds like you did well for your birthday - belated congratulations. Another year wiser I always like to think.

I am becoming quite enamoured of the idea of finding some Denis Johnson and 'Jesus' son' is looking the likeliest. I'm thinking seriously about re-reading all of the Beckett novels this winter - possibly in chronological order.

Sorry that that link didn't work try this one:
http://www.tabblo.com/studio/stories/vie...

By the way I have taken up the job of doing book reviews over at the 'flue and I was wondering whether I could re-publish some of your reviews over there to give a bit more breadth to the role?

posted by papalaz at 10:05 am (EST) on Oct 4, 2007

yes- i will keep you in a little suspense until i get it together.

posted by berthirsch at 4:45 pm (EST) on Oct 3, 2007

hey larry-

i am still reading Savage Detectives- see my post on South American site...i am also working through some thoughts about this book that i will eventually share on Books Compared.

posted by berthirsch at 1:31 pm (EST) on Oct 2, 2007

... more Ann Quinn? excellent - I'm waiting for your review with bated breath.

We made lavender oil this w/e - share the experience if you will - http://www.tabblo.com/studio/stories/vie...

Currently reading 7 types of ambiguity (perlman) and not really enjoying it at all - I may abandon it

posted by papalaz at 12:57 pm (EST) on Oct 1, 2007

Well a very happy birthday and expect your welcome letter to AARP in the near future. I haven't seen the review yet but i also write you to tell you that one of my other recommended books: Achilles in NAM' Jonathan Shay,MD was just awarded one of the McArthurer Awards, announced yesterday.

enjoy your reading.

posted by berthirsch at 1:02 pm (EST) on Sep 26, 2007

hi larry- take a look at Critical Mass (http://bookcriticscircle.blogspot.com/)
there is a piece on Roth's THe Counterlife- Julian Barnes calling it the best novel he has written.

posted by berthirsch at 10:11 am (EST) on Sep 26, 2007

Hi Larry, now I know you like William Trevor I thought I'd check whether you had any Brian Moore - and yes you do. Whether you've read it or not I don't know. Have you? And what do you think if you have.

BTW I agrre with your not too serious all the time but as I age and see the list of stuff I really want to read (read serious) the less time I dedicate to the more fivolous. It's an ageing thing I figure.

posted by papalaz at 2:32 pm (EST) on Sep 22, 2007

i remember mentioning it about War Fiction...glad you liked it, what elkse have you been reading, i also remember you picked up The End of the Line:Khe Sanh...have you been talking about these books in any of the forums? i'd be interested to take a look and maybe comment.

i'm still with Bolano...also dabbing into my New Yorkers.

posted by berthirsch at 7:25 am (EST) on Sep 21, 2007

Larry, I've read a fair amount of JCO and enjoyed most of it but, and it is a big but, outside of her truly excellent On Boxing I would not recommend her to anybody who has serious reading to do anymore than I would Margaret Attwood

posted by papalaz at 12:22 pm (EST) on Sep 20, 2007

... or Joyce Carole Oates who is also being bruited of late

posted by papalaz at 3:57 am (EST) on Sep 20, 2007

He's 80 now and I agree worthy of a Nobel (no politics though so unlikely in the current climate) - they had him on Radio 4 every day last week reading from his latest collection of short stories - absolutley brilliant! - I made a point of stopping whatever I was doing to listen - we'll not see his like again for a while

posted by papalaz at 1:40 pm (EST) on Sep 19, 2007

Larry - hope you enjoy the Markson - I'm loving a novel by William Trevor at present - he writes beautifully - usually short stories but this is a loner piece - The Borading House

posted by papalaz at 9:43 am (EST) on Sep 19, 2007

thanks Larry - looks interesting, I'd never heard of that writer. I'll keep an eye out for it now. T

posted by tartalom at 4:52 pm (EST) on Sep 10, 2007

"If I remember correctly that is the one where the ghost hangs around and follows the train his corpse is on. " - that's the one - quitel lyrical and very Greek that section.

"A lot of street scenery from the time of the Greek colonels who were not different very much at all from the Argentine Generals from the mid 70's to early 80's. Brings to mind the Bolano book in a way but maybe even more Vargas Llosa's Conversation in the Cathedral." Exactly and that was why Csta Gavras made Z the film as able to comment on any similar circustance - and did it very well. Have you seen the film?

And as you almost say so perspicaciously - it could happen anywhere

BTW I'm currently reading Robert Nye's "The Late Mr Shakespeare" and enjoying it immensely. Nye was one of the writers that BS Johnson recommended in Aren't You Rather Yound to Be Writing Your Memoirs? Nye seems to have taken a form that at first glance appears to be historical fiction and to have tranformed it into a genuinely interesting form that can be literary.

posted by papalaz at 3:19 pm (EST) on Sep 8, 2007

Great review here - Bolano - http://www.lrb.co.uk/v29/n17/kunk01_.htm...
thinks to himself:
Really must catch The Savage Detectives

BTW - if you are a Mac user Tofu is a great app for reading things like this review

posted by papalaz at 11:53 am (EST) on Sep 8, 2007

Greta review Larry and strangely serendipitous. I have just finished reading Z by Vasilis Vasilakis for the first time. I have always loved the Costa Gavras film and although the novel is much more specific to Greece during a particular time than is the film it is a powerful expose of how governmental paranoia can spill over into civl life. It too is humorous in parts and tragic by equal measure but above all it is a genuinely humane assessment of and inhumane time. A defnite "worth a read" if you come across a copy.

posted by papalaz at 3:50 am (EST) on Sep 8, 2007

A great opening line indeed - and what a curious fellow! I'll get round to reading your review this w/e- sounds promising

posted by papalaz at 2:25 pm (EST) on Sep 7, 2007

Manic Street Preachers - yep, a well-known band over here. Angry Welsh post-punks with a line in declamatory, didactic pop. They take themselves a mite to seriously for my liking, give me the Buzzcocks every time.

posted by tartalom at 5:40 am (EST) on Sep 7, 2007

no worries - I'm always on the look out for something new to read - that's one of the great things about this place; interesting new tangents to wander off on

posted by tartalom at 6:25 pm (EST) on Sep 6, 2007

Yes we got back Saturday...it was an exciting week - we visited a lot of leather factories and tanneries- Lisa is trying to explore importing leather handbags and we have a great partner there. not your typical touristy experience which made it even more interesting and authentic.

I am pleased to hear your favorable response to Englander's Argentine Novel and I highly recommend his only other book- Unbearable Uges-short story collection- again- I thought the story The 27th Man- was brilliant.

i am awaiting word on Giardinelli's Sultry Moon which i may get through a book swap on BookMooch.

and today i am stoppin by Strand's for a quick fix.

ciao mi amigo.

posted by berthirsch at 8:24 am (EST) on Sep 6, 2007

Thanks for adding my library to your interesting libraries. I have been enjoying your posts and recommendations. I am also interested in books in translation.

posted by almigwin at 3:30 am (EST) on Sep 5, 2007

Thanx for that Larry "Sounds like someone I should really check out. " - lkewise

posted by papalaz at 9:42 am (EST) on Sep 2, 2007

alternative link - http://3quarksdaily.blogs.com/3quarksdai...

posted by papalaz at 4:00 pm (EST) on Sep 1, 2007

Larry - just read this review -do you know his work - the short stories sound very interesting - http://www.nytimes.com/2007/09/02/books/...

posted by papalaz at 8:53 am (EST) on Sep 1, 2007

you might just enjoy tonight's blog - http://poundemonium.blogspot.com/2007/08...

posted by papalaz at 1:38 pm (EST) on Aug 31, 2007

Larry - I've read 3 of Markson's books and have loved them all - check my library to see which ones (Reader's Block is particularly memorable) - I'd go see him and I'm pretty sure you'll like him. As to Mr Mosley - I'd go for Accident or The Imago bird, both of which are easier, IMHO, than Hopeful Monsters or Ctatstrophe Practice.

posted by papalaz at 12:47 pm (EST) on Aug 31, 2007

Larry - an nteresting chat with Nicolas Mosley here http://www.prospect-magazine.co.uk/artic... - an author I admire but find very difficut to like

posted by papalaz at 10:55 am (EST) on Aug 31, 2007

Hi Larry thought you might appreciate this - http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment... Also there's a profile of Saramago in the NYT that sounds interesting - link here - http://3quarksdaily.blogs.com/3quarksdai... - 3quarks has a good piece on Coetzee too

posted by papalaz at 3:18 pm (EST) on Aug 26, 2007

Agnes is good isn't she? Hope you enjoy the Reyes. I might revisit some Zola

posted by papalaz at 1:33 pm (EST) on Aug 22, 2007

Therese Racquin? Nana?

posted by papalaz at 5:07 am (EST) on Aug 18, 2007

Yup- i read several reviews and took his short story collection out oif the library-it was excellent - see the "27th Man" - i figured i pick the argentine novel up when it comes out in paperback- the reviews were mixed yet certainly perked my interest.

i have an interview saved where he goes back to Buenos Aires and does a travelogue riff on areas of the city he wrote about...i am bringing with me when we fly out on Wednesday.

ciao mi amigo!

posted by berthirsch at 10:33 pm (EST) on Aug 17, 2007

Great list Larry and I'd endorse quite a few of them - good work. Funny you mention the de Bernieres as eh wrote most of the novel in Earlsfield Public Library which was my local library when I lived in London last - sadly I'm not a fan of the yarn itself.

posted by papalaz at 12:27 pm (EST) on Aug 17, 2007

I'm surprised you get any reading done right now

posted by papalaz at 3:24 pm (EST) on Aug 15, 2007

Well done Larry you've extnended my author list again. This has to be one of the best reasons to use LibraryThing.

As to Alina Reyes - yes she does tend toward the erotic life and I have no problem with that but I also think that her pared down prose and structures would be a very good lesson to a lot of modern writers. Brevity and sparseness are terribly undervalued. If you get a chance try her Behind Closed Doors - it is an experimental work that is worth checking out -

Synopsis:
"Behind Closed Doors" is a novel in two halves, one presenting the adventures and perspectives of a woman, the other those of a man. The reader decides which gender role to play and which paths of the plot to pursue by choosing from a group of "doors". Following the author's suggestions, the reader designs the architecture of this erotic hall of mirrors and is hypnotically drawn into a carnival of decadent delights.

Papz

posted by papalaz at 4:06 am (EST) on Aug 15, 2007

just a quicky Larry - have you read any Alina Reyes?

posted by papalaz at 1:40 pm (EST) on Aug 14, 2007

NYC in March - cool...maybe we'll make Strands part of your ritual...regarding the thaeter i highly recommend Spring Awakenings- the Duncan Sheik show- its fabulous.

posted by berthirsch at 7:53 pm (EST) on Aug 13, 2007

TREATMENT DOES NOT ALWAYS GO SMOOTHLY...it is a truly humbling endeavor.

posted by berthirsch at 1:58 pm (EST) on Aug 13, 2007

regarding THE HUMAN STAIN i do believe it is one of Roth's best.

regarding Bath VA I actually know some vets who stayed at the domocillary up there...meds is usually helpful when treating PTSD- anti depressants and sleep meds can offer some relief...the whole compensation system is totally fucked up and the vets have to do cartwheels to get what is coming to them...its a distasteful and disrespectful process.

Enrique Vila-Matas- are you familiar with his novels? Bartlesby, Montano's Malady ?

posted by berthirsch at 7:39 pm (EST) on Aug 12, 2007

Larry - I think I recommended Agnes Owens to you - I really like her work - I shall be looking out for Tillie

glad you enjoyed it

Papz

posted by papalaz at 9:44 am (EST) on Aug 12, 2007

Hi Larry - thought that you would not have seen this - http://books.guardian.co.uk/review/story... - and know that you'll enjoy it

Papz

posted by papalaz at 5:38 am (EST) on Aug 12, 2007

before Too Loud B&B was one of my top two - Ulysses anyone? Austen no, Brontes and George Eliot yes.

Look forard to your list

Glad you are spreading the word re Hrabal

Papz

posted by papalaz at 1:41 pm (EST) on Aug 10, 2007

Hi Larry - if you have the time I'd love to see your list.Hrabal's Too Loud a Solitude would get one of my places as would Saramago's Baltasar and Blimunda

BTW The Bronte's are pretty good

posted by papalaz at 12:34 pm (EST) on Aug 10, 2007

Larry - this - http://books.guardian.co.uk/news/article... - makes for interesting reading although my own list would be very different - what do you think?

Papa

posted by papalaz at 9:33 am (EST) on Aug 10, 2007

i'm glad to hear you finally got into the human stain- i thought it was excellent on several levels- the whole aspect of the professors hiding his identity and i thought the depiction of PTSD was amazingly accurate.

hope my recommends pan out for you.

posted by berthirsch at 8:18 am (EST) on Aug 9, 2007

oops - http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment...

posted by papalaz at 8:47 am (EST) on Aug 8, 2007

here's a link to this years Booker long list - nothing very interesting AGAIN

Papalaz

posted by papalaz at 8:46 am (EST) on Aug 8, 2007

Have yu checked out Shared Favourites? We share 11.

posted by papalaz at 1:14 pm (EST) on Aug 3, 2007

I THINK YOU AND MAE HAVE THE WORKINGS A GOOD SHORT STORY THAT MANY MARRIEDS WOULD RELATE TO!

posted by berthirsch at 11:48 am (EST) on Aug 3, 2007

oh houses...this has been quite a year for us...first we lost all the water in our in-ground pool- had a pretty bad crack-fixed....last week bad storm- slight flood in ground floor room- sump pump installed and concrete work outside...its a major piece of work from year to year some worse than others.

will be leaving for BA near the end of the month for one week and then back again end of November- can't wait to be there again.

posted by berthirsch at 7:02 pm (EST) on Aug 2, 2007

hey larry- thanks for your kind words- the feelings are mutual- i thoroughly enjoy our contacts - virtual and actual...the invitation is it to another discussion group?

by the way i started Savage Dicks and i love it- Juan garcia's youthful innocence and honesty are inviting- I love the Font sisters- the whole scene- it reminds me of when we were in Mexico City and my wife and son and I trekked all over Cuoyacon searching for Freda Kahlo's house.

posted by berthirsch at 12:03 pm (EST) on Aug 2, 2007

Larry: Afraid that I am up to my eyeballs for planning the little summit get-together of the "three amigos" and it has seriously cut into my reading and correspondence time. So I greatly appreciate you taking the time to write and to note the overlap in our libraries. I did make time to read Zero Train and The Stalin Front, both of which I enjoyed very much. Zero Train is excellent: I think Buida did for Soviet society (the train metaphor is brilliant) what Orwell did for the revolution. I must find time to write a review. I am going to look for more Buida on ABEBooks. The Stalin Front is also excellent; such an antidote to Junger's glorification of war as the ultimate test of man in Storm of Steel. I think Ledig's view is more realistic. I agree entirely on Germinal which gripped me from the very beginning; a great novel; I have not read The Debacle/The Earth yet. I think Barbusse's Undertones of War is one of the best WWI memoirs and one that I should certainly re-read. I agree that Birdsong is very good on the war.

In fact I do have a lot of Wilfrid Owen and must have all his works through various anthologies. I like him very much as a poet and have memorized a couple of his poems. He is the greater poet than Sassoon, but I quite like the latter too. I once saw a two-man play about Sassoon and Owen, how they met in a convalescent home (in Scotland, I believe) where Sassoon was instrumental in encouraging Owen to pursue his poetry. When we lived in Brussels I made a pilgrimage to find Owen's grave. It was not easy to find because his was one of about a dozen Commonwealth war graves tucked away in the back of a village cemetary. The only time I ever saw such an arrangement. But I did eventually find it, stood there and read a couple of his poems. It was a nice moment.

Thanks for the note on Cela, Sender, and Delibes...I will definitely look them up...all of your recommendations have been gold!

Gotta get back to work....Cheers....John

posted by John at 9:37 am (EST) on Jul 26, 2007

a good review Larry - it made me want to read the book although I doubt I'll see it any time soon

posted by papalaz at 3:45 pm (EST) on Jul 25, 2007

Yay, one of my favourites in there lr (call me Dave, by the way) - "In Patagonia" is a superb book. Nah, I didn't take offence, just thought I may have caused it.

Anyways, I'm adding your library to my watchlist, if you don't mind, and I'll check in again some time. Happy trails!

posted by desultory at 12:36 pm (EST) on Jul 21, 2007

Sorry lr -I realise now that my comment was a little insensitive, but thank you very much for your frank and open reply. I work for a living as well, but over here, cheap short haul flights (whilst obviously doing nothing to fight global warming) give us an unfair advantage in terms of getting around Europe - and even further sometimes. And you have a very cool continent to explore as well.

Inherited wealth would be nice, though, wouldn't it? A wealthy British conservative politician said, not that long ago, that it was nice to be able to live on the interest on his interest. I'm sure it must be.

As for travelling through your reading, that's the purest form of travel, isn't it? And also the only way of making sure that a place hasn't been spoiled by the time you get there. My favourite writer in that vein is Patrick Leigh Fermor - a national treasure, even if he does live in Greece now.

posted by desultory at 3:09 am (EST) on Jul 21, 2007

"49 years old." Check.

"Married." Check.

"Two children." Check.

"Like to travel but not been off the North American continent." Come on, get your self out here. We're a very interesting world out here.

posted by desultory at 7:12 pm (EST) on Jul 20, 2007

glad you got Counterlife...7 Madmen was quite good, I liked the anarchistic theme and the characters were interesting. I do look forward to digginginto your translation in the future...for now I am reaing Seamus Heaney's translkation of Beowulf and find it surpisingly easy to read and suspenseful at the same time.

posted by berthirsch at 7:45 pm (EST) on Jul 19, 2007

I'm glad you said that because I had assumed that the play was based on North (which I read earrlier this year and loved) but I had no biographical stuff that I could check his playwriting. Whatever the source I'm glad to see Celine is still current.

posted by papalaz at 4:12 am (EST) on Jul 18, 2007

No problemo mi amigo,
The Counterlife is on its way...i must admit that it is many years since i read it and my memory is vague BUT there aren't any Roth books that don't bring some brilliance, humor and insight.
abrazos, bert

posted by berthirsch at 4:52 pm (EST) on Jul 17, 2007

Larry - thought you'd enjoy this - http://www.ekathimerini.com/4dcgi/_w_art... - I wish I'd known it was on - hadn't heard of it myself

posted by papalaz at 1:27 pm (EST) on Jul 17, 2007

Larry - the only two westerns worth reading - The Old Gringo (Fuentes) and Ghost Town (Coover) - unless you count Mason & Dixon. Ah now - some of the very best characters in all of literature are surely villains - think of Dickens without his Bill Sykes or Uriah Heep or Fagin or Gradgrind or Scrooge - his heroes are hideous charicatures of virtue whereas his villains are complex troubled characters.

posted by papalaz at 12:36 am (EST) on Jul 9, 2007

That sounds like a fair amount of unwelcome work and all because somebody else didn't do their job properly.

I'll get around to Pamuk one day I'm sure - I think I get your point about Nobel worthy writers and agree wholeheartedly - the politicization of the prize has almost made me give up on it.

As to my own tastes - well I certainly like to work at my literature but unlike your friends few of mine even recognise what's on my shelves let alone wonder about them. I do love a challenge although I still read old fashioned novels (I even read some Roth recently) and have no genre blindness except sci-fi (I do love J G Ballard and Dick but I'm not sure either are really sci-fi writers).

Speak soon

posted by papalaz at 1:58 pm (EST) on Jul 8, 2007

HI Larry - good to hear from you - what exactly is re siding (not residing I assume)? We're out most of the time too since the lavender harvest is upon us - looks like a good one this year! I've finally finished the de Sade biog and recommend it thoroughly. Now I'm moving on to Zadie Smith's On Beauty which to be honest I'm none too impressed with. Let me know how you go ith the Pamuk - I have some doubts.

Good luck with the residing - whatever it is!

Papalaz

posted by papalaz at 12:49 pm (EST) on Jul 7, 2007

thanks for your insights into the Rangers- you truly are a "renaissance man"...by the way there is a fabulous essay in today's GuardianBooks on The Sopranos...i don't have an e-mail for you i would've just forwarded to you...
by the way mine is : berthirsch@yahoo.com

posted by berthirsch at 7:22 am (EST) on Jul 6, 2007

what did you think of Gomez and Drury?

posted by berthirsch at 7:49 pm (EST) on Jul 5, 2007

very interseting- i must put Celine on my list.

in Conversational Reading site a very interesting essay on Fuentes-Bolano.

posted by berthirsch at 7:16 pm (EST) on Jul 1, 2007

henry Miller and Joseph Heller are both favorites as is Kerouac (my favorite here is DESOLATION ANGELS) and Burrough's-Naked Lunch.

posted by berthirsch at 10:21 pm (EST) on Jun 30, 2007

other past American giants- John Steinbeck and Sinclair Lewis and Edith Wharton(i think she's fabulous)

posted by berthirsch at 10:09 am (EST) on Jun 30, 2007

regarding ROTH- I read Human Stain and Operation Shylock- both are quite good and I preferred Human Stain- which I thought was great.

posted by berthirsch at 6:12 pm (EST) on Jun 26, 2007

Currently reading Murakami's After THe Quuake collection of stories- he is very different-somehow he speaks to me - taps into modern sense of alienation/anomie.

posted by berthirsch at 1:00 pm (EST) on Jun 26, 2007

i actually saw the llosa review-thanks...yes, Ilan Stavens is quite active,he edits a whole series for U of New Mexico Press. Did you ever read that short story of his?

posted by berthirsch at 11:38 am (EST) on Jun 22, 2007

i got 2 "brooklyn" sea bass which i will make believe are "chilean" sea bass.

posted by berthirsch at 4:04 pm (EST) on Jun 21, 2007

sounds good- it still is my favorite group and interest...i am now finishing Nathan Englander's short story collection- one i have enjoyed very much - especially the opening story The 27th Man.

we are off to Argentina at the end of August and I am debating what to bring for my read. still have time to choose- i have a long pile of books to read, enough to keep me busy for the next 2 years...ah gluttonhood !

tomrorrow i am off on a fishing party boat with a group of active duty soldiers, marines and vets from Nam...should be fun.

posted by berthirsch at 7:04 pm (EST) on Jun 20, 2007

Larry...sorry for having gone AWOL. I have emerged from retirement to take up a contract with my old department. I'm organizing the meeting that PM Harper is hosting for your Mr.Bush and the Mexican Pres, and this is taking a chunk of my time. Not to mention how it is cutting into my reading time! I do know Ledig. I have, and enjoyed his novel "Payback" about the impact of bombing in WWII from the point of view of those under the bombs. I have heard of his novel Stalin Front and I think I have it on order myself. I have not heard of Buida, but he sounds interesting and I will look at your review. Right now I'm reading Night Soldiers by Alan Furst. Have you read any of his stuff? When he is on, he is very good at conveying the atmosphere of the 30s and 40s, the political intrigues across Europe, the times when people killed and were killed in the great communism/socialism/fascism struggles for influence. Also reading Nathalie Angier's, The Canon; about the basics of science and what an intelligent layman should know. Her writing style is a little too gushy and jokesy, but she is entertaining and knowledgeable.

Bummer about the Sens....the city was crazy with Sens fever, but they really were outplayed so we don't have much to complain about. Hammers are already falling: the GM got the boot and the coach who got them to the Cup has moved into his chair. Now the search is on for a new coach.

posted by John at 11:17 am (EST) on Jun 19, 2007

please do not misunderstand0- i certanily was not implying that i liked the monarchs/emirs- it is just my projection/prediction that they will end up on top , once again.

regarding Israel- i have always been a supporter of the Peace Now movement- see Amos OZ.

posted by berthirsch at 7:25 pm (EST) on Jun 16, 2007

Tony lives...i actually liked the ending with the family eating together...on one level the show's theme was a twist on Father Know's Best or Ozzie and Harriet.

posted by berthirsch at 7:22 pm (EST) on Jun 14, 2007

HI Larry - I've been playing around with some code (I used to be in the IT business) and have come up with the following : http://www.id-ds.com/Pages/Tline.html - you can pull the timelins around and click on things. It's a very rough first draft but see what you think.

Papalaz

PS - loved your last email about how you got into reading - I started when very young (before I knew I maybe shouldn't given my upbringing) and first read Joyce aged 11 - since then it's been one of the most fulfilling and enjoyable aspects of my life - long may it continue so for all of us readers!

posted by papalaz at 2:46 am (EST) on Jun 12, 2007

hey larry- we are kind of on a parallel theme- i just read the first story in Nathan Englander's "For THe Relief of Unbearable Urges" and it is set in Stalin Russia about a group of jewish writers incarcerated together before they go before the firing squad - very good story entitled The Twenty Seventh Man.

read White Noise several years ago and remember liking it, to date my 2 favorite DeLillo's are End Zone and Libra (the Oswald book).

posted by berthirsch at 9:45 pm (EST) on Jun 9, 2007

Larry - did you see this - http://flickr.com/photos/jamsjoys/537461... - which I hoped would demonstrate what I have in mind but for all literature since the beginning of the novel to current time

posted by papalaz at 1:32 pm (EST) on Jun 9, 2007

Great review Larry - that sounds genuinely interesting - did you think of Hrabal ? Check out my request for a timeline (Talk)

Cyrrently ploughing thru anoth biography of FAD M de Sade which is proving really gripping - I love de Sade and tend to avoid literary biographies but I make exceptions!

posted by papalaz at 12:27 pm (EST) on Jun 9, 2007

hey l.

any update on bioy casares- what did you think of what you read?

posted by berthirsch at 4:05 pm (EST) on Jun 3, 2007

well I think you did amazingly well - I'm a biggish Oulipo fan too - the Pinget is one of his I haven't read but my copy of the Perec is in tatters LOL - feel free to share the quiz

posted by papalaz at 11:48 am (EST) on May 31, 2007

good to hear from you, believe it or not i just signed on to write you a brief note about 7 Madmen...I just finished the chapter " Inside The Cavern" p 179-195 that i thought was a brilliant peice of writing and could certainly stand alone as a short piece of fiction,,,Erdosain's tripping around the streets of BA in a somewhat paranoid state, hanging in a diner filled with low-lifes, culminating in an image of a christ like figure appearing from nowhere.

i will be very interested to hear what you think of Bioy Casares, i have never seen a book by him and he was, without doubt, Borges' closest confidant and long-lasting friend and co-author.

posted by berthirsch at 7:25 pm (EST) on May 29, 2007

You are the man! Shall I send you the list that I worked out - I'm not guaranteeing that they are all correct. How was the Sepulveda?

posted by papalaz at 11:21 am (EST) on May 29, 2007

Larry - you are doing so well!!! Spot on with the Kerouac and the Grass - 2 points! It is indeed Luis Sepulveda (he's the one I hadn't heard of) who apparently is a Chilean writer. You are really close with the DH Lawrence - you obviously got the reference to love - try the other one of his that mentions it.

Looking forward to tracking your continuing struggle.

Don't you think it's an interesting selection of writers for a Greek newspaper to be giving away?

Papalaz

posted by papalaz at 10:33 am (EST) on May 29, 2007

your hard work is certainly getting you there - gotta love a trier - keep at it - so farr you're the only one playing although I did invite the LT owner Tim Spaalding to take part

posted by papalaz at 12:10 pm (EST) on May 28, 2007

Larry your instinct on D H L is spot on - try the title. Also Louis and Luis are transliterated identically. Digraphs are the killer sometimes

posted by papalaz at 11:49 am (EST) on May 28, 2007

wow - you are doing well with the authors - your Kundera title is right too not so the other one - fun isn't it?

posted by papalaz at 9:18 am (EST) on May 28, 2007

Larry you're doing well so far - keep at it - they have one writer I've not read! The titles will indeed be tricky especially as c ouple don't seem to have been translated into English.

How did you enjoy Scoop?

posted by papalaz at 5:57 am (EST) on May 28, 2007

Just put up a game for you Larry - http://poundemonium.blogspot.com/

posted by papalaz at 2:12 pm (EST) on May 27, 2007

Thanks! I am a fan, especially during the playoffs and this town is wild about the Senators, particularly after a number of years of promise that faded in the playoffs. It should be great series. Did you see the review of Bell's bio of Touissant in the latest NYReview of Books?

posted by John at 4:04 pm (EST) on May 23, 2007

so long as it holds together for 1 more read you'll be fine then - LOL

posted by papalaz at 12:45 am (EST) on May 21, 2007

Hey Larry-
here is a treat...on the MILLIONS WebBlog there is a link to a PDF file full translation of Murakami's 1973 novel PINBALL which is out of print and sells on Amazon for more than $200.

i ahve saved it to my harddrive for future pleasure. enjoy.

posted by berthirsch at 7:47 pm (EST) on May 19, 2007

i am getting well into 7 Madmen and the interior madness of Remo...he has just left the Astrolger's house on his late night journey there when he proposed the murder of his wife's cousin... a strange yet engaging tale.

posted by berthirsch at 7:11 pm (EST) on May 15, 2007

Bartleby sounds wonderful - I must find a copy

posted by papalaz at 3:30 pm (EST) on May 15, 2007

i copy below an excerpt of an essay in the March issue of THe Believer- I thought of you because you just finished Savge Detectives but also because of the conversations we have had about literature:

MARCH 2007

RODRIGO FRESáN



THE SAVAGE DETECTIVE

THE ONLY PROTAGONIST OF ROBERTO BOLAÑO’S WORK— THE AUTHENTIC HEROINE OF HIS BOOKS—IS LITERATURE ITSELF.

DISCUSSED: Hopeful Monsters, Barcelona, Troikas and Triads, Borges, The Tlatelolco Massacre, The Shitpool of Literature, Philip K. Dick, Ghosts, Nocturnal Writing, Where’s Waldo?, Pinochet, The Hologram of bin Laden, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Big Brother, The Boom, Blade Runner, Viking Funerals

I begin with a personal recollection, because it’s the only way to start, I think, when you’re going to talk—or write—about a writer you were lucky enough to know, and about books whose company you’re still lucky enough to enjoy.

It’s the end of fall or the beginning of winter in Barcelona 2001. And it’s cold and there are clouds and there’ll be rain. And before getting on the commuter train back to Blanes, the Chilean writer Roberto Bolaño, for the first time in his life (or at least that’s what he swears), steps into one of Barcelona’s many Kentucky Fried Chicken outlets.

We’ve already visited the inevitable bookstore La Central (almost certainly the greatest bookstore in the world), where Bolaño picked up various books that he plans to use for research for his novel 2666. The walk is part of a routine established in 1999, when I first met Bolaño and we became friends: books and a walk and something to eat. So this time it’ll be Kentucky Fried Chicken.

I go in with Bolaño (it was my idea to get something to eat here, I confess), and we order our respective meals. Bolaño sits down at a table from which he can see the whole room, lit by harsh neon lights, and surveys his surroundings in fascination. “Have you noticed? Everybody’s here…” He smiles almost in ecstasy, and everyone—I turn around to see—is a throng of South American immigrants, legal or illegal. They’re recognizable by their foreign features, but also by the discipline with which they count out the exact change when they pay, the almost reverential silence of their chewing, and the great care they take not to spill on their sweaters patterned with ethnic motifs. There are also—it’s true—Asians, sub-Saharan Africans, and the occasional American college student, nostalgically seeking a taste of home. But the Latin American component is clearly in the majority; and Bolaño can’t stop staring at all of them as if they’re potential masterpieces. The—love?—in Bolaño’s gaze is none other than the love a father feels for his children, or the horrorized pride of the sanest of mad scientists gloating over a laboratory crammed with potential experiments. Bolaño eats, still smiling: with the gleeful sadness of someone who remembers terrible moments from his own past, looking everywhere and nowhere; a little bit maudit and completely Bolaño when he says that the South American writers living in Barcelona—“right away, now’s the time”—should make this Kentucky Fried Chicken their gathering place, the spot where they meet to talk and debate.

And, of course, what Bolaño is doing is laughing at the idea of writers—writers of any nationality or galaxy—getting together to talk about literature. In Bolaño’s opinion—then and always—literature should inhabit books, not bars. From which it follows that the only protagonist of Bolaño’s work—the authentic heroine of his books—is literature itself. Literature as Golden Fleece or Holy Grail or Rosebud-branded sled pursued to the bitter end by men and women who believe solely in it. Because what’s the point of believing in anything that isn’t literature, defined by Bolaño in an interview as the thing that plants itself “in the territory of risk”?

posted by berthirsch at 11:49 am (EST) on May 15, 2007

no but i have noted them,thanks (again).

posted by berthirsch at 8:21 pm (EST) on May 12, 2007

have you turned your italian friend onto the Camilleri police novels all of them, i belive, set in the boot-sicily.

posted by berthirsch at 2:49 pm (EST) on May 11, 2007

Larry - on the strength of your review and another I read on 3Quarks I'm putting it on my Amazon wishlist today - fingers crosed that someone buys it for me.

Enjoy Amalgamemnon

posted by papalaz at 12:30 pm (EST) on May 11, 2007

checked out your reviews...re Paddywacked- I actually have another TJ English book- the Westies- not read yet but i have heard one of the best gandg books out there.

posted by berthirsch at 10:21 am (EST) on May 11, 2007

that sounds like a fascinatingly sardonic book-the underside of Argentina (and Italy)- just this past weekend we watched a DVD with Antonio Banderas-Dissappearing Argentinia- which was about the Dirty War and was quite good...i remember the Sindona affair and I highly recommend the biography Nick Tosches wrote about Sonny Liston-THe Life and Times of...it was probably the best boxing book I have read -right up there with David Remick's King of the World(Ali).

posted by berthirsch at 8:13 pm (EST) on May 10, 2007

i thought hte monk eastman story by borges comes from the collection: a universal history of infamy.

today i sent you a little package.

posted by berthirsch at 6:03 pm (EST) on May 9, 2007

i have a good short story by Stavens that i will send to you.

which talk forum are you talking about...you have whetted my appetite.

posted by berthirsch at 4:53 pm (EST) on May 8, 2007

did you catch Ilan Stavens' review in this past Sunday's Wash Post- it is an absolute RAVE calling the book a nmasterpiece- its an interesting review from a writer-Stavens- i have some familiarity with as an editor, translator and advocate for Latin American studies and literature- i assume you ,too, are familiar with him.

posted by berthirsch at 7:08 am (EST) on May 8, 2007

your review of Savage Detectives was great and my mind is left with mouth-watering desire...i should get to it this year- maybe i will save(savor) it for my next trip to BsAs in late November.

sounds fantastic!

posted by berthirsch at 5:59 pm (EST) on May 7, 2007

tough loss-great effort.

I have only read the title story of Bride of Odessa and liked it very much. I strated 7 Madmen and like it a lot -only through page 25-30...i am spending so much time reading papers, magazines, etc it takes me a little longer to get through books.

posted by berthirsch at 6:42 am (EST) on May 7, 2007

I agree with the idea of age and humour. I likewise think in terms of "well, that's in the bank - nobody and nothing can ake that away"

Re Waugh - go for Scoop or The Sword of Honour trilogy. Both hilarious satires.

posted by papalaz at 2:47 pm (EST) on May 5, 2007

what a killer- buufalo scoring with 7 seconds- hope we win in overtime???

posted by berthirsch at 9:31 pm (EST) on May 4, 2007

for Brooke-Rose I'd recommend XorandOr and Amalgamemnon. Coover's Ghost story is great and V or Gravity's Rainbow are both Pynchon at his peak.

PS - try Magnus Mills's Restraint of Beasts (it's very English in context but hilarious nonetheless)

PPS yes I'm likewise a big Pollock fan although Rothko beats him out for me.

posted by papalaz at 5:04 am (EST) on May 4, 2007

... and William S Burroughs of course - some Christine-Brooke Rose too

posted by papalaz at 2:41 pm (EST) on May 3, 2007

Spot on Larry. Gerald's Party is an amazingly funny book (as is Pnnocchio in Venice) and although I agree on the length of Pynchon's stuff it is worth the effort well anything before Mason & Dixon which almost bored me to death.

posted by papalaz at 2:34 pm (EST) on May 3, 2007

let's not forget Coover and Pynchon if we're talking funny

posted by papalaz at 1:14 pm (EST) on May 3, 2007

You're right Larry - it has been a while - sorry about that.I sent you the article chiefly because I agreed with so much in it. Personally I always found both Celine and Kafka amazingly humorous - Kafka regularly makes me laugh out loud. Joyce is always funny and Flann O'Brien and Beckett mine the smae rich vein. On the other hand people like Donleavy - post The Ginger Man - leave me cold. You should look out a recent British writer called Magnus Mills - he has some of the O'Brien/Beckett about him.

I know not of the South African lady you mention but I have heard good things about the Detectives thing and I have seen some episodes of the Sopranoes which I enjoyed - agreed the mix of violence and humour together with post-modern critique of soaps and hoods makes for an enjoyable televisual feast and that's rare enough indeed these days.

I'm currently reading Roth's The Plot Against America and to my surprise I'm liking it more than I'd have though possible!

posted by papalaz at 12:01 pm (EST) on May 3, 2007

Larry you might enjoy this - http://www.prospect-magazine.co.uk/artic... - I certainly did. BTW the following is a great site I recently disccovered - http://www.3quarksdaily.com/

posted by papalaz at 10:00 am (EST) on May 2, 2007

GOOOOOOOOOOOAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAL!!!!!!!

WHAT A GREAT PLAYOFF WIN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

posted by berthirsch at 6:16 pm (EST) on Apr 29, 2007

Two of my favorites- McCarthy and Roth!

I got your surprise package yesterday...what can i say...THANK YOU!!!

The Tabucchi book will go near the top of my pile- I am zeroed in on 7 Madmen next. Borges is like my Argentine guide and I love that the apt we bought there is just a few blocks from the house he grew up in.

Looks like Buffalo may be too tough.

Thanks again, one of these days i'll have to reciprocate.

ciao, bert

posted by berthirsch at 1:34 pm (EST) on Apr 29, 2007

a short concise review giving the full flavor of Mccarthy's world- he is a trip isn't he !

posted by berthirsch at 9:19 pm (EST) on Apr 27, 2007

i am so happy to hear abot Savage Detectives...i really enjoyed Amulet when i read it.

posted by berthirsch at 1:12 pm (EST) on Apr 25, 2007

what with all the other books i haven't read yet i can wait a couple of years.

posted by berthirsch at 6:05 pm (EST) on Apr 24, 2007

Powells sounds like its worth the trip to Portland- if i ever make it out there again (i drove through in the late 60's-early 70"s

By the way - I am kind of shocked- i decided to see if i could get a used copy of Cozarinsky's [The Moldavian Pimp] and you can't get it for anything under 60-70 dollars. amazing.

posted by berthirsch at 4:30 pm (EST) on Apr 23, 2007

I'm glad you're enjoying Suttree. Steinbeck is one of the first authors I 'got into' when I discovered I enjoyed reading. I read a few of the shorter books as a schoolboy, 'East of Eden' while hitching around France as a teenager, and 'Grapes of Wrath' much more recently. I enjoyed all of them at the time I read them. He writes in a straightforward and readable way. 'Grapes of Wrath' is maybe the most important and lasting of his works. I was very impressed by it.

posted by raggedprince at 6:22 am (EST) on Apr 23, 2007

from The Millions blog

Having got your fill of midtown, amble down Broadway past 14th St. Now we're really in book country. The Strand, another New York institution, advertises "8 miles of books," but it feels more like 16. A recent redesign has stripped away some of the flyblown, foxed, and watermarked pleasures of shopping in The Strand, but the vertiginous sensation of being surrounded by millions of cheap books remains... a feeling like playing hooky with a slight fever. Be sure to troll the Parisian dollar stalls outside, as great finds abound. Half-price review copies are great if you're looking for contemporary fiction. The Strand remains a wonderfully terrible place to go searching for a specific book... I never leave empty-handed, but generally spend several hours and several dollars discovering volumes I wasn't planning to buy.

posted by berthirsch at 3:56 pm (EST) on Apr 22, 2007

I'm willing to bet you have MANY of their titles!

posted by John at 8:41 am (EST) on Apr 22, 2007

Hi Larry: Do you know the NYRB Classics? (www.nyrb.com) I just bought a couple of books from them and received their catalogue which made me think of you because they have, among other things, a number of interesting translations from Spanish, French, Russian, German, Italian, all of whom I'm sure you know. I was intrigued to see that they offer Kaputt.

posted by John at 6:48 am (EST) on Apr 22, 2007

the thing with bookmooch is a swap site and the only cost is shipping which for most books is $1.59.

borges is a definite "trip".

posted by berthirsch at 6:16 pm (EST) on Apr 20, 2007

Yes, Casares and Borges were the best of friends, Bioy was dedicated to Borges and, I believe, married to one of the Ocampo sisters who were fabulously wealthy and patrons of the arts (and their heirs remain so today). In between Borges' failed romances it was Casares and Ocampo who were there to nurture him and provide him with respite form his, at times, smothering relationship with his mother. All of this info is from the excellent Williamson bio I read.

Casares wrote some detective stories and he and Borges did co-author some stuff. Presently Casares' diary and correspondence with Borges are a huge best seller in the original Spanish, and I believe is set for an English translatioin this coming year.

posted by berthirsch at 4:55 pm (EST) on Apr 18, 2007

i actually read it and kliked it and added 2 cents.

how'bout those Rangers...hope they're saving some juice for next game and series.

posted by berthirsch at 1:08 pm (EST) on Apr 18, 2007

please let me know when the Argentine Essay is done and where it will be posted (books compared?)

posted by berthirsch at 5:54 pm (EST) on Apr 17, 2007

Larry: You have, as usual, inspired me and I have ordered Herbert, Collected Poems, and Bolano, The Savage Detectives....have you figured out how to squeeze 48 hours into 24? Do let me know if you do....

posted by John at 5:26 pm (EST) on Apr 17, 2007

Larry: You might get a kick out of this website: www.whatisstephenharperreading.ca It has been set up by Yann Martel, author of Life of Pi. He is angry at what he sees as the government's indifference to support of the arts, and its lack of appreication not only of the aesthetic, but also the economic impact of fostering and strengthening the arts. He is writing an open letter every two weeks to the Prime Minister, to recommend a book that the Prime Minister should read, along with a capsule outline of why he is recommending it. Go to the site to see his first suggestion!

posted by John at 3:47 pm (EST) on Apr 17, 2007

Larry: I think you will like Speak, Memory. I have to do my review yet, but it is very fine, lyrical writing. And some great one-liners:

On life: "The cradle rocks above an abyss, and common sense tells us that our existence is but a brief crack of light between two eternities of darkness".

On Freud: "...let me say at once that I reject completely the vulgar, shabby, fundamentally medieval world of Freud, with its crankish quest for sexual symbols...". "Of course we know what the Viennese Quack thought of the matter. We will leave him and his fellow-travelers to jog on, in the third-class carriage of thought, through the police state of sexual myth..."

On religion: "Since, in my metaphysics, I am a confirmed non-unionist and have no use for organised tours through anthropomorphic paradises."

On the Russian revolution: "...that trite deus ex amchina, the Russian Revolution..."

Have you seen the April 26 edition of the NY Review of Books? It has an article and review on Herbert's, The Collected Poems, 1956-1998.

posted by John at 3:34 pm (EST) on Apr 17, 2007

Sutree is one of the few I haven't read- I'd be curious to hear what you think.

The Knicks are a project but they did much better this year.

I hope the Rangers keep winning.

posted by berthirsch at 8:12 am (EST) on Apr 16, 2007

he is a serious writer...

Monk Eastman story is in the mail. THank your local mailman.

posted by berthirsch at 9:08 am (EST) on Apr 14, 2007

hey larry- No Sweat...tomorrow i am xeroxing the Eastman/Borges story and sending it your way.

regarding Bolano- tomorrow i am going with my $25 gift card to B7N to pick up my copy,too. fRom all I am reading thi is his "masterpiece".

hoping the Rangers open up with a win,
bert

posted by berthirsch at 6:50 pm (EST) on Apr 12, 2007

regarding Irish gangs in ole new yawk, did you know that in Borges' collection "A Universal History of Infamy" the story "Max Eastman, Purveyor of Iniquities" is the same topic as Scorcese's.

posted by berthirsch at 8:52 pm (EST) on Apr 10, 2007

its great your daughter has so many interests and good for her to get out on her own...she's still young but before you know it...

the biggest joy of life (even bigger than a great book) is seeing my son grow from childhood to being a young man.

i'll check out the Russian review. the Lourie book, by the way, is quite good and different.

have a good day

posted by berthirsch at 8:24 am (EST) on Apr 10, 2007

Larry: Have been out of touch for a week or so, in Toronto visiting our kids and grandkids. Loved your survey of Russian/Soviet writers and I'm delighted that you have jumped into the group! I am completley entranced with Nabokov's, Speak Memory; a wonderful book and writing on a plane that few have managed.

posted by John at 12:43 am (EST) on Apr 10, 2007

What a great experience for your daughter.

regarding the Lourie book it is a novel.

posted by berthirsch at 7:52 am (EST) on Apr 9, 2007

hey L.
actually the NY Times is free on-line every day the only thing you can not access is the columnists- Friedman, Klugman,et al.

re Stalin- have you ever read [THe Autobiography of Josef Stalin] by [Richard Lourie]...it is excellent!

posted by berthirsch at 7:18 pm (EST) on Apr 7, 2007

good short but thorough report on rangers- today's NY TIMES by Lynn Zinser

posted by berthirsch at 1:00 pm (EST) on Apr 7, 2007

Larry-
i checked out the Books Compared group and was inspired to write a reply on the Cormac McCarthy string- he is one of my favorites.

posted by berthirsch at 9:39 am (EST) on Apr 7, 2007

get some sleep...i look forward to the argentine medley.

posted by berthirsch at 7:51 pm (EST) on Apr 6, 2007

...all those late nights paid off, GO RANGERS!

posted by berthirsch at 6:30 am (EST) on Apr 6, 2007

actually go to http://www.complete-review.com/saloon/in... and look for 29 march 2007 entry

posted by berthirsch at 8:46 pm (EST) on Apr 5, 2007

i will check tomorrow for a better link.

posted by berthirsch at 8:40 pm (EST) on Apr 5, 2007

Welcome to Books Compared. I can see from your reviews that you'll be a great asset to the group - hope you'll contribute a comparison review soon! I was especially taken with your Ulysses review, the first thing I've read about this novel that has made me seriously consider reading it. Love the way you compare it to Manet and Einstein! You've also convinced me to move Phillips' American Theocracy higher on my to-be-read list. It piqued my interest as soon as it came out, but among the multitude of books being published on the various failures of the Bush presidency, it kind of got lost in the shuffle.

posted by margad at 10:14 am (EST) on Apr 5, 2007

http://www.semana.com/wf_InfoArticulo.as...

great list of 100 best spanish novels in last 25 years

posted by berthirsch at 8:16 am (EST) on Apr 5, 2007

Larry: Great to hear from you and I am delighted that you are enjoying Generations of Winter. I am almost finished Vasily Grossman's A Writer at War which is excellent and I think I will turn to Life and Fate next. I have also joined a group on LT that I think you find interesting (though I see that you are already a member of a good number of groups!); it is called Books Compared and the neat feature is that people are asked to compare/contrast books, not just review them singly, to set off discussions. I have done submissions one Nabokov (Laughter in the Dark and Pnin); Goethe/Nabokov (Laughter in the Dark and the The Sorrows of Young Werther); Margaret McMillan (Paris 1919 and Nixon in China); and Cormac McCarthy (Blood Meridian and The Road). I'm thinking of doing one on A Writer at War/Kaputt and Merridale's book on the Red Army. Check out the group and let me know what you think.

Cheers...

posted by John at 10:09 pm (EST) on Apr 4, 2007

as always, larry, thank you for your generosity of time and thoroughness of your suggetsions- you are filled with fabulous info.

posted by berthirsch at 10:06 am (EST) on Apr 2, 2007

I got Club Dumas from my wonderful library and they also have The Queen of the South...its like going to a candy store when i visit the library...not to mention all the great cds and dvds they have...i'm proud to say that the chief librarian knows me by my first name...i also noticed that Celine writes a lot using 3 dots as sepeartors, something i fell into several years ago...what's the best Celine book I should look for?

posted by berthirsch at 4:03 pm (EST) on Apr 1, 2007

Larry- i agree whole heartedly- how do i respond more fully "in pink/private" ?

posted by berthirsch at 6:48 pm (EST) on Mar 30, 2007

well said...you have a good grasp of history and the "ship of fools" story is something the western world should be ashaned of...Argentina actually was more welcoming than most.

regarding your last statement re tyrants I think if bush-cheney thought they could pull it off they'd love to be in control of such powers.

posted by berthirsch at 5:55 pm (EST) on Mar 29, 2007

re estrin there was an interseting piece on him at ConversationalReading site.

posted by berthirsch at 12:57 pm (EST) on Mar 29, 2007

Larry- are you familiar with the writer, Mark Estrin?

bert

posted by berthirsch at 7:15 am (EST) on Mar 29, 2007

WHENEVER YOU GET TO SEE THEM THEY ARE "TIMELES" CLASICS.

posted by berthirsch at 11:25 am (EST) on Mar 28, 2007

Sopranos- i've been hooked for years and , to boot, i work in Bensonhurst and Bay Ridge...the woman who used to be my secretary grew up with Paulie Walnuts...great writing, characters, etc...when we sold our loft in NYC Tony hinself came to look at it- he was a regular schub (yiddish for sloppy nothing special)- but boy does he own that role!

i am looking forward to the final season and a bit dissappointed.

did you ever get into 6 feet under - another good HBO show.

posted by berthirsch at 8:01 pm (EST) on Mar 27, 2007

Octavio Paz is a writer, poet and man I have always admired.

posted by berthirsch at 7:56 pm (EST) on Mar 27, 2007

L- did you ever get to see the review of Bolano in the NY'er- it was very interesting...if you can't get your hands/eyeballs on it let me know and i can shoot off a copy.
bert

posted by berthirsch at 11:26 am (EST) on Mar 27, 2007

I heard they're in 6th place- i don't pay attention until the playoffs begin.

i loved the Georgetown win over NC- it was a great game to watch...next weeks doubleheader on Saturday should be great.

posted by berthirsch at 1:35 pm (EST) on Mar 26, 2007

in today's ny times book review i think you'll enjoy 'the papers chase' about book collector glenn horowitz.

posted by berthirsch at 3:43 pm (EST) on Mar 25, 2007

Good one Larry - no need to cover the plot - the technique and scale are enough. I shall be re-reading it myself sometime this year.

posted by papalaz at 10:37 am (EST) on Mar 25, 2007

Larry: I hope you like Generations of Winter; it is quite different from The Burn. I received my copy of A People Betrayed yesterday....you weren't kidding about it being a big book! But I am looking forward to getting into it as this is a period in history, and in Germany, that interests me very much. I was also much impressed to see an endorsement for Doblin himself from no less than Franz Kafka who described Doblin as "one of the great names among German novelists...It seems to me that Doblin pereceives the visible world as something incomplete and that he feels ocmpelled to improve upon it with his writing."

posted by John at 4:04 pm (EST) on Mar 23, 2007

i'm constantly listening to music on my commute...i too tried He Doors CD and loved LA Woman.

yesterday it wsa agreat CD by Aaron Neville- Nature Boy.

My musical tastes are quite eclectic. me and my kid are pretty much world apart although now he is taking a music course in college that should broaden his taste level-lets hope son.

posted by berthirsch at 6:55 pm (EST) on Mar 21, 2007

Hey Larry,
I am now reading [Jonathan Lethem]'s [You Don't Love Me]...Chapter 3 was phone sex disguised as performance art.

the book is full of snappy dialogue that keeps the story moving along. So far it is a quick, light read. My first try with this author looks like he is worth exploring. I do have Motherless Brooklyn on my shelf.

Have you read his stuff ( I plan to get 7 Madmen next- I was in my library, saw the Lethem book and grabbed it}.

ciao, bert

posted by berthirsch at 4:31 pm (EST) on Mar 21, 2007

love the metaphor...my sails are filled with the wind of words.

posted by berthirsch at 4:14 pm (EST) on Mar 21, 2007

thanx for that Larry - I have severl Serpent's Tail myself but did not know they carried Manchette - I'll have to get someone to bring them over for me. How's Ulysses going?

posted by papalaz at 8:36 am (EST) on Mar 21, 2007

regarding thye Pole Gombrowicz I find this connection to be quite interesting and will mark this down on my never-ending list of books to read. thanks for the tip.

posted by berthirsch at 6:16 pm (EST) on Mar 20, 2007

i am both glad you received the care package so fast (not like in BsAs) and that you enjoyed it.

where is this conservative threasd-i'll check it out.

posted by berthirsch at 4:42 pm (EST) on Mar 19, 2007

Hi Larry - hope you enjoyed NY (must have done if you didn't get much U read). This is interesting - Radio4 is serialising Henry Green's Loving - the link is here http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/arts/classic... and you should be able to get it on the internetthing. Just finished David Lodge's book Author Author about Henry James though I cannot say I enjoyed it much. I preferred some of the earlier more humourous novels.

Also just did a Tabblo for St Patrick's Day that might give you a smile - http://www.tabblo.com/studio/stories/vie...

posted by papalaz at 11:56 am (EST) on Mar 18, 2007

Larry-

just finished my review of Bolano's AMULET. I believe you will enjoy reading the review.

posted by berthirsch at 3:56 pm (EST) on Mar 16, 2007

Hola Larry y Mae,

it was really great spending time with the 2 of you. THe hour we spent at Strands was quite stimulating - its a lot of fun to share one's joy of reading. I was really pleased with my "haul" also- the history of Argentina looks great and I think the Borges will prove to be quite interesting...

i already copied THe Aleph and will be sending you an envelope over the weekend.

I hope the 2 of you had a great time in NYC...i caught the highlights (lowlights) of the Ranger game- sorry they lost.

anyway it was a real pleasure to meet the both of you and I very much look forward to continuing our friendship and dialogue.

abrazos, bert

posted by berthirsch at 6:57 pm (EST) on Mar 14, 2007

New thread you might want to contribute to on the 'flue - http://www.mellaflusia.com/forum/viewtop...

posted by papalaz at 1:00 pm (EST) on Mar 12, 2007

re ULYSSES...there is a fairly funny list in today's Guardian about the 10 most unfinshed books...Ulysses makes the grade.

posted by berthirsch at 6:52 am (EST) on Mar 12, 2007

bon voyage

posted by berthirsch at 8:08 pm (EST) on Mar 11, 2007

you will be registered as larry and mae riley-correct?

posted by berthirsch at 1:40 pm (EST) on Mar 11, 2007

and even if you were I have nothing against "drug casualties"...don't forget I am a child of the sixities...and besides "redemption" is a great thing.

you'll recognize me by my New Yawk accent.

posted by berthirsch at 1:38 pm (EST) on Mar 11, 2007

Thanks for the further info, Larry. I have ordered the first book through the trusty ABE and look forward to reading it.

posted by John at 10:54 pm (EST) on Mar 10, 2007

if it works for you I am still a go for Tuesday from 1-3...if you have other plans or things to do, no problemo...i'll give you a buzz Tuesday morning at the hotel...if you are out you can call me at my office 718 630 3741.

posted by berthirsch at 3:50 pm (EST) on Mar 10, 2007

I'm glad that first impressons of Kerr are good. No, I don't know Doblin, but that period interests me a great deal and I will look him up. I've gone off on a slightly different tangent right now with Alain de Botton's "The Consolations of Philosophy". I like de Botton as a writer, and I enjoyed this book with capsule reviews of some of the thinking of Socrates, Epicurus, Seneca, Montaigne, Schopenhauer, and Nietzsche. The sort of book that stimulates and inspires you to read further about, and into, these thinkers.

posted by John at 11:13 am (EST) on Mar 10, 2007

no problemo mi amigo,

i will give a buzz at the hotel and i will be at work Tuesday morning.

posted by berthirsch at 10:02 am (EST) on Mar 9, 2007

ps- my cell number: 973 222 8450

posted by berthirsch at 8:20 am (EST) on Mar 8, 2007

don't forget to pack the Sudafed...Lisa isn't much into lit either- she reads a lot but mostly James Patterson, Mary Higgins Clark, etc...i recently teased her when she was off to the library to try a "real book".

anyway i will talk to my colleagues at work and plan to skip out early on Tuesday...its easier for me to meet you downtownish...Union Square, Greenwich Village, the parking is easier...Strands ? we'll talk on the phone.

enjoy,
bert

posted by berthirsch at 7:19 pm (EST) on Mar 7, 2007

hi Larry-
looks like Tuesday the 13th might be my only shot, at around 1PM-3Pm...i will give a buzz/leave a message at hotel with my number ,etc.
will you be on-line also?

my phone numbers: home- 973 729 3397
work- 718 630-3741
what is your wife's name? mine is Lisa

how you have a safe trip down and enjoy.

by the way there is another interesting museum on the same block as MOMA- THe Museum of Folk Art

ciao, bert

posted by berthirsch at 1:10 pm (EST) on Mar 7, 2007

regarding Ulysses...probably like half the reading public out there I have made my attempts but have probably never gotten past like page 40...given your encouragement it is now back on my "to read" list.

posted by berthirsch at 4:16 pm (EST) on Mar 6, 2007

Hi Larry- a very good summary and review of Tango Singer and I am glad to see you enjoyed it.

When I got home today I was taken aback by the box you posted my way. My first intention is to start 7 Madmen to orient myself to Arlt's style and then to delve into what looks like an intrigueing journey you embarked on into the world of Arlt and BsAs. An amazing story and I will google glen close etc. Your journey with this translation could indeed end up a story within a story which is a literal effect I have always fell for- see Borges, Auster, etc. Regarding another professor who you may want to contact - Ariana Huberman at Alfred UNiversity (in your neck of the woods)-(huberman@alfred.edu) is someone I have written to when I first came home from my first trip to BsAs and she led me to THe Silver Candelabra...I am sure she would be fascinated by your work with Arlt.

Regarding Roth this will take up a prominent spot on my shelf. Being a jewish boy at heart I have always identified closely to Roth's characters and have not missed many of his books...interestingly enough Sabbath's Theater was to be my next stab at the Roth ouevre.

What is with Kaputt- you failed to mention it in your letter. Having read Tabucchi and Camaleri I am certainly open to exploring the novels of Italy.

Regarding your trip to NYC more in the next few days. I certainly hope I can find sonme way to sync our schedules for a meet up.

Again many thanks for your generosity and thoughtfulness.

Abrazos, Bert

posted by berthirsch at 7:30 pm (EST) on Mar 5, 2007

am at work on Monday and may not be able to get to NY on the way home from Brooklyn...let me take a closer look and get back to you. i'm glad you and your wife were able to arrange some time in the Big Apple for yourselves- sounds like you already have some nice plans.

posted by berthirsch at 12:24 pm (EST) on Mar 5, 2007

Larry: I sent a copy of Kaputt to a good friend of mine and thought you might be interested in his comments:

I finally finished Kaputt, by Malaparte. I agree almost to a word with your review. I wonder if this book is really a much more important work than its place in the literary pantheon would suggest (i.e., nowhere to be found in most prominent
libraries of WWII books). Malaparte's access to the personal lives of generals
and royalty is remarkable. Through it, he is able to expose their inhumanity in
a way I have never before seen done. Combine that with his attention to the natural landscape and his use of animals (horses, caribou, flies) to illuminate
key inter-relationships between people and place, and I'd say this is one of the
most unique works I have ever read.
>
Thanks for sending it.

posted by John at 12:22 pm (EST) on Mar 5, 2007

Enjoy the trip Larry. I agree that the 86 corrected text is a big bugger. My favourite format is the two volume paperback version. BTW you do know you can get it as a free ebook here- http://www.olympiapress.com/catalog/inde... - I suppose?

Glad you enjoyed the Derek Raymond. Forgot to check - do you like Pinget? I love Baga.

posted by papalaz at 9:50 am (EST) on Mar 5, 2007

Hola Larry-
there's a cool article about LibraryThing.com in today's NY Times Business section.
ciao, bert

posted by berthirsch at 12:37 pm (EST) on Mar 4, 2007

WOW!
I can't believe you are sending me this book, I am very excited!

The Migdal - I have read the 1st two stories of Edgardo Cozarinsky's THe Bride From Odessa- the title story I thoght was wonderful. He also wrote a book called THe Moldavian Pimp that I suspect has to do with the Migdal- I do know its theme is bringing jewish girls to Argentina to populate the bordellos. This, too, is on my never-ending list.

Still- please tell me- of all the books you posess and know of- and of course the scope of your literate knowledge has always impressed me- of all the books you could chose from Why 7 Madmen on your title page?

posted by berthirsch at 4:51 pm (EST) on Mar 2, 2007

just read your review of 7 Madmen by Arlt- i really liked your smackdown approach in writng this and the Arlt book is surely near the top of my list of must books to get.

i was curious how the bookjacket is on your home page- any significance?

posted by berthirsch at 8:07 am (EST) on Mar 2, 2007

Did you know that Bell has a biography of Toussaint Louverture? Saw it advertised in the NYReview of Books and just ordered it off ABEBooks. Finished All Souls Rising which I liked it very much, and hence my interest in the Toussaint biography I had missed the news and was very interested to discover the other day that ABEBooks bought 40% of LT recently...a merging of my two favourite websites!

posted by John at 6:38 am (EST) on Mar 2, 2007

As you say Larry - it is an early piece (wait till you get to Dora Suarez) but Manchette sure sounds like my cup of tea. You'll enjoy Chester Himes I'm sure.

posted by papalaz at 2:15 pm (EST) on Mar 1, 2007

You hv such treats in store - Derek Raymond and Ulysses. HImes by the way is an axcellent wrter who also wrote detectvee/noir - try Pinktoes some time as wekk as the Harlem stuff.

I have a friend who lives in SF and wil ask her to pick a couple of Manchette's up next time she visits.

Just finished North and genuinely wanted it never to end

posted by papalaz at 11:19 am (EST) on Mar 1, 2007

i will be very interested to hear your response as you read through it...hearing about it put me right back there...the search for Aleph...for the tango singer...enjoy!

posted by berthirsch at 4:17 pm (EST) on Feb 28, 2007

life is what happens while you're busy making plans.

posted by berthirsch at 2:23 pm (EST) on Feb 25, 2007

I'm glad Aksyonov arrived, and I'm most impressed that you are tackling Ulysses for the second time...that is a mountain I have not even tried once. I'm in the middle of All Souls' Rising and liking it very much; a brutal, well-placed story from various angles, great atmosphere, believeable, complex characters. I liked your review of Heavy Sands and you have inspired me to take it down from the shelf...as soon as I'm free to do so! We are in Toronto at the moment, celebrating the birth of our second grandson and will stay here for a week to help with the first few days...all provides even more time to read!

posted by John at 10:33 am (EST) on Feb 25, 2007

Hi Larry- if your trip doesn't come off we will look forward to a later date in the future...i already feel like i know you pretty well.

my address is:

Bert Hirsch
39 Hickory Trail
Sparta, New Jersey 07871

now i'm excited to see what you send me.

let me know what happens with your trip plans.

Ciao, Bert

posted by berthirsch at 6:27 pm (EST) on Feb 24, 2007

I have Heavy Sand but haven't read it yet; perhaps I will move it up in the pile...you know that tower that grows perpetually taller and taller: The To-Read Pile. I found it hard to believe that Aksyonov wrote both The Burn and Generations of Winter: two very different books. The Tariq Ali is good; his antipathy to Islam shows through pretty clearly even in a story set in the 1100s! I might be tempted to try the rest the Islam Quintet, of which The Sultan of Palermo is number four, so I'm already out of order!

posted by John at 3:34 pm (EST) on Feb 20, 2007

Larry: Thanks for the Llosa list....I will follow up with some more of his writing, even if I have already read the best! I'm afraid Askyonov's The Burn just hasn't worked for me. I think I get it, and parts of it resonate (I lived in Moscow 1975-1977) but I guess I just like a little more structure in my books. Maybe I'll go back to Malaparte, though I'm keen to start in on Tariq Ali: A Sultan in Paradise which was recommended by a good-reader friend.

posted by John at 12:30 pm (EST) on Feb 20, 2007

oh no - not spelling errors! as one who has been pilloried by rule-awed hydroceph pedants on this site over my apparently annoying practice of not bothering to hit the shift key for the customarily big letters, my near blindness aside, i'd likely never have noticed, and if i had would have recognized, and welcomed, a comrade in the error. as to books - i am currently re-reading the tales of hoffmann (one of my all-time favorites of the "uncanny" genre) and holbrook jackson's the 1890s... and i see in an above comment a referance to boris vian. would love to hear someone's opnion on his fiction - another writer i've been meaning to read for years. i have heard his music - some early stuff with serge gainsbourg (who also wrote a book). best, ben.

posted by benwaugh at 1:21 pm (EST) on Feb 19, 2007

Larry - thanks for the Rios information; I had not heard of him. I love "bookish" or erudite novels (Name of the Rose, All Souls, Darconville's Cat, etc.) I have added him to my purchase list.

posted by benwaugh at 11:25 am (EST) on Feb 19, 2007

Just finished Conversation in the Cathedral and put up my review. A wonderful book. What else do you recommend by Llosa?

posted by John at 11:23 am (EST) on Feb 18, 2007

Yes, thank you for the post. I think you may be right, first, about the poets, and second, about the globalization of literature. And I agree with your observations of Russian novelists. I also though of many Latin American authors who used magical realism in their writing. It is interesting why one culture gravitates to one expression of the art or another, for at least a period of time. Thanks again for the post, the more readers splashing around in the same mud puddle, the more fun it is, in my opinion! I owe you one. Best, Lois

posted by avaland at 9:51 am (EST) on Feb 18, 2007

much appreciated Larry - a few litle lights on a dark day.

BTW - my spine scanning and tag allocation is fairly well advanced now so if you go to my library and order by tags and then click on cover view you can not only see my spines but you can see pretty much how they are arranged - I think it's neat - what do you think?

posted by papalaz at 12:45 pm (EST) on Feb 17, 2007

On the price of books I was surprised that Dora Suarez is changing hands at such a premium - if you were closer I'd lend you my first edition hardback (LOL). I guess the most I've ever paid would have been for my copy of The Mime of Mick, Nick, and the Maggies" either that or my first English edition of "Waiting for Godot" or possibly one of the many B S Johnson firsts. Those were the days when I was wealthy - luckily I still have the works to enjoy.

posted by papalaz at 7:24 am (EST) on Feb 16, 2007

Hi Larry-
see my last posting on South American...[THe Tango Singer] by Martinez thread. I found an interesting mention to a Feb 3rd review in the Guardian.

posted by berthirsch at 6:11 pm (EST) on Feb 15, 2007

Better than Furst, I'd say.

posted by John at 3:04 pm (EST) on Feb 15, 2007

Larry - good choice with the Derek Raymond - Dora Suarez is the great work and should - if possible be left till last. Some of the early work under the Robin Cook name is worth reading too.

We don't watch any TV but have heard of The Sopranoes - might look it out on DVD. Good for winter nights. However it will go on the wish list right behind The entire Get Smart.

One last work for you The Killer by Colin Wilson - http://www.fantasticfiction.co.uk/w/coli...

posted by papalaz at 5:56 am (EST) on Feb 15, 2007

Given your interesst in novels realted to WWII, do you know Phillip Kerr, Berlin Noir? A trilogy based on a police detective who gets caught up in political intrigue, the Gestapo, the SS, etc, etc. Terrific period pieces and great stories.

posted by John at 6:08 pm (EST) on Feb 14, 2007

Larry: I have Heavy Sand but haven't read it yet and I think I've read everything by Solzhenitsyn. I don't know The Burn by Aksyonov, but I have ordered a copy of Generations of Winter for you. It will come in the mail from a bookseller on ABEBooks. Should be there in 7-10 days. Enjoy!

posted by John at 5:43 pm (EST) on Feb 14, 2007

I like both Grossman and Rybakov....do you know Vassily Aksyonov and his novels Generations of Winter and the sequel The Winter's Hero? Read them years ago, but remember liking the first especially very much; it traces the travails of a family from 1925 through the worst of the Stalin era up to the end of WWII. The second deals with life in the Soviet Union in 1950s.

posted by John at 2:26 pm (EST) on Feb 14, 2007

Thanx for that Larry - I did not know of him before.

In similar vein (pun intended) do you know Derek Raymond/ Robin Cook - http://jarett.kobek.com/

posted by papalaz at 2:23 pm (EST) on Feb 14, 2007

Larry: I was intrigued to see your reference to Kuznetsov's Babi Yar in your review of The White Hotel and I wonder why you got rid of your copy....or did it just disappear over the years? I have an interesting edition of Babi Yar, in hard cover, that contains, in bold print, all the passages deleted by the Soviet censors when it was first published in the USSR. This makes for interesting insights into the sensitivity, not to say paranoia, of the Soviets. I don't knonw if this is still available or not. If you would be interested in this for your library, I would try to find a copy for you. A small point for your review: Kuzentsov's first name is Anatoly, not Yuri.

posted by John at 4:43 pm (EST) on Feb 13, 2007

Larry: I liked your review of Montalban (in fact, I like all of your reviews), and I'm going to sample him...what do you suggest I start with?

Sorry to hear you are unlikely to make your way to the north this summer....your daughter should think about a good Canadian university....good education, fun away from home, and a whole lot less expensive for your pocket book!

posted by John at 4:32 pm (EST) on Feb 13, 2007

Larry: A very nice gift arrived in the morning post today: The Skin. Again, it is very kind and generous of you to send it to me, and such a pristine copy! I am looking forward to reading it. Right now I am plowing through Absalom, Absalom! by Faulkner for a book club discussion later this week; wonderful writing, but he does require a focus. I know you don't read much non-fiction, but I just finished a very good book: The Butcher's Tale by Helmut Walser Smith, all about a murder in small German town in 1900 that turned into an anti-semitic crisis based on the old canard about the Jews murdering Christian children to take their blood. The book is more than just a recounting of the specific incident and its fallout; it is also an interesting exploration, drawing on sociology, anthropology and even literary theory, of how people react in crowds, how certain things are played out as if they had a script, and how memory distorts. I haven't done my review of it yet, but will soon.

Winter has descended with a vengeance up here, and I imagine for you too, but if you remember the canal that runs through the middle of the city, you can picture it as a skating rink, in fact the longest rink in the world (certified by the Guinness Book of Records!). I think it is about 3.5 miles end-to-end and since I live five minutes from the canal, I have been skating the full length in the winter sunshine. Lovely.

Cheers....John

posted by John at 11:37 am (EST) on Feb 13, 2007

I love the cover of "The Seven Madmen". Is Arlt a South American writer? Argentian, by chance? What is his work like?

posted by jargoneer at 4:41 am (EST) on Feb 13, 2007

cool - look forward to seeing you there - posted my first entry on the thread today - Dubliners

posted by papalaz at 3:06 pm (EST) on Feb 9, 2007

hey larry- good to hear from you. we too are in a deep freeze and i can see it effects my mood, though in general i have been able to keep a mostly upbeat mood as of late.

the lituratura argentina is dead in the water - i put out a couple of feelers and never heard back...the sites that seem very active are - Poetry Fool- which i picked up from you, What Are You Reading Now, Reading Globally and I do like the South American- at this point I think i've become a little obsessed with Latin America but its been fun...i recently joined BookMooch which someone on Library thing mentioned and I am waiting now to receive Ernesto Sabato's The Tunnel...its a pretty cool sight- you can list all these books you wouldn't mind getting rid of and can request others you'd love to read...all for just the cost of postage sending out- none on what you receive.

will you still be coming to NYC in March- I have one commitment the weeked of the 9th, other than that I may be available to meet you at Strands- midday during the week is a possibility...you can let me know. weekend are a possibility when my wife is doing an open house with her real estate.

I just finished THe Tango Singer and enjoyed it...i will catch up on some NYers and then choose another book.

Can't say I've been following the Rangers- but the Knicks are finally fun to watch again.
ciao, bert

posted by berthirsch at 6:28 pm (EST) on Feb 8, 2007

I just started a thread on mellaflusia that I'd love you to contribute to: http://www.mellaflusia.com/forum/viewtop...

posted by papalaz at 2:38 pm (EST) on Feb 8, 2007

you just need to set aside some time and get your atitude right (when in doubt read it to yourself - as the man said). Did you check out the blog entry ? Christopher Logue? I understand he is or has rewritten the Aenid. I love his early stuff.

posted by papalaz at 2:44 pm (EST) on Feb 7, 2007

yes you should - I re-read it every 2 or 3 years. And you must go back to Finnegans Wake - your reading is as good or better than anybody else's.

posted by papalaz at 12:54 pm (EST) on Feb 7, 2007

found this page today - item 2 is interesting - http://www.indiana.edu/~liblilly/joyce/f...

posted by papalaz at 12:23 pm (EST) on Feb 7, 2007

Larry - not a big poetry reader but if you go here - http://classic.spymac.com/blogs/blog_sho... you will find some I do like (plus Ray Carver of course and Heaney's Beowulf)

posted by papalaz at 9:24 am (EST) on Feb 7, 2007

Hi Larry - I've done North and Rigaddon already - prurposely reading out of order. I agree North is amazing but Rigaddon has a very special urgency that is very very vital. As to the atlas - don't bother with repect to London Bridge (his memory was clearly fuzzy re locations). However, taking an atlas to Ulyssess is well worthwhile as you doubtless already know.

posted by papalaz at 2:27 pm (EST) on Feb 6, 2007

Yes Larry some of what you say is true inasmuch as it is the difference between EE and AE. One that jars particularly is the constant references to Leicester Square as Leicester - one is a landmark in London whereas the other is an English county but I have noticed that often references to roads and streets in American omit the street or road or avenue. Also there are some strange linguistic anachronisms where the translator uses modern idioms like pigs for policemen (coppers or rozzers ould be more in keeping with the time and location). Any way enough moaning - the text is strong enough to bear it. Castle to Castle is the next Celine up.

See here for KC: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kitchen_Con...

posted by papalaz at 9:45 am (EST) on Feb 6, 2007

Larry, I do not hold the translator to blame - I am well aware of Celine's vagaries - it's just that there are so many things locution-wise that jar on the ear of a Brit that I got halfway thru while noting down problems (with a mind to send them to Dalkey) before I gave up. I'm currently reading Kitchen Confidential and am enjoying it as a nice easy read with some insight into a world that interests me.

posted by papalaz at 2:26 pm (EST) on Feb 5, 2007

very promising indeed - please let me knowif they work out - BTW I finished London Bridge and loved it - Celine must be the aster of the 20th century picaresque - I was deeply annoyed however by the translation which clearly wasn't done by someone who understands London or even England - tiny things but really pissed me off on occasion

posted by papalaz at 12:25 pm (EST) on Feb 5, 2007

Just put up my review of Cross of Iron....you and I are the only two, again, I see! I like your review.

posted by John at 11:01 am (EST) on Feb 3, 2007

I'm glad you liked my review...and I'm even happier that you introduced me to Malaparte. I am also intrigued by the other authors you mentioned in your last note....can you make any suggestions as to specific books? I recently saw reference to a novel by Gert Ledig: The Stalin Front; do you know it?

I finished Cross of Iron and quite enjoyed it, in fact I really couldn't put it down once I got started on it! I will do my review shortly. Thanks again for that lead! You really do have to come back to Ottawa for a holiday so we can have a lengthy, boozy, book-lunch!

I love serendipity. I recently read Margaret MacMillian's: Paris 1919, about the writing of the Versailles Treaty...sounds dreadfully dull I know, but believe me it is not. MacMillan combines fine historical scholarship with a strong sense of all of the protagonists in all of their human strengths and foibles. Well worth reading. When I read it I came across the name of a British General: Carton de Wiart; I certainly don't claim to no everything but I had never heard mention of this fellow and the name was so outlandish that if it hadn't been in MacMillian's book, I might have suspected literary licence. So I looked him up on wikipedia: go have a look, this guy lived about a dozen lives packed into his one; his personal history reads like an unbelieveable adventure story. And where did I find a second reference to Carton de Wiart? In Kaputt! Page 150: "He was certainly a ghost, a gentle ghost of a far-off Warsaw night, that British General Carton de Wiart, blind in one eye and one-armed, who commanded the British forces that landed in Norway in the spring of 1940."

posted by John at 10:29 am (EST) on Feb 3, 2007

That is an interesting thought...about meanings turned on their head, and you may be right about hoi polloi. That was the essence of the argument I had with my friend. It would be interesting to trace, if at all possible, how a meaning of a word or phrase could flip 180. I'm trying to think of other examples. One that comes to mind is "fulsome" which is now taken to mean complete in a positive sense as in "fulsome praise" whereas the original meaning of the word was "cloying, excessive, disgusting by excess" and was certainly not meant as a compliment!

posted by John at 9:34 am (EST) on Feb 2, 2007

Oh...I know that feeling....when I catalogued my library on librarything I surprised myself by finding 25 duplicates! I put it down to second hand purchases when I wasn't sure whether I had the book or I wanted to upgrade to a hardcover... still, my wife did crook an eyebrow at 25. The church charity hall up the street benefitted.

posted by John at 8:58 am (EST) on Feb 1, 2007

Larry: You are more than generous in offering a copy of The Skin and I would be happy to take up your very kind offer. My address is 4-74 Somerset Street, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, K2P 0H5 and you have my full name from my profile page. I would love to read a sequel to Kaputt, and I am going to hunt down everything I can in English by Malaparte. Every now and then I come across a book that I like so much that I buy copies to give to friends who I know love to read. Kaputt is one of those books and I am sending copies to a few friends via ABEBooks.

Cheers...

posted by John at 2:51 pm (EST) on Jan 31, 2007

Seems only two other books by Malaparte are available: The Volga Rises in Europe and The Skin. Have you read either of them? The latter sells in the range of $23-$130 on ABEbooks which is astonishing; I assume initial small print runs. The former is much more reasonable. Also looked up Malaparte in Wikipedia; interesting that he chose this non de plum as a pun on Bonaparte and that his real name was Kurt Erich Suckert; if I had simply seen that written, I would have assumed he was German. I am liking him more and more as a writer; I think that if you researched all his references to artists, architecture, musicians, and writers, you could have a very interesting course on the history of European arts! A very learned individual. I wish I could read Italian. Thank you again for introducing him to me.

posted by John at 1:21 pm (EST) on Jan 30, 2007

Do you know of anything else by Malaparte available in English? I will go and search ABEbooks.

posted by John at 12:59 pm (EST) on Jan 30, 2007

Hi Larry....just to say that I am well into Malaparte and enjoying it very much. He is a fine writer with a masterful eye for detail and description. As you say, much of it is pretty horrific, but his sympathy for the victims, and his humanity come through. Those dinner parties in Warsaw with Hans Frank and crowd are almost hallucinatory.

posted by John at 10:00 pm (EST) on Jan 29, 2007

BTW if you ever fancy a chat you can often find me here: http://www.mellaflusia.com/ - same name - good people

posted by papalaz at 2:41 pm (EST) on Jan 28, 2007

well done Larry - sounds likely - not a fan myself but ...

posted by papalaz at 2:39 pm (EST) on Jan 28, 2007

Thank You. I was really excited when I went to Daedalus a few days ago and they had several New York Review of Books Classics. It's one of the few imprints where I'll trust their discretion completely. Unless I already own it some other format, I'll buy it without knowing anything about it. Green Integer and Sun and Moon are the others but I've already got all of the Sun and Moon.

posted by Stig_Brantley at 8:51 pm (EST) on Jan 24, 2007

sounds good, actually Kundera is an old favorite- the Joke was execellent as were THe Unbearable Lightness...and THe Book of Laughter and Forgetting...the essay I mentioned is in the Jan 8 New Yorker.

If/when you ever go to Argentina you must let me know so I can give you some tips , or, even better, maybe we'll be spending time there then.

anyway ciao y abrazos (as they say in BsAs)

posted by berthirsch at 3:43 pm (EST) on Jan 24, 2007

hola larry-

how have you been. my trip to BA was fabulous- its magical and exciting being there, the people are fabulous and the food...oh...the food!

while there i read Cormac's The Road- very good. Now that I am back I am reading Tomas Eloy Martinez's The Tango Singer and I think it is quite good.

read an interesting essay by Kundera in the NYer about literature in the context of small nations vs a world context.

ciao y saludos,
bert

posted by berthirsch at 6:35 pm (EST) on Jan 23, 2007

Larry: I'm glad you liked the Reese book and I will be interested in your thoughts on the Browning one. I liked your review on Arno Schmidt, about whom I have not heard; very interesting and I will look for him. I was also interested in your review of the Spanish Cockpit as I have it, but have not yet read it. My most recent book (review not yet written) is Joachim Fest's biography of Albert Speer. I find Speer to be a very interesting man and character; in some ways so representative of the allure of Nazi Germany, and Hitler himself, that led otherwise quite decent people astray (cf Browing again, though on quite a different level). Fest (who died recently) is one of the best writers on Nazi Germany.

posted by John at 6:57 pm (EST) on Jan 17, 2007

Larry: I'm glad you liked the Reese book. I agree, it was a different time when someone in their early 20s could be that literate (oh dear...does that make me sound old??). Along these lines, there is a very interesting book on letters from Kamikaze pilots that demonstrates how many of the young men dragged into that service were very intelligent and literate and well versed in European history, economics and philosophy. It certainly opened my eyes and did away with some preconceptions that I had. You can see the review on my page.

I have received The March, Kaputt, and Cross of Iron. I'm a little pressed right now with other pressures, but will turn to them soon. On the question of atrocities, from a non-fiction point of view I mentioned earlier, Ordinary Men by Christopher Browning; it is excellent and I highly recommend it.

posted by John at 8:54 pm (EST) on Jan 13, 2007

Larry - big improvement but I think you mean satirical where you use satiric

posted by papalaz at 12:59 pm (EST) on Jan 13, 2007

I sort of guessed that you'd love Arno

posted by papalaz at 10:36 am (EST) on Jan 3, 2007

Hola larry,
thanks for the wishes...we are off to Buenos Aires on Tuesday for 10 days, I can't wait, its very stimulating there, the culture, people and of course the great restaurants...me and my son are bringing our tennis rackets, should be fun.

the funny thing is i've been sending best wishes to people down there...feliz y sano ano nuevo...one of my frineds replied...you just wished me a happy and healthy anus...what does an English-speaking person know about accent marks...a funny lesson i'm sure to remember.

i don't think(i'm embarrassed to say) i've ever read anything by Vargos- i'll check out the review...i'm going to take Cormac's THe Road and THe Tango Singer as a backup...i don't go anywhere without something to read...even when out with the old lady on errands i grab at least a magazine.

well, i certainly do wish you a happy and healthy new year...feliz y sano ano nuevo!

posted by berthirsch at 9:37 pm (EST) on Dec 30, 2006

Larry: We are going to have stop meeting like this...you are a terrible influence on my accout with ABEBooks. I have ordered The March (and I will go back and re-read The Thousand Hour Day), plus two from Bell (of whom I had not heard previously): All Souls Rising and Master of the Crosswords.

You note in your profile an interest in literary thrillers especially from Europe. Have you read The Shadow of the Wind by Carlo Ruiz Zafon? Wonderful story, Dickensian characters, and all centred around the world of books. Also, just about anything by Arturo Perez-Reverte.

posted by John at 12:47 pm (EST) on Dec 29, 2006

Larry: Good point about the Oxford Guide. I will have a look. I have read Mowat, and in fact I have Kuniczak's The Thousand Hour Day which I read decades ago and remember enjoying. I didn't know that there was a sequel by him; I will see what ABE has. A decent memoir that details the deadening effect of war on the senses is by Willy Peter Reese: "A Stanger to Myself: The Inhumanity of War: Russia 1941-1944"

Cheers...

posted by John at 11:16 am (EST) on Dec 28, 2006

Wow...what a list...thanks very much, Larry. I will definitely get a start on some of them..sooo many books...sooo little time...I orderd Kaputt and Cross of Iron through ABEBooks and I will let you know what I think of them.

I know the drive-in zoo that you mention on the Quebec side, although I have not visited it. We have a cottage in Quebec, about 30 minutes from downtown Ottawa, on a small, very deep and clean lake. That is where we spend all of our summers, and every morning, about 6am, you can find me on the deck that extends out over the lake with a hot coffee and my book, my dog at my feet, reading as the sun rises and slowly creeps down the trees across the lake Life doesn't get much better. I hope you do make it back to Ottawa some time. It would be a pleasure to meet and talk about books.

posted by John at 3:24 pm (EST) on Dec 27, 2006

Larry: Very nice to hear further from you, and yes, I would welcome your suggestions on South American writers. This is an area that of interest to me.

Thank you for your suggestions on Kaputt and Cross of Iron and will look them both up on ABEBooks, my favourite used-book website. I find that I while I have read a lot in WWI literature and poetry (I lived in Brussels for 4 years and spent a lot of time crawling around old WWI battlefields, monuments and cemetaries), my reading on WWII has tended to be much more historical with a few memoirs. Antony Beevor's recent books on Stalingrad and the fall of Berlin are very good. And I highly recommend "Woman in Berlin" by Anonymous, a memoir of the rape and pillage by the Red Army when they captured Berlin; it is a harrowing tale but oddly, at the same time, uplifting in terms of the indomitable nature of some people.

I am also very interested in the history, and what one might call the psychology, of the Holocaust. I have always been moved by a quote from Paul Fussell that, "if you can't imagine yourself an SS officer hustling Jewish women and children to the gas chamber, you need to be more closely in touch with your buried self", and the lessons to be learned in how "each small demand for our outward acquiescnece could lead to the next and with the gentle persistence of an incoming tide could lap at the wall of just that integrity we were so anxious to preserve" (from "The Past is Myself" by Christabel Bielenberg.) In this regard, the memoirs of Victor Klemperer are essential reading. One of the best books I've read in this regard is "Ordinary Men: Reserve Battalion 101 and the Final Solution in Poland" by Christopher Browning; an excellent, and frightening, study of how a group of very ordinary, middle-class men, with only one or two exceptions, became inurred to the systematic killing of men, women, and children. Also excellent is "Facing the Extreme: Moral Life in the Concentration Camps" by Tzvetan Todorv. I was also very intrigued by "A Special Fate, Chiune Sugihars, Hero of the Holocaust" by Alison Gold; not terribly well written, but a fascinating story of a Japanese diplomat who was head of the Japanese mission in Latvia and who went against all convention for a Japanese bureaucrat, and strictly contrary to explicit instructions from Tokyo, in issuing thousands of transit visas for Jews to travel across the Soviet Union, through Japan and onto Canada, the USA, and Europe. Sort of a Japanese Wallenberg.

I am very glad that you and your family liked Ottawa! I'm sorry we had not "met" before as I think I would have enjoyed a lunch to talk about books and then show you some of the sights of the city. You must let me know if you plan to visit here again. I live near the canal, about a 20 minute leisurely walk from the Byward Market.

Cheers...John

posted by John at 9:13 am (EST) on Dec 27, 2006

Larry: Thanks very much for your comments on my review of Independent People. I am also a big Laxness fan and think he is a much neglected writer. I scrolled through your reviews and was struck by two things: how few books we have in common and what a good reviewer you are. The former is a source of inspiration as I would like to read more books in translation, especially South American writers (sooo many books to read!), and the latter is nice to see; lots of what are called "reviews" on here strike me as a little thin. I was interested to see that we share a taste for John McGahern (I have a couple of other books by him in my reviews as well); I agree compeletely on Henri Barbuse: Under Fire is a great book; I haven't tackled Life and Fate, yet, but will do so. Speaking of Life and Fate, I recently read a very good non-fiction work on the Soviet Army (Ivan's War: also in my reviews), that I commend to your attention if you are interested in that area. I would like to get the book out a few months ago about Grossman's wartime correspondence and writings.

Cheers, and I hope we can stay in touch on reading and writing....John

posted by John at 1:03 pm (EST) on Dec 25, 2006

my hours are close - i get up at 4 , leave the house by 5 to be at work by 6. It certainly has ruined my sports watching during the week and forget Sunday Night Football...i do though love getting out close to 2 and home by 3:30.

posted by berthirsch at 8:24 pm (EST) on Dec 15, 2006

Larry - thanx for this - I'm loving it. I am a very big Arno Schmidt fan and sometimes refer to myself as the solipsist on the web. I did wonder whether the missing E was from Last Exit to Brooklyn but cannot lay hands on my copy. Some vague connexion haunts me about Brevoort Hotel and Mark Twain - any help?

The Japanese thing is beyond me - surely not Mishima?

Keep going - I love it.

posted by papalaz at 2:51 pm (EST) on Dec 15, 2006

GO RANGERS!!

posted by berthirsch at 2:36 pm (EST) on Dec 15, 2006

Hey Larry,
I finally finished [American Pastoral} and I worked myself up to also write a review. Like yours I did find it to be quite a masterpiece.

on to the next book...planning a trip and debating between [Cormac McCrathy]'s [The Road], [Paul Auster]'s {oracle night} or to take with me to Buenos Aires, [Tomas Eloy Martinez]'s [The Tango Singer]. There is always comfort in the thought that, god willing, there will be time left to read them all and many, many more.

good night,
bert

posted by berthirsch at 8:45 pm (EST) on Dec 12, 2006

larry- checked out the LALR web-i like it...also listed was a book by Lugones who was a rival of Borges- a Reactionary and anti-immigrant who praised the Gaucho culture...he is sited in the Borges bio i read quite a lot.

posted by berthirsch at 5:56 pm (EST) on Dec 11, 2006

larry-
thanks for thinking of me...I have THe Silver Candalabra- an intereesting collection of short stories that gives one a feel for how the Jewish community developed in Argentina.

i will definitely check out the web-site.

in yesterdays NEXTBOOK website there was an interesting essay about an Argentine film director David Burman.

abrazos.

posted by berthirsch at 4:36 pm (EST) on Dec 11, 2006

Thanx for making the effort Larry - and for your kind words - but that episode is indeed part of the whole thing - never mind you can miss it out if you like. I like the reader to have choices

posted by papalaz at 12:44 pm (EST) on Dec 11, 2006

So Nadja it is then and not Nana.

BTW - wrt to my recent - here is the beginning of a new readers index to the wip:

http://www.id-ds.com/Rhino/navnovblog.ht...

posted by papalaz at 12:25 pm (EST) on Dec 9, 2006

I'm guessing M for Molly and N for Nana

go for the Rios you will not regret it - they are wonderful

I'm writing something at present about creative episodic writing in a blog environment - I'll let you know when it's ready

posted by papalaz at 2:36 pm (EST) on Dec 7, 2006

Rios is one of my favourite living authors and now I am jealous again as I haven't read that one yet and it sounds fascinating.

posted by papalaz at 10:38 am (EST) on Dec 7, 2006

after the style of yes indeed - a great book by the way.

posted by papalaz at 2:34 pm (EST) on Dec 6, 2006

Actually, I'm only half through the letter K. This is going to get a lot worse.

posted by kittylafong at 9:48 pm (EST) on Dec 5, 2006

Larry- your appetite for reading amazes me- how do you find the time to read all the books you do...
signed, your jealous compatriot, bert

PS- in this weeks New York Magazine- available on-line- is a review on Frederick Seidel.

posted by berthirsch at 10:27 am (EST) on Dec 4, 2006

Larry- your appetite for reading amazes me- how do you find the time to read all the books you do...
signed, your jealous compatriot, bert

posted by berthirsch at 10:25 am (EST) on Dec 4, 2006

HI Larry - everything here is fine -the weather is holding fine for now and fortunately Xmas madness doesn't start so early as for you - Greeks celebrate Easter much more than Xmas.

As to the Ann Quin - well you have one over me there _ I've never seen a copy of Passages - I hope it is up to her best. Mind you it's a shame that the seller messed you around - better luck next time.

I'm reading some William Boyd at the moment and quite enjoying it as a relaxing easy read and reasonably well written. Pan was wonderful by the way.

Do you read my blog? Short story going on there right now.

http://poundemonium.blogspot.com/

posted by papalaz at 10:07 am (EST) on Dec 4, 2006

Larry- re Gutierrez-he sounds fun and thanks for thinking of me...i lost the poetry contact you sent me...i saw a review of Frederick Seidel and wanted to check out some of his poems on line- can you give me a link?
thanks, bert

posted by berthirsch at 8:18 am (EST) on Dec 4, 2006

hey larry- read it , thanks, sounds very interesting.

posted by berthirsch at 5:41 pm (EST) on Nov 28, 2006

my apologees for pigeon-holing you as an "upstater"...it must have been great to be stationed at Governor's Island with the million dollar views of the NY harbor and skylines.

i hear that the Lombardi Bio by David Marannis is fantastic.

posted by berthirsch at 6:04 pm (EST) on Nov 27, 2006

hi larry- thank you for sharing these interesting insights about The White Hotel- i do remember some controversies about it...it was a best seller...i knew there was a reason i've been "schlepping" it around all these years.

don't know if your into the Giants- you probably root for the Bills but yesterdays loss had to be the worst since Picharak's fumble against the Eagles.

buen dia, bert

posted by berthirsch at 4:40 pm (EST) on Nov 27, 2006

luckily i'll be off friday- a nice long break friom work...i'll be cooking for the wife and our son...am looking forward to it. later.

posted by berthirsch at 12:55 pm (EST) on Nov 22, 2006

i am glad you liked it... i must say this site is becoming a bit addictive but i do enjoy the discussions and sharing of new horizons.

Larry- I wish you and your family a very good holiday and hope that it is filled with thankfulness and well-being.
truly yours, bert hirsch

posted by berthirsch at 9:57 am (EST) on Nov 22, 2006

Nice reviews Larry. You've quite a few under your belt now - wish I could be as assiduous.

BTW are you aware of the Dalkey Archive? Couple of links for you (esp - the Boon one)

I took advantage of their 100 books for $500 dollar offer a few years back when their inventory was smaller and still consider it one of the best bargains I've ever had.

http://www.dalkeyarchive.com/specialsale
http://www.dalkeyarchive.com/context

posted by papalaz at 8:11 am (EST) on Nov 22, 2006

lriley - thanks for the tip. I shall read it with interest. It's been a few years since I read it myself.
T

posted by tartalom at 8:08 am (EST) on Nov 22, 2006

GLAD YOU LIKED IT...ITS AN OLD FAVORITE AND ONE I HAVE RECOMMENDED THROUGH THE YEARS WHEN MEN I KNOW ARE CONTEMPLATING MARRIAGE OR GOING THROUGH CHANGES ABOUT MARRIAGE.

posted by berthirsch at 2:04 pm (EST) on Nov 21, 2006

larry- i just posted my favorite poem on poetry fools.

posted by berthirsch at 8:17 am (EST) on Nov 21, 2006

I just noticed your review of Hornby and am pleased that you enjoyed it (and touched by the sensitive mention of your son). You should check out his High Fidelity.

posted by berthirsch at 8:24 pm (EST) on Nov 20, 2006

just found Levine's poems on a site : Poemhunter.com and read THE SIMPLE TRUTH which i liked.

posted by berthirsch at 8:15 pm (EST) on Nov 20, 2006

hey larry- i am afraid i am unfamiliar with [Philip Levine], admitedly I have not been reading much poetry for several years now...even to the point that when i read THe New Yorker I usually pass by the poems- embarrassing as this may be it is, alas, true.

i will though check out your review and Mr Levine out of my respect to your prior judgements and informed postings.

posted by berthirsch at 8:08 pm (EST) on Nov 20, 2006

hello there!.....i looked up the nicanor parra book and i would like to have it....nice words and drawings as well....the picture in my icon is from a series robert motherwell did for a version of ulysses..... motherwell also did sketches and tributes/collaborations with octavio paz and rafael alberti...

posted by fairbrook at 9:45 pm (EST) on Nov 18, 2006

Larry, Trocchi and Johnson yes indeed - apparently they even shared parallel columns in a newspaper piece denouncing Arts council grants (p 290 Like A Fiery Elephant).

As for Gray - I agree but my own favourite would be either The Fall of Kelvin Walker or McGrotty and Ludmilla. If you must read Irvine Welsh (and you don't have to) I would go for Marabou Stork Nightmares as being worthwhile.

Kellman I love - everything - Gryehound for Breakfast is wonderful and No, not while the Giro.

Wandering around today I found the following that are interesting:

http://www.list.co.uk/bestbooks/bestbook...

and

http://www.lrb.co.uk/v24/n09/turn03_.htm...

Enjoy

Laz

posted by papalaz at 9:55 am (EST) on Nov 13, 2006

oh hey..i just ordered independent people for only 4 dollars shipped...and the seller is in my hometown...! thanks for the recommend....

posted by fairbrook at 1:12 am (EST) on Nov 13, 2006

re: your son..how much more lucky would we be if we were also not much socializers..not that i am anyways..think of how much MORE reading we would get done.....i agree with you muchly on our compulsive/obsessive behaviors...books being one of them....fine line this is.....

posted by fairbrook at 9:09 pm (EST) on Nov 12, 2006

Hi - yes I know of Trocchi although I suspect he is more writen about than read. The only book of his that I have read is Young Adam which was turned into a slightly dodgy movie not long ago. Scottish and experimentalist he had a brief spell of favour and now undergoes regular re-appraisals. The Wikipedia enty seems quite full.This link is also quite good: http://www.bbc.co.uk/scotland/arts/writi...

Writers like James Kellman - Irvine Welsh and Alasdair Gray all owe him something and of the 3 I would recommend Kellman (and Agnes Owens)

Good find BTW - never seen a copy of that one

posted by papalaz at 9:34 am (EST) on Nov 12, 2006

hey larry- is the review on your site here? i'm just 1/2 way through reading the section about Dawn the wife and her cows. it'll take me a little longer to get through.

personally i'm very pleased with the election results..."the country has spoken" and now hopefully the Dems will use their power soberly and we will go a new better direction. i see bush as a little petulent child- its really amazing how much power he has squandered and abused...i'm in big hope!

now that youve finished Pastoral what are you into?

take care.
b.

posted by berthirsch at 8:00 pm (EST) on Nov 9, 2006

thanks for bringing up Halldor Laxness..i will look his stuff up..always looking for a good read...i dig your library too...isn't this a great website?

posted by fairbrook at 2:29 am (EST) on Nov 6, 2006

Yes, good, it IS similar to Pinochet-Allende. Though, unfortunately for me and your father, the similarity doesn't improve the odds of winning our case.

posted by oakesspalding at 11:21 am (EST) on Nov 5, 2006

Hey, man. I feel guilty about starting the thread and then not following through. I actually started it, in part, to dispute some of the things YOU said. :) But in my defense, I have been reading and rereading a number of books on the subject and wanted to complete them before weighing in again. But, I suppose I should just forge ahead. I will be busy for the next week or so, but will try to get back into things after that, both in the thread and in that new group if you think that my comments would be appreciated. I think the Spanish Civil War is fascinating in that it sort of forces one to rigourously evaluate one's prior beliefs and preconceptions. Thank you for the invitation and friendly reminder.

Oakes

posted by oakesspalding at 12:39 am (EST) on Nov 5, 2006

hunger was a real good one....victoria was also but man oh man the women at the pump was superduper....

posted by fairbrook at 12:37 am (EST) on Nov 4, 2006

So far - Hunger is my favourite Hamsun but Pan may well rival it if the reviews are to be believed. I like my novels sparse and short - intense and deep. I did love Growth of the Soil a lot though thought it lonf. In fact there isn't a Hamsun that I don't re-read from time to time. Thanx for the pointers onward.

posted by papalaz at 3:02 pm (EST) on Oct 31, 2006

Glad you liked it and thanks for a good review. The reference to Pinget (another of my favourites) was unexpected and apt.

BTW - did you get the link to the wedding photos?

PS - what's next?

posted by papalaz at 2:45 am (EST) on Oct 29, 2006

L.
if you were running for Congress on that platform i'd vote for you. in today's ny times there is a rather long article on the massa-kuhl race...as for myself i am basically a lifelong democrat who only rarely wanders off the farm (ie guilliani v dinkins)...i'm hoping for a big sweep and time to put bush and his crew on notice. they have been incompetent and i am tired of their wedge issues and politics.

hevesi thing is no major corruption but he did misuse a got employee who chauffered his wife too much- she actually has a long hx of depression with 1 suicidal gesture so i'm siure his judgement was skewed.

later.
B.

posted by berthirsch at 10:50 am (EST) on Oct 28, 2006

hey L.
i just saw the music dialogoe with nichhoolihan...you should definitely read [Nick Hornby]'s [High Fidelity]...trust me on this one!

B.

posted by berthirsch at 6:18 pm (EST) on Oct 27, 2006

l-

giving more thought about Pastoral...i kind of got a kick out of Roth's whole approach to looking for the flaw in the Swede's life...this is before the narrator(nathan zuckerman,again) knows about the daughter or as he is finding out...he is almost relieved and gleeful to learn that indeed "not even the SWEDE' can live a life w/o some kind of misery...i find this to be a Rothian theme that probably exists in many of his books.

on an interesting parallel note I suggest you look at the mess Alan Hevesi has gotten himself into. I grew up with Alan and his brother Denis (who writes for the NY Times)...Alan was older than me but he was the fair-haired boy of the neighborhood...star of the basketball team, from a family of rabbis...star athlete-scholar goes on to State Assembly... the perfect American tale...need i say more...reality and fiction intertwine again...

later.
bert

posted by berthirsch at 5:00 pm (EST) on Oct 27, 2006

Hi,

I never think of `Riders` as one of my favourite tracks - I don`t know why, because as you say, the imagery is very effective. I was thinking earlier, if one Morrison lyric could be considered poetry, then Break On Through would spring to mind.

Ska - not heard of Sublime. when I get a chance I`ll have a look on the net for them. We did see Ska Cubano just over a year ago, they were good. There is a local (Leicester, east Mids) sax player Drew Stansall - he does a lot of freelance work and has an on/off jazz career, but is also in a ska band El Pussycat Ska. At one time, he was also playing in a rock band, called LE2. Assuming his web site hasn`t changed you can hear him with various bands there.

I`m OK with the Velvets - must admit I like the Loaded album whatever others think.

Best,

Nick

posted by nickhoonaloon at 4:47 am (EST) on Oct 27, 2006

hey larry- you'll probably finish before me...i am up to page 125...i read before i go to sleep maybe 10-15 pages and sometimes on the weekend if my wife is busy with real estate...Also there's so many other things to read- the Times everyday(i'm hooked) The New Yorker, other magazines, the Internet, etc...this weekend we're going to the city to see American Ballet theater...last weekend we saw a Sam Sheperd play- Tooth of Crime, that we originally saw 23 yrs. ago.

i am enjoying American Pastoral and I think the next Roth book i'll read will be Sabbath's Theater...today i was at Strands and had this huge list of Spanish and Italian writers and the only book i found was a mafia mystery by Sciascia...I was really hoping to find Feierstein's Mestizo but i'll pick it up on-line.

I kind of liked the high school reunion scene in Pastoral...i think you're into that now.

ciao, bert

posted by berthirsch at 6:24 pm (EST) on Oct 26, 2006

I`m going to delay replying to your thoughts on Jim Morrison for a time to give others the chance to join in. Just to say - Soul Kitchen - absolutely fantastic track, I nearly mentioned it myself. Another great one that never seems to get mentioned much is Peace Frog from Morrison Hotel - but i love that album anyway.

posted by nickhoonaloon at 4:30 pm (EST) on Oct 26, 2006

sounds like a possibility in March...i have one son he'll ne 19 on Nov 16th...enjoy and i hear you're already gearing up for the winter...did you already get blitzed like Buffalo did?

posted by berthirsch at 8:14 pm (EST) on Oct 23, 2006

Nice acquisitions content wise - I hope you enjoy them Larry

posted by papalaz at 12:03 am (EST) on Oct 23, 2006

baseball talk...i actually am now a Yankee fan but being a NY'er I was hoping the Mets would make it...as a kid , like your dad. I was a NY Giant fan, actually a huge Willie Mays fan and my heart did follow them to SF and i rooted for them till Willie left them...then when Munson and Reggie Jackson brought the Yanks to the World Series I started rooting for the Yanks.

i am now reading American Pastoral and was pleased to see that Roth more than once mentioned John R Tunis' The Kid From Tomkinsville a great baseball book i remember reading from my emlementary school library.

posted by berthirsch at 8:00 pm (EST) on Oct 22, 2006

larry- re rangers

it seems like its a NY disease: bringing in aging Superstars , hopefully Shanahan has something left, like Messier and Gretzsky...we'll see.

posted by berthirsch at 10:14 pm (EST) on Oct 20, 2006

ps larry- i'm still into the baseball but i see the rangers have started and are winning, how do they look?

posted by berthirsch at 5:53 pm (EST) on Oct 18, 2006

i can't tell you how many years i have been going to Strands...in NY for some people its like a religious experince...the more frequently you go the more you see...you do need a ladder but the good thing is its all alphebetized and they are particular what books they carry, their taste level is quite impressive.

maybe one day in the future we could meet up there.

happy reading and reviewing.

posted by berthirsch at 5:52 pm (EST) on Oct 18, 2006

larry- thanks, on my next trip to Strands in Manhattan I will definitely look up Doblin...your mention of Stalin reminded me of [The Autobiography of Joseph Stalin] by [Richard Lourie}- I thought it was excellent.

bert

posted by berthirsch at 6:56 pm (EST) on Oct 16, 2006

bargains here:

http://www.amazon.com/Loving-Living-Peng...

and

http://www.amazon.com/Nothing-Blindness-...

posted by papalaz at 10:46 am (EST) on Oct 15, 2006

Larry, some Henry Green is, I imagine, difficult for non-English and the memoir in particular. I would point you instead at either Caught or Concluding both should be more tractable to a non-UK sensibility than is the memoir. Good luck.

posted by papalaz at 3:08 pm (EST) on Oct 14, 2006

Hey Larry you should check out [Coversational Reading] website- a good discussion on book reviews.

posted by berthirsch at 1:56 pm (EST) on Oct 14, 2006

thanks- i never heard of Doblin but Joseph Roth I have [The radetsky March}] yet to be read.

posted by berthirsch at 1:46 pm (EST) on Oct 14, 2006

Just remembered that I've never pointed you at the sublime Henry Green - whether you have read him or not there is a good piece on him here: http://tls.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,...

posted by papalaz at 12:25 pm (EST) on Oct 14, 2006

Larry, thank you for the note. I concur to a tee with you on McCarthy: the surreal prose of BM is his best achievement; I return to it time and time again; it frankly mesmerizes me. On Darwish, I definitely recommend him; he is honest and eloquent, and although a writer of some political verse, his words resonate with the wider world. He fell out of favor once with many of his fellow Palestinians because he took a break from poems of political/nationalist nature to write love poems. His work is now part of Israeli school curriculums (controversial, of course).

posted by southwestpoet at 3:18 am (EST) on Oct 14, 2006

Always fun to talk books...Kennedy's Ironweed is like hearing an "oldie but goodie" and I love Roth, Auster but had trouble getting into House of Leaves - have you seen D's new book yet.

McEwen I really liked Saturday and enjoy Roddy Doyle a lot who was mentioned.

The White Hotel I have hung onto for years but yet to read.

to be continued...
bert

posted by berthirsch at 6:51 pm (EST) on Oct 13, 2006

Might I suggest Ann Quin? Berg and Three are both great British experimental novels. After Ann Quin look our Christine Brooke-Rose and Eva Figes

posted by papalaz at 2:18 pm (EST) on Oct 13, 2006

I am currently reading McCarthy's new book, 'The Road.' It is a dark, haunting vision, and the eloquence we enjoy in McCarthy's pre-'No Country for Old Men' writing is here in the new work.

posted by southwestpoet at 3:01 am (EST) on Oct 13, 2006

Hi again and I am so pleased you're enjoying my tips. It's good to be of use. As to the Hrabal - the film is wonderful if you ever get a chance to see it but the book is better (it is Closely ... isn't it?).

I've never had much time for Coe as a writer per se and the gestation period for his biography was massively frustrating. I heard about it when I was seriously thinking of doing a Johnson biography myself. Like a Fiery is a fascinating attempt to make the life and the work come together ( a popular obsession with literary biographers these days but one that is, I fear, flawed). It improves as it goes on and in some ways I enjoyed it despite my misgivings. I have a sheaf of notes for a companion piece to it in the style of Johnson viewing Coe's attempts at the biography. The opening scene is Johnson semi comatose in his final bath!!

Speak soon

posted by papalaz at 3:05 pm (EST) on Oct 12, 2006

thought you'd be interested in today's Guardian in Books- a list og great fiction

posted by berthirsch at 8:13 am (EST) on Oct 9, 2006

where do your reviews appear?

posted by berthirsch at 11:41 am (EST) on Oct 8, 2006

glad you received the Hornby...no need to send anything back...you might like The Ghost Writer by Roth , short and literary in theme, a bit of a feel of an eastern european book.

posted by berthirsch at 6:19 pm (EST) on Oct 6, 2006

thanks, i am a bit of a sucker for literary awards. in fact that is how i first became aware of both Tomas Martinez and Antonio Tabucchi- when a couple of years ago both were named to the 1st longlist for the Booker Int'l Award.

Philip Roth is one of my all time favorites (the jewish connection is strong, which also applies to the Nobelist Bellow))i've always hoped he would be granted this great honor. when will the announcements be made? I also am aware of Pakuk (i have Snow and My Name is Red on my shelf) and also Amos Oz.

Did you read Human Stain- very good, in fact, I have chosen American Pastoral as my next read, maybe a good Roth omen!

posted by berthirsch at 5:31 pm (EST) on Oct 5, 2006

i actually have both THe van and The Woman Who Walk... on my shelf (from my library sale) and have to say that The Commitments is one of my favorite films (too).

Re
MacLaverty...i've been carrying CAL around forever but still haven't read it.

i will definitely send you the Hornby review book this week...enjoy.
bert

posted by berthirsch at 3:34 pm (EST) on Oct 1, 2006

another contemporary writer from the british isles i like is Roddy Doyle...A Star Called Henry, a period book during the Irish Rebellion-early 20th century...if you'd like i have a copy of Nick Hornby book reviews- The Polysyllabic Spree- if you give me your address i'll send it free of charge.

posted by berthirsch at 2:00 pm (EST) on Oct 1, 2006

i can't resist some of the discrads from the library...just yesterday i picked up Nick Hornby's [A Long way Down} for 25 cents...did you read [High Fidelity}- very good and I always enjoyed Hornby's What I am Reading column in The Believer.

have a good one, bert

posted by berthirsch at 4:56 pm (EST) on Sep 29, 2006

thanks for the info Larry...I won't be moving to BsAs but do hope to eventually spend much of the winter months there...regarding buying books, i have been buying less the last few years...we are extremely fortunate to have a fantastic library in Sparta,NJ - in fact the National Librarian Ass voted it #2 in Jersey and in the top 75 in USA...pretty amazing...i read my first Sebald from there several years ago and they got me Tabucchi on loan...of course i still love having books in the house and certainly still buy a few from time to time.

ciao my amigo.

PS- another great find at my library: [Resistence] by [Barry Lopez]- based on what you've expressed i am certain you would love it...a little treasure.[

posted by berthirsch at 9:06 pm (EST) on Sep 27, 2006

i read one of Bolano's stories in THe New Yorker- i liked it and admit i am kind of hooked on stuff that takes place south of the border. Its funny that just yesterday I came across The Complete Review and tagged it as one of my favorites...i will also take a look at half.com...i bought some good used books through Amazon- Cozarinsky's [The Bride From Odessa] for a couple of bucks- i think shipping and handling cost more than the book...enjoy the journey...
bert

posted by berthirsch at 8:29 pm (EST) on Sep 26, 2006

hey larry-

i don't know if you saw thet this week's NYTimes Book Review had a short review of a new publication:
[Its getting later All The Time] by [Antonio Tabucchi]

take care, bert

posted by berthirsch at 6:14 pm (EST) on Sep 25, 2006

A very nice little review of the Hrabal - thumbs up. You didn't mention the amazing writing of the scene between the hero and the gipsy which I think is truly wonderful. He is one of my favourite heroes of all time.

posted by papalaz at 1:17 pm (EST) on Sep 21, 2006

larry-
i would dare say you're a bit modest...your knowledge of books is impressive.

regarding reading a book until the end regardless if you like it or not, I finally reached a point in my life where at some point ( 150 pages or so) if i don't "get it" i move on to another book. this is probably because i realize i will never have time to devour all i desire to read.

ciao, happy reading.

posted by berthirsch at 6:58 pm (EST) on Sep 20, 2006

Hola Larry,

you continue to amaze me with the time and effort you take in responding to me. At times when I read your remarks I feel like I am in a tutorial class and you are providing with me with so much valuable material. of all the Italian writers you mention I am afraid the only one I have read is Calvino(and of course Tabucchi) whom I certainly find fascinating and mysterious.

i have also heard of Levi and Moravia and Dario Fo sounds like fun - who doesn't love the Marx Brothers?

take care, did I mention to you I am reading [THe Muse Asylum]- its quite enjoyable, ever since i read Youngblood Hawke by Herman Wouk as an adolescent I have enjoyed books about writers. Of course, writing has always been one of my draws to reading or vice versa and I have unfinished stories and several volumes of a journal dating back over 25 years. don't mean to bore you...have a good evening.
ciao.bert

posted by berthirsch at 8:14 pm (EST) on Sep 19, 2006

hola larry,

glad to hear you'll be joining the Latin Club, based on your earlier replies about South American fiction i think you'll bring more to the table (mesa) than most...the trip to BsAs was que lindo and it was interesting in our hotel I ran into a French teacher from Hartford,CT who was there visiting book stores (he was a book collector) and he was having a grand time- he told me i should check out Pavese and Marichal and that he buys ULYSSES in different languages and uses it as a tableau to self-teach himself new tongues.

posted by berthirsch at 7:31 pm (EST) on Sep 18, 2006

A while indeed - we're busy arranging our wedding (after 22years together). I do so hope you enjoy BSJ - and although the film of Xtie Malry is an odd thing it is worth a view if you get a chance. How did you like the Too Loud A Solitude?

posted by papalaz at 5:06 am (EST) on Sep 10, 2006

Neither am I, that's why I started the group! I want to read all the touchstone authors we've acumulated! :-)

posted by Opinicus at 6:45 pm (EST) on Sep 9, 2006

I did read Chatwin's On Patagonia several years ago and enjoyed it immensely.

posted by berthirsch at 8:49 am (EST) on Sep 2, 2006

hey larry- again you are right on the mark...the food is Buenos Aires is fabulous, the restaurants are cheap and the portenos love to eat...even though i have cut down greatly on my red meat intake (i had slightly elevated cholesterol) i can not resist a good steak there...all the steerrs are free grazers and the meat is extremely lean yet tasty...the city is filled with great ice cream parlors too and cuisine from all over the world with a heavt Italian influence...we leave next Friday for a quick week's visit.

posted by berthirsch at 8:47 am (EST) on Sep 2, 2006

belated happy birthday to the missus.

reading is the best, its great to get in touch with other worlds and perspectives and to be entertained by a good tale.

posted by berthirsch at 4:23 pm (EST) on Sep 1, 2006

re-sent with typos corrected...sorry

Larry,
no need to apologize, you have been nowhere near abrupt, in fact, you have been quite generous about your knowledge of Latin American/Argentine writers...i have hear of Mestizo and have added it to my never-ending list of books to check-out...an in-box list that i am sure will be well filled whenever my time runs out.

i have read some Sebald and like him...very eastern european in nature...a lover of words, phrases and intellectual sidebars...my favorite is Vertigo...how can you resist a book with this title?

Regarding Argentina, you hit right on the nose...slapshot...it is very american, when we first went there it felt just like our new york context...it is not a south american city but very european in nature...they call it the Paris of South America...it is a city of immigrants, a melting pot, etc...a city of neighborhoods and while there may be not too many Irishmen there are a lot of Brits who came there in the 1800's to build the railroads...one of Borges' grandparents was British and he learned English as a child.

posted by berthirsch at 4:20 pm (EST) on Sep 1, 2006

Larry,
no need to apologize, you have been nowhere near abrupt, in fact, you have been quite generous about your knowledge of Latin American/Argentine writers...i have hear of Mestizo and have added it to my never-ending list of books to check-out...an in-box list that i am share will be weel filled whenever my time runs out.

i have read some Sebald and like him...very eastern european in nature...a lover of words, phrases and intellectual sidebars...my favorite is Vertigo...how can you resist a book with this title?

Regarding Argentina, you hit right on the nose...slapshot...it is very american, when we first went there it felt just like our new york context...it is not a south american city but very european in nature...they call it the Paris of South America...it is a city of immigrants, a melting pot, etc...a city of neighborhoods and while there may be not too many Irishmen there are a lot of Brits who came there in the 1800's to build the railroads...one of Borges' grandparents was British and he learned English as a child.

posted by berthirsch at 4:18 pm (EST) on Sep 1, 2006

larry,
you're very deep which i like and the ranger connection, i'm sure, keeps you "grounded".

posted by berthirsch at 5:23 pm (EST) on Aug 29, 2006

hey larry- its a rainy afternoon so i'm on-line a lot today...when you and your wife go to NY I highly recommend JERSEY BOYS- its a fun musical, the current cast is great!
bert

posted by berthirsch at 1:21 pm (EST) on Aug 26, 2006

Hey Iriley,
its Bert again. i just read your profile and love the Ranger connection. When I was in High Scholl I use to go to games at the Old Garden on 8th Avenue and 50 Street...saw Giacoman, Worsley, Gilbert, Hatfield, Park, Howell, Bathgate, etc. I'm not too big on Hockey anymore but the only team I care about are the Rangers. My kid played some hockey but now he and I are more into Tennis-he plays for his college team...I'm looking forward to the US Open next week, we go over to Flushing and its a great opportunity to see World Class athletes up close- the first week is pretty much General Admission...1st come first serve for front row seats.
later.
bert

posted by berthirsch at 8:43 am (EST) on Aug 26, 2006

vert interesting. your tastes appear sympatico to mine. i actually stopped at a local Border's yesterday with the list of writers you mentioned...i was not too surprised to find that none of them were there.

my local library is pretty good and i will ask them to do a search...if not ther's always amazon/bn.

i agree totally this all comes down to personal likes, etc.

i am off to Buenos Aires on Sep 8 th for a brief visit- can't wait ...its a great city. Borges is "the man" there.

posted by berthirsch at 8:35 am (EST) on Aug 26, 2006

thanks for your thorough review of Argentine writers . from the sound of it I think i'll check out Piglia and Sabato...may be awhile till I get to them , after I finish THe Last Kaballist In Lisbon i'll probably read Auster- another one of my favorites- i have both Oracle Night and Brooklyn Follies waiting on the shelf.

Thanks again,
bert

posted by berthirsch at 4:07 pm (EST) on Aug 23, 2006

Iriley,
thanks for your response...i actually am quite interested in Argentine writers...my wife and I recently visited Buenos Aires and fell in love with this vibrant city and its people and we bought an apartment there, the american dollar buys quite a lot there!...

i immediately read a Borges bio by Edwin Williamson, several of his stories and read THe Peron Novel by Tomas Eloy Martinez, another Argentine writer- i recommend this book- he also just published The Tango Singer which I bought but have not yet read.

I will look into the writers you mentioned. Stay in touch as you wish.

posted by berthirsch at 6:57 pm (EST) on Aug 21, 2006

I see that you have Tabucchi's The Missing Head... I just finished it and thought it was excellent. I have an interest, too, in Latin American Fiction and started a grouop on this site-seeSouth American Literature.

I plan to take acloser look at your titles later.

Enjoy your reading.

bert

posted by berthirsch at 6:43 pm (EST) on Aug 19, 2006

maybe we should take this out of lT onto email?

posted by papalaz at 3:36 am (EST) on Aug 17, 2006

Check out the rest of the Ubu plays and then go to [The supermale]. As for Vian [Froth on the Daydream] is a faourite. I agree about Simon - sometimes very heavy weather. I'm crazy for Queneau too

posted by papalaz at 1:39 pm (EST) on Aug 16, 2006

I'm currently reading North by Celine and would recommend it hearily. After that I'm moving on to Castle to Castle. Have you read Vian and Jarry?

posted by papalaz at 12:57 am (EST) on Aug 16, 2006

nice crossover you have with me

posted by papalaz at 1:45 pm (EST) on Aug 15, 2006