May, 2011--What's on the TBR pile this month?

Time to roll over the calendar, start a new month of reading.

I've got lots of research stuff to plug through but I also want to sit on my back deck with a beer and the collected poems of Czeslaw Milocz or Holderlin. Reading world class poetry helps sharpen my aesthetic, reminding me of the beauty of economy, the power a few brief words can convey.

Still plowing through Volume 2 of Das Kapital Fitting for May Day reading, albeit a tad boring.

I've started Evangeline, a historical fiction novel about the Acadians, and I'm reading The Butterfly's Daughter and The Massacre at Paris while studying for an AP exam.

Still reading The Savage Detectives. Wasn't too enthusiastic at first, but it's getting better, and so is the translation, strangely enough - or maybe I'm getting used to it. It feels less awkward now in any case.

Little Big is still in the UPS/mail system, so you could say it's in my TBR pile (it's paid for, after all!) I'm biding my time reading some Samuel Taylor Coleridge poems and the most recent Economist issue.

Just started Moscow 2042, and love it so far.

After finishing 2666, it was time for something completely different...Using the pin-the-tail-on-the-donkey method (close my eyes, reach into the TBR shelves), I came up with Kate Atkinson's Case Histories, which fits the requirement perfectly. It's my first Atkinson, having given in after some people I respect recommended her, and I'm not sure yet if she'll join the small group of mystery writers that I read more than once. The plotting seems pretty pedestrian but her characterization is sharp and her style is gently humorous and entertaining.

Speaking of mysteries, Philip Kerr has recently come to my attention and I'm glad to see that he has fans here. Would Berlin Noir be the right place to start?

The BERLIN NOIR trilogy introduces Bernie Gunther and is the right place to begin the journey. I confess, those first three novels are still my favorites, though the entire series is satisfying and gripping.

Finished Rushdie's Enchantress of Florence today - fantastic stuff. About as close to a 'historical novel' as you can expect from Rushdie, but it's still tricky, hiding stories within stories and playing with the truth It may not have the heft or the chutzpah of Midnight's Children or Satanic Verses, but it's a damn fine read from a great author.

9: Hopefully better than The Ground Beneath Her Feet What a dud! I did love The Moor's Last Sigh by Rushdie. A close third to the other two heavy hitters, Children and Verses.

Read about the US and Southern Africa in Years of Renewal by Kissinger. The challenges and complexities of non-Arabic Africa seemed even more daunting than the millennial hatreds of the Middle East. Kissinger, writing at a remove of 20 years after the events, wastes no time in ascribing the foreign policy failures of the Ford Administration to a leftist Congress of the 70s and the future administrations. Somehow it's always the other guy's fault. And you wonder why most Americans hate politics and politicians?

Working on a few completely different books here...Sea of Poppies by Amitav Ghosh, Ivanhoe by Sir Walter Scott, and Yoshimasa and the Silver Pavilion: The Creation of the Soul of Japan by Donal Keene. I'm sure that shortly I'll be inspired, or distracted, to add something else to the list.

I finished You Think That's Bad by Jim Shepard, who is so damn good. I'm reading Monsoon by Robert Kaplan. Wow, those touchstones work. And I'm getting back into Raymond Chandler: Collected Stories.

Have you seen this one, Roof:

http://www.amazon.com/Master-Miniatures-Jim-Shepard/dp/0984414231/ref=sr_1_11?s=...

>10 kswolff:: I really wanted to read The Ground Beneath Her Feet because I love the subject matter, but from all I hear, it's one of Rushdie's few misses. Oh well, can't be on all the time. Moor's Last Sigh is really good, too, though it seemed at times a little too derivative of Midnight's Children.

Hoping to finish JG Farrell's Empire Trilogy, but The Singapore Grip is awfully slow - lots of description of economics, not quite enough clever satire of British imperialism and class snobbery. It's still early on, though, and the Japanese haven't even made a big appearance just yet...

#13: I haven't read that one. I'll have to fire up the inter library loan machine.

Having a break from "must" reads (two serious bookgroup reads in a row that need recuperating from), and am planning a month of trashy fun reads. Knocked off The Killing of the Tinkers which is brutal, violent, drunken crime, and a remarkably good read. If you like brutal, violent, drunken crime (I usually don't, but the narrator was so bookish he was hard not to like).

And now reading Agatha Christie's The Seven Dials Mystery. Terribly, terribly English. But I find that's part of the charm of her books. And she does a good line in humour, so it's not stiflingly stiff-upper-lip or anything like that.

16: If you're up for light reads, check out the comedies of Evelyn Waugh Decline and Fall, his first novel, is frothy as a gin fizz.

#17, yeah, I'm not sure I'll last a whole month of pure trash, but it's nice thinking about it. :) That's a Waugh I don't own, although I may have read it (I read a lot of his shorter books in high school, after being introduced to The Loved One). Will keep it in mind. (And gin fizzes. I had my first gin fizz just the other day, funnily enough, and it was most delightful.)

ETA: I also have a couple of Wodehouse's Wooster and Jeeves novels on the stack...

Got 4 new books in the mail: Teju Cole's Open City, Montaigne's essays, Altenberg's Telegrams of the Soul, and Shepard's You Think That's Bad. Think I'll start with the Montaigne.

>16 wookiebender:: It's the sheer English-ness of Agatha Christie's books that endear them to me. The same goes for Wodehouse. They're books I could read over and over again.

I started Lempriere's Dictionary after finishing Castle of Wolfenbach, but so far it's tough reading. My knowledge of the classics is woefully lacking. I also have Rushdie's Luka and the Fire of Life in the pile (amongst other things), which I'm looking forward to greatly as I loved Haroun and the Sea of Stories. (Though I'm not sure children's books fit in with Lit Snobs.)

I remember enjoying Lemprière's Dictionary when I read it several years ago. I also have Norfolk's other two novels on the TBR: In The Shape of a Boar and The Pope's Rhinoceros.

Read The Short Happy Life of Francis Macomber, a pretty good short story by Hemingway. Very interesting take on husband-wife relations.

One of my all-time favorites!

It WAS an accident, after all...

Finished Black Swan by Chris Knopf and started Aberration of Starlight by Gilbert Sorrentino

The Seven Dials Mystery had a very silly ending, but it was overall a very silly book as well so that shouldn't detract too much from it all. Hugely entertaining though, I did enjoy myself.

Went out for cocktails last night with buddies, and talk got around to Graham Greene. (As it does when said buddies are the bookish types.) Was inspired when I got home at some ungodly hour to ferret around in the shelves for Travels With My Aunt, so started that this morning.

After a very hectic month at work, I'm still reading Revolutionary Road. When I'm finished, I'm on to The Sound and the Fury.

I liked REVOLUTIONARY ROAD but, as with everything by Yates, the characters are maddening, dooming themselves with their idiotic, self-absorbed behavior. I usually read Yates' offerings with my teeth gritted; if you're a Yates fan too, you'll know what I mean...

Finally received Little, Big! After 20 pages, I get the feeling that this one is going to be "different."

27: I know exactly what you mean - I know it's a comparison that's been done to death, but I get the same feeling reading Madam Bovary.

Finally finished Atlas Shrugged In the words of Gerald Ford, "Our long national nightmare is over." Meh. What overrated garbage.

Aberration of Starlight by Sorrentino is quite good. Despite the experimental nature of the work, Sorrentino is an expert at catching the voices of his characters and the not-so-subtle racism of the 1930s.

28: man, enjoy Little, Big, I loved that one. Might have to add that to the TBRR pile, which is already almost as hefty as the TBR pile.

About halfway through The Singapore Grip. The Japanese are coming, finally, because if I read any more about young Matthew lecturing about native workers and old Walter lecturing about British profits, I might die from overlecturing. It's not a bad book, it's just... extensive. The other two books in the trilogy were fun to read, but Singapore Grip is trying my patience...

Right now it's Perspectives on Richard Ford and Russell Smith's Muriella Pent.

26/27: I've read only two of Yates's books: Revolutionary Road and The Easter Parade. Neither has any happy characters. Unlike Revolutionary Road, in which the primary action takes place in only a few months and which hurtles headlong toward inevitable disaster, The Easter Parade spans four decades and Yates lets his characters’ lives unfold over that time with more clarity than I thought possible in only 225 pages. He's one of those writers who doesn't waste a single word. And in both books I thought he brilliantly captured the social milieu of the 1950’s. I'm a fan and have the gritted teeth to prove it.

Ho hum, 'currently reading A Room with a View.

I'm also listening to a series of Teaching Company lectures on Introduction to Judaism. I love TC and Modern Scholar. They are an intellectual's equivalent to eating Cool Ranch Doritos.

#30> I think congratulations are in order! Well done for getting through it, you're a better reader than me.

35: Thanks. I don't plan to discard it at the local thrift store either, especially in the middle of TeaPartystan where I live. Some idiot philistine might actually like it. They could also not be cheapskates and buy it new.

Now I'm looking for a nice palate-cleanser. And I'm getting closer to finishing Years of Renewal by Kissinger. My literary exorcism is almost complete.

Aberration of Starlight by Sorrentino is wonderful. Short, experimental, yet in tune with the human experience.

I've also come to the conclusion that The Turner Diaries were better written than Atlas Shrugged The philosophy of the Turner Diaries is worse than Objectivism, but not by much. Both were penned by paranoid maniacs with massive grudges. Both are terrible, terrible books and both should be read for a better understanding of the awfulness the human species is capable of producing.

I might reread The Female Man this weekend, in honour of the late Joanna Russ.

I'm not very sorry to say I've abandoned Lempriere's Dictionary. I couldn't muster any appreciation for the writing style, which I found too modern and at odds with the historical setting. It was certainly strange to read the word "mascara" in relation to the physical attributes of a lady of dubious reputation.

I've moved on to Luka and the Fire of Life, in search of a short, but enjoyable read.

36: How do either of those works compare to LaVey's Satanist Bible? (No touchstone? I keep suspecting that LT is run by fundamentalist Christians...)

39: From the excerpts I've read, LaVey is a better writer and more coherent philosopher than Rand.

38: I read Lempriere's Dictionary a few years ago when it was sent to me in error by a book club. I knew nothing about it or the author but in a what-the-hell mood I decided to read it. At the beginning I thought it would be a fun, sprawling romp but it got progressively weirder and I finished it scratching my head.

40: Seriously? I expected you had read it given that you took the time to read these others and they're much longer. Half of it was kind of amusing, and the other half was like a pseudo recipe book. but once I was through with it I thought to myself that is a couple of hours I will never get back. this gives me yet another reason to avoid both Turner and Shrugged.

Authors in the news: A Minnesota state legislator calls Neil Gaiman a "pencil-necked little weasel" and a thief. Hilarious!

http://artsbeat.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/05/05/legislator-apologizes-for-calling-n...

Boy what a stupid legislator. I suppose his rightwing colleagues speak at universities for free.

42: You'd be surprised at what I haven't read.

43: Glad to see the Party of Family Values is taking a toe-tapping wide-stance on Gaiman Who says politics is nothing but frivolity, corruption, kickbacks, and tchotchkes for the trophy wife and mistress? Clearly we are a City Upon a Hill Here's the photographic proof:

http://schuetzclean.com/images/landfill.jpg

Minnesota. Bachman country.

>36 kswolff:

Turner Diaries had 3 wonderful LT members who apparently gave it 5 stars.

I don't even want to reference how many did same for Atlas Shrugged.

Sigh...

>41 alpin:: Ah, you're a much better reader than I am. :) I too had hoped for a fun, expansive read in Lempriere's Dictionary, maybe something along the lines of instance, but didn't have the patience or perseverance to keep reading when it turned out otherwise.

I'm now back to reading Clermont, from the Northanger set of Jane Austen Horrid Novels.

47: I didn't know Pelican Bay had a Librarything program? That probably explains the 5 stars for the Turner Diaries.

I gave the Turner Diaries and Atlas Shrugged the same rating: a half star. Too charitable by half.

Speaking of free flowing ethnic slurs, Aberration of Starlight continues to be excellent. Sorrentino is a postmodern comic genius on par with Thomas Pynchon. Not to be missed.

On the bitter end of Years of Renewal by Kissinger. Finished reading the section on Southern Africa and Rhodesia's rocky transition to majority rule. The tragic part is the transition from the regime of Ian Smith's white minority rule to that of kleptocriminal thug Robert Mugabe Well, at least Zimbabwe knows how the US feels during an election season, a nation of plenty and variety reduced to rationalizing why one should flip a coin for two unambiguously terrible choices.

The section did pique my interest in the modern history of South Africa and the politics of Southern Africa (Rhodesia, Namibia, etc.), along with the horribly long Angolan Civil War

Anyone know of a good one-volume history of modern South Africa? (I have Frontiers by Noel Mostert, but that focuses on early Dutch exploration.)

Well, at least Zimbabwe knows how the US feels during an election season, a nation of plenty and variety reduced to rationalizing why one should flip a coin for two unambiguously terrible choices.

Me, I know exactly how it feels to suffer famine in Ethiopa or the Sudan, having once gone grocery shopping and been unable to obtain brie.

50> Wow, imagine my surprise when I clicked on the Frontiers link, expecting to see a book about South Africa, and instead saw that it was a gay cowboy historical romance.

Took me a second to realize what was going on... (damn touchstones)

Me, I know exactly how it feels to suffer famine in Ethiopia or the Sudan, having once gone grocery shopping and been unable to obtain brie

Glad I wasn't the only one.

Also, Zimbabwe is hardly the Sudan, politically, ethnically, economically, or in terms of climate. But I can see how a middle class Caucasian would think of Africa is one big desert full of starving brown people. Wouldn't be the first time that happened. Don't worry, I do the same thing, confusing Italians for Danes and Greeks for Swedes. (Warning: Post may contain trace levels of sarcasm.)

http://bigthink.com/ideas/24357

Too much reading-for-the-purposes-of-research of late so last night I started Siegfried Sassoon's MEMOIRS OF AN INFANTRY OFFICER. Powerful and skillful writing...

Also, Zimbabwe is hardly the Sudan, politically, ethnically, economically, or in terms of climate. But I can see how a middle class Caucasian would think of Africa is one big desert full of starving brown people.

I didn't make that comparison (Sudan to Zimbabwe), Karl, and you are just barely bright enough to know it, which is what makes your dishonest bullshit so offensive.

You made a stupid remark, one that sarcasm does not excuse, and you got called on it. But you're not enough of an adult to admit it. Grow up.

Time to block another member -- in all my time here, that makes two. But since you've contributed nothing to this group, as far as I can remember, save your self-absorbed exercise in shoring up your sense of intellectual superiority by tearing down easy targets such as Ayn Rand, I can't see that it will be any loss.

No one likes a pedant.

Anyhoo...I'm reading Case Histories by Kate Atkinson. I like it.

Just started reading Mythologies by Barthes The Ur-text of all modern pop culture criticism.

Finished Travels with my Aunt. It felt like a Bildungsroman, only Henry Pulling had his youth rather late in life. Good stuff, loved Aunt Agatha Augusta.

Moving onto Heat Wave by Richard Castle. Not expecting anything much at all, but I couldn't resist it at the library the other week!

(Edited to get her name right! I knew I'd put it down wrong somewhere, but I couldn't remember where. Took a while to find.)

I'm three stories into You Think That's Bad by Jim Shepard--a little disappointed so far.

Reading both Henry James (The Portrait of a Lady) and DH Lawrence (Women in Love) at the same time - lots of verbose and prettified writing. When they become a little too stuffy for me, I'm reading Joe Abercrombie's Best Served Cold, with his The Heroes coming up on the backburner.

My teenage sons are reading Abercrombie's books--THE BLADE ITSELF and BEFORE THEY ARE HANGED--and enjoying them immensely.

Currently reading A Confederacy of Dunces, and finding the humour a little forced.

Ian,

Forced, and repetitive, even more so than Catch 22. And sophomoric. And funny as all shit.

I'm currently reading A Short Walk in the Hindu Kush. Only a Limey could make northern Afghanistan so wonderfully droll...

Finished Aberration of Starlight, by turns funny, coarsely erotic, and finally heartbreaking. A wonderful slim volume where the literary experimentalism actually works in favor of exposing layer upon layer of the characters: their dreams, desires, lusts, betrayals, etc. For those who like Pynchon, Gilbert Sorrentino is not to be missed.

Finished the Intro to The Savage Detectives Starting on the actual book tomorrow.

Rereading the article in Mythologies by Barthes about "professional wrestling."

#64 The slapstick is funny, but I'm not a big fan of "laughing at the moron" type humour.

Finished The Sound and the Fury, which I'll need to read again at some point in time. I've also read Guantanamo by David Hicks and to kill time on a long car trip, The Art of War. I'm off to the library later to pick up the tiger's wife and cloud atlas.

The Tiger's Wife is one book I've been meaning to read.

I finished Clermont last night. I had a dreary time getting through the lovestruck crying and exclaiming in the earlier part of the novel, but the later part became more "mysterious" so I ended up enjoying it quite a bit (even if I couldn't remember the personal histories recounted earlier in the book that suddenly became material in the later part). It's also much better written than my first foray into the gothic novel, Castle of Wolfenbach, which read somewhat like certain amateur fanfiction available on the internet. But overall, I've had fun reading them and plan on reading the rest of the Northanger Horrid Novels at a later date.

My next library book to read is The Garden of the Finzi-Continis.

I finished Evangeline yesterday as soon as all of my exams ended; the historical plot was good, but the characters and writing fell flat. Now on to Caleb's Crossing, which will hopefully be better.

I'm kinda interested in The Tiger's Wife, but part of me thinks it's exactly the type of book that gets pushed by Barnes and Noble or Borders or any big bookseller without that much merit. More hype than quality. Lemme know if it's any good, TO.

Sherron read THE TIGER'S WIFE and thought it quite good but definitely over-hyped. Affected and self-consciously literary at times. But she said it cut in again about halfway through and came to a satisfactory conclusion.

Oh Ian!!! Throw that book away! I loathe A Confederacy of Dunces and have secretly wondered if it was published out of sympathy for a grieving relative. But I know people from New Orleans and many other people love it. I found it funny at first, but then tedious.

Right now, I'm reading Resurrection Code and enjoying it quite a bit, but I want to know if the copyeditor sent the wrong file to the printer. I hope so! If not... I'm not sure what punishment would be sufficient.

Count me among the fans of A CONFEDERACY OF DUNCES. I recall crowing with laughter at various points during that book. I've given away at least 5 or 6 copies over the years...

It's been awhile since I read . . .Dunces, but I enjoyed it. I keep waiting for someone to ruin it with a film version.

Cammy, Cliff - I'm a firm believer in the Confucian maxim that the funniest sight in the whole world is watching an old friend fall off a high roof. IOW, I find slapstick very funny. But I also like wit and surreal humour. A Confederacy of Dunces sets up an odious buffoon and asks you to laugh at him because he's an odious buffoon. It's cheap humour. There are a couple of laugh-out-loud bits - the aforementioned slapstick - and some of the speech is witty, especially that of the black characters. But given that you're meant to laugh at Ignatius J Reilly, and not with him, it does make the book feel to me unsuccessful.

I read Dunces a long time ago and wasn't very impressed, but I don't remember why. I've been wondering whether I should try it again, but reading the comments above, I guess I still wouldn't like it.

I still have that image with me of Ignatius watching a film he hates and shouting things at the screen: "What an abomination!" etc. Have to grin just thinking about it.

77: Isn't that a description of your Cinema Arrete blog? At least in terms of any film made after 1957? After The Third Man, modern cinema goes downhill.

On a completely unrelated note, The Savage Detectives is turning out to be a fun read. Bawdy, vulgar, references to Maldoror, a literary magazine called Lee Harvey Oswald, and the tortures and tribulations of being a young poet in Mexico in the late 1970s.

"77: Isn't that a description of your Cinema Arete blog? At least in terms of any film made after 1957? After The Third Man, modern cinema goes downhill."

Yike, I fear you've just summed up my taste in film, in thirty words or less.

Man, I loved Dunces. Funny, funny stuff.

Getting deeper into The Portrait of a Lady. It's great, but some sentences require some puzzling out...

80: I loved Portrait of a Lady The ending left me puzzled, mainly getting through the verbal briarpatch, but all in all, highly rewarding. On a related note, check out Dud Avocado by Elaine Dundy. I haven't read it, but it's a satirical novel from the 1950s set on the Paris Left Bank that is akin to Daisy Miller

http://www.nybooks.com/books/imprints/classics/the-dud-avocado/

That's just it about Dunces. People either love it or hate it. I remember "getting" the humor and then finding it predictable by the end. At first I laughed out loud, but by the time I finished, I couldn't care less about the main character and began thinking of the author himself as being the main character, and well, we all know the main character is a loser. It's just not my book, and never will be. I'm with Ian. Laughing at losers doesn't do it for me.

...And I silently titter while watching Jimmy and Timmy on South Park.

78, Karl, I'm just finishing The Great Escape, about Alexander Korda and 8 other prominent Hungarian Jews. I'll have to track down a copy of The Third Man (1949), or perhaps even read the book.

Sandydog> Okay, I haven't watched South Park for a long time, so my viewing is mostly pre Jimmy & Timmy, but that's below sophomoric... and embarrassingly funny. There's something hysterical about it's predictability: Oh no! They killed Kenny.

I've finished Caleb's Crossing by Geraldine Brooks, which was pretty good, and Passage by Sandy Powers. Now I'm reading Noah Barleywater Runs Away by John Boyne, which is reminding me of Oz and Alice in Wonderland so far.

I finished reading Resurrection Code but I'm stymied on how to review it. I enjoyed it quite a bit. I just don't know what to say.

I'm reading Cave of the Jagua now, which is spending a bit too much time on methodology and not enough time on the Tainos. Perhaps it's to cover for the fact that they don't know much about the Tainos.

Add me to the list of haters of Confederacy of Dunces. Well, not so much a "hater". I could see the humour, but I'm afraid I failed to find it funny.

Reading Cover Her Face, the first Adam Dalgleish novel by P.D. James. Having a bit of a crime spree at the moment...

Started Digging Deeper by Peter Weissman this morning. It will fascinating seeing the developments after his Sixties memoir. And should be interesting, since I'm reading the last volume of Kissinger's memoirs that take place during the Ford Administration.

Read about "Writers on Holiday" in Mythologies by Barthes A funny and lacerating little article about the impossibility of such a notion, since writers are literally shackled to their craft. They write, write, write, while other workers can leave their vocation and relax for a while. A writer never leaves his or her mode of production. A bricklayer can leave his boss and go on holiday, while a writer can never leave the hectoring of his Muse.

Re: Confederacy of Dunces, I just don't see the controversy. It's farce. Ignatius Reilly is a broad comedic character right out of Aristophanes or Pynchon Calling him a "loser" presupposes a level of Realism that the novel doesn't have. Granted, he is an overweight hyperarticulate eccentric who can't hold down a job to save his life. Is this no different than Benny Profane in V? It's not like Toole is having us laugh at homeless people or victims of domestic abuse -- "losers" on a totally different level. If anything, Ignatius Reilly has been reincarnated in modern pop culture as Comic Book Guy in the Simpsons, since that character is a complete social outcast with a PhD in Folklore. Plus he's overweight and arrogant and out of touch.

But I do see people's resentment at Toole's posthumous achievement, since it did seem like the publishing world did him a favor, thanks to his mother berating them following his suicide. I have more issues with Toole than with Reilly.

"Jesus, man! It's the publishing world. Deal with rejection. If you can't handle that, get into another line of work." The reality is, whether it's dating, the job search, or friendships, one has to deal with lots and lots of rejection. Simply to survive and maintain some semblance of sanity, one to develop a thick skin. That doesn't mean being a callous git, but at least not acting like a hypersensitive Young Werther wearing your emotions of your sleeve.

I've finished Noah Barleywater Runs Away, which was one of the best kid's books I've read in a long time, and I'm starting The Sojourn by Andrew Krivak, an Early Reviewers book.

It's true re: writers and vacations--I can't recall the last time I took a holiday from my work. No matter what I do, the Author lurks and skulks in the background. A pen and pad always within reach, no matter what I'm doing. Constantly examining every scene playing out in front of me with an eye for staging and dialogue. It seems ridiculous, even as I type the words...

Completed a THE DAYS OF DYLAN THOMAS, a "pictorial biography"--frankly, I think all biographies should have a strong, photographic content, providing contexts for some of the scenes and encounters crucial to your subject. Especially when the person in question has a strong attachment with a certain locale (as Thomas did).

Now I'm reading Walter Kirn's first short story collection, MY HARD BARGAIN; quite promising thus far.

Shepard's You Think That's Bad is getting better. The first four stories are, in my opinion, the weakest in the collection. The four after that, much better.

I picked up Sophie's World again, in an effort to control my TBR pile (I have another 10 books coming in the mail). I like the easy approach to an introduction to the history of philosophy (it reads very much like being in the classroom, though perhaps that's not surprising!) and the elements of mystery in the story, though the dialogue between the philosophy teacher and Sophie feels a little stilted and contrived.

A few paragraphs away from finishing the first part of The Savage Detectives

Inside Gilligan's Island by Sherwood Schwartz is turning out to be a fun read, especially when Schwartz chronicles everything it takes to launch a TV show in the early 60s. A lot different from the niche channels and fragmentation of the post-cable, post-Youtube, post-Netflix, Hulu, DVR, etc. era we live in now where programming is nearly made to order.

Reading The Various Haunts of Men by Susan Hill, and enjoying myself immensely. This is my favourite sort of crime novel, with many threads and very human police at the centre of it all. Regretting time spent away from it.

I've started Strange Cults and Utopias of Nineteenth Century America by the founder of the Oneida community, John Noyes, but I'm not sure if I'll be able to finish it or not - it's a huge book and I don't read much nonfiction anyway.

20 pages into Teju Cole's Open City--loving it so far. Texture reminds me of The Rings of Saturn.

Reread The Female Man after Russ's recent death. Just started Blood Meridian.

Read Unless by Carol Shields, which was pretty much self-indulgent poo. I'm now reading Cynthia Ozick's Foreign Bodies.

About to finish DH Lawrence's Women in Love, which was definitely my first and probably my last DH Lawrence book. Loins and flanks, flanks and loins. I guess this was written when people were still rediscovering that they had genitals, so I should give it some credit, but the sex scenes are hilariously written.

On the other hand, Portrait of a Lady is delightful. I love it.

And, having finished Best Served Cold, I've started The Heroes. I'm on a bit of a fantasy kick these days... always nice to have something fun and not-too-challenging to read when you're trying to make your way through DH Lawrence and Henry James.

100: I read Women in Love and Lady Chatterly's Lover One such criticism I heard about DH Lawrence was that, despite the bodice-ripping subject matter, he remained a strident puritan, even though he was a puritan about sex. His pro-nature tirades also come across as a bit on the preachy side. Then again, Lawrence did the culture and the language a service by lifting the rock off of the repressed Victorian-Edwardian culture.

The descriptive prose, especially of nature, in Lady Chatterley's Lover is lovely, though.

102: I agree with that. That was another reason I found Atlas Shrugged so distateful. Rand's rhapsodic descriptions of factories and metallurgy reminded me of Tolkien's descriptions of Mordor.

The Savage Detectives keeps on keepin' on. The second part is fascinating, especially how Bolano keeps up the narrative momentum but still preserves the individual voice of all the "interviewees." There was also mention of a French writer named Archimboldi. That got my 2666 antennae up. One of unique aspects of Bolano's writings is the deft balance between its autobiographical nature and the kabbalistic interconnectedness of the different novels. Not an easy feat.

103: "Rand's rhapsodic descriptions of factories and metallurgy reminded me of Tolkien's descriptions of Mordor." I really need to make sure not to take sips of coffee as I read your posts. Thankfully the keyboard still works.

I've just finished The Tiger's Wife and Cliff, I agree with Sherron. It's a nice read and the story is well developed, but particularly early on, the prose is trying too hard to be literary. It's almost like someone gave Obreht those blurbers that are splashed all over the cover (which seem to be able to be summarised as: "It's literary and so it's great") and then asked her to write a novel to fit those descriptions. I actually cringed in a couple of places where the descriptions of things reminded me of something I'd seen in a Dan Brown novel: using completely mismatched adverbs and adjectives to describe scenary and actions* - which I have seen some 'literary' writers do to great effect at times, but these ones (and Brown's) just left me scratching my head. Thankfully it only happened twice.

On a final note, if you're paying attention, the ending is visible fairly early on; this didn't diminish the book for me though.

*(I wish I could find one of the quotes, but I can't; my made up attempt to do the same would be something like 'she scratched her arm poetically'.)

**ETA: I've read one Dan Brown novel. Perhaps I should have my snob card revoked.

Whoah. Great books. 'And I'm reading fluff. I'm currently continuing an escapism binge and am reading Seven Years in Tibet. Who knew members of the Waffen SS could write travelogues?

Bolano is "cued" up, though.

I'm coming down with the 'flu (only out of bed now to get a fresh cup of tea*, where have all my servants gone, I ask you), so am about to start the 7th Amelia Peabody mystery, The Snake, the Crocodile and the Dog.

* And hop online to check I was reading the books in order, ever since Miss Boo "helped" me dust and reorganise the upstairs bookshelves I've got no idea what order this series is in.

Finished and gave 3.5 stars to Shepard's You Think That's Bad.

Bought Proust yesterday. . . .

I have just begun to study the ways in which "divide and conquer" works in our society. We are divided, all foreign policy protects big business, we minions are left with misunderstanding and anger and hate. Somebody said that politics is the organization of hatred..they organize very cleverly.

It is very interesting to find out how organizing our feelings has served the exceedingly rich so well, for quite a few generations.

Probably more interesting study than reading Das Kapital.

108: Are you reading a book about this subject, or are you just studying material from the media, or...? It sounds really intriguing.

106: That's one of my favorites from the Amelia Peabody series.

Finished Women in Love last night; there were definite sections of great prose that stood out, and I did like the ending (because I hated a certain character) but I can't say I'd recommend the book to anyone.

Picked up Francine Prose's How to Read like a Writer thanks to the "lesser known authors" thread. However, the touchstone is giving me two options, both of them "SPAM", so oh welll.

Francine Prose is lesser known?

Given the way American critics promote the work of her male contemporaries while largely ignoring her and other female writers, you could fairly say Prose is lesser known.

Finished The Savage Detectives yesterday. It took me awhile to get into it (about half the book in fact), but it's a truly wonderful book.

Now I can make room in my handbag for the next big work: the Lonely Planet guide to Scotland. Hey, the touchstone works! Except that I have the French version. :-p

113: Remember to visit the kilt-shop of one Angus Podgorny:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UMCNltgrs1U

Finished The Snake, the Crocodile and the Dog, and yes, it was an excellent Amelia Peabody adventure. I am quite impressed that she's managed to keep up the quality for so long, usually by book 7 of an series it's all fallen into a heap. (Usually I've stoppped reading by about book 3, too.)

And now I'm back to meatier fare, with Martin Booth's A Very Private Gentleman. I heard about this book from the Literary Snobs, and thanks to whoever recommended it, I'm quite engrossed.

Finished slogging through Cave of the Jagua. Will be starting Arthur & George next since a friend loaned it to me about two years ago. Time to get it back, yes?

Return to YA for me - I finished The Fool's Girl by Celia Rees yesterday and I'm almost done with Blood Red Road (touchstone aren't even close for this one) by Moira Young.

I finished the printed bound media artifact Super Sad True Love Story by Gary Shteyngart. I don't like that future but I liked the novel. Now onto his previous novels.

Finished Teju Cole's Open City, probably the best book I've read in a year or two.

Made the brave (or foolhardy?) jump into Remembrance of Things Past yesterday.

WAY behind my reading this month. On the other hand, editing on the new project goes well...

119: I read all the volumes of In Search of Lost Time You're in for a treat. Also, it took me 2 years to read straight through them. But it's gossipy fun in Napoleon III's Second Empire

Inside Gilligan's Island is fun. Not sure why anyone would want to work in network TV? The constant headaches, the daft ideas from TV execes. Sherwood Schwartz reinforces every stereotype associated with TV execs. I'm 1/3 through the book and Gilligan hasn't even debuted on CBS yet.

Digging Deeper is fascinating. All the negotiations and compromises of "growing up" and/or giving up one's ideals. Interesting reading this at the same time as Years of Renewal by Kissinger, another tale of compromises and negotiations set in the 1970s.

Finished Sea of Poppies by Amitav Ghosh. It wasn't anything spectacular...but good enough for me to read the next book that comes out later this year.

I'm rolling through The Loser by Thomas Bernhard and am enjoying his style. Is that a bad sign?

>119 GeoffWyss:: that's good enough for me. Open City **added to wishlist**

Almost done with Portrait of a Lady, which is superb. After that, Shirley Jackson's We Have Always Lived in the Castle.

I had read, battled through The Ambassadors. I'll have to try Portarit of a Lady.

I'm currenty reading The Reluctant Mr. Darwin. Quamman provides a a very unique point of view. I thought I was pretty well-versed on the man and the topic, but this is bio is refreshing.

I dunno, James is a mixed bag for me. He's great at getting to the heart of his characters, but his prose is a little too... prolix? Still, the characters were what really made me love Portrait.

Finished A Very Private Gentleman, and thank you to whichever Snob first mentioned it, it was a fascinating and great read.

And am now moving on to Homer and Langley.

Just finished a very readable Latham translation of On the Nature of the Universe.

Reading Wilfred Thesiger's ARABIAN SANDS. Thesiger was one of the first westerners to traverse the Empty Quarter. Like T.E. Lawrence, he was a great adventurer AND a fine writer. I'm loving this book...

I'm reading (when I can find the time) Boccacio's Decameron, and enjoying it quite a bit. I'm tempted, when I finish it, to hunt out Marguerite de Navarre's Heptameron, to see if it's similar and as enjoyable.

Cliff, I've been in the Empty Quarter, you know.

Reading The American Heiress by Daisy Goodwin, which isn't that great, and Island, which is making me wish I had more books by Aldous Huxley.

#131: That explains SOOOOO much.

#133. You're just jealous.

I have to admit, there's something special about the desert...and the people who live there.

So, yeah, I'm jealous.

I only spent a weekend camping on the edge of the Empty Quarter, but it was a pretty amazing place. I'm also fascinated by the history of the Arabian peninsula, although I suppose in my case it's understandable.

Finished We Have Always Lived in the Castle... pretty creepy stuff, I liked it.

Starting I, Claudius and should be reading Dr. Zhivago once June starts. May was definitely a good month, with Rushdie and Henry James for my snobby books, and Joe Abercrombie for the fun not-so-snobby reads.

I'm just starting The Meagre Tarmac by Clark Blaise, a short story collection, while I continue with Barry Hannah's Geronimo Rex.

The last read was the utterly execrable The Best Laid Plans by Terry Fallis, which is an abomination and quite possibly the worst novel ever published in Canada.

Read Fight Club finally. Giving it 2.5 stars, not because I felt lukewarm about the overall experience, but because there were some things I liked a lot and others I hated.

Next is How I Became a Nun by Cesar Aira.

Just saw the trade paperback of BEST LAID PLANS at my local WalMart. You know you've made it when your book makes it to an insignificant WalMart in the far off reaches of Saskatchewan.

Jeez, A.J., it was THAT bad? A "Canada Reads" winner?

131: Ian, the US has its own Empty Quarter. We call them "the Red States":

http://www.getreligion.org/wp-content/photos/map_jesusland_liberty.gif

Well, maybe more like Empty 3/4, depending on how afraid of gays and non-Christians we are at the time of an election. Still, I'll cease from belaboring this joke.

About 1/3 through Digging Deeper by Peter Weissman And about the same way through Inside Gilligan's Island by Sherwood Schwartz.

Mythologies by Barthes continues its awesomeness. The way he deconstructs the commodities and trends of everyday life (circa 1950s France) is marvelous. Intellectual and witty at the same time. Can't accuse Barthes of being a boring pedant on this one. (Although one can make that accusation about the lengthy essay at the end of the book. There he gets more technical about the field of semiotics.) It is fascinating how much Barthes mirrors Karl Marx. Marx dissected the commodity (use value + exchange value + surplus value) in the same manner that Barthes dissects pop culture (denotation + connotation = sign). Both shine a light on things we usually don't think twice about.

Alas, Kissinger and Das Kapital, Volume 2: Electric Boogaloo, are on temporary hiatus.

Not much on the TV last night, other than "Jersey Shore". So naturally, I chose instead to read Medea

140: It's friggin' awful, Cliff. It really is.

There is a reason that book was self-published. If I were an editor and it had crossed my desk in its current, finished form, I would have rejected it based on the first page. And the really sad thing is that this book, which is inept, has become the poster child for self-publishing, the little engine that could of frustrated Canadian writers. There are good writers out there trying to take that route, and Terry Fallis is a lousy ambassador for them.

I hear ya, A.J. Good points.

144: Sounds no different in terms of literary quality to the likes of Dan Brown and/ or The James Patterson Perpetual Outline Machine. It's not like the undiscerning public who know the difference. Is it any different than a Michael Bay flick becoming a blockbuster or a Jennifer Love Hewitt album hitting the charts?

People usually care about what's popular, not about such elitist concepts like "taste" and "quality." Pop literature, like democracy, is rooted in the populist philistinism of mob rule. Luckily this group exists to stem the tide of the lemming idiot and the awfulness that follows them like the plague.