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1TheTortoise
The Tortoise is back!
I am currently reading The Passionate Friends by H.G. Wells. I have a collection of his books still unread, so he is on my list of 60 authors I am planning to read this year.
Alan
I am currently reading The Passionate Friends by H.G. Wells. I have a collection of his books still unread, so he is on my list of 60 authors I am planning to read this year.
Alan
2TheTortoise
Happy New Year to anyone I may have missed on your individual thread.
Alan
Alan
3Carmenere
Let me be the first to wish you a Happy New Year, Alan! Wishing you all the best in 2012!
4alcottacre
Happy New Year, Alan!
I have not read that particular H.G. Wells book, so I will be interested in seeing what you think of it when you are done.
I have not read that particular H.G. Wells book, so I will be interested in seeing what you think of it when you are done.
5cameling
Happy New Year, Alan!
Who are the 60 authors you're planning to read this year? *curious minds want to know*
Who are the 60 authors you're planning to read this year? *curious minds want to know*
8ChelleBearss
Starred :) Happy 2012!
9TheTortoise
3) Thanks Lynda.
4) Stasia, I am enjoying The Passionate Friends and Wells has surprised me by his frequent mentions of God, as I thought he was an athiest or a humanist. I will give you a review when I have finished it. Where is your thread? Have you started your studies yet?
5) Just for you Caroline, here are the first 10 of my 60, actually 62 authors:
1 Ali Monica
2 Austen Jane
3 Bates H.E.
4 Benson A.C.
5 Blish James
6 Booker Christopher
7 Boswell James
8 Bronte Anne
9 Bronte Charlotte
10 Bronte Emily
I will post 10 at a time for easier assimilation!
6) Thanks Jim.
7) Thanks Rachel
8) Thanks Chelle
I have you all starred except you, Chelle. I haven't found you yet!
Alan
4) Stasia, I am enjoying The Passionate Friends and Wells has surprised me by his frequent mentions of God, as I thought he was an athiest or a humanist. I will give you a review when I have finished it. Where is your thread? Have you started your studies yet?
5) Just for you Caroline, here are the first 10 of my 60, actually 62 authors:
1 Ali Monica
2 Austen Jane
3 Bates H.E.
4 Benson A.C.
5 Blish James
6 Booker Christopher
7 Boswell James
8 Bronte Anne
9 Bronte Charlotte
10 Bronte Emily
I will post 10 at a time for easier assimilation!
6) Thanks Jim.
7) Thanks Rachel
8) Thanks Chelle
I have you all starred except you, Chelle. I haven't found you yet!
Alan
10alcottacre
#9: I start school January 11th, Alan. As far as my thread goes, I do not anticipate starting one until next Sunday. You know, when I actually have something to talk about!
12TheTortoise
10> Stasia, are you saying that all you have seen so far is waffle! :)
OK, how about this: Last night Mrs. Tortoise and I watched A Tale of Two Cities with the incomparable Dirk Bogarde as Sydney Carton:
"It is a far, far better thing I do, than I have ever done, it is a far, far better rest I go to than I have ever known."
This film is still available at www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer until Friday 06 January. I know Richard hates Dickens but I am sure he likes old Quirk!
Incidentally, I listened to Dirk reading his book A Particular Friendship last year and it is excellent.
For anyone who owns a Kindle, The Book Traveller is free to download on Friday 6th and Saturday 7th January.
Alan
OK, how about this: Last night Mrs. Tortoise and I watched A Tale of Two Cities with the incomparable Dirk Bogarde as Sydney Carton:
"It is a far, far better thing I do, than I have ever done, it is a far, far better rest I go to than I have ever known."
This film is still available at www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer until Friday 06 January. I know Richard hates Dickens but I am sure he likes old Quirk!
Incidentally, I listened to Dirk reading his book A Particular Friendship last year and it is excellent.
For anyone who owns a Kindle, The Book Traveller is free to download on Friday 6th and Saturday 7th January.
Alan
13TheTortoise
5> Caroline, Here is the next ten:
11 Bunyan John
12 Butler Samuel
13 Carroll Lewis
14 Chaucer Geoffrey
15 Clarke Susanna
16 Collins Wilkie
17 Cornwell Bernard
18 Coward Noel
19 DeFoe Daniel
20 Delderfield R.F.
Alan
11 Bunyan John
12 Butler Samuel
13 Carroll Lewis
14 Chaucer Geoffrey
15 Clarke Susanna
16 Collins Wilkie
17 Cornwell Bernard
18 Coward Noel
19 DeFoe Daniel
20 Delderfield R.F.
Alan
14FAMeulstee
hi Alan, found and starred :-)
15alcottacre
#12: Too bad I have a Nook.
16TheTortoise
15> Thanks Anita, good to hear from you.
16> Stasia and anyone else, you can download an app from Amazon. I can read Kindle books on my laptop using the app.
Currently reading The End of the World by Andrew Biss. A great and original book.
And now the next ten:
21 Dickens Charles
22 Doyle Sir Arthur Conan
23 Eliot George
24 Fleming Ian
25 Forster E.M.
26 Gaskell Elizabeth
27 Gibbon Edward
28 Graham Winston
29 Hardy Thomas
30 Herriot James
Alan
16> Stasia and anyone else, you can download an app from Amazon. I can read Kindle books on my laptop using the app.
Currently reading The End of the World by Andrew Biss. A great and original book.
And now the next ten:
21 Dickens Charles
22 Doyle Sir Arthur Conan
23 Eliot George
24 Fleming Ian
25 Forster E.M.
26 Gaskell Elizabeth
27 Gibbon Edward
28 Graham Winston
29 Hardy Thomas
30 Herriot James
Alan
17alcottacre
#16: At one time I did have the Kindle app on there my computer, but that did not work out to well for me.
18TheTortoise
This is my first completed book in 2012.
1. The End of the World by Andrew Biss
Get ready for a zany roller-coaster ride that becomes more bizarre the further you get into this surreal story. Told with great verve and spiced through with wit, this hugely entertaining story will grab you, hold you and won’t leave you until the ride is over. Even then, the story will stick in the memory.
Andrew Biss says of one of his characters: “Hank, it appeared was either a brilliant, wildly imaginative entrepreneurial dynamo, or just stark raving mad.” This could, with equal justice be said of the author and after reading The End of the World I can but conclude that Andrew Biss is brilliant rather than mad.
He continues: “This concept of his, though certainly outlandish and bizarre-sounding on first hearing, still seemed to possess its own peculiar logic.” And so does The End of the World. This book can truly be described as novel which means new, strange, unusual, different, fresh, innovative, original, rare, singular, uncommon, unfamiliar, surprising and unique.
If you haven’t yet discovered the wit and wonder of this international playwright and author then prepare yourself for a rare treat.
And if you don’t find this unusual and imaginative writer exhilarating then you must be dead from the neck up!
5 Shells!
Alan
1. The End of the World by Andrew Biss
Get ready for a zany roller-coaster ride that becomes more bizarre the further you get into this surreal story. Told with great verve and spiced through with wit, this hugely entertaining story will grab you, hold you and won’t leave you until the ride is over. Even then, the story will stick in the memory.
Andrew Biss says of one of his characters: “Hank, it appeared was either a brilliant, wildly imaginative entrepreneurial dynamo, or just stark raving mad.” This could, with equal justice be said of the author and after reading The End of the World I can but conclude that Andrew Biss is brilliant rather than mad.
He continues: “This concept of his, though certainly outlandish and bizarre-sounding on first hearing, still seemed to possess its own peculiar logic.” And so does The End of the World. This book can truly be described as novel which means new, strange, unusual, different, fresh, innovative, original, rare, singular, uncommon, unfamiliar, surprising and unique.
If you haven’t yet discovered the wit and wonder of this international playwright and author then prepare yourself for a rare treat.
And if you don’t find this unusual and imaginative writer exhilarating then you must be dead from the neck up!
5 Shells!
Alan
19boekenwijs
Glad to see you here again. Got you starred!
20dk_phoenix
>18 TheTortoise:: Well, if that isn't a glowing review, I don't know what it!
21alcottacre
#18: Congrats on getting book #1 out of the way, Alan. I will see if my local library has a copy of that one. Thanks for the review and recommendation!
22TheTortoise
>20 dk_phoenix: Faith, I have to admit it is not a balanced review. I would normally provide pros and cons but I just wanted to extol the virtues of this remarkable book. There are others who hated it who have already provided the cons!
21> Stasia, I am still reading The Passionate Friends on the last 80 pages, but The End of the World is a short novella, which was easy to read.
And the next ten:
31 Hollinghurst Alan
32 Hughes Thomas
33 Ishiguro Kazuo
34 Lawrence D.H.
35 Lodge David
36 Lynn & Jay,Jonathon & Anthony
37 Maugham W. Somerset
38 Milton John
39 Moore George
40 Mortimer John
Alan
21> Stasia, I am still reading The Passionate Friends on the last 80 pages, but The End of the World is a short novella, which was easy to read.
And the next ten:
31 Hollinghurst Alan
32 Hughes Thomas
33 Ishiguro Kazuo
34 Lawrence D.H.
35 Lodge David
36 Lynn & Jay,Jonathon & Anthony
37 Maugham W. Somerset
38 Milton John
39 Moore George
40 Mortimer John
Alan
23alcottacre
I often switch between large and small books, so I know how that goes. Good luck with finishing The Passionate Friends.
24ChelleBearss
great review 
25jdthloue
Hello, Alan
i have The Book Traveller on my Kindle queue....
I love how organized you are, regarding this year's Reading....and, vis a vis Monica Ali....i'd start with Brick Lane....which is where i started, and I still like the darned thing.....
;-}
i have The Book Traveller on my Kindle queue....
I love how organized you are, regarding this year's Reading....and, vis a vis Monica Ali....i'd start with Brick Lane....which is where i started, and I still like the darned thing.....
;-}
26TheTortoise
24> Thanks Chelle. Andrew Biss was really pleased with my review.
25> Jude, thank you for downloading The Book Traveller I look forward to reading your review of it.
I only have the appearance of being organised. I always deviate from any list I make. My first book of the year is a good example and I have three other books recommended here that are not on my list! I will probably alternate between my list and others.
So here are the next ten:
41 Nobbs David
42 Orczy Baroness
43 Peake Mervyn
44 Pepys Samuel
45 Plaidy Jean
46 Sansom C. J.
47 Scott Paul
48 Service Robert
49 Shakespeare William
50 Shaw George Bernard
25> Jude, thank you for downloading The Book Traveller I look forward to reading your review of it.
I only have the appearance of being organised. I always deviate from any list I make. My first book of the year is a good example and I have three other books recommended here that are not on my list! I will probably alternate between my list and others.
So here are the next ten:
41 Nobbs David
42 Orczy Baroness
43 Peake Mervyn
44 Pepys Samuel
45 Plaidy Jean
46 Sansom C. J.
47 Scott Paul
48 Service Robert
49 Shakespeare William
50 Shaw George Bernard
27TheTortoise
I have finally got my third novel, At The World's End, ready for publication and it will be available on Amazon.com in February. The cover is on my profile page.
It is an historical novel about the Boer War.
Here is my final 12 authors:
51 Shelley Mary
52 Smith Alexander McCall
53 Smith Zadie
54 Stevenson Robert Louis
55 Thompson Flora
56 Tolkien J.R.R.
57 Trollope Anthony
58 Tudor Period: Various authors
59 Walpole Hugh
60 Waugh Evelyn
61 Wells H.G.
62 Wodehouse P.G.
Can anyone spot the connecting link between all 62 authors, except one? And which is the odd one out? It's not the Tudors!
Alan
It is an historical novel about the Boer War.
Here is my final 12 authors:
51 Shelley Mary
52 Smith Alexander McCall
53 Smith Zadie
54 Stevenson Robert Louis
55 Thompson Flora
56 Tolkien J.R.R.
57 Trollope Anthony
58 Tudor Period: Various authors
59 Walpole Hugh
60 Waugh Evelyn
61 Wells H.G.
62 Wodehouse P.G.
Can anyone spot the connecting link between all 62 authors, except one? And which is the odd one out? It's not the Tudors!
Alan
28Trifolia
Can anyone spot the connecting link between all 62 authors, except one?
All British except for one? But which one. All the ones I know are British, so it must be one of the others.
All British except for one? But which one. All the ones I know are British, so it must be one of the others.
29TheTortoise
Well spotted Joey. I decided to have a completely British year this year. But there was one author whose work I wanted to read and he is an American, but which one?
2.The Passionate Friends by H.G.Wells
The Passionate Friends by H.G. Wells is told in the first person in the form of an autobiography of a middle-aged man to his son. That a man would write to his son about a passionate involvement with a woman that was not his mother is a strange construct, I thought.
The woman in question, Lady Mary Christian, comes from an aristocratic family. Stephen Stratton is a lifelong family friend. They become lovers but Lady Mary decides to marry a Lord for the social position and wealth it brings with it.
The story is interesting while the two are involved with each other.
Stephen goes away to South Africa for five years and Wells writes a boring chapter about social conditions there. When he returns the lovers take up where they left off, and the story becomes interesting again.
When it is discovered that Mary and Stephen are lovers, as part of the agreement between the parties he must go abroad again for three years. More boring chapters ensue while Wells writes a socialist essay, which has absolutely nothing to do with the story.
Several years go by and after Stephen returns to England he marries. Three years later he receives a letter from Lady Mary, which is absolutely preposterous in its content in that it is the voice of Wells expounding his views on the role of women in society, which is another boring chapter.
Finally, they meet in Switzerland by accident. The old passion is there but they only chat. The husband finds out and begins divorce proceedings. To save him from all the pain and anguish of a divorce case Lady Mary commits suicide.
Wells wraps up with another boring final chapter which kind of fizzles out.
This book was a love story and with socialist essays intertwined. I enjoyed the story but was infinitely bored by the essays.
Three Shells
Alan
2.The Passionate Friends by H.G.Wells
The Passionate Friends by H.G. Wells is told in the first person in the form of an autobiography of a middle-aged man to his son. That a man would write to his son about a passionate involvement with a woman that was not his mother is a strange construct, I thought.
The woman in question, Lady Mary Christian, comes from an aristocratic family. Stephen Stratton is a lifelong family friend. They become lovers but Lady Mary decides to marry a Lord for the social position and wealth it brings with it.
The story is interesting while the two are involved with each other.
Stephen goes away to South Africa for five years and Wells writes a boring chapter about social conditions there. When he returns the lovers take up where they left off, and the story becomes interesting again.
When it is discovered that Mary and Stephen are lovers, as part of the agreement between the parties he must go abroad again for three years. More boring chapters ensue while Wells writes a socialist essay, which has absolutely nothing to do with the story.
Several years go by and after Stephen returns to England he marries. Three years later he receives a letter from Lady Mary, which is absolutely preposterous in its content in that it is the voice of Wells expounding his views on the role of women in society, which is another boring chapter.
Finally, they meet in Switzerland by accident. The old passion is there but they only chat. The husband finds out and begins divorce proceedings. To save him from all the pain and anguish of a divorce case Lady Mary commits suicide.
Wells wraps up with another boring final chapter which kind of fizzles out.
This book was a love story and with socialist essays intertwined. I enjoyed the story but was infinitely bored by the essays.
Three Shells
Alan
30Trifolia
But there was one author whose work I wanted to read and he is an American, but which one?
That would be Thomas Hughes?
Interesting list, btw.
That would be Thomas Hughes?
Interesting list, btw.
31jdthloue
Well, you both beat me...I was too busy checking out the Authors i'd never heard of!
Good job, your Tortoiseness!
Good job, your Tortoiseness!
32TheTortoise
30> Joey, try again!
Thomas Hughes (20 October 1822 – 22 March 1896) was an English lawyer and author. He is most famous for his novel Tom Brown's Schooldays (1857), ...
Alan
Thomas Hughes (20 October 1822 – 22 March 1896) was an English lawyer and author. He is most famous for his novel Tom Brown's Schooldays (1857), ...
Alan
33Carmenere
Alan, The End of the World looks like a very intrigueing read, so I must wishlist it.
I give on which author is American. For every guess I made wikipedia told me they were British. I'll wait patiently for be big reveal.
With so many wonderful authors you have quite a reading year in store . Great idea!
I give on which author is American. For every guess I made wikipedia told me they were British. I'll wait patiently for be big reveal.
With so many wonderful authors you have quite a reading year in store . Great idea!
35TheTortoise
And the prize goes to.......
>34 calm: Calm.
James Blish is the author of The Star Trek short stories volumes 1 to 3. So far, I have read Volume 1.
I had such happy memories of the original T.V. series with Jim, Bones, Spock and Scottie, so when I saw these three volumes I couldn't resist them.
Could you?
Alan
>34 calm: Calm.
James Blish is the author of The Star Trek short stories volumes 1 to 3. So far, I have read Volume 1.
I had such happy memories of the original T.V. series with Jim, Bones, Spock and Scottie, so when I saw these three volumes I couldn't resist them.
Could you?
Alan
36blackdogbooks
I have old, old paperback versions of those! I should've paid closer attention to your lists, but I just scan for reviews mostly on the threads. Did yous see the new movie version of the series? I am a huge fan and thought they did a great job refreshing the stories and characters without losing the original flavor of the TV version.
37TheTortoise
>36 blackdogbooks: Mac, I must have missed the new movie. I must admit, that I used to love going to the movies when I was younger but since they began to produce so much cr**, I lost interest. Now I watch all the recycled movies on BBC i-player! :)
The first couple of week I could hardly find any reviews there was so much idle chatter going on in the threads. I do the same as you and scan for reviews. There is only so much I can stand about cats or vegetables! :)
Alan
The first couple of week I could hardly find any reviews there was so much idle chatter going on in the threads. I do the same as you and scan for reviews. There is only so much I can stand about cats or vegetables! :)
Alan
38jdthloue
Ooops, then you best stay away from my thread, because we talk about food and pets...and things get a bit naughty, as well...
Speaking of STAR TREK...i just started my own Marathon (through my ROKU...and Netflix)...beginning with the 1960s version...and I will continue 'til I drop
Best wishes to you and Mrs Tortoise
J
Speaking of STAR TREK...i just started my own Marathon (through my ROKU...and Netflix)...beginning with the 1960s version...and I will continue 'til I drop
Best wishes to you and Mrs Tortoise
J
39blackdogbooks
You gotta see the new movie....I can get it on Netflix, so there must be some version for you to get your hands on. Great fun. Enough of the old and lots of fresh stuff. A ton of fun and I am a true Trekkie with a love of the original, though I like them all.
40jdthloue
Oh, Mac...i didn't know from New Movie...i'm indulging in Reminiscence...with the original series.....give me a while, okay?
A Trekkie? Me? Not really..ever. I just enjoy seeing them again
I only obsessed about DR WHO.....and then, because i thought Tom Baker was Hot!
;-}
A Trekkie? Me? Not really..ever. I just enjoy seeing them again
I only obsessed about DR WHO.....and then, because i thought Tom Baker was Hot!
;-}
41TheTortoise
These are the next seven books I plan to read from my list of 62 authors:
Bates, H.E. The Darling Buds of May. This is the first book in the Pop Larkin Chronicles. This will be a re-read of this excellent book and I recommend buying the Chronicles, which includes all five books in one paperback. They are all short and form a series. My Penguin paperback is only 582 pages long. I last read The Darling Buds of May in Aug 2001.
Dickens, Charles The Mystery of Edwin Drood. I haven’t read this before and as I am watching the T.V. series on the BBC i-player I thought I would read it. I had planned to read another Dickens novel, which I haven’t yet read: Little Dorrit but I will save that for another time.
Hollinghurst, Alan The Line of Beauty. I watched a T.V. programme in which this was featured and although I am a bit dubious about the subject matter I thought I would read it as it had rave reviews.
Nobbs, David A Bit of a Do. This is a story in six place settings. I have already read the first one and have begun the second and it is excellent. I have read Going Gently by this author, which is a five star read, and The Fall and Rise of Reginald Perrin which is also excellent.
Pepys, Samuel. Diary of Samuel Pepys Vol 1. I got the complete Diary in 10 volumes as a birthday present recently. I have read an abridged version but I wanted to read the whole Diary, so requested all 10 volumes for my 65th birthday. My two lovely daughters bought it for me.
Stevenson. Robert Louis. The Master of Ballantrae Who could ever forget Treaure Island which I loved, (and is crying out to be reread), or Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde which I didn’t like so much, but which is nevertheless iconic. I have had this book on my reading list together with Kidnapped for years. Now it is time to read it.
Waugh, Evelyn. The Sword of Honour Trilogy. My colleagues gave me an Amazon voucher when I retired and this was one of the books I bought. Mine is the Penguin edition, which Waugh has edited into a continuous narrative to make one book. I am looking forward to reading this.
Alan
Bates, H.E. The Darling Buds of May. This is the first book in the Pop Larkin Chronicles. This will be a re-read of this excellent book and I recommend buying the Chronicles, which includes all five books in one paperback. They are all short and form a series. My Penguin paperback is only 582 pages long. I last read The Darling Buds of May in Aug 2001.
Dickens, Charles The Mystery of Edwin Drood. I haven’t read this before and as I am watching the T.V. series on the BBC i-player I thought I would read it. I had planned to read another Dickens novel, which I haven’t yet read: Little Dorrit but I will save that for another time.
Hollinghurst, Alan The Line of Beauty. I watched a T.V. programme in which this was featured and although I am a bit dubious about the subject matter I thought I would read it as it had rave reviews.
Nobbs, David A Bit of a Do. This is a story in six place settings. I have already read the first one and have begun the second and it is excellent. I have read Going Gently by this author, which is a five star read, and The Fall and Rise of Reginald Perrin which is also excellent.
Pepys, Samuel. Diary of Samuel Pepys Vol 1. I got the complete Diary in 10 volumes as a birthday present recently. I have read an abridged version but I wanted to read the whole Diary, so requested all 10 volumes for my 65th birthday. My two lovely daughters bought it for me.
Stevenson. Robert Louis. The Master of Ballantrae Who could ever forget Treaure Island which I loved, (and is crying out to be reread), or Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde which I didn’t like so much, but which is nevertheless iconic. I have had this book on my reading list together with Kidnapped for years. Now it is time to read it.
Waugh, Evelyn. The Sword of Honour Trilogy. My colleagues gave me an Amazon voucher when I retired and this was one of the books I bought. Mine is the Penguin edition, which Waugh has edited into a continuous narrative to make one book. I am looking forward to reading this.
Alan
42TheTortoise
3. The Impressionists by Andrew Biss.
In Andrew Biss’s superb collection of short stories The Impressionists there are six stories.
The first one is called Big Girl and is about Peggy who weighs in at a colossal 276 pounds. It is uncanny the way Andrew Biss has got so completely into the mind of an overweight woman and so accurately conveys her angst. At the end of the story I felt a sincere empathy with her and her plight, so brilliantly does Andrew Biss portray her. That he can convey such angst both with wit and empathy is remarkable. That she quotes from Nietzsche, Henry David Thoreau, Confucius, William Shakespeare, Andre Gide and Quentin crisp is a reflection of the erudition of the author, I think. Yet these quotations are woven so seamlessly into the story that they do not seem out of place.
The story contains some swear words, which I wouldn’t normally like, but in this story Peggy is justified in expressing her feelings in this way and if you read this brilliant story and you definitely should, then you will see that they are perfectly justified within the context of the story.
This lead story reminds me of A Ball of Fat by Guy de Maupassant and like that story it is worth the price of the book, a meagre couple of pounds or dollars, all by itself. The other five stories in the collection are a bonus and what a bonus they are.
The second story is called The Replica. It starts off in the first person by speaking about the replica in the mirror. Then she begins describing her husband. Then it describes her life as a writer in the third person. I didn’t like the constant shift between first and third person and ultimately I found this a depressing and dispiriting story. It is a story lacking Andrew’s characteristic wit and charm. He is strongest when writing in the first person.
With the third story A Small Act of Vandalism the wit reasserts itself. Malcolm has his mother’s ashes in a little porcelain box and he describes them as” a bit like instant coffee, you might say, only without the flavour.” This is another story skilfully told in the author’s authentic voice. He makes you really care and empathise with Malcolm and the dilemma in which he was placed. A really lovely story, lovingly told.
The fourth story, One Night Only is about a serial killer interviewing himself prior to his execution. It is funny in a gruesome way. Again the authentic voice of the author shines through this gritty story.
The fifth story is Organ Failure, which is set in a funeral home. This is a short, dark little story in which it is impossible to empathise with the woman telling the story.
The final story in the collection is WYWH, which is another very accomplished story, very witty and very poignant.
Like all short story collections it is a mixed bag, but a mixed bag ranging all the way from good, through excellent to masterly.
Replica and Organ Failure are good.
A Small Act of Vandalism, One Night Only and WYWH are excellent.
Big Girl is a masterpiece.
I like the way Andrew Biss, writing in the first person is able to express the feelings and emotions of an overweight woman, a young man, a serial killer and a middle-aged woman and to you cause you to empathise with them and to see them as real, individual people. This is a rare talent. I highly recommend this collection.
5 Shells
In Andrew Biss’s superb collection of short stories The Impressionists there are six stories.
The first one is called Big Girl and is about Peggy who weighs in at a colossal 276 pounds. It is uncanny the way Andrew Biss has got so completely into the mind of an overweight woman and so accurately conveys her angst. At the end of the story I felt a sincere empathy with her and her plight, so brilliantly does Andrew Biss portray her. That he can convey such angst both with wit and empathy is remarkable. That she quotes from Nietzsche, Henry David Thoreau, Confucius, William Shakespeare, Andre Gide and Quentin crisp is a reflection of the erudition of the author, I think. Yet these quotations are woven so seamlessly into the story that they do not seem out of place.
The story contains some swear words, which I wouldn’t normally like, but in this story Peggy is justified in expressing her feelings in this way and if you read this brilliant story and you definitely should, then you will see that they are perfectly justified within the context of the story.
This lead story reminds me of A Ball of Fat by Guy de Maupassant and like that story it is worth the price of the book, a meagre couple of pounds or dollars, all by itself. The other five stories in the collection are a bonus and what a bonus they are.
The second story is called The Replica. It starts off in the first person by speaking about the replica in the mirror. Then she begins describing her husband. Then it describes her life as a writer in the third person. I didn’t like the constant shift between first and third person and ultimately I found this a depressing and dispiriting story. It is a story lacking Andrew’s characteristic wit and charm. He is strongest when writing in the first person.
With the third story A Small Act of Vandalism the wit reasserts itself. Malcolm has his mother’s ashes in a little porcelain box and he describes them as” a bit like instant coffee, you might say, only without the flavour.” This is another story skilfully told in the author’s authentic voice. He makes you really care and empathise with Malcolm and the dilemma in which he was placed. A really lovely story, lovingly told.
The fourth story, One Night Only is about a serial killer interviewing himself prior to his execution. It is funny in a gruesome way. Again the authentic voice of the author shines through this gritty story.
The fifth story is Organ Failure, which is set in a funeral home. This is a short, dark little story in which it is impossible to empathise with the woman telling the story.
The final story in the collection is WYWH, which is another very accomplished story, very witty and very poignant.
Like all short story collections it is a mixed bag, but a mixed bag ranging all the way from good, through excellent to masterly.
Replica and Organ Failure are good.
A Small Act of Vandalism, One Night Only and WYWH are excellent.
Big Girl is a masterpiece.
I like the way Andrew Biss, writing in the first person is able to express the feelings and emotions of an overweight woman, a young man, a serial killer and a middle-aged woman and to you cause you to empathise with them and to see them as real, individual people. This is a rare talent. I highly recommend this collection.
5 Shells
43TheTortoise
I have set up a new Group for readers of The Book Traveller, which can be viewed at the following:
http://thebooktraveller.blogspot.com/
Alan
http://thebooktraveller.blogspot.com/
Alan
44TheTortoise
4. A Bit of A Do by David Nobbs is about two middle-aged couples whose long-term marriages break down.
In a series of six hilarious social gatherings they and their relations and friends interact with one another as they try to rebuild their shattered lives.
David Nobbs is a very witty writer and he handles these sensitive and moving issues with assurance.
Although I enjoyed this excellent book, towards the end I found that some of Nobbs’ humorous repetitive devices wore a little thin and thus would not bear rereading. However, it is well worth reading once.
Four and half Shells.
In a series of six hilarious social gatherings they and their relations and friends interact with one another as they try to rebuild their shattered lives.
David Nobbs is a very witty writer and he handles these sensitive and moving issues with assurance.
Although I enjoyed this excellent book, towards the end I found that some of Nobbs’ humorous repetitive devices wore a little thin and thus would not bear rereading. However, it is well worth reading once.
Four and half Shells.
45LovingLit
>42 TheTortoise: nice review, looks a goodie
Oh, and hi btw, first time visitor for this year :)
Oh, and hi btw, first time visitor for this year :)
46TheTortoise
5. In The Master of Ballantrae by Robert Louis Stevenson none of the characters are either appealing or likeable.
The Master is a black-hearted villain. The old Lord is weak and shows partiality to his villainous son. The youngest brother is portrayed as semi insane due to thinking he had killed his brother, whom he hated anyway. I found this madness and its cause unconvincing.
McKellor, the family servant, who narrates the story, is a self-righteous prig and an old mother hen.
The wife of the young Lord is a cipher, who marries him for convenience instead of remaining true to the Master.
The story is often confusing, as it discusses future events before apprising us, the reader, of what led up to them. Several times I had to check back to see if I had lost the plot, but I hadn’t. The information I needed to understand what was happening was narrated after the event. I didn’t like this style of narration.
Although the story is titled The Master of Ballantrae, he is off camera most of the story and it is rather about the effect he has on the younger brother, who, as a character is less interesting and a bit irritating. As is McKellor, his dour servant.
I have satisfied my curiosity, as I did with Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. Nothing I have read of Stevenson matches the incomparable Treasure Island.
Although, I dread reading it again, in case my memory has played me false and my youthful enthusiasm is betrayed by my mature critical faculties!
Perhaps I should allow the nostalgic glow to remain forever green in my memory.
The story of The Master of Ballantrae was interesting in parts and boring in parts, so three and a half shells.
The Master is a black-hearted villain. The old Lord is weak and shows partiality to his villainous son. The youngest brother is portrayed as semi insane due to thinking he had killed his brother, whom he hated anyway. I found this madness and its cause unconvincing.
McKellor, the family servant, who narrates the story, is a self-righteous prig and an old mother hen.
The wife of the young Lord is a cipher, who marries him for convenience instead of remaining true to the Master.
The story is often confusing, as it discusses future events before apprising us, the reader, of what led up to them. Several times I had to check back to see if I had lost the plot, but I hadn’t. The information I needed to understand what was happening was narrated after the event. I didn’t like this style of narration.
Although the story is titled The Master of Ballantrae, he is off camera most of the story and it is rather about the effect he has on the younger brother, who, as a character is less interesting and a bit irritating. As is McKellor, his dour servant.
I have satisfied my curiosity, as I did with Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. Nothing I have read of Stevenson matches the incomparable Treasure Island.
Although, I dread reading it again, in case my memory has played me false and my youthful enthusiasm is betrayed by my mature critical faculties!
Perhaps I should allow the nostalgic glow to remain forever green in my memory.
The story of The Master of Ballantrae was interesting in parts and boring in parts, so three and a half shells.
47TheTortoise
6. The Darling Buds of May by H.E. Bates is altogether delightful, irresistible, sensual and irrepressibly uplifting. That is what I wrote when I first read it in August 2001, and I feel the same way on a re-read.
This is the first book in The Pop Larkin Chronicles which is full of joie de vivre!
The story is about the Larkin family lustily romping their way through life in the English countryside. They eat and drink to excess enjoying life to the full, with their six children.
Mariette, their eldest, has been doing the naughty with a couple of local lads and she thinks she is pregnant, but is not sure which one of them it could be. She is an absolute stunner at 17. In the Yorkshire TV series she was played to electrifying effect by a young unknown actress by the name of Catherine Zeta Jones, which set all our pulses racing. She later went on to marry Michael Douglas.
In the story, a young naive tax inspector visits Pop Larkin’s farm and tries to induce him to fill out a tax form, but he is seduced, first by the irrepressible Ma and Pop Larkin, (played brilliantly in the T.V. series by David Jason) and their happy-go-lucky lifestyle and then by the obvious charms and beauty of Mariette, who makes him forget all about his job as a tax inspector.
See blurb and pics here: http://www.itv.com/ClassicTVshows/familydrama/TheDarlingBudsofMay/default.html
Nothing less than five shells would do justice to this book. Read it and enjoy.
This is the first book in The Pop Larkin Chronicles which is full of joie de vivre!
The story is about the Larkin family lustily romping their way through life in the English countryside. They eat and drink to excess enjoying life to the full, with their six children.
Mariette, their eldest, has been doing the naughty with a couple of local lads and she thinks she is pregnant, but is not sure which one of them it could be. She is an absolute stunner at 17. In the Yorkshire TV series she was played to electrifying effect by a young unknown actress by the name of Catherine Zeta Jones, which set all our pulses racing. She later went on to marry Michael Douglas.
In the story, a young naive tax inspector visits Pop Larkin’s farm and tries to induce him to fill out a tax form, but he is seduced, first by the irrepressible Ma and Pop Larkin, (played brilliantly in the T.V. series by David Jason) and their happy-go-lucky lifestyle and then by the obvious charms and beauty of Mariette, who makes him forget all about his job as a tax inspector.
See blurb and pics here: http://www.itv.com/ClassicTVshows/familydrama/TheDarlingBudsofMay/default.html
Nothing less than five shells would do justice to this book. Read it and enjoy.
48TheTortoise
7. Strange Tales of the Curiously Uncommon by Andrew Biss is another batch of brilliantly witty stories in the tradition of Roald Dahl in Tales of the Unexpected.
There is not a dud among these five stories. Andrew Biss has certainly got into his stride and shows that he has mastered his art of surprising us in these expertly crafted stories.
In An Honest Mistake, Madge, the put upon wife of an obnoxious, verbally abusive husband, is a bit forgetful and mixes up a couple of jars while preparing his dinner with the inevitable result. Her blithe acceptance of her mistake makes this story both dark and amusing.
With superb psychological penetration Andrew Biss has created in Madge a living, breathing woman with whom it is easy to empathise, while at the same time being horrified at her cynical, if understandable, attitude.
In A Familiar Face, Eydie’s friend, Dora, has just buried her husband after 42 years of marriage. Eydie envied her friend her long and loving marriage. Or was it? Was Albert a philanderer who kept it secret from his wife all those years? Or was his secret something much more sinister? Or is it all a huge mistake? The jar that Dora finds under the stairs seems to reveal the truth. Or does it?
In a Slip of the Tongue, Miss Perkins is being sexually harassed by her employer. His dexterous use of the English language is open to interpretation until he makes a Slip of the Tongue too far. This is an amusing and disturbing story in which poetic justice is given full play.
An Embarrassing Odour is such a skilfully written story that Andrew Biss had me completely fooled by the outcome. I was convinced I knew the answer to the embarrassing odour halfway through the story but the humorous twist in the tale came as a complete surprise.
Ethel is a smelly old woman of seventy eight, or is she? Andrew Biss will keep you guessing right to the end in this extremely accomplished story from the pen of a master short story writer.
In A Stunning Confession Ron tells his wife Janice that he is not the father of their son, Craig, but how can that be possible? And how does Francesca, another woman, come into the picture? The answer is not what you expect in this skilfully contrived story.
Overall, it is difficult to find anything to criticise in this excellent collection, except the use of a few swear words and the odd blasphemy and the use of English slang, but these are in keeping with the nature of the characters that Andrew Biss has created and is in keeping with his style of narration.
Andrew Biss, in this superb collection of short stories has quite firmly taken on the mantle of Roald Dahl as a master story teller of the unexpected, and he deserves to be as well-known.
5 Shells
There is not a dud among these five stories. Andrew Biss has certainly got into his stride and shows that he has mastered his art of surprising us in these expertly crafted stories.
In An Honest Mistake, Madge, the put upon wife of an obnoxious, verbally abusive husband, is a bit forgetful and mixes up a couple of jars while preparing his dinner with the inevitable result. Her blithe acceptance of her mistake makes this story both dark and amusing.
With superb psychological penetration Andrew Biss has created in Madge a living, breathing woman with whom it is easy to empathise, while at the same time being horrified at her cynical, if understandable, attitude.
In A Familiar Face, Eydie’s friend, Dora, has just buried her husband after 42 years of marriage. Eydie envied her friend her long and loving marriage. Or was it? Was Albert a philanderer who kept it secret from his wife all those years? Or was his secret something much more sinister? Or is it all a huge mistake? The jar that Dora finds under the stairs seems to reveal the truth. Or does it?
In a Slip of the Tongue, Miss Perkins is being sexually harassed by her employer. His dexterous use of the English language is open to interpretation until he makes a Slip of the Tongue too far. This is an amusing and disturbing story in which poetic justice is given full play.
An Embarrassing Odour is such a skilfully written story that Andrew Biss had me completely fooled by the outcome. I was convinced I knew the answer to the embarrassing odour halfway through the story but the humorous twist in the tale came as a complete surprise.
Ethel is a smelly old woman of seventy eight, or is she? Andrew Biss will keep you guessing right to the end in this extremely accomplished story from the pen of a master short story writer.
In A Stunning Confession Ron tells his wife Janice that he is not the father of their son, Craig, but how can that be possible? And how does Francesca, another woman, come into the picture? The answer is not what you expect in this skilfully contrived story.
Overall, it is difficult to find anything to criticise in this excellent collection, except the use of a few swear words and the odd blasphemy and the use of English slang, but these are in keeping with the nature of the characters that Andrew Biss has created and is in keeping with his style of narration.
Andrew Biss, in this superb collection of short stories has quite firmly taken on the mantle of Roald Dahl as a master story teller of the unexpected, and he deserves to be as well-known.
5 Shells
49TheTortoise
8. Men at Arms by Evelyn Waugh. I have just finished the first book of the Sword of Honour trilogy. What I find marvellous about Waugh in this book is that there is something of interest on every page. How does he do that?! The book is so good that it is impossible for me to find anything negative to say about it, so I will just agree with John Banville of the Irish Times who said: "Marvellous...one of the masterpeices of the century." I realise I have told you nothing about the book because I am finding it difficult to describe exactly what it is about.
It's the story of Guy Crouchback, a Catholic and a gentleman, commisioned into the Royal Corp of Halberdiers during the war years 1939-1945. It is about the shambles of war. It's about life and death and everything. It is comic and tragic. It is fascinating, interesting and absorbing. It is classic Waugh. I love it.
Five shells, of course.
Book two, Officers and Gentlemen beckons.
So, goodbye.
It's the story of Guy Crouchback, a Catholic and a gentleman, commisioned into the Royal Corp of Halberdiers during the war years 1939-1945. It is about the shambles of war. It's about life and death and everything. It is comic and tragic. It is fascinating, interesting and absorbing. It is classic Waugh. I love it.
Five shells, of course.
Book two, Officers and Gentlemen beckons.
So, goodbye.
50TheTortoise
9. The Pirates! In an Adventure with Scientists.
I heard about this book on a recent edition of My Life in Books with Anne Robinson on the BBC.
As it sounded like a fun read I decided to give it a go, as I thought it would give me a break from the seriousness of Sword of Honour.
It is a very foolish story. Its greatest merit is that is short and easy to read. It has been made into a major (why are they always major!) motion picture. If you want something that is not intellectually challenging and if you like silliness, then this is the book for you.
Or you could save yourself the trouble and go and see the film! And if you love this story, there are four or five others in the series to delight you.
Three Shells, as it was vaguely amusing, but just not my cup of tea.
Meanwhile,
10. Officers and Gentlemen, the second book in the Sword of Honour trilogy.
See No. 8.
I heard about this book on a recent edition of My Life in Books with Anne Robinson on the BBC.
As it sounded like a fun read I decided to give it a go, as I thought it would give me a break from the seriousness of Sword of Honour.
It is a very foolish story. Its greatest merit is that is short and easy to read. It has been made into a major (why are they always major!) motion picture. If you want something that is not intellectually challenging and if you like silliness, then this is the book for you.
Or you could save yourself the trouble and go and see the film! And if you love this story, there are four or five others in the series to delight you.
Three Shells, as it was vaguely amusing, but just not my cup of tea.
Meanwhile,
10. Officers and Gentlemen, the second book in the Sword of Honour trilogy.
See No. 8.
51TheTortoise
10. Embracing Uncertainty by Susan Jeffers.
This book contains a couple of interesting concepts, such as, “I wonder how this will turn out” and “maybe I’m right and maybe I’m wrong”.
And “What do I love to do? How do I use what I love to do to help the world around me?”
Also a prayer of trust and gratitude and purpose: “Dear God, I trust that no matter what happens in my life, it is for my highest good. (The words highest and higher are important words in Jeffers’ philosophy, more of that in a minute). And no matter what happens in the lives of those I love, it is for their highest good. From all things you put before us, we shall become stronger and more loving people. I am grateful for the beauty and opportunity you put in my life. And in all that I do, I shall seek to be a channel of your love.”
It sounds very pious, but it is rooted in Eastern mysticism, which is a strong influence on Jeffers’ thinking and teaching. After the first couple of chapters the book descends into quasi-mystical spirituality in which God is termed the Higher Power and Christ is put on a level with Buddha and other enlightened teachers. Buddha,, rather than Christ, is the greater influence. So plenty of psychobabble is the result.
11. On the Edge of Paradise by David Newsome, a biography of A.C. Benson, Diarist.
My expectations were sky high, but were brought crashing down to the earth by this rather prosaic biography. I had enjoyed Benson’s essays in From a College Window and as he was the son of an Archbishop of Canterbury and a famous author and educator in his time, who rubbed shoulders with the high and mighty of the British establishment and who kept a daily diary for most of his adult life, I thought it would be full of interest.
It did contain some moments of interest, but it was like searching for the gold amongst the dross.
He was a lover of male beauty and had ample opportunity as a don at Cambridge University to indulge his emotions. I found that aspect of the biography unsavoury and not at all to my taste, as I am an ardent admirer of female pulchritude. To his credit he did not indulge in corrupting his admired students, nor did he have any sexual adventures with either sex.
I was surprised that I did not enjoy his diary entries as much as I was expecting to as I generally enjoy the form.
12. Simplicity by Edward de Bono
This book was not as interesting as I thought it would be. De Bono provides several examples of simplifying systems, procedures, processes, etc. He gives ideas relating to fourteen approaches to simplification. The only one that I thought was useful is one that I have used on numerous occasions. He calls it Provocative Amputation but I learned it from Alexander the Great as Cutting the Gordian knot. Just slice right through it and forget about trying to unravel the problem.
De Bono puts it like this: “We drop or cancel something that we ‘take for granted’ we then look to see what adjustments now become necessary. His sort of thinking can lead to simplification of the process.”
My favourite book by Edward de Bono is Six Thinking Hats which I thorougly recommend.
This book contains a couple of interesting concepts, such as, “I wonder how this will turn out” and “maybe I’m right and maybe I’m wrong”.
And “What do I love to do? How do I use what I love to do to help the world around me?”
Also a prayer of trust and gratitude and purpose: “Dear God, I trust that no matter what happens in my life, it is for my highest good. (The words highest and higher are important words in Jeffers’ philosophy, more of that in a minute). And no matter what happens in the lives of those I love, it is for their highest good. From all things you put before us, we shall become stronger and more loving people. I am grateful for the beauty and opportunity you put in my life. And in all that I do, I shall seek to be a channel of your love.”
It sounds very pious, but it is rooted in Eastern mysticism, which is a strong influence on Jeffers’ thinking and teaching. After the first couple of chapters the book descends into quasi-mystical spirituality in which God is termed the Higher Power and Christ is put on a level with Buddha and other enlightened teachers. Buddha,, rather than Christ, is the greater influence. So plenty of psychobabble is the result.
11. On the Edge of Paradise by David Newsome, a biography of A.C. Benson, Diarist.
My expectations were sky high, but were brought crashing down to the earth by this rather prosaic biography. I had enjoyed Benson’s essays in From a College Window and as he was the son of an Archbishop of Canterbury and a famous author and educator in his time, who rubbed shoulders with the high and mighty of the British establishment and who kept a daily diary for most of his adult life, I thought it would be full of interest.
It did contain some moments of interest, but it was like searching for the gold amongst the dross.
He was a lover of male beauty and had ample opportunity as a don at Cambridge University to indulge his emotions. I found that aspect of the biography unsavoury and not at all to my taste, as I am an ardent admirer of female pulchritude. To his credit he did not indulge in corrupting his admired students, nor did he have any sexual adventures with either sex.
I was surprised that I did not enjoy his diary entries as much as I was expecting to as I generally enjoy the form.
12. Simplicity by Edward de Bono
This book was not as interesting as I thought it would be. De Bono provides several examples of simplifying systems, procedures, processes, etc. He gives ideas relating to fourteen approaches to simplification. The only one that I thought was useful is one that I have used on numerous occasions. He calls it Provocative Amputation but I learned it from Alexander the Great as Cutting the Gordian knot. Just slice right through it and forget about trying to unravel the problem.
De Bono puts it like this: “We drop or cancel something that we ‘take for granted’ we then look to see what adjustments now become necessary. His sort of thinking can lead to simplification of the process.”
My favourite book by Edward de Bono is Six Thinking Hats which I thorougly recommend.
52TheTortoise
13. 12 Books That Changed The World by Melvyn Bragg.
Who could resist a title like that? Not me! Before I provide you with the list of 12 books I am going to quote from page 321, as it could easily serve as an introduction to this splendid book.
‘One of the people I spoke to when I was thinking about this book’ Bragg writes, ‘was my friend the novelist Howard Jacobson. He was dismayed that the list held no novelists.’
“I’m a novelist, you’re a novelist, we love novels, novels changed my life and novels changed your life, good novels change lives every day, a list without a novel? Without one, not one, novel?”
‘I defended the list I had drawn up. I said that I wanted books that I could prove had changed, rootedly, the lives of people all over the land – people on trains, people at airports, people in clubs and pubs, women who were still campaigning for equality and enjoying the long-awaited acknowledgement of their right to orgasm, men who week in week out played, watched, celebrated and discussed a game so beautifully and simply constructed it remains a masterpiece of socio-leisure architecture, those who hold religious truths to be self-evident and those whose conscious and unconscious lives have been readjusted by the revelations from the Galapagos Islands, the industrialists and financiers who ride and lubricate international capitalism calling on the market and free trade as its two parents, those whose lives are devoted to seeking freedoms which were given such a lead in the abolition of the slave trade, those who go to the moon, put on the light, send a fax, vote in a democratic country, fight for their rights, those whose daily lives and the reach of whose minds and ambitions have been transformed by books which set off a shot that rang around the world.’
Having read the book and the arguments that Bragg uses for including each of his choices, I wholeheartedly agree and I learnt something about the reach and extent of each of his choices which I didn’t know before.
The twelve books are as follows:
1. Principia Mathematica by Isaac Newton, simply the world’s greatest natural philosopher and thinker.
“Nature, and nature’s Laws lay hid in night:
God said: ‘Let Newton be!’ and all was light.”
2. Married Love by Marie Stopes. ‘In my own marriage, I paid such a terrible price for sex-ignorance that I feel that knowledge gained at such a cost should be placed at the service of humanity.’ It was and it is. Sexual and reproductive health information and services is provided to 4.3 million people across the world through the MSI Global Partnership.
3. Magna Carta by Members of the English Ruling Classes. This is the bedrock of British and American democracy which guarantees our freedom from tyranny.
4. The Rule Book of Association Football by a Group of Former English Public School Men. The so-called beautiful game which is now played worldwide, a cultural phenomenon.
5. On the Origin of Species by Charles Darwin. The book that caused uproar among fundamental Christians. “In great detail, Darwin laid out evidence for evolution as an undeniable process, with natural selection as its driving force. In doing so the book demolished beliefs in the fixity of the species and seriously challenged, and some claim wholly undermined, views and convictions about both the nature of men and the presence of God in the natural world.” It’s a point of view. Darwin may have some credence in his observations of the natural world, but extrapolating it to the human race does not have to follow, in my opinion. How or when God created man is open to interpretation, I am willing to concede, but not God’s Creatorship, which is a matter of faith.
6. On the Abolition of the Slave Trade by William Wilberforce. Cited as ‘one of the turning circumstances in the history of the world.’ William Wilberforce delivered this paper to the British House of Commons in May 1789. He began: “When I consider the magnitude of the subject which I am about to bring before the House a subject in which the interests not just of this country, nor of Europe alone, but of the whole world and of posterity are involved... it is impossible for me not o feel both terrified and concerned at my own inadequacy to such a task... the end of which is the total abolition of the slave trade.” Four hours later he emerged as a man of heroic moral stature, a man whose words would move the world. He died just three days after the Slave Trade was abolished in Britain in 1807.
7. A Vindication of the Rights of Woman by Mary Wollstonecraft. The first great feminist thesis. She had a “firm conviction that the neglected education of my fellow creatures (i.e.women) is the grand source of the misery I deplore.” A seminal work that advocated equality for women.
8. Experimental Researches in Electricity by Michael Farraday. We owe everything that runs on electricity to Farraday. The list would be endless.
9. Patent Specification for Arkwright’s Spinning Machine by Richard Arkwright. The entrepreneurial genius behind the Industrial Revolution and the rise of Britain as the wealthiest nation in the world through its manufacture of textiles.
10. The King James Bible by William Tyndale and Fifty-Four Scholars appointed by the King. The influence of Tyndale on the English language is enormous. It is estimated that 80% of the words in the King James Bible came from him. The formative effect on generations of great writers is extensive. The moral power of the King James Version of the Bible in particular is embraced by America and its leaders. This book has been the greatest influence in my life.
11. The Wealth of Nations by Adam Smith. The advocate of Free Trade which has done more to increase the wealth of the world than any other economic doctrine. It is the basis for capitalism.
12. The First Folio by William Shakespeare. After the Bible, Shakespeare has provided inspiration and enjoyment to millions of English-speaking people around the world. I quote him constantly. Of course, he has been translated into more than fifty languages, also. Literary imagination unsurpassed by any writer, including Dickens, psychological penetration greater even than Freud, his influence on Western culture has been and continues to be far-reaching and comprehensive.
Who could resist a title like that? Not me! Before I provide you with the list of 12 books I am going to quote from page 321, as it could easily serve as an introduction to this splendid book.
‘One of the people I spoke to when I was thinking about this book’ Bragg writes, ‘was my friend the novelist Howard Jacobson. He was dismayed that the list held no novelists.’
“I’m a novelist, you’re a novelist, we love novels, novels changed my life and novels changed your life, good novels change lives every day, a list without a novel? Without one, not one, novel?”
‘I defended the list I had drawn up. I said that I wanted books that I could prove had changed, rootedly, the lives of people all over the land – people on trains, people at airports, people in clubs and pubs, women who were still campaigning for equality and enjoying the long-awaited acknowledgement of their right to orgasm, men who week in week out played, watched, celebrated and discussed a game so beautifully and simply constructed it remains a masterpiece of socio-leisure architecture, those who hold religious truths to be self-evident and those whose conscious and unconscious lives have been readjusted by the revelations from the Galapagos Islands, the industrialists and financiers who ride and lubricate international capitalism calling on the market and free trade as its two parents, those whose lives are devoted to seeking freedoms which were given such a lead in the abolition of the slave trade, those who go to the moon, put on the light, send a fax, vote in a democratic country, fight for their rights, those whose daily lives and the reach of whose minds and ambitions have been transformed by books which set off a shot that rang around the world.’
Having read the book and the arguments that Bragg uses for including each of his choices, I wholeheartedly agree and I learnt something about the reach and extent of each of his choices which I didn’t know before.
The twelve books are as follows:
1. Principia Mathematica by Isaac Newton, simply the world’s greatest natural philosopher and thinker.
“Nature, and nature’s Laws lay hid in night:
God said: ‘Let Newton be!’ and all was light.”
2. Married Love by Marie Stopes. ‘In my own marriage, I paid such a terrible price for sex-ignorance that I feel that knowledge gained at such a cost should be placed at the service of humanity.’ It was and it is. Sexual and reproductive health information and services is provided to 4.3 million people across the world through the MSI Global Partnership.
3. Magna Carta by Members of the English Ruling Classes. This is the bedrock of British and American democracy which guarantees our freedom from tyranny.
4. The Rule Book of Association Football by a Group of Former English Public School Men. The so-called beautiful game which is now played worldwide, a cultural phenomenon.
5. On the Origin of Species by Charles Darwin. The book that caused uproar among fundamental Christians. “In great detail, Darwin laid out evidence for evolution as an undeniable process, with natural selection as its driving force. In doing so the book demolished beliefs in the fixity of the species and seriously challenged, and some claim wholly undermined, views and convictions about both the nature of men and the presence of God in the natural world.” It’s a point of view. Darwin may have some credence in his observations of the natural world, but extrapolating it to the human race does not have to follow, in my opinion. How or when God created man is open to interpretation, I am willing to concede, but not God’s Creatorship, which is a matter of faith.
6. On the Abolition of the Slave Trade by William Wilberforce. Cited as ‘one of the turning circumstances in the history of the world.’ William Wilberforce delivered this paper to the British House of Commons in May 1789. He began: “When I consider the magnitude of the subject which I am about to bring before the House a subject in which the interests not just of this country, nor of Europe alone, but of the whole world and of posterity are involved... it is impossible for me not o feel both terrified and concerned at my own inadequacy to such a task... the end of which is the total abolition of the slave trade.” Four hours later he emerged as a man of heroic moral stature, a man whose words would move the world. He died just three days after the Slave Trade was abolished in Britain in 1807.
7. A Vindication of the Rights of Woman by Mary Wollstonecraft. The first great feminist thesis. She had a “firm conviction that the neglected education of my fellow creatures (i.e.women) is the grand source of the misery I deplore.” A seminal work that advocated equality for women.
8. Experimental Researches in Electricity by Michael Farraday. We owe everything that runs on electricity to Farraday. The list would be endless.
9. Patent Specification for Arkwright’s Spinning Machine by Richard Arkwright. The entrepreneurial genius behind the Industrial Revolution and the rise of Britain as the wealthiest nation in the world through its manufacture of textiles.
10. The King James Bible by William Tyndale and Fifty-Four Scholars appointed by the King. The influence of Tyndale on the English language is enormous. It is estimated that 80% of the words in the King James Bible came from him. The formative effect on generations of great writers is extensive. The moral power of the King James Version of the Bible in particular is embraced by America and its leaders. This book has been the greatest influence in my life.
11. The Wealth of Nations by Adam Smith. The advocate of Free Trade which has done more to increase the wealth of the world than any other economic doctrine. It is the basis for capitalism.
12. The First Folio by William Shakespeare. After the Bible, Shakespeare has provided inspiration and enjoyment to millions of English-speaking people around the world. I quote him constantly. Of course, he has been translated into more than fifty languages, also. Literary imagination unsurpassed by any writer, including Dickens, psychological penetration greater even than Freud, his influence on Western culture has been and continues to be far-reaching and comprehensive.
53TheTortoise
14. Counselling For Toads by Robert de Board.
This book was recommended to me by my daughter. It is subtitled: A Psychological Adventure and I was more intrigued and excited by the subtitle than the title, as I am not particularly enamoured of the counselling process.
This book is based on Mr. Toad, the main character in The Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Grahame. I have not read The Wind in the Willows, this was one children’s book that passed me by, but I do actually own a copy, so I might read it.
Counselling for Toads is a very readable pastiche, in which the author, an organisational consultant and best –selling author of a textbook on counselling, uses the language and ideas of transactional analysis as his counselling method.
Toad gets in touch with his inner parent, adult and child as Heron, the analyst encourages him to explore his feelings and to develop EQ, his emotional intelligence.
Transactional Analysis is the brain child of Eric Berne who popularised the method in the sixties with books such as Games People Play and I’m OK, You’re OK, which I may have read, but have largely forgotten.
At 152 pages and written in lively language Counselling For Toads is actually a very enjoyable book and is an original approach to counselling. I recommend it.
Four Shells.
This book was recommended to me by my daughter. It is subtitled: A Psychological Adventure and I was more intrigued and excited by the subtitle than the title, as I am not particularly enamoured of the counselling process.
This book is based on Mr. Toad, the main character in The Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Grahame. I have not read The Wind in the Willows, this was one children’s book that passed me by, but I do actually own a copy, so I might read it.
Counselling for Toads is a very readable pastiche, in which the author, an organisational consultant and best –selling author of a textbook on counselling, uses the language and ideas of transactional analysis as his counselling method.
Toad gets in touch with his inner parent, adult and child as Heron, the analyst encourages him to explore his feelings and to develop EQ, his emotional intelligence.
Transactional Analysis is the brain child of Eric Berne who popularised the method in the sixties with books such as Games People Play and I’m OK, You’re OK, which I may have read, but have largely forgotten.
At 152 pages and written in lively language Counselling For Toads is actually a very enjoyable book and is an original approach to counselling. I recommend it.
Four Shells.
54TheTortoise
15. Unconditional Surrender by Evelyn Waugh
This is the third and final book in the Sword of Honour trilogy. I enjoyed the first volume, the second less so and the third was a real slog to the end, especially the last 100 pages or so. I do get unrelievedly bored with reading the same author’s work over several volumes, so I am partly to blame and Waugh is partly to blame.
The Sword of Honour trilogy is set in the Second World War: 1939 – 1945 and it is principally about Guy Crouchback and also about a handful of characters that interact with him. Other than that the three books are episodic in structure with no connecting or discernible plotlines.
My other criticism of Waugh is that I found it difficult to discern who was speaking in the dialogues as they are not attributed. I soon discovered that it didn’t really matter who said what and so gave up trying to figure it out as it added nothing to my understanding of the non-existent plot.
I highly recommend the first volume, the second and third have some episodes of interest and Waugh writes exceedingly well and even when the narrative is not being driven by plot; he manages to say something of interest.
Four Shells.
This is the third and final book in the Sword of Honour trilogy. I enjoyed the first volume, the second less so and the third was a real slog to the end, especially the last 100 pages or so. I do get unrelievedly bored with reading the same author’s work over several volumes, so I am partly to blame and Waugh is partly to blame.
The Sword of Honour trilogy is set in the Second World War: 1939 – 1945 and it is principally about Guy Crouchback and also about a handful of characters that interact with him. Other than that the three books are episodic in structure with no connecting or discernible plotlines.
My other criticism of Waugh is that I found it difficult to discern who was speaking in the dialogues as they are not attributed. I soon discovered that it didn’t really matter who said what and so gave up trying to figure it out as it added nothing to my understanding of the non-existent plot.
I highly recommend the first volume, the second and third have some episodes of interest and Waugh writes exceedingly well and even when the narrative is not being driven by plot; he manages to say something of interest.
Four Shells.
55TheTortoise
16. Where is God When It Hurts? by Philip Yancey.
This is a comprehensive well-researched book on the subject of pain and suffering. Philip Yancey explains the marvellous mechanism of pain in the human system and how vital it is for our protection and survival. He uses the example of lepers, who can feel no pain and its devastating effect on them.
He also gives lots of illustrative true life stories of people who have experienced extreme pain and suffering and describes how they coped in those circumstances.
I learned some interesting facts, some of which were shocking, such as, that 70% of partners of terminally-ill people abandon them. As someone, who has had to cope with a terminally-ill wife, I can understand the stresses, difficulties and demands of such a situation. But, I am nevertheless shocked to the core that someone would abandon their spouse at a time when they need love and care the most.
Philip Yancey does not provide any pat or simplistic answers to the problems of pain and suffering, but, nevertheless, there is hope.
These are his closing arguments but read the book to see why he reaches these conclusions:
“Where is God when it hurts?
He has been there from the beginning, designing a pain system that, even in the midst of a fallen world, still bears the stamp of His genius and equips us for life on this planet.
He transforms pain, using it to teach and strengthen us, if we allow it to turn us towards him. (My comment: some don’t.)
With great restraint, He watches this rebellious planet live on, in mercy allowing the human project to continue in its self-guided way.
He lets us cry out, like Job, in loud fits of anger against Him, blaming Him for a world we spoiled.
He allies Himself with the poor and suffering, founding a kingdom tilted in their favour. He stoops to conquer.
He promises supernatural help to nourish the spirit, even if our physical suffering goes unrelieved.
He has joined us. He has hurt and bled and cried and suffered. He has dignified for all time those who suffer, by sharing their pain.
He is with us now, ministering to us through His Spirit and through the members of His body who are commissioned to bear us up and relieve our suffering for the sake of the head.
He is waiting, gathering the armies of good. One day He will unleash them, and the world will see one last terrifying moment of suffering before the full victory is ushered in. Then God will create for us a new, incredible world. And pain shall be no more.”
For those of us who believe in the resurrection of the body and the wonderful, incredible promises of God found in Revelation 21:4 all things are endurable.
“And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes; there shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying. There shall be no more pain, for the former things have passed away.”
This is a comprehensive well-researched book on the subject of pain and suffering. Philip Yancey explains the marvellous mechanism of pain in the human system and how vital it is for our protection and survival. He uses the example of lepers, who can feel no pain and its devastating effect on them.
He also gives lots of illustrative true life stories of people who have experienced extreme pain and suffering and describes how they coped in those circumstances.
I learned some interesting facts, some of which were shocking, such as, that 70% of partners of terminally-ill people abandon them. As someone, who has had to cope with a terminally-ill wife, I can understand the stresses, difficulties and demands of such a situation. But, I am nevertheless shocked to the core that someone would abandon their spouse at a time when they need love and care the most.
Philip Yancey does not provide any pat or simplistic answers to the problems of pain and suffering, but, nevertheless, there is hope.
These are his closing arguments but read the book to see why he reaches these conclusions:
“Where is God when it hurts?
He has been there from the beginning, designing a pain system that, even in the midst of a fallen world, still bears the stamp of His genius and equips us for life on this planet.
He transforms pain, using it to teach and strengthen us, if we allow it to turn us towards him. (My comment: some don’t.)
With great restraint, He watches this rebellious planet live on, in mercy allowing the human project to continue in its self-guided way.
He lets us cry out, like Job, in loud fits of anger against Him, blaming Him for a world we spoiled.
He allies Himself with the poor and suffering, founding a kingdom tilted in their favour. He stoops to conquer.
He promises supernatural help to nourish the spirit, even if our physical suffering goes unrelieved.
He has joined us. He has hurt and bled and cried and suffered. He has dignified for all time those who suffer, by sharing their pain.
He is with us now, ministering to us through His Spirit and through the members of His body who are commissioned to bear us up and relieve our suffering for the sake of the head.
He is waiting, gathering the armies of good. One day He will unleash them, and the world will see one last terrifying moment of suffering before the full victory is ushered in. Then God will create for us a new, incredible world. And pain shall be no more.”
For those of us who believe in the resurrection of the body and the wonderful, incredible promises of God found in Revelation 21:4 all things are endurable.
“And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes; there shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying. There shall be no more pain, for the former things have passed away.”
56thornton37814
I read Yancey's book years ago and appreciated it. I believe that I read it for one of my Christian Counseling courses in seminary. It was one that our professor wanted us to be acquainted with because of its usefulness in counseling those who were experiencing suffering and grief. I am glad to see that it has held up well over the years.
57TheTortoise
>56 thornton37814: Lori, the one I read was published over twenty years ago and had sold over one million copies then, so it must have sold another million since then, as it is excellent of its type.
58TheTortoise
17. Mystery of Edwin Drood by Charles Dickens, completed by a Loyal Dickensian. This edition was first published in1927.
I was pleasantly surprised at the excellence of this story. My past experience of reading Dickens has been a mixture of delight and disgust. He has a grotesque imagination bordering on the ridiculous, sometimes he is brilliant and at other times he is outlandish. So, I didn’t know what to expect. But what I got was a story of surpassing excellence, with a brilliant character in the person of Mr. Grewgious, who is a delight.
The fact that Dickens died half way through writing the story and that it was completed by a Loyal Dickensian in a brief but logical way only added to the excellence of this story. My copy is 258 pages long, of which Dickens wrote 218 pages and the Dickensian wrote the remaining 40 pages, compared to say Little Dorritt, which is 778 pages long in my Wordsworth Classics edition.
I thoroughly recommend this story as one of Dicken’s best, but be sure to read this edition, as others have been done with mixed results.
Five Shells.
I was pleasantly surprised at the excellence of this story. My past experience of reading Dickens has been a mixture of delight and disgust. He has a grotesque imagination bordering on the ridiculous, sometimes he is brilliant and at other times he is outlandish. So, I didn’t know what to expect. But what I got was a story of surpassing excellence, with a brilliant character in the person of Mr. Grewgious, who is a delight.
The fact that Dickens died half way through writing the story and that it was completed by a Loyal Dickensian in a brief but logical way only added to the excellence of this story. My copy is 258 pages long, of which Dickens wrote 218 pages and the Dickensian wrote the remaining 40 pages, compared to say Little Dorritt, which is 778 pages long in my Wordsworth Classics edition.
I thoroughly recommend this story as one of Dicken’s best, but be sure to read this edition, as others have been done with mixed results.
Five Shells.
59TheTortoise
18. Troilus and Cressida by William Shakespeare.
This was my first reading of this play. I didn’t understand most of it as it is very dense, but it was interesting! I plan to read it again now that I have recently bought a book called Shakespeare A to Z by Charles Boyce which has a scene by scene synopsis of all the plays and I also bought Shakespeare At All (ISBN 9 780375 421907) by Marjorie Garber, full length essays of all the plays.
19. Rumpole’s Last Case by John Mortimer.
This collection of seven stories narrated by Horace Rumpole ( forever in mind, as played by Leo McKern in the Thames Television series of which I have the whole series!) reveals more of the splendours and miseries of life as an Old Bailey Hack. Superb.
Five Shells.
This was my first reading of this play. I didn’t understand most of it as it is very dense, but it was interesting! I plan to read it again now that I have recently bought a book called Shakespeare A to Z by Charles Boyce which has a scene by scene synopsis of all the plays and I also bought Shakespeare At All (ISBN 9 780375 421907) by Marjorie Garber, full length essays of all the plays.
19. Rumpole’s Last Case by John Mortimer.
This collection of seven stories narrated by Horace Rumpole ( forever in mind, as played by Leo McKern in the Thames Television series of which I have the whole series!) reveals more of the splendours and miseries of life as an Old Bailey Hack. Superb.
Five Shells.
60blackdogbooks
I've got to get to some Dickens this year! I tried Drood once and quit quickly. The PBS movie is airing soon, I think.
61carlym
Wow, lots of interesting books here. I like the Pop Larkin books, too--nice funny light reading.
62TheTortoise
60> and 61> Thanks for reading my thread, Mac and Carly. I thought everyone had abandoned me! Mind you, I am not very active on here, except to record my reading and glance at a few threads occasionally.
I am currently reading The Jewel in the Crown by Paul Scott, the first book in The Raj Quartet. Slow going! Only another 1,800 pages to go! I am also reading Pepys's Diary for 1660 and Something Sensational to Read in the Train by Gyles Brandreth, which I am absolutely loving.
I am currently reading The Jewel in the Crown by Paul Scott, the first book in The Raj Quartet. Slow going! Only another 1,800 pages to go! I am also reading Pepys's Diary for 1660 and Something Sensational to Read in the Train by Gyles Brandreth, which I am absolutely loving.
63alcottacre
*waving* at Alan
64FAMeulstee
Not abandoned Alan, just not much to add ;-)
back into lurking mode...
back into lurking mode...
65blackdogbooks
Not abandoned, Mr. Tortoise. But much of your reading list is new to me, so not many comments. Glad to see you over on my thread also.
66TheTortoise
Hello fans!
Stasia, I have just read all the wondefrful quotes on your profile. I particularly liked the one by HWB - that books are like "a multitude of counselors.' I am currently reading In the Company of Cheerful Ladies and Maugham makes the observation that the company of books cheers us up in the face of all the miseries of life.
I had to give up on The Jewel in the Crown it began to bore me to death. Started reading Rachel Ray by Anthony Trollope. Much better. I really enjoy a Trollope. No, not that sort! I mean Anthony.
Hi Anita, thanks for dropping by.
Mac, glad to be introducing new stuff to you!
Stasia, I have just read all the wondefrful quotes on your profile. I particularly liked the one by HWB - that books are like "a multitude of counselors.' I am currently reading In the Company of Cheerful Ladies and Maugham makes the observation that the company of books cheers us up in the face of all the miseries of life.
I had to give up on The Jewel in the Crown it began to bore me to death. Started reading Rachel Ray by Anthony Trollope. Much better. I really enjoy a Trollope. No, not that sort! I mean Anthony.
Hi Anita, thanks for dropping by.
Mac, glad to be introducing new stuff to you!
67TheTortoise
Books read to the end of May 2012:
20: Lark Rise by Flora Thompson. First book in Lark Rise to Candleford. An evocative memoir of a lost age of the English countryside in the 19th century.
21: Something Sensational to Read in the Train The Diary of Gyles Brandreth. Very entertaining.
22: In the Company of Cheerful Ladies by Alexander McCall Smith. I really love this series as I enjoy the company of these cheerful ladies: Precious Ramotswe and Grace Makutsi, even when not very much is taking place.
23: Wistaria Lodge by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. Sherlock is on the case as the game is once more afoot!
24: Catspaw, Metamorphosis, Friday’s Child, Who Mourns for Adonais? and Amok Time by James Blish adapted from the Star Trek series. Keep on Trecking! Jim, Bones, Spock and Scotty boldly go where no one has gone before. Warp speed, Mr Sulu!
25: The Book-Bag, French Joe, German Harry, The Four Dutchmen, The Back of Beyond, P. & O. and Episode by W. Somerset Maugham. Short stories from the Master of the form.
26: The Ballad of Pious Pete, The Ballad of Blasphemous Bill, The Ballad of One-Eyed Mike, The Ballad of the Brand, The Ballad of Hard-Luck Henry, The Man from Eldorado and My Friends. From Ballads of a Cheechako in Collected Verse of Robert Service. Witty, gritty, robust verse full of the pith and sinew of life, death and adventure.
27: Rumpole’s Return by John Mortimer. Having escaped She Who Must Be Obeyed and an enforced retirement in Florida the curmudgeonly old barrister is back down the Old Bailey engaging in witty repartee with the Mad Bull, his honour Judge Bullingham. Rumpole is back where he belongs and aren’t we glad!
28: Rachel Ray by Anthony Trollope. There is more to the old Trollope than the Barchester Chronicles and The Palliser novels and Rachel Ray is a case in point. An excellent story and one of his best. Highly recommended.
20: Lark Rise by Flora Thompson. First book in Lark Rise to Candleford. An evocative memoir of a lost age of the English countryside in the 19th century.
21: Something Sensational to Read in the Train The Diary of Gyles Brandreth. Very entertaining.
22: In the Company of Cheerful Ladies by Alexander McCall Smith. I really love this series as I enjoy the company of these cheerful ladies: Precious Ramotswe and Grace Makutsi, even when not very much is taking place.
23: Wistaria Lodge by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. Sherlock is on the case as the game is once more afoot!
24: Catspaw, Metamorphosis, Friday’s Child, Who Mourns for Adonais? and Amok Time by James Blish adapted from the Star Trek series. Keep on Trecking! Jim, Bones, Spock and Scotty boldly go where no one has gone before. Warp speed, Mr Sulu!
25: The Book-Bag, French Joe, German Harry, The Four Dutchmen, The Back of Beyond, P. & O. and Episode by W. Somerset Maugham. Short stories from the Master of the form.
26: The Ballad of Pious Pete, The Ballad of Blasphemous Bill, The Ballad of One-Eyed Mike, The Ballad of the Brand, The Ballad of Hard-Luck Henry, The Man from Eldorado and My Friends. From Ballads of a Cheechako in Collected Verse of Robert Service. Witty, gritty, robust verse full of the pith and sinew of life, death and adventure.
27: Rumpole’s Return by John Mortimer. Having escaped She Who Must Be Obeyed and an enforced retirement in Florida the curmudgeonly old barrister is back down the Old Bailey engaging in witty repartee with the Mad Bull, his honour Judge Bullingham. Rumpole is back where he belongs and aren’t we glad!
28: Rachel Ray by Anthony Trollope. There is more to the old Trollope than the Barchester Chronicles and The Palliser novels and Rachel Ray is a case in point. An excellent story and one of his best. Highly recommended.
