March 2013: Aldous Huxley

Have you read him? Are you a fan? What will you read for this month?

I have read Brave New World which I found very 'readable' and better than 1984. In March I will probably read Crome Yellow as it's also on the 1001 list.

Yes, I'll probably read Brave New World again, but I ought to also hunt down a copy of Island which I like better.

Edited to add, yes the library has it, along with a few others. Maybe I'll even splash out and read something new!

I definitely have Brave New World which I've been meaning to read for ages.

I've never read Brave New World (it's one of the many on my "list" heh), but I've read Island and Crome Yellow from the library. I really liked what he was trying to do with Island, but I agree with his own criticism that "the story has too much weight, in the way of ideas and reflections, to carry," he tried to pack too much into too little. But I did think he had some very interesting ideas and notions, and some of them could certainly be quite helpful in society. Crome Yellow wasn't bad but it wasn't my kind of book.

After Many a Summer Dies the Swan is very good. About a Hollywood millionaire, and all the craziness that goes along with that.

Point Counter Point is also good, but more serious.

I read Brave New World way back in high school, so it's long overdue for a re-read. I read Island years ago, but don't remember it very well. More recently I've read Point Counter Point and Crome Yellow, both of which I would recommend.

If I don't re-read Brave New World, then I'll probably read Antic Hay.

I was at the library today and found The Devils of Loudun and Jacob's hands.

I've got Brave New World out myself, it's due back 31 Jan but I'll renew it, so figured I'll aim for reading it mid-Feb then. :)

Well I've just read Brave New World, since it's due back at the library in a couple days now. I was impressed. The creepy thing is he appears to be quite right. This edition had a mini-bio and also included the letter he wrote to Orwell, where he tells him he thinks his own story is more likely to be the end-outcome, that they'll find it easier to control people with mindless self-indulgence than through ever-present Big Brother, but that it'd start with Orwell's version. And lo, look where we are! Big Brother sticking their nose into every little thing, and people getting more ignorant & hedonistic by the day!

Yes- I read and used to teach Brave New World. Found the whole bit about cloning pretty fascinating- in light of recent scientific tinkering! Enjoyed the Satire.

Eeee the cloning bit totally creeped me out. I could definitely feel for John in his wanting to flee from all the creepy twins!! hahaha.

This is my next book, really looking forward to it just need to plough through The Magus first.

Jacob's hands
Very different from the works I knew of his. Very moving.

I dug around last night and discovered I also own a copy of Eyeless in Gaza

Only 20 pages into Brave New World and I already love it, I'm sure I'll be back soon having finished this

And it's finished: Set in a clinical world where all children are born in a testtube, where the idea of a mother is obscene but casual sex promoted, where socialization is state controlled and regulated, where class divided it decided at the fertilization stage and clones specialise in areas of the work force there is bound to be a few unhappy embryos floating around.
I really enjoyed the first half of Brave New World but once they discovered John the energy had gone for me and I lost some of that focus, still a good read and I'm glad I can finally tick it off the 1001 list. I have a modern book about India and opium to finish and then I'll start of Eyeless in Gaza

Things definitely changed at that point, that was the real turning point really, a huge discovery that changed a lot, and forced various other things to come about. He's really where you get the -omg wtf has happened to society- from.

Started Eyeless in Gaza this morning so I may actually get two read completed this month.

I read Brave New World in high school, and Crome Yellow last year. My husband has a number of Huxley books lying around, so I have a lot to choose from. I'll probably try to get to Antic Hay at least.

I read Crome Yellow about a year & a half ago myself. The writing is well done, of course, and I get what he was going for, but I found reading it to be rather tedious. I really enjoyed Island, though. Unfortunately my library has many of his books but in their special storage area that you have to make special requests from, so I tend not to read anything from that. It's doubly annoying because they have tons more room but instead choose to leave huge wide aisles rather than having more books available!

I wouldn't want to deal with having to make special requests either! I don't think Island is one of the ones my husband has. I'll have to check out the shelves for what my options are - I know that besides Antic Hay, he also has at least After Many a Summer Dies the Swan and Brief Candles. He apparently went through a big Huxley phase.

Huxley makes for a good phase indeed, he had very original ideas and wrote quite well. I'd really like to read more of his stuff. I suppose some time I'll have to resort to spending money on it! haha.

Just finished The devils of Loudun . This is nonfiction, and the narrative is hidden among all his essays on religion, the human condition... I did get through it, but I did not enjoy it.

What was it you disliked, MarthaJeanne?

'all his essays on religion, the human condition... ' the actual story of what was going on was buried deep in long philosophical, mataphysical, theological and discussions. Those are all fine in their place, but his various interpretations and comments and discourses that he somehow got onto by way of comments on interpretation not only took up most of the book, but were repeatative and often said more about Huxley than about the case they were supposed to be about. Explanations of what the Hindus (in his opinion) mean by 'Atman' really don't have a lot to do with excorcisms in 17th century France.

Also there were lots of quotes in French. The Latin quotes were translated in the footnotes, but not the French. This was a common thing 50 years ago and more, and always bothered me. I should be able to read a book in English without having to wonder whether by skipping long bits in French I'm missing something.

That's my biggest critique of Nabokov, all the French he always throws in. So yeah, I definitely feel you on that! I think Huxley had a ton of great thoughts, but indeed, it sounds as though they were not presented so well in that piece of work. Ah well, they can't all be winners!

Taking me a bit longer than expected to read Eyeless in Gaza, as the font is so tiny I picked up a second read for when I was getting tired, (un)fortunately that book is The Clash of the Kings by George R. R. Martin and is proving more appealing at the moment.

heh, it happens! Just report back on your thoughts when you do finish (and you can always update along the way)! :))

Oh my goodness, I finally got started on something Huxley! I've read about 10 pages of Antic Hay so far. Can't draw a lot of conclusions yet, but it's pretty amusing, at least.

> 30 I started Antic Hay yesterday too! The small print got to me by the end of Chapter 1, but I enjoyed it to that point. I liked Gumbril's idea of the pneumatic pants to help make church services more comfortable for those with less natural cushion : ) On a more serious note, I thought the point was interesting about how it's quite hard to take a pastor seriously and believe they are capable of religious leadership when you've grown up with the person. I wish I had my book in front of me because of course Huxley says it better than that.

I just looked up the description of Antic Hay and found the pneumatic pants play quite the role in the plot. Now I'm really looking forward to reading more tonight to see how that plays out.

I also liked the pneumatic pants idea - my husband is extremely thin and I'm sure he'd be a fan! I've read a little further and see that the pants do continue to figure in the story. (I don't read book descriptions before reading a book most of the time.)

I very rarely read descriptions either, all I want is the vaguest idea what it's like to make a decision on a book. :)