I never reread novels but after a discussion about favourite novels in the boozer last night I’m making an exception for Ken Kesey Sometimes a Great Notion. Forget the Merrie Pranksters, Kool-aid Acid Tests and even One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, this is a great American novel. My original dog-eared Methuen copy.
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Also on the stage in the West End of London at the mo
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Thanks biddler - I’ll check it out. Hard to imagine how it can be done tho - so many characters, story told from different perspectives, interlinked back stories, lots of internalising and stuff revealed in letters.
I am seeing it this Saturday so I will report back and let you know !
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In addition to the Booker short list, it made the NY Times top 10 of 2025 (when it was published in the States).
Highly recommended. And it makes me want to read some more Marilynne Robinson.
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Are you referring to “Great Notion” or “Cuckoo’s Nest”?
Cuckoo’s Nest
The “Talk “was really excellent. Superbly presented by one of the guys who was there and took part. Great visuals and a brilliant model of the Embassy. Thank you “ Chalky” White
Hi Chris,
if you are still open for more Steinbeck, please take a look at “Cup of Gold”. For me it’s the best of his short books, “East of Eden” being my favorite epos.
Thank you, I will add it to my list and check it out. So far, I’ve managed to add a few more Steinbeck books to my collection, including a lovely Penguin Orange Collection Edition of East of Eden.
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Picked this up in a charity shop for £1. Not read all of the series but I find the book better than the TV series Grace. I think the episodes have to cram too much into 1 1/2 hours and not enough time for real character development.
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Camille Townsend: Fifth Sun, Another History of the Aztecs.
History is usually written by the winners, especially when the losers do not possess a written language.
However after the conquest several Mexicans learned to write and their oral tradition was put in writing. Camilla Townsend uses those documents to tell a more accurate and historically balanced story.
For example, gone is the myth that Aztecs believed that Spanish were gods and just accepted their fate as divine intervention.
Townsend is a serious historian and the notes section shows the seriousness and professionalism of her work.
A great read.
Claude
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Start of a new series. Training shoes are washing up on the lake side still with a foot inside.
Why would you start just one new series. Crime in Oxford but not as Morse would solve it.
Hap and Leonard. Wonderful,clever backchat between these two.
Essex having just spent a fortune on rebuilding our small local library have now introduced a charge of £1.10 per volume if you order a book rather than take one off the shelf. Grossly unfair. If you live in Colchester their library is enormous by our standards so the chance of finding a volume free of charge on the shelves much greater.
Children are exempt so another tax on the elderly.
I buy used from World of Books and give them to the cancer charity shop when read.
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Just finished this on Audible. Very knowledgable author, borders on scary.
Written last year, makes the current Iran war seem inevitable.
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John le Carré, A Legacy of Spies (2017) read on Audible. Revisits The Spy who came in from the Cold and Tinker Tailor… Peter Guillam is the main character. Smiley appears only at the end. Entertaining with an involved plot. le Carré’s son ‘Nick Harkaway’ has apparently written a sequel Karla’s Choice which I might try someday.
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