I must read F Scott Fitzgerald’s ‘The Great Gatsby’ again soon. I tend to re-read it every few years, as I find the writing so brilliant. Not a word out of place.
The draft that Fitzgerald first wrote was much longer, indeed Fitzgerald is said to have thrown away more than he left in the comparatively short book that was eventually published.
It’s quite easy to read the whole book in a day, which is what I shall do. A lovely prospect, maybe with some music playing gently in the background.
I’ve ordered a new copy of the book, so that’s something else to look forward to.
I keep hoping that, next time, it won’t be so profoundly sad, but that never happens.
Boyd’s new novel - another ‘whole life’ work. A good read but compared to his other similar books not as satisfying as Any Human Heart or as insightful as The New Confessions.
Starting today. General Shazly was the commander of the Egyptian forces in the war of 1973. It will be very interesting to read a perspective of the other side.
E C R Lorac, a gentle whodunnit set in rolling Lancashire countryside.
Whilst she wrote many whodunnits , the Lancashire ones are almost elegiac . Very, very different fro Christie . Read whilst in Room 307 , confined by COVID
There was a “play” that I saw about 10 years ago - Gatz. It took place in a dreary office where the computers were down. The first to arrive hunts around in his desk and stumbles upon a copy of Gatsby. He starts to read it aloud. Slowly other office workers arrive and find themselves joining in, becoming characters. Ultimately, the whole book is read - every word, including, “he said” and “she stood” etc. Six hours plus a dinner break.
It was enthralling. And a tough ticket (off-Broadway).
In fact, that’s probably a good thing. If I had gone along, I would probably have started joining in from memory, and getting things wrong occasionally. So I might have got myself chucked out for annoying other members of the audience.
A good read obvs helps that it’s a wonderful story. CB comes across as rather self-effacing in that privileged class way. Well written undoubtedly thanks in part to the deft touch of Paul Morley.
Yes, I know what you mean, but I used to find it troublesome listening to the way that Pesto mangled his vowels, his breathing and his enthusiasm when presenting his slot on the ‘Today’ programme at 6:15 of a weekday morning.
I wasn’t aware that he had published a novel. Is it any good?
Half way through it.
Based around the Blair/Brown election win and a pension tax bonus needed to fill a budget hole. Sound familiar??
Newspaper reporters,secret off the record briefings and a treasury supremo ending up dead.
I can understand the tax part and I am not so bright.
Enjoyable. He writes in that same slightly breathless style.
Interesting selection of songs - rather too much country for my taste - and plenty of insights written in his singular style. Great illustrations. I was able to find all the song versions (he doesn’t always choose the original) on Tidal to listen along, bar one - Alvin Youngblood Hart’s Nelly was a Lady, which is on a Stephen Foster tribute album, Beautiful Dreamer. However it is on YT.
Just finished The Ink Black Heart by Robert Galbraith a/k/a J.K. Rowling, a 1000 page whodunit and a major disappointment, given that I’ve liked the previous books in the series. I assume it was inspired in part by the recent treatment of Rowling on social media. That was not my problem. The problem (and I want to avoid spoilers) is that by telling much of the tale through web channel dialogs (up to three simultaneously) and Twitter, she makes it extremely difficult to follow. I’m willing to spend 15 minutes parsing a page of Proust or Pynchon, but not a purported pleasure read. Much of the book is spent trying to link the “real life” characters with their screen names. I would have needed an Excel spreadsheet to keep track.
Glorious stuff from 1939, a year with particular significance for Europeans. To say much more would be to spoil the waiting delights. The ability to produce meticulous language and fine-spun sentences seems to be a dying skill in the English-speaking world; I’m savouring this stellar example of the storyteller’s art. A thriller that actually thrills, a mystery that reveals itself reluctantly.
‘Rogue Male’ is a wonderful short book, fantastically well written, about an upper class Englishman who escapes back to England after attempting to assassinate Adolf Hitler (not named) in the Thirties. It was serialised for Radio 4 some years ago, with Michael Jayston (I think) as narrator, and turns up every so often on Radio 4 Extra. Listen if you can next time it’s broadcast, great fun!
On a completely different tack, ‘The Ascent Of Rum Doodle’ by W E Bowman is the funniest novel that I have ever read. It is a spoof of very serious books that were being written about mountaineering before Hillary’s team climbed Everest.
At times, I had to put the book down because I was crying with laughter so much that it was painful.
