@cartera45 I just added Lionel Shriver’s newest book, The Mandibles: A Family, 2029-2047, to my reading list. She wrote We Need to Talk About Kevin.
I have “A Little Life” on deck, but I’m avoiding it. Polished off “The Underground Railroad” on audio, read by Bahni Turpin. Maybe I’ll continue my avoidance and start “Boys in the Boat”, which I’ve heard is very good.
I was very indifferent about Boys in the Boat. Found it pretty repetitious but, hey, I guess that is the rowing life.
@mathmom Audible is showing two volumes for Ursula K. LeGuin’s “The Unreal and the Real”. Which volume are you referring to?
I remember liking her book “The Lefthand of Darkness” and also liking the Earthsea books. Not sure what I’d think of them today.
I’m using David Sedaris’ “When You Are Engulfed in Flames” as a palate cleanser after A Little Life. Not sure what direction I will take after that.
Just finished Born to Run. I really loved it in a lot of ways. Springsteen writes really, really well. It’s clearly his voice, not a ghost writer. Some passages are truly transcendent (some clunky metaphors and asides here and there, but who among us never writes those?) I learned a lot of great facts and references I never knew before–constantly looking up to regal my H with another fascinating piece of Bruce trivia. Also, having grown up in the area, I loved all the references to places I know!
I will say, though, as a huge Bruce fan, I was fascinated by how much of a jerk he often was–honestly admitted to, and apologized for. Sounds like he had a lot of “growin’ up” to do for a long time. He writes a lot of how he messed up with other people, how control freak he was (is), and his inner demons. I salute the honesty. It sounds like Patty finally turned him into a grown up–I’d love to read HER autobiography next, if she wrote one!
Overall–a great read for a Bruce fan, and dang good writing for anyone.
The Real and Unreal tit turns out were originally published separately, but were recently reissued in one volume in paper. The real half has her more realistic tales - the unreal the sci-fi and fantasy ones. I didn’t have time to read both halves so I only read the “unreal” stories. I’ve read most of the “real” ones before - and liked them as much as I like any short story (which is generally not nearly as much as a novel.) The same publisher also published a matching volume of novellas - call The Found and the Lost. I had it out from the library, but didn’t manage to read it before someone put a hold on it and I had to return it unread.
LOVED A Gentleman in Moscow. LOVED.
^ Much discussion on readerly sites about the absence of A Gentleman in Moscow from prize lists and the Tournament of Books longlist.
Thanks @ignatius for the mention of Rage Against the Dying…finished it last night and it was a great read. Fascinating, unique character in Brigid, I think. I never would have found Masterman without this thread.
I too really enjoyed A Gentleman in Moscow.
Like @garland, I just finished Born to Run. I actually didn’t know much about Bruce Springsteen before taking up the book, since I stopped listening to music around the time he came on the scene, but thought that he’s such a part of popular culture that I’d educate myself. So glad I did…he tells a wonderful story and I learned a a great deal. It’s probably the most surprisingly good book I read this past year.
Actually, I listened to the audiobook. Springsteen is an excellent reader. Now I’ll start listening to more of his music.
Another book that impressed me this past year was Jodi Picoult’s Small Great Things. She is a great storyteller and this book was current and thought-provoking. My biggest disappointment this year was John Grisham’s The Whistler. He’s also a great storyteller but this one just didn’t do it for me.
I hate Jodie Picoult. Wanted to throw My Sister’s Keeper against the wall. I also cannot stand Anita Shreve and all of the other SWBs. (Suffering Women’s Books).As an equal opportunity curmudgeon, I also largely despise the MMS. (Male Menopausal School: Updike, Bellow, Roth, et al.)
I don’t consider myself as having read a book I only listened to. There are plenty of books I could only get through on audio: actually persisting to the end when reading them would not have happened, even though they are objectively “good.”
I actually find some of Picoult’s books good for a light read, and others terrible. Did not like Small Great Things. It tackles an important issue, but the plot made little sense and threw in every possible stereotype and was unrealistic.
Born to run is next. Heard the audiobook is great as he reads it and adds in some music.
LOL, Consolation–right there with you. I have also seen the later group referred to as MMS = Midcentury Misogynists, especially throwing in Mailer, as well. Reading them when younger, I always thought that I was too touchy. As I got older, I realized it was not me–it’s them.
I think that is unfair to Philip Roth. Have you read any of his books published after 1980? American Pastoral (1997), especially, is stunning and brilliant and not the least bit misogynistic. It is one of the great masterpieces of late 20th century literature – layered and complex. I think the cry of misogyny is a bum rap, I really do.
I think the younger generation of writers coming up around that time (late 1990s) – Franzen, Chabon, Lethem and others – are much more succeptible to charges of misogyny than Philip Roth. Though I love a lot of their work, their women characters tend to be cardboard, where Roth paints multidimensional characters of both sexes. None of his characters are saints, but they are round, complex, and interesting characters.
(You can skip Sabbath’s Theater and the Prague Orgy if you prefer to skip books with unlikeable male protagonists, but they are very funny books, and Roth is very hard on his characters).
I’ll definitely give you Mailer, though. Is anyone reading Mailer anymore? I don’t think so.
@notelling, I have had a similar, er, discussion with my S, who maintains that Roth is better. I do mean to give some of his later work a shot, but I confess that any book where the synopsis includes " a beautiful young(er) woman enters the life of a middle-aged professor/writer/lawyer/banker/you name it, disillusioned by his life with his wife/exwife/inconvenient children/you name it makes me want to scream out loud.
Mailer…what a jerk. Germaine Greer’s skewering of that book of his…was it An American Dream?..in The Female Eunuch was brilliant.
Consolation, read American Pastoral. Don’t read any synopses; don’t even read the back cover. Then report back! I’m super curious to hear what you think!
Agree with Garland about BTR. Yes, there’s the “Behind the Music” stories, but the overriding theme is that of Bruce’s long journey to become a man (a “mensch”, as we say in the South) and getting comfortable in his own skin. I found it especially poignant as a man of a certain age.
And because The Boss recommended it, I just started “A People’s History of the United States” by Howard Zinn. Anticipate it will be a great bedtime read for the next few weeks or more.
@mom2and
feel the same as you about Small Great Things!