Balthasar gracian's atr of worldly wisdom, and a second hand ( exlibrary copy) of Thw world commuter great journeys by train
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Balthasar gracian's atr of worldly wisdom, and a second hand ( exlibrary copy) of Thw world commuter great journeys by train
Hi. I just wanted to agree about how good Trollope is. I started collecting his works years ago, but haven't got them all yet. Too many books out there to read, so little money or time :) Anyway, he's brilliant at writing characters, with a light comedic touch. I can just see the unctious Reverend Obadiah Slope in my mind, along with the snooty and disdainful Mrs Proudie, and the many other excellent characters which people his novels. He writes with a lovely satirical eye about those bedrocks of the Victorian British Establishment, the Church and Parliament. I'd highly recommend him to anyone who likes a good story, well-told, with a bit of humour thrown in. He's not all about humour though. Take The Way We Live Now, or He Knew he was Right. There are some tragic characters in there too. A truly great author.
Yes! He Knew He Was Right is such a chilling novel. Trollope just has this wonderful way of weaving and creating, one part of the plot is at it's peak while another is just beginning while another is winding down, something is always happening, keeping you intrigued. And while his style is certainly Victorian, he has a bit of a bite to him, things aren't all roses and sunshine in his books. They always have a happy ending...for the most part but that doesn't take away from the often critical tone of the novel. And he writes tremendous dialogue, there have been some conversations in his books that have just overwhelmed me with their brilliance. Wessexgirl, have you read any of the Palliser Series? If not, I would highly recommend it, the novels in that series are some of Trollope's best...some of them are quite mediocre as well but the good ones make up for the not fabulous ones.Quote:
Originally Posted by wessexgirl
I know it looks intimidating but really, they are such easy reads. I can get through one of those 800 page books in less than a week because they just flow so nicely. You know, it's Victorian so the sentence structure is complex, with all those commas and asides and the language is very formal but if you're already familiar with that style, you won't have any problem.Quote:
Originally Posted by Antiquarian
I have read the Eustace Diamonds, it's part of the Palliser series and it wasn't one of my favorites. It wasn't that it was poorly written, it was just that all the major characters were so entirely unlikeable and that's saying a lot for me because I generally like roguish characters but they were just unpleasant because they were unpleasant, not because of any inner turmoil which makes everything okay! :D :lol: Another thing that worked against it for me but might not bother someone who hasn't read any of the other "Palliser" novels is that it was kind of a stand alone book, not very connected to the characters that had already been firmly established and the book before it, Phineas Finn was outstanding. I had great expectations starting Eustance Diamonds and it was just a very different book so I was a little disappointed.
And yes, He Knew He Was Right is an excellent book, very dark. The "He" in the title becomes such a monster after awhile but you retain a great deal of sympathy for him because he's clearly disturbed and tortured and his life is completely destroyed by his actions...that's what's missing from Eustace Diamonds, in my opinion, that pull, it's just people behaving badly because they can.
Catch-22 ~ Joseph Heller
I, Claudius ~ Robert Graves
The Octopus ~ Frank Norris
Walkers of the Wind ~ William Sarabande
"FDR" by Jean Howard Smith
I'm reading The Merry-Go-Round by Joshua Bruening...
You can find it at amazon / barnesandnoble . com
It's worth checking out!
The Other Boleyn Girl by Philippa Gregory
Thanks, Idril, for that assessment of The Eustace Diamonds - it's the only Trollope I've ever tried to read. My English master at school gave me the run of the English department stock cupboard (I think he was delighted to have a voracious reader in his class!) and there was a whole set of that book, so I think it must have been a set book for some exam one year. I couldn't get into it, he was very disappointed because he was a great advocate of Victorian fiction, but there were so many other books in that dusty little treasure room that I never went back to try Trollope again. But as so many Forum folk seem to enjoy him, I'll give him another go. I've seen BBC versions of his books - Alan Rickman was Slope, one of his first OTT slimey characters, wonderful! There was a very good version of The Way We Live Now recently. I think I may even have a Trollope or two in my Books-To-Read-When-I-Retire box, come to think of it!
Hi all you Trollope fans. Idril, I have read a few of the Palliser novels, in fact, they are the ones I was collecting, in very expensive Folio editions, but the cost became prohibitive. I loved "Can You Forgive Her?", which I think is the start of them, and I love the way he questions a woman's place in society in those days. He is very sympathetic overall, and doesn't really judge. If you like Vanity Fair by Thackeray, you may like The Eustace Diamonds, as I agree, Lizzie Eustace is a bit of an immoral character. He Knew He Was Right is an excellent portrayal of a man obsessed, at the cost of his family, his life, and everything. The Beeb did a wonderful production of it a few years ago, which I am now going to buy, as I've been reminded of it by discussing Trollope. Oh dear, more to add to my never-ending wish list! ;)
Arthur Ransome's Old Peter's Russian Tales. Time to re-live my childhood!
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Peters-Russi...3027719&sr=8-3
Time to pass my father's most enduring gift on to my children.
"The Kingdom of God is Within You." Leo Tolstoi
Oh, KC, how pleased I am to know this is still in print! I listened to the stories on the radio on Children's Hour back in the fifties and my mother took me to the one and only book-shop in town so that I could buy a copy. I think it may have been the first book I bought for myself, other than the Riley Classics that were available in Woolworths for 2/6 (12.5p), certainly the first time I discovered it was possible to order a book if it wasn't in stock. I still have the copy and used it in every class I taught.Quote:
Originally Posted by Kafka's Crow
Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam first and fifth versions translated by Edward Fitzgerald.
Alice's Adventures Under Ground (The Facsimile) by Lewis Carroll
The Power of Myth and Myths To Live By by Joseph Campbell
Human, All Too Human - Nietzsche
A collection of short stories by Tolstoy.
I liked Anna Karenina. I like Tolstoy's style.
Well, this was actually a gift, but When You Are Engulfed in Flames by David Sedaris.
Edward Bulwer-Lytton's The Coming Race
Bram Stoker's Dracula's Guest and Other Writings
1) Mary Stuart by Friedrich Schiller
2) An Irish Mystery by Cora Harrison
3) East Of Eden by Ernest Hemingway
I just bought three books by Agatha Christie:
The Murder on the Links
The Murder of Roger Ackroyd
The Big Four
Down and Out in Paris and London~George Orwell
I've just started to get interested in the Agatha Christie books. So I'm starting with Poirot, but I will definately read the books with Miss Marple as well. :) I usually read the books in order, so that's what I'm doing. First all the Poirot in order, and then maybe Miss Marple.Quote:
Originally Posted by Antiquarian
Racine's Fedra and Camus' Plague.
Plato - The Republic, and The 5 Dialogues.
Yesterday I bought:
Paradise Lost John Milton
Evelina Frances Burney
The Ringmasters Daughter by Jostein Gaarder. I bought it in this lovely lovely bookstore here in Amsterdam: The English Bookexchange.
A History of Modern Britain by Andrew Marr I've been watching the re-run of Marr's series on television and enjoying it imensely. Marr was chief political editor at the BBC for years and as such has a first hand knowledge of world affairs and Britain's place in them. He has an air of slightly ironic detachment which gives his interpretation of events a certain authority. I'm looking forward to reading the book now that I have seen the tv programmes.
Last litt. book i bought:
"Little Women" by Louisa Marie Alcott
Last info book i bought:
"Get Rich" by (i forgot the author..hehe!)
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"Death on the Installment Plan" by Louis-Ferdinand Celine
A set of 10 Modern Classics from Virago
Weather in the Streets by Rosamond Lehmann
A Lost Lady by Willa Cather
The Old Man and Me by Elaine Dundy
My Brilliant Career by Miles Franklin
Blaming by Elizabeth Taylor
All Passion Spent by Vita Sackville-West
Elizabeth and her German Garden by Elizabeth Von Arnim
The Passion of New Eve by Angela Carter
The Return of the Soldier by Rebecca West
Union Street by Pat Barker
Plus
A set of of 10 historical novels
Wife to Charles II by Hilda Lewis
The King's Grey Mare by Rosemary Hawley Jarman
Crown in Candlelight by Rosemary Hawley Jarman
The Lost Queen by Norah Lofts
The Concubine by Norah Lofts
The King's Pleasure by Norah Lofts
The Lute Player by Norah Lofts
Crown of Aloes by Norah Lofts
Eleanor the Queen by Norah Lofts
I, Jacqueline by Hilda Lewis
Plus a set of 10 modern fiction
Beyond Black by Hilary Mantel
We Were the Mulvaneys by Joyce Carol Oates
The Hours by Michael Cunningham
Bel Canto by Ann Patchett
Eve Green by Susan Fletcher
Purple Hibiscus by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
The Kitchen God's Wife by Amy Tan
The Stone Diaries by Carol Shields
Empire of the Sun by J. G. Ballard
Miss Garnet's Angel by Salley Vickers
Great bargains. :)
My purchase from bn.com today included:
Faith of My Fathers by John McCain
The Audacity of Hope by Barack Obama
CD - Fight With Tool (Flobots)
CD - Phantom of the Opera Soundtrack
Tales of Adventures: The Barnes & Noble Classics*
*Includes:
- Arabian Nights by Anonymous
- Call of the Wild and White Fang by Jack London
- Four Feathers by A. E. W. Mason
- Jungle Books by Rudyard Kipling
- King Solomon's Mines by H. Rider Haggard
- Scarlet Pimpernel by Baroness Emmuska Orczy
- Tarzan of the Apes by Edgar Rice Burroughs
- Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea by Jules Verne
$93.60 out of my wallet...:D