I think there are some things papayhed that one just takes to naturally, and others that are learned appreciations. i think here's a good possibility if I were to read Faulkner with someone else who saw things/was effected by things in his writing that im missing, id do better with him...
Of the current nominations, I'd like to do Lonesome Dove. It has been glaring at me from its shelf for years!
"J'ai seul la clef de cette parade sauvage."
- Rimbaud
"Il est l'heure de s'enivrer!
Pour n'être pas les esclaves martyrisés du Temps,
enivrez-vous;
enivrez-vous sans cesse!
De vin, de poésie ou de vertu, à votre guise."
- Baudelaire
If it is not too late to contribute I will throw my hand in.
1. Ivanhoe by Sir Walter Scott
2. The Comedians by Graham Greene
Deep into that darkness peering, long I stood there, wondering, fearing, doubting, dreaming dreams no mortal ever dared to dream before. ~ Edgar Allan Poe
I finished it over the weekend, now I am on The Sound and the Fury
"History is the nightmare from which I am trying to awake"-Stephen Dedalus
Bounty, the first text of Faulkner I read, was a short story called "A rose for Emily". It read like a nightmare. I never forgot the story and only much later I discovered that creating unforgetable nightmares was his speciality. I think he is one of the greatest North American writers, but there is no positivety or hope in his writings, only violence, decadence and destruction. He shows the south of the USA in its darkest colours.Originally Posted by bounty
The opening chapter from "The Sound of the Fury" is peculiar. I`m not going to tell why, not to spoil the novel for those that haven´t read it yet.
Last edited by Danik 2016; 05-10-2016 at 11:27 PM.
"I seemed to have sensed also from an early age that some of my experiences as a reader would change me more as a person than would many an event in the world where I sat and read. "
Gerald Murnane, Tamarisk Row
I would like to read Mythago Wood. I missed it when it came out but will catch up on Robert Holdstock's work as soon as I can.
I'm starting The Idiot and would love reading that with a group.
I love Faulkner. He is to be experienced multiple times.
I enjoy reading short stories and have likely encountered Sherwood Anderson before and would be open to that.
As for female authors, I haven't read Carson McCullers (The Heart is a Lonely Hunter), Shirley Jackson (The Haunting of Hill House), Iris Murdoch (A Severed Head - or other), and Jean Rhys (Wide Sargasso Sea) and would like to at some point.
Oh, and I love Robertson Davies and could read some more of him for sure.
If you go to the Authors' List section, click on Dostoevsky, then click on The Idiot, you will find a number of existing threads (or you could always start one or more of your own). I know that's not the same as a reading group, but it might be helpful just the same. I hope you enjoy The Idiot, which is certainly worth your time.
Thank you, Pompey Bum!
Oh yeah, and I forgot to add that I like Graham Greene, have read a few of his short stories, but have not read The Comedians.
“What would happen if one woman told the truth about her life? The world would split open.” ― Muriel Rukeyser
(image: walking by crilleb50, deviantArt)
You're welcome. Try Our Man in Havanna by Greene (if you haven't read it already); also The Third Man, Brighton Rock, The Power and the Glory, and many more. I'm usually not mad about his short stories, but there was one called Under the Garden that I like more than any of his other works. Let me know what you're reading and we can exchange ideas!
Graham Greene's The Third Man, has to be my favourite. Though the film is even better, especially the Zither piece in the introduction.
Try Our Man in Havanna by Greene (if you haven't read it already); also The Third Man, Brighton Rock, The Power and the Glory, and many more. I'm usually not mad about his short stories, but there was one called Under the Garden that I like more than any of his other works. Let me know what you're reading and we can exchange ideas!I'm remembering now I read Brighton Rock. I thought it was pretty good. I saw just the beginning of the movie and wasn't into it at all and so didn't finish. I should check out this other movie and other books. My father always objected to Whiskey Priest because he is a pastor and doesn't like the portrayal of the protagonist. I want to read it myself, however, and hope to get to it.
Under the Garden was wonderfully bizarre and I remember it like ten years after reading it. I read a lot of short stories and he has some good ones.
(image: walking by crilleb50, deviantArt)
The film version of Our Man in Havana is still very funny after all these years. Alec Guiness plays the vacuum cleaner salesman; he is recruited as a British spy by Noel Coward, and the (far too brief) moments they share are just wonderful. The Third Man, of course, is a classic.
That was one we read together on the site. After you read it, you may want to see our comments (which I imagine you could find with the search function. I found it a powerful novel, but I prefer Greene when he takes a lighter approach and ends seriously through implication (as in The Third Man or Our Man in Havana). I also had some religious differences with Greene's ultimate vision, but they did not detract from the parts I found personally meaningful. (My father was a clergyman, too, by the way--PKs stick together!
I liked the contrast between the mythic landscape of childhood remembered and the small and mundane version the protagonist finds when he returns home. I am trying to write about something similar these days, so perhaps I should reread that one.
.....
Last edited by tir_na_nog; 01-09-2017 at 04:59 PM.
Thanks for the contact, It's a long time since I posted, I shall just trawl around at the moment...Thanks again, Hazelk
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