[ebooktalk] Re: BOOKS OF MY LIFE
- From: "Tar Barrels" <tar.barrels@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: <ebooktalk@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Mon, 1 Jul 2013 12:29:13 +0100
IIt's been really enjoyable reading other lists, and I wonder just how much
they would change if asked again next year! I find that my reception and
appreciation of a book does change over time, but the first 3 titles have
remained constant. I've really cheated with the third one because it's about
9 books, all rolled into one series - to my mind they do all need to be read
to fully appreciate the ideas behind them. A friend read them to me nearly
forty years ago, and aspects of them have remained with me. I keep intending
to go through them all again, but havent got round to it yet. So here they
are:
The power ad the glory by Graham Greene = this has everything I want in a
book, starting with its language, craftsmanship, a blinking good story with
a flawed hero, and politics and religion. What's not to like?
Middlemarch by George Eliot - I did this as part of my degree, and have
loved it ever since. It's a book that simmers away, with its story unfolding
slowly. Much of the action can be anticipated - all good Victorian stuff -
but it's the character sketches that draw me in. I find her a compassionate
writer, and that makes me warm to her characters, though I don't necessarily
like them.
Strangers and brothers by CP Snow - this is a series of books beginning in
the 1940's and stretching to the 1970's. They have a backdrop of different
institutions - the law, the civil service, academia - and the politics and
power struggles in each. The common link in the series is the character of
Lewis Eliot, as he matures and inhabits each of those worlds. I have always
found the stories fascinating, not least because I am familiar with many of
the places and institutions mentioned.
The world according to Garp by John Irving - I struggled to know which
Irving to include, but this was so off the wall I even managed to persuade
my husband to read it (and he enjoyed it), though the jury is still out on
whether or not he can actually read! Our last GP used to keep this on the
waiting room shelves, and whenever someone came in a bit down in the dumps,
he'd send them home with it. He used to say he could gauge their level of
bleakness by their response to the book.
Alan Clarke diaries - just such a good read. Politics, sex, bitchiness,
money, religion. And all centred on him - but they are his diaries after
all! I was torn between this and J G Ballard's Super Cannes - another
fantastic read.
If I chose again next month, I'm sure the last 2 - 3 would be different, but
Greene and Eliot would still top the list.
June
Alan Clarke diaries
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From: ebooktalk-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:ebooktalk-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx]
On Behalf Of Trish Talbot
Sent: 27 June 2013 21:03
To: Ebooktalk@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [ebooktalk] Re: BOOKS OF MY LIFE
Having read Ian's five favourite books, thought I'd have a go at choosing
my own list. I have to say it was almost as bad as trying to choose my
"Desert Island discs" (I've never yet managed to decide what my favourite 8
tracks would be). Like Ian's list, mine might be very different in six
months, but these are my thoughts today, and although they are numbered, the
numbering doesn't indicate preference:
1. George Eliot, "Middlemarch". We read this book for A level, and I have
read it since, as well as watching TV versions and hearing it on radio.
Each time, it says something new to me. I think Eliot was well ahead of her
time, her views are very feminist for the Victorian era. All the characters
are superbly drawn, and I particularly enjoy the contrasting characters of
Dorothea and Rosamund - both strong women, but with very different ideas
about life.
2. Richard Addams, "Watership Down". Often misjudged as a children's book,
just because its characters are rabbits, it is, in fact, a book about a team
of creatures, all very different in character, but using their skills and
talents to achieve their aim. It has its sadness as well as its happier
moments, and the story keeps moving. This was the first book I ever (to use
Ian's word) chain read, which has to make it a special book for me.
3. Andrea Levy, "Small Island". I read this a couple of years ago, and
couldn't put it down! There is so much misunderstanding from people who
think they understand, so many conflicting views, but the author manages to
convey the fact that not every white British person is hostile to the new
West Indian imigrants. I'm glad I read it as an audio book, though, it
definitely gained something from being read by readers who could make sense
of the Jamaican dialect.
4. Margaret Attwood, "The Handmaid's Tale". A disturbing, but
thought-provoking book, which, once I read it, stayed with me.
5. J K Rowling, "Harry Potter And The Gobblet Of Fire." (There had to be
one.) I loved the whole series, with reservations about the last one, but
this one was, to my mind, the best. It has everything - characters who are,
by this stage, well developped, humour, suspense, and a brilliant story. I
suppose the series being set in a boarding school appeals to me as well,
knowing how it feels when you're away from home and have to think for
yourself and/or include our friends.
I struggled to limit the choice to five, as I narrowed it down to six and
couldn't decide which to leave out. Cheating, I will sneak in the fact that
I wanted to include:
Winifred Holtby, "South Riding", the stroy of life in a Yorkshire town prior
to the creation of the Welfare state. I love this book, and I think it can
tell us a lot about where Britain seems to be heading.
Anyone else up for "Desert Island Books"?
Trish.
----- Original Message -----
From: Ian Macrae <mailto:ian.macrae1@xxxxxxx>
To: ebooktalk@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Sent: Wednesday, June 26, 2013 10:50 PM
Subject: [ebooktalk] Re: BVOOKS OF MY LIFE
I'm sure some of you will think this very predictable and disappointing,
and, of course, if I was asked to draw up the same list in six months time,
I'd come up with something a little different. But here we go and I'll fill
in some of the background and detail for my choices.
1. The Lord Of The rings: J R R Tolkien - like many of my generation I
discovered Tolkien in my teens during the 60s. There are other books I read
back then such as For Whom The Bell Tolls, Catcher In The Rye and Catch 22
which simply no longer work for me. But I re-read LOTR at least once a
year. I appreciate all that's wrong with it - the master servant
relationship, the slightly old fashioned values, the literal denegration of
black, but it remains a story which never fails to chime with me.
2. F Scott Fitzgerald: the Great Gatsby: the first book I ever chain
read. that's to say, like a cigarette, as soon as I'd finished it, I
started again. The sense of suffocation and frustration coupled with the
mystery (or not) surrounding Gatsby himself combine to make this possibly
the most perfect novel ever written.
3. A self compiled anthology of 20th century poetry: this would include
the Georgians, WW1 poets, eliot, the protest poetry of the 30s, poems from
WW2, philip Larkin, on through the beats and Liverpool scenes and up to
~John cooper-clark and beyond.
4. John le Care: tinker Taylor Soldier Spy: Having gone through
institutions all my life, I find his evocation of the inner workings of the
intelligence service utterly convincing, although it may well be total
hooey. Smiley is a central character without compare and le Care's style is
perfectly suited to the subject and genre.
5. Alan Clark: Diaries 1983-91: No-one takes you quite inside politics
like Clark. I hate him as a politician and despise him in many respects of
his life, but no-one takes you inside politics, and particularly Tory
politics like he does.
On 26 Jun 2013, at 22:17, Shell wrote:
You can't expect us to wait for that one Ian. Please tell us straight away!
Shell.
--------------------------------------------------
From: "Ian Macrae" <ian.macrae1@xxxxxxx>
Sent: Wednesday, June 26, 2013 9:15 PM
To: <ebooktalk@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Subject: [ebooktalk] BVOOKS OF MY LIFE
> Tomorrow afternoon I'm going to RNIB talking book studios in Camden north
London to record my Books Of My Life feature for the October issue of Read
On. Five favourites from all these years of reading. Would people like to
know what they are or would you rather wait till the mag comes out?
>
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