[ebooktalk] Re: BRAGG BOOKS

  • From: Ian Macrae <ian.macrae1@xxxxxxx>
  • To: ebooktalk@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
  • Date: Tue, 11 Jun 2013 22:08:20 +0100

I heard somewhere that he regards himself as the modern D H Laurence.  And it 
kind of shows.
On 11 Jun 2013, at 21:55, David Russell wrote:

> I read the first two of Bragg's autobiographical fiction volumes and thought
> I could not manage any more.
> 
> There is something very self-pitying and depressing about most of his books.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: ebooktalk-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:ebooktalk-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx]
> On Behalf Of Ian Macrae
> Sent: 11 June 2013 21:23
> To: ebooktalk@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
> Subject: [ebooktalk] Re: BRAGG BOOKS
> 
> June, I too enjoyed the first one which I read on TB with Stephen Thorne as
> the reader (I refuse to use the term Narrator who is the person in the book
> who tells the story).  I also enjoyed number 2 though it's name escapes me.
> 3 struck a bit of a chord as it concerned a young man being removed from his
> culture and having to embrace another very different one which chimes in
> with many of our lives I think.  But 4 was a load of self-pitying drivel.
> He is also one of those people who believes he has a god-given right to
> airtime on radio and TV which no one does.  
> On 11 Jun 2013, at 21:06, Tar Barrels wrote:
> 
>> I've only read the first part of the series, and must confess I 
>> enjoyed it, though it felt a bit heart on the sleeve-ish. However, 
>> he's considered a saint up here, where he gives a lot of money but 
>> also time and support for Wigton, and his street cred is high given 
>> the care he gave his parents, particularly his mother who died just 
>> recently. So, as an author I think he's okayish, as a broadcaster I 
>> wish he'd blow his darned nose, but as an ordinary guy, he seems ok to me.
>> June
>> 
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: ebooktalk-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx 
>> [mailto:ebooktalk-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx]
>> On Behalf Of Ian Macrae
>> Sent: 11 June 2013 20:53
>> To: ebooktalk@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
>> Subject: [ebooktalk] BRAGG BOOKS
>> 
>> There's a whole ongoing series of books based on his life Trish.  the 
>> first is called The soldiers Return which deals with his childhood in 
>> Wigton and his father coming back from the war.  Then there's one 
>> about his adolescence and another about his time at Oxford:  come to 
>> think of it, that one's pretty irritating too.  and then remember me 
>> which is to do with his first marriage which ended with the suicide of 
>> his wife.  THat one is partly also about his early years at the BBc 
>> and there is what felt like hours of him moaning about the fact that 
>> they lived in Kew where he was almost driven mad by the noise of the 
>> aircraft going into Heath row.  Living on the same flight path I found
> myself saying bloody get over yourself.
>> On 11 Jun 2013, at 20:22, Trish Talbot wrote:
>> 
>>> I don't know that book, Ian.
>>> Trish.
>>> ----- Original Message ----- From: "Ian Macrae" <ian.macrae1@xxxxxxx>
>>> To: <ebooktalk@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
>>> Sent: Tuesday, June 11, 2013 6:34 PM
>>> Subject: [ebooktalk] Re: What to read next?
>>> 
>>> 
>>> there is something irritating Trish about the educated middle classes
>> obsessing about themselves.  Is Remember Me the fourth book in Melvin 
>> Bragg's autobiographical sequence?  Another case in point.
>>> On 11 Jun 2013, at 17:28, Trish Talbot wrote:
>>> 
>>>> I would agree that it is very much of its time, Ian.  I struggled 
>>>> with
>> it, didn't find it enjoyable, and didn't finish it.  I found it too 
>> full of hysterica.
>>>> Trish.
>>>> ----- Original Message ----- From: "Ian Macrae" 
>>>> <ian.macrae1@xxxxxxx>
>>>> To: <ebooktalk@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
>>>> Sent: Tuesday, June 11, 2013 4:07 PM
>>>> Subject: [ebooktalk] Re: What to read next?
>>>> 
>>>> 
>>>> I read it a while back on TB Dave.  It's an odd thing.   Its structured
>> in a slightly odd way and parts of the story come from the contents of 
>> three notebooks, the black, the blue and the golden one.  The black 
>> relates to time the narrator spent in Africa, the blue to her 
>> contemporary life in somewhat bohemian London and the golden one has 
>> more arty, esoteric and philosophical jottings.  It is also quite of 
>> its time and feels like something which was written in the mid 60s.  
>> However, I finished it so I can't have found it as tough as memory 
>> makes it seem.  I'd be very interested in your reaction to it and views on
> it.
>>>> On 11 Jun 2013, at 15:12, David Russell wrote:
>>>> 
>>>>> Hi all
>>>>> 
>>>>> I feel like a change from my usual literary diet of murder and 
>>>>> mayhem.  I have a list of books for  such occasions, books I have 
>>>>> wanted to read for ages and just not done so.  I just picked a book 
>>>>> at random and it turns out to be Doris Lesssing's "Golden notebook".
>>>>> I do not know why it is on my list, although I have heard it is 
>>>>> worth
>> reading.
>>>>> 
>>>>> Has anyone read it and if so do you have any comments, either 
>>>>> positive or otherwise.  Not sure I have read Lessing before, so it 
>>>>> should be interesting.
>>>>> 
>>>>> 
>>>>> David
>>>>> 
>>>>> 
>>>> 
>>>> 
>>>> 
>>>> 
>>>> -----
>>>> No virus found in this message.
>>>> Checked by AVG - www.avg.com
>>>> Version: 10.0.1432 / Virus Database: 3199/5899 - Release Date: 
>>>> 06/10/13
>>>> 
>>>> 
>>>> 
>>> 
>>> 
>>> 
>>> 
>>> -----
>>> No virus found in this message.
>>> Checked by AVG - www.avg.com
>>> Version: 10.0.1432 / Virus Database: 3199/5902 - Release Date: 
>>> 06/11/13
>>> 
>>> 
>>> 
>> 
>> 
>> -----
>> No virus found in this message.
>> Checked by AVG - www.avg.com
>> Version: 2012.0.2242 / Virus Database: 3199/5902 - Release Date: 
>> 06/11/13
>> 
>> 
> 
> 
> 
> 


Other related posts: