What are you reading now?

[vinteuil]

Was baffled by "A History of the World in 10 1/2 Chapters" - a novel - why? Thoroughly enjoyed reading it, at least twice, but couldn't understand what the chapters had to do with eachother. If anyone could explain I'd be grateful.

I don't know whether any of the following might help -

Candel Bormann, Daniel. “The End of Society in Historiographic Metafiction: A Case Study”. Actas del XXIII Congreso de AEDEAN (16-18 december 1999, León) 2003.
Candel Bormann, Daniel. “Julian Barnes’s A History of Science in 10½ Chapters.” English Studies: A Journal of English Language and Literature 82(3) (2001): 253-61
Buxton, Jackie. "Julian Barnes's Theses on History (in 10½ Chapters)." Contemporary Literature 41(1) (Spring 2000): 56-86.
Goer, Charis and Christoph Henke. "'How do you turn catastrophe into art?' Oder: Der Stoff, aus dem die Katastrophen sind. Ein Zwiegespräch zum 'Floß der Medusa' in Julian Barnes' A History of the World in 10½ Chapters." Verstärker 4, no. 4 (4 November 1999): http://www.culture.hu-berlin.de/vers...oer_henke.html
Finney, Brian. "Fictionalizing the Factual: Julian Barnes' A History of the World in 10½ Chapters." Brian Finney Website (21 March 1999) http://www.csulb.edu/~bhfinney/oldsite/barnes.html
Candel Bormann, Daniel. “Nature Feminised in Julian Barnes’s A History of the World in 10½ Chapters.” Atlantis: Revista de la Asociación Española de Estudios Anglo-Norteamericanos XXI.1/2 (Junio-Diciembre 1999): 43-58.
Candel Bormann, Daniel. “From Romanticism to Postmodernity: Two Different Conceptions of Nature in Julian Barnes’ A History of the World in 10½ Chapters”. Revista Canaria de Estudios Ingleses 36 (1998): 173-83.
Kotte, Claudia. "Random Patterns? Orderly Disorder in Julian Barnes's A History of the World in 10 and ½ Chapters." AAA -- Arbeiten aus Anglistik und Amerikanistik. 22 (1997): 107-128.
Raykowski, Harald. "Gegenwartsromane im Englischunterricht? Julian Barnes und der neue historische Roman." Neusprachliche Mitteilungen aus Wissenschaft und Praxis 50(2) (1997): 93-97.
Guignery, Vanessa. "Palimpseste et pastiche generique chez Julian Barnes." Etudes Anglaises 50(1) (January-March 1997): 40-52.
French, Jana L. Fantastic Histories: A Dialogic Approach to a Narrative Hybrid. Dissertation. University of Wisconsin, Madison. 1996.
Samb, Bathie. "Histoire, fiction et remaniement de soi dans A History of the World in 10½ Chapters de Julian Barnes." Bridges: An African Journal of English Studies Vol. 7 (March 1996): 107-127.
Halim, Nadia Maria. "An Ark on Which Two Might Escape": Modernist and Postmodernist Discourse Julian Barnes's A History of the World in 10½ Chapters. Queen's University At Kingston (Canada), 1994. pp.78 (Dissertation. Adviser: Patricia Rae)
Hallet, Wolfgang. "A History of the World in 10½ Chapters. Ein Hinweis auf Julian Barnes' postmoderne Weltgeschichte." Anglistik and Englischunterricht 49 (1993): 137-148.
Kelly, Lionel. "The Ocean, The Harbour, The City: Julian Barnes' A History of the World in 10½ Chapters. Etudes Britanniques Contemporaines no.2 (1993).
Little, Roger. "A Simple Story: 'Sur la mer des Caraibes'." Revue de Litterature Comparee 66(4) (October-December 1992): 439-44.
Salyer, Gregory. "One Good Story Leads to Another: Julian Barnes's A History of the World in 10½ Chapters." Journal of Literature & Theology 5(2) (June 1991): 220-233.
Raucq Hoorickx, Isabelle. "Julian Barnes' History of the World in 10½ Chapters: A Levinasian Deconstructionist Point of View." Le Langage et l'Homme: Recherches Pluridisciplinaires sur le Langage 26(1) (March 1991): 47-54.

[Roslynmuse]

Thanks, Vinteuil - that little lot will keep us busy for a while!

[Colonel Danby]

Reading (at the same time):

Stephen Fry: Making History

Minette Walters: Disorded Minds

two brilliant writers at the top of their form...

[Richard Tarleton]

I don't know whether any of the following might help -

Erm, thanks Vinteuil!

[FFAdminMKS]

I don't know whether any of the following might help -

Or this

[Oops. Signed ff

[vinteuil]

thanks, FF!

... actually the Brian Finney article looks quite promising -

https://www.csulb.edu/~bhfinney/oldsite/barnes.html

[Thespian]

Reading Agatha Christie's N or M?

and just picked up "The Ninth" by Harvey Sachs in a charity shop, all about Beethoven's ninth symphony and it's background.

http://www.amazon.com/Ninth-Beethoven-World-1824/dp/140006077X

[aka Calum Da Jazbo]

... i have started rereading all of Alan Furst's spy novels having just read the new 'Spies of the Balkans' ...any Furst fans here?

[Sparafucile]

Afternoon,
I've just begun Book 2, The Clash of Kings, in George R.R. Martin's medieval fantasy saga, A Song of Ice and Fire, the first being Game of Thrones. Wonderfully rich and complex story-telling!

As 'light relief' from saga-ing, I'm reading the odd short story by J.G. Ballard (read 'Chronopolis' the other evening, very thought-provoking, and great fun!), and Katherine Mansfield (re-read 'Bliss' last weekend, for the umpteenth time; it still intoxicates with its language and evocation of mood).

At some point I intend to read Peter Hoeg's Miss Smilla's Feeling for Snow. Bought it last week, and trying to find the time!

[french frank]

Following The Hare with Amber Eyes with Bruce Chatwin's UTZ.

I've just bought The Hare With Amber Eyes for my nephew for his birthday. Not sure whether to read it first and bend the covers and make them messy or to get a copy of my own.

The second book I bought for said nevitt is Primo Levi's The Periodic Table - which I have seven days to read before handing it over.

[vinteuil]

Primo Levi's The Periodic Table - .

... if you like that, you might like to try Oliver Sacks Uncle Tungsten ...

[Don Basilio]

The Mabinogian, look you.

[Roslynmuse]

Lesley Glaister - Chosen.

A book about cults. I'm finding it a disturbing read, less because of the subject matter than because the main character is so spineless you want to shake her and make her see sense. I'm not getting as much out of this as some of Glaister's other books, but it shares similar themes - dysfunctional families, the abuse of power, the dangers of other people. She would write an excellent book about an internet forum, I'm sure!

[Anna]

I bought yesterday (charity shop) a book I expect everyone has read Eats, Shoots, and Leaves. I started reading it last night - what a lovely book! Really enjoying it and must remember not to use the Oxford comma!

As all the books in the shop were £1.00 and assuming it'll be a long, hard Winter and possibly being snowed in again I also stocked up and bought:

John Simpson - A Mad World, My Masters
John Humphrys - Devil's Advocate
Frank McCourt - 'Tis
Jeanette Winterson - Gut Symmetries
Khaled Hossini - The Kite Runner
Lewis Carroll - Through the Looking Glass
Charles Dickens - Great Expectations (haven't read that since a child)
Vita Sackville-West - Perpita
Edgar Allan Poe - Selected Tales

Possibly an odd mix but at such a cheap price no regrets if they are not finished and then returned for resale.

[amateur51]

That was an excellent tenner's worth Anna

I gave copies ofEats, Shoots, and Leaves as Christmas presents the year it came out & many's the row it started over various dinner tables for the rest of the year.

Several people have not invited me since