What are you reading now?

[aeolium]

Currently reading Chekhov, A Life In Letters. I love Chekhov but am struggling to get into this - I'm a bit of a novice when it comes to reading epistolary works. Diaries are a much easier read.

I generally prefer fictional letters to real ones. One of my favourites is Nash's Letters to the Secretary of a Golf Club (and its sequel, Whelk's Postbag). But there are quite a few enjoyable epistolary novels, such as the aforementioned Dracula and its gothic predecessor Frankenstein. On the other hand, Sydney Smith's Selected Letters (the World's Classics edition) is a great read.

[richardfinegold]

Speaking of fictional letters, I finished Dracula. I don't go for Gothic Novels but this was special.
I'm saving a long Spanish work that Richard Tarleton recommended for my trip to Europe next month. Next up is a work by Mario Vargas Llosa, The Dream Of the Celt. Considering that everything else I have read by this author takes place in Latin America, this should be a departure.

[Richard Tarleton]

I'm saving a long Spanish work that Richard Tarleton recommended for my trip to Europe next month. Next up is a work by Mario Vargas Llosa, The Dream Of the Celt. Considering that everything else I have read by this author takes place in Latin America, this should be a departure.

Richard, this was indeed a departure for Vargas Llosa. I read it when it was first published (as El sueño del celta), and think I may have posted a review on this board a few hundred pages back! For others, it's a fictionalised (in that it reconstructs events and gets inside the subject's head) of the remarkable life of Roger Casement, including his work in the Congo and Amazon as well as his eventual involvement with the Irish Republican movement. The author's researches included a visit to the family home in County Antrim - still lived in by the family, who are also friends of mine. They report that he brought a translator with him just in case, though it turned out he spoke perfectly serviceable English.

You may like to explore the subject further with this book, about his friend and associate ED Morel.

[Conchis]

I've also been dipping into John Fowles' Diaries at odd moments. I read both volumes a few years back but they are very rewarding to dip into and compare very favourably to his later fiction. The man had a great gift for reading people and summing them up with deadly accuracy: while warming to him, I'm glad I never met him!

The end of the second volume is profoundly upsetting as Fowles' life descends into a miasma of illness, marital misery and almost existential despair. The final entries deal with the death of his wife. I like to think that the last fifteen years of his life were a lot happier. You'd never believe you could feel sorry for a millionaire novelist living in a stately pile in Lyme Regis but it's Fowles' 'achievement' that you do!

[LeMartinPecheur]

Just starting Music and Decadence in European Modernism - The Case of Central and Eastern Europe by Stephen Downes. Not my usual bedside reading but the catchy title, intriguing blurb and low price (from http://www.psbooks.co.uk/) sold it!

[richardfinegold]

Richard, this was indeed a departure for Vargas Llosa. I read it when it was first published (as El sueño del celta), and think I may have posted a review on this board a few hundred pages back! For others, it's a fictionalised (in that it reconstructs events and gets inside the subject's head) of the remarkable life of Roger Casement, including his work in the Congo and Amazon as well as his eventual involvement with the Irish Republican movement. The author's researches included a visit to the family home in County Antrim - still lived in by the family, who are also friends of mine. They report that he brought a translator with him just in case, though it turned out he spoke perfectly serviceable English.

You may like to explore the subject further with this book, about his friend and associate ED Morel.

It may be less of a departure than I had thought. So far his tales of the Congo and European exploitation are very reminiscent of his South American settings.

[ardcarp]

You'd never believe you could feel sorry for a millionaire novelist living in a stately pile in Lyme Regis but it's Fowles' 'achievement' that you do!

Well, being a millionaire self-evidently doesn't guarantee happiness. And living in Lyme Regis maybe sounds attractive, but it is hilly, overcrowded, a nightmare to park your car in....oh, and threatened by landslips! The beach consists of artificially imported sand and the whole place smells of chip-fat. Watch out for predatory seagulls. There's a slot-machine gambling place on the sea-front. The Cobb is quite picturesque I agree, but boat-launching is about the most expensive in the Universe...£18 just to roll your own dinghy in, and £46 for an overnight stay. Aaaarghhhh!!!!!

[muzzer]

On the subject of letters, I'm currently reading the letters of Philip Larkin, which I'm enjoying greatly. An odd and complex man for sure. I shall look out Fowles. I've been haunted by the large number of copies of The Magus and The Fr Lieut's Woman I've seen in shops over the years. I hesitate to say "he was massive in the '70s", but...

[Richard Tarleton]

I shall look out Fowles. I've been haunted by the large number of copies of The Magus and The Fr Lieut's Woman I've seen in shops over the years. I hesitate to say "he was massive in the '70s", but...

I read The Collector (deeply unpleasant), FLW and The Magus in the, er, 70s. The Magus - a haunting, strange book I've re-read a couple of times. I read Daniel Martin when it came out, didn't think much of it. Then....A Maggot (1985). Beyond weird. A sort of correspondence novel exploring a fictional disappearance/murder mystery with supernatural overtones in the Devon countryside in the late 17th century. The last 150 pages (The Examination and Deposition of Rebecca Lee) spins off into insanity. Completely bonkers. No idea. I re-read it recently, no better. I'd be delighted if someone could explain.

I've walked the Undercliff in both directions. Apparently when filming FLW the crew, who had to drag the kit up and down, wore T-shirts saying I Hate the Undercliff.

[ardcarp]

The Magus - a haunting, strange book I've re-read a couple of times

It's been haunting me by sitting unread on our bookshelves for x years. Must dust it off and have a go...I suppose.

[Beef Oven!]

The Purple Revolution - Nigel Farage

[Conchis]

I read The Collector (deeply unpleasant), FLW and The Magus in the, er, 70s. The Magus - a haunting, strange book I've re-read a couple of times. I read Daniel Martin when it came out, didn't think much of it. Then....A Maggot (1985). Beyond weird. A sort of correspondence novel exploring a fictional disappearance/murder mystery with supernatural overtones in the Devon countryside in the late 17th century. The last 150 pages (The Examination and Deposition of Rebecca Lee) spins off into insanity. Completely bonkers. No idea. I re-read it recently, no better. I'd be delighted if someone could explain.

I've walked the Undercliff in both directions. Apparently when filming FLW the crew, who had to drag the kit up and down, wore T-shirts saying I Hate the Undercliff.

The first three books (Collector, Magus and FLW) are, I'd say, major achievements and three of the greatest books written since 1945. After that, Fowles became somewhat indulgent and solipsistic, I'd say. Daniel Martin I recall as a waste of time and The Ebony Tower (short stories) was little better. The Diaries probably stand with the first three as his finest literary achievements.

[MrGongGong]

The Purple Revolution - Nigel Farage

THIS is the real "Purple Revolution"
don't trust the shyster fake

[Richard Tarleton]

The first three books (Collector, Magus and FLW) are, I'd say, major achievements and three of the greatest books written since 1945. After that, Fowles became somewhat indulgent and solipsistic, I'd say. Daniel Martin I recall as a waste of time and The Ebony Tower (short stories) was little better. The Diaries probably stand with the first three as his finest literary achievements.

Thanks for that confirmation Conchis. I'd forgotten The Ebony Tower. I also tried Mantissa when it came out, but managed about 3 pages. Extreme solipsism, now you mention it.

[gurnemanz]

The Purple Revolution - Nigel Farage

How to ruin a perfectly decent colour.