Edward St. Aubyn’s Patrick Melrose anthology of five (short) novels; Never Mind, Bad News, Some Hope, Mother’s Milk and At Last. Laugh out loud funny, but heartbreakingly sad. Patrick’s father is one of the great monstrous creations of literature. The exquisitely barbed dialogue is like putting one’s hand into a pocketful of razor blades. Apparently this is semi-autobiographical, so one can only sympathise with the author, and admire his courage for being so candid.
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... I was trying to recollect how it was that I first came across Queneau - and suddenly I remembered : it was bicoz of Radio 3 !Originally posted by vinteuil View Post
Back in 1978 there was a series of 13 evening talks by Richard Cobb (eventually published in book form as Promenades ) celebrating France and twentieth century French lit - and Cobb was a big fan of Queneau and his celebration of 'little things'. I was an instant convert to Cobb and his take on things, and pertick'ly his love of Queneau
Looking at the genome for 25 June 1978 - that's the sort of Radio 3 I want
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Looking up Raymond Queneau on my mobile (not the computer) I was amused by the wiki detail Children: Jean-Marie Queneau. So that'll be two children then, a son and a daughter?Originally posted by vinteuil View Post
As for your other comments
It isn't given us to know those rare moments when people are wide open and the lightest touch can wither or heal. A moment too late and we can never reach them any more in this world.Comment
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Originally posted by vinteuil View Post
Cobb also did an earlier, two part Queneau talk "A Small World of Reassurance", part 1 "Queneau and Le Havre" is in the BBC's Archives.
You could try putting in a 4extra Listener Request to radio4extra@bbc.co.uk and see if it appears in a future Request Weekend...
BTW Richard Cobb's "A Classical Education" Book at Bedtime reading, by John Franklyn-Robbin, has also survived. And the 1985 "Quest for Queneau", with Cobb, Iris Murdoch & Miles Kington, is listed in the Archives. Or there's a 2007 World Service production of "Zazie in the Metro".
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Ultra -Processed People.
Chris Van Tulleken.
Not often that I buy a Penguin title , but for research purposes I bought this ( £5.50 from Amazon , the trade discount must be about 75% !!)
It clearly is a very significant book, and I certainly recommend borrowing a copy and having a read. He challenges a lot of orthodoxies in convincing and entertaining fashion.
Scary and important stuff….I will not be pushed, filed, stamped, indexed, briefed, debriefed or numbered. My life is my own.
I am not a number, I am a free man.Comment
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A short biographical film.
'Edna was exceptional': Edna O'Brien laid to rest on Holy Island - YouTubeComment
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'No Name' by Wilkie Collins (1862). For those who don't know him, he was a friend of Dickens and famous fort the 'sensational ' novel. He's said to be the first writer of detective novels , as oposed to short stories. His best known books are The Moonstone and The Woman in White. I prefer him to Dickens, though there's no doubt as to who was the major talent.Comment
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It isn't given us to know those rare moments when people are wide open and the lightest touch can wither or heal. A moment too late and we can never reach them any more in this world.Comment
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I enjoyed that, f f: it's about 'reading' rather than 'what I'm reading'. In similar vein, there's an article in today's Observer about an author. It's by David Barnett, page 13. The author is Bernard Cornwell, an author I know from his well-stocked shelves in the library. It's an interesting article, imo, about 'writing'. I have not read any 'Sharpe novels' - should I include Cornwell in 'what I'm reading now'? Anyone?Originally posted by french frank View PostComment
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Working my way through Val McDermid's Karen Pirie novels, I'm currently enjoying 'The Skeleton Road'.Comment
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It isn't given us to know those rare moments when people are wide open and the lightest touch can wither or heal. A moment too late and we can never reach them any more in this world.Comment
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... further to the record -
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"For the first time in 44 years Bernard Cornwell will not be delivering a book this year as his latest, Sharpe’s Storm, has been delayed by a Tempest. While supporting his sick wife, Cornwell, 80, got two thirds of the book done by last month but was then derailed by the Cape Cod Shakespeare Festival, where he’d agreed to play Prospero. “I made an admittedly feeble effort to refuse,” he said, “but the feeble effort was rejected.” He’ll deliver the book next year, but feels like he’s been slacking. “The great George MacDonald Fraser once remarked to me, ‘You slow down at 80’,” Cornwell said. “I have.” Slowed down? For most, producing a play and two thirds of a book in a year is such stuff as dreams are made on."
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Ishiguro reckons on five years to produce a novel (not sure how many times BC has been shortlisted for the Man Booker):
It isn't given us to know those rare moments when people are wide open and the lightest touch can wither or heal. A moment too late and we can never reach them any more in this world.Comment
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Barbara Cartland looks to have been 2 weeks per novel, at peak production (1977 or 2000?).Originally posted by french frank View Post
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