Thanks I'll check out the webchat. The thing about her books is they're all at least slightly off the wall one way or another. I read several many many years ago and thought a little went a long way, but on reading Wise Children recently was amazed at how inventive she is and with no respect for limitations of genre. So she might not be for you at all!
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... and he married Countess Friederike Maria Karoline Henriette Rosa Sabina Franziska Fugger von Babenhausen .Originally posted by Stanfordian View Post
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That will be in too! After all it is an autobiography.Originally posted by vinteuil View PostLast edited by Stanfordian; 18-06-18, 11:21.Comment
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S & S a recent Kindle download. Is it as good as A Perfect Spy? Currently reading Der Stechlin by Theodor Fontane, to be followed by "L'Adultera".Originally posted by Richard Tarleton View PostMy life, each morning when I dress, is four and twenty hours less. (J Richardson)Comment
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No: A Perfect Spy is better IMO.Comment
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Wilhelm Raabe : Stopfkuchen. In translation ("Tubby Schaumann: A Tale of Murder and the High Seas"). How I wish I had acquired German when I was young! Sixty six is too old to learn German...
I love Raabe. Far too little available in English; Stopfkuchen a gloriously frustrating tale with an unreliable narrator and various long-winded and digressionary characters - but when you reach the dénouement you see how it all makes sense. In the same volume (Wilhelm Raabe, Novels, The German Library, Continuum publishers) the lovely Horacker.
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My weekend reading was this:
Who remembers Robert Shaw, these days? Not many, I'd hazard a guess, though Jaws and From Russia With Love are still watched. His parallel career as a novelist and playwright seems to have been completely forgotten. Has anyone on here read any of his novels?Comment
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I walked past him once at a test match at Lords. Such charisma!Originally posted by Conchis View PostMy weekend reading was this:
Who remembers Robert Shaw, these days? Not many, I'd hazard a guess, though Jaws and From Russia With Love are still watched. His parallel career as a novelist and playwright seems to have been completely forgotten. Has anyone on here read any of his novels?
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Current reading is The Sea by John Banville, the first of his books I've read. I'm looking forward to reading more, even though I haven't finished this one yet. What a beautiful and subtle prose style he has, owing much to Beckett to be sure, but still much more individual and affecting on the level of just the texture of words and sentences than most contemporary fiction I've come across, while never lapsing into empty virtuosity like some.Comment
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I greatly admired this Booker winner as well, Upstate by James Wood has something of a similar feel, with an old chap visiting an adult daughter and reliving his past, the prose is perhaps as not as beautiful as Banville, but it's very good, and is certainly not empty, it fizzes with philosophical ideas and observations on matters as disparate as town planning and cures for depression. But my favourite for soul-wrenching narrative and incantatory prose, at the moment, is Sebastian Barry, both Days Without End and The Temporary Gentleman.Originally posted by Richard Barrett View PostComment
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Robert Shaw - Had no idea, sounds fascinating.Comment
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On my must read list, PROriginally posted by Pianorak View Post
Very slow reading for me, I'm afraid, and not yet available in English translation 
A little publishing house called Angel Classics has been some excellent work translating some of the lesser known 19th Century novellas, including Fontane's Cecile, and some very welcome translations of little known Russian fiction. The winter project for me was ploughing through Theodor Storm: Paul the Puppeteer and Carsten the Trustee which I still think sounds better translated as Carsten the Steward, but ... oh well.
And the tune ends too soon for us allComment
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... yes! Angel have been doing invaluable work. If you are into Storm, Angel Classics have done his masterpiece, The Dykemaster.Originally posted by Constantbee View PostOn my must read list, PR Very slow reading for me, I'm afraid, and not yet available in English translation A little publishing house called Angel Classics has been some excellent work translating some of the lesser known 19th Century novellas, including Fontane's Cecile, and some very welcome translations of little known Russian fiction. The winter project for me was ploughing through Theodor Storm: Paul the Puppeteer and Carsten the Trustee which I still think sounds better translated as Carsten the Steward, but ... oh well.
Angel also have some Stifter - also woefully under-represented in English translation :
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Thank you for reminding me, vinteuilOriginally posted by vinteuil View Post
Angel also have some Stifter - also woefully under-represented in English translation :
. I have 'The Dykemaster' which I read in parallel with 'Der Schimmelreiter' from time to time for practice. A good tip btw for anybody trying to brush up old language skills. It's another title I don't like much. Can't think of anything better, though. It means 'The Rider on the Grey Horse' but that's a bit literal and bland. With apologies to Jim Morrison I might have translated it as 'The Rider on the Storm' 
And the tune ends too soon for us allComment
Among his 3 or 4 best (IMO, of course 
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