What are you reding?

[Jeannie's Hunter]

I have just finished reading Patrick Gale's "A Perfectly Good Man" and felt a bit disconcerted at first, the way it flashed backwards and forwards in the different people's lives and it took me a while to get into it. Once I got the hang of it though, I felt it was very interesting, and I wanted to see how everything was connected.
I think that you said you had read it too Glen? I've just got another one of his novels out of the library - "Notes From An Exhibition" , so will see how that one pans out!

Sent from Jeannie's iPad

[glenc]

I think you will love it Jeannie.  It made me want to go and explore Penzance.  And yes, I did read 'A Perfectly Good Man' - I thought that was terrific too.  But then I am a big fan of Patrick Gale.

[Claire Hawes]

Yes I've read that one too (Perfecly Good Man) Jeannie and enjoyed it enough to get another of his, Rough Music, which I am very nearly at the end of. I am rationing myself to reading just a little, each bedtime, as I don't want it to end! I think it's better than than APGM, and very involving. Maybe having a gay son makes his work resonate particularly with me.

[Lesley Martin]

I really enjoyed Notes from an Exhibition, PGM slightly less so. Will have to try Rough Music. Just finished Kate Atkinson's Life after Life which was magnificent, and started the Red House By Mark Haddon. I didn't like his last one but I'm enjoying this; it's amazing how he manages to enter the interior life of his characters whether they are an 8 year old boy, a teenage girl or a middle aged woman! And I still have the new Margaret Atwood to look forward to, as well as several new releases from some of my favourite young adult writers.

Lesley

Sent from my iPad

Lesley Martin

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[glenc]

Yes I loved 'Rough Music' too.  I have read most of Patrick Gale's stuff.  I am a real fan!!  

My friend has just finished the new Kate Atkinson novel, she thought it was great too Lesley.  So that is next on the list I think.

[Jules]

I read Rough Music many years ago and thought it totally brilliant, and I remember similar feelings.  I'm not sure that I've read any other of his. 

I am now with the early Tudors, having got through to the last of the Philippa Gregory books in the series. This one is the White Princess, and isn't as good as the others, or perhaps I'm just getting a bit battle weary. It was an incredibly difficult period in history.

I had an interspersed foray into "The Buddha in the Attic", which really disturbed me, although I loved the writing style. It was so compelling, and so tragic. Don't get me wrong, it was a truly wonderful book, just a bit harrowing.

A friend has recommended "The homecoming of Samuel Lake", Jenny Wingfield, which will go onto the list.

Did anyone see the list in The Times this week? Books one should read as we reach certain ages? There were a fair number I'd never even heard of!

[glenc]

Is there a link or a title for this list Julia? I would be interested to look it up.  I am only an occasional Times Reader - I have the Telegraph or the Guardian most days.  Added bonus for those of us who shop at Waitrose, (where I daily pick up a few things that I cannot get at the Independants here).  We get a free Guardian, Telegraph or Independent to have with our free coffee.

I am reading (for 3rd time) 'The Cleaner of Chartres'....it is my choice for our book group so I have to read it with a view to leading a discussion this time.  Much different from zooming through a book for the pleasure of just reading!

[Cally]

I have just finished reading peaches for M cure. I must ask my mother the name of a book she keeps recommending but I forget the title. Something to do with carpet?!  I am about to start Kate Adies autobiography again as I stopped it for Wolf Hall.

On Saturday, September 7, 2013 10:17:52 AM UTC+1, Jules wrote:

[Claire Hawes]

Something completely different for me next. The 1938 "Walks in North Devon" book I mentioned in WIDT the other day has arrived, and I find that each "Walk" is actually a wonderful personal account of the route  undertaken by the author S P B Mais,for example telling of his conversation with a farmer in Doone valley, or how he had to catch a runaway horse! It sounds like perfect escapist bedtime reading, and I am already half-planning a long weekend away in Exmoor, perhaps next spring, to see if we can follow in his footsteps!

On Saturday, September 7, 2013 11:16:54 AM UTC+1, Cally wrote

[Jules]

Glen, there will be a link, but I suspect that unless you're a Times Subscriber then you won't be able to read it... Try...

Times Article

If it doesn't work, I'll see if I can cut and paste and drop the text in.  Please let me know!

[Shaun Finnie]

Thanks for that Jules but you’re right – we (as non-subscribers) can’t see it.

 

If you could do that cut ‘n’ paste that’d be grand, I’d like to see it too.

 

Shaun

[Fiona]

I must try Life after Life, Lesley - I do like Kate Atkinson!

I'm a few chapters into A Dangerous Inheritance by Alison Weir.  Haven't read anything of hers before, but I'm enjoying this as it ties up the White Queen/Red Queen era with a later period through the two main characters.

[Jules]

Here it is...

The ten best novels for your age group

Twentysomethings 
Old Man Goriot, Honoré de Balzac 
L’Etranger, Albert Camus 
The Mysteries of Pittsburgh, Michael Chabon 
I Cannot Get You Close Enough, Ellen Gilchrist
The Buddha of Suburbia, Hanif Kureishi 
The Group, Mary McCarthy 
Goodbye, Columbus, Philip Roth 
Requiem for a Dream, Hubert Selby Jr 
The Secret History, Donna Tartt 
Sexing the Cherry, Jeanette Winterson

Thirtysomethings 
London Fields, Martin Amis 
The Tenant of Wildfell Hall, Anne Bronté
Middlesex, Jeffrey Eugenides 
The Sun Also Rises, Ernest Hemingway 
The Best of Everything, Rona Jaffe 
Of Human Bondage, W Somerset Maugham 
The Rector’s Daughter, FM Mayor 
The Jungle, Upton Sinclair 
Miss Mackenzie, Anthony Trollope 
All the King’s Men, Robert Penn Warren

Fortysomethings 
The Kindness of Women, JG Ballard 
Seize the Day, Saul Bellow 
The Debut, Anita Brookner 
The Good Earth, Pearl S Buck 
Daniel Deronda, George Eliot 
Daisy Fay and the Miracle Man, Fannie Flagg 
May We Be Forgiven, AM Homes 
A Heart So White, Javier Marías 
In Praise of Older Women, Stephen Vizinczey 
A Handful of Dust, Evelyn Waugh

Fiftysomethings 
White Lightning, Justin Cartwright 
Disgrace, JM Coetzee 
Spending, Mary Gordon 
The Diaries of Jane Somers, Doris Lessing 
The Invisible Bridge, Julie Orringer 
The Tenderness of Wolves, Stef Penney 
The Satanic Verses, Salman Rushdie 
The Stone Diaries, Carol Shields 
Dinner at the Homesick Restaurant, Anne Tyler 
Young Hearts Crying, Richard Yates

Sixtysomethings 
Things Fall Apart, Chinua Achebe 
The Sense of an Ending, Julian Barnes 
The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry, Rachel Joyce 
The Diviners, Margaret Laurence 
The Fish Can Sing, Halldór Laxness 
American Pastoral, Philip Roth 
Nobody’s Fool, Richard Russo 
Last Orders, Graham Swift 
Fathers and Sons, Ivan Turgenev 
A Curious Earth, Gerard Woodward

Seventysomethings 
Mr Bridge, Evan S Connell 
Mrs Bridge, Evan S Connell 
The Summer Book, Tove Jansson 
The History of Love, Nicole Krauss 
Moon Tiger, Penelope Lively 
Love in the Time of Cholera, Gabriel García Márquez 
The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel, Deborah Moggach 
The Sea, the Sea, Iris Murdoch 
State of Wonder, Anne Patchett 
Jane and Prudence, Barbara Pym 

Extracted from The Novel Cure: An A-Z of Literary Remedies, by Ella Berthould and Susan Elderkin, which is published by Canongate today, priced £17.99

[Shaun Finnie]

I’m currently reading “England, Our England” by Alan Titchmarsh – a very patriotic view of traditional England as seen by some of our best writers – and “Are you ready for the country?” by Pete Doggett, a huge study of how musicians like the Byrds, Bob Dylan and the Flying Burrito Brothers changed our perception of ‘country’ music from people like Merle Haggard, Slim Whitman and Hank Williams to Gath Brooks, Wilco and the Dixie Chicks. Not to everyone here’s tastes, I know, but I’m finding it fascinating.

 

Shaun

[Lesley Martin]

Oh dear, I have read very few of these and never even heard of quite a lot of them. I wonder what their basis for the lists was? The list I have read most from is the Seventysomethings one, what does that say about me!

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[Shaun Finnie]

Put me down for a big fat zero from this list. However, having read the following part of the blurb of the book that the list is taken from, I’m not taking it too seriously...

 

“This is a medical handbook, with a difference. Whether you have a stubbed toe or a severe case of the blues, within these pages you'll find a cure in the form of a novel - or a combination of novels - to help ease your pain. You'll also find advice on how to tackle common reading ailments - such as what to do when you feel overwhelmed by the number of books in the world, or you have a tendency to give up halfway through. When read at the right moment in your life, a novel can - quite literally - change it, and The Novel Cure is a reminder of that power. Written with authority, passion and wit, here is a fresh approach to finding new books to read, and an enchanting way to revisit the books on your shelves.”

 

 

From: Lesley Martin

Sent: Monday, September 09, 2013 12:35 PM

To: Times Health Club

Subject: Re: What are you reading?

 

[glenc]

I like the quote Shaun.  I have read a goodly number of the books on the list - what does that say about me?   Predictable.??!!! What I found distressing in some ways was how the 'tone' of the books changed as the age progressed.  I am in my sixties and I am not sure that I want to be reading right now books about 'oldies' growing old disgracefully, or those which reflect on one's past memories!!!  Much too morbid.  Thankfully, I have already read many of the books for 50s-70s many, many years ago.

Right now I want to read about the era of the Hacienda in Madchester and the exploits of 'The Happy Mondays' and about how Alex James has reinvented himself as a Cheesemaker and Farmer.  Or, indeed, be cheered up by a few volumes of Terry Pratchet!!!!

Maybe I am being oversensitive about my age!!!

I am pleased to have received this list in many ways though (thank you Julia) because it has reminded me of volumes by one or two favourites authors.  I must get the J.G.Ballard .

[Claire Hawes]

Well I am relieved to hear that Lesley hasn't heard of many of those, I was worrying about my ignorance!

Pere Goriot was the first book on the reading list in my first year at university (in French, of course, as it was a French degree) and Oh! how I struggled with it! On the other hand I have loved everything I've read by Camus so I can understand that being in the 20's list. Haven't read any of the others in that section, and none in the 30s though I have read other Trollopes and really liked them. Can't bear Martin Amis.
It seems a real shame to leave Barbara Pym until your 70's - I have read several of hers and think she's too often overlooked.

[glenc]

P.S. Shaun re your comment on Country Music.  I have loved the way the Dixie Chicks changed their style following the 'rejection' by the conservative sector of the American public, following their condemnation of the President whilst appearing in London.

I saw a great documentary film about the whole saga (on the cinema) but I forget the title.  Have you seen it?  It followed them on tour and the post-comment period.  There was a lot of anger there and it showed in their music I think.  I must sort out the album cd - it was compulsive listening for me at one time.

[Jeannie's Hunter]

A weird selection, I would say! Like you Lesley,I do wonder who came up with these lists - I have read quite a few of them, but some from each age group and none from my own age group!

Sent from Jeannie's iPad

[Shaun Finnie]

The film was called ‘Shut Up and Sing’ Glen. I haven’t seen it but it’s definitely on my ‘one day’ list.

 

From: glenc

Sent: Monday, September 09, 2013 2:15 PM

To: timeshe...@googlegroups.com

Subject: Re: What are you reading?

 

[glenc]

Shaun, I heartily recommend it.  Not only for its great music etc but also just as a piece of really well-made documentary filming.  I am going to see if I can borrow it on one of the DVD rental sites, although it was really great on the Big Screen.

[Fran]

And a big fat zero from me as well!!! 

 

I am currently reading Terry Pratchett, Snuff which I am enjoying enormously as I do so love Vimes.

[glenc]

Ah Fran - my son has loved Terry Pratchett from the beginning.  We used to have an Independent Bookshop in Birmingham who were one of the early businesses to show faith in Sir TP.  He never forgot and even when he hit the big time he always went back to do a special couple of days for them, and he sat for hours when the shop was closed signing a load of books with special messages.  They used to get everyone of the Discworld novels signed for my son (and even dropped the copy off at my house for no extra charge!).  So my lad has every Discworld novel and the majority (until recently of course) with a personalised message..

That's why I love independent bookshops!!!!

[Jeannie's Hunter]

I have never been able to read Terry Pratchett's books - simply not my kind of thing unfortunately but as Shaun always says, that's why everyone enjoys different things!

Sent from Jeannie's iPad

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[CarolB was MNKB]

Fat zero from me too. And I work in a library. Albeit an audio one. I shall have to see which of these books we have in the library.

[CarolB was MNKB]

HURRAH a reprieve from Sylvia Plath. (Still got to finish it though) have an urgent book to read/check for the library. It's popular and had to be re-read. (One of our cassette conversions)
A Farewell to Arms by Ernest Hemingway. Enjoying It so far.
Has anyone else read this book?
I say read but of course I have to listen.

[Claire Hawes]

Never read it Carol - but I see from Jules' list that we should have read Hemingway  in our 30's! I think you might find him a bit of an acquired taste - lots of short sentences and no adjectives.

[Shaun Finnie]

I like Hemingway's style. I couldn't only read that but it's a nice change.
Better than Sylvia (whine whine) Plath any day!

[Lesley Martin]

Read and loved in my 20s, although not since. I remember reading Death in the Afternoon and although bullfighting is abhorrent to me his writing about it made me want to go...

 

As for Plath, I love some of her poems in isolation but I think reading a lot would make you as depressed as she was. However she expresses so well what if feels like to be depressed - maybe not the best read when you *are* depressed though.

 

Coming towards the end of Margaret Atwood's brilliant MaddAddam, one of those books you get so absorbed in you don't want it to end.

 

Lesley

On 12 September 2013 08:58, Shaun Finnie <shaun....@sky.com> wrote:

I like Hemingway's style. I couldn't only read that but it's a nice change. Better than Sylvia (whine whine) Plath any day!

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