Rusty’s Comments (group member since Jan 15, 2015)

Rusty’s comments from the Continent Read-a-thon group.

I read A Conspiracy of Paper. It is a very well researched historical novel. The author attempts to duplicate the writing style of novels of that era. At first this results in dialogue that is too arch, but gradually the author gains better control over his writing and creates a very enjoyable version of 19th century London, especially its underworld.

Nicole wrote: "finished Blameless really enjoyed it, 4 stars
tried reading Watchmen, but didn't liek ti at all so ended up DNFing abour halfway in.
currently reading [book:Yes Please|..."

Yeah I felt the same about Watchmen. I felt it was good until the final third, when I felt it lost its way structurally and sort of splintered apart.

That is too bad. This was a fun group. The Around the World Challenge seems more like a U.S. challenge the way it is set up. I.e. you have to do 50 books from the U.S. alone, and can ignore the rest of N. America and still be following the rules.

I'll start with 'A Conspiracy of Paper', by David Liss. Here it is the ninth and I have yet to begin. A number of things have slowed my reading pace considerably, unfortunately. If I finish 'Conspiracy' in time, I'll find a second North American book to read.

Happy Reading everyone!

I read 'Breath' and enjoyed it. I thought the late addition of the drugs motif was unnecessary, as the book was doing fine with the surfing and depiction of the lifestyle of that part of the world in those days. I'm not convinced the framing story was needed either. But overall it was a good book.

'Therapy' had some good twists, but the author's effort to shift moral responsibility from the perpetrator was unsuccessful, and the female characters, though very important to the plot, were lifeless shadows.

I've only managed a third of the latest Amis novel. I am not sure what to make of it so far. It seems disjointed, no forward momentum, but of course the writing is always technically excellent, as one would expect from Amis.

Jasmin wrote: "It's his debut novel. Not the strongest but also not the weakest in my opinion. I've read it years ago so my memory of it is a little foggy."

Ok, thanks! I'll check it out.

I'll start with Martin Amis' latest. Fitzek's 'Therapy' is available locally, so I might check it out. Is that a good one, Jasmin?

My final book for this month was 'Seven Nights' by Jorges Luis Borges, translated by Eliot Weinberger. It is a collection of seven lectures, in print basically essays, given by Borges. They are fascinating to read. He covers topics including Dantes' Divine Comedy, Nightmares, Thousand and One Nights, Buddhism (though his understanding of this topic is a bit shaky), Poetry, The Kabbalah, and Blindness. He pulls a vast knowledge of literature and philosophy to inform his arguments. His intelligence and erudition are truly inspiring, and the essays great fun to read.

Hi. I read 'Leaf Storm and Other Stories' by Gabriel Garcia Marquez, this afternoon. The title novella is good, but the better gems to me are the six short stories that follow. One can see why Marquez won the Nobel Prize. In this fine translation by Gregory Rabassa, we see the author's deft touch with a wide range of subject matter. his brilliance with language, his ability to make the fantastic seem real and the real, or realism, to become fantastic. Marquez can not only subtly shift between realism and fantasy, he merges the two, makes them exist together, and the best trick of all, makes the merger seem normal, as though it were foolish to see life any other way. This is of course the famous Magic Realism, a style minted, I believe, by the South and Central American writers. Marquez is certainly brilliant at it.

I finished 'Twenty Love Poems and a Song of Despair' by Pablo Neruda, a few days ago. It's a terrific little collection translated by W.S. Merwin, with a brilliant introduction by Christina Garcia and peppered with illustrations by Pablo Picasso.
Many years ago I was bored with all those, sometimes highly regarded, love poems comparing someone to a weather pattern or a plant. Neruda's poems thankfully are far better. The nature references are there, but handled with far more skill and imagination. Even in translation, Neruda's great skill with words is evident. This speaks well also of Merwin's ability as translator.

Last week I finished 'The Tunnel' by Ernesto Sabato. It is a first person narration, told by a crazy artist serving time in jail for murder. He narrates the story from the first time he saw his future victim to just after he killed her. He is an unreliable narrator in the sense he makes deluded statements presented as fact, but the reader can see past his statements to the reality of his increasing madness.

There are a few scenes presented as comedy, such as his comments on art critics. Some of this works, some does not.
The problem is that his crazy behavior becomes absurd, like a comedic satire of crazy. He is so clearly deranged that the woman would catch on to his madness long before she actually does in the story.

I expected more chills, or more artistic insight into the breakdown of a mind, than is present here. This is an ok story about a too-obviously deranged man and the most clueless victim in the history of the world.

I've had to change my reading plans due to varied circumstances. I'm reading Borges essay collection 'Seven Nights', and next I'll read some of Neruda's poetry, or perhaps 'The Tunnel' by Sabato.
... Enjoying everyone's comments!

Jasmin wrote: "I'm going to start with The Head of the Saint because it is way shorter than One Hundred Years of Solitude ;) And I'm really not sure how long One Hundred Years will take..."

Good decision! Reading 'One Hundred Years of Solitude' takes about one hour per year. ;)
Seriously though, it requires a close, patient reading or makes no sense whatsoever.

I decided on 'Daughter of Fortune' by Allende, 'The Savage Detectives' by Bolando, and 'The Tunnel' by Sabato. I am very excited to read these, I have not read anything by these authors previously.

Italo Calvino and Jose Carpentier are brilliant. I may re-read some of their stuff for next month, unless that is cheating.

Finishing The Noodle Maker. A meeting between two friends- a professional blood donor, and a writer - serves as the framing story for a series of stories told by the writer to his blood donor friend. The writer is bitter at having to write propaganda, and tells his friend realistic stories about the Chinese people. In reading these stories one hopes they are not quite as realistic as the writer insists. But they are interesting, and at times include dark humor.

I read 'And Then', by Natsume Soseki. It seems like everyone else, I had trouble getting into my book. I skimmed over parts of it; not the book's fault, I have too many other things on my mind this month. Basically it is the Japanese Catcher in the Rye, about a guy, in this case a young adult, who believes he is superior to everyone and everything around him and does nothing with his life because he feels above it all. You can't call him a rebel, since that suggests a stand of some kind, and this character is uninterested in even that much.

I'm reading that also. It gets weirder the further in you go. In most of his books, Murakami likes to begin realistically, then add in an increasing amount of magic realism and fantasy as the story progresses. I look forward to reading your and other's thoughts on this book when everyone is finished.

I have Kafka On the Shore, by Murakami, and The Noodle Maker, by Ma Jian. I'll put one or two more on the list, eventually.