Liz M’s Comments (group member since May 28, 2016)

Liz M’s comments from the NYRB Classics group.

I am reading Anniversaries! I am more likely to comment on Litsy than anywhere else, but will also post here occasionally.

Sarah wrote: "I don’t find the link to the poll anywhere. Where do I look?"

For future reference in the top right, above the "search discussions box" there are 10 links. The last one is for "Polls".

ETA: If you are using an internet browser. I don't know if group polls are supported on the various apps.

The Haunted Looking Glass
Don't Look Now
The Other
The Private Memoirs and Confessions of a Justified Sinner

sisilia wrote: "It's very difficult to get Simenon's titles - I tried Book Depository and some stores in NYC. I am looking for total of 7 titles, including Dirty Snow :( , but have not been successful in finding any."

For stockpiling purposes, Better World Book has a used copy of Dirty Snow for $15 (free worldwide shipping), but it'll take forever to get to you. :)

https://www.betterworldbooks.com/sear...

David wrote: "NYRB has now added a link to our brief translators' note on their web page for Max Havelaar. Here's a direct link to the note, which is not included in the print edition (long story)....."

I've only just started reading this, but thank you for the link! It clears up my confusion about the endnotes -- I don't always read all footnotes/endnotes and when I did look one up and found a narrative voice that was distinctly not....editorial....it was a bit of surprise. I was concerned that I had missed part of the story (as one would with Pale Fire or works written by David Foster Wallace), so it is helpful to know the author of the endnotes.

Thank you for the list! Checking against my records, I even found a few books I had forgotten to tag as nyrb. I also found a few typos:

The Life of Lazarillo de Tormes is by "anonymous" not Tormes
A High Wind in Jamaica is by Richard Hughes, not R. Holmes
Summer Will Show (not "Summer will Share")

WndyJW wrote: "The other books I hear mentioned often are Season of Migration to the North and A High Wind in Jamaica..."

In other words, nyrb books that are NOT overlooked ;)

WndyJW wrote: "I don’t know how I got it, but I received a complete 2018-2019 catalogue in the mail. I had the 2016 catalogue. I think it came when I ordered a book from them."

Check and see if your complete catalog contains The Glass Bees. The paper catalogs I've picked up at the Brooklyn Book Festival are for their in-print books -- they doesn't list editions that are out of print such as the TGB.

The link seems to be just the bookstore's top 10 nyrb books....?

I own 120 and have read at least 19, but possibly more that were not nyrb editions.

Cassandra at the Wedding
A Month in the Country
The Pumpkin Eater
School for Love

Janet wrote: "in Hoffmann's Afterword, he references the retelling of Agamemnon and Clytemnestra -- can someone tell me where that retelling is? Must have missed that...."

Using amazon's search inside feature, Agamemnon is mentioned by name on pages 89-91.

Louise wrote: "Review after review compares Berlin Alexanderplatz to Ulysses. Is it simply because of the stream of consciousness aspect, or are there other parallels? if so, what are they?"

I think there are some similarities between the two (as discussed by others above), but for me it's like saying two different food items are similar because they are both dessert. Ulysses is controlled and carefully constructed -- an elaborate 7-layer cake -- while Berlin Alexanderplatz seems more like an a sundae created from an all-you-can-eat place. It may be just as carefully constructed, but the result has a wonderfully cacophonous appearance and an odd blend of surprising flavors.

The Invention of Morel
Tyrant Banderas
An African in Greenland
Hadrian the Seventh
As a Man Grows Older

WndyJW wrote: "The Sound and the Fury and As I Lay Dying; I read Faulkner with a some sort of study guide, but I just love him...."

Did you know that the Folio Society printed TSatF in color -- 14 different colors are used to indicate which character is speaking. I covet this edition.

The three books that immediately came to mind were Doctor Faustus, The Satanic Verses, and (of course!) Ulysses

ETA: I did read the entire In Search of Time Lost (not in French) but didn't grow to appreciate it or have much desire to revisit :D

I should have known: the only book I don't own and didn't nominate is winning :P

Liz M wrote: "All About H. Hatterr
Cassandra at the Wedding
The Invention of Morel
A Month in the Country

And leaving one spot to be influenced by other'..."

Adding The Vet's Daughter as my fifth book.

All About H. Hatterr
Cassandra at the Wedding
The Invention of Morel
A Month in the Country

And leaving one spot to be influenced by other's picks.

The most stunning book I own is this edition of Macbeth:


It has gorgeous illustrations and laser-cut images:
. . . . .

Kevin wrote: "New Directions may just have the most beautiful covers ever. Archipelago are amazing as well."

My contender for beautiful covers are the Coralie Bickford-Smith designed covers for Penguin:

. . . . . . . . .

I have about 130 nyrb books, most of them purchased at Housing Works Used Bookstore in NYC. The bookstore has monthly 30% off sales (on the books that are already half-price) and I'll scan the shelves looking for the distinctive spines and pick up one or two or six. The Strand also frequently sells brand new nyrb books at half price.

My most recent purchase was Anniversaries: From a Year in the Life of Gesine Cresspahl at the Brooklyn Book Festival in September.