Jonathan > Recent Status Updates

It is only on rereading this that I realise how formative Ivan was on my thinking when I first read this as a teenager.

The reread project continues…one thing I certainly had forgotten in the 30 years since I read this is the narrative tone is much funnier and more playful than his reputation may lead you to expect

A quick google shows I am not the first to make the Mynheer Peeperkorn = Donald Trump connection.

One thing I certainly didn’t spot when I first read this at 19 is just how gay it is

Even better than I remembered so far. Remains fascinating to me how many of the issues they struggled with in the 1920s have come round again for us in the 2020s. Loss of meaning, certainty, truth etc Extreme polarising of politics etc Also highly recommend reading Master of Contradictions first before doing a reread of this, to anyone considering it. Really enhanced my reading,

Re-reading for the first time since I read it at 19…

Though the author does not say so, interesting to see that he likely had OCD and/or some other neurodivergence. Lots of very strict routines and then many things like having to blink seven times at night before bed to ward off death, touching his desk in a certain way a certain number of times every time he went in etc etc

This is excellent and really interesting but so dense it is going to take me months to work through. Had no idea Zola was abused at the age of 5 though.

A reread of this just because I feel like it

Fantastic stuff so far

Can’t decide if I like this or it leaves me cold.

Another Umbrian by the pool reread

Rereading this lovely tale whilst sat by a pool in the Umbrian hills because life is good.

God that Pageant chapter is just an extraordinary, breathtaking piece of writing. His ability to hold all those strands together, and to move so effortlessly through them, is incredible.

One of the ways this is such a work of genius is he has the rare ability to create a huge, complex work which remains an absolutely gripping page turner. His characters are so clearly delineated, alive and distinct, that it is easy to keep track of them, and easy to get caught up in the intertwining flow of their lives. And yet also he can riff on insane philosophical, spiritual and frankly nuts stuff as he goes...

This novel is what would happen if Middlemarch did magic mushrooms

Rereading this extraordinary, batshit masterpiece now it has come out in penguin. Just as wonderful and baffling and awe inspiring as I remembered

Reading whilst visiting a very hot Berlin with the family…

Rereading this for the first time in 20 years or so, and in this new translation.

For anyone who is bound only by very frail threads, threads that are scarcely palpable to him, to what other people or he himself calls life, getting up in the morning is always a hard task. Perhaps even a slight violation.

Rereading this as part of my Germany month ahead of going to Berlin

Re reading this favourite during a heatwave seems appropriate…and good god each sentence is just exquisite

Rereading this for the first time 30 years later

Enjoying this, but not loving it

Something feels suitably Beckettian about listening to the audiobook of this old favourite whilst going on a run around Brompton Cemetery on a Sunday morning.

Rereading this masterpiece as I found it has been republished and that feels like a good enough excuse…

Interestingly this took a good 50 pages or so to start to cohere, but now that it has it is excellent. I did not expect, and was not prepared for, that sort of deliberately difficult and opaque start, though should be used to it from Gass, Hawkes and others of that ilk. At present this feels like a novel by Elizabeth Taylor taken up a stylistic notch, which is not a bad thing at all.

Rereading this after seeing Gary Oldman do a masterful Krapp’s Last Tape at the Royal Court last night