[Chat Noir]

Definitely getting into more Greene. Writing to savour. Figuratively I can see someone reading this with a glass of whisky on a side table cigar resting in the ashtray..

Greene's ability to go between the social commentary novel and the thriller (or 'an entertainment' as he characterised it) was unmatched. One of the most versatile novelists of the 20th century.

 

[Bwv 1080]

 

[SanAntone]

I have been a huge Cormac McCarthy fan, and duly purchased this book and the companion book - but his later fiction has not interested me as much as his earlier novels. I'll probably read them, but like The Road, the subject and setting are not to my taste.

 

[Barbebleu]

Does anyone have the new Dylan book on Kindle. If so, how does it look? Would I be better getting the hardback?

 

[JessieJim]

I'm reading My brilliant friend Ferrante, a good book.

 

[Chat Noir]

I read 'Gojim' by now almost forgotten Belgian author Johan Daisne. He was the first to bring 'magic realism' into Flemish literature. A have a few paperbacks which are 'new-old stock' and look brand new despite being from 1966-68. So there's also a short play of his I'll read.

After that I'm going to read Stan Barstow's A Kind Of Loving, which I suspect I might have read years ago, but I can't recall a thing.

 

[SanAntone]

Does anyone have the new Dylan book on Kindle. If so, how does it look? Would I be better getting the hardback?

I have the Kindle book, and haven't even noticed the photography so I guess the hardcover would be more impressive regarding that aspect.

 

[littlejohnuk1]

As a solid quality palette cleanser after Graham Greene:20% into it and it's a rollicking read with historic details.

 

[Chat Noir]

'Palate' surely?

 

[littlejohnuk1]

'Palate' surely?

Yes. I had a chortle at some of the writing style today. Picture the scene - a youngish manager of a theatre is lodging with a lady ie one thing led to another although they have their own chambers in the house. An actor has died in a brawl in a drinking den. Unbenownst to the manager the deceased has a heavily pregnant wife. The wife of the deceased has visited him when he was out asking the landlady for a private meeting with him. The manager has to explain to her the situation with the wife to which she becomes apologetic and interested in assisting her in her grief.

`Anne (the landlady) went bustling across the room then stopped in her tracks as a thought struck her. She swung round on her heel.

If the girl is going to be in[I] your bed...[/I]

Yes?

Where will you sleep?

HIs (the managers) grin broadened and she replied with a knowing smile. It would give her the chance to show him how sorry she was.

 

[Chat Noir]

Like a farce.

 

[littlejohnuk1]

Like a farce.

It's Marstons style - it's all a bit stated at times yet a rollicking good read. It's not boring. Think Jeffrey Archer as an Enid Blyton for adults.

 

[jegreenwood]

I walked by one of my bookshelves and noticed an Everyman collection of Muriel Spark novels. I had read Jean Brodie decades ago, but had never looked at the rest. So now I am enjoying The Girls of Slender Means.

 

[Chat Noir]

So now I am enjoying The Girls of Slender Means.

Good book eh? I have a copy of that in the old Penguin edition from the 60s.

 

[jegreenwood]

Good book eh? I have a copy of that in the old Penguin edition from the 60s.

So far. Very British. I am a bit of an Anglophile, but I still don't understand all the references.

 

[Craveoon]

I was gifted this book by a fellow traveler and I'm hooked to it. It's a story of a backpacking explorer traveling across different parts of the world and to the remotest of places exposing herself to alien cultures.

The other book I'm reading is Francisco Cantú's The Line Becomes a River. The book is memoir of the author's time as a Border Patrol agent on the US-Mexico border and his experiences after leaving the Border Patrol.

 

[Bachtoven 1]

A dark, gritty, and violent novel about revenge. The title suggests this is not a fun, light read, and it isn't, but it's still very compelling.

 

[Bachtoven 1]

I've read a lot of dark, creepy novels, but this one must rank near or at the top! It's billed as gothic horror science fiction, and I've never read anything like it. Her writing is stunning. If you have an aversion to parasites, then give it a hard pass.

 

[Barbebleu]

I’ve just started the new Bob Dylan book on my Kindle and for my own amusement I’m compiling a play list of all his suggestions, as far as they are available, on Amazon Music Unlimited. Looking forward to the odyssey,😎

 

[Red Terror]

A good but not great novel by McCabe.