The World Beyond BetterMost > The Culture Tent
Book Thread
delalluvia:
--- Quote from: tamarack on August 13, 2006, 04:28:28 pm ---I just noticed this thread for the first time and skimming through it I noticed that several of you mentioned liking The Perfect Storm . When I read it several years ago I became really interested in what it was like day-to-day on a sword boat, not realizing at the time that Linda Greenlaw had written such a book. If you remember, Linda is the captain of the Hannah Boden, the sister ship to the Andrea Gail.
I have since read The Lobster Chronicles, which tells of life at home on Isle au Haut, Maine, where she returned to learn lobstering after she tired of the sword boats, and All Fishermen Are Liars, which was fun to read but wasn't a book that I kept when I was finished with it. She has a wonderful way with words and a great, dry sense of humor.
I seem to have a somewhat different taste in books than most of you, but if you liked the Perfect Storm I think that you would also enjoy The Hungry Ocean, at least.
--- End quote ---
I did read 'The Hungry Ocean' but IMO it wasn't very compelling.
Front-Ranger:
I will look up Wives and Daughters, Andrew, as soon as I'm done with The Time Traveler's Wife. It's very entertaining (the main character is the time traveler, a guy, LOL)
Here's some info on it:
http://www.amazon.com/Time-Travelers-Wife-Audrey-Niffenegger/dp/015602943X
I guess this was the first novel of Audrey Niffenegger, who next wrote The Secret Life of Bees. The film rights were bought up by Jennifer Aniston and Brad Pitt. I wonder who owns them now? The film is slated to come out in 2008.
Front-Ranger:
For any of you who want to read a 9-11 themed novel, I recommend Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close, by Jonathon Safren Foer. At the heart of the story is a Holden-Caulfield type boy who lost his father in the attacks on the World Trade Center. The plot is skimpy but the characters are finely drawn and you will fall in love with the main character and the "heavy boots" he wears.
Andrew:
The Charioteer by Mary Renault (published in the 1950's).
A memorable book, one of the handful about gay men from the first half of the twentieth century, and one of the ones most worth reading.
Many people who have read her later historical novels of Greece must pick this up and assume from the title that it's going to be another in the series. In fact, it's her last novel of contemporary British life before she got impatient with having to write about people living under such heavy social restraints, and switched to a different style and a different period, when she believed gay men at least were more accepted.
Besides being extraordinarily convincing as a story and a presentation of the characters, it's unusual among earlier gay novels in not being primarily about homophobia. The main characters do have to hide parts of their lives, but they don't feel they have to marry and they are not the victims of violence, nor do any come to a bad end.
While much in the historical novels comes from her scholarship, this novel comes from her direct knowledge of the society she lived in, with her experiences as an army nurse during the war giving verisimilitude to all the parts in the hospital. It's as much a period piece (giving an intense sense of wartime life) as her later novels.
It's also unusual in involving a male triangle of sorts and a choice, but without a Mr Wrong and a Mr Right.
Some American readers will find parts of certain chapters difficult, like the one telling of Laurie's time at a private school, simply from our not being totally familiar with the cultural expectations which are so obliquely alluded to. Rereading some chapters afterwards gave me more confidence that I was picking up the meaning she intended, here and there. But you can have some doubts and questions and still be swept along. Eventually context explained a lot of things. And a lot of people with quick intuitions will have no trouble at all.
delalluvia:
--- Quote from: Andrew on September 14, 2006, 07:23:08 pm ---The Charioteer by Mary Renault (published in the 1950's).
A memorable book, one of the handful about gay men from the first half of the twentieth century, and one of the ones most worth reading.
Many people who have read her later historical novels of Greece must pick this up and assume from the title that it's going to be another in the series. In fact, it's her last novel of contemporary British life before she got impatient with having to write about people living under such heavy social restraints, and switched to a different style and a different period, when she believed gay men at least were more accepted.
Besides being extraordinarily convincing as a story and a presentation of the characters, it's unusual among earlier gay novels in not being primarily about homophobia. The main characters do have to hide parts of their lives, but they don't feel they have to marry and they are not the victims of violence, nor do any come to a bad end.
While much in the historical novels comes from her scholarship, this novel comes from her direct knowledge of the society she lived in, with her experiences as an army nurse during the war giving verisimilitude to all the parts in the hospital. It's as much a period piece (giving an intense sense of wartime life) as her later novels.
It's also unusual in involving a male triangle of sorts and a choice, but without a Mr Wrong and a Mr Right.
Some American readers will find parts of certain chapters difficult, like the one telling of Laurie's time at a private school, simply from our not being totally familiar with the cultural expectations which are so obliquely alluded to. Rereading some chapters afterwards gave me more confidence that I was picking up the meaning she intended, here and there. But you can have some doubts and questions and still be swept along. Eventually context explained a lot of things. And a lot of people with quick intuitions will have no trouble at all.
--- End quote ---
That's exactly what I thought about The Charioteer, having read 3 of Renault's books on Alexander the Great. Very interesting. Thanks for the info.
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