Constant Reader discussion

It's December!

I'm finishing Let the Great World Spin, and loving it! Next up: State of Wonder by Ann Patchett. This is what I call a feast for the eyes.

I'm halfway through listening to Maxwell's The Chateau, which I like as the narration's quite good.

Just a note leftover from the November thread: to all intrigued by and lovers of The Brothers K, I just want to add that I owned it for ten years before I read it--and my reaction was, at gut level, I had this untapped wonderous volume on my shelf this whole time?!?!!!

Truly wonderful. I say this as the youngest child of five--all of the other four were boys.

Sara wrote: "Just a note leftover from the November thread: to all intrigued by and lovers of The Brothers K, I just want to add that I owned it for ten years before I read it--and my reaction was,..."

Sara, you too?

I guess I'll have to put this on my TBR list.

MAP wrote: "Sara wrote: "Just a note leftover from the November thread: to all intrigued by and lovers of The Brothers K, I just want to add that I owned it for ten years before I read it--and my ..."

I remember Dale Short recommending The Brothers K in the early days of Constant Reader and my intentions to read it. I just found an audibook production online at my library and put it on my list. Thanks for reminding me!

In those days I used to buy just about every book people recommended, but that one slipped me by. Maybe we can get it on our official list.

Didn't we do it as an official read a few years ago? I know I read it with some Constant Reader people but won't say with confidence it was a voted in/official selection.

Okay -- my non-review review of this states it was one I read with classics Corner and loved discussing with the group -- wrote that when we came to Goodreads in 2007 and I was entering books like mad. I cannot lay hands on my book journal at this point but will search to get a handle on when exactly this was on our list for CC. Meanwhile -- can anyone recall it or does anyone have a record of when it was in their own journals or GR shelf dating?

I am halfway throughIf I Stay and then i think i will read The Radleys & The Body Finder

Dottie, I think it must have been a side discussion, because I don't have it in my pile of old discussions, but that doesn't prove anything. I'm missing lots of old discussions.

Seems to me I remember CC reading Brothers K.

We read Brothers Karamazov, I'm not sure about Brothers K.

Sherry wrote: "We read Brothers Karamazov, I'm not sure about Brothers K."

??

The Brothers K by David James Duncan.

The Brothers Karamazov by that Russian dude.

At least I think that's what they're talking about.

Oh. I thought the Brothers K was just short for Brothers Karamazov.

Who's on first?

An appropriate question, as the Duncan book deals a lot with baseball. :-)

I think both Sara (h)s are talking about the Duncan Brothers K. I did read Karamazov, but that was earlier in my 20s, and was a less "wondrous" read for me than the Duncan. More of a ponderous read. Enjoyable, but ponderous.

Sara wrote: "An appropriate question, as the Duncan book deals a lot with baseball. :-)"

Heehee.

Sarah wrote: "I think both Sara (h)s are talking about the Duncan Brothers K. I did read Karamazov, but that was earlier in my 20s, and was a less "wondrous" read for me than the Duncan. More of a ponderous re..."

well, and I've never read the Russian dude's book.

Sara, my dim memory is that it did help me love the Duncan even more, but I can't provide specifics on that. Probably like you can enjoy A Thousand Acres completely without having read King Lear.

Brothers K has been on my TBR forever - got to tackle it in 2012!

Just finished Pulphead, a book of essays which I really enjoyed. The author is very talented and funny.

I am listening to and devouring Rules of Civility - I think a lot of CRs would be into it, somewhat reminds me of Brooklyn but this one is much more of a love letter to Manhattan.

I am almost done with Steve Jobs. Listening to that one too. I have enjoyed it but it was a wee bit long. The earlier stuff was much more interesting IMHO.

And I am determined to finish Old Filth for the upcoming discussion.

Old Filth is going fast for me, so I'm sure you'll get it read in time, Al.

Sherry wrote: "Old Filth is going fast for me, so I'm sure you'll get it read in time, Al."

It is a quick read. You might want to also tackle the companion The Man in the Wooden Hat which focuses more on his wife's side of things.

I have both books so that is a possibility. But I have to report that I was into it for it a while and then it really stalled for me, hopefully I can get it in drive again soon. So many folks here and in the real world have recommended it so highly, I am wondering what is wrong with me?

Al wrote: "I have both books so that is a possibility. But I have to report that I was into it for it a while and then it really stalled for me, hopefully I can get it in drive again soon. So many folks here ..."

Apparently the same thing that's wrong with me--started listening several times and stalled. I will do it! Eventually.

Thanks for sharing Sara, it is always nice to know you are not alone in the world:)

FYI, I think you especially will love listening to the rules of civility.

I can understand why you folks may have trouble reading Filth's story, but it does get better and is worth the payoff.

Al wrote: "Thanks for sharing Sara, it is always nice to know you are not alone in the world:)

FYI, I think you especially will love listening to the rules of civility."

I have a print copy somewhere on the lower ledges of the TBR mountain.

We definitely did read The Brothers Karamazov on Classics Corner long ago but did not read The Brothers K. It should go on the Reading List someday soon.

I've been reading A Soldier of the Great War , alternating between slogging and enthralled. I seem to have a love-hate relationship with Mark Helrpin. I get so swept away initially by his magical prose, then I flounder mid-way through and want to throw the book out the window. I don't think I've ever finished one of his books...

Zarafa - Michael Allin
3***

The book is subtitled: A Giraffe’s True Story, From Deep in Africa to the Heart of Paris.
In October 1826 a ship arrived at Marseilles carrying the first giraffe ever seen in France. She was a gift from the Ottoman Viceroy of Egypt to the King of France Zarafa had already travelled over 1,000 miles to that point, but would have to walk the 550 miles from Marseille to Paris.

Allin did exhaustive research. Zarafa was a sensation in France – ladies had their hair coiffured a la Girafe (piled so high they had to ride on the floors of their carriages), children ate giraffe-shaped gingerbread cookies, towns along the giraffe’s route named streets and squares in her honor. She was, indeed a celebrity.

The book should have been fascinating and interesting to someone like me – a lover of natural history as well as world history. The sections that dealt with Zarafa’s actual journey were the most interesting to me. On the other hand, Allin’s book bogged down in details of the politics of the time. In total, I thought it was okay. I’m glad I learned about this tiny little detail of history, but I’m not telling everyone to run out and read it.

Into the Wild - Jon Krakauer
Audio book read by Philip Franklin
3***

In August 1992 a group of Alaskan hunters came across the decomposed body of an unknown hiker in an abandoned bus in the wilderness. Despite an obvious plea for help they found scrawled across a page torn from a book and affixed to the bus’s door, it took some days for authorities to confirm that this was Christopher McCandless. He had starved to death, just a few miles from help. How had he gotten there? Why had he died?

Krakauer traces “Alexander Supertramp’s” journey from a much loved son and brother in a well-to-do Virginia family, to an itinerant wanderer intent upon living off the earth. He managed to track McCandless as he crisscrossed the United States, even into Mexico, over two years following his graduation from Emory University in May 1990. To this reader McCandless appeared naïve and stubborn, and I felt angry with him for being so uncaring about the anguish he was causing his parents and sister. On the other hand, Krakauer did force me to recall some of my own foolish youthful escapades (though nothing as extreme as burning all my cash and hiking into the Alaska wilderness with only 10 lbs of rice). I could have done without sidebar stories of other people’s misadventures, but I understand why Krakauer chose to include them.

Franklin does a very good job of reading this tragic tale of a grand adventure gone horribly wrong.

Anne wrote: "I've been reading A Soldier of the Great War , alternating between slogging and enthralled. I seem to have a love-hate relationship with Mark Helrpin. I get so swept away initially by..."

He certainly is verbose.

Book Concierge wrote: "Into the Wild - Jon Krakauer
Audio book read by Philip Franklin
3***

In August 1992 a group of Alaskan hunters came across the decomposed body of an unknown hiker in an abandoned bus in the wilder..."

I read this a couple of years ago, and enjoyed it much more than I thought I would.

In keeping with the holiday season I am re-readingA Christmas Carol. I finished The Lacuna ,for those interested a beautiful book of art, politics, and signs of the time.

Two of my favorite titles last year, LTGWS for the writing, the characters, State of Wonder for plot, place, ideas. I am reading a classic, Death of the Heart by Elizabeth Bowen.

Book Concierge wrote: "You might want to also tackle the companion The Man in the Wooden Hat which focuses more on his wife's side of things."

Thanks for the suggestion, Tessa. I just put an ILL request for this book at our library.

I'm reading Old Filth. I'm about 1/2 way through and really enjoying it so far. It's been going slow, but that's my job's fault, not the book's!

Without wanting to get into a discussion of the book (coming soon!), I'll chime in that the flashback nature slowed things down at times.

John wrote: "Without wanting to get into a discussion of the book (coming soon!), I'll chime in that the flashback nature slowed things down at times."

Slow go is better than no go right John?

I really liked the book a lot.

A Christmas Memory - Truman Capote
5*****

I've had this book for ages and I read it every December on my birthday. Happy Birthday to Me!

This autobiographical story is based on Capote’s own childhood, living with relatives in Alabama. It’s a memory of the innocence of childhood and the anticipation of something special. It is a wonderful, touching story of family love and respect, and also a story of loneliness and want.

One crisp November morning 7-year-old Buddy hears his cousin Sook (whom he calls Friend) declare, “It’s fruitcake weather!” With that pronouncement, the two set off on their annual campaign to bake dozens of fruitcakes for “friends.” Sook is an elderly woman with a child’s mind, and she and Buddy are constant companions (and each other’s only friend). It is during the Great Depression and times are hard. It takes them all year to save the pennies, nickels, dimes for their Fruitcake Fund, and the other relatives in their household look upon them with derision. Still, nothing can dampen their spirits as they bake and mail the fruitcakes, hunt deep into the woods for the perfect Christmas tree, make the ornaments and decorations that will make it look “good enough to eat!”

Capote was a gloriously talented writer and he is at his best here. The reader feels the anticipation of a child, smells the piney woods, shivers in the crisp morning, and is comforted in the warmth of love.

I leave you with one quote from the story. Sook and Buddy are enjoying the outdoors and she has a revelation …
“You know what I’ve always thought?” she asks in a tone of discovery, and not smiling at me but a point beyond. “I’ve always thought a body would have to be sick and dying before they saw the Lord. And I imagined that when He came it would be like looking at the Baptist window: pretty as colored glass with the sun pouring through, such a shine you don’t know it’s getting dark. And it’s been a comfort: to think of that shine taking away all the spooky feeling. But I’ll wager it never happens. I’ll wager at the very end a body realizes the Lord has already shown Himself. That things as they are” – her hand circles in a gesture that gathers clouds and kites and grass and Queenie pawing earth over her bone – “just what they’ve always seen, was seeing Him. As for me, I could leave the world with today in my eyes.”

Book Concierge wrote: "A Christmas Memory - Truman Capote
5*****


I've had this book for ages and I read it every December on my birthday. Happy Birthday to Me!

This autobiographical story is based on Capote’s own chil..."

Oh, I love that book. Maybe I should do a reread for Christmas. Or, give it for presents...now there's an idea.

Ruth wrote: "Book Concierge wrote: "Into the Wild - Jon Krakauer
Audio book read by Philip Franklin
3***

In August 1992 a group of Alaskan hunters came across the decomposed body of an unknown hiker in an aban..."

Hmm, I think I will make this my next book to read. I loved his Into Thin Air. How do the 2 books compare?

I am currently reading Secret Daughter; I'm about 1/3 through, and I like it a lot.

Ioana:

I think Into the Wild and Into Thin Air are both fantastic stories well-told by Krakauer. Likely, if you dig one you will enjoy the other.

I just bailed on The Last Gentleman by Walker Piercy. Silly arch tone to the writing annoyed me no end.

Jumped over into Love is a Dog from Hell, poems by Bukowski.

Ruth, The Moviegoer is one of my all time favs, so it is disappointing to hear one of his books being abandoned. However, despite my love for that book I have never attempted to pick up any other of his works. He might have been a guy who just had one story to tell.

John wrote: "Without wanting to get into a discussion of the book (coming soon!), I'll chime in that the flashback nature slowed things down at times."

John,
I have only read 60 pages of OLD FILTH but I love it, and I particularly love the flashbacks.

I've started Peter Nadas's Parallel Stories, which may be about the inhumanity of man to man in urban environments. The first vignette is about two men who are connected only by their fetishistic underpants!

Al wrote: "Ioana:

I think Into the Wild and Into Thin Air are both fantastic stories well-told by Krakauer. Likely, if you dig one you will enjoy the other."

Agreed. It's been many, many years (10?) since I've read both but remember enjoying them. With INTO THIN AIR, I had a little trouble keeping up with all the different people but it didn't affect my enjoyment. This was doubly difficult in Krakauer's other book UNDER THE BANNER OF HEAVEN which I never finished. I just couldn't get into that one and gave up about half way through.

Barbara wrote: "Book Concierge wrote: "A Christmas Memory - Truman Capote

I've had this book for ages and I read it every December on my birthday. Happy Birthday to Me!"

My friend directs a reading of this every year in NYC. It's not staged, no music, just a sweet, lovely reading. I'm going to see it next Monday...it's like listening to an audio book but with drinks and friends.