What Are You Reading

[Harp]

Okay, confession. There are times when no matter what I do, I cannot get into a book, even if the premise intrigues me. This is baffling to me. Does anyone else go through these dry spells?

Very seldom but it does occur. Particular books; authors, such as Joseph Conrad, I discard for one reason or another. Happens.

 

[Fading Fast]

I really enjoyed reading Ian Fleming's Bond novels.

Okay, confession. There are times when no matter what I do, I cannot get into a book, even if the premise intrigues me. This is baffling to me. Does anyone else go through these dry spells?

Yes, sometimes I'm cranky at a book (or several) before giving it (or them) a fair chance. When that happens, I re-read something I know I'll like - even just a few short stories. Doing that, in some way, resets my reading gyroscope and gets me ready again to tackle new material (and enjoy it).

 

[Benzadmiral]

I really enjoyed reading Ian Fleming's Bond novels.

Okay, confession. There are times when no matter what I do, I cannot get into a book, even if the premise intrigues me. This is baffling to me. Does anyone else go through these dry spells?

All the time. If an author's language is hard sledding, if nothing much seems to be happening (unless someone whose taste I respect tells me the book really improves shortly -- I almost gave up on Watership Down at the beginning!), I may set it down and not come back to it for a while. Or ever.

The Maltese Falcon was like that. I tried it 3 separate times over as many decades. Just couldn't get it. Then, immediately after re-watching the Bogart/Huston film version, and knowing it was a very faithful adaptation, I gave the book a last determined try. This time it worked for me. Possibly because I was a lot more sophisticated in my reading by that time.

 

[Benzadmiral]

Also, as I believe you recommended it to me, I just started James M. Cain's "Career in C Major."

Be aware that it's not a crime story, now! Something more unlike Double Indemnity and Postman Always Rings Twice from the same author can hardly be imagined. But I think you'll like it.

 

[AmateisGal]

Thanks, Harp, FF, and Benzadmiral, for the replies.

It is very frustrating to me because I love to read - but I've found that I've become far more discerning. If the writing is poor, I am much less enthusiastic about reading it. Same if the plot takes forever to get going. There are far too many books in the world for me to waste my time on ones that I dread picking up.

 

[Harp]

There are far too many books in the world for me to waste my time on ones that I dread picking up.

Giacomo Leopardi's Zibaldone is a constant struggle though quite worthwhile. However, I early came across Leopardi's Achilles heel: his profound mistrust in the divine.
Whereas Boethius was imprisoned, writing his epistle The Consolation of Philosophy, Leopardi, ostensibly free, imprisoned himself deep within the labyrinth of doubt.
Reading his monstrous volume memoir today is difficult as knowledge and wisdom itself are separate entities, and a quest for the former does not necessarily
lead to the latter perceived golden reward. And Leopardi's poetry is superb. In some ways he reminds me of Keats whose self scribed epitaph of his own name
writ in water compels sympathy. Not exactly a feeling of dread but of a keenly felt disappointment.

 

[Fading Fast]

Thanks, Harp, FF, and Benzadmiral, for the replies.

It is very frustrating to me because I love to read - but I've found that I've become far more discerning. If the writing is poor, I am much less enthusiastic about reading it. Same if the plot takes forever to get going. There are far too many books in the world for me to waste my time on ones that I dread picking up.

I agree overall, the tough part is the balance. There are many books I have ended up loving whom I nearly gave up on after the first 50 or even 100 pages. I just finished "Angel Pavement" which took (from memory) about 75, kinda boring, pages before it kicked into gear. Conversely, I also recently read Nelson DeMille's "A Cuban Affair" which never took off, but I kept hoping because I used to love his books.

 

[Fading Fast]

Still reading James M. Cain's "A Career in C Major," but this just came in from a recent EBay purchase. Since it's not a first edition, it's very reasonably priced, but still old ('38), cool and in great condition. Will bump up to next in the reading queue:

 

[Benzadmiral]

Still reading James M. Cain's "A Career in C Major," but this just came in from a recent EBay purchase. Since it's not a first edition, it's very reasonably priced, but still old ('38), cool and in great condition. Will bump up to next in the reading queue:

View attachment 99131

Off the top of my head, I think that was filmed in '38 or so with James Stewart and Margaret Sullavan? I saw it on TCM a couple of years ago, I believe. Or am I thinking of something else?

 

[Fading Fast]

Off the top of my head, I think that was filmed in '38 or so with James Stewart and Margaret Sullavan? I saw it on TCM a couple of years ago, I believe. Or am I thinking of something else?

You are spot on. It is in my sleeper category of really, really good movies that get very little "press," aren't talked about much, but should be. Very excited to read the book. Only a few pages left in "Career..." so I'll post on that one, probably, tomorrow.

 

[Benzadmiral]

You are spot on. It is in my sleeper category of really, really good movies that get very little "press," aren't talked about much, but should be. Very excited to read the book. Only a few pages left in "Career..." so I'll post on that one, probably, tomorrow.

I'll be interested to hear what you have to say. Yes, after I posted I gave in and checked my memory at IMDb. The film was from 1940, with Stewart and Sullavan, and a disturbingly good turn from Robert Young as an unrepentant Nazi. (The film never actually calls the movement "Nazi" or points definitively at Hitler or Germany, but audiences of the time would have filled in the gaps for themselves.)

 

[Fading Fast]

I'll be interested to hear what you have to say. Yes, after I posted I gave in and checked my memory at IMDb. The film was from 1940, with Stewart and Sullavan, and a disturbingly good turn from Robert Young as an unrepentant Nazi. (The film never actually calls the movement "Nazi" or points definitively at Hitler or Germany, but audiences of the time would have filled in the gaps for themselves.)

I could be wrong, but I thought early on, it does reference Hitler and the Nazis, specifically, but then is vague about it later on. And, yes, Young is chilling as the hard-core Nazi.

Also, Frank Morgan shows he's much more than just "The Wizard of Oz -" he shows real acting skills here.

One more: Margaret Sullivan shows what quiet beauty and understated elegance is all about in this one -she's the opposite of flash, the opposite of everything that is today / that is "social media" / that is loud - God, it's refreshing.

 

[Fading Fast]

"Career In C Major" by James M. Cain

The good is that Cain can spin a yarn / tell a tale in a way that keeps you engaged. And it has a decent amount of 1930s' period details that make for fun time travel for FL members.

But there are two negatives in this one for me. One, the narrator - the main character - narrates to much and shows to little (he explains what happens rather than just writing the scene). And, two, (spoiler alert), the plot driver - his obsession for his utterly contemptible wife - didn't ring very true to me / or it didn't mater as I found her such an objectionable and obnoxious person that I didn't care what happened to her and was simply grateful when the story moved away from her periodically. Also, the ending didn't feel real to me - there's no lasting peace after that cage match.

Still, I'm glad I read it and will read more from Cain ("Mildred Pierce" is, so far, the best of his I've read) - even though this one is only middling. Next up when I return to him is "The Postman Always Rings Twice."

 

[Benzadmiral]

"Career In C Major" by James M. Cain

The good is that Cain can spin a yarn / tell a tale in a way that keeps you engaged. And it has a decent amount of 1930s' period details that make for fun time travel for FL members.

But there are two negatives in this one for me. One, the narrator - the main character - narrates to much and shows to little (he explains what happens rather than just writing the scene). And, two, (spoiler alert), the plot driver - his obsession for his utterly contemptible wife - didn't ring very true to me / or it didn't mater as I found her such an objectionable and obnoxious person that I didn't care what happened to her and was simply grateful when the story moved away from her periodically. Also, the ending didn't feel real to me - there's no lasting peace after that cage match.

Still, I'm glad I read it and will read more from Cain ("Mildred Pierce" is, so far, the best of his I've read) - even though this one is only middling. Next up when I return to him is "The Postman Always Rings Twice."

I'd have to agree that Cain occasionally did have the Tell Instead of Show failing. He strongly believed in keeping a story moving fast, especially when he aimed at one of the slick magazine markets of his day. So maybe he thought a narration would work better here than showing the action. With "C Major" he was probably shooting for a movie sale, which worked for him -- the story was filmed as light comedy/romance under other titles a couple of times in the '30s and '40s.

I'm always surprised to read that Cain had several novels that went unpublished in his lifetime, ones he wrote after he hit it big with Postman and the others. Unlike Dashiell Hammett, he didn't stop writing, though. But some of his stuff is better than others.

 

[Harp]

Is civilization overrated?
On a bit of Rousseauvian nonsense taken up by the modern academy from Notes & Comments, The New Criterion December 2017

Lunch and commute time reading.

 

[AmateisGal]

Finished reading Now, Voyager by Olive Higgins Prouty. I've become a big fan of the movie based on this novel, starring Bette Davis, and so when I saw this book at the library book sale, I snatched it up. I love Prouty's writing style and I love this story.

 

[Just Jim]

Sadly, my reading right now is a bunch of research papers for work. Not much enjoyment to be found in Planning for Emotional Labor and Secondary Traumatic Stress in Child Welfare Organizations, and that is one of the more cheerful ones. On the bright side, maybe I can get some useful ideas out of it.

 

[Harp]

Robert Bork, Originalism, and Bounded Antitrust, Adam J Di Vincenzo, Antitrust Law Journal #3 (2014)

Once viewed as idiosyncratic in approach, Bork's perception eventually found more favorable standing.

 

[Just Jim]

Picked up a copy of Powers' The Killing of Crazy Horse. I've looked forward to reading it for a while.

 

[Bushman]

Stopped by the library today and picked up On the Origin of Species, and Terrible Lizard. I've never read the former and always wanted to, and I've never heard of the latter, but it sounds interesting.