Bookshelf Tour #2
Вставка
- Опубліковано 14 тра 2024
- Paul Bowles Documentary;
• Paul Bowles: The Compl...
0:00 - Intro
1:48 - The Sheltering Sky
3:55 - Ernest Buckler
5:19 - That Summer In Paris
9:27 - Second-rate Canada
11:43 - The Wapshot Chronicle
12:56 - The Booker Award
16:30 - The House of Leaves
20:57 - The Alexandria Quartet
Very nice editions of the Alexandria Quartet.
I don't know why they always look really nice to me. And they are a pleasure to hold in the hands. It's funny the extraordinary wide variance there is with the format of a novel. You would think we would have mutually agreed on the best shape and size by now.
Thanks for the reviews, Grant. Kalahan biography sounds good. Invisible Cities, too, too.
They are both very much worth reading. That Summer in Paris, is really great if you enjoyed the movie Midnight in Paris. It gives a strong first hand account of that special time and place.
Alexandria Quartet is amazing. I haven't yet picked up the Avignon Quintet.
I love The Alexandria Quartet so much I have completely hesitated to read anything else of Durrell's. I don't want it to be spoiled in any way. I suppose it's no great tragedy if it is not as good. It's like everything Joseph Heller wrote after Catch-22.
Hi Grant some interesting books I’ve just ordered the sheltering sky it’s been rereleased by penguin I’m looking forward to it’s arrival
Hello Steven, let me know how you feel about The Sheltering Sky, it was a strange one, but once you get a feel for it, it really is quite good. I am looking forward to reading that one again.
Yes! to Bowles and Calvino (I have to read more Bowles, though). The Canetti is good, I found it a little bit long. And I didn't love it as much as most other people I know love it. I still have to read novels by Cheever, I only know a few of his short stories. House of Leaves stands here for many years, unread.
Hello 3rdPill, The House of Leaves, well, it looks a bit like a novelty book. One of those university ideas, "Let's make a book that looks really different!" I'm so fussy in my middle age, I can't stand any eccentricity in terms of formatting. I read The Wapshot Chronicle even before I knew anything about Cheever's short stories. I think I picked it up in a youth hostel, if I remember well. Without knowing about his huge body of short stories, I was able to enjoy his novel without any bias coming from preferring his other work. I really recommend his two Wapshot novels.
@@grantlovesbooks I come more from the B. S. Jonson "school", based on the motto, don't write things that a film can do better and do things that only a book can do... He said it better in his foreword to Albert Angelo. You know, Queneau, Perec and so on. But I'm far from sure Danielweski is at that level. Thanks for the recommendation.
@@the3rdpillblog934 Thanks for continuing to watch the videos! I hope I can keep making things that are enjoyable and informative!
@@grantlovesbooks I am sure you can. I mean there aren't many YT channels with good taste in literature. Maybe 3 or so. So I am glad your channel exists.
@@the3rdpillblog934 Thanks a lot! That encouragement really keeps me going!
I wasn't counting, but I've probably read about half this list too. Not Brautigan's best--try Trout Fishing in America. As far as Canadian authors go, I liked Carol Shields quite a lot. W.P. Kinsella and Alice Munro's stories are extra special. Couldn't agree with you more as to the Alexandria Quartet--just fabulous. Good bookshelf, much like mine. Thank you for this.
Hello SalMaris, Thanks for the recommendation, I think I have heard that Trout Fishing is worth reading. I'm pretty keen on Canadian writers, one of the reasons I started this channel was to highlight Canadian writers to other nationalities. I have done a very poor job of it, as I am sure you have noticed. We do have some really top tier writers, Margaret Laurence, Robertson Davies, Timothy Findley. I've never read any Kinsella, I don't know why. I read The Stone Diary by Shields and thought it was excellent.
Hope you are well!
@@grantlovesbooks Not familiar with all those authors, I must find them out. I'm glad you, as I, left off Atwood. Call me a heathen or worse, but just not a fan.
@@grantlovesbooks Oh, and there's Mowat--entertaining, but not literary. I know, I'm a snob.
@@TheSalMaris Me too. You should see the looks on my face at university when the young generation are talking about books they think are good. (Which is surprisingly seldom from Eng. Lit. and Creative Writing majors. It's like they just don't read anymore!)
@@TheSalMaris Atwood has a style that appeals to a certain type of reader. (You probably know what I am talking about.) She seems to specialize in very commercial novels, that win all the awards. I'll bet she was spitting nails when Alice Munro became the first Canadian to win the Nobel for Literature.
It's the short story with the deviant scene, I bet. 😀
_Rush,_ the Canadian band, was good, important even.
Hello Ned. I know, I know, we've got plenty of great musicians, Neil Young would be my candidate. And we have some great writers, I originally planned this UA-cam channel as a means of highlighting my favourite writers who I think are unknown outside of Canada.
I think it is the visual artists who let me down the most. I also think that we don't have the long-standing tradition of artists and schools and development programs that can really facilitate the generation after generation of significant creative experimentation.
Hope you are well!
Love Coetzee, one of the best living prose stylists in English. Lawrence Durrell is kick-ass, what a fantastic writer and the Alexandria Quartet is a great, I remember liking Judith as well. I agree with Sister Carrie, Drieser's best. Chaucer is worth going back to, it's such a bedrock of literature. The Canadian authors sound interesting, although why the Hemmingway hate. I never got the bully vibe from him, just manly. The Secret Agent was good Conrad. I also disagree about Paul Bowles. Now, lumping him with the Beats is acceptable, I support an expansive definition of the Beats, but I found Sheltering Sky totally meh. It's been praised by many I respect so I'm an outlier but the delicate prey is in my local library and perhaps I'll give it a skim. I'm not familiar with his short stories.
Hello Timothy, If you want to read a Canadian novel I would strongly recommend 'The Stone Angel' or 'The Mountain and the Valley.' Those are my two favourites.
I don't hate Hemingway, I love Fiesta and Islands in the Stream, even To Have and Have Not. But I wish I knew less about his personal life, I find it gets in the way of really enjoying him as I used to. Andy Rooney tells an interesting story about Hemingway, you should check it out on UA-cam, it is more than a little scathing.
I've got to re-read The Sheltering Sky, I remember it fondly, but with strange sentiment, you might be right. I would give his short stories a try, they are really weird and violent. If you like that odd stuff.
Hope you are well. Keep writing and keeping me in line!
@@grantlovesbooks thanks. . I've enjoyed Alice Munro, her short stories studied in MFA program. Robert Graves of course. The titles sounds good have to check them out. Cheers!