Kenny_Shovel

Reading List 2008 January: Nothing February: Nothing March: 01 - Planetary Volume 1 - Warren Ellis - ***** 02 - Planetary Volume 2 - Warren Ellis - ***** 03 - Strontium Dog Agency Files Volume 04 - Wagner/Grant - ***** 04 - Planetary Volume 3 - Warren Ellis - ***** 05 - Jedge Dredd Volume 09 - Wagner/Grant - *****

Books Purchased in 2008 January: 01 - Haunts of the Black Masseur:Swimmer as Hero - Charles Sprawson 02 - The State Counsellor - Boris Akunin 03 - The Chain of Chance - Stanislaw Lem Febuary: Nothing March: 04 - Planetary Volume 1 - Warren Ellis 05 - Planetary Volume 2 - Warren Ellis 06 - Planetary Volume 3 - Warren Ellis 07 - Strontium Dog Agency Files Volume 04 - Wagner/Grant 08 - Judge Dredd Volume 9 - Wagner/Grant Read book

Only four 5 star books this year, but lots of others that were well worth reading: Summer in Baden-Baden by Leonid Tsypkin Bleak House by Charles Dickens Pan Tadeusz by Adam Mickiewicz Wonderful Fool by Shusaku Endo

Just finished: Satan in Goray by Isaac Bashevis Singer. The jewish inhabitants of a small Polish town in the 17th century turn to a false prophet and unleash hell on earth. Reminded me of the old Ken Russell film "The Devils". Next up: One of three. Either The Trial, The Complete Poems of Anna Akhmatova or Fred: Portrait of a Fast Bowler by John Arlott. I'll probably end up reading a fourth option instead...

Put me in the pro CoD camp. But meanwhile the Bloomsbury GoodReadingGuide to World Fiction suggests the following for the South of the USA: Wise Blood by Flannery O'Connor Absalom, Absalom by William Faulkner A Confederacy of Dunces by John Kennedy Toole To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee The Ballard of the Sad Cafe by Carson McCullers The Color Purple by Alice Walker Delta Wedding by Eudora Welty Property by Valery Martin A Walk on the Wild Side by Nelson Algren The Moviegoer by Walker Percy The Awakening by Kate Chopin Modern Babtists by James Wilcox A Gathering of Old Men by Ernest J Gaines Tourist Season by Carl Hiaason Prodigal Summer by Barbara Kingsolver Look Homeward, Angel by Thomas Wolfe Regards, K_S

I know what you mean. I like Murukami, but he does tend to overshadow other writers from post-war Japan, which I'm not sure is all that healthy. I'd personally say that Mishima, Endo, Oe and Kawabata were all at least as good in thier time. I'm sure there are even more that could be added to that list.

Satan in Goray by Isaac Singer seems to have leapfrogged The Trial somehow. So far, so interesting...

I think there are at least two film versions, but I've not seen any of them.

The reason it's taken so long to get round to The Trial is that this will be a re-read, having got through all of Kafka's stuff about ten years ago. Although this is the first time I've read it since realising how much humour Kafka believed his writing had. Interesting to see if that puts it in a different light.

Just Finished: Wonderful Fool by Shusaku Endo. Kind-hearted French simpleton travels through the seedy, and morally corrupt, side of 1950's Japan, effecting all those he meets. Similar themes to his later novel Silence, and just as brilliant. Challenges Bleak House for my best book of the year. I'll review it in full on my blog later. Next Up: The Trial by Franz Fafka. My contribution to the Penguin Classics review blog.

Just finished: 'Malvinas Requiem' by Rodolfo Fogwill. An interesting, and to Argentinians, important book, as it is set amongst a community of conscript Agentinian deserters during the Falklands War. The back covers comparison to Catch-22 is wide of the mark for my money, as Fogwill simply isn't as good a writer as Heller; but the message of the book is similar.

Just Finished: 'The Old Capital' by Yasunari Kawabata. Precise, delicate, steeped in meaning, not all of which is apparent to the Western eye. Perhaps to the point were the undercurrent of emotions and restrained reactions of the characters could be misinterpreted as being almost clinical. A kind of literary equivalent of a Japanese Tea ceremony I guess. Impressive stuff. Next up: Not totally sure yet, but probably 'garden, ashes' by Danilo Kis.

I have friends in Odessa, so I'll put that on the old Amazon wish list. *remembers drunkenly falling over on Pontemkin steps*

He is? Cooool.

Under construction (but getting there: http://feedingthepigeons.wordpress.com/ Just finished Naive. Super by Erlend Loe. Really liked this book, review to follow...