Classic lit

[smutchin]

I thought I had, but it may have been in another thread.

I only skim read the previous five pages to catch up so may have missed it.

I loved Decline and Fall but the ending was odd. Vile Bodies appeared to rely heavily on the surreal and very casual deaths, although I'm sure that was Waugh's point. Brideshead just plain ****ed me off, especially the ending.

I'm going to read Scoop next.

I agree with you about Vile Bodies and Decline And Fall, but I just found them very funny. Neither of them are nearly as odd as A Handful Of Dust, which is very funny but has some really uncomfortable moments - including surreal and casual deaths, and the bleakest, darkest ending... Scoop, on the other hand, is one of the funniest books I've ever read. I think Brideshead possibly appealed to me because I was brought up a Roman Catholic. I haven't read Black Mischief.

d.

 

[simon the viking]

I've had a kindle since they first became available, I love it because I can read it without my glasses on!

I love it because its so easy to get the more obsure stuff but I refuse to pay over a fiver for an ebook i would rather buy the paper copy if its a new book.

 

[smutchin]

I would put Aldous Huxley in there, too, and certainly PG Wodehouse - great writers don't have to be serious writers, and Wodehouse was a considerable craftsman. And I'm glad you say 'writer' not novelist, because Orwell was primarily a journalist and IME (not universally shared, granted) the recent BBC series from his writings have diminished not enhanced his standing.

Orwell is a writer who I can enjoy reading regardless of what he's writing about. (Julian Barnes likewise, but I don't know that he comes under the heading "classic" yet.) I love Orwell's essays - he even writes beautifully about food - his essays on making the perfect cup of tea and Christmas pudding are wonderful.

The only Huxley I've read is Brave New World, which is a must-read for anyone. I should try more of his stuff.

And I totally adore PG Wodehouse. I've been collecting the gorgeous Everyman edition, of which about four or five volumes have been published every year since 2004, I think. Lovely hardbacks on quality paper with beautiful cover illustrations. Proper collectors' items. The thing is, I've been discovering that because Wodehouse was so prolific, not all his stuff was up to snuff. Especially with the later works, from about 1960 onwards, you really get a feeling that he's just treading water and is a writer whose time has passed. On the other hand, I've also been discovering a lot of the lesser-known early works for the first time, some of which are just wonderful.

If I had to recommend one Wodehouse book above all others, I'd go for Leave It To Psmith. My favourite Wodehouse character (Psmith) in my favourite Wodehouse setting (Blandings). It's even funnier than Scoop. I don't think any writer makes me laugh out loud as often as Wodehouse. (Psmith, Journalist is one of the early works I've not read until recently. It is a rare example of Wodehouse showing an overt interest in politics, but is still just as funny as you'd expect.)

And even though I hate golf, I love Wodehouse's golf stories, so I'd recommend those too - The Heart Of A Goof is a fine collection.

Huxley is an interesting contrast with Waugh. Ten years older and with a similar background and education, but from a long line of rationalists and scientists and to my mind a much more modern writer.

Yes, I'd agree with your assessment, though I think Waugh at his best is timeless - he's just a master wordsmith. You've definitely made me want to read more Huxley though!

d.

 

[Andrew_Culture]

And I totally adore PG Wodehouse. I've been collecting the gorgeous Everyman edition, of which about four or five volumes have been published every year since 2004, I think. Lovely hardbacks on quality paper with beautiful cover illustrations. Proper collectors' items. The thing is, I've been discovering that because Wodehouse was so prolific, not all his stuff was up to snuff. Especially with the later works, from about 1960 onwards, you really get a feeling that he's just treading water and is a writer whose time has passed. On the other hand, I've also been discovering a lot of the lesser-known early works for the first time, some of which are just wonderful.

If I had to recommend one Wodehouse book above all others, I'd go for Leave It To Psmith. My favourite Wodehouse character (Psmith) in my favourite Wodehouse setting (Blandings). It's even funnier than Scoop. I don't think any writer makes me laugh out loud as often as Wodehouse. (Psmith, Journalist is one of the early works I've not read until recently. It is a rare example of Wodehouse showing an overt interest in politics, but is still just as funny as you'd expect.)

And even though I hate golf, I love Wodehouse's golf stories, so I'd recommend those too - The Heart Of A Goof is a fine collection.

Yeah, Wodehouse was very open about his policy of recycling. My wife found me a copy of Wodehouse on Wodehouse which among other things is a ripping account of his internment at the hands of the Nazis!

Uncle Fred in the Springtime is my favourite book so far, and that also takes place at Blandings.

Looks like I'll definitely be reading Scoop next!

 

[smutchin]

Yeah, Wodehouse was very open about his policy of recycling.

As famously stated in the introduction to Summer Lightning:

“A certain critic — for such men, I regret to say, do exist — made the nasty remark about my last novel that it contained ‘all the old Wodehouse characters under different names.’ He has probably by now been eaten by bears, like the children who made mock of the prophet Elisha; but if he still survives he will not be able to make a similar charge against Summer Lightning. With my superior intelligence, I have out-generalled the man this time by putting in all the old Wodehouse characters under the same names. Pretty silly it will make him feel, I rather fancy.”

 

[Ian H]

One of my favourites is Charles Lamb. Two Races of Men.

 

[threebikesmcginty]

Bit of trivia - Huxley taught George Orwell at Eton.

My favourite Huxley trivia is that he died on the same day as C S Lewis. And some chap on a grassy knoll. 22nd November 1963.

 

[Andrew_Culture]

A few more that spring to mind...

Diary Of A Nobody - short, easy to read, hilarious.

Ta! I just found this for free on Kindle here http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/...=B000JMKX4W&linkCode=as2&tag=urbanexplosio-21

 

[Andrew_Culture]

Pah, the Kindle version of Scoop is £7.99

Is it out of copyright yet?

 

[Andrew_Culture]

As famously stated in the introduction to Summer Lightning:

I love that intro!

 

[ASC1951]

.. The thing is, I've been discovering that because Wodehouse was so prolific, not all his stuff was up to snuff. Especially with the later works, from about 1960 onwards, you really get a feeling that he's just treading water and is a writer whose time has passed....

Be fair, he was in his 80s by then. Some of us are passing our best long before that.

 

[Yellow Fang]

Update:

I've come to the conclusion that there are not so much books I want to read as books I want to have read. Still I think my near term reading list will include:

Wuthering Heights, √ - Interesting, different, unpleasant.
To Kill a Mockingbird, √ - Bit of a children's book really.
Catcher in the Rye, √ - Not bad.
Lord of the Flies, √ - Unpleasant.
Catch-22. √ - Very satirical, a bit wearing.

Then I can tick off most the books all the intellektchuls refer to on Radio 4. I won't bother with On the Road. Longer term my reading list will include:

Emma, which would conclude 19th century British romantic fiction
Far from the Madding Crowd, one of Thomas Hardy's less miserable offerings
The Woman in White by Wilkie Collins
Kim by Rudyard Kipling (as The Jungle Book was so good)
Something by Elizabeth Gaskell
Maybe something by Virginia Woolf
Probably For Whom The Bell Tolls by Ernest Hemmingway √ - Reminded me of a lot of 50s, 60s and 70s war films.
Maybe Middlemarch by George Elliot √ (almost) - Very impressed by the size of Elliot's brain.

Also books on my bookshelf waiting to be read:

New Grub Street by George Gissing √ - This is a costume drama I would quite like to see on telly.
The Woodlanders by Thomas Hardy √ - Miserable and claustrophobic.
Saturday Night and Sunday Morning by Alan Sillitoe √ - Honest bit of British social history.
Breakfast at Tiffany's by Truman Capote √ - Actually quite liked this, thought the ending was good.

Then I want to finish off George Orwell by reading:

Keep the Aspidistra Flying √ - Ok, reminded me of New Grub Street.
The Clergyman's Daughter √ - Enjoyed this, although it kept turning into an essay, but then I like his essays.

Then I want to read some more Dickens:

David Copperfield
A Christmas Carol √ - Not as good as Great Expectations.
A Tale of Two Cities
The Pickwick Papers
Oliver Twist
Another, possibly Barnarby Rudge

Then I'll get around to reading some foreign stuff:

The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexander Dumas
Anna Karinina by Leo Tolstoy

 

[RedRider]

There's not enough Russian stuff on that list. Gogol's short stories are funny, tragic, cynical, compassionate, short and make you appear a dead clever soul
.

 

[Yellow Fang]

There's not enough Russian stuff on that list. Gogol's short stories are funny, tragic, cynical, compassionate, short and make you appear a dead clever soul
. View attachment 37645

Yes, the Russians. I think we can see off the French, definitely the Germans, and all the Spanish countries put together. We have enough pre-20th century stuff to more than hold our own against the Yanks. However, the Russians are a problem.

 

[brodiej]

I agree with RedRider about Gogol - great stuff.
Nabakov is fantastic. I would recommend Pnin as a starting point. It's shorter than Lolita and nearly as good.
Has anyone mentioned Conrad?
Heart of Darkness and Secret Agent are exvellent.
To the Lighthouse by Virginia Wolf is very good