The Black Prince | 
pickWell, that was a wild ride. My eyes glazed over at some of the philosophizing bits, but the drama builds until I absolutely couldn‘t put it down towards the end. My first Murdock, but it won‘t be the last.
#1001books
pickMurdoch is for me an acquired taste and only to be enjoyed in measure. She‘s impossible to read quickly.
This is farce set in late sixties London, Bradley Pearson is a retired civil servant and unsuccessful novelist. Told from his POV, which is questionable, it‘s what happens when instead of writing his magnum opus, his life falls apart, with no little help from his own ineptitude, jealousy, and solipsism. Wickedly funny at times and quite dark.
I‘m going to try to read all six of my May #Roll100 options. 🤞
Tagging @BarbaraBB and @CarolynM because I know you will cheer me on to read your favorite Iris Murdoch. 😅
🎲 3 - The Black Prince
🎲 30 - Shadow and Bone
🎲 4 - Tell Me How You Live
🎲 40 - The Law and the Lady
🎲 7 - Baby Doll Games
🎲 70 - Dr. No
Here‘s my #BookerDozen.
The Black Prince Iris Murdoch
Small World David Lodge
What‘s Bred in the Bone Robertson Davies
Moon Tiger Penelope Lively
The Van Roddy Doyle
Dirt Music Tim Winton
The Line of Beauty Alan Hollinghurst
Wolf Hall Hilary Mantell
The Sense of an Ending Julian Barnes
Hot Milk Deborah Levy
Autumn Ali Smith
Milkman Anna Burns
I was a bit embarrassed by how few I‘ve read when I went through the lists ☹️ Thanks for the idea Scott
This lovely book has just arrived in the post for me ... It from BD , I think from Australia.. I think I might guess the sender .... I‘m thrilled! Beautiful book ! Thankyou X
@Cinfhen
Thank you, thank you, thank you for the belated birthday present - it was very kind of you. I love everything (#covercrush!) and I was running low on stationery for #litsylove, so that will be very useful! (Haven't managed to go out to buy more because of covid). Your note made me laugh out loud and I still have a massive 😊 on my face since opening.
#BookMail from the lovely @BarbaraBB ♥️Two books and an adorable keychain with some wonderful packets of tea have brightened my day. I haven‘t read either author before and I‘m excited to discover both books. The Coffee Trader will work for #ReadingEurope2020 which makes it even more special❣️Thank you so much my dear friend 😘 #LittensAreTheBest
#ReadingResolutions #MultipleNarrators
There is really only one narrator, but at the end we get 4 short post scripts from other characters giving their versions of events. What is truth anyway?
pickI appreciated all the philosophical musings about art and the creation of art throughout this book. Murdoch applies this theme in many of her novels, this one in particular seemed to be especially full of creative references, since it revolves around a writer.
For a memorable read with careful plotting, fully realised characters and attention to details, look no further. I highly recommend this literary masterpiece.
This month I‘m reading my first Iris Murdoch novel, ‘The Black Prince‘. Murdoch wrote nearly a book every 18 months over four decades. In her writing she took on the most profound moral questions. The battle between good & evil, the possibility of faith & the death of God, the delightful & also destructive urges of erotic desire, intellectual obsession, & ultimately artistic creativity. Quite the literary feat!
#irismurdoch #theblackprince
pickWell, I can‘t say I‘ve ever read anything like it before. Our narrator is stuffy, funny (although I‘m not sure he means to be), pretentious, ridiculous, and completely unreliable. But you can‘t help but root for him—until close to the end, when he started doing things I couldn‘t even try to understand and then he lost me. Still, he took me along for a pretty amazing ride. Recommended!
Can‘t decide what to read next. This is what is currently on my reading table: Faulkner, Waugh, Vonnegut, Murdoch, and Welty. All four are a part of some challenges or another.
pickI really loved this one. On forehand I had no idea what it was about, I just dived in and only came back to the surface after the last page.
And now I want to start all over again, because of all the twists. This book is a mind f***, I have no clue what happened and what didn't. Fiction at its best I think! #1001books #booker #manbooker
Human happiness is rarely in the best of circumstances without shadows, and an almost pure happiness can be a terror to itself.
Desire, still cosmic, was perhaps more like physical pain, like something one could die of quite privately in a corner. But I was not dismayed.
Only art explains and cannot itself be explained. We and art are made for each other, and where that bond fails human life fails.
Agreed.
