so-soThis turned out ok. It‘s a lot like The Town, a later Faulkner novel narrated by Charles McCaslin and Gavin Stephens. Personally i hated The Town. This is better. A simple story, with race-relations exploration. A mixed-race man is charged with a murder he didn‘t commit. Everyone is waiting for a lynching. But it‘s Faulkner, so wordy, thick, and slow, with some deep soul searching by the well-educated always wrong Gavin.
so-soBanned for its lewd, obscene, and pornographic content, Henry Miller's journals of 1920's-1930's Bohemian Paris certainly can be seen as subversive literature. His work as raw, unapologetic, unfiltered, and certainly un-PC for its time, shocking and repulsing in reference to the numerous morally corrupt characters he encounters. Overall, Miller is a literary, epiphanic writer but sluggish with his frenetic ramblings and glacial storytelling.
Walt is staying cool.
pickJust based on the description, I would never have chosen to read this book. A man has a medical emergency and spends his protracted recovery, reflecting upon things that have happened in his life and literature that he loves? And yet, I absolutely loved the experience of reading it.
pickI loved this. The writing has a propulsive energy as sentences wind their way to interesting ends. It‘s strong and assured, driven by curiosity. There is a beautiful rhythm that keeps you reading. I found the hospital setting strangely comforting: time slows down and the narrator focuses on small details, observes a sparrow, reflects on Kathleen Ferrier singing Mahler. It‘s also a love story, with ups and downs that feel authentic.
I just received an email from LOA about a documentary about Gary Snyder, one of the last surviving Beats, & a character in one of the grimmest novels I have ever read in my life (Kerouac's Big Sur). This will be streaming this weekend. Think this will be of interest to you @leftcoastzen
https://email.loa.org/h/i/8AB1ACAB53E732ED
pickBrought this after @squirrelbrain review and then bumped it up the list after @BarbaraBB review this week.
Thoughtful, reflective, detailed musings on life,death and poetry after an emergency medical event. Beautifully written.
And rounding out the month of April, we‘re celebrating all things double…double the fun, double the #birthdaylove, and double the cake and balloons!
That‘s right! We‘ve got TWO parties to attend! 🥳🥳
We‘re sending our best wishes to you both @Branwen and @Oryx and hope that however you choose to celebrate, it‘s a fabulous day from beginning to end.
Happy, Happy Birthday Rebecca and Emma! 🎈🎈
🧚♀️🎉🧚♀️🎉🧚♀️🎉🧚♀️🎉🧚♀️🎉🧚♀️
pickThe narrator is hospitalized with a rare vascular condition. For days he‘s at ICU, not really knowing what‘s happening, though he knows it‘s serious.
Each medical detail is described, as is the narrator‘s view on life, his past and future.
And it‘s 2020 and COVID is everywhere. In the hospital, in people‘s attitude, in the protests in the streets. It took me back to those days and although it frightened me I loved this about the book. Very good!
