tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2429560125838989988.post3780953641414599446..comments2024-03-17T11:17:53.826+00:00Comments on Authors Electric: Lev's Top Ten Part VKatherine Robertshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17196712319655603442noreply@blogger.comBlogger10125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2429560125838989988.post-923907669735404222015-02-23T21:48:53.824+00:002015-02-23T21:48:53.824+00:00Joseph, we'll have to agree to disagree on Hel...Joseph, we'll have to agree to disagree on Heller. I don't think I'd better 'go there' with the Gospels but I would lay the same charge against the other two examples--which I've read in abridged form only...as I have Dumas and Hugo...with no sense of loss. Ovid, on the other hand--the most episodic of writers--keeps me on the edge of my seat. So length itself isn't a problem for me. I do need a strong center to hold me. Still, no one can say, imo, that your examples fail as literature--they succeed because of their stories...and despite their length. Imo.glitter noirhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11728649916344336118noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2429560125838989988.post-60848745123027078652015-02-23T19:22:01.396+00:002015-02-23T19:22:01.396+00:00Sadly, I've read very little McCullers, an ove...Sadly, I've read very little McCullers, an oversight I intend to correct soon.Leverett Buttshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05822160835689818255noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2429560125838989988.post-5030510693042326902015-02-23T19:01:40.253+00:002015-02-23T19:01:40.253+00:00And how about Carson McCullers, as well, Lev? One ...And how about Carson McCullers, as well, Lev? One of my personal favourites too. I still remember the enchantment and involvement I felt at my first reading of The Member of the Wedding. Reb, I actually don't think it's sexism at all. Just taste. And I find the places where tastes for men and women intersect most strongly very interesting. Catherine Czerkawskahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14554969254207924049noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2429560125838989988.post-50779518536589883172015-02-23T18:29:52.986+00:002015-02-23T18:29:52.986+00:00Reb, I think Mailer's criticism of Heller over...Reb, I think Mailer's criticism of Heller overlooks the obviously episodic nature of the work. One could lay the same claims against such works as Don Quixote, Moby Dick, and to some extent even the Gospels despite their obvious dedication to plot, but I would be unwilling to say that such works are literary failures.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00940504168735332653noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2429560125838989988.post-13736409360595805242015-02-23T17:24:37.229+00:002015-02-23T17:24:37.229+00:00Reb: I love Ovid! I came to him late or he'd&#...Reb: I love Ovid! I came to him late or he'd've made the list. <br /><br />Catherine: you make an interesting point. As I read your list I began thinking about female writers I like, and it was surprisingly hard: Flannery O'Connor, Eudora Welty, Harper Lee. THen I realizied they were all SOuthern and white. Dunno what to make of it, but there it is. <br /><br />Chris and Susan, tell me how to access EE, and I'll be glad to break thes up into mini reviews. Leverett Buttshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05822160835689818255noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2429560125838989988.post-82212421058128736982015-02-23T14:47:49.665+00:002015-02-23T14:47:49.665+00:00I wish I could share your enthusiasm for Heller. B...I wish I could share your enthusiasm for Heller. But I find myself on the side of another writer I can't read: Norman Mailer, who wrote that you could remove a hundred pages almost anywhere from Catch 22--and not even the author would know they were gone. That said, it's always interesting to know the sources that inspired the writers whom we do read and admire. I'd be lucky to find three colleagues who share my enthusiasm for Auden, Louis MacNeice, J P Donleavy, Ovid and the great lurid novelist, Turgidiva Divina.glitter noirhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11728649916344336118noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2429560125838989988.post-7671733667493065642015-02-23T14:16:07.518+00:002015-02-23T14:16:07.518+00:00Catherine, what seems to be sexism really does swi...Catherine, what seems to be sexism really does swing both ways. When I worked (for a decade) in two great indie bookstores, I ran the mystery sections. And I can't tell you how many female customers would only read mysteries by female authors. Nor were they up for discussion: no male authors on their shelves. glitter noirhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11728649916344336118noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2429560125838989988.post-36204823934438136162015-02-23T11:47:26.006+00:002015-02-23T11:47:26.006+00:00Some great reviews here Lev and do put them in EE ...Some great reviews here Lev and do put them in EE too. Hitchhiker's is a brilliant 'trilogy' and I loved the original radio 4 version as well as the books. His writing is just so witty and surreal. The language matters as much as the plot and characters, which is sadly rare in a lot of books/plays/films these days. Lydia Bennethttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09328239009863878547noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2429560125838989988.post-35716870589072543442015-02-23T11:26:24.546+00:002015-02-23T11:26:24.546+00:00Interesting that these are all books by men - but ...Interesting that these are all books by men - but when I think about it, most of the books that have stayed with me throughout my own life have been novels by women - perhaps with the exception of the Wind in the Willows, Kidnapped and E F Benson's Lucia books. Not that there's anything wrong with this - it just intrigues me how many men tend to appreciate books by men and how many women might find themselves listing more books by women. Husband and son were watching a movie together on Friday night which seemed like one big yawn to me. So much so that I can't even remember the title. When they asked me why I was so bored - I was rereading Persuasion at the time - I pointed out that the cast were all men doing manly and heroic things ever so loudly. Again, I've no quarrel with their taste - they were enjoying it. But what interested me was that they simply hadn't noticed the complete absence of female characters. They looked at me blankly for a moment or two and then said 'Oh - yeah. You're right!' I've also contemplated writing an analysis of dead literary heroines at some point. When men write about vivid central female characters, they so often seem to have to die - Madame Bovary, Anna Karenina to name but two, and whole swathes of Dickens women. Becky Sharp is a glowing exception. But that reminds me that Vanity Fair (subtitled 'a novel without a hero') would probably be on my list of memorable novels as well - somewhere very near the top. Catherine Czerkawskahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14554969254207924049noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2429560125838989988.post-27937949103020720702015-02-23T10:20:15.678+00:002015-02-23T10:20:15.678+00:00Brilliant reviews of your last 2 books, Lev. And S...Brilliant reviews of your last 2 books, Lev. And Susan, if you're reading this get your thumbscrews out and apply them to Lev to convince him to post each review separately in Eclectic Electric.Chris Longmuirhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02488093821886798927noreply@blogger.com