tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-446727280609751914.post4746486559375468979..comments2024-02-10T19:58:20.327+00:00Comments on Stuck in a Book: A Resource For The Trickier Part of the 20th CenturyStuckInABookhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10017836017530130716noreply@blogger.comBlogger43125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-446727280609751914.post-56778749012164475482012-02-14T21:34:15.803+00:002012-02-14T21:34:15.803+00:00oh sure be some more that didn't make book ,th...oh sure be some more that didn't make book ,thanks stustujallenhttp://winstonsdad.wordpress.com/noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-446727280609751914.post-3529810030582744722012-02-11T09:14:49.250+00:002012-02-11T09:14:49.250+00:00Gotta say, I've never read an American western...Gotta say, I've never read an American western - so perhaps this could be where I start... hmm?StuckInABookhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10017836017530130716noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-446727280609751914.post-14256319803090847722012-02-11T08:25:44.913+00:002012-02-11T08:25:44.913+00:00i am very glad to see To Kill a Mockingbird mentio...i am very glad to see To Kill a Mockingbird mentioned.janepherhttp://www.boiwala.com/literaturenoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-446727280609751914.post-8625933729448975572012-02-11T01:38:32.205+00:002012-02-11T01:38:32.205+00:00Lonesome Dove is a huge sprawling wonder of a book...Lonesome Dove is a huge sprawling wonder of a book and lots of fun as well. If you've never been big on American westerns, it's a good one to start with.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06906212382849291562noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-446727280609751914.post-56260712833680382962012-02-09T18:48:34.373+00:002012-02-09T18:48:34.373+00:00A Century of Books I thought it might be a very us...A Century of Books I thought it might be a very useful resource... and, after all, I do love a list.Laila Sarahttp://www.boiwala.com/booksnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-446727280609751914.post-20277552615263853172012-02-08T20:34:34.675+00:002012-02-08T20:34:34.675+00:00I meant to say, I didn't identify with the &qu...I meant to say, I didn't identify with the "lower middle-brow" category at all...Jodie Robsonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02442935205880334932noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-446727280609751914.post-61114235778426635982012-02-08T20:29:52.397+00:002012-02-08T20:29:52.397+00:00I shall look too! The chart is wonderful, thank yo...I shall look too! The chart is wonderful, thank you, Margaret, but I'd have to say that I don't identify at all - with the one exception of "book club selections", since they are probably what I'm reading now (think I probably have a few of those editions from the 40s and 50s on my shelves).Jodie Robsonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02442935205880334932noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-446727280609751914.post-50306556869467415222012-02-08T16:45:25.940+00:002012-02-08T16:45:25.940+00:00I admit, I was clinging onto Spark and Compton-Bur...I admit, I was clinging onto Spark and Compton-Burnett as my hopes for many years! Your list has helped me no end, even though there are a few others there I've not heard of, and plenty I've not read yet.StuckInABookhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10017836017530130716noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-446727280609751914.post-15768875369241228832012-02-08T13:50:41.135+00:002012-02-08T13:50:41.135+00:00I kind of avoid McMurtry like the plague, although...I kind of avoid McMurtry like the plague, although I did like his memoir on being a bookseller. From your birth year I would say go for the Winterson. (You thought I was going to stump for Brookner, didn't you?)<br /><br />Plus, I can think of some (probably) Simon-friendly ways of getting through the second half of the century: Spark, Murdoch, Drabble, Carol Shields, James Baldwin, Doctorow (only Ragtime), Michael Frayn, David Lodge, Naipaul, Patchett, Pym, May Sarton, Nevil Shute, Wallace Stegner...Thomas Hogglestockhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14284352537015457974noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-446727280609751914.post-88268304777756365182012-02-07T21:51:12.167+00:002012-02-07T21:51:12.167+00:00Just one, Stu - The Optimist's Daughter by Eud...Just one, Stu - The Optimist's Daughter by Eudora Welty.StuckInABookhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10017836017530130716noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-446727280609751914.post-19596063069876665662012-02-07T21:49:51.697+00:002012-02-07T21:49:51.697+00:00Haha, yes, I do have access! I should do, anyway,...Haha, yes, I do have access! I should do, anyway, and will have a hunt later...StuckInABookhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10017836017530130716noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-446727280609751914.post-54403732180811204292012-02-07T20:13:08.527+00:002012-02-07T20:13:08.527+00:00"IF you have access"...sorry, I forgot w..."IF you have access"...sorry, I forgot where you worked.Margaret W.noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-446727280609751914.post-69273497693611512272012-02-07T19:36:12.974+00:002012-02-07T19:36:12.974+00:00Absolutely! Hateful woman!
You can read the Life...Absolutely! Hateful woman! <br /><br />You can read the Life article (with chart) through Google Books. It is in the April 11th, 1949 issue -- it is short but funny. I'm not sure about the original Harper's article but it might be available through JStor if you have access. I think the Wilson Quarterly reprinted it at some point.Margaret W.noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-446727280609751914.post-53493549226537744252012-02-07T18:41:33.705+00:002012-02-07T18:41:33.705+00:00As a reader: agreed!As a reader: agreed!StuckInABookhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10017836017530130716noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-446727280609751914.post-86668408335879361182012-02-07T18:31:43.413+00:002012-02-07T18:31:43.413+00:00As a writer, I'm always delighted to see To Ki...As a writer, I'm always delighted to see To Kill a Mockingbird mentioned.<br /><br />Peerless book.<br /><br />Luminous film.Shelleyhttp://dustbowlpoetry.wordpress.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-446727280609751914.post-46629390415534066182012-02-07T17:34:59.626+00:002012-02-07T17:34:59.626+00:00Thanks for the info on McMurtry - I have heard of ...Thanks for the info on McMurtry - I have heard of Terms of Endearment, but hadn't realised it was a novel too. But I like him a lot, based on your biographical sketch! What fun to open up a bookshop with his own books - although I'd want to vet anyone who was going to take them away...StuckInABookhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10017836017530130716noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-446727280609751914.post-58312880418214664002012-02-07T17:27:50.850+00:002012-02-07T17:27:50.850+00:00Larry McMutry is a big name over here, Simon. He w...Larry McMutry is a big name over here, Simon. He writes about life in small Texas towns using his own hometown Archer City (as small a place as you can get in a state that like everything BIG) as his inspiration. He wrote THE LAST PICTURE SHOW and TERMS OF ENDEARMENT both turned into movies as well as a slew of novels set in the old west of which LONESOME DOVE is one. Also - and here is some great trivia you will appreciate - Larry McMurtry is a huge book collector. He took some of his surplus books and opened the only bookstore in his little hometown and it has expanded into a chain of sorts spreading over three separate buildings. It slowly became a happy hunting ground for bibliophiles of all types and has attracted visitors in the book trade from all over North America. When I visited the stores several years ago I was astounded by what I found. Many very scarce books at unbelievably cheap prices. I remember when I went to pay the employees were shaking their heads at how inadequately the books were priced. I kept grinning through the entire process.<br /><br />In addition to his mainstream fiction Brian Moore also wrote a few private eye novels under the pseudonym Bernard Mara.<br /><br />BTW - I suggest you read Colm Toibin's book THE MASTER about Henry James and pronto, Simon. I think you'd greatly enjoy it.J F Norrishttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06473487417479127354noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-446727280609751914.post-25691758256859429922012-02-07T17:20:28.331+00:002012-02-07T17:20:28.331+00:00I've always been suspicious of Jeanette Winter...I've always been suspicious of Jeanette Winterson, because she seems so bitter in interviews, but I'm told her books don't read that way... one day, one day.StuckInABookhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10017836017530130716noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-446727280609751914.post-48554509249967900342012-02-07T17:19:51.550+00:002012-02-07T17:19:51.550+00:00I'm not deliberately restricting myself to lit...I'm not deliberately restricting myself to literary fiction.. actually, thinking about it, I seem to be reading quite a lot of non-fiction so far this year. Perhaps because I'm reading books *about* the first half of 20th century, published in the second half...(!)StuckInABookhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10017836017530130716noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-446727280609751914.post-20352017114761996222012-02-07T17:18:45.949+00:002012-02-07T17:18:45.949+00:00Margaret, that's wonderful! I knew of Lynes&#...Margaret, that's wonderful! I knew of Lynes' article but had never got around to reading it - despite writing a lot about the middlebrow in my thesis, and enjoying (and disagreeing with!) every corruscating word of Woolf's.StuckInABookhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10017836017530130716noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-446727280609751914.post-45879564038081456652012-02-07T17:17:55.550+00:002012-02-07T17:17:55.550+00:00I will check when I'm at home, Stu, and let yo...I will check when I'm at home, Stu, and let you know!StuckInABookhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10017836017530130716noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-446727280609751914.post-49994996249909864182012-02-07T15:59:08.629+00:002012-02-07T15:59:08.629+00:00GeraniumCat, there is a lower middle-brow category...GeraniumCat, there is a lower middle-brow category. See this hilarious chart at www.joeydevilla.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2009/10/highbrowlowbrowchart.jpg <br /><br />The chart was created by Russell Lynes for Life Magazine in 1949. His original article appeared in Harper's in response to Virginia Woolf's posthumously published letter that called middlebrows "petty purveyors of high brow cultures for their own shallow benefit." -- ouch!<br /><br />We had an interesting discussion about it on the Angela Thirkell Appreciation Group on FB in October 2011.Margaret W.noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-446727280609751914.post-30399616486312497922012-02-07T13:27:02.852+00:002012-02-07T13:27:02.852+00:00Black Robe was a depressing thing about Jesuits in...Black Robe was a depressing thing about Jesuits in Quebec. I don't remember it being huge in the UK @ the time. Lonesome Dove I haven't read but it was a mega successful TV mini series. Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit is a must read - ask Cardigan Girl Verity.I am very fond of Cormack McCarthy but he requires determined reading.Ali Malhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01595941215998565255noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-446727280609751914.post-87553944356774521922012-02-07T12:57:01.200+00:002012-02-07T12:57:01.200+00:00I second the ...Judith Hearne recommendation but B...I second the ...Judith Hearne recommendation but Black Robe's good too, about a Jesuit (I think) priest going to preach to the Hurons. It's a Canlit staple, and I seem to recall that there's a film version of it too.<br /><br />I'm not finding the second half of the century as hard as I thought, though I have the advantage of not restricting myself to literary fiction. Is there a lower middle-brow, I wonder?Jodie Robsonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02442935205880334932noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-446727280609751914.post-83818246018720294332012-02-07T12:34:55.807+00:002012-02-07T12:34:55.807+00:00oh I ll have to look for my birth year see what wa...oh I ll have to look for my birth year see what was about 1972 all the best stustujallenhttp://winstonsdad.wordpress.com/noreply@blogger.com