What BOOK are you reading right now?

Ah, I've been there in autumn too. The guano memory is probably false, maybe from someplace else.

Well, now I'm on page seven of the book, and think I'm apt to like reading it. I was a little worried that all the psychology, philosophy, word play, etc., would get me down. It was helpful, though, to have read both Calvino's intro and Weaver's explanations first. On a lot of books, I read introductions or rave reviews after I've read the book. I barely even read the back cover promotions, as I like to experience the book myself before being told what is going on.

I've no idea whether or not Calvino's piece shows up in the italian edition(s) of the book. My english edition is from 1999. It would take me forever and a day to read it in italian, a lot of which I've forgotten or didn't know in the first place - especially re dialects. It turns out that some of the dialect words are showing up a little bit in the english version.


This is the 2007 edition on Amazon. It looks the same as mine.. and nice, in that it has good paper and binding, even bought used.

Any sex in there?

I also read intros after having read the book, if I liked it.

My technique to spot a good book is to read their first and last sentences. Those 2 sentences cannot be badly written, if the book is any good.

I'm now on page 35, and I consider it a real feat to have gotten there. Sometimes Gadda is perfectly clear and sometimes he is off musing about something. I'm getting used to it. I'm even learning some new words, which is fairly unusual for me.

I'm a bit more patient as I give a book the first 2 pages. Sometimes I go to the middle of the book or at the end (gasp...shock). If I'm not grabbed, then I dismiss the book.

I've been given some 'assigned reading' by my new significant other to read The Five Love Languages' by Chapman. It was recently re-written and updated a year ago. I'm going to the library to see if I can find it there. After I read it, we'll then discuss it.

Interesting title. Love is hard stuff to write about well.

Good sign. Examples?

There were more than one, and that is even more unusual. On the other hand, he may be like me, playful, making up words, but I doubt it, I think the editor Weaver might have forbid that (or not, just that I take them as real) - major editor, that guy. Off to look - a large word starting with C. Back if I find it.

Meantime, I was (cough) musing to myself about Hillary C., which reminded me of a book, Slicky Girls. It's part of the Soho Crime series (how I love that series, many many very good books. It's by an american, set in Korea, and has nothing at all to do with Hillary. It's just that I take her, better or worse, as slick. (Yes, of course I'll vote for her assuming it comes to that, a matter I think is likely to happen.)

Ah, this is re Weaver. Makes me tear a little bit.
The section on his quotes, right on.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Weaver

Geez, that bio is full of stuff I love.

An a2k friend's husband's firm is mentioned in passing, sigh. She was more a friend from abuzz (NYTimes, earlier site) than a2k, but I also got to meet her on my one NY visit. She taught me a lot back then. I sometimes wish I would have a photo memory.

Hey - - - -

I have not read the world's best sexy books.
I know enough to get that opinions can vary a lot.
I was a doppus as a child and teen, and after that, even if interested, busy with life.

I speak as one who had her first slightly sexual thrill when reading Owen Wister's The Virginian. If you try to find that, you will laugh

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Owen_Wister

By now I well get sex in books, but wonder re where it both fits in a novel and is actually sexy.

So far, Alan Furst is ok.

In't that just the best thing - a supply of books you know you will enjoy because you kept them from last time!

Anything fits in a novel. It all depends on how it's written. And it doesn't need to be erotic. Sometimes it's just coming up as a fact of life, a step in a tragedy, or a comical element. It's often comical in Bukowski's novels, for instance.

Personally, there's only a few (often female) authors of erotic novels who gave me the chill when I was young: Anais Nin for instance. I think I read one or two of Regine Deforge's books. I tried Sade but it's poorly written. I tried DH Lawrence too, found him depressing...

I didn't mean sex doesn't fit in novels - more that where it fits in the plotline is of interest..

I haven't read Bukowski.. one of these days.

Re Gadda's Via Merulana book, I'm adapting to it somewhat. I'm now on page 102. It's clear, and I'd guessed that before I read a footnote on it, that Police Officer Francesco Ingravallo, aka Don Ciccio, is based on Gadda himself, with many of Gadda's takes on philosophy, psychology, how the world of people buzzing around him actually works. He muses a lot, even just after being completely clear about something or other. I'm used to it now, but still sort of hang on, so as to understand what is on the page.

There have been more new words showing up, but I don't stop to look them up lest I lose my grasp on what is going on. They tend to be adjectives, so I can surmise. I may need to read the damned book twice.

The book was written in 1957, but the setting is 1927 Rome, Mussolini time in the old city..

On footnotes by the translator, there aren't very many, and they are in tiny print when they do show up, but they are useful - short and useful.

The latest Bernie Gunther. I'm enjoying this one more than the last. That's not to say the last one wasn't a good read, it was.

I ordered these recently from ABE and one of them is a Philip Kerr, a name I learned and saved from you, Izzy:

Title: The World at Night: A Novel
Author: Alan Furst
Quantity: 1
Book Description: Shows some signs of wear, and may have some markings on the inside.
ISBN: 9780375758584
Book Condition: Good
Book Price: US$ 3.46
Shipping Price: US$ 0.00
Bookseller: Motor City Books
AbeBooks Purchase Order No.: 125392084
Purchase Method: Visa
Estimated Delivery Date: May 3, 2016
Approximate Shipping Speed: 5 - 14 business days

Title: The Polish Officer: A Novel
Author: Furst, Alan
Quantity: 1
Book Description: Minimal damage to cover and binding. Pages show light use.
ISBN: 9780375758270
Binding: Soft cover
Book Condition: Good
Book Price: US$ 3.48
Shipping Price: US$ 0.00
Bookseller: Sierra Nevada Books
AbeBooks Purchase Order No.: 125392085
Purchase Method: Visa
Estimated Delivery Date: May 3, 2016
Approximate Shipping Speed: 5 - 14 business days

Title: If the Dead Rise Not (A Bernie Gunther Novel)
Author: Kerr, Philip
Quantity: 1
Book Description: Ex-Library Book - will contain Library Markings.
ISBN: 9780399156151
Binding: Hardcover
Book Condition: Fair
Book Price: US$ 3.73
Shipping Price: US$ 0.00

That's quite a good one and unusual. The first half is set in pre war, (and pre Olympics,) Nazi Germany. The second half in Batista's Cuba, on the eve of revolution. If you like Bernie there's 10 more. The best deal is Berlin Noir which is a collection of the first three novels.

Finally finished MaddAddam, the third book of Margaret Atwood's trilogy.

Olivia Laing's The Lonely City: Adventures in the Art of Being Alone is waiting for me at work tomorrow. Will start reading this one for my book club meeting next month.

I'm about halfway through The Mess on Via Merulana, and it has taken me a while to get into the spirit of it. "What the hell is he talking about now", I say to myself. And, yep, he makes up words or uses words I've never heard of (not to mention throwing in differing languages). Ms. Prim took a while to get into his sort of loosey goosey style.

Still, how could I give up on a guy who writes some great phrases. I'll give him pause though, since I ordered three books set in the WWII years, or thereabouts, and they will be less 'work'.

Finished "La Violence et la Derision" by Cossery yesterday. It's been translated in English as "The Jokers", which in my view under-sells the book's sarcasm.

Not a masterpiece but quite enjoyable. It's about the respective worth of violence and satire to undermine a dictatorship. The main characters are busy mocking the town's tyrant in very creative ways, while an old-style revolutionary tries to kill him. The formers complaign to the latter that he will destroy the source of their fun, while the latter argues to the formers that they are just jokers, that the people is suffering, and that revolution ought to be more serious than that. As usual with Cossery, it's full of bizarre characters and splendid moments. Politically, it's a plea for non-violence based on the comic value of tyrants; odd therefore but quite funny.

The only caveat I would make is relative to gender: the book dates back to the 50s or so, Cossery is Egyptian, and he comes across as "casually mysogynistic" in a few places. Nothing gross, but a few remarks here or there that detract from the pleasure of reading this book. To be fair there are also splendid descriptions of 2 women: the crazy old mother of a character, and the daughter of the tyrant.