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Post by gyro on Feb 12, 2009 22:40:11 GMT
Jazz; yeah, it's good isn't it ? Although the original short story (The Bath) was a lot shorter and absolutely bloody annoyingly oblique; I REALLY didn't like it. The expanded version with a different ending is FAR superior.
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Post by bixaorellana on Feb 12, 2009 22:47:30 GMT
Gyro ~~ have you seen the new book yet, with Carver's original versions & the edited versions of same? I think Casimira has it & will maybe post here about it.
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Post by Deleted on Feb 12, 2009 23:13:04 GMT
Re: Raymond Carver,did read that piece in New Yorker about the editing(butchering) of his originals. I was blown away by how much angst, guts, were removed after editing. Obviously this has already been discussed so I won't go on. Will be thrilled to read the book. A good friend of mine had a fling with Tess McGill.
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Post by Deleted on Feb 12, 2009 23:17:07 GMT
RE: Anita Brookner,have read Hotel du Lac (loved it) and Incidents in the RueLaugier which I also enjoyed. The characters in Hotel du Lac and her descriptions of clothing , colors, the weather...
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Post by tillystar on Feb 13, 2009 9:41:15 GMT
Its funny how taste works isn't it? I usually love all the authors and books you mention Bix and the same with a close friend of mine who I share books with. But like you she loves Anita Brookner and I just can't get on with her. I have tried many times but I just don't enjoy her books. Its funny innit?
Then again Casi may have hit the nail on the head mentioning all the descriptions in her books; I never get on with long lazy descriptive passage they make me want to go to sleep.
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Post by bixaorellana on Feb 13, 2009 17:54:56 GMT
Tilly, even though I really appreciate Anita Brookner, I also can see how she'd be a complete turn-off. I used to feel deficient when I couldn't come to terms with an author everyone said was really good. Then I decided that there's enough other good stuff out there that I needn't feel obliged to plow through something with which I can't get in tune.
I had an odd experience of not being in tune with a book when I read Shirley Hazzard's The Great Fire. The book was published to great fanfare and received glowing reviews. I plodded through most of it thinking "ho hum, it's okay, but ..." Then, about 3/4 of the way through the book, it suddenly caught fire for me, so to speak. The brilliance of it hit me and I was so annoyed that somehow I'd blocked it up to that point. Oh well, at least it's something I can look forward to reading again as though it were new to me.
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Post by Deleted on Feb 16, 2009 14:39:49 GMT
I'm embarassed to recall what I thought was poignant and profound when I was say 25. Yet, I have reread some that had a profound impact on me then and every once in awhile I'll experience a similar effect again.
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Post by bixaorellana on May 31, 2010 22:11:50 GMT
I'm currently reading two authors who definitely are on my Favorite Authors list.
Bill Bryson. Boy, do I love him. Are there any other authors who can hold you spellbound with facts and a few sentences later have you laughing so hard you're almost sick? Not only that, the man is incapable of writing an ungrammatical sentence.
Robert Crais. His detective stories never fail to satisfy. They have humor, great suspense, and well-crafted plots.
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Post by bixaorellana on Sept 18, 2010 17:32:10 GMT
Ron Hansen -- is anyone else a fan? He's an excellent writer and his very varied themes are all equally well covered. If I were to suggest just one for an introduction to Hansen, I'd say Atticus.Here's what the critics have to say about Ron Hansen: mockingbird.creighton.edu/ncw/hanscrit.htm
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