FRI: My Book World | Amor Towles, Table for Two: Fictions
TUES: A Writer's Wit | Miriam Toews
WEDS: A Writer's Wit | Susan Dodd
THURS: A Writer's Wit | Margaret Fuller
Up Next:
FRI: My Book World | Amor Towles, Table for Two: Fictions TUES: A Writer's Wit | Miriam Toews WEDS: A Writer's Wit | Susan Dodd THURS: A Writer's Wit | Margaret Fuller
0 Comments
Up Next:
THURS: A Writer's Wit | Jean Hanff Korelitz FRI: My Book World | Amor Towles, Table for Two: Fictions
Up Next:
WEDS: A Writer's Wit | Clifton Fadiman THURS: A Writer's Wit | Jean Hanff Korelitz FRI: My Book World | Amor Towles, Table for Two: Fictions Up Next:
FRI: My Book World | David Agus, The Book of Animal Secrets TUES: A Writer's Wit | Sofia Coppola WEDS: A Writer's Wit | Clifton Fadiman THURS: A Writer's Wit | Jean Hanff Korelitz Up Next:
THURS: A Writer's Wit | Candice Bergen FRI: My Book World | David Agus, The Book of Animal Secrets Up Next:
WEDS: A Writer's Wit | Phyllis Wheatley THURS: A Writer's Wit | Candice Bergen FRI: My Book World | David Agus, The Book of Animal Secrets Up Next:
FRI: My Book World | Barbara McQuade, Attack from Within TUES: A Writer's Wit | Angela Carter WEDS: A Writer's Wit | Phyllis Wheatley THURS: A Writer's Wit | Candice Bergen
Up Next:
THURS: A Writer's Wit | John Galt FRI: My Book World | Barbara McQuade, Attack from Within
Up Next:
WEDS: A Writer's Wit | Bobbie Ann Mason THURS: A Writer's Wit | John Galt FRI: My Book World | Barbara McQuade, Attack from Within
Up Next:
FRI: My Book World | John Dufresne, Johnny Too Bad TUES: A Writer's Wit | Annie Dillard WEDS: A Writer's Wit | Bobbie Ann Mason THURS: A Writer's Wit | John Galt
Up Next:
THURS: A Writer's Wit | William Joseph Brennan FRI: My Book World | John Dufresne, Johnny Too Bad A word to my readers: My partner of 48 years came home from rehab on April 1, 2024, following a nasty fall in our home. He is doing much better, but with head injuries progress can mean two days forward and one day back. At any rate, I've not had to lay out from writing my posts as long as I thought. From this point forward if I take a week off, you will know the reason why. RJ Up Next:
WEDS: A Writer's Wit | Simone Elkeles THURS: A Writer's Wit | William Joseph Brennan FRI: My Book World | John Dufresne, Johnny Too Bad: Stories Coming Next:
FRI: My Book World | Stanley Karnow, Paris in the Fifties TUES: A Writer's Wit | Joan D. Vinge WEDS: A Writer's Wit | Washington Irving THURS: A Writer's Wit | Marguerite Duras
Coming Next:
THURS: A Writer's Wit | Mario Vargas Llosa FRI: My Book World | Stanley Karnow, Paris in the Fifties
Coming Next:
WEDS: A Writer's Wit | Julia Alvarez THURS: A Writer's Wit | Mario Vargas Llosa FRI: My Book World | Stanley Karnow, Paris in the Fifties My Book WorldCanin, Ethan. A Doubter’s Almanac. New York: Random, 2016. This novel is about two men, a father and his son, although it implicates so many other characters: the father and his parents, and the son, his father and mother, as well as his siblings. Both father and son are advanced mathematicians, the father so brilliant as to teach for a time at Princeton and win a prestigious award for solving a single complex “problem.” The father is also an alcoholic, and his family bear the brunt of all his boorish sins, including the son who chooses to use his mathematical education to make a fortune on Wall Street. He makes such a fine fortune that he can afford two things: plenty of drugs and the ability to walk away from Wall Street and still have money for him and his family to live on for the rest of their lives. The former, drugs, he begins “dosing” himself in his teens, with the substance of MDMA or Ecstasy. He somehow knows how to dose himself just enough to stay engaged throughout his schooling. Only later, after he has quit, does his father confront him (takes one to know one). The last part of the novel takes place in the father’s crude cabin in northern Michigan. Father is dying of liver disease, and everyone gathers to watch his bones literally break beneath his skin. A longtime acquaintance of the father leaves the son with enough (something) to euthanize the father when it comes time (ah, were it that easy for any of us). The final chapter, skillfully written and skillfully placed, takes readers back to the son and his sister’s childhood, a rare and beautiful time they share with their father in a boat on the lake. It may be the most memorable episode they have with their brilliant but broken father, and it allows the characters, as most of us do, to recall only the good times they have had with a difficult parent. Coming Next: TUES: A Writer's Wit | Erica Jong WEDS: A Writer's Wit | Julia Alvarez THURS: A Writer's Wit | Mario Vargas Llosa FRI: My Book World | Stanley Karnow, Paris in the Fifties Coming Next:
FRI: My Book World | Ethan Canin, A Doubter's Almanac TUES: A Writer's Wit | Erica Jong WEDS: A Writer's Wit | Julia Alvarez THURS: A Writer's Wit | Mario Vargas Llosa
Coming Next:
THURS: A Writer's Wit | Thomas Frank FRI: My Book World | Ethan Canin, A Doubter's Almanac Coming Next:
WEDS: A Writer's Wit | Emily Griffin THURS: A Writer's Wit | Thomas Frank FRI: My Book World | Ethan Canin, A Doubter's Almanac
Coming Next:
FRI: My Book World | Michael Denneny, On Christopher Street TUES: A Writer's Wit | Garth Greenwell WEDS: A Writer's Wit | Emily Giffin THURS: A Writer's Wit | Thomas Frank Coming Next:
THURS: A Writer's Wit | Horton Foote FRI: My Book World | Michael Denneny, On Christopher Street Coming Next:
WEDS: A Writer's Wit | Janet Flanner THURS: A Writer's Wit | Horton Foote FRI: My Book World | Michael Denneny, On Christopher Street MY BOOK WORLDBarnes, Julian. The Sense of an Ending. New York: Knopf, 2011. Quite a tour de force for Barnes to squeeze a lifetime into 163 pages! Makes one wonder why most novels couldn’t do with a bit of streamlining (though not possible with many narratives, to be sure). The first third or so of this novel about Tony Webster is set in his youth: his three mates and a prominent girlfriend who dumps him eventually for one of those friends, Adrian. Then Adrian commits suicide. Barnes writes a brilliant transitional scene which moves readers to his life as an adult: “By now I’d left home, and started work as a trainee in arts administration. Then I met Margaret; we married, and three years later Susie was born. We bought a small house with a large mortgage; I commuted up to London every day. My traineeship turned into a long career. Life went by . . . [A]fter a dozen years Margaret took up with a fellow who ran a restaurant. I didn’t much like him—or his food, for that matter—but then I wouldn’t, would I? Custody of Susie was shared. Happily, she didn’t seem too affected by the breakup; and, as I now realize, I never applied to her my theory of damage” (59). This transition continues for another page and a half until readers begin Part Two: Tony is sixty. He is bequeathed the late Adrian’s diaries by Adrian’s mother, but his wife, Veronica, will not release them to Tony. Why? That’s what the rest of the novel is about. Happy reading! I know it was for me. Not a disappointment either. Coming Next: TUES: A Writer's Wit | Edward Albee WEDS: A Writer's Wit | Janet Flanner THURS: A Writer's Wit | Horton Foote FRI: My Book World | Michael Denneny, On Christopher Street Coming Next:
FRI: My Book World | Julian Barnes, The Sense of an Ending TUES: A Writer's Wit | Edward Albee WEDS: A Writer's Wit | Janet Flanner THURS: A Writer's Wit | Horton Foote Coming Next:
THURS: A Writer's Wit | Elizabeth Moon FRI: My Book World | Julian Barnes, The Sense of an Ending |
AUTHOR
Richard Jespers is a writer living in Lubbock, Texas, USA. See my profile at Author Central:
http://amazon.com/author/rjespers Archives
April 2024
Categories
All
Blogroll
Websites
|