Arubabookwoman's Nobel Reading
ConversazioniNobel Laureates in Literature Challenge
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1arubabookwoman
So I will be joining in on the Nobel reading. I am not a completist, and I already know there are some Nobelists I have no interest at all in reading, so unless I live til 150 they will probably remain unread by me. I have over the years read a fair number--I've gone through my LT library and will list in the opening paragraphs below those I've read, with the year I read it (if I remember) in parentheses, and also those books by Nobelists I currently have on my shelf. My plan will be to probably read those books already on my shelf first, particularly those books by Nobelists I have not yet read.
I will note that my reading is heavily skewed in favor of novels, as I am not much of a poetry/drama/philosophy/history reader. I will try to remedy this, at least insofar as poetry goes.
I will note that my reading is heavily skewed in favor of novels, as I am not much of a poetry/drama/philosophy/history reader. I will try to remedy this, at least insofar as poetry goes.
2arubabookwoman
I will use this entry to list my 2023 Nobel reading (and future years if the group continues).
3arubabookwoman
2020's
2022 Annie Ernaux
Read: The Years
On Shelf: A Woman's Story
2021 Abdulrazak Gurnah
Read: By the Sea (2003)
Admiring Silence (2004)
Desertion (2010
On Shelf: Gravel Heart
Read in 2023: Paradise
2020 Louise Gluck
2022 Annie Ernaux
Read: The Years
On Shelf: A Woman's Story
2021 Abdulrazak Gurnah
Read: By the Sea (2003)
Admiring Silence (2004)
Desertion (2010
On Shelf: Gravel Heart
Read in 2023: Paradise
2020 Louise Gluck
4arubabookwoman
2010's
2019 Peter Handke
On Shelf: Short Letter Long Farewell
2018 Olga Tokarczuk
On Shelf: Flights
The Books of Jacob
Read in 2023: Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead
2017 Kazuo Ishiguro
Read: A Pale View of Hills (1996)
The Unconsoled (2001)
Never Let Me Go (2006)
When We Were Orphans (2015)
Klara and the Sun (2021)
On Shelf: An Artist of the Floating World
2016 Bob Dylan
Read: Chronicles One (2005)
2015 Svetlana Alexievich
Read: Voices From Chernobyl (2005
On Shelf: Secondhand Time
The Unwomanly Face of War
2014 Patrick Modiano
2013 Alice Munro
Read: Runaway (2008)
The Love of a Good Woman (2003)
The Beggar Maid (2021)
On Shelf: Too Much Happiness
Read in 2023: Lives of Girls and Women
2012 Mo Yan
Read: The Garlic Ballads (2019)
On Shelf: Life and Death Are Wearing Me Out
Read in 2023: Red Sorghum
2011 Tomas Transtromer
2120 Mario Vargas Llosa
Read: The Notebooks of Don Rigoberto (1999)
War at the End of the World (2010)
On Shelf: The Way to Paradise
Feast of the Goat
Captain Pantoja and the Special Service
The Time of the Hero
The Real LIfe of Alejandro Mayta
2019 Peter Handke
On Shelf: Short Letter Long Farewell
2018 Olga Tokarczuk
On Shelf: Flights
The Books of Jacob
Read in 2023: Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead
2017 Kazuo Ishiguro
Read: A Pale View of Hills (1996)
The Unconsoled (2001)
Never Let Me Go (2006)
When We Were Orphans (2015)
Klara and the Sun (2021)
On Shelf: An Artist of the Floating World
2016 Bob Dylan
Read: Chronicles One (2005)
2015 Svetlana Alexievich
Read: Voices From Chernobyl (2005
On Shelf: Secondhand Time
The Unwomanly Face of War
2014 Patrick Modiano
2013 Alice Munro
Read: Runaway (2008)
The Love of a Good Woman (2003)
The Beggar Maid (2021)
On Shelf: Too Much Happiness
Read in 2023: Lives of Girls and Women
2012 Mo Yan
Read: The Garlic Ballads (2019)
On Shelf: Life and Death Are Wearing Me Out
Read in 2023: Red Sorghum
2011 Tomas Transtromer
2120 Mario Vargas Llosa
Read: The Notebooks of Don Rigoberto (1999)
War at the End of the World (2010)
On Shelf: The Way to Paradise
Feast of the Goat
Captain Pantoja and the Special Service
The Time of the Hero
The Real LIfe of Alejandro Mayta
5arubabookwoman
2000's
2009 Herta Muller
On Shelf: The Hunger Angel
2008 J.M.G. Le Clezio
Read: Wandering Star (2011)
On Shelf: The Interrogation
The Prospector
2007 Doris Lessing
Read: The Grass Is Singing (1960's)
The Golden Notebook (1970's)
African Stories (1970's)
The Summer Before the Dark (1970's)
Martha Quest Series (1980's/90's)
The Fifth Child (1990's)
Under My Skin (1995)
Love, Again (1997)
Ben in the World (2000)
Diaries of Jane Somers (2008)
Mara and Dann (2010)
Alfred and Emily (2015)
On Shelf: The Good Terrorist
Memoirs of a Survivor
Briefing for a Descent into Hell
Going Home
The Four-Gated City
Shikasta
The Grandmothers
African Laughter
2006 Orhan Pamuk
Read: Snow
On Shelf: The Black Book
2005 Harold Pinter
2004 Elfriede Jelinek
Read: The Piano Teacher (2005)
On Shelf: Women As Lovers
2003 J.M. Coetzee
Read: Disgrace (2000)
Foe (1995)
Age of Iron (2003)
On Shelf: Waiting for the Barbarians
Read in 2023:In the Heart of the Country
2002 Imre Kertesz
Read: Fatelessness (2006)
On Shelf: Kaddish for an Unborn Child
Liquidation
Detective Story
2001 V.S. Naipaul
Read: A House For Mr. Biswas (1980's)
Mimic Men (1980's)
The Loss of El Dorado (1980's)
A Bend in the River (2000)
2000 Gao Xingjian
On Shelf: Buying a Fishing Rod for My Grandfather
2009 Herta Muller
On Shelf: The Hunger Angel
2008 J.M.G. Le Clezio
Read: Wandering Star (2011)
On Shelf: The Interrogation
The Prospector
2007 Doris Lessing
Read: The Grass Is Singing (1960's)
The Golden Notebook (1970's)
African Stories (1970's)
The Summer Before the Dark (1970's)
Martha Quest Series (1980's/90's)
The Fifth Child (1990's)
Under My Skin (1995)
Love, Again (1997)
Ben in the World (2000)
Diaries of Jane Somers (2008)
Mara and Dann (2010)
Alfred and Emily (2015)
On Shelf: The Good Terrorist
Memoirs of a Survivor
Briefing for a Descent into Hell
Going Home
The Four-Gated City
Shikasta
The Grandmothers
African Laughter
2006 Orhan Pamuk
Read: Snow
On Shelf: The Black Book
2005 Harold Pinter
2004 Elfriede Jelinek
Read: The Piano Teacher (2005)
On Shelf: Women As Lovers
2003 J.M. Coetzee
Read: Disgrace (2000)
Foe (1995)
Age of Iron (2003)
On Shelf: Waiting for the Barbarians
Read in 2023:In the Heart of the Country
2002 Imre Kertesz
Read: Fatelessness (2006)
On Shelf: Kaddish for an Unborn Child
Liquidation
Detective Story
2001 V.S. Naipaul
Read: A House For Mr. Biswas (1980's)
Mimic Men (1980's)
The Loss of El Dorado (1980's)
A Bend in the River (2000)
2000 Gao Xingjian
On Shelf: Buying a Fishing Rod for My Grandfather
6arubabookwoman
1990's
1999 Gunter Grass
Read: The Tin Drum (1980's, 2003)
My Century (2018)
On Shelf: Dog Years
Cat and Mouse
Local Anesthetic
1998 Jose Saramago
Read: Blindness (2006)
The Double (2011)
Death With Interruptions (2011)
On Shelf: All the Names
Gospel According to Jesus Christ
The Year of the Death of Ricardo Reis
History of the Siege of Lisbon
Baltasar and Blimunda
Skylight
1997 Dario Fo
1996 Wislawa Szumborska
1995 Seamus Heaney
1994 Kenabura Oe
Read: Nip the Bud Shoot the Kids (2009)
On Shelf: Somersault
Teach Us to Outgrow Our Madness
Seventeen and J
Rouse Up O Young Men of the New Age
1993 Toni Morrison
Read: Beloved
Sula
Tar Baby
Song of Soloman
(read all of these about the time she won the Nobel)
Jazz (2002)
On Shelf: Paradise
1992 Derek Walcott
1991 Nadine Gordimer
Read: The House Gun
On Shelf: A Guest of Honour
1990 Octavio Paz
1999 Gunter Grass
Read: The Tin Drum (1980's, 2003)
My Century (2018)
On Shelf: Dog Years
Cat and Mouse
Local Anesthetic
1998 Jose Saramago
Read: Blindness (2006)
The Double (2011)
Death With Interruptions (2011)
On Shelf: All the Names
Gospel According to Jesus Christ
The Year of the Death of Ricardo Reis
History of the Siege of Lisbon
Baltasar and Blimunda
Skylight
1997 Dario Fo
1996 Wislawa Szumborska
1995 Seamus Heaney
1994 Kenabura Oe
Read: Nip the Bud Shoot the Kids (2009)
On Shelf: Somersault
Teach Us to Outgrow Our Madness
Seventeen and J
Rouse Up O Young Men of the New Age
1993 Toni Morrison
Read: Beloved
Sula
Tar Baby
Song of Soloman
(read all of these about the time she won the Nobel)
Jazz (2002)
On Shelf: Paradise
1992 Derek Walcott
1991 Nadine Gordimer
Read: The House Gun
On Shelf: A Guest of Honour
1990 Octavio Paz
7arubabookwoman
1980's
1989 Camilo Jose Cela
Read: The Family of Pascal Duarte (1990's)
1988 Naguib Mahfouz
Read: Palace Walk (2012)
Palace of Desire (2012)
Sugar Street (2012)
On Shelf: Midaq Alley
Miramar
The Thief and the Dogs
1987 Joseph Brodsky
1986 Wole Soyinka
1985 Claude Simon
On Shelf: the Acacia
1984 Jaroslav Seifert
1983 William Golding
Read: Lord of the Flies (1960's)
The Spire (1970's)
The Inheritors (1970's, 2012)
Pincher Martin (1970's, 2013)
Darkness Visible (2008)
To the Ends of the Earth trilogy (2008)
On Shelf: Free Fall
1982 Gabriel Garcia Marquez
Read: One Hundred Years of Solitude (1970's)
Autumn of the Patriarch (1980's)
In Evil Hour (1980's)
No One Writes the Colonel (1980's
Clandestine in Chile (2010)
On Shelf: Living to Tell the Tale
Of Love and Other Demons
Love in the Time of Cholera
1981 Elias Canetti
Read: Auto-da-Fe (1960's
1980 Czeslaw Milosz
Read: The Issa Valley
On Shelf: The Captive Mind
1989 Camilo Jose Cela
Read: The Family of Pascal Duarte (1990's)
1988 Naguib Mahfouz
Read: Palace Walk (2012)
Palace of Desire (2012)
Sugar Street (2012)
On Shelf: Midaq Alley
Miramar
The Thief and the Dogs
1987 Joseph Brodsky
1986 Wole Soyinka
1985 Claude Simon
On Shelf: the Acacia
1984 Jaroslav Seifert
1983 William Golding
Read: Lord of the Flies (1960's)
The Spire (1970's)
The Inheritors (1970's, 2012)
Pincher Martin (1970's, 2013)
Darkness Visible (2008)
To the Ends of the Earth trilogy (2008)
On Shelf: Free Fall
1982 Gabriel Garcia Marquez
Read: One Hundred Years of Solitude (1970's)
Autumn of the Patriarch (1980's)
In Evil Hour (1980's)
No One Writes the Colonel (1980's
Clandestine in Chile (2010)
On Shelf: Living to Tell the Tale
Of Love and Other Demons
Love in the Time of Cholera
1981 Elias Canetti
Read: Auto-da-Fe (1960's
1980 Czeslaw Milosz
Read: The Issa Valley
On Shelf: The Captive Mind
8arubabookwoman
1970's
1979 Odysseus Elytis
1978 Isaac Bashevis Singer
Read: The Family Moskat (1980's, 2018)
A Crown of Feathers (1980's)
Enemies, A Love Story (1980's)
The Manor and the Estate (1990's)
Shosa (2004)
The Slave (2005)
On Shelf: Satan in Goray
Shadows on the Hudson
1977 Vicente Aleixandre
1976 Saul Bellow
Read: Adventures of Angie March (1960's)
Herzog (1980's)
Henderson the Rain King (1980's)
The Dangling Man (1980's)
Humbolt's Gift (1980's)
Ravelstein (2000)
Read in 2023: The Victim
1975 Eugenio Montale
1974 Eyvind Johnson
1973 Patrick White
Read: A Fringe of Leaves (1970's)
The Eye of the Storm (1980's, 2007)
The Tree of Man (1980's)
Voss (1980's, 2011)
The Solid Mandala (2012)
Riders in the Chariot (2012)
The Vivisector (2012)
On Shelf: The Hanging Garden
The Living and the Dead
1972 Heinrich Boll
Read: Group Portrait with Lady (1970's)
The Clown (1970'2)
The Lost Honor of Katerina Blum (1970's)
And Never Said a Word (1970's)
The Safety Net (2011)
1971 Pablo Neruda
1970 Alexander Solzhenitsin
Read: August 1914 (2011)
November 1916 (2011)
In the First Circle (1980's)
Cancer Ward (1980's)
Stories and Prose Poems (1980's)
A Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovitch (1960's)
The Gulag Archipelago (1980's)--one volume abridged version released back then
On Shelf: The Gulag Archipelago--3 volume version released a few years ago
1979 Odysseus Elytis
1978 Isaac Bashevis Singer
Read: The Family Moskat (1980's, 2018)
A Crown of Feathers (1980's)
Enemies, A Love Story (1980's)
The Manor and the Estate (1990's)
Shosa (2004)
The Slave (2005)
On Shelf: Satan in Goray
Shadows on the Hudson
1977 Vicente Aleixandre
1976 Saul Bellow
Read: Adventures of Angie March (1960's)
Herzog (1980's)
Henderson the Rain King (1980's)
The Dangling Man (1980's)
Humbolt's Gift (1980's)
Ravelstein (2000)
Read in 2023: The Victim
1975 Eugenio Montale
1974 Eyvind Johnson
1973 Patrick White
Read: A Fringe of Leaves (1970's)
The Eye of the Storm (1980's, 2007)
The Tree of Man (1980's)
Voss (1980's, 2011)
The Solid Mandala (2012)
Riders in the Chariot (2012)
The Vivisector (2012)
On Shelf: The Hanging Garden
The Living and the Dead
1972 Heinrich Boll
Read: Group Portrait with Lady (1970's)
The Clown (1970'2)
The Lost Honor of Katerina Blum (1970's)
And Never Said a Word (1970's)
The Safety Net (2011)
1971 Pablo Neruda
1970 Alexander Solzhenitsin
Read: August 1914 (2011)
November 1916 (2011)
In the First Circle (1980's)
Cancer Ward (1980's)
Stories and Prose Poems (1980's)
A Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovitch (1960's)
The Gulag Archipelago (1980's)--one volume abridged version released back then
On Shelf: The Gulag Archipelago--3 volume version released a few years ago
9arubabookwoman
1960's
1969 Samuel Beckett
Read: Molloy
Malone Dies
The Unnameable
Waiting for Godot
1968 Yasunari Kawabata
Read: Snow Country
On Shelf: Thousand Cranes
Sound of the Mountain
1967 Miguel Angel Asturias
On Shelf: The President
1966 S.Y. Agnon
On Shelf: Only Yesterday
The Bridal Canopy
1966 Nelly Sachs
1965 Mikhail Sholokhov
Read: And Quiet Flows the Don
1964 Jean-Paul Sartre
Read: Nausea
1963 Giorgos Seferis
1962 John Steinbeck
Read: The Grapes of Wrath (1960's)
The Pearl (1960's)
East of Eden (1980's, (2018)
Travels with Charlie (2018)
The Winter of Our Discontent (2022)
On Shelf: The Acts of King Arthur and His Noble Knights
The Moon Is Down
1961 Ivo Andric
Read: The Bridge on the Drina
On Shelf: Bosnian Chronicles
1960 St. John Perse
1969 Samuel Beckett
Read: Molloy
Malone Dies
The Unnameable
Waiting for Godot
1968 Yasunari Kawabata
Read: Snow Country
On Shelf: Thousand Cranes
Sound of the Mountain
1967 Miguel Angel Asturias
On Shelf: The President
1966 S.Y. Agnon
On Shelf: Only Yesterday
The Bridal Canopy
1966 Nelly Sachs
1965 Mikhail Sholokhov
Read: And Quiet Flows the Don
1964 Jean-Paul Sartre
Read: Nausea
1963 Giorgos Seferis
1962 John Steinbeck
Read: The Grapes of Wrath (1960's)
The Pearl (1960's)
East of Eden (1980's, (2018)
Travels with Charlie (2018)
The Winter of Our Discontent (2022)
On Shelf: The Acts of King Arthur and His Noble Knights
The Moon Is Down
1961 Ivo Andric
Read: The Bridge on the Drina
On Shelf: Bosnian Chronicles
1960 St. John Perse
10arubabookwoman
1950's
1959 Salvatore Quasimodo
1958 Boris Pasternak
Read: Doctor Zhivago (1960's)
1957 Albert Camus
Read: The Stranger (1960's)
The Plague (1960's)
The Fall (1980's)
1956 Juan Ramon Jimenez
On Shelf: Platero and I
1955 Halldor Laxness
Read: Independent People (1970's)
Paradise Reclaimed (2012)
On Shelf: Under the Glacier
The Great Weaver From Kashmir
Iceland's Bell
Read in 2023: Salka Valka
1954 Ernest Hemingway
Read: The Old Man and the Sea (1960's)
The Sun Also Rises (1960's)
A Farewell to Arms (1960's)
For Whom the Bell Tolls (1960's)
1953 Winston Churchill
1952 Francois Mauriac
Read: The Viper's Tangle (2013)
Therese Desqueyroux (2021)
On Shelf: Lines of Life
1951 Par Lagerkvist
Read: The Dwarf (1970's
Barabbas (2011)
On Shelf: The Sybil
Herod and Mariamne
1950 Bertrand Russell
1959 Salvatore Quasimodo
1958 Boris Pasternak
Read: Doctor Zhivago (1960's)
1957 Albert Camus
Read: The Stranger (1960's)
The Plague (1960's)
The Fall (1980's)
1956 Juan Ramon Jimenez
On Shelf: Platero and I
1955 Halldor Laxness
Read: Independent People (1970's)
Paradise Reclaimed (2012)
On Shelf: Under the Glacier
The Great Weaver From Kashmir
Iceland's Bell
Read in 2023: Salka Valka
1954 Ernest Hemingway
Read: The Old Man and the Sea (1960's)
The Sun Also Rises (1960's)
A Farewell to Arms (1960's)
For Whom the Bell Tolls (1960's)
1953 Winston Churchill
1952 Francois Mauriac
Read: The Viper's Tangle (2013)
Therese Desqueyroux (2021)
On Shelf: Lines of Life
1951 Par Lagerkvist
Read: The Dwarf (1970's
Barabbas (2011)
On Shelf: The Sybil
Herod and Mariamne
1950 Bertrand Russell
11arubabookwoman
1940's
1949 William Faulkner
Read: Go Down Moses (1970's)
The Sound and the Fury (1960's, 1990's, 2008, 2021)
Absalom, Absalom (1970's, 1990's, 2015)
As I Lay Dying (1980's, 2010)
Intruder in the Dust (2003)
Light in August (2010)
Sanctuary (2010)
On Shelf: The Wild Palms
Selected Short Stories (Modern Library)
Read in 2023: The Snopes Trilogy
1948 T.S. Eliot
Read: The Wasteland
other individual poems
1947 Andre Gide
Read: The Immoralist (1980's)
On Shelf: Strait Is the Gate
The Counterfeiters
1946 Herman Hesse
Read: Siddhartha (1960's)
Steppenwolf (1960's
Journey to the East (1960's
Demian (1960's)
1945 Gabriela Mistral
1944 Johannes Jensen
1949 William Faulkner
Read: Go Down Moses (1970's)
The Sound and the Fury (1960's, 1990's, 2008, 2021)
Absalom, Absalom (1970's, 1990's, 2015)
As I Lay Dying (1980's, 2010)
Intruder in the Dust (2003)
Light in August (2010)
Sanctuary (2010)
On Shelf: The Wild Palms
Selected Short Stories (Modern Library)
Read in 2023: The Snopes Trilogy
1948 T.S. Eliot
Read: The Wasteland
other individual poems
1947 Andre Gide
Read: The Immoralist (1980's)
On Shelf: Strait Is the Gate
The Counterfeiters
1946 Herman Hesse
Read: Siddhartha (1960's)
Steppenwolf (1960's
Journey to the East (1960's
Demian (1960's)
1945 Gabriela Mistral
1944 Johannes Jensen
12arubabookwoman
1930's
1939 Frans Emil Sillanpaa
1938 Pearl Buck
Read: The Good Earth (1960's)
On Shelf: Dragon Seed
Pavillion of Women
1937 Roger Martin du Gard
On Shelf: The Thibaults
Lieutenant Colonel de Maumort
Jean Barois
1936 Eugene O'Neill
Read: The Iceman Cometh
Desire Under the Elms
Mourning Becomes Electra
Strange Interlude
1935 XX
1934 Luigi Pirandello
Read: Six Characters in Search of an Author (1960's)
On Shelf: The Late Mattia Pascal
Loveless Love
1933 Ivan Bunin
On Shelf: The Elagin Affair
Wolves and Other Love Stories
1932 John Galsworthy
Read: The Forsyte Saga
1931 Erik Axel Karlfeldt
1930 Sinclair Lewis
Read: It Can't Happen Here (2007)
Arrowsmith (1970's)
Babbitt (1960's)
Main Street (1960's)
Cass Timberlane (1970's)
Elmer Gantry (1970's)
1939 Frans Emil Sillanpaa
1938 Pearl Buck
Read: The Good Earth (1960's)
On Shelf: Dragon Seed
Pavillion of Women
1937 Roger Martin du Gard
On Shelf: The Thibaults
Lieutenant Colonel de Maumort
Jean Barois
1936 Eugene O'Neill
Read: The Iceman Cometh
Desire Under the Elms
Mourning Becomes Electra
Strange Interlude
1935 XX
1934 Luigi Pirandello
Read: Six Characters in Search of an Author (1960's)
On Shelf: The Late Mattia Pascal
Loveless Love
1933 Ivan Bunin
On Shelf: The Elagin Affair
Wolves and Other Love Stories
1932 John Galsworthy
Read: The Forsyte Saga
1931 Erik Axel Karlfeldt
1930 Sinclair Lewis
Read: It Can't Happen Here (2007)
Arrowsmith (1970's)
Babbitt (1960's)
Main Street (1960's)
Cass Timberlane (1970's)
Elmer Gantry (1970's)
13arubabookwoman
1920's
1929 Thomas Mann
Read: Death in Venice (1960's)
Buddenbrooks (1980's, 2002, 2018)
Confessions of Felix Krull, Confidence Man (1980's)
The Magic Mountain (1960's)
Tonio Kroger (2011)
The Black Swan (2002)
On Shelf: Doctor Faustus
Joseph and His Brothers
Royal Highness
The Holy Sinner
1928 Sigrid Undset
Read: Kristin Lavransdatter series (1970's)
The Axe (2013)
On Shelf: The Snake Pit
1927 Henri Bergson
1926 Grazia Deledda
Read: After the Divorce (2013)
On Shelf: Reeds in the Wind
1925 George Bernard Shaw
Read: Pygmalion (1960's)
On Shelf: Man and Superman and 3 other plays
1924 Wladyslaw Reymont
On Shelf: The Comedienne
1923 William Butler Yeats
Read: Various isolated poems (Leda and the Swan, Easter, 1916)
1922 Jacinto Benavente
1921 Anatole France
On Shelf: Penguin Island
The Gods Will Have Blood
Revolt of the Angels
Thais
1920 Knut Hamsun
Read: Hunger (1970's)
Growth of the Soil (2010)
On Shelf: Mysteries
Pan
1929 Thomas Mann
Read: Death in Venice (1960's)
Buddenbrooks (1980's, 2002, 2018)
Confessions of Felix Krull, Confidence Man (1980's)
The Magic Mountain (1960's)
Tonio Kroger (2011)
The Black Swan (2002)
On Shelf: Doctor Faustus
Joseph and His Brothers
Royal Highness
The Holy Sinner
1928 Sigrid Undset
Read: Kristin Lavransdatter series (1970's)
The Axe (2013)
On Shelf: The Snake Pit
1927 Henri Bergson
1926 Grazia Deledda
Read: After the Divorce (2013)
On Shelf: Reeds in the Wind
1925 George Bernard Shaw
Read: Pygmalion (1960's)
On Shelf: Man and Superman and 3 other plays
1924 Wladyslaw Reymont
On Shelf: The Comedienne
1923 William Butler Yeats
Read: Various isolated poems (Leda and the Swan, Easter, 1916)
1922 Jacinto Benavente
1921 Anatole France
On Shelf: Penguin Island
The Gods Will Have Blood
Revolt of the Angels
Thais
1920 Knut Hamsun
Read: Hunger (1970's)
Growth of the Soil (2010)
On Shelf: Mysteries
Pan
14arubabookwoman
1910's
1919 Carl Spitteler
1918 XX
1917 Karl Gjellerup
1916 Verner von Heidenstam
1915 Romain Rolland
1914 XX
1913 Rabindranath Tagore
Read: Gitanjali
On Shelf: The Tagore Omnibus
1912 Gerhart Hauptmann
1911 Maurice Maeterlinck
1910 Paul Heyse
1919 Carl Spitteler
1918 XX
1917 Karl Gjellerup
1916 Verner von Heidenstam
1915 Romain Rolland
1914 XX
1913 Rabindranath Tagore
Read: Gitanjali
On Shelf: The Tagore Omnibus
1912 Gerhart Hauptmann
1911 Maurice Maeterlinck
1910 Paul Heyse
15arubabookwoman
1900's
1909 Selma Lagerlof
On Shelf: Story of Gosta Berling
Wonderful Adventures of Nils
The Treasure
1908 Rudolf Euken
1907 Rudyard Kipling
Read The Jungle Book
Kim
1906 Giosue Carducci
1905 Henryk Sienkiewicz
Read: Quo Vadis (1960's)
1904 Jose Echegaray
1904 Frederic Mistral
1903 Bjornstjerne Bjornson
On Shelf: The Bridal March and One Day
1902 Theodor Momsen
1901 Sully Prudhomme
1909 Selma Lagerlof
On Shelf: Story of Gosta Berling
Wonderful Adventures of Nils
The Treasure
1908 Rudolf Euken
1907 Rudyard Kipling
Read The Jungle Book
Kim
1906 Giosue Carducci
1905 Henryk Sienkiewicz
Read: Quo Vadis (1960's)
1904 Jose Echegaray
1904 Frederic Mistral
1903 Bjornstjerne Bjornson
On Shelf: The Bridal March and One Day
1902 Theodor Momsen
1901 Sully Prudhomme
16arubabookwoman
In moving forward with my Nobel reading, I will probably start with books I have by Nobelists whose works I have yet to read. These would include Olga Tokarczuk, Peter Handke, Herta Muller, Gao Xingjian, Claude Simon, Miguel Angel Asturias, S.Y. Agnon, Juan Ramon Jimenez, Roger Martin du Gard, Ivan Bunin, Anatole France, Selma Lagerlof and Bjornstjerne Bjornson. That should keep me busy a while.
I am also eying on Amazon the four volume work The Peasants by Ladislas Reymont (1924). It's been on my wishlist forever, but I've just never come across it in my bookstore searches.
Then there are the books I have on my shelf by authors I've read and liked. This would include in particular Annie Ernaux, Svetlana Alexievich, Doris Lessing, Imre Kertesz, Gabriel Garcia Marrquez, Patrick White, William Faulkner, and Thomas Mann.
And I really need to educate myself in reading poetry.
I am also eying on Amazon the four volume work The Peasants by Ladislas Reymont (1924). It's been on my wishlist forever, but I've just never come across it in my bookstore searches.
Then there are the books I have on my shelf by authors I've read and liked. This would include in particular Annie Ernaux, Svetlana Alexievich, Doris Lessing, Imre Kertesz, Gabriel Garcia Marrquez, Patrick White, William Faulkner, and Thomas Mann.
And I really need to educate myself in reading poetry.
17labfs39
>16 arubabookwoman: And I really need to educate myself in reading poetry.
This is an area I need to study as well. Do you have plans as to how to accomplish it?
This is an area I need to study as well. Do you have plans as to how to accomplish it?
18arubabookwoman
Hi Lisa. I'm not sure how to do this. However, a few years back when I expressed a similar sentiment, on CR, someone (I think LizM) recommended reading Camille Paglia's Break Blow Burn, which I bought but haven't yet read. I also have How to Read a Poem and Fall in Love with Poetry by Edward Hirsch. So I might start with reading, or at least dipping in and out of these two books.
If anyone who loves poetry has any recommendations, I would love to hear from you.
If anyone who loves poetry has any recommendations, I would love to hear from you.
19arubabookwoman
I guess it might be about time to post an update on my Nobelist's thread. I have read a few this year, though not as many as I would have liked, and especially not as many new-to-me Nobelists. HOWEVER, I see this as a multi-year thread. I will add new Nobelist books to the opening entries on this thread indicating the year read, as I post.
This first one is by an author I've read before, and it is not one of my favorites:
Paradise by Abdulrazak Gurnah (1994) 251 pp
This is Gurnah's second novel, but the first to be published in the U.S. At the age of 12, Yusuf is taken by the man he knows as Uncle Aziz to work as a sort of indentured servant to secure his father's debts. He never sees his family again. Over the years he interacts and observes many people of the various cultures and factions vying for control in the colonial east Africa of the time, including Muslims, Indian merchants, European settlers, and even German soldiers as WW I approaches. He also accompanies "Uncle Aziz" on a trading safari into the deepest interior wilderness. Interspersed with Yusuf's story, we learn a lot about the superstitions of the various cultures, and of many of the folktales prevalent in the area.
I have read a couple of other books by Gurnah, and this is not his best. As basically a coming of age story, I expected to feel more empathy for Yusuf, yet I felt distanced from him. I found parts interesting, but this was not a book that particularly moved me.
First Line: "The boy first. His name was Yusuf, and he left his home suddenly during his twelfth year."
Last line: "He glanced around quickly and then ran after the column with smarting eyes.
3 stars
This first one is by an author I've read before, and it is not one of my favorites:
Paradise by Abdulrazak Gurnah (1994) 251 pp
This is Gurnah's second novel, but the first to be published in the U.S. At the age of 12, Yusuf is taken by the man he knows as Uncle Aziz to work as a sort of indentured servant to secure his father's debts. He never sees his family again. Over the years he interacts and observes many people of the various cultures and factions vying for control in the colonial east Africa of the time, including Muslims, Indian merchants, European settlers, and even German soldiers as WW I approaches. He also accompanies "Uncle Aziz" on a trading safari into the deepest interior wilderness. Interspersed with Yusuf's story, we learn a lot about the superstitions of the various cultures, and of many of the folktales prevalent in the area.
I have read a couple of other books by Gurnah, and this is not his best. As basically a coming of age story, I expected to feel more empathy for Yusuf, yet I felt distanced from him. I found parts interesting, but this was not a book that particularly moved me.
First Line: "The boy first. His name was Yusuf, and he left his home suddenly during his twelfth year."
Last line: "He glanced around quickly and then ran after the column with smarting eyes.
3 stars
20arubabookwoman
This was a new-to-me Nobelist. I will look for more by her to read.
Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead by Olga Tokarczuk(2009) 283 pp
"The familiar cold, wet air that reminds us every winter that the world was not created for Mankind, and for at least half the year, it shows us how very hostile it is to us."
This book is a combination of a weird and fable-like fairy tale with a murder mystery. It is also very message-driven, as the author explores the ways in which some living creatures are privileged above others. Finally, it is an examination of how we stigmatize those who are "different."
Sixty-something Janina (she hates her name) lives in the mountains as the winter caretaker of vacation cottages. She has a reputation as a crank and obsessive animal-lover. She is interested in horoscopes, translating the poetry of William Blake, and nature. She gives everyone a name based on the characteristics she sees in them, so we have her neighbors Oddball and Big Foot, Dizzy, with whom she is collaborating in the Blake translation, Good News, a friend, and so on. When the novel opens, Oddball has discovered the body of Big Foot. Although Big Foot apparently choked on a bone, Janina begins to think he may have been murdered. There follow in quick succession a number of other deaths which clearly were homicides. One thing that connects the victims is that they were all hunters, so Janina tries to convince the police that they were all murdered by animals who are taking their revenge for the mistreatment of animals by hunters.
From this description, I think you can see that this book is original, inventive, and unusual. I enjoyed it very much. There were many sentences and phrases I highlighted, and Tokarczuk has created a unique and memorable character in Janina. I won't soon forget this book, and will definitely be reading more by this author.
4 stars
Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead by Olga Tokarczuk(2009) 283 pp
"The familiar cold, wet air that reminds us every winter that the world was not created for Mankind, and for at least half the year, it shows us how very hostile it is to us."
This book is a combination of a weird and fable-like fairy tale with a murder mystery. It is also very message-driven, as the author explores the ways in which some living creatures are privileged above others. Finally, it is an examination of how we stigmatize those who are "different."
Sixty-something Janina (she hates her name) lives in the mountains as the winter caretaker of vacation cottages. She has a reputation as a crank and obsessive animal-lover. She is interested in horoscopes, translating the poetry of William Blake, and nature. She gives everyone a name based on the characteristics she sees in them, so we have her neighbors Oddball and Big Foot, Dizzy, with whom she is collaborating in the Blake translation, Good News, a friend, and so on. When the novel opens, Oddball has discovered the body of Big Foot. Although Big Foot apparently choked on a bone, Janina begins to think he may have been murdered. There follow in quick succession a number of other deaths which clearly were homicides. One thing that connects the victims is that they were all hunters, so Janina tries to convince the police that they were all murdered by animals who are taking their revenge for the mistreatment of animals by hunters.
From this description, I think you can see that this book is original, inventive, and unusual. I enjoyed it very much. There were many sentences and phrases I highlighted, and Tokarczuk has created a unique and memorable character in Janina. I won't soon forget this book, and will definitely be reading more by this author.
4 stars
21arubabookwoman
A Nobelist I've read before.
Lives of Girls and Women by Alice Munro (1971) 290 pp
Alice Munro is known as a master of the short story, but in a note at the beginning of this book she called this a novel, "autobiographical in form but not in fact." Structurally, it consists of what appear to be short stories, roughly in chronologically order, narrated by Del, telling the story of her life, her family, and her town.
Briefly, as follows, the stories are:
THE FLATS ROAD--Del and family are living out of town on a fox farm This story focuses on Uncle Benny's disastrous marriage.
HEIRS OF THE LIVING BODY--Del's mother's failure to be accepted by her father's family: "My mother went along straight lines. Aunt Elspeth and Auntie Grace wove in and out around her, retreating and disappearing, and coming back...."
PRINCESS IDA--Again the focus is on Del's mother, who becomes an encyclopedia salesperson. "I felt the weight of my mother's eccentricities as something absurd and embarrassing about her--the aunties would just show me a little at a time." Del, her mother, and her brother are now living in town while her father is out at the fox farm.
AGE OF FAITH--Del wants to know if there is a god. "Sometimes I thought of the population of Jubilee as nothing but a large audience for me...."
CHANGES AND CEREMONIES--Del and her friend Naomi are becoming interested in boys and the mysteries of sex. In Jubilee, "reading books was something like chewing gum, a habit to be abandoned when the seriousness and satisfactions of adult life took over. It persisted mostly in unmarried ladies, would have been shameful in a man."
LIVES OF GIRLS AND WOMEN--As a teenager Del is sexually molested by the boyfriend of her mother's boarder.
BAPTIZING--In high school, Del has boyfriends; loses her virginity.
EPILOGUE: THE PHOTOGRAPHER--A story imagined by Del, who has failed her college scholarship exams, but who wants to be a writer. "And no list could hold what I wanted, for what I wanted was every last thing, every layer of speech and thought, stroke of light on bark or walls, every smell, pothole, pain, crack, delusion, held still and held together--radiant, everlasting."
4 stars
Lives of Girls and Women by Alice Munro (1971) 290 pp
Alice Munro is known as a master of the short story, but in a note at the beginning of this book she called this a novel, "autobiographical in form but not in fact." Structurally, it consists of what appear to be short stories, roughly in chronologically order, narrated by Del, telling the story of her life, her family, and her town.
Briefly, as follows, the stories are:
THE FLATS ROAD--Del and family are living out of town on a fox farm This story focuses on Uncle Benny's disastrous marriage.
HEIRS OF THE LIVING BODY--Del's mother's failure to be accepted by her father's family: "My mother went along straight lines. Aunt Elspeth and Auntie Grace wove in and out around her, retreating and disappearing, and coming back...."
PRINCESS IDA--Again the focus is on Del's mother, who becomes an encyclopedia salesperson. "I felt the weight of my mother's eccentricities as something absurd and embarrassing about her--the aunties would just show me a little at a time." Del, her mother, and her brother are now living in town while her father is out at the fox farm.
AGE OF FAITH--Del wants to know if there is a god. "Sometimes I thought of the population of Jubilee as nothing but a large audience for me...."
CHANGES AND CEREMONIES--Del and her friend Naomi are becoming interested in boys and the mysteries of sex. In Jubilee, "reading books was something like chewing gum, a habit to be abandoned when the seriousness and satisfactions of adult life took over. It persisted mostly in unmarried ladies, would have been shameful in a man."
LIVES OF GIRLS AND WOMEN--As a teenager Del is sexually molested by the boyfriend of her mother's boarder.
BAPTIZING--In high school, Del has boyfriends; loses her virginity.
EPILOGUE: THE PHOTOGRAPHER--A story imagined by Del, who has failed her college scholarship exams, but who wants to be a writer. "And no list could hold what I wanted, for what I wanted was every last thing, every layer of speech and thought, stroke of light on bark or walls, every smell, pothole, pain, crack, delusion, held still and held together--radiant, everlasting."
4 stars
22arubabookwoman
Another Nobelist I've read before:
In the Heart of the Country by J.M. Coetzee (1977) 160 pp
"The land is full of melancholy spinsters like me, lost to history, blue as roaches in our ancestral homes...."
"I do not think it was ever intended that people should live here. This is a land made for insects who eat sand and lay eggs in each others corpses and have no voices with which to scream when they die."
This short novel is one of Coetzee's early works. It consists of 206 numbered passages, which are generally short, some merely a short paragraph long. Coetzee has said that in structuring the novel he was influenced by film and photographic methods. And despite being short, the chapters and the prose are frequently dense and require (at least for me) much concentration to read.
The narrator, Magda, lives on a sheep farm deep in the veldt with her widowed father. The story she tells is disturbing, and we sense from the beginning that Magda is/will be an unreliable narrator. We can never be sure whether Magda is telling the truth, or whether the events she described even actually happened. What we can be sure of is that the novel follows the descent and decline of Magda as she (probably) kills her father, and is slowly starving herself, as all around her the farm deteriorates.
Not an easy read, but very powerful.
In the Heart of the Country by J.M. Coetzee (1977) 160 pp
"The land is full of melancholy spinsters like me, lost to history, blue as roaches in our ancestral homes...."
"I do not think it was ever intended that people should live here. This is a land made for insects who eat sand and lay eggs in each others corpses and have no voices with which to scream when they die."
This short novel is one of Coetzee's early works. It consists of 206 numbered passages, which are generally short, some merely a short paragraph long. Coetzee has said that in structuring the novel he was influenced by film and photographic methods. And despite being short, the chapters and the prose are frequently dense and require (at least for me) much concentration to read.
The narrator, Magda, lives on a sheep farm deep in the veldt with her widowed father. The story she tells is disturbing, and we sense from the beginning that Magda is/will be an unreliable narrator. We can never be sure whether Magda is telling the truth, or whether the events she described even actually happened. What we can be sure of is that the novel follows the descent and decline of Magda as she (probably) kills her father, and is slowly starving herself, as all around her the farm deteriorates.
Not an easy read, but very powerful.
23arubabookwoman
Again an author I've read before:
The Victim by Saul Bellow (1947) 250 pp
This is Bellow's second novel, so a very early work for him. Asa Leventhal is alone for the summer, his wife having gone to help her mother move. Walking through the neighborhood one evening, Asa is accosted by an old acquaintance, Kirby Albee, who is drunk. Kirby accuses Asa of having caused him to be fired from his job several years previously. Over the next six weeks or so Kirby becomes increasingly more aggressive in his attacks on Asa, many of which Asa interprets as anti-semitic.
While all this is going on, Asa must also help out with his absent brother's wife and her very ill son. He also is trying to figure out, contacting others from his past, whether he really had played any part in Kirby's being fired from his job.
In the introduction, the book is described as "a parable in the guise of a middle-European realist novel." At the time he was writing it, details of the Holocaust were just becoming known to the world. Bellow has said that the theme of the book is guilt and it is somewhat about anti-semitism. There is a definite play about the ambiguity over who is the victim--Asa or Kirby? In fact they victimize each other.
I found the style of writing very distancing from the characters. I could never work myself up to sympathize with any of the characters. The writing beautifully portrayed life in post-WW II New York City--the heat of the summer, the crowds, the grittiness, and I enjoyed reading about what life was like in the city then. But it was never a book that called to me because I was enjoying it so much or because I wanted to find out what was going to happen next. So, mildly recommended.
3 stars
The Victim by Saul Bellow (1947) 250 pp
This is Bellow's second novel, so a very early work for him. Asa Leventhal is alone for the summer, his wife having gone to help her mother move. Walking through the neighborhood one evening, Asa is accosted by an old acquaintance, Kirby Albee, who is drunk. Kirby accuses Asa of having caused him to be fired from his job several years previously. Over the next six weeks or so Kirby becomes increasingly more aggressive in his attacks on Asa, many of which Asa interprets as anti-semitic.
While all this is going on, Asa must also help out with his absent brother's wife and her very ill son. He also is trying to figure out, contacting others from his past, whether he really had played any part in Kirby's being fired from his job.
In the introduction, the book is described as "a parable in the guise of a middle-European realist novel." At the time he was writing it, details of the Holocaust were just becoming known to the world. Bellow has said that the theme of the book is guilt and it is somewhat about anti-semitism. There is a definite play about the ambiguity over who is the victim--Asa or Kirby? In fact they victimize each other.
I found the style of writing very distancing from the characters. I could never work myself up to sympathize with any of the characters. The writing beautifully portrayed life in post-WW II New York City--the heat of the summer, the crowds, the grittiness, and I enjoyed reading about what life was like in the city then. But it was never a book that called to me because I was enjoying it so much or because I wanted to find out what was going to happen next. So, mildly recommended.
3 stars
24arubabookwoman
Another author I've read before, and a favorite author at that. I read this for the Snopes Trilogy Group read on Club Read. (It's Volume I of that trilogy). Instead of a review, I'll just post a summary of my comments/notes:
The Hamlet by William Faulkner
Reading this for the Snopes Trilogy group read, I had a hard time getting into The Hamlet, though I've loved most of the other works by Faulkner I've read (especially The Sound and the Fury, Absalom Absalom, Light in August and As I Lay Dying). I especially love Faulkner's prose style--the meandering sentences, the "story-telling," the southern colloquialisms. I think it was because when I started the book, I was only able to read in short snatches of time, and I wasn't finding any continuity and was having to reread, and that made the first two books in The Hamlet, "Flem" and "Eula" so much less enjoyable to me than the last two books, which I read much more quickly, over just a couple of days.
I'll just give my thoughts organized by the individual books in which they occurred:
"Flem"--The first book is about Flem, but we only see him from the outside, and to me, at least, he remained enigmatic at the end of Book I as well as at the end of The Hamlet. We know he arrives in town, the son of a poor sharecropper, and by the end of Book I he (or relatives he's placed in position) is running the store, running the gin, lending money, wheeling and dealing, and the right-hand man for Will Varner, the richest man in town. I kind of enjoyed the barn-burning stories, but have to admit, perhaps the Snopeses are smarter than me because I had difficulty following the horse trading story.
I liked the character of Ratliff. In my experience, with Ratliff, Faulkner utilizes a techniques he often uses: having one character, usually a "country folk," sometimes a minor character with no role to play other than as a storyteller, relate events about the main character or characters to advance the plot. Here I think we can say Ratliff is a fairly prominent character with a part to play other than as a storyteller. By the end of the whole book, I began to see Ratliff as a counter-ploy to Flem. He is a wheeler-dealer like Flem, but he is Nice, where Flem is downright Nasty. So in Book I, Ratliff tries to outsmart Flem in the matter of the goat farm and the notes signed in Flem's name he got from Mink, but ends up being outsmarted himself. He seems to take it all in good humor though (and even pays over some money to help feed Ike). Whereas, we have to think that had Flem gotten outsmarted, he would be seeking revenge. The maneuvering re the goat farm and the notes were again just beyond the range of my understanding of what was actually going on, but I got the gist.
Book II Eula
This for me was the most over-the-top section of the book. I found Eula on the one hand to be passive and apathetic, but on the other hand to be extremely strong-willed and opinionated, if that even makes sense. Nevertheless, to me, Faulkner thoroughly succeeded in creating such a contradictory character as Eula and making her believable. And Eula can definitely take care of herself. We don't get to see much, if any of her interaction with Flem. I have to wonder what she really felt about marrying him. I am not sure what the timeline for the succeeding books is, but I am interested to see if we are ever going to get more of an inside look at the relationship between Eula and Flem in either of the future books. (Or even of either Flem or Eula individually).
I really didn't care much for the descriptions of Eula's extreme sexuality (even back into the womb!). I kept picturing her as a pint-size Dolly Parton. And I thought the bit about the school teacher Labove went on too long. Probably my least favorite part of the book.
Book III The Long Summer
The novel really picked up for me with this section, and I began reading it compulsively. Ike falling in love with the cow is over-the-top, but I believed it. It was also interesting to get to know more about all the various Snopes relations. And although in Book II, I thought the side-story about Labove went on too long, here, I enjoyed reading Houston's side-story.
With the story of Houston's murder, we begin to see just how low these Snopes folks will stoop: once Mink learns he may have left $50 on Houston's body, he's going back after it, even if reexposing Houston's body may be what ultimately leads to his arrest. And if that's not enough, Mink takes even bigger chances because he doesn't want to share with Lump any part of the $50. And, am I correct in thinking that Mink ended up killing Houston over the $3 for pasturage he had to pay when he lost the suit regarding the cow? Mighty petty amount, even back then, to murder someone over.
There was a very Faulknerian quote I noted in this section:
"He fled to from the past but to escape the future. It took him twelve years to learn that you cannot escape either of them."
And the bit of humor in naming Eck's son "Wallstreet Panic."
Book IV The Peasants
This was my favorite part of the book. The whole long set piece about the Texan and the auction of the wild horses was so masterfully choreographed and written by Faulkner. Can't you just see the horses whizzing back and forth around the corral like a school of skittish fish? And Ratliff in his underwear jumping out the window when a wild horse appears in the doorway of his room at the boarding house?
I think it is in the section that we are introduced to the character of Henry (at least I don't remember him in any of the earlier sections). With just a few actions, his stealing his wife's money to buy a horse, his fear of getting cheated, his whining and sniveling, we get such a clear picture of his character.
And we get a little more insight into Flem's character. The Texan gives Henry's wife's $5 to Flem and tells her Flem will give her back her money tomorrow. For at least a few pages, we are left to wonder whether Flem will do the honorable thing, whether he will do at least one nice thing. We aren't left to wonder long, though.
Since I'm sure Ratliff and Bookwright were familiar with Henry's character, I'm wondering why they joined with him in the final scheme of the book to try to outwit Flem. But they did, and unfortunately it turned into another situation in which Flem outwitted Ratliff. Actually, I kind of was wondering as they began digging whether Flem had set them up. During the course of the book we've learned just enough about Flem that we should not have been surprised. You'd think Ratliff would have known better too. Greed blinds us all I guess, but Ratliff remains good natured.
And so although the book is complete, there's still a lot for us to find out. I'm looking forward to reading The Town.
I will say this is not my favorite Faulkner. There was a lot to like in many of its bits and pieces. But somehow, it didn't all come together for me. Hopefully that will come with the trilogy as a whole.
I'm wavering between 3 1/2 and 4 stars, but I'll be generous and give it
4 stars
The Hamlet by William Faulkner
Reading this for the Snopes Trilogy group read, I had a hard time getting into The Hamlet, though I've loved most of the other works by Faulkner I've read (especially The Sound and the Fury, Absalom Absalom, Light in August and As I Lay Dying). I especially love Faulkner's prose style--the meandering sentences, the "story-telling," the southern colloquialisms. I think it was because when I started the book, I was only able to read in short snatches of time, and I wasn't finding any continuity and was having to reread, and that made the first two books in The Hamlet, "Flem" and "Eula" so much less enjoyable to me than the last two books, which I read much more quickly, over just a couple of days.
I'll just give my thoughts organized by the individual books in which they occurred:
"Flem"--The first book is about Flem, but we only see him from the outside, and to me, at least, he remained enigmatic at the end of Book I as well as at the end of The Hamlet. We know he arrives in town, the son of a poor sharecropper, and by the end of Book I he (or relatives he's placed in position) is running the store, running the gin, lending money, wheeling and dealing, and the right-hand man for Will Varner, the richest man in town. I kind of enjoyed the barn-burning stories, but have to admit, perhaps the Snopeses are smarter than me because I had difficulty following the horse trading story.
I liked the character of Ratliff. In my experience, with Ratliff, Faulkner utilizes a techniques he often uses: having one character, usually a "country folk," sometimes a minor character with no role to play other than as a storyteller, relate events about the main character or characters to advance the plot. Here I think we can say Ratliff is a fairly prominent character with a part to play other than as a storyteller. By the end of the whole book, I began to see Ratliff as a counter-ploy to Flem. He is a wheeler-dealer like Flem, but he is Nice, where Flem is downright Nasty. So in Book I, Ratliff tries to outsmart Flem in the matter of the goat farm and the notes signed in Flem's name he got from Mink, but ends up being outsmarted himself. He seems to take it all in good humor though (and even pays over some money to help feed Ike). Whereas, we have to think that had Flem gotten outsmarted, he would be seeking revenge. The maneuvering re the goat farm and the notes were again just beyond the range of my understanding of what was actually going on, but I got the gist.
Book II Eula
This for me was the most over-the-top section of the book. I found Eula on the one hand to be passive and apathetic, but on the other hand to be extremely strong-willed and opinionated, if that even makes sense. Nevertheless, to me, Faulkner thoroughly succeeded in creating such a contradictory character as Eula and making her believable. And Eula can definitely take care of herself. We don't get to see much, if any of her interaction with Flem. I have to wonder what she really felt about marrying him. I am not sure what the timeline for the succeeding books is, but I am interested to see if we are ever going to get more of an inside look at the relationship between Eula and Flem in either of the future books. (Or even of either Flem or Eula individually).
I really didn't care much for the descriptions of Eula's extreme sexuality (even back into the womb!). I kept picturing her as a pint-size Dolly Parton. And I thought the bit about the school teacher Labove went on too long. Probably my least favorite part of the book.
Book III The Long Summer
The novel really picked up for me with this section, and I began reading it compulsively. Ike falling in love with the cow is over-the-top, but I believed it. It was also interesting to get to know more about all the various Snopes relations. And although in Book II, I thought the side-story about Labove went on too long, here, I enjoyed reading Houston's side-story.
With the story of Houston's murder, we begin to see just how low these Snopes folks will stoop: once Mink learns he may have left $50 on Houston's body, he's going back after it, even if reexposing Houston's body may be what ultimately leads to his arrest. And if that's not enough, Mink takes even bigger chances because he doesn't want to share with Lump any part of the $50. And, am I correct in thinking that Mink ended up killing Houston over the $3 for pasturage he had to pay when he lost the suit regarding the cow? Mighty petty amount, even back then, to murder someone over.
There was a very Faulknerian quote I noted in this section:
"He fled to from the past but to escape the future. It took him twelve years to learn that you cannot escape either of them."
And the bit of humor in naming Eck's son "Wallstreet Panic."
Book IV The Peasants
This was my favorite part of the book. The whole long set piece about the Texan and the auction of the wild horses was so masterfully choreographed and written by Faulkner. Can't you just see the horses whizzing back and forth around the corral like a school of skittish fish? And Ratliff in his underwear jumping out the window when a wild horse appears in the doorway of his room at the boarding house?
I think it is in the section that we are introduced to the character of Henry (at least I don't remember him in any of the earlier sections). With just a few actions, his stealing his wife's money to buy a horse, his fear of getting cheated, his whining and sniveling, we get such a clear picture of his character.
And we get a little more insight into Flem's character. The Texan gives Henry's wife's $5 to Flem and tells her Flem will give her back her money tomorrow. For at least a few pages, we are left to wonder whether Flem will do the honorable thing, whether he will do at least one nice thing. We aren't left to wonder long, though.
Since I'm sure Ratliff and Bookwright were familiar with Henry's character, I'm wondering why they joined with him in the final scheme of the book to try to outwit Flem. But they did, and unfortunately it turned into another situation in which Flem outwitted Ratliff. Actually, I kind of was wondering as they began digging whether Flem had set them up. During the course of the book we've learned just enough about Flem that we should not have been surprised. You'd think Ratliff would have known better too. Greed blinds us all I guess, but Ratliff remains good natured.
And so although the book is complete, there's still a lot for us to find out. I'm looking forward to reading The Town.
I will say this is not my favorite Faulkner. There was a lot to like in many of its bits and pieces. But somehow, it didn't all come together for me. Hopefully that will come with the trilogy as a whole.
I'm wavering between 3 1/2 and 4 stars, but I'll be generous and give it
4 stars