OK, time for another update - this covers mid-Jan through March:
The Portrait of a Lady - James
I didn't enjoy every minute of it but it is a brilliant work of art, a true "portrait". I enjoyed James's preface too, where he explains at length what he was trying to achieve - a purely character-driven novel, where everything unfolds as (more or less predictable) consequence of character. Given how complicated characters are this is wildly ambitious, but James has that unique painterly style which makes it hard to detect any flaws in his work. There's a feeling of satisfaction when you step back and look at the whole. I think I'm starting to understand James now and will read more.
The Houses of Children - Coleman Dowell
One or two of these short stories I thought were really staggeringly good. There were a couple of oddballs, experiments which didn't quite come off, and the rest were somewhere in between. Worth a look, especially if you're into the mid-century mid-West setting.
Around the World in 80 Days
It's all about Fogg and Passepartout isn't it? Apart from them and their amusing relationship, it's pretty dull. I suppose it's better if you don't already know about the twist at the end.
The Lusiads - Camões
National epic of Portugal, using the story of Vasco da Gama's navigation to, and initial encounter with, India as a frame for the glorious history of the people. I tried to read it in Portuguese but gave up and switched to a 100 year-old translation pretty damn quick. Interesting because Christianity, and the hatefulness of the Moors, plays such a big part - but Camões is happy to have the Greek gods directing events throughout! I enjoyed the action as da Gama sails round the Cape and up past Ethiopia, finally crossing to India to announce Portugal's arrival on the Colonial scene, but 50% of this is just a dreadfully overblown recital of old battles of no interest to anyone but a scholar of Portuguese history.
Martian Time-Slip - Dick
Excellent, focused novel about suburbia and schizophrenia (or "autism" as it's referred to here). I really loved the idea of the Martian colony with its petty union power-mongers, bored housewives, and black-marketeers peddling Earthly delicacies. And the gradual slippage of reality is better done here than in any other Dick novel I've read. Gubbish... gubble gubble... quite terrifying really.
Howard's End - Forster
Yep, this deserves its reputation for sure. Much meatier than "A Room With a View" which I didn't like. High-quality prose, too.
The Secret History - Tartt
My wife's been bothering me to read this for years. Initially I was bowled over by the writing; Tartt's style is hugely impressive. I was hoping for a bit more plot-wise from the second half and there were one or two details that didn't quite make sense to me. But I can see why it was such a hit when it came out 22 years ago. Far more gorgeous and accomplished than a first novel has any right to be.
The Cook - Harry Kressing
Amusing tale of an infernal stranger who arrives in a small town and goes about enslaving it to his will. No-one knows who was behind the author's pseudonym. A "cult" novel well worth seeking out second-hand.
Redshirts - John Scalzi
I bought this for the wife but she didn't like it. I did. It's a very self-conscious meta-novel with loads of funny jokes for Star Trek fans. I thought the metafiction and time-travel were handled very well indeed, and far from ending up vacuous or smug as this kind of thing often does, there is an undercurrent of real pathos... it sort of reminded me of "Flatland" in that respect. Leaves you with an uneasy feeling about reality.
Jacob's Room - Woolf
Interesting but not particularly enjoyable early Woolf novel. At least it's short. You can certainly see Woolf experimenting in the direction of her later masterpieces here. It's episodic like The Waves and there are flashes of Dalloway in the style. If the idea was to protest or mourn the waste of a life in the war, I think it could just as well have been done as a short story without all the early chapters.
The Recognitions - Gaddis
Definitely the most difficult book I've ever read. About 1/3 of the way through (i.e. page 300) I resorted to an excellent online guide/concordance which really help steady the ship. Before that I was floundering. But it's a work of genius, and I don't say that just through literary Stockholm syndrome... like other great novels, you have to teach yourself how to read it and I guess once isn't enough. What I liked: the brilliant disembodied dialogue, the hilarious coincidences, the scene with Otto Pivner and Frank Sinisterra and the fake bills, the incredible multifaceted exploration of identity and what it means to be genuine or not, the black-comic deaths toward the end. What I didn't like: the heavy-duty religion (but I liked the crazy unravelling of old man Gwyon into Mithraism), the endlessness of the New York party scenes, the sheer impenetrability of some of the scenes with Valentine, e.g. his walk through the zoo with Wyatt. DO NOT TRY TO READ THIS BOOK WHILE DRUNK!
Stand on Zanzibar - John Brunner
So bad I reviewed it on librarything:
https://www.librarything.com/work/21041 ... /107035985
Our Mutual Friend - Dickens
Yes! Having enjoyed Bleak House I decided to give OMF a try, hoping it would be similar, and boy am I glad I did! This is my fifth Dickens novel and the first that I've unequivocally looked forward to picking up each evening. There are still one or two moments of watery sentimentalism, and of course it wouldn't be Dickens without ludicrous coincidences to drive the plot, but the writing here is often brilliant. I've rarely seen a place (London) so consistently and poetically described in prose. The river runs through the novel as it does the city, the silent, omnipresent engine of the novel, and the streets and the weather are scarcely less memorable. I also felt that the characterisation here was the most sophisticated I've seen in Dickens - with two or three exceptions, there are no 100% good or evil characters, there's lots of nuance and some characters, notably Headstone, actually change or develop over the course of the story. Jenny Wren is a delight, and the social satire is hilarious. I'm pretty sure Dickens ran out of room/time and had to manufacture the ridiculous explanation for Boffin's behaviour, but that doesn't really matter I think. Now I want to read some of his non-fiction, I have a feeling I'll like it.
Annihilation - Jeff Vandermeer
Rather a let-down, this. Overhyped I think. Firstly, it's ridiculous to market this as a trilogy. This first installment is short and not a lot happens. If the other two parts are similar, we're talking a standard novel that's been cut into three purely for marketing/commercial reasons, which I don't approve of at all. Although satisfyingly Lovecraftian in places, there is also some pretty blatant Freudian symbolism which really should have been avoided. The flashbacks to the protagonist's past/married life are dull. And although it's a good effort, I'm not sure Vandermeer's first-person female narrator convinces. Not terrible, but not what I'd hoped for. Don't think I'll bother with part II.
