The Idle Book Club 1: The Sense of an Ending

[David Foster Wallhacks]

  Rodi said:

The main problem in books I have is that I rarely delve into modern literature. I'm just overwhelmed by all the new releases and too afraid to waste a lot of effort on something that might be irrelevant, bad or not my cup of tea, so for years my strategy has been to exclusively read literary classics that I knew would have something cool to offer. Now that's a valid tactic because the classics infuse our culture so heavily - it's very rewarding to come across references in current media to books I read and know what it's about. (Besides that they're also often very good and pleasant; it felt very rewarding to read Tolstoy last year for instance.) But I do feel I'm missing out on the modern stuff, like Umberto Eco and the Foucault's Pendulum thing I've heard so much about.

I was in my mid-twenties before I stopped reading embarrassing fantasy novels (oddly enough, it was around the same time that I stopped subsisting exclusively on Hot Pockets), and I find myself in a similar situation to your own. I'm so busy trying to catch up on classic literature (and exploring a recent fascination with all things Teddy Roosevelt via Edmund Morris and Candice Millard) that I tend to unfairly ignore more contemporary stuff.

The book club podcast announcement was definitely a rad surprise to me and, sorry if this makes me sound like Senior Superdouche, I already get enough pedestrian literary suggestions from pretty much everyone around me, so I'm glad to see that Chris at least seems to have no plans to showcase the new hotness in YA each month.

[vogon]

  David Foster Wallhacks said:

your name is the best, btw.

[Chris]

Yeah, I'm sure it's been said earlier in this thread already, but we don't really intend to choose books like The Hunger Games. Merit aside, as you pointed out, you don't need to look far to find plenty of other people already recommending examples from that general category of book. I'm not sure there would be much point in yet another source already doing so.

[Wubbles]

I saw you talking about Infinite Jest on Twitter a while ago, Chris. Have you read/what do you think of The Pale King?

[Chris]

  Wubbles said:

I saw you talking about Infinite Jest on Twitter a while ago, Chris. Have you read/what do you think of The Pale King?

I haven't although I am definitely interested.

[Sal Limones]

I'd like to recommend two contemporary books that I've read in the last year and enjoyed immensely:

The Imperfectionists: A Novel, by Tom Rachman

  Quote

Set against the gorgeous backdrop of Rome, Tom Rachman’s wry, vibrant debut follows the topsy-turvy private lives of the reporters, editors, and executives of an international English language newspaper as they struggle to keep it—and themselves—afloat.

Fifty years and many changes have ensued since the paper was founded by an enigmatic millionaire, and now, amid the stained carpeting and dingy office furniture, the staff’s personal dramas seem far more important than the daily headlines. Kathleen, the imperious editor in chief, is smarting from a betrayal in her open marriage; Arthur, the lazy obituary writer, is transformed by a personal tragedy; Abby, the embattled financial officer, discovers that her job cuts and her love life are intertwined in a most unexpected way. Out in the field, a veteran Paris freelancer goes to desperate lengths for his next byline, while the new Cairo stringer is mercilessly manipulated by an outrageous war correspondent with an outsize ego. And in the shadows is the isolated young publisher who pays more attention to his prized basset hound, Schopenhauer, than to the fate of his family’s quirky newspaper.

As the era of print news gives way to the Internet age and this imperfect crew stumbles toward an uncertain future, the paper’s rich history is revealed, including the surprising truth about its founder’s intentions.

and

Mr. Fox, by Helen Oyeyemi

The reviews I found sell it as a love story, but I don't think that's accurate. While there is definitely a love triangle kind of thing going on and helping to move the plot forward, I wouldn't say that's what the book is about. I would say it is about a writer who always kills the women in his stories, what this says about him and his environment and how it tinges his interactions with women in the real world, and what his muse and his wife (two separate entities, one of questionable and fluctuating reality) think and do about this. This book, like the previous one I recommended, is both a collection of short stories and a single sprawling one, and likes to play with layers of reality and a few nonlinear hops here and there. It also uses a couple of archetypes to great effect, chief among them the "fox as a trickster".

Here's some things the writer has said about it:

  Quote

Smith: What’s in a name? Why is Mr. Fox called Mr. Fox?

Oyeyemi: Mr. Fox is called Mr. Fox because I think of him as both wild and urbane; also he’s a namesake of the English Bluebeard and an even older mythological lady killer, Reynardine (from the French for fox, Reynard). This book is full of foxes and foxgloves and fox trotting and all things fox. As to why the book itself is called Mr. Fox, that’s partly because calling it Mary Foxe seemed like bad luck for Mary--books and films that have a woman’s name as their title seem to end up with the woman dead or insane or bereft in some way, and I like Mary too much for that. But also one of my favorite writers, Barbara Comyns, wrote a book about a wily man called Mr. Fox in 1987, and even though I didn’t know about it or read it until I’d finished writing about my own Mr. Fox, I can’t help but think that’s got something to do with this business somehow.

Smith: Where does this story come from and did it go where you thought it would go? What was the process of writing this one like?

Oyeyemi: This story comes from having read Rebecca, which made me want to have a go at writing a Bluebeard story. Then I started reading (and re-reading) Bluebeard variants, from Jane Eyre to Alice Hoffmann’s Blue Diary to the Joseph Jacobs fairy tale “Mr. Fox,” which features a kind of linguistic battle between Mr. F. and the heroine, Lady Mary, who witnesses a murder he commits and has the guts to tell him all about himself to his face. So then I had two characters, and I was off.

Smith: What does it mean to lose the plot? Is story different from plot? If so, how, and do they need each other? And why or why not?

Oyeyemi: I reckon losing the plot means finding the story. The plot gets you from A to B and home again, but the story is the surrounding wilderness that you wander into, and then the bears come, and it’s impossible to tell which ones would like to invite you to a picnic and which ones would like to make a picnic of you, because they look exactly the same until you’re right up close. So I think you do need plot if you’d rather not risk approaching a story’s bears, either as a reader or a writer--it depends on what sort of story it is. Some stories don’t have very interesting bears. (Maybe you don’t agree? Maybe you think all bears of this kind are interesting, or at least, more interesting than the plot path?)

[Urthman]

I just finished Sense of an Ending. It was definitely worth reading and something I never would have picked up without the book podcast to look forward to. So thanks for that, Thumbs.

[Henroid]

So I'm an uncultured nerd (video games, what do you expect?) and almost never read. The exception is auto/biographies, and like that's it. Do any of you guys (Idle Thumbs crew) read these and would they possibly get any time for the book podcast?

[Woebin]

  Henroid said:

So I'm an uncultured nerd (video games, what do you expect?) and almost never read. The exception is auto/biographies, and like that's it. Do any of you guys (Idle Thumbs crew) read these and would they possibly get any time for the book podcast?

What's the point of the bookcast if it just tells you to read books you read anyway?

[Henroid]

  Woebin said:

What's the point of the bookcast if it just tells you to read books you read anyway?

Well, I certainly haven't read every biography, and there's few I'm interested in at the moment. But as soon as I'm convinced, I go and get the book and so far I haven't really been let down.

[dium]

  Woebin said:

What's the point of the bookcast if it just tells you to read books you read anyway?

To listen to and be part of a discussion on the book.

[Chris]

  Henroid said:

So I'm an uncultured nerd (video games, what do you expect?) and almost never read. The exception is auto/biographies, and like that's it. Do any of you guys (Idle Thumbs crew) read these and would they possibly get any time for the book podcast?

I don't read enough nonfiction probably. We expect the cast to be mainly fiction but I think it would be good for us to branch out from time to time.

Last year I did read and enjoy Masters & Commanders: http://www.amazon.com/Masters-Commanders-Roosevelt-Churchill-Alanbrooke/dp/0713999691

It's not really biography per se, but it does very deeply delve into the motives, personalities, and histories of its four principal subjects.

[Jake]

  Chris said:

Last year I did read and enjoy Masters & Commanders: http://www.amazon.com/Masters-Commanders-Roosevelt-Churchill-Alanbrooke/dp/0713999691

It's not really biography per se, but it does very deeply delve into the motives, personalities, and histories of its four principal subjects.

I second that recommendation!

[subbes]

Do not get confused and rent Master & Commander. You will spend too much time wondering why they never show Russell Crowe in Yalta.

Edited to add:

Edited May 17, 2012 by subbes

[Henroid]

  Chris said:

I don't read enough nonfiction probably. We expect the cast to be mainly fiction but I think it would be good for us to branch out from time to time.

Last year I did read and enjoy Masters & Commanders: http://www.amazon.com/Masters-Commanders-Roosevelt-Churchill-Alanbrooke/dp/0713999691

It's not really biography per se, but it does very deeply delve into the motives, personalities, and histories of its four principal subjects.

This is the kind of thing I can see myself reading, since I often get into Wiki-holes and emerge hours later in a haze. On a similar subject (history), you could always look into Genghis Khan and the Making of the Modern World. I'm still in progress reading it, but the bottom line is that the Russians were covering up any investigation into the guy, and that came to a stop when the Soviet Union collapsed. So now there's plenty of research and things learned about the Mongolians, and they were pretty more advanced than anyone gave them credit for.

[antikewl]

Entirely missed this thread!

Book ordered! I haven't finished an entire book in years… probably since I stopped commuting and had kids. Hopefully this'll encourage me to read more.

[Raff]

The book is great, I had to go for a walk as soon as I'd finished it.

[miffy495]

Yeah, I had a very similar reaction. Good read.

[pabosher]

It may be a result of my younger age, but I genuinely wasn't blown away by The Sense of an Ending like everyone else seems to have been. It was OK, I guess, but I don't know - it just seemed kinda aimless and then it's like 'OH MAN SHOCK TWIST ENDING THAT'S ACTUALLY KINDA STUPID'. It was like something out of a weird JRPG.

[empika]

Am I allowed to listen to the audio book version or is that considered cheating?

As much as I like reading, my backlog is huge and I find it nice to listen to a good book or cast when doing the hoovering/washing up and other chores.. also when getting to and from work.

No idea what this book is about, but am excited nonetheless!

[Chris]

  On 5/21/2012 at 8:17 PM, empika said:

Am I allowed to listen to the audio book version or is that considered cheating?

As much as I like reading, my backlog is huge and I find it nice to listen to a good book or cast when doing the hoovering/washing up and other chores.. also when getting to and from work.

No idea what this book is about, but am excited nonetheless!

It's not up to us to say what you're allowed to do!

Why not purchase said audiobook using this handy Idle Thumbs referral link? http://www.amazon.com/dp/1609987985/?tag=idlthu-20

(Clearly what you want is a physical four-CD set. Obviously.)

[empika]

  On 5/21/2012 at 8:22 PM, Chris said:

It's not up to us to say what you're allowed to do!

Why not purchase said audiobook using this handy Idle Thumbs referral link? http://www.amazon.co.../?tag=idlthu-20

(Clearly what you want is a physical four-CD set. Obviously.)

Ah nerds, sorry I already got it from the dreaded itunes as it was cheaper than amazon. I will add the 4CD set to my wishlist though and see what Santa brings!

[twmac]

Just pre-ordered the paperback. It is not due out until the 29th of May, hopefully that will give me time to read it before the bookcast. It is funny, I wasn't particularly keen on the cast, especially after seeing Chris link that horrifically written piece by Joel 'the snobbish troll' Epstein but I just recently decided to read Slaughterhouse 5 after remembering the podcast mention it. I am enjoying it so I decided to give it a whirl as I need to step outside of my comfort zone (that and I have read almost all the Bukowski novels, exhausted Easton Ellis, Copeland and Paliahnuk).

If ever at a loss I would recommend 'Special' by Bella Bathurst,

[brannagan]

  On 5/21/2012 at 9:44 AM, SpeedyDesiato said:

It may be a result of my younger age, but I genuinely wasn't blown away by The Sense of an Ending like everyone else seems to have been. It was OK, I guess, but I don't know - it just seemed kinda aimless and then it's like 'OH MAN SHOCK TWIST ENDING THAT'S ACTUALLY KINDA STUPID'. It was like something out of a weird JRPG.

I actually had the opposite reaction, although not in regards to the "twist". The book really did something in making me think about how I will remember what I've already experienced in life twenty or even forty years down the line. It's hard to say what will be the points that stick with me, and the book even raises the point that we can't know how we'll look back on those moments because of experiences we haven't lived, never mind the fact of how those memories will be warped. Each to their own, I guess.

[pabosher]

  On 5/25/2012 at 9:31 PM, brannagan said:

I actually had the opposite reaction, although not in regards to the "twist". The book really did something in making me think about how I will remember what I've already experienced in life twenty or even forty years down the line. It's hard to say what will be the points that stick with me, and the book even raises the point that we can't know how we'll look back on those moments because of experiences we haven't lived, never mind the fact of how those memories will be warped. Each to their own, I guess.

I agree with everything you've just said - but the fact that a piece of media makes you think about a thing isn't really a reflection on the media, it's a reflection on you. I too thought "Oh man the stories that I tell myself in 60 years could be mostly self-pleasing bullshit", but I also wondered about the political and social ramifications of a Hunger Games-esque competition being brought into our modern society having reading that series.