I had considered myself well-read until.....

[blpurdom]

--- In HPFGU-OTChatter at y..., "catorman" <catherine at c...> wrote:
> --- In HPFGU-OTChatter at y..., "Aberforth's Goat" 
> <Aberforths_Goat at Y...> wrote:
> > Some oddities:
> > 
> > Catherine's right - where are the women?? (And which women would
> > you all suggest adding? I'm stuck.)
> 
> Several that I can think of - you mention AS Byatt below, and I 
> would certainly include at least Possession, and perhaps Fred 
> in "Babel Tower" - I know she appears in some earlier books, but 
> this is my favourite.  I also love Angels and Insects.    Also 
> Iris Murdoch, Carol Shields (in particular Mary Swann and The 
> Stone Diaries) Olivia Manning (her Fortunes of War sextet is 
> wonderful), Maggie Gee, Isabelle Allende, Nancy Mitford, Jill 
> Paton Walsh (I love "Knowledge of Angels") Doris Lessing, Annie 
> Proulx and perhaps even Barbara Trapido.   

I'm not familiar with some of these authors, but I concur about 
Allende, Lessing and Proulx.  I also preferred Morrison's "Song of 
Solomon" to the novel they listed, and Amy Tan was nowhere to be 
seen.  A lot of women write mysteries, and mysteries, like SF novels 
were very underrepresented, so we had no P.D. James, no Ngaio Marsh, 
no Agatha Christie (shouldn't Miss Marple be on the list as a 
character?  Or at least Hercule Poirot?).

> > Not that I miss Henry James. His late stuff bores me to tears.
> 
> Ditto, although I liked Turn of the Screw

I prefer the opera.

[snipped complaints about Joyce, Kafka and Updike--general nodding 
going on here]

> I would have liked to see John Fowles on the list.  
> Anyone read "The Magus" or "the Collector"?

Good point.  And no Pat Conroy, either.  "The Great Santini" himself 
is definitely an unforgettable character.  Although I have to 
sometimes remind myself that Pat Conroy and William Styron are two 
different people.

> > Also: Why'd they pick Italo Calvino over Uberto Eco? I've read
> > one Calvino (not the one on the list), but I should think Eco's
> > characters - in Pendlum or Name of the Rose - should have had
> > dibs on a list of this kind.
> 
> That, I also don't understand.  Umberto Eco often seems to be 
> overlooked in these kind of lists, and I've never been able to 
> fathom out why.  I think that both Foucault's Pendulum and Name of 
> the Rose are extremely clever and witty, and the character of 
> William Baskerville in particular is a wonderful creation.

Eco has only produced a few books, one of which was a standard sort 
of mystery (Rose), although very well done (but William of 
Baskerville is VERY derivative of Holmes), and one of which was 
ruined by bad addition (Pendulum).  I have another book by Eco which 
I haven't started yet, but after my Pendulum experience, I'm a 
little nervous.  Calvino, OTOH, has produced the masterpiece "If On 
A Winter's Night A Traveler," as well as the amazing little 
gems, "The Cloven Viscount,"  "The Nonexistent Knight," 
and "Invisible Cities," among other works.  People who are better-
read in terms of modern Italian authors could probably weigh in with 
other options, but since Eco and Calvino are translated into English 
more frequently than anyone else, if I had to choose to read one 
modern Italian writer, it would definitely be Calvino.  Check out 
more of his stuff.  It's amazing.

> > BTW, there were quite a few of my personal naggs in that list -
> > authors I think I might like but have never managed to try:
> > Proust, Camus, Salinger, Kerouac, Faulkner, Amis and Naipaul. Who
> > should I start with? (Yoo-hoo .. Catherine?) (And is Proust good
> > or another of the illegible classics?)

None of the above. ;)  I went on a Willa Cather kick a few years 
back and liked "My Antonia" best (some just plain BEAUTIFUL 
language), but "Song of the Lark" was also lovely (and went to my 
heart, as I'm a singer).  I liked "Death Comes for the Archbishop" 
least, even though it is highly praised and won numerous awards.  
Actually, I shouldn't have said "none of the above."  Go for 
Salinger (Rye) and Faulkner definitely.  Camus I think is only read 
when people have guns to their heads (or term papers to write) and 
you have to be in the proper frame of mind to read Kerouac, I'm told 
(preferably slightly inebriated).

[other snipped recommendations]

> > And finally, I'm glad Kazuo Ishiguro made the list. I've only
> > read Floating World - found it lying about in a Swiss second-hand
> > hand furniture shop - but it had something about it that tells me
> > I want to read more.
> 
> I've read "Remains of the Day" and I have to say that it's one of 
> those rare occasions when I preferred the film - perhaps because 
> Anthony Hopkins and Emma Thompson worked so well together.  
> Coincidentally, I feel the same way about EM Forster's novels - 
> I've waded through them when at college, but generally preferred 
> the Merchant Ivory adaptations. 

I only saw the film of "Remains of the Day" and I'm not sure I want 
to read the book because after I saw the film it was ruined for me 
by my hearing a truly clueless minister give a sermon on it.  I may 
read other things by the same author, if I come across them.  I 
can't read Forster to save my life.  Love the films based on his 
books, but I just find them unreadable.  OTOH, maybe I should keep 
some Forster on my nightstand for when I have insomnia...

--Barb