Grant Shipway is making videos about books that deserve more recognition, more respect and more readers. I have always loved the obscure books, the hidden gems, the once-in-a-lifetime books that seem to emerge out of nowhere. My goal is to share with you some of the most amazing novels and authors I have discovered after 30 years of being obsessed with literature.
Isn't the last book 'When we were Orphans'? I remember finding that a tedious read. Klara and the Sun is good but Remains of the Day my favourite so far but there are quite a few I haven't looked at.
Yes, I made a mistake with the title in that video. It really was a tedious read. There is only so far you can take the 'unreliable narrator' concept, and this really goes too far. Too much is vague, and it ends up just being a lot of nothing. Artist of the Floating World is really very good though. It seems it is not uncommon for a writer to fall off once they've got the fame and notoriety.
@@grantlovesbooks So tedious the title isn't really worth donating a synapse to remembering! It put me off Ishiguro but then someone in my book club chose Klara and the Sun, because he had found it profoundly moving. I didn't love it to the same degree but I could see that it's a good book and worth a read. I might try an Artist of the Floating World. Ishiguro comes across as a lovely bloke in interviews and that lack of pretension predisposes me to make more of an effort with his work.
I visited Auschwitz many years ago. It feels so wrong that anyone should take photos there. My enduring memory was of the spectacles - the pathos of such a sight - making real what in theory had felt unimaginable- was so striking. I think it is good that you broach these difficult subjects. I don't think I will be able to read this book but your rationale for so doing is entirely sound. I might attempt the Primo Levy. My TBR list gets longer through subscribing here. Loved your story about the collective memory loss on your trip - very funny and I hope those photos see the light of day, some day...
I recall, leaving Auschwitz, that everyone should go there, to really understand the reality and get a sense of what happened. Primo Levi, The Periodic Table, touches on his time in Auschwitz, but it doesn't get too badly into the atrocities. It is more a few chapters about how he survived. Borowski's book is really some of the hard sad stuff, you might want to give it a pass. The Dusseldorf story was funny. We were all having breakfast the next day, none of us with too bad of a hangover, and someone said, "Maybe we shouldn't have had that second Killepitsch." And someone else asked, "Did we have another one?" And we began to realize that none of us were at all clear what had happened the night previous. Hope you are well! Good luck with the TBR, mine gets longer all the time too!
I suppose I've decided it's my job now, to let people know about some of the great books that are out there. I feel it is not enough to read them, but also to share them with others.
If you've read or even heard of Project 2025, you know another holocaust could happen again. Project 25 is just the kind of blueprint for a society that would allow for the extermination of what it viewed as it's enemies. We in the US live in the possibility of that world right now. "the only permissible form of charity" . . . chilling. Thank you for this Grant. All the best to you and yours, as always.
I have only heard things about Project 2025 that give me some very poor impressions of American politics these days. I really try to not take notice, or to care too much. If I can't vote, and the policies of another country are only going to affect my life very slightly, probably not even at all, then I feel I should also keep all my opinions at a minimum and not to voice them aloud. America seems to be a place of such contradictions, that I can't imagine what it must be like to live there. All the science and technology, NASA for god's sake! but then all the people who seem to want to put the clock back, socially and mentally, to retreat into a state of unreal nostalgia, the good old days, as they say. It's really a shame the elections brings out the worst side of society; us versus them, every man for himself. You would think the right to vote, the right to freely elect a leader, would be almost a cause for celebration, democracy giving every citizen the ability to vote for who they want in office. Hope you are doing well Sal, and the circus in the States isn't getting you down. There's still plenty more to come it seems.
I really thought this was a great story. The opening paragraph, clearly foretelling what might be coming in the conclusion, seems to be forgotten with the appearance of the American soldier. The brutality of the final short paragraph really took me by surprise, but when I looked at the first paragraph again, I thought, "Oh, of course." Quite a lot in this short collection is like that. It really is an incredible style where he zooms in and zooms out on particular ideas, so it all holds together well, but still gives a lot of good twists and turns. It's a shame they are so horrifying. Hope you are well Sal!
Thanks Deb. A lot of the books I read can be quite dour and difficult, but I try to keep a balance, for my own sake, with more lighthearted work, lighter subjects. Soon after this book I read The Big Sleep by Raymond Chandler, a fun crime thriller. (Review coming soon-ish.)
It has been the most difficult book of 2024. But it is in keeping with the war theme of my TBR for this year. You would imagine with all of our world history to learn from, we wouldn't do anything as stupid as starting another war, with all we know about how awful it is. But wars continue.
I live in Trier, the oldest city in Germany. It was the Rome of the north and Emperor Constantine‘s mother‘s chosen home. It’s full of Roman architecture and is also the birthplace of Karl Marx. Did you know some of ideas came from observing the people bringing in the grapes from the surrounding vineyards? The vineyards constructed by the Romans. It’s also half an hour away from Luxembourg and France so if you ever come back to Germany, come to the Moselle valley where you can try our cheap Riesling wine. Thanks for another great review:) I have lived here since 1997 because I married a German, I’m actually Scottish originally. I openly asked a lot of questions about the war and back in the 90s met some real old Nazis who forced me to drink schnapps at 10:00 in the morning. Despite being old men, they still gave me the creeps as did the family albums of my in laws. I read a book about Albert Speer whilst living with my father in law who showed he was displeased with the author’s framing. These people are mostly dead and gone now and memories are second hand so it’s not as sensitive a subject as it used to be. My daughter went to Dachau last year with her school and I’m glad this tradition continues. She’s 16 and does feel the burden though. She phoned me from there because she was in floods of tears. Equally I’ve had conversations about totalitarian life with former East Germans too. I hope some of them write about it before the memories are lost forever.
Thanks for writing Scarba, I appreciate your perspective. It sounds like you are enjoying your life in Germany, especially as a wine drinker. I wish I could get back to Europe, but at this stage of my life we are planning our move to Japan in the next few years. My wife is Japanese, and we feel our son will have a better life growing up in Japan. The drug situation in Canada is terrible, and though Japan might be strict, I think a strict upbringing is not a bad thing. Especially with two parents who tend to be on the lazy side. I remember hearing some strange things when I was in Germany. How Germans like to smoke, "Because Hitler was very anti-smoking, so Germans like to smoke, even today, as a way of going against Hitler's ideas." That really took me by surprise, and I only 50% believe that one. When I asked why the Swiss seemed to be a nation of smokers, I was told, "Because everyone is so rich here, they like to have something to spend their money on." That, I could believe. Thanks again for writing!
@@grantlovesbooksthe reason is that the cigarette industry lobbies hard in Germany and got favours such as continued advertising and loophole for smoking in confined spaces like bars. It’s culturally still acceptable here unfortunately.
@@scarba It's strange how conflicted I am about smoking. I quit in 1999, 25 years ago now. And of all the things I've done, that must be one of the best. But then I read an article about a country wanting to be entirely smoke free. I think it was New Zealand. And that rubs me the wrong way. Not that I want people to smoke, but I want them to have the choice not to. Whenever I go out to a bar, there always comes a moment where I notice how smoke free the air is, and the huddle of people outside smoking, and it doesn't seem like a fun way to enjoy a night out. I don't know why we can't have some clubs that are smoking clubs, and some that aren't. I guess I grew up in the era where any drinking establishment always had a thick layer of blue cloud swirling around the heads of people with red faces and wet lips. I quite smoking, unintentionally, just when the strong anti-smoking laws took effect in Canada. It has always felt a little odd to me that I went non-smoking at the same time that Canada got so strict about it.
@@grantlovesbooks The UK have passed a law that anyone aged 16 next year with that birth year and younger will be forever prohibited from buying cigarettes. It doesn’t stop them from vaping though. It effectively will mean a permanent ban on smoking eventually though and I think they were inspired by New Zealand or somewhere. There’s bars in Germany full of smoke because the rule is if you don’t serve food and can only provide one room then you can smoke. I am an ex smoker too but smoking sends me into coughing fits these days. I am also sad that my daughter has started smoking because it’s still far from out of fashion. Have you ever read Me talk pretty one day? It’s also the title of one of the short stories within the book. It pretty much mirrored my experience of learning German in Hamburg in the 90s. It’s hilariously funny.
Hello Cristina, I'm not sure if I did the story justice. There is something really peculiar with the opening paragraph, and how it leads to the inevitable closing paragraph. Borowski was a very talented writer, it is really a shame he took his life so young.
Grant, there's no doubt that you subtly underlined at the beginning, in just the right way, even with your facial expression, what is achieved at the end. If it depends on how you read, you could easily make audiobooks.
a little update: It seems that my criticisms were related to the translation into Portuguese…I saw the initial excerpt of Justine on Goodreads (in English) and loved it!!! for example and just a small part: "In the midst of winter you can feel the inventions of spring." which in Portuguese they translated into a vulgar, common phrase: "In the middle of winter, spring begins to make itself felt" It lost the magic! In some parts, the Portuguese translation was or very "normal" or a bit exaggerated and therefore very colorful (even more than the original) and went overboard for me. After realizing this, I started to put some of the exaggerations I read into perspective. I really enjoyed it, but not as much as the feeling I got from reading that little bit in English! (but the 4 books are too big to read in the original language, if it were fewer pages, but as it is, no). Hope you are well Grant, until the next readings!🙂
Hello Cristina! Sorry to hear about your translation woes, that is always a difficult problem. I just finished reading Germinal by Zola, I had two copies of the book and was reading the older one, so I wouldn't ruin the newer copy. But the older version had a strange translation, some of the idioms people used in common speech were quite unusual or antiquated. I checked the translations in the newer copy and it was a lot more like 'normal' speech. But this is a translation of 1880 French mine-workers, illiterate and uneducated. Who knows what the original French language looks like? Well, everyone in France I suppose. It is quite a tragedy, the variations and quality of translated literature. I often wonder why there seems to be so many great Japanese translations, but not so many German, or even Spanish. It is probably also a question of how readily the original language lends itself to being translated in English. Grammatically and structurally. Although, Justine is intentionally written in a very colourful way, because Darley, the narrator, is a writer, and he uses this very 'literary' style to show how clever he is. You might want to try Balthazar in English to see if it is a little more readable. Hope you are well!
@@grantlovesbooks Hi Grant, I was already talking about all the books. I finished reading them recently, and yes, Justine was the one that allowed for the most ‘embellishments’ in the translation!
I read The Great Gatsby many years ago and I liked it. However, when the movie came out I had zero desire to watch it. I feel that I have a rather distinct feel of Gatsby as a character and it's not Leonardo DiCaprio. Needless to say, I also can't reconcile the Nick Carraway in my mind with Tobey Maguire (incidentally, now I'll never be able to watch Tobey Maguire without noticing that expression of his 😂). This video, however, has inspired me to read the book again.
It sounds we feel exactly the same way. I suppose I am at the age where I constantly ask myself, 'Which age group was this made for?' So it was strange watching the 2013 version of Gatsby, and wondering who their audience was. I suppose these high-school books have a longevity due to teachers with hangovers needing to get a little marking done. I wanted to make a sequence of clips putting together all the times he does that side-eye, but it would have been too much work. But I do think he does it often! Let me know how you feel about Gatsby the next time you read it.
Damn me, too late. I haven't read the book but I did see the movie, which I hated. Well, maybe not the movie itself. I just don't like empty-headed, foolish rich people. I wrote a travel piece about Asheville, NC, one of my hometowns, and in it I put a photo of the hospital where Zelda died in a fire. The old building is of course gone, but it has been replaced by a handsome stone building. And, on second thought, yes, I hated the movie itself. But based on your review I might attempt the book.
Hello John! I would highly recommend reading Gatsby again, I think it really is something to read at different stages in your life. I forgot how Zelda died in a fire, that must have been horrific. What a sad end, but Scott, ended up not too much better. I'm completely anti-movie for anything literature. And it makes me wonder if I will ever read Gatsby again now that I have Leonardo in my mind, and all those glorious Hollywood images. I guess it's my own fault for signing up for that class. You've really been all over, haven't you!
your video was recommended to me by youtube and I must say, as a person who’s majoring in modern languages and studying american literature at college, your channel was a great find! I read gatsby when I was around 14 and now I want to read it again. much love from brazil! (also, your son is adorable! <3)
Thank-you Juliana, I am happy you enjoy the channel. Hopefully you will be able to find some other fun videos to watch, I sure do have a lot of them now. American Literature in Brazil! Is that fun? I hope it is. I always feel that teachers should try to highlight some of the fun books to give students a love of literature, and also a desire to read more. It's a shame that in an American literature class, they will rarely choose books like 'Winesburg, Ohio' or books by John Dos Passos, or Philip Roth, or John Cheever. It's always Hemingway, Wharton, 'The Scarlet Letter.' I've been struggling at university, but only one more semester left!
My lovely book and magazine arrived today😀😀😀 - thank you so much - some fun post makes a nice change (sorry for the $$ postage!). Greetings from Shrewsbury🙂
Hello Ms. Crunchy! Sorry for the long delay in replying, I was finishing up my final exams for the semester. I am finished, I think I did well, and now I'm going to concentrate on spending time with my family, and hopefully making some RU-vid videos. Maybe I can also squeeze in a little exercise. Please do not worry about the postage. When I got those magazines printed and began the book/magazine raffle, I suppose my primary goal was to try to make a little extra money. But then when I realized how much the postage would cost every time I mailed a book... well, I can say that I studied literature and not economics. But I don't mind in the slightest. In fact it has brought me into contact with people all over the world, and I always feel happy to mail these books to people who I think will enjoy them. I think it has been all about the experience, and not about the money, which is far more important to me!
I'm italian and i love the books of Primo Levi. A little note about the italian man of the "little portion of soup". He was Lorenzo Perrone, a bricklayer. He was a worker of a Italian company hired by the Nazi government. Perrone was part of a group of workers employed near Auschwitz. He came from the same Italian region as Primo Levi: Piedmont. Before the war he worked many times in France. The two men met several times after the war. While Primo began his new life, Lorenzo was unable to recover from the trauma of the war and the violence he saw. Lorenzo became an alcoholic and died of tuberculosis in 1952. Primo was at his funeral. Primo later named his daughter Lisa Lorenza after Lorenzo and his son Renzo (Lorenzo's short name). Primo Levi wrote that Perrone was "poisoned" by the Auschwitz experience, even though he was not a prisoner. Lorenzo had not only helped Primo but two or three other prisoners. In 1998, Yad Vashem recognized Lorenzo Perrone as Righteous Among the Nations. Recently an Italian historian published a book about the story of Lorenzo Perrone.
Hello Bartolo, thanks a lot for writing this to me. I recall from the collection it ends with Primo Levi discovering that he wasn't the only one that the bricklayer had helped. It is very nice to have this context. I hope you enjoyed the review. It was a little difficult to make this one, as it was hard to find a line between speaking to people who have never read any Primo Levi, and then the people I assumed would watch the video, who were very award of Levi's writing. Thanks again for adding this comment, I hope people will read this. This is some very helpful context!
In one of the great and much under appreciated novels of the 20th century, Anthony Burgess’s “Earthly Powers” , the story’s protagonist is based on WS Maugham. Burgess, who knew Maugham does a wonderful job of characterizing him in the novel but without absolutely identifying him as Maugham.
Thanks a lot for this Deirdre, I just found a copy of Earthly Powers in a thrift shop and it was in such good condition I had to take it home. Thanks for writing, I'll see if I can move it up the list a little.
@@grantlovesbooks I know you will enjoy EP. Even though it’s a doorstop of a book (my first edition hardcover runs around 600 pages) it never bogs down. It is one of the few books which after finishing, I immediately started reading again, and typically reread every three or four years. I hope you do a review of EP when you’ve read it. I would love to hear your opinion!
@@deirdre108 Thanks a lot for all the enthusiasm and motivation! I have always been so curious to read something else by Burgess, and wonder why it has taken me so long to get round to finding another one of his books. I will keep it in mind and try to get to it sooner rather than later!
I read this book at 19 years old and saw how profound it was at the time. I’ve just finished rereading it and to describe it in a phrase, I’d say excellence through mediocrity
Matthew is precious! Hi Grant, I’ll watch this one later but I just went back and watched your review of So Long, See You Tomorrow. I just finished that book again for the 2nd time. I think that review is one of your best ones, btw.
Thanks a lot Nikki! That's an old one, I'm happy to hear it still looks good. How was it reading this short but very complex novel for the second time? I thought I was doing well, but now that I try to remember the book, it is really hard to put my finger on what exactly happened.
@@grantlovesbooks I loved it this time! I gave it 5* which isn’t something I do often. I hadn’t been in the right headspace to read it in 2020, although I knew it was my kind of book….but we had Covid insanity and the riots going on and I couldn’t focus. I’m so glad I gave it another go. Quite interesting also that Maxwell was so undone by his mother’s death when he was 10, that all of his books explore this theme and I find that very interesting. I also found an audiobook here on YT read by Maxwell himself when he was 87. Just so cool.
@@nikkivenable73 Wow! Thanks Nikki for all the interesting information. When I made my video I don't think I looked into Maxwell's life at all. It looks like that was a big mistake. It sounds like it really had a positive reaction for you this time. I wasn't doing my book raffle then, so I still have my copy on the shelf!
How did you know? I read Life of Pi when it came out, and thought, What's all the fuss about? And then they made a movie from it, so I read it again to make sure I wasn't wrong. The second time I was sure it was a silly book. I've never read any Coelho, just because I suspect people like to carry his books around and tell people, "I'm reading Coelho!" Because it makes them sound smart. In high school if you wanted people to think you were so clever you carried, 'Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance.' It was also the same in Europe, but all the university girls carried 'Master and the Margarita.'
@@poondawg3244 Hello Poondawg! I just saw your support on Patreon! Thanks a lot, that is really very kind of you! I checked out the blurb for The Alchemist, that looks like some proper 'Celestine Prophesy' bullshit right there. I really shouldn't be prejudiced against any writer based on their name. I think I was a bit hesitant with Milan Kundera because his name just looked too East European cool-guy. Still, to this day, I think people love Kafka just because of those two hard K-syllables. I've never met anyone who can tell me what's happening in 'The Hunger Artist.' If you really want to see me get angry about a book check out the video I made for Kafka on the Shore, I was so pissed off, I went through it point by point and some of the major problems with that one. Thanks again! Hope you are well!
I saw the 1970's version of the movie with Robert Redford and Mia Farrow. When I think of Jordan Baker I keep seeing Lois Chiles. Nick Carraway was Sam Waterston. It seems like this video's subtext is a discussion of Marshall McLuhan's "hot" and "cool" media, with films as hot and novels as cool media.
Ms. Greupner showed us that version as well! It's so odd this constant desire to keep making the same film. There was another one in 2000 with Paul Rudd! Why don't they make a film of Daisy's life, or Jordan Bakers? I'll check out the hot and cool media idea, it sounds good.
Thanks for the review, Grant. I always talk myself out of reading any book for the third time. Maybe I'll rethink and give it a try. Matthew is a cutie.
I really think twice is all that can be asked of someone, there are so many books to read. But it is quite short. And I felt on this reading I wasn't as preoccupied with waiting for those 'important' points. The green light, the clock falling off the mantle... all the high-school symbolism. I keep meaning to go back to Tender is the Night, but I've got such a backlog of books right now. I haven't even finished my 2024 TBR. But 2024 is turning out to be a great year!
Beautiful Child. I like your honesty about how the act of reading is an experience of emotional pleasure and if not the bottom line, your video essays subtly underscore that issue as criteria and I think that's important considering how literature study and appreciation seems so peripheral to contemporary culture. I love Gatsby & Fitzgerald from early on to now and used to read TGG every summer, but haven't yet this decade and your vid prompted me to look it over one more time while it's still summer. Thanks for the nudge. It's a novel about summer for me, and youth, America, class, etc. of course, but the way it universalizes life of these individuals in that historical moment makes the prohibition era society besides the point, The story is not about the lost generation's Long Island summer but love and the human condition. You're worth the whole dam bunch of them put together Nick tells him. Gatsby dismisses Buchanan's love for Daisy as merely personal. The idealism for love and America leading the new modern era but new money -even though life is tragic and love complex. It's romantic like Shelly and the prose is so perfect, just thinking about Gatsby again makes me want to read it again to see what this me brings to it this summer. America's the summer land and these Americans are in the last grasp summer of life -- almost middle age in the decade of a new media and consumer driven youth culture. I have more sympathy for the characters than you expressed. The story is not about Jay's love for Daisy -- it's about love. The recent film is annoying, although fun and did respect the source material. Music is horrible. It gave me a head ache. But a 20-something friend of mine not a reader loves the film and read the book because of if, so that's hopeful.
Hello Timothy, That's nice you have such personal feelings about this novel. I simply can't enjoy any film made from a novel. I suppose I am too cynical. It already comes with a built-in supportive audience, which makes it sure to sell a lot of tickets. Also longevity, teachers with hangovers playing the film for their high school students. As well I've always felt it was almost like an antidote for the stupider films. If someone went to see Fast and Furious and King Kong vs Godzilla, now they can go and see Gatsby so that they can tell themselves they are not total morons when it comes to their film viewing habits. I suppose if you strip away the frenetic editing style, the wild music, and constant scene and wardrobe changes... Leo and Toby did put in a lot of hard work. Toby was onscreen nearly the entire film, and I can imagine it wasn't easy to constantly generate that wide-eyed, boyish look. Anyway, it was kind of a weird class, we watched Streetcar Named Desire, Apocalypse Now, and The Great Gatsby. The teacher did a great job, but the entire class was ruined by a student who wouldn't shut up and who knew everything about everything. (Not me.)
@@grantlovesbooksInteresting reading list. One is a play and the film is pretty close, That's seems like cheating, it's not prose into film Apocalypse is quite distant from Heart of Darkness. In general I've found the better the literature the worse the film, Apocalypse does surpass the source material, a rare case indeed.
@@timhrklittimothyherrickvid169 I really had to think for a while, but I did remember one. No Country For Old Men. I think I had read The Road, but wasn't aware that Cormac had written No Country... I thought The Road was good, but pretty damn bleak, and I wasn't a huge fan until I read All The Pretty Horses. So when I later discovered he had written No Country, I hesitated with the book. Because they are so remarkably similar, there just weren't any surprises. Except, in the book Anton Cigurs eyes are blue. It really stuck out because there is almost zero character description, so when he had blue eyes it was a shock. I found it hard to enjoy, because the film was already imprinted in my imagination. And I don't really have any desire to read it again, because I know I'll be remembering the film, rather than reading the words on the page carefully. What about you?
@@grantlovesbooks Yes, one my favorite authors James Lee Burke I started reading after Heaven's Prisoners, but that's noir and it's more common with noir. I read Theater by Maugham after seeing the film Julia, but that was when I was obsessed with Somerset. If I like the film I'll read the novel, but most films of great novels fall short and usually I've read the book first, although I grew up with the Moby Dick so that doesnt' count. I had read No Country before the film -- the blue eye thing I didn't catch -- and have gone back to both. The film follows the book so closely that in my mind I see the film. I don''t mind it. Regarding the Road I read before the film, but I don't like either. Seriously, this praise for The Road is beyond me, it's just too obvious. Cormac genre-busted the western and noir, but dystopian sci-fic felt forced.
New Haven of course, is conservative, ivy walled Yale. I've known a few of these "peaked in their prime" types. They're rather dull, lethargic, and while they'd have you believe themselves intelligent men, I really haven't found that to be the case. What I like about the Great Gatsby is it comes close to defining the American Dream that we are subjected to everyday and in some ways actually drowning therein. I've read it twice already probably not again. Lucky for me I read One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest before it became a movie. I loved that book. I hated the film as it missed all that was good in the book. And having met Kesey a couple of times, the image of McMurphy, as I read the book, was always the image of the author. Which I imagine is just slightly better than Jack Nicholson. But to your point, yes, it's always best to read the books first and wince in the cinema later. Look at what Huston did to Hemingway's To Have and To Have Not. Obviously, Literature and Cinema are just two different art forms and don't really mix well. Thanks again Grant. And thanks to the Broccoli Kid.
Hello SalMaris! Great to hear from you. There's a movie of To Have and To Have Not!! That really must be a strange one. I will always remember Kesey had a quote when asked if he went to see "One Flew Over..." You'll have to search for it, something along the lines of 'Having a child abducted by the Hells Angel's...' You met him? Wow, you've really been around. I was always fascinated by that troupe of crazies called The Merry Pranksters, those must have been some strange times to be alive. The sad thing now is that writers are trying to write more cinematic novels, because that's how they can get the big money, and maybe get a selfie with the latest celeb who pretends to have read their book. I don't know. Right now I am reading Germinal by Zola and absolutely loving it, and it is Long. And I think they have made several film adaptations. Even though that old style of novel with a lot of luxurious description would lend itself well to a film or series. I just can't find any interest. I suppose my main complaint is that of all the arts, the cinema, should be absolutely the one that allows the most freedom. Get really weird, absurd, cartoon, go crazy. But so many films are so formulaic, and simply copying a standard format. I remember how blown away I was when I saw David Lynch's Wild At Heart. I think almost every other film I have seen since then has looked dull and obvious compared to that monster of a movie.
@@grantlovesbooks i like some of the formulaic movies- if they’ve got something in addition to the formula like Groundhogs Day perhaps, but I’m really taken by Being John Malkovich, or Wings of Desire, or The Kingdom, or Mulholland Drive. Those movies are few and far between. Foreign films are best. I knew Katherine Dunn too. If we ever get together over coffee, I’ll tell you some stories.
@@TheSalMaris Hello, those are some wildly unusual movie titles to string together! Just like my tastes in movies. Was Groundhog Day the first of its kind? To do the repetition of one day in history? Today, it seems like such common idea that has been copied many times. But I wonder if Groundhog Day was the original one to use this idea. I know there were a lot of 'going back to the past' films. Every time I see one of those I always think, 'There's a writer getting old with some serious regrets.' Mullholland Drive, that's a nice memory for me, I went to see that in Budapest, the film was sold out, I think it was opening weekend. Strand there aren't more good films these days. I wish Spike Jonze made more movies. I'll have to check who Katherine Dunn is.
Hi Matthew!😊👋 (your son is so lovely!) As for Gatsby, it's been a few years since I read it, and it's on my to-read list again, I remember liking it, but I'll have to refresh my memory, and it's a quick read. And by the way, on the subject of the movies marking the characters in the book with the respective actor, there is now a "very nice" craze (no, not really) of making the covers of the books with the covers of the movies!!! Not a fan! and it shows too the 'laziness' of the publishers, and it doesn't even matter who the actor is, for example, I just bought "Night Train to Lisbon" by Pascal Mercier, whose movie I only wanted to see after reading the book, but that's it, my main character already has a face and style, Jeremy Irons (who, by the way, he's an excelent actor!) but although I like the actor, I already have my character completely possessed!!! (well, but at least is with him, do you remenber him in Brideshead?)
I'll say hello to him for you! He's only lovely 30-40% of the time. But he is also very funny and does a lot of silly things that make me smile a lot more often than previously in my life.
It's been a while since I've read it, but I recall that he goes to some small village and meets her, serving drinks in the one small, ugly hotel. He invites her to Prague, and she, to his dismay, does arrive soon after the invite.
I think about that often. But I had my European experience. I think I made a mistake by staying in the same city/country for the entire time, it would have been better had I moved to try a different life in another region. Now I am planning the Asian time of my life. We are making plans to move to Japan. I am looking forward to it, and really can't wait to escape from this Canadian world.
@@grantlovesbooks Sounds like 👍 a plan. I hear accommodation is affordable there. If it doesn’t work out then come to Germany. Easiest place in the world to get a citizenship these days. Personally my favourite country in Europe is the Netherlands. I dream of moving to the border region so I can pop over whenever I like.
@@scarba I would absolutely love to live in Germany. Thanks for the tip on the citizenship. At the moment it is difficult to make any long term plans. We are mostly focused on taking care of Matthew, who is very energetic. My wife wants to go back to Japan, and go back to work. I am really quite content to just sit on the sofa reading books for the rest of my life, but I suppose I will eventually have to start teaching ESL again, which won't be bad. It's good to get out and socialize and see the world. (Unless it's Canada, then you might as well stay home and read.)
@@grantlovesbooks Kindergarten is free in Germany except a nominal fee for lunches if they stay all day, a huge advantage over other countries, something to consider. Once he’s in Kindergarten and gets tired out it will get easier. The most fun part is getting to buy all the lovely kids‘ books and read them in your language and then your wife read to him in hers. My husband can still recite some by heart and our youngest is 16 now. We are also a mixed couple German/Scottish. Till the time comes you can enjoy planning/fantasizing about your move to wherever it may be.
I loved this novel and A View of the Harbor and A Game of Hide and Seek by the same author. The last 3 years have been magical for me as I have discovered Elizabeth Taylor and Donna Tartt. Are there any other great unknown ( to me ) novelists hiding out there?
This is the first Elizabeth Taylor I've read and it is an unbelievable novel. I am looking forward to reading more. The more I read it seems the more I discover 'unknown' authors. The last couple of years have been especially good. Sometimes I just can't believe how old I am and how many writers have slipped by my notice for so many years.
@@grantlovesbooks I'm in the same situation as you. I'm getting old but I'm also discovering many great books to keep me company in my old age. Who are some of your 'unknown' authors, if I may ask?
@@carlquistharris In the last few years it has been a lot of Japanese authors. Tanizaki, Kawabata and Mishima. As well as two 19th Century French authors, Zola and Balzac. I guess none of those would be considered 'unknown.' The video I made recently for The Ogre is really a lost treasure.
@@grantlovesbooks Yes, I remember the 2 weeks or so I spent with The Makioka Sisters as a very happy time. Maybe the time has come for me to reread it. If so, I have you to thank for putting the idea in my head.
@@carlquistharris I absolutely loved The Makioka Sisters. I think that was my favourite novel of 2023. I mailed that to one of my supporters as part of my magazine/book raffle, and I was pretty sad to lose that novel. I know I can pick it up again, but I was quite attached to that book.
Oooh, as MsCrunchy, I'm so thrilled and also as Rachael,. Many thanks, this book seems to have moved you greatly and I'm glad to have won this one in particular. Will email 🎉
Oh, That Elizabeth Taylor. Old hotels used to be quite inexpensive, even affordable in this country. Not the first tier type travelers hotels, but hotels that were slightly worn down--tow or three star establishments, without a lot of the usual amenities we need today, but clean enough. They've mostly been displaced by urban renewal. A by gone day. Just a free, if unsolicited, historical fact. If I come across this title, I'll pick it up. All the best to you, and Happy Birthday Grant.
Thanks a lot Sal! I know they must have existed at some point. In Saul Bellow's short novel Seize The Day the main character and his father both live in the same hotel, (but not together). It's nice in North America how we just smash down all the old stuff to build new stuff that will be more expensive. Smaller, uglier, gaudy looking, and more expensive.
@@grantlovesbooks No it's not, but I know what you mean. I hear Australians with much the same complaint. Yes the times are a changing, but to your point--does it have to be so ugly and expensive?
Thank you very much Grant for your thoughts on this little Elizabeth Taylor masterpiece…….. she has others. Hugs for Matthew….. all of you …..Miss Jenny
Thank-you Miss Jenny, Matthew always gets lots of hugs! I am sure I will pick up any Elizabeth Taylor novels I see in the future. Actually, I had to order this one, I don't think I have ever seen any of her books in the used bookshops. (Keep an eye open for Matthew in an upcoming video.)
Watched again. Ms. Taylor passed away at 63, thereby avoiding the silent battle for dignity these characters had to face. Very sad. Thanks for the review.
It is amazing how much emotion is packed into this short novel. The wry observations are wonderful, the writing is just perfect. It is odd how hard it is to get old, when it is such a common experience. It doesn't seem to make sense that it should be such a difficult experience, when we have so many old people in the world.
Me too! I ordered this book, quite a long time ago, and every time I looked at it I had to pause and remind myself, "Not the one that played Cleopatra."
@@grantlovesbooks I love the French writers. Balzac, Zola, Flaubert and De Maupassant. Their characters seem so real and timeless. They really understood humanity.
Balzac and Zola are my two recent favourites! There is something really beautiful about they way they wrote their novels. Not that tiresome Dickens who got paid by the word. Not Hemingway that wanted to chop it all away... Something that I consider one of the perfect variations of the novel. Fully constructed characters and a fully constructed plot. Those writers really put their hearts into their novels.
@@susandixon8942 Funny you recommending my own videos for me to watch! I guess I will have to go back and have a look. Usually after the filming and the editing over and over again I don't watch my videos, but... I'll take your advice!
Hello Nikki, that is so very kind of you! I hope you will enjoy the extra stuff. The weekly blog was rather dour last week, I was in a bit of a mood due to school and my birthday. This week I will try to post a happier weekly update, and hopefully a a few photos. Here is the link, I hope it works, it should! www.patreon.com/grantlovesbooks
@@grantlovesbooks I’m not even necessarily interested in extra stuff….just want to support you. I guess what I mean is, even if there were no extras I’d still support.
Slaves of Solitude has just been put on my wishlist. Grant, thank you, my bookish friend. Edit: it was already in there from the stellar review you did. I thought it sounded familiar. 😅 Also, i MUST read Madame B. Ugh, it's so past time. The Magus, as well.
That is a quite a list of books to reread! I usually just keep it to one per year, maybe two. I hope you find Slaves of Solitude some time, it is really quite a great book, that feels like it was fun to read. Hope you are well Nikki, thanks for writing!
There are a few similarities to Madame Bovary, but essentially it is quite different. If you liked Madam B. I would highly recommend Custom of the Country!
