This is a compelling detective novel set in a 14th century Italian monastery that doubles as a novel of ideas. I’d actually seen the Hollywood movie twice, once as a teenager – for some reason I watched it in High School – and once recently because I thought my girlfriend would like it. The novel …
Tag: Novel
The Secret Agent (1907) by Joseph Conrad
This is a rather remarkable book where Conrad manages to combine suspense with satire/social comment and some fairly modernist construction. SPOILERS so let me just say if you like Conrad read it.
The Yiddish Policemen’s Union (2007)
Why has nobody turned this into a movie yet? Seriously.(Apparently the Coens were supposed to it! But didn’t. Alas…)
And the Ass Saw the Angel (1989) by Nick Cave
Nick Cave is both one of my favourite songwriters and, I think, one of the great songwriters of the era. (He is in my 20th century songwriting canon.) But I don’t think too many would argue that he has greatly improved as a songwriter from when he first started out in the Boys Next Door …
The Loved One (1948) by Evelyn Waugh
This is a mildly amusing pitch black comedy about the American funeral industry and the British in Hollywood. (And American advice columnists.) It’s pretty slight and it feels like Waugh didn’t exactly know what kind of story he wanted to tell for this. (There are three or four main topics in a book that is …
The Poorhouse Fair (1958) by John Updike
Updike is a great literary stylist. Even in this very early novel, he does an excellent job. His sentences are often beautiful. And even when they are not beautiful, they are so full of detail about the person and/or the scene that they leave a vivid picture in the mind. I am prone to imagining …
Sophie’s Choice (1979) by William Styron
Mild Spoiler Alert: If you are at all interested in reading this novel I strongly suggest you know as little as possible before reading it, to make the experience more enjoyable.
Cancer Ward (1966, 1968) by Alexander Solzhenitsyn
I have no idea why it took me so long to finish this one. It’s not that I didn’t enjoy it, but something about it turned into a slog for me. (It also happened that I was listening to podcasts when I supposed to be reading, which was a problem.) Anyway, the time it took …
Fontamara (1934, 1947) by Ignazio Silone
Note: I have read the 1947 revision, not the original novel, so this is not a review of the original and I cannot comment on the changes between the original and this version.