I read this, The World From Italy, by George Negus about twenty years ago. I've always valued reading non-fiction books by professional journalists. AI read this, The World From Italy, by George Negus about twenty years ago. I've always valued reading non-fiction books by professional journalists. And this one doesn't disappoint. The fact that I remember much of it these years later is due to the clarity and economy of the skill and experience of this seasoned investigative journalist. Five stars, as it was a pleasure to read, besides being informative and interesting, from the first page to the last. The opening page statement header says, " The Best Question Any Journalist Can Ask - 'Why?' Trust the Italians, in their own delightful way, to confuse the issue. Their word for 'why' is perché. It's one of the first words you learn as you muddle your way through the early pages of The Complete Idiot's Guide to Teaching Yourself Italian."...more
First published in 1926. And has been drawn from ever since. The Great Gatsby This is a good start. Chapter 1 "In my younger and more vulnerable years myFirst published in 1926. And has been drawn from ever since. The Great Gatsby This is a good start. Chapter 1 "In my younger and more vulnerable years my father gave me some advice that I've been turning over in my mind ever since. 'Whenever you feel like criticizing anyone,' he told me, 'just remember that all the people in this world haven't had the advantages that you've had.' "
And this is a good ending. "They were careless people, Tom and Daisy - they smashed up things and creatures and then retreated back into their money or their vast carelessness, or whatever it was that kept them together, and let other people clean up the mess they had made . . . " "And as I sat there brooding on the old, unknown world, I thought of Gatsby's wonder when he first picked out the green light at the end of Daisy's dock. He had come a long way to this blue lawn, and his dream must have seemed so close that he could hardly fail to grasp it. He did not know that it was already behind him, somewhere back in that vast obscurity beyond the city, where the dark fields of the republic rolled on under the night. Gatsby believed in the green light, the orgastic future that year by year recedes before us. It eluded us then, but that's no matter - tomorrow we will run faster, stretch out our arms further . . . And one fine morning - So we beat on, boats against the current, born back ceaselessly into the past."...more
Forty-six essays. A collection of essays is a good place to start with reading a great writer. The essay, Degenerate Art, just four and half pages, isForty-six essays. A collection of essays is a good place to start with reading a great writer. The essay, Degenerate Art, just four and half pages, is phenomenal. Also the essays on Camus, Simone de Beauvoir, Sartre, and John Dos Passos....more
Paroles was first published in French 1949. Selections from Paroles English translation by Lawrence Ferlinghetti first appeared in book form in the USAParoles was first published in French 1949. Selections from Paroles English translation by Lawrence Ferlinghetti first appeared in book form in the USA by City Lights Books in San Francisco 1958. The poems comprise nearly half of the complete Paroles. This 1965 Penguin Modern European Poets edition has a good Introduction by Ferlinghetti, 1964.
Read Selections from Paroles and then listen to Bringing It All Back Home, Highway 61 Revistited, and Blonde On Blonde....more
Extraordinary, illuminating, fascinating essays by many great minds on this plant. There's even an entry from George Washington's diary notes of 1765 Extraordinary, illuminating, fascinating essays by many great minds on this plant. There's even an entry from George Washington's diary notes of 1765 saying he sowed Hemp by a Swamp and that he was rather too late separating the Male from the Female hemp.
A good introduction by the Editor.
Part one TRACES IN THE COURSE OF HISTORY
Part two SOME HIGH VOICES OF THE TWENTIETH CENTURY
Part three MEDICAL OPINIONS
Part four POTENTIALITIES FOR INCREASING CONSCIOUSNESS
Part five THE SCENE TODAY AND THE LAW
Merged review:
Extraordinary, illuminating, fascinating essays by many great minds on this plant. There's even an entry from George Washington's diary notes of 1765 saying he sowed Hemp by a Swamp and that he was rather too late separating the Male from the Female hemp.
A good introduction by the Editor.
Part one TRACES IN THE COURSE OF HISTORY
Part two SOME HIGH VOICES OF THE TWENTIETH CENTURY
Part three MEDICAL OPINIONS
Part four POTENTIALITIES FOR INCREASING CONSCIOUSNESS
I don't know what to make of this. I'll think on it. Tentatively give this 3 stars. This has a feel of The Brothers Karamazov about it. It made me wonI don't know what to make of this. I'll think on it. Tentatively give this 3 stars. This has a feel of The Brothers Karamazov about it. It made me wonder how much Dostoyevsky towers over Russian literature....more
Bryan Brown, 'The Drowning' review Set on the New South Wales North Coast near Coffs Harbour. The story is well researched. The writing style reads liBryan Brown, 'The Drowning' review Set on the New South Wales North Coast near Coffs Harbour. The story is well researched. The writing style reads like a screenplay draft, no-frills, economic, blunt as an instructional manual. Classic crime-fiction, told in the third person in the vernacular of one of the characters. Vernacular Aussie blokey narrator. The writing is as if one of the characters is telling you the story instead of reading it oneself. Close to texting style. Would be easy to storyboard. That could be the intention. I can see the author playing the role of Sergeant Tommy Gallagher. The international popularity of crime fiction seems insatiable, not that it appeals to me. I wouldn't have read the novel but for the author being Bryan Brown. I nearly bailed on it at half-way through, gets tiring by chapter 22, at 115 pages in. "What are they telling us? Not a lot, Leila reckoned. Just a jumble of knowings crashing together looking to make sense." Pretty much like this novel at half way point. The second half tightens up and comes together nicely. This is crime fiction as showcase Australian tourism, layed on with a trowel. Realistic, naturalist, almost French Nouveau Roman 'New Novel' style. The French New Wave style in Literature and film was influenced by American crime-noir fiction and film, that sparse style influence trying to write like Hemingway. This should be a natural fit for Australian simplicity, particularly with the narrow constraints of the genre of crime fiction....more
My favourite read of 2023. A chance find. Once I had started reading, everything else was put on hold. I don't know where to start. There is so much tMy favourite read of 2023. A chance find. Once I had started reading, everything else was put on hold. I don't know where to start. There is so much to talk about. Frederick Forsyth never intended to be a writer at all. He wanted to travel and see the world. Became a journalist. Then a foreign correspondent for Reuters, then for the BBC in Africa. Back in London out of a job and flat broke, in a friend's flat in January 1970 on his portable typewriter, wrote The Day of the Jackal in thirty-five days. Published the next year, and two years later made into a film....more
The sarcasm is so strong and relentless I find it hard to distinguish fact from satire. I have shelved it to come back to and finish later when in a mThe sarcasm is so strong and relentless I find it hard to distinguish fact from satire. I have shelved it to come back to and finish later when in a more receptive frame of mind. I was reading it whilst reading two writer autobiographies, one straight non-fiction and one written as thinly disguised fiction, both sincere and illuminating, without any sarcasm. Old Masters star rating on completion to be fair....more
