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Tag Archives: John Williams

Mary Costello – A New Voice

03 Sunday May 2015

Posted by Richard in Escapes and Pleasures

≈ 1 Comment

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"Academy Street", "Brooklyn", "Stoner", Colm Toibin, Irish fiction, John Williams, Mary Costello, MillersTime Favorite Reads, Politics & Prose Bookstore

9780374100520

Rather than wait until the December posting of favorite reads, let me draw your attention to an author and a book I recently found delightful — Mary Costello’s Academy Street.

This first novel is quite short, 146 pages, but somehow this Irish writer has managed to pack a full life into the story of Tess, an Irish woman who comes to live and to stay in America after spending the first part of her life in Ireland.

Initially, Academy Street reminded me of a favorite read of a few years ago, Colm Toibin’s Brooklyn, also a story of an Irish immigrant (female) who comes to America.

But in the short time it took me to read Mary Costello’s lovely gem, I thought of another favorite, John Williams’ Stoner, also a portrait of a person’s whole life. Both Williams and Costello seem to ask the question of the value of their main character’s entire life.

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If You Enjoyed John Williams’ “Stoner”…

01 Saturday Nov 2014

Posted by Richard in Escapes and Pleasures

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"Augustus", "Books Most Enjoyed By MillersTime Readers", "Stoner", 1973 National Book Award, John Williams

…you might try his last novel, Augustus.

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“The Goldfinch” and the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction

18 Friday Apr 2014

Posted by Richard in Escapes and Pleasures

≈ 1 Comment

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"Favorite Books of MIllersTime Readers in 2013", "Goldfinch", "Stoner", "The Absolute True Diary of a Part-Time Indian", "The Dinner", "The Lowland", "The Son", Donna Tartt, Herman Koch, Jhumper Lahiri, John Williams, Philipp Meyer, Pulitzer Prize, Sherman Alexie

goldfinch

A dear friend with whom I often discuss books and many other topics wrote me the other day, upon hearing that Donna Tartt’s The Goldfinch had just won the Pulitzer Prize for fiction, saying, “I guess that means we have to read it.”

At the time of her email, I was 82% finished with the almost 800 page novel (I knew that because my e-reader tells me how much I have read). I finished The Goldfinch the next morning and wrote back the following:

Too long.

Includes too much about stuff I don’t really need to know so much about (addictions, alcohol, drugs).

Needs to be at least 200 pages shorter (700+ pages in all).

Found myself forcing my eye down the page quickly numerous times.

Almost tossed it at several points.

Glad I didn’t.

With all its faults, there is enough of value to make it worth one’s time.

Especially the final 10%.

When I finally began to read it about a week ago, it was largely because one contributor to MillersTime Favorite Reads of the Year had put it in his list. Given its length, I wasn’t sure I wanted to devote that much time to one novel, but I carved out most of three or four days and began reading.

It read quickly, and I found myself engaged in the story. Then, about half way through, it began to drag, and I found myself skimming, mostly wanting to know (and fearing) what would happen to the main characters. Fortunately, I didn’t quit.

The Goldfinch is a story about grief, about art, about adolescence (and about a number of other stages of life), about friendship(s), about what’s important in life, about mother-son relationships, about father-son relationships, about decisions, disastrous and not so disastrous ones, it’s about the heart, about the mind. It asks the reader for some suspension of disbelief. And it asks for much of the reader’s time.

It’s also well written and has enough sense of mystery about the outcome of the characters that once begun, it carried me along.

Whether it deserves the Pulitzer for fiction more than its competitor, Philipp Meyer’s The Son, a lengthy four generation, historical saga about two Texas families, one white, one Mexican, I guess has been decided, at least by the Pulitzer judges. But I enjoyed The Son very much.

If you are looking for shorter novels, I have recently thoroughly enjoyed several other suggestions by MillersTime readers, including Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie‘s Americanah, Sherman Alexie’s The Absolute True Diary of a Part-Time Indian, Herman Koch’s The Dinner, Jhumpa Lahiri’s The Lowland, and a much older one, recently recommended, Stoner by John Williams.

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Two Good Reads, an Invitation & a Request

30 Sunday Mar 2014

Posted by Richard in Escapes and Pleasures

≈ 3 Comments

Tags

"Composing a Further Life", "Composing a Life", "Stoner", John Williams, Mary Katherine Bateson

Usually I don’t post much on this website about books I’m reading, saving any comments or reviews for the end of the year listing of Books Most Enjoyed by MillersTime Readers.

But I have just finished two books, one fiction and one nonfiction, that I particularly enjoyed, each for different reasons, and thus didn’t want to wait until December to write about them.

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