The Spirit of Christmas?

Denerick

Has there ever been any good novels that examined the theme? Anything I've ever come across seem to be cheesy Americanesque nonentities (With the exception of Dicken's 'A Christmas Carol' of course)

raah!

Well I've never encountered a book with such a theme myself. But Dostoyevsky has a really good short story named "The Christmas Tree And A Wedding" which is partially set in Christmas. It's quite funny, and if you buy it in the same modern library short story collection I got (the best short stort stories of dostoyevsky) you'll also get white nights... which may or may not be set during the winter time, the season in which christmas occurs.

Eliot Rosewater

raah! wrote: »

winter time, the season in which christmas occurs.

raah!, we not that far removed from the realities of life here in literature so as to be unfamiliar with the seasons!

Interestingly enough I was considering starting a Christmas thread myself. I personally haven't encountered a book with a Christmas theme in my reading and cant think of any books I havent read that would be about Christmas. It would be nice to stick up a few quotes or something from The Christmas Carol.

To be honest Christmas is too nice of a time to write about Id say. Examining a theme is much easier if it has negative effects or consequences. Unless you were to examine the secularization of the holiday, which is probably more of a recent change, and thus not ideally suited to the reading tastes of myself and you two above :pac:

Eliot Rosewater

So did anyone get any good books for Christmas?

I got a few off of my gf, all of which promise to be good: Earthly Powers by Anthony Burgess, Hiroshima by John Hershey and On The Beach by Nevil Shute.

I started Earthly Powers, and its been excellent so far. Its kind of like getting an encyclopedia thrown at you.

Denerick

Well I bought myself Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantal, along with patrick Kavanaghs 'The Green fool'... Which isn't really a present so to speak, but important, I think!

Eliot Rosewater

Presents for yourself you buy yourself are the best presents. All chance of waking up on Christmas morning and being disappointed are eliminated.

Do you read all of the Booker prize winners Denerick? The book I mentioned earlier - Earthly Powers - was a close runner up to William Golding for the 1980 prize.

Denerick

Eliot Rosewater wrote: »

Presents for yourself you buy yourself are the best presents. All chance of waking up on Christmas morning and being disappointed are eliminated.

Do you read all of the Booker prize winners Denerick? The book I mentioned earlier - Earthly Powers - was a close runner up to William Golding for the 1980 prize.

Nah, I don't usually go and seek out the prizewinners, but a few friends (Who don't normally read too many novels) seem to have read it and loved it. I've heard nothing but positive reviews about it, and I'm quite enjoying it now and I'm only a couple of chapters in.

raah!

I got a subscription to the London review of books! Looking forward to the first issue... which I presume comes in January, hopefully this will help me to pick some more modern books to read. A fate worse than death for some :P

Denerick

raah! wrote: »

I got a subscription to the London review of books! Looking forward to the first issue... which I presume comes in January, hopefully this will help me to pick some more modern books to read. A fate worse than death for some :P

Bad move, it'll only create more books on your reading list, leaving you more bewildered tha before (At least that would be the case if our roles were reversed!)

raah!

Hhahaha, yes that would be the most probable outcome, just a bigger bookpile. Although I was just told they do reviews and commentaries on classics and my aunt tells me, "russian authors" . So even if I don't buy any new books it's still a nice present.

Denerick

raah! wrote: »

Hhahaha, yes that would be the most probable outcome, just a bigger bookpile. Although I was just told they do reviews and commentaries on classics and my aunt tells me, "russian authors" . So even if I don't buy any new books it's still a nice present.

Its quite a good magazine, I've only read the odd thing on it (Some articles are up online aren't they? I've never actually seen a paper version)

raah!

Aye there's some online stuff alright, just read some of it there

Can't wait for my first copy now!

Eliot Rosewater

Speaking of (semi-)modern literature, I came across this good article the other day. Its another one of these lists: the top 10 books of the period 1980 - 2006. What is notable is the high profile panel: 120 literary writers and critics including JG Ballard, Ian McEwan, Salman Rushdie and other well known names.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2006/oct/08/fiction.features1

John McGahern features twice in the top 10, both at number 8. Interesting, firstly given that he never won the Booker for either of these works, and also that Irish authors that did arent even mentioned.

Have any of ye read McGahern?

Plowman

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Eliot Rosewater

The innate problems with these lists is that they are limited by the list makers knowledge and taste. Hemingway said it well in his Nobel acceptance speech:

Ernest Hemingway wrote:

No writer who knows the great writers who did not receive the Prize can accept it other than with humility. There is no need to list these writers. Everyone here may make his own list according to his knowledge and his conscience.

That They May Face the Rising Sun is very much to my taste; I enjoyed it immensely. However that is probably just a matter of preference, and its exclusion in the Prize lists doesnt bother me. Culturally though these lists do have problems. Burgess' A Clockwork Orange generally makes the top 100; his Earthly Powers rarely does even though it is a far superior book. My suspicion is that it is not as well read as A Clockwork Orange.