What are you reading now?

[LMcD]

... I did say serious reading








.

While sitting in the library reading the i, my eyes fell upon a large-print edition of Kipling's Plain Tales From The Hills, which might have polo in common with Jilly Cooper but is probably less raunchy on the whole. I don't know whether this counts as serious reading or not.

[vinteuil]

Kipling's Plain Tales From The Hills, which might have polo in common with Jilly Cooper but is probably less raunchy on the whole. I don't know whether this counts as serious reading or not.

... well, I love it. (But then I'm addicted to all Kipling)

The very first of his stuff published in book form. So it it doesn't have the depth and subtlety of his late stories, but a great insight in to Anglo-Indian life, and the readers of the Civil and Military Gazette were clearly more open-minded than the notion of a 'Victorian mind-set' might presume...

.

[Ian Thumwood]

One quick Google search will reveal the amount of critical approaches to FFTMC which consider it a profoundly feminist novel. Flemings novels are not worthy of serious critical attention,

That is not the prevailing view of Fleming now. It is ages since I have read them but they have been praised for the leanness of the writing. He was very uneven but I think something like "From Russia with love" at least is worthy of serious critique. Same with "Casino Royale" but he did turn out others like "YOLT" and ,"Moonraker " which are not very good. He was uneven but that style of economical writing was groundbreaking. Just think that good writing does not mean verbose. They are very different from the films .

Quite a few critics would disagree with you.

[french frank]

That is not the prevailing view of Fleming now.

Why should today's 'prevailng view' be more interesting than a Victorian prevailing view? Where does one find absolutes in terms of excellence/greatness?

[Ian Thumwood]

Why should today's 'prevailng view' be more interesting than a Victorian prevailing view? Where does one find absolutes in terms of excellence/greatness?

No idea.

Just expressing the fact that Fleming is now more highly considered than un 50s and 60s. The preface of the books are quite revealing. Can't be all bad if the likes of Faulks and Boyd rate him

[french frank]

Can't be all bad if the likes of Faulks and Boyd rate him

Can't be all bad for the Fleming estate, but perhaps the likes of Faulks and Boyd are in some sense the modern heirs of Fleming so they would rate him. I don't know. Apart from a bit of Birdsong I haven't read anything of those three writers. I did once read The Day of the Jackal back in the 1970s. Wouldn't personally rate that very highly either from a literary point of view.

[vinteuil]

. I did once read The Day of the Jackal back in the 1970s. Wouldn't personally rate that very highly either from a literary point of view.

... no, it's not literature for 'serious reading'. It did make for a stonkingly good film


.

[Ian Thumwood]

Can't be all bad for the Fleming estate, but perhaps the likes of Faulks and Boyd are in some sense the modern heirs of Fleming so they would rate him. I don't know. Apart from a bit of Birdsong I haven't read anything of those three writers. I did once read The Day of the Jackal back in the 1970s. Wouldn't personally rate that very highly either from a literary point of view.

Faulks and Boyd are both excellent writers. The latter's "Love is blind " is a thriller about a piano tuner employed by a crazed composer and concert pianist loosely based on John Field. It takes sime fascinating turns. I sometimes think that Boyd populates his novels with characters as colourful as Dickens. They are both superior to Jack Higgins but a different kettle of fish to Fleming although both have written Bond novels...Boyd's "Solo" probably being the best Bond book of the lot as it has 007 struggling to be relevant in the late 1960s.

[LMcD]

Faulks and Boyd are both excellent writers. The latter's "Love is blind " is a thriller about a piano tuner employed by a crazed composer and concert pianist loosely based on John Field. It takes sime fascinating turns. I sometimes think that Boyd populates his novels with characters as colourful as Dickens. They are both superior to Jack Higgins but a different kettle of fish to Fleming although both have written Bond novels...Boyd's "Solo" probably being the best Bond book of the lot as it has 007 struggling to be relevant in the late 1960s.

I think I've read just about every book that they've had published.

[teamsaint]

I’m not sure there was a “prevailing Victorian mindset” - it was a very complex society - but if there was , it certainly wasn’t embodied by authors like Dickens , Gaskell and Hardy who spent a lot of time critiquing the many downsides of that society’s untrammelled capitalism and rapid pace of change. That’s one reason among many fro reading them.

By chance, for professional reasons in truth,or at least prompted by them, I have just set off on Cranford. Never read any of her work.
She certainly has an elegant style and humorous turn of phrase at times.

[Petrushka]

By chance, for professional reasons in truth,or at least prompted by them, I have just set off on Cranford. Never read any of her work.
She certainly has an elegant style and humorous turn of phrase at times.

I have a copy of Cranford here at home but have never read it. It's only a slim volume so I'll take it down from the shelves and investigate.

[Ein Heldenleben]

By chance, for professional reasons in truth,or at least prompted by them, I have just set off on Cranford. Never read any of her work.
She certainly has an elegant style and humorous turn of phrase at times.

From what I remember that’s a relatively early but charming work. North and South and Wives and Daughters are the major texts - critiques of much that was wrong with Victorian society.

[teamsaint]

From what I remember that’s a relatively early but charming work. North and South and Wives and Daughters are the major texts - critiques of much that was wrong with Victorian society.

Ok thanks. Interesting so far at any rate.

[teamsaint]

Can't be all bad for the Fleming estate, but perhaps the likes of Faulks and Boyd are in some sense the modern heirs of Fleming so they would rate him. I don't know. Apart from a bit of Birdsong I haven't read anything of those three writers. I did once read The Day of the Jackal back in the 1970s. Wouldn't personally rate that very highly either from a literary point of view.

The Fleming Estate is very, er, well run, it would seem.
Allegedly.
They have raised the bar that dogs with bones must attempt to match, if they ever do.

[LMcD]

I'm not sure that I fancy stepping into Jilly Cooper's Rider boots.

I was rather surprised that tonight's Call My Bluff, which featured Jilly Cooper, wasn't preceded or followed by at least a brief reference to her recent demise.