The Art of Fielding- a great book with a great gay subplot

[+ newatthis]

newatthis: Vulture Peak is the new John Burdett novel. Not at my library yet.

Thanks for the tip. I've got a search alert on him at my library, but those are sent when the book has been cataloged. Checked online and it's on order, so I'm now #1 when it arrives.

[MscleLovr]

I read Hollinghurst's 'Strangers Child' but I was very unimpressed. I thought it verged on soap-opera and was below the standard of his other works.

 

By contrast, when I finished 'The Sense of an Ending' by Julian Barnes, I immediately re-read it. I feel it's a masterpiece.

[+ WilliamM]

The Stranger's Child

 

I had a slightly different opinion of The Stranger's Child. I admire Hollinghurst's ability to create so many interesting characters, people I wanted to know more about, at least initially. In almost every case, I enjoyed the characters less when then appeared again 10-20 years later. As with most of Hollinghurst's books, The Stranger's Child is well writen. I found myself concentrating on his writing, rather than the story and characters. I do agree that the last part, the fifth, did verge on soap opera.

[+ WilliamM]

By contrast' date=' when I finished 'The Sense of an Ending' by Julian Barnes, I immediately re-read it. I feel it's a masterpiece.[/quote']

 

I bought Julian Barnes' book per your suggestion. But first I want to finish the new biography on Pauline Kael, arguably the most influential film critic of the 20th century (James Agee's writing on film was as good). Her biography would normally not be discussed here, but Kael's homophobic comments in her reviews make the book impossible to ignore.

[+ Lucky]

The NY Times today puts The Art of Fielding at the top of its list of the 5 best novels for 2011. Second is 11/22/63, followed by Swamplandia, Ten Thousand Saints, and The Tiger's Wife. I have only read the first two, and have not even heard of Swamplandia or The Tiger's Wife.

[+ WilliamM]

The NY Times today puts The Art of Fielding at the top of its list of the 5 best novels for 2011. Second is 11/22/63' date=' followed by Swamplandia, Ten Thousand Saints, and The Tiger's Wife. I have only read the first two, and have not even heard of Swamplandia or The Tiger's Wife.[/quote']

 

As much as I loved reading The Art of Fielding, I am shocked that The Times is listing it as one of the best books of 2011. I really wish we had an on-line book club here, so that we could discuss my concerns about The Times' choice in detail.

[spiro3]

Wow. I thought earlier you said you liked the book....I've got it coming from Amazon. There was an earlier comment about the negative reader reviews on Amazon. I find that that is not necessarily a bad thing. For instance, check out all the negativity re: Franzen's FREEDOM, imho, the best novel of the decade.

[+ Lucky]

The Times was not alone!

[+ Lucky]

Lucky -- Thanks for starting this thread which has added two books to my reading list. Got to pick up some things on hold for me at the library today, so I'll look for The Art of Fielding and The Dreyfus Affair.

 

As payback, knowing your interest in SE Asia, let me recommend an author I discovered a couple of months ago: Colin Cotterill. He has a series of mystery novels set in post-revolutionary Laos that give a vivid look into a culture I knew nothing about. They feature a 60-something year old coroner. His latest novel, Killed at the Whim of a Hat, is set in southern Thailand and has a new main character. I think you'll enjoy them.

 

Cotterill's latest is out. It's called Grandad, There's A Head On The Beach. I read it and found it to be incredibly silly, but that might be a recommendation to some!