Niall Williams writes like an angel - if angels were writers - and he has created a narrator, Ruth Swain, who narrates like an angel - if angels were Niall Williams writes like an angel - if angels were writers - and he has created a narrator, Ruth Swain, who narrates like an angel - if angels were narrators. History of the Rain is an ode to the imagination, and to storytelling, and to books, and to reading, and to Ireland, and to what it means to live. That's a lot of to's, but they're all in there.
"Dad wasn't a carpenter, but because of the Swain philosophy he believed it shouldn't be beyond him to make beds, and so he sawed and banged and sawed and banged for three days above our heads, letting little snows of sawdust down through the floorboards into our tea below. ... from the noise of the effort you could imagine that up there Dad was in mortal combat with his own limitations"
"Unfortunately the Censor cut the love scene, At that time there were no love scenes in Ireland. Most people thought kissing was sex. Tongues were penises. Only allowed out for communion. Which, unsurprisingly, proved very popular."
" She was what in those days they called a handsome woman, in that gaunt angular long-necked Anglo-Irish way. I think it means you could see breeding. Like horses, you could see the teeth, the jaw. ... (among) Margaret's other features of note (was) the small perfect Kittering nose.... Teeth, ears, and nose, what more could a man want?"
'The piano-playing Aunts come to visit us after Aunt Esther dies. ... They are tall and big-boned and look like men playing women's parts in a play by Oscar Wilde."
" 'Well? How was it?' 'Fine,' Aeney said. That's the thing about boys. Maybe just Irish boys. Boys have No Go areas, they have an entire geography of places where you can't go because if you do they'll crack open, they'll fall apart and you won't be able to put them back together, not ever. Girls know this. We know. Even love can't reach some places."
"Dear reader, time is short, we can't even open up The Book of Talty, because if we did we'd get sucked out in that tide. We'd be gone for Some Time and away into the stories of Jeremiah Talty who was a doctor only without a degree, Tobias Talty who kept a horse in his house, lived on apples and grew the longest beard in the County Clare, his sister Josephine who conversed with fairies, & brother Cornelius who went to the American Civil War and fought on both sides. We might never get back."
"My father never really told us where he had been. Deep, deep, and still deep and deeper must we go if would find out the heart of a man, old Herman Melville says in my father's copy of Pierre; or, The Ambiguities (Book 1,997, E.P. Dutton, New York), a book that has the smell of a basement and on page 167 a tea-stain in the shape of Greenland."
"That night he's with her in her bed. Not in that way. She's lying in her bed with the curtains drawn and the window open because the April air is softer than tissue and because she can't get enough air. ... She can't sleep. He won't let her. What was he doing there? Why did he not turn? She's angry with him, which marks a deepening and keeps him there, as if already their relationship is a living thing and he is already someone with whom she can get angry."
"Aeney had no jealousy in him. I think at first he didn't know he was a twin. It is different for boys. Boys are born as masters of the universe, until a bigger master knocks them down."
"Each family functions in their own way, by rules reinvented daily. The strangeness of each of us is somehow accommodated so that there can be such a thing as a family and we can all live for some time at least in the same house. Normal is what you know. ... Nothing in your own family is unusual."
"We can't help but admire a bit of madness. Even Tommy McGinley was quietly admired despite the kind hit-on-the-head mouth-open expression he got from eating cork, after hearing on RTE that it was the main ingredient in Viagra, and not what they actually said, that the main ingredient was made in Cork."
" I did not hit him. Let me put that to bed. I did not grab his ear and pull him to me and say, 'How do you know?' Maybe my expression did. I am not responsible for my face."
My apologies for all of the quotations. This novel is filled with so many wonderful passages that I couldn't resist....more
Each year, I see the candidates for major literary awards and prizes and I never see Percival Everett's name mentioned. I don't understand this, but tEach year, I see the candidates for major literary awards and prizes and I never see Percival Everett's name mentioned. I don't understand this, but the awards and prizes aren't mine to give out, so I'm probably not intended to understand. In the meantime, Mr. Everett's writings flow on, as inexorably and purely as one day flows into the next. He has my gratitude for that....more
I'd read a number of Robertson Davies' novels before this one, but The Cunning Man is by far my favorite - a magical feat of storytelling told by a naI'd read a number of Robertson Davies' novels before this one, but The Cunning Man is by far my favorite - a magical feat of storytelling told by a narrator who is looking back on a fully lived life. Mr. Davies provides his own review of his novel with the last paragraphs of the book:
"The telephone rings. My intuition suggests a wrong number. Not that great intuition is needed; a nearby new cinema has been granted a number that is only one digit away from mine, and wrong numbers are common. This is one. 'Can you tell me the time of the last complete show?' 'You have the wrong number.' 'Eh? Isn't that the Odeon?' I decide to give a Burtonian answer. 'No, this is the great theatre of life. Admission is free but the taxation is mortal. You come when you can. and leave when you must. The show is continuous. Good-night.'"...more
When I began reading There But for The, I thought I was getting into another book whose author was more interested in proving her cleverness than in cWhen I began reading There But for The, I thought I was getting into another book whose author was more interested in proving her cleverness than in communicating with her readers. I thought back to a radio show I heard years ago where the members of the Firesign Theatre were being interviewed. The Firesign four were more interested in doing their riffs and schticks than they were interested in communicating with the interviewer. However, they did prove that they were clever guys, at least within the insular context of their world. As I read further, I realized that Ali Smith was interested in doing more than merely being clever, and I discovered a character who is a cleverist. A cleverist is someone who communicates with the world and goes beyond just being clever - at least that was my take.
Brooke Bayoude, the cleverist, is one of my favorite fictional characters. ...more
A play that concerns love, lust, honesty, writing - what more could I want?
Soundtrack: Hot Violins - Joe Venuti, Eddie South, Clifford Hayes, Emilio CaA play that concerns love, lust, honesty, writing - what more could I want?
Soundtrack: Hot Violins - Joe Venuti, Eddie South, Clifford Hayes, Emilio Cacares, Stuff Smith, et. al. Ornette Coleman: Virgin Beauty Mingus Plays Piano J.S. Bach: Cello Suites - Anner Bylsma (1992) This probably sounds as pretentious as Henry's Desert Island Discs in the play, but we all are what we are. ...more
If I were a theatre critic, the blurb they'd get from me would be "Clever, witty, and far beyond."
Listening while and in between reading it: Schubert: If I were a theatre critic, the blurb they'd get from me would be "Clever, witty, and far beyond."
Listening while and in between reading it: Schubert: String Quartets played by Quatuor Mosaiques Janacek: String Quartets played by the Skampa Quartet Hank Mobley: Messages...more
I love David Levine's caricatures of writers. This book is strictly drawings of politicians, but he nails them very well also. Would that Mr. Levine wI love David Levine's caricatures of writers. This book is strictly drawings of politicians, but he nails them very well also. Would that Mr. Levine were still with us and doing caricatures of the present day crew....more
I opened the first page of Pride and Prejudice, read:
"'My dear Mr. Bennet,' said his lady to him one day, 'have you heard that Netherfield Park is leI opened the first page of Pride and Prejudice, read:
"'My dear Mr. Bennet,' said his lady to him one day, 'have you heard that Netherfield Park is let at last?' Mr. Bennet replied that he had not. 'But it is,' returned she, 'for Mrs. Long has just been here and she told me all about it.' Mr. Bennet made no answer. 'Do you not want to know who has taken it?' cried his wife impatiently. 'You want to tell me and I have no objection to hearing it.' This was invitation enough."
and I was hooked. It read like a scene from As Time Goes By. (That's meant as a compliment.)
Jane Austen was a wise woman with a fine sense of humor. She knew much about people, the craziness of families, men and women - their similarities and differences, and about speculations and realities. And she played no favorites. Almost every character took his or her turn at being skewered, lovingly or otherwise. ...more
This was the second Wodehouse Jeeves and Wooster that I've read and I'm hooked. Right Ho Jeeves was a slight letdown for me after reading The Code of This was the second Wodehouse Jeeves and Wooster that I've read and I'm hooked. Right Ho Jeeves was a slight letdown for me after reading The Code of the Woosters. I probably should have read them in the order they were written. That said, Right Ho has some very, very funny moments. The shots that Aunt Dahlia takes at the hapless Bertie are hilarious and, as my friend Jeff Crompton pointed out in his review, Gussie Fink-Nottle's drunken speech is a classic.
Elizabeth Taylor had a mastery of creating characters and defining their environments. When I've finished reading one of her stories, I think, "I knowElizabeth Taylor had a mastery of creating characters and defining their environments. When I've finished reading one of her stories, I think, "I know these people and I know this place", even though I've never met anyone quite like them and have never been anywhere near the place Ms. Taylor has described. I'm going to pick up a copy of the Virago Press Complete Short Stories to read the stories not included here. There aren't many writers that would make me do that. Elizabeth Taylor is one....more
As withWhat's Bred in the Bone, I raised my rating to five stars after reading it in the proper order.As withWhat's Bred in the Bone, I raised my rating to five stars after reading it in the proper order....more