Books

Follows you (block)

Requested to follow you (accept | block)

Blocked (unblock)

Katrina R

Katrina R

has 19 followers and is following 20 people

"It is what you read when you don't have to that determines what you will be when you can't help it."
Oscar Wilde
  • London, UK
  • member since January 8, 2008

Public Notes

 
1 2 3  | Next »
Displaying 1-20 of 53 notes
  • xfmjunky

    xfmjunky says

    Interesting that you find The Honorary Consul as good, The Human Factor which followed several years later was really good too. The Human Factor was made into a half-decent movie, which in turn was followed by a film adaptation of The Honorary Consul starring Tony 'Hannibal' Hopkins.

    Yes, I taught Lady C to a class of apathetic sixth-formers so it was a great excuse to indulge myself in some deep thought about it. Lawrence is truly unique, rather like reading Woolf, his work is a drag but infinitely rewarding ... I trust you've read Waldo Emerson's essays on the sublime? I always think of the Americans from the Romantic era when I see or hear that word.

    posted 6 months ago. ( send a note )
  • xfmjunky

    xfmjunky says

    Wow, totally going through a Greene moment huh? How was Travels with my Aunt? Its one I haven't read that always sounded interesting ... and is The Lawless Road his non-fic precursor to the Power and the Glory? I have a stack of Greene novels but its been a while since I've visited Greeneland.

    posted 6 months ago. ( send a note )
  • xfmjunky

    xfmjunky says

    Hi Katrina, what did you make of Catch-22? I remember being given gushing recommendations from scores of male friends - you must be the first woman I've known to have read it - only to be underwhelmed and rather fed-up by it.

    posted 7 months ago. ( send a note )
  • xfmjunky

    xfmjunky says

    Hi Katrina, what did you make of Catch-22? I remember being given gushing recommendations from scores of male friends - you must be the first woman I've known to have read it - only to be underwhelmed and rather fed-up by it.

    posted 7 months ago. ( send a note )
  • Hydriotaphia

    Hydriotaphia says

    Hi Katrina ! Diary of a Nobody is one big hilarious read if i remember rightly, isn't it?

    posted 1 year ago. ( send a note )
  • Hydriotaphia

    Hydriotaphia says

    What aspects of comparative literature are you studying Katrina, is it European lit.-centred or theme-centred? Lucky you !?

    posted 1 year ago. ( send a note )
  • Rise

    Rise says

    By the way, Katrina, we're reading Marias's 'A Heart So White' over at the Sebald group, sometime in late January. Feel free to join us if you have the time.

    posted 1 year ago. ( send a note )
  • Rise

    Rise says

    Yes, he could be that kind of writer. He's developed a singular writing style that has a lot of detractors. He's an easier read than Henry James though.

    posted 1 year ago. ( send a note )
  • Rise

    Rise says

    If it takes them a long time I wouldn't mind. They're students of Rabassa, so I think they are meant for the job.

    Marias! I've read only 5 books. I think that the best places to start are any of the following: Fever and Spear, Written Lives, Bad Nature, and All Souls (which should be read before Dark Back of Time).

    posted 1 year ago. ( send a note )
  • Rise

    Rise says

    Katrina, I just finished 'The Jaguar' by JG Rosa, translated by David Treece. I think it was a very good translation. It contains 10 stories, some were from 'The Third Bank of the River.' I highly recommend it. Btw, it seems like GSV now has new translators (Elizabeth Lowe & Earl Fitz). I read their work on a book by Clarice Lispector. Here's a link to the interview with Fitz, if you haven't checked it out yet: http://thedeviltopayinthebacklands.wordpress.com/2010/10/14/interview-with-dr-earl-e-fitz/

    posted 1 year ago. ( send a note )
  • Rise

    Rise says

    Hey, Katrina. I'm finally done with the reread of "The Devil." I still find the final battle and the ending cinematic. Hope everything is going fine in your new place.

    posted 1 year ago. ( send a note )
  • Rise

    Rise says

    Saw you've added Austerlitz. I was meaning to read that one.

    posted 1 year ago. ( send a note )
  • Rise

    Rise says

    Don Q is quite a page-turner. It's full of surprises and still remains fresh despite its age.

    Good luck on your move, Katrina. Bring some books. *_*

    posted 1 year ago. ( send a note )
  • Rise

    Rise says

    I'm now on p. 360. The part where the jagunco leadership changed was really exciting.

    posted 1 year ago. ( send a note )
  • Rise

    Rise says

    I do hope to read a lot more from Brazil. A big country which has a lot to offer. But most titles in the list, those that are lucky enough to have come out in English, are really uncommon. I don't see them in bookstores! Well hopefully the translations will come and the old ones reprinted.

    posted 1 year ago. ( send a note )
  • Rise

    Rise says

    I'd like to read Sagarana too! It's his earliest fiction so maybe the style is not as convoluted as GSV. I think the translation, in spite of its shortcomings, has brilliant spots. The trial of Ze Bebelo is particularly well written, I think. GSV is not even considered his best. Some say the 7 collected novellas in Corpo de baile is a rival masterpiece. But it's yet to be translated. What a pity.

    posted 1 year ago. ( send a note )
  • Rise

    Rise says

    Hi, Katrina. I'm still at it, page 238. I am finding reading onscreen to be slow going but I'm recognizing the intelligent design in this book. This being a reread, I can see more the way Rosa drops hints early on about the surprise twist at the end.

    posted 1 year ago. ( send a note )
  • Rise

    Rise says

    I found the list: http://www.brazzil.com/p12sep98.htm

    50 books, not 100, it turned out. Fonseca is in last place with A Grande Arte (translated as High Art). Maybe I'll post this list in the RB group after I checked out the availability of translations.

    posted 1 year ago. ( send a note )
  • Rise

    Rise says

    Nice. Thanks for the list. It looks like a canonical list. I came upon a list of the top 100 Brazilian novels of the last century (with GS:V taking the top spot), and I'm certain that Fonseca was also on it. I'll try to look it up again to see which of his books was included.

    I'm still on the first half of the book. Going at it a few pages at a time.

    posted 1 year ago. ( send a note )
  • Rise

    Rise says

    Great. You've cleared a lot of pages already. I'm still picking at it a few pages a day. The issue of translation is also nagging at me. I recommend you read some of the posts in the blog 'A Missing Book', lots of info about the book and the issue of translation.

    posted 1 year ago. ( send a note )
1 2 3  | Next »
Displaying 1-20 of 53 notes