Thursday, April 15, 2010

You Have to Start Somewhere

Dostoyevsky, Banville, Russell, McGahern, Nabokov, Fitzgerald, Eliot, Proust.

I haven't read any of them, at this point in time. This is a blog about books by someone who is far from an expert on them, he just likes them. There will be little in-depth analysis, no talk of motifs, little in the way of delving into influences. I'm not a professional book-reviewer, so I won't be able to offer sneak previews of the hot new thing hitting our bookshelves in a fortnight. You may not have read a single one of the books that I have. There'll be no ratings out of ten given, because I don't believe in them. There'll be no particularly good reason to visit.
But there'll be honest reviews of books I've read and had something to say about, so I'll be delighted if a few people drop by. And if they don't, I'll still have read those books.

7 comments:

Rosie said...

it'll be just like the MS Readathon they had when we were kids. pick short ones aimed at kids a level or two below your reading ability and you'll fly through them. take it from a semi-pro.

Annie said...

okay great. hopefully this blog will stop me having to actually read anything myself. prepare to be quoted at dinner parties.

emordino said...

Get thee some Nabokov, anyway.

"Lolita, light of my life, fire of my loins. My sin, my soul. Lo-lee-ta: the tip of the tongue taking a trip of three steps down the palate to tap, at three, on the teeth. Lo. Lee. Ta. She was Lo, plain Lo, in the morning, standing four feet ten in one sock. She was Lola in slacks. She was Dolly at school. She was Dolores on the dotted line. But in my arms she was always Lolita. Did she have a precursor? She did, indeed she did. In point of fact, there might have been no Lolita at all had I not loved, one summer, an initial girl-child. In a princedom by the sea. Oh when? About as many years before Lolita was born as my age was that summer. You can always count on a murderer for a fancy prose style."

Raaagh.

Unknown said...

Hurrah, blog number two (ahem), everyone should have more than one. I will confess to reading the DaVinci Code, the film was even worse. Have seen The Beach film (twaddle) but never read it, I suspect it's one of those 'you had to be that age then' kind of books. Will look out for Skippy Dies.

Andrew said...

Thanks for the comments, people, I wasn't really expecting any. Especially when I haven't even done the big reveal on my own blog yet.

Rosie, your wifey comment appears to back after its brief and mysterious disappearance.
Do I have to use clever words now, Annie? Or just French ones? I've worked 'oeuvre' and 'milieu' into my pieces so far for no good reason.
Colm, you sell Nabokov well. Do you know that quote off by heart?
skippy Dies is definitely worth checking out, Conan. Though I hope it doesn't scare you, given the schooling circumstances of the Drummlet.

Anonymous said...

Witty internet cliff notes! Hurrah!

Fiona said...

Yay, good for you! I am very partial to a book blog, myself. Looking forward to it.

Post a Comment