Anyone read Fathers and Sons (by Turgenev), 19th century Russian novel?

I wanted to read it and had the ending spoiled. I'm wondering if spoiling the ending is a big deal.

I read it when I was testing the waters with reading the Russians a while back. I recall it was boring and did a bad job of representing nihilism.

I haven't read Turgenev at all, but have liked the Tolstoy and Dostoevsky I've read.

I read Fathers and Sons back in 1984 for a class in Russian history, I vaguely remember liking it but that's about all I remember. It do recall it was short and easy to read unlike Crime and Punishment which was a ***** and also required.

I'm reading this cool little book called Kierkegaard for Beginners by Donald Palmer, it's one of those graphic comic book things that are all the rage these days. It's ****ing awesome, plus I might be learning something for a change. Why be hanging with the turkeys when you could be Søren with the eagles.

Garrison Keillor’s take on the Nobel Lit prize...his man was Roth
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opini...bb9_story.html

John LeCarre...Legacy of Spies
His recent Fresh Air interview stimulated my interest...the interview ranged far beyond his books and is very worthwhile
The book itself will be of interest primarily to those who enjoyed the Smiley Tinker Tailor world. It is set in the present though concerned with the time between The Spy Who Came in From The Cold and the Tinker trilogy. If you’re not familiar with LeCarre’s murkey world enter with Richard Burton’s last great role as Alec Leamas in The Spy Who Came In From the Cold, or Gary Oldham’s recent portrayal of Smiley in Tinker...or you could go for the gusto with Alec Guinness’s fabulous Masterpiece theater work...not enough stars for that one

I've had the 7-episode BBC version of Tinker Tailor (different from the American release which truncated it to 6 episodes) on my PS3 for years (since July 10, 2011 to be precise) and haven't watched it yet.

If that's the original series with Alec Guinness as Smiley, it's excellent.

Going on vacation. I have two books on the shelf that I have started a few times but never really got into. I feel like I should read them.

The first is Magister Ludi by Hesse. The second is Meetings with Remarkable Men by Gurdjeif

Thoughts?

I loved that book, although it's sort of a coming of age story and I was just the right age for it when I read it. But no, I don't think knowing the ending ruins anything. Give it to your kids when you're done with it.

This was prominently displayed at my local library, so ofc I had to check it out:



I plan on leaving it strategically on my coffeetable so everyone will think I'm secretly a Saudi oil millionaire.

I read an Anonymous Story by Chekhov which is a long short story/novella while mulling over whether or not to read F&S. It was quite good. I think Chekhov is always pretty good. Then I did start Fathers and Sons. I like it so far, but I just started it. I'm getting quite steeped in 19th century Russia lately. I think this is the 7th thing in the last year or so.

I just finished Mrs. Fletcher, Tom Perrotta's latest novel. It's ok, it's similar to most of his others. A little middle-brow but not without its charms. This one is probably a little too pc for my taste, ripped out of today's politard headlines it seems. Title character is a divorced lady whose son just left for college, she takes a course in "gender studies" and mixes it up with young multicultural libertines etc.

Library was selling books for cheapo, and I picked up a couple of Jonathan Kellerman's Alex Delaware series, the amazing LA crime-solving child psychologist. With his sidekick, burly gay police detective Milo Sturgis. I read a bunch of these in the late 90s and liked them, not top notch genre but ok. This one is called Gone, it seems a lot like all the others.

Finished How Fiction Works by James Wood. I found it bland and dull, pithy and without substantial insight -- mundane and insipid, not what I expected from Wood.

I just started the singer Loudon Wainwright III's new memoir, Liner Notes. This is a really good book, kinda shocking to me how good it is. I've seen this guy on talk shows singing his weird little songs and was never really a fan, but he's a very good writer and has lived a very interesting life. Hilarious, poignant, insightful. I love this book and recommend it highly.

I read the new Le Carré novel, it’s not one for the ages.

Sadly I agree though considering his age it ought to be graded on a curve

An earlier note from ChaseNutley mentioned the author Timothy Egan. This stimulated me to read Egan’s Short Nights of the Shadow Catcher, the life of Edward Curtis. “The self educated scholar who made significant breakthroughs in ethnologyand anthropology among overlooked nations, his proximity to J.P. Morgan and Teddy Roosevelt, his campfire tales from Chief Joseph and Geronimo and the last of the mighty Sioux warriors”
There were many of his remarkable photographs in the book with descriptions of the circumstances of their taking. Curtis also as the technology progressed made wax recordings of language and song as well as motion pictures in difficult circumstances.
The story of his life, the arc, is similar to his subject...decline to obscurity to renaissance after death.
Much of what we now know about the Indians comes from his work...Little Big Horn for instance. The canvas of his life though is deeply embedded with the WHOLE of the US as Curtis moved back and forth between patron and subject. The focus of his genius, his life’s work running against the clock, left him with a broken family and in poverty but enriched the rest of us. Various tribes have reconstituted their language and customs from his work.

I just finished Kafka on the Shore and while I enjoyed the ride, I have no idea what happened at the end. I looked it up, and on Murakami's website he suggests "What I concluded from this exchange was that the key to understanding the novel lies in reading it multiple times."

I have no plan to do this anytime soon. Does anyone have a good resource which explains the ending or some theories or something? I felt like due to the lack of clear goals/problems/understanding the ending just didn't work.

I read this book a few years ago and enjoyed it but for the life of me cant remember much about it. Something about a Colonel Sanders?

Maybe a little too surrealist but will read more from the author at some point.

Did anyone read Command Authority by Tom Clancy? I saw it at the library today on display. Never heard of it but it looks like it was published a few years ago, after he died.

Damn, if I heard Tom Clancy died I musta forgotten it. Thanks for ruining my day!

From what I remember, the quality of his books went south fast right around Clear and Present Danger. I'm pretty sure Command Authority is past that point, but I haven't read it. My favorites of his were Patriot Games and Cardinal of the Kremlin.

Along similiar lines is the new Collected Essays of Elizabeth Hardwick which except for the essay on Dylan Thomas (super) I’ve not read yet.
The intro by Darryl Pinckney sold me...here
http://www.nybooks.com/articles/2017...-master-class/