The Way We Live Now

An insightful comparison between Trollope’s London in The Way We Live Now and America’s New Gilded Age, from George Packer in the New Yorker.

Greed is eternal, but when the money flows as plentifully upward as in London circa 1873 or New York circa 2013, and is as unequally distributed, it becomes a moral toxin, saturates the world of culture, makes relationships more competitive, turns desire into the pursuit of status, replaces solid things with mirages.

We read this in our book club a few years ago. It seems to be even more relevant today.

A Brief Encounter

Next up for the book club is Bonsia by Alejandro Zambra.

Winner of the Chilean Critics’ Award for the Best Novel of the Year in 2006

Round House

I’ve been remiss and not posted in a long time. So here are a few updates.

The reading group

Currently reading –  The Round House by Louise Erdrich

Recent reads

• The Hare with the Amber Eyes by Edmund de Waal
• Beyond the Beautiful Forevers by Katherine Boo
• The Warmth of Other Suns by Isabel Wilkerson
• State of Wonder by Ann Patchett

 Book blogs and web sites recently discovered

• Goodreads
• You can follow my reviews and recommendations at my Goodreads page
• The Passive Voice

Writing

• The new Zoe Szabo mystery should be done by summer
• An e-book of short stories about women artists. I’ll put up a link when it is available.

Fame and Endurance

Interesting post from the New Yorker on literature that lasts.

The Way We Live Now

The Way We Live Now

This is appropriate reading what with the current events on Wall Street. We’ll discuss it in mid-January. Should be interesting, and not without controversy.

Another Voyage to India

Though I’ve been too busy to post recently, the book club met twice. They loved Indian Summer, and also loved the book we read for June: Sarah Gruen’s Water for Elephants.

Next up, a return to India for Midnight’s Children by Salman Rushdie. It’s loosely patterned after the 1001 Nights, with a husband telling stories to his wife, and deals with the partition of India, which began on midnight August 15, 1947. Hence, the title. Two babies, one a wealthy Muslim, the other a poor Hindu, both born at that fatal hour, are switched in the hospital as raised by each other’s parents, leading to all sorts of fantastic intrigues, woes, and magical events. Especially after one discovers that all of the 1001 babies born at the moment of partition have special powers.