O.S. Card, Xenocide
S. Hill, Howard's End is on the Landing
W.G. Sebald, Austerlitz
A. Trollope, The way we live now
M. Twain, A Tramp Abroad
H. Walpole, The Castle of Otranto
Read (16)
BOTM: J. Banville, The Untouchable
J. Austen, Northanger Abbey
O.S. Card, Xenocide
E. Cruikshanks (ed.), The Stuart Courts
A. Gide, La symphonie pastorale
D. Goleman, Social Intelligence
R. Mistry, A fine balance
S. Hill, Howard's End is on the Landing
A.W. Montford, The Hockey Stick illusion
A. Ross, The rest is noise
A. Trollope, The way we live now
M. Twain, A Tramp Abroad
H. Walpole, The Castle of Otranto
M. Willaert, Servir au CongoE. Zola, J'Accuse
New acquisition has begun!
Anyway, book of the month was Banville about the Cambridge spies, which was excellent. Finely tuned, and achingly sad. I think the ending was unnecessary, as the pathos has already happened, the final betrayal wasn't needed, and in some senses was a little overneat. However, it was within acceptable parameters. The rest was very sound indeed.
It's a fascinating area, our western Communists, and I've read a few novels on them. It remains to me astonishing how so many of our elites could be seduced by it, but that's hindsight for you. Christopher Hitchens put it well I think in the Blair debate, when he spoke of communism, in the context of the ANC and the brilliant intellectuals. I'm not sure I believe, as he does that it 'represent[ed] some high points in human history' though it clearly wasn't worth it. However, the attraction of the ideal was a real one, though as this novel shows loaded with ambiguity, self-delusion and a total inability to understand the reality of the game being played. As such, a tragedy for all concerned.
1 comment:
On the topic of communism (albeit non-Western) have you read "Sashenka" by Simon Sebag-Montefiore? If not, I can highly recommend it.
Post a Comment