This was a terrific movie that beautifully evoked the life of a writer. Great performance by Frank Langella, too. Nuanced, interesting, persuasive. I'd give it a A-. But the movie raises a subject I think about a lot. Passion for a novel. It's been a long time since I have passionately loved a novel. Maybe it's a function of youth--to be able to throw yourself into a book that way. The books I have loved were all read in my teens and twenties--Revolutionary Road, Look Homeward Angel, the early novels of Anne Tyler. The novels of the Canadian Margaret Lawrence, The Great Gatsby and many more. The movie actually raises this issue: a young woman prefers the writer's early works which were about his characters; an older reader liked his later work, which was about issues.
Have you read a book recently you're passionate about? Has that sort of book disappeared or is it my youth that has? Do we reach an age when passion is harder to come by?
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
9 comments:
I can still remember being blown away by Look Homeward, Angel when I was a kid. Wolfe doesn't get a lot respect these days, but that book knocked me out. I'm not sure I've read any book that made me feel that way, not in a long time.
Me, too. And I've always meant to make a pilgrimage to NC. I think I read it at least three times in my teen years. So full of youth and passion.
I don't know about passionate, but Greg Illes book "The Turning Angel" really made me sit down and take a look at the world, which scared the crap out of me, and made me afraid for the world my grandchildren are growing up in. Another book that really got to me was Pat Conroy's "Beach Music". It's been years since I read it, but the woman in that book still lingers in my mind.
Sandra Seamans
I've read a number of Conroy's but not that one. He is a passionate writer. Have to try Iles although I might save it for spring when I'm more hopeful.
2007 marked an all-time-low in the quality of books I’ve read, most of which were written in the past couple of years, thus making me wonder: has the hey-day of great novels passed?
I'm going to keep a list of all the books I read and liked, or wanted to like but couldn't finish because they were bad. At the end of the year, I'll tally it all up and see how many book were written by dead vs. live authors, books published in the 20th or 19th century vs. 21rst century.
As I go, I'll be reviewing some of the good ones, and blogging about why and when I stopped reading the bad ones.
I'm calling it the "2008 Author Challenge" and it will be one of my regular blog features.
Good idea, Josephine. I'll be looking on. I may follow your lead although I might do movies instead.
I remember going to someone's beach house and refusing to participate in anything because I was reading The Magus.
I do keep a list of what I've read and looking over 2007 is pretty sad. There were books I liked a lot, but nothing I was passionate about.
Could it possibly be true that it's been over 40 years since I've been passionate about a book?
Pathetic.
Oh, my god. The Magus. I've been afraid to ever read it again because it might not hold up. Smoke and mirrors maybe. Also loved The French Lieutenant's Woman. Have we gotten too cynical to write books like this? I think maybe people would be eager to read them.
Okay, I thought of one in the last five years at least. Bel Canto.
Post a Comment