Rediscovering this favorite of my 20s.
Rediscovering this favorite of my 20s.
A reread of a classic by one of my favourite authors. Our book club at work is reading the Deptford trilogy together over the year.
I had the great fortune to attend one of Robertson Davies's readings many years ago, before he passed away.
#BookSpinBingo @TheAromaofBooks
#192025 #1970 @Librarybelle
#1001
FIFTH BUSINESS is a fictional memoir. Told from the perspective of Dunston Ramsay, ex-headmaster of a school in Deptford, Canada. Ramsay is writing a letter to the “board“ because he is upset about what was said about him during his retirement banquet. He did not feel they focused on all of his intellectual endeavors/accomplishments. Bordering on magical realism, this book takes on the subjects of capitalism, guilt, magic, Saints and miracles.
Ahahaha so my memory. I have bookcases for books I read and books I have not and it looks like this one migrated
My review of my #doublebookspin on Goodreads above. I guess it doesn't count as a read but good to put it in the done pile 😂
@TheAromaofBooks
It seemed an odd remark, but in the emotional stress of the situation I paid no heed to it. Indeed, it was not until after the news of Boy's death reached me the next morning that I noticed my paperweight was gone.
I feel like people don‘t have this stereotype of Canadians any more.
Reading at the park. Loving this book. Can‘t wait to talk about it at Classics Book Club
The ebook's on sale in US stores.
I read it in the last year or so and it is very, very good. Recommended.
#KindleDeals
My hobby is doodling appropriate marginalia in books, for the mirth and amusement of future generations of readers.
Or maybe just for my own. 😁
Yikes, I‘m terrible at social media-ing! But I just finished Fifth Business tonight & enjoyed it tremendously and am v excited to read the next book in the series. Anyone have any other Robertson Davies recommendations?
I enjoyed this book more this time. When I read this in school I felt like a lot of the emotions and meanings were forced down my throat. This time I got to experience the novel for myself and I loved it. A different style to the usual story telling from other books. This is all about emotions and life in the most melancholic and unforgivingly real portrayal of the human experience. More than worthy to be a central presence on my shelf.
FIVE (catching up)
#NovemberbytheNumbers
@Tiffy_Reads @JoeStalksBeck
Fifth Business by Robertson Davies is mostly #setinasmalltown #canlit It also boasts a kicking first line. #photoadaynov16 @RealLifeReading #day4
If you don't hurry up and let life know what you want, life will damned soon show you what you'll get.
This is a slim book filled with meaty discussion topics. Very tight writing pulls together every thread of a life story that has surprising impact. Set in Canada around WWI and afterward it includes just enough magic in the mix of realistic fiction and history to be thought provoking.
I had to read this book years ago in high school. For some reason that year, the smart kids didn't get to read the classics. This was so weird and intriguing. Filled with innuendos; for example, one characters name is "Libby Doe"...like libido. The teacher was the one who chose it, but at least it kept us entertained.
“I had schooled myself since the war-days never to speak of my enthusiasms; when other people did not share them, which was usual, I was hurt and my pleasure diminished; why was I always excited about things other people did not care about? But I could not hold in.”
The lives of 3 men from small town Ontario are forever entwined because of a snowball. Witty, engaging style was enough to call this a pick, but just barely. The condescending misogynistic voice of the narrator echoes the author's own views that women are intellectually inferior to men.
Re-read an assigned book you hated in school: This one was for a Canadian literature class in college and it's the only assigned book I ever remember disliking. Appreciated it much more upon rereading, but the negative portrayal of female characters hasn't changed. 😟
The whole notion of saints was repugnant to her, and in her eyes I was on a level with tea cup readers and Social Credit.
At that time every Canadian had to adhere, nominally, to some church; the officials of the Census utterly refused to accept such terms as 'agnostic' or 'none' for inclusion in the column marked 'Religion,' and flattering statistics were compiled on the basis of Census reports that gave a false idea of the forces all the principal faiths could command.
The Scots, I believed until I was aged at least 25, were the salt of the earth, for although this was never said in our household it was one of those accepted truths which do not need to be laboured.
The Scots, I believed until I was aged at least 25, were the salt of the earth, for although this was never said in our household it was one of those accepted truths which do not need to be laboured.
And of course I saw corpses, and grew used to their unimportant look, for a dead man without any of the panoply of death is a desperately insignificant object.
Commanders & historians are the people to discuss wars; I was in the infantry & most of the time I did not know where I was or what I was doing except that I was obeying orders & trying not to be killed in any of the variety of horrible ways open to me.
I knew enough about farming to be sure it was not a life for amateurs or wounded men.
Our village was so small that you came on it at once; it lacked the dignity of outskirts.