A Bildungsroman beauty 😍. Thanks goes once again to @Rissreads for making me buy it 🤣. I‘m not sure why this classic passed me by up ‘til now 🤔. Wonderful 🥰
A Bildungsroman beauty 😍. Thanks goes once again to @Rissreads for making me buy it 🤣. I‘m not sure why this classic passed me by up ‘til now 🤔. Wonderful 🥰
Second hand book 📖 haul after a lovely 🥰 afternoon in pretty 🤩 oundle with hubbie and fur kids , super 👌 thrilled to get a folio society copy of the go between 😯antiquarian edition
My Christmas #bookhaul. Two books are from #jolabokaflod events I organized at school for teachers (our 4th year) and for our student book club (our first year). The other books are from lovely Littens @dabbe @AmyG and @Blerdgal_Fenix …all of which came packed with other goodies. You are the best!
https://youtu.be/ZgNIBkN3O4I?si=hbl923DgYdbak6hq
Intro
A special guest
Weekly Highlights
The Tattooed Woman by Marian Engel
The Go-Between by L.P. Hartley
Indians on Vacation: A Novel by Thomas King
In the Upper Country by Kai Thomas
After Julius by Elizabeth Jane Howard
Open City by Teju Cole
In The Fog of the Season‘s End by Alex La Guma
This was my favorite read of 2022. It‘s in my top five best books of all time. The novel has one of the best opening lines,
”The past is a foreign country, they do things differently there.”
#BookBinge #SmallTownSetting
The story of a boy on a summer holiday and how the events of that pivotal summer will stay with him forever. It is a book about a child‘s limited understanding of the lives of adults, the loss of innocence, and the ways that childhood experiences can irrevocably change us.
It took me a while to get used to Hartley's elevated language, but once I did, the story swept me away. I kept being reminded of other stories while reading this one: shades of THE GREAT GATSBY, GREAT EXPECTATIONS, ATONEMENT... Yet, this book told its own story with its own tragedy and beauty. One of the best fall from innocence and bildungsroman novels I have ever read.
The past is a foreign country: they do things differently there. What a fabulous first sentence for a book.
I adored this tragic tale of the coming of age of a naive 12 yr old boy in 1900 who is taken advantage of and manipulated by those around him. He is a pawn in a game he doesn‘t realise he is playing in. This book was perfect and I finished it a few weeks ago but am still thinking about it. Brilliant!
This was a really great book. It was a really interesting story focused on a man recalling a story from his childhood of bringing messages between lovers. 4/5
We read this at school when I was about the same age as narrator Leo although I remembered little about it. A wonderful account of childhood loss of innocence intertwined with themes of class, memory and the looming horrors of the century just about to begin.
I enjoyed the beautiful writing, but I was probably less enamoured of this book than most & I can't quite figure out why. This novel explores nostalgia & memory in evocative ways, but though the events are dramatic--especially as seen through the eyes of an adolescent caught up in forces too big for him to understand--I felt at a strange remove from the plot & the upper class characters. What I found intriguing was Leo's obsession with Marian.
Q6: In his introduction, Hartley notes that critics have found fault with the prologue and
epilogue, which together “made a frame too heavy for the picture” [p. 11]. Do you agree with
these critics? Do you think that the book would have been complete—and possibly
stronger—without the prologue and epilogue?
Other thoughts on the book?
#NYRBBookClub
Q5: Leo tries very hard to present himself as a reliable narrator. Has Leo left his child self behind? How accurate do you think Leo‘s understanding of people and events at Brandham Hall was when he was a child, and now as a grown man?
#NYRBBookClub
Q4: How sympathetic do you find Marian? Ted? Hugh? Did any of them ever have true affection for Leo or did they merely use him? Do Leo‘s adult analyses of each of them differ much from his childhood perceptions?
#NYRBBookClub
Q3: The world that Leo describes is defined by class differences. Where does Leo fit in the
social structure in relation to the Maudsleys, Ted Burgess, and Lord Trimingham? How do
these class differences influence his relations with each of them?
#NYRBBookClub
Q2: The famous opening line of The Go-Between sets the tone for Leo Colston's avowal that his younger self is a complete stranger; unrecognizable to his adult self. Do you believe this? Why or why not?
#NYRBBookClub
Hello, friends! I‘m a bit late posting the questions, but here we go. I hope everyone enjoyed the book!
Q1: In the introduction, Colm Tóibín writes that the novel “is a drama about Leo‘s deeply sensuous nature moving blindly, in a world of rich detail and beautiful sentences, toward a destruction impelled by his own intensity of feeling...” Do you agree with this statement?
#NYRBBookClub
Spending some time finishing this up today, so I'm ready for the #nyrbbookclub discussion tomorrow. About halfway through and enjoying it immensely. @sprainedbrain @vivastory
#nyrbbookclub
The Go-Between's portrayal of a 12-year-old's thought process in its protagonist Leo is so good, it's almost eerie. It made me remember what it was like to be that age: how much you want the respect of adults and feel compelled to trade your child's imagination for obeying rigid social signals (which, honestly, is a pretty bad deal!) And for such a sensitive book, it's got a fair amount of action and mounting suspense.
Well, I‘ve finally started this month‘s #NYRBBookClub pick; I‘m 75 pages in and I‘m LOVING it.
@vivastory @sprainedbrain
This was a rich, engrossing, and somewhat stressful read. When you know a secret will out! (I confess I read the last few pages early to put my mind at ease. 🙈) Such layers and depth: the story of Leo the boy, the memory of Leo the man, the background of the first half of the 20th century. It's a coming-of-age tale like no other. Even things that can irk me (prologues/epilogues, scenes laden with portent) worked. Excited to discuss! #nyrbbookclub
Slowing making my way through our #nyrbbookclub book. Still really enjoying it. I especially like the narrator's dual perspective, what 13 year-old Leo thought, felt & believed at the time versus what adult Leo understands and sees looking back. It makes a seemingly dull topic like cricket become fascinating for all it reveals about Leo then and now. @vivastory @sprainedbrain
Hello dear Litsy friends, I‘m back!!!! It hasn‘t been a great Litsy summer for me between my English course (which I loved and will post more about later) and generally more busy times with the reopening. But I‘m having a lazy morning starting this one today and loving it. Looking forward to #NYRBBC discussion!
#NYRBBookclub we read sophisticated thrillers , wild SciFi ,cultural criticism & more . Please tell me why the British novel with the theme of a middle class visitor to an Upperclass families house seems to always have such a strong appeal ? What they learn and how they assimilate it , usually changing them forever.I love this novel, a re-read for me.Maybe we will toss that around in our discussion.
Cheap edition, cheap bookmark, cheap mug. But it's all good because I'm 💯 loving this book so far! 🥰
#nyrbbookclub @vivastory @sprainedbrain
Good to be able to browse the library stacks again . Picked up my hold for the #NYRBBookClub .I had read the Go Between so many years ago must reread if I am to join in for the discussion.I‘ve been failing at the discussion portion of the program lately! Will I get to all these ? Who knows , I‘m such an impulsive reader & a flashy , new dust jacket may turn my head ! 😄
I'm enjoying this #nyrbbookclub book! I'm not too far in so it's still reading like a turn-of-the-century country manor house weekend story, but from the point of view of a naive schoolboy! I think things are about to get complicated. As things do.
#lunchtimereading
Skipped another one of the endless family dinner parties to binge-read my non-NYRB edition of our #NYRBBookClub pick for the month of July. Magician, curses/hexes, coming-of-age, summer spent with a schoolmate - what‘s not to love?
#Bookmail! My non-NYRB edition of the next #NYRBbookclub pick has arrived!
And the first line is ???"The past is a foreign country: they do things differently there."
@vivastory @sprainedbrain
This was a 4⭐️read for me back in 2010. I even can remember a bit, which is quite exceptional. I won‘t reread because I have so many unread books waiting for me but I will be looking forward to the discussion! #NYRBBookClub
#JulyJourneys Day 2: Here is my #JulyTBR which includes our #NYRBBookClub BOTM except it isn't the NYRB version. hehehe.
Thanks for the tag @Eggs :) I hope it‘s still Thursday somewhere...! 1. No, I‘m from a place called Derby but I live in Exeter (UK). Came down for university and stayed for beaches and boyfriend! 2. Grateful for hardworking postal service and my first #litsylove. Also that the baby napped long enough for me to reply! #thankfulthursday
I was away from home for a couple days so I only just got to open this fab "blind date with a book" package from the lovely @erzascarletbookgasm ! I love the note, chocolate, and bookmark and am so grateful for the two books that have been on my TBR! Thank you so much Jessie, this was such a delightful surprise ?❤️❤️
This book begins with one of the more famous opening lines of a novel. I saw the movie starring Julie Christie years ago, but am only now reading this #1001 book.
#NamasteNovember #blackandwhitecover (almost). Still tbr.
There were some funny parts but overall the book was "meh" for me.