books every intelligent person should read

Thu Apr 10 19:08:42 CDT 2014

http://www.nytimes.com/books/97/03/02/lifetimes/nab-r-ada-appel.html

It got a great NYT review.  I'm sure I'm missing many literary references.

My take on the romance and tragedy of these superhuman aristocrats is less
generous.  Their story is all about their superior lives, and it is a bit
fascinating, but it doesn't move me. It is all about their feats and
conquests, their inborn superiority, above all standards (look at me!),
and that gets old fast with me, despite the beautiful writing.

So I then assume that the memoir is the work of madness, invented reality.
And that take is bolstered by the "terrors if Terra," a description of a
world only their mad ones see: Our World.  So I think the whole memoir is
by a madman/woman, and the puzzle is to crack that nut's nut.

The SciFi Victorian world is interesting, but only up to a point. The
memoir of an uber -being ultimately bores me. But Terra intrigues me.

David Morris

On Thursday, April 10, 2014, Kai Frederik Lorentzen <lorentzen at hotmail.de>
wrote:

>
> > With Ada he completely got lost in a puzzle wrapped in beautiful but
> senseless writing, and most don't even see the puzzle, taking the writing
> at face value.<
>
> Funny. These days I'm finishing my first read (new German translation from
> 2010) of Ada, and the post just brought the English original which I'll
> enjoy immediately afterwards. Agreed that Pale Fire is often mere crossword
> riddle, I cannot say this for Ada at all: Actually it's one of the most
> erotic and playful books I know. And while Lolita, the character, suffers
> from an asymmetry towards the male protagonist Humbert Humbert (which is
> unavoidable because of the age gap), the character of Ada is an actual
> equal to Van. There's entomology, SciFi elements, art history and countless
> jokes about literature. A gloomy sense of nowadays arises from the Crimean
> War (1853 - 1856) which is highly present in this novel. (Not to get - as
> you, David, experienced it -  "completely lost in a puzzle", it helps to
> check out competent notes: Dieter E. Zimmer offers about 250 pages with
> detailed annotations, samples from interviews with Nabokov, a time line, a
> glossary of places plus reproductions of relevant paintings and photos in
> color; this helps to enter the center of the maze.) According to my
> impression, there is no contradiction of the puzzle and the beautiful
> writing in Ada. And beautiful it is! That's why I need to reread it in
> original without hesitation. There are sentences in Ada far more poetic
> than whole library shelves of poetry. I also sense the light hearted spirit
> of the 1960s in it. One more thing: That Ada, she's definitely hot!
>
>
> On 10.04.2014 02:07, David Morris wrote:
>
>> I prefer Lolita. With Pale Fire N let the puzzle making take the lead to
>> the detriment of passion and real wit.  Puzzles and wit are not the same,
>> nor are they equals. With Ada he completely got lost in a puzzle wrapped in
>> beautiful but senseless writing, and most don't even see the puzzle, taking
>> the writing at face value.
>>
>> I know many disagree with me on this.
>>
>> David Morros
>>
>> On Wednesday, April 9, 2014, <malignd at aol.com <mailto:malignd at aol.com>>
>> wrote:
>>
>>     Why was this good fortune?  Both books are wonderful.
>>
>>
>>     -----Original Message-----
>>     From: Erik T. Burns <eburns at gmail.com
>>     <javascript:_e(%7B%7D,'cvml','eburns at gmail.com');>>
>>     To: Mark Thibodeau <jerkyleboeuf at gmail.com
>>     <javascript:_e(%7B%7D,'cvml','jerkyleboeuf at gmail.com');>>; Charles
>>     Albert <cfalbert at gmail.com
>>     <javascript:_e(%7B%7D,'cvml','cfalbert at gmail.com');>>
>>     Cc: Michael Bailey <mikebailey at gmx.us
>>     <javascript:_e(%7B%7D,'cvml','mikebailey at gmx.us');>>; P-list
>>     <pynchon-l at waste.org
>>     <javascript:_e(%7B%7D,'cvml','pynchon-l at waste.org');>>
>>     Sent: Wed, Apr 9, 2014 3:16 am
>>     Subject: Re: books every intelligent person should read
>>
>>     I second that emotion. I had the good fortune to read Pale Fire
>> _before_
>>     Lolita._
>>
>>        Original Message
>>     From: Mark Thibodeau
>>     Sent: Wednesday, April 9, 2014 7:30 AM
>>     To: Charles Albert
>>     Cc: Erik T. Burns; Michael Bailey; P-list
>>     Subject: Re: Re: books every intelligent person should read
>>
>>     I've read Pale Fire, and I loved it.
>>
>>     YOPJerky
>>
>>     On Tue, Apr 8, 2014 at 8:34 PM, Charles Albert <cfalbert at gmail.com <javascript:_e(%7B%7D,'cvml','
>> cfalbert at gmail.com');>> wrote:
>>     > Hasn't anyone here read Pale Fire?
>>     >
>>     > love,
>>     > cfa
>>     >
>>     >
>>     > On Tue, Apr 8, 2014 at 6:29 PM, Erik T. Burns <eburns at gmail.com <javascript:_e(%7B%7D,'cvml','
>> eburns at gmail.com');>> wrote:
>>     >>
>>     >> mine would include _J R_ and _The Dog of the South_
>>     >>
>>     >> On Tue, Apr 8, 2014 at 2:16 AM, Michael Bailey <mikebailey at gmx.us <javascript:_e(%7B%7D,'cvml','
>> mikebailey at gmx.us');>> wrote:
>>     >> > Per Jacob
>>     >> >
>>     >> > ---Infinite Jest needs to be on here. That book made me love
>> writing.---
>>     >> >
>>     >> >
>>     >> > - OK but what are your other nine (-:
>>     >> >
>>     >> > (Mine is already at 10 & although I liked ij, I'm disinclined to
>> bump
>>     >> > any to
>>     >> > make room --- maybe put IJ as Alice's #9 but need to go ask
>> alice....but
>>     >> > ms
>>     >> > malice I think was looking for a bouquet of top tens which is
>> always
>>     >> > fun,
>>     >> > why not add one?)
>>     >> >
>>     >> > - Pynchon-l /http://www.waste.org/mail/?list=pynchon-l
>>     >> -
>>     >> Pynchon-l /http://www.waste.org/mail/?list=pynchon-l
>>     >
>>     >
>>     -
>>     Pynchon-l /http://www.waste.org/mail/?list=pynchon-l
>>
>>
>
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