CWD: An "Aged "Priorat

originally posted by SFJoe:
I have no guilt about P O'B.
Click to expand...

I can't imagine why anyone would feel guilt about P O'B. His books are amazing achievements. I like Neal Stephenson too, but he can't write endings to save his life.
 
originally posted by JasonA:
Ok, it may not be best to admit this publicly, but I've never read any Patrick O'Brian. The coming weekend looks like a great time to avoid doing my tax return for yet another weekend and read. Where should one start?
Click to expand...

Start at the beginning, "Master and Commander". If you are not hooked in the first chapter then you probably never will be - sort of like Loire gamay.
Click to expand...

I'm not sure if that's true in all cases. I struggled a bit with Master and Commander, especially early on, and it was the second book in the series that really got the hook in deep.
 
I liked Cryptonomicon as well, enough to make me think I should look out for more Stephenson but not enough to yet read more. As to bad endings, he has nothing on David Foster Wallace. I read Richard Powers religiously, ever since I read Three Farmers on the Way to a Dance. Galatea 2.2 and Plowing the Dark threatened to cure me of him, but Loss and Echo Maker have me hooked again. I liked the Time of Our Singing too.
 
I liked Time of Our Singing, but haven't read anything else by Powers. Is Goldbug Variations any good? I'm a fan of Bach so I thought that would be my next Powers.
 
One can divide Powers novels into those that are mostly intellectual play--Galatea 2.2 is the worst of those--and those that integrate that play with richer themes. Goldberg variations falls a little too much into the first category but has enough of Powers' tragic vision to make it work. But it was my first Powers novel and so had the pleasures of discovery of a new author for me. I haven't reread it, though, so I don't know how I'd feel about it now. Still, none of his books aren't worth the read, in my opinion and the best of them are among the best around.
 
The Goldbug Variations manages to avoid most of the Pynchonian excesses that plagued Galatea, namely thematic grandiosity at the expense of characterization (insert James Woods). It can be remarkably tender, thoughtful, and melancholy while balancing ideas that would reduce most authors to poor David Foster Wallace clones. It will also make you want to listen to Bach in the same way that watching Bogart smoke makes you want to want to run out and buy a pack.
 
originally posted by Chris Coad:
originally posted by JasonA:
Ok, it may not be best to admit this publicly, but I've never read any Patrick O'Brian. The coming weekend looks like a great time to avoid doing my tax return for yet another weekend and read. Where should one start?
Click to expand...

Start at the beginning, "Master and Commander". If you are not hooked in the first chapter then you probably never will be - sort of like Loire gamay.
Click to expand...

I'm not sure if that's true in all cases. I struggled a bit with Master and Commander, especially early on, and it was the second book in the series that really got the hook in deep.
Click to expand...

Mr. Coad, I bought the first book but will endeavour to read at least the first two upon your esteemed recommendation.

The Goldbug Variations manages to avoid most of the Pynchonian excesses that plagued Galatea, namely thematic grandiosity at the expense of characterization (insert James Woods). It can be remarkably tender, thoughtful, and melancholy while balancing ideas that would reduce most authors to poor David Foster Wallace clones. It will also make you want to listen to Bach in the same way that watching Bogart smoke makes you want to want to run out and buy a pack.
Click to expand...

That's a great summary. Galatea 2.2 definitely suffered from thematic grandiosity and was still interesting in a bit of the Pynchon/Foster Wallace way (and I KNOW Eden Mylunsch is going to disagree with this). Why do i find myself thinking about the comment, "he had a mind so fine no idea could pierce it"?

Goldbug Variations makes it to the sublime level, for me. I think I felt my own mortality down to my DNA and RNA while reading. Your DNA may vary.

I do agree with Prof. Loesberg (even if he is a little harsh about Goldbug) about Echo Maker. Also sublime, at least as I see it.
 
I never cease to marvel at the brilliancy of these threads by my much-admired New York radical wine group (formerly "New York Taliban" in my nomenklatura, but I understand this is poorly perceived in NY, so I won't insist and will switch to a less provocative, 'vin naturel'-type appellation), or at their ability to create thread drift. Nevertheless, I'll dare suggest a return to the original thread.

I opened a bottle of 2000 Clos Erasmus today. Fortunately, it was purchased ex cellars for a decent price, not at the inflated grey market prices. (Speculating on the justification of prices for very expensive wines doesn't get us anywhere anyhow...)

Not an "aged" Priorat by any means, but at age nine this erstwhile concentration bomb can give us a few clues. I basically loved it. Time has acted wisely, the lovely grenache floral attributes easily dominate the remnants of old-time oak influences, the wine is seamlessly elegant in an inobstrusive kind of way. It's like a 2000 Chteau Rayas in which slate-infused minerality would replace that good ole' Chteauneuf-du-Pape funk. Pure, pretty, complex, elegant, terrific wine. Will it continue evolving with further aging? Well, to tell you the truth, I don't know...
 
To me, they'll remain the New York radicals forever. Heck, New York is mighty prestigious around this forlorn southwestern corner of Europe...
 
originally posted by VS:
I never cease to marvel at the brilliancy of these threads by my much-admired New York radical wine group (formerly "New York Taliban" in my nomenklatura,
Click to expand...
Well, after all, aren't they a bunch of "students" anyway. You might even get away with suggesting that among the disordered you might find "the base". We keep the Hilux parked in the Beaujolais, though.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top