The Novella Club discussion

A Month in the Country by J.L. Carr

I'm re-reading this gem. We read it in our group in 2012. I was fishing around for something new to read and had made a few false starts on other things (this happens with me) and I thought of this book in connection with the time and place of another and the next thing I knew I was hooked into this narrative. WWI literature - British mostly - holds some sort of fascination for me. Anyway, I'm thoroughly enjoying it and remembering that I read it slowly the first time as I got caught up in the milieu - I wanted to remain in the country with these people in this village of Oxgodby.

What are you currently reading?

Well, my daughter who is 17 has been challenging me to buddy reads. I just finished The Count of Monte Cristo ( might not count as a novella!) and a Jules Verne book titled Michael Strogoff, Courier of the Czar. I also threw in a bunch of superhero graphic novels. While I wait for the books I requested through interlibrary loan I settle for some Father Brown short stories. Love him!

Buddy reads with your daughter sound like fun.

Elizabeth and Her German Garden by Elizabeth von Arnim - beautiful prose highlight this novella about Elizabeth and her German garden - by the author of Mr Skeffington and The Enchanted April. Enjoying this very much.

In the past month, I have read The Turn of the Screw, The Beast in the Jungle, and I am currently reading The Metamorphosis. I look forward to jumping into some discussions!

I am currently reading Selected Poems by Rita Dove.

I'm reading How Green Was My Valley by Richard Llewellyn. It's good; not a novella.

I was reading The Venus Complex but it got dropped in water and is a wet , soaked , expanding mess ... Lol . So I think I'm gonna read some of the stories in Daddy's by Lindsay Hunter till I decide what to read next .

Interesting reads. I've read some, heard of others and will look into still others.

The von Arnim book crapped out for me. The main character is a horrible snob who endorses the German law that allows you to box-the-ears of your servants; servants wives don't need meat - just potatoes. Her husband is a sexist swine - and she agrees with him. I was wishing maybe a big triffid would eat her in her garden.

Dom wrote: "Right now... ... so far: absorbing, fascinating and to be honest, from the author's descriptions of Newton (the man who fell to Earth) absolutely perfe..."

This is a favorite of mine.

Dom wrote: "Right now... ... so far: absorbing, fascinating and to be honest, from the author's descriptions of Newton (the man who fell to Earth) absolutely perfe..."

Have you ever seen the movie ?

http://theweek.com/speedreads/782102/...

I AM HEARTBROKEN ... DON'T KNOW WHAT TO SAY ... I KNOW IT'S STUPID BUT IT FEELS LIKE I'VE LOST SOMEONE CLOSE TO ME ... Harlan Ellison WAS MY LITERARY FATHER ... MAY HE REST WELL & IN PEACE ...
He was my all time favorite . I have been reading him since 1981 when Stephen King mentioned him in Danse Macabre . I think "The Deathbird" from Deathbird Stories is the best story he ever wrote . Reading his stuff changed my life and the way I looked at the world and at literature . He was a fearless writer and pulled no punches in his fiction , his opinion pieces or his countless essays . Many found him difficult and he had many dissenters but I think even those he fought tooth and nail will miss him also .

I've never read anything by Ellison. I've heard of him. I'll have to look for him in the used bookstore.

I'm re-reading Murder on the Orient Express - enjoying more this time than the first time.

Ivan wrote: "I'm re-reading Murder on the Orient Express - enjoying more this time than the first time."

This was much better than the only other Agatha Christie mystery I've read. I impressed myself by figuring out whodunit before Poirot revealed it. A very enjoyable read.

Harlan Ellison died...? Wow. I remember reading his stuff years ago. They always seem so immortal when you can just pick up their book and see their name on it. Loved some of his stuff.

Ok so I've recently dipped into some sentimental stuff for myself and got me a thick paperback collection reprint thing of Werewolf by Night, an early 70s comic book I loved as a kid.
I'm also reading some more Connie Willis- but her frenetic settings and characters gets on my nerves at times. I think it was Buck who first tipped me to the idea that her novel "Black out" has its ending in "All Clear", so now that I know the library has both of them, I started "Black Out".
I usually have some sort of spiritual reading going on to feed my spirit- I discovered this really helps fight depression and anxiety if I pay attention to my spiritual nourishment as well as my physical nourishment. I pick carefully, too- no generic stuff.
And speaking of physical nourishment, last fall I was diagnosed with diabetes. I had heard of a book by a Dr. Neal Barnard, so I came home from the doctor and scooped up that book the same day. It is a LIFE CHANGER. I am in better health than I have been in, in a very long time.
Soon here I will begin the author biographies I ordered. One is about Charlotte Bronte and by Elizabeth Blackwell. The other is about Elizabeth Blackwell, by Jenny Uglow. Really looking forward to those. Sometimes I really enjoy when books dovetail together like that. It eases the end-of-book saddies and adds layers of meaning at the same time.

Not Blackwell! Gaskell! Elizabeth Gaskell! Gah! I do this a lot more than I ever did before. Siiiigh...

Buck wrote: "Ivan wrote: "I'm re-reading Murder on the Orient Express - enjoying more this time than the first time."

This was much better than the only other Agatha Christie mystery I've read...."

I've read maybe 20 Christie novels - in some the plot is too contrived or convoluted, but when she's on she's really on - The Crooked House, The Pale Horse, The ABC Murders and this one are terrific.

I'm listening to some on audio. Hart's Hope by Orson Scott Card, Uncle Silas by J Sheridan Le Fanu, Crime and Punishment, and Real Murders by Charlaine Harris. I'm also reading the Quality of Mercy by Faye Kellerman.

And the Pale Horse on audio as well for another Goodreads group.

I have not seen the movie. Was not even aware of it.

I saw the trailer: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0074851/...
The trailer doesn't put me in mind of the book at all.
I never thought of David Bowie as an actor.

Dom wrote: "Buck wrote: " ... This is a favorite of mine."

Cool. I can see why. Just finished it. It'll stay in my thoughts this one. Has that haunting quality. Ve..."

Have you ever seen the movie ? His novel Mockingbird is really good too if you haven't read it .

Is the book good? It's a novella.

I'm re-reading The Aspern Papers by Henry James.

Buck wrote: "I have not seen the movie. Was not even aware of it.

I saw the trailer: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0074851/...
The trailer doesn't put me in mind of the book at all.
..."

He is excellent in this movie , no one could have fit the roll of Thomas Jerome Newton as well as he did . He also did another great acting job in 1983's The Hunger ((( Book by Whitley Strieber ))) starring Catherine Deneuve, David Bowie, and Susan Sarandon .

Dom wrote: "SSteppenwolFF wrote: " ... Have you ever seen the movie ? "

Yes indeed. A remarkable movie. Really enjoyed it. Have you?"

Oh yes . One of my top 10 favorite movies .

Ivan wrote: "Is the book good? It's a novella.

I'm re-reading The Aspern Papers by Henry James."

The Man Who Fell to Earth is 209 pages (according to GR) slightly longer than our 200 page definition of a novella. It's an excellent book

Turn of the Screw is one of my favorite stories. Part Victorian ghost story, part Jane Eyre a little bit. The movie The Innocents was amazing as well, with Deborah Kerr as the governess.

I've known nothing of The Turn of the Screw other than its name. I just put it on my library to-read list.

I just watched The Innocents - Kerr is luminous.

I just read The Turn of the Screw. I was convinced that what the governess was seeing was all in her mind, until the abrupt end. The story, I thought, was blurred by the heavy Victorian style.

Lincoln in the Bardo by George Saunders is well deserving of its 2018 Audie award for Best Audiobook of the Year.

I just downloaded Shane by Jack Schaefer. It's been on my read list for a while, but I didn't realize it's a novella. I saw the movie with Alan Ladd years ago.

Shane is a concise, engaging, and well stylized novella. Written in 1949, perhaps today it would be classified as YA. It's narrated as the memory of a boy who was there when it all happened. As one who hasn't read many westerns, Shane strikes me as an exemplar of American westerns.

Some books I haven't bothered to list on GR are some fat compendiums of sayings, poetry and prose, that comfort my aching heart. My mother died a few weeks ago. I am both relieved she is no longer suffering and so sad I can't call her on the phone.

Lora wrote: "Some books I haven't bothered to list on GR are some fat compendiums of sayings, poetry and prose, that comfort my aching heart. My mother died a few weeks ago. I am both relieved she is no longer ..."

Sorry for your loss. I lost my mom 15 years ago and still see something on TV and think I should call her and tell her watch it.

Thanks, Ivan. It is a hard thing. It has brought my siblings and I closer together.