The Anthologist
categories: Reading Under the Influence
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I love Nicholson Baker. So much that I’ve been putting off reading the rest of his books, just re-reading and savoring the ones I’ve already devoured. That’s a nice thing about books, having the cake and eating it. U and I is where I started, his paean to John Updike, with many amazing moments and great humor, my favorite (in memory at least) being when he claims he can recite whole passages of Updike from memory, and then proceeds to do so, a long paragraph. But of course the paragraph he recites is recited on the page, that is, not recited at all, letting the reader in for a little amused skepticism. Later in the book, though, Baker decides he better check the passage and finds he’s got it all wrong. Continue reading →
Wolf Hall
categories: Reading Under the Influence
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Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel got my attention because of a lauditory review in The New York Review of Books. It had won the Man Booker Prize in England, too. I’ve also got a passing interest in Henry VIII, I don’t really know why—Shakespeare, no doubt—and in old England in general, dating from childhood. Continue reading →
The Wives of Henry VIII
categories: Reading Under the Influence
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I bought the The Wives of Henry VIII (Knopf, 1994) when it was new and never got to it, though I really, really wanted to learn more about Anne Boleyn, in particular, and the other wives, too. Antonia Fraser is a noblewoman in England, if they still talk like that. Anyway, she’s Lady Antonia, and who better to take on the subject of the women of the court. Continue reading →
