The Sea, by John Banville

[inverarity]

One-line summary: A middle-aged Irishman returns to the scene of his childhood to remember the only important thing that ever happened in his life and get drunk.

Comments

[iamzulma]

you write fuckin' awesome book reviews. have you considered doing this professionally??? :)

in short, this book was pretentious. so, i'm staying FAR, FAR away from it. i like some literary fiction, but i'm selective. descriptions that last a page and a half? NO THANKS. i'm glad you took the leap with this one, though.

[inverarity]

I swear and snark too much to write professional book reviews. But thank you. :)

[iamzulma]

swear words can be softened and snark can be just fine if you have reasonable arguments to back them up with. :) you can send them to smaller publications. i really think you should look into it! you have a good voice and excellent points and obviously a strong background in literature to be able to do this. and if you enjoy it, even better, right? ;)

1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die, Revised and Updated

[spellchecker2]

It might amuse you to know that in the 2010 edition of the book, John Banville has been reduced to just one book on the list, which is . . . . The Sea.

I'm having a bit of fun with the 2006 and 2010 editions of 1001 Books, and I will eventually post something about them on my LJ, but of the 108 contributors to the first edition, there were 75 academics, 65 from the UK. Could there perhaps be a bias toward "literary" works, especially by British authors?

Another relevant quote from the 1001 Books:

The Sea was seen to be returning literary credibility to a prize often awarded to populist works when it won the Man Booker in 2005.

Re: 1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die, Revised and Updated

[inverarity]

Hah. "Literary credibility" indeed.