Controversial might be the better word, and that mostly because of its absence from the film. Burgess felt strongly that it was essential to the book; Kubrick, per wikipedia, never seriously considered including it, even after reading it late in the scriptwriting process.
I’m not sure my copy has a glossary. I’ll have to check that out when I get home.
What the Hell, Michigan? *scratches *Lolita off her movies-to-watch list (It was never on my movies-to-watch list anyway.)
Mine had no glossary, but I picked up the slang pretty easily. It would have been funny if 50 years ago the book had started a fad for slang of this kind. I guess what we did get later in the '60s was not much stranger.
For all that, it was still a good movie. From the film’s Wikipedia entry: “The screenplay is credited to Nabokov, although very little of what he provided (later published in a shortened version) was used. Nabokov remained polite about the film in public, but in a 1962 interview, before seeing the film, commented that it may turn out to be ‘the swerves of a scenic drive as perceived by the horizontal passenger of an ambulance.’” I have not seen the 1997 version with Jeremy Irons but have read it’s truer to the book.
A thread on Dullea, Kubrick and 2001: A Space Odyssey, for those who might be interested: I met Keir Dullea tonight! - Cafe Society - Straight Dope Message Board
Just finished Ron Chernow’s Washington: A Life, which is big and detailed, but very readable, I thought. A great one-volume bio of the first President.
Still enjoying Diane Duane’s Doctor’s Orders, a favorite old Star Trek novel of mine.
Next up: Roy Jenkins’s well-reviewed 2001 bio, Churchill.
Rivers by Michael Farris Smith. It’s sort of post-apocalypse, a story of survival along the Gulf Coast. After years of constant storms, flooding, hurricanes, the government drew a line on a map and said if you live south of this line, you’re on your own.
Also The Sisters Brothers by Patrick DeWitt, a western featuring two brothers who are hired killers. It’s awfully funny but I feel kinda wrong for liking the book. I can totally see a movie but don’t know who I’d cast.
This is why I plan to read more Nabokov. Phrasing like that is eminently worthwhile.
I loved ‘The Sisters Brothers’! I think the film version would have to have Nathan Filion, Jeff Bridges and Adam Baldwin…
True to form, a book I’d ordered at the library came in just as we’re about to take off on vacation. Not sure whether to haul Howard Zinn’s A People’s History of the United States up to the lake with me, or leave it for a week. I got it mostly because of an article where the Purdue University president was trying to keep the book from being taught in Indiana schools - I wanted to judge for myself.
So I have you to thank for the recommendation! I knew I read about it here but didn’t remember who praised it. So thank you!
This is one of those books that’s going to end too soon. It’s really good.
I’ve read some nice stuff this month. Let me transfer my latest Kindle purchases for your elucidation.
The Ocean at the End of the Lane, the latest Neil Gaiman. LOVED it, although it was far too short. I really bought the child narrator’s voice, and the supernatural baddies were uniquely creepy.
The Humans by Matt Haig. Eh, it was OK, about an alien taking the place of a mathematics professor for nefarious purposes. Some interesting perspectives on being human, but a bit too blunt - I sometimes felt like I was reading a teen’s attempt at a self-help book disguised as fiction.
The Unknowns by Gabriel Roth. Quite enjoyable, but light on the content - nothing much really happens. The protagonist is the most interesting thing about this book - a Silicon Valley millionaire insecure playboy who has painstakingly designed a social hack for getting girls.
The Golem and the Jinni by Helene Wecker. I jumped on the bandwagon, and rather wish I hadn’t. I didn’t find much to like here, the mythology was muddled and inconsistent (reincarnation? huh?) and the plot was pretty slow. I quite liked the setting (1930s New York) but even that isn’t hugely original.
We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves by Karen Joy Fowler. DO NOT READ THE AMAZON PAGE if you want to read this book. There’s a cute reveal about a third of the way in, which is more fun if you’re not spoiled beforehand. If you’ve heard anything about this book, you probably know what I mean. This was a nice read, well-paced, with a realistic family at its center - to certain values of realistic. A good friend of mine was involved in, um, the central theme - primate research - I’ll be recommending this to her, for her input.
A very good month overall.
I didn’t try to make sense of the mythology. I didn’t think of it as reincarnation so much as immortality conveyed via magic, a soul moving from one body to another. I liked that character more than the golem and the jinni.
I agree that the plot was slow-moving. The ending of the book left room for a sequel. I’ll read it, but I hope she speeds things up a bit.
Finally finished American Elsewhere. Mmm, Lovecrafty. Although it was quite long and I never really connected to the main character, I think the author pulled the story off well in the end. I have such limited reading time that I had to read this book in about fifteen sessions, and each time I put it down I was anxious to find out what was going to happen next.
Next up, and already overdue at the library (sorry!), American Savage: Insights, Slights, and Fights on Faith, Sex, Love, and Politics, by Dan Savage.
I read The Golem and the Jinni back in early June; while I really enjoyed the setting, and the ideas behind the title characters, they fell a bit flat in and of themselves, as did the ending. It was a lovely experience while I was reading it, but looking back on it, it hasn’t made much of a lasting impression. 
Not so City of Bohane by Kevin Barry. While the description is of Ireland 40 years in the future, it felt more like an alt-history/post-apocalyptic Ireland - where the titular city is basically a island, with very little outside influence, and not much in the way of technology. There’s no Internet, no cell phones, or even much reference to land lines - I think the newspaper folks & maybe the government are the only ones in touch with the outside world.
The inhabitants are loosely grouped into “tribes”, with Logan Harnett as a charismatic leader, perhaps waning in power. An old nemesis is rumored to have returned to town, and there just might be hell to pay. The timeline jumps back and forth & it’s a bit disconcerting at times, but I eventually got it sorted out.
The writing is gorgeous - though rather insular to this Yank. For example, it took me quite a while to recognize that “pikeys” were the equivalent of Travelers/non-Roma gypsies (I assume “sand-pikeys” are Roma, then) and some other slang bits I had to guess at from context. The characters are exquisitely drawn, and while the book is more about atmosphere than plot, the story kept me going til the end.
I’d be curious to see what a native-born reader gets out of this novel; despite my years of reading BritLit, I still felt as if I just wasn’t getting certain elements. I’ll probably revisit this novel & if I find it used or going for a good price on Kindle, add it to my library.
I just finished **In the Heart of the Canyon **by Elisabeth Hyde. The canyon is the Grand Canyon, and the story takes place on a river rafting trip; twelve tourists and three guides. Much conflict, physical and psychological injuries and a stray dog. Recommended.
I read Instant Mom, a memoir by writer/actress Nia Vardalos, mostly focusing on her adoption of a little girl through the foster care system. If you like her (she’s the My Big Fat Greek Wedding person), the book is a fun read. And part of her (stated) purpose in writing is to give an example of a successful and relatively issue-free adoption via foster care, and I think it would be helpful for anyone considering that.
The Woman Upstairs by Claire Messud was pretty good, it’s a novel about a single woman, a teacher and an artist, who gets caught up in the life of the family of one of her students. It’s not so much about the plot, it’s more of a reflection piece on artists and art, and on society’s views of unattached women.
I read a lot of YA, Why We Broke Up by Daniel Handler (aka Lemony Snicket), was a good read, and I thought it was pretty insightful about the stupid reasons we do the stupid things we do when we’re in high school.
Despite reading a lot of YA, I don’t read tons of it that is particularly marketed to boys, so I picked up September Girls, by Bennett Madison, which is about mermaids at a beach community. It was decent, it tries to turn around some gender assumptions about teen relationships, somewhat successfully. And I guess it was the kind of book when even when it wasn’t successful, it still made me want to grill the author about why he wrote things that way, so in that sense it was engaging.
I don’t usually mention picture books, but there’s a new-ish one that was such a hit with my kid that I wanted to put it out there in case anyone is looking for a gift for a 2 or 3 year old. Chu’s Day, by Neil Gaiman. It’s about a panda who has to sneeze.