Showing posts with label Polls. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Polls. Show all posts
Friday, January 18, 2008
Norm reveals two of his ten selected Novelists for the current poll
Well, Norm's selection of Anne Tyler will definitely please a good friend of mine who wrote her PhD on Tyler...
Wednesday, January 16, 2008
Favourite (English language) Novelists: an agonised Normblog poll response
Gah, choosing 'favourite' English language novelists is tough.
For a start, there are all those writers who fall more easily into the category of short story writers: with some heartbreak this means no place for Dorothy Parker.
Next were my thoughts on how many books someone had to have written (as novels) to count: for example, I adore and regularly re-read Mark Danielewski's House of Leaves. I hardly know if he has written more novels -- checking up there is The Whalestoe Letters (an adjunct piece related to one of the House of Leaves narratives) and more recently Only Revolutions (which I haven't read). His debut is certainly a favourite novel, but does he count as a favourite novelist on the basis of a single text? What about Mark Gatiss, whose two Lucifer Box novels have proved so enjoyable? What about the likes of Robertson Davies? A Canadian author, his Cornish Trilogy on art, myth and academia brought me to friendship with the lovely Rita (soon after I had finished reading it, we were on a plane together and I couldn't help but spot she was reading the same book... a Transatlantic friendship was born). But I haven't had chance to follow up on more of his writings - could this fondly re-read trilogy of novels allow me to include him?
And what about friends, whose novel writings I have loved and enjoy re-reading? Clare Sudbery and Marie Phillips could easily claim a place on a similar 'favourite novels' list and I so love their writing styles that it seems churlish to feel so ambivalent about whether they would 'qualify'...
I have to admit that despite reading plenty of fiction by women, I was a tad mortified by the (gender) imbalance of my eventual list. Sure, plenty of favourite women authors were excluded on the grounds of them being short story or essay or memoir writers. But I can almost hear the cries of horror at their being no Edith Wharton (though I did really enjoy The Custom of the Country), no Virginia Woolf (I have to proclaim in honesty that I am not awful fond of her writing beyond her essays), and - waits in terror for the real backlash - no Jane Austen... certainly I have enjoyed some of each of their works, but favourites? My favourite Austen is Northanger Abbey and though I have liked and admired her other works I don't think I can honestly say I would choose her writings above certain others as 'favourites'.
I toyed with Charlotte Bronte (and in the end compromised by a certain inclusion on the final list in honour of Jane Eyre). I pondered on included Toni Morrison for Beloved, a work that still astonishes me on each re-reading. I considered the (over?-)prolific but facsinating Joyce Carol Oates. Though not re-read recently I also fondly recalled Marge Piercy whose works I continue to recommend. And what of Angela Carter, whose shorter works and non-fiction are my favourites of her writings (though The Passion of the New Eve is a novel I often re-read)?
Mind, in thinking of the women I excluded I also thought hard about all the male authors who I may like and admire but whose work doesn't necessarily make me 'sing', bring me to delight or make me feel anything much beyond a disengaged awe. Pynchon, Updike, DeLilo, Ellroy (though I do like selected of Ellroy's works)... none of these really 'touch' me to think of them as favourite no matter how much/little I may read of their works. As you well know, despite many attempts and even requirements (I really should have read more for my PhD), I remain disenchanted by the prose of Henry James excepting Daisy Miller an early-ish shorter work and - funnily - The Golden Bowl (his finale). Phillip Roth I admire more, but I really have to be in the mood for his writing as much as certain friends of mine rave continuously over his works (and whom I love to hear conversing about him). I feel similarly about Paul Auster (and again I will duck from the firing of friends in their rage) - I can truly admire and be enthralled, but favourite? Alisdair Gray is an acquired taste for sure and I do like his works a good deal - but would be take a place on my list?? What of the frothy, safe-on-his-writing-patch, flights of Kinky Friedman?? What of Ian Rankin? (and yes, Alex, I know that George Pelacanos hasn't got mentioned here but so far I have read too little of his works to properly comment -- though if the majesterial 'The Wire' counted as novels his contributions would surely be in with a shout...)
As the list I finally chose felt frothy enough I reluctantly dropped Eoin Colfer, despite being so addicted to the lovely Artemis Fowl works (and others by this enjoyable author). I also thought long and hard about ommitting George Orwell, despite 1984 and Animal Farm. Again, it came down to what I liked the writing for and it was chiefly the essays despite the influential power of those two key works.
After all that the final list came out as follows: it feels very arbitrary, but also a reasonable reflection of recent or continuous reads. And barring one selection, there is limited doubt that each can lay claim to the role of novelist. Tommorrow, as ever I may have changed my mind about several of my inclusions and exclusions...
In alphabetical order:
For a start, there are all those writers who fall more easily into the category of short story writers: with some heartbreak this means no place for Dorothy Parker.
Next were my thoughts on how many books someone had to have written (as novels) to count: for example, I adore and regularly re-read Mark Danielewski's House of Leaves. I hardly know if he has written more novels -- checking up there is The Whalestoe Letters (an adjunct piece related to one of the House of Leaves narratives) and more recently Only Revolutions (which I haven't read). His debut is certainly a favourite novel, but does he count as a favourite novelist on the basis of a single text? What about Mark Gatiss, whose two Lucifer Box novels have proved so enjoyable? What about the likes of Robertson Davies? A Canadian author, his Cornish Trilogy on art, myth and academia brought me to friendship with the lovely Rita (soon after I had finished reading it, we were on a plane together and I couldn't help but spot she was reading the same book... a Transatlantic friendship was born). But I haven't had chance to follow up on more of his writings - could this fondly re-read trilogy of novels allow me to include him?
And what about friends, whose novel writings I have loved and enjoy re-reading? Clare Sudbery and Marie Phillips could easily claim a place on a similar 'favourite novels' list and I so love their writing styles that it seems churlish to feel so ambivalent about whether they would 'qualify'...
I have to admit that despite reading plenty of fiction by women, I was a tad mortified by the (gender) imbalance of my eventual list. Sure, plenty of favourite women authors were excluded on the grounds of them being short story or essay or memoir writers. But I can almost hear the cries of horror at their being no Edith Wharton (though I did really enjoy The Custom of the Country), no Virginia Woolf (I have to proclaim in honesty that I am not awful fond of her writing beyond her essays), and - waits in terror for the real backlash - no Jane Austen... certainly I have enjoyed some of each of their works, but favourites? My favourite Austen is Northanger Abbey and though I have liked and admired her other works I don't think I can honestly say I would choose her writings above certain others as 'favourites'.
I toyed with Charlotte Bronte (and in the end compromised by a certain inclusion on the final list in honour of Jane Eyre). I pondered on included Toni Morrison for Beloved, a work that still astonishes me on each re-reading. I considered the (over?-)prolific but facsinating Joyce Carol Oates. Though not re-read recently I also fondly recalled Marge Piercy whose works I continue to recommend. And what of Angela Carter, whose shorter works and non-fiction are my favourites of her writings (though The Passion of the New Eve is a novel I often re-read)?
Mind, in thinking of the women I excluded I also thought hard about all the male authors who I may like and admire but whose work doesn't necessarily make me 'sing', bring me to delight or make me feel anything much beyond a disengaged awe. Pynchon, Updike, DeLilo, Ellroy (though I do like selected of Ellroy's works)... none of these really 'touch' me to think of them as favourite no matter how much/little I may read of their works. As you well know, despite many attempts and even requirements (I really should have read more for my PhD), I remain disenchanted by the prose of Henry James excepting Daisy Miller an early-ish shorter work and - funnily - The Golden Bowl (his finale). Phillip Roth I admire more, but I really have to be in the mood for his writing as much as certain friends of mine rave continuously over his works (and whom I love to hear conversing about him). I feel similarly about Paul Auster (and again I will duck from the firing of friends in their rage) - I can truly admire and be enthralled, but favourite? Alisdair Gray is an acquired taste for sure and I do like his works a good deal - but would be take a place on my list?? What of the frothy, safe-on-his-writing-patch, flights of Kinky Friedman?? What of Ian Rankin? (and yes, Alex, I know that George Pelacanos hasn't got mentioned here but so far I have read too little of his works to properly comment -- though if the majesterial 'The Wire' counted as novels his contributions would surely be in with a shout...)
As the list I finally chose felt frothy enough I reluctantly dropped Eoin Colfer, despite being so addicted to the lovely Artemis Fowl works (and others by this enjoyable author). I also thought long and hard about ommitting George Orwell, despite 1984 and Animal Farm. Again, it came down to what I liked the writing for and it was chiefly the essays despite the influential power of those two key works.
After all that the final list came out as follows: it feels very arbitrary, but also a reasonable reflection of recent or continuous reads. And barring one selection, there is limited doubt that each can lay claim to the role of novelist. Tommorrow, as ever I may have changed my mind about several of my inclusions and exclusions...
In alphabetical order:
Kelley Armstrong - though her most recent works have fallen a little from the heights hit by Bitten, her writings remain fun and great page-turners. I thoroughly enjoy her writing style and her characters.[apologies for the decrease in provided links - my tummy rumbled for food!!!]
Lawrence Block - the Matt Scudder novels are amongst my most favourite series of novels in the crime genre. Wonderful.
Christopher Brookmyre - for being just the most wickedly hilarious writer of Scottish based narratives
Charles Dickens - shockingly I think my only heavyweight author, but for his overall oeuvre and the pleasures his works have provided he had to have a place
Arthur Conan Doyle - the one I felt most ambiguous about including, but he is too much a favourite writer to exclude
Jasper Fforde - after a long promotion via friends I have recently gotten into this most enjoyable author. And The Eyre Affair seemed to make up for my excluding poor Charlotte Bronte.
Neil Gaiman - though still best known for his graphic novel opus The Sandman (10 volumes, count 'em), Gaiman is such a fine writer of the novel form that he truly warranted a place here.
Alison Lurie - it took me a long while to realise when I first started reading Lurie's works (a) how old she was and (b) when many of them were written. Some may say they are 'of their period(s)' but I have always found them enjoyable portrayals of the world into which I can slip.
Phillip Pullman - if he had only written The Dark Materials trilogy, that would be sufficient despite all my previously raised caveats for choosing. That the Sally Lockhart novels are so fine makes his work a treasure.
Dorothy L Sayers - she's probably almost totally out of fashion now, and some of her characterisations are less than comfortable for modern readers. But there is a verve to her Wimsey novels that never fails to draw me in.
Monday, January 14, 2008
Thursday, June 14, 2007
Thursday, May 17, 2007
Beatles Choices: before I change my mind again...
Here goes:
Reasoning:
My love for this particular version of "To Know Her Is To Love You" is well established. Unlike other available recorded versions by them, here the harmonies are at their absolutely most perfect. The husky drop in Lennon's voice scarcely bettered elsewhere in their recordings. I first heard it on a BBC show which broadcast on the Beeb in the wake of Lennon's death (a pivotal moment in my life) and wore out tape after tape after tape as I kept re-recording it to a new one just to make it last longer than I knew a tape could. Reading about the Beatles, I discovered this particular track was a gold dust track, loved and longed for in an official recording release afer years of circulation on the Bootleg circuit (if I'm not wrong, "Yellow Matter Custard" was the release that best showcased it to an American bootleg audience where it was passed around like the holy cup of early Beatles recordings). No other version of this song by them even touches the beauty of this one. A joy that always tugs at my heart strings every time I hear it.
"If I Fell" is another ballad of note from the Beatles recordings, and interestingly leans this choice much more to their early recordings than I would have anticipated some time ago. It's from one of my less favourite Beatles LPs, but given that we're talking about albums that would easily be selected over many other recordings anyway, its somewhat arbitrary to make distinctions between good and less good. Again, harmonies....
"I've Just Seen a Face" - the sole contribution to this list from anyone other than Lennon. Sheesh: no Harrison ("Something"! "While My Guitar Gently Weeps"!) here at all? And this so very nearly did not make the cut. It was a tough one to decide whether to have an all-Lennon list or not (it battled for its place with "I'm a Loser" especially). But it's one of the most joyous tracks the Beatles did and the "Help!" album has an especially warm place in my heart.
Choosing "In My Life" may not be especially radical, and of all the tracks here, its the one I suspect is most likely to make the Normblog top track list. The wistful melancholia and adoration that weeps through this track never fails to touch me.
My final choice is something of a curve-ball after all those early songs, but "I Want You (She's So Heavy)" got such heavy rotation from the first time I heard it that I had to include it here. Listening to the song on headphones, its stereoscopic hissing oozing from speaker to speaker as the droning guitar wails to its climax with that dark bassline... makes my ribcage howl with delight at the mere thought of it. For me, one of the best moments in late Beatles recordings.
So there you have it: arbitary, inconsistent and wildly open to change in the next ten minutes. Hell, I was very tempted by the recollection of "Rain" from Puzz Fuzz's choices to go for a complete rewrite of the list. But I'm going with instincts and this is today's, hell, this minutes choice and I'm sticking with it!
- To Know Her is To Love Her (from The Beatles at the Beeb)
- If I Fell (from A Hard Day's Night)
- I've Just Seen a Face (from Help!)
- In My Life (from Rubber Soul)
- I Want You (She's So Heavy) from Abbey Road)
Reasoning:
My love for this particular version of "To Know Her Is To Love You" is well established. Unlike other available recorded versions by them, here the harmonies are at their absolutely most perfect. The husky drop in Lennon's voice scarcely bettered elsewhere in their recordings. I first heard it on a BBC show which broadcast on the Beeb in the wake of Lennon's death (a pivotal moment in my life) and wore out tape after tape after tape as I kept re-recording it to a new one just to make it last longer than I knew a tape could. Reading about the Beatles, I discovered this particular track was a gold dust track, loved and longed for in an official recording release afer years of circulation on the Bootleg circuit (if I'm not wrong, "Yellow Matter Custard" was the release that best showcased it to an American bootleg audience where it was passed around like the holy cup of early Beatles recordings). No other version of this song by them even touches the beauty of this one. A joy that always tugs at my heart strings every time I hear it.
"If I Fell" is another ballad of note from the Beatles recordings, and interestingly leans this choice much more to their early recordings than I would have anticipated some time ago. It's from one of my less favourite Beatles LPs, but given that we're talking about albums that would easily be selected over many other recordings anyway, its somewhat arbitrary to make distinctions between good and less good. Again, harmonies....
"I've Just Seen a Face" - the sole contribution to this list from anyone other than Lennon. Sheesh: no Harrison ("Something"! "While My Guitar Gently Weeps"!) here at all? And this so very nearly did not make the cut. It was a tough one to decide whether to have an all-Lennon list or not (it battled for its place with "I'm a Loser" especially). But it's one of the most joyous tracks the Beatles did and the "Help!" album has an especially warm place in my heart.
Choosing "In My Life" may not be especially radical, and of all the tracks here, its the one I suspect is most likely to make the Normblog top track list. The wistful melancholia and adoration that weeps through this track never fails to touch me.
My final choice is something of a curve-ball after all those early songs, but "I Want You (She's So Heavy)" got such heavy rotation from the first time I heard it that I had to include it here. Listening to the song on headphones, its stereoscopic hissing oozing from speaker to speaker as the droning guitar wails to its climax with that dark bassline... makes my ribcage howl with delight at the mere thought of it. For me, one of the best moments in late Beatles recordings.
So there you have it: arbitary, inconsistent and wildly open to change in the next ten minutes. Hell, I was very tempted by the recollection of "Rain" from Puzz Fuzz's choices to go for a complete rewrite of the list. But I'm going with instincts and this is today's, hell, this minutes choice and I'm sticking with it!
Wednesday, May 16, 2007
Beatles songs
I'm going to be honest about what the criteria were that I have used for this poll.
I am in agony over whether I can justify including my favourite song on the grounds that it's not only a cover version but also only appeared on a post-band release....
If it's in, then their version of "To Know Her is to Love Her" from the Beatles at the Beeb would ABSOLUTELY be on my top five.
Sheesh, this is tough (yes, I know Norm, I know...). I thought the fights we got into over the Beatles albums were tough enough...
Shortlist (in no particular order):
I am in agony over whether I can justify including my favourite song on the grounds that it's not only a cover version but also only appeared on a post-band release....
If it's in, then their version of "To Know Her is to Love Her" from the Beatles at the Beeb would ABSOLUTELY be on my top five.
Sheesh, this is tough (yes, I know Norm, I know...). I thought the fights we got into over the Beatles albums were tough enough...
Shortlist (in no particular order):
- If I Fell
I'm a Loser
I Want You (She's So Heavy)
She's Leaving Home
For No One
I Will
Strawberry Fields Forever
Julia
Something
I've Just Seen a Face
In My Life
Happiness is a Warm Gun
While My Guitar Gently Weeps
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