Good reads

[bruce]

In fact I think it is fair to say Steinbeck is a good source for film makers; The Red Pony - another 40's film starring Robert Mitchum.

[SerjeantWildgoose]

Filmography

1939—Of Mice and Men—directed by Lewis Milestone, featuring Burgess Meredith, Lon Chaney, Jr., and Betty Field
1940—The Grapes of Wrath—directed by John Ford, featuring Henry Fonda, Jane Darwell and John Carradine
1941—The Forgotten Village—directed by Alexander Hammid and Herbert Kline, narrated by Burgess Meredith, music by Hanns Eisler
1942—Tortilla Flat—directed by Victor Fleming, featuring Spencer Tracy, Hedy Lamarr and John Garfield
1943—The Moon is Down—directed by Irving Pichel, featuring Lee J. Cobb and Sir Cedric Hardwicke
1944—Lifeboat—directed by Alfred Hitchcock, featuring Tallulah Bankhead, Hume Cronyn, and John Hodiak
1944—A Medal for Benny—directed by Irving Pichel, featuring Dorothy Lamour and Arturo de Cordova
1947—La Perla (The Pearl, Mexico)—directed by Emilio Fernández, featuring Pedro Armendáriz and María Elena Marqués
1949—The Red Pony—directed by Lewis Milestone, featuring Myrna Loy, Robert Mitchum, and Louis Calhern
1952—Viva Zapata!—directed by Elia Kazan, featuring Marlon Brando, Anthony Quinn and Jean Peters
1955—East of Eden—directed by Elia Kazan, featuring James Dean, Julie Harris, Jo Van Fleet, and Raymond Massey
1957—The Wayward Bus—directed by Victor Vicas, featuring Rick Jason, Jayne Mansfield, and Joan Collins
1961—Flight—featuring Efrain Ramírez and Arnelia Cortez
1962—Ikimize bir dünya (Of Mice and Men, Turkey)
1972—Topoli (Of Mice and Men, Iran)
1982—Cannery Row—directed by David S. Ward, featuring Nick Nolte and Debra Winger
1992—Of Mice and Men—directed by Gary Sinise and starring John Malkovich and Gary Sinise


So in 1972 the Iranians knocked out a version of 'Of Mice and Men' - and then they made a bit of a mess of the American Embassy and now everyone thinks they're a bunch of bollixes.

[SerjeantWildgoose]

... and let's be honest, Trainspotting was just Cannery Row with Heroin.

[SerjeantWildgoose]

Giorgio Bassani's Within the Walls. Book 1 of the Romanza di Ferrara trilogy, this is a compact collection of 5 short stories set among the Jewish community of the northern Italian city during the Fascist era and the immediate aftermath of the Second World War. While the prose is often complex in its structure, this was a pretty good delve into an author previously unknown to me and I'll definitely be back for more.

[rowan]

Filmography

1939—Of Mice and Men—directed by Lewis Milestone, featuring Burgess Meredith, Lon Chaney, Jr., and Betty Field
1940—The Grapes of Wrath—directed by John Ford, featuring Henry Fonda, Jane Darwell and John Carradine
1941—The Forgotten Village—directed by Alexander Hammid and Herbert Kline, narrated by Burgess Meredith, music by Hanns Eisler
1942—Tortilla Flat—directed by Victor Fleming, featuring Spencer Tracy, Hedy Lamarr and John Garfield
1943—The Moon is Down—directed by Irving Pichel, featuring Lee J. Cobb and Sir Cedric Hardwicke
1944—Lifeboat—directed by Alfred Hitchcock, featuring Tallulah Bankhead, Hume Cronyn, and John Hodiak
1944—A Medal for Benny—directed by Irving Pichel, featuring Dorothy Lamour and Arturo de Cordova
1947—La Perla (The Pearl, Mexico)—directed by Emilio Fernández, featuring Pedro Armendáriz and María Elena Marqués
1949—The Red Pony—directed by Lewis Milestone, featuring Myrna Loy, Robert Mitchum, and Louis Calhern
1952—Viva Zapata!—directed by Elia Kazan, featuring Marlon Brando, Anthony Quinn and Jean Peters
1955—East of Eden—directed by Elia Kazan, featuring James Dean, Julie Harris, Jo Van Fleet, and Raymond Massey
1957—The Wayward Bus—directed by Victor Vicas, featuring Rick Jason, Jayne Mansfield, and Joan Collins
1961—Flight—featuring Efrain Ramírez and Arnelia Cortez
1962—Ikimize bir dünya (Of Mice and Men, Turkey)
1972—Topoli (Of Mice and Men, Iran)
1982—Cannery Row—directed by David S. Ward, featuring Nick Nolte and Debra Winger
1992—Of Mice and Men—directed by Gary Sinise and starring John Malkovich and Gary Sinise


So in 1972 the Iranians knocked out a version of 'Of Mice and Men' - and then they made a bit of a mess of the American Embassy and now everyone thinks they're a bunch of bollixes.

Wow Thanks, guys, I shall definitely be checking some of these out, if I can find them online.

Giorgio Bassani's Within the Walls. Book 1 of the Romanza di Ferrara trilogy, this is a compact collection of 5 short stories set among the Jewish community of the northern Italian city during the Fascist era and the immediate aftermath of the Second World War. While the prose is often complex in its structure, this was a pretty good delve into an author previously unknown to me and I'll definitely be back for more.

Sounds like a fascinating read. That era is something I'd like to learn a little more about, in fact. Meanwhile, I'm on to John J Norwich's The Middle Sea, a History of the Med. Good read, easy to follow and covers some really interesting stuff - including Moorish Spain and Byzantium.

[Numbers]

Filmography

1939—Of Mice and Men—directed by Lewis Milestone, featuring Burgess Meredith, Lon Chaney, Jr., and Betty Field
1940—The Grapes of Wrath—directed by John Ford, featuring Henry Fonda, Jane Darwell and John Carradine
1941—The Forgotten Village—directed by Alexander Hammid and Herbert Kline, narrated by Burgess Meredith, music by Hanns Eisler
1942—Tortilla Flat—directed by Victor Fleming, featuring Spencer Tracy, Hedy Lamarr and John Garfield
1943—The Moon is Down—directed by Irving Pichel, featuring Lee J. Cobb and Sir Cedric Hardwicke
1944—Lifeboat—directed by Alfred Hitchcock, featuring Tallulah Bankhead, Hume Cronyn, and John Hodiak
1944—A Medal for Benny—directed by Irving Pichel, featuring Dorothy Lamour and Arturo de Cordova
1947—La Perla (The Pearl, Mexico)—directed by Emilio Fernández, featuring Pedro Armendáriz and María Elena Marqués
1949—The Red Pony—directed by Lewis Milestone, featuring Myrna Loy, Robert Mitchum, and Louis Calhern
1952—Viva Zapata!—directed by Elia Kazan, featuring Marlon Brando, Anthony Quinn and Jean Peters
1955—East of Eden—directed by Elia Kazan, featuring James Dean, Julie Harris, Jo Van Fleet, and Raymond Massey
1957—The Wayward Bus—directed by Victor Vicas, featuring Rick Jason, Jayne Mansfield, and Joan Collins
1961—Flight—featuring Efrain Ramírez and Arnelia Cortez
1962—Ikimize bir dünya (Of Mice and Men, Turkey)
1972—Topoli (Of Mice and Men, Iran)
1982—Cannery Row—directed by David S. Ward, featuring Nick Nolte and Debra Winger
1992—Of Mice and Men—directed by Gary Sinise and starring John Malkovich and Gary Sinise


So in 1972 the Iranians knocked out a version of 'Of Mice and Men' - and then they made a bit of a mess of the American Embassy and now everyone thinks they're a bunch of bollixes.

Recommend these, tho East of Eden is only half the book.

Cannery Row is poor.

[rowan]

Filmography

1939—Of Mice and Men—directed by Lewis Milestone, featuring Burgess Meredith, Lon Chaney, Jr., and Betty Field
1940—The Grapes of Wrath—directed by John Ford, featuring Henry Fonda, Jane Darwell and John Carradine
1941—The Forgotten Village—directed by Alexander Hammid and Herbert Kline, narrated by Burgess Meredith, music by Hanns Eisler
1942—Tortilla Flat—directed by Victor Fleming, featuring Spencer Tracy, Hedy Lamarr and John Garfield
1943—The Moon is Down—directed by Irving Pichel, featuring Lee J. Cobb and Sir Cedric Hardwicke
1944—Lifeboat—directed by Alfred Hitchcock, featuring Tallulah Bankhead, Hume Cronyn, and John Hodiak
1944—A Medal for Benny—directed by Irving Pichel, featuring Dorothy Lamour and Arturo de Cordova
1947—La Perla (The Pearl, Mexico)—directed by Emilio Fernández, featuring Pedro Armendáriz and María Elena Marqués
1949—The Red Pony—directed by Lewis Milestone, featuring Myrna Loy, Robert Mitchum, and Louis Calhern
1952—Viva Zapata!—directed by Elia Kazan, featuring Marlon Brando, Anthony Quinn and Jean Peters
1955—East of Eden—directed by Elia Kazan, featuring James Dean, Julie Harris, Jo Van Fleet, and Raymond Massey
1957—The Wayward Bus—directed by Victor Vicas, featuring Rick Jason, Jayne Mansfield, and Joan Collins
1961—Flight—featuring Efrain Ramírez and Arnelia Cortez
1962—Ikimize bir dünya (Of Mice and Men, Turkey)
1972—Topoli (Of Mice and Men, Iran)
1982—Cannery Row—directed by David S. Ward, featuring Nick Nolte and Debra Winger
1992—Of Mice and Men—directed by Gary Sinise and starring John Malkovich and Gary Sinise


So in 1972 the Iranians knocked out a version of 'Of Mice and Men' - and then they made a bit of a mess of the American Embassy and now everyone thinks they're a bunch of bollixes.

Recommend these, tho East of Eden is only half the book.

Cannery Row is poor.

Just located a 2016 film version of 'In Dubious Battle' on Wiki: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/In_Dubious_Battle_(film)
This is one of my favorite Steinbeck novels but not for the faint-hearted.


The 3 you recommend are actually the only 3 I've seen, although I have seen a Spanish-Mexican version of Viva Zapata.

Grapes of Wrath was a classic and the '92 Of Mice & Men version was great (outstanding acting by Malko), but East of Eden couldn't do justice to the book and was probably only made due to the suitability of James Dean as Calvin Trask.

The Turkish title for 'Of Mice and Men' is actually 'A World to the 2 of Us' ??

It's not surprising so much of Steinbeck's work has been adapted for the screen, because he fully understood the major impact this mode of entertainment was going to have in the future and actually ended up trying to create a new genre of novelette designed expressly with the screen in mind: hence 'Burning Bright' - which ironically does not appear on the film list.

[Numbers]

Filmography

1939—Of Mice and Men—directed by Lewis Milestone, featuring Burgess Meredith, Lon Chaney, Jr., and Betty Field
1940—The Grapes of Wrath—directed by John Ford, featuring Henry Fonda, Jane Darwell and John Carradine
1941—The Forgotten Village—directed by Alexander Hammid and Herbert Kline, narrated by Burgess Meredith, music by Hanns Eisler
1942—Tortilla Flat—directed by Victor Fleming, featuring Spencer Tracy, Hedy Lamarr and John Garfield
1943—The Moon is Down—directed by Irving Pichel, featuring Lee J. Cobb and Sir Cedric Hardwicke
1944—Lifeboat—directed by Alfred Hitchcock, featuring Tallulah Bankhead, Hume Cronyn, and John Hodiak
1944—A Medal for Benny—directed by Irving Pichel, featuring Dorothy Lamour and Arturo de Cordova
1947—La Perla (The Pearl, Mexico)—directed by Emilio Fernández, featuring Pedro Armendáriz and María Elena Marqués
1949—The Red Pony—directed by Lewis Milestone, featuring Myrna Loy, Robert Mitchum, and Louis Calhern
1952—Viva Zapata!—directed by Elia Kazan, featuring Marlon Brando, Anthony Quinn and Jean Peters
1955—East of Eden—directed by Elia Kazan, featuring James Dean, Julie Harris, Jo Van Fleet, and Raymond Massey
1957—The Wayward Bus—directed by Victor Vicas, featuring Rick Jason, Jayne Mansfield, and Joan Collins
1961—Flight—featuring Efrain Ramírez and Arnelia Cortez
1962—Ikimize bir dünya (Of Mice and Men, Turkey)
1972—Topoli (Of Mice and Men, Iran)
1982—Cannery Row—directed by David S. Ward, featuring Nick Nolte and Debra Winger
1992—Of Mice and Men—directed by Gary Sinise and starring John Malkovich and Gary Sinise


So in 1972 the Iranians knocked out a version of 'Of Mice and Men' - and then they made a bit of a mess of the American Embassy and now everyone thinks they're a bunch of bollixes.

Recommend these, tho East of Eden is only half the book.

Cannery Row is poor.

Just located a 2016 film version of 'In Dubious Battle' on Wiki: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/In_Dubious_Battle_(film)
This is one of my favorite Steinbeck novels but not for the faint-hearted.


The 3 you recommend are actually the only 3 I've seen, although I have seen a Spanish-Mexican version of Viva Zapata.

Grapes of Wrath was a classic and the '92 Of Mice & Men version was great (outstanding acting by Malko), but East of Eden couldn't do justice to the book and was probably only made due to the suitability of James Dean as Calvin Trask.

The Turkish title for 'Of Mice and Men' is actually 'A World to the 2 of Us' ??

It's not surprising so much of Steinbeck's work has been adapted for the screen, because he fully understood the major impact this mode of entertainment was going to have in the future and actually ended up trying to create a new genre of novelette designed expressly with the screen in mind: hence 'Burning Bright' - which ironically does not appear on the film list.

Yeah, the ones I commented on are the only ones I've seen (about 20 minutes of Cannery Row as it was awful).

I'd be interested to know what IDB is like as I also enjoyed the book. Saying that Cannery Row is in my top 3 Steinbeck books but the adaptation couldn't really portray tyhe characters in enough depth, it would need quite a lot of narration. Similar to Catch 22 which is poor in comparison to the book.

[SerjeantWildgoose]

Sebastian Faulks On Green Dolphin Street. I have read a few of Faulks' novels, beginning with Birdsong 20-odd years ago. Nothing has come close to Birdsong for me, and On Green Dolphin Street falls a good bit shorter than the other books of his I have read. His prose is masterful, but the storyline behind this one (An unconvincing affair between the wife of an alcoholic British diplomat and a recuperating American hack, set during the Kennedy/Nixon election campaign, but with flashbacks to Dien Bien Phu and other battles) just didn't grab my attention.

[rowan]

Sebastian Faulks On Green Dolphin Street. I have read a few of Faulks' novels, beginning with Birdsong 20-odd years ago. Nothing has come close to Birdsong for me, and On Green Dolphin Street falls a good bit shorter than the other books of his I have read. His prose is masterful, but the storyline behind this one (An unconvincing affair between the wife of an alcoholic British diplomat and a recuperating American hack, set during the Kennedy/Nixon election campaign, but with flashbacks to Dien Bien Phu and other battles) just didn't grab my attention.

Interesting. Birdsong is the only Faulks novel I've read. Some passages were beautifully written, but I didn't really like some of the messages he appeared to be conveying (at least, the way I interpreted them), while his use of symbolism lacked subtlety and imagination at times.

[bruce]

The Fireman by Joe Hill. Apocalyptic combustion virus fest, with more than a hint of Lord of the Flies. Hefty but I enjoyed it.

[SerjeantWildgoose]

Andreï Makine's A Life's Music. Nope; I'd never heard of him either, but this bloke is going to win the Nobel. A Russian, writing as a refugee from Paris, Makine couldn't find a publisher until he started telling them that he wrote in Russian and had them translated to French. This one was published in 2001 and I am stunned at the beauty and pain he crams into its 106 pages. Set against the backdrop of Stalin's purges and the Great Patriotic War.

Put down whatever you are reading and go out and buy a copy of A Life's Music; there aren't superlatives enough.

[rowan]

Andreï Makine's A Life's Music. Nope; I'd never heard of him either, but this bloke is going to win the Pulitzer. A Russian, writing as a refugee from Paris, Makine couldn't find a publisher until he started telling them that he wrote in Russian and had them translated to French. This one was published in 2001 and I am stunned at the beauty and pain he crams into its 106 pages. Set against the backdrop of Stalin's purges and the Great Patriotic War.

Put down whatever you are reading and go out and buy a copy of A Life's Music; there aren't superlatives enough.

He's a refugee in Paris? Is this during the communist era or the imperial age? Any clues about the plot. This sounds intriguing...

Meanwhile, I'm about midway through John Norwich's 'The Middle Sea,' a history of the Med. &, I know I've been hard to please lately (perhaps reading too much on the internet to be able to enjoy a good book anymore), but this isn't really telling me an awful lot that I didn't already know. Maybe I need to branch out more with the history books . . .

[SerjeantWildgoose]

Andreï Makine's A Life's Music. Nope; I'd never heard of him either, but this bloke is going to win the Pulitzer. A Russian, writing as a refugee from Paris, Makine couldn't find a publisher until he started telling them that he wrote in Russian and had them translated to French. This one was published in 2001 and I am stunned at the beauty and pain he crams into its 106 pages. Set against the backdrop of Stalin's purges and the Great Patriotic War.

Put down whatever you are reading and go out and buy a copy of A Life's Music; there aren't superlatives enough.

He's a refugee in Paris? Is this during the communist era or the imperial age? Any clues about the plot. This sounds intriguing...

Makine is the 'refugee;' I think he came over in the 80s so hardly a defector. The plot is bloke meets bloke on a train and learns his life story which spans the purges of the 30s, the Great Patriotic War and ends up after his release from the Gulag. Right up your street, I'd say.

[rowan]

Andreï Makine's A Life's Music. Nope; I'd never heard of him either, but this bloke is going to win the Pulitzer. A Russian, writing as a refugee from Paris, Makine couldn't find a publisher until he started telling them that he wrote in Russian and had them translated to French. This one was published in 2001 and I am stunned at the beauty and pain he crams into its 106 pages. Set against the backdrop of Stalin's purges and the Great Patriotic War.

Put down whatever you are reading and go out and buy a copy of A Life's Music; there aren't superlatives enough.

He's a refugee in Paris? Is this during the communist era or the imperial age? Any clues about the plot. This sounds intriguing...

Makine is the 'refugee;' I think he came over in the 80s so hardly a defector. The plot is bloke meets bloke on a train and learns his life story which spans the purges of the 30s, the Great Patriotic War and ends up after his release from the Gulag. Right up your street, I'd say.

Much obliged. Another to look out for. You've given me quite a list! But I've still got the 'Alexandria Quartet' collecting dust on my shelves, so it'll be a wee while yet before I go a book-hunting once again...

[paddy no 11]

I should say I finished war and peace - only took 8 months! Well worth the effort though, read it next time you break a leg or something and have a bit of downtime

[SerjeantWildgoose]

Hubert Mingarelli's A Meal in Winter. So while Rowan is bogged down in Alexandria and Paddy is recuperating after War and Peace, I am rattling through a couple of short stories by authors I'd not previously heard of. Mingarelli clearly showcases his talents as a writer for young adults, though there is nothing juvenile about A Meal in Winter, which explores a day in the life of three members of one of the infamous special police battalions that operated in the rear areas of Nazi occupied Poland. It offers a disturbing exploration of the irremediable banality of the murder of the Jews by portraying the horrendous 'humanity' of three of the so-called ordinary men.

My appreciation of what is a well-crafted short story was somewhat marred by unavoidable comparisons with the book I read immediately before it; Makine's A Life's Music. Where Makine was superb, Mingarelli is merely good but well worth a read (You'll see it off in a single sitting).

[paddy no 11]

Per Peterson's I Refuse, not a patch on Out stealing horses - but I just wanted something simple to read post war and peace and this fitted the bill fine. Apparently his Siberia is better and I'll read that soon enough as well

[rowan]

RIP

Only read The Name of the Rose, personally, but I'm hoping to get around to reading more of his work...

The celebrated Italian intellectual Umberto Eco, who shot to fame with his 1980 novel The Name of the Rose, has been remembered as a master of Italian culture after his death at the age of 84.

https://www.theguardian.com/books/2016/ ... es-aged-84

[SerjeantWildgoose]

Alexander Maksik's A Marker to Measure Drift. This one caught my eye in a recent visit to Foyles on Charing Cross Road, simply because the blurb on the back said that its setting was, in part, during the wars in Liberia shortly before my tour there. Yep, they were in there! All the fecking gruesome horrors. Having seen it first hand, I wasn't perhaps as shocked by the violence as some might be; what really caught my emotions was the pitiful, terrifying and precarious life lived by an illegal immigrant.

[rowan]

Alexander Maksik's A Marker to Measure Drift. This one caught my eye in a recent visit to Foyles on Charing Cross Road, simply because the blurb on the back said that its setting was, in part, during the wars in Liberia shortly before my tour there. Yep, they were in there! All the fecking gruesome horrors. Having seen it first hand, I wasn't perhaps as shocked by the violence as some might be; what really caught my emotions was the pitiful, terrifying and precarious life lived by an illegal immigrant.

Who did the violence involve, and in which country was the immigrant living precariously?

A

[SerjeantWildgoose]

Violence involved LURD in Monrovia. The immigrant, a survivor of the incident, was on a Greek island.

[rowan]

Violence involved LURD in Monrovia. The immigrant, a survivor of the incident, was on a Greek island.

Ah, yes, the Charles Taylor days. Sounds like a fun read...

[SerjeantWildgoose]

Violence involved LURD in Monrovia. The immigrant, a survivor of the incident, was on a Greek island.

Ah, yes, the Charles Taylor days. Sounds like a fun read...

Not so much ...

[rowan]

Some of the best books I've read online:

Banned in Arkansas schools, but available online here http://www.historyisaweapon.com/zinnape ... story.html

Also available online: https://archive.org/stream/fp_Open_Vein ... a_djvu.txt

Precopius & other classic histories https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/12 ... mages.html