Now, more than ever, this is a book that needs to be read. Continue reading
Archive for Anna Karenina
James Joyce’s ‘Ulysses’ – the Warm-Up with Coach Rodney Hall.
Posted in Fiction, Reading, Real Men with tags Anna Karenina, Cubism, David Foster Wallace, James Joyce, Kant, Picasso, Schopenhauer, The Bloomsday Book, Ulysses, Venus in Furs, War and Peace on November 23, 2013 by Jarrod BoyleJ: I guess that’s what War and Peace is about. It’s about what happens when people are forced to cope with the force of history as it’s bearing down on them, which I guess is the way Tolstoy would have looked at it.
R: I’m so glad you liked War and Peace. I knew you would. When you were reading Anna Karenina, you were telling me ‘There couldn’t possibly be a better novel’. And then, there was. Continue reading
Tolstoy Versus Napoleon
Posted in Reading, Real Men with tags Anna Karenina, Battle of Borodino, Brothers Karamazov, colonel kurtz, Napoleon, napoleonic war, Tolstoy, War and Peace on February 24, 2012 by Jarrod BoyleThe thing about a book like War and Peace that first makes an impression on you is its size. Continue reading
Madame Bovary Pt II
Posted in Reading with tags Age Newspaper Short Story Prize, Anna Karenina, Being and Nothingness, Gustave Flaubert, Henry Fielding, Jean Paul Sartre, Kath and Kim, Madame Bovary, Patrick White, Summer Heights High, The Tree of Man, Tolstoy, Tom Jones on February 1, 2011 by Jarrod BoyleAccording to my oft-quoted list of ‘Time’s 10 Best Books Ever Written’, Madame Bovary ranks number two, coming in just behind Anna Karenina. Continue reading
My Favorite Book
Posted in Reading with tags Anna Karenina, Dostoyevsky, Leo Tolstoy, The Brothers Karamazov on November 22, 2010 by Jarrod BoyleI referred to the Time list of the best books ever written some weeks ago. I’ve been thinking about it since, and the list has probably destroyed my interest in ‘best of’ lists for ever after. Which may prove to be a good thing. But what it did raise to my attention was the ludicrous inclusion of The Great Gatsby – I mean, give me a break. I’m not saying Fitzgerald isn’t good, but Dosteyevsky has done turds that dwarf Gatsby. Continue reading
The Kreutzer Sonata
Posted in Reading with tags Anna Karenina, Leo Tolstoy, The Kreutzer Sonata on October 29, 2010 by Jarrod BoyleHoly shit – now this is a frightening book. Continue reading
The Lost Art of Reading
Posted in Reading with tags Anna Karenina, Charlie Parker, Dickens, Dostoyevsky, Henry Fielding, Herman Melville, Jean Genet, Moby Dick, Rodney Hall, Shakespeare, The Brothers Karamazov, The Scarlet and the Black, Tolstoy, Tom Jones, War and Peace, Wynton Marsalis on September 4, 2010 by Jarrod BoyleThe Lost Art of Reading
This entry takes its title from Rodney Hall’s keynote address at the 2010 Byron Bay Writer’s Festival. I had hoped to begin with a link to the lecture which I believe the ABC filmed and will eventually upload onto youtube. While googling, I found this interview, which is a really interesting introduction to the man.
http://blog.booktopia.com.au/2010/04/27/feature-rodney-hall-author-of-popeye-never-told-you-answers-ten-terrifying-questions/ Continue reading