OY: UKRM Book club

I finished my first Evelyn Waugh book last night - "A Handful of
Dust". I'd picked it up in a 2nd hand book sale, and tho I'd not read
any Waugh, I knew that "Decline and Fall", "Vile Bodies" and "Scoop"
were renowned inter-war novels, so I thought I'd give it a go.

Jesus, what a depressing book! I thought Waugh was meant to be witty?
Have I just picked a bad one?

 

haven't read a single one, sorry.

 

<disappointed> And I was relying on you. Bet TOG has read some.

 

I've read very little mid-C20th fiction, actually.

 

Champ muttered:

I think the Waugh I've read are witty - but they're also very dark.
Not necessarily "happy reading".....

 

I've enjoyed both "Time" and "God" by Alexander Waugh, what do I win?


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"Handful of Dust" was *really* dark - basically a fairly decent chap
has his life taken apart (loses his wife, then son) and ends his days
the prisoner of a psychopath in the Amazonian jungle!

 

I haven't read any.

 

I enjoyed The War Zone by Alexander Stuart, what do I win?

 

No. IMV only "Scoop" has any semblance of wit, and even that is pretty
laboured - made more tolerable by William Boot 'being' William Deedes, who's
still going strong-ish at the age of 163 or whatever. Equally, I am totally
impervious to the supposed wit of Jane Austen. That comes of being taught
English by a determined Jane-ite, who seemed to find something to giggle at
in virtually every comma. Lawrence Durrell's 'comic' novels of embassy life
are also a hard grind, although I'm sure they were hilarious at the time.
Comedy's a tricky creature, which has a very limited shelf-life. In film,
Charlie Chaplin has always left me cold whereas Buster Keaton's more
physical comedy still makes me laugh.

 

I enjoyed winning the officer raffle, what do I read?

 

I enjoyed "Granny made me an Anarchist" by Stuart Christie, what do I
win?

 

Um, some sort of hand grenade, maybe.


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I was thinking more of "Coming up for air".

 

"Luck of the draw" by Ned Manning


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He went to catch those fish didn't he - admittedly they weren't there
anymore but that was a gripping bit. Plus he won the office sweepstake IIRC.

 

<Serious>

Have you ever read it? On of the least eventful books ever, IMHO.

Pages and pages devoted to a beautifully drawn character, waiting round for
something to do.


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Ah. Well, I still like to read "Scoop", if only so that I can quote
"Up to a point, Lord Copper" from the original.

Mind you, according to
http://www.brothersjudd.com/index.cfm/fuseaction/reviews.detail/book_id/896/Handful of D.htm
it might be his greatest novel! I think Waugh must have been on a bit
of a downer when he wrote it.

I really can't get on with any 19th century literature; I've never
read any Austin, and I'm unlikely to, either.

 

He did win the office sweepstake, yes. Ten pounds or something, wasn't
it[1]?

Anyway, don't forget the childhood sweetheart plot ... that was a real
barnstormer.


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Or maybe a shag from a close relative.