Classical Gas: George Gissing's NEW GRUB STREET (1891): RGBIB 358

[@jamesmorgan5671]

LOVE the tee-shirt

[@larrycarr4562]

Thanks Scott! What the world needs now is a long soak in the 🛁… more master bathing!

[@jesuisnoach]

I'm currently reading Gravity's Rainbow. Wish me luck.

[@Scottmbradfield]

Good luck! (I never managed to finish it myself, but love AGAINST THE DAY, INHERENT VICE etc.) s

[@excelsiorathletic]

Love Gissing. His work can be summarised in three words: 'Not...enough...money.' Dorothy Parker wrote a verse about not having read him before.

[@Scottmbradfield]

Funny how so many things come together and meet in the bathtub! What's the Parker poem called?

[@excelsiorathletic]

@Scottmbradfield can't remember: only one stanza.

[@excelsiorathletic]

@@Scottmbradfield "When I admit neglect of Gissing, They say I don't know what I'm missing. Until their arguments are subtler, I think I'll stick to Samuel Butler." Dorothy Parker

[@nickdolan3741]

Thanks for covering this book, I really enjoyed it when I read it. My favorite character was the anemic guy who spent years working on the hyperrealist novel about a grocer and his wife, describing every last detail of their lives. He was 100+ years ahead of his time, the late Victorian Knausgaard.

[@Scottmbradfield]

Yeah! Was it Biffen? He saves his novel from the fire and it still never makes any money! Truer fiction was never written... s

[@nickdolan3741]

@@Scottmbradfield It WAS Biffen! How could I forget about the climactic garret fire?

[@donaldkelly3983]

New Grub Street and Gissing himself just got a mention in my Victorian Lit textbook and that was it. On your recommendation, I'll get it out of the library.

[@Scottmbradfield]

Report back what you think! s

[@TimMcLain-rf3vj]

This is the second book I read on my Kindle, a gift from my daughter. Loved it (the novel, that is.) The first was also by Gissing, The Nether World, also great. A good friend first mentioned him to me and I later asked what was his favorite book by Gissing. He said he'd never read any of them, just thought I'd appreciate knowing of him.

[@Scottmbradfield]

Interesting... Gissing has always had a devoted following and now I see why...

[@larrycarr4562]

Tim, enjoy! My son bought me a kindle about 12 yrs ago I was retiring and we were traveling 1/2 the year… can’t pack enough books. With Kindle it’s the reverse it’s so many book, so little time. It has increased my reading, last yr 80 bks, this year closing in on 100. What I really like is high lighting, and then formulating a review based on passages copied. Also the ease of looking up words, or reference to wiki has helped with my education @ 75. Bezos is a bastard, but the availability and affordability of ebks. has made my compromise IMO worth it.

[@lukestables708]

Have you talked about your experience living in London/UK before? Would be interested to hear more, not least since I'm from England. I read Paul Theroux's The Kingdom by the Sea, which I really loved and felt was spot on (not to mention Iron Rooster for China). Maybe a US perspective is one of the best for understanding the place? Never heard of Gissing but I love Orwell's novels. It's now on the list!

[@Scottmbradfield]

Gissing is definitely great on London, as is Dickens, who he admired. I loved London and lived there many decades, you should definitely get over there...maybe today! s

[@ChrisC-ei2kc]

OHHHH, master bather; Like Trumbo, Roman Catholics and Baptists.