Recent Reads 240909: Richard Yates, Jean-Dominique Bauby

[@drainel9707]

Richard Yates is my favorite author. Love to see people talking about his stuff outside of his most famous work, Revolutionary Road

[@SluggishReader]

@@drainel9707 I read Revolutionary Road some years ago and loved it and that was how I discovered him. Do you have any recommendation? I got one on my shelf - A Good School - which I have not read.

[@drainel9707]

@@SluggishReader Easter Parade might be he best but Good School is fantastic too, especially since you already have it. I don't really think he wrote any bad books/stories

[@SluggishReader]

@@drainel9707 Thank you for the suggestion!

[@ThatsSoPoe]

Way to go on getting through those books so quickly after buying them! And that's awesome that you found a new 5-star read. I quite enjoyed The Diving Bell and the Butterfly when I read it a few years ago too.

[@SluggishReader]

@@ThatsSoPoe That feeling when you found a new 5-star read is so precious 🧡🧡

[@myreadinglife8816]

Loved seeing your hometown and the river! I enjoyed Revolutionary Road by Yates but I have not read anything else by him.

[@SluggishReader]

@@myreadinglife8816 Thank you Heidi! 🧡🧡

[@alldbooks9165]

I don’t like when the author tries to deliberately manipulate me emotionally. Funnily, it bothers me even more in nonfiction. Your hometown is beautiful. I love how lush the palm trees are near the water. Here everything is so cultivated.

[@SluggishReader]

@@alldbooks9165 I have similar expectation for nonfiction too, probably because I think if the manipulation feels too obvious, then likely the author is trying too hard to force their narrative (about something real) on me. Honestly I do not know what is exactly on the other side of the river with the coconut trees. When I lived in Simanggang 20 years ago, that side was only accessible by boat. I thought there may be villages but Google maps show only trees. I believe a bridge is being built right now (clip №1).

[@davidnovakreadspoetry]

I’ve heard the title Diving Bell and the Butterfly before but didn’t know what it was about. I haven’t read any short stories this year. Richard Yates sounds interesting for the future. That was an unexpected anecdote about W. Somerset Maugham. Did he write about it somewhere?

[@SluggishReader]

@@davidnovakreadspoetry I'm not sure if he wrote it somewhere himself.. though I found that someone named Nigel Barley mentioned that detail in a biography of James Brooke. He did visit Sarawak in the 1920s however. Apparently it was said that that experience was an inspiration for one of W Somerset Maugham's short stories.

[@davidnovakreadspoetry]

@@SluggishReader Having recently read _The White Rajahs_ by Runciman I feel like I practically know your neighborhood. 😂 (*not really)

[@SluggishReader]

@@davidnovakreadspoetry 🤣🤣🤣🤭