I have read all of Mildred Walker and was fortunate to interview her during the time her books were being reprinted, one after the other, by Univ. of Nebraska Press (Bison Books). I'm pretty sure I haven't ever read Cary's The Horse's Mouth but the short excerpt you gave us made me laugh, and makes me think I need to get hold of a copy. I have read several of the "well-known" books, one of the international titles (Ficciones) and I've seen some version of each of the three plays plus two from the "special mention" list. I guess most of these titles (published almost 80 years ago, now) are no longer showing up on college syllabi but I hope some of them remain familiar titles to those of us who read a lot? It has to be a good sign that my local library has a copy of The Horse's Mouth. Of course who knows? I might be the first person to check it out in 20 years....
The film of The Horse's Mouth is a classic--Alec Guinness. I haven't seen it in a long while, and times have changed--Gulley is an artist but also a man with little by way of morals; the zeitgeist is no long so kind on men acting badly--there were so many fifties novels, especially British, that played that card. I hope you do read it. It's the best of the trilogy. I'm glad you overlapped with Mildred Walker. I read Winter Wheat long ago and it's due for a re-read. At the same time I read another work from that time, Black Cherries by Grace Stone Coates. From the 1944 list I just got a copy of Ann Seghers' Transit, so that will go near the top of the TBR list. Thanks for the note!
I'll see if the film is available on a streamer. And thanks for the Black Cherries rec. I have heard of Coates but never read her. Let me know after you read Transit whether that's another one for my TBR pile.
Mildred Walkers Winter Wheat is a treasure. Discovered it in the 90s.
I have read all of Mildred Walker and was fortunate to interview her during the time her books were being reprinted, one after the other, by Univ. of Nebraska Press (Bison Books). I'm pretty sure I haven't ever read Cary's The Horse's Mouth but the short excerpt you gave us made me laugh, and makes me think I need to get hold of a copy. I have read several of the "well-known" books, one of the international titles (Ficciones) and I've seen some version of each of the three plays plus two from the "special mention" list. I guess most of these titles (published almost 80 years ago, now) are no longer showing up on college syllabi but I hope some of them remain familiar titles to those of us who read a lot? It has to be a good sign that my local library has a copy of The Horse's Mouth. Of course who knows? I might be the first person to check it out in 20 years....
The film of The Horse's Mouth is a classic--Alec Guinness. I haven't seen it in a long while, and times have changed--Gulley is an artist but also a man with little by way of morals; the zeitgeist is no long so kind on men acting badly--there were so many fifties novels, especially British, that played that card. I hope you do read it. It's the best of the trilogy. I'm glad you overlapped with Mildred Walker. I read Winter Wheat long ago and it's due for a re-read. At the same time I read another work from that time, Black Cherries by Grace Stone Coates. From the 1944 list I just got a copy of Ann Seghers' Transit, so that will go near the top of the TBR list. Thanks for the note!
I'll see if the film is available on a streamer. And thanks for the Black Cherries rec. I have heard of Coates but never read her. Let me know after you read Transit whether that's another one for my TBR pile.