Posted by LadyPurple on 15/10/2007, 15:04:54, in reply to "Re: Doris Lessing" I read quite a few of her books when I lived in England. I read several of the Children of Violence series as well as The Golden Notebook. And some later work such as The Good Terrorist. I never got into her SciFi stuff although I am told it is excellent for the time - if you like SciFi. The Golden Notebook was a major work for its time - it might feel dated today, I am not sure. We would have to catch up on quite a bit of British history at the time to really get the depth of it. Many other options, such as Memoir of a Survivor - something like a fictional autobiography or one of the later books. I would be happy to read The Grass is singing again. It would give an interesting addition to Gordimer and Coetzee. Written much earlier though. For Lale: The Grass is singing is the book that got me into a email bookgroup where eventually met Stephen... Friederike
65.93.160.148
Good idea Lale and Steven!
--Previous Message--
: I haven't read any of her works. Including one on our
: list next year is a great idea.
:
: Lessing's most celebrated novel, by a huge margin, is
: The Golden Notebook, but it is 640 pages long.
:
: Of her shorter works, I think the best choice might be
: The Grass Is Singing (1950, 243 pages).
:
: From the back cover:
: "Set in South Africa under white rule, Doris
: Lessing's first novel is both a riveting chronicle of
: human disintegration and a beautifully understated
: social critique. Mary Turner is a self-confident,
: independent young woman who becomes the depressed,
: frustrated wife of an ineffectual, unsuccessful
: farmer. Little by little the ennui of years on the
: farm work their slow poison, and Mary's despair
: progresses until the fateful arrival of an enigmatic
: and virile black servant, Moses...."
:
: --Previous Message--
: Doris Lessing won the Nobel Prize.
:
: I read two books of hers: "In Pursuit of the
: English" and a collection of stories, I believe
: it was titled "Room Number Nine".
:
: I loved "In Pursuit of the English", she
: chronicles her adventures after deciding to leave
: South Africa and settle in England.
:
: Room Number Nine had quite a few surreal stories. It
: was interesting but not an extra-ordinary literary
: experience.
:
: I'd like to read another book by her. I will include
: it in my list for 2008. Does anyone have any
: suggestions?
:
: L.
:
:
:
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