Wednesday, April 4, 2012

Waiting on Wednesday - Ancient Light; John Banville


Waiting on Wednesday is a weekly event hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine that spotlights upcoming releases that we are eagerly anticipating! Want to participate? Post your own WOW entry on your blog, and leave your link at Breaking the Spine. My pick is:


October 2, 2012 - Knopf
 
The Man Booker Prize-winning author of The Sea gives us a brilliant, profoundly moving new novel about an actor in the twilight of his life and his career: a meditation on love and loss, and on the inscrutable immediacy of the past in our present lives.

Is there any difference between memory and invention? That is the question that fuels this stunning novel, written with the depth of character, the clarifying lyricism, and the heart-wrenching humor that have marked all of John Banville's extraordinary works. And it is the question that haunts Alexander Cleave as he plumbs the memories of his first—and perhaps only—love (he, just fifteen, the woman more than twice his age, the mother of his best friend; the situation impossible, thrilling, devouring, and finally devastating) . . . and of his daughter, lost to a kind of madness of mind and heart that Cleave can only fail to understand. When his stunted acting career is suddenly, inexplicably revived with a movie role portraying a man who may not be who he says he is, his young leading lady—famous and fragile—unwittingly gives him the opportunity to see with aching clarity the "chasm that yawns between the doing of a thing and the recollection of what was done."

19 comments:

  1. I haven't heard of it before, but I think it sounds really good!

    Patricia // My WOW

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  2. Hmmm....actually this one sounds like one of those that I struggle to get a real sense of ahead of time. I'd probably have to pick it up and read the first few pages.

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    1. I sort of felt the same way, but he is a prize-winning author so I felt it should be good, at least quite literary.

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  3. Wow, how have I not heard of this author? This one sounds so enticing, that it simply has to go on my list.

    Enjoy!

    Here's MY WOW POST

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  4. I'm thinking that this will be a great read!!

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  5. New to me as well but sounds like a good author to try and I am always on the look out for new to me authors. Have a Happy Easter!

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  6. I think the Man Booker prize winners are always a solid pick! I've always had good luck with the winners as well as anyone that was shortlisted for the prize.

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  7. WOW - this looks like a great book. Adding it to my list!

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  8. I also had not heard of this one, but it sounds pretty good! Thanks for the spotlight!

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  9. It does sound interesting but the cover seems a bit odd. I know, don't judge a book...

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  10. I like the sound of this and, hopefully, because it's John Banville's work, it has substanbce and is a captivating read.

    You have a knack for finding great upcoming books!

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  11. Didn't know John Banville had a new book coming out. This sounds great!

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  12. I hadn't heard of this before but it sounds great. One for the wishlist and I really like the quiet subtleness of the cover too.

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  13. Memory definitely distorts things as time goes by. It sounds like a very introspective story.

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  14. I have Banville's The Sea in my TBR box for a while now. But Ancient Light sounds like one I'd like to read more. I need to read two more books by Irish writers to complete my Ireland Challenge. So I think I'll try to get hold of this one. Thanks for your review. It sounds like Barnes' The Sense of an Ending, no?

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