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ampersunder's review
4.0
‰ЫПThe General, speaking one felt with authority, always insisted that, if you bring off adequate preservation of your personal myth, nothing much else in life matters. It is not what happens to people that is significant, but what they think happens to them.‰Ыќ
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"Neat, sad, geared perfectly in outward appearance to the sombre nature of the occasion, Tolland stood, head slightly bent, gazing at the damp grass beneath his feet. He had once admitted to having travelled as far as Singapore. One wondered how he had ever managed to get there and back again."
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"Neat, sad, geared perfectly in outward appearance to the sombre nature of the occasion, Tolland stood, head slightly bent, gazing at the damp grass beneath his feet. He had once admitted to having travelled as far as Singapore. One wondered how he had ever managed to get there and back again."
osina's review against another edition
funny
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
4.0
sophronisba's review
3.0
Could not get into this one at all. Felt like one of the weaker installments in the series to me, although I do see a bunch of five-star reviews, so maybe it was just my mood.
smcleish's review against another edition
3.0
Originally published on my blog here in March 2000.
The final, postwar, trilogy of A Dance to the Music of Time opens with Books Do Furnish a Room. Nick Jenkins returns to his literary endeavours by researching a book on Richard Burton, author of [b:The Anatomy of Melancholy|557658|The Anatomy of Melancholy|Robert Burton|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1320436436s/557658.jpg|4439201], at his old Cambridge college. However, he soon becomes involved in a left-wing publishing company, partly financed by Kenneth Widmerpool, now an MP in the new Labour government. He helps to run the short lived literary magazine Fission, whose editor's nickname forms the title of the novel (he once spoilt a seduction by being surprised by his surroundings into making this comment at a passionate moment).
Thw war seems to have changed relatively little in Nick Jenkins' world, though it had more effect on Widmerpool: much of the novel is taken up with the strange behaviour of his beautiful but neurotic wife Pamela, whom he married suddenly during the fighting.
Pamela Widmerpool adds a measure of interest to an otherwise rather dull group of characters, but I still find it hard to see the significance perceived in the series by so many critics of the time
The final, postwar, trilogy of A Dance to the Music of Time opens with Books Do Furnish a Room. Nick Jenkins returns to his literary endeavours by researching a book on Richard Burton, author of [b:The Anatomy of Melancholy|557658|The Anatomy of Melancholy|Robert Burton|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1320436436s/557658.jpg|4439201], at his old Cambridge college. However, he soon becomes involved in a left-wing publishing company, partly financed by Kenneth Widmerpool, now an MP in the new Labour government. He helps to run the short lived literary magazine Fission, whose editor's nickname forms the title of the novel (he once spoilt a seduction by being surprised by his surroundings into making this comment at a passionate moment).
Thw war seems to have changed relatively little in Nick Jenkins' world, though it had more effect on Widmerpool: much of the novel is taken up with the strange behaviour of his beautiful but neurotic wife Pamela, whom he married suddenly during the fighting.
Pamela Widmerpool adds a measure of interest to an otherwise rather dull group of characters, but I still find it hard to see the significance perceived in the series by so many critics of the time
darwin8u's review against another edition
4.0
"Imagination must, of course, select and arrange reality, but it must be for imaginative ends: all too often the role of imagination in this sequence is to funny-up events and people whose only significance . . . is that Powell has experienced them."
- Philip Larkins, in a review of 'Books Do Furnish a Room'
Anthony Powell's 10th book in his 'Dance to the Music of Time' cycle starts with a discussion of Robert Burton's [b:The Anatomy of Melancholy|557658|The Anatomy of Melancholy|Robert Burton|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1320436436s/557658.jpg|4439201]* and this book (and themes of melancholy and love) reappear frequently throughout the novel.
The central plot thrust of book 10, or the first book of the final season/October (if you will) centers on X. Trapnel a novelist loosely based on Julian McLaren-Ross a writer described by his biographer as "mediocre caretaker of his own immense talent". This novel is the first of the post WWII novels. It takes place in the years immediately after WWII when England is dealing with the social and economic turmoil of the Post war years. Powell describes these changes by describing how the sea and tides will roll certain things back, lose certain things, and propel new things onto shore. I'm obviously paraphrasing because it is late and I haven't the energy right now to find the damn quote. Anyway, it was an interesting brick in this series, not my favorite, but rewarding for some of its dialogue and plot twists.
* An amazingly rich work that I'm almost done with myself (I've got two hundred pages left in the last of the three partitions. I've spent about 3 years worth of Sundays intermittently reading while sitting through church. I'm not sure of my wife is thrilled with me reading Burton in Church, but Burton's explorations of Melancholy seem to almost need an altar or some sacred space to read it near.
- Philip Larkins, in a review of 'Books Do Furnish a Room'
Anthony Powell's 10th book in his 'Dance to the Music of Time' cycle starts with a discussion of Robert Burton's [b:The Anatomy of Melancholy|557658|The Anatomy of Melancholy|Robert Burton|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1320436436s/557658.jpg|4439201]* and this book (and themes of melancholy and love) reappear frequently throughout the novel.
The central plot thrust of book 10, or the first book of the final season/October (if you will) centers on X. Trapnel a novelist loosely based on Julian McLaren-Ross a writer described by his biographer as "mediocre caretaker of his own immense talent". This novel is the first of the post WWII novels. It takes place in the years immediately after WWII when England is dealing with the social and economic turmoil of the Post war years. Powell describes these changes by describing how the sea and tides will roll certain things back, lose certain things, and propel new things onto shore. I'm obviously paraphrasing because it is late and I haven't the energy right now to find the damn quote. Anyway, it was an interesting brick in this series, not my favorite, but rewarding for some of its dialogue and plot twists.
* An amazingly rich work that I'm almost done with myself (I've got two hundred pages left in the last of the three partitions. I've spent about 3 years worth of Sundays intermittently reading while sitting through church. I'm not sure of my wife is thrilled with me reading Burton in Church, but Burton's explorations of Melancholy seem to almost need an altar or some sacred space to read it near.
lnatal's review against another edition
4.0
Pre-war characters reappear, and a younger generation spearheaded by Pamela Flitton take the lead in the narrative. Some of Nick's contemporaries are seen to have become middle-aged and staid, others more radical.
A change in the political tide is conveyed with some satirical fun at the expense of the more doctrinaire figures. The introduction of the bohemian Trapnel moves the centre of gravity towards literature, with a discussion of naturalism in the novel recurring.
4* A Question of Upbringing (A Dance to the Music of Time, #1)
4* A Buyer's Market (A Dance to the Music of Time #2)
4* The Acceptance World (A Dance to the Music of Time, #3)
4* At Lady Molly's (A Dance to the Music of Time, #4)
4* Casanova's Chinese Restaurant (A Dance to the Music of Time, #5)
4* The Kindly Ones (A Dance to the Music of Time, #6)
4* The Valley of Bones (A Dance to the Music of Time, #7)
4* The Soldier's Art (A Dance to the Music of Time, #8)
4* The Military Philosophers (A Dance to the Music of Time, #9)
4* Books Do Furnish a Room (A Dance to the Music of Time, #10)
TR Temporary Kings (A Dance to the Music of Time, #11)
TR Hearing Secret Harmonies (A Dance to the Music of Time, #12)
onerodeahorse's review against another edition
4.0
On the other side of the war, Jenkins & co find themselves navigating the publishing world in a rather diminished and battle-scarred London.
gengelcox's review against another edition
4.0
I'm into the home stretch of Powell's Top 100 Modern novel series (in a sense, like Tolkien's "The Lord of the Rings," this series by Powell is a meta-novel; unlike Tolkien, however, Powell was the one to split his sections into separate books), and it is gaining momentum, mainly because of the inertia gained from having placed this much of a time investment into the series. The title of this novel has to be my favorite, and the anecdote within the book from which it comes is quite amusing--a character receives the nickname Books for his statement, upon entering the library of a home in which he is about to commit an adulterous act with the wife of a prominent book person that "books do furnish a room." This kind of droll, understated, and somewhat dark humor is indicative of Powell's series.
This picks up in the aftermath of World War II, as Jenkins and his friends attempt to return to life as civilians. Jenkins becomes the book review editor for a magazine that was endowed by his brother-in-law, Erry, and is also supported by Widmerpool, newly elected MP. Jenkins is fascinated with the novelist X. Trapnel, a strange free spirit of words who is constantly in debt and quite deft with "the touch" (i.e., borrowing from friends and acquaintances), yet who can follow up a touch with the offer of buying a beer for the person from whom he just borrowed a quid. Trapnel finds himself entranced by Pamela Widmerpool, but, as readers of the previous book should know, this is doomed to be disadvantageous to everyone involved but Pamela herself.
The description of how a small literary magazine was run in the post-war era is quite interesting, and unfortunately put in the background as Powell features the actions of the characters. Jenkins sees the magazine as a job, and his interest, as always, is in the gossip that can be provided by the changing of partners in this complex dance of life. Maybe I'm just a wallflower, who finds more beauty in the decorations than in just who is dancing with who on the floor. However, midnight is drawing near on the dance, and most couples are, as Molly Ivins would say, "dancing with the one what brung ya." It will be amusing to see if there are any coaches turning into pumpkins in the last two books.
This picks up in the aftermath of World War II, as Jenkins and his friends attempt to return to life as civilians. Jenkins becomes the book review editor for a magazine that was endowed by his brother-in-law, Erry, and is also supported by Widmerpool, newly elected MP. Jenkins is fascinated with the novelist X. Trapnel, a strange free spirit of words who is constantly in debt and quite deft with "the touch" (i.e., borrowing from friends and acquaintances), yet who can follow up a touch with the offer of buying a beer for the person from whom he just borrowed a quid. Trapnel finds himself entranced by Pamela Widmerpool, but, as readers of the previous book should know, this is doomed to be disadvantageous to everyone involved but Pamela herself.
The description of how a small literary magazine was run in the post-war era is quite interesting, and unfortunately put in the background as Powell features the actions of the characters. Jenkins sees the magazine as a job, and his interest, as always, is in the gossip that can be provided by the changing of partners in this complex dance of life. Maybe I'm just a wallflower, who finds more beauty in the decorations than in just who is dancing with who on the floor. However, midnight is drawing near on the dance, and most couples are, as Molly Ivins would say, "dancing with the one what brung ya." It will be amusing to see if there are any coaches turning into pumpkins in the last two books.
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