Non fiction: Worst book 2018!

• Author:  A.J. Liebling
• Title: Just Enough Liebling
• Published: 2004
• Trivia: A posthumous collection of Liebling’s writings
• Finished: 19.09.2018
• Genre: non-fiction
• Rating: F-  (..can I go any lower?)
  
• List of Challenges 2018
• Monthly  plan
• #20BooksOfAutumn

 

Quickscan:

I cannot for the life of me understand the high
scores this booked has accrued on Goodreads.com

Reading books that numb my soul
teach me to appreciate how
a good book can change a life!

This books wins the prize.
Worst non-fiction I read in 2018
and here is why…

 

• If you have the time….here are my notes.
• If you decide to skip this review
• …I understand completely!

 

At Table In Paris:

1. Liebling studied in Paris 1925-1926 and
2. traveled around Normandy etc.
3. The stories are filled with references
4. to buildings and streets he knows well.

 

Paris the First:

1. Liebling describes his visit to Paris with his parents in 1911
2. He was 7 years old…and I wonder if a child is a reliable narrator.
3. While Liebling’s parents dine on French food and wine “en ville’
4. …he was firmly in the care of a dreaded nanny ‘fraulëin”
5. This chapter was quaint but awful.
6. It was an overblown narrative about childhood memories and
7. fantasies with nanny and family in Paris.
8. I lost interest about half way through the story.
9. I hope the dispatches from the WW II years will be better.

 

The War and After:

1. Unfortunately the reports written during Liebling’s time in Europe
2. during WW II were disappointing to say the least.
3. He is still gushing about food and wine and not
4. enough storytelling about the people. Unbalanced.

 

Letter From Paris June 1940:

1. Clinical tone…I expected more emotion describing the dread of
2. invasion of Paris after Holland and Belgium’s swift collapse.
3. The images I remember from Suite Française (I. Némirovsky)
4. …are still vivd in my mind.
5. Liebling did not come close to
6. describing the angst the Parisians felt with the
7. Germans standing ready to pounce on the city.

 

Westbound Tanker:

1. Trip from England in convoy sailing to
2. …Port Arthur Texas during WW II.
3. This story was just pointless
4. …waste of my reading time.

 

Quest for Mollie:

1. This was not a WW II dispatch…..it was a novella!
2. I just cannot understand the praise given to
3. Liebling’s WW II correspondance.
4. His stories are too long…and I cannot find a moment
5. the hook ” that captures my attention.
6. This is yet another chapter that I have started in good faith
7. …and ended up being disappointed.

 

Days with the Daydaybay:

1. Long description of Liebling’s
2. ….walk around the streets of the Sorbonne.
3. He recalls his student days there.
4. Long description of Liebling’s entry into liberated Paris.
5. The narrative includes his fellow reporters from other
6. newspapers: Jack Roach and A. Morrison.
7. This was one of the better stories….but still too, too long.
8. Details, details and more details that numbed this reader.

 

The Hounds with Sad Voices:

1. Liebling returns to Normandy (1957) and is
2. searching for a chateau. All he can remember is
3. the sound of hounds with sad voices near the building.
4. But as always Liebling’s days end in restaurants.
5. This is yet anothr gastronomic exposition….ho-hum.
6. It is no surprise that Liebling loved his food and drink.
7. He drank and ate excessively and reached a weight of 250 lbs.
8. He sufferd gout in the later years of his life.
9. He died at the young age of 59 yr.

 

City Life: The Jollity Building …and the rest of the stories

1. The last half of the book describes
2. …colorful promoters, boxers, trips to the
3. ….Place Bar & Grill.
4. Liebling loved the horses so we also
5. read about the Turf & Field Club and Belmont Racetrack.
6. Eating again…

 

Conclusion:

1. Libeling wrote for The New Yorker magazine so
2. we can assume he was a good writer.
3. But in my opinion the stories were too long and
4. the pace was slow because of downpour of
5. details that inundated this reader.
6. Liebling’s vivid descriptions of boxing matches
7. and other sporting events are of a bygone era.
8. It did not interest me at all.
9. In truth…I read 60% of the book…then skimmed the rest.
10. I was glad when I could close the book.
11. #SoDisappointed
12. Reading books that numb my soul
13. teache me to appreciate how
14. a good book can change a life!
15. This books wins the prize.
16. Worst non-fiction I read in 2018….so far!