Name: The Ginger Man
ISBN: 9780349108759

The Ginger Man

Set in Dublin, Ireland, in the post-war year of 1947, this novel tells the story of a group of college students at Trinity College. Written by Irish-American author J. P. Donleavy (whose own background may have formed the basis for the setting), the novel faced censorship and banning in both Ireland and the United States.

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teh_klevAug 2023

If you enjoy this style of writing with its pithy observations then I can recommend J.P. Donleavy's "The Unexpurgated Code: A Complete Manual of Survival & Manners":

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Unexpurgated-Code-Complete-Survival...

I read this on a train and the tears were dripping off my face whilst trying to control my laughter. I got plenty of funny looks.

Donleavy's "The Ginger Man" is also well worth a read.

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teh_klevNov 2019

In addition to coldtea's excellent list, there's a handful of modern novels that have always stood out for me over the past 30-40 years of reading:

The Testament of Gideon Mack: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/014102335X

Hard Boiled Wonderland: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/0099448785

Walking on Glass: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B002TXZTE8

The Ginger Man: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/0349108757

Perhaps not true cult classics, but they're often titles I've recommended or just buy for friends many times, and go back and re-read periodically.

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Daniel_MarcosNov 2016

I like the following quote by Neil Gaiman about 50 Shades and other best-sellers:

"If ever you’re curious, go and look at the annual bestseller lists for years gone by. You’ll find a lot of books that sold an unbelievable number of copies when they were fashionable. I’m sure The Revolt of Mamie Stover also sold more books than Ray Bradbury will ever have sold in his whole life in its year. Have you read it? Heard of it? Off the top of my head, Peyton Place in its year, or The Gospel According to Peanuts, or The Ginger Man, or Jonathan Livingstone Seagull in their years undoubtedly outsold all of Ray Bradbury. But when their day is done, mostly those kind of books drift back into the void, and go, if not out of print, then back into a world where nobody quite knows why they sold that many copies any more. (Do you know who Gilbert Patten was? He sold about 500 million books in his lifetime…)

Meanwhile, Ray Bradbury sold quite a lot of books in 1956, and quite a lot of books in 2006 (Fahrenheit 451 alone has sold over 5 million copies), and he found his readers for his books and his stories in every year. And I’ll wager a hundred years from now he’ll still be read…

So, honestly, I wouldn’t fret, if I were you.

Nothing’s changed. Some books are, often inexplicably, bestsellers. That’s been the way of it for a hundred and fifty years or more.

Read the books you love, tell people about authors you like, and don’t worry about it."

[1]

[1] http://neil-gaiman.tumblr.com/post/25461828644/hi-neil-in-a-...

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teh_klevAug 2013

I agree with this totally. Also, I have friends who have shelves loaded with all sorts of interesting books. When left alone for a moment in their lounges, whilst they head to the kitchen to make a cuppa, it's nice to be able to peruse their collections of art, cookery, fiction books etc. They become a talking point and a single book spotted on a shelf can initiate many hours of pleasurable discourse.

If these were digitised they'd most likely be stored on the same device as their personal and private matters, and one does not out of good manners, automatically fire up their PC's or tablets to go and have a rummage around.

I have hundreds of books and I'd find it hard to decide which ones should hit the recycler. To this day yet even my scrappy 1970's paperback copies of stuff like 1984, Brave New World or The Ginger Man still elicit long conversations because visiting friends can freely browse your shelves.

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