Ersatz TLS discussion
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Weekly TLS
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What Are We Reading? 2 Nov 2020
Shelflife_wasBooklooker wrote: "Yes, these (false) friends can be quite misleading. I didn't know this either.Yes, quite close in meaning, but just not quite the same. I was silly enough not to realise that 'bra' was short for our 'brassière', but yes, the French ones are of that more rectangular shape, quite floaty in the 20s and 30s, but more sporty and bandeau-like from the 80s and 90s onwards.
I mentioned this before, but another tricky false friend is 'promiscuité', which has caused me some issue in the past. A classic is also the 'sensibilité' which means 'sensitivity', not 'sensibility' (I actually made that mistake today as I was writing an email while working, argh).
The site you link to really leaves me to reason why, too. Quoi sais-je? When I searched for the male corsets, there were some er... interesting search results, too. You can always learn, I suppose."
I am absolutely baffled. It is a genuine seller on ebay, with genuine sales of bras. But with a rather odd modelling/photoshopping to say the least. (Is it ok to correct your French bl? I think you could write 'Que sais-je?' which would mean 'what do I know', or 'Qu'en sais-je?' which would be more 'what do I know about it'.)
PaleFires wrote: "Hey Glad! You'll probably already know by the time you see this in your omniscient way, but..."No, I hadn't seen it, and I might have missed it as I had already visited that page early last night and only PatLux had made one contribution then I think, thanks a lot! (I wish I had not googled @Mach's contribution... Fais de beaux rêves - not!)
John wrote: "Just made my first purchase from the UK instance of bookshop.org having been tipped off by an article in today’s Graun. This sounds like an excellent development which may save many independent boo..."AB76 wrote: "Morning all, breezy in SE England, the rain clearing and autumn well advanced
I am fascinated by "Arab Travellers in the Far North", a penguin collection of tales from the 8th-12th century, regard..."
A Stillness at Appomattox is a fine book that sent me through several other Bruce Catton Civil War books. His Grant Moves South is as good as "Stillness."
Greenfairy wrote: "Alan wrote: "Greenfairy wrote: "Alan wrote: "Why is Goodreads so... outdated?Welcome first of all, I will certainly add Looking to Get Lost to 'want to read' as I love the music you mention as wel..."
Greenfairy wrote: "Alan wrote: "Greenfairy wrote: "Alan wrote: "Why is Goodreads so... outdated?
Welcome first of all, I will certainly add Looking to Get Lost to 'want to read' as I love the music you mention as wel..."
@Greenfairy 'Twas I that posted Handel!'
At my time of life I'd rather listen to GFH than to JH, unlike 50 years ago.
Is anyone here a fan of Ian Fleming's bond books? I've never read one.
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I agree too.
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https://www.theguardian.com/books/pic...
Ernaux's "A Mans Place" isa fascinating concise and dispassionate observation of a lifeon a film front i watched the film "Bombshell" about fox news and the Ailes scandal, set in 2016, Trump is on the way up, fitting to watch it in a week when FINALLY he is on the way down. I thought Charlize Theron and Margot Robbie were brilliant, the sleazy actions of Roger Ailes were stomach turning
Machenbach wrote: "AB76 wrote: "A Mans Place by Annie Ernaux."I've read a few Ernaux, and feel like I've had enough for the time being, but let me know how this one pans out for you."
i like the idea of a female non-fiction and oral history in last 2 years or so, not the Rachel Cusk or british kind but the european or american version (Alexeivich, Gornick, Ernaux)
any news on what the Guardian is doing about TLS? Have they admitted their huge mistake? is this the right subforum for the question?
Machenbach wrote: "I think Niplferd's the fella for that, but I don't believe that he's joined us here."No, he said he'd use the 'pause' of TLS to take a bit of a break, and maybe start being a bit more active around Christmas again.
For the link, the url needs to be put in.
Replacing every [ by < and every ] by >, what you did was:
[a]Sheela na gig[/a]
so it knows this is a link because of the [a] bookending, but does not know where to.
It needs to look like:
[a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sheela_..."] Sheela na gig[/a]
I am in bed in pain, and these statues are defo no help at all! 😱
@AB76: if we hear back about TLS, this likely won't be before the beginning of the year.
I see the 10 Best Books on Books is now closed for discussion, with a lovely piece by Luxorioso (who he?) so only PotW is still open in the Take Part category of the books home page. How long till Take Part goes the way of all flesh?I'm posting in this thread because I haven't got my head round all the others yet I'm afraid.
SydneyH wrote: "Is anyone here a fan of Ian Fleming's bond books? I've never read one." In general, I'm reluctant to refer to myself as a "fan" of anything, which for me implies a lack of critical reading, but I’ve read all the Fleming Bond books (as well as Kingsley Amis’ Colonel Sun, which was pretty bad). The Bond books are entertaining, occasionally well-written (Bond eating crabs with Goldfinger, for instance, or Hugo Drax’ speech to the British people in Moonraker), and often very silly. They are frequently sexist, racist, and homophobic; as I said in reviewing The Fan Club, I think one needs to consider reading bestsellers as at least partially a sociological experience in addition to a literary one.
Bill wrote: "SydneyH wrote: "Is anyone here a fan of Ian Fleming's bond books? I've never read one." In general, I'm reluctant to refer to myself as a "fan" of anything, which for me implies a lack of critica..."
And an acknowledgement of how attitudes have changed?
Hello Ersatzers ... slow reading week, still stuck on Cold Comfort Farm. Have been either glued to work laptop or election coverage. I've tried to catch up here but am a bit at sea. Bras and sheela-na-gigs sound about right for my conversation capabilities today.
I found, to my horror, that I attempted a ghazal once about buying bras online... would that I had remembered my own advice. Come Tuesday, per the latest tracking info, I'll either be squashing myself in Ugly Sister style or availing myself of excess storage opportunities.
Bosom Ghazal
Never buy a bra online girls, it's unwise
It's not like buying wine girls, it's unwise
If your head's turned by the leopard, it's unwise
And your assets are unfettered, it's unwise
If you need a bigger cup girls, it's unwise
A good strap to hold it up girls, it's unwise
If you like to breathe unaided, it's unwise
And your credit card is jaded, it's unwise
If your tastes run to exotic, it's unwise
You may end up psychotic, it's unwise
(Abandon ghazalling...)
Just go down town and try them on
That way you'll know they fit
Because return post to America
Is costly and you'll feel a tit.
PaleFires wrote: "Hi booklooker, lovely post and poem.The moving finger writes: and having writ,
Moves on: not all thy Piety and Wit
Shall lure it back to cancel half a Line,
Nor all thy tears wash out a word of ..."
Reminds me of:
Words are like arrows, Arianne. Once loosed, you cannot call them back.
Except that at the Battle of Towton, if I remember correctly (I wasn't actually there! ), The Lancastrians shot their arrows and they landed short and some were collected and shot back at them by the Yorkist archers.
How's that for a bit of off topic useless information?
giveusaclue wrote: "And an acknowledgement of how attitudes have changed?" Given this week's US election results, I can't really say attitudes on the whole seem to have changed, though certainly it’s true within the publishing industry and the subset of people who read fiction for entertainment.
I think it is the never-ending and ever-renewed film franchise that keeps the Bond books themselves in print. FWIW, I think that the most faithful of the adaptations were From Russia With Love and the Daniel Craig Casino Royale.
Bill wrote: "I think that the most faithful of the adaptations were From Russia With Love and the Daniel Craig Casino Royale."Only discovered this week that Tsai Chin, who was a Bond girl in You Only Live Twice, makes a cameo appearance in the Casino scenes of Casino Royale! She's in a film, Lucky Grandma, that looks like it could be good fun: https://www.theguardian.com/film/2020...
Machenbach wrote: "I've also been watching this video on the treasures at Winchester College Library, partly for the amazing books and partly in glee at the presenters' discomfort."Brandy to an ant, eh? No wonder you like that video! Wish @nsz was here to comment on the last book they show...
Anyway, given your predicament (hope it eases soon) I'll keep the gynaecological links to an absolute minimum.
Much obliged, I know this is asking a lot of you.
Reen wrote: "Hello Ersatzers ... slow reading week, still stuck on Cold Comfort Farm. Have been either glued to work laptop or election coverage. I've tried to catch up here but am a bit at sea. Bras and shee..."
I think you have shed a great deal of light on the problem by turning on the candle-Ah!-bra...
FrancesBurgundy wrote: "I see the 10 Best Books on Books is now closed for discussion, with a lovely piece by Luxorioso (who he?)..."Nice post, I agree. The Who's who index is still very much work in progress, but Luxurioso is here Caroline (Rowe) and also used to be CookieHunter in a previous incarnation.
My son has just sent me a video of someone playing "Eternal Flame' on a piano in a street in Barcelona surrounded by a riot and burning bins. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=guSAI...)Things are getting really quite strange!...
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Finally!!!!!!!!!!!
(Why don't I feel better?)
https://www.facebook.com/jhpfilm/vide...
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We're troubled by your deleting, on the author's proof, the clause at the end: "and left us all far behind him." which seems to us to add considerably to the poignancy of the story. If you want it out, we will of course abide by your decision...
The letters are in chronological order, 50 pages in the relationship between Maxwell and O'Connor is just starting to warm up. I think I'm going to like this book as much as the others.
I've read a few O'Connor stories, not many though. Maxwell is already driving me to seek out more soon:
Dear Frank:
Having written Congdon that we were taking The Teacher's Mass, I tried to call you and take the wind out of his sails by telling you first, but you weren't home. Hell of an afternoon not to be home in, buy anyway, when I finished The Teacher's Mass I said what Josef Lhévinne said about Liszt's Campanella--"It's for the few." It's one thing to conceive of that kind of a story, but to carry it out successfully is for the damned few to be able to do. So while I was still brooding over this remarkable achievement, along comes the new story about the man who went to get the doctor, and that, in case you were in any doubt whatever about it, is nothing more nor less than a masterpiece.* I tell you this without waiting for my colleagues' reactions. I know a masterpiece when I see one, and so do they, fortunately.
Yours,
Bill
*"Fish for Friday."
Lljones wrote: "MSNBC, BBC, and others just called the election - President Elect Biden.Finally!!!!!!!!!!!
(Why don't I feel better?)"
Asking the world on behalf of Pennsylvania: Once the counting's over, we're going to continue seeing each other, right?
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..."
;-)
I've switched to the celebratory whiskey, after emailing the few friends I still have in Philadelphia and saying "Sorry for saying you had a guttural accent for all those years. May all your snowballs hit Santa Claus this year."
Gpfr wrote: "If you haven't seen this cartoon: Tragic deaths in the badly-written novelhttps://www.theguardian.com/books/pic..."
Thanks - chuckles ensue.
Reen wrote: "Hello Ersatzers ... slow reading week, still stuck on Cold Comfort Farm. Have been either glued to work laptop or election coverage. I've tried to catch up here but am a bit at sea. Bras and shee..."
Liked the ghazal - very uplifting!
Just to mention, as apparently some of us may have missed it, that there is a whole gallery of pictures attached to Ersatz TLS (edit: you can find it on the group page, if you scroll to the bottom of it, or by clicking on 'Photos' at the top right corner of this page).https://www.goodreads.com/photo/group...
Most are linked to the 'Sense of Place' thread, and within it, a special request for cathedrals. There is also in particular a nice discussion between @CCC and @MB below the (first) picture of the stone age axe. Please be aware that there are already two pages of Photos so far, as this is not obvious at first...
I have now also uploaded there* the first page of the Who's who directory, following @Bill FromPa/Swelter's helpful thread - it looks very suboptimal and only goes up to Ca..., but it took already a long time to produce something that looks this bad! For some people, I have not been able to find their profile on the G, so I have put the default avatar, but please let me know if you'd like that changed (or anything else)!
*Inter/LL: please let me know if there is a better place to put it. I know posts cannot be pinned, so not sure if there is an alternative.
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Are you a Google docs user? A link to a Word or Excel document might be easier to manage, and easier to maintain.
The Bond books are entertaining, occasionally well-written..."Thanks Bill. I just found myself a little tempted by From Russia with Love, which is the Bond film I'm most sentimental about. The writing doesn't look too bad. I was thinking it might be like a minor Graham Greene.
Lljones wrote: "Hmm. I'd rather see this in the Who's Who topic, not in Photos. Also a series of photos will be hard to keep updated (in alpha order) as new members join.Are you a Google docs user? A link to a Word or Excel document might be easier to manage, and easier to maintain."
I have now removed it.
Lljones wrote: "In honor of Swelter (and Shelflife), I've added the ampersand to our group name!"Ha! Thanks. I think all honour is due to Swelter. Honor even, to honour his provenience.
Gladarvor wrote: "(Is it ok to correct your French bl? I think you could write 'Que sais-je?' which would mean 'what do I know', or 'Qu'en sais-je?' which would be more 'what do I know about it'.)."Thanks glad, I always appreciate being corrected!
The edit function proved unhelpful for the first time: I wrote "Que sais-je" first, and then miscorrected. As my teacher says: The first idea is usually the right one.
Hope everyone here is well. I feel a bit boring and not too chatty: I have not read anything new and am tired out, but in a good way. We walked for hours today in a forest, as I posted in "a sense of place".
Like many other people, I was pretty tense regarding the U.S. elections. Not that I think everything will be fine from now on, but at least there's a better chance for it.
SydneyH wrote: "I was thinking it might be like a minor Graham Greene."Fleming didn’t remind me of any of the little Greene I’ve read - Brighton Rock, The Quiet American, This Gun for Hire - nor vice-versa; even that last one, a so-called “entertainment” seemed more somber in purpose than the Bond books. Fleming himself admired Eric Ambler – I believe it’s in From Russia With Love that Bond is reading Epitaph for a Spy. If you do read From Russia, you’ll find the scene where Bond helps to assassinate a spy leaving his hideout behind a billboard presents an interesting contrast in tone between book and film, though the physical details are almost exactly the same in both versions.
Justine wrote: "Liked the ghazal - very uplifting!"Liked both the ghazal and your comment!
Gladarvor wrote: "Just to mention,..."Thank you so much, glad, for the compilation. Really appreciate the work. Will be happy to take a look at it later.
Lljones wrote: "MSNBC, BBC, and others just called the election - President Elect Biden.Finally!!!!!!!!!!!
(Why don't I feel better?)
https://www.facebook.com/jhpfilm/vide..."
Well done American voters-and vote counters.
Greenfairy wrote: "Lljones wrote: "MSNBC, BBC, and others just called the election - President Elect Biden.Finally!!!!!!!!!!!
(Why don't I feel better?)
https://www.facebook.com/jhpfilm/vide..."
W..."
This CNN clip says it all - https://www.cnn.com/videos/politics/2...
Gladarvor wrote: "Andy wrote: "When I’ve read something really good, I need to tell people about it.. My tastes are a bit strange, so I’m not sure how many listen, but at least it’s off my chest.. I want to shout ab..."How well known is Akira Yoshimura in Japan ? To be honest I knew nothing of him, but Totsuko says he was very well known in his day, not so much now. She hasn't read any of his books. Apparently he wrote some nonfiction histories of Tsunamis in the Sanriku region (the area of Honshu north of Tokyo) which had something of a resurge of popularity in the aftermath of the tragedy of 2011. The book Shipwreck recommended by Andy sounds interesting, my kind of book, will be looking for it.
Bill wrote: "SydneyH wrote: "I was thinking it might be like a minor Graham Greene."Fleming didn’t remind me of any of the little Greene I’ve read - Brighton Rock, The Quiet American,..."
You can't go wrong with Eric Ambler in my book. A Coffin for Dimitrios is my favorite.
Gladarvor wrote: "Lljones wrote: "Hmm. I'd rather see this in the Who's Who topic, not in Photos. Also a series of photos will be hard to keep updated (in alpha order) as new members join.Are you a Google docs use..."
Thanks for your efforts on the directory. I see it's not yet in the Who's Who section, but assume it will be soon. I can imagine it does take a lot of work!
Gladarvor wrote: "Just to mention, as apparently some of us may have missed it, that there is a whole gallery of pictures attached to Ersatz TLS (edit: you can find it on the group page, if you scroll to the bottom ..."What does 'pinned' mean? I am woefully ignorant of the vocab. Can you copy and paste?
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It means a way to keep a particular post 'always on top'. We don't have that ability here, but we can (and do) control the order of the folders.
I've just stuck my oar in, as a comment on one of their Picks, so there!
Re the Who's Who directory: How would it work if we set up a fresh 'discussion' which would begin with a comment explaining that this is a list of previous TLS participants, linking them to their current GR identities. Followed immediately by Gladarvor's list - which can be added to via the edit function. That would automatically put the list at the top. Possible?
This topic has been frozen by the moderator. No new comments can be posted.
Ersatz TLS
Books mentioned in this topic
Waiting for the End (other topics)The Quiet American (other topics)
Brighton Rock (other topics)
This Gun for Hire (other topics)
The Quiet American (other topics)
More...
I think people may have missed my original question Andy, and also what you were referring to, so I'm reposting it here roughly:
@Karen/CE, @Miri/Cardellina, @Kayaki or @Philip/TixhiiDon: how well-known is the writer Akira Yoshimura in Japan? He is the author of Shipwrecks that @Andy/selfreturn has reviewed today.
In other news: I have now started to work on the document matching Guardian and GR's accounts, it's really going at breakneck speed - I have just finished the 'A's! If you have not commented yet on who you are/were at the Guardian and would like to, please do so on the TLS Who's Who Directory thread.