Ersatz TLS discussion
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What Are We Reading? 30 Nov 2020
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SydneyH wrote: "Are there any fans of J.G. Ballard here? I was wondering what you would consider a good starting point for his work."I would recommend "High Rise", recently made into a film but the book is a fascinating study of humanity
Gladarvor wrote: "AB76 wrote (#201): "Any news what the Guardian are doing with TLS?Did they respond to our offers of increased payment, i keep getting Viner banging on about giving money and i keep thinking
"i ..."
thanks for the update glad, say hi to sam
AB76 wrote: "I would recommend "High Rise", recently made into a film but t..."Ta. I'll investigate.
Mod
Only Children
The Truth About Lorin Jones
The Last Resort
Time to go back to the others...
THE TRADER, THE OWNER,THE SLAVE by James WalvinJames Walvin has done a very good job in this three part account of the lived experience of the slave trade, i have just finished the first section "the trader" on cleric John Newton, who started life as a wayward youth and then became a slave trade captain.
Newton, famous for writing "Amazing Grace", was as unpleasent and as brutal a captain as any other but ill health led to him leaving the trade and becoming a vicar, he always struggled with his faith(though the slaving seemed not part of his sin)
In later life he became a celebrated man of the cloth and slowly became involved in the abolotionist movement in the 1780s, appearing before Prime Minister Pitt at the enquiry of 1788. He was recieved into the chamber with great deference, the only member of the abolitionist group who had been a slaver and he testified with skill
Sadly the french revolution and the Haiti slave revolt pushed abolition into the long grass and it was till almost 30 years later that abolition was finally achieved. Newton died professing he was "a sinner" but as a revered cleric rather than as a slaver...
Machenbach wrote: "SydneyH wrote: "Are there any fans of J.G. Ballard here? I was wondering what you would consider a good starting point for his work."Not really a fan - I've read about 6-8 of his and there's alway..."
I rate Ballard highly but i agree Mach that the mid 70s core are the key texts, books that i first heard about when reading Jon Savage's "Englands Dreaming" in 1995, as the punk stars all were into Ballard
I remember that year,my 19yo self, previously a barbarian when it came to literature, scarred by the "1991 GCSE revision on holiday in Corsica" experience, walked into the university bookshop to pick up a copy of "Concrete Island" ordered the day earlier. It was a beautiful feeling as i saw the cover of this novel i had read about.......
AB76 wrote (#216): "thanks for the update glad, say hi to sam"Will do! And of course, as soon as we've got an update, I'll promptly pass it on. It cannot come soon enough.
Edit: You're welcome Pam!
also (#131): "(...) but seems to have the attitude towards slaves that nazi camp guards had towards the jews, almost living in an atmosphere where the slaves/jews are so "othered", they scarcely represent a worthy life, maybe this is now these men switched off from their emotions about the hell they were inflicting on people"
That's an interesting comment AB. I could see it echoed in Henry Marsh's Do No Harm, for very pragmatic reasons. He mentions (I can't seem to find the passage) that he doesn't like to meet his patients immediately before surgery being not 'prepped' and still in their civil clothes. The moment they are put in their hospital gowns, he already feels better about having to consider them as objects that will require his surgical skills. This makes sense to me, even if this is a hard truth to hear. Another telling (and brutally honest) passage:
I had promised her a minimal head shave and Jeff started to shave the hair from her forehead. There is no evidence that the complete head shaves we did in the past, which made the patients look like convicts, had any effect on infection rates, which had been the ostensible reason for doing them. I suspect the real – albeit unconscious – reason was that dehumanizing the patients made it easier for the surgeons to operate.
Machenbach wrote (#218): "But this year I'll be asking Sanity Clause for Strata: William Smith's Geological Maps, published by Thames & Hudson in association with the Oxford University Museum of Natural History."It does look very good. But the cynical in me sees here a cunning way to be able to continue talking about geology while playing the joker card of 'but this is about a book on geology'!
(Oh, and good on Sam for recycling his RG and editing skills I'd say!)
Gladarvor wrote: "AB76 wrote (#216): "thanks for the update glad, say hi to sam"Will do! And of course, as soon as we've got an update, I'll promptly pass it on. It cannot come soon enough.
also (#131): "(...) b..."
yes, de-humanisation is very apt, the shaving of heads, the wearing of those striped uniforms, objects below human concern
makes me wonder how easily humans can approach other humans with that disregard in the camps or on slave ships. We focus on the sadism and brutality but forget how quickly once the victims are stripped of a human "form" or "presence",normal standards of morality and decency fall away
Slaving captains with an educational experience of the african as a "heathen savage", or a 21yo camp guard raised in Nazi dogma since he was a child, that jews are a danger to the german race......that "othering" can be disturbingly deep, plus with death all around, life becomes cheap...
Mod
You and your Xmas wish-list have cost me a lot of money (bought the Lewis-Jones book last year...).
Magrat (210) - The Writer's Map. Thanks. I will definitely check that out.
Gpfr wrote: "Historical mysteries: if you like this sort of book -I'm reading one of Jean-François Parot's Nicolas Le Floch series. I had never read them, but my son got me started and I'm reading through the ..."
Thank you for that. I checked worldcat.org and my local library has the Chatelet ApprenticeThe Chatelet Apprentice.
By the way does everyone here know about worldcat.org? I know it is used by librarians (OCLC-Oberlin College Library Catalog is where it began) here in the States. When the world is right and libraries are doing ILL (Inter-library loan) once again, it is a great place to find and borrow (perhaps for a small fee) those off-beat books that you want to read, but are beyond your budget.
Like so many I cannot afford to purchase every book I want to read!
PaleFires wrote: "Hi Flinty, Good to see you perambulating about the Goodreads grounds too!"Well, as much as I really enjoy reading it, it is easy to get bogged down in the pseudo-1700s witty verborrhea of The Sot-Weed Factor, and one needs to reach out for something more palatable. We All Hear Stories in the Dark is perhaps a bit too middlebrow for my usual tastes but I find the stories quite amusing (at least until now).
"The next brick of fiction I read will be to discover exactly who is this Slawkenbergius fellow with his big, noble beak"
It's all in the beak ;-)
MK wrote: "Gpfr wrote: "Historical mysteries: if you like this sort of book -I'm reading one of Jean-François Parot's Nicolas Le Floch series. I had never read them, but my son got me started and I'm reading..."
its good to see this in place in the USA, libraries are important for the supply of education and access to reading for people who cannot afford the hardback print runs and the general cost of books
Machenbach wrote: "Sandya wrote: "When I dumped my last BF, I wrote him a long letter headed by a quote from The Residence at Whitminster, "A withered heart makes an ugly thin ghost". It described him perfectly."Br..."
M.R. James has many uses.
AB76 wrote: "MK wrote: "Gpfr wrote: "Historical mysteries: if you like this sort of book -I'm reading one of Jean-François Parot's Nicolas Le Floch series. I had never read them, but my son got me started and ..."
I'll add that as an old person hardbacks can be quite heavy, especially if one reads in bed as I do. If I had my druthers, all the books I want to read should be published in mass market paperback format. (Of course, I know this is wishful thinking.)
It is just possible that some of you may remember me recommending the first in the M L Longworth series of crime novels set in Aix-en-Provence? I have just started the second in the series Murder in the Rue Dumas It starts at a soirée given by the doyen of the theology dept at Aix University. He has announced previously that he would be retiring from his tenured (?) post which includes a very nice apartment and has variously hinted to one or another that he will be recommending them for the position. He is not a nice man, so of course he gets his comeuppance. More to follow
Russell (198) wrote: "Magrat (210) - The Writer's Map. Thanks. I will definitely check that out."
While you're at it, have a look at this - smaller and less expensive but just as beautiful. Literary Landscapes: Charting the Real-Life Settings of the World's Favourite Fiction edited by John Sutherland.
Review
Inseparable: Desire Between Women in Literature by Emma DonoghueLink to my review:
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Mod
Yes, I read and enjoyed the first on your recommendation.
More MR James delights "The Rose Garden" and "Tractate Middoth", i was beginning to wonder if the formulaic style as Mach commented on (where a tale is told within a tale, or by letters, or a book) would start to pall but actually its a delightful kind of Edwardian quirk i quite enjoyThe OUP stories have moved from the 1904 batch to the 1911 batch of selected stories without much change in depth or style but James is a master of the form and writes as well as any of his contemparies
As a homosocial don, the Great War must have been agonising for him with all the loss of male life. I havent read any comments by him on WW1 yet but it will be interesting to see if any of his stories were written during the war. Machen clearly infuses the war into his stories
First attempt:LOVE'S LABOUR WON
by William
Shacspore
Second attempt:
LOV'S LABOR WUNNE
by Wy. Shikspore
...
Having fun rereading No Bed for Bacon by Caryl Brahms and S. J. Simon.
And when I was looking out of the window just now, saw my neighbours, despite the rain, in front of their house in the throes of decoration: He on a ladder, stretching out his arms, she throwing chains of light
To keep topping up my good mood, have been listening to a music compilation titled Sturm und Twang: A Private Collection Of German Underground Pop (https://www.discogs.com/de/Various-St...). The title is straight from "the hell of puns" (Wortspielhölle), as Mr B would say. But it is just the right mixture of energetic rage and fun for the current situation as I see it.
Anyway, more on No Bed for Bacon anon. I am grateful to someone below the line in this Guardian thread https://www.theguardian.com/books/202... for mentioning the book, which I first read and enjoyed about a dozen years ago. I owe my Sunday fun to him, in part.
Have a nice Sunday, too!
Machenbach wrote [#191] : "You also remind me that I have Kästner's Going to the Dogs: The Story of a Moralist on the TBR pile, as recommended (I think) by Swelter/Bill."That is a good book, Mach. I think theothebook may have recommended it, too. I would not be able to read it just now, though. It would depress me too much. But that's personal, and you will most probably be o.k., from what I glimpse of your recent reads.
Gladarvor wrote [#172]: "We won't know before the beginning of next year at the earliest AB. But just today Sam asked me to pass on his regards to everybody here!"Thanks for this, glad! Happy that Sam's offer is in high demand.
Still hoping very much for a return to TL&S in the old place, while appreciating all the efforts and posts (as well as suggestions) here.
MK wrote: "AB76 wrote: "MK wrote: "Gpfr wrote: "Historical mysteries: if you like this sort of book -I'm reading one of Jean-François Parot's Nicolas Le Floch series. I had never read them, but my son got me..."
@giveusaclue. Thank you for reminder re M L Longworth. Oddly enough I found a note to self about the novel recently. May have to get a library loan, if my local re-opens soon...please!
PaleFires wrote: "I think 'yet another' sums up this assessment perfectly. After snoring my way through 'Zero K', I'm wary of DeLillos's obsession with his own umbilicus"It might be a good novel for all I know; the problem lies in the way they marketed it: linking DeLillo's plot to the COVID19 epidemic raises a number of issues that the novel cannot possibly deal with (hence the uneasiness of the critic's feelings about how the description of a world without social distancing automatically dates the book's conception and establishes a definite contrast with the reality as we know it).
Shelflife_wasBooklooker wrote (#221): "Having fun rereading No Bed for Bacon"Thanks for this bl. I went to see the comments but earlier in the week, so had missed that recommendation. Will keep it in mind. And yes, as per your comment to me, I'm also looking forward to going back to our original home - let's keep our fingers crossed! Hope you had a good Sunday...
I do miss @Reen. I wanted to tell her I love peonies too, perhaps my favourite with bougainvillea, which invariably remind me of going very often to Morocco as a young kid.
CCCubbon wrote (#136): "One last point, that is a fantastic picture of St Edward’s church with the trees by the old door. Makes me think of children’s fairy tale castles. Incidentally, Stow-on-the Wold is such an unusual name. I know wolds are hills because there are some near here but I wonder why Stow."If you CCC or anyone here ever goes near Stow-on-the-Wold, a very popular spot in the Cotswolds (although that 'wold' origin is also discussed: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cotswol...), please make sure to stop by The Slaughters, that are just 5 mins away. Both Upper (with its Lord of the Manor, perfect to have high tea while the sheep dismiss you from up on their hill) and Lower Slaughter (with its meandering river running through it) are enchanting, with a short easy walk between the two from the back of the water mill*.
*Incidentally spotted a few months ago in the 1998 BBC adaptation of Our Mutual Friend.
Andy wrote (#160): "Without any doubt though, the novel is at its best and most memorable in allowing us to witness the experience of African soldiers like Ndaiye, which has until now gone untold."Thanks Andy. A bit unrelated, but on the subject of Africans being roped in by the French in yet another World War, you might have missed this post from a while back (in a thread mainly about the war(s) in Vietnam - that is, until it was about Lancashire/Yorkshire, Brittany/Normandy and yaks; in short, the joy of a nice conversation): https://www.theguardian.com/books/boo...
GERMAN BUENOS AIRES 1900-1933, a second hand Uni of Texas edition with a garish red cover is my latest non-fiction readPartly inspired by my interest in Argentina and the great city of Buenos Aires and partly to study why so many Germans left a nation that was booming between 1900 and 1914, after 1919 the reasons are far clearer cut and the end of this time period should be interesting to see how Nazi influences may have influenced the German community
It was a small community, maxmimum of around 45,000 in the city, vastly outnumbered by a southern european culture of spanish and italian immigrants, plus the criollo's(native born argentinians). The city was almost 50% immigrant during this period, Italians the most numerous, the phenomenen of re-migration was something that interests me as well. In Buenos Aries this was very common in this period
Alwynne (208) wrote: "Review Inseparable: Desire Between Women in Literature by Emma DonoghueLink to my review:
http..."
I wanted to write before to say I hope you don't feel you can't post entire reviews here. Personally, I love reading them, as I do all the reviews and comments here. The Donoghue is certainly of interest to me.
AB76 wrote: "GERMAN BUENOS AIRES 1900-1933, a second hand Uni of Texas edition with a garish red cover is my latest non-fiction readPartly inspired by my interest in Argentina and the great city of Buenos Air..."
Thanks for that AB. Very interesting.
I share with you a love for BA.
During the 5 years I was in Santiago I visited BA at least 3 week long times a year, with rugby tours. The kids were hosted, staff in hotels, and we only really saw them for a few hours a day - lots of time to explore the city, bars and restaurants of course. And taken out to dine each night. It was wonderful.
There was a retired Chilean teacher I met who was in charge of a group of 80 11 year old (6th Basico) boys on rugby tour there in 1976. They became wrapped up in the coup / revolution . Flights were suspended, or deemed dangerous, so after waiting it out for a week or so, they decided the best thing was to return overland - which they did, with caution, in buses, over the course of the next 4 weeks in smaller groups. It really was some story - he, or somebody, really should write a book about it.
I still have some really good friends in the city - teachers who we exchanged with - we each tried to outdo each other with hospitality.. great memories.
Andy wrote: "AB76 wrote: "GERMAN BUENOS AIRES 1900-1933, a second hand Uni of Texas edition with a garish red cover is my latest non-fiction readPartly inspired by my interest in Argentina and the great city ..."
The initial chapters deal with the first and second wave of German immigrants and its interesting how middle class they were. The second wave that came in the 1860s were highly respectful and influenced by the new emerging united Germany.
There seems to have been a perspective of how they, the Germans in BA, could help the "fatherland" to prosper. Of course the author notes this link to the fatherland, an insular community spirit, faded with the defeat of Germany in WW1
If anyone here likes author events on the tube, here's a bunch from Powell's - a bookstore I'd like to visit this spring. (I'm making a list of localish places I'd like to spend a few days once we can do that again.)Here's the link - which, if it doesn't work and you want to scroll through, should also be available on You Tube by typing Powells in the search box--https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCe76...
Justine (220) wrote: "Alwynne (208) wrote: "Review Inseparable: Desire Between Women in Literature by Emma DonoghueLi..."
Thank you! It's just that I read a lot as Machenbach noticed and I've seen the recent posts on the 'suggestions' thread - am definitely implicated in the 'interwar' fiction discussion. Anyway I've deleted my previous posts to help unclog the feed but if you think it's okay to go on posting then I'll consider doing that in future. But as I'm a member of several groups didn't want to get in the way of others' who only interact on this one.
Andy wrote: "AB76 wrote: "GERMAN BUENOS AIRES 1900-1933, a second hand Uni of Texas edition with a garish red cover is my latest non-fiction readPartly inspired by my interest in Argentina and the great city ..."
Your story reminds me of someone I met who used to work, I think, for Dunlop and was in Argentina when the Falklands War broke out. The firm phoned and said "Pete are you OK" "Yes, why" "Get the next plane home!"
Gladarvor wrote: "Shelflife_wasBooklooker wrote (#221): "Having fun rereading No Bed for Bacon"Thanks for this bl. I went to see the comments but earlier in the week, so had missed that recommendation. Will keep i..."
Funny, I had a quiet moment and decided to swing by... is the peony reference to my comment on roola's poem a couple of weeks back? I do love a peony. I've been in a dull mood these past few weeks, mostly just from being very busy. My creative impulse is low but I'm still very much in this (ad)venture. Hope you're well glad.
Alwynne wrote: "Justine (220) wrote: "Alwynne (208) wrote: "Review Inseparable: Desire Between Women in Literature by [author:Em..."Please go on posting - and conversing. Even when I don't take part directly, I am interested in all discussions. For me, that's what this thread should be all about. Note: this is my personal view, not anything to do with my being a moderator, nor is it intended as a criticism of any other member of the group.
Magrat (207) - Thanks. "Literary landscapes" will be another to check out. I already went ahead and ordered "The Writer's Map", as that looks just as great a gift for our family member as the Tolkien.
Tried posting this before but it seems to have disappeared.
Tried posting this before but it seems to have disappeared.
giveusaclue wrote: "Andy wrote: "AB76 wrote: "GERMAN BUENOS AIRES 1900-1933, a second hand Uni of Texas edition with a garish red cover is my latest non-fiction readPartly inspired by my interest in Argentina and th..."
great story!
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Ersatz TLS
Books mentioned in this topic
Inseparable: Desire Between Women in Literature (other topics)Inseparable: Desire Between Women in Literature (other topics)
Inseparable: Desire Between Women in Literature (other topics)
Going to the Dogs: The Story of a Moralist (other topics)
The Catcher in the Rye (other topics)
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Authors mentioned in this topic
Emma Donoghue (other topics)Emma Donoghue (other topics)
Caryl Brahms (other topics)
Emma Donoghue (other topics)
Edith Sitwell (other topics)
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Review -
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Review:
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...