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What Are We Reading? 4 January 2021
Justine wrote: "scarletnoir (126) wrote: "Hawley is being disingenuous ..."Here's what the FIRST AMENDMENT actually says: 'Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the f..."
Thanks for that... but does Hawley 'know' what the amendment says? I doubt that Trump does... I take it that you believe Hawley to be better educated?
(As a non-American, I wasn't familiar with it, but my point about Hawley's unwillingness to get on his bike holds regardless!)
giveusaclue wrote: "On another point, I wonder what the legal situation is here regarding breach of contract."I suspect publishers are generally covered in these cases, though there may be some legal wrangling in recovering advances already paid out. There have been several cases like this in the recent past that have gotten some amount of publicity in the book pages; books by Milo Yiannopoulos and Woody Allen come to mind, both of whom, I believe, found other publishers.
Tam wrote: "Max (Outrage) wrote: "Tam wrote [118]: "AB76 wrote: "giveusaclue wrote: "AB76 wrote: "For any fans of the EU lamenting the ghastly shabby brexit saga, i recommend the series of very long pieces onn..."I hardly gave "the EU" a thought before your referendum. The thoughts I had were negative. 100% of them. To me it was the graveyard, where failed German politicians were buried. The place where powerful forces delayed and obstructed environmental legislation. After the referendum I found myself in a place that got stranger and stranger. I found good things. I found that good things are worth cherishing. Even if they are far, far away from the ideal. Bit by bit a new light was thrown on what 'we' have achieved, 28 nations speaking 35 or so languages and even more cultures pulling together. You left. I will not dwell on the sadness that has caused me. Or on the anger. I still feel very emotional about both. But it is as it is. I still have my reservations about the EU. I still think Ursula von der Leyen is a case in point regarding the graveyard. But I am, so unexpectedly, now very happy to be a part of this very flawed venture.
Georg wrote [154]: "Tam wrote: "Max (Outrage) wrote: "Tam wrote [118]: "AB76 wrote: "giveusaclue wrote: "AB76 wrote: "For any fans of the EU lamenting the ghastly shabby brexit saga, i recommend the series of very lon..."I agree Georg. I'm so angry that my European citizenship has been taken away from me, stolen, by a cabal of crooked, right-wing gangsters. We'll be back, and I'll now pay attention to my own advice and try to not comment further on the subject here.
Georg wrote: "Tam wrote: "Max (Outrage) wrote: "Tam wrote [118]: "AB76 wrote: "giveusaclue wrote: "AB76 wrote: "For any fans of the EU lamenting the ghastly shabby brexit saga, i recommend the series of very lon..."I agree with you, it was very far from being perfect, many of us here, in the UK, thought it was a 'gravy train' for political pundits to enrich themselves, and there was a lot of corruption across many countries, but it was still, ideologically, about attempting to pull together, to avoid a future war, within Europe, and I still think that there was a lot of compliance in the attempts to level up, in terms of equality across the EU, rather than to level down. And I have to say, that what we have now, is pulling ourselves apart, and I am sad about that. I think the UK will, eventually, break up, because of this and we will all be the lesser, because of this...
Tam wrote: "Georg wrote: "Tam wrote: "Max (Outrage) wrote: "Tam wrote [118]: "AB76 wrote: "giveusaclue wrote: "AB76 wrote: "For any fans of the EU lamenting the ghastly shabby brexit saga, i recommend the seri..."i agree, the UK is now on life support,Cameron took the scottish indy ref victory as a sign of strength when it was anything but. I hope Scotland breaks away and rejoins the EU, i was a unionist but it just looks a shabby, chumocracy right now, with this clown of a PM.
Anyone object if I start a Special Topic to talk about books?
FrancesBurgundy wrote: "Anyone object if I start a Special Topic to talk about books?"Ah!.. Ok... how about this 'Fractured Continent' by William Drozdiak?... https://www.nytimes.com/2017/11/09/bo...
FrancesBurgundy wrote: "Anyone object if I start a Special Topic to talk about books?"Of course. I am just sorry I reacted to a comment on the subject. I should be used to them by now.
Promise not to do it again.
we are here to react or not... to books, as the case might be... Francis had a point... this place is here to talk about books, but the point of books is that they overlap with our every-day lives, in many instances, and this is why many of us treasure and love them, but it is a two-way thing, and many of us can see that sometimes, we can, and could, benefit from the experience of that overlapping. I think the thing is to have some tolerance for the 'borderland', and if not interested, then it is very easy to 'pass it by'...
Mod
;)
I'm reading one of the books coming up on the 2021 Tournament of Books shortlist - Telephone by Percival Everett. I don't have a lot of interest in 21's short list, but I enjoyed the one other book by Everett I've read - So Much Blue - and I was slightly intrigued by the 'hook' I'd read about this latest book. Apparently, Everett wrote three versions of the book, and the publisher printed A, B, and C versions with slightly different covers. More on this story here...
So far, so good, I'm enjoying the book.
scarletnoir (152) wrote: "Justine wrote: "scarletnoir (126) wrote: "Hawley is being disingenuous ..."Here's what the FIRST AMENDMENT actually says: 'Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or p..."
I assume Josh Hawley attended high school at least, and I've never heard of an American high school which didn't include American History as part of the curriculum. Last time looked, which was admittedly several decades ago, standard American History textbooks covered the Bill of Rights, which was printed at the back of the book. Younger Americans can correct me if I'm wrong.
And yes, back to books! As much of my reading just now is explicitly political, I'll confine my comments on that to my general Goodreads reviews, and only include here discussions of fiction (though I can't guarantee even these won't sometimes lead me astray!)
I have been a silent follower of TLS in the Guardian for nearly a decade. I have often got more pleasure from reading the comments in TLS than from actually reading books. If I had back all the time I have spent on TLS I would get through volumes of books but I doubt that I would have come across some of the gems TLS have thrown onto my reading path. Such has been my pleasure in reading TLS that I have often thought of going through all the comments ever posted and printing out all the best ones. (Unfortunately I have never had the time) nor the money to buy all the paper I would need). I was shocked when the Guardian ended this brilliant resource and quite relieved to see that it had been set up on Goodreads (thank you so much Justine and all involved).
What I have enjoyed most about TLS are the many comments on older books and the comments on foreign authors. I find that book reviews in the media, no matter how high quality the publication, are only about recently published books and mainly those written by UK or US authors which is a pity.
I don't have a lot of time to read but I keep a reading diary of the books I do manage to get through. I just note the title, author under a heading for the year and sometimes I copy down some passages that I particularly enjoyed.
So now, as I find myself pouring through TLS once again, taking notes on books I hope to read, I feel I owe it to you all both present and past TLSers to thank you most sincerely for all your contributions and to comment on my own meagre reading experiences going forward. So dear TLSers please keep on reading and posting and I hope that my own small contributions might throw some gems your way.
Finished my Pratchett. More used to reading something in long form by him I still have found some gems in there.
Tom wrote: January will be spent (mostly) reading contemporary Irish books. Partly as I've had good experiences with Irish writers in recent years and also because I kind of feel like it's a nice way to connect with my Irish heritage.Dear Tom
I have followed TLS for many years silently in the background and have very much enjoyed your comments. I am from Ireland myself and whilst I would not consider myself to be an expert on Irish contemporary writing I thought I would share with you some of the books I have enjoyed from Irish contemporary writers over the years.
"The Speckled People" by Hugo Hamilton
"Netherland" by Joseph O'Neill
"Star of the Sea" by Joseph O'Connor
"This Side of Brightness" by Column McCann
I look forward to reading your comments on your January reading particularly if any of the above feature.
Justine wrote: "Meanwhile, I'm back withBefore the Storm: Barry Goldwater and the Unmaking of the American Consensus in the ice and snow of the 1964 New Hampshire Republican primary race, the earlies..."#124 - I'm awaiting The Last Brahmin: Henry Cabot Lodge Jr. and the Making of the Cold War this from the library. Perhaps a follow-on after Goldwater?
Justine wrote (#164): "And yes, back to books! As much of my reading just now is explicitly political, I'll confine my comments on that to my general Goodreads reviews, and only include here discussions of fiction (though I can't guarantee even these won't sometimes lead me astray!)"Well, that is disappointing. God forbid you should discuss your book on American Politics, or Swelter mention the book deal that has collapsed for one Senator. Because this needs to be about BOOKS. But only the ones certain people here approve of, and in the way they sanction.
And fiction you say? Ok then, I won't be commenting on The Handmaid's Tale, fine. Why waste my time? And thank the Lord Alwynne is gone, because otherwise we might have had a conversation about the ethnicity of Heathcliff and whether this has played a role in his fate and that of those around him. And class differences. Let's not talk about class and whether this is of interest in Wuthering Heights either, because this might be a bit sensitive too. In fact, let's just talk about BOOKS. So: I'm reading at the moment The Gift of Rain. It's got interesting things to say about imperialism, Japan and SE Asia. Ah, wait. Ok, I won't discuss this here either, because we only talk about BOOKS.
(Thanks @Tam for your thoughtful response, as always. I do not have quite the force that is obviously with you.)
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@Maggie/Greenfairy: good to see you, I was getting a bit worried. Really sorry to hear about your daughter, but glad this got better!
@Blue: welcome and well done for taking the plunge! Don't worry about ranting people like me, just scroll past (but since you've been reading TLS for 10 years, you'd already know that 😉).
Justine wrote: "scarletnoir (126) wrote: "Hawley is being disingenuous ..."Here's what the FIRST AMENDMENT actually says: 'Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the f..."
I don't think he is being disengenuous - he is playing to his audience - an audience that does not know nor care that the First Amendment is directed at government overreach.
I am a big audio fan. The https://www.nytimes.com/2021/01/08/po...Daily often teaches me something I had no clue about. The link above shows that if the media has known that something like yesterday's riot was brewing as early as November, why were the Capitol Hill Police and the City Police and the Defense Dept. so apparently clueless?
I believe you can view/listen to about 3 items a month without a subscription.
Blue wrote: "whilst I would not consider myself to be an expert on Irish contemporary writing I thought I would share with you some of the books..."Marvellous. I loved This Side of Brightness, and I'm going to scope out these other three forthwith ... after the cricket.
giveusaclue (149) wrote: "scarletnoir wrote: "Bill wrote: Simon & Schuster said on Thursday that it would cancel the publication of an upcoming book by Senator Josh Hawley, one of several members of Congress who tried to o..."
...On another point, I wonder what the legal situation is here regarding breach of contract.
That will depend on the terms of the contract. If he does have a cause of action then we'll find out, won't we? What interests me is whether he's been paid an advance.
Blue (165) wrote: "I have been a silent follower of TLS in the Guardian for nearly a decade. I have often got more pleasure from reading the comments in TLS than from actually reading books. If I had back all the tim..."Bless! Less lurking and more commenting required...
Max (Outrage) wrote: I'm so angry that my European citizenship has been taken away from me, stolen, by a cabal of crooked, right-wing gangsters. We'll be back, and I'll now pay attention to my own advice and try to not comment further on the subject here.That sums it up for me, too... I share your anger. I will only post this one comment on the subject (I could go on indefinitely, otherwise) - it seems that the right-wing gangsters have turned the UK into a banana republic - without bananas. The idea from Sunak - the wealthiest cabinet member, BTW - is to create "freeports". In general, the plan seems to involve turning Britain into some larger version of the Virgin Islands - a tax-free haven for international criminals such as some Russian oligarchs and Arab princes, who are adept at 'disappearing' large sums of money from their fellow citizens. I don't see the average UK resident benefiting from these shenanigans.
'Nuff said.
Tam wrote: "...we are here to react or not... to books, as the case might be... the point of books is that they overlap with our every-day lives, in many instances, and this is why many of us treasure and love them...if not interested (in digressions) then it is very easy to 'pass it by'.."I agree.
If books had nothing whatever to do with my everyday life, beliefs or opinions, then I doubt that I would read at all. (I can't read fantasy, sci-fi or other more outlandish genres for that reason - I can't connect.)
Justine wrote: I assume Josh Hawley attended high school at least, and I've never heard of an American high school which didn't include American History as part of the curriculum. H'm.
I was a teacher in a former life. I found out that pupils rarely remember what they have been taught for more than a few months... subjects in science are often taught in what is called a 'spiral curriculum', where the same area is re-visited at a higher level, in an 'older' age group. My advice to trainee teachers: assume that the pupils know nothing - that they have forgotten it all - and revise what they were taught a year or two ago. (Of course, some may not have taken the material on board in the first place.)
So - I'd assume, in the absence of contrary evidence, that Hawley has forgotten what is in the first amendment - assuming he ever understood it in the first place.
MK wrote: "scarletnoir (126) wrote: "Hawley is being disingenuous ..."I don't think he is being disengenuous - he is playing to his audience - an audience that does not know nor care that the First Amendment is directed at government overreach.
If Hawley knows what the first amendment says, but is pretending not to in order to make his point - then he is not only playing to his audience, he is being disingenuous!
On the other hand - he may simply be ignorant (see my other comment).
Enough on Hawley!
Mod
Well, that is disappointing..."
I do so agree. As far as books are concerned, all types of book can be of interest and lead to worthwhile discussions and if we confined ourselves to fiction,we'd be much the poorer for it. And people are led to comments about their lives and sometimes public events. Maybe some of those "digressions" go on longer than I'd like but it's easy to scroll past contributions we're not interested in.
If one feels things are getting too off-topic, then why not post a book review!
GpfrI am posting this here as comments on photos still disappear and I wanted to say how I enjoyed seeing Emily Dickinson’s white dress.
If it was a ‘wrapper’ or everyday dress I would have thought white wasn’t the best colour but then maybe that’s because I am messy and such a dress would be stained within minutes.
I liked Beckett’s photo, too. Always good to see photos or portraits of writers.
Gpfr wrote (179): "If one feels things are getting too off-topic, then why not post a book review! ..."It seems not everyone realised my comment was somewhat tongue in cheek (sigh ...).
I do have a book review in me but I did feel the book comments were getting swamped and I didn't want to waste my time on it if people were skimming past anxious to add to the next Brexit/ Trump discussion (which I read with interest actually).
Maybe next week .....
Mod
If it was a ‘wrapper’ or everyday dress I would have thought white wasn’t the best colour...."
Yes, I also thought it impractical, but I read somewhere that since bleach was commonly used to get rid of stains, white was actually not a bad choice.
FrancesBurgundy wrote: "I did feel the book comments were getting swamped..."
I agree. Its good to read the discussions on other things and I do enjoy the points of view. But unlike the TLS threads it's very hard to scroll past, and it's easy to miss reviews if you do. Don't know the answer with the GR format though!
I agree. Its good to read the discussions on other things and I do enjoy the points of view. But unlike the TLS threads it's very hard to scroll past, and it's easy to miss reviews if you do. Don't know the answer with the GR format though!
WRT scrolling - I can see that it's trickier in GR than in the Guardian - but it can't be that onerous, surely? A quick glance should be enough to see if it's a review, or a digression...Which leads me to wonder whether all this reflects in some way two distinct character types - those of us who like taking side-turnings, and those who prefer to stick to the motorway... ;-)
As an example - and in a book-related comment - I am reading La Promesse de l'Aube by Romain Gary. Gary claimed - falsely - that his father was Russian silent screen actor Ivan Moskoujine. I could have just carried on reading, but was interested to find out more about Mouskejine, and read his Wikipedia entry - from which I discovered his involvement in early film theory, as a participant in a demonstration of the Kuleshov effect. I found this very interesting, but no doubt it slowed my progress through the book! IF you are interested...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kulesho...
Justine wrote (164): "And yes, back to books! As much of my reading just now is explicitly political, I'll confine my comments on that to my general Goodreads reviews, and only include here discussions of fiction..."I hope this wasn't as a result of my comment Justine. Your work on this site is very much appreciated. Please don't self-censor - no one else here does!
scarletnoir wrote (184): "I am reading La Promesse de l'Aube by Romain Gary..."I've never read any Romain Gary but from all the posts on TLS and here about him I'm determined to remedy that in 2021.
And finally for this week, a heads-up about the interview with George Saunders on the Guardian site - https://www.theguardian.com/books/202.... He sounded such a nice person when I heard him on Radio 4 the other day and he raved about Russian short stories. So I plucked Turgenev's Sketches from a Hunter's Album off the shelf and managed two pages! I obviously wasn't in the right mood but Russian short stories is/are another 2021 resolution.
Jacksons biography of Charles De Gaulle is just simply majestic so far, i have reached the late 1920s and the great man is posted to Beirut(he is not a fan of the city), with his young family. His youngest daughter is severely disabled, De Gaulle dotes on her and spends hours in her company reading stories and playing gamesDe Gaulle the military man is a constant throughout these years, he comes under the patronage of Marachel Petain for a short period and writes and lectures on the Great War continually. There is a literary side to De Gaulle that interests me, he writes well and apparently spent most of his free time reading and writing wherever he was posted
The awkward character is already there, he writes sternly to his patron, The Marachel himself, that he doesnt want anyone else helping him ghost write a history of WW1 for Petain. (Petain famously treated the art of writing with disdain).
Jackson mixes De Gaulle's interests well with his character, his reading of philosophy, german literature and the french classics.
FrancesBurgundy wrote: "Justine wrote (164): "And yes, back to books! As much of my reading just now is explicitly political, I'll confine my comments on that to my general Goodreads reviews, and only include here discuss..."thats the beauty of this compared to the Guardian, less stalinist censoring of posts!
Viva Justine and LL!!!
So many great posts to respond to!Blue Welcome! Please join in the fray!
Gladarvor (and others) Okay, okay! I'm probably incapable of shutting up for long anyway. So:
One last (?) word on Josh Hawley: The man went to Stanford and Yale Law School. He was the attorney general in Missouri, and taught at the University of Missouri School of Law. Don't tell me he doesn't know the First Amendment!! He is being not so much disingenuous as deliberately duplicitous, just as he was in continuing to try overturning the election right to the bitter end, even after the invasion of the mob. He's not stupid or ignorant; he is close to being a traitor.
Blue wrote: "Tom wrote: January will be spent (mostly) reading contemporary Irish books. Partly as I've had good experiences with Irish writers in recent years and also because I kind of feel like it's a nice w..."Hey Blue! Thanks you very much for the recommendations. Colum McCann is the writer who sort-of set me off on this path, having loved both Apeirogon and Let The Great World Spin last year. So I will now be always on the lookout for more of his work.
I have quite a pile ready for me to read now, including Lisa McInernry, Paul Lynch, Niall Williams, Mary Costello, Sally Rooney, Sara Baume and Oisin Fagan.... Let's see how many I get through!
FrancesBurgundy wrote (#187): "So I plucked Turgenev's Sketches from a Hunter's Album off the shelf and managed two pages! I obviously wasn't in the right mood but Russian short stories is/are another 2021 resolution."That's more like it MissB! A few months ago, MachenBach also recommended First Love and Other Stories by Turgenev, saying he was developing a crush on him. I've only read 'First Love', but truly got transported by it. (Worried about Mach btw considering the current unfolding of the covid shitshow here in the UK. I hope this is just one of his very disciplined stay-away-from-even-lurking-(e)TLS periods.)
As for Gary, you're one of the lucky ones who can read him in the text, so I'd say really worth trying him. I have only read the three - Les cerfs-volants, La promesse de l'aube and La vie devant soi (by Ajar) - and I recommend them all, perhaps with a preference for the middle one.
Tom wrote (#191): "I have quite a pile ready for me to read now, including Lisa McInernry, Paul Lynch, Niall Williams, Mary Costello, Sally Rooney, Sara Baume and Oisin Fagan.... Let's see how many I get through!"Hey Tom, I keep pushing (unsuccessfully so far I think) Reading in The Dark by Seamus Deane. Keep it in mind maybe? I could go on about all the awards it got, but I wasn't aware of any of this when I read it and it was simply haunting and beautiful. The prose is very evocative too. (Apparently it is close to being memoirs, although the author himself never wanted to qualify it as such.)
Also, cannot remember if you read plays, but Brian Friel's ones are kind of miraculous.
Gladarvor wrote(192): "As for Gary, you're one of the lucky ones who can read him in the text..."Well I've just bought a copy of La Promesse de l'Aube online! But you know I really intended to read (re-read the first half of) Perec's La Vie Mode d'Emploi next.
I really must stop all this internet lark and use this lockdown to read real books.
Would be good to hear something from Mach - but some of us have been a bit silent recently.
Gladarvor wrote: "Tom wrote (#191): "I have quite a pile ready for me to read now, including Lisa McInernry, Paul Lynch, Niall Williams, Mary Costello, Sally Rooney, Sara Baume and Oisin Fagan.... Let's see how many..."i read this about 5-6 years ago and loved it, have you read any Patrick McCabe, he is an Irish writer who writes about the Co Monaghan area. Mclaverty is another modern irish writer worth exploring...
i was checking my Irish novels read in last 18 months and all were Northern Irish, written from 1930-60s
(recommendations meant for Tom !)
Justine wrote (#190): "Gladarvor (and others) Okay, okay! I'm probably incapable of shutting up for long anyway."😊
he is close to being a traitor.
Indeed. And so is Ted I-cook-my-bacon-by-wrapping-it-on-my-assault-riffle Cruz. But also, as Colbert said, all those senators and congressmen who indulged Trump's feeble mind to keep spouting these blatant lies and delusions post-Biden's victory, undermining the Constitution, the courts (including the Supreme one), the voting institutions, the voters, and ultimately, his country.
FrancesBurgundy wrote (#194): "Well I've just bought a copy of La Promesse de l'Aube online! But you know I really intended to read (re-read the first half of) Perec's La Vie Mode d'Emploi next."Excellent! Yes, I plan to re-read La vie mode d'emploi too, as it appears that I never finished it (if I believe my bookmark's placement...). Damn small print though. It's a deterrent (ditto with Invisible Man which I've bought recently after Natasha big push for it). I need glasses but will have to wait for more auspicious conditions.
I found the article about houseplants possibly having intent most intriguing. In particular, the French bean plant was studied, whether or not the plant’s movement towards a cane upon which to climb was intended or just lucky if it reached one. I have been reading, albeit slowly, Entangled Life and learning about Mycorrhizal fungi, this symbiotic relationship between the roots of plants and fungi, how it has been proved that fungi search for the minerals and water with which to feed both itself and the plant.
Could it possibly be that there are some fungi on the growing tips of the plant using their search and find attributes?
It’s an interesting thought, not mentioned in the article, this is me wondering.
https://www.theguardian.com/environme...
AB76 wrote (#195): "i read this [Reading in the Dark] about 5-6 years ago and loved it"I remembered one other person had read it on TLS, couldn't remember whom. That's a big recommend from you considering you're not one for contemporary fiction!
FrancesBurgundy wrote: "And finally for this week, a heads-up about the interview with George Saunders on the Guardian site - https://www.theguardian.com/books/202......"That interview made me want to read his book, which will, I hope, make me want to read Russian short stories. I am not naturally drawn to reading short stories, nor short novels/novellas. Not sure why, considering that two of my all-time favourites/most re-read books are Mikhail Bulgakow's "A Country Doctor's Notebook" and John Steinbecks "Cannery Row"
MissB, iirc, you mentioned an upcoming book review some weeks ago? I've been looking out for it ever since. Did I miss it?
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Ersatz TLS
Books mentioned in this topic
Deep River (other topics)The General: Charles De Gaulle and the France He Saved (other topics)
The Space Merchants (other topics)
Dead Lions (other topics)
Promise at Dawn (other topics)
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Authors mentioned in this topic
Milo Yiannopoulos (other topics)Woody Allen (other topics)
Michael Pearce (other topics)
We have to accept it of course - it is now the law and we can do nothing to prevent the car crash. All we can do is support it or campaign to rejoin the EU. I shall support the latter cause, but my point is that in my opinion, which I expect nobody to care about, this is not the forum for such a campaign.
I'm absolutely not asking anyone to refrain from discussing politics. I can't off-hand think of a book that is not political.