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What Are We Reading? 18 January 2021
Machenbach wrote: "All the talk this week of conspiracy theory tallies nicely with my most recent read – Charles Portis’s Masters of Atlantis – a gloriously deadpan comedy about a ridiculous cult, Gnomon..."I don’t find anything much to disagree with in your review, though I think you enjoyed the book a bit more than I did. I’ve read all his novels, though I don’t consider myself a fan; I thought this was the Portis that would convert me as his subject is right in my sweet spot of socially maladjusted adherents of two-bit esoteric wisdom. But it didn’t do the trick; I quote a funny passage about "Odd Birds of Illinois and Indiana" in my review which comes pretty close to summing up the novel's main appeal for me.
I think his lack of bite is what makes Portis fall short for me: he loves his lovable losers but doesn’t actually dislike anybody or anything very much, at least not enough to get really mad and mix some vitriol into his ink. True Grit was a one-off for him, and the only novel by him I consider completely successful.
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I was planning to reply about The Quincunx in almost exactly the same terms - I read it a long time ago and while I remember thoroughly enjoying it, I don't remember anything in detail about it.
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Ditto.
Harry wrote: "Is this a fictionalised account? Just want to be clear, as everything I've read had Roosevelt's backing of Darlan as leaving most Americans non-plussed. Also, his assasination took place *within w..."
Its a well regarded biography and deffo not fictional! JulianJackson is one of the best historians on vichy france. there is considerable suspicions that the allies may have been involved in the killing of Darlan
He was certainly a shady figure and a traitor to France but in 1942, there was still a lot of frenchman who saw Vichy as a continuation of France, not the Free French
Algiers was a strategic city and gave the americans more territory in North Africa, so it did help the Allies that Darlan gave it up to them
The Vichy regime remains one of the most fascinating and disturbing collaboration projects of the 20th century ......the idea of a "Ministry for Jewish Affairs" which clearly was not for their own benefiit chills me to the bone every time, attracting many of the most virulent anti-semites in french society
Almost finished UNKNOWN SOLDIERS by Vainno Linna, his 1954 masterpiece about WW2Its pretty grim with dark humour now as the Finns face the Russian onslaught in 1944. The tough, rugged Finns fight well as ever but the numbers are now running out, brave, relentless NCO's are dead and the officers decimated. The Russians are advancing in massive numbers, always more troops to come
I dont think an anglo-saxon writer could write about war like Linna, there is a depth here which constantly suprises me as the "micro-battle" narrative continues to reveal
Either Linna's prose or the translators skill means its very readable and well paced, Linna handles tension and describing forest warfare superbly.
Well done for Penguin in translating this and bringing it to English eyes
AB76 wrote (#69): "gosh, i cant remember the exact name of the boat, was a kind of similar to a Wayfarer, adapted for safer instruction."Ah, you know what, before your answer, I think I was oblivious how nationalised choices of dinghies could be at a sailing club. But it now stares me in the face: I have never heard of a Wayfarer! (Beautiful boat) Instead, what we had (and I was an instructor of) in a similar category was 420 and more rarely 470, and a few old Vaurien by the side. All French designed.
Max (Outrage) wrote (#93): "Thanks for that. She [Joni Mitchell] seems fine. (Of course, you never really know :-)).The Early Years. Must get."
You're welcome Max! Yes, I was happy when I read that interview back then. She seems to be doing great (I'd love to see updates on Bootsy!). And that collection series does look special.
Her twitter account is worth looking into... In particular, I love the recent thread on her drawings and paintings https://twitter.com/jonimitchell/stat...
Hushpuppy wrote: "AB76 wrote (#69): "gosh, i cant remember the exact name of the boat, was a kind of similar to a Wayfarer, adapted for safer instruction."Ah, you know what, before your answer, I think I was obliv..."
we had a 420 and a 505 but only for instructors to sail on weekends (the 505) or for very good pupils on advanced courses(the 420).
we also had a trimaran for disabled sailors, it was a devil of a craft, fast and powerful, usually to be seen way out in front! instructors sometimes had to perch on the tiny stern area to advise and try not to fall in!
Have finished the Linna novel of WW2 Finland and now changing down a gear away from warfare to read:THE STORY OF AN AFRICAN FARM by Olive Schreiner, an 1880s South African classic, set in Cape Province. I am not sure whether i will enjoy it or not but it fits into the "colonial literature by women" genre that i am keen to explore. (i have a daphne rooke novel in pile somewhere too, another south african female writer)
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(For those of us in the US, anyway.)
The Ancient Hours by Michael Bible
For such a short book it is the case that any reasonable sized summary or review lessens the enjoyment of reading it. I advise to avoid them if you plan to read this. Some reviews I have read, by reviewers with justifiably high reputations, would completely change the experience of going into the book blind, fortunately as I did.
Suffice to say, the author gradually earns the trust of the reader as he reveals details of the tragedy and its aftermath, his account manages to be morally unprejudiced and unsparing, subjective, but not unsentimental.
It is that rare beast, a really good 'new' Southern novel which in the best tradition of the genre, pits religion against violence, in the mold of Flannery O'Connor, Harry Crews, et al.
I've just one complaint, such a very rare one for me.. it's too short..
Machenbach wrote: "Andy wrote: "The Ancient Hours by Michael Bible"
Sounds great, 'though I did initially misread the author as Michael Bublé."
Google seems to favour Buble... hard to insist on a search for Michael Bible...
Its a good southern surname for sure...
Hushpuppy wrote: "Max (Outrage) wrote (#93): "Thanks for that. She [Joni Mitchell] seems fine. (Of course, you never really know :-)).The Early Years. Must get."
You're welcome Max! Yes, I was happy when I read th..."
I always liked Joni, from the 'Big Yellow Taxi' period - many brilliant songs... no idea about the later stuff (I sort of stopped listening to popular music after the early '70s, apart from unmissable stuff that forces its way into the public consciousness). Oddly (it seems to me) my wife is not a fan - something to do with the voice/delivery, apparently. There's no accounting for taste!
AB76 wrote: "there is considerable suspicions that the allies may have been involved in the killing of Darlan"Considerable suspicion? :-P
It's an absolutely nailed on certainty he was topped by OSS and SIS - they were both absolutely horrified at Darlan being feted, because they were trying to build trust among Resistants (at that time a very nascent resistance) and up popped their Enemy No1 (or 2 or 3, after Laval and Petain) being feted by the Allies?
It's well known that the assassin was purposely released from jail, and (almost) handed the gun of an SIS agent/resiistant and allowed into the hotel and then the room with Darlan.
He was then "captured", given a hearing, condemned and topped within 48 hours - all while Stewart Menzies (SIS CoS) sat down the road making sure everything went ticketty-boo to the end.
Darlan got what he deserved. For me, La Chappelle is the most interesting ingredient.
Max (Outrage) wrote: "@Georg (46)...why is there no public discussion about ethics?
Too many people think ethics is a county in the South East."
This forum so needs a 'Smiley' option.
Lljones wrote: "Inauguration Day a palindrome that won't happen again for 1,000 years(For those of us in the US, anyway.)"
Link sent me to You Tube and nostalgia of 1969 - Zager And Evans - In The Year 2525
Harry wrote: "AB76 wrote: "there is considerable suspicions that the allies may have been involved in the killing of Darlan"Considerable suspicion? :-P
It's an absolutely nailed on certainty he was topped by ..."
i think Darlan is more interesting than people give him credit for...Vichy had a whole raft of dodgier villians like Darnand (Milice),Vallat, Touvier and Laval
.the OSS/SIS angle is interesting obviously and i'm sure will be debated for years
MK wrote: "Link sent me to You Tube and nostalgia of 1969 - Zager And Evans - In The Year 2525"When I first started to develop an interest in music, listened to pop music – top 40 radio mainly - for about 6 months or so in 1969 before I fell into listening almost exclusively to classical for a number of years. During that time “In the Year 2525” was a #1 hit; I’m sure those guys went on to have a spectacular career.
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(For those of us in the US, anyway.)"
Link sent me to You Tube and nostalgia of 1969 - Zager And Evans - In T..."
Oops - sorry! Try this one.
After Linna i tracked back on Schreiner and have picked up Durrenmatts "Suspicion", one of his 1950s Inspector Barlach novels, it will be the third in that series i have read
I originally heard of Durrenmatt via his plays about 20 years ago, his detective novels are slim, sparse, tense and very ingenious. There is all the weight of a Tuetonic battle of the mind mixed with the workings of Swiss decency
@scarletnoir [59]I don't know how to embed links with a simple 'here'!
Just above the 'reply' entry box on the right appears the legend:
(some HTML is ok)
If you click on that it gives a handy list of codes, including 'Link'.
Have a look next time you reply to someone and you'll see what I mean.
AB76 [95]...he looks a bit sinister here:
Ah yes, that's much more piratical. Thank you!
@FrustratedArtist {96}Hi @Frustrated Artist, welcome back.
AB76 wrote: "i think Darlan is more interesting than people give him credit for...Vichy had a whole raft of dodgier villians like Darnand (Milice),Vallat, Touvier and Laval"
They were like rats in a sack ;-) Doriot was another one... with strange likeness to the current former Communists in the current UK Vichy Government. Scum doesn't only rise to the top, it changes it's political outlook on the way up.
Oh... and "Hardy" is the mystery that will never be solved...
Machenbach wrote: "Nice to see you!"Same!
"I think there are other fans here (Swelter?), and certainly plenty in the world of American TV comedy, but it's still, perhaps fittingly, a bit of a cult book.."
Ahem, that had escaped me so far. I am neither knowledgeable about cult nor occult books. Nor do I know much about American TV comedy... What, then, do I know?
Well, feel free to ask my brain, which, I should warn you, however, has reacted to Trump's departure (as I would hope...) with constant replays of Boney M's "Rasputin". (Feel free to imagine a blushing emoji at this stage.) I am inclined to blame my early childhood, for once. Though A Brief History of Seven Killings may also have played a part - Boney M is mentioned quite a few times. It should be said for the book, amongst other things, that it also led to me listening to more Reggae again. That was great fun.
MK wrote: "Max (Outrage) wrote: "@Georg (46)...why is there no public discussion about ethics?
Too many people think ethics is a county in the South East."
This forum so needs a 'Smiley' option."
Right click and at the top of the options there should be emoji. Click on that and then tap the one you want. 😀
AB76 wrote: "After Linna i tracked back on Schreiner and have picked up Durrenmatts "Suspicion", one of his 1950s Inspector Barlach novels, it will be the third in that series i have read[bookcover:Suspicion|..."
I find Dürrenmatt's crime novels haven't aged well. They are not bad, but they aren't very good either.
I would say the opposite is true for his plays "The Physicists" and "The Visit": both are timeless, both are excellent, bordering on brilliant, in their very own original way.
Harry wrote: "AB76 wrote: "i think Darlan is more interesting than people give him credit for...Vichy had a whole raft of dodgier villians like Darnand (Milice),Vallat, Touvier and Laval"
They were like rats i..."
yes, doriot was one of the left to extreme right travellers who puzzled me from my teenage vichy reading.
for me the actions of the Cagoulards, Action Francaise and other right or extreme right groups in the 1930s was a festering sore in the french state, that maybe showed the way things were going
in Malaparte's diaries, covering 1946-7, he looks back to 1939 and remembers a lot of political french opinion saw the USSR as the enemy not Nazi Germany
Jackson in his book also makes clear that a lot of the Free French were right wing and uneasy with left wing involvement in 1940-41. De Gaulle remained sphinx like with his approach and apparently while a staunch military-catholic, was not anti-semitic(unlike many in the army and catholic circles)
Georg wrote: "AB76 wrote: "After Linna i tracked back on Schreiner and have picked up Durrenmatts "Suspicion", one of his 1950s Inspector Barlach novels, it will be the third in that series i have read[bookcov..."
thats interesting, i find the crime novels to be of the very highest standard and fascinating. certainly in the anglo-saxon world he is having a strong period since Das Versprechen was made into a big film in 2001
Max (Outrage) wrote: "AB76 [95]...he looks a bit sinister here:
Ah yes, that's much more piratical. Thank you!"
i still think the craziest military man i have come accross was a Boer General called Vandeventer, who fought with the British in WW1 accross Southern Africa as they invaded the German colonies. (he had fought against the Brits in the Boer War a decade earlier)
Vandeventer spoke very little english, had his voicebox shot up in the boer war and liked to whip english officers with his swagger stick, in a playful but violent manner. when english officers asked him to speak up at meetings, he would start howling about how you "bloody roinecks shot my larynx to bits in the waaaaar"
he was a brilliant soldier apparently....just loco
I started Evelyn Waugh's The Loved One this week, after finding it on a random "best humorous books" list. Not knowing anything about it beforehand, I was surprised to find I've started another book about death. Its setting is based on the the Hollywood cemetery Forest Lawn (Whispering Glades in the book), which is where David Niven's director pal was buried. I referred to this last week. The book is right up my street - British expats playing cricket, and the nasty business of making movies. Waugh based one character on C. Aubrey Smith but he must have met Niven and Errol Flynn, whose autobiographies I read as a teenager. There's a scene discussing the need to change the origins and name of an actress from Latin American to Irish which must be based on Rita Hayworth, who also featured in my Elif Shafak read last week. I'm not sure I'd have got on with Evelyn Waugh, but his prose, eye and ear for detail are very enjoyable.Besides the David Niven memoirs, here are the books that informed my views of Hollywood:
My Wicked, Wicked Ways
Child Star
Judy Garland: The Secret Life of an American Legend
SUSPICION by Durrenmatt has started so well, the master of deliberate prose, Inspector Barlach, welcome back into my reading!
Shelflife_wasBooklooker wrote: "Just found a brief mention of The Quincunx in the old TL&S:https://www.theguardian.com/books/boo...
Woul..."
I read the Crimson Petal and the White about 10 years ago , and found it fascinating but rather frustrating- I found the ending inconclusive. But it never quite managed to feel like a 19th Century novel. The perspective as too modern.
Similarly, I read Francis Spufford's novel "Golden Hill" a couple of years ago. Lots of stylistic nods to 18th century picaresque novels like Tom Jones, but with very modern issues at its core that rarely featured in the literature of the 18th century. It never quite managed to create the illusion of a book that was written by hand, 250 years ago.
There are plenty of things that bring Dickens and 19th Century novels in general to mind in the Quincunx, from the occasional vintage spelling ("lanthorn") to the conversation between "Law" and "Equity" in the first chapter. And of course the sheer three-decker bulk of the thing, and its multitude of secrets. But it lacks the stately pace of the real thing.
I have yet to read a 19-th century set novel that really felt like a 19th Century novel - and I think it's an impossible ask. Every novel, like every film and every photograph, is of its time. I found the above novels - (along with Fingersmith, the French Lieutenant's Woman and Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell) hugely entertaining and they had interesting things to say about the time in which they were set. That's enough for me.
I'm half way through the Quincunx and am thoroughly enjoying it. But it twists and turns so rapidly it feels premature to say much more about it at this stage.
Cabbie wrote: "I started Evelyn Waugh's The Loved One this week"A brilliant book, as I recalled it - Waugh himself sounds like a nasty bit of goods but wrote two excellent satires - The Loved One and Scoop... the latter foresaw the 'fake news' which has caused so much agony in recent times, with the protagonist, journalist William Boot, making up stories about a war in Africa from the safety of his hotel room... the other journos get grief from their editors, for not 'finding' these amazing stories...
Took a moment to check out Waugh (a well-known bastard, as I recall) and was not very surprised to find this comment online:
A spiffing, well written, humorous yarn but, sadly, one which does not survive the test of time; a lot of the humour is based on racism, jingoism, xenophobia, chauvinism ... with Johnny (and even Kätchen) foreigners queuing up to take advantage of and rip off our innocent, honest (mainly) and upright (mainly) Englishman protagonist.
It is heavy sprinkled with extreme racist language, especially when referring to the indigenous inhabitants of the fictional African country in which the main action is set, which would, I suspect, lead to widespread protests and even legal action, if it was published today.
So, then - books whose time has passed, by the sound of it. Perhaps The Loved One can still be read without too much embarrassment, as the racism there is directed at Americans (as far as I remember) - and as the dominant caste, they should be able to take it (or not).
No doubt Scoop was sort of a bible for our dear PM, Boris Johnson?
I doubt that I'd enjoy Waugh, nowadays.
Georg wrote:I find Dürrenmatt's crime novels haven't aged well. They are not bad, but they aren't very good either.I'm with you on Durrenmatt - this is my review of The Pledge off Amazon:
This author is highly regarded, but in truth this was bang average stuff... it was short, so I finished it easily enough, but won't be reading any more. There are far better crime writers, and far better philosophical writers 'out there'.
Don't have much to add, except that it was quite boring, even for a short novel.
Comments open at the G for a good article by Laura Purcell on Spirit Mediums.I’ve made my usual plea for the return of TLS. Others may like to also..
Keep this pressure on..
scarletnoir wrote: "Georg wrote:I find Dürrenmatt's crime novels haven't aged well. They are not bad, but they aren't very good either.I'm with you on Durenmatt - this is my review off Amazon:
This author is highly..."
i totally disagree...lol..i think he is far better than a lot of the modern crime novelists and achieves exactly what is needed in a short novel.
but i'm not a major crime novel fan, i prefer crime novels that are slightly different to the generic .......Durrenmatt achieves that
AB76 wrote: i think he is far better than a lot of the modern crime novelistsThat statement implies that you are familiar with 'a lot of the modern crime novelists'. Maybe you could elaborate on that? No need to go too deep, just some examples to lift your view out of the 'sweeping generalisations' category...
@Blue #57I'm glad if I brought you back to the pleasures of the harbour Blue. It was a lovely read; I'm finding Apeirogon more challenging just in adapting to the style and the volume of information coming at one but it's hugely impressive so far.
Any of you who watched Bridgerton on Netflix over Christmas or generally fancy a bit of faux-Regency diversion may want to check out this short article on the G. https://www.theguardian.com/books/202...
I watched Bridgerton with my mother who didn't bat an eyelid at some of the scenes that left me and my sister blushing. She's come a long way since she considered Dallas a bad influence on me.
Julian Jackson's biography of De Gaulle is so majestic that every 20 pages feels like a new novelIts 1943...the allies are fighting hard in Tunisia....
Giraud and De Gaulle are circling each other like lions , the stiff backed senior General who escaped from German captivity vs the stubborn face of a New France. (Giraud was not instinctively anti-Vichy and kept their anti-Jewish laws once he suceeded Darlan as the french commander in Algeria)
Churchill and De Gaulle continue their rather volatile relationship, Churchill labelling De Gaulle "the monster of Hampstead" in one aside to an aide..while the Americans remain lukewarm on De Gaulle, even his future aide in the rebuilding of France in 1944, Jean Monnet(and future EEC visionary), is scathing about De Gaulle from Washington
Giraud's party piece was recounting in great detail his undeniably legendary escape from German captivity, he tried it on everyone but it failed to move De Gaulle, who coldly replied at the end of the upteenth telling "why dont you tell us all about the circumstances of your capture?"
scarletnoir wrote: "Cabbie wrote: "I started Evelyn Waugh's The Loved One this week"A brilliant book, as I recalled it - Waugh himself sounds like a nasty bit of goods but wrote two excellent satires - ..."
I liked Waughs WW2 triology, well the first two novels, especially "Officers and Gentlemen" which was made into a good tv series about 15 years ago
Richard J Evans writes in this weeks New Statesman how comparing Trump to fascist or Nazi leaders can be misleading and in then face of the historical knowledge of the great historian, i totally concur. However, the label can be attached with levels of severity and Trump certainly performed as a right wing, xenophobic conduit for the fringes of the american right. Of course he wasnt as charasmatic or cunning as Hitler or as driven as Mussolini, but he spread falsehood and fear among minorities wherever he strode
Trump didnt need a Goebbels, he just used twitter and i think the bigger issue here is how he was allowed that mouthpiece, with impunity for so long, until last autumn.
AB76 wrote: "Trump didnt need a Goebbels, he just used twitter and i think the bigger issue here is how he was allowed that mouthpiece, with impunity for so long, until last autumn."A slight clarification: he was on Twitter until earlier this month, though Twitter administration started explicitly labeling his falsehoods (calling them "disputed" rather than "false" as I recall) a few months earlier, but not, I think, until after he had lost the election.
Bill wrote: "AB76 wrote: "Trump didnt need a Goebbels, he just used twitter and i think the bigger issue here is how he was allowed that mouthpiece, with impunity for so long, until last autumn."A slight clar..."
thanks bill, an important clarification...
yes, i think his first "labelled" tweets were when he was starting to go crazy and calling the election "fraudulent" in late november.
Any update on whether The Guardian is going to bring back TLS?Justine and LL are doing a fab job here, so we dont really need it but would love to think Viner has taken our points on board !
AB76 wrote: "Any update on whether The Guardian is going to bring back TLS?Justine and LL are doing a fab job here, so we dont really need it but would love to think Viner has taken our points on board !"
Not yet. They said they'd keep me posted in the new year, but of course, this was pre-covid coming back with a vengeance... I'll definitely let you know as soon as I have any update!
Hushpuppy wrote: "AB76 wrote: "Any update on whether The Guardian is going to bring back TLS?Justine and LL are doing a fab job here, so we dont really need it but would love to think Viner has taken our points on..."
thanks, i hope Sam is ok too with his publishing side of things..
AB76 wrote:i prefer crime novels that are slightly different to the generic .......Durrenmatt achieves that.it's certainly different - but not very interesting.
As I have said before, though - often - we're all different, and respond to different stimuli. I'm glad that you can derive pleasure from Durenmatt - we all get pleasure where we can.
He just doesn't hit the sweet spot for me, that's all.
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Also, his assasination took place *within weeks* and the "trail" and execution of his assassin within 2 days.
Darlan was a traitor to France on a par to Laval, and - at best - a useful idiot to the Allies, undeserving of being treated as anything else.
His "helping the Allies" in North Africa was an about face caused by him being booted from the Vichy regime on Hitlers say so, nothing more than he had ridden the Vichy horse as far as it would take him, and then sought to ingratiate himself with the Allies.
Roosevelt was - perhaps enchanted is the best word - by him, but thankfully wiser heads prevailed.
The saddest character in the whole episode has to be Fernand Bonnier de La Chapelle, who almost certainly got enabled to do what he wanted to do, and was then snuffed out because he could have implicated those who enabled him to do it.
AB76 wrote: "De Gaulle, 1942
BAM.....the allies are now invading north africa, de gaulle miffed that Roosevelt kept the invasion plans from him and predicts the Germans will now move into southern france (un-o..."