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What Are We Reading? 18 January 2021
Amelia wrote: "Justine wrote: "Georg (78) wrote: : "Norman Lewis "Naples '44"..."I just looked this up, and it sounds far more interesting than the Origo. I've put it down for my next order from the library. Th..."
Years ago I remember reading the World, the World his autobiography- or maybe just one volume of it. He struck me above all as a great teller of tales from a world that has disappeared. But also as a fearless journalist with a mission to bring to light dark deeds in places like Brazil and Paraguay, and a great sympathy for indigenous peoples. There is a strong streak of melancholy, or righteous anger, running through his writing.
AB76 is following the ups and downs of Charles De Gaulle; I'm back to trailing behind Barry Goldwater as he moves from strength to strength, gathering delegates, state by state, for the 1964 Republican National Convention in San Francisco (in Before the Storm: Barry Goldwater and the Unmaking of the American Consensus by Rick Perlstein). Or rather, the delegates are being gathered by one Clifton White, a new figure to me, who masterminded and micromanaged the Goldwater campaign behind the scenes, even though he wasn't the official campaign director. He left nothing to chance, fearing that even as delegates arrived for the convention they might be 'turned' by representatives for another candidate. Each delegate travelled with a 'buddy' chosen by White: When they arrived at San Francisco International, delegates were to report immediately to the Goldwater hospitality room, where staffers would contact headquarters at the Mark, where the delegate's arrival was noted in the pages of big black cross-indexed loose-leaf binders which contained intelligence on each one of them ("Can be influenced and expect economic pressures can be important when the chips are down ...")Even the routes from airport to hotels had been timed, so if a delegate was late, 'an APB could be put out' to his radio-controlled car. Secret services around the world could have learned a thing or two from Clif White!
Justine wrote: "AB76 is following the ups and downs of Charles De Gaulle; I'm back to trailing behind Barry Goldwater as he moves from strength to strength, gathering delegates, state by state, for the 1964 Republ..."the book sounds better and better the more i hear..deffo on my list
have you read Goldwaters "Consience of a Conservative"?
Inevitably, sometime in late 2021 or 2022, pandemic experiences, novels and narratives will emerge,i wonder if they will find a willing audience?i guess much will depend on how far we have moved towards some kind of mitigation with the death toll and hospital cases, where people can look back and see it did end in hope and progress but conversely, the death toll and the ineptitude of the british government will make it hard to bear re-visiting
i am aware its not certain where the pandemic will end either....
The John Sandoe winter catalog is out! Many books of interest!https://johnsandoe.com/product-catego...
My first "modern book" of 2021 (ie post 1980-) is to be started right now, William McIlvanneys 1985 novel "The Big Man", a tale of working class West Scotland (Ayr)I have enjoyed four of his novels (the first two Laidlaw's, a short story collection and The Kiln). I hope this is as good as his best novel, the first Laidlaw.
Will be interesting to see how living in Thatchers Scotland is portrayed
Sandya wrote: "The John Sandoe winter catalog is out! Many books of interest!https://johnsandoe.com/product-catego..."
thanks Sandya. i purchased an Annie Ernaux book (which i hadnt heard of) after you mentioned the store last autumn and i will be looking through this to order more from the shop
Justine wrote: "Snow in London this morning. A good day for settling in with a book, and forgetting the world's woes for a few hours, after several trying days when I've not been able to read. Back to [book:Pastor..."It is even snowing heavily in my neck of the woods, and we usually get much less that the surrounding area. So a day of papers, books, and cup football for me.
If you have to venture out, stay safe everyone.
giveusaclue (320) wrote: "If you have to venture out, stay safe everyone...."Alas, my days of revelling in the snow and engaging in snowball fights are over. Now it's all boring worries about broken bones.
Here in CA it rained heavily yesterday and we expect a week of rain. There will be snow upon the mountains! I always think of Galadriel when I see it!
Sandya (300) wrote: "The Little Grey Men. “BB”Thanks for the lovely posting. Refreshing in these lockdown days.
Kevin Barry, "Night Boat to Tangier." Blimey, one of the best novels I've read in a long time. The book criss-crosses back and forth across the lives of two ageing Irish gangsters as they sit waiting at the port of Algeciras, hoping to spot Dilly, the daughter of one of them. So good, in my opinion, because of the great vividness with which Moss and Charlie come alive through Barry's sparse prose. These are not characters you like - they are, after all, pretty awful men - but they are ones with whom you empathise, in the sense of grasping their humanity. If one thing you want from a novel is to live awhile as or with another person, then this book delivered hugely for me. Barry is not a writer of great literary flourishes but there's a real lyricism too and the book is shot through with beauty. He's one of those writers who leaves you wondering how he achieves so much affect.
Liverpool University Press very kindly sent me a copy of a new publication, Jim Powell, "Losing the Thread: Cotton, Liverpool and the American Civil War." Nice crisp, trenchant prose in the introduction, and a handsome production by LUP. Anyway, will be my next read I think.
Justine wrote: "giveusaclue (320) wrote: "If you have to venture out, stay safe everyone...."Alas, my days of revelling in the snow and engaging in snowball fights are over. Now it's all boring worries about bro..."
the roads,pavements and any places down here get treacherous once the ice forms after snow overnight, ice rink car parks and even my brief walk earlier had some dicey spots, though i'm not too worried about falls and broken bones quite yet.
masses of people out, no social distancing and no masks...
Veufveuve wrote: "Liverpool University Press very kindly sent me a copy of a new publication, Jim Powell, "Losing the Thread: Cotton, Liverpool and the American Civil War." Nice crisp, trenchant prose in the introdu..."sounds interesting.....
AB76 wrote: "Veufveuve wrote: "Liverpool University Press very kindly sent me a copy of a new publication, Jim Powell, "Losing the Thread: Cotton, Liverpool and the American Civil War." Nice crisp, trenchant pr..."Despite the vast reams of historical writing on cotton and the cotton industry, Liverpool's role, and especially the role of its brokers, has been shockingly under-studied. There is no modern history of cotton broking, despite its undeniable importance to modern world history. Powell's book is not that history, but I think it's going to be an important start.
Machenbach wrote: "Sandya wrote: "The John Sandoe winter catalog is out! Many books of interest!https://johnsandoe.com/product-catego..."
Yeah, that dropped in the ..."
Very interested in the book on Bowen, combining many things that I love.
Veufveuve wrote: "AB76 wrote: "Veufveuve wrote: "Liverpool University Press very kindly sent me a copy of a new publication, Jim Powell, "Losing the Thread: Cotton, Liverpool and the American Civil War." Nice crisp,..."well one part of my varied american civil war reading has been the british attitude towards trade with the Confederate states and the ideas the Confederacy had for trade with the British Empire if they won the war
Liverpool and Bristol were the key trading ports with the USA, especially southern ports like Baltimore,New Orleans and Charleston. (though baltimore was not a confederate port during the war)
The Confederacy felt that the British would need their cotton, in fact the british imported more grain than cotton, they had enough cotton...private business and trade continued throughout the war though
There's an assumed consensus that Liverpool was a town of pro-Confederate sentiment because of its dependence on the American south for cotton grown by enslaved labour. The picture was more complicated than that, but the dependence was real and in 1861 Britain very much did not have enough cotton to glide past the tap being turned off almost overnight - hence the terrible calamity of the cotton famine across Lancashire.
Thanks MB. I've been blown away by the two Bowen novels I've read and am a complete sucker for anything epistolary.
Veufveuve wrote: "There's an assumed consensus that Liverpool was a town of pro-Confederate sentiment because of its dependence on the American south for cotton grown by enslaved labour. The picture was more complic..."looks like the hoarded cotton was not for the likes of the north, bit like with the famine in Ireland in 1840s, where england was still importing food from starving Ireland!
Veufveuve wrote: "Thanks MB. I've been blown away by the two Bowen novels I've read and am a complete sucker for anything epistolary."good to see you posting Veuf, have you seen the new danish drama "The Investigation", on the BBC about the Kim Wall murder
Thanks. No, I've not heard of that (I know the case, which is so odd). We haven't even watched Borgen, though we were watching something called "Herrens Vej" - somewhat crazed but enjoyable, with Mads Mikkelsen's brother in the lead.
"The Heat of the Day" and "The Death of the Heart," in that order. Nice to own something, even if they are prosaic.
Veufveuve wrote: "Kevin Barry, "Night Boat to Tangier." Blimey, one of the best novels I've read in a long time. The book criss-crosses back and forth across the lives of two ageing Irish gangsters as they sit waiti..."Sighs, another one to be added to my ever growing e-tbr pile. Thanks for the heads up.
Veufveuve wrote (#337): "Thanks. No, I've not heard of that (I know the case, which is so odd). We haven't even watched Borgen though we were watching something called "Herrens Vej" - somewhat crazed but enjoyable, with Mads Mikkelsen's brother in the lead."Ah, Lars Mikkelsen is also in Borgen and incidently, The Investigation is written and directed by the same man who did Borgen, cannot recommend the latter enough Vv.
@AB, we've only watched the first 2 episodes of The Investigation at the moment, but we did appreciate very much the fact that the killer never gets the time of day (no actor, no name). As it should be, including in the media.
Veufveuve wrote: "There's an assumed consensus that Liverpool was a town of pro-Confederate sentiment because of its dependence on the American south for cotton grown by enslaved labour. The picture was more complic..."There was an interesting programme recently on British TV - Professor Alice Roberts was doing a series Britain's Most Historic Towns. The one she did about Manchester gave a lot of information about the effect of the cotton shortage and its effect on the impoverished mill workers there. Despite the increased hardship it brought they fully supported the anti-slavery movement.
I just read the new short story collection (first thing I'd read by him) and enjoyed that also.
Hushpuppy wrote: "Veufveuve wrote (#337): "Thanks. No, I've not heard of that (I know the case, which is so odd). We haven't even watched Borgen though we were watching something called "Herrens Vej" - somewhat craz..."i didnt realise there were 2 out already, must watch ep 2 tonight...thanks. i love the character of the female detective, the actress is wonderfully dead-pan but with just the right touches to show some dry humour
Machenbach wrote: "Veufveuve wrote: "I've been blown away by the two Bowen novels I've read and am a complete sucker for anything epistolary.."Which two have you read? Not that there's any real duffers.
I have a c..."
i must mention a small collection of Bowens Irish stories, published by Poolbeg Press which i read 2 yrs ago. she didnt actually write as much about Ireland as i expected but its a lovely group of tales. The blitz era "heat of the day" will be my next bowen but a long way down my huge TBR pile
AB76 wrote (#345): "i didnt realise there were 2 out already, must watch ep 2 tonight...thanks. "Ah, yes, on Friday there were 2 episodes broadcast back-to-back on BBC2, but they've actually released all 6 episodes at the same time online.
Veufveuve wrote: "Liverpool University Press very kindly sent me a copy of a new publication, Jim Powell, "Losing the Thread: Cotton, Liverpool and the American Civil War." Nice crisp, trenchant prose in the introdu..."They were really nice to you. I just checked Powells.com where I can pre-order for only $164.95. Doesn't look as if I or my local library will be buying it.
Machenbach wrote: "AB76 wrote: "i must mention a small collection of Bowens Irish stories, published by Poolbeg Press which i read 2 yrs ago. she didnt actually write as much about Ireland as i expected but its a lov..."i loved The Last September. Molly Keane's Two Days In Aragon is a darker tale of the violent days of the early 1920s in Southern Ireland. (i thought it was about Zaragoza or Spain with that title)
Hushpuppy wrote: "AB76 wrote (#345): "i didnt realise there were 2 out already, must watch ep 2 tonight...thanks. "Ah, yes, on Friday there were 2 episodes broadcast back-to-back on BBC2, but they've actually rele..."
i'm not a fan of the BBC double bills as i watch everything like its 1985 usually, slowly, week by week but am starting to venture into somewhat of a binge due to various lockdowns
Veufveuve wrote: "Kevin Barry, "Night Boat to Tangier." Blimey, one of the best novels I've read in a long time. The book criss-crosses back and forth across the lives of two ageing Irish gangsters as they sit waiti..."Hi VV. My husband has just finished City of Bohane and started Night Boat to Tangier earlier today. I think it's where I'll go next after Apeirogon. I've given a shout out before to Dark Lies the Island but it gets mixed reviews more generally. I loved it.
MK wrote: "Veufveuve wrote: "Liverpool University Press very kindly sent me a copy of a new publication, Jim Powell, "Losing the Thread: Cotton, Liverpool and the American Civil War." Nice crisp, trenchant pr..."Crikey! Even for an academic press that's a pretty horrific price. It was nice of them - I work with them sometimes.
SydneyH wrote: "Berkley wrote"Hey BMac, good to see you make the way over. Was it you who recommended The Information by Martin Amis to me? I read and enjoyed it recently."
It might have been me - I do like that one, though I haven't read any Martin Amis since then, except for Night Train.
If anyone has an interest in livestream theatre Siobhán McSweeney (of Derry Girls nun fame) will star in a production of Beckett's Happy Days next Saturday, 30 January. We "went" to the theatre last night to see Mark O'Rowe's The Approach, which was very good and is on again this evening at 9 p.m. I think it was just a thrill to have something different to look forward to and who doesn't like to watch a play with a suitable refreshment in hand? I have no connection with Landmark Productions, btw, just passing on the news.
Details of performances and tickets at the following link:
https://www.landmarkproductions.ie/
Link to Guardian review of The Approach:
https://www.theguardian.com/stage/202...
Veufveuve wrote: "MK wrote: "Veufveuve wrote: "Liverpool University Press very kindly sent me a copy of a new publication, Jim Powell, "Losing the Thread: Cotton, Liverpool and the American Civil War." Nice crisp, t..."i can see that academic presses need to charge more and i have purchased many £22 softback specialist studies but its the £50 or £90 books that amaze me, i mean thats daylight robbery, i would maybe pay £50 if it was a 500 page study of something never studied before but £90? i'd never pay that or $160
Completely agree with you. The price of accessing academic journal articles is even more ridiculous.
Veufveuve wrote: "Completely agree with you. The price of accessing academic journal articles is even more ridiculous."Its nice that Past and Present is so affordable from OUP as its a heavyweight journal but academic journal articles...grrrrrr.......i hear you Veuf
Mach - have just received "Pigeons on the grass" in the post, after your recommendations back in 2020. its 3rd in line on the TBRJustine - have you read "The Making of a President 1964" by Theodore H White, it could be a good companion read to your Goldwater book
I too was intrigued by the Bowen book, and several others. Will post a list.
Clare de la lune wrote: "Sandya (300) wrote: "The Little Grey Men. “BB”Thanks for the lovely posting. Refreshing in these lockdown days."
I am glad you liked it!
A week or so ago I signed up to a website called Adventurous Ink. A two month rolling subscription gets you two books about the outdoors and an opportunity to join in an online conversation with the authors.
My first book came this week and I had to read it immediately - The Last Wilderness, A Journey into Silence by Neil Ansell
Ansell spends time over a year solo walking in Scotland, an area called The Rough Bounds just north of Fort William. He describes the landscape and wildlife beautifully (I had to look at the OS map alongside to see exactly where he walked), and we learn more about the life he has lead from the stories he tells. Sadly he's losing his hearing so much of the birdsong is lost to him, and a heart condition leads to a surreal couple of days when I worried that he didn't make it and I would find out that the book was completed by someone else!
Well worth the reading, and I'm looking forward to February's book.
My first book came this week and I had to read it immediately - The Last Wilderness, A Journey into Silence by Neil Ansell
Ansell spends time over a year solo walking in Scotland, an area called The Rough Bounds just north of Fort William. He describes the landscape and wildlife beautifully (I had to look at the OS map alongside to see exactly where he walked), and we learn more about the life he has lead from the stories he tells. Sadly he's losing his hearing so much of the birdsong is lost to him, and a heart condition leads to a surreal couple of days when I worried that he didn't make it and I would find out that the book was completed by someone else!
Well worth the reading, and I'm looking forward to February's book.
After a few quiet days, there seems to have been a burst of activity here... but quite a lot has been given over to debating the pros and cons of the Guardian.FWIW, I prefer it to any of the other newspapers, as it is a serious minded newspaper with many good columnists (including Tim Dowling!). It's not perfect, but there has been a lack of balance in the discussion, since no-one has mentioned which newspaper they would prefer or recommend as a replacement.
So, I'm wondering - would it be:
The Times titles and the Sun titles (proprietor: Rupert Murdoch, Aussie now US citizen, and UK tax evader)... net worth $16.3 billion; or maybe
The Telegraph titles (owned up until recently by the Barclay brothers... one recently deceased... who own a Channel Island in order to - you've guessed it! - evade UK taxes)... net worth £7 billion; or might it be
The Mail titles - owned by Lord Rothermere, who has non-domicile (non-dom) tax status and owns his media businesses through a complex structure of offshore holdings and trusts. Net worth $1.2 billion;
Given that all these newspapers supported Brexit (as far as I recall), one might be tempted to ask in what way billionaires who don't even pay taxes in the UK have an interest in what happens to the 'common man', and why their opinion has any relevance?
Anyway... I just wanted to put that out there for balance. It seemed odd that some wanted to pile in on the Guardian (whatever its faults) without specifying which was their billionaire owner of choice.
More information on UK newspaper ownership - the list is a little out of date - is available at:
https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/open...
I think the point was - or is - Scarlet, that *there is no bloody choice* - which is why it being hijacked by people like Lexit Larry Elliot and Pipsqueak Jones rankles so much. Those two and thier ilk DO have alternative places to spout their garbage - the Daily Mirror and Morning Star exist for left wing views.
The Guardian, while it should certainly nod at "left of centre" should also nod at "right of centre" - but it's scope should be "of the middle" - not far left (or far right)
The bias among moderators is also aligned with that Left hijacking.
At the end of the day, it will go out of business unless it cleans it's stables, and while that would be a shame, it will be entirely of it's own (editorial) choice.
(My last post on this subject, I've blathered enough)
Harry wrote: "Tam wrote: " I think Owen Jones signing that letter, amongst many others, to get Suzanne Moore sacked from her position, as a Guardian columnist,"This was news to me 😑
Me too - and I'm with you both on this one, just to make that clear.
Wasn't there a paper called the independent?
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Ersatz TLS
Books mentioned in this topic
Kipps (other topics)V2: A Novel of World War II (other topics)
The Last Wilderness, A Journey into Silence (other topics)
Before the Storm: Barry Goldwater and the Unmaking of the American Consensus (other topics)
Pastors and Masters (other topics)
More...
Authors mentioned in this topic
Neil Ansell (other topics)Jonathan Franzen (other topics)
sounds like a word someone made up for fun. I had not met it before. I have a puzzle doing order - spider, sudoku, quick crossword, cryptic ( which I don’t always finish) - try to keep the grey cells going!