What Are We Reading? 8 February 2021

[Veufveuve]

@Sandya,

I've not yet come to terms with the quote function on this site, but wanted to reply briefly but affirmatively to points you made across several posts:

- Attempts to give me books are also rarely successful, though my wife and daughter often get it right. Not many other people do.

- I am so with you on "One Hundred Years of Solitude." There are few books I've cared less about (but still finished).

- Yes, it is we white people who need to be reading about race and racism, something I've consciously been trying to do in the last few years, discovering some wonderful writing along the way.

[AB76]

question for sandya

you mentioned a few months back the perception that southern india doesnt get the same attention as the north(or did i mishear/read) is that regional or the entire south? (obviously the Bangalore tech industry is very noticeable in news coverage)

Reading about the Punjab in the Singh novel and the excellent British Gazeteer of India from 1908, its probably the huge population concentration in the North that contributes to its domination of India

[Berkley]

Hushpuppy wrote: "Shelflife_wasBooklooker wrote (#51): "So, do you remember the reading primers you had in school?"

Nice post bl. Yes, I do! My mum taught me to read over the summer before entering primary school u..."

Interesting how the examples work by separating the syllables of each word so that you can see the ones that start with the letter(s) being taught. I found it confusing at first glance - I think in an English primer those letters would have been emphasised in a different way, e.g. bold type or capitals.

I don't understand the consonants listed at the top of each page - are they just the ones that appear in the main text? And why does ch come after g?

[[deleted user]]

A few weeks ago I mentioned that I had signed up to Adenturous Ink, a rolling two month subscription brings two books about the outdoors and the chance to join a zoom with the authors.
January's book was The Last Wilderness by Neil Ansell, about his walks in Scotland and his sadness at his slowly deteriorating hearing.
This month's is The Country of Larks The Country of Larks: A Chiltern Journey: In the footsteps of Robert Louis Stevenson and the footprint of HS2 by Gail Simmons. Its a beautiful little hardback in which the author walks the Chilterns between High Wycombe and Tring just as RLS had done in 1874. RLS wrote an essay about his walk called In the Beechwoods where he tells of being followed as he went by a carolling of larks.
Simmons only hears them briefly whilst they're feeding on a stubble field but she does at least hear some.
Chapters describing her walk are interspersed with interviews with others about aspects of her journey, eg a local historian comparing old maps of the area with the current OS version.
But the most affecting thing is that she discusses the effect that the building of HS2 will have on the landscape and the people who live in it. From undermining an Iron Age barrow, to slicing through Grim's Ditch, to using precious farmland as a spoil heap. I imagine work is much more advanced now as the book was written in 2019, but the main objection from locals is now more pertinent than ever. There is no direct benefit for them from this new rail line, and will wfh stay with us so that even the suggested benefit of better commuter travel is no longer as relevant?

[Hushpuppy]

Berkley wrote (#62): "I don't understand the consonants listed at the top of each page - are they just the ones that appear in the main text? And why does ch come after g?"

Oh dear, I'm not sure. It does not seem to rely on alphabetical order but on syllables formation. From the first link I gave (if you click then on the cover, you'll have access at once to 3 additional pictures), if I had to venture a guess I'd say these at the top are simply some of the consonants in no particular order - you can also see the vowels with a series of accents for the 'e' in one of the pictures, and a series of complex letter associations in another or of letters that might sound differently depending on their association with other letters such as 'c'. So maybe g (which varies depending on whether it's followed by u or not) and ch are just part of these more complex letters series? Pure speculation here, sorry!

[Hushpuppy]

Bill wrote (#58): "From the NY Times: Will American Ideas Tear France Apart? Some of Its Leaders Think So"

Looks to me like a tempête dans un verre d'eau concocted by either the publishers of this book, or the NYT.

The education minister is an idiot, and together with the new PM and interior minister, they form quite the evil triptych. And yes, intellectuals have a prominent place in France (something to be proud of) and there is a reactionary trend, probably stronger than in Anglo-Saxon countries - I do mean 'Anglo-Saxon' gpfr - esp. in my parents' generation (something not to be proud of; see also the ridiculous anti #MeToo letter by Catherine Deneuve and co), but I can honestly say that I have not read (Libe, Le Monde) or heard (France Inter) anything about this book or its authors whatsoever.

I am not the most assiduous observer of French media however, and I don't live in my country, so perhaps @Flinty or @gpfr have another take on this...

[Gpfr]

Hushpuppy wrote: "Bill wrote (#58): "From the NY Times: Will American Ideas Tear France Apart? Some of Its Leaders Think So"

Looks to me like a tempête dans un verre d'eau concocted by either the publishers of this..."

If there is a "fierce French debate" about this, I'm afraid it's passed me by unnoticed.
(and no hackles were raised by "anglo-saxon" 😁)

[Gpfr]

At the moment, I'm reading and enjoying Brandebourg by Juli Zeh, the French translation of Unterleuten (transl. Rose Labourie).
I don't know if any of our German speakers here have read/like her books? Neujahr (Nouvel An in French) was one of my books of 2020.
Unterleuten is a small village an hour away from Berlin, with a mixed population of the original inhabitants, the mayor who has been mayor for years, the ex-head of the agricultural co-operative etc., and newcomers who have come from Berlin after re-unification. Now there is a project to install wind turbines here. We follow the story from the POV of the different inhabitants.

[AB76]

Machenbach wrote: "A truly shite week or so's reading for me. I never really got a grip on anything more than the basics of what was going on in Wilson Harris's Ascent to Omai, but at least it was sho..."

gosh Mach, thats a week from hell,so many attempted reads!

i think this can happen to us all, if it helps, though you read more than most (like Andy),so i guess the intensity of a shit week can be more impactful on reading confidence.

have you tried a short story collection? that will offer new locations a dozen or so times and also demand less on the wearied concentration front?

i hope mentioning henry james didnt start all this for you? like mentioning "the scottish play" for thesps

[AB76]

Machenbach wrote: "AB76 wrote: "i hope mentioning henry james didnt start all this for you? like mentioning "the scottish play" for thesps"

Ha, no, it predates that. In fact, I have been reading short stories quite ..."

Saki was a favourite of my late uncle's and as yet i still havent read any of his stories!

"Bengal Nights" is an unusual novel, the title is probably more subtle in the original Romanian, it made me think of a blockbuster dance tune, bollywood style at first..

[Paul]

I'm feeling like there is a gap in the universe that can't be filled without seeing the meltdown that TMW would have commenting on this article:

https://www.theguardian.com/books/202....

[Sandya]

AB76 wrote: "question for sandya

you mentioned a few months back the perception that southern india doesnt get the same attention as the north(or did i mishear/read) is that regional or the entire south? (obvi..."

It may be a population thing but it's also a travel thing. People here (US) IF they visit India, seem to miss the South completely. Taj Mahal, Red Fort, Qutb Minar and they've seen it all. They know about Mother Teresa, a woman notorious for not wearing a sari properly. I think it's the entire South-I would say most Americans have not only no clue that Bangalore is a tech city, they don't even know the name. As far as knowledge of India goes, most of them are still stuck in the 70s and see it from either the pov of a teenager listening to pop music or parrot the "India is a poor country" line. Anything but-it is very rich in natural resources, that's why it got invaded regularly. After Nadir Shah sacked Delhi he remitted taxes in Persia for 10 years. The Brits asset-stripped India for 200 years.

[Bill]

Lljones wrote: "Ay. After ten hours of watching the Senate hearings, I'm afraid I can't worry about France right now."


As usual, I’m tending to ignore the whole impeachment thing as an event whose outcome is foreknown and inevitable. Yesterday, I was upstairs pursuing something trivial (as usual) on the computer: my wife had the TV on downstairs and I heard all this shouting – I went down and saw a bunch of redhats crowding the corridors of a public building and the chyron “Live from Washington DC” and my first thought was, “Holy fuck! They let it happen again!” I then realized that this was part of a video presented as evidence by the House managers.

[Sandya]

Veufveuve wrote: "@Sandya,

I've not yet come to terms with the quote function on this site, but wanted to reply briefly but affirmatively to points you made across several posts:

- Attempts to give me books are al..."

Thanks for this-the architecture of this site is annoying because I did want to "like" this but there's no "like" function and no way to create a sub-thread. Sigh.

[Georg]

Gpfr wrote: " At the moment, I'm reading and enjoying Brandebourg by Juli Zeh, the French translation of Unterleuten (transl. Rose Labourie).
I don't know if any of our German s..."

I tend to give contemporary German literature a wide berth.

"Unterleuten" was made into a TV series which was very good, verging on excellent. It made me want to read the book.

[Andy]

I Am an Island by Tamsin Calidas
This was a really enoyable and completely compelling read that I can only add to the many accolades it has received.
Regardless of its very feminine perspective, as a man living alone (with a dog of course) in a quiet rural spot much affected by wild weather, I can relate to a lot of Calidas's story, especially the life-changing effect of the nature and environment.

I am practising to be like the earth. If I am cold, I light a fire. If I am hurt, I breathe and allow tears to flow. If I am fearful, I step closer to the source of fear. If I am alone, I go outside into the wilds for their solace and company.

So, five stars, no question, but its the sort of book that needs to be discussed.
After so much conflict and pain, has Calidas lost confidence in relationships and people? Was she always going to be happier alone? Her withdrawal from society seems intentional, and gradually becomes more and more marked. And once content in her solitude, she seems more happy to welcome the odd person back into her life, but in small amounts, and on her own terms.
Society tells us people aren't supposed to live alone with hardly any contact with family, and few if any, friends. If we are indeed 'an Island', there's a great deal of determination and stubborness as we strive for acceptance; in Calidas's case, much trauma and hurt as well.

Paired with her wilderness life , is the incredible backdrop of the changing of the season, and its affects on nature on the Hebridean island.

[AB76]

Sandya wrote: "AB76 wrote: "question for sandya

you mentioned a few months back the perception that southern india doesnt get the same attention as the north(or did i mishear/read) is that regional or the entire..."

one of my sister in law's is half Goan, her father grew up in england from 1958 and therefore i have a link to the southern indian cultures (whether you call Goa "Southern" of course). her family was catholic and spent most of the time between 1880s and 1958 in Africa, with some short periods in Bombay.

The African link was of course to Mozambique originally, her grandfather was born in Biera, a port city which had a significant Goan population until the 1960s

From my perspective the south is just as fascinating, especically Madras and the Tamil areas, along with the huge temples in the far south

[AB76]

Georg wrote: "Gpfr wrote: " At the moment, I'm reading and enjoying Brandebourg by Juli Zeh, the French translation of Unterleuten (transl. Rose Labourie).
I don't know if any of..."

i love modern german fiction but its hard to find a lot in translation, (most recently its been the a novel by Shirach and a new translations of Kempowski,(not the WW2 based one, that i enjoyed in 2020)

Germany is a mighty nation for all things literary, re-united and thriving....i am a Germanophile of course....

[scarletnoir]

Lljones wrote: "A taste for Anne Tyler is a splendid addiction.—John Leonard
This writer is not merely good, she is wickedly good—John Updike
Just ten pages before I reached the end of Saint Maybe, I ..."

Anne Tyler is, I think, my favourite living author - certainly the one I can read with the greatest confidence of receiving a high-class entertainment, sympathetic portrayal of diverse characters, and a large number of subtle jokes. I can only assume that this sense of humour counted against her, when the most prestigious prizes were being handed out... Obscurity and tragedy trump clarity and laughs, every time.

[scarletnoir]

Sandya wrote: "...(the book) was a gift from someone at work who thought I might like it because the author was awarded a Nobel, therefore it MUST be good, not realizing that Nobel laureates in literature are specifically avoided by me. I don't like magic realism either"

Haha! I didn't read this until I had already posted a comment on Anne Tyler, which made a similar point about the Nobel... I'm with you on magic realism, too, and on receiving books as presents.

[AB76]

Andy wrote: "I Am an Island by Tamsin Calidas
This was a really enoyable and completely compelling read that I can only add to the many accolades it has received.
Regardless o..."

its interesting in these covid times how everyone is existing in some kind of hermitude, i am not sure how significant these 12 months or so will be in all our lives looking back but when i read an article or find a character in a novel choosing solitude or not as the case may be, i am reminded that right now, its almost reality for everyone outside the bubbles

i've taken the privatations of the covid lockdowns in my stride and it hasnt affected me personally but i am aware of a lot of suffering form isolation out there, many people who led busy lives to escape isolation suddenly found it was now a fact of life, that must be very disheartening

you are never alone with a dog andy!

[AB76]

CS Lewis "Suprised By Joy" was a great read until he reached Oxford and then it fell off a cliff and started to suggest pretension and it started to bore me, oddly this was the key part of the book but he lost me. Lewis has a skill in his non-fiction of clarity and brevity but suddenly it was all blather and its a shame, as his life from early youth to the trenches was very interesting

next non-fiction is part 2 of the Copenhagen Triology by Ditlevsen, FSG have just published "Youth" with a striking cover image

[Francis]

This week, I have finished Girl at War by Sara NovicGirl at War, which tells the story of the break out of war in the former Yugoslavia through the eyes of a ten year old girl living in Zagreb.
The narrative is compelling and does not shirk in its description of the horrors of war, though there is the possibility of hope to lift the cloud of bleakness.

[Veufveuve]

@AB76, have you read "A Grief Observed"?

As to Ditlevsen, I'm waiting for the bookshops to reopen so I can buy Vol.3.

[Veufveuve]

Sandya wrote: "Veufveuve wrote: "@Sandya,

I've not yet come to terms with the quote function on this site, but wanted to reply briefly but affirmatively to points you made across several posts:

- Attempts to gi..."

Sigh, indeed. Glad the message was seen though.

[scarletnoir]

Machenbach wrote: "A truly shite week or so's reading for me

Oh, dear!

Your approach sounds a bit like that of a desperate teenager trying various pills at a party, to see what'll give him a kick! (only joking, really!)

Seriously, though - when I hit a sticky patch (I did a few months ago)
I take the easy way out and pick up an unread book by a tried and trusted author. Not the bravest approach, perhaps, but it does avoid an excess of frustration... or, given that you seem to read very quickly, can it be that you don't have any books left on the back burner from authors you like?

Sometimes, the easy way out is maybe worth a shot.

[Lljones]

AB76 wrote: "CS Lewis "Suprised By Joy" was a great read until he reached Oxford and then it fell off a cliff and started to suggest pretension a..."

I liked the movie "Shadowlands", based in part on Suprised By Joy, but that is in part because I am a fan of Anthony Hopkins.

[Andy]

Machenbach wrote: "AB76 wrote: "i hope mentioning henry james didnt start all this for you? like mentioning "the scottish play" for thesps"

Ha, no, it predates that. In fact, I have been reading short stories quite ..."

Keen on Bruckstein. Both of those on my tbr list MB.

Maybe sometimes I should take a break AB, I sometimes think I just plod on and end up slagging the book off, when it may be my fault after all...
My new tactic when feeling uninspired is to turn to nature... and it’s working.

[Andy]

AB76 wrote: "Andy wrote: "I Am an Island by Tamsin Calidas
This was a really enoyable and completely compelling read that I can only add to the many accolades it has received. ..."

That’s spot on AB.
One thing’s for sure, Calidas is an inspiration.
Ocean swimming in middle of winter naked for 20 minutes with wind chills of -12...
I may start, but in the spring...and in our river..

[Max (Outrage)]

Shelflife_wasBooklooker [51]wrote:

Maybe it comes a s no surprise that many people are enormously fond of the books they first learnt reading with. So, do you remember the reading primers you had in school?

Boring memory trip alert.
Yes, I do remember the primers. My earliest book memories are my mother and grandmother reading to me when I was very young, Alice in Wonderland, The Bab Ballads. I went to school 68 years ago when was 5, and couldn't read at all. I remember the letter/sound pictures on the walls and can see them clearly now, but it took me a long time to be able to read at all, longer than most of the others. The primers were Janet and John stuff but I went past them very quickly and quite suddenly I could read better than most for about a year. The first proper book I remember reading was The Wizard of Oz and then a book about fossil hunting in the Gobi desert which was the first book that really interested me. Then Biggles, I suppose.

I'm actually a slow reader, by which I don't mean that I mutter the words and follow them with my finger, but I like to think about what I'm reading even if its just a thriller, otherwise no point. That doesn't necessarily mean I understand it.

[Lljones]

Machenbach wrote: "Beryl won't let me down. No way. Nuh-uh. Can't happen...."

Can't happen if the book is The Girl in the Polka Dot Dress, that's for sure. 😉

[Sandya]

scarletnoir wrote: "Sandya wrote: "...(the book) was a gift from someone at work who thought I might like it because the author was awarded a Nobel, therefore it MUST be good, not realizing that Nobel laureates in lit..."

So glad to know there are kindred spirits here.... As for the Nobels just look at past Laureates. Who reads most of this stuff any more? One of the very few I read is Selma Lagerlöf and then only the "Nils" books.

[AB76]

Veufveuve wrote: "@AB76, have you read "A Grief Observed"?

As to Ditlevsen, I'm waiting for the bookshops to reopen so I can buy Vol.3."

no i havent, sounds quite sobering, i mean to read Barthes diary after the death of his mother at some point....

[AB76]

Veufveuve wrote: "@AB76, have you read "A Grief Observed"?

As to Ditlevsen, I'm waiting for the bookshops to reopen so I can buy Vol.3."

you dont wanna order it?

[Anastasia]

SydneyH wrote: "You haven't tried McCarthy yet? Well worth a try, but steer clear of The Road. Blood Meridian is the obvious 'Mexican Gothic' one,..."

Thanks Sydney and everyone for your recommendations, I'll probably avoid The Road as it's the more obvious one, and take up an "unlikely" Blood Meridian or No Country. Hopefully, this will be a nice change of scenery after the images of frozen Kyiv trenches, though hardly a cheerful one :)

[AB76]

Lljones wrote: "AB76 wrote: "CS Lewis "Suprised By Joy" was a great read until he reached Oxford and then it fell off a cliff and started to suggest..."

i didnt know it was partly based on Suprised by Joy....i must watch it at some point

[Anastasia]

Hushpuppy wrote: "Have you read it in Spanish (Castillan)? If so, would you recommend it? I'm thinking of tackling one short, and relatively easy - vocabulary-wise - Spanish book this year..."

I've read it in Spanish and it isn't too complicated vocabulary-wise. It does, however, contain some particularly Mexican words, so a dictionary would still be handy. If you're looking for something Castilian and don't mind a relatively light story one of the Montalban detective stories or something from Perez-Reverte would be a better option.

[AB76]

Andy wrote: "Machenbach wrote: "AB76 wrote: "i hope mentioning henry james didnt start all this for you? like mentioning "the scottish play" for thesps"

Ha, no, it predates that. In fact, I have been reading s..."

i am amazed you find so many books that the "stinker" percentage isnt much higher.

I read 76 books last year of which 67% was fiction, though it actually doesnt seem that much considering a large part of 2020 was a pandemic and we were locked down in various ways. (but in 2019 i read 59 books...so actually the more read-at-home year clearly influenced the number of books read)

[AB76]

Machenbach wrote: "AB76 wrote: "i mean to read Barthes diary after the death of his mother..."

You don’t have to wait; she’s been dead for ages, AB."

hahahaha....great line Mach!

[CCCubbon]

Past Nobel winners. Can you really dismiss them all?
I tried to pick out one or two from a decade as an example.

Rudyard Kipling 1907
WB Yeats 1923
GB Shaw 1925
John Galsworthy 1932
Pearl Buck 1938
TS Eliot 1948
William Faulkner 1949
Bertrand Russell 1950
Ernest Hemingway 1954
Albert Camus 1957
Boris Pasternak 1958
John Steinbeck 1962
Jean Paul Sartre 1964
Samuel Beckett 1969
Solzhenitsyn 1971
William Golding 1983
Toni Morrison 1993
Seamus Heaney 1995
Doris Lessing 2007
K Ishiguro 2017

[Anastasia]

Lljones wrote: "May decide to revisit McCarthy, if he's a Gorey fan."

Got to get back to Gorey. I am actually on the verge of binge-reading a bunch of graphic novels and the artwork of Gorey's stories was the first thing that grabbed my attention

[Bill]

Wondering, too, whether the anti-Nobel sentiment extends to the work of laureate Bob Dylan.

[AB76]

CCCubbon wrote: "Past Nobel winners. Can you really dismiss them all?
I tried to pick out one or two from a decade as an example.

Rudyard Kipling 1907
WB Yeats 1923
GB Shaw 1925
John Galsworthy 1932
Pearl Buck 193..."

i actually think all the nobel winners are worth investigating, whether i like them is another matter. i like to think a prize like that means something and that the authors are carefully selected

[AB76]

Bill wrote: "Wondering, too, whether the anti-Nobel sentiment extends to the work of laureate Bob Dylan."

i thought that was a bold choice but as a music fan (not a particular dylan fan), i always thought his lyrics were a cut above most other bands and therefore as poetry would be worthy of a literary prize

some modern choices have been controversial and i'm sure some of the obscurer winners from the early days of the prize were as well

as a habit i tend to avoid all literary prizes but the Nobel.

[AB76]

Sandya wrote: "scarletnoir wrote: "Sandya wrote: "...(the book) was a gift from someone at work who thought I might like it because the author was awarded a Nobel, therefore it MUST be good, not realizing that No..."

I have one of her Lowenskold books lined up. for some time in 2021

[AB76]

On.....the height of London policemen....

Its interesting to note that both Di Lampedusa and Eca De Querios note the forbidding height of London bobbies in their letters from london.

Approaching a london bobby in the late 1920s, who rapped out "first left, then second right, sir" to the Sicilian as he asked for directions, without turning his head, Lampedusa observed that his nose was in line with the bobbies belt buckle

Eca, writing in 1880s remarks of these huge figures in blue, standing like sentries in the london streets

now both writers could have been small men but i do know that city of london police had to be over 6'0 until the 1990s, so these coppers could have been observed in the city....

[MK]

Here's something that's a 3-fer John Brunsdon whose new book of historical fiction stars a CAT and looks like a lot of fun! Inges: A Jacobean Tragedy of Murder, Witchcraft, Revenge, & Cats sounds delightful to me. (I have put it in my basket at Amazon where it waits for companions as I refuse to become a Prime person and am cheap so I want free shipping.)

[Hushpuppy]

Anastasia wrote (#99): "It does, however, contain some particularly Mexican words, so a dictionary would still be handy"

Thanks a lot, good to know. A dictionary in close proximity would be needed anyway as I've lost a good deal of my vocabulary. Reverte sounded like a good idea, because I know I've read at least one of his novels and a re-read might make it easier. Except that, even if I can identify the book in question (La tabla de Flandes), I remember nothing of it!

[Lljones]

Anastasia wrote: "Got to get back to Gorey. I am actually on the verge of binge-reading a bunch of graphic novels and the artwork of Gorey's sto..."

Found some Gorey books on my brother's shelves today (including one or two I think I gave him), like Ascending Peculiarity: Edward Gorey on Edward Gorey and The Gashlycrumb Tinies.

[Veufveuve]

AB76 wrote: "Veufveuve wrote: "@AB76, have you read "A Grief Observed"?

As to Ditlevsen, I'm waiting for the bookshops to reopen so I can buy Vol.3."

you dont wanna order it?"

No, I can wait. I had a big gap between 1 and 2 and now a big gap before 3. I normally read series straight through but I seem to have established a pattern for Ditlevsen, so I don't mind. Talk of series has me craving more of Simon Raven's "Alms for Oblivion." Now, that I might order, as I'm very unlikely to find it otherwise.

"A Grief Observed," is very good, one of only two widowhood books I read, the other being Didion's "Year of Magical Thinking."