What Are We Reading? 8 February 2021

[SydneyH]

Just regarding Kingsley Amis, I've heard good things about his son Martin's memoir Experience, which includes portraits of Kingsley and Elizabeth Jane Howard. Apparently Kingsley was very highly strung and lived in fear of being left alone.

[Gpfr]

CCCubbon wrote: "It had not crossed my mind that someone would have to pay to be a nun ..."

I second the recommendation of Sacred Hearts. Another book is Ann Swinfen's The Novice's Tale, from the series recommended by giveusaclue about a medieval Oxford bookseller .

This might interest you:
Family Strategies and Nuns without Vocation
https://blog.oup.com/2009/07/nuns/

[Tam]

CCCubbon wrote: "It had not crossed my mind that someone would have to pay to be a nun. I did watch A Nun’s Story the other week and there is a dowry paid there which she gets back when she leaves.
I believe that ..."

i took a look at your photos of 'readers' from the 60s/70s... Gosh that was cruel to the young people being subjected to it... no wonder they were confused. i think part of the problem is that there have been many changing 'fashions' in teaching, as pupils were just kids on the receiving end of idealogical/political machinations in British schools.

I was very good at geometry as a young child, but it fell out of fashion, and became 'simplified Maths', in the early seventies. It was so different, as a teaching approach, that I became 'all at sea' under its rule, so basically I abandoned my interest in it. Though I did love the fact that all the chapters in the text books included quotes form the likes of Lewis Carroll, and William Blake etc.! This was the only bit I understood...

Your right in that all kids are different. I remember being told that I was considered a 'late' developer, by my family, and school, as apparently i didn't say anything at all, until I was well over three. And then, when I did choose to speak, it was in fully formed sentences. Unusual for the times, and then, and possibly now as well, enough to get you classified as 'backwards'.

But it is a mutual historical 'problem' that I apparently shared with Einstein. My son also went along my path, of not demonstrating that he could read at all, until he could really read... Don't have an answer though, as you say there are not the resources in many schools, for a truly individual assessment, and tailored approach to learning...on the whole... A friends son was not diagnosed with dyslexia, until he was a university student. People will find ways to get by I guess, or at least some will, but others wont have the support to get through the problems in the first place...

[CCCubbon]

I was interested to read about geometry teaching putting you off the wonder of it.
As I started teaching four year olds a little of everything and finished teaching undergrads Mathematics it gradually became apparent that many of the difficulties for students of all ages with maths are, in fact, reading difficulties. I cannot prove it simply observed it in every age group.
Geometry, pattern, great, can think of some maths you’d love!

[Tam]

CCCubbon wrote: "I was interested to read about geometry teaching putting you off the wonder of it.
As I started teaching four year olds a little of everything and finished teaching undergrads Mathematics it gradua..."

But I loved the geometry!... Moving 'stuff' through spacial concepts!... right up my street. it was the simplified Maths I had problems with.. alas..

[Gpfr]

Re primers and learning to read:

I have almost no memories of my first school (in Northern Ireland) and thus no idea how they taught us to read. I remember that we had homework and a list of words to learn for a spelling test every Friday ...
But I do remember vividly the Eureka! moment when I realised I could read - it was with a little comic strip version of Peter Pan, I can still 'see' the little book and the illustrations.

[CCCubbon]

I have not come across what you mean by ‘simplified maths’, sorry if I did not make that clear.
In all mathematics there are written words as well as numbers , shapes and algebra. I think that the language used by the people who write the books may be less than clear, it muddles students up sometimes or in exams, the question is misread.

[Tam]

CCCubbon wrote: "I have not come across what you mean by ‘simplified maths’, sorry if I did not make that clear.
In all mathematics there are written words as well as numbers , shapes and algebra. I think that the..."

I was at a grammar school in Devon when it was introduced in our maths class, in my, best guess, 1970 I think, (I was 15) but it was made clear to us that this was a brand new way of teaching maths with a brand new set and design of 'Maths' books.

[giveusaclue]

CCCubbon wrote: "It had not crossed my mind that someone would have to pay to be a nun. I did watch A Nun’s Story the other week and there is a dowry paid there which she gets back when she leaves.
I believe that ..."

Didn't you have to pay the Church for everything on those days?😀

[giveusaclue]

scarletnoir wrote:
"giveusaclue wrote: "However, I'm surprised by your ordering of the Enid Blytons, as the Secret Seven series was for a younger age group than the Famous Five, having a significantly larger font size and therefore fewer words.."

I didn't put the books in order of when I read them, just as they came to mind. I have no recollection of the order given that it is probably around 65 years ago that I read them!! I certainly read more Famous Five books than Secret Seven

[Hushpuppy]

@scarlet Ah! I haven't technically read any Neil Gaiman yet, only Good Omens, which is a Neil Gaiman + Terry Pratchett novel. It is absolutely brilliant, and very, very funny. William in that case is the Antichrist, so it's more than just a meeting with the Devil, it's a parentage... I am not a fantasy person, but I really recommend this one.

@Russell/vermontlogger Not sure what's ok or not (we have the two moderators for that), but I'm sure some people made a note of your feedback!

@MB Ah yes, thanks, I'm mixing my Elizabeths. Hopefully once I've read them, I won't anymore... Inbred, yes (and probably from the same social class too).

@AB Nope, I've watched Temple of Doom again maybe less than 2y ago, and she's as annoying as ever. Nothing like Marion. Lois Lane (the original one) on the other hand, I had a bit more time for, except for her being blind of course.

@SydneyH You're up at such an ungodly hour!

[Magrat]

SydneyH (238) wrote: "Just regarding Kingsley Amis, I've heard good things about his son Martin's memoir Experience, which includes portraits of Kingsley and Elizabeth Jane Howard. Apparently Kingsley was very highly st..."

She took him in hand, insisting he complete his education, and in the end making a writer of him. 'Very highly strung' is an extremely charitable description of his nasty old man.

[Magrat]

Machenbach (227) wrote: "Hushpuppy wrote: "As for where it's from, try this (hope the google books link works)."

Wow thanks, when I googled it I got nothing. How odd. My dad had a copy of Amis's Memoirs - now at my ma's -..."

You've got the Cazalet novels on your shelves and you haven't read them? There's something wrong with you man, deaf to them screaming for attention while you complain of feeling jaded...

[SydneyH]

Hushpuppy wrote: "@SydneyH You're up at such an ungodly hour!"

Well-spotted. I was wide awake at 4am and thought I would have some coffee and do some book browsing.

[Robert]

Lljones wrote: "I'm still trying to resist just packing up all of my brother's books; here's another title I can't resist:

[book:When I Am Playing with My Cat, How Do I Know That She Is Not Playing with Me?: Mont..."

My father's observation on cats: "We're their entertainment."

[scarletnoir]

CCCubbon wrote: Regarding reading. This was the way it was taught way back in the sixties and seventies. Doubtless it has changed somewhat but I doubt that much. Different children respond to different approaches and I found a mixture of look and say and phonics to be best. Trouble was with a class of thirty it is getting around to giving that individual attention, no teaching assistants then.

Welsh is a far more straightforward language to learn reading in then English - the consonants pretty much always have the same sound; vowels are either short or long. What changes are the individual's own abilities... daughter 1 is quite academic, learnt how to read words, then could read sentences in a very short time. She went on to do very well academically, and is now a vet. Daughter 2 is dyslexic... it took the best part of two years to get her from recognising letters to being able to read. There were many tears and "I can't do this!" on the way. That set a pattern - of lack of confidence, and of meeting any new difficulty (driving a car, for example) with "I'll never be able to do this!". Fortunately, in spite of everything she is pretty stubborn, managed to pass her exams with decent grades, got to uni and now has a decent admin job, also at a vet's surgery, but nothing to do with daughter 1 - different surgery in a different town, no 'influence' involved!

All that just to agree with you about the importance of individual attention, and to make the point that struggles with reading can affect a pupil's life for a long time into the future.

[scarletnoir]

giveusaclue wrote: "scarletnoir wrote:
"giveusaclue wrote: "However, I'm surprised by your ordering of the Enid Blytons, as the Secret Seven series was for a younger age group than the Famous Five, having a signific..."

I was only teasing! As for reading more Famous Five, there are 21 books in that series, but only 13 Secret Seven. I grew out of the Secret Seven after reading 10 or so, but probably only read around 5 Famous Five before moving on to more demanding fare.

[scarletnoir]

Tam wrote: I was at a grammar school in Devon when it was introduced in our maths class, in my, best guess, 1970 I think, (I was 15) but it was made clear to us that this was a brand new way of teaching maths with a brand new set and design of 'Maths' books.

Ah, 'new design' maths books, eh?

Well, I taught maths to all ages from 8-18 and beyond, and didn't come across these until much later. What struck me was how quickly the authors jumped from one concept to another, not allowing the pupils enough time to practice and embed certain skills and concepts before introducing a new one. Absolutely terrible.

Later on, when visiting a primary PGCE student, I talked to the head of the school, which was especially successful at teaching maths. What text books did she use, I asked? None, came the reply - and she produced workbooks she had made herself, full of a large number of examples for pupils to work through.

'Practice makes perfect'... though someone designing those new maths books seemed to have completely forgotten that notion.
(I should add - practice + active intervention from a teacher, where needed.)

[scarletnoir]

Gpfr wrote: This might interest you:
Family Strategies and Nuns without Vocation
https://blog.oup.com/2009/07/nuns/


Thanks for that interesting link... it made me think of another book which made me aware of a related arrangement whereby women lived together without taking the vows:

A beguinage, from the French term béguinage, is an architectural complex which was created to house beguines: lay religious women who lived in community without taking vows or retiring from the world.

Originally the beguine institution was the convent, an association of beguines living together or in close proximity of each other under the guidance of a single superior, called a mistress or prioress. Although they were not usually referred to as "convents", in these houses dwelt a small number of women together: the houses small, informal, and often poor communities that emerged across Europe after the twelfth century. In most cases, beguines who lived in a convent agreed to obey certain regulations during their stay and contributed to a collective fund"
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beguinage

The book in question was Midwinter Break by Bernard MacLaverty, beautifully written as always in his understated style by the author. Much of the action is set in and around Amsterdam's Bejignhof:
https://www.amsterdam.info/sights/beg...

Although I had visited Amsterdam several times, until reading MacLaverty's book I had been unaware of this fascinating complex... I made sure to see it the next time I was in the city.

[AB76]

SydneyH wrote: "Hushpuppy wrote: "@SydneyH You're up at such an ungodly hour!"

Well-spotted. I was wide awake at 4am and thought I would have some coffee and do some book browsing."

4am or 5am wake-ups are strange things....i usually put it down to some night time sounds, like doors slamming etc

[scarletnoir]

AB76 wrote:4am or 5am wake-ups are strange things....i usually put it down to some night time sounds, like doors slamming etc.

There speaks a young(ish) man, whose prostate is not (yet) causing those nocturnal visits to the bathroom... ;-)

[AB76]

scarletnoir wrote: "AB76 wrote:4am or 5am wake-ups are strange things....i usually put it down to some night time sounds, like doors slamming etc.

There speaks a young(ish) man, whose prostate is not (yet) causing th..."

thats very true!

[Reen]

scarletnoir wrote: "Gpfr wrote: This might interest you:
Family Strategies and Nuns without Vocation
https://blog.oup.com/2009/07/nuns/


Thanks for that interesting link... it made me think of another book which made..."

Midwinter Break is a beautifully written book; I found it quite sad and, as you say, understated. It sent me in search of the Begijnhof too ... I visited it twice in 2019, the first time on a day trip. The Begijnhof is such a surprising and special place - a nice breather from the cycling frenzy!

Your comment has reminded me that I have McLaverty's Collected Stories, which I pick up and put back down immediately every now and again. I may persevere soon.

[Reen]

Veufveuve wrote: "Am I allowed a brag? I've just been offered a book contract - by Bloomsbury no less (albeit, the academic arm, and an edited volume rather than a monograph). It's a project that I feel a lot of com..."


I am delighted for you Veufveuve. Well done to you, a great achievement.

[Lljones]

Machenbach wrote: "Otherwise, they should be an easy sell if you're thinking of doing so - either in bulk (which probably won't earn you much) or, if you have the patience, individually...."

Thanks for the info on Folio, mach (and for the Barnes article, I enjoyed that).

We (my niece and I) are still not sure what we're going to do with the bulk of the books. I have talked to a ton of booksellers in Seattle and in Portland, haven't found anyone interested in looking at the collection as a whole. Think this is partly due to Covid's impact on the economy. So for the moment, I'm packing up boxes for myself. Every time I seal up a box, I say "Ok, that's enough, stop." Then I get up and look at the shelves again.

[Lljones]

CCCubbon wrote: "Lljones
After looking at Mario on the boxes I had to post Eliot’s The Naming of Cats overon A place for a poem for you."

Thanks for this, CCC. Brought tears to my eyes. My brother G gave Eliot's book to my dad and me for Christmas when I was about 5, and my dad probably read it to me 1000 times. Can't read it without hearing my dad's voice and thinking of my brother.

Yesterday, I found this book on my brother's shelves: Animal Poems. I'll pick one or two to share with our poetry-animal lovers!

[Lljones]

Robert wrote: "My father's observation on cats: "We're their entertainment."..."
😉

How's the weather in your area? Here in Seattle it looks like about 4 inches fell overnight, snow still falling at 6:00 am, and forecasters predict it will continue to fall all day. Ai. Yi. Yi.

https://www.instagram.com/p/CLO8kbCra5h/

[Gpfr]

Reen wrote: "scarletnoir wrote: "re Midwinter Break..."

Thanks for the recommendation - looks like a book I'd enjoy.

[AB76]

my 45th birthday today, a quiet one, due to a certain pandemic but i am enjoying it, video happy birthdays from the nephews and neices, all looking very sweet and wide awake at 9am!

amazing bit of luck just now, i found a new author i had never heard of, with a catalogue in print!

was musing over cornish novels and whether any had been set in the isles of scilly, this led me via "mappit" to the novels of Hammond Innes and "Wreckers Must Breathe" and many others. Not set on the Scillies but set in cornwall and about to order it. It will make a nice summer-suspense read

i love it when i find a new author...

also ordered Zora neale hurston's non-fiction book on jamaica and haiti

[CCCubbon]

Hammond Innes, that’s a name from the past. I remember reading many of his books, . I cannot remember the stories except Campbell’s Kingdom which was a film, too. I think, but must have liked them to read several - I remember the titles.
We went to the Scillies a couple of times, grand islands, love Tresco and spent some time on St Martins. It’s a different way of life.
Happy memories Happy Birthday

[AB76]

CCCubbon wrote: "Hammond Innes, that’s a name from the past. I remember reading many of his books, . I cannot remember the stories except Campbell’s Kingdom which was a film, too. I think, but must have liked them ..."

thanks CCC

my first trip to the Scilly Isles was as a child, with the family in 1984, cycling over the islands, it was bliss, lovely summery weather and lots of outdoor fun. i remember watching the 1984 Olympic highlights with breakfast on a tiny tv set in the hotel foyer

Tresco was my fave island too....

[AB76]

Machenbach wrote: "AB76 wrote: "my 45th birthday today, a quiet one, due to a certain pandemic but i am enjoying it, video happy birthdays from the nephews and neices, all looking very sweet and wide awake at 9am!......"

i thought that was Cornish...s o replied: Da lowr, meur ras* Mach...at first but then i forgot myself, ofc, so i say instead::

Diolch yn fawr iawn*

* google translate is wonderful lol

[Reen]

AB76 wrote: "my 45th birthday today, a quiet one, due to a certain pandemic but i am enjoying it, video happy birthdays from the nephews and neices, all looking very sweet and wide awake at 9am!

amazing bit of..."

May I add a "breithlá shona duit" to the multilingual greetings? I'd love to be 45 again! I was 50 last April and now feel about 63.

[Hushpuppy]

AB76 wrote (#266): "my 45th birthday today."

Joyeux Anniversaire Debutant Absolu!

Quite a few forest dwellers have their birthday this month iirc, you won't be the only one celebrating a quiet one here.

[Hushpuppy]

Reen wrote (#271): "I was 50 last April"

Jeez, right in the middle of caring for Mr Reenimus? I hope you get to have a much nicer celebration this year!

Have just started to watch Sex Education - only one episode in - and it's a romp. A bit bonkers and discombobulating: looks like an American campus tv series, except it's set in Wales. It's contemporary (see smartphones), but decors, clothing and music are decidedly late 70s and early 80s.

[Reen]

Hushpuppy wrote: "Reen wrote (#271): "I was 50 last April"

Jeez, right in the middle of caring for Mr Reenimus? I hope you get to have a much nicer celebration this year!

Have just started to watch Sex Education -..."

Ha, dear Hushpuppy of the marvellous memory. Yes, he was just coming around ... sufficiently to make me a cake, God bless him. It wasn't my worst birthday ever; indeed I was grateful to be able to celebrate. But I feel I've gone from 49 to much older in under 12 months. How much that has to do with my Miss Havisham hair and bare face pallor is hard to say. It's all relative mind you... I'll be well ready for the glad rags when the time comes.

Haven't heard of Sex Education; it immediately makes me think of a book called Girls Growing Up that was handed out to us at school and which we were encouraged to read with our mothers (never our fathers of course). It included very little advice on either growing up or sex. Sanitary towels and prayers and waiting for the right man to come (but not until you were firmly married) along were pretty much the extent of it. Needless to say, we convent girls wrote our own manifesto and pursued sex education with vigorous curiosity.

Hope all well; I'll look into Sex Education. Who says a 50 year old can't learn new tricks?

[AB76]

Reen wrote: "AB76 wrote: "my 45th birthday today, a quiet one, due to a certain pandemic but i am enjoying it, video happy birthdays from the nephews and neices, all looking very sweet and wide awake at 9am!

a..."

50 is the new 40 and thanks

[AB76]

Hushpuppy wrote: "AB76 wrote (#266): "my 45th birthday today."

Joyeux Anniversaire Debutant Absolu!

Quite a few forest dwellers have their birthday this month iirc, you won't be the only one celebrating a quiet o..."

merci beaucoup hush,

good if they are Aquarians, oddly in school and at work, i have always had a lot of Aquarians around!

[Shelflife_wasBooklooker]

Herzlichen Glückwunsch, AbsoluterAnfänger76!
I am sure all the nieces and nephews can't wait to celebrate with you after all this. It'll be a blast!

Veufveuve
That is wonderful news, I think it is great you let us know! Very happy to read of your success. All the best for your editor's work: Deadline-abiding authors with a good writing style and possessing the ability to count words as well as the acceptance of others' suggestions for corrections,... in fact, everything you could wish for.


Just popping in for now. I hope Justine/ inter will soon do so, too.... Pretty sure she will like all the replies regarding primers, too.

Edit: My birthday is in April, too, reen! I feel much older than I am just now, too.
Do you know this slightly dodgy painting by Cranach (only women seem affected and in need to be cured)?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Fou...
I wouldn't mind taking a bath there on occasion.

[SydneyH]

AB76 wrote: "my 45th birthday today"

Happy birthday :)

[AB76]

Shelflife_wasBooklooker wrote: "Herzlichen Glückwunsch, AbsoluterAnfänger76!
I am sure all the nieces and nephews can't wait to celebrate with you after all this. It'll be a blast!

Veufveuve
That is wonderful news, I think it i..."

danke booklooker!
they are a lovely bunch, aged 2-7, though in my 40s, they are utterly knackering
during the brief covid lull over the summer,with restrictions lifted, in the blazing heat of august i found myself staggering from shady spot to shady spot, while being ordered about by little ones!

[AB76]

SydneyH wrote: "AB76 wrote: "my 45th birthday today"

Happy birthday :)"

thanks sydney

[Lljones]

AB76 wrote: "my 45th birthday today, a quiet one, due to a certain pandemic but i am enjoying it, video happy birthdays from the nephews and neices, all looking very sweet and wide awake at 9am!..."

🎂

[Tam]

AB76 wrote: "my 45th birthday today, a quiet one, due to a certain pandemic but i am enjoying it, video happy birthdays from the nephews and neices, all looking very sweet and wide awake at 9am!

amazing bit of..."

Happy Birthday AB, you are in your prime, compared to us more ancient ones who are teetering on the edge of 'official' retirement. Still I am always curious, and look forward to leaning new 'things'... So curiosity doesn't disappear with age.. from my perspective at least... enjoy!...

There is an interesting history of a reformer of the Scilly isles, Augustus John Smith, who bought the lease for the Scilly Isles from the crown, in 1834. He tried to tame the locals from their piratical tendencies... And introduce schools to the inhabitants. He was a bit of a philanthropist, who left a mixed legacy (at least in terms of modern mores), but he did make a huge impact on the Scillies, and I think that the gardens of Tresco were part of his legacy. I loved visiting there, it was like going back to the 1950's!...

[AB76]

Tam wrote: "AB76 wrote: "my 45th birthday today, a quiet one, due to a certain pandemic but i am enjoying it, video happy birthdays from the nephews and neices, all looking very sweet and wide awake at 9am!

a..."

thanks tam

very interesting about AJ Smith...

a wiki-google earlier reminded me that the Goldolphin family are linked to the area and Cornwall, which i had forgotten. I am a big fan of the 1688-1710 era in Britain and Sidney Godolphin was a sort of prime minister of that period, with his close ally John Churchill aka Marlborough

[MK]

Lljones wrote: "Machenbach wrote: "Otherwise, they should be an easy sell if you're thinking of doing so - either in bulk (which probably won't earn you much) or, if you have the patience, individually...."

Thank..."

You could send an email to the bookclubofwashington.org as they might have ideas (assuming you haven't already done so).

Also, others here might want to check out their webpage as they are hosting an online event about 'To Catch a Thief'' next weekend.

[Lljones]

MK wrote: "You could send an email to the bookclubofwashington.org as they might have ideas (assuming you haven't already done so)...."

Thank you so much, MK. That looks like a very good option and I'll compose an email to them soon.

('To Catch a Thief' looks interesting and I've signed up, so thanks again!)

[Lljones]

Ok, I know I've said this before, but I really do need professional help. Here I am, surrounded by thousands of books I haven't read, trying to figure out how to get the ones I want to Portland economically, and I'm still ordering books. Something I find on the shelves here reminds me of something else, and off I go to abebooks. Ordered six books in the last few days.

And one I ordered a few weeks ago arrived today: Safe from the Sea. Someone here drove me to this purchase, would you please raise your hand?

[MK]

Lljones wrote: "MK wrote: "You could send an email to the bookclubofwashington.org as they might have ideas (assuming you haven't already done so)...."

Thank you so much, MK. That looks like a very good option an..."

I hope you are making a list as you go about the packing process.

[Georg]

AB76 wrote: "my 45th birthday today, a quiet one, due to a certain pandemic but i am enjoying it, video happy birthdays from the nephews and neices, all looking very sweet and wide awake at 9am!

amazing bit of..."

Happy birthday, Abbie, and many happy returns!