What Are We Reading? 8 February 2021

[Lljones]

MK wrote: "I hope you are making a list as you go about the packing process...."

Yes, I am. Categorizing by subject, grading the condition of the book, and recording which (numbered) box I'm putting them in.

[AB76]

Georg 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 georg

[AB76]

Lljones wrote: "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 eco..."

i think we are all like this LL, we cant stop ordering books. i had a whole year roughly planned on Jan 1st and thought there was no way i would order a new book for maybe 3 mths, yet its six weeks in 2021 and i have ordered 10!

i think for me the equation is: too many books + too little time= order loads of books....temptation always lurks...

[AB76]

Update on my diary reading:

last year i started to read a series of diaries from small periods of time (5-10 years) by literary figures. the reading was usually late at night and was really rewarding, getting into the heads of various writers at certain times of their lives.
Sartre (Alsace 1939-40)
Serge (Mexico Exile 1941-45)
Brandys (Warsaw 1978-80)
Reck (Germany 1933-44)
Malaparte (Paris 1947-48)
Keilson (Holland 1944)
Lindgren (Stockolm 1939-45)

I learnt a lot from these diaries, discussions about life and theories of how to live it, the complicated worlds of exile and the fustrations of youth and old age.

I was suprised to find so many good books in one year and especially so many books filled with deep thought and analysis of the times they lived, the overall trend seemed to be centered around WW2 but that was co-incidental.

Brandys, a polish writer, not translated into english was the most suprisingly enjoyable of the diaries, with Sartre supplying the mix of tension and tedium that many conscripted french intellectuals felt during the Phoney War. While Serge impressed me with his humanity and decency in the face of soviet evil ..

2021 has started with more fragmentary diaries/journals/letters with Tsveteva in Moscow 1917 and Lampedusa's letters feom various european capitals

Next up is Sontags early diaries, followed by Josep Pla and his Gray Notebook, set over 2 years in Catalonia just after WW1

[Paul]

AB76 wrote: "my 45th birthday today, a quiet one"

Tanti auguri. You beat me to 45 by a hair*s breadth. My 45th is guaranteed to be more raucous than your's as I have a 5 month old who enjoys shouting expletives in baby speak

[AB76]

Paul wrote: "AB76 wrote: "my 45th birthday today, a quiet one"

Tanti auguri. You beat me to 45 by a hair*s breadth. My 45th is guaranteed to be more raucous than your's as I have a 5 month old who enjoys shou..."

superb paul....thats a quick learning 5mth yo....should be speaking at 1 year.....(though sounds like the language could be a little blue)

[AB76]

About to enter "woke" land, gonna attempt to read Eddo Lodge's book on race, which has swept the board with the woke-ocracy

Its odd how quickly things date, her 2014 blog post that supplied the title of her book seems like another country, since then Brexit and this appalling Boris administration have tugged and torn at the seams of our slightly dysfunctional greed based and right wing voting British society. Plus BLM has driven concerns about race into the forefront of everything since Summer 2020

i support her battle against racism and the pernicious trends in modern tory policy make the fight even more important but i'm not sure i will enjoy reading it, lets see...

[giveusaclue]

Happy birthday AB76 and Paul who have beaten me by a couple of weeks - mine is on 23rd. But I have had considerably more of them than you two!

🥂🎂

[AB76]

giveusaclue wrote: "Happy birthday AB76 and Paul who have beaten me by a couple of weeks - mine is on 23rd. But I have had considerably more of them than you two!

🥂🎂"

hahaha......happy bday for the 23rd

and happy bday paul too

[Gpfr]

giveusaclue wrote: "Happy birthday AB76 and Paul who have beaten me by a couple of weeks - mine is on 23rd. "

Another February babe here, nearer the beginning of the month and with lots of family and friends who have/had February birthdays.
Happy birthday to us all!

[giveusaclue]

Thank you all, and happy birthday to you all too!

[Georg]

AB76 wrote: "About to enter "woke" land, gonna attempt to read Eddo Lodge's book on race, which has swept the board with the woke-ocracy
..."

The title tells me everything about this book and its author what I need to know. And some more.

[Lljones]

Happy Birthday, Aquarians one and all!

Here in Seattle (on Beacon Hill, anyway) it's about 30 degrees F, with 8 inches of snow on the ground and more falling. I'm about to bundle up and head to the store - three blocks away - because Mario doesn't like the substitute cat food I have in the house (his favorite was due for delivery yesterday, but no trucks are getting through, it seems).

Wish me luck!

[scarletnoir]

AB76 wrote: ...the novels of Hammond Innes and "Wreckers Must Breathe" and many others.

I read an awful lot of Innes in my 'teens... basically, he is excellent at 'man vs nature' scenarios, whether at sea, on deserted islands (Rockall), up mountains, whatever... those sections of his books are what made them worth reading.

As for the human element - the plots tend to be similar in many (not all) of his novels, with some craggy jawed hero or other saving a damsel in distress (some damsels had a bit more to them, though), or doing something deeply heroic and noble - as I remember it. The one based on Rockall is darker than most - it is probably Atlantic Fury, where the island is re-named 'Laerg', though again I'm not certain. It was a long time ago!

Perhaps someone with a more recent memory of Innes can give you a reliable summary. Take mine with a pinch of salt.

(Oh - and happy birthday - I forgot!)

[scarletnoir]

Hushpuppy wrote: 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.

That can't be right - we don't have sex education in Wales! ;-)

[AB76]

scarletnoir wrote: "AB76 wrote: ...the novels of Hammond Innes and "Wreckers Must Breathe" and many others.

I read an awful lot of Innes in my 'teens... basically, he is excellent at 'man vs nature' scenarios, wheth..."

thanks scarlet

based on rockall, that sounds like the smallest island to have had a novel written about it, that wasnt during the "oil on Rockall" issues was it?

[AB76]

Georg wrote: "AB76 wrote: "About to enter "woke" land, gonna attempt to read Eddo Lodge's book on race, which has swept the board with the..."

have you read it?

[scarletnoir]

AB76 wrote: "scarletnoir wrote: "AB76 wrote: ...the novels of Hammond Innes and "Wreckers Must Breathe" and many others.

I read an awful lot of Innes in my 'teens... basically, he is excellent at 'man vs natu..."

I don't think there's anything about oil in the one I'm thinking of... a shipwrecked group, perhaps? However, taking a look at reviews on GR, it's clear that I'm thinking of a different book - it seems that Atlantic Fury is set on St.Kilda in the Hebrides, and does include something about oil drilling. Either the one I had in mind is a different Innes book (probably) or a book by another author (possibly).

This passage from one of the reviews gives a flavour of what Innes is about, though:

"The best pages in the book describe this struggle for survival in the face of hurricane force winds, arctic temperatures and sheer volcanic cliff faces. When steel girders break like matchsticks heroism will be translated not in blazing guns or spectacular explosions but in dogged endurance and self-sacrifice."

[AB76]

scarletnoir wrote: "AB76 wrote: "scarletnoir wrote: "AB76 wrote: ...the novels of Hammond Innes and "Wreckers Must Breathe" and many others.

I read an awful lot of Innes in my 'teens... basically, he is excellent at..."

thanks scarlet......i'm glad there are a lot of Innes books in print, i plan to read the cornish one in the summer, so if i like it, plenty more to follow up

[Georg]

AB76 wrote(307): "Georg wrote: "AB76 wrote: "About to enter "woke" land, gonna attempt to read Eddo Lodge's book on race, which has swept the ..."

No. Why should I? Going by the title I am not among her target group.

[AB76]

Finally finished Spiral Season 8

i think the long running time and the downbeat atmosphere of Spiral Series 1-8 works so well and for me series 6 was the best, i wont be rewatching the whole thing for a while, i like to leave things as a first impression for a long time, i have a good memory and an even better visual one, so i can recall scenes and how i felt from a long way back. (though with age i think this is starting to fade)

Tintin was always my favourite character, when he re-appeared in series 7 it was like "wow". he always a more "everyman" character than the impetuous Laure and the brooding Gilou. Oddly i was less moral on Laure and Gilou in the early series in my early 30s...a decade later, in my 40s....i found their rule-breaking becoming quite irresponsible and i sided more with Tintin, but i liked them all, a good group and the back up lads JP,Nico and Tom

The one characterization they messed up a bit was Herville, in series 5 he is irascible and unlikable, in series 6 a wise and helpful ex-boss in a new precinct. But i felt series 5 didnt leave the impression he was boss to be universally liked...

[AB76]

Georg wrote: "AB76 wrote(307): "Georg wrote: "AB76 wrote: "About to enter "woke" land, gonna attempt to read Eddo Lodge's book on race, wh..."

well neither am i and i'm reading it!

[Berkley]

AB76 wrote: "Finally finished Spiral Season 8

i think the long running time and the downbeat atmosphere of Spiral Series 1-8 works so well and for me series 6 was the best, i wont be rewatching the whole thing..."

I'm just in the middle of series 6 right now, after a gap of some years since I watched series 5 so my memory is a little hazy. I agree that this is one of the best so far, though, and the show as a whole one of the most engrossing I've ever watched. None of the characters are especially easy to like as personalities but they're all interesting as character studies.

[AB76]

Berkley wrote: "AB76 wrote: "Finally finished Spiral Season 8

i think the long running time and the downbeat atmosphere of Spiral Series 1-8 works so well and for me series 6 was the best, i wont be rewatching th..."

series six is just brilliantly brooding ,melancholy and focused....catches them all with their lives in a mess and is probably the most realistic of the eight series

[Berkley]

scarletnoir wrote: "AB76 wrote: ...the novels of Hammond Innes and "Wreckers Must Breathe" and many others.

I read an awful lot of Innes in my 'teens... basically, he is excellent at 'man vs nature' scenarios, wheth..."

Haven't read any Innes yet but I always used to be interested in his books and Desmond Bagley's because the Fontana paperback covers looked similar to those of Alistair MacLean, which I did read a lot of as a kid in the early 70s. I have a copy of The Land God Gave to Cain that I should be getting to in the near future.

[AB76]

one thing that seems jarring watching any pre-covid drama or film is the old ways, the crowds, the jostling, the eating out experience......

i re-watched the Batman film from 1989 last night for first time in 20 years and have to say its superb, old style pacing, the wonderful Nicholson as the Joker, his moves, lines and charisma are just sublime. loved the sets too, it reminded me of an old school style of noir, rather than the increasingly blood soaked newer films and idiotic celebrations of The Joker, a milion miles from what Nicholson managed

[Lljones]

Machenbach wrote: "Daniel Kehlmann, Me And Kaminski (tr. Carol Brown Janeway)

This is Kehlmann’s fifth novel, published in 2003 when he was 28. Yes: fifth novel. And..."

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