Ersatz TLS discussion
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Weekly TLS
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What Are We Reading? 26 April 2021
I think there may be a couple of Heinrich Böll fans here and, if I have recalled correctly, you may be interested in the upcoming (from tomorrow) online festival. There are details in this article from my hometown newspaper. https://www.mayonews.ie/living/36767-...
(The URL clearly doesn't like the umlaut).
Anne wrote: "Hushpuppy wrote: "May I say, you have excellent taste 😊. (For tv and films in general, NOT for Austen. Mppphhh.) ..."Ha! I've just finished The Queen's Gambit and am now without any TV to watch."
There is a new series of Shtisel which I binged a couple of weeks ago - just wonderful. Of course, if you haven't seen the first two series, start there. It's really high class soap opera, life among the ultra orthodox Haredi Jews in Jerusalem (and don't be thinking that the women are oppressed, oh dear me no). Streams on Netflix.
Reen wrote: "I think there may be a couple of Heinrich Böll fans here and, if I have recalled correctly, you may be interested in the upcoming (from tomorrow) online festival. There are details in this article ..."thanks Reen, umlauts dont go down well in the Anglo-techsphere it seems!
Meanwhile we have 1801 comments on that Guardian article - with a lot of unknown commenters saying how much they enjoy the recommendations of other commenters. Just like in the olden days … *being wistful -
Hushpuppy wrote: "Anne wrote: "A question for Hushpuppy (although I think Glad Hush has a nice ring to it): is there any news from The Guardian about what's going on at the Books section? Is it time to give up hopin..."I wonder if this prolongued comment article about books was a kind of test balloon - to try out the waters.
Hushpuppy (73) wrote: "Anne wrote: "A question for Hushpuppy (although I think Glad Hush has a nice ring to it): is there any news from The Guardian about what's going on at the Books section? Is it time to give up hopin..."Trust me, I'm a lawyer and I am not holding my breath. On whose terms will this reconciliation take place? What's to stop history repeating itself when the Graun management has another change of heart?
Mod
Yes, I agree - I'm watching the first series at the moment.
Magrat wrote: "Hushpuppy (73) wrote: "Anne wrote: "A question for Hushpuppy (although I think Glad Hush has a nice ring to it): is there any news from The Guardian about what's going on at the Books section? Is i..."we still havent learnt what the reason for culling TLS was! Almost six months later!
comparing it to the flamer filled cesspool of most other Guardian comments sections, it should have lauded!
BTW, who signs up for a Guardian online account and then posts abusive messages and anti-left wing nonsese? Why do they bother?
Even on TLS we had some pedantic, nitpicking. I always try to avoid that kind of thing.....
Sandya wrote: “The Blue Flower. Penelope Fitzgerald…Victorian fairy stories…Jungian analysis of symbols…a completely uninteresting 13-year-old girl… inexplicably becomes his muse…”
Lovely review. I read it once, when it came out 25 years ago, and it’s still among my best ever contemporary reads. You capture well the dreamy suggestiveness evoked (paradoxically) in the precision and clarity of Fitzgerald’s prose.
Lovely review. I read it once, when it came out 25 years ago, and it’s still among my best ever contemporary reads. You capture well the dreamy suggestiveness evoked (paradoxically) in the precision and clarity of Fitzgerald’s prose.
Interesting LRB review by James Meek on two books , one from Ukraine and one from RussiaAbsolute Zero by Artem Chekh(non fiction about his military service on the Ukraine front in last few years)
The Monastery byZakhar Prilepin(who served in a russian seperatist unti in Donetsk , this book is a novel)
Would be interested to see what you think of these two Anastasia? Have you read the Prilepin novel?
Franhunny wrote: "Meanwhile we have 1801 comments on that Guardian article - with a lot of unknown commenters saying how much they enjoy the recommendations of other commenters."
Maybe the answer is to move TLS permanently from the Books page to the Lifestyle page. I'm serious. Already this week there's another book-related piece on the Lifestyle page about independent UK bookshops chosen by readers, with lively comments. So why not books chosen by readers? If the answer is to have a TLS-successor sitting alongside Food, Fashion, Love & Sex and Travel, I don't mind that at all.
Maybe the answer is to move TLS permanently from the Books page to the Lifestyle page. I'm serious. Already this week there's another book-related piece on the Lifestyle page about independent UK bookshops chosen by readers, with lively comments. So why not books chosen by readers? If the answer is to have a TLS-successor sitting alongside Food, Fashion, Love & Sex and Travel, I don't mind that at all.
Russell wrote: "Franhunny wrote: "Meanwhile we have 1801 comments on that Guardian article - with a lot of unknown commenters saying how much they enjoy the recommendations of other commenters."Maybe the answer is to move TLS permanently from the Books page to the Lifestyle page. I'm serious. "
I had the same idea. It looks like there are many readers who would be happy to take part, who don't venture into "culture".
It could become an improved TLS with more contributors and more variety. More mainstream, less elitist, while catering for both.
Russell wrote: "Sandya wrote: “The Blue Flower. Penelope Fitzgerald…Victorian fairy stories…Jungian analysis of symbols…a completely uninteresting 13-year-old girl… inexplicably becomes his muse…”Lovely review. ..."
Thank you for your kind words! I have always loved Novalis. I tried hard to convey my thoughts, succeeded partially and may edit the review further. There's a book club on The Blue Flower in the Guardian books section and though long closed for comment, it was interesting to read what others thought of the book.
Russell wrote: "Maybe the answer is to move TLS permanently from the Books page to the Lifestyle page. I'm serious. "In the 'How To Live Now' section, sandwiched between an opinion piece about bras and an article on the various ways to use wild garlic, it surely means a novel way to look at literature.
Good things: It's Friday, I'm not back at work until next Wednesday. I had a lovely walk home from work a - wonderfully bright and warm evening.
Pie, chips and onion gravy is for dinner tonight. Sweet and savoury munchies have been bought.
I came home two books heavier - as yet an anonymous work colleague has donated books. Those books are Trace by Patricia Cornwell and Memoirs of a Geisha by Arthur Golden.
In my neck of the woods, the shops have reopened today. If my local bookshops are not too busy, I'm going in, sometime in the near future.
Mini Fuzzywuzz has been offered a conditional place to study Medicine at Brighton and Sussex Medical School.
In other book related news, I finished Trunk Music by Michael Connelly. It wasn't the best of his books that I've read so far, so I'm going to have a hiatus from this author for the time being. I also finished All the Lonely People by Mike Gayle, an easy to read tale about an elderly gent called Hubert Bird and his efforts to make friends. The story alternates between the past and present and intertwines issues of love, loss and friendship. I really enjoyed this book.
In the pursuit of something humorous, I started Jingo by Terry Pratchett. So far, it has had me giggling away - I'd never thought I would read 'henpecked' in relation to Sam Vimes.....
Just reporting in a slow few reading days as I’m off travelling again, just up to Scotland in the new van with the dog. Wonderful to be on the road again. Last few days in Galloway with Native: Life in a Vanishing Landscape by Patrick Laurie. A great visit to The Bookshop in Wigtown, a place I’ve been wanting to visit for a long time.
Now up to Arrochar. I’m a quarter into Aviary, and have What Am I Doing Here? on the go also. But I’m out of routine, with long days walking; a trip inspired by Dylan’s 80th and hoping to meet Frances McDoormid in her van... (an inspiring film certainly). Blog at www.safereturndoubtful.tumblr.com for photos.
Just watched "Battaglia di Algieri"
, the classic Italian directed film of the Algerian revolution, superb, somebody here had recommended it and it was a very good mix of italian neo-realism and french intellectual cinema. Col Mathieu, what a character! All very relevant to my Larteguy novel about the Algerian war The Praetorians
For mystery fans - just in case you are looking for yet another resource - I recommend signing up for the weekly newsletter from https://www.mysteriousbookshop.com/ I usually find a couple of books that I can put on hold at the library while scrolling down each week.
If we ever get out of this mess, I'm going to take a trip to the East Coast and expect to stop in both DC (there's a new spy museum!) and NYC. For NYC I will have a list of bookshops to check out (among other lesser important things).
Fuzzywuzz wrote: "Good things: It's Friday, I'm not back at work until next Wednesday. I had a lovely walk home from work a - wonderfully bright and warm evening.
Pie, chips and onion gravy is for dinner tonight...."
Best of luck to mini Fuzzywuzz and enjoy your weekend.
A wee excursion to a small Borders town today. Uplifting, scenic drive there. Bit cold, but dry. Small mercies. Coffee and yummy cake followed a trawl for books in the charity shops. Not a vintage selection, though I came away with four, mostly removed from my usual choices, but names I’m familiar with, and at least one I think some old TLSers will have read. Lindsay Davis, The Graveyard of the Hesperides.
Conn Iggulden, Ravenspur ( Wars of the Roses)
Philip Kerr, If the Dead Rise Not
I realise that these are part of a series, but hope to pick up the threads. One way or another they will make their way to another charity shop.
However, I shall begin with Diane Setterfield’s The Thirteenth Tale. Have hopes this one will engage my interest.
Night, all.
Slawkenbergius wrote: "Russell wrote: "Maybe the answer is to move TLS permanently from the Books page to the Lifestyle page. I'm serious. "In the 'How To Live Now' section, sandwiched between an opinion piece about br..."
That's not a bad idea. Gets reading away from being an intimidatingly elitist pursuit to just being something you do for fun.
https://youtu.be/UqVpXe5_GUQ This is so Discworld- not quite the stick and bucket dance but close- Beltane greetings!
Greenfairy wrote: "https://youtu.be/UqVpXe5_GUQ This is so Discworld- not quite the stick and bucket dance but close- Beltane greetings!"Pratchett had a thing about Morris Dancers, did he not?
Greenfairy wrote: "https://youtu.be/UqVpXe5_GUQ This is so Discworld- not quite the stick and bucket dance but close- Beltane greetings!"Morris Dancing? Until you’ve seen the wonderful Martin Carthy leap high into the concert hall when he was with Steeleye Span, you ain’t seen nothin’.
Magrat wrote: "Slawkenbergius wrote: "Russell wrote: "Maybe the answer is to move TLS permanently from the Books page to the Lifestyle page. I'm serious. "In the 'How To Live Now' section, sandwiched between an..."
I had a nosey at the recent bookshop/reading articles on the Guardian that are reader driven - I wonder is this an experiment to see if TLS will be reinstated. I hope so.
Magrat wrote: "Greenfairy wrote: "https://youtu.be/UqVpXe5_GUQ This is so Discworld- not quite the stick and bucket dance but close- Beltane greetings!"Pratchett had a thing about Morris Dancers, did he not?"
He knew his folklore bless him.
Jean Larteguy in The Praetorians
reminds me of several anglo writers of his generation but with that distinctive continental mix of serious philosophical situations, maybe the hand of Sartre.Colonial France in the 1950s was in a state of total collapse, Larteguy brings home how corruption and feudalism has started to become endemic among the Pied Noir (white algerians) as the war removed the peacetime structures from the state.
His military men could be ice cool, hard as nails cliche's but they are well rounded, balanced portrayals of the generation that fought the Nazi's, the Viets and the Algerians, only to see it all crumble and the boundaries blur
While The Centurions second half was very much about Algiers, the white city, pearl of the Med, this novel is more about mountain combat and small towns, with the constant threat of the FLN
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I haven't yet received any lilies of the valley - little bunches are traditionally given on 1st May. 🌼 (didn't find an emoji of muguet and didn't succeed -as usual - in embedding an image here, in spite of seemingly following the correct procedure. 😥)
Our lily of the valley is just green stalks with no flower yet. Another hard frost this morning here. The tulips don’t seem to mind and have relished the colder weather, flowering for longer this year.
Have decided to bin English Traits by Ralph Waldo Emerson, for such a great thinker and contemplator, his portrayal of 1840s Britain reads like a junior brexit guide to the brilliance of a decaying island in 2021While there may be some balance in the next 150 pages, so far an endless tribute to the "english" race was not what had signed up for, am massively dissapointed.
Jefferson is more critical and less fawning but i put that as a reflection of the times, when he was at war with us but Emerson and this race-worship is disturbing.....
So will move on to Rixdorf Editions and Hermann Bahr's Anti Semitism
a collection of interviews he had with leading thinkers and writers on the subject , written in 1894. Bahr had originally been an anti-semite in Austria but became a champion of the Jewish cause a decade later
CCCubbon wrote: "Our lily of the valley is just green stalks with no flower yet. Another hard frost this morning here. The tulips don’t seem to mind and have relished the colder weather, flowering for longer this y..."my father is a keen gardener and has been noticing the effects of the colder nights down here too. he lives fairly close to me but the valley he is in becomes a frost pocket from October to March and he has had some nasty frosts, which are rare this late in Southern England
CCCubbon wrote: "May Day. Better have some dancing around the maypole.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ncIAd..."
I remember doing that in my frilly white dress with green and yellow ribbons, but the boys were clodhoppers compared to those lads😊
Lass wrote: "A wee excursion to a small Borders town today. Uplifting, scenic drive there. Bit cold, but dry. Small mercies. Coffee and yummy cake followed a trawl for books in the charity shops. Not a vintage ..."Good to hear you got out and about at last, it makes you feel so much better doesn't it? I hope you enjoy Ravenspur. Have you read the rest of the series? I absolutely loved it and the description of the Battle of Towton was so atmospheric.
AB76 wrote: "scarletnoir wrote: "Bill wrote: "scarletnoir wrote: "In Dickens, we see a social conscience, and social commentary, but no philosophy."Are there authors in English who you find provide philosophi..."
Thank you for this - I have been incommunicado for a while as a result of post-vaccine brain fog, and can't think (or write) anything sensible ATM! Your description of the Russians seems spot on, though, and as I very much followed a similar path at that sort of age, they were the authors that fascinated me then.
Has anyone read any Alfred Duggan here? I was reading an online article in the Telegraph (I know, AB😀) about the Battle of Brunanburh which was really interesting, and his name came up. The comments under the article are worth a read, some are informative, some are just plain hilarious. Don't know if this will work but here goes:https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2021...
Gpfr wrote: "In the past few days, I've read 2 of the Arnaldur Indridason series with the retired detective Konrad, investigating past crimes with present-day repercussions: The Shadow District ..."Indridason is as good as any of the Scandi-noir writers, IMO - but not the most cheerful. The Arnaldur series is probably best read in order, though there are a couple of 'prequels' written post-series, but dealing with his beginnings in the police. Indridason has also written a few stand-alones, and has more recently embarked on a new series (maybe) set in the years following WW2. Generally his standard is very high, though one or two dip below that.
scarletnoir wrote: "AB76 wrote: "scarletnoir wrote: "Bill wrote: "scarletnoir wrote: "In Dickens, we see a social conscience, and social commentary, but no philosophy."Are there authors in English who you find provi..."
oh dear,vaccine brainfog!
giveusaclue wrote: "Has anyone read any Alfred Duggan here? I was reading an online article in the Telegraph (I know, AB😀) about the Battle of Brunanburh which was really interesting, and his name came up. The comment..."doesnt the Torygraph have a paywall?
AB76 wrote: "giveusaclue wrote: "Has anyone read any Alfred Duggan here? I was reading an online article in the Telegraph (I know, AB😀) about the Battle of Brunanburh which was really interesting, and his name ..."Yes, which is why I said I didn't know if it would work.
Bill wrote: "Berkley wrote: "Oh, and on the subject of English-language philosophical novelists, another name that comes to mind is Iris Murdoch."Murdoch is the Anglophone novelist I see mentioned most often ..."
I read two or three Murdochs a long time ago - the only one that struck me as being in any way 'philosophical' was the first - and her first novel - Under the Net. I quite liked that, but the others - less philosophical IMO - not so much, and I could not finish her Booker winner The sea, the sea - it appeared endless!
Slawkenbergius wrote: "The last edition of the Backlisted podcast was devoted to Tristram Shandy. You can listen to it over there."Haha! I read that as "Blacklisted"...
Georg wrote: "AB76 wrote(65): "Georg wrote: "AB76 wrote: "Am about to read a NYRB article on Jenny Erpenbeck, i didnt realise her grandmother was Helda Zinner. Some body here isnt keen on her writing, who was ..."
Thanks for the warning - miserabilism, of any sort, is the sort of thing I don't tolerate well - especially if it is made out that the protagonists are complicit - in that they don't even try to find a way out.
Georg wrote: "Style beats substance."I can't like a book solely on the basis of its style, but there are a number of readers who claim to do so.
Which subjects do you wish more authors would write about?
It’s not what you say, it’s the way that you say it.
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"and has more recently embarked on a new series (maybe) set in the years following WW2. ..."
The new series is what I was referring to, there are so far 3 books with Konrad. The first is set during WW2 & the present day, the 2nd also investigates past & present crimes.
scarletnoir wrote: "Georg wrote: "AB76 wrote(65): "Georg wrote: "AB76 wrote: "Am about to read a NYRB article on Jenny Erpenbeck, i didnt realise her grandmother was Helda Zinner. Some body here isnt keen on her wri..."
i guess for me the important distinction is realism vs miserabilism, if its all part of a realist exploration of a life or a lifestyle situation than thats fine, if its glorying in misery and dwelling on pain and suffering, then its not as worthy
Bill wrote: "Georg wrote: "Style beats substance."I can't like a book solely on the basis of its style, but there are a number of readers who claim to do so.
Which subjects do you wish more authors would write about?
It’s not what you say, it’s the way that you say it.
I feel I must find a stylish way to express the concept of "bollocks".
Or is there "irony" a non-native speaker like me has missed?
Then again: I'd probably never understand a woman who says the last great novel she read was:
In the Cut,” by Susanna Moore. Vicious, idiosyncratic, stylish, erotic, frightening. It’s a noirish feminist thriller about a woman who witnesses a murder. Up there with the great New York novels.
One of the most awful books I had the misfortune to read.
Georg wrote: "Bill wrote: "Georg wrote: "Style beats substance."I can't like a book solely on the basis of its style, but there are a number of readers who claim to do so.
Which subjects do you wish more auth..."
i am learning to appreciate style as i get older, when an authors way of telling the tale can conquer a weak plot or annoying characters. Some novels i would have ditched a decade ago have been sustained by a style that encourages you to read on...
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Ersatz TLS
Books mentioned in this topic
Antisemitism (other topics)Knots and Crosses (other topics)
Kidnapped (other topics)
Ipcress danger immediat (other topics)
Native: Life in a Vanishing Landscape (other topics)
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Authors mentioned in this topic
Patrick Laurie (other topics)Olivia Laing (other topics)
Jean Lartéguy (other topics)
Patrick Laurie (other topics)
Artem Chekh (other topics)
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good call LL with Huxley
I havent read any Robertson Davies but have been meaning to for years