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What Are We Reading? 7 June 2021
Georg wrote: "Maybe Schrödinger could have advised how that could be handled. Alas, he is dead."Maybe, maybe not - has his coffin been opened, yet?
More seriously - mob rule is a nasty business, no matter what its methods may be or how it is organised. (I am currently reading a book 'about' the French Revolution, and the Terror...)
@scarletThanks for recommending Gianrico Carofiglio.
Just finished
, the first in the Guerreri series. I really enjoyed that.I liked the slowish pace, the 'Italianità', how he developped his protagonist. And Guerreri's final plaidoyer as a defense lawyer would make a highlight in any legal drama film.
Looking forward to starting Guerreri #3 tonight.
Georg wrote: "@scarletThanks for recommending Gianrico Carofiglio."
I'm glad you enjoyed it - as you say, it's not a fast-paced thriller, much more meditative... as far as I know, there are six Guerrieri books translated into English, but I'm not sure how many there are in Italian, let alone in German or French translation.
I like all sorts of stuff, but especially if I like the character(s) and/or the style of writing. Plot comes a long way second, though anything impossible (as opposed to wildly improbable) tends to put me off...
As far as plot is concerned - to clarify - I need to be able to believe that the characters would (or might) have behaved in 'that' way. If there's no emotional truth, I can't buy it.
Bill wrote: "Sandya wrote: "I am tired of sitting in a box due to the stupidity of our science-deficient, macho, good-for-nothing leaders."I could be bounded in a nutshell and count myself a king of infinite ..."
Very true....
Non-book chuckle for the day - Will people never learn?STRANGE NEWS
Researchers Examining Medieval Skeletons Find Really Bad Bunions - June 11, 2021 Heard on NPR's Morning Edition
The study found painful-looking degeneration in foot bones. The problem? Pointy shoes, known as poulaines, that were popular in 14th century Britain.
Return to Coolami by Eleanor Dark (1936) is an extraordinary novel so far.A simple setting of a two day road trip from Sydney to the countryside beyond the Blue Mountains has become a journey through the many depths of the mind, jealousy, fustration,anger, ennui and hopelessness
Two couples, seperated by generations, one on the verge of an ugly divorce it seems, the other in the tired 37th year of marriage. The backdrop is the bush, ghost gums, mountains and endless road, in a Madison tourer
Dark has a style that suprises me for the 1930s, its bleak, dark and angry, most importantly it is realistic, these marital issues are repeated every month, every week, every year
Not to Disturb by Muriel Spark. 
On a stormy night in a mansion near Geneva, Baron and Baroness Klopstock have locked themselves into their library with their young secretary Victor Passerat. A bitter argument ensues, but their instructions are very clear, they are not to be disturbed.
Downstairs, the servants wait for what they see as the inevitable expiration of the three.
In his rooms at the top of the house the Baron’s brother, and heir, is believed to be crazy, and in fits of rage hurls plates at his carer.
The servants meanwhile, headed by the butler, plan devious schemes. The driver of a car outside, waiting for the secretary, is repeatedly told they are not to be disturbed.
There is so much going on in these gripping 90 pages that another author could easily have taken three times the pages to tell the story, such is Spark’s skill. It’s a satirical take on a typical golden age crime novel; the scent of murder is in the air throughout, but Spark explores other themes.
I think it would make a wonderful film.
AB76 wrote: "Andy wrote: "AB76 wrote: "Andy wrote: "Blood Crime by Sebastià Alzamora , translated by Martha Tennent. 
Small groups of the clergy ..."
I remember your review AB. That’s how it found it’s way onto my list..
Andy wrote: "AB76 wrote: "Andy wrote: "AB76 wrote: "Andy wrote: "Blood Crime by Sebastià Alzamora , translated by Martha Tennent. Small groups o..."
Rodoreda has a lot of novels in translation now, when i first discovered her in around 2007 there was just one translated novel that was affordable and it had an awful cover
Bonet interests me not just cos its a catalan classic but its Majorican setting, i have another Majorcan set novel lined up for 2022, Ana Marie Miutate's "The Island"(though that was written in spanish originally)
Just about to start watching the first match in Euro 2020, so the reading may slow down a little. Bocelli singing Nessun Dorma sets the mood!
Georg wrote: "scarletnoir wrote: "Georg wrote: "There is a documentary about (Swtlana Geier) and her work: Die Frau mit den fünf Elefanten (The Woman with the Five Elephants) (2009). The five elephants are FD's ..."I've read three different translations of The Master and Margarita. Mirra Ginsburg's translation was based on a censored text; it is missing one chapter, and all references to the events in the chapter. One later translation is based on a different draft of the novel than the other two.
A Ghost in the ThroatBY
Doireann Ní Ghríofa
I was left feeling rather disappointed in this book. Perhaps it was more my mistake in thinking this was a novel which it is not. It could be thought of loosely as an autonovella full padded with lyrical prose to make it more like a novel.
Basically it is the story of a woman’s life giving birth to her four children , endless descriptions of expressing breast milk and using a pump, her obsession with an old poem and her hunt to find about more about the woman who wrote the poem about the murder of her husband. The prose is lovely , the story sadly slight.
Afterwards I read a couple of other review to see that there are many who have given it five stars ( I only gave it 2). It has been recommended for awards. All I can say is that for me, it was not a story, lyrical prose however beautifully written can become boring without something else to fasten it together.
“Germany’s Second Reich: Portraits and Pathways” – Professor James Retallack
A set of closely argued essays already expertly reviewed by AB. It is interesting to see an academic picking up his specialist subject and each time examining it from a different angle.
I thought three stood out. A close-up look at Saxony based around a memoir by the son of Nathaniel Hawthorne was weirdly enjoyable. An account of the Kaiser’s blustery plotting in the mid-1890s to get rid of the Reichstag as then constituted, and with it the pestilential Social Democrats, described familiar-feeling efforts at tampering with the franchise.
Top of the pile for me was one that built on JR’s examination of the diplomatic archives. Ambassadors in every state capital sent reports back to London – where from 1815 to 1866 the response, broadly, was deep indifference. Then, all of a sudden, with Prussia’s defeat of Austria-Hungary there was a new power at the heart of Europe demanding attention. Even after the creation of the Empire, diplomatic representation continued in a dozen of the old capitals, right until 1914. To my mind, an example of the futility of words to send back the tide.
Did class have a bearing? JR touches intriguingly on the diminution of British diplomatic standing within the new Germany of the late 19C. The introduction of civil service examinations in Britain led to the appointment of diplomats below the rank of aristocrat, and a possible loss of influence in title-conscious courts. Is there a doctoral student out there willing to research whether meritocracy can be damaging? Probably too toxic a topic for most.
The bibliography alerted me to The Rise of the Anglo-German Antagonism, 1860-1914 by Paul Kennedy. Even if it’s a bit old (1980) it sounds like a must.
A set of closely argued essays already expertly reviewed by AB. It is interesting to see an academic picking up his specialist subject and each time examining it from a different angle.
I thought three stood out. A close-up look at Saxony based around a memoir by the son of Nathaniel Hawthorne was weirdly enjoyable. An account of the Kaiser’s blustery plotting in the mid-1890s to get rid of the Reichstag as then constituted, and with it the pestilential Social Democrats, described familiar-feeling efforts at tampering with the franchise.
Top of the pile for me was one that built on JR’s examination of the diplomatic archives. Ambassadors in every state capital sent reports back to London – where from 1815 to 1866 the response, broadly, was deep indifference. Then, all of a sudden, with Prussia’s defeat of Austria-Hungary there was a new power at the heart of Europe demanding attention. Even after the creation of the Empire, diplomatic representation continued in a dozen of the old capitals, right until 1914. To my mind, an example of the futility of words to send back the tide.
Did class have a bearing? JR touches intriguingly on the diminution of British diplomatic standing within the new Germany of the late 19C. The introduction of civil service examinations in Britain led to the appointment of diplomats below the rank of aristocrat, and a possible loss of influence in title-conscious courts. Is there a doctoral student out there willing to research whether meritocracy can be damaging? Probably too toxic a topic for most.
The bibliography alerted me to The Rise of the Anglo-German Antagonism, 1860-1914 by Paul Kennedy. Even if it’s a bit old (1980) it sounds like a must.
Russell wrote: "“Germany’s Second Reich: Portraits and Pathways” – Professor James RetallackA set of closely argued essays already expertly reviewed by AB. It is interesting to see an academic picking up his spe..."
glad you enjoyed it Russell, its always good to see books enjoyed by me, subsequently enjoyed down the line....
In 2019, the excellent TLS'er Mach recommended a Romanian author called Blecher, who wrote a novel set in a TB sanitorium on the North French coast called Scarred Hearts, it was brilliant and explored the world of people whose health is precarious and uncertainHovering on my list since last year is The Sea by Catalan author Blai Bonet, set in a sanitorium on Majorca, will be interesting to compare the two, am starting it now, Dalkey press with translation by Maruxa Relano and Martha Tennent
For those of us interested in Vietnam, the NY Times has several pieces on the 50th anniversary of the publication of the Pentagon Papers. I'm not sure how many 'free' reads there are for non-subscribers, but it should be at least a couple.
About 35% in I am giving up on Miriam Toew's Women TalkingThe book is based on real events that came to light in 2009: in the Mennonite community in Manitoba dozens of women and girls had been, for years, raped by male members of their own community.
In Toew's book some women meet, clandestinely, insurrection on their minds. They discuss their options. Should they stay or should they leave?
These women are analphabets, who grew up in a very rigidly policed patriarchial system, cut off from the ouside world.
They do not talk/think about where they could go or how they could make a living. They talk about 'metaphors' and 'manifestos'. As you would, if you were in their place.
The Sea by Blai Bonet has started well, it uses three narrators to tell the story and is a stark tale of ill health and death. The observations of TB and its impact remind me what a killer it was in the developed word for many centuriesBonet has a great way with words and descriptions, as always i am glad Dalkey have spent the money on translating Catalan literature. I would imagine the EU funding helps to get so many of the translations of smaller languages off the ground. The Institut Ramon Llull is mentioned.
Is Mach out there? As I think he might enjoy this, on Radio 4, A disquisition on 'unreliable narrators', by Stewart Lee, on radio 4, (archive on Radio 4, Saturday, 8PM, (12th June).It has everyone from Geoffrey of Monmouth, to Ivor Cutler, Bob Dylan, Werner Herzog, and at least one current politician, I think it might be right up his street... It rings quite a few bells to me somehow!.... from my back history...
Tam wrote: "Is Mach out there? As I think he might enjoy this, on Radio 4, A disquisition on 'unreliable narrators', by Stewart Lee, on radio 4, (archive on Radio 4, Saturday (12th June).It has everyone from ..."
havent seen Mach or Leath in here for ages, not sure why, havent checked if they are commenting via their Guardian accounts though, rather than here
AB76 wrote: "Tam wrote: "Is Mach out there? As I think he might enjoy this, on Radio 4, A disquisition on 'unreliable narrators', by Stewart Lee, on radio 4, (archive on Radio 4, Saturday (12th June).It has ev..."
yes i have not seen him around for a while, I miss his postings, and others, I am hoping it is just good summer weather, and that they out and about, doing real summery things...
If Mach was around, i would make a cricket reference and say england need a saviour, recall Joe Denly!!!Mach will get my point....
the quietest day ever...must be the sunday sun and the fact we are all slowly getting back to more activity
AB76 wrote: "the quietest day ever... "This does seem to happen in the Northern Summer. I don't have anything to report, just a big pile of books to consume slowly. As an Australian, I'm always a bit conflicted when the England team is struggling - part of me is pleased, the other part wishes the past England players wouldn't stick their boot in so much.
SydneyH wrote: "AB76 wrote: "the quietest day ever... "This does seem to happen in the Northern Summer. I don't have anything to report, just a big pile of books to consume slowly. As an Australian, I'm always a..."
Build 'em up to knock 'em down is an unfortunate trait of the English press.
SydneyH wrote: "AB76 wrote: "the quietest day ever... "This does seem to happen in the Northern Summer. I don't have anything to report, just a big pile of books to consume slowly. As an Australian, I'm always a..."
the sky sports cricket pundits are obsequious to the point of absurdity, treating anyone who plays cricket like infallible gods sadly
Mod
I'll try to get the this week's birthday list up at some point soon. Have a great week, everyone!
Lljones wrote: "Hey everybody, apologies for the late notice: I'm going to leave this week's page open for a second week. I'm deep in the throes of packing up to return to Portland tomorrow and I've had a mad week..."No need to apologise, totally understandable. We are grateful for whatever you do for us here. I hope the move goes smoothly and you get settled down again quickly.
Lljones wrote: "Hey everybody, apologies for the late notice: I'm going to leave this week's page open for a second week. I'm deep in the throes of packing up to return to Portland tomorrow and I've had a mad week..."no problemo LL, hope the weather is not too hot for all that movement!
Its a heatwave in the shires but without the punishing longevity and intensity you get in July and August, dusk came with a fresh westerly, which was lovelyIn a very rewarding reading spell, with the following:
The Return by Dulce Maria Cardoso is a brilliant modern novel recording the experiences of a "retornado" family from Portugese Angola in 1975. There is a desperate sadness with these colonial settlers now virtually homeless in the motherland that 25% of them had never seen before
The Sea by Blai Bonet (1958) is a catalan classic set in a sanitorium in Majorica, after the Civil war, austere and slightly morbid, it reminds of Camilo Jose Cela in some ways
The Channel(Cambridge Uni Press) is a study of perceptions and conventions towards the English Channel from 1688-1815 and remains the most singular historical study of a territory i have read(sometime later in the year i will be reading about the French Sahara in colonial times in a similar study)
lastly The Luftwaffe Diaries continues to shed light on new facts or things i'd forgotten. Namely that luftwaffe lacked the heavy bombers needed in the Battle of Britain and also fighters. Indeed, the Luftwaffe only had a few heavy bombers throughout WW2.
Lljones wrote: "Hey everybody, apologies for the late notice: I'm going to leave this week's page open for a second week. I'm deep in the throes of packing up to return to Portland tomorrow and I've had a mad week..."Over the last week only 52 people have visited this thread. There were ~130 contributions.
It made sense on the original TLS with ~800-1400 (rough guess) posts/week to keep to the weekly schedule.
Does it make sense here and now?
Or would it make more sense to keep one thread going for 2, 3, even 4 weeks?
The weekly "weekend dip" would become 2/3/4-weekly
Just a thought.
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..."
No heatwave here - it has been raining and cool in Seattle and Portland for 3 days now. Tomorrow's forecast says 40% chance of rain in both cities Hoping I can slide through the non-rainy window - the I5 corridor is a miserable drive in the rain!
Mod
🤞
Lljones wrote: "AB76 wrote: "no problemo LL, hope the weather is not too hot for all that movement!..."
No heatwave here - it has been raining and cool in Seattle and Portland for 3 days now. Tomorrow's forecast..."
I always imagined Portland was drier and warmer than Seattle in summer, sounds like better moving weather than just sweaty and still!
Georg wrote: "Lljones wrote: "Hey everybody, apologies for the late notice: I'm going to leave this week's page open for a second week. I'm deep in the throes of packing up to return to Portland tomorrow and I'v..."wise point Georg, interesting to compare the volume differences , around 7 times less the volume (lowest estimate) but then Guardian TLS attracted the casual, the trolls, the flamers and the randoms i guess
Lljones wrote: "AB76 wrote: "no problemo LL, hope the weather is not too hot for all that movement!..."
No heatwave here - it has been raining and cool in Seattle and Portland for 3 days now. Tomorrow's forecast..."
Two Saturdays ago I returned from 3 days in PDX and found that the forever Tacoma slowdown on I5 at least temporarily extends to Joint Base Lewis/McChord. Pack your patience. I hope Mario is a good traveler.
If anyone here likes historical non-fiction that reads like a thriller, I highly recommend Serhii Plokhy's
. Although he is a Harvard Professor with an endowed chair, he is able to write at my general reader level. I am about one-third through it and am at the point where the Russians have some missiles deployed and a U2 flight has just confirmed it. So far Kennedy is not coming off well.
I lived in the DC area when the crisis occurred and remember that it was a particularly tense time during the 'children hide under your desks' Cold War. My then brother-in-law was a USAF fighter pilot and his squadron (along with others, I'm sure) was sent to Eglin AFB, Florida on the QT - but, of course, everyone knew.
MK wrote: "If anyone here likes historical non-fiction that reads like a thriller, I highly recommend Serhii Plokhy's . Although he is ..."I read Plohkey's "The Last Empire" and loved it, am looking foward to reading his other work, including the one you mentioned MK
Its good to have the Soviet side of things play a part in modern history, from someone who lived within it
Georg wrote: "Lljones wrote: "Hey everybody, apologies for the late notice: I'm going to leave this week's page open for a second week. I'm deep in the throes of packing up to return to Portland tomorrow and I'v..."Does there have to be any rule about the number of weeks it runs? Could we not let it be flexible letting it run for a week, or sometimes two or more, whatever suits you at that time.
Hope the move goes smoothly.
I think maybe some of us, I’m one, who don’t post first thing on a Monday and wait to see if there’s a new thread, as otherwise it risks getting lost. So I think a fixed-but-flexible cycle has some value. I’d be fine with say two weeks, subject of course, LL, to you having something else you need to do. Two weeks might however mean only half as many of your beautiful photos! By the way, 52 visitors seems like a pretty good number to me, ample for getting a variety of views.
Russell wrote: "I think maybe some of us, I’m one, who don’t post first thing on a Monday and wait to see if there’s a new thread, as otherwise it risks getting lost. So I think a fixed-but-flexible cycle has some..."good points about the cycle idea and the visitor numbers Russell
Mod
There are some coincidences in my current reading: Alice Zeniter's L'Art de perdre, translated into English: The Art of Losing.
I borrowed this book from the library 3 weeks ago having seen the author recommended & not really paying attention to the subject. It's about France & Algeria and the harkis. 3 generations of a family: Ali the grandfather fought in the second world war, becomes prosperous after the war, enjoys going to the Association des anciens combattants, being Kabyle is wary of the Arabs leading the struggle for independence. He gets a pension from France which he doesn't give up in spite of being told to do so. He goes to the French barracks and gives some information to the captain from time to time, hoping for protection. His granddaughter later says to herself, "he makes the choice of being protected from assassins he detests by other assassins he detests."
In 1962, Ali, his wife and their children leave Algeria for France. They are first sent to a camp, which had been used for refugees from Franco, then Jews & Tziganes during WWII, prisoners of war and now 10,000 people from Algeria, whom nobody knows what to call. They all end up being called harkis although many of them were not, strictly speaking. Ali & his family were then moved to a 'forestry hamlet' and then to a council estate built on the outskirts of a town in Normandy where Ali works in a factory. This second section of the book focuses on the eldest son, Hamid and the last (which I've just started) on his daughter, Naïma.
I'm finding the book interesting and well-written.
So the 1st coincidence is the France/Algeria subject matter, further to recent discussion about this. The 2nd: the title of the book comes from Elizabeth Bishop's poem, One Art, https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poem..., which is quoted towards the end of the book. I've mentioned before the Paris Review Redux email which every Sunday has an article, a story and a poem from their archives. Yesterday's article was an interview with Elizabeth Bishop.
The cover of the book has one of the Douanier Rousseau's tigers - I like his paintings.
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I've made the drive from Seattle to Portland or vice versa something like 2000 times in my adult life. I compare it to the cumulative effects of bee stings to those who are allergic: every trip could be the one that puts me over the top. I absolutely hate that drive.
Mario isn't the best traveler - that was Earl Grey, who would go anywhere, any time, loved motel rooms. Nor is he the worst - that was Sal Maglie, who moved with me from Los Angeles to Portland, screamed the entire way, sank into a semi-coma when we finally arrived, then two days later moved to a house two doors down and pretended she'd never seen before.
Mario puts up quite a fuss when we get into the car, but settles down pretty quickly when he realizes we're not going to the vet. Spends the rest of the trip quietly plotting his revenge, once we reach our destination.
Lljones wrote: "Spends the rest of the trip quietly plotting his revenge, once we reach our destination.."Some feline, or it may be a fox, or both, has had its revenge on my flower beds over the last week or so. You can imagine how I feel about that! 🤬 So I am hoping that the Cat Scatter I got from Wilkos is beginning to work.
Lljones wrote: "MK wrote: "Pack your patience. I hope Mario is a good traveler...."
I've made the drive from Seattle to Portland or vice versa something like 2000 times in my adult life. I compare it to the cumu..."
Sal Maglie sounds like my kind of cat - moving down the street!
I don't know why I have to have a tall, 4-shot latte to get me back to Seattle without falling asleep at the wheel. Perhaps knowing I am returning to the mess I left behind.
Lljones wrote: "MK wrote: "Pack your patience. I hope Mario is a good traveler...."
I've made the drive from Seattle to Portland or vice versa something like 2000 times in my adult life. I compare it to the cumu..."
how long does it take LL? the drive between cities. i remember it being described in No No Boy as the Japanese-American narrator had family in both cities but it didnt seem as far as i thought in the book
Mod
Distance between Seattle and Portland is about 170 miles, depending on which end of either town you're headed for. Should be easy to make the trip in under 3 hours, but hasn't worked out that way for decades. It once took me over 9 hours to make the trip, 7 of those hours spent getting from Seattle to Tacoma, 25 miles south.
L’homme aux cercles bleus – Fred Vargas
I don’t know when I last read a detective story that was quite so funny and beautiful, along with the gore. There’s an element throughout of what I can only call fantasia, to borrow a term I believe Italians use to describe the rare types who play football with poetry.
I don’t know when I last read a detective story that was quite so funny and beautiful, along with the gore. There’s an element throughout of what I can only call fantasia, to borrow a term I believe Italians use to describe the rare types who play football with poetry.
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Ersatz TLS
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G. (other topics)
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You have a very rich dream-life, Bill.