What Are We Reading? 5 July 2021

[Anastasia]

@Slawkenbergius that's interesting: sometimes the absence of plot can be quite appealing and the repetitions soothing or creating a sense of unease. I'm about to speed through Mitchell's Utopia Avenue, but will probably be looking for a change after those 500-odd pages.

[AB76]

Anastasia wrote: "@AB76 just finished 'Normal People', no idea how they managed to turn it into a series"

not impressed or was it ok then?

[AB76]

Anastasia wrote: "@Slawkenbergius that's interesting: sometimes the absence of plot can be quite appealing and the repetitions soothing or creating a sense of unease. I'm about to speed through Mitchell's Utopia Ave..."

i agree, i like variety in my reading more than i did my 20s when it was brooding european nihilism. Mixing it up with character driven, / japanese style quietism/plotless novels always interests me

sadly my japanese reading has fallen off a cliff....i have a Dazai novel planned for Xmas.....thats if there is a UK by Xmas....with covid cases rising fast....

[Anastasia]

@AB76 I quite liked it. But film adaptations of books that are so heavy on internal monologue or feelings the characters suppress rather than openly express are always somewhat of a miracle to me. More so, if they're good

[AB76]

Anastasia wrote: "@AB76 I quite liked it. But film adaptations of books that are so heavy on internal monologue or feelings the characters suppress rather than openly express are always somewhat of a miracle to me. ..."

i agree, without an internal monologue in a script, novels can lose a lot of sting when adapted to the screen ,without brilliant acting or other devices.

I read Brideshead Revisited for the first time a few years ago, a novel based on an internal narrative and i was pleased to see that the tv adaption did the same. I love the idea of text heavy scripts for tv, long sections of literary quotations, though usually you get a clipped and shortened version

[CCCubbon]

Some may be interested in my review of The Dictionary of Lost Words which I finished last night.

I really enjoyed reading The Dictionary of Lost Words by Pip Williams. It has been the best book of the year so far for me, although The Absolute Bookby Elizabeth Knox and Entangled Life by Marcus Sheldon were excellent, too.
Back to the story, one set in the compiling of the Oxford English Dictionary as the nineteenth century turned to the new, it tells Esme’s story, she grows, lives, as the dictionary evolves.
We get a real sense of time and place, women’s place in society, the suffragettes, inequality, but above all else words, how they change over time and their different meanings.
Much is based upon fact and real people who worked on the dictionary which lends the book an air of authenticity.
Oh and I think Hushpuppy would like the details of her journeys around Oxford and, yes, there is a map.

[Georg]

CCCubbon wrote: "Some may be interested in my review of The Dictionary of Lost Words which I finished last night.

I really enjoyed reading The Dictionary of Lost Words by Pip Williams. It has been the best book of..."

Thank you, CCC, that sounds really interesting.

[Lass]

Regarding Bernardine Evaristo’s Girl, Woman, Other. I hadn’t read any of her novels before seeing her a couple of years ago on a double bill at the Ed Bookfest with Linda Grant, always a firm favourite. Having enjoyed Bernardine’s enthusiastic and enlivening contribution that day I bought her book immediately. It was as vibrant and engaging as she, and I’m delighted to have read it.

[Anastasia]

@AB76 I still remember catching a glimpse of the Soviet adaptation of Turgenev's 'Father and Sons' one afternoon and instantly recognising it. None of the characters appeared on screen, it was just an empty room, but exactly the same as it was in the novel. Admittedly, that's not very inventive from the production point of view, but I was fascinated by that frame.

Which Dazai are you planning to read? And maybe you would consider bringing it forward just in case? :)

[Georg]

Lass wrote: "Regarding Bernardine Evaristo’s Girl, Woman, Other. I hadn’t read any of her novels before seeing her a couple of years ago on a double bill at the Ed Bookfest with Linda Grant, always a firm favou..."

Lass, in the first story Amma, the black, lesbian, feminist bohemian-with-all-the-trimmings is said to have had "plenty of sex until her late thirties". She prefers one night stands, occasionally doing it twice or three times with the same woman. Very often thes women beg her for more (sex or relationship), but she will not have that. Some of them turn against her, even harrass her, some turn against their rivals.
Don't you think that is a wee bit problematic? Somebody who uses women as playthings and then throws them away? Is it ok that it is a woman who does that, rather than a man most women would despise for such behaviour?

Also Yazz, her daughter. Who bags the biggest room in her student accomodation pretending she is claustrophobic and doesn't much like two (?) of her 7 godparents because their monetary contributions on her birthday are less than three figures?

Tbh: apart from other issues I found these two so appalling that I hardly managed to finish their stories.

[Gpfr]

Lass wrote: "Regarding Bernardine Evaristo’s Girl, Woman, Other. I hadn’t read any of her novels before seeing her a couple of years ago on a double bill at the Ed Bookfest ... It was as vibrant and engaging as she, and I’m delighted to have read it ..."

Having caught up on all the Girl, Woman, Other comments, I agree with Lass and Cabbie. I was intrigued and absorbed by the characters and the connections between them. Also like Lass, I've enjoyed listening to Evaristo speak: with Nicola Sturgeon in Edinburgh, on Desert Island Discs ...

[scarletnoir]

CCCubbon wrote: "Some may be interested in my review of The Dictionary of Lost Words which I finished last night... above all else words, how they change over time and their different meanings...
"

Thank you for this - I am fascinated by words, and how their meanings and 'weights' change over time - as well as how words change meaning as they move from one language to another. Although I fear that quite a few books I add to my TBR list will stay there - probably indefinitely - I strongly suspect that I'll read this one before too long.

[Slawkenbergius]

AB76 wrote: "I read Brideshead Revisited for the first time a few years ago, a novel based on an internal narrative and i was pleased to see that the tv adaption did the same. I love the idea of text heavy scripts for tv, long sections of literary quotations, though usually you get a clipped and shortened version"

Brideshead is by all standards a great classic, but for me the awesomest TV adaptation of a literary work is Madox Ford's Parade's End. Tom Stoppard brought off the feat of rendering to telly a narrative famously known for its impossibility to tranfer to media other than the original format. And a bit of creative restructuring too.

[AB76]

Anastasia wrote: "@AB76 I still remember catching a glimpse of the Soviet adaptation of Turgenev's 'Father and Sons' one afternoon and instantly recognising it. None of the characters appeared on screen, it was just..."

I think there are a lot of soviet era television that deserves more appreciation and hopefully will be released in the west.

"No Longer Human" is the Dazai novel, he is one of the great japanese writers from the second era of brilliance as i call it. Soseki/Tanizaki and Kawabata form the first trio, with Akutagawa/Dazai and Kafu in the second. Its not strictly chronological but these six are brilliant, later on you have Mishima, another talent.

Yuko Tsushima, who has some novels out in Penguin, was Dazai's daughter

[scarletnoir]

Gpfr wrote: "I've enjoyed listening to Evaristo speak..."

Somehow, I think a book must stand and fall on its own merits. I am rarely interested in seeing a writer speak about their works (tending towards the notion that each reader re-creates the book for themselves, so no two readings are identical). If/when I do watch such talks, they are usually given by writers I have already read - and probably about half the time, I don't enjoy those talks anyway!

[CCCubbon]

scarletnoir wrote: "CCCubbon wrote: "Some may be interested in my review of The Dictionary of Lost Words which I finished last night... above all else words, how they change over time and their different meanings...
"..."

I found the methodology for selecting the words and their several meanings of particular interest and the lost words of the title are those left out. There were quite strict rules as to what could be included.

[AB76]

Georg wrote: "Lass wrote: "Regarding Bernardine Evaristo’s Girl, Woman, Other. I hadn’t read any of her novels before seeing her a couple of years ago on a double bill at the Ed Bookfest with Linda Grant, always..."

very good point about a woman not being judged like a man for that behaviour...

[AB76]

Slawkenbergius wrote: "AB76 wrote: "I read Brideshead Revisited for the first time a few years ago, a novel based on an internal narrative and i was pleased to see that the tv adaption did the same. I love the idea of te..."

Good call Slawk! i agree, Parades End was a constant joy to watch and was strange for me as i disliked the book, 15 years ago

My grandfather borrowed my discarded copy and raved about the novel for a long time, sadly he wasnt around anymore to see Stoppards adaption

[AB76]

scarletnoir wrote: "Gpfr wrote: "I've enjoyed listening to Evaristo speak..."

Somehow, I think a book must stand and fall on its own merits. I am rarely interested in seeing a writer speak about their works (tending ..."

writers can sometimes let you down with interviews about their works, though i am always interested in the person behind the text

[Gpfr]

scarletnoir wrote: "Gpfr wrote: "I've enjoyed listening to Evaristo speak..."

Somehow, I think a book must stand and fall on its own merits. I am rarely interested in seeing a writer speak about their works (tending ..."

Finding her interesting to listen to has nothing to do with my opinion of the book (which I'd read before hearing her). It's just another point.

[Paul]

AB76 wrote: "Anastasia wrote: "@AB76 I still remember catching a glimpse of the Soviet adaptation of Turgenev's 'Father and Sons' one afternoon and instantly recognising it. None of the characters appeared on s..."

I'm reading No Longer Human right now, I'll let you know how it strikes me. So far, it's pretty otherworldly in the narrative headspace of a severe depressive with difficulty in empathizing with and placing himself among others

[Sandya]

Bill wrote: "Sandya wrote: "I am living proof that this book still has much to say. I am a pilot, and if I ever buy my own plane, she will be called "Plane Jane"."

Probably not your religious tradition, but th..."

I place a large strip of pink duct-tape on the upper edge of the instrument panel to make the cockpit more "girly". It also serves as a way to line up with the runway centerline on landing. One does what one can.

[Sandya]

scarletnoir wrote: "Sandya wrote: "All this as the result of the stupid way maths was taught, low expectations of all girls, even smart ones, and racism.."

A sad tale... ability in maths cuts across cultures. When te..."

If your Head had thought about it, he would have realized that Rajit probably spoke 2 Indian languages-his own and Hindi-as did I- in addition to starting to learn English and French. Probably more languages than anyone else in the class. Yet these kids get labelled "stupid". The Class Bully from my year still bangs on about summer holidays in.....Padstow. Nobody asked me where we went every year. India. Flying in the 60s and early 70s was wonderful-more like private flying is today- and a lot more interesting than taking a train to Padstow. We took trains too. Madras to Delhi. 2 days and a night and never to be forgotten. But Padstow.....

[AB76]

Paul wrote: "AB76 wrote: "Anastasia wrote: "@AB76 I still remember catching a glimpse of the Soviet adaptation of Turgenev's 'Father and Sons' one afternoon and instantly recognising it. None of the characters ..."

which version are you reading? I have a new translation by stone bridge press on the pile entitled "a shameful life", same book but you may have the older translation...

[MK]

For - giveusaclue - 😢. I am not a 'soccer' person, not even a 'sports person'.

But it looks to me that things might have turned out differently if the fouls were fewer - or I guess one can say - Referees!

[giveusaclue]

MK wrote: "For - giveusaclue - 😢. I am not a 'soccer' person, not even a 'sports person'.

But it looks to me that things might have turned out differently if the fouls were fewer - or I guess one can say - ..."

I'm very philosophical about losing at football - being a Burnley supporter for 60+ years I have to be! If you had told most fans before the tournament that we would get to the final, they would have laughed at you.

[Bill]

[Oggie]

I have picked up on the comments that Anna Burns The Milkman is not popular. I thought it was a very well deserved winner of the Booker. It really captured the constant sense of unease and hyper vigilance necessary to protect not only yourself against an occupying force , but to ensure you are are not put at further risk by any transgressions, real or imagined, by your fellow citizens, and inevitably being in this constant state of threat turns a society in on itself.

I found very obvious parallels in a non fiction book by a young Palestinian woman journalist working in Gaza " A Rebel in Gaza" by Asmaa Al Ghoul.

There might even be some looser comparisons to our restrictions. One of our neighbours, who religiously clapped every Thursday and lined the street for every funeral, has been the talk of steamie for the numbers friends and family who have cheerfully filled her house throughout lockdown.

Returning to Milkman, having been brought up in the West of Scotland, perhaps I had more of an ear for the rhythm of the language , turns of phrase and the humour. I particularly loved the wee sisters.

[MK]

giveusaclue wrote: "MK wrote: "For - giveusaclue - 😢. I am not a 'soccer' person, not even a 'sports person'.

But it looks to me that things might have turned out differently if the fouls were fewer - or I guess one..."

Have you looked at Martin Rowson's cartoon in the Guardian today?

[Bill]

scarletnoir wrote: "I'm sure there are even songs I've known for 50 years or more that I like, without any clear notion of what the words are. The music creates its own mood..."

But how do you know they're not singing

And again the Cossacks will chant songs out aloud,
They will sing freely and proudly of Ukraine:
A free land as far as the sea, where there are no Poles or Jews.
The Dnieper has borne their bones away, the enemy's bones,
And slaked the distant sea's thirst with the blood of noblemen and Jews.

(Mussorgsky-Chevchenko, "On the Dnieper")?

[Berkley]

AB76 wrote: "Soseki/Tanizaki and Kawabata form the first trio, with Akutagawa/Dazai and Kafu in the second. Its not strictly chronological but these six are brilliant, later on you have Mishima, another talent...."

Does Kafu go by any other names? I was able to find all the others you mentioned but a search for 'Kafu' brought up a Brazilian wrestler!

[SydneyH]

Today I’m grieving the completion of all of Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes stories with my conclusion of His Last Bow.
There was talk just the other day about our preferences for crime and detective fiction, and for me it is all about the manner of narration. The Holmes stories are told in the elegant first-person narration of Dr John Watson, the closest the first-person technique could ever reach to an invisible narrator, in the erudite style that we tend to associate with the Victorian period. I couldn’t get on with the epistolary manner of Wilkie Collins, and I find the first-person vernacular style of hardboiled detective fiction very irritating. Jorge Luis Borges favoured the comparably wonderful Father Brown stories by G.K. Chesterton, but I scoff at his notion that Father Brown is the great detective – he is a cutout next to Sherlock, especially as Holmes is depicted in our introduction to him in the first text, A Study in Scarlet. I struggle to think of a character that has pervaded the popular consciousness to such an extent. The name alone is a masterstroke.
In summary, the Detective short story is a marvellous genre, and I’m desperate to find a new supply. I’m going to pick up the Oxford University Press Gothic Tales of Conan Doyle, hoping for something similar. For now, I’m reading Zoli by Colum McCann.

[AB76]

Berkley wrote: "AB76 wrote: "Soseki/Tanizaki and Kawabata form the first trio, with Akutagawa/Dazai and Kafu in the second. Its not strictly chronological but these six are brilliant, later on you have Mishima, an..."

LOL!
The name is Nagai Kafu, he wrote a collection of short stories from his time living in the USA and other novels
Another japanese classic is the wartime "Fires On The Plain" about the occupation of the Phillipines, a searing tale of how hated the Japanese were on the islands....

[CCCubbon]

Bill

Reading a poem or even simply part of it out loud a couple of times before trying to analyse it often helps understanding because the sounds and cadences, the music in the words are all part of the whole.
That’s only as I see it of course.

[Georg]

Oggie wrote: "I have picked up on the comments that Anna Burns The Milkman is not popular. I thought it was a very well deserved winner of the Booker.

It really captured the constant sense of unease and hyper vigilance necessary to protect not only yourself against an occupying force , but to ensure you are are not put at further risk by any transgressions, real or imagined, by your fellow citizens

With a few minor changes this would be also a good description of Hans Fallada's "Jeder stirbt für sich allein" (Alone in Berlin). Where one harmless remark could not only get you an "invitation" to the Gestapo headquarters, but also could have deadly consequences for somebody else who was completely uninvolved.
The pervasive atmosphere of imminence made it a gripping read. I finished it over a week ago, it still haunts me.

I am quite tempted to break my Booker abstinence .

[AB76]

Georg wrote: "Oggie wrote: "I have picked up on the comments that Anna Burns The Milkman is not popular. I thought it was a very well deserved winner of the Booker.

It really captured the constant sense of un..."

Novels about the evil of communism or fascism never fail to grip the reader, times when the beast in man was at the heart of government in Moscow and Berlin

[giveusaclue]

Sandya wrote: "Padstow"

That for some funny reason reminded me of Thomas More saying to Richard Rich in A Man For All Seasons:

"For Wales? Why Richard, it profit a man nothing to give his soul for the whole world ... but for Wales!"










;

[giveusaclue]

MK wrote: "giveusaclue wrote: "MK wrote: "For - giveusaclue - 😢. I am not a 'soccer' person, not even a 'sports person'.

But it looks to me that things might have turned out differently if the fouls were fe..."

Haha, love it. Chiellini does have history.

[Oggie]

I think The Milkman and a Rebel in Gaza are making the futher point that an a society can use its occupation to further oppress and control young women and perhaps other groups

[giveusaclue]

Today I finished reading, in double quick time, the third in the Verlaque and Bonnet series by M L Longworth set in Aix-en-Provence If you don't like the Martin Walker Bruno books you may not like these, but I find them delightful. This one starts with the owner of a vineyard sitting in despair on the steps of his cellar as he realises that several of his very old and expensive bottles of wine are missing then gets more serious as three woman are found murdered. Add to this, the growing closeness between our two main characters, the references to culinary France, even a visit to the restaurant of Michel Bras it all adds up to an enjoyable book.

[AB76]

In the background of any reading year, i tend to have a pre-18th century book on the go, usually essays or letters, to be read in small sections over a 6 month period

In last 18 mths i have focused on American writing from the revolutionary era, The Federalist Papers was read last year and in 2021, i'm reading Jeffersons "Notes on Virginia"

I am always wondering how the founding fathers should be approached and their true standing in Anglo-Saxon writing and culture. Deified accross the pond i have not naturally warmed to any of them as an Englishman though Jefferson is impressing me most.

Jeffersons curiosity is something i always admire in people, asking questions and being interested in many areas of thought, even if not an expert. He would make a good dinner party guest as all curious people do. His style is more readable than the Federalist trio of Madison, Jay and Hamilton and it helps that "Notes on Virginia" is not a collection of dry political texts.

But the slaving side of Jefferson and some very ignorant ideas on the black people he lived around hits a sour note in my reading. This curious minded, educated thinker seems to slap his blinkers on as he describes the black race, whether his views formed the prevailing racism after 1785 i'm not sure but they are quite remarkable for an intelligent man. (i'm not saying of course that racism doesnt exist among intelligent people).

I must clarify that his views dont suprise me, i just find it sad that he didnt try and explore the peoples around him more (in his defence he does seem very curious about the Amerindians and their culture)

[AB76]

SydneyH wrote: "Today I’m grieving the completion of all of Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes stories with my conclusion of His Last Bow.
There was talk just the other day about our preferences for crime and detective..."

Hmm.. have you tried Simenon?

[Bill]

SydneyH wrote: "Today I’m grieving the completion of all of Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes stories with my conclusion of His Last Bow."

Oh man, I’ve been there.

My advice is to avoid the vast number of Holmes stores by other hands, though I rather enjoyed John Gardner’s The Return of Moriarty (but hated its sequel, The Revenge Of Moriarty). The closest I’ve come to a Holmes substitute are other Victorian detective stories, in anthologies like The Rivals of Sherlock Holmes and Victorian Tales of Mystery and Detection: An Oxford Anthology. The Victorian style seems perfect for storytelling of this kind.

If you can do so without significant expense, as a step in your withdrawal therapy I’d recommend reading The Final Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, collecting various pieces and stories by Conan Doyle, a kind of Nachlass of Holmes-adjacent material.

Even setting aside my issues with Chesterton’s sectarianism, I find it hard to believe that Father Brown has so many fans among seemingly discriminating readers: the stories seem so obviously small beer when set beside the Holmes canon.

[Anastasia]

@Bill I've read a few Father Brown books, but it never occurred to me to compare them to Sherlock Holmes stories, nor to other examples of the genre. They strangely fall into a small set of one and are logged in my mind as Father Brown stories.

[MK]

Yesterday on FB I got into a little back-and-forth over the unrest in Cuba. (We ended up with a book duel of a sort.) As a result, I began a re-read of and Googling.

Thanks to Google, I also discovered that United Fruit (which locals called pulpo (octopus)) was ubiquitous throughout the Caribbean and Central America. In Cuba it was sugar (See Telex, above).

The US military intervened numerous times according to a chronology put together by the United Fruit Historical Society. I'm going to have to add up both the various dates and countries, but it seems to me that the US is now reaping what it has sown as citizens flee - especially in Central America which, along with island nations in the Caribbean, have never really had a chance at decent self-government.

Anyone looking for non-fiction about Cuba (Telex is historical fiction) might take a look at and . I enjoyed both.

I will be putting a hold on

As usual - so many books, so little time.

[AB76]

MK wrote: "Yesterday on FB I got into a little back-and-forth over the unrest in Cuba. (We ended up with a book duel of a sort.) As a result, I began a re-read of and Googl..."

gore vidal wrote a novel about the United F|ruit company "Dark green Bright Red", havent read it yet

https://lab.org.uk/guatemala-not-so-m...

[MK]

Anastasia wrote: "@Bill I've read a few Father Brown books, but it never occurred to me to compare them to Sherlock Holmes stories, nor to other examples of the genre. They strangely fall into a small set of one and..."

Father Brown caught my eye. I just printed a LRB piece by Malcolm Gaskill where, early on, he compares C. J. Sansom's Shardlake to Father Brown. (I think I've mentioned Shardlake here before as this historical mystery series is a favorite of mine.)

In other totally non-connected news, the 7-day forecast for the Seattle area is EXCELLENT! By the end of the week we may not even reach 70 degrees. Out come the sweatshirts!

[Tam]

AB76 wrote: "In the background of any reading year, i tend to have a pre-18th century book on the go, usually essays or letters, to be read in small sections over a 6 month period

In last 18 mths i have focuse..."

But Jefferson would surely be somewhere at the top the charts, of US presidents, for hypocrisy though, having written about how 'ideally' all slaves should be freed and transported back to their country of origin. Meanwhile raising, in bonds, on the Dutch financial markets, enough borrowed money to build Monticello, with his 300 odd slaves as surety.

Although not seemingly a cruel 'master' himself, he often employed overseers, for his slaves, with a reputation for cruelty. He didn't even give his partially black lover (most historians seem to think that she was perhaps one sixth black), Sally Hemmings, her freedom on his death. It took Jeffersons white legitimate daughter to do the right thing, after his death, and give her her freedom.

Though he made sure that all their children were allowed to 'slip away' from slavery, whilst making sure that other non-related, black runaways were pursued, returned and punished!... Not a great legacy... to me.

[AB76]

Tam wrote: "AB76 wrote: "In the background of any reading year, i tend to have a pre-18th century book on the go, usually essays or letters, to be read in small sections over a 6 month period

In last 18 mths ..."

Spot on Tam and as i read this 1785 study of his home state, i wonder about his life among the slaves, his lover and whether his views on race were modified later in his life.

He impresses me as a writer and curious thinker but not as a moral human being

[Tam]

AB76 wrote: "Tam wrote: "AB76 wrote: "In the background of any reading year, i tend to have a pre-18th century book on the go, usually essays or letters, to be read in small sections over a 6 month period

In l..."

I think, if they had, he would have given Sally her freedom, in his will, but he deliberately chose not to so I think that he answered that question by his own actions...