What are we reading? 31st August 2021

[Sandya]

Georg wrote: "Sandya wrote(#76): There is nothing in her books about race for example. Here we are, dealing with race, climate change, technology, space travel, science, covid, terrorism, and so forth. What can ..."

No, you are correct, read her if you want. There was no need for her to write about racism in 1890, even though it was everywhere around her. Her family was affected by the economic slump after the Civil War but no-her mother, the appalling Lucretia Rhinelander Jones, just went on spending money blithely as if there was no tomorrow. Wharton's interest was curtains, furniture, and etiquette. I found her pointless and boring on rereading the bio yesterday because so much has changed since I last read it. I found much of the detail sickening.

I AM a colored person and probably the only one on this blog-is there anyone else? Not that I know of. I am actually happy that for the first time in my life either in England or the US I can discuss racism without being told to shut up about it by white people, because it has affected my life. I read Wharton because I grew up in the west, was expected to adapt, and did it incredibly successfully, becoming a sort of faux white person, until one realizes that acceptance only goes so far. That knife cuts both ways. Why should I care about a rich, privileged, white person's thoughts and feelings about her rich, privileged, lifestyle built on the backs of native americans and black people, let alone her ancestors the rich East India Merchants? Oh yes, let's not forget to asset-strip India too while we are at it. This stuff has become too painful to read. I may read Wharton again at some point, or analyze her further and write an article on her absolute indifference-except for her family's black cooks whom she praises (thanks SO much!)-to much of what was going on around her.

[AB76]

this article on Substack and Salman Rushdie joining the platform is interesting. As i dont really read modern fiction, it wont attract me but non-fiction on the site might make me take notice.

https://www.theguardian.com/books/202...

[Lass]

I completely agree with @Anne’s verdict on Jonathan Coe’s beguiling Mr Wilder and Me. Sad to have finished it. I loved What a Carve Up! several years ago.

[Bill]

I read The Age of Innocence when the Guardian Reading Group did it and, though I moderately enjoyed the novel, I thought its appeal rested solely on interest in the characters; I found nothing in the world Wharton depicted that related to the present day “1%”. For one thing, with her characters politics was, at best, a kind of hobby; in the present world it is a vital engine for the maintenance of the status quo in which the rich and powerful are actively involved, if sometimes as a kind of eminence gris. (I was amused at the time, in looking into the geography of old New York, to find that the opera house where the action of the novel opens was next door to Tammany Hall.)

At the end, the RG discussion turned to the Scorsese movie, and some made the claim (which might have originated with the director) that the film was somehow more violent than his gangster movies. I really lost patience with that kind of nonsense.

[Paul]

Sandya wrote: "I AM a colored person and probably the only one on this blog-is there anyone else? "

There are at least 2 that I know of, although how or whether they would choose to identify themselves is not my call.

[Sandya]

page 48, chapter title "Pussy Jones".

About Biltmore in NC.

Henry James described it to Edith Wharton as "a strange, colossal, heartbreaking house" surrounded by what he called "a vast n****** wilderness"-making it sound like the inspiration for F. Scott Fitzgerald's "A Diamond as Big as the Ritz".

I know everyone in the past was racist, but there is no need for me to read this stuff any more. I always disliked James and this just confirms it.

[Sandya]

Bill wrote: "I read The Age of Innocence when the Guardian Reading Group did it and, though I moderately enjoyed the novel, I thought its appeal rested solely on interest in the characters; I found..."

I always enjoyed The Age of Innocence, but I didn't have much respect for any of the characters. Newland Archer is a privileged idiot who doesn't need talent to succeed-he has none. May Welland is a zero. Ellen Olenska is interesting but essentially a "fallen woman" so her choices are circumscribed. The rest are automata, though Mrs Manson Mingott is pretty funny. It is about the social machine and as far as it goes, very entertaining, but my interests have changed and I now find Wharton's limitations annoying.

[Bill]

Sandya wrote: "page 48, chapter title "Pussy Jones"."

Uh, "Pussy Jones"?

I had to do a Google search on that one. Assuming it didn't refer to a rugby player of that name, I arrived, via Google Books, at the very chapter you mention in the Hermione Lee biography to discover that "Pussy Jones" was Wharton herself.

I had no idea that she was a porn star before becoming a writer.

[Sandya]

Bill wrote: "Sandya wrote: "page 48, chapter title "Pussy Jones"."

Uh, "Pussy Jones"?

I had to do a Google search on that one. Assuming it didn't refer to a rugby player of that name, I arrived, via Google Bo..."


Yes, in her youth that's what Wharton was called. "Ladies" of her day would not have known what "porn" was, or have read "Fanny Hill" or the memoirs of Frank Harris. They do seem to have known what prostitutes were but referred to them discreetly as "those women".

[AB76]

Bill wrote: "I read The Age of Innocence when the Guardian Reading Group did it and, though I moderately enjoyed the novel, I thought its appeal rested solely on interest in the characters; I found..."

Love that Tammany Hall reference Bill!

[Georg]

Sandya wrote: "Georg wrote: "Sandya wrote(#76): There is nothing in her books about race for example. Here we are, dealing with race, climate change, technology, space travel, science, covid, terrorism, and so fo..."

I am not interested in Edith Wharton because I am not interested in upper-class trials and tribulations. I am also not inclined to read Updike, Wolfe, Roth, Franzen, Auster...I tried some, found them boring. Not in the first place because they are white males, rather because I am not much interested in the trials and tribulations of the upper middle-class.
But there are a lot of people who enjoy them. Which is good.
Reading should not be a chore, aimed at bettering ourselves. Or an instrument to make politically correct points.
It should be, first and foremost, something to be enjoyed.

[Sandya]

Paul wrote: "Sandya wrote: "I AM a colored person and probably the only one on this blog-is there anyone else? "

There are at least 2 that I know of, although how or whether they would choose to identify them..."

2? Wow. But it's OK for all the white people here to describe the anti-racist stuff THEY are reading in endless detail, as has been the case lately, but not OK for me to criticize a so-called "classic" for its blind spots?

[Bill]

Sandya wrote: "Ellen Olenska is interesting but essentially a "fallen woman" so her choices are circumscribed."

I thought all the characters' choices were circumscribed (at least in their own perceptions - in a way they were all living in a kind of Plato's cave, perhaps a more-or-less universal condition) and for me the interest lay in how they dealt with those limitations. Wharton did a good job of defining that world so that a reader, like me, unfamiliar with it could understand it well enough to comprehend the characters' actions (or lack of action).

[AB76]

Didnt warm to Brautigans last short novel so have picked a rare modern novel to be read from my pile:

Gull by Glenn Patterson (2017) about the american car designer John De Lorean and his entanglement in the unlikelist of places...Troubles era Belfast.

Recommended by one of the good citizens of Ersatz TLS, after i watched the excellent BBC documentary on him in March this year, hopefully it will be a good read

[Paul]

Sandya wrote: "Paul wrote: "Sandya wrote: "I AM a colored person and probably the only one on this blog-is there anyone else? "

There are at least 2 that I know of, although how or whether they would choose to ..."

Well, there could very well be 200 for all that I know of the majority of the members, but like you I tend to doubt it.

Criticize whatever you like. For what it's worth, I agree with your criticism. But you can't expect others to not respond to your criticism.

[MK]

Tam wrote: "AB76 wrote: "Tam wrote: "Tam wrote: "Bill wrote: "Lljones wrote: "Hey, @BillinPA: let us know how you weathered storm Ida."

We got through OK. There was some flooding about 1/2 block away that clo..."

I haven't read a lot about the current flood events, but I can attest - having paid the bill - that my neighborhood had a 'god-awful' microburst something like 10 years ago. (I recently tried to read what the local paper had then - to no avail.) In any case the rain was so heavy that in the 24 years I've lived in the house I got water in the basement. What an expensive mess to clean up.

In Texas where they prefer to regulate women's bodies, open land seems to have been ripe to be built on, and subsequent flooding thanks to a hurricane is much worse, because - no matter what, the water has to go somewhere there isn't hardscape. The same appears to have held true for the recent flooding in Kentucky - little in the way of building codes to keep people out of harms way. Libertarians don't always know best.

So Climate Change is certainly a factor in my book, but at the same time I think it is complicated by past actions and inactions.

[Paul]

I've been ruminating over a book i read a month or so ago, as I hadn't really known what would come out after I'd digested it. Upon thinking back, I'm afraid that my opinion has soured. I read Jonathon Lethem's Dissident Gardens and found myself admiring the writing style, but not engaging with the characters or appreciating the narrative structure.

I think my problem with Lethem, and writers of his ilk, is their completionism. A sort of printed hoarder mentality. Their need to fill in the backstory, to constantly flashback in the timeline. So that a book rotates around an inflection point, before which all the character vectors converge on some collision and then diverge thereafter.

I don't think I need to have all the detail filled-in, as it becomes almost more cinematic than literary in scope. It seems to stifle that essential aspect of a novel, where you can feel tenuously transported into the story. For instance, I don't really know that the main character's husband started off as a bricklayer in Toronto with hands too chapped to press the strings of the guitar he'd brought over from Ireland. It's just too photo-real. Why can't someone refer to their father as "the guy who drunkenly screwed their mother and then stuck around for 30 years, not saying much?" At least, in that style, I'm wondering what Dad isn't telling his son, and where his mind wanders when the evening news is on the TV. Otherwise, I know too much and I'm not really able to imagine enough.
It makes me appreciate more an author like Tom Drury, who can shade his scenes with a single word, where a brief glance can call back a sentence in a previous book and change the lighting of the scene. Drury would tell you that his character decided to wear high heels to the date, and that would reveal whole layers of thoughts and internal debates and hopes and expectations. Lethem would tell you what color the shoes were, where she bought them, how long she debated between the heels and boots, when the sitter had to be home, when was the last date she had and yada yada yada... That style, it feels like an author who isn't confident enough in the narrative to trust their reader to keep the pace.

Lethem is really typical of his generation of writers, who seem to have all honed a similar style born from Creative Writing Programs that formed oodles of writers with different voices to become similar. It's a style that does work wonderfully with some authors, Michael Chabon perhaps is the best imho. Chabon can fill in the blanks but maintain a sense of wonder, he can surprise you. Lethem leans heavily upon foreshadowing. If you already know that Mom and Dad are going to die tragically together, the fact that they do so supporting the Sandinistas is kind of fluff. It may induce a smirk, but there is no gasp.

I've previously read Lethem's Motherless Brooklyn, which I though was great, and Chronic City, which was just crap. Dissident Gardens, it seems to be representative of a certain brand of writing that came out of the 90s. A sort of Nicole Krauss/Jonathon Franzen/Michael Chabon/Junot Diaz/Donna Tartt structural harmony. It can work wonderfully, but the books become a bit "all the same." You know chapter 2 is going to jump back 30 years, chapter 7 is going to pick-up in mid-fire fight where you left at the end of the first chapter, the ending will actually be 20 pages before the book ends, loose ends will be tied up and letters will be discovered, and everyone will be wise and equally miserable.

Meh,

[Georg]

Sandya wrote. But it's OK for all the white people here to describe the anti-racist stuff THEY are reading in endless detail, as has been the case lately, but not OK for me to criticize a so-called "classic" for its blind spots?

"Debate", as I understand it, is an exchange of opinions. Ideally different opinions. The opposite of it is something like an echo chamber. Or, what some people call, and some even request, a "safe space".

Who gave you the impression (or said) it is not ok for you to criticise whatever you want to criticize?

And: I am, accidentally, one of "all the white people". What does that say about me as a person?

[Bill]

In this week's newsletter, Ron Charles talks about how Ayn Rand is infiltrating school syllabi:

A few weeks ago, my wife received an email message that began, “[Fname], you may not know this, but for over two decades we’ve provided bestselling Ayn Rand novels and supporting resources to middle and high school teachers for free!”

It’s true. I did not know that, and neither did [Fname]. Staff members at the Ayn Rand Institute initially offered to respond to my questions. But then they refused, concluding, I suppose, that helping me would only make me weaker.

The group’s website claims that the Institute has given away 4.5 million copies of Rand’s novels to 65,000 teachers — a kind of Gideon’s Bible program for Objectivists.

https://s2.washingtonpost.com/camp-rw...

[Bill]

OK, my first reaction to this story was, "Is it April 1st?"; but no, there apparently actually is a Sally Rooney pop-up shop.

According to The Bookseller, the pop-up shop—located at a gallery space in Shoreditch and open from 11 am to 6 pm from September 10-12—will sell copies of Beautiful World, Where Are You, Rooney’s previous novels, and novels Rooney recommends. The space will also host workshops, book clubs and daily giveaways, including a calligraphy and candle-making class, which at least feels Rooney-ish in vibe.

https://lithub.com/faber-is-opening-a...

[AB76]

Bill wrote: "In this week's newsletter, Ron Charles talks about how Ayn Rand is infiltrating school syllabi: A few weeks ago, my wife received an email message that began, “[Fname], you may not know this, but f..."

gosh, reminds me how last weeks mention of objectivity might have lurched into Rand territory unintentionally.. that awful woman's books are the bible for the rightward shift in the USA-UK since the late 1970s.

am amazed she can be described as an author, rather than a very dodgy polemicist, spreading selfish attitudes amongst the people.

[Shelflife_wasBooklooker]

Tam wrote (#86):

I am curious about the places that have no history at all, of flooding. Your local fields were there historically to absorb the excess, and well done the town, for fighting off the developers, but the thing that I am trying to grapple with is the new 'unknowns'. How is climate change making previously unthreatened places, vulnerable? I don't know... but I would like to know...

Hi Tam, remembered Toni Morrison on reading your post:

You know, they straightened out the Mississippi River in places, to make room for houses and livable acreage. Occasionally the river floods these places. ‘Floods’ is the word they use, but in fact it is not flooding; it is remembering. Remembering where it used to be. All water has a perfect memory and is forever trying to get back to where it was. Writers are like that: remembering where we were, that valley we ran through, what the banks were like, the light that was there and the route back to our original place. It is emotional memory–what the nerves and the skin remember as well as how it appeared. And a rush of imagination is our ‘flooding.’

From Toni Morrison's essay "The Site of Memory", in: The Source of Self-Regard: Selected Essays, Speeches, and Meditations, p. 243.

Sorry to say that I think that the more recent flooding now seems tending towards deluge memory....


@ Sandya: I am always interested in your takes.

I know it's not the same, still, maybe I can share here that have been in a phase (?) recently when I have become really pissed off with 'gazing' male perspectives in my reading. It has spoilt quite a number of books for me, some of which I am sure I might have enjoyed at other times despite that gaze.
So I am reading Lucy Ellmann's rants (Things Are Against Us) and Toni Morrison's lucid essays in turns - and see where my reading lusts and sudden aversions will take me next. Hope it's o.k. to share this. I did not want to write it here earlier, as I think I need to think a bit about this by myself before I can explain better.

Edit @ Scarlet Thank you for your posts! It was great reading them earlier, many thanks also to your wife. I will get back to you in more detail soon, I hope.

[Shelflife_wasBooklooker]

Up for a game?
Post book titles with secrets!

https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...

[Robert]

The Russian musician Glazunov ran a music academy. When Czarist officials asked Glazunov how many Jews attended, he answered "We don't bother to count them."

Of course, Glazunov was an unworldly fellow. Still, I approve of the man....

[SydneyH]

Tam wrote: "Have been discussing with the sprog alternative 'relevant' books"

I've been mulling this over too. My suggestions for a starting point are Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison, Oreo by Fran Ross, Sula by Toni Morrison and Tuff by Paul Beatty.

[Tam]

SydneyH wrote: "Tam wrote: "Have been discussing with the sprog alternative 'relevant' books"

I've been mulling this over too. My suggestions for a starting point are Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison, Oreo by Fran ..."

good calls, but I rather fear that the judge in question would never have read them, so no way for him to inquisition him over whether he had read them, or not. So rather than think that he was being particularly white/historically elitist/racist, I think that he was just responding to the kind of books that he actually knew, from his own experience, and background, and could talk about. There's the gap... I think... it is not malign I think, just a lack of engagement, from others perspectives... which is all too common in the typical 'British' education... at least for those of the judges age group... and older

[Hushpuppy]

@Sandya, I think I get where you're coming from, and the change of mood - or tolerance - you've observed in yourself I can see @booklooker has felt herself, and I have too. There are things that I used to enjoy, but that I simply have no time for anymore, or that turn a bit rancid upon re-reading them/re-watching them. We all have preferences about which authors we read, which content, which genre anyway (although it can be good to ask ourselves sometimes where these come from). On top of everything, you've probably read more Wharton and about Wharton than the vast majority of us here, so not wanting to waste any more of your time re-reading (about) posh white people who were completely blind to the plight of POC (amongst others) makes perfect sense to me. I have only read (twice) the one, The Age of Innocence, which I love, and I think the way Ellen is quietly shunned, subtly ostracised, and patronised by a society still hypocritically pretending that she's one of them, until they close rank when she dares not conforming, could be an interesting parallel with POC today evolving in supposedly left-wing environments (whether we're talking about publishing - see the whole clusterfuck around Clanchy and Pullman - or The Guardian, or eTLS, or...). Now there are so many other books that actually address this issue head on that they are much better options than reading another Wharton for the umpteenth time.

In reaction to a previous exchange a few weeks back, I also got to thinking about all the classics for children. Not a single one I could think of had kids of colour in them. I had a few books of fairy tales from around the world on my shelves, but the classic literature, at least from the UK, France, US, Canada, etc. were all white as far as I can tell (people, please do correct me if I've forgotten some obvious counter-examples). All the Enid Blyton - Noddy, the Famous Five, the Secret Seven - Just Williams, Nancy Drew, Le Petit Nicolas, Le Petit Prince, La Comtesse de Ségur, Tom Sawyer, Huck Finn, Heidi, Pippi Longstocking, Anne of Green Gables, Little Women. On the primary school curriculum, on TV at Christmas, as Halloween costumes. All white kids. It must be alienating and tiring, by the time you leave childhood behind, not to have encountered - except perhaps at home - a single classic written about kids who look like you...

@Paul, whether it is one POC, or three (hope you're not counting me in this, as I don't consider myself as such, for not having had to cope with even a small fraction of what e.g., Alwynne or Sandya have been on the receiving end of), it is a sad number. And as far as I can tell (as you say, maybe some people I know are POC without me knowing), when the two most regular ones on eTLS have raised things they've been getting fed up with, it's been pretty much an unhealthy balance of (sometimes defensive, sometimes patronising, sometimes aggressive) responses in return, and definitely not a pretty sight to me, as I've said in the past. Perhaps let's make sure that doesn't keep happening...?

(Sorry for the long rambling post, hadn't intended it that way, but it's late and I'm not quite coherent.)

[Hushpuppy]

Tam wrote: "There's the gap... I think... it is not malign I think, just a lack of engagement, from others perspectives... "

I don't think anybody thinks it's malign, or that the judge is overtly racist, but there is something fundamentally wrong in how this young guy has been treated so lightly (and indeed, as CCC said, it's being reviewed right now).

Would the judge, who seems to reject any kind of white supremacy rhetoric, be so lenient if that had been a young Muslim in front of him, with years (years!) and thousands of documents from terrorist organisations downloaded, a hateful manifesto written, as well as bomb-making material? I think not. And of course, he could have thought a bit longer and harder of an appropriate sentencing to expand that young guy's mind.

There seems to be two kinds of justice atm, and there is a frankly disgusting way in which (terrorist) violence against POC or against women (see Storm's review of Men Who Hate Women) do not seem to count nearly as much as Islamist one. All this despite stats on terror attacks clearly showing that this (white supremacy/incel/etc.) is where the biggest problems lie. Hopefully things will change, fast.

Thanks for yours and SydneyH's suggestions. I've loved Horton Hears A Who and think it's a brilliant way to introduce alienness and inclusion to kids (Paddington as a film is pretty much up there too). I have Invisible Man lined up thanks to NatashaF, but can't read it atm as the font is too small. Maybe my Serious Readers lamp will help, haven't tried it on this specific book yet!

[SydneyH]

Hushpuppy wrote: "I have Invisible Man lined up thanks to NatashaF"

You'll find Invisible Man on any list of great American novels, it's one of the non-negotiables. As to books for kids, Huck Finn is quite overtly about race in America, and To Kill a Mockingbird is often a set text in schools.

[Hushpuppy]

SydneyH wrote: "As to books for kids, Huck Finn is quite overtly about race in America, and To Kill a Mockingbird is often a set text in schools."

Thanks Sydney. I've read these two, but had serious reservations about the treatment of Jim, not only by Tom at the end of the book (something inter and Natasha I think confirmed as being commonly discussed back when I reported on it on TLS), but also by Huck's lack of feelings when Jim (supposedly) drowns.

Loved To Kill a Mockingbird, and perhaps that'd be a good example for Tam's post; but it does still have the issue of having a white saviour at its core. I'm thinking of a book where kids of colour are the heroes of the story. No classic of Western literature comes to mind...

[Berkley]

Tam wrote: "Have been discussing with the sprog alternative 'relevant' books for the young man who has just been sentenced to reading the 'classics' as his punishment for engaging in downloading right-wing ext..."

The first thing that came to my mind was A Short Account of the Destruction of the Indies, by Bartolomé de las Casas, an eyewitness.

I suppose we'd need to know a little more about the specific variety of white supremacy or which particular forms of racism this person was interested in if we wanted to try to tailor our suggestions to his individual case. But I'm one of those who feels sceptical about the whole idea.

To be honest, I thnk I'd try to get him to read some history and perhaps psychology or anthropology, in the hopes that he might gain a better understanding of how modern racism came about and why racist ideas feel so attractive to him.

[scarletnoir]

Bill wrote: "The space will also host workshops... including a candle-making class..."

Let's hope they don't go the Gwyneth Paltrow route with that one!

[scarletnoir]

WRT the discussion about heroes who are black - or at least POC - I wonder whether anyone knows if any of Alexandre Dumas père's characters /heroes were explicitly described as such in his books, given his mixed ancestry?

I had not realised that some of his key characters were modelled on a (possibly idealised) version of his own Haitian father, including The Count of Monte Christo. Perhaps this is clarified in the Pulitzer prize-winning biography of Alex Dumas, The Black Count: Glory, Revolution, Betrayal, and the Real Count of Monte Cristo by Tom Reiss, but I haven't read it.

(I know the Dumas are not 'children's books', though it would surprise me if no-one had ever published abridged versions with youngsters in mind.)

There is some discussion of the topic on this site, listed as 'not secure' - not sure exactly what that means, so I mention it just in case:
http://www.mixedracestudies.org/?tag=...

[AB76]

scarletnoir wrote: "WRT the discussion about heroes who are black - or at least POC - I wonder whether anyone knows if any of Alexandre Dumas père's characters /heroes were explicitly described as such in his books, g..."

Dumas and Pushkin are good xamples of writers with dual ancestry(African and European), both firmly established in the literary traditions of their countries. I have a Dumas novel set in Mauritius which i must read.

i would imagine both suffered prejudice at some points in their lives, though i havent seen it documented

[Georg]

Hushpuppy wrote: Loved To Kill a Mockingbird, and perhaps that'd be a good example for Tam's post; but it does still have the issue of having a white saviour at its core.

I must admit that I do not understand the "white saviour" argument.


Atticus Finch is appointed by the judge to defend Tom Robinson, which he accepts.
He lives in a small community in Alabama, where more or less everybody is a racist.
Lee doesn't even paint him as an anti-racist, we do not know his views on that matter.
She paints him as a decent man, and, foremost, a self-respecting professional who does his duty without fear or favour.

He doesn't succeed, the jury verdict is "guilty" in spite of overwhelming evidence to the contrary (so he isn't a saviour in the literal sense), he is attacked and defamed by all and sundry as a n*****-lover.

Atticus part in the book is not predominantly that of the white lawyer defending a black man during the time of the Jim Crow laws, it is the father, the role model for his children.

At the heart of the book is something that transcends the subject of rascism: follow your conscience, do what is right, do not be afraid of the enemies you may make by doing so.

Could somebody write a book in a similar vein with more emphasis on racism? Probably. But it would be a different book.

[Paul]

Hushpuppy wrote: "hope you're not counting me in this, as I don't consider myself as such,"

No, actually I wasn't including you. It's not for me to decide how a person chooses to identify themselves. And you had never identified yourself as such in the past. The POC that I know of are amongst the lurkers or infrequent visitors, but I can't say how I came about that language.

I agree with Sandya: I will happily go to my grave not wasting another second of my life reading Henry James and I'm not in much of a rush to revisit Wharton, not because of the social position of her characters but the boredom with which she writes them.

That being said, we're scientists: if you're not ready to get reamed by the reviewers and to defend your data, don't submit your work for publication.


"What can Wharton possibly add? " Is an invitation, a point of contention. You can't lob that grenade and not expect here or elsewhere fans to defend their contrary opinions. Labelling that as "defensism" is simply a disingenuous attempt to defuse the differing viewpoint based off of the differing background of the objector. Certainly patronization and aggression have no place in a reasonable discussion, but if you don't expect a defensive reaction, you probably shouldn't participate in a discussion group.

Frankly, as I said when Alwynne had her issues here lots of us, myself included, have a lot to learn. But , one can't simply proscribe an opinion as irrefutable or unassailable. Then it's a religion. Part of the defensive reactions come from the belief (incorrect in imho) that their opinion holds no value simply because they are white-skinned. Which is simply not true, and a simplification of a demographic that can contain transgender, gay, foreigner, refugee, disabled, etc etc all of which are voices with different, equally valid opinions.

I enjoy Sandya's and your contributions, so I certainly don't want to give the impression of coldness.

[Paul]

Hushpuppy wrote: "I have Invisible Man lined up thanks to NatashaF, but can't read it atm as the font is too small


OOOH, do read it please, it's the best book ever written in the states. I'm having the same small font reading problem at the moment with Circe which is depressing. I'm going to spend the rest of the weekend worrying about slowly going blind.

[CCCubbon]

Paul wrote: "Hushpuppy wrote: "I have Invisible Man lined up thanks to NatashaF, but can't read it atm as the font is too small


OOOH, do read it please, it's the best book ever written in the states. I'm havi..."
Don’t worry about your eyes, Paul, Glad, get them checked!
Sight is so precious.

[AB76]

Paul wrote: "Hushpuppy wrote: "hope you're not counting me in this, as I don't consider myself as such,"

No, actually I wasn't including you. It's not for me to decide how a person chooses to identify themse..."

Good points Paul, well thought out

Hope the mince pies(eyes) issue isnt too serious (spent last fortnight teaching cockney rhyming slang to my visiting 6 yo neice, she was fluent within hours and none of our family are cockneys!)

[CCCubbon]

I am reading Blood Harvest by Sharon Bolton and very creepy it is, too. Mind you, if you build a house which surrounded on three sides by graveyards, two churches, one of which is a ruin, you’re asking for trouble.
Ghostly children, voices, lost children, bullied children, a new vicar, old village traditions, a horse called Duchess and a disabled psychiatrist, what more could one want!
Oooooooh,

[Andy]

I've got through The Bloody Chamber and Other Stories section of Burning Your Boats: The Collected Short Stories, Angela Carter of course, and I can say that this is some of the best horror writing - correct that, writing - that I have ever read. I hugely enjoyed it.
Rather than comment on the quite excellent title story, as it has been much commented on, I will mention two lesser know stories..

The Lady of the House of Love, or Vampirella, as the stage play it was based on was called, and loosely based on Sleeping Beauty. A while ago I rode my bike, alone, through the Carpathian mountains. I asked The Guardian's TLS (of which I was a contibutor) for suggestions of local literature, and got some great stuff, which I read while I was there. But.. nobody recommended this.
It is about a solitary cyclist riding most likely the same route I did. He stops at an old village fountain to refresh himself, as I often did, and is approached by a mute, but friendly old woman who beckons him to a mansion.
This is the home of The Countess, a lone vampire since a priest killed her father, Nosferatu, when she was a child, looked after by the old mute Governess, who lets her out at night to feed.

Wolf Alice, which is based around the Wolf Boy story of a child raised by wolves.
Even though she is physically a woman, "Nothing about her is human except that she is not a wolf"; she runs on all fours, is nocturnal, howls rather than speaks, and does not wear clothes. What distinguishes Wolf-Alice most from other humans is the fact that she is unaware of her own mortality. Peasants discover Wolf-Alice sleeping next to her wolf mother, whom they shot to death. Once they realise she is human, they bring her to live in a convent.
Carter uses elements from Red Riding Hood and Beauty and the Beast, but not so obviously. It is the girl's emerging adolescence that see Carter at her best here, as her awareness of being human begins to emerge.

[Andy]

And two books this week from the wonderful publishers Valancourt...
Wisteria Cottage by Robert M. Coates
This novel, first published in 1948, now, deservedly, reaches a new readership thanks to its reissue by Valancourt.
For 95% of the story this is a quaint slice of period drama, as a young bookclerk, Richard Baurie, discovers an old cottage to renovate on the Long Island shoreline, and is soon living there with his new friends, Florence Hackett and her daughters.
But, despite the book being little know, the publisher's name acts as a type of spoiler, things are not going to remain quaint for long..
Baurie's mental health is steadily declining. From the outset we know he is troubled.
Coates does a great job of keeping the reader interested until the long-awaited climax arrives. But when it does, it certainly was worth waiting for.

And, The Unfortunate Fursey by Mervyn Wall
This was Mervyn Wall's first, and by some way best known, novel, first published in 1942.
Its hero, the titular Fursey, is a rotund, ineffectual lay brother in the medieval monastery of Clonmacnoise. When the monastery begins to swarm with uninvited demons, it is in the cell of the trembling, dumbstruck Fursey that they take refuge from the holy water and exorcisms of the other monks.
Its a Black-Adder-esque romp through an 11th century Ireland filled with goblins, imps, witches, vampires and more. Though searching for some sort of moral, or satirical aspect, is tempting, the author himself recommended that the best way to enjoy it was to just take it as a bit of fun.
Its perhaps a bit long at 300 pages, some of the humour does wear a bit thin, but to balance that, it is a quite unique blend of fantasy, warm mirth and good nature.

[scarletnoir]

Paul wrote: "Hushpuppy wrote: "I have Invisible Man lined up thanks to NatashaF, but can't read it atm as the font is too small


OOOH, do read it please, it's the best book ever written in the states. I'm havi..."

@Paul and @HP - it's possible that your eyesight/reading problems may be fixed simply by spectacles or contact lenses.

However, if your problems are more severe - I would recommend that you go down the route of e-readers, even if that's not something you want to contemplate. My mother could read books until well into her 90s, but cataracts and macular degeneration forced her hand and she used a Kindle with ever-increasing font size for a few years, until she had to switch to audiobooks...

I take a middle route, reading mainly books during daylight hours, but switching to a Kindle for bedtime reading in muted lighting conditions - I would not fancy having bright lights on just before sleeping!

[Andy]

CCCubbon wrote: "I am reading Blood Harvest by Sharon Bolton and very creepy it is, too. Mind you, if you build a house which surrounded on three sides by graveyards, two churches, one of which is a ruin, you’re as..."

I remember reading that, and enjoying it similarly CCC.
I’ve just looked back, and have actually read 10 of hers… surprised me.

[AB76]

She by H Rider Haggard is coming along nicely now after its "victorian plotting by numbers" first few chapters.

Haggard is much better with the fantasy setting in Africa and i'm starting to get a feel for his prose and the characters he has created for light relief. There are some unfortunate outdated comments but i'm intrigued to see how the passages with "she who must be obeyed" pan out.

Good suspense novels keep the titular characters in the background,so the mystery builds and so far that has happened...

[Shelflife_wasBooklooker]

Regarding Anne's "little irk" as mentioned in post #1,

I'm feeling a little irked (understatement) about the non-appearance of the end of August fine weather we were promised (it was winter here yesterday)

I may have found an approach to a solution in a book ("Crowned Female Figure Holding a Wheel Illustrating the Turning of the Seasons"):
https://www.getty.edu/art/collection/...
(You can enlarge the image by clicking on the "zoom in" plus sign on the left hand side right below the illumination.)

It seems a matter of persuading this unknown queen to turn the wheel back just a friendly bit... She appears to have done so here already. Maybe at yours, too?

I have just started a reread of Alice Munro's Hateship, Friendship, Courtship, Loveship, Marriage: Stories, which I felt inclined to get from the shelf after reading Mach's "secret" Munro title in the game thread.

[giveusaclue]

Paul wrote: "Hushpuppy wrote: "I have Invisible Man lined up thanks to NatashaF, but can't read it atm as the font is too small


OOOH, do read it please, it's the best book ever written in the states. I'm havi..."

That is where an e-reader comes in useful, you can enlarge the font. Also the type, I much prefer to read a sans serif rather than, say, Times New Roman.

[giveusaclue]

AB76 wrote: " She by H Rider Haggard is coming along nicely now after its "victorian plotting by numbers" first few chapters.

Haggard is much better with the fantasy setting in Africa and i'm starting to get a..."

When I was quite young I saw :

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0042646/

It frightened the life out of me. I can distinctly remember one of the African bearers being charged and tusked and thrown by a huge elephant.

[Robert]

giveusaclue wrote: "Paul wrote: "Hushpuppy wrote: "I have Invisible Man lined up thanks to NatashaF, but can't read it atm as the font is too small


OOOH, do read it please, it's the best book ever written in the sta..."
I've liked Palatino type.

[MK]

Any Swallows and Amazons here who are also in the UK? If so, here's a treat for you - Arthur Ransome’s favourite yacht, Nancy Blackett, will be seen nationwide on ITV1 this Sunday at 11:55am.
She will appear in the first episode of the new series of All Around Britain, which explores some of the most glorious and fascinating visitor destinations and landmarks across Britain and Northern Ireland, and brings viewers the very best stories from all of ITV’s regional teams.

Nancy Blackett’s appearance will be in a slightly abridged version of the feature that was broadcast on ITV News Anglia on 7th June, which celebrates her 90th Anniversary.

Hosted by Victoria Lampard, it was filmed on the River Orwell on 18th May in near-perfect conditions, and features contributions from the Nancy Blackett Trust’s President Peter Willis, Publicity Officer Sue Coales and Skipper Ian McGlynn, as well as Michael Rines, the original restorer of Nancy Blackett.

I'll have to re-read my favorite - We Didn't Mean to Go to Sea