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What are we reading? 25th October 2021
Lljones wrote: "Live from Justine's Little Library - Guardian Angels are visiting/restocking as we speak!/"
brilliant, thanks LL
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In Xanadu: A Quest by William Dalrymple. I've read several other books by William Dalrymple, but I'd never read this one, his first, written at the age of 22. In his 2nd year at university, he saw a notice for a grant to fund research travel for the college’s mediaeval historians. He looked up the longest medieval journey he could find:
An hour later I had typed out an application for an expedition to follow the outward journey of my childhood hero, Marco Polo, from Jerusalem to Kubla Khan’s Xanadu in Mongolia. The place names were the stuff of fantasy, and so, I felt sure, was the application. But I happened recently to have seen an article announcing that the Karakorum Highway linking Pakistan to China had just been opened to travellers. This meant that following Polo’s journey was technically feasible for the first time since the Soviet invasion had cut the hippy’s overland route a decade earlier.
The application was successful and that summer he set off, planning to write a book about the trip.
... In Xanadu records the impressions, prejudices and enthusiasms of a very young, naïve and deeply Anglocentric undergraduate. Indeed my 21 year old self - bumptious, cocky and self-confident, quick to judge and embarrassingly slow to hesitate before stereotyping entire nations - is a person I now feel mildly disapproving of.
The point about stereotyping is something that has struck me (I'm 70 pages in), but nevertheless it's an interesting and entertaining read.
After our Barbara Pym talk yesterday, I've also started re-reading No Fond Return of Love.
Lljones wrote: "Live from Justine's Little Library - Guardian Angels are visiting/restocking as we speak!/"
So glad to hear that this is going strong, Justine is much missed. Incidentally the little poem is still circulating- 557 views now - another viewing every day or so
Lljones wrote: "Live from Justine's Little Library - Guardian Angels are visiting/restocking as we speak!/"
Fantastic! It still looks so good!
Russell wrote: "Hotels – Great topic, Shelflife. Some to add:Hotel du Lac – Anita Brookner
Hotel New Hampshire – John Irving (TBR)
The White Hotel – DM Thomas
On Chesil Beach – Ian McEwan
Eloise at The Plaza – K..."
Good list - and I have actually read some of these!
I wonder if a novelisation of a film counts? If so, then L'année dernière à Marienbad can be added... Alain Robbe-Grillet converted his own screenplay.
scarletnoir wrote: "I'm a bit surprised by the Hailey - or maybe he's a better writer than I imagine, not having read him!"Presence on my shelves is not necessarily a guarantee of good writing. I occasionally read bestselling novels, mainly from the 1950s through the 1970s: Grace Metalious, Irving Wallace, Jacqueline Susann (I recently picked up The Love Machine for 50 cents from the local library's used book shelves, expecting it to be some scandalous fun). I haven't yet read Hailey, or, also on my shelves Jackie Collins, James Clavell, or Allen Drury.
Re Hotel tales...Jamaica Inn by Daphne Du Maurier
The Shining by Stephen King (a bit of a stretch, perhaps?).
Good things rarely happen in hotels....
scarletnoir wrote: "AB76 wrote: "Czech also lacks a lot of vowels..."Some daft TV programme many years ago had a sketch that stuck in my memory... the idea being that our heroes were organising an 'emergency airlift..."
thats brilliant...
Lljones wrote: "Live from Justine's Little Library - Guardian Angels are visiting/restocking as we speak!/"
That's great to see, it looks in pristine condition too :)
Just started Visitation by Jenny Erpenbeck, i think i didnt finish on my commute about 5-6 yrs ago but so far i am finding it an interesting read, in the great Erpenbecks famous styleGermany has always been a great nation of writers and i think Erpenbeck is a real talent. Am interested in her non-fiction too and memories of life in the DDR. Her grandmother was a prominent figure in the DDR, from Lemberg.
Bill wrote: "I meant to ask whether your Holmes reading included The Final Adventures of Sherlock Holmes."Thanks, that one sounds very promising. I might struggle to find a new copy, it looks like it's verging on out of print.
My other book is rather gruesome one, all done in a kind of ‘off the cuff, flippant funny’ way that I gave up on a long time ago. It’s called A Dark so Deadly by Stuart MacBride.
MacBride seems to write serial killer books set in and around fictional Oldcastle according to the blurbs on his other books but this one is a stand alone. The book tends to wander off into the lives of the victims and the coppers all told in breathless style which I tend to skip read. The police are a small group of misfits, dumped together for various misdemeanours, some mummified bodies, pawned toys and a bitten ear.
Shall I give up again? I don’t know, have got further than before. Perhaps a suitable title for me at the moment with awful eyesight, hardly any early today but clearing again now.
@ Russell and Bill: Boarding houses, inns, motels: Excellent choices! Also, the New Testament. Ha. Chaucer is a good starting point, too. King Lear on the heath might have done with a hotel as well, but that's taking it a bit far, I suppose.Two more came to mind today:
1) Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas - which certainly vies, to me, with American Psycho (good one, Bill!) as regards level of disgust.
2) Dostoevsky's The Gambler, set in the best hotel in "Rouletteburg", a bath and Casino town. The farcical, conquering entry of the (view spoiler) into the hotel is very good. (@scarletnoir: These passages were approved of by everyone in the reading group!)
I also liked the following observation on hotels:
At spas--and, probably, all over Europe--hotel landlords andNot so there...
managers are guided in their allotment of rooms to visitors, not
so much by the wishes and requirements of those visitors, as by
their personal estimate of the same. It may also be said that
these landlords and managers seldom make a mistake
(the translation is from this page, http://www.online-literature.com/dost..., sorry, translator not mentioned.)
It's wonderful that Justine's reading place continues going strong. Thanks for the good news! And the photo.(Also happy about your neigbours' good news, giveusaclue.)
Sorry, this appears to be my week of confusion... Psycho, not American Psycho was mentioned. And the latter's appartment setting is not a hotel appartment anyway, tsk. It's probably best that the weekend is coming up soon, also because then I will have time to de-confuse (?) and to look in more detail at all these enticing hotel/inn/boarding house titles. "Almost there", as reen remarks on Thursday evenings.
Picture of my week in trains:
(The Lewis Chessmen, berserkers. Late 12th century, Uig, Lewis, Scotland. Walrus ivory. © Copyright of The Trustees of the British Museum.)
If someone starts talking on the train about "They are all exaggerating about vaccination" again, I will... do such things. To quote Shakespeare.
Other than that, enjoying a reread of Peter Schlemihl, the man without shadow, if slowly, as commute, and I had other texts to read this week as well.
(@ AB: Don't think I would have been able to read Visitation on a commute either!)
Wiki article, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_S..., on the 1811 novella apparently much favoured by Italo Calvino:
Asked which book by another author he would most like to claim as his own work, Italo Calvino once said without hesitation, Adelbert von Chamisso's Peter Schlemiel.https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/5...
Since I wrote "week of confusion", I have Phil Collins's voice in my head... help?
Machenbach wrote: "AB76 wrote: " i think Erpenbeck is a real talent. Am interested in her non-fiction too and memories of life in the DDR.."Not a Novel: Collected Writings and Reflections is very pa..."
oh.....really....not much on the DDR?
Machenbach wrote: "AB76 wrote: "Not a Novel: Collected Writings and Reflections..."oh.....really....not much on the DDR? "
A few decent pages but it's quite a disappointing book. Borrow rather than buy if you can."
ok, thanks mach
Machenbach wrote:You know you're just spreading the disease, right? Luckily I've been double vaccinated against Phil Collins.You are a very lucky man, then! And you did help me, in fact: On reading your reply, my brain has switched to "Shake the Disease" as catchy tune. That's better, though it could be better still. Ta!
I have been meaning to post these passages from Angela Carter's "Puss-in-boots", which might appeal to cat and/or architecture fans:
I [Puss-in-boots] swing succinctly up the façade, forepaws on a curly cherub's pate, hindpaws on a stucco wreath, bring them up to meet your forepaws while, first paw forward, hup! on to the stone nymph's tit; left paw down a bit, the satyr's bum should do the trick. Nothing to it, once you know how, rococo's no problem.Amused me inordinately, I have to admit, especially "rococo's no problem". However,
If rococo's a piece of cake, that chaste, tasteful, early Palladian stumped many a better cat than I in its time. Agility's not in it, when it comes to Palladian; daring alone will carry the day and, though the first storey's graced with a hefty caryatid whose bulbous loincloth and tremendous pecs facilitate the first ascent, the Doric column on her head proves a horse of a different colour, I can tell you. Had I not seen my precious Tabby crouched in the gutter above me keening encouragement, I, even I, might never have braved that flying, upward leap that brought me, as if Harlequin himself on wires, in one bound to [the lady's] window-sill.Not down, though!
'Dear god!' the lady says, and jumps.
And they lived happily ever after. In style(s).
Oi! I can see there is a fair bit of Phil Collins bashing happening here. A sport of the oh so edgy who love instead some obscure French singer or The Cocteau Twins. Back off Phil. Land of Confusion is a good song, and so is Mama or In The Air Tonight, and I love the ...But seriously album. My first K7! (As we write in French = 'K'+'sept' = 'cassette')
Bill wrote: "How about what I suspect is a strictly American phenomenon: the motel novel?The only novel that comes to mind at the moment is Psycho, but I'm sure there are more. There's also the ..."
Humbert Humbert and Lolita visited a variety of hotels and motels, though they once slept outdoors and awoke "under the sign of Pegasus."
Machenbach wrote: "Aren’t some of those Genesis songs strictly speaking?You two are the ones who conflated Phil and Genesis for Land of Confusion, not me compadre.
(Yeah, I've put a bit of solo Phil and genesis Phil, because both can be good...)
Machenbach wrote: "Just not my cup of tea."Yeah, I think it was to be expected. Maybe it'd have been (your cup of tea) if you had been a 10 y.o. when ...But seriously came out 😊. I'll always be fond of it, even if I can see some of the genesis/Collins can be a bit generic.
(Also, all the lyrics were available inside the K7 - oh joy! Probably the most exposed I had been to English up to that point, and I duly learnt what they meant with a dictionary as companion...)
Machenbach wrote: "Then my ‘….but Seriously’ was ‘Parallel Lines’, though I already knew some English."You liked these songs as a 10 y.o.?? So you were born cool, I guess!
Machenbach wrote: "Hushpuppy wrote: "You liked these songs as a 10 y.o.?? So you were born cool, I guess!"God no."
Still suspect you had far more eclectic taste in music at a younger age than most (perhaps thanks to your dad's influence...?). Mine got much wider when I went to high school (college), so right after that summer of 1989, and particularly when I got my own hi-fi (1990 - bliss) and started to listen to many different radios, esp. late at night...
Bill wrote: "Presence on my shelves is not necessarily a guarantee of good writing."Fair enough - reading the modern equivalent of a penny dreadful can be great fun... I've read quite a few by Jo Nesbo and Harlan Coben!
'The Love Machine' is an intriguing title - something along the lines of what is displayed in 'Barbarella' or Woody Allen's 'Sleeper', perhaps.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KAKWK...
CCCubbon wrote: "Shall I give up (on Stuart MacBride) again?" I can't advise you, but FWIW I read about 5 or 6 of his Logan McRae books a while back, but eventually stopped as they were getting a bit too dark... though I may dip in again in future, just to see.
It seems that MacBride is regarded as a purveyor of 'Tartan Noir' along with Ian Rankin (who is much better) and Val McDermid (much worse - based on one book - never again).
Fun fact about MacBryde: He is reputed to be a passionate potato grower... (Wikipedia)
Shelflife_wasBooklooker wrote: "Dostoevsky's The Gambler...(@scarletnoir: These passages were approved of by everyone in the reading group!)"It's not that I consider 'The Gamber' to be a bad book - anything by D. is worth considering - but it is far less interesting (to me) than several other of his works, probably in part because I find gambling, and stories about gambling, extremely boring.
I hope, though, that as your group approved of 'The Gambler', they may move on to tackle more Dostoyevsky...
Shelflife's rococo comment provides a tenuous link for me to share a passage from Barbara Pym's A Glass of Blessings. The narrator Wilmet Forsyth is attending a Portuguese lesson in some college building:On either side of the central space were two large white marble statues, male and female, perhaps representing knowledge and wisdom, courage and hope, or other suitable concepts. I looked down at the female's great white broad feet and imagined that were she not bare-footed, she might have trouble with her shoes. I could almost see the incipient bunion and feel the pain of that fallen arch.
It made me laugh, anyway - and isn't that "incipient" delicious?
Machenbach wrote: "Hushpuppy wrote: "Oi! I can see there is a fair bit of Phil Collins bashing happening here. A sport of the oh so edgy who love instead some obscure French singer or The Cocteau Twins. Back off Phil..."yes land of confusion is and i like that track, i'm not as anti-Phil as you Mach, i like a smattering of his tracks but he certainly isnt a regular fave
scarletnoir wrote: "Shelflife_wasBooklooker wrote: "Dostoevsky's The Gambler...(@scarletnoir: These passages were approved of by everyone in the reading group!)"It's not that I consider 'The Gamber' to be a bad book..."
i consider Big D almost an essential part of any serious readers bookshelves, i think he remains one of the most fascinating writers i have come accross. A serious, blazing intensity and intellectual focus that can consume you when reading.
While C& P gets all the plaudits, "The Devils" is my favourite but to my shame i still havent read The Brothers Karamazov!
Bill wrote (#340): "How about what I suspect is a strictly American phenomenon: the motel novel?"Not a novel, but an excerpt from a travel book by Stephen Brook called Honky Tonk Gelato. It was featured in a collection called Worst Journeys: The Picador Book Of Travel. Poor Stephen booked into a brothel masquerading as a motel and had all his stuff stolen. The local police weren't sympathetic.
For fellow Christie aficinados:https://www.theguardian.com/books/202...
Murder Isn't Easy: The Forensics of Agatha Christie
Shelflife_wasBooklooker wrote (#367): "I have been meaning to post these passages from Angela Carter's "Puss-in-boots"..."Thanks for reminding me of Angela Carter. One of the few writers who can take my breath away. BBC's 2018 documentary "Of Wolves & Women" is excellent.
Just finished To the Islands, wow, possibly the best read of 2021 for me, equal with Powers "The Hungry Grass".Interestingly they both share the theme of an ageing bitter clergyman(Anglican with Stow, Catholic with Powers) coming to terms with old age, a loss of faith and bitter loss in their past life.
Stow conjures a novel that is partly a paean to the glory of the outback, the flora and fauna of Northern Australia and also a study of the Aboriginal people living on the boundaries of mission houses and outposts, via the figure of Stephen Heriot, an Anglican minister in the mission.
Stow didnt put a foot wrong for 220 pages, all the more remarkable as he was only 23 when he wrote it. Apparently the novel is compared to "Voss" and some people say influenced by "Voss" but Stow makes clear he was not influenced by Patrick White in writing this brilliant novel.
I recommend it to all
Machenbach wrote: "AB76 wrote: "i consider Big D almost an essential part of any serious readers bookshelves, i think he remains one of the most fascinating writers i have come accross. A serious, blazing intensity a..."thanks Mach..will look this up
My next classic novel is Nadine Gordimers apartheid era Occasion For Loving(1963) which continues my dominion reading theme
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In Pakistan and heading for China, they have arrived in Mansehra, in the foothills of the Karakorams. They found a hotel hidden behind the bus station. "It looked a fine spot and we decided to take a room." After booking in, they were surprised to find there was no bed in the room.
I trotted down the stairs, back to reception.
'Excuse me,' I said. 'I don't think there is a bed in our room.'
'No, sahib.'
'I see.'
The Pathan stroked his beard.
'Uh ... I'm sorry to ... be a nuisance or anything, but what do your guests ... normally ... do?'
The Pathan considered for a moment.
'They hire mattresses, sahib.'
'Terrific. That's terrific. Um ... where do they hire mattresses?'
'From me, sahib. Ten rupees extra.'
'Good. Well, could we have two?'
'Yes, sahib.'
'Any time you've got a moment just bring them up. No rush or anything.'
The Pathan knitted his outsized brows.
'No, sahib,' he said in a voice that indicated lost patience.
'What do you mean?'
'Sahib, this hotel is self-service. I have told you this thing before. Mattresses are over there.'
Gpfr wrote: "Further to the hotel theme, there are lots of hotels in my current read, William Dalrymple's In Xanadu (#348). In Pakistan and heading for China, they have arrived in Mansehra, in the foothills of..."
I forgot who suggested we could use "LIKE" in lieu of the like button in TLS when this issue was brought up recently.
So there: LIKE+++
Machenbach wrote: "Have you (or @sn) read Summer in Baden-Baden?"No - thanks for the tip, but probably not my sort of thing, especially as it will again undoubtedly focus to a large degree on some people's obsession - gambling - which leaves me bored and indifferent.
The one book I have read about Dostoyevsky himself was the wonderful 'Dostoyevsky' by André Gide, which absurdly is listed on GR but can't be found by their search engine:
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1...
It had some fascinating insights, though quite often I felt that Gide was telling the reader more about himself than about FD.
PS: Haha! I checked the link to make sure it worked, and was gratified, though not surprised, to see others making exactly the same point as I do in that last sentence.
On a mundane trip in clear and cold temperatures, to pick up some toilet roll, i passed by the local hospice charity shop and spotted a collection of small books on the cathedrals of england for £45This lovely set has a group of about 20 small little books of photos and a hardback book too. It is entitled "Notes on The Cathedrals" and dates from 1905, the author is called Fairbairns. Published by the SPCK
The Promise is fiction at its most powerful and affecting – it is a true literary masterpiece ...Is there any way I could find out how many reviewers have used the m-word for how many book(s) within the last, say 120, years?
Just to see the inflation this word seems to have undergone since.
Then again: Kurt Tucholsky had the same feelings I have; around 90 years ago...
Machenbach wrote: "AB76 wrote: "thanks Mach..will look this up.."https://www.theguardian.com/books/200..."
Actually, having read that review, I may well give this book a go... it sounds interesting.
Does the introduction add anything, though? My current book by Barbara Pym has an intro. by John Bayley, which I have not read, and quite possibly won't. Are intros. for people who can't make up their own minds, or who need encouragement? Given my rather contrary nature, if an intro. claims that a book is the greatest thing since sliced bread, I immediately take against it...
Gpfr wrote: "Further to the hotel theme, there are lots of hotels in my current read, William Dalrymple's In Xanadu (#348). In Pakistan and heading for China, they have arrived in Mansehra, in the foothills of..."
Hahaha😂 Brilliant quote!
scarletnoir wrote: "'The Love Machine' is an intriguing title - something along the lines of what is displayed in 'Barbarella' or Woody Allen's 'Sleeper', perhaps."From vague memories of there having been a film of the novel, I know that The Love Machine is the alias given to a flesh-and-blood male, very possibly, since this is Susann, meant to suggest a pseudonymous real-life celebrity (Arnold Stang?).
At some point, though, I did pick up a more obscure SF novel which may fit your description: The Climacticon.
AB76 wrote: "On a mundane trip in clear and cold temperatures, to pick up some toilet roll, i passed by the local hospice charity shop and spotted a collection of small books on the cathedrals of england for £4..."List, please. Is my favorite - Norwich Cathedral - among the collection?
AB76 wrote: "On a mundane trip in clear and cold temperatures, to pick up some toilet roll, i passed by the local hospice charity shop and spotted a collection of small books on the cathedrals of england for £4..."Yay! Tam achieves another secular pilgrimage destination. A trip to Coventry Cathedral. I wasn't too enamoured to begin with. The old bombed-out church space has a poignant feel to it.https://i.postimg.cc/W1N9cFvn/IMG-009...
But the entrance to the new built replaced extension seems rather dull and grey when peering into the far end, the nave, from the front. https://i.postimg.cc/0Nb1xHsc/IMG-009...
But the cathedral works its charm as as you work your way through it, surprising rooms with lively imaginatively put uses in stained glass. You have to get right down to the bottom and turn back to the entrance to see how impressive it is, with the light shining through the staggered windows at the sides of the church, and the roof at last seems to jump into place. https://i.postimg.cc/SxLJCR2w/IMG-010...
https://i.postimg.cc/hP2SBmm4/IMG-010...
The only disquieting moments are when you come across carved biblical words in odd places. They are of the rather threatening 'news-speak' type of being forever damned for denying gods will... Nothing like the Anglican nicely 'wooly' versions of happy lambs and shepherds gamboling in green pastures...
I wonder what your newly found books have to say on Coventry Cathedral? I was quite impressed in the end. The cathedral has a definite theme attached of 'forgiveness', and 'rebuilding', with strong links to other churches and countries, and yet remains grounded in its own history. Its an odd place Coventry. It is a bit like an enormous current bun! So much was bombed in the war that the town centre is a vast mash-up of ancient and new. You never quite know what you are going to see when you turn a corner.... Oh and in the town centre is a statue of Lady Godiva leaving us all a trenchant 'message' of the dangers of excessive taxation of the poor... rampant naked ladies will prevail...
Tam wrote: "AB76 wrote: "On a mundane trip in clear and cold temperatures, to pick up some toilet roll, i passed by the local hospice charity shop and spotted a collection of small books on the cathedrals of e..."it looks like the smaller books are from 1950, so the cathedral doesnt feature, i just had a quick look. They are wonderful little artefacts
i will add a photo to the photo section of the cover of one of the booklets right now(uploaded on photo section)
Abe Books have the collection for $55(thouigh only 36 volumes, mine is 43)
https://www.abebooks.com/servlet/Book...
MK wrote: "AB76 wrote: "On a mundane trip in clear and cold temperatures, to pick up some toilet roll, i passed by the local hospice charity shop and spotted a collection of small books on the cathedrals of e..."MK wrote: "AB76 wrote: "On a mundane trip in clear and cold temperatures, to pick up some toilet roll, i passed by the local hospice charity shop and spotted a collection of small books on the cathedrals of e..."
yes Norwich is on there!
Bangor; Bath; Birmingham; Bristol; Canterbury; Carlisle; Chelmsford; Chichester; Durham; Ely; Exeter; Gloucester; Lichfield; Lincoln; Liverpool; Llandaff; Manchester; Newcastle; Norwich; Oxford, Ripon; Rochester; St. Albans; St. Asaph; St. David's; St. Edmundsbury; St. Paul's; Salisbury; Sheffield; Sodor and Man; Southwell; Truro; Wakefield; Winchester; Worcester; York
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HC Bosman is worth checking out, he wrote short stories and a few novels with an Afrikaaner theme from the 1930s to 1940s,but wrote in English. The novel Jacaranda In The Night" is superb
Also Alex La Guma, who was a Cape Coloured writer, again specialising in short stories in the 1950s and 60s