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What are we reading? 19th January 2022
Tam wrote: "AB76 wrote: "Tam wrote: "AB76 wrote: "Tam wrote: "AB76 wrote: "There is a sadness inStory of a Death Foretold: Pinochet, the CIA and the Coup against Salvador Allende, concerning th..."yes, the DINA were basically a part of the Chilean military, so while it stood alone for 3 years, it was active within the military hierarchy from the late 60s where Pinochet was one of a number of officers who the CIA trained in torture and subversion. So it only became official after the fog of the coup lifted but was in operation long before.
a bit like the CIA had many guises before it was officially the CIA, the DINA offically became a sort of intelligence hub for all wings of the armed forces in 1973, when it had been mainly an army unit before 1973
The DINA was a vicious and very effective secret police after the coup, using networks of informers and ruthlessly hunting down all left-wing targets with extreme brutality. In Argentina the same process began in the late 70s with the same aims, their secret police was the SIDE
However, while the SIDE and DINA had same motives and methods, their was a lot of distrust between Chile and Argentina which continued well into the 1980s, due to border disputes in Patagonia. So much so that ol General Pinochet was an ally of the UK during the Falklands War, the presence of Chilean troops on the Patagonian borders meant some of the best Argentine mountain troops, used to cold weather were never deployed to the Falklands and conscripts from Northern tropical Argentina suffered in the cold wintry Falkland conditions
AB76 wrote: "In The Voyage of the Beagle Charles Darwin describes meeting Fuegians in Tierra Del Fuego, the first people of the region, this was a good 20 years before settlement flooded into the far south of ..."Fascinating AB.
Have you read This Thing of Darkness by Harry Thompson, which, though fiction, tells the story also. Thompson says in his appendix the few times he needed to embellish the fact. The reason I ask is that I had believed Darwin’s book to be a more difficult read, by which I mean detailed to a degree that most would find labouring.
Thompson is very readable, one wonders why the story has not yet been turned to a movie. Though at 900+ pages, it is in 3 distinct parts which can be read separately. It is one of my all time favourites.
AB76 wrote: "Tam wrote: "AB76 wrote: "Tam wrote: "AB76 wrote: "Tam wrote: "AB76 wrote: "There is a sadness inStory of a Death Foretold: Pinochet, the CIA and the Coup against Salvador Allende, c..."https://youtu.be/B130K2ciJok
I hope you like this song..
Greenfairy wrote: "AB76 wrote: "Tam wrote: "AB76 wrote: "Tam wrote: "AB76 wrote: "Tam wrote: "AB76 wrote: "There is a sadness in[book:Story of a Death Foretold: Pinochet, the CIA and the Coup against Salvador Allende..."You are up early, greenfairy
Woken by the sound of a cat fight outside, our two were not involved but as I was awake they thought that they might as well request early breakfast, so treats for them and hot chocolate for me🙂
Andy wrote: "AB76 wrote: "In The Voyage of the Beagle Charles Darwin describes meeting Fuegians in Tierra Del Fuego, the first people of the region, this was a good 20 years before settlement flooded into the f..."thanks andy, the Darwin copy, penguin classics, i have is abridged, as his original journal was much longer and more detailed. I havent found it hard to read at all, considering it was written in the 1830s i expected a heavier and slower moving read but actually its a good balance of longer natural history observations and shorter human ones. there are elements of humour and in some ways it feels more modern than very early victorian
Greenfairy wrote: "AB76 wrote: "Tam wrote: "AB76 wrote: "Tam wrote: "AB76 wrote: "Tam wrote: "AB76 wrote: "There is a sadness in[book:Story of a Death Foretold: Pinochet, the CIA and the Coup against Salvador Allende..."thanks,GF.
On Chile:Missing is an excellent film by Costa Gavras, starring Jack Lemmon and Sissy Spacek as the father and wife of an Amercan journalist who disappeared in 1973. It is based on the book Missing, The Execution of Charles Horman
Am saving Plohkiys Ukraine essay in the FT Weekend for this eveningAm visiting my parents for lunch, they have just ended an isolation period due to my mother being close to a covid case. She attended her book group with 12 other ladies and after the session, one of them went down with covid. Was a slightly worrying few days waiting/hoping for no symptoms but all clear in the end, both are triple jabbed as well
Mod
From The Observer today:
he has now accumulated 3,500 books... He once consulted a therapist (because he’d got a bit worried about having so many books), who told him they were his metaphorical friends.
https://www.theguardian.com/books/202...
Mod
From The Observer today:
he has now accumulated 3,500 books... He once consulted a therapist (because he’d got a bit worried about having so many books), who told him they w..."
I'll never admit to book addiction/obsession. I am looking around for Wordlers Anonymous, though.
Greenfairy wrote: "AB76 wrote: "Tam wrote: "AB76 wrote: "Tam wrote: "AB76 wrote: "Tam wrote: "AB76 wrote: "There is a sadness in[book:Story of a Death Foretold: Pinochet, the CIA and the Coup against Salvador Allende..."Poor Victor Jara. I hadn't heard of him before so thanks for that. My favourite Christy Moore was 'Ride on' which I haven't heard for years.
I had a horse for a few years, Sappho, only a mere 14.2 hands though... she didn't like men, at least I thought so. She always tried to bite them, until one day I had to get her dosed for lung worm. The local vet (an expert in 'yaks') turned up. He was rather handsome, with a lovely smile... and cuddly 'rustic' pullover. He had some fearsome looking nose pincers. He expertly twisted her head right over and popped the lotion down her throat. Well she was all over him afterwards. Big horsey slobbery kisses!... I was shocked...
my horse wants to sit in his lap
nuzzle his breast, and toothily pick at his scrumbled pully
and whisper sweet horsy nothings into his ears...
Oh dear!...I was jealous of my horse...
My favourite picture of Sappho... the human one... by August Charles Mengin (I used to wander into Manchester Art Gallery at weekends to just gaze at it, when I lived there in the 70's... https://i.postimg.cc/PfRkDS2x/b63b3a1...
AB76 wrote: "Picked up the Weekend FT and looking foward to reading Serge Plokhiy on the Ukraine, thanks to MK for tip off!Hope you found a copy too MK?"
No such luck, in part because I didn't get there early enough but also because some places have downsized their selection for some reason. Covid?
The only good thing that came out of this exercise is that a local bookstore does carry the FT, and I know they would have set one aside for me if I had called early enough.
Live and learn.
Gpfr wrote: "Do we need counselling?From The Observer today:
he has now accumulated 3,500 books... He once consulted a therapist (because he’d got a bit worried about having so many books), who told him they w..."
Need you ask?
Gpfr wrote: "Do we need counselling?From The Observer today:
he has now accumulated 3,500 books... He once consulted a therapist (because he’d got a bit worried about having so many books), who told him they w..."
Sounds like right up my alley and, according to Powells, will be published in the States in April. (My Powells basket already has $109 in it!) I'll have to winnow it down and pick up at least a few if I get there in March.
I hope @giveusaclue scrolls down to see Andrew Martin's forthcoming book.
The Gypsy's Curse by Harry Crews
This novel, in typical Crews style, is a sort of confession of Marvin Molar, a lip‐reading, signing, deaf mute who walks on his hands because his legs are so undeveloped that he keeps them folded back and bound to his buttocks with a nylon strap. Orphaned, he lives, and has always lived, in the Fireman's Gym with a 72 year old retired strongman named Al Molarski, whose head has been run over by a car, and two punchdrunk ex‐boxers, one young and white, the other black and old.
Marvin is one of the world's great balancers—able to spin himself on a single finger or stand unsupported on his square shaped head.
This is Crews's imagination at its most macabre. I feel guilt in enjoying it, and more than once thought that he might have gone too far. But to sample Crews like this is akin to a single slug of a fine Scotch, it just leaves you yearning for more, though you know it is doing you no good.
The ending is particularly hideous, yet satisfying and compelling. I was left with that taste in my mouth of 'what the hell did I just read?'.
Southern Gothic writing at its very best. Quite possibly Crews's best aswell.
Here is a (rather tame) clip..
(Russell Muscle’s wife)..Her face was long and narrow and yellow, and she always looked like she’d been crying. She couldn’t have weighed more than ninety pounds and I watched her hips as I followed her down the hall. She had a crippled ass, sort of a cigar box with a hole in it. Her ankles were slightly blue above the fake ballerina slippers she was wearing that could only have been bought out of the Woolworth’s. Real cheapies.
He was six feet two inches tall, two hundred and ten pounds of finely trained muscle, with blond shining hair falling down his neck, and standing there in the kitchen between those plaster walls and that skinny wife and those ruined children, it was like his body had somehow managed to suck all that had ever been handsome or strong or alive right out of his wife and out of the children and out of the house itself. The little boy smiled his bad teeth at his daddy, and Muscle only shook his head and then went down the hallway on his machine-smooth stride.
Here is a list of Ukraine books from a Yale University Press email received yesterday. I expect some may be rather pricey but a place to start looking. In the meantime, I'm heading to the library next week if The Volga: A History is still on the shelf.
The Ukrainians - Unexpected Nation - Fourth Ed, - Andrew Wilson
An acute and informed account of Ukraine and its people, now in its fourth edition.
“An interesting and provocative read, which will, one hopes, contribute to the Western understanding of what Ukraine is and why it matters.”—Volodymyr Kulyk, Harvard Ukrainian Studies
The Ukrainian Night - An Intimate History of Revolution - Marci Shore
A vivid and intimate account of the Ukrainian Revolution, the rare moment when the political became the existential.
“[Shore’s] history entails an extraordinary declaration of the power of human will and self-determination.”—Kate Brown, Times Literary Supplement
The Crimean Nexus - Putin’s War and the Clash of Civilizations - Constantine Pleshakov
How the West sleepwalked into another Cold War.
“Excellent and informative. It covers all the angles of the Crimean conflict and it is a pleasure to read.”—Henry Plater-Zyberk, International Affairs
Beyond Crimea - The New Russian Empire - Agnia Grigas
In the wake of recent Russian expansionism, political risk expert Agnia Grigas illustrates how—for more than two decades—Moscow has consistently used its compatriots in bordering nations for its territorial ambitions.
"Incisive, topical, and well argued—a must-read for anyone interested in the security of Europe's front-line states."—Edward Lucas, Senior Editor, The Economist
The Orphanage - A Novel - Serhiy Zhadan - Translated from the Ukrainian by Reilly Costigan-Humes and Isaac Stackhouse Wheeler
A devastating story of the struggle of civilians caught up in the conflict in eastern Ukraine.
“[Ukraine] has been embroiled in bloody conflict since 2014. . . . With The Orphanage, this war finds its bard in Serhiy Zhadan, one of Ukraine’s most interesting and talented writers.”—Michael Idov, Book Post
Mesopotamia - Serhiy Zhadan - Prose Translated from the Ukrainian by Reilly Costigan-Humes and Isaac Stackhouse Wheeler; Poetry Translated from the Ukrainian by Virlana Tkacz and Wanda Phipps
An extraordinary depiction of the lives of working-class Ukrainians struggling against an implacable fate: the road forward seems blocked at every turn by demagogic forces and remnants of the Russian past.
“Serhiy Zhadan gives voice to his generation from Ukraine’s eastern regions bordering Russia. . . . To understand the background to the crisis in this region, which has had such a major impact on the world recently, perhaps no other writer can provide insights as powerful as Zhadan."—Vitaly Chernetsky, University of Kansas
MK wrote: "AB76 wrote: "Picked up the Weekend FT and looking foward to reading Serge Plokhiy on the Ukraine, thanks to MK for tip off!Hope you found a copy too MK?"
No such luck, in part because I didn't g..."
how annoying i got mine from small corner shop, which i suspected might not have it but did
MK wrote: "Here is a list of Ukraine books from a Yale University Press email received yesterday. I expect some may be rather pricey but a place to start looking. In the meantime, I'm heading to the library..."
great stuff MK, the Ukraine will be a recurring topic in here i'm sure in next few months
Reading the FT Weekend "Arts" section, has reminded me how much i loved reading the FT over Saturday and Sunday for a good 5-6 years, until covid hit and i stopped buying it, cant remember why, i guess weekends lost their "weekend-edness" in lockdowns and days at home. The FT Weekend supplanted the Guardian when the weekend section started to get filleted down page by page, likewise i stopped buying the Monday Guardian when the fascinating Media section went from 5 pages minimum, to one page max, though i started subscribing soon after, to support the digital version.There is a Melbourne diary from Christos Tsiolkas, where he observes a city that has been in lockdown for 262 days on and off. He finds the sight of the CBD disconcerting, many months since he visited and his favourite coffee shop is gone, there is a covid-fatigue in his commentary and what it has done to the world.
I kinda know how Tsolkas feels,havent been to London for exactly two years, in January 2020 i met friends for a meal and spent the morning at the Imperial War Musuem, a week before i had strolled in freezing fog near where the covid memorial now is and met my brother for a coffee near the Tate. I havent missed London or travel overseas travel really but am beginning to plan for visits to London again, musuems/cultural.
Plokhiy on Ukraine is excellent, describing the motives of Putin and the way he has destabilised many nations with his hybrid warfare. He likens Russia to the Ottoman or French imperial decline where these empires lost political, financial and cultural capital they more they cling to imperial possessions. He seems grimly aware that trouble is coming...
AB76 wrote: "Reading the FT Weekend "Arts" section, has reminded me how much i loved reading the FT over Saturday and Sunday for a good 5-6 years, until covid hit and i stopped buying it, cant remember why, i g..."Oh, dear. I've just discovered that I can subscribe for a weekends only print. And the deed it done.
MK wrote: "AB76 wrote: "Reading the FT Weekend "Arts" section, has reminded me how much i loved reading the FT over Saturday and Sunday for a good 5-6 years, until covid hit and i stopped buying it, cant reme..."just one weekend?
these paywall papers are a nuisance like that, print is now seen as almost an extravagance "on demand". i was happily enjoying Haaretz weekend, a wonderful read, until they offered me a digital version, i said no and that was that, no more print.
i am glad that the NS, NYRB, LRB and others are still in print but i wonder when they will start filleting their hard copy, filing it down to a minimum. In the NS my favourite column by kevin maguire has been moved "online only"....grrrrr.
Worst of all, a young-ish and diverse staff of journalists at the NS has been kicked into the long grass by the poaching of the toady, fading Andrew Marr, what a disaster, i used to love him in his Indy days but stopped watching him on tv about a decade ago, now he will be in my face in the New Statesman. He has been hired at the expense of the excellent Stephen Bush who is off to the FT!
MK wrote: ""I hope @giveusaclue scrolls down to see Andrew Martin's forthcoming book.Can you give me a clue?
Has anyone come across any books published by Analog Sea or their offline literary journal called The Analog Sea Bulletin? They describe themselves in an attractive leaflet - which is all I’ve seen - as a small community of writers and artists wishing to maintain contemplative life in a digital age.
They distribute their books exclusively through independent bookshops spread around several countries in Europe (60+ in the UK) and the USA and Canada. They seem to be based in Austin, Texas, with another office in Freiburg, Germany.
The FT has a weird hit-and-miss distribution policy where we are. You’re more likely to find hard copies in a village general store than a region-wide supermarket chain. It’s a pleasure to pick up the FT Weekend once in a while, e.g. if we’re passing through Middlebury and stop at the co-op.
They distribute their books exclusively through independent bookshops spread around several countries in Europe (60+ in the UK) and the USA and Canada. They seem to be based in Austin, Texas, with another office in Freiburg, Germany.
The FT has a weird hit-and-miss distribution policy where we are. You’re more likely to find hard copies in a village general store than a region-wide supermarket chain. It’s a pleasure to pick up the FT Weekend once in a while, e.g. if we’re passing through Middlebury and stop at the co-op.
Middlebury, Vermont, that is. I'm forgetting I'm not vermontlogger over here.
Russell wrote: "Middlebury, Vermont, that is. I'm forgetting I'm not vermontlogger over here."impressive you get the FT up there Russell, was imagining french-canadian papers might be the foreign news of choice?
looks lovely on wikpedia
AB - French-Canadian papers - Maybe right up near the border, but I don't remember seeing any, even in Burlington, which is a sizable (and rather magnificent) city. Of course, there is a huge French-Canadian history in New England, originally with the explorations of Champlain, on whose eponymous lake Burlington sits, but in later centuries perhaps more in the coastal regions, e.g. the fishing and logging industries in Maine, and the cotton mill towns like Lowell, Mass.
Russell wrote: "AB - French-Canadian papers - Maybe right up near the border, but I don't remember seeing any, even in Burlington, which is a sizable (and rather magnificent) city. Of course, there is a huge Frenc..."the French-Canadian numbers are amazing, i remember doing some research a few years back on the Maine and Mass communities. not so much on vermont...interesting info Russ
Mod
Gpfr wrote: "It strikes me that What We're Reading in The G isn't going to get a vast number of comments if it's not more promininently displayed - you have to search for it, it doesn't show up under Books. Peo..."I found it under "more books" but it isn't obvious. Perhaps deliberate?
Mod
I found it under "more books" but it isn't obvious. Perhaps deliberate? ..."
Ah, yes, I clicked on other things but must have missed that. I wondered about 'deliberate'.
Gpfr wrote: "(I bookmarked it)"I usually comment at some point, so I just go to 'my account'>'comments and replies' to find the page again.
Mod
Sure, but I'm thinking more of people who don't know it's there.
Gpfr wrote: "Sure, but I'm thinking more of people who don't know it's there."Yes, I guess as it's a new feature there won't be many new visitors after it has been moved from the top of the Guardian Books webpage. This used to happen as well, and we used to grumble that they should at least keep it in the same place, but I think when people start to learn about the new forum it won't be a big problem.
SydneyH wrote: "Gpfr wrote: "Sure, but I'm thinking more of people who don't know it's there."Yes, I guess as it's a new feature there won't be many new visitors after it has been moved from the top of the Guard..."
good points though, the G does need to work harder on its layout sometimes, a lot of things get plastered everywhere, some barely feature
It may not be a problem for those who know but if the “What we’re reading” column/comments section gained yet more interest by being more conspicuous, more readers might contribute/subscribe to the Guardian in gratitude!
I am a little concerned about keeping it going for a month until it settles to some kind of pattern.Poem of the week always moves along and down as Wwar is doing and it doesn’t seem to cause any difficulties for the regulars..
CCCubbon wrote: "I am a little concerned about keeping it going for a month until it settles to some kind of pattern.Poem of the week always moves along and down as Wwar is doing and it doesn’t seem to cause any d..."
snowdrop update CCC, on the hangar behind my house, the first snowdrops have appeared, a lot less than normal though, just single flowers amid the brambles
I've got a 50% off voucher for And Other Stories burning a hole in my pocket (as a result of a mix-up that means I'm the proud owner of three copies of Paulo Scott's new book). Does anyone have any recommendations?The three I'm most drawn to are 'Love' by Hanne Orstavik, 'All Dogs Are Blue' by Rodrigo de Souza Leao, and 'Oldladyvoice' by Elisa Victoria, so would love to hear views on those ones in particular, but also interested in any others that you particularly enjoyed.
snowdrop updateYes, there are many in bud now here sprinkling the verges like stars, mostly still in bud form, but there do seem slightly fewer than last year.
Gpfr wrote: "It strikes me that What We're Reading in The G isn't going to get a vast number of comments if it's not more promininently displayed - you have to search for it, it doesn't show up under Books. People who didn't see it on the first day (or 2?) won't know it's there. (I bookmarked it)"Indeed.
It's nowhere to be seen in the Books section, and should be in the Regulars, but is not there either. I might try to mention it (at the risk of embodying ever more the nagging persona).
But I think that if we want it to strive, we also need to do our own bit in terms of participation, otherwise it might not stay long enough for people to "learn about the new forum" as Sydney puts it...
So it'd be fab if people who feel like it repost their reviews/thoughts on books over there, esp. those new ones from this weekend 😊.
Just in case: link to the new, monthly TLS:
https://www.theguardian.com/books/202...
Gpfr wrote: "It strikes me that What We're Reading in The G isn't going to get a vast number of comments if it's not more promininently displayed - you have to search for it, it doesn't show up under Books. Peo..."I noticed that as well. Strangely enough in the category "What to read" the "...best books about islands..." has been on the front page since August 2021.
AlbyBeliever wrote: "I've got a 50% off voucher for And Other Stories burning a hole in my pocket (as a result of a mix-up that means I'm the proud owner of three copies of Paulo Scott's new book). Does anyone have any..."i havent read it yet but i have the collected stories of Gerald Murnane,the great Australian master, from And Other Stories on my pile..plus there are a few Cesar Aira novels worth buying and Fleur Jaggy novels(swiss writer in italian)
i have just ordered chilean novel "the remainder" from their site
@georg. So sad to hear that Norma Waterson has died.
Lass wrote: "@georg. So sad to hear that Norma Waterson has died."Such a great loss. Very few people have done more for English folk music than her, her husband and their daughter. RIP
@Slawk. Yes, indeed. Her brother Mike, and sister, Lal too. Saw them all perform. Good Yorkshire folk, in both senses of the word!
Just picked up a copy of Guardian Weekly at the supermarket, first time i have ever seen it on sale, which is maybe a bad sign for marketing where i ami will have probably read 75% of it already but that money spent well support the G along with my monthly fee i pay. I dont subscribe to Viners sunny uplands narratives on the G anymore (she reminds me of public sector bosses making bad cuts but trying to smile and tell everyone its rosy in the garden) but Viner is not the G, the G is the G!
AB76 wrote: "yes, the DINA were basically a part of the Chilean military, so while it stood alone for 3 years, it was active within the military hierarchy from the late 60s where Pinochet was one of a number of officers who the CIA trained in torture and subversion."Been a bit off colour for a couple of days - not even done Wordle - so a bit late to the Chile discussion...
I'm old enough to remember this, and how infuriated we on the left were by the overthrow of a democratically elected government by a military junta - supported by the 'land of the free', no less. Basically, it seems that only capitalist political parties need apply in South America - or that was the case then, anyway. (More recent leftist governments have also suffered, though more by economic measures than military ones, I think - I'm no historian or expert on this stuff, though.)
I also remember meeting a few Chilean refugees in Paris in the 1980s... for a while, there were many travelling bands of buskers from south america playing on the streets, though I don't know if these were also fugitives or were there simply for economic reasons - or even which country they hailed from.
Of course, Pinochet had his collar felt in the UK in 1998, but was eventually allowed to leave... he was pursued for human rights violations by Judge Guzmán Tapia in the 2000s, but Pinochet's health issues (real or fictitious?) delayed prosecution, so that he died unconvicted of his numerous crimes, according to Wikipedia:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indictm....
Pinochet's good friend Margaret Thatcher sent him a bottle of scotch to tide him over during this period, and spoke out against his arrest and detention.
Roberto Bolaño dealt with the junta's use of torture in Distant Star, and though it's not a 'realistic' depiction I found it effective and interesting.
AlbyBeliever wrote: "I've got a 50% off voucher for And Other Stories burning a hole in my pocket (as a result of a mix-up that means I'm the proud owner of three copies of Paulo Scott's new book). Does anyone have any recommendations..."Good job I went back and read to the end of your post. I was just about to recommend Paolo Scott's Phenotypes, which I shall finish later today. I did have a look at their site yesterday and I haven't read any of their authors though on the strength of Phenotypes I certainly should. I did try Gerald Murnane's Invisible Yet Enduring Lilacs but couldn't get on with it I'm afraid.
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Thanks for making that clearer, but in that Allende was assassinated in 1973, surely there must have been an earlier incarnation of that particular body, somewhere or somehow?... for their involvement to be counted as part of the 'Chilean' plot?