What are we reading? 19th January 2022

[SydneyH]

Slawkenbergius wrote: "I'm currently reading Bellow's The Victim, a novel about antisemitism in post-war America. It predates the language exuberance Bellow would later develop in Augie March but there are very nice pieces pieces of prose"

I think The Victim is my favourite Bellow, and it's the one I generally recommend as a starting point. I believe Bellow said that in his first two novels he was too dedicated to a sort of Flaubertian style that hampered his progress. But there are so many understated passages worth revisiting, and I find the concept Kafkaesque.

[Lljones]

Slawkenbergius wrote: "Lljones wrote: "Mario helped, of course."

That second picture reminded me of one of Tom Gauld's cartoons.

😉

[Lljones]

MK wrote: "Glad to see THERE WILL BE DOORS!..."

😉

[Andy]

CCCubbon wrote: "Andy wrote about
Puerto Rican tales of Horror

which Anne remarked upon above.

I thought that a dear Puerto Rican friend would be interested and sent it to her and this is her reply which she has..."

CCCubbon wrote: "Andy wrote about
Puerto Rican tales of Horror

which Anne remarked upon above.

I thought that a dear Puerto Rican friend would be interested and sent it to her and this is her reply which she has..."

CCC - your friend talks about post-hurricane issues, and actually several of the stories are concerned with this. Though I suppose it is horror, rather it is as the title suggests, Tales of the Dead.
Please do forward that author’s name. Could be it’s written in Spanish, and my few skills wouldn’t manage that, but this was written in English..
many thanks

[Reen]

Greetings one and all

I seem destined to leave another Colum McCann book unfinished, at least for the moment; I got about half way through Let the Great World Spin over Christmas but since being back at work haven't been able to apply myself to finishing it.

Each time I leave my mother's house, I leave a note on that day's page of a daily contemplations book she reads when she goes up to bed at night. If we are heading to bed around the same time while I'm there, she reads me the "thought for the day" and decries my cynical bent so I think she gets a kick out of my occasional insertions.

I was missing her when I got a surprise book in the post last week. My husband, an avid Nick Cave fan, had seen him mention A Year With Hafiz, a book of daily contemplations, on Cave's Red Hand Files blog. So I've been contemplating daily, enjoying these renderings of Hafiz's poetry by Daniel Ladinsky. There's a good bit of poetic licence but it's about as much as my brain can cope with for the moment. Not finding today's one tickling my fancy, I skipped ahead to tomorrow's. The last couplet reads:

"A problem has arisen. I can't leave right now, you
feel too close. Do you mind if we kiss for an hour?"

If I start now, I'll be finished in time for a Wordle at bedtime. A Year with Hafiz: Daily Contemplations

In other non-challenging reading, I enjoyed Stanley Tucci's Taste; he writes as he speaks. It's almost as if he's sitting there talking to you between mouthfuls of spaghetti, immaculately dressed and managing not to drip pasta sauce onto his pristine shirt. Or so it seemed to me. I'd wager he wordles well.
Taste: My Life through Food

[Fuzzywuzz]

AB76 wrote: "CCCubbon wrote: "scarletnoir wrote: "CCCubbon wrote: "It’s a personal view but I found that the best method of teaching reading was a combination of ‘look and say’ and phonics with as much experien..."

For years, in my head, I read the word 'awry' as 'oree' - up until about 10 years ago when I said it out aloud. There have been other words....

[AB76]

Fuzzywuzz wrote: "AB76 wrote: "CCCubbon wrote: "scarletnoir wrote: "CCCubbon wrote: "It’s a personal view but I found that the best method of teaching reading was a combination of ‘look and say’ and phonics with as ..."

interesting..

[Fuzzywuzz]

Anne, what a lovely synopsis of last weeks' book chatter. There will never be a shortage of interesting books that people recommend here, this place is fabulous :)

Thank you for putting time into these introductions.

[Hushpuppy]

Reen wrote: "I enjoyed Stanley Tucci's Taste; he writes as he speaks. It's almost as if he's sitting there talking to you between mouthfuls of spaghetti, immaculately dressed and managing not to drip pasta sauce onto his pristine shirt."

Oh, you've just reminded me that I'd like to watch Big Night! (I'm sure that Col will appreciate if he reads you/eTLS...)

[Reen]

Hushpuppy wrote: "Reen wrote: "I enjoyed Stanley Tucci's Taste; he writes as he speaks. It's almost as if he's sitting there talking to you between mouthfuls of spaghetti, immaculately dressed and managing not to dr..."

I've never seen that film but, yes, descriptions of the Timpano made me want to see it (I wouldn't thank you for the Timpano itself, glorious though it must be to behold). I like Tucci; he's a good blend of ordinary and a bit up his own arse. Just enough to be forgiven for it.

[AB76]

Fuzzywuzz wrote: "Anne, what a lovely synopsis of last weeks' book chatter. There will never be a shortage of interesting books that people recommend here, this place is fabulous :)

Thank you for putting time into ..."

hear hear...thanks anne

[Reen]

Reen wrote: "Hushpuppy wrote: "Reen wrote: "I enjoyed Stanley Tucci's Taste; he writes as he speaks. It's almost as if he's sitting there talking to you between mouthfuls of spaghetti, immaculately dressed and ..."

Timpano curiosity can be satisfied here...

https://www.theguardian.com/food/2021...

https://www.theguardian.com/food/2021...

[Hushpuppy]

Reen wrote: "Timpano curiosity can be satisfied here...

https://www.theguardian.com/food/2021..."

Thanks! There's also a TV series, which I'd like to see (when I'm not starving)... https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-ra...

[Reen]

Hushpuppy wrote: "Reen wrote: "Timpano curiosity can be satisfied here...

https://www.theguardian.com/food/2021..."

Thanks! There's also a TV series, which I'd like to see (when I'm not starving)... https://www.th..."

Oh you'll enjoy that. We watched it last year but you'll want to immediately pack a bag and head Italy-wards. No bad thing I suppose.

[[deleted user]]

Hushpuppy wrote: "*A cautious announcement*

The Head of Books at The Guardian, as promised, got back to me yesterday - without any prompt, which makes for a refreshing start of the year - to let me know that they a..."

Oh my goodness. I'd given up hope!

[[deleted user]]

Yoshi wrote: "Hi everybody, this is my first post (more or less), thought I'd let you know what I am reading. I am about halfway through The Idiot by Fyodor Dostoevsky. I am finding it a joy to read so far. Dost..."

Lovely to see you here, Yoshi.

[[deleted user]]

Diana wrote: "Many thanks to giveusaclue. I found the desktop version once I had deleted the IPad app."

Excellent.

[[deleted user]]

Andy wrote: "repost from end of last week’s thread
The Portico Prize is announced on Thursday, for the book the best invokes the spirit of the North of England.
I’ve read only one of the shortlist, [book:Mayfl..."

I'm really interested in this prize. I'd never heard of it. And I listen to Front Row most nights, but turned off early that night.

[[deleted user]]

Andy wrote: "repost from end of last week’s thread
The Portico Prize is announced on Thursday, for the book the best invokes the spirit of the North of England.
I’ve read only one of the shortlist, [book:Mayfl..."

Oops. Forgot to say I haven't read any of them.

[[deleted user]]

Lljones wrote: "Thanks for another great intro, Anne! I enjoy reading the posts as they appear, but I enjoy reading your round-up even more. And you know I loved the PF conversation!

Thanks also for the shout-out..."

I'm fascinated by Mario's degree of blackness. I don't know any black cats, so have no real life comparison. (And yes, I know black is black, but he seems even blacker somehow!)

[scarletnoir]

Yoshi wrote: "An episode where Myshkin wanders through the city, having a nervous breakdown and sensing an oncoming epileptic shock being especially memorable."

Welcome, Yoshi... I must have read 'The Idiot' at least twice - a long time ago, now - it well deserves its place among the four great novels of Dostoyevsky's career, though I liked it slightly less than the others, probably because the protagonist is a man of faith rather than a tortured fence-sitter (I may, of course, be mis-remembering here).

Anyway - you may or may not know that Dostoyevsky himself suffered (if that is the word in his case) from a rare form of epilepsy, called 'ecstatic epilepsy' - there are quite a few articles online about this - for example:

IT WAS one of the most profound experiences of Fyodor Dostoevsky’s life. “A happiness unthinkable in the normal state and unimaginable for anyone who hasn’t experienced it… I am then in perfect harmony with myself and the entire universe,” he told his friend, Russian philosopher Nikolai Strakhov. What lay behind such feelings? The description might suggest a religious awakening – but Dostoevsky was instead describing the moments before a full-blown epileptic seizure.

Those sensations seem to have informed the character of Prince Myshkin in Dostoevsky’s novel, The Idiot. “I would give my whole life for this one instant,” the prince says of the brief moment at the start of his epileptic fit – a moment “overflowing with unbounded joy and rapture, ecstatic devotion, and completest life”.

For a long time, the novelist was thought to be exercising his artistic licence and exaggerating this “ecstatic aura”, rather than accurately representing a real phenomenon. Most epileptic attacks are terrifying, after all, and many people with epilepsy would give a lot not to experience another. But as more and more people with the condition have come forward reporting the same feelings, there has been a renewed interest in this “Dostoevsky syndrome” – and neuroscientists are now on the hunt for the cause.

https://www.newscientist.com/article/...

In my own mind, this personal experience of Dostoyevsky's is linked to Nietzche's theory of 'eternal recurrence':

"What, if some day or night a demon were to steal after you into your loneliest loneliness and say to you: 'This life as you now live it and have lived it, you will have to live once more and innumerable times more; and there will be nothing new in it, but every pain and every joy and every thought and sigh and everything unutterably small or great in your life will have to return to you, all in the same succession and sequence—even this spider and this moonlight between the trees, and even this moment and I myself. The eternal hourglass of existence is turned upside down again and again, and you with it, speck of dust!'
"Would you not throw yourself down and gnash your teeth and curse the demon who spoke thus? Or have you once experienced a tremendous moment when you would have answered him: 'You are a god and never have I heard anything more divine.' If this thought gained possession of you, it would change you as you are or perhaps crush you. The question in each and every thing, 'Do you desire this once more and innumerable times more?' would lie upon your actions as the greatest weight. Or how well disposed would you have to become to yourself and to life?"

https://www.thoughtco.com/nietzsches-...

It's pretty clear to me that what Nietzche is proposing is not that 'eternal recurrence' is a real phenomenon - rather the key lies in that final passage 'Do you desire this once more and innumerable times more?' would lie upon your actions as the greatest weight. Or how well disposed would you have to become to yourself and to life?'... In other words, the advice is to live your life so that , in spite of its inevitable disappointments, pain, and grief - you would be willing to go through it all, to experience it all again and again, just for those days, hours, or just moments of supreme joy...

That's the challenge.

[scarletnoir]

Andy wrote: "The Portico Prize was featured on Front Row on Monday evening (Radio 4), in the last ten minutes if anyone wants to catch it on iPlayer. "

There was a brief discussion of eligibility last week, because:

The Portico Prize is a £10,000 biennial award for the book that best evokes the spirit of the North of England, open to new works of fiction, non-fiction, and poetry.
To be eligible for entry, a book should have a central theme or subject that engages with some aspect of the North, whether, for example, through place, character, or sensibility.

https://www.theportico.org.uk/portico...

Well, I always thought 'the North' started at Watford...

[scarletnoir]

Andy wrote: "I have on my tbr list another Welsh novel, just published in English a month or so ago, Llyfr Glas Nebo by Manon Steffan Ros (or The Blue Book of Nebo in English..."

Let us know what you think about this... I see that it won prizes:
Aimed at the Young Adult audience, Llyfr Glas Nebo was the winner of the Prose Medal at the National Eisteddfod in 2018 and won in three Welsh-language categories at the Wales Book Awards in 2019. The novel is already on the school syllabus, and is a best-seller—hence the full house in the Sherman's main auditorium, and the "Sold Out" notices on the tour itinerary.

I don't normally read YA or post-apocalyptic novels, but may step out of my comfort zone if you recommend it...

[scarletnoir]

CCCubbon wrote: "English is such a hotch-potch of languages old and new, silent letters and combinations which make different sounds or, indeed, the same word which sounds different according to the context I marvel that it has become such a universal language.

Indeed... one of the oddest features (to me) is the silent 'p' as in 'pneumatic' or 'psychiatry'... the corresponding words in French do sound the hard 'p' (plosive) as in 'pneu' (tyre) or 'psychiatre' (psychiatrist) - which is far more logical, though it makes the words more difficult to pronounce!

[scarletnoir]

MK wrote: "Do not click on that link as there is even a Raymond Chandler Mystery Map for sale."

I have posted this before (I think) around the time I reviewed a biography of Chandler - but for those interested in maps and in Chandler's Los Angeles, it is a fascinating way to virtually visit a number of locations used in the novels:

https://la.curbed.com/maps/raymond-ch...

[CCCubbon]

@Andy (58)

Here is the list of Puerto Rican authors and poets. I don’t know if there are any translations, I couldn’t find an Alfaro one. This is from my friend.


Aside from Díaz Alfaro, these are some of the core authors of Puerto Rican literature from the 19th and 20th centuries.  I think one of the most important things to consider when reading any Puerto Rican literature is that we’ve never not been a colony since 1493, and that weaves into everything.  We’ve gone from a quiet island with Taíno indians (part of the Arawak tribes of the Caribbean), threatened mostly by the Caribs from the southeastern Lesser Antilles, to being colonized by the Spanish and then handed over to the Americans.  If you keep in mind that we’ve been in that situation  for 528 years and there’s no end in sight, our literature will acquire a different slant from that of other Latin American countries.

René Marqués
Julia de Burgos
Juan Antonio Corretjer
Luis Rafael Sánchez
Rosario Ferré
Esmeralda Santiago
Eugenio María de Hostos
José de Diego

I would also point out that the former Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Puerto Rico, José Trías Monge, wrote a book titled Puerto Rico: The Trials of the Oldest Colony in the World.
One more

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Luis_Re...

[Gpfr]

Hushpuppy wrote: "Reen wrote: "I enjoyed Stanley Tucci's Taste"

"you've just reminded me that I'd like to watch Big Night!r..."

I'd like to see Big Night, too - I've been looking out for a dvd.
I listened to Stanley Tucci reading extracts from Taste on BBC Sounds - thanks to MK if I remember correctly. I saw Searching for Italy on CNN and loved it - except for the constant ad breaks!

[Gpfr]

Thank you, Anne, for the impressive intro.
Welcome, Yoshi.

[SydneyH]

There is a line of thinking that Philip Roth’s prose lost some of its vitality in his later career, and I think I’ve been won over to this argument. Roth’s first book, Goodbye, Columbus, has my favourite opening among Roth’s work, and the title novella, a story of young love, is excellent, with plenty of wit. The short stories that accompany the main text are not of the same standard.
The Counterlife remains on my list, partly due to John Banville’s blunt claim that the novel is ‘unquestionably’ Roth’s major work. The Ghost Writer and Patrimony are also still in the mix, thanks to being under 200 pages each.
Now reading Rock Crystal by Adalbert Stifter, a slender text from the New York Review of Books.

[giveusaclue]

Finished reading

The Secrets of the Bastide Blanche

Enojoyed this one in the series very much with a nice twist towards the end. I can recommend them to any Francophile crime novel readers.


I have now moved on to:


This series is set in Brittany which appears to be a country of its own! I think the author enjoys writing about Brittany as much as he likes writing the mystery.

[FrancesBurgundy]

Fuzzywuzz wrote: "For years, in my head, I read the word 'awry' as 'oree' .."

Me too Fuzz. I thought it came from 'awe'. I also thought 'misled' was the past tense of 'misle' and said it accordingly. I spent all day yesterday trying to think of one or two other words I can't pronounce but no luck so far. Though I do try to keep the old-fashioned British English pronunciations in schedule and respite, and I have been known to say that it's five-and-twenty past two.

The word that I really can't cope with is 'contumely'. It's a noun that looks like an adverb. I couldn't possibly use it in speech, but fortunately I don't think I'll have many opportunities.

[Andy]

Anne wrote: "Andy wrote: "repost from end of last week’s thread
The Portico Prize is announced on Thursday, for the book the best invokes the spirit of the North of England.
I’ve read only one of the shortlist..."

I was looking for an archive of past winners, but couldn’t find it.
I recall hearing something about it previously, and that Benjamin Myers had won one year, but I may be confused.
Could be it’s got a new website and sponsor this year.
Let’s see who wins tonight…

[Andy]

scarletnoir wrote: "Andy wrote: "The Portico Prize was featured on Front Row on Monday evening (Radio 4), in the last ten minutes if anyone wants to catch it on iPlayer. "

There was a brief discussion of eligibility ..."

The guy who speaks about the award, sounds like the administrator, was asked about where the north starts on Front Row…better left undefined, he said.

The O’Hagan book is probably favourite. Has attracted the most attention I’d guess. I notice Tom Mooney, of our TLS parish, just read it for a second time, and raved for a second time. For me, it’s was a bit too sad to fully enjoy.

Nebo - hope to get to it soon…

[Andy]

CCCubbon wrote: "@Andy (58)

Here is the list of Puerto Rican authors and poets. I don’t know if there are any translations, I couldn’t find an Alfaro one. This is from my friend.


Aside from Díaz Alfaro, these ar..."

Please pass on my thanks c ³..
I’ll look through them this afternoon.

[Yoshi]

giveusaclue wrote: "Yoshi wrote: "Hi everybody, this is my first post (more or less), thought I'd let you know what I am reading. I am about halfway through The Idiot by Fyodor Dostoevsky. I am finding it a joy to rea..."

Thanks for the welcome! Prompted by Diana's reply to you above, I have finally figured out how to switch to the desktop version. I admit I was already getting frustrated without the possibility to reply, edit or quote. How do all of y'all do it, I thought. So this is more satisfying, immediately.

@hushpuppy : You won't be surprised if I say I highly recommend The Brothers Karamazov. It is my favourite Dostoevsky, and amongst my favourite reads, period. I absolutely loved it. There's something about that rural setting that just swept me away when I read it. ( And of course there's more to it than that).

Re: Maps : The exhibition at the Huntington looks fascinating. If I were near... Anyways, I love a good map. Always happy to find one when I open a book. Haven't found the link to the sale, so I am still at risk there.
Incidentally, two of my favourite reads last year featured maps: Malgudi Days by R.K. Narayan and the classic The Earthsea Trilogy. Malgudi Days was truly wonderful. As suggested in the introduction, I read one short story a day and thus got to spend about a month with the inhabitants of Malgudi. Exactly what I needed during grey winter days. Here is the map of Malgudi: http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-RZlZ0_FZnuc..."
Doesn't it just make you want to explore the city?

[Gpfr]

At the moment I'm reading one of the lovely Slightly Foxed paperbacks: A Cab at the Door by V.S. Pritchett. He was born in 1900 and he writes about his London childhood. The title comes from the fact that his father's business ventures were not always crowned with success, so they had to make a hasty departure to escape creditors. I'm reading - and enjoying - a chapter at a time interspersed with other things. At the point I've reached, he's coming up to fourteen.

Our first day at Alleyn's school in Dulwich began with the sort of shame we were used to. Our new clothes were stiff, Father was late and in a temper. It was a two-mile walk ... He was a brisk walker in spite of his weight; he had his father's soldierly carriage and the print of insult on his face. He had the art of turning any occasion like this into something like the sacrifice of Isaac. When we sighted the school we exclaimed at the fine trees and large playing fields. He blew up and said he wasn't sending us to this school to waste our time and his money playing games. We feared he would insult someone at the school. For, as usual, we were not being taken on the first day of term: it had begun two or three weeks before, Father pointing out that his time was more valuable than any schoolmaster's.

The boys were apprehensive about meeting the headmaster, knowing

that in spite of Swan and Edgar's we were incorrectly dressed. It had been laid down firmly that we must wear black jackets, striped long trousers and black shoes. Father had said he was not going to allow any tu'penny ha'penny schoolmaster to dictate to him. We were pushed before him into the headmaster's study, my brother wearing a very loud yellow tweed knickerbocker suit and myself a slightly less savage brown one. We wore painfully banana-coloured shoes as well.

In spite of the headmaster's protests, Victor continued to wear the suit for the two and a half years he was at the school.

I've just read the latest in Martin Edwards' Lake District mysteries, The Crooked Shore and now I'm reading Tom Benjamin's 2nd Bologna-set mystery The Hunting Season - truffles and the mafia!

[giveusaclue]

FrancesBurgundy wrote: "Fuzzywuzz wrote: "For years, in my head, I read the word 'awry' as 'oree' .."

Me too Fuzz. I thought it came from 'awe'. I also thought 'misled' was the past tense of 'misle' and said it according..."


Epitome is another one.

[CCCubbon]

I cannot think of any more words for the moment but do remember that up until 1970 there were films shown in British cinemas on Saturdays, Saturday morning pictures). I went along to watch Hoppalong Cassidy, Roy Roger’s and The Lone Ranger - I only remember the cowboy films, this would have been late 40s early 50s.

There was usually time for a sing song in the middle and it wasn’t until years later that I learned that it wasn’t Anne Goes Away, Away but Anchors away.

[Hushpuppy]

Y'all making me feel better about not knowing how to pronounce English words! These ones I learnt late (as in, not at school): comb, tomb, awry, gauge; I'm sure there are many others.

Re colleges, there's also Caius in Cambridge.

Edit@gpfr: Same here, I actually remember now that I've tried to source Big Night, including looking at the vast database I luckily have access to as an academic, and nada.

[Gpfr]

Andy wrote: " The Portico Prize - I was looking for an archive of past winners, but couldn’t find it. ..."

Here are the winners 1985 - 2015:
https://www.theportico.org.uk/portico...

And I found this:
The Prize was last awarded in 2020 to Jessica Andrews for Saltwater. Previous winning and shortlisted authors include Benjamin Myers, Richard Benson, Anthony Burgess, Val McDermid, Sarah Hall, A.S. Byatt, Hilary Mantel and Simon Armitage. from https://www.voice-online.co.uk/entert...

[Yoshi]

scarletnoir wrote: "Yoshi wrote: "An episode where Myshkin wanders through the city, having a nervous breakdown and sensing an oncoming epileptic shock being especially memorable."

Welcome, Yoshi... I must have read ..."

Thanks for your reply. No, I did not know about Dostoevsky suffering from epilepsy. That is most interesting. No wonder the passage about Myshkin's breakdown stands out for its viscerality, if Dostoevsky could draw from lived experience. Those musings on Nietzsche in connection to this are really fascinating! I shall keep them in mind reading further.

I am not sure whether Myshkin is necessarily a man of faith ( then again, I haven't finished the novel yet). I agree with Machenbach in that Myshkin and The Brother Karamazov's Alyosha share a lot of qualities. Both characters I am quite partial to. Well I am actually named after Alyosha Karamazov, so I reckon I should ( there's a fact about me :) )

Myshkin is almost a Candide-like figure, his faith in the good and his morality being tested and bruised by Russian society. Not by accident he prefers the company of children to that of adults. Well, thinking about it, yes, maybe he is a man of faith, though not primarily in a religious sense. And he gets his fair share of torture.
Thanks @Machenbach for dropping the term yuródivyy. Learned another thing today.

[Lljones]

Anne wrote: "I'm fascinated by Mario's degree of blackness..."

Mario is as black as black can be. Hair, nose, paws.... Only his pink tongue and whitish inner ear skin interrupt the blackness.

They say black cats are often a Siamese-mixed breed. I think this is most likely true of Mario, because of his Siamese-like characteristics and personality traits. He's smart as a whip, highly interactive, a talker (without the siamese yowl), affectionate, a trickster.

[scarletnoir]

CCCubbon wrote: "...the former Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Puerto Rico, José Trías Monge, wrote a book titled Puerto Rico: The Trials of the Oldest Colony in the World.."... 1493, apparently.

It rather depends on how you define 'colony', doesn't it? As for Wales:

As a result of military defeat, the Treaty of Aberconwy exacted Llywelyn's fealty to England in 1277.[64] Peace was short-lived, and, with the 1282 Edwardian conquest, the rule of the Welsh princes permanently ended. With Llywelyn's death and his brother prince Dafydd's execution, the few remaining Welsh lords did homage to Edward I.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wales#A...

My suspicion is that, depending on the definition used, other countries will be able to go back well beyond 1277...

Certainly, when the invading power treats the local peasants with contempt (we can look at recent references to Wales by Tory MPs and the Tory press) then the feeling of 'being a colony/colonialised' persists...

[scarletnoir]

giveusaclue wrote: "This series is set in Brittany which appears to be a country of its own! I think the author enjoys writing about Brittany as much as he likes writing the mystery."

The author is 'Jean-Luc Bannalec' - the 'ec' ending sounds authentically Breton - except that the real person is German author Jorg Böng...

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

Now, this does not in and of itself mean the books are 'bad' by any criterion - they may be excellent - but it does raise questions about the level of authenticity to be expected.

I know Brittany very well, and so doubt that I'd get on with this series... I have seen a couple of episodes of the (German-language) TV series based on the books, and was not impressed. Again, the books may be better than the TV programmes for all I know...

[Georg]

On pronounciation:

I really didn't understand the problem with "awry" [ooree]. Now I've listened to the pronounciation. Same with epitome....
I am sure I will always read/write them with the wrong pronounciation in my head.

It took me a while to digest choir, yacht and vineyard. Let alone some geographical names

[scarletnoir]

Machenbach wrote: "The narrator of Before and During is clearly related to the Dostoyevskyan 'type' - his sudden blackouts and memory loss an echo (ironic?) of their fits and revelations. He is named Alyosha, and he plays a similar - neutralish/reporting - role to Alyosha in The Brothers Karamazov, and perhaps has something of the Alyosha/Myshkin yuródivyy about him, 'though, again, there's a strong sense that this is being ironised or satirised."

Thank you for that interesting comment - it sounds as if Sharov's book is, again, a bit outside my comfort zone of - more or less - things that actually could have happened, but there's food for thought there. Do I know enough in detail about those portrayed in the book to enjoy it? Apart from Dostoyevsky - probably not.

Alyosha, now - there's a case... by some distance the least interesting character in 'Karamazov', this wan and saintly creature was, apparently, destined to become a political dissident and (I think) a terrorist in Dostoyevsky's planned second volume... or so I have read.

Such a pity he didn't live to write it - the journey of that character would have been fascinating... see

https://www.jstor.org/stable/24663296

Edit: Just - finally - been able to track down the term yuródivyy - thanks for that - it exactly fits with what I understood about Myshkin from 'The Idiot'.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Foolish...

[AB76]

SydneyH wrote: "There is a line of thinking that Philip Roth’s prose lost some of its vitality in his later career, and I think I’ve been won over to this argument. Roth’s first book, Goodbye, Columbus, has my fav..."

i have a collection of Stifters stories called "Motley Stones" on my pile, which includes Rock Crystal

[giveusaclue]

Gpfr wrote: "
At the moment I'm reading one of the lovely Slightly Foxed paperbacks: A Cab at the Door by V.S. Pritchett. He was born in 1900 and he writes about his London..."


Just read the first in the Tom Benjamin Bologna series. Case of jury still out a little, but interesting because of the setting

[scarletnoir]

Yoshi wrote: "I agree with Machenbach in that Myshkin and The Brother Karamazov's Alyosha share a lot of qualities. Both characters I am quite partial to."

First of all, thanks for your reply!

As I am not religious, I always identified with Dostoyevsky's atheists (or doubters, at least) - Ivan in 'Karamazov' and to quite a degree Raskolnikov... I don't recall empathising especially with any characters in 'The Idiot', but he's such a brilliant writer that I remained fascinated.

You may be interested to see what Dostoyevsky had (apparently) planned for Alyosha in my previous post in reply to @Mach...

[Andy]

Gpfr wrote: "
At the moment I'm reading one of the lovely Slightly Foxed paperbacks: A Cab at the Door by V.S. Pritchett. He was born in 1900 and he writes about his London..."

Thanks for the Edwards recommendation GPFR.
I find that series quite appealing. There are so many crime novels set in the Lake District, but Edwards always does a good job.