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What Are We Reading? 28 February 2022
Veufveuve wrote: "Where should one start (I can't remember which titles they had)?"I would recommend The Selected Stories (Farrar, Straus and Giroux), which I think is the best of the three I've read. I imagine that other Selected Stories collections would be quite good also. Of the novels, I've only read Jakob von Gunten, which I didn't think was as good as the stories. I am occasionally surprised by just how prolific Walser was - new books seem to be coming out all the time.
Regular readers will know that I am not a great admirer of Kafka's depressing tales, but it's clear that he has fans in the UK Home Office:On Wednesday, the Home Office said a new visa centre was due to open in Lille the following day although it refused to give a specific location and said it would operate on referrals only and would not allow walk-in appointments.
(It turned out later that the centre was... in Arras.)
https://inews.co.uk/news/uk-new-visa-...
MK wrote: "That is, if you have the time and inclination to divert from the ever present TBR pile..."Thanks for those suggestions... my knowledge of Cuba (such as it is - I have never visited) comes from memories of events in the news - I was in my teens and early 20s in the 1960s, when the Bay of Pigs and missile crisis happened... plus keeping up to date from time to time with (mainly) hostile US rhetoric and actions (sanctions etc.) Interesting (but maybe not surprising) to know that there have been some attempts at normalising relations below the radar... I guess the hostility of Cubans in Florida (especially) makes this politically difficult.
I also have some knowledge based on fictional accounts... James Ellroy's American Tabloid, for example - which I read a few years ago. The Internet is an invaluable resource for filling in the gaps, so long as you can separate facts from rhetoric!
AB76 wrote: "two trips to Africa, both which resulted in novels, one of which was "The Heart of the Matter" one of the best Greene novels i have read..."FWIW, I much prefer the 'other' African book - A Burnt-Out Case.
Looking at the Wikipedia entry, I became aware that I read this in the first edition (or at least, the tattered cover was the same as that shown). I have no idea where it is now, or if I still have it!
Thanks to Tom Mooney for putting me onto this. I doubt my review will do it justice, but here’s a try.. Mercia's Take by Daniel Wiles
Wiles received a Booker Prize Fountaion Scholarship to fund the writing of this book, and it was clearly money well spent. This is an outstanding debut from what is an exciting new British writer.
It is set in 1872, the heart of the Industrial Revolution, in a small Black Country village where the landscape and social cohesion are being savagely torn apart by its three collieries. Among those miners, many of them young children, working in the shocking conditions is Michael Cash. He has taken a second job in order to send his six year old son to school. Having worked himself in the mine while still a boy, he is determined that this son won’t suffer the same fate. But when taking that second job loses him his first, he feels his cautious plan slipping through his fingers.
That’s enough of the plot to seduce potential readers. To say any more would spoil the experience, and many reviewers give too much away.
Suffice to say that the book has a propulsive plot moving rapidly to a rhythmic beat. It is robust fiction that is deservedly compared to the likes of The Gallows Pole; indeed Benjamin Myers was full of praise in his review for The Guardian. However, this is very much it’s own thing. It has more of an experimental style enriched by its use of the speech and accent of the Black Country, not only in the dialogue, but across the whole of the piece. This use of language encapsulates directness, generosity and a kind of classless intimacy.
Behind a seemingly perpetual night, mines and furnaces materialising out of the smog, Wiles reminds us that this is part of the ancient of Mercia, and it’s King, Offa.
This was a very powerful and memorable reading experience. That use of language slowing my reading to a crawl, for which I was very grateful in a such a short work.
Here’s a clip as Michael who has made his way on foot and by cart and canal arrives in Dudley..
Further south atop a hill sat the castle. Mostly destroyed and derelict. It’s stone foundations reaching up from the blackness like the carcass of some giant prehistoric mammal. Trees sideclung. To the west giant brick kilns bloomed from the earth like permanent weeds. And from them limesmoke. All this a picture of what looked to him like nothing he had ever seen before. A land eating itself like a dog chewing its leg off to escape a snare.
Hopefully this will be a contender for awards. It deserves recognition. I’m sure it will figure as one of my best of the year.
Veufveuve wrote: "I don't think I'd ever heard of Robert Walser until very recently. Then when I was in the bookstore last weekend I noticed they had a couple of volumes, and now there's all this talk of him here. W..."I would recommend "The Assistant", Veuf. An early novel, lakeside location and very readable, was my first Walser and left a strong impression about a decade ago
scarletnoir wrote: "AB76 wrote: "two trips to Africa, both which resulted in novels, one of which was "The Heart of the Matter" one of the best Greene novels i have read..."FWIW, I much prefer the 'other' African bo..."
thats on my pile somewhere scarlet, been meaning to read some Greene non-fiction before and finally i'm ready to go, with this slim volume.
AB76 wrote (#202): "Georg wrote: "Machenbach wrote: "AB76 wrote: "Tam, still nothing on why Walser started to write in micro script style from "Walks With Walser".
Its an engrossi..."I have just re-read Seeligs book after I saw the discussion here.
I had forgotten a lot: Walser's sometimes shockingly conservative, even reactionary views.
If you are willing to play the game of "show me yours, then I'll show you mine": I'd be genuinely interested in what you made of the paragraph about dictators (September 10, 1940). Don't worry.
You have nothing to lose. Promise!
Georg wrote: "AB76 wrote (#202): "Georg wrote: "Machenbach wrote: "AB76 wrote: "Tam, still nothing on why Walser started to write in micro script style from "Walks With Walser".[bookcover:Walks with Walser|30347..."re that section, there is a lot of truth in what he says, the fatherly figure, providing security and illusions. it reminds of Fromms idea of the "fear of freedom" and then applying that to Nazi or communist civilians who are offered a path of solid security, providing you dont transgress, the future looks solid. or the illusion does.
the downside of wanting a fatherly figure to provide safety and routine is when a line is crossed, the arbitrary line of communist or fascist legal reality, drawn lazily in the sand.
SydneyH wrote: "Veufveuve wrote: "Where should one start (I can't remember which titles they had)?"I would recommend The Selected Stories (Farrar, Straus and Giroux), which I think is the best of the three I've ..."
it seems that a lot of the writings of Walser were preserved and printed due to the work of Carl Seelig, who wrote the "Walks with Walser" book. I agree, there are maybe 3 or 4 new-ish translations published and its great to see Walser getting all this apprecation
One thing that puzzles me about CF Ramuz and his translators seems to be basic ignorance about the setting of his novels.Ramuz was a French-Swiss Protestant born in the overwhelmingly protestant and french speaking canton of Vaud. In his times it was 82% Protestant.
The second consecutive introduction to one of novels mentions the canton of Vaud as the setting for his novel but due to the catholic faith of the people and the locations of villages he stayed in while writing the novels, it is clear he set them in the neighbouring majority Catholic canton of Valais
Ramuz wasnt religious as an adult but unlike say Chessex, he covers very little of the lives of Protestant French-Swiss for some reason and that is not made clear by any of his translators or admirers. Its nit picking in 2022 but i am suprised the location of his novels remains mistaken so often, Vaud is a very different confessional canton to Valais.
For reference in 1909 when the novel i am reading was written, Vaud was 82% Protestant, Valais was 2% Protestant.
Ramuz was fascinated by Valais and its french community as opposed to its significant German speaking minority, so this may explain it, linguistic, not religious interest in Valais
giveusaclue wrote: "For the history mystery lovers here I have just come across another author :https://www.fantasticfiction.com/n/ch...
I have just read The Crooked Spire set (n..."
Thanks, I see my library has it. On the list it goes. it is no wonder one can write in the dust at my house.
Also, I've never been to Chester, and I am beginning to think that time is rapidly catching up with me, so I may not make it there either. I had a look at the crooked spire, but it looks more twisted or spiral to me.
PS - Reading (rationing) one Cadfael a month during lockdown helped a lot. Finished Brother Cadfael's Penance
just as the world was opening a crack.
Just saw this at the NY Times and have put it on hold at the library -
Secret Identity. How's that for a cover and a theme? Clip from the promo at the library - "From Anthony Award-winning writer Alex Segura comes Secret Identity, a rollicking literary mystery set in the world of comic books.
Machenbach wrote: "Georg wrote: "Nothing in his medical notes suggests that he ever displayed symptoms of schizophrenia. But why would a hack not love to use a buzz-word like that? Chances are your readers will never..."did you enjoy Seeligs book Mach? Its a shame it wasnt longer really, i was really getting into the swing of the relationship between the two men and the book covers 20 years of walks from 1936-56. I guess Seelig re-constructed a lot from memory and maybe from walks that had interesting convo rather than long meals and beer
i get the feeling that Walser enjoyed the walks as they were external to the asylum and the focus on walser "the patient" and rather were a chance to be walser "the thinker and writer" on a days/hours striding through eastern switzerland with a friend
This is to wish you a very happy birthday, Tam.https://i.postimg.cc/8CJHQDnZ/Mouse-i...
Take care. I hope you will have an as lovely day as possible.
Edit: Arrgh: Image posting not working directly... sorry.
Hope to be able to say something substantial on Walser at some stage, meanwhile, reading your posts with interest.Hope you feel much better already, Anne, and thank you, Lisa, for opening up the new thread (and everything else).
Really enjoying the unclunky Guardian surface again, but it is good to see you here, too.
Take care, everyone.
@ Veufveuve: Loved The Lonely Londoners, too!
Edit: Sorry for rushed posts... meeting someone at 6:00 p.m. (in 17 minutes - need to be off!)
Shelflife_wasBooklooker wrote: "This is to wish you a very happy birthday, Tam.https://i.postimg.cc/8CJHQDnZ/Mouse-i...
Take care. I hope you will have an as lovely day as possible.
Edit: Arrgh: Image posting not worki..."
Thanks Shelfie... I always love a medieval mouse or two... Having a birthday meal out with friends on Sunday. It is remarkably difficult to get them to gather in one place, and at one time... just like herding cats...
Machenbach wrote: "AB76 wrote: "did you enjoy Seeligs book Mach?."I did yeah - the picture of Walser it presented initially slightly surprised me, and Bernofsky notes some of its shortcomings - these are partly a r..."
they both had hearty appetites those two, if i was doing a days walking i would eat a lot less than they did and i like my food (though thankfully i'm still slim)
Demographics of the Ukraine before the invasion make depressing reading, just did a check and there has been a 7 million drop in population between 1990 and 2021, with negative natural balance(deaths over births) every year since 1991.The refugee crisis will increase that problem but of course refugees are not emigrants, they will want to return and god bless, they do.
Adding the fake rebel regions created by Russia back to the population doesnt change the Ukraine much, still down around 5m
The demographics for Russia are no better mind you, though since 1991 they have had 3 years where the natural balance (births over deaths) was positive in that period
Here are a few recommended audio books from a Seattle Public Library librarian - https://www.seattletimes.com/entertai...The list includes one for kids. I expect there are real paper books as well. I have put this one on hold - “A Backpack, A Bear, and Eight Crates of Vodka: A Memoir".
@Robert #205 - That Bouguereau painting you posted is a wonderful. Even if today we’re not supposed admire the academic style, anyone would have to agree that his execution is superb. There’s another great Bouguereau in The Clark in Williamstown, MA, called “Nymphs and Satyr”, one of the stars of the collection. I’d post it if I could find a copiable image. I’ve heard that among figurative artists he’s regarded as a premier painter of flesh (which fits with the character’s comment about technique), and there’s certainly a lot on view in this one too.
Just uploaded a photo/comic for our friends of cats.
@Karen – I’m interested in translated Japanese crime thrillers. There has been a short exchange over on WWR, and there is an idea that you might be the person to consult. If you see this and could suggest a couple of titles for a beginner to start with, that would be great.
@Georg – Heine – I have posted a piece on WWR which I adjusted in the light of our exchange.
MK wrote: "I've never been to Chester."Chester is worth a visit, for sure.
MK wrote: "giveusaclue wrote: "For the history mystery lovers here I have just come across another author :https://www.fantasticfiction.com/n/ch...
I have just read The ..."
Chesterfield. And yes the spire is twisted
https://i2-prod.derbytelegraph.co.uk/...
Tam wrote: "Shelflife_wasBooklooker wrote: "This is to wish you a very happy birthday, Tam.https://i.postimg.cc/8CJHQDnZ/Mouse-i...
Take care. I hope you will have an as lovely day as possible.
Edit..."
Happy Birthday Tam. Had my last celebratory meal on Wednesday for my birthday 2 weeks earlier!
Tam wrote: "Shelflife_wasBooklooker wrote: "This is to wish you a very happy birthday, Tam.https://i.postimg.cc/8CJHQDnZ/Mouse-i...
Take care. I hope you will have an as lovely day as possible.
Edit..."
happy birthday Tam. glad you enjoyed the book about the great scuttle
Mod
😉
Russell wrote: "@Georg – Heine – I have posted a piece on WWR which I adjusted in the light of our exchange."Help! I didn't copy down where to find WWR and the Guardian search was not helpful. I would appreciate some directions.
I wanted to post there A Short History of Spaghetti with Tomato Sauce
which is a really fun book. What could be better than a lively recount about such an everyday food item with lots of historical tidbits added. Did you know that Italians were among the first to use a fork (of sorts)?I downloaded my copy from the library, and now I want to buy the book book, plus I'm having a look at some of his other works - Massimo Montanari.
scarletnoir wrote: "MK wrote: "That is, if you have the time and inclination to divert from the ever present TBR pile..."Thanks for those suggestions... my knowledge of Cuba (such as it is - I have never visited) co..."
H.L. Mencken's "Gore in the Caribbees" describes Havana during a long-ago revolution.
Russell wrote: "@Robert #205 - That Bouguereau painting you posted is a wonderful. Even if today we’re not supposed admire the academic style, anyone would have to agree that his execution is superb. There’s anoth..."I've taken a stab at "Nymphs and Satyr."
MK wrote: "Help! I didn't copy down where to find WWR ..."https://www.theguardian.com/books/202...
If you just google 'Guardian' and 'What We're Reading' the series page should pop up.
MK wrote: "Russell wrote: "@Georg – Heine – I have posted a piece on WWR which I adjusted in the light of our exchange."Help! I didn't copy down where to find WWR and the Guardian search was not helpful. ..."
Here you go:
https://www.theguardian.com/books/ser...
(We wouldn't want all HushPuppy's hard work and lobbying go to waste, would we?)
I also wish the Guardian would make it easier to find... if you have an account and make comments, you can always get back to it by clicking the 'My Accounts' button at the top, finding a comment you've posted, and then click on the title...
Robert wrote: "I've taken a stab at "Nymphs and Satyr."Not sure how to take that!
FWIW, I tend to agree with the view of 'Lord Clark of Civilization' on this occasion:
Kenneth Clark faulted Bouguereau's painting for "lubricity", and characterized such Salon art as superficial, employing the "convention of smoothed-out form and waxen surface."
by Antonio TabucchiI have just finished this short novel - thanks to whoever recommended it - I assume someone did, though the search facility failed to turn up any references, oddly. (Maybe I came across it by a random process of online browsing?)
The story is set in a hot and sweaty Lisbon, in 1938. Pereira is an ageing journalist - formerly a crime reporter, now a corpulent widower who is seeing out his working life in a new job as the cultural correspondent of a second-rate Lisbon paper. He hires a young man, Monteiro Rossi, as an assistant to write obituaries of famous authors who may die soon.
The early part of the book is light-hearted and droll - in any case, it tickled my sense of humour - and the frequent interjection 'Pereira maintains' acts as a sort of punctuation to the narrative. (I know some readers found this irritating - not me.) As the story unfolds, the mood darkens as we become increasingly aware of the historical context - for example, the Spanish Civil War is in full swing, and Portugal is a dictatorship (Salazar is never mentioned). Without apparently making a conscious choice, Pereira finds himself drawn in to the political situation in his country.
To avoid spoilers, I won't say more about the plot... I enjoyed this book a great deal, and will almost certainly read more by Tabucchi... I did feel that the direction of travel of the story became evident a bit too early - the author could have taken more time with the first part, and maybe concealed his intentions for longer. I would also have liked to know the fate of one important character, but I suppose the book mirrors life in that there are often things we don't know and never learn.
The book incidentally mentions a significant number of authors - I knew most of the names, but often not their political or philosophical leanings (apart from Claudel), so it proved interesting to quickly research those individuals.
I strongly recommend this book - not perfect, but very good indeed.
Preface to Pereira Maintains by Mohsin HamidThis preface is an almost perfect example of why I don't read prefaces - or certainly not until after I have read the book itself.
In the first paragraph, as context, Hamid names no fewer than eleven authors he admires... I like one (Camus), have sampled and discarded four others, would never dream of reading another as the genre is not my thing (Tolkien), suspect two others of being too depressing and another of including supernatural elements... and have never heard of the other two.
So, by putting Tabucchi in that company, if I had picked this up casually in a bookshop and read that paragraph, Hamid would have convinced me - quite wrongly - that this was not a book for me.
He then indulges in a piece of tasteless 'book porn':
I have always had a thing for slender novels, and I liked the way 'Pereira' looked, the way it felt in my hands. I took it back to my hotel, and straight to bed... It lay elegantly on the sheets beside me. I ran my thumb along its fore edge, narrow and sharp against my skin. I lifted it, opened it and plunged in.
I ask you!
Then, as if that were not enough, he goes on to include some plot spoilers, or rather 'explanations' - Hamid has decided that the doltish reader is too thick to understand the relationship between Pereira and the young Rossi, or with his deceased wife, so makes a point of telling us what it is... as if it would not be far better and more satisfying for the readers to figure these things out for themselves as they read Tabucchi's prose.
The preface contains a few more banal statements about politics and art, and the influence the book had on Hamid's own writing - which this preface has pretty much determined me to avoid.
(I wonder if publishers have actually done any research on whether prefaces are more inclined to make potential readers buy a book, after browsing, or to reject it.)
scarletnoir wrote: "MK wrote: "Russell wrote: "@Georg – Heine – I have posted a piece on WWR which I adjusted in the light of our exchange."Help! I didn't copy down where to find WWR and the Guardian search was not ..."
It doesn't help that the Guardian relocates the page a few times!
Typing comments is much easier at my PC than on my phone - I thought I posted something here yesterday but maybe I didn't hit the 'Post' button...Not that I have much to say about reading. I think I have spent more time reading comments about books both here and on the Guardian rather than books themselves.
The following below may contain spoilers for
which so far is an enjoyable thriller - an ex-CERN employee (Dr Alex Hoffmann) turned strategic financial investor with secrets to hide finds himself assaulted by an intruder in his home, an abnormal CT scan of his brain and unusual financial transactions supposedly executed by Dr Alex himself. Each chapter opens with an extract from the various works of Charles Darwin. The very start of this story sees Dr Alex reading from a first edition copy of 'The Expression of the Emotions in Man and Animals' by Charles Darwin - a book which he supposedly ordered but has had no recollection of doing so.
Robert Harris does create a great sense of foreboding as the story progresses - the financial investments make by Dr Hoffman's company are based on a sophisticated IT algorithm which predicts where to invest and make money based on the volatilty of the markets.
Things are surely going to go boom very quickly, but the tension is palpable. So far, so good.
This is very different from 'Fatherland' by the same author - it's hard to believe it is the same author. If this ends well, I might give 'Pompeii' a go. Has anyone read this?
Fuzzywuzz wrote: "Typing comments is much easier at my PC than on my phone - I thought I posted something here yesterday but maybe I didn't hit the 'Post' button...Not that I have much to say about reading. I thin..."
i never use my phone for anything like this..always on pc
@ everyone to whom this is of interest: You can always find "What we are reading", the sort of TL&S successor over at The Guardian, under this stable link: https://www.theguardian.com/books/ser...It shows you past and current threads. I have bookmarked it in my browser, makes things easier.
Tam wrote:
Having a birthday meal out with friends on Sunday. It is remarkably difficult to get them to gather in one place, and at one time... just like herding cats...Sounds lovely, Tam - hope they will be herded, after all!
It would be so much easier if cats were pied-piper herdable: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pied_Pi...
But also, it would be topsy-turvy - we don't need more of that just now, I wager.
Happy belated birthday to you, too, give!
Russell wrote: "@Georg – Heine – I have posted a piece on WWR which I adjusted in the light of our exchange."Good! I've just joined you banging the drum for him with one slightly changed post from this forum.
Better late than never (I hope): Happy Birthday, dearTam!And, very belatedly, the same to all the February-babies (I am one as well) who had their birthdays while I was away.
Mod
And, very belatedly, the same to all the February-babies (I am one as well) who had their birthdays while I was away."
Belated Happy Birthday to you, too.
@Robert – Bouguereau - Thanks for putting that up. I should have said also that this is a large painting, probably 5 1/2 feet by 6 feet, so quite an eyeful.
@Scarlet– Lubricity is certainly one objection. Improbability is another. I mean, why would a satyr be reluctant to go and play with four laughing nymphs?
@Scarlet– Lubricity is certainly one objection. Improbability is another. I mean, why would a satyr be reluctant to go and play with four laughing nymphs?
I've got through 4 books this week, mainly through reading in bed until all hours and despite spending time, at last, getting the garden straighter.Two Chris Nickson's John the Carpenter books. I mentioned the first upthread and enjoyed the second just as much.
Just finished Jonathan Kellerman's latest Alex Delaware novel. I enjoyed it as I have with the other books in the series, but I found the denouement rather an unlikely and very huge coincidence.
Another book this week was
In which a young woman is found murdered in a beauty spot in identical manner to several murders 20 years ago. Unfortunately the main suspect at the time is now dead. Is he really dead or is it a copy cat killer?
I think I would remember books better if I read them more slowly! or perhaps it is an age thing!
Mod
You might enjoy these short videos from the Musée de Cluny website.
https://www.musee-moyenage.fr/actuali...
The museum is still not open.
AB76 wrote (#202): "Georg wrote: "AB76 wrote (#202): "Georg wrote: "Machenbach wrote: "AB76 wrote: "Tam, still nothing on why Walser started to write in micro script style from "Walks With Walser".[bookcover:Walks wit..."I had to read that paragraph on dictators three times.
It was preceded by a remark of Walser about Walter Hasenclever, who had just killed himself: "You do not agitate against the power of fathers. I have already, in Berlin, felt Hasenclever's play "The Son" was an insult to all fathers. Wanting to overthrow eternal laws is a sign of intellectual immaturity."
From there he went on to dictators. Who are fatherly. Loving and indulgent, but also stern and strict.
I had the same feeling as you: he seemed to endorse the impossible beast of the benign dictator.
On the second reading I thought: but that is only my interpretation. And tried to read between the lines. To come to the conclusion that my interpretation could be completely wrong. That he meant to do away with the idea of the benign dictator.
When I read it for the third time I thought this could even be slightly sarcastic. Only I do not associate Walser with sarcasm at all.
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Ersatz TLS
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Having mentioned the shop, and in the spirit of recommending independents, and in the hope people may one day be able to travel and visit bookshops in other cities, I was in Ark Books on Møllegade. Achingly hip(ster), but always interestingly stocked:
http://arkbooks.dk
In the meantime, Pontopiddan is going well.