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What are we reading? 13th April 2022
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A rather dispiriting but important article in the LRB on the plight of the Ukraine female refugees a few months into the crisis.The author looks at the situation regarding opportunistic traffickers and the balance between counselling and birth control support for the refugees who have been raped or suffered traumatic experiences in the war so far. She highlights how Polands repressive anti-abortion laws make official support for women refugees very difficult to obtain.
The situation of numerous male military volunteers near the border and the disturbing accounts of men offering single young women to "share a bed with them", make me despair for humanity sometimes.
I can end on a personal and more positive note , the village and valley where my parents live has organised to take about 8 ukrainian families from the same area of Ukraine, so they that are living within a few miles of each other. Its a beautiful area of rural england and i am so pleased that around 25 women and children will live in the area i grew up, safe and secure,until they return to the motherland. Its not very far from where i live and has been well organised
Robert wrote: "giveusaclue wrote: "Lljones wrote: "Anyone need a cat?"
No comment!!"
My sister says that her Burmese/ American Shorthair mix has become very lively, too... our late, cold spring may make them ..."
If you knew the amount of cleaning up I have had to do lately after other people's cats!
AB76 wrote: "Gpfr wrote: "I'll have to get out some summer clothes - temperatures of up to 28° forecast here in Paris over the next few days."its warming up here too....could be 24c by weekend in the south ea..."
It even hit 19C here on my holiday in Yorkshire today!
giveusaclue wrote: "AB76 wrote: "Gpfr wrote: "I'll have to get out some summer clothes - temperatures of up to 28° forecast here in Paris over the next few days."its warming up here too....could be 24c by weekend in..."
All I can say is - I'm glad it's getting warm somewhere. In the first week of May we (Seattle/King County as measured at the airport) have managed to surpass the average precipitation amount for the moth in one week! Plus, it's still cold! And the rest of the month doesn't look much better.
The only saving grace is the snow pack is way above normal. For us that means we won't have to worry water rationing this summer. If you long for snow pictures, google Timberline Lodge for a fix.
Summer clothes? Persisting down here…..
https://www.theguardian.com/artanddes...I have signed up for this, for the 26th May. It sounds like my sort of thing! I am curious, amongst a few other things... Note Cugel, if you happen to drop by, we could take a walk up to inspect the 'ideas' and see how they are getting on, up on the common on that day (late in the afternoon), as it is not that far away from where you are. It might take me back to some of my 'hippyish' roots perhaps?... I don't know, but I'm happy to give it a go... as in many things, at least once.
I had a lovely walk in the park with Gladarvor... Well done her, to me, to be up for meeting up with a complete stranger in a jointly, localish park, to admire the bluebells... Anyway very much enjoyed the event, and the distraction from hospital visiting/waiting and magpie watching, which will end next Monday, hopefully. Though I am happy to continue with the magpie watching wherever that happens to be...
There was a curious 'sliding doors' sort of moment from talking to Glad. She said her initial degree was in theoretical physics, and that she could well have, if she had continued along that line, ended up at CERN, but she changed horses in mid-stream... and jumped ship into other streams. which is also what I have also done on many an occasion in life...
We, the family that is, went to visit Cern, on a guided tour, around about the time that she might well have been there as a theoretical physics graduate. We went because we were in the south of France when the Hadron Collider started up, and were much interested/entertained by the news reports of those few days before the start-up, which varied between it being the possible cause of a black hole opening up which will takeout most of Switzerland... and more so... to absolutely nothing would occur. Eventually, one British scientific expert, who was called upon to comment, said that the possibility of the black hole opening up was about the same as for a small green dragon appearing at the site of the colliding particles.
Anyway, the black hole did not appear, but we did aquire a small green dragon, through uncertain/unclear origins, and a few years later we took him to visit CERN. https://i.postimg.cc/vTdcX8Sk/P102071... But the point of the story was that Glad, being quite a few years younger than me, could well have been in that room, watching the particles collide, whilst we gazed through the 'tourist' window, and watched the 'live' collisions in the central control room on a large screen... https://i.postimg.cc/qq0vybNd/P102070... (as an odd aside, if you were a theoretical physicist in those days it seemed that you had to have a natty 'stripy' jumper to hand... and on display. I do take note of some quite odd things it seems...).
Anyway it did not happen but I am pleased to have, in a roundabout way, collided with Glad in the park... The dragon is still regularly, and happily, taking the odd trip, to 'elsewhere'...
MK wrote: "giveusaclue wrote: "AB76 wrote: "Gpfr wrote: "I'll have to get out some summer clothes - temperatures of up to 28° forecast here in Paris over the next few days."its warming up here too....could ..."
We were promised dizzy heights of 21⁰ . I donned a summer blouse
and skirt and sandals expectantly and have shivered in the cloud and wind. No where near 21⁰ - where’s my jumper……
CCCubbon wrote: "MK wrote: "giveusaclue wrote: "AB76 wrote: "Gpfr wrote: "I'll have to get out some summer clothes - temperatures of up to 28° forecast here in Paris over the next few days."its warming up here to..."
its 16c at 2124 hrs(20c by day), balmy and warm, the sweet and sometimes sickly rowan blossom scent is drifting in on a westerly breeze through my window. down here in the desert of the south east it has barely rained for a month, spring lasted about 2-3 weeks, blazing into life, just the ash still to fully leaf, so early its not even mid-May!
Russell wrote: "Tam wrote: "...The only one I didn't get on with was 'The Shipping News', by Annie Proulx..."Oh dear - I loved it, a downbeat story in a bleak landscape in which two lonely people getting into mi..."
Russell wrote: "Tam wrote: "...The only one I didn't get on with was 'The Shipping News', by Annie Proulx..."
Oh dear - I loved it, a downbeat story in a bleak landscape in which two lonely people getting into mi..."
I loved it too Russell, one of my favourite books. Brokeback Mountain is beautiful too, and a manageably slim volume. I enjoyed the films too.
Reen wrote: "Russell wrote: "Tam wrote: "...The only one I didn't get on with was 'The Shipping News', by Annie Proulx..."Oh dear - I loved it, a downbeat story in a bleak landscape in which two lonely people..."
So many "toos". You'd think I could have swapped in an also.
I read 'The Shipping News' to the end, but felt rather disappointed - to me, it seemed to suffer from being over-hyped and not as good as I expected... yet another in the 'overpraised' pile. It was OK, but no more than that - a quick check of Proulx's other novel titles shows none that are familiar - I thought I may have tried a second, just in case - but apparently not, unless it was so unremarkable that I have forgotten the title. Maybe it was a collection of short stories...
AB76 wrote: "CCCubbon wrote: "MK wrote: "giveusaclue wrote: "AB76 wrote: "Gpfr wrote: "I'll have to get out some summer clothes - temperatures of up to 28° forecast here in Paris over the next few days."Since arriving in Brittany on 23 May, the weather has been dry and mainly sunny except for one day of light rain, and one night of heavy showers. The first week, though, suffered from a cold wind from the north-east. This week has been warm or even hot - we sat outside yesterday evening for an evening snack with friends, and I had to drape a fleece over my shoulders to protect against the sun (it is not my friend). According to the TV, it should have maxed out at 26C or so - I'd say it was a couple of degrees cooler, probably.
This is our first visit to 'our place' at this time of year, and we have enjoyed the beautiful rhododendrons, many of which my wife planted 10 years or more ago... we had never seen them in flower before!
Tam wrote: "We... went to visit Cern, on a guided tour, around about the time... the Hadron Collider started up, and were much interested/entertained by the news reports of those few days before the start-up, which varied between it being the possible cause of a black hole opening up which will take out most of Switzerland...."I'm a physicist, and was much entertained by these scare stories written by scientifically illiterate journos... one of my students had spent a year at CERN on a placement...
As for your 'travelling dragon', this reminded me of the 'travelling gnome' which was nicked from someone's garden, and photographed in all sorts of international locations... Eiffel Tower, Sydney Harbour Bridge, etc. It seems that the incident was not a one-off, and that the practice has a name - 'gnoming'... the French have even taken this a bit further:
The Garden Gnome Liberation Front in France is a community that considers gnoming to be stealing garden gnomes from other people's property, without the intention of returning them, as part of their purported mission to "free" gnomes and "return them to the wild", which has sometimes led to criminal charges, jail time, or fines., though I take the 'jail time' claim with a pinch of salt - but who knows?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Travell...
AB76 wrote: "...the village and valley where my parents live has organised to take about 8 ukrainian families from the same area of Ukraine, so they that are living within a few miles of each other. .."Well, I hope they manage to get in... the UK government appears determined to extend its 'hostile environment' policy to immigrants and refugees to include Ukrainians, by making it really difficult for anyone to pass the border - unlike goods from the EU, for which the import rules have just been waived for another 18 months!
https://www.euronews.com/my-europe/20...
https://www.theguardian.com/politics/...
Robert wrote: "The comic novel Tight Little Island (Compton Mackenzie?) takes place during the Second World War when a ship carrying whiskey runs aground between two islands, one Presbyterian, one Catholic, all fishermen, all thirsty."You appear to be unaware that this novel - indeed by Compton MacKenzie - was filmed as 'Whisky Galore' in 1949. It has an excellent cast and is very funny:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whisky_...
Gpfr wrote: "I've been in Iceland crime novel-wise:Ragnar Jonasson, The Girl Who Died
Arnaldur Indridason, 3rd in the Konrad series, La Pierre du remords. Haven't found English ..."
Me too, as it happens - after a stressful period, during which I read a lot but reviewed nothing, I can now comment on some of those novels... as far as Iceland is concerned, I read in rapid succession three of the Freyja and Huldar tales by Yrsa Sigurdardottir: The Absolution, Gallows Rock and The Doll (books 3-5). These were competently translated by Victoria Cribb.
All books in the series feature child psychologist Freyja and cop Huldar, who are sometimes attracted to each other but also frequently fall out... this and other interactions between the cops and others are convincingly portrayed - the motivations and confusions of human relationships are well depicted. In the main, the tales also seem pretty convincing as police procedurals... some may find the pace a little too leisurely, but I enjoy the style. If there is a weakness, it lies in the endings, which appear to pack in far too much in too short a time, unlike much of what has gone before - the way in which some of the stories are wound up can also be pretty far-fetched. But... I like the characters and the series, so overall recommended.
In addition, the books usually take a social phenomenon as a starting point - bullying and social media in one, drug abuse in another etc. The author allows her characters to debate such issues in a sensible and balanced manner, though the reactions of the murderers to their experiences can hardly be described in that way!
Gpfr - like you, I tend not to like anything 'supernatural', but have enjoyed quite a few of Ragnar Jonasson's books... Indridason is as good as any of the Icelanders, though can be inconsistent. I don't know Thorarinsson.
I started "The Dawn of Everything: A New History of Humanity," David Graeber and David Wengrow, last night. I do quite want to read it, but will be honest - I mainly picked it up because I was rushing out of the house and it was the only I could find that appealed at all. I suspect I'm going to need some fiction to read alongside it.
I see that the Guardian has opened a new WWR for April... Glad active again in the comments, as are many who also post here.
Sorry for not being very active these past few weeks, I'm not busy doing anything other than collecting dust and getting head-butted by a 1 and a half year old. I'm catching up on posting the latest books that I've read.Howdy folks. Long time no chat. I've gotten a pretty good amount of reading done in this past month.
I made my yearly foray into Willa Cather territory (I LOVE WILLA CATHER) with Shadows On The Rock
. This time around she apparently left the American plains and high desert for a lonely rock on the Saint Lawrence river. She still centered her narrative on the strife of trying to carve out a niche in inhospitable environs, this time focusing upon the 2nd generation of French settlers in Quebec City. The story focuses on Cecile and her father Euclide, the personal pharmacist to Count de Frontenac the governor of the province eking out a viability on animal pelts.As usual with Cather, there is a sense of indomitableness, a clash of human determination and a mocking nature. No one writes a sunset or a horizon like Cather. Her trees are all moss-covered and her rivers frozen solid and you feel the need for another blanket when reading her.
Her characters happiness comes from accepting their new home and shaving off a little of the rocky hill to make their own. Whether it's desert-stranded bishops, or wind-blasted immigrants amongst the winter wheat, her characters happiness derives from an acquiescence and a sense of accomplishment. Inevitably, for Cather unchecked ambition is fatal and wistfulness and longing lead to depression.
The resignation of the Count to his bones mouldering far from home, and Euclide's clinging to his French-style sitting room becoming more threadbare by the year are doomed to end in disappointment. The young bishop's need to impress and reform clash with the reality of living on a rock surrounded by thousands of kilometers of forest. Instead, Cecile's decision to be Quebecois ensures her satisfaction and her abundance. Cather would certainly have agreed with Thomas Wolfe that you can't go again, but she would hardly have wanted to.
As always, Cather is brilliant.
I generally have an aversion to everyone else's favorite. When I was in high school, Nirvana was great until I saw a cheerleader wearing a Nevermind shirt and I thought that Arcade Fire was my secret and then Bowie made them huge. Generally, I find my way back to them, once all of the poseurs and fairweather perfidies glom onto another trend. But for that same reason, I tend to see the local darling as not really someone who has any need of my intention to add to his or her accolades. I see all the salmon swimming upstream to spawn, and I think "That looks like a lot of work and really the oceans are warming. Do we need anymore salmon? Aren't there enough? Why spend so much energy on an orgasm?" So, I'm sure she won't even notice if I say Elizabeth Strout is pretty great.Honestly, I probably would have just breezed on by her, if it hadn't been LLCoolJ's concerted championing in days of yore . So, I decided to give a shot to the Strout book that Lisa had called her favorite: The Burgess Boys
.At this point, no one really needs me to nerd out on Strout, it would be akin to running through the streets and saying "Oh my God, I just this movie, Star Wars, it's going to change everything!"
So, Burgess Boys. Pretty great. A family of distasteful narcissists broken by the tragic accident that set their courses in life from infancy on. Strout peoples her town with unlikeables who invoke your understanding, flawed ragers who invite your sympathy and stagnant booze-sponges who make you smile. Her characters and their interactions never feel anything other than fleshy and windy and uncontrived. Particularly as the conceit of the novel, the blowback that occurs when a nephew tosses a pig's head in a local mosque and how that echoes in an America that was dealing with racial distrust. It was interesting how oddly American the Somali immigrants has become in whitebread Maine, completely unsatisfied and unsatisfiable, preferring a nostalgic plunge back into the good old days of warlords and checkpoints to the malls and donut shops. Strout wrote with a directness and an honesty and a touch of levity that reminded me quite a bit of Tom Drury, a personal favorite.
So, thankfully I managed to overcome my aversion to bandwagon jumping and added my voice to the cacophony of Strout fans, I'm sure to get to the rest of her books sooner or later
The other book I read was a much needed change of pace. A literary boot to the head. I had the need to wallow a bit. And few are more joyfully muck-bound than Martin Amis. I read London Fields
and enjoyed it immensely. Not as perfectly repugnant and compulsively embraceable as Money
, it was still a very good book that maybe played out the plot a little too long. It was a long fishing line, so it took a bit long to reel in the catch.As usual Amis loves the gloriously unredeemed, the unshorn heretic, the unforgivable heel, the unhateable narcissist. Martin Amis writes the most convincing assholes, that you don't question how an overweight, dart-playing petty thief could find himself rich patrons or besotted lovers. He's the ultimate undoer of the hyper-male, walking libido tornado of chaos that you can't help watching and laughing along with. Th kind of guy whose body odor you learn to accept and whose sponging you somehow don't notice as you walk home stripped of taxi fare.
The weakness of London Fields were the other protagonists. It was hard to quite accept that the boardroom roving Guy Clinch could be so scrotum-scrunched to have really bought into the stupid play of Nicola Six. And therein lies the greatest weakness of Amis' book. The women are harridans. Either hyper-sexed orchestrators, vulva with legs, frigid bats keeping their offspring at arms length or overwhelmed mothers forever falling victim to the patriarchy. None of the women have the dimensions of Keith Tallent and his darts.
That being said, it was a great Quixotian blattering, glassing, pants-pissing dredge into the cesspool of humanity, and gawd, was it absolutely needed.
Paul wrote: "Sorry for not being very active these past few weeks, I'm not busy doing anything other than collecting dust and getting head-butted by a 1 and a half year old. I'm catching up on posting the lates..."i wasnt aware of that Cather novel Paul....thanks
Minutes before a dentists appointment, quick update on some good non-fictionreading, 2022 almost free of duff reads:Rambles in Eirinn: Vol 1(1907) by William Bulfin was mentioned in a McGahern short story and is a lyrical and affectionate portrait of rural Ireland before WW1. my secondhand volume covers the west and north of ireland and the chapter on Lough Gill and Sligo was wonderful
The Truth About St Kilda: An Islanders Memoir was sparked by discussion on here of the remote Hebridean island. Islander Donald Gillies recalls his youth on the island between 1901 and 1924. There is the incredible consumption of seabirds and eggs by the 90 or so islanders, men hunt manx shearwaters at night with dogs, lie disguised on perilous outcrops to bag Guillemots flying in to their nests and approach gannet infested rocks to brain as many of the large seabirds as they can.
Religion is a huge part of life, protestant presbyterian services in Gaelic, the island was Gaelic speaking, no music psalms not hymns and weddings are dour occasions without celebration. (some tourists from Sunderland arrive to see what they expect to be pagentry and are dispatched by angry church elders).
Gillies makes it clear that leaving the island was impossible for the youth in his teens, as money was needed for lodgings on the mainland and there was very little to go round. It seems the best chance was for ex-pat islanders working in Glasgow to sponsor smart children to leave the island and make a career on the mainland, though i havent got to when Gillies himself heads for Glasgow
I wrote a comment for
by Janwillem van de Wetering on the Guardian's WWR page, but it seems to have disappeared... ho hum, I'll try to reproduce it here and re-post it over there later on.Anyway... although this is a police procedural, it is a deeply strange book - the plot is wildly improbable, and the conversations verge on the surreal... although it is book eleven in the Grijpstra and DeGier Amsterdam mysteries series, the key role here is taken by their boss, the commissaris (I don't think his name is ever given, though I may be wrong). The commissaris has a lifelong aversion to a childhood frenemy, one Fernandus - a murderous banker. The plot involves the bank, a 'charity' used as a front for illegal activities, and corrupt policemen... in the final chapter, the two men debate their standpoints in what feels like a simplified and watered down version of some ideas from Nietzsche's
. We expect evil from our criminals, but although in general on the side of 'good', the commissaris was also guilty of morally questionable behaviour in his attempt to bring down Fernandus - not least the way in which he encouraged his secretary to spy on the bad guys by prostituting herself - that left a bad taste in the mouth. The author had a very strange life, at one time operating as a member of the Amsterdam Special Constabulary, and later on becoming a Zen Buddhist monk for several years. I don't know if this explains the oddness of the book, but it may do!
I rather doubt that I'll read another in this series... if I do, it'll be for the sheer peculiarity of the dialogues and plotlines rather than for anything realistic or 'deep'.
(Translation note: no translator is listed, and the author lived latterly in the USA, so presumably either wrote the book in English or translated his own Dutch version - which could explain a number of strange usages and the occasional typo or mis-spelling in this edition.)
Now for the best of the 'crime' books I read recently, though as so often, the novel extends far beyond the genre's limits:
by Antonio Tabucci - well translated by JC Patrick - starts with a decapitated corpse discovered near the Douro river in Oporto. (It is one of the books I bought partly for the cover - a sketch by Picasso for his 'Guernica':https://guernica.museoreinasofia.es/e...). The head is later fished out of the river, and so begins an investigation by journalist Firmino, who is sent from Lisbon to investigate on behalf of a paper specialising in crime stories. Once in Oporto, Firmino meets up with the lawyer 'Loton' ( a nickname based on a perceived similarity to actor Charles Laughton). Loton becomes the central figure in the story, taking up the case on behalf of the victim's impoverished mother. (I'm not sure if this is true to Portuguese jurisprudence, but in this novel the prosecution of the suspects is carried out by Loton, not by a state prosecutor.)
It turns out that the crime appears to have been committed by corrupt policemen, led by the curiously named 'Green Cricket' - I'm not sure if this also sounds comical in Italian, but to me he sounded like a lesser known Marvel evildoer. The book, however, is not a standard police procedural - Firmino, for example, is much taken by the ideas of György Lukács... Loton seems determined to educate the young man, which leads to very many references to authors from Camus to Louise Colet to Hölderlin etc. I felt that the middle section of the book rather lost focus and clarity, with too many such references which were not always fully developed... rather too much name-dropping from the author, who is a Professor of Literature in Siena. At times, the propositions made were too vague for one to be able to agree or disagree, or to formulate a response. The one I recall - and with which I agree wholeheartedly - was that torturers have individual responsibility, and should not be allowed to fall back on the "I was only obeying orders" excuse.
One other point arising was the notion that the police (in this case, the Guardia Civil, a quasi-military police force) are rarely held to account for their actions. Let's face it - even in supposedly liberal democracies, how often do people die during arrests or in police custody? (Answer: far too often for comfort.) And how often are those responsible found guilty on criminal charges? (Answer: hardly ever.)
Comparing this to the other book I've read by Tabucchi, I'd say that this is weaker than
because of the lengthy middle section where Loton lectures young Firmino... but it remains by some distance the most interesting book I read this month.I'll be reading more by Tabucchi.
scarletnoir wrote: "I wrote a comment for by Janwillem van de Wetering on the Guardian's WWR page, but it seems to have disappeared... ho hum, I'll try to reproduce it here and re-post i..."i read a Van Der Wetering novel a few years ago and i liked it, alongside the Baantjer novels, good thoughtful dutch crime writinf
AB76 wrote: "i read a Van Der Wetering novel a few years ago and i liked it, alongside the Baantjer novels, good thoughtful dutch crime writing..."I haven't tried Baantjer yet, but have him on the virtual TBR list...
The Stone Angel by Margaret Laurence (1964) is a joy, i feel it is a novel that Justine would have enjoyed tooI'm only 100 pages in but the narrative is well balanced between the present day and a 90 something woman facing a gentle coaxing into a retirement home and her memories of life in the town, her husband, children and childhood.
As i volunteer with old folk, at a day centre, their views of what a "home" is mean i am more sensitive to the narrators fear and unrest at the idea of being admitted to a "home". Her visit with her son to look around is achingly sad but laced with some perky humour, which i know is quite common in the nonagenerians i help out. A pink cardiganed apparition approaches the narrator, with the remains of many meals decorating her clothes, it could be seen as unkind this but i also feel its realistic, in that retirement homes do not fit everyone magically cos they hit 86 and are not well, many would prefer their own home, some wouldnt. Old folk are not magically bonded together with age, look beyond the grey hair and the stooped posture and you can find a lot more thna just age.
Prairie life is less central so far than i expected, though it plays a part and i feel the positive influence of Willa Cather on the novel.
Before covid, i used to help clients on and off the centre minibus(now sold off) and i would listen to their conversations where the various levels of "homes" where discussed with the most savage contempt poured on the "nursing home", as if it was the end of everything. I learnt a lot about what they saw as positive and negative about old age and the rising costs of care
Hi everyone. I'm aiming to put up a new thread tomorrow.
@Tam
I've only just caught up with your news. So sorry to hear what you are both going through. Thinking of you.
I've only just caught up with your news. So sorry to hear what you are both going through. Thinking of you.
After a few duffers that aren’t worth mentioning I came to The Curfew by Jesse Ball.
. Just my second of his. A former violinist, William, has turned epitaphorist and lives with his 9 year old mute daughter, Molly, in an dystopian unnamed country post revolution. Systematic disappearances and massacre have given way to everyday incidents of oppression and random street violence.
Ball’s one bit of humour in this fever-nightmare vision is William’s role as epitaphorist; assisting families to create the perfect life summation of their loved ones, to be carved into their gravestones. He has raised Molly since the ‘disappearance’ of his wife years before.
William and Molly live a tranquil life, under the radar, being careful not to be out after curfew. But one day William meets an old friend on the street and he is drawn into a group of wine drinking subversives. One night he leaves Molly with neighbours and attends a mutinous gathering, where he receives a smuggled violin and a dossier on his wife’s disappearance. Molly involves the neighbours in creating an elaborate puppet show which maps out her parents’ bequest.
Despite its mystery and complications, this is an accessible story, which isn’t always the case with Ball. It highlights what he does so well, the art of omission. The many blanks invite deduction as a puzzle. Often it’s one step up, two steps back, like climbing a scree slope. But when you eventually arrive at the summit, it is hugely rewarding.
In developing its own theory of resistance, its ghoulish, an acerbic piece of grotesque.
Before the bar falls on this thread... the last and weakest of this month's crime books.Whispering Death by the prolific Australian author Garry Disher is book 6 in the Mornington Peninsula Crimes series, but the first I've read. I liked Disher's Paul Hirsh series, but this wasn't of the same standard, as the plot was untidy.
The main story follows burglar Grace, who specialises in researching and breaking in to properties with small, high value items... Too much time is spent at the start describing the various locations in small towns where Grace carries out these thefts... I like real locations, well described, but this was too much filler and not enough plot. Grace is also avoiding her Nemesis - a corrupt policeman who in the past had acted as her mentor.
Another plot line follows a rapist who dresses as a policeman; our hero Hal Challis pines for his lover, who is in the UK for work reasons; we also have some lesbian sex between police colleagues... it was too much and not enough at the same time, if that makes sense. A slow start finished in an OTT ending. Not great.
But I'll still follow the Hirsh series...
Andy wrote: "After a few duffers that aren’t worth mentioning I came to The Curfew by Jesse Ball. . Just my second of his. A former violinist, Will..."
I've looked at some of Ball's books in bookstores but never have got round to buying any. Would this be a good one to start with?
Berkley wrote: "Andy wrote: "After a few duffers that aren’t worth mentioning I came to The Curfew by Jesse Ball. . Just my second of his. A former vi..."
From the other media reviews I’ve read, this is one of his least complex, so in that regard I’d say yes.
It is also pretty short. There’s a lot of white space with Ball, space for thought I guess.
So it’s a 3 hour read at longest. And plenty to chew on..
Just read an article on the war in Ukraine by Jürgen Habermas.Differentiated thinking/arguing which I miss more and more in public discourse.
He'll be 93 in June.
Georg wrote: "Just read an article on the war in Ukraine by Jürgen Habermas.Differentiated thinking/arguing which I miss more and more in public discourse.
He'll be 93 in June."
was that in the german press, or in english? Great thinker
AB76 wrote: "Georg wrote: "Just read an article on the war in Ukraine by Jürgen Habermas.Differentiated thinking/arguing which I miss more and more in public discourse.
He'll be 93 in June."
was that in the g..."
In the feuilleton of the "Süddeutsche Zeitung". Quite long (about a page without the graphics).
Georg wrote: "AB76 wrote: "Georg wrote: "Just read an article on the war in Ukraine by Jürgen Habermas.Differentiated thinking/arguing which I miss more and more in public discourse.
He'll be 93 in June."
was ..."
ok thanks
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Ersatz TLS
Books mentioned in this topic
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The Curfew (other topics)
Hard Rain (other topics)
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its warming up here too....could be 24c by weekend in the south east of england