Ersatz TLS discussion
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Weekly TLS
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What are we reading? 21 November 2022
Andy wrote: "Berkley wrote: "My next Jim Thompson will be The Getaway, and I think I have Pop. 1280 coming up after that, unless I have the order mixed up. I'm trying to read the ones I already have copies of i..."I read The Killer Inside Me (1952) and After Dark, My Sweet (1955) back in the '90s and A Swell-Looking Babe (1954) just a couple years ago: they were all excellent but probably Killer and After Dark are a level above. His memoir Roughneck is worth a look too.
Just had a look at my Thompson books and I also have The Grifters (1963) and Wild Town (1957): any recommendations of his stand-out novels from between1955 and 1963?
Mod
Excellent! And you've got someone to practise with which is splendid.
Some years ago, a Welsh-speaking colleague of mine was teaching a quite elderly gentleman Welsh, preparing him for GCSE. Apparently this man studied languages one after the other, getting to the level he wanted and then starting a new one. He began every day by working 2 hours on the language of the moment, starting at 5 am if I remember correctly.
Berkley wrote: "Learning a language is a great idea and all the better if you have a personal connection with it. I try to spend 30 minutes or so every day reading something in French, usually an article in Le Mon..."i wonder if knowledge of German helps with Yiddish or whether its a myth? Obviously the two languages are similar but its maybe easier for native speakers of either tongue (though i wonder if Yiddish remains native anywhere now, with the Hebrew resurgence since 1940s?)
i have always been interested in the post-Israeli era to look at the mix of Yiddish or Hebrew speakers in the old east where they lived for so many years.
If anyone is interested, here are some stats from 1931 Polish census:
In all of Greater Poland, among the Jewish population 82% spoke Yiddish,9% Hebrew and 8% Polish as mother tongue. (jews were 13% of the population)
In the largest cities this breakdown was identical, except for Krakow where it was 41% Yiddish, 40% Hebrew and 18% Polish. (I still havent established why this was, though it may be a link to Krakow being an austro-hungarian city for decades before 1918 and a continued cultural influence)
Sadly any Russian stats from the pre holocaust period are much vaguer with no real breakdown of what languages were spoken
Mod
NellyBells wrote: I am going to learn Yiddish. My father and my grandmother spoke it and I heard it all my childhood but never learned. I have a bit of vocabulary and I can curse. This changes everything.Carmen, you must get hold of "The Well". Yiddish poetry (by poets all but forgotten) set to music by Chava Alberstein and The Klezmatics. It is one of my all-time favourite CDs. The poetry, the music, Chava Alberstein's voice make a piece of pure beauty.
The booklet has the original texts with English and Hebrew translations
I read the first of another Norwegian series by Anne Holt called A grave for two Previously I had read the Hanne Wilhelmsen series by the same author.This one took a while to get my head around all the names which I found confusing at first and the short seemingly unconnected chapters but once I mastered these it had me hooked.
This is the first book of three about Selma , who is in trouble after being found out for using money that doesn’t belong to her to gamble. Unusual to read of a gambling addiction in a woman. But this is not the main theme of the story - it’s about revenge, cross country skiing ( which I knew nothing about) , skis, doping and death. I shall read the next two in the series.
An ongoing theme as the war progresses, in the brilliant Luftwaffe Diares is the total uselessness of Hermann Goering, he remains to this day, a mystery to me, due to the almost complete lack of success in anything he personally commanded.Other henchman, however deplorable, did seem to have episodes of success and achievement, even if off the back of more talented underlings but throughout the diaries, the obese boss of the Luftwaffe seems to be exist on bluff and bullying, constantly damaging successful operations and failing to learn from it
Reading about the Luftwaffe effort to relieve Stalingrad and supply the 250,000 surrounded troops is a sign of the constant failure of the boss. His senior Generals in the Luftwaffe were aghast when it was suggested the 6th Army be supplied from the air with 300 tons of supplies per day. The winter weather was already totally unsuitable and the Luftwaffe would struggle to find the planes and crews
In a succint 30 page narrative, the diaries conclude that 91% of sorties were successful but with massive loss of planes(490) and that on no day did the supplies landed reach 300 tons. Lots of the drops by the final days before surrender were parachutes of supplies that the starving Wehrmacht troops never found.
Mod
I've also read the Hanne Wilhelmsen series and the Vik & Stubo series, but haven't read this one. I'll check it out.
For those who don't know her, Anne Holt was at one time the Minister of Justice.
I am trying to progress with 'The Memory Police' by Yoko Ogawa. Not very successfully so far, maybe its just not my sort of book. Too much keeps disappearing. I think I might move on to 'A View of the Harbour' by Elizabeth Taylor as I think it will more suit my melancholy mood at the moment. We have a date for Dave's operation, Friday morning. The sprog is coming home tonight to help prop up the nervous patient to be. Meanwhile a moat has been dug outside of the house, in the road, something to do with installing fibre-optic broadband I think, but leaving the house is going to be a bit of a challenge with possible 'walking the plank' type moments to come. I always felt like a bit of a 'secret' pirate. Well I have always thought of myself as having a parrot (it's very specific, it's an African Grey!) perched on my shoulder. I have no idea where that comes from, as my entire collection of acquired animals, so far, have been a rabbit, a cat, dog, horse and a guinea pig. https://i.postimg.cc/2jvFGsGx/Saint-D... Reading todays posts I think the parrot is going to morph into a Yiddish speaking parrot... Oy Vey!...
There is a very old Yiddish film called 'The Dybbuk' that I saw many years ago, it was a sort of folkloric tragedy, and a warning to parents
to not make promises about your children when they are babes in arms, as they often grow up to have very different ideas. It's very atmospheric, though probably quite hard to track down. A dybbuk is a malicious spirit that can possess people at will...
Tam wrote: "I am trying to progress with 'The Memory Police' by Yoko Ogawa. Not very successfully so far, maybe its just not my sort of book. Too much keeps disappearing. I think I might move on to 'A View of ..."all the best for friday Tam, in getting organised and with keeping Dave's spirits up, good to see help from your sprog too
i wonder of dark humour might be good for melancholy mood?
Tam wrote: We have a date for Dave's operation, Friday morning. L'chaim!
Berkley wrote: "Andy wrote: "Berkley wrote: "My next Jim Thompson will be The Getaway, and I think I have Pop. 1280 coming up after that, unless I have the order mixed up. I'm trying to read the ones I already hav..."No hesitation to say Pop. 1280 Berks.. his best for me. The Grifters also very good.
CCCubbon wrote: "I read the first of another Norwegian series by Anne Holt called A grave for two Previously I had read the Hanne Wilhelmsen series by the same author.This one took a while to get my head around a..."
I remember reading 1222 from the Wilhelmsen series. That place, Finse, is very special to me. I led several groups there some years ago. It is very beautiful, and has an incredible downhill mountain bike route called Rallarvegen.
I can think of only one other wheelchair-bound detective, in Ironside, but no other lesbian ones. It is bold writing. I must get back to Holt.
Eight Months on Ghazzah Street(1988) by the late Hilary Mantel is a slow burning howl of isolation and unease, written impeccably with a balanced approach to the different registers of emotions at the heart.Boredom, fear, anxiety, unease, anger and a quiet desperation all feature, as the life of a 30 something british couple adjusts to the cold, hard world of expat capitalism in Jeddah, mid 1980s. You can feel something awful is about to occur, something hidden and quiet amid the flats, the sun, the heat and the boredom
The similarities to Qatar in 2022 are uncanny, naturally in the 35 odd years since the novel, rather than the money washed nests of despots being improved, the parvenu states like Qatar want to look and sound like Saudi
These short November days see me immersed in inspirational travel books each of there locations competing for a place in my calendar for the following year. Its little wonder that a book from
Patrick Leigh Fermor
wins a place. In fact two do, the partner to this,
Mani: Travels in the Southern Peloponnese
also, which I am yet to read, Roumeli: Travels in Northern Greece. The Mani is the middle of the three narrow peninsulas of the southern Peloponnese, 40 miles long and 75 years ago, almost inaccessible, except by sea. When Leigh Fermor first came here in 1951, it was by a intrepid mountain hike across the Taygetus range.
There's a considerable part of his writing dedicated to the rich history of the area. The detail of this will be better appreciated by me when I am there. For me, his writing is at its strongest when relating anecdotes gleaned from random and unscheduled meetings with the locals. So many years on and the chance of such meetings will no doubt be considerably less. Some remote communities take some time to change though, and it is these I will be seeking out.
My plan is to head down in the van mid-August, spend time in the Durmitor and the Accursed ranges of the Balkans (where I was briefly in 2018 on the bike), unencumbered by Schengen visa limitations, then Greece for my allotted 90 days..
Andy wrote: "These short November days see me immersed in inspirational travel books each of there locations competing for a place in my calendar for the following year. Its little wonder that a book from [auth..."sounds like an interesting travel plan, bit warmer than northern europe though!
Andy wrote: "can think of only one other wheelchair-bound detective, in Ironside, but no other lesbian ones. It is bold writing. I must get back to Holt.This is one:
https://www.fantasticfiction.com/m/ra...
Although it takes her a while to realise!
Under the heading of my memory may well need a system clean-up because I might have mentioned
before, I'll still? say if you like the absurd and can find it at the library, check it out. It's fun to laugh at the Trump crowd, and Hiassen does it well.Looking for the next Jane Harper? I've just put this on hold (it's on order at the library)
.Meanwhile, we know it's winter in my neighborhood as the city has put out lts Road Closed signs at the top of several hills. They prop them there against the time when they have to be turned around to keep cars from sliding down and causing havoc.
Yesterday we had a coating of snow on the ground for a while and perhaps more to come over the weekend. Don't know if that is why I picked up Spokane Saga 1889-1892. It does seem fitting though as the fire destroyed the city in 1889 (the same thing happened to Seattle that year).
PS - Added a photo of what can happen in Seattle when you combine snow and hills.
NellyBells wrote: "AB76 wrote: "Berkley wrote: "Learning a language is a great idea and all the better if you have a personal connection with it. I try to spend 30 minutes or so every day reading something in French,..."ah, thanks for that Nelly
i think the only yiddish literature i know is Aleichem and i have his short stories on which Fiddler on The Roof was based but havent read it yet. I may be wrong but i think that Singer did some yiddish writing.
i would imagine there is a lot of snobbery between yiddish and hebrew in jewish communities which is a shame as they both have great value, though the terrible events of WW2 mean the world must have lost maybe half its Yiddish speaking population in 4 years.
I did some reading and research into the Yiddish speakers in Russia and Poland(see earlier post) and it seems that hebrew had a resurgence with the jews who headed for Palestine in the first Aliyah, many coming from the Russian pale and keen to speak Hebrew rather than Yiddish.
In 1948 census 15% of Israeli population spoke Yiddish
Mod
Best wishes for Friday, Tam. Will be thinking of you both.
NellyBells wrote: "AB76 wrote: "NellyBells wrote: "AB76 wrote: "Berkley wrote: "Learning a language is a great idea and all the better if you have a personal connection with it. I try to spend 30 minutes or so every ..."my next read when i finish Buchan is a collection of Israeli stories from 1965, including works by Hazaz, Agnon and Yizhar, translated from Hebrew. I am not sure if many Yiddish language writers got published that much, i know from a Bampal special on Iraqi Jews, that many of them found it hard to publish in arabic after they had fled to Israel
Tam wrote: "I am trying to progress with 'The Memory Police' by Yoko Ogawa. Not very successfully so far, maybe its just not my sort of book. Too much keeps disappearing. I think I might move on to 'A View of ..."Thoughts will be with you and hoping for the best possible outcome.
NellyBells wrote: "I suppose here is a good place. I am going to learn Yiddish. My father and my grandmother spoke it and I heard it all my childhood but never learned. I have a bit of vocabulary and I can curse. This changes everything."Last year on TCM I saw The Dybbuk, a film in Yiddish, made in Poland in 1937. I'm not sure how widely available it is, but it's worth seeking out, not only as an artifact of its time and place, but on its own merits as a worthy addition to the classic supernatural and horror films of the 1930s.
giveusaclue wrote: "⚽🥳 Commiserations to my Welsh friends here."Well, thanks for that... despite some newspaper comments, I suspect that most Welsh fans will feel as I do - that the team did incredibly well to qualify in the first place. These finals came a few years too late for some of our stars, though - and unlike England and the 'bigger' teams, we don't have a huge pool of talent to draw upon. Some of the guys were clearly not 100% fit, but could not be left out - partly as a reward for getting us there, but also because even on one leg they were as good as the possible replacements.
NellyBells wrote: "AB76 wrote: "NellyBells wrote: "AB76 wrote: "NellyBells wrote: "AB76 wrote: "Berkley wrote: "Learning a language is a great idea and all the better if you have a personal connection with it. I try ..."Ah, Yiddish. In my youth in Queens, I heard Yiddish daily. At least a few dozen yiddish words are still in constant daily use in NY. At one time, it was so commonly spoken that my Dutch-derived grandmother who traced her NY bloodline to the New Amsterdam days spoke a bit and used it when she felt stirred up.
I'ev enjoyed what I read of the Singer brothers, but the use of Yiddish work I enjoyed the most was Henry Roth's Call It Sleep.
NellyBells wrote: "I am going to learn Yiddish. My father and my grandmother spoke it and I heard it all my childhood but never learned. I have a bit of vocabulary and I can curse."Good idea - I always think that it is a pity when parents - for whatever reason - don't pass on their 'own' language to their kids - the more the merrier, and the youngsters learn far more easily than do adults.
One suggestion to support conversation - if you can do it, it might be an idea to watch news broadcasts in Yiddish if they exist (is it very different to Hebrew? Sorry for my ignorance...) I found this helped a lot in learning French when I moved there, as it was years since I'd learnt a bit in school... the pictures and the repetition of the same words and terms help the ears to 'habituate'. Or, maybe, films or TV programmes with Yiddish dialogue and English subtitles - again, if they exist.
Edit: having now read other comments, it sounds as if Yiddish has as much or more in common with German as it does with Hebrew - is that right?
Whatever - if there are Yiddish films or TV programmes out there, especially with subtitles you can read, I'd use them.
MK wrote: "if you are a 
fan, keep your eye out for the 5 December issue of The New Yorker, or maybe you can even read it here - https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/20......"Thanks for that link - I'll listen later. Managed to pick up the latest in the series - Bad Actors - for 99p last week as a Kindle version... maybe a Black Friday offer? I have no idea, but it saved me a few quid!
Mod
In primary school, my daughter had a friend who had a French father and an Italian mother. The father insisted that the mother not speak Italian to their children, because a child speaking more than 1 language wouldn't be a genius (!). I used to feel a quiet satisfaction that my daughter who had 3 languages (English, French and Portuguese) was always 1st in the class ahead of her friend.
Gpfr wrote: "I'm following in Scarletnoir's wake with the David Downing John Russell series. I read the 3rd, Stettin Station and had to go straight on to the 4th, Potsdam Station..." I'm very glad you are enjoying this series - I recently finished the 5th - Lehrter Station - and have already bought the 6th - Masaryk Station, though I haven't started it yet. Praise should go to whoever put me on to this excellent series, though - but unfortunately I have forgotten who that was. Sorry! (Blushes.)
It has grown-up characters and not too unbelievable plotlines - a serious 'commenter' on the Guardian WWR site recently took exception with my praise for Philip Kerr's 'Bernie Gunther' novels, on the basis that they could not suspend disbelief when it became apparent that in his career Bernie had managed, somehow, to meet practically all the top Nazis - and to see them commit some of their most heinous crimes. This was fair comment, though I believe that Kerr's intention was to educate us through his fictions - hence the focus on dreadful historical events and personalities (fortunately leavened with a good dose of humour), rather than to present a 'realistic' portrayal. Downing's 'John Russell' tales only rarely involves top Nazis, and then almost always at a distance... this is much more of a 'bottom up' look at Nazi Berlin (rather than Germany as a whole), so gains in realism by its focus and detail.
The two authors had slightly different intentions, I think.
Gpfr wrote: "Some years ago, a Welsh-speaking colleague of mine was teaching a quite elderly gentleman Welsh, preparing him for GCSE. Apparently this man studied languages one after the other, getting to the level he wanted and then starting a new one. He began every day by working 2 hours on the language of the moment, starting at 5 am if I remember correctly."That's interesting, but rather odd.
My experience of language learning is that unless it is practised on a regular basis, vocabulary and fluency drop off... even though Welsh is my 'mother tongue', because I lived outside Wales for so long, and for various reasons don't mix a lot in Welsh-speaking groups since my return, my vocabulary is definitely a lot weaker than it is in English. Grammar remains pretty good, though, in spite of everything.
It sounds as if the gentleman is seeking to stimulate his brain by this process - no bad thing at all - but has no interest in being able to speak the languages on an ongoing basis.
AB76 wrote: "An ongoing theme as the war progresses, in the brilliant Luftwaffe Diaries is the total uselessness of Hermann Goering, he remains to this day, a mystery to me, due to the almost complete lack of success in anything he personally commanded."Well, I can say that practically everyone who has served as a minister in the Tory governments from 2010 to the present day "remain mysterious to me", too! ;-)
Tam wrote: "We have a date for Dave's operation, Friday morning...I am trying to progress with 'The Memory Police' by Yoko Ogawa. Not very successfully so far, maybe it's just not my sort of book.
...a moat has been dug outside of the house, in the road... leaving the house is going to be a bit of a challenge with possible 'walking the plank' type moments to come."
Hi Tam... in order:
Best of luck to Dave and your family for a good outcome from the treatment.
I've read two of Ogawa's books - The Housekeeper and the Professor and Hotel Iris - and liked them both, though they were very different... no idea about the one you're on as I haven't read that. Her books are quite odd, I think.
As for planks - or gangplanks - I have been surprised and impressed with the 1963 Maigret series for the way in which the actors - not doubles - cheerfully bounce over planks from the banks of the Seine or the Canal St. Martin to board barges or boats. No doubt it was 'part of the job' back then - and they were up to it, having survived the war, after all - but I suspect the insurance companies and H&S people would not be too happy, nowadays... it does look a bit dicey, to say the least.
Andy wrote: "I can think of only one other wheelchair-bound detective, in Ironside..."I saw an episode of Ironside not long ago - it was pretty grown-up stuff in plot terms (I forget the details), and I always liked Burr as an actor.
A much more recent wheelchair bound detective is the French Caïn, starring Bruno Debrandt. I can take Debrandt in small doses and other roles, but this series is just too ludicrous for my taste and we don't watch it.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ca%C3%A....
Also, although not the main character, there was a detective who became 'otherwise abled' ... 'Daan de Winter' (Bart Hollanders) as a result of being shot (I think - but could have been an accident) in the absolutely brilliant Belgian series 'Professor T', with the amazing Koen De Bouw in the title role:
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt3823996/...
I can't recommend this series too highly - though it won't be for everyone. For some unknown reason it has been remade in an English version with Ben Miller. Now, I like Miller - but why attempt to replace perfection? I can't watch it.
There is another wheelchair-bound (ex-)detective in Jussi Aldler-Olsen's The Keeper of Lost Causes, though he is not the main character. This is the first in the 'Department Q1' series - it's OK but not outstanding. The TV series based on the books - 'Department Q' - is probably more worth your time, though nowhere near the standard of 'Professor T':
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2438644/...
I'm sure there is one more example, but it's just beyond the edge of my memory - will get back on that if I can recall who it is.
Edit: just remembered Denzel Washington's turn as a quadriplegic cop in 'The Bone Collector' - OK, he wasn't even in a wheelchair but I suppose a similar idea.
giveusaclue wrote: "Andy wrote: "can think of only one other wheelchair-bound detective, in Ironside, but no other lesbian ones. It is bold writing. I must get back to Holt.This is one:
https://www.fantasticficti..."
Thanks Clue. I am surprised..
scarletnoir wrote: "Andy wrote: "I can think of only one other wheelchair-bound detective, in Ironside..."I saw an episode of Ironside not long ago - it was pretty grown-up stuff in plot terms (I forget the details)..."
Good knowledge SN.
I’ll take another look at Professor T. I watched a couple of episodes a while back, and sort of forgot about it.
Strange to be having two conversations with you in two different places.. but I’ll keep them where they are, just in case others are taking an interest.. which I doubt..
Paul wrote: "NellyBells wrote: "AB76 wrote: "NellyBells wrote: "AB76 wrote: "NellyBells wrote: "AB76 wrote: "Berkley wrote: "Learning a language is a great idea and all the better if you have a personal connect..."that Roth novel is on my radar Paul
i wonder how much Yiddish was taught in american schools from the 1880s to 1920s, in heavy jewish areas like Brooklyn, Bronx and Manhattan?
scarletnoir wrote: "AB76 wrote: "An ongoing theme as the war progresses, in the brilliant Luftwaffe Diaries is the total uselessness of Hermann Goering, he remains to this day, a mystery to me, due to the almost compl..."i totally agree on the tories, though i guess they are less lethal than the overweight Hermy G.
its interesting that the second prominent luftwaffe suicide after Ernest Udet, that of Hans Jeschonnek(Chief of Luftwaffe Staff) in 1943, had a similar suicide note, mentioning Goering and the despair he caused...
Two from me from the last couple of days… The Fool and Other Moral Tales by Anne Serre translated from the French by Mark Hutchinson
I had high expectations of this after The Governesses, and it’s fable-like approach to unconventional sexuality, but, as with The Beginners, I was two thirds disappointed.
The first two stories struggled to get my full attention, and I found hard to follow, but the last The Wishing Table certainly did, though it’s subject matter is quite unappealing.
It rather took me by surprise.
It is about a woman who grew up in an incestuous family.
It’s very rare I read this sort of thing. Given the choice I’d usually avoid it, so it’s been in a short story collection or from a précis I’ve long since forgotten when I’ve come across it before.
The three daughters are not presented as victims, rather as being fascinated by the open view of sex that their parents present; to them, this was just how life was. The parents aren’t depicted as evil or perverted. The narrator says of her mother
As I’m sure you’ve understood, the idea that anything untoward was going on in her house had simply never occurred to her.
If anything, this manner of presentation is more dark and disturbing than it would have been otherwise. The innocence of the children is palpable, especially when the abuse moves outside of the family. It is bold writing, and makes me wonder whether Serre researched such cases or if there was anything autobiographical in her writing.
Not enjoyable reading, but affecting and thought-provoking.
and, I Am Jonathan Scrivener by Claude Houghton
Set in London in the 1920s this novel concerns James Wrexham, a lonely thirty-eight year old man bored his job and with little of no prospects. In the newspaper he reads that a certain Jonathan Scrivener, clearly wealthy, seeks a personal secretary and Wrexham applies on a whim.
Having never met his boss, Wrexham is appointed and begins work with Scrivener ‘overseas’.
There’s plenty of mystery to circumstances already, but in his first few days of employment four of Scrivener’s friends call on the office, each with their own dubious and contradictory story to tell of him. Within a matter of days Wrexham’s life has changed from one of misery and loneliness to that of city socialite. Any secretarial work is very much second to his partying.
It’s the sort of unhinged and contrived set up typical of Conan-Doyle, but that does it no disservice, in fact the opposite, the many questions posed need answers.. who is the supposedly brilliant Scrivener? why is he absent? why has Wrexham been hired? and what to read into the very different accounts of Scrivener that his friends give?
Clues gradually emerge, but from unlikely sources, while all the time the London of the 1920s provides as much interest, as the upper-class of society grasp at prosperity and rediscovered capitalism.
Anytime that the book veers towards the conventional Houghton is quick to take a tangent. A great example is the lengthy passage when one of Scrivener’s friends, the impulsive playboy Antony Rivers, takes Wrexham to a Japanese restaurant. This section is mainly played for laughs.
Though the finale isn’t quite as grand as what precedes, less sensational as might be expected, it is nonetheless solid, and doesn’t deteriorate from the enjoyment of the whole piece.
This is my second of Houghton’s books, and he has achieved, in my mind at least, something of a cult status. His writing is unpredictable, compelling and zany. It’s a really good example of what Valancourt publishers do well.
This is reputedly his best book, or what he was mainly known for, but I look forward to seeking out the rest.
AB76 wrote: "Paul wrote: "NellyBells wrote: "AB76 wrote: "NellyBells wrote: "AB76 wrote: "NellyBells wrote: "AB76 wrote: "Berkley wrote: "Learning a language is a great idea and all the better if you have a per..."That Roth novel is magnificent, criminally underappreciated. I've got his Mercy Of A Rude Stream tetralogy gathering dust.
I don't think Yiddish was taught in any of the public schools in America (in yeshiva they are still all over NY, but I'd imagine they teach primarily Hebrew). It was mostly the language spoken at home, particularly amongst the grandparents that were successfully brought over by their immigrant children. At a certain point, it seems to have both integrated somewhat into the vernacular and become the language your elders used when they didn't want the kids to understand.
Paul wrote: "AB76 wrote: "Paul wrote: "NellyBells wrote: "AB76 wrote: "NellyBells wrote: "AB76 wrote: "NellyBells wrote: "AB76 wrote: "Berkley wrote: "Learning a language is a great idea and all the better if y..."Bumping that novel right into a 2023 read Paul....thanks for that!
its a fascinating language, a hybrid mix based on the geographical locations of where the larger jewish communities settled. there does seem to have been some inter-jewish snobbery and prejudice towards it in europe , seen as a kind of Galicianer or Russian pale throwback , while Hebrew became more accepted and established over time.
Apparently 97% of Russian Jews in 1897 spoke Yiddish, by 1926 it was 73%
Gpfr wrote: "In primary school, my daughter had a friend who had a French father and an Italian mother. The father insisted that the mother not speak Italian to their children, because a child speaking more than 1 language wouldn't be a genius (!). I used to feel a quiet satisfaction that my daughter who had 3 languages (English, French and Portuguese) was always 1st in the class ahead of her friend..."Good for you... the often-used argument against kids learning Welsh (for example) is that it'll 'hold them back', whereas having more than one language increases the brain's capacity for learning (IMO, and I think there is some evidence too). We had friends where the father was a speaker of Arabic (Lebanese), but insisted that the kids only spoke French... a pity. They miss out on half their heritage that way.
Andy wrote: "Strange to be having two conversations with you in two different places.. but I’ll keep them where they are, just in case others are taking an interest.. which I doubt.Haha! I don't know so much about you, but it feels as if some of my interests (at least) are a bit too niche for the Guardian's WWR crowd. So it's nice to have a few individuals who respond/overlap on the Venn diagram.
@ Tam, my thoughts are with you both, let's hope Dave makes a speedy recovery.My town has become increasingly difficult to navigate recently, both on foot and car. I've never seen so much in the way of roadworks and utilities. It really feels like I'm participating in an army training exercise.
Yesterday, I finished 'The Last Thing to Burn' by Will Dean. This is a standalone book and rather fantastic. It centers on the claustrophobia and fear of 'Jane', a Vietnamese migrant worker being trapped in a house against her will.
This was a chilling depiction of what it means to have one's freedom stripped and living with an abusive and controlling man in a house not fit for human habitation, as well as the horror of human trafficking.
I finished this book and felt relieved and somewhat fortunate that I have a good home and Mr Fuzzywuzz.
I've been pondering the pitfalls and some positives about getting older recently. Of course, aging is inevitable, but still....I think I have an awareness of my body that I didn't have before. I'm certainly more achey, but its the little, subtle things that creep on me rather insidiously. For example, uneven pavements are a nuisance and possibly dangerous and I do have to take more care.
Similarly, it's doing everyday, mundane things that seem to result in mild injury or discomfort, like changing a duvet cover for instance or the simple act of being able to sleep comfortably or get up without feeling I need to be in traction for a month.
On a positive note, I do seem a bit more blasé about some things and my verbal filter is a bit leaky somewhat, which makes me feel a little carefree.
Mod
"Praise should go to whoever put me on to this excellent series, though - but unfortunately I have forgotten who that was. Sorry!"
I just did a quick search — it was MK. Thank you, MK!
I grew up hearing English spiced with occasional Yiddish words in much of the popular entertainment I was exposed to. See the early films of Woody Allen and almost anything by Mel Brooks, for example. It even made it into some more “high cultural” contexts, as when “buck” is rhymed with “schmuck” in West Side Story. This was particularly true of the guests, especially comedians, on TV talk shows, most of which were NYC-based through the mid-60s.
Here’s an album I found on YouTube by Yiddish song parodist and former Spike Jones collaborator, Mickey Katz.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r5tSP...
I enjoyed The Yiddish Policemen's Union, a novel whose prose is a kind of Yiddish-inflected hardboiled.
NellyBells wrote: "Paul wrote: "NellyBells wrote: "AB76 wrote: "NellyBells wrote: "AB76 wrote: "NellyBells wrote: "AB76 wrote: "Berkley wrote: "Learning a language is a great idea and all the better if you have a per..."i am not sure why Galicia got such a bad press, it was a desperately poor border province of Austro-Hungary with a significant Jewish population. But this was a story of the entire area of which is now Poland and Ukraine, poor agricultural regions with significant Jewish populations up till 1940-41
From what i have read, the assimilated jews of Vienna and Germany were the most anti-Galicianer as they maybe reminded them of their roots and where they had "progressed" from. Especially Vienna, as this is where a lot of the Galicianer jews headed for.
scarletnoir wrote: "Andy wrote: "Strange to be having two conversations with you in two different places.. but I’ll keep them where they are, just in case others are taking an interest.. which I doubt.Haha! I don't ..."
I'm not that impressed with WWR right now, aside from comments from some of the folk who oddly have stopped posting here entirely. The idiotic censorship is one reason and i also feel the thread exchanges are less interesting too. I always have to think carefully before posting there in case i get zapped by censors
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Ersatz TLS
Books mentioned in this topic
Goshawk Summer: A New Forest Season Unlike Any Other (other topics)Asleep in the Sun (other topics)
Goshawk Summer: A New Forest Season Unlike Any Other (other topics)
The Willows (other topics)
Found in Translation: The Unexpected Origins of Place Names (other topics)
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Authors mentioned in this topic
Adolfo Bioy Casares (other topics)Algernon Blackwood (other topics)
David Downing (other topics)
David Downing (other topics)
Claude Houghton (other topics)
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The last few years I've tried to add a little Spanish and German as well but I'm still at a very rudimentary stage with those and possibly will never progress much beyond that level.