Ersatz TLS discussion
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Weekly TLS
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What are we reading? 21 November 2022
AB76 wrote: "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 bette..."I think you would have to do some sort of analysis of the difference between how Sephardi jews and the Ashkenazi jews perceived themselves, and each other, and how both of them tended to treat 'the other', historically, in order to find out more about what was going on between them. It's the sort of question though, that, if asked on WWAR, would probably get yourself modded...
Thanks for the good wishes. We are as ready as we are going to be... I keep marvelling at how I produced a sprog that is just so much more diplomatic than I have ever managed to be... I really don't know where he gets it from. To me, as a skill, or ability, it seems to have jumped multiple generations, on both sides of the family, before it became reincarnated in him. Or did he learn it from studying history?...
Fuzzywuzz wrote: "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'..."
I know exactly how you feel Fuzzywuzz. Especially the other week when I hurt my back and couldn't stand up straight for a couple of days! But hey, we are still here.
Tam wrote: "AB76 wrote: "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 ..."I know that Sephardi and Mizrazhi Jews in Israel are treated quite badly, or have been with the Azkhenazi seeing themselves as superior, though it seems the unpleasent inter-jewish snobbery now classes the Ethiopian and other African Jews below the Mizrahi(mostly Jews from Arab nations)
thank goodness we dont only have the G and its poundland Stalinist censors to discuss this on then!
AB76 wrote: "It's the sort of question though, that, if asked on WWAR, would probably get yourself modded..."I'm still on pre-mod, so stuff them!
giveusaclue wrote: "Fuzzywuzz wrote: "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..."
i'm a long way off old age, nestling somewhere in middle age but my parents and the old folk at the day centre i volunteer at would share the experiences of old age with you. Duvet changing accidents etc, though one 92yo old lady tole me she chopped a small tree down last week, after telling me she had balance problems!
Fuzzywuzz wrote: "@ 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 ..."
Not just yours, there are roadworks everywhere in my part of S. Derbyshire.
giveusaclue wrote: "Fuzzywuzz wrote: "@ 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 se..."
You can almost see the headlines.... "Over-zealous Utilities turn UK into one giant sinkhole, sunk in one"
AB76 wrote: "giveusaclue wrote: "Fuzzywuzz wrote: "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..."
Was it a bonsai tree perhaps? :)
I'm 45 going on 100 :)
giveusaclue wrote: "Fuzzywuzz wrote: "@ 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 se..."
We should be so lucky to have road works. Here in Seattle we like - or I should say politicians like - new, new things. There are streets I avoid because of the many patches.
Gpfr wrote: "scarletnoir wrote: "Gpfr wrote: "I'm following in Scarletnoir's wake with the David Downing John Russell series....""Praise should go to whoever put me on to this excellent series,..."
You are welcome. I think I will put a re-read note at the end of my 23-24 calendar. By that time the details should be sufficiently hazy that they will be enjoyable once again. Great series!
AB76 wrote: "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 do..."I think it was the word 'aside' that denied me a post. It was a reply to a book about explosions and had mentioned the IWO collision in Halifax, Nova Scotia.
When I went there on a family trip (long ago), we saw Bedford Basin which is a huge body of water with access to the Halifax waterfront and the Atlantic. My mother told me that during WW2 the Basin was filled - cheek by jowl - with ships interned for the duration of the war. It is such a big body of water it is difficult to imagine that picture.
For a flavor of the explosion and its aftermath I recommend -
Burden of Desire by Robert MacNeil of PBS Newshour fame. I stil have it on my shelf.
I should make it clear that I'm no great linguist, and have yet to master even French to the level of fluency, still requiring sub-titles to follow French-language tv shows or films.
Fuzzywuzz wrote: "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'..."
Think of an extremely long running episode of The Twilight Zone - one with minor tremors as the room grows just a tad smaller. These tremors translate to the cricks in the back, or for me most recently, a heel bone spur. At the rate I am going I will be doing 'keep even' exercises all morning long.
here's an interview that some here might find of interest:opb.org/
article/2022/11/22/think-out-loud-graphic-novel-tackles-life-on-canadian-oil-sands-ducks-two-years-in-the-oil-sands/
It's Kate Beaton (Hark! A Vagrant!) on a book tour talking about her new work, Ducks, based on her experiences working in Fort McMurray.
(Goodreads wouldn't let me link directly so you'll have to copy and paste without the space and put https://www. in front).
MK wrote: "AB76 wrote: "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..."have you read Barometer Rising by Hugh MClennan? its a canadian novel all about that incident... a great novel, written in 1941
Fuzzywuzz wrote: "AB76 wrote: "giveusaclue wrote: "Fuzzywuzz wrote: "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..."
45, oh....a mere stripling, as i'm 46, you are a youngster!
i think it was an ash tree
i DO get aches like you though, odd aches that come and go, no rhyme or reason...
MK wrote: "giveusaclue wrote: "Fuzzywuzz wrote: "@ 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 an..."
Oh, we have potholes and patches - on patches very often too
AB76 wrote: "Fuzzywuzz wrote: "AB76 wrote: "giveusaclue wrote: "Fuzzywuzz wrote: "I've been pondering the pitfalls and some positives about getting older recently. Of course, aging is inevitable, but still......."
46? Kindergarten level to a 74 year old!
giveusaclue wrote: "AB76 wrote: "Fuzzywuzz wrote: "AB76 wrote: "giveusaclue wrote: "Fuzzywuzz wrote: "I've been pondering the pitfalls and some positives about getting older recently. Of course, aging is inevitable, b..."haha, i learn a lot from you guys and gals in here!
time for my afternoon nap(that was fun in kindergarten lol)
Anyone want to see a complacent peregrine with an extra nice backdrop? https://www.northnorfolknews.co.uk/ne...
Berkley wrote: "here's an interview that some here might find of interest:opb.org/
article/2022/11/22/think-out-loud-graphic-novel-tackles-life-on-canadian-oil-sands-ducks-two-years-in-the-oil-sands/
It's Kat..."
https://www.opb.org/article/2022/11/2...
Guess I'll have to hop to it as I recently got it from the library, and there are probably a gazillion holds so no renewals.
MK wrote: "Berkley wrote: "here's an interview that some here might find of interest:opb.org/
article/2022/11/22/think-out-loud-graphic-novel-tackles-life-on-canadian-oil-sands-ducks-two-years-in-the-oil-..."
She's a good interview, her voice comes across nicely on the radio. She sounds a bit hesitant here for the first few minutes but seems to gather confidence as it goes on.
@FuzzywuzzMy, I think it’s Will Dean’s best book but yes, chilling. Many books get forgotten but not that one. It’s frightening.
@Scarlet and AndyI haven’t been reading WWR and only picked up a reference to Venn diagrams this morning here.
Intrigued I tried to find your comments and failed. Can be tricky things, Venn diagrams. What was it all about?
Mod
“People often say they devoured a book in one sitting. But I want to savour a book, which means I give myself just 10 pages a day of any book.” On an average day, (the Chinese-American author Yiyun) Li, best known for her novels A Thousand Years of Good Prayers and Where Reasons End, reads 10 different books, spending half an hour on each title.From an article in The G on the joy of reading slowly:
https://www.theguardian.com/books/202...
I often have 2 books on the go at the same time: fiction & non-fiction, or a lighter vs. more challenging read, but 10 ...! I am a very fast reader.
Gpfr wrote: "What do people think of this? “People often say they devoured a book in one sitting. But I want to savour a book, which means I give myself just 10 pages a day of any book.” On an average day, (the..."I don't go for two books at the same time. I honestly don't think I ever do that, but I do think I read too quickly instead of savouring it. Because a couple of days later I can't always remember much of what I have just read. But that might just be down to the age we were recently talking about!!
So I went to look at the nominations for the Good reads Choice awards and have to confess that I haven't read any of the books in any of the categories! 🙈
Gpfr wrote: "What do people think of this? “People often say they devoured a book in one sitting. But I want to savour a book, which means I give myself just 10 pages a day of any book.” On an average day, (the..."i usually have 4 books on the go (one modern fiction, one classic fiction and two non-fiction, never on same topic or from same country). it works well as i read in small sections and will tend to read 2 on one day, a different 2 on the next. i have a good memory which helps and as i read in small sections nothing gets too rushed.
when i was commuting the modern fiction was simply a commute only read which was usually disappointing
i COULD be a very fast reader but i dislike finishing books in a few days or a week unless they are short-ish novels. before covid i was generally busier so averaging about 65-70 books a year, in the two covid years 2020-21 i read more and was a lot less busy, like all of us, especially 2020 but not a lot more(85).
Mod
So that made me go and look —
Mystery & Thriller 0
Fiction 0
Historical Fiction 0
History & Biography 0
Memoir & autobiography 0, but 1 on my wish list: Alan Rickman's diaries
Non-fiction 0, but I've got 1 TBR: Ann Patchett, These Precious Days
Didn't look at the other categories as I don't normally read them.
There was only one book in the non fiction category that I had read and voted for and that was An immense world by Ed Yong - that book fully deserves an award.
Gpfr wrote: "What do people think of this? “People often say they devoured a book in one sitting. But I want to savour a book, which means I give myself just 10 pages a day of any book.” On an average day, (the..."I'd like to add what you have left out:
“But I say,...I want you to read three pages an hour’.”
That’s the speed Li is happy to read at, even if she is re-reading a familiar text. “People often say they devoured a book in one sitting. But I want to savour a book, which means I give myself just 10 pages a day of any book.”
Am I allowed to say "bollocks" to that?
Three pages/hour x ten pages/book/day x ten books/day = 10x10:3=her day has 33+hours devoted to reading only.
I am very glad that I've learned to read slowly, with Dickens, with Austen, with Toni Morrison, with Heine, to name but a few. But I would never come close to reading only ten pages/hour.
And having ten books on the go at the same time would drive me mad. I manage two at best.
Honestly: having ten books on the go would drive me mad. I can manage two at best.
Gpfr wrote: "What do people think of this? “People often say they devoured a book in one sitting. But I want to savour a book, which means I give myself just 10 pages a day of any book.” On an average day, (the..."10 different books is impressive....good for her!
Gpfr wrote: "What do people think of this? “People often say they devoured a book in one sitting. But I want to savour a book, which means I give myself just 10 pages a day of any book.” On an average day, (the..."There is no way I would have the willpower for this. The best I ever did was, during lockdown, to limit myself to one Cadfael a month, starting on the 15th.
Of course there is a downside to the way I read. Like @Clue my memory isn't the best. I wish some smart person could develop a selective system for brain cleaning - get rid of all the spam to make room for new, good stuff. Maybe I'll send Elon a note. 🙄
I always have bunches of books going. Some of the non-fiction I dip into and out of. One library I have access to has a 4-week renewal period and allows you to renew 5 times if no one else wants it. No wonder my shelf set aside for library books has a tall stack.
Mod
"I'd like to add what you have left out:
“But I say,...I want you to read three pages an hour’.”
That's what she says to her students.
In the passage I quoted, it says she spends half an hour per day on each of her 10 books, reading 10 pages. So 5 hours in total.
MK wrote: "Gpfr wrote: "What do people think of this? “People often say they devoured a book in one sitting. But I want to savour a book, which means I give myself just 10 pages a day of any book.” On an aver..."did you get the Maclennan recommendation MK?
MK wrote: I wish some smart person could develop a selective system for brain cleaning - get rid of all the spam to make room for new, good stuff. Maybe I'll send Elon a note. 🙄"."
What an absolutely wonderful idea MK. I can remember the most stupid things but others hide behind a cerebral cloud. Of course, we have more things in our brains to remember the older we are.
Send him an email MK.
AB76 wrote: "one 92yo old lady told me she chopped a small tree down last week, after telling me she had balance problems!.."Haha! That's the way they go, isn't it? I had a phone call from Social Security yesterday re. my mother and her recent reclassification as 'severely visually impaired (blind)'. They asked if she'd had any falls recently: well, two last week, I told them. Tell us more, they said. Well, she has her milk delivered - she has to go down three steps by the back door. Then, instead of taking one bottle at a time indoors, she picked up one in both hands, started up - and fell over backwards. But didn't hurt herself (!)
We can but keep our fingers crossed - and give them a mild telling off, if they will listen...
MK wrote: "We should be so lucky to have road works. Here in Seattle we like - or I should say politicians like - new, new things. There are streets I avoid because of the many patches."I suspect people are referring to 'patching up' - certainly, in my small town, they seem to be forever digging up and patching something or other - reminiscent of the Beatles' memorable "4000 holes in Blackburn, Lancashire" ;-)
At least one recent minor dig was useful - for many years, following heavy rain a nearby corner has harboured a lake leading to pedestrians getting severly splashed if cars come around too quickly - and all because the drain was not at the lowest point. So, early this week they came and dug it up and put a new drain at that lowest level. Oddly, they left the old drain there as well, though, Cheaper that way, I suppose.
scarletnoir wrote: "MK wrote: "We should be so lucky to have road works. Here in Seattle we like - or I should say politicians like - new, new things. There are streets I avoid because of the many patches."I suspect..."
I just wish the council would do a proper repair instead of patching up which only lasts five minutes.
MK wrote: "It was a reply to a book about explosions and had mentioned the IWO collision in Halifax, Nova Scotia."I wasn't sure which post you were replying to, so I looked this up - it seems there were two explosions in the area - a devastating one during WW1 - the 'Halifax explosion':
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Halifax...
and a serious but far less consequential one at the end of WW2 - the 'Bedford magazine explosion'.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bedford...
I suspect you were referring to the former?
Berkley wrote: "I should make it clear that I'm no great linguist, and have yet to master even French to the level of fluency, still requiring sub-titles to follow French-language tv shows or films."I do, too - sometimes because my hearing isn't great, sometimes because they talk a lot and very fast - it depends on the film or programme... but a third reason: language moves incredibly quickly, and if slang terms are used I often have no idea so ask my French wife - "What does that mean?"
Half the time, she doesn't know either! (We've been in the UK since 1989.)
MK wrote: "These tremors translate to the cricks in the back, or for me most recently, a heel bone spur."Well, you are certainly in good company... presumably, you are chickening out of any risk of being sent to Ukraine any time soon...
https://edition.cnn.com/2017/10/23/op...
CCCubbon wrote: "@Scarlet and AndyI haven’t been reading WWR and only picked up a reference to Venn diagrams this morning here.
Intrigued I tried to find your comments and failed. Can be tricky things, Venn diagr..."
Oh, sorry to have misled you into thinking there was any serious content there... I was only saying to Andy that it was a relief to find on 'Ersatz' some others whose interests overlapped sometimes with my own (as on a Venn diagram), when even my detailed reviews on the Guardian's WWR receive zero responses. I suppose my interests are too niche - as I said.
Gpfr wrote: "I often have 2 books on the go at the same time: fiction & non-fiction, or a lighter vs. more challenging read, but 10 ...! I am a very fast reader."There is no way I could restrict myself to 10 pages a day of a book I was enjoying - it might happen for one that was on the boring side (one I'd probably end up ditching!)
Sometimes, like you, I read an easy and a harder one in tandem...
@Clue - in case you haven't seen these -https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0rOPA...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fMyO5...
scarletnoir wrote: "AB76 wrote: "one 92yo old lady told me she chopped a small tree down last week, after telling me she had balance problems!.."Haha! That's the way they go, isn't it? I had a phone call from Social..."
the tree felling was an epic tale, i asked if he had got help from her neighbour, a strapping 6ft 6 rugby player and she replied "oh no, he was having a lie down in his conservatory, i didnt want to bother him"
scarletnoir wrote: "MK wrote: "It was a reply to a book about explosions and had mentioned the IWO collision in Halifax, Nova Scotia."I wasn't sure which post you were replying to, so I looked this up - it seems the..."
yes i was....ywhich one were you referring to?
unluckly halifax that we have ask which explosion or collision lol
scarletnoir wrote: "MK wrote: "It was a reply to a book about explosions and had mentioned the IWO collision in Halifax, Nova Scotia."I wasn't sure which post you were replying to, so I looked this up - it seems the..."
Yes - WW1, but take a look at the photos of Bedford Basin (WW2) and imagine it filled with ships of all sizes - one tied to another. It boggles my mind.
Also I had forgotten about the Boston connection - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boston_...
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Ersatz TLS
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Mr Standfast is an intelligent study of wartime Britain and the world that existed among its people. Scarcely a character doesnt have relatives serving on the killing fields of Flanders. The key pull factor is the escapades of Hannay in the home counties and western isles so far as he hunts a German agent, its probably the wordiest Buchan i have read and stands up with the best of Ambler or Greene so far