What are we reading? 5 December 2022

[MK]

AB76 wrote: "As i've never been much of a fan of modern lit(lets say 1980 onwards), i have been heartily satisfied with the 17 or so novels i have read this year, published after 1980 and a good number have bee..."

Any news on The Netanyahus?

[Storm]

To be simplistic (I am a simple soul), much of the religious hooha, such as the headscarf ban, is due only in part to religion. A large part is also the right and desire for a country or area, to maintain and foster their own traditions, and I don’t see anything wrong with that in principle. I think people feel their own way of life is under threat and I do not think it is racist, or anti-immigrant to want to foster your own way of life. I also am sure that much has been exaggerated in the press.
When I lived in Bangkok, my colleagues gave me Christmas Day off as a kind gesture. They all went to work. However, tourists who had their photos taken sitting on Buddha statues, with their heads higher than the Buddha, were thrown in jail. The point here is that tolerance only goes so far. And we all have different tolerance limits. My blood boils when I see women clothed in the full black burkha. I see it as injustice and prejudice against women and I think a lot of Iranians would agree. I understand multiculturalism as a concept but when it clashes with the mores and beliefs of your own society, it is hard to disentangle where protecting your own traditions and where prejudice starts. I can see why at one end of the scale you have the Ingerlanders or MAGA types. It is a knee jerk reaction to a perceived threat.
Some will no doubt call me prejudiced for stating what I have but I feel we need to be more honest in our discussions of multiculturalism and its effects.

[AB76]

MK wrote: "AB76 wrote: "As i've never been much of a fan of modern lit(lets say 1980 onwards), i have been heartily satisfied with the 17 or so novels i have read this year, published after 1980 and a good nu..."

ditched...so bad it was just painful. i cannot begin to fathom how novels like that get written. Best account i can give is being stuck next to a boring passenger on a long train journey who simply cannot tell a good story, has no sense of humour but seems to believe he has

generally i would avoid any much lauded modern american literature and its worked well for 20 odd years. it just was like reading something for the sake of putting you off reading for ever. Dreadful, pretentious,unfunny rubbish!

[AB76]

Bill wrote: "Speaking of differences in religious attitudes in Europe and the US, I’ll touch on a sensitive subject, the Charlie Hebdo killings.

It should go without saying – but doesn’t necessarily, alas – th..."

i'm always shocked that medieval style censorship is applied in the west by bullying, intimidation and extreme violence. I totally respect the Islamic conscience over depictions of the Prophet and would never want to see hurt caused but the cartoons and satire about the Prophet are miniscule compared to everyday mocking of God, Jesus and the Bible.

To see some of the most free and diverse nations in Europe being intimidated into not publishing or refraining from publishing satirical cartoons depicting the Prophet was shocking. CH has always been an outlier, a provocative, irreverent publication but until these attempts to censor are stopped, the bullyboys behind violence will have success in their distant, repressive nations

Salman Rushdie was the first victim of this in my lifetime and i remember aged around 13, wondering what the fuss was, the impact of what that did still resonates today. Other censors are the Chinese bullying any nations that display different interpretations of their Taiwan policy...

[Storm]

In the small fishing town where I grew up in NE Scotland, there was apparently at the time the highest number of different Christian churches/sects in the country. Even today, there is a sect which bans technology like TV, and where the women wear long skirts and a triangular blue scarf over their (always long) hair. It is the hijab transposed to a Christian sect. I don’t have any more patience with this lot than I have the black burkha brigade.
I was raised through a rather hysterical period when the Plymouth Brethren had a schism and you had the Open Brethren, Close Brethren and the Breakaways. A bit like the Ayatollahs, women faced restrictions, (for a time) were banned from cutting their hair, wearing bras. Oh dear. Male oppression. Families split and tales abounded of parents and children eating at separate tables in the same house. I could go on with horror stories. But the point is as I laboured to express previously, how far do we allow tolerance to go?
I don’t think we should be legislating everything people think or do (though social media is doing exactly that now). If you want to wear a blue hanky on your head, fine, the point is of course to distinguish an us from a them. And therein lies the problem. We are all still tribal and you have to be SEEN to conform.

[AB76]

Storm wrote: "In the small fishing town where I grew up in NE Scotland, there was apparently at the time the highest number of different Christian churches/sects in the country. Even today, there is a sect which..."

NE Scotland in the 1851 census was the most diverse part of that country, with the most significant Anglican(Church of Scotland) and other Nonconformist British minorities, outside Glasgow and Edinburgh though still majority Presbyterian

we had plymouth brethren where i grew up (SE England) and they all wore headscarves and didnt mix, though the church they used is now an old folks home and they seem to have all left.

[giveusaclue]

Gpfr wrote: " I decided to stay in Australia and with Australian cops for a while and read Bitter Wash Road by Garry Disher.
Paul Hirschhausen runs a one-cop..."

If you want to stay in Australia you may want to look at this series:

https://www.fantasticfiction.com/c/jo...

[Georg]

AB76 wrote: "Bill wrote: "Speaking of differences in religious attitudes in Europe and the US, I’ll touch on a sensitive subject, the Charlie Hebdo killings.

It should go without saying – but doesn’t necessari..."

I think @Bill made a very valid point: "punching down".

Kurt Tucholsky said: "Was darf Satire? Alles!" (What is satire allowed to do? Everything!). While I love him to bits: his dictum was wrong.

I was as shocked about CH as probably all of us non-Moslems in the western world. But we have to question ourselves, I think.

One question I haven't found an answer for is: why? What is the purpose of non-Muslims making fun of Mohammed?

For the other question I took myself out of the barbed-wired zone of religion: how would people react if a heterosexual person like me were to ridicule not gays, but gayness itself?

Satire that is aimed at those who are weaker is pathetic. Satire can only have a place where it is either aimed at the group, tribe, faith you belong to, or if it is pushing up. Imo.

[AB76]

I must try and get hold of a CH compilation and see if i can find the content about the Prophet, see how much there actually was there, they are certainly a very brave publication.

I'm not sure if it can be classed as "punching down", as there are many far easier targets for satire. In the post-Rushdie world it would seem to be a rather challenging situation to satirize

A good dose of irreverence is always healthy, sacred cows can enable more censorship and limitations on free speech, though if CH were advocating violence and hate, that would cross the line, however its a fine line of offence when your holiest prophet is depicted as a fool or liar etc, plus in about 80% of the Muslim world, religion is a forbidden topic for satire or commentary, with the online wirld we live in meaning obscure cartoons in the corner of a small publication can be shared to millions in seconds, from nations where there is a lot more tolerance for differences of opinion

[Gpfr]

AB76 wrote: " wonder if small protestant sects who favour headscarfs(Mennonite and Brethren) have issues in France, i would guess there numbers are so tiny, it hardly ever crops up ..."

Near where I live there is a building called the Centre Evidence and different evangelical etc churches hold services there. One lot wear headscarves, but they're tiny (the scarves), so I can't imagine there's any issue.

[Gpfr]

MK wrote: "nothing like a stemwinder in front of a crowd.."

had to look up 'stemwinder'. I don't think I've ever heard it before.

[Gpfr]

giveusaclue wrote: "If you want to stay in Australia you may want to look at this series: https://www.fantasticfiction.com/c/jo....."

Thanks, I'll have a look.

Right now, for contrast, I'm in Iceland, in a terrible snowstorm: Ragnar Jónasson, Outside.

[AB76]

Gpfr wrote: "AB76 wrote: " wonder if small protestant sects who favour headscarfs(Mennonite and Brethren) have issues in France, i would guess there numbers are so tiny, it hardly ever crops up ..."

Near where..."

Interesting, thanks GPFR

France has a significant Protestant population and has since the revolution of 1789 granted them more rights(following on from Louis XVI), though only about 2% of the population.

I know about the Lutherans (near the Swiss border, Doubs and in Alsace) and the Calvinists (Nimes, Ardeche, Rhone area) but not the smaller sects, which are probably more numerous now, especially the evangelicals,

Frances most famous Protestants remain Necker (finance minister under Louis XVI), Pierre Beyle, philosopher,Andre Gide, the novelist, Gaullist administator and sociologist Jacques Soustelle and two Prime Ministers. Guizot (1847-8) and Jospin. However all were calvinists, i cant think of any famous French Lutherans.

Guizot and Soustelle were from Suthern french calvinist stock

[Gpfr]

AB76 wrote: "I must try and get hold of a CH compilation and see if i can find the content about the Prophet, see how much there actually was there,.."

It reproduced Danish cartoons of Mohammed:
" a dozen cartoons first published by the Danish daily Jyllands-Posten in 2005 – and then reprinted by the French weekly in 2006, unleashing a storm of anger across the Muslim world".

https://www.france24.com/en/20200901-...

[AB76]

Gpfr wrote: "AB76 wrote: "I must try and get hold of a CH compilation and see if i can find the content about the Prophet, see how much there actually was there,.."

It reproduced Danish cartoons of Mohammed:
..."

ah yes.,...thats it...the danish cartoon, thanks GPFR

[Bill]

AB76 wrote: "I'm not sure if it can be classed as "punching down", as there are many far easier targets for satire. In the post-Rushdie world it would seem to be a rather challenging situation to satirize"

Even as demonstrated in this thread I think many Europeans think of themselves as so completely secular that they don't realize how steeped in Christianity they are, like fish in water, though parts of the rest of the world (I wouldn't include the US here), living under other traditions, perceive it.

For Muslims, it would take no great stretch of imagination to read a kind of Crusading spirit into the publication of cartoons critical of the founder of Islam which were published in a country under this flag:

[AB76]

Bill wrote: "AB76 wrote: "I'm not sure if it can be classed as "punching down", as there are many far easier targets for satire. In the post-Rushdie world it would seem to be a rather challenging situation to s..."

very good example bill...yes the crusading imagery can be very tricky in the lands where europeans were plundering many years ago and i think the idea that christianity is central to how europeans think can be a perception in the islamic world

there is also the tricky balancing act of how Europe comments and interacts with its network of ex-colonies and dominions. Religion, politics and culture all can mix uncomfortably there, a legacy has been left by european buccaneering and subjugation.

[scarletnoir]

Gpfr wrote: "giveusaclue wrote: "If you want to stay in Australia you may want to look at this series: https://www.fantasticfiction.com/c/jo....."

Thanks, I'll have a look.

Right now, for contrast, I'm in Ice..."

By chance - and because I checked out the Films thread first - I recommended exactly the same Aussie book as clue before catching up here!

I've read a lot of Jonasson's books, but not 'Outside' - yet.

[Gpfr]

scarletnoir wrote: "I recommended exactly the same Aussie book as clue..."

giveusaclue recommended Jon Cleary (a new one to me).
Some time ago, you recommended Garry Disher and Bitter Wash Road and I thanked you in message 136. 😉

[AB76]

In The Morbid Age: Britain and the Crisis of Civilisation, 1919 - 1939 , Overy spends some time looking at the writings about a supposed crisis of wesetern civilzation in the 1920s, with Oswald Spengler and Arnold Toynbee as key figures.

It amazes me how little of Toynbee's work has been kept in the public mind via OUP or Penguin, there only seems to be old copies or dreadful POD mash ups. It sometimes suprises me how British intellectuals are neglected like this, ideas are always interesting and worth studying.

[MK]

Gpfr wrote: "MK wrote: "nothing like a stemwinder in front of a crowd.."

had to look up 'stemwinder'. I don't think I've ever heard it before."

The dictionary says its origin is in the US.

When I think of it, I see a tall, white (definitely!) man, perhaps with flowing locks, haranguing a crowd at a camp meeting somewhere between southern Ohio and Tennessee. He is insisting that 'all find God'. This would have been during the Second Great Awakening in the US.

[MK]

Gpfr wrote: "scarletnoir wrote: "I recommended exactly the same Aussie book as clue..."

giveusaclue recommended Jon Cleary (a new one to me).
Some time ago, you recommended Garry Disher and Bitter Wash Road a..."

Darn - not at my library, so I had to add it to my cart at Powell's in hopes they have a sale soon.

Also in that same cart is which is quite expensive for me but looks really interesting.

[[deleted user]]

Fans of Harry Bosch might like to check out a children’s book called Pish, Posh said Hieronymus Bosch by Nancy Willard, with illustrations by three members of the Dillon family, the story of the original Bosch’s harried housekeeper. While we were going round our recently re-opened village library the children’s librarian drew our attention to it. The whole book is spectacularly wonderful. We’re getting a copy to read to our nieces this Christmas.

The library has to do a lot of fund-raising to supplement the income voted by the town, and people sponsor things, like the very handsome new furniture. One of the things I liked to do when the library was open pre-Covid was to sit in a corner in a comfortable armchair and read the latest NYRB. I noticed they didn’t have it any more. So now I’m sponsoring a subscription to NYRB, and I’m very happy that it will be there for others to read too.

[scarletnoir]

Gpfr wrote: "scarletnoir wrote: "I recommended exactly the same Aussie book as clue..."

giveusaclue recommended Jon Cleary (a new one to me).
Some time ago, you recommended Garry Disher and Bitter Wash Road and I thanked you in message 136. 😉"

Haha! That'll teach me to read the comments to the end - I saw the title and as I'd read it went on to 137...

Sorry!

[scarletnoir]

MK wrote: "I see a tall, white (definitely!) man, perhaps with flowing locks, haranguing a crowd at a camp meeting somewhere between southern Ohio and Tennessee."

Almost - but he's also got a white beard and hails from Kentucky...
(I had to look up that word as well, especially as it reminded me of 'sidewinder' which first came to my attention as a missile although I later discovered its original meaning as a rattlesnake.)

[CCCubbon]

I’m hooked on the second of the Selma trilogy by Anne Holt called A necessay death.
You may remember that I thought the firstA grave for two was good, a twisting plot centred around cross country skiing in Norway. This second book, like the first, seems arather confusing at first with the unfamiliary of Norwegian politics but, my, the main part with Selma in a very dangerous predictament is quite gripping.

[MK]

Russell wrote: "Fans of Harry Bosch might like to check out a children’s book called Pish, Posh said Hieronymus Bosch by Nancy Willard, with illustrations by three members of the Dillon family, the story of the or..."

Taking a peek at the library for Pish, Posh, I came across this which also sounds interesting - A Visit to William Blake's Inn
Poems for Innocent and Experienced Travelers .

I like your great idea to supplement library holdings. A win-win for all.

[Andy]

My last two have been, after The Colony, another Irish island novel, Where I End by Sophie White.

White’s novel is set on an island in Galway Bay that bears a strong geographical resemblance to Inis Meáin in the Aran Islands. In an appendix she goes to some length to say that it is not the island, but a version of it, as if from a parallel universe.

One of the most striking features of Inis Meáin are its cliffs on its north west side, named from the ancient Gaelic word Mhothair, meaning mother. As the ground is unsuitable for the burial of the dead, on White’s island, those have recently met their demise are hung on hooks over the cliffs, for the sea to claim.

Three generations of a family live together in the remote house closest to the cliffs, Aoileann, the 19 year old narrator, Móraí, her reticent grandmother, and Aoileann’s mother, the survivor of a disaster that the family has kept secret. Between them, they care for almost every need of the mother, and over time this has built an intense hatred of her within her daughter.

For the island to prosper it needs tourism. The old knitting factory is to be turned into a museum, and
Móraí works there on its opening. It has an artist-in-residence, Rachel, who arrives with her infant son. Aoileann meets her on the beach and finds a focus for her perverse understanding of love.

What materialises is a very well done piece of horror writing that breaks new ground in approaching areas that are rarely considered in fiction; post-natal depression, the role of carer, and motherhood resulting in loss of identity.

[Andy]

and, How to Turn Into a Bird by María José Ferrada translated from the Spanish (Chile) by Elizabeth Bryer.

Ramón takes a job in billboard security, seeking something less regimented than his years of work in a factory. Determined to make a success of his new found independence, he moves out of his apartment to live in one of the billboards he looks after, a Coca Cola, just on the outskirts of a rundown area of Santiago, towards the airport.

The novel is narrated by 12 year old Miguel, who lives close by in a housing complex. Fatherless, Uncle Ramón has always been a big influence on Miguel, and his new living arrangements appeal to him greatly.

Though other characters come and go, this is a novel about Ramón and his search for freedom on the one hand, and Miguel’s approaching adolescence on the other. Miguel is just finding his place in the world, and when a boy he knows goes missing, it causes him to see his life from a different perspective, in a similar way as Ramón is from his chambers in the billboard.

The real entertainment to be gleaned here is in considering the book after finishing it, rather than during. It’s thought-provoking enough to make you search back through the pages for those indelible paragraphs, that at the time, were not appreciated so much.

[[deleted user]]

MK wrote: "... I came across this which also sounds interesting - A Visit to William Blake's Inn
Poems for Innocent and Experienced Travelers..."

It does, doesn't it. I'm going to look that up as well.

[AB76]

LRB has a good article on the study of vernacular languages and the difference between the study of English in the USA and UK from the late 19th century onwards. While in the USA latin and the classics faded towards English as a discipline, in the UK latin remained a fixture into the 1950s and 1960s, with Oxfords latin entrance test only going in 1960.

I see the american university system as the custodian of English, long ago, the cultural heritage of the english language settled safely into american hands and probably will remain there, possibly as english starts to fade as the lingua franca of the capitalist exchange system

It is also interesting to read the following article on the founding of Stanford Uni and Stanford family (i didnt know about the temperance concerns of setting up the uni in a drink free location- i must declare that a wing of my family owned a temperance hotel in the shires, though i only found out a decade ago). The private university system is much stronger in the USA, while in the UK the best universities are all public(with a small set oif private ones), despite some Tory attempts to create their own little tory factories aka private universities

[Tam]

AB76 wrote: "LRB has a good article on the study of vernacular languages and the difference between the study of English in the USA and UK from the late 19th century onwards. While in the USA latin and the clas..."

I thought the Stanford University founding story was fascinating, and could well appeal to those here, who like a good murder mystery story. Who murdered the much disliked, it seems, heiress, Jane Stanford, who founded Stanford University. There are quite a lot of suspects... it seems! And her dead son and husband were appointed to the management board of the University (she was an avowed 'spititualist').

I did particularly enjoy the very end, where one of the pretenders to the throne, an originally appointed professor at Stanford, of 'leaving one's mark on history', is seen off, in terms of legacy, for having supported 'eugenics' theory, 'back in the day'. And so 'wokeness' finally catches up with some of those historically 'important' peoples, those who never dreamed that such a thing would ever come to be? You would think perhaps that there might have been a warning left by those that had crossed over to the other side? A fun tale all round, and amazing that they actually got to be ranked No. 3 University, worldwide, from such extraordinary beginnings...

[AB76]

Tam wrote: "AB76 wrote: "LRB has a good article on the study of vernacular languages and the difference between the study of English in the USA and UK from the late 19th century onwards. While in the USA latin..."

yes, the line that Mrs Stanford wanted to be working for the university "after her death", made me giggle

i am suprised its no 3 in the world as well,impressive

a brief anecdote on the afterlife too, the new bus driver at the old folks centre i volunteer at died for 6a few mins in his 30s due to a massive allergic reaction to aspirin. the only other people i know who have seen the afterlife were brutal about it "sweet FA" but he said it felt wonderfully calm and serene, like the moments you start to slowly relax and fall asleep. he is 64 now and very much with us but it was a nice thing to hear on a brutally cold winters day

[Tam]

AB76 wrote: "Tam wrote: "AB76 wrote: "LRB has a good article on the study of vernacular languages and the difference between the study of English in the USA and UK from the late 19th century onwards. While in t..."

I was one of those, that have died and been reborn, apparently, but I didn't find out until I was a teenager. My mother bought me a polo neck pullover, that was quite tight, I tried it on, and immediately got a panicky feeling from wearing it. I told her I couldn't wear it, and why, and she then told me that I had, apparently, been born dead, with no heartbeat and not breathing. I was resuscitated, successfully. I had been strangled by the umbilical chord during the birth.

I had always not done up my school uniform shirt, to the top button, so should have had a clue perhaps, but as we all had to wear school ties, nobody noticed.

I don't have any memories of the period of not being here, but I do have odd dreams where I am floating down a tunnel towards some kind of light in the distance, with some odd appearances from a random collection of oddballs on the way. I made the huge mistake of telling a boyfriend about this, and he thought it totally irrational, and that it was therefore his duty to, occasionally, and at random, to come up behind me and put his hands round my neck...and squeeze... to re-educate me it seems. the relationship did not go well...

[AB76]

Tam wrote: "AB76 wrote: "Tam wrote: "AB76 wrote: "LRB has a good article on the study of vernacular languages and the difference between the study of English in the USA and UK from the late 19th century onward..."

wow, Tam , so your subconcious must have a recollection of that incident i guess, deep down?

i have heard of the tunnel imagery, the driver said he didnt notice that, i think its the most common i have read about, a sort of tunnel of light

[Tam]

AB76 wrote: "Tam wrote: "AB76 wrote: "Tam wrote: "AB76 wrote: "LRB has a good article on the study of vernacular languages and the difference between the study of English in the USA and UK from the late 19th ce..."

Its not a tunnel of light, rather a tunnel with a point of light, as seen from a distance, at the end of it. Its a journey, of sorts I guess. No sign of any pearly gates though, at least for me.

[Bill]

Tam wrote: "I don't have any memories of the period of not being here, but I do have odd dreams where I am floating down a tunnel towards some kind of light in the distance, with some odd appearances from a random collection of oddballs on the way."

For anybody interested in near-death experiences and isn't put off by their weirder manifestations, I highly recommend the book Elvis After Life: Unusual Psychic Experiences Surrounding the Death of a Superstar.

[AB76]

Tam wrote: "AB76 wrote: "Tam wrote: "AB76 wrote: "Tam wrote: "AB76 wrote: "LRB has a good article on the study of vernacular languages and the difference between the study of English in the USA and UK from the..."

if death is like a comfortable everlasting sleep, that would be nice, something akin to before we were born maybe, a sort of void....a comfortable void

[AB76]

Bill wrote: "Tam wrote: "I don't have any memories of the period of not being here, but I do have odd dreams where I am floating down a tunnel towards some kind of light in the distance, with some odd appearanc..."

one of the old ladies at the centre had fun at the local tandoori, with an asian elvis impersonator dancing for her. she showed us the vid and he was a master at crowd control, five yobs trying to throw bits of naan at him and he won them over, hip movements et al...

[MK]

AB76 wrote: "LRB has a good article on the study of vernacular languages and the difference between the study of English in the USA and UK from the late 19th century onwards. While in the USA latin and the clas..."

I've just downloaded - but not listened to yet - Who Killed Jane Stanford?: A Gilded Age Tale of Murder, Deceit, Spirits and the Birth of a University by Richard White.

Even though this is still, ear unheard, I have no hesitation in recommending it. Richard White is a historian of note (just Google him). He reluctantly left the University of Washington some years ago to go to Stanford. He said it was about $$$, and to be closer to his Mom who lived in CA. I look forward to listening to this story.

[MK]

AB76 wrote: "Tam wrote: "AB76 wrote: "Tam wrote: "AB76 wrote: "Tam wrote: "AB76 wrote: "LRB has a good article on the study of vernacular languages and the difference between the study of English in the USA and..."

You must have been reading my mind. Yesterday I went to a local funeral home with columbarium to find out what is involved, including costs. This is all a part of a will and all that other needed paper work update. Ugh - I've been putting this off, but I will be glad to have accomplished something I needed to do this year.

[Robert]

I've been reading books set in the 1930s and during the Second World War.
One is Sebastian Haffner's Defying Hitler, a personal memoir starting during the First World War and ending in the late 1930s, before the new war broke out. Well-written book with interesting pages, and both confirmed and contradicted my idea of Germany during this period. Despite the title, Haffner's question in setting out these observations is why there was so little open defiance to Hitler, and why it was so ineffective.
Haffner's book is a good complement to Henry "Chips" Channon's Diaries 1918-1938. A version of these diaries, vetted by Channon's son was published decades ago. A big, gossipy book, full of snide observations. Channon, as he admitted to himself, was fascinated by royals, jewels, parties, and, after he was elected to Parliament, power and political intrigue. He had loyalty to Edward VIII, whom he'd befriended in and opposed the abdication, the one thing he had in common with Churchill. A later page on Edward VIII brings out the man's coldness and his one-way loyalty. Channon's pages on Wallace Simpson are warm and friendly, something new to me. He was convinced that a small cabal of the well-connected undermined Edward.

[scarletnoir]

by Juan Marsé (trans. Nick Caistor)

Finally, I have finished the last few pages of this book, paused until I recovered from an indisposition... it was well worth the wait, and deserved my full attention and concentration.

As before, Marsé includes a number of familiar themes and settings - working class Barcelona in the late 40s, fathers usually absent or dead having backed the losing side in the civil war, an adolescent as the main protagonist... and yet, as in his other novels, the story feels completely different.

Here, the tale opens with 14-year-old Daniel in a hiatus between finishing school and taking up a promised apprenticeship at a jewellers (an autobiographical detail). He is tasked with keeping an eye on eccentric and somewhat senile codger Captain Blay, who has taken against a local chimney spewing out polluting smoke. Blay wanders the streets trying to persuade the residents to sign a petition against the chimney, and happens upon the idea of using the beautiful but consumptive Susana as a poster girl for this effort. As Daniel has some artistic talent, he is asked to draw a sketch for the proposed poster, and falls under Susana's spell.

Susana's father, Kim, is in exile in France; one day, one of his erstwhile comrades, Forcat, arrives at Susana's home and takes up with her mother. At the same time, he starts to explain Kim's continued absence to an enthralled Susana and Daniel - he is on a mission in Shanghai...

This is a beautifully realised story, told with Marsé's outstanding skill and imagination... towards the end, an event occurs at which Daniel is not present as a witness. Several versions abound in the neighbourhood; Daniel chooses to 'believe', or at least accept, the version he likes best:

I personally like this version. I liked it the very first time I heard it, and I have kept it secretly in my heart ever since.

Marsé is really always playing around with the idea that our memories are in fact re-creations of the past, and that it is impossible to know the (whole) truth about any event; even later, Daniel speculates that

I had no idea then that no matter how we grow and look towards the future, in fact we are reaching back towards our past, in search perhaps of our first moment of awareness.

For those who might be interested in reading Marsé, this book would probably be the best one to start with... a rattling good yarn without too much messing about with timelines, which is not to everyone's taste (I don't mind it myself.) In the meantime, I have ordered his Golden Girl, which is apparently being delivered by tramp steamer as it was ordered on 30 November and is not due until 5 January. This sounds like a pretty battered copy, but the others available (all second hand) were too expensive. I am also a little disappointed that the edition has the often used title 'Golden Girl' rather than the version much closer to the Spanish: 'The girl with the golden panties' - far more evocative!

[scarletnoir]

Whilst under the weather, I managed to read a couple of 'entertainments':

Bad Actors by Mick Herron was up to the usual standard - good fun, especially for those of us familiar with British politicians... Herron takes a swipe at many of these in his books. I suspect this aspect will date quickly, as politicians are 'here today, gone tomorrow' after all. The stories will continue to be enjoyable on the basis of their skilful plotting, though. Slight reservations: this book's balance was rather too far towards the 'conniving' going on, with not quite as many action sequences as some volumes - but those we get are very good; and I did miss River Cartwright, who was absent recuperating from his efforts in the previous volume.

BTW - do any Herron fans know what is going on with his output? I have had a number of Kindle alerts about what seem to be short stories, but buying lots of those might prove poor value for money. Any knowledge on these? I would not mind a volume of short stories, but buying a whole lot separately does not sound appealing.

[scarletnoir]

... and The Fallout by Yrsa Sigurdardottir, which is book 6 in the Freyja and Huldar series.

I enjoyed this, despite some reservations... for much of the first half, the solution to the murder committed seems obvious; then we get an almighty number of twists and turns in the second half - rather too many, really, making the plot seem a bit too contrived. But never mind - if you have read other books by this author, and especially in this series, you will know what to expect. It doesn't disappoint, but isn't one of the best.

[AB76]

scarletnoir wrote: " by Juan Marsé (trans. Nick Caistor)

Finally, I have finished the last few pages of this book, paused until I recovered from an indisposition... it was well wort..."

its been interesting to read your comments on Marse scarlet, was it me who got you on the path? i think it might have been

i dont read loads of novels by the same author in a year by habit but you have made me consider it, the focus it could achieve and of course positive returns, you know the author and what you like about it etc

[AB76]

Robert wrote: "I've been reading books set in the 1930s and during the Second World War.
One is Sebastian Haffner's Defying Hitler, a personal memoir starting during the First World War and ending in the late 19..."

i have Haffner on my list, i would recommend Hans Fallada's prison diaries that i read earlier this year, they are not about prison life but an observation of living under Nazi rule from 1933 until his final confinement to an asylum in 1944. Its rich in the small town atmosphere of emerging Nazism in North Germany and very well written. He composed it in tiny words on bits of paper at threat of discovery

A Stranger in My Own Country: The 1944 Prison Diary

[AB76]

MK wrote: "AB76 wrote: "LRB has a good article on the study of vernacular languages and the difference between the study of English in the USA and UK from the late 19th century onwards. While in the USA latin..."

i hadnt realised that Stanford was a huge part in the development of Silicon Valley ....Paolo Alto has an interesting history, a kind of temperance town

[AB76]

This time of year is when i parse reading down a little, as Xmas becomes a flurry of little feet, big meals and walks, less time for reading and as i stay at my parents house for Xmas (lots of room), but finding a quiet corner is not always easy...lol

However looking for a essay collection to dip in and out of, i found Sontags Under the Sign of Saturn postponed from January and started with her excellent essay on Leni Riefenstahl and the allure of Nazi art and imagery. Sontag is a superb writer, her 1969 collection was a fave of mine a few years back, though i wasnt so keen on her diaries. i look foward to reading the rest of the essays

[CCCubbon]

scarletnoir wrote: "... and The Fallout by Yrsa Sigurdardottir, which is book 6 in the Freyja and Huldar series.

I enjoyed this, despite some reservations... for much of the first half, the solution t..."

Agreed.

But let me say that I just had to sit and finish A necessary death by Anne Holt as I mentioned earlier.
Actually gave it five stars. Yes, it is a gripping story of survival but also a astute and thoughtful political thriller woven through with ultra right wing and far left contemplation, the influence of the media, solutions, secrecy, family……… packed full of interest.
Do read the first book in the series first ( A grave for two)