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Weekly TLS
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What are we reading? 6 March 2023
During my reading about the US Civil War, over the last few years, i have been impressed by the digital collections of universities in the USA, including maps, photographs and other documents relating to the Confederate SouthIt was probably the first war to get a real depth of photographic coverage, with many of the towns in the south being photographed before and after destruction. I found some wonderful images of Richmond,VA( full size, quality and of course as not capturing any movement, crystal clear)
As i reach the end of Freehlings The South Vs The SOuth i have come accross the burning of Columbia, SC, the heart of the south, as the Confederate capital, though oddly i dont recall ever reading about it, Atlanta and Richmond featured far more in my memory of destruction and conquest.
I am perusing the 1860 directory of Columbia right now and an 1850 map, capturing South Carolinian society and its people, pre-war
Light Perpetual – Francis Spufford (2021)
Story-telling of the first order, the lives that might have been lived by five children who in the opening pages are all killed by a V2 rocket. If some of the social nuances might escape a non-Brit, what makes it so warmly gripping are the personal connections. The way he does conversations feels completely natural. Even the utterly mean types we meet receive some understanding. I enjoy everything FS writes.
Story-telling of the first order, the lives that might have been lived by five children who in the opening pages are all killed by a V2 rocket. If some of the social nuances might escape a non-Brit, what makes it so warmly gripping are the personal connections. The way he does conversations feels completely natural. Even the utterly mean types we meet receive some understanding. I enjoy everything FS writes.
Marina Warner’s Fairy Tale, in the excellent OUP Very Short Introduction series, is exactly what such a work should be – a 135-page illustrated study that is succinct, erudite and enjoyable for its own sake, taking us from folk origins to modern takes in other media (movie, music, ballet) and in between saying enough about current issues in the field to make you want to explore further. I have to confess that I’ve never read any Angela Carter, and now I will. Handsome cover, pocket size, and not that expensive.
I wrote to OUP to suggest they commission a VSI title on the influence of modern science on literature, which I for one would be very interested to read. They are considering.
I wrote to OUP to suggest they commission a VSI title on the influence of modern science on literature, which I for one would be very interested to read. They are considering.
AB76 wrote: "During my reading about the US Civil War, over the last few years, i have been impressed by the digital collections of universities in the USA, including maps, photographs and other documents relat..."I guess you will have watched the brilliant Ken Burns' series on the American Civil War?
giveusaclue wrote: "AB76 wrote: "During my reading about the US Civil War, over the last few years, i have been impressed by the digital collections of universities in the USA, including maps, photographs and other do..."yes, that was very good, also his one on Vietnam
I am surprised there are no comments here about the BCC's action that has mushroomed so badly. I am not a sports fan, but even I know better to stay shtum about that around sports fans. 🤐
A Black history website was created by Dr. Quintard Taylor (http://www.quintardtaylor.com/) (now retired) and can be found at -https://www.blackpast.org/
MK wrote: "I am surprised there are no comments here about the BCC's action that has mushroomed so badly. I am not a sports fan, but even I know better to stay shtum about that around sports fans. 🤐"its a disgrace, the BBC has been backed into too many corners by tory governments that they fear, due to the funding link and the various tory placemen in the BBC. the chairman is a tory donor(although politically appointed, the BBC cannot choose this post), the DG was a tory candidate for local elections in his past and an ex-Theresa May spin doctor tory(Robbie Gibb)( is on the board as a kind of woke-finder general
Gibb is the real danger here, as he lies below the waterline, making sure the BBC pays for any left wing slants, percieved or otherwise.
Lineker, as a private citizen should be allowed to say what he likes. Clarkson, Neill and others are right wing presenters who say what they like, on and off air, Lineker sticks to sport on air and thats the difference.
A sorry, sorry situation in modern england.The nationalist regime of Modi India targeted the BBC recently after they filmed a documentary exposing his past crimes, the Beeb is fighting a hard battle (losing licence fee funding, attacked by the right wing media that dominates the UK and expected to always get the right balance)
80% of Uk media will be relishing the BBC issues, as they are constantly anti-BBC, forgetting that it has a huge fanbase. The decision to remove Lineker and its fiddling with Attenborough documentaries airtime is a sign the Tories have tightened their grip
AB76 wrote: "giveusaclue wrote: "AB76 wrote: "During my reading about the US Civil War, over the last few years, i have been impressed by the digital collections of universities in the USA, including maps, phot..."..and on Baseball..
Gpfr wrote: "AB76 wrote: "Andy wrote: "CCCubbon wrote: "@AndyLove the lichen above that Roman road.
love the images and the dog! sadly it keeps prompting me to log in, which it didnt months back...."
Yes,..."
What a pain. I may look to change providers next trip..
Andy wrote: "AB76 wrote: "giveusaclue wrote: "AB76 wrote: "During my reading about the US Civil War, over the last few years, i have been impressed by the digital collections of universities in the USA, includi..."are you a fan? i cannot stand am foot or baseball
. American football has me dreaming of an actual movement that takes longer than 2 mins, while baseball just seems odd
I've been re-reading Jane Ridley's The Heir Apparent (aka Edward VII, playboy Prince) while looking at her new book about Edward's son and heir, George V.The George V bio is captioned "Never a dull moment." Don't believe it. George V was a preposterously dull man with no humor. The British people may have had exciting moments (political crisis after crisis, Irish Home Rule, labor unrest, votes for women, World War One, civil war in Ireland, the First Labour government, a General Strike, the Depression, etc.), but that wasn't the situation at the top.
George's father, Edward VII, was a much worse man but had a more interesting biography. Much royal bullying ensued. Edward VII had to be shielded to keep his doings out of divorce court, seize old girlfriends' letters, and so on, while George V had one of his royal flunkies lecture his prime minister, Baldwin, about his 1925 letter to the king.
"It must be remembered that Members of Parliament now include ladies and such a thing as you describe [Baldwin had mentioned MPs lying about the benches in recumbent positions, as if they were loungers in St. James' Park] seems to his Majesty hardly decorous or worthy of the dignity and tradition of the Mother of Parliaments."
George threatened to take this complaint to the Speaker. No humor at all.
At least, George followed family tradition. In 1910, there was a deep division over the power of the House of Lords. Edward, who was quite ill, returned to London from his mistress' house in France, but made a point of writing to his son "As regards politics at home I think I had best keep my views to myself." So the King collapsed and died, without explaining his policies on the split, or anything else, to his son.
George V, in turn, was much worried about his son David's ability to do the job, and his relations with women, especially the American divorcee Mrs. Simpson. While both men felt tension, neither wanted an interview, so George never asked his son if he really wanted the job. Once again, serious illness, death, a new King, and no clear plan. More comment later.
AB76 wrote: "are you a fan? i cannot stand am foot or baseball. American football has me dreaming of an actual movement that takes longer than 2 mins, while baseball just seems odd
We played baseball at school, but it was called rounders! My main memory is of rushing round first base, losing my footing on the turn a very gritty surface and ending up with a large, painful graze down one leg. I did have an advantage in that although left handed I could play either way at rounders, confusing the fielders.
AB76 wrote: "MK wrote: "I am surprised there are no comments here about the BCC's action that has mushroomed so badly. I am not a sports fan, but even I know better to stay shtum about that around sports fans. ..."My 2¢ on any nation's politics is that parties in power need to be voted out every so often. If they aren't, they get complacent and go off on pet tangents. I say that while knowing the Trump should never have become President because he didn't/doesn't understand government and what it is supposed to do. Unfortunately, today's Republicans are happy to arouse base emotions which too many believe.
Today our local Friends of Library opened up their space for a sale. (This happens about once a month.) I went and managed to bring home enough 'western history' books so that I will never have to think of buying more. Titles include - Joe Meek: The Merry Mountain Man, The Great Buffalo Hunt, The Rocky Mountain Journals of William Marshall Anderson: The West in 1834, Warpath And Cattle Trail, and Steinbeck's The Long Valley. The last because I once lived in Monterey, CA, which is next door to the Salinas Valley.
Mod
We played baseball at school, but it was called rounders!..."
We also played rounders, but happily not on a gritty surface! My school had its own playing fields, but we sometimes used London Transport playing fields which were next to our grounds. Being totally unsporty, my memories of rounders are the London Transport field with big trees and sunshine 😃, whereas my memories of hockey and lacrosse are of freezing in shorts on the mud ☹ And let's not talk about cricket ...
Andy wrote: "Gpfr wrote: "AB76 wrote: "Andy wrote: "CCCubbon wrote: "@AndyLove the lichen above that Roman road.
love the images and the dog! sadly it keeps prompting me to log in, which it didnt months ba..."
its strange but lots of apps seem to discourage casual browsers now. you have a lovely hound Andy, he is the star of the blog, happily getting down to dogly things whatever the weather..
Mod
I've just finished Andrea Camilleri's The Safety Net and enjoyed it as usual, although as I've said before, I think the French translations do a better job with Catarella than the English ones do.
A Swedish TV company is filming in Vigata, a schoolboy is being bullied, Montalbano is trying to work out why a man filmed a patch of wall at the same date every year for several years ...
I realised a little way in that this is one of the few episodes of the TV series that I've seen (watched while in the UK).
Harsh Times by Mario Vargas Llosa has been an interesting read and i finished it this morning.The general themes of latin american corruption, machismo and violence are a feature of the novels by this master of Peruvian literature, alongside the corrupting influence of the "Yanqui". (The appalling Dulles brothers should be rotting in hell now for the damage they did to the free world in the 1950s)
Sometimes jarring in its casual sexual crudities, the translation is nevertheless fluent and very readable, elements of fact and fiction combine, with the grotesque murderer Abbes Garcia, appearing in a second Vargas Llosa novel after The Feast of the Goat
Gringo involvement in Guatemala devastated that nation for decades after the coup instigated to protect United Fruit, planned by the Dulles brothers. Innocents died, many were tortured and massacred, all at the hands of the land of the free..
Gpfr wrote: "I've just finished Andrea Camilleri's The Safety Net and enjoyed it as usual, although as I've said before, I think the French translations do a ..."
I remember that one. Think I have read all of the series now, but like someone else here (Robert?) I was disappointed with the last two.
Robert wrote: "I've been re-reading Jane Ridley's The Heir Apparent (aka Edward VII, playboy Prince) while looking at her new book about Edward's son and heir, George V.The George V bio is captioned "Never a dul..."
(Reposted)
I know little of the doings of kings, but it does seem as if Edward VII had 'interesting' tastes, to judge by his specially designed sex chair:
https://www.curbed.com/2020/10/anyway...
We saw one version of this in a Lisbon museum, though it seems there was also one in a Paris brothel. A man of mighty appetites, clearly!
AB76 wrote: "The decision to remove Lineker and its fiddling with Attenborough documentaries airtime is a sign the Tories have tightened their grip..."The 'Daily Mail' makes it quite difficult to track back to their print headlines nowadays, given the way news moves so quickly. Perhaps it is a hangover from the Zinoviev letter or from 'Hurrah for the Blackshirts'?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zinovie...
https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-en...
Still... their capacity for getting just about everything wrong continues, including today's headline: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/blogs-the-...
and even more the poisonous comment: " there must be millions who disagree with (Lineker) on migration. Who speaks for them?... etc."
This makes many assumptions:
1. That the Mail POV on immigration is supported by more people than Lineker's on giving people a fair crack of the whip. Evidence? Zero.
2. That Lineker is obliged by contract to speak only as approved by the BBC hierarchy. Wrong: Lineker is a freelance sports presenter, and in that capacity he speaks about football. In his private capacity he has every right to express an opinion - just as much as Paul Dacre or Lord Rothermere - or the many rent-a-quotes on the rarely watched UK right-wing news outlets.
It seems as if the Mail - and these other right-wing outlets - are only in favour of so-called 'free speech' so long as the 'free speakers' are expressing extreme right-wing opinions. As soon as anyone in the public eye expresses and opinion they don't agree with, they don't stop at simple criticism - they go for full strength suppression or mob intimidation.
It's pathetic, and would be concerning but of the fact that they appear to have overreached themselves on this occasion - it's reminded people that the chair of the BBC, Richard Sharp, gave £400,000 of his own money to the Tory party, and facilitated an £800,000 loan for then-PM cash-strapped Boris Johnson. In addition, the guy who suspended Lineker - Tim Davie - stood as a Tory candidate twice in the 1990s.
And these are the guys who appointed Laura Kuennsberg and employed Rupert Murdoch acolyte Andrew Neil to present a show.
For many years, Murdoch's 'Sun' - and others - tried to portray the BBC as some left-wing clique - mainly in Murdoch's attempt to supplant it with Sky TV and a purely commercial system. (Murdoch, I think, is more interested in power and making money than in actual politics.) By now, the BBC is entirely in the hands of a right-wing clique, but we don't hear anything about that... indeed, it's not right-wing enough for historical fascist supporters such as the Mail and their tax-evading non-dom proprietor.
A review I just posted:Open Season (Bob Skinner Book 34)
by Quintin Jardine
70358975
giveusaclue's review Mar 12, 2023 ·
I have read and enjoyed all the Bob Skinner series for their stories but with the caveat that the professional incest if that is the right description was becoming a stretch of credibility. All the police personnel he deals with seem to move up the promotion ladder almost as of right. The number of women included in that march up the ladder seems totally out of line with the real world. This book reinforced that feeling. At the personal level everything seems to come back the Skinner's extended family, unknown illegitimate children appearing after a couple of decades is one example and this book certainly stretches the credibility past breaking point when two corpses are revealed after trees are blown down. Of course, they just happen to be found by his son and former colleagues. Finally the denouement came across as totally ridiculous.
If I had read this as a one off I might have enjoyed it more because the faults would not have been so obvious, but that ending did put a damper in things.
scarletnoir wrote: "AB76 wrote: "The decision to remove Lineker and its fiddling with Attenborough documentaries airtime is a sign the Tories have tightened their grip..."The 'Daily Mail' makes it quite difficult to..."
sadly the BBC will be the big loser in all this and it gets a kicking from both sides and its "conditions" re-vetted and cracked down on for presenters.
Davie had started pleasing the right wing media from day one, though he hadnt made such a bad miscalculation as this one, looks so obviously like an attempt to stop criticism of the insane Tory immigration policy
AB76 wrote: "sadly the BBC will be the big loser in all this and it gets a kicking from both sides and its "conditions" re-vetted and cracked down on for presenters.Davie had started pleasing the right wing media from day one, though he hadn't made such a bad miscalculation as this one, looks so obviously like an attempt to stop criticism of the insane Tory immigration policy"
I agree 100% with everything you say. The trick is to get the BBC back to what it used to be - unbiased - before it was taken over by a right-wing cabal. Of course, once that happens, the Mail will accuse the BBC leadership of being a bunch of Marxists!
Personally I get fed up with the right wing bias from the BBC, switch off, and admire Lineker and the rest for speaking out. The avoidance of discussion on controversial topics and promotion of views without question of the likes of Nadine Dorries infuriates me.I no longer trust the BBC and doubt that the corporation will change until there is a change of government.
What has made me furious is the BBC caving in to tory politicians and not broadcasting the last episode of David Attenborough's Wild Isles. Attenborough has worked for the BBC since before most of the complaining tories were born and his programmes have enthralled generations of us .How dare they!
Some drizzle and mild temps tonight in the shires with gusty wnds to come laterReading going well, with the following:
Fear In The World by Corrado Alvaro (1938)- An italian classic, similar but predating Orwells "1984" of a world where suspicion could land you in jail, a USSR-alike location, recovering from a violent war. Similar to the analytical and detached language of Buzzatti or Moravia, this is a truly original style of novel. Very little occurs, creating a very claustrophobic atmosphere laden with fear
Black Like me by John Griffin (1961) - a white journalist decides to disguise himself as african-american and "pass" as a black man in the deep south. This non-fiction account records his experience in the deep south, only a few years before the new laws were introduced by LBJ.
Prowlers by Maurice Gee(1987)- this is a long shot, i already dislike the style but Gee is a good novelist about New Zealand, lets see if i persevere to the end
After Britain by Tom Nairn (2000)- this is a fascinating look back at what the New Labour reforms heralded for Scotland and Wales in 1997. Nairn focuses on the future of the UK-Britain but also the hopes for the nationalist movement in Scotland. He seems very optimistic about the future for the SNP, writing 23 yrs ago, he died last month and the future for the SNP has been stalled by a hostile Westminster govt, "power devolved is power retained"
AB76 wrote: "Andy wrote: "AB76 wrote: "giveusaclue wrote: "AB76 wrote: "During my reading about the US Civil War, over the last few years, i have been impressed by the digital collections of universities in the..."There was a time I spent quite a bit of time in Texas, and I took an interest. I liked the history of the game and the statistics.
It’s been a while now since I followed it.
But the Burns series is very well done.
Those caterpillars were really strange Andy and the white ball in the tree
I arrived in New York just as the 1977 baseball season was reaching its climax. I’d knew nothing about baseball but was gripped. Though Yankees as a team were in turmoil, Reggie Jackson (slugger), Ron Guidry (super-accurate and reliable pitcher) and Goose Gossage (relief pitcher with an overwhelming fastball) were all in their prime. Every time Jackson came to the plate the atmosphere was electric. In sixth game of the World Series against the Dodgers he hit three homers in succession, first swing, first pitch from three different pitchers. The city went wild, and I happened to be downtown the day of the victory parade, so I watched that as well. Since those times nothing much has compared, and I hardly watch it at all! I have quite a few baseball books still, not much consulted now.
Russell wrote: "I arrived in New York just as the 1977 baseball season was reaching its climax. I’d knew nothing about baseball but was gripped. Though Yankees as a team were in turmoil, Reggie Jackson (slugger), ..."I was about a year and a half during that season, and as the son of a die-hard Yankee fan. I have vivid memories of watching that game with my father. That and Bucky Dent sinking the Sox the following year. Other than baseball-related memories, I don't seem to have any other memories with my father that stuck other than getting yelled at or trying to avoid it. After 1981, it was the dark side of the moon for Yankee's fans
Paul wrote: "Russell wrote: "I arrived in New York just as the 1977 baseball season was reaching its climax. I’d knew nothing about baseball but was gripped. Though Yankees as a team were in turmoil, Reggie Jac..."Try being a Burnley FC (by birth) and Derby County (by location) fan! Sublime to the ridiculous and back through all stops in between!
Just thinking if this was the Grun we would all get modded for being off topic in the books section!
I didn't watch the Oscars, but just watched a pre-ceremony clip of an interview with Hugh Grant because I'd heard he referred to Vanity Fair, a reminder that I should read The Pilgrim's Progress.
CCCubbon wrote: "Those caterpillars were really strange Andy and the white ball in the tree"Strange indeed ccc.. I shall stay well clear should I see them again..
Highlights of my reading in the last few days are.. Firstly, This Thing Don't Lead to Heaven by Harry Crews
As much as I am a Crews fan, I didn’t come into this book with high expectations. I am aware that Crews himself didn’t rate it as being close to his best works, and that his publishers really didn’t like it. It was only ever released in hardback.
It was his third novel, published in 1970, and following the wonderful and successful The Gospel Singer and Naked in Garden Hills. Though this has the same bizarre elements, it misses some of the humour of the first two books. It may seem just a small aspect of his writing to play down, but it does how much of a role that dark wit plays in his best novels.
It is set in the ‘Senior Club’, an old people's residence run by Axel, an enormous woman dominated by her midget masseur, Jefferson Davis, who manages to convince everyone that his hands hold the power of life. A newcomer arrives, Carlita, having not returned to the Greyhound bus as she was in the lavatory. She is from Cuba and speaks a variety of Spanish that no one can understand, punctuated with voodoo incantations. Jefferson Davis becomes convinced that she can ‘magic him’ to an average person’s height.
The cast is filled with eccentrics as ever with Crews; for example Junior Bledsoe, a salesman of cemetery plots who struck gold in St Petersburg and is on a missionto do the same at the Club.
Crews’s books are rarely plot based, so the ending is not really a climax, but here it is disappointing, abrupt and curiously incongruous.
Zombie by Joyce Carol Oates
This is Oates at her most grim, exploring the very darkest corner of humanity’s recesses, the places where nobody wants to go. It’s a depressing narrative and begs the question, why read it. I’ll leave that unanswered for now..
It depicts the life of one Quentin P, a convicted young sex offender on probation for the sexual assault of a 12 year old boy, who has now moved on to killing his victims, and as yet not caught, despite the concerned attentions of his family and of his psychiatrist. Without confronting him, or reporting any of his behaviour, they suspect something isn’t right about his supposed reformation.
In his own mind, and his diary, Quentin is searching for the perfect zombie, a boy who will become subservient and compliant through a labotomy with an ice pick.
Oates writes with brevity which stresses the brutality of the crimes, but the question remains as to why write something like this, and more, why read it.
I think it’s an Oates experiment in morbidity, an attempt to link Quentin to everyman by diffusing the horror through the rituals of ordinary middle-class life in the Detroit suburbs - to paint Quentin as not so far removed from the common person.
Thereby lies any interest in the book, though I’m not sure she quite pulls it off.
Either way, it’s raw, chilling and thankfully brief.
and, Mr Pottermack's Oversight by R. Austin Freeman
When preparing his garden for the arrival of a new sundial, quiet, Mr Pottermack, a single man of late middle age who has a quiet and unremarkable existence, uncovers a previously unknown well. The same day, he receives yet another demand for money from a man who is blackmailing him, and it’s only a matter of time before one problem is used to solve the other..
Austin Freeman is new to me, and having greatly enjoyed this, I will certainly be seeking more out from him.
It’s a great example of what different stuff can be written under the vast umbrella of the crime genre. After all, the title itself gives the culprit away, and indicates that he was unsuccessful.
There’s another thing that Freeman does that few of his trade manage, to write in several complete implausibilities, and yet manage to thrill and compel his reader rather than put them off.
Freeman very much has his own style, of the Victorian age in its tone (first published in 1930), almost lecturing the reader in its pitch, yet there is no question of the narrative being dated.
He provides the reader with a huge amount of minutiae as Pottermack carefully prepares and executes his various schemes, though again, rather than scare the reader away, this is engrossing, humorous at times, and just adds to the portrayal of a fascinating character.
Here’s a clip..
We do not need to share his agonies. It was a loathly business. The dismembered parts had to be inducted separately into their garments, leaving the ‘assembling’ for a later stage, and the sheer physical difficulty of persuading those limp, flabby, unhelpful members into closer-fitting articles of clothing was at once an aggravation and a distract from the horror of the task.
Mod
This is Oates at her most grim, exploring the very darkest corner of humanity’s recesses, the places where nobody wan..."
I very much like some of her books, but I doubt whether I'll read this one!
I am looking for some suggestions here. I am, hopefully, about to embark on my long-postponed rail-trip across Germany. I’m hoping for two recommendations for not very long novels (I am packing lightly for the trip so weight is a bit of an issue, in terms of books) that might resonate with the places that I am visiting. I am starting out in Hamburg, for one night, just because I haven’t been there before, and am hoping to take in a museum, or art gallery or two. Alas I’m arriving on 2nd, April, which is a Sunday, so not a brilliant day to start with but I have constraints planning wise. Then near Lubeck, for a few days, to visit an old friend. Than my plan is two days at the Bauhaus in Dessau, possibly a trip to the Harz mountains, and then on to Wurzburg to see a ceiling painting (I think MK recommended it a long time ago). Then Heidelberg for 2 days, and then Kassel, to the Grimm’s brothers museum, and perhaps other museums/art galleries as well? and then onto Marburg, to see one of my ‘Door of the Day’s. Then to Brussels, via Cologne perhaps. So, any books that might resonate with the landscape, culture or history along that path would be great. I’m going to get an Inter-rail pass so can happily wander off the beaten track to visit other interesting places nearby if any are suggested. Time away? Probably 2 weeks or so. So, any suitable book suggestions would be most welcome as I have a feeling that I will have quite a lot of reading time available on my various train journeys. Oh, and any recommendations for what you can do on a possibly rainy Sunday night out in Hamburg, would be much appreciated as well...
Tam wrote: "I am looking for some suggestions here. I am, hopefully, about to embark on my long-postponed rail-trip across Germany. I’m hoping for two recommendations for not very long novels (I am packing lig..."For a Hamburg set novel, i would recommend Fallada'sOnce A Jailbird, or a similar northern setting but a very different novel, would be Thomas Manns Buddenbrooks set in Lubeck
The stories and novels of Heinrich Boll have Rhineland settings in the Cologne area too
So i would pack some Mann and Boll...
@Paul - Bucky Dent! That was on a glorious Indian summer weekend, and I was deep in Red Sox country, keeping quiet about my fealty to the Yankees, driving around on my first ever trip to Vermont, not for a second imagining that 30 years later I would move here to live.
...
The weather’s a bit different today, as we are expecting one to two feet of snow in the next 24 hours.
Holed up in front of the fire, I am re-visiting some Balzacs I read early on, currently La Duchesse de Langeais, who is a splendid and spirited coquette, at the moment quite unworthy of her passionate lover, the Marquis de Montriveau, a brave and dignified general who is an innocent on the battlefield of love.
Apparently there’s a book on Les Mondains de la Comédie humaine by Rose Fortassier (1974), which looks like a must-read. Amazon are asking a ludicrous $50+. I can get a cheapish one at a bookstore just over the border in Quebec, but they want $45+ on top for posting and packing. So this looks like a good excuse for another drive.
...
The weather’s a bit different today, as we are expecting one to two feet of snow in the next 24 hours.
Holed up in front of the fire, I am re-visiting some Balzacs I read early on, currently La Duchesse de Langeais, who is a splendid and spirited coquette, at the moment quite unworthy of her passionate lover, the Marquis de Montriveau, a brave and dignified general who is an innocent on the battlefield of love.
Apparently there’s a book on Les Mondains de la Comédie humaine by Rose Fortassier (1974), which looks like a must-read. Amazon are asking a ludicrous $50+. I can get a cheapish one at a bookstore just over the border in Quebec, but they want $45+ on top for posting and packing. So this looks like a good excuse for another drive.
@Tam – Heartily endorse AB’s recommendation of Buddenbrooks for Lübeck, though I’m not sure it meets the “not very long” test.
For the Harz mountains, if you get there, I would recommend Heine’s The Harz Journey, in the Penguin translation by Ritchie Robertson, not a novel as such but a sort of fantasy-communing with nature. He is just a treat to read.
For the Harz mountains, if you get there, I would recommend Heine’s The Harz Journey, in the Penguin translation by Ritchie Robertson, not a novel as such but a sort of fantasy-communing with nature. He is just a treat to read.
Fear In the World by Corrado Alvaro(1938) is a fascinating novel of dark, internal psychology and thought processes. There is elements of Kafka, Buzzatti, Moravia and Orwell in its style(though it predates 1984 and Animal Farm)Highbrow and intense it merges the best of Italian pre-WW2 writing and is nightmarish in its central suggestion that everyone thinks guilty thoughts and the state will expose these, over time. Thought crimes before "1984". Events merge into other events, time seems to leap and contract, in a very flat, empty menacing environment. Its enthralling so far
Russell wrote: "@Paul - Bucky Dent! That was on a glorious Indian summer weekend, and I was deep in Red Sox country, keeping quiet about my fealty to the Yankees, driving around on my first ever trip to Vermont, n..."Stay safe, can you imagine the UK coping with 1 foot of snow?
We had a little snow here last week and it has been raining all day. All that water has to come down along the Rivers Derwent and Trent near me. The Trent was almost over its banks this morning. So may well be now.
https://check-for-flooding.service.go...
Bill wrote: "I didn't watch the Oscars, but just watched a pre-ceremony clip of an interview with Hugh Grant because I'd heard he referred to Vanity Fair..."Indeed - comedy gold - for those who are totally out of touch with that scene, Grant was referring to the book, whereas the interviewer clearly took it that he was talking about the magazine and its after-party:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C9dNI...
Grant definitely looked as if he'd prefer to be somewhere else!
AndyThe dog looked bored stiff by the milestone!
Looks a grand place to camp and clamber about for a few days.
Tam wrote: "I am looking for some suggestions here. I am, hopefully, about to embark on my long-postponed rail-trip across Germany. I’m hoping for two recommendations for not very long novels (I am packing lig..."If you do still have some flexibility (a day or two): looking at your itinerary it seems a shame to leave out Frankfurt. You'd be hard pressed, I think, to find so many things to see within about a square mile in any other German city: about 30 museums on both sides of the Main, places where German history was made (the Paulskirche and the Dome), the Judengasse where the ghetto once stood...
With the "MuseumsuferCard" you could go on a museum binge (39 museums) for two consecutive days for only 21€.
And you could eat what I would choose for my last supper: Frankfurter Grie Soß (green sauce) which you will not get anywhere else in Germany (traditionally served with potatoes and hard-boiled eggs). And snack on another local specialty: Handkäs mit Musik. All washed down with the famous "Ebbler" (a close relative of cidre).
Literaturewise I'm afraid I can't come up with anything that hasn't been recommended already. Some ideas went nowhere (not translated into English). Second Russell with Heine's Harzreise. It is just wonderful.
Non-fiction wise: if you haven't read much specifically about the women of the Bauhaus yet that is well worth digging into
What to do on a rainy Sunday night in Hamburg? It is a most beautiful and exciting city (imo) but rainy Sunday nights in any city where some options (cinema, theatre...) are out for non-German speakers all have the same options. Wrap up and go for a stroll or go to a restaurant, or a music venue. In Hamburg you could, of course, also go to the Reeperbahn ;-)
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Books mentioned in this topic
Retracing the Iron Curtain: A 3,000-Mile Journey Through the End and Afterlife of the Cold War (other topics)The Weird Tales of William Hope Hodgson (other topics)
The Rector's Daughter (other topics)
Indian Nocturne (other topics)
Requiem: A Hallucination (other topics)
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Authors mentioned in this topic
Dan Simmons (other topics)Joel Townsley Rogers (other topics)
Joel Townsley Rogers (other topics)
Joel Townsley Rogers (other topics)
Joel Townsley Rogers (other topics)
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Love the lichen above that Roman road.
love the images and the dog! sadly it keeps prompting me to log in, which it didnt months back...."
Yes, I've found that as well. One can only look at a few photos. Andy was surprised when I wrote that.