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What are we reading? 6 March 2023
Russell wrote: "@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 T..."
Heine looks good. This will push me towards being more definite about visiting the Harz. I have lots of suggestions about visiting there from Shelflife. Pity I haven't got the timing right for going on Walpurgis night!...
Georg wrote: "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..."I'm leaving the route I take quite open as I'm sure I will pick up some suggestions on the way so Frankfurt could well be on it. I was wondering if I should tackle some Goethe along the way. Apart from experiencing various non-literary versions of Faust I have read nothing of his. Do you know where a good place to start might be?
Otherwise I might try the whole of Rilke's 'Letters to a Young Poet' as I have a rather flippant habit of dipping into things these days, rather then reading the whole thing. I think I will conveniently and erroneously blame poor old Thomas Mann for that, or perhaps James Joyce?
I had a sudden image pop into my mind of them both having a duel to the death over which one of them had the most 'failed' readers in the bag, whilst being egged on by Proust from the sidelines... If I come across any 'stuff' of interest on my journey I will post it up here in case anyone might be interested or amused...
scarletnoir wrote: "Grant was referring to the book"Most commenters on Twitter (the only place I've read reaction to Grant's "interview"), say he was referring to Thackeray's novel, but I like to think he was going back to the source in John Bunyan. To lift the description from Wikipedia:
Vanity Fair, a place built by Beelzebub where every thing to a human's taste, delight, and lust is sold daily
Tam wrote: "Georg wrote: "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 lon..."The only Goethe that I have read is his ‘Theory of Colours; kindle edition’ (£3,65).
It’s okay on how we perceive colours and the experiments are thorough, his arguments against Newton nonsense but it might while away a long journey.
Tam wrote: "AB76 wrote: "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..."Buddenbrooks is so so much better than "the magic mountain" Tam, a totally different kind of book, you will love it, it was his first novel and is about a trading family in the great hanseatic city, Lubeck
Goethe – If you’re minded to try Faust again I would recommend the Louis MacNeice adaptation that he did for BBC radio, very dramatic, and abridged without losing any of the essence. Conversations with Goethe, In the Last Years of His Life by Johann Peter Eckermann, recently out in Penguin, has been well reviewed but I haven’t read it yet. I loved his Italian Journey, in the Everyman Selected Works, but that is of course rather off point. I didn’t really care for The Sorrows of Young Werther, a bit too stagey and overwritten, though a monumental best seller in its day, and was also rather baffled years ago by the coolly classical Elective Affinities, which I should probably read again.
For books about Goethe rather than by Goethe, Lotte in Weimar by Thomas Mann, a novel retrospectively telling the story of an early love affair from different points of view (Goethe, Lotte, a doctor), is a perfectly wonderful read (and again utterly unlike The Magic Mountain).
Another to me engrossing read was Love, Life, Goethe by John Armstrong, which covers all his life and his writings and why they are still relevant today. He describes, for example, how Schiller, wanting to introduce himself to the great man, cunningly prepared a sympathetic critique of the Theory of Colours, which of course Goethe could not resist.
If you’re interested in the Jena circle, you could try Jena 1800 by Peter Neumann, which is a fairly light and anecdotal group biography that features Goethe when he comes to visit Schiller from nearby Weimar. While it was enjoyable I had reservations about the slack style of the translation. A better book on the same subject with I believe a great deal more on Goethe - it's here on the TBR pile- is likely to be Magnificent Rebels by Andrea Wulf, which got rave reviews but is a hefty tome.
For books about Goethe rather than by Goethe, Lotte in Weimar by Thomas Mann, a novel retrospectively telling the story of an early love affair from different points of view (Goethe, Lotte, a doctor), is a perfectly wonderful read (and again utterly unlike The Magic Mountain).
Another to me engrossing read was Love, Life, Goethe by John Armstrong, which covers all his life and his writings and why they are still relevant today. He describes, for example, how Schiller, wanting to introduce himself to the great man, cunningly prepared a sympathetic critique of the Theory of Colours, which of course Goethe could not resist.
If you’re interested in the Jena circle, you could try Jena 1800 by Peter Neumann, which is a fairly light and anecdotal group biography that features Goethe when he comes to visit Schiller from nearby Weimar. While it was enjoyable I had reservations about the slack style of the translation. A better book on the same subject with I believe a great deal more on Goethe - it's here on the TBR pile- is likely to be Magnificent Rebels by Andrea Wulf, which got rave reviews but is a hefty tome.
I always think it it odd to talk about what you would eat if it was your last supper. Would you really feel like eating if you knew it was your last?Just me?
I've been slowly reading through Conversations with Goethe this year, one to three entries each morning. The only really tedious part for me are the conversations about Goethe's theory of colors, which he seems particularly sensitive about. The one point at which he seems seriously angry with Eckermann is when E suggests an alternative explanation for one of Goethe's explanations.I got heavily into Faust five years ago and came away thinking it the greatest single work of literature I had read. I'm thinking of diving back in again this year - I've since picked up the MacNiece version (though given my high admiration for the work, I couldn't recommend reading an abridgement as one's only encounter with it) and a recent translation by David Luke from OUP. This last has fairly extensive notes, essential for understanding some of the details Goethe drew from contemporary figures and intellectual controversies.
Bill wrote: "I've been slowly reading through Conversations with Goethe this year, one to three entries each morning. The only really tedious part for me are the conversations about Goethe's the..."Sometimes less can be more. Yes, I am a fan of much, but not all, of 'Modernism', amongst many other things. I think people are free to reinterpret their own take on hallowed texts. Of all the versions of Faust that I have seen, still my favourite one was a children's television programme of a 'puppet' 'Faust', broadcast on German TV, around 1960 or so when I was a young child living in Germany.
Tam wrote: "I think people are free to reinterpret their own take on hallowed texts."In such cases, is it necessary to have some familiarity with the original text to appreciate the re-interpretation?
I am reminded of a number of years ago when I attended a performance of Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead with a friend who had never read Hamlet. One of the actors was named Orestes, a name my friend had only encountered in one of Peter Schickele's parody compositions attributed to P. D. Q. Bach.
You have reminded me of the film 'Never on a Sunday' somehow. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Never_o...Even those who believe that they know the 'hallowed' text cannot predict, even though they are trying their hardest, that they are passing on the true 'knowledge' to someone else. So I don't think you need to know the true original to appreciate something. I went for years believing that the song 'nights in white satin' was actually 'Knights in white satin', so I have a completely different view of it. Yes I have been corrected, after many years, but I still have the image of a whole load of medieval knights dressed up in their finery, and both versions now enrich me as I still enjoy the image of the medieval knights somehow...
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..."Perhaps before you go you could read-up online about the Hanseatic League or go to the Hanse Museum in Lubeck (love Lubeck) which is new since my trip there so long ago. There's also a Hansa ship in the Bremen Museum. The Hanse sent salted from the salt mines in Luneburg herring all over Europe back in the day when Catholicism was the only religion and there must have been 'no-meat' days galore.
For Hamburg all I have on the shelf is Richard J. Evans Death in Hamburg: Society and Politics in the Cholera Years, 1830-1910 which is probably not what you are looking for.
I hope you get to see Tiepolo's ceiling and, of course, see how the upper echelons of the church lived.
i'm envious! I expect you know not to get to the rail station late because the Germans didn't fool around with their schedules when I was there.
PS - light reading. Agatha Christie's [book:Passenger to Frankfurt|310224.
PPS - I had to look and see if the border crossing museum is still there. I remember taking a local bus to get to it - only a few miles from the city center. It's still there! https://www.grenze-luebeck.de/
One thing I remember being told is that the barbed wire the East Germans used was imported from the West.
Ah - the memories!
I'm thinkin either I was asleep in high school history class or Woodrow Wilson's racism wasn't mentioned. Needless to say, I am ending up with more historic avenues to follow as I listen to Beverly Gage's G-Man: J. Edgar Hoover and the Making of the American Century. It is more interesting than I expected.To counter history, I'm covering myself in sleeze by reading Everybody Knows by Jordan Harper. Hollywood at its worst with the lead characters spending their time (paid) picking up after those that have run amuck in so many ways. It was off-putting to begin with, but now as I am 1/3 of the way through, I'm glad I did because things are getting dicey.
Gpfr wrote: "Andy wrote: "Zombie by Joyce Carol Oates
This is Oates at her most grim, exploring the very darkest corner of humanity’s recesses, the places whe..."
and I’m not sure I would recommend it either..
Gpfr wrote: "Andy wrote: "Zombie by Joyce Carol OatesThis is Oates at her most grim, exploring the very darkest corner of humanity’s recesses, the places whe..."
What did you enjoy the most GP? Keen to read more from her.
CCCubbon wrote: "AndyThe dog looked bored stiff by the milestone!
Looks a grand place to camp and clamber about for a few days."
It was CC.
He prefers a swim or paddle at least, and a good sniff around.
A couple of weeks ago I posted about predictions for the International Booker Longlist. It was announced today, https://thebookerprizes.com/the-booke...,
and I got absolutely none. Zilch.
It’s the reason I like to guess, that the field is so wide.
There does seem to be some interesting stuff on it. I had a few on my tbr list before, but now quite a few more.
A few book blogs will read them in order as a ‘shadow panel’.
I’ll try and get through a few of them before the short list on 18 April.
Mod
What did you enjoy the most GP? Keen to read more from her...."
She's an incredibly prolific writer! I only started keeping a record of my reading in 2017, so would need to dig deep to work out which of her books I've read.
However, among recent reads, I've liked:
The Accursed: a young bride is abducted by a demon and there's all sorts of mayhem in Princeton. The Harvard review says:
Oates has achieved a nearly flawless combination of postmodernism, gothic horror, “traditional” narrative, politically engaged literature, historical novel, and popular bestseller—a heady and enjoyable mix.MK mentions Woodrow Wilson's racism which is seen here.
In a more realistic vein, I've enjoyed
Carthage
The Falls
Mod
L'Inconnu du pont Notre-Dame by Jean-François Parot is the second-to-last in the original series of Nicolas Le Floch books (after Parot's death, another writer has continued).
The pont Notre-Dame links the Ile de la Cité with the Right Bank and at the time when this book is set (1786), the houses which lined the bridge were being destroyed, making it a splendid place to hide a corpse.
Marie-Antoinette is more and more unpopular, her reputation further tarnished by the story of the diamond necklace which the Cardinal Rohan thought he was giving her to regain favour, a dastardly English plot threatens the life of Louis XVI, and as usual, Nicolas Le Floch has to save the day.
Black Like Me by John Howard Griffin (1961) is a collection of articles and the orginal account of how the author "passed" as a black man in the deep south in the late 1950s.Griffin, a white journalist, used medication for vitiligo and a sun lamp to achieve a dark complexion and shaving his head. He then set out to live as an african-american in the still deeply segregated and un-free south of the USA in 1959. The style is fast moving and involves the kind of daily humiliations and rule-observing that every african-american in the south ran the gauntlet of every day.
He is routinely stared at and spoken to as if he was invisible, a white thug stalks him for a few blocks calling him names, a bus driver refuses to let him off for ten blocks in the Louisiana heat. He finds hope in the african-american community, who do not seem to suspect his identity, support him and give him advice. He is slow to adapt to the way of laying low and not creating incidents that seems to be a code in a violent world for the other half of the southern community.
When i have finished the book i will have a better view i think on what Griffin achieved. He certainly faced a backlash from southern whites, who hung an effigy outside his Texas hometown.
giveusaclue wrote: "I always think it it odd to talk about what you would eat if it was your last supper. Would you really feel like eating if you knew it was your last?Just me?"
Oh, absolutely.
If I knew I was going to croak, I'd tuck in to my favourite foods and wines before they got inherited by someone else!
Mod
Now I'm reading Elif Shafak's The Island of Missing Trees, the first book I've read by her — it starts well ...
And
, the 5th book in Aline Templeton's D.I. Kelso Strang series. Strang has been portrayed as a corrupt cop in a trial, which pisses him off considerably. A couple are struggling to make a go of their new venture, a small organic farm (the husband was a big fan of The Good Life), while the wife who has a small shop tried to stand up against a protection racket, encouraged by Strang.
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..."Now, I can't say much about Germany having only visited twice as an adult... Köln cathedral is pretty impressive... but if you want a bit of fun about the sort of things which can happen on the railways, then you may care to look at "The American Friend" which was directed by Wim Wenders and stars Dennis Hopper and the wonderful Bruno Ganz, all loosely based on Patricia Highsmith's novel 'Ripley's Game'.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Ame...
You might decide to travel by bus after seeing that!
Mod
Some interesting looking books.
Having read After the Winter, I'll check out the Guadalupe Nettel. Also Ninth Building, Is Mother Dead ...
Wasn't it JFK who said 'Ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country'? Here's a link from today's NYT in hopes of some here will answer the call, put down that book or e-reader, and stop yourselves from perusing the book shelves at charity shops - so you can once again do what's best - https://www.nytimes.com/2023/03/15/bu...
My audio adventure with J. Edgar G-Man: J. Edgar Hoover and the Making of the American Century continues (and will for some time, as the book version is 837 pages). It is filled with ancillary information with his early (and, I expect, always) aversion to Black people making me put Jim Crow as a subject on my TBR list.
My sleezy LA mystery, Everybody Knows is turning into a thriller which I want to spend more time with instead of the things I have on today's 'To Do' list.
Gpfr wrote: "Andy wrote: " Joyce Carol OatesWhat did you enjoy the most GP? Keen to read more from her...."
She's an incredibly prolific writer! I only started keeping a record of my reading in 2017, so woul..."
Thanks GP.
Two from me, both recommended.. The Red Right Hand by Joel Townsley Rogers
The novel is told from the point of view of Dr. Henry Riddle, a young surgeon who is attempting to make sense of a bizarre series of events. The events concern Elinor and Inis, a young couple who were travelling through Vermont planning to elope together. They pick up a hitchhiker whom no language is spared to describe how hideous looking he is..
a strange, twisted little man with a torn ear and sharp dog-like teeth.His legs make him walk with a ‘corkscrew style’.
They decide to stop at the Dead Bridesgroom’s Pond for a snack and a rest, but there is a violent end as the hitchhiker seemingly kills Inis and attempts to murder his fiancée before speeding away in a car containing the corpse.
Elinor escapes and alerts Henry Riddle, who is travelling in this part of rural Vermont to visit a seriously ill man. Though Riddle has not seen the car pass. It’s just one perplexing part of a mystery that only deepens.
On publication in 1945 the San Francisco Chronicle review started with
This logical nightmare is completely undefinable and incapable of synopsis.
To me, as I am sure it did to many, make this unmissable. In fact, unorthodoxy is the key word here.
Rogers represents Riddle’s fractured chain of thought by jumping to and fro in the order of events, it is an unfocused style that works perfectly in enhancing the degree of confusion faced not only by Riddle, but also the reader. If the novel has a theme, it is that things are not always how they appear at first.
In addition, there is a perception of isolation from the rural setting which moves an already good plot, to another level - there is a killer out there on the highway somewhere, and should you encounter him, there is little chance of any help arriving anytime soon.
The tension builds along with a relentless sense of dread. And the ending delivers.
and,
The Ghost Stories of Muriel Spark
Though Spark is much more well-known for her novels, she published over 40 short stories during her career, and actually came to fame with one in 1951, The Seraph and the Zambesi , which won the Observer’s Christmas story competition.
In a 2003 interview she said..
Yes, I do believe in ghosts. But not in the sense that one could possibly describe it. Ghosts exist and we are haunted, whether we like it or not, in the sense that it can only be expressed by a physical presence, or a ghost, but in fact, I do believe in the presence of something that you can call a ghost but not in the physical outline. I don’t see any other way in which you can express this actuality, and I can’t deny this actuality simply because there is no other way to express it..
In these stories Spark’s ghosts may not be as scary as other more recognised writers in the genre, but they provide her with a freedom to explore more diverse concerns than she would do usually.
It is evident also in reading the stories that the author has a faith. Spark converted to Catholicism in 1954.
In The Executor we encounter a moralising ghost. Such an apparition is hardly likely to terrify.
A woman named Susan becomes executor to her uncle’s literary estate. She sells all of his correspondence and manuscripts to a foundation but holds back one valuable piece, an unfinished novel. The book is about a witch who is ensnared and forced to await her execution. It is missing only the last chapter, which Susan decides to write herself in order to raise its price. She receives ghostly notes from her uncle, mocking her for various indiscretions, and for being unable to finish the chapter. But in the end, the niece’s plan fails, and the ghost’s coup from the grave, is denied.
A couple of the stories here, for example The House of the Famous Poet would be classed as weird, as they don’t toe the line of the ghost story format. It is one of the best in the book, and unlike the others, scary.
Another of the best, The Portobello Road is more like a Spark novel, with humour and great characters, the very opposite of scary.
It is a story of story of four friends; Kathleen, George, Skinny and Needle. When a child, Needle found a needle in a haystack. She is considered ‘lucky’ by the others, although haystacks are associated with injury and death for her personally. The needle she happens upon in the story’s first haystack drives deep into her thumb and creates a wound from which she bleeds profusely. Needle is suffocated with hay and her body buried in a second haystack. Needle returns as a ghost to haunt and punish her murderer, George, who is something of a ridiculous figure, aspiring and falling short of machismo.
As often in Spark’s work, there is something of herself in Needle’s character.
I am just about to start an audio book; Hardy's Return of the Native narrated by Alan Rickman, what a treat!
MK wrote: "I'm thinkin either I was asleep in high school history class or Woodrow Wilson's racism wasn't mentioned. Needless to say, I am ending up with more historic avenues to follow as I listen to Beverly..."Still listening to J. Edgar, but with sun and warmish (finally) temps forecasted, he will joing me as I tackle overdo yardwork.
I am glad to report that I have put Everybody Knows behind me. It's back to the library today. If you like the underbelly of LA and the movie world, this book is for you. It's full of sleeze with many thriller highlights. Not for you if you can eat just one potato chip or french fry.
Greenfairy wrote: "I am just about to start an audio book; Hardy's Return of the Native narrated by Alan Rickman, what a treat!"interesting to see a few mentions of audiobooks in here over time, they dont appeal to me at all but if i was to start suffering from eye problems, i think they would be a good way to stick with reading, although more passive
is the aural experience richer than reading in some ways i wonder, do audio-fans not find the experience is less demanding? any thoughts welcome
AB76 wrote: "Greenfairy wrote: "I am just about to start an audio book; Hardy's Return of the Native narrated by Alan Rickman, what a treat!"interesting to see a few mentions of audiobooks in here over time, ..."
In defence of 'Audio' versions of classic books I was a three times failure in getting to the end of Joyce's 'Ulysses'. A few years back Radio 4 did an audio rendition of the book, intensively, over one weekend. I put aside the time to listen to it, all the way through, and, rather surprisingly to me very much enjoyed it... Horses for courses?
Tam wrote: "AB76 wrote: "Greenfairy wrote: "I am just about to start an audio book; Hardy's Return of the Native narrated by Alan Rickman, what a treat!"interesting to see a few mentions of audiobooks in her..."
i would guess the choice of narrator is important, to enliven the experience.
Mod
This will be a very unpopular move on Macron's part ...
Also saw the piles of rubbish (on the side streets, not the Champs) for the first time as the dustmen aren't on strike where I live. Picking one's way through the rubbish bags is delightful.
Gpfr wrote: "Getting home from my art history class was very complicated today after Macron forced through the pension reform. Hordes of policemen outside the museum (just off the Champs Elysées) and the nearby..."The last time I was in Paris was about 5 years ago. Staying in the Latin quarter. Coming back to the hotel late one night there was some rubbish on the street with the biggest rat I have ever seen in my life, rummaging through a bin bag. I'm really astounded by the size of the Paris rats. We have a few round here but they are really quite small in comparison, and not often seen, so are not very bold at all. This Parisian rat really didn't care that he was feet away from pedestrian humans! He was rocking it!... I guess that the Parisian rat scavenger has a much better quality of food... perhaps?
Thanks to my local newspaper, I've just discovered a new mystery series (#2 On Order at the library) - 1920s India with a female lead.Harini Nagendra and the first which is just out in paperback here in the US is
The Bangalore Detectives Club.I'm on hold at the library, so I cannot report more.
AB76 wrote: "Greenfairy wrote: "I am just about to start an audio book; Hardy's Return of the Native narrated by Alan Rickman, what a treat!"interesting to see a few mentions of audiobooks in here over time, ..."
I agree with you, I have tried audio books but never got on with them very well. I think I take think in better if I read them.
Tam wrote: "Gpfr wrote: "Getting home from my art history class was very complicated today after Macron forced through the pension reform. Hordes of policemen outside the museum (just off the Champs Elysées) a..."Bigger than the ones in the quartermaster's store?
giveusaclue wrote: "Tam wrote: "Gpfr wrote: "Getting home from my art history class was very complicated today after Macron forced through the pension reform. Hordes of policemen outside the museum (just off the Champ..."great reference...love that song!
Gpfr wrote: "Getting home from my art history class was very complicated today after Macron forced through the pension reform. Hordes of policemen outside the museum (just off the Champs Elysées) and the nearby..."I think a glass (or two) of wine is called for and earned!🍷
AB76 wrote: "Tam wrote: "AB76 wrote: "Greenfairy wrote: "I am just about to start an audio book; Hardy's Return of the Native narrated by Alan Rickman, what a treat!"interesting to see a few mentions of audio..."
When you talk about narrators of audio books, I think of Andrea Camillieri's Montalbano series which always begin like something this - translated by Stephen Sartarelli and read by Grover Gardner. The words are so familiar, it's rather like coming home.
There are books I always try to listen to rather than read, and Montalbano is one. Another are the Spenser mysteries which took place in my old stomping ground of Boston. Today, I try to keep up with what's coming out mystery-wise and watch for audio downloads from the library. This way I get to 'read' much more than I would otherwise.
Some authors release all kinds of books (paper and audio) immediately, while others wait up to six months before downloads are available.
I've lived in this house for 27 years, and early on I did a lot of walking in the neighborhood. Those were the days of Walkmen and cassettes. I carried one in a fanny pack while I checked out the area-lots of flowers in the spring!
I will admit that I sometimes lose track and have to do a dash of rewinding - just in case. Plus, today I ordered a paperback of Dying in the Wool thanks to CCCs comments about looking up words and seeking out pictures of her auto. So sometimes I get to do both!
Andy wrote: "Two from me, both recommended.. The Red Right Hand by Joel Townsley Rogers
there is a killer out there on the highway somewhere..."
A killer on the road? Tell me - is his "brain jumping like a toad"?
MK wrote: "Not for you if you can eat just one potato chip or french fry."That definitely does not apply to me - I might like it! Not released in the UK yet, though.
Mod
TRUE TO BOTH MY SELVES by Katrin FitzHerbert is described as a "family memoir". Her English grandmother was married to an expatriate German and in 1919, with their daughter, they were deported to Germany. The daughter grew up and married a German who became a committed Nazi. Katrin was born in 1936.
The Past Is Myself by Christabel Bielenberg tells of wartime life in a village in the remote German countryside.
As usual, the parcel included an attractive postcard and a bookmark.
Audiobooks are absolutely wonderful for my mother, whose eyesight is completely shot. She does have favourite narrators - for example, Poirot as read by Hugh Fraser who played Hastings in the TV series. The Alexa/Audible system sometimes develops glitches - this week, it refused point blank to play 'A Murder is Announced' (I tried to tell it to do so and it didn't work, so it wasn't her voice) and absolutely insisted on playing another Christie. So, I went home and used my laptop to start the story - it was fine after that. Being able to help remotely is very useful.As for me - I don't currently listen to audiobooks, but remember tuning in to 'A Book at Bedtime' on the BBC when I was young, back in the days when people still listened to 'the wireless'.
scarletnoir wrote: "Andy wrote: "Two from me, both recommended.. The Red Right Hand by Joel Townsley Rogers
there is a killer out there on the hig..."
My first thought as well, whether these lines were inspired by the book.
It's not "jumping" though, it's "squirming". Such a disturbing image.
Mod
They were also wonderful for my sister who was blind. She read books in braille, too, but in later years was no longer able to, so audiobooks were a real lifeline. She got books from the RNIB (Royal National Institute for the Blind) who offer a free lending library. At first they were on CD and then flash drives. They are sent and returned by post and the RNIB provides a player. The only downside is that although one can ask for specific genres or authors, one doesn't actually choose the books, you get what you're sent.
scarletnoir wrote: "Andy wrote: "Two from me, both recommended.. The Red Right Hand by Joel Townsley Rogers
there is a killer out there on the hig..."
my fave Doors song....
My mum used to get audio books from the RNIB and was able to choose her books.I was correct that The Return of the Native read by Rickman would be a treat, he brought out the poetry of the narrative right from the opening paragraph .
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Ersatz TLS
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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I have not so fond memories of slogging through ' The Magic Mountain', many years ago, and for some odd reason in those days I thought giving up on a book was somehow a bit rude to the author, so I'll give him a miss I think, but will certainly look into Boll. Thanks