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What are we reading? 6 March 2023
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giveusaclue
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Mar 17, 2023 05:37AM
After my dad retired he started copy audio tapes for the local association for the blind. I remember him having a rather large piece of equipment for this purpose set up in a spare bedroom. This was over 30 years ago so no doubt things are a bit more refined now
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I want to go and listen to The Doors now:-)
Georg wrote: "scarletnoir wrote: "Andy wrote: "Two from me, both recommended.. The Red Right Hand by Joel Townsley Rogers
there is a killer ..."
Of course! "Squirming" - much better.
Gpfr wrote: "scarletnoir wrote: "Audiobooks are absolutely wonderful for my mother, whose eyesight is completely shot. ..."They were also wonderful for my sister who was blind. She read books in braille, too,..."
Mam's vision and manual dexterity are both so poor that she would not cope with all that. With the Alexa/Echo and Audible, she can tell the device which book to play, and to pause/stop as necessary. When there is a problem (not unknown) I can step in. She does have to buy the audio titles, though - annual subscriptions are cheaper than book-by-book purchases in general.
A shame that the RNIB can't work with echo or Alexa?
Almost finished Fear in the World
, which has been another wonderful experience of Italian psychological fiction.Elements of Hamsun, Kafka, Buzzatti and Moravia collide in novel of intellectual depth that looks at the human soul in the face of a reign of terror. Alvaro never names fascism or communism but it is suggested a lot of the novel is based around his experiences of Stalinist Russia in the 1930s, a regime as evil as they come.
But this is not a novel of violence, torture and adventure, its an examination of people and their motives, of the need for the masses to have order and a focus for their anger and dismay. The characters are few and most of the novel involves two characters in detailed discussion on events that neither can seem to define or understand.
Alvaro has managed, in my opinion, to bring the ceaseless tension and insanity of Stalinist times to life, where it seems chance is more at the heart of cruelty and violence than real intent. Even then, the supposedly omnipresent state seems flawed under Alvaros pen, not quite the machine it wants to portray itself as, more flawed, more human even, which of course it is.
Gpfr wrote: "scarletnoir wrote: "Audiobooks are absolutely wonderful for my mother, whose eyesight is completely shot. ..."They were also wonderful for my sister who was blind. She read books in braille, too,..."
I couldn't resist (so what else is new). Here is a video of the Washington Talking Book and Braille Library Building.
It once was located in rather a backwater, a zone for small industries. Then thanks to Paul Allen (co-founder of Microsoft) who bought up all the land in the area when he couldn't get Seattle voters to pony up the cash for a huge park decided to create South Lake Union (AKA home of Amazon).
The building is only 2 stories with parking on the roof (it was once a car dealership) and today it is surrounded by skyscrapers, with a Whole Foods and a South Lake Union Streetcar stop less than a block away. I love it that it is still here.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8iuVo...
Phew! Almost bought a couple more books. When one signs up to receive emails from publishers, it is at the peril of their purses! Today, Yale has a sale and free shipping on selected Irish history/heritage books. Luckily, I checked the library before I bought 2 of them, but I was sorely tempted - but stayed strong! - on this one - Graveyard Clay: Cré na Cille
. Love the cover, but . . .
Temporarily on line. We have no internet at the house for the time being because the snow storm this week dumped 33 inches on us and took out the line.
Good to read all the positive experience of audio books, very much my probable future.
Through the fall and winter I’ve been slowly reading Stefan Zweig’s The World of Yesterday, discussed many times here and on the old TLS. Slowly, because, quite apart from his comments on Viennese society and the European literary scene, he knew even as a young man many people who were becoming figures in the great world - Hofmannsthal, Herzl, Rilke, Romain Rolland etc, - and his portraits send you off to explore their lives and writings. He has such a generous, modest and sensitive spirit. I’ve just reached the passage in the middle describing what it was like in July and August 1914, and I suppose now the tone will change. I hadn’t registered before that Franz Ferdinand, stiff, staring, unsmiling, unspeaking, bull-necked, was widely disliked by the Austrian people, who saw no great cause for sorrow over the assassination. Even the old Emperor disliked his nephew and heir.
Good to read all the positive experience of audio books, very much my probable future.
Through the fall and winter I’ve been slowly reading Stefan Zweig’s The World of Yesterday, discussed many times here and on the old TLS. Slowly, because, quite apart from his comments on Viennese society and the European literary scene, he knew even as a young man many people who were becoming figures in the great world - Hofmannsthal, Herzl, Rilke, Romain Rolland etc, - and his portraits send you off to explore their lives and writings. He has such a generous, modest and sensitive spirit. I’ve just reached the passage in the middle describing what it was like in July and August 1914, and I suppose now the tone will change. I hadn’t registered before that Franz Ferdinand, stiff, staring, unsmiling, unspeaking, bull-necked, was widely disliked by the Austrian people, who saw no great cause for sorrow over the assassination. Even the old Emperor disliked his nephew and heir.
Russell wrote: "Temporarily on line. We have no internet at the house for the time being because the snow storm this week dumped 33 inches on us and took out the line.Good to read all the positive experience of ..."
I'm due to read a new history of A-H in a few weeks, i think people forget why FF was unpopular, he was in some ways a modernizer and a scattergun thinker, a sort of Prince Charles of the A-H last decades. His ideas for reforming the empire were not seen in a positive light among most royal and political classes )especially idea intro of universal franchise in Hungary)but i think were ahead of their times. He wasnt popular as a personality too, which didnt help him.
Canadian noir anyone?About to start, porobably tommorow, The Body On Mount Royal by David Montrose, written in the 1950s and set in Montreal.
While i dont expect much from the novel and i dont read much crime, i am fascinated by noir from the 1930-50 era and the way it explores urban locales and settings.
Montrose was an english language writer about the city, not a native but lived there for a few years. The book is published by Vehicule Press.
Montreal and the language issues interest me too (found some great documentaries on a website, epxloring the issue), link below:
https://www.nfb.ca/playlist/role_engl...
Interesting to see that the Italian novel i was reading got no attention at all, it suprised me but it seems to happen to a lot of novels i read and comment on
the Italian novel has been addedtomylist. IM onholiday and have internet access only through a tavlet that i findvery awkward to use, so ive been reading but not commenting. Will get back to responding soon, i hope!
Requiem - a Hallucination by Antonio Tabucchi (trans. Margaret Jull Costa)
Tabucchi is (or was - deceased in 2012) an Italian novelist and academic who became enamoured of Portugal and set many (most?) of his novels in that country. This is the third I've read, and by some way the strangest. The other two novels were fairly straightforward tales ('Pereira Maintains' and 'The Missing Head of Damasceno Monteiro'). This one superficially reads like a conventional story, too - but it isn't.
From the introduction:
This story, which takes place on a Sunday in July in a hot, deserted Lisbon, is the "Requiem" that the character I refer to as 'I' was called on to perform in this book... this Requiem is... a dream, during which my character will meet both the living and the dead on equal terms... this book is, above all, a homage to a country I adopted and which in turn, adopted me, to a people who liked me as much as I liked them.
Indeed, the author wrote this book in Portuguese, as he also explains in the introduction.
In structure, the author has his 'I' wandering about Lisbon, and meeting and talking to a number of individuals. It starts with him waiting at midday for 'perhaps the greatest poet of the twentieth century' - clearly Fernando Pessoa, though I don't think he is actually named anywhere. The poet doesn't turn up, and 'I' realises that 12 midnight was intended, not 12 noon. So, off he sets on an almost random walk to kill time until the correct moment. As he proceeds, one meeting leads to another; he also gets to eat, drink and discuss a number of Portuguese specialties, especially from the Alentejo region. (Where the recipes are not included in the text, the translator has added endnotes to explain the dishes.)
This is a short book, and has a loose structure. The narrator talks to people we know to be dead. Not my sort of thing? In fact, I enjoyed it enormously. It is both entertaining and frequently funny. It also speaks to the experience of living in and developing a love for a country not one's own - something which I believe quite a few of us have also experienced.
Strongly recommended - but those less convinced or more parsimonious may prefer to avoid buying the book, which cost £7.99 for its 84 pages including notes. I found it very well worth the price.
Berkley wrote: "the Italian novel has been addedtomylist. IM onholiday and have internet access only through a tavlet that i findvery awkward to use, so ive been reading but not commenting. Will get back to respon..."good to hear berkley, enjoy your hols!
After Britain by Tom Nairn 2000 Thanks to a Neal Acheson tribute to his old friend Nairn in the LRB, who had died the previous week, I found this timely tome on the situation Britain is in since the late 20th century, though this was written 23 years ago in the heady days of New Labour and devolution.
Nairn is superb on the nature of the union and the policies of Blair, where Nairn suspects a Lampedusan plan to change things, to make them stay the same, a preservation of the union via devolution. While 60% of the book concerns Scotland it is a broad minded and very readable account, with the scottish sections looking at how it was rascals but always scottish rascals in local power from 1707-1997.
His attention to nationalism veers into a less impressive modern fudging of the idea, where it becomes a kind of civic good rather than defined by its people, religion or traditions. It’s a safe space for the modern tensions over one people or another, in that it leaves things in a blurred no mans land, where the “civis” or the nationalism seeks not to offend.
He is sensible and pragmatic on the idea of “not hating england”, though rather optimistic on the prospects of scottish independence and reform of the relationship and legal standing of Holyrood and Westminster. Granted, though, in 1999 he probably felt the subtle side of a clash in policy between the two parliaments would have been resolved not fudged.
In terms of electoral power in Scotland he is broadly right but then the horse before the cart issues returns, surely the SNP should have sought reform of relations between the two parliaments, before seeking independence?
Like Raymond Williams on Welsh nationalism, Nairn is a deep thinker and a crucial voice, even to non-nationalist englishman like me, its good to read , understand and respect the "periphery" of our union and their thoughts and ideas
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 it continued well 😀.
Andy described it as enjoyable but not one of her best — not having read any others, obviously I can't compare, but I liked it very much.
A Turkish girl falls in love with a Greek boy just before the partition of Cyprus. We learn about the island and about what happens to the couple. Half the book is narrated by a fig tree which was growing in an important place for the young people and from which a cutting was taken and planted in a London garden.
I read Lawrence Durrell's Bitter Lemons of Cyprus a few years ago and have just ordered a 2nd-hand copy of Journey into Cyprus by Colin Thubron which is one of the books Shafak recommends.
AB76 wrote: "Canadian noir anyone?About to start, porobably tommorow, The Body On Mount Royal by David Montrose, written in the 1950s and set in Montreal.
While i dont expect much from the novel and i dont ..."
I've stuck it in my basket at Better World and look forward to your feedback before I actually buy it. Thanks.
MK wrote: "AB76 wrote: "Canadian noir anyone?About to start, porobably tommorow, The Body On Mount Royal by David Montrose, written in the 1950s and set in Montreal.
While i dont expect much from the novel..."
ok MK, it was a chance find as i wondered if Canada had a noir version of the Chandler-Hammett-Cain era and the publishers of the this novel came up with around six canadian noir novels from the 1950s, of which three were by David Montrose
As a genre, it appeals to me more than modern crime, which i find gets boring after a while. If i was a modern crime fan though, i would be in clover, as you can travel the world via modern crime novels...
I've just finished another British Library Crime Classic. This time, it was -
Death of a Bookseller and is one of their best yet. In addition to centering on the book trade before the internet was a gleam in anyone's eye, it depicts a trade that is surely gone with runners seeking books in any place they can find them. Today, I think there are probably a few of the very rich who might employ someone to look for books for them, and the odd job men are long gone.Of course a book trade setting is an extra that I like, and it complements the murder and hunt for the killer.
I got my copy from the library. I suggest you might want to do the same. 🔪📚👁🗨
AB76 wrote: "Canadian noir anyone?About to start, porobably tommorow, The Body On Mount Royal by David Montrose, written in the 1950s and set in Montreal.
While i dont expect much from the novel and i dont ..."
Yes me thanks AB.
Sounds up my street.
I’m also very much into noir in that period.
I’ve mentioned it before, but if you haven’t have a browse at the website Fragments of Noir.
The Weird Tales of William Hope Hodgson
I arrive late to the wonderful world of William Hope Hodgson.
Born in 1877 to a wealthy family, in Essex, his father was a Church of England minister. He ran away from boarding school when he was 13, and after being caught, got his father’s permission to become a cabin boy. His father died soon after, leaving the family without income, surviving on charity until William returned some years later.
He was bullied at sea, by older officers. The sea is a feature of many of his short stories, and in particular, his revenge, albeit a literary one, satisfied by a conglomeration of sea serpents, ghost ships and other unpleasant things emerging from the depths.
He lived with his mother in poverty until after his first novel was published in 1907 when he began to receive something of an income, but he was never affluent.
Apart from the sea being a common background in his writing, Hodgson is also known for his short stories featuring recurring characters: the "detective of the occult" Thomas Carnacki, and the smuggler Captain Gault.
In this British Library collection, the stories are about half of each. There are very few duffers, and this is an excellent way to become familiar with his style.
The most well-known of his Carnacki stories is The Whistling Room which is in many anthologies, and even introduced by Alfred Hitchcock in one. These are more of a classic horror, ghost story model, but have the habit of taking a direction different to the expected one late in the story - hence their categorisation as weird.
For me though, the stories of the sea are when he is at his strongest. Specifically I would select The Derelict. This is a perfect example of weird fiction with elements of a classic ghost ship story, moving into science fiction and cosmic horror. It is genuinely scary, and put me in mind several times of Dan Simmons, to whom he surely was an influence.
His experimentation into the weird was limited by his need to make some money, and hence he returned more often than he would have liked to Carnacki stories, as they at least made some money; in the ilk of Algernon Blackwood, Poe and Conan Doyle. But it was when he had a free rein to do his own thing he was at his best.
He was killed at Ypres in 1918. After his death his work was largely forgotten, and except for a minor resurgence in the 1930s, it was only recently it has received the attention and readership it deserves.
His work is said to have influenced H.P. Lovecraft, though Lovecraft did not read his works until 1934. and also, more recently, China Miéville.
The British Library put out some tremendous stuff. This is in their series Tales of the Weird, which has just published number 36 in the series, The Flaw in the Crystal: And Other Uncanny Stories by May Sinclair with 37 and 38 due out in the next couple of months.
There’s a 3 for 2 offer on their website at the moment, to give them a well-earned plug..
Yesterday I watched a zoom (oh! do I hate zoom!) presentation about pre-code Hollywood. I've put up a link to it (thank you library) here in Movies.
Mod
There’s a 3 for 2 offer on their website at the moment, to give them a well-earned plug.. ..."
When I was there in January, there was a 3 for 2 offer. I bought 3 Crime Classics:
[Too bad, the cover isn't showing]. The Cheltenham Square Murder by John Bude that I probably mentioned when I read it
Smallbone Deceased by Michael Gilbert (that I think was one of the titles recommended during the talk MK and I watched)
Final Acts: Theatrical Mysteries edited by Martin Edwards
scarletnoir wrote: " 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'.."I see it’s still on though not called that any more and at the moment they’re doing Sebastian Barry’s Old God’s Time, over two weeks I think. I can’t say I ever listened to any of the programmes as it’s on pretty late (10.45pm) but I used to know someone who was one of the ‘abridgers’ for it and what she said about doing it was very interesting. I have a feeling they mostly used to do a book in a week, five 15-minute episodes, and to cut something down to fit that must have been very skilful. Not only did you have to decide what to leave out without affecting the story but she said sometimes you had to change the order of the chapters around. How long would it take to abridge a book? You’d have to read it thoroughly then plan out the episodes and get the word count right – and I’d love to know how much the Beeb paid for it. Not enough for me I’m sure.
I’ve managed to find a link to all the BBC audio books that are currently available. Some like Old God’s Time are only available for 35 days after broadcast but a lot seem to be permanently available. So now you can listen any time and don’t have to risk falling asleep half-way through the programme.
I can't post the link on GR but go to the BBC website then add /programmes/formats/audiobooks to the URL. There are 123 books to choose from.
AB76 wrote: "MK wrote: "AB76 wrote: "Canadian noir anyone?About to start, porobably tommorow, The Body On Mount Royal by David Montrose, written in the 1950s and set in Montreal.
While i dont expect much fro..."
ok MK, it was a chance find as i wondered if Canada had a noir version of the Chandler-Hammett-Cain era and the publishers of the this novel came up with around six canadian noir novels from the 1950s, of which three were by David Montrose
As a genre, it appeals to me more than modern crime, which i find gets boring after a while. If i was a modern crime fan though, i would be in clover, as you can travel the world via modern crime novels.."
I haven't read a lot of modern crime but I have been reading some 1950s stuff so this will be right up my alley. First I ever heard of Montrose, and I'm very happy to find there were Canadian crime novelist around back then. I don't count Ross MacDonald, since he lived in the States and set all his novels there.
Andy wrote: "The Weird Tales of William Hope HodgsonI arrive late to the wonderful world of William Hope Hodgson.
Born in 1877 to ..."
I read The Whistling Room as a kid in the early 1970s in an anthology that scared the living daylights out of me: Hauntings: Tales of the Supernatural.
I think I read some of the Carnacki stories around that time as well or not too many years afterwards, but they didn't leave much of an impression with me. The other Hope Hodgson book I found memorable wasThe House on the Borderland .
The Body on Mount Royal by David Montrose(1953), is very readable and well composed Canadian noir.Russell Teed, is the PI, McGill educated and tough, sharing a fondness for bachelor cooking with novels of Len Deighton. Montreal is a vivid presence with its small taverns, clubs, streets and hoods, though its very much an Anglo-Quebec novel, in some ways without the french location names, it could be a Toronto novel, though everyone drinks Molson.
The attitude towards women seems very dated, more so than Chandler even, the dames are glam and for show and certainly, in the 90 pages i have read so far,inanimate objects. The humour is very good, it fits snugly into a hard-edged story and has a self-deprecating quality that works well.
I wont reveal any plot details apart from the murder central to the story, a body is found on Mount Royal...
scarletnoir wrote (#163): "Requiem - a Hallucination by Antonio Tabucchi (trans. Margaret Jull Costa)
Tabucchi is (or was - deceased in 2012) an Italian novelist and academic w..."
Thanks for the Tabucchi review.
It reminded me of
which I read some months ago. Also very different from "Maintains Pereira".The first-person narrator sets out on a journey to find his friend Xavier who has disappeared in India. Drifting from Bombay, to Madras, to Goa only led by vague traces. Talking to different people. Who is Xavier? Who is the narrator? What is reality, what is dream?
I think I could happily drift through a deserted Lisbon on a hot Sunday with Tabucchi.
FrancesBurgundy wrote: "scarletnoir wrote: " 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'..."Thank you so much for the BBC link, Frances. Looks like a treasure trove. A few, like the Sebastian Barry, are "not available in your location". Would be interesting to see the criteria for what is not made available outside the UK.
And thanks for the warning about limited access. I'll just catch John Donne/Super-Infinite in time
I loved to listen to "Book at Bedtime". Never thought about the work needed to make it and, indeed, the skill it took.
Mod
Thanks to all for the reminder.
In the latest issue of Slightly Foxed, there's an article on The Rector's Daughter by F.M. Mayor (1924). Looking at BBC Sounds, I see there's a Book at Bedtime version of it available, read by Juliet Stevenson.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/b00...
I have been trying to give my eyes a break as they are painful at the moment waiting for some new injections - stayed away but sneaked back today to have a quick readMK - hope you enjoy the book although must say it was gp who started me off. I have been dabbling in DEATH AT THE Seaside in the series and to things to look up.
First the sinking of the hospital ship SS Rohilla in 1914 close to Whitby. Many drowned despite being fairly close in shore because the sea was so rough. The villagers made a human chain trying to reach survivors. There was only one motorised rescue boat, others were rowboats which could not get to the ship because of the sea conditions. This marked a turning point for future rescue boats.
2 During WW1 there was a huge area mined across the top of the North Sea from Norway to Scotland. It took years for all the mines to be found. There is a mention that the Germans also mined inbthe NS but I haven’t found out more yet.
Unrelated but from this series there was a mention in one book of a ‘liberty bodice’.
Oh, dreads, I cwas made to wear one as a child with a weak chest. Horrible, like an extra thick buttoned vest. Worse still there was also a smelly orange piece of cloth, smothered in Vick that was put inside the dreaded garment,
Georg wrote: "I think I could happily drift through a deserted Lisbon on a hot Sunday with Tabucchi..."That is exactly what you'll get with 'Requiem'! Pleased to meet another Tabucchi enthusiast - I almost certainly picked up a recommendation for his books here or on the Guardian, but forget who from.
I've ordered 'Indian Nocturne' on the basis of your comment and was much amused by this dismissal on Amazon"
Very poor plot. No literary value. Don't waste your money or time.
I doubt that will be my own reaction. Other comments compare the book less favourably with 'Pereira Maintains', but maybe plot matters more to those individuals. I need a logical plot in crime novels, but in more speculative works it doesn't matter. I'll let you know! (One other unknown is the quality of the translation, so that can affect things.)
Georg wrote: "Thank you so much for the BBC link, Frances. Looks like a treasure trove. A few, like the Sebastian Barry, are "not available in your location". Would be interesting to see the criteria for what is not made available outside the UK."I have this problem too... when we are in France, we can't access all content available in the UK and vice versa.
I have considered installing a VPN (virtual private network) which can apparently get around this problem, but have yet to do so. If anyone has knowledge of the safety and reliability of such tech. i'd like to hear an opinion!
Here is a review from what I think is a 'trusted source' AFAIK:
https://uk.pcmag.com/vpn/138/the-best...
CCCubbon wrote: "I have been trying to give my eyes a break as they are painful at the moment waiting for some new injections - stayed away but sneaked back today to have a quick readMK - hope you enjoy the book a..."
Thermagene like orange cotton wool? I had it for earache.https://www.dreamstime.com/vintage-th...
scarletnoir wrote: "Georg wrote: "Thank you so much for the BBC link, Frances. Looks like a treasure trove. A few, like the Sebastian Barry, are "not available in your location". Would be interesting to see the criter..."I use a browser called Opera which comes with a free vpn which you can switch off or on. Not sure if it can pretend you are in the UK. I can choose between Americas, Asia, Europe or Optimal.
Or https://www.comparitech.com/blog/vpn-...
Since one has to read newspapers, I'll slip this in for the UK crowd here. https://www.nytimes.com/2023/03/19/wo...Meanwhile I persevere with the J. Edgar Hoover audio. Happily more than half-way through, now, and up to that infamous time of Senator Joseph McCarthy.
Mod
I didn't realise it would be different in different countries — it's available here in France.
MK wrote: "Since one has to read newspapers, I'll slip this in for the UK crowd here. https://www.nytimes.com/2023/03/19/wo......"Far more friendly towards Rish! than my preferred UK commentators... what's with the "Liz Truss’s trickle-down tax cuts"? Trickle down? Those were massive tax cuts for the very rich, which even the 'markets' couldn't swallow, and which led to a stock market crash and a crisis in the pensions market. Now replaced by Hunt with... a massive tax cut via lifting the limit on pensions pots. Not as bad because more limited in scope, but still...
Gpfr wrote: "Georg wrote: " the BBC link ... A few, like the Sebastian Barry, are "not available in your location". ..."I didn't realise it would be different in different countries — it's available here in F..."
It may be how far away from the UK you are. Not sure though.
giveusaclue wrote: "Gpfr wrote: "Georg wrote: " the BBC link ... A few, like the Sebastian Barry, are "not available in your location". ..."I didn't realise it would be different in different countries — it's availa..."
That happens to me, too. I always thought it was because I wasn't a paying customer -which I might be if the BBC were only to realize there's a gold mine out there. But that might also be a Parlimentary issue which, if so, one would think the Tories would be glad to capitalize on.
scarletnoir wrote: "MK wrote: "Since one has to read newspapers, I'll slip this in for the UK crowd here. https://www.nytimes.com/2023/03/19/wo......"Biden's visit to Ireland is coming up soon. Perhaps a reason why the piece is nice, although I have to say I don't miss either of his two predessors at all.
Berkley wrote: "Andy wrote: "The Weird Tales of William Hope HodgsonI arrive late to the wonderful world of William Hope Hodgson.
Bor..."
I haven’t read Borderland yet but will do soon.
The Derelict is worth the effort…
Looks like I've been frittering my way online today (or at least Goodreads), and here I am again.Sunday is usually my day to spend a little time in the library after I have returned books and picked up some holds (Hold slips at the library now include a 'pull date' so I can select some, but not necessarily all on the shelf with my name on them). I also do a quick page-turn of the Wall Street Journal - in part for business news but more for the book reviews there. Today I found 4 that looked good. Holds followed. Here's one -
Retracing the Iron Curtain: A 3,000-Mile Journey Through the End and Afterlife of the Cold War was one. Its review was worth a hold, too. So for those of us into borders - whether by arm-chair or feet on the ground, it also has star reviews on Goodreads.Not willing to stop there, I found the author's take on the Iron Curtain here - https://www.theguardian.com/books/202...
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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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