What are we reading? 12 June 2023

[MK]

scarletnoir wrote: "Bill wrote: "I started thinking about novels which served as "agents of change" and came up with very few..."

I'm pretty sceptical about this notion. If there are any, they'll only have a 'regiona..."

Another regional US based book which, believe it on not, does not seem to be available on Amazon - The Turner Diaries. Currently, I am listening to Homegrown: Timothy McVeigh and the Rise of Right-Wing Extremism. I don't know where you can buy The Turner Diaries, but McVeigh did. He would buy in bulk and sell them at gun shows.

I haven't done any research, but I wouldn't be surprised if most of the right wing who act out, sometimes fatally for others, have had a poor upbringing with some level of disfunctional family.

McVeigh hated the Federal Government, in part because of the Ruby Ridge and Waco fiascos and, of course, any perceived limiting of the 2nd Amendment. (An assault weapons ban occured during the Bill Clinton administration.)

I am passed both the planning and execution of the bombing and am now at the 'let's dissect how the Government handled the prosecution', as the author, Jeffrey Toobin, dissects it.

[Bill]

Bloomsday!

[MK]

'm running out of NYT gift articles, but if there are any birders here, they might enjoy listening to this free event with Amy Tan and Christian Cooper (remember the NY Karen in Central Park). While it's a morning event for me, it looks like early evening in the UK.

https://www.nytimes.com/2023/06/14/sc...

[scarletnoir]

Tam wrote: "I find myself wondering, as a lot of those writers are long deceased, whether any of them, if still alive, would be horrified at the idea of being considered a 'Modernist'... ? "

Indeed - it's such a long list, and as I said - some I like, more I don't, but I'm not sure that I can see a coherent link between them! The term seems too vague to be useful... maybe.

I still don't believe it makes much sense to try to link artistic endeavours to scientific theories, which have a specific purpose. I'm pretty sure that Einstein did not intend his notions to be represented by artists or novelists in the way that occurred, though it's too late to ask his opinion.

[Bill]

scarletnoir wrote: "I still don't believe it makes much sense to try to link artistic endeavours to scientific theories, which have a specific purpose. I'm pretty sure that Einstein did not intend his notions to be represented by artists or novelists in the way that occurred, though it's too late to ask his opinion."

There's no doubt James Joyce was influenced by theories of subatomic physics. In Finnegans Wake he wrote:

Three quarks for Muster Mark!
Sure he hasn’t got much of a bark
And sure any he has it’s all beside the mark.
But O, Wreneagle Almighty, wouldn’t un be a sky of a lark
To see that old buzzard whooping about for uns shirt in the dark
And he hunting round for uns speckled trousers around by Palmerstown Park?
Hohohoho, moulty Mark!
You’re the rummest old rooster ever flopped out of a Noah’s ark
And you think you’re cock of the wark.
Fowls, up! Tristy’s the spry young spark
That’ll tread her and wed her and bed her and red her
Without ever winking the tail of a feather
And that’s how that chap’s going to make his money and mark!

(view spoiler)[Just kidding! It's the other way around - the name for the subatomic particle was taken from Wake. (hide spoiler)]

[Tam]

scarletnoir wrote: "Tam wrote: "I find myself wondering, as a lot of those writers are long deceased, whether any of them, if still alive, would be horrified at the idea of being considered a 'Modernist'... ? "

Indee..."

I differ from you there in that I do think that there are some fruitful collaborations between artists and scientists. You might well not be a fan of artist M C Esher but he had a very fruitful collaboration with Roger Penrose over Penrose 'tessellations'. Here a scientist, and a graphic artist, between them, inspired many fanciful and interesting patterns and imaginary landscapes which, despite it not really being in the area of art that I most relate to, I still find interesting and absorbing, and it was Penrose, the scientist, who inspired Esher into exploring new 'mathematical' ways of looking at the world through his art, but to me they very much inspired each other.

[Gpfr]

scarletnoir wrote: "Tam wrote: "Modernism' ..."

As for 'Modernism', I must say that it seems like a singularly unhelpful term so long as the list on Wikipedia can be trusted (probably, it can't be)... it includes a huge number of writers"

Here's a shorter list:

8 Classic Works of Modernist Literature Everyone Should Read

... we’ve attempted to condense English-language modernist literature into eight key works of poetry and prose. We reckon a reader looking to take a crash-course in modernist writing could do worse than seek out these finest, defining works of literature.

- Joseph Conrad, Heart of Darkness.
- T. S. Eliot, The Waste Land.
- D. H. Lawrence, 'Tickets, Please'.
- Ezra Pound, 'In a Station of the Metro'.
- Henry James, 'The Figure in the Carpet'.
- James Joyce, Ulysses.
- Virginia Woolf, Mrs Dalloway.
- Katherine Mansfield, The Garden Party.

[AB76]

scarletnoir wrote: "Bill wrote: "I started thinking about novels which served as "agents of change" and came up with very few..."

I'm pretty sceptical about this notion. If there are any, they'll only have a 'regiona..."

Mein Kampf would have to be in there, in that it became a gospel for hate. I have read it a few times and found the first sections of Hitlers youth the most interesting if still unpleasent read. I cant remember if he had a ghost writer or not, i wonder if in the original German it as good as in english translation, its certainly not badly written but it is a damaging, unpleasent and sinister read.

The change it caused was the vicious militarisation of anti-semitism into mass murder, a totally negative change but a change all the same

[AB76]

MK wrote: "scarletnoir wrote: "Bill wrote: "I started thinking about novels which served as "agents of change" and came up with very few..."

I'm pretty sceptical about this notion. If there are any, they'll ..."

wasnt Toobin sacked by CNN? i liked him on that channel

[Gpfr]

AB76 wrote: "sMein Kampf would have to be in there, in that it became a gospel for hate ... I cant remember if he had a ghost writer or not..."

Didn't he write it in prison?

[AB76]

Gpfr wrote: "AB76 wrote: "sMein Kampf would have to be in there, in that it became a gospel for hate ... I cant remember if he had a ghost writer or not..."

Didn't he write it in prison?"

yes, i think he did but i wonder if he found somebody to help him, i cant believe he wrote such an epic without some help, even if its misrable racist claptrap

I would suspect that Joey Goebbels may have played a part but i cant remember if he was hanging round with Hitler at the time

[AB76]

Wonderful start to The First Man by Albert Camus, his unfinished auto-biographical novel of Algiers.

Right away he recreates the world of the great white city on the shores of the med, the pearl of the Pied Noirs, a city dominated by europeans on Africas edge.

But this is not the Algiers of money, pastis and grand hotels, but the working class city where Camus grew up. The mean houses, the dirty cellars and backyards, beaches with dirty sand and cloudy water. Boredom of the siesta, then release to play with other poor street urchins in the suburb of Belcourt, beyond the white city

The prose is the prose of a master, the two worlds are well defined, that of the 40 something narrator returning to Algiers and then the child he was, in dirt poverty and boredom.

The other novels of French Algeria i have read were by Camus and one by Jean Pelegri. The Pelegri novel feels similar to this one, with the return of a native son, although he sets his just before the Algerian War begins, with Camus no war is mentioned....yet

I am suprised how due to the setting ofThe Plague, i believed Camus was born in Oran, the distinctly spanish influenced second city of the colony, not Algiers. Only about six years ago re-reading The Stranger did i set this misinformation straight

[[deleted user]]

giveusaclue wrote: "Anne wrote: "Hello everyone. I haven't been around for a while and am looking forward to catching up with you and your reading..."

Good to see you too, 'clue. Are you in the midst of a large history tome just now?

[[deleted user]]

CCCubbon wrote: "Anne wrote: "Hello everyone. I haven't been around for a while and am looking forward to catching up with you and your reading..."

Nice to see you CC. Truthfully, I don't think I'm up to much of Donne's poetry on my own. I wish I had been taught some of the metaphysical poets. I'm reading it mainly as a portrait of the man and his times, which I'm loving, though I am able to appreciate a little of Donne's own words.

[Robert]

Gpfr wrote: "AB76 wrote: "sMein Kampf would have to be in there, in that it became a gospel for hate ... I cant remember if he had a ghost writer or not..."

Didn't he write it in prison?"

Hitler dictated his thoughts to Rudolf Hess, who typed up the manuscript. Decades later, a handwritten "Mein Kampf" appeared on the black market, thanks to forger Konrad Kujau, proving that no one reads anything.

[scarletnoir]

Tam wrote: "Cubism was very much inspired by the likes of mathematician, and philosopher, Henri Bergson, and indeed Einstein."

This is a long way from my areas of expertise, and your comments are very interesting. I remain doubtful about the extent to which scientific or mathematical ideas were consciously and deliberately being used by the Cubists, and it appears from a quick look at some of the sources that it is a matter for debate:

There are many historical arguments as to how the cubists encountered literature about the fourth-dimension, and whether they were exposed to it at all, which I will for the most part omit... (from your own link to Cubism and the Fourth Dimension by
Elijah Bodish)

I don't doubt that Cubist art can lend itself to mathematical or philosophical interpretations - but which came first?

The connection between Cubism, Bergson and Platonism has been written about since the early development of Cubism, notably by those involved with that development. Yet despite the evidence, to my knowledge it has only been explored to some degree by R. Antliff. Antliff’s writing is exemplary of the confusion and hesitancy of scholarship on this subject. On the one hand he argued that Bergson played a seminal role in shaping the art and politics of the Fauvist, Cubist and Futurist movements, that the first attempts to align Cubist theory with that of Bergson began in about 1912, and that ‘no sustained comparative examination of Cubism’s precepts with those of Bergson has been undertaken thus far.’

On the other, he wrote not only that Bergson’s influence on Cubism has remained enigmatic but that his question was not whether the progenitors of Cubism and Fauvism invented their art forms in response to Bergson, but how his ideas were received in a pre-existing (my emphasis) Fauvist and Cubist milieu.https://philipstanfield.com/2014/05/0...

I read a little by (or about?) Bergson some time ago, but could not make much sense of it...

Bergson thought that existence moves as a flow and not dialectically. For him, the unity of opposites resulted in a false movement. (ibid.)

If there is some textual evidence that Picasso or Braque read Bergson (or some book of Mathematics) and then in an 'Eureka!' moment rushed off to paint their Cubist pictures I'll be convinced! In the meantime, I remain doubtful and suspect the link was made after the event...

[scarletnoir]

MK wrote: "Another regional US based book which, believe it on not, does not seem to be available on Amazon - The Turner Diaries. .."

Just as well by the look of it - a very nasty book indeed. I'd never heard of it until first mentioned by Bill and now by yourself.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Tur...

[CCCubbon]

Anne wrote: "CCCubbon wrote: "Anne wrote: "Hello everyone. I haven't been around for a while and am looking forward to catching up with you and your reading..."

Nice to see you CC. Truthfully, I don't think I'..."

Yes, it’s the story of his life that makes the book really - Rundell has done a marvellous job of getting us to understand this man.
I am no poetry expert but his poems still speak loudly.

[scarletnoir]

Bill wrote: "There's no doubt James Joyce was influenced by theories of subatomic physics. In Finnegans Wake he wrote:
Three quarks for Muster Mark!

Haha! Very good - you had me going there... but:

1960s: a word invented by Murray Gell-Man (see Gell-Mann, Murray). Originally quork, the term was changed by association with the line ‘Three quarks for Muster Mark’ in Joyce's Finnegans Wake (1939)

So it seems that Gell-Man independently came up with the term 'quork' to describe a new particle, and that subsequently it was decided to align the spelling with Joyce's 'quark'.

[scarletnoir]

Tam wrote: "You might well not be a fan of artist M C Escher but he had a very fruitful collaboration with Roger Penrose over Penrose 'tessellations'."

Oh, not at all - when I was at uni, posters of Escher's never-ending staircase were on many walls iirc:
https://artschaft.com/2018/04/26/m-c-...
and I liked them very much - I think I had a book of Escher's work once, but seem to have lost it on my travels.

I'm not sure I was aware of Escher's close links with Penrose, but that is an excellent example of art and mathematics overlapping in the field of tessellations... it was clearly a genuine collaboration, unlike some spurious use of scientific terms by others:

https://www.escherinhetpaleis.nl/esch...

I'm fairly sure that I read and liked a short monograph by Penrose many years ago which dealt with some aspect of the philosophy of science (an interest of mine) but can't recall the title. He wrote so many books I can't track it down! However, when searching and failing to find the title, this caught my eye:

Arguing that string theory has veered away from physical reality by positing six extra hidden dimensions, Penrose cautions that the fashionable nature of a theory can cloud our judgment of its plausibility.
Fashion, Faith, and Fantasy in the New Physics of the Universe

I'd certainly agree with that sceptical position.

[scarletnoir]

Gpfr wrote: "8 Classic Works of Modernist Literature Everyone Should Read
... we’ve attempted to condense English-language modernist literature into eight key works of poetry and prose. We reckon a reader looking to take a crash-course in modernist writing could do worse than seek out these finest, defining works of literature.

- Joseph Conrad, Heart of Darkness.
- T. S. Eliot, The Waste Land.
- D. H. Lawrence, 'Tickets, Please'.
- Ezra Pound, 'In a Station of the Metro'.
- Henry James, 'The Figure in the Carpet'.
- James Joyce, Ulysses.
- Virginia Woolf, Mrs Dalloway.
- Katherine Mansfield, The Garden Party."

"Should" read, eh? You know what I feel about that... 'might consider reading' would be more courteous and seem less like an order from on high.

Anyway, it's a useful list as it confirms my suspicion that 'modernism' is a style of writing which I find indigestible: I have started three of these books (Heart of Darkness, Ulysses and Mrs Dalloway) and have failed to finish any of them. Indeed, I used to joke with madame that 'Heart of Darkness' was the longest short book I'd ever tried to read - long in the sense that I found it so boring that progress was very slow, and then stopped.

The only other author on the list I've read is DH Lawrence, whose longer novels I liked - up to a point - though I didn't care for his 'manly men marching around in red waistcoats' or whatever it was he wrote - it sounded creepy to say the least, especially given the political currents at the time of writing. (He seemed to hold a number of contradictory ideas, to judge by his Wikipedia entry:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/D._H._L... )

As for the Henry James - I wonder if the description of the carpet runs to four pages? Just asking... ;-)

[Robert]

It appears that Julian Jackson's book on the trial of Marshal Petain hasn't been published in the US yet, so I'm at work on his biography of General De Gaulle.

[AB76]

Robert wrote: "It appears that Julian Jackson's book on the trial of Marshal Petain hasn't been published in the US yet, so I'm at work on his biography of General De Gaulle."

i have read that and it was very good indeed, wonderful detail. i visited the great mans birthplace, Lille and his childhood home, tucked away in the backstreets, well worth a visit

[AB76]

Robert wrote: "Gpfr wrote: "AB76 wrote: "sMein Kampf would have to be in there, in that it became a gospel for hate ... I cant remember if he had a ghost writer or not..."

Didn't he write it in prison?"

Hitler ..."

ah, that makes sense....Rudi would have tidied it up and made it readable. Of course Joey G wasnt around Hitler at the time, i dont think

[giveusaclue]

Anne wrote: "giveusaclue wrote: "Anne wrote: "Hello everyone. I haven't been around for a while and am looking forward to catching up with you and your reading..."

Good to see you too, 'clue. Are you in the mi..."

Haha, you have a good memory Anne. No. at the moment I am having a bit of a crime novel binge.

On Monday I am off to Madeira for a week. My mobile provider Virgin is swapping me over to O² tomorrow. I am told it should go seamlessly but a few people may need a new SIM card! So if I go incommunicado for a while you will know why. What timing.

[Fuzzywuzz]

giveusaclue wrote: On Monday I am off to Madeira for a week.

That sounds wonderful, are you packing books to take with you, or will you buy some in Madeira? I guess it depends if you speak Portuguese and how much baggage allowance is sacrificed for books.

Have a great time :)

[Gpfr]

giveusaclue wrote: "On Monday I am off to Madeira for a week. ..."

Have a lovely time!

[Gpfr]

Gpfr wrote: "8 Classic Works of Modernist Literature Everyone Should Read ..."

One of the 8 won't take too long.

In a Station of the Metro By Ezra Pound

The apparition of these faces in the crowd:
Petals on a wet, black bough.

[Georg]

Robert wrote (#115): "Gpfr wrote: "AB76 wrote: "sMein Kampf would have to be in there, in that it became a gospel for hate ... I cant remember if he had a ghost writer or not..."

Didn't he write it in prison?"

Hitler ..."


That Hitler dictated it to Heß has been assumed until fairly recently.

In 2006 23 pages of what is now seen as the first draft, part handwritten, part typed, turned up at an auction. They came from France.

After the Kujau debacle this find was most thoroughly scrutinized by a number of experts from different fields, There is no doubt whatsoever that it is authentic.

It is now almost certain that he typed part one of "Mein Kampf"himself, with two fingers, on a Remington portable of the series NK 432024. Probably a gift from Helene Bechstein (of grand piano fame). She also sent the paper (apparently lots), decorated with the swastika.

[giveusaclue]

Fuzzywuzz wrote: "giveusaclue wrote: On Monday I am off to Madeira for a week.

That sounds wonderful, are you packing books to take with you, or will you buy some in Madeira? I guess it depends if you speak Portugu..."

I will have my ereader well stocked! And, no I don't speak Portuguese.

[giveusaclue]

Gpfr wrote: "giveusaclue wrote: "On Monday I am off to Madeira for a week. ..."

Have a lovely time!"

Thank you!

[[deleted user]]

CCCubbon wrote: "Yes, it’s the story of his life that makes the book really - Rundell has done a marvellous job of getting us to understand this man.
I am no poetry expert but his poems still speak loudly. .."

As far as I'm concerned, you're pretty expert!

[[deleted user]]

giveusaclue wrote: "Haha, you have a good memory Anne. No. at the moment I am having a bit of a crime novel binge. ..."

I don't read much crime any more, but I've just started a crime novel for my book group: The Cut by Chris Brookmyre. I knew nothing about the writer but turns out he's Scottish and I'm enjoying the Glasgow setting, and indeed the whole novel, more than I anticipated.

Have a lovely holiday.

Edit: I mean I'm enjoying the novel more than I anticipated, given that I don't read crime. Not that I'm enjoying Glasgow more than I anticipated! I don't want to trigger an incident between the English and the Scots! That is, if we have any Scots here?

[Bill]

scarletnoir wrote: "Books that 'changed the world' are (for better or worse) those adopted by (or jumped on by) individuals who seek power, such as the influential religious texts (the Bible, Torah, Koran etc.) or possibly 'The Communist Manifesto'. I suppose you could include 'Mein Kampf' - if so inclined."

I think that it would not be hard to come up with a fairly robust list of "books that changed the world", but my comment, inspired by the bit from Julie Orringer's review I posted, was specifically aimed at novels (or, more broadly, fiction).

I think that as far as world-changing effects fiction is generally hampered by its specificity, as well as what I believe is a widely held attitude among the movers and shakers that actually get things done (i.e. history) that something some writer just "made up" can hardly have much relevance.

As a counter-example to that statement, however, I thought of another candidate for an effective "agent of change" novel: What Is to Be Done?, a novel that may not have mobilized a mass following, but apparently did have a great influence on Lenin.

[Bill]

scarletnoir wrote: "I came across another critical review, told from a Palestinian perspective by Susan Abulhawa on the Al Jazeera website"

Thanks for that very interesting article. I hadn't heard that Spielberg had optioned Apeirogon before its publication. (I've only seen some of Spielberg's "entertaining" films except for "The Color Purple", which started fading from my memory almost immediately after viewing.)

I don't know if a film of McCann's novel will get made, but I'm certain that, if it does, the title will be changed.

I have to confess that I don't want to read any books, fiction or non-fiction, about either Israel-Palestine or the Northern Ireland troubles, though I will go so far as to read book reviews, especially those in the NYRB.

[Bill]

Anne wrote: "CCCubbon wrote: "Yes, it’s the story of his life that makes the book really - Rundell has done a marvellous job of getting us to understand this man.
I am no poetry expert but his poems still speak...

As far as I'm concerned, you're pretty expert!"

At least on the principle "In the kingdom of the blind, the one-eyed man is king," you're certainly the expert in this group. Maybe if Helen Vendler joined Ersatz TLS, you'd have some competition.

[AB76]

Bill wrote: "scarletnoir wrote: "I came across another critical review, told from a Palestinian perspective by Susan Abulhawa on the Al Jazeera website"

Thanks for that very interesting article. I hadn't heard..."

i enjoy any books about both those regions but they are deep rooted and passionate conflicts, one which seems even more inttractable, almost 30 years since Rabin was killed

[CCCubbon]

Bill wrote: "Anne wrote: "CCCubbon wrote: "Yes, it’s the story of his life that makes the book really - Rundell has done a marvellous job of getting us to understand this man.
I am no poetry expert but his poem..."

Donne wrote to his friends in verse. He wasn’t published in his lifetime but was always short of money and his friends helped out. Luckily for us the poems were saved and collected after his death.

TRULY i only dabble. I am not an English specialist by a long way. It amuses me to write poetry and reading it gives a little insight into what the poet was thinking - well, that’s if it speaks to me. If it doesn’t I forget it!

It’s like you appreciating music and musicians. I’d bet there are some you return to and others whose work is silent after a listen. Non musical me is in awe!

[Bill]

Georg wrote: "In 2006 23 pages of what is now seen as the first draft, part handwritten, part typed, turned up at an auction. They came from France."

Were they purchased for the private collection of Harlan Crow?

https://www.rollingstone.com/politics...
(For those who don't get the reference.)

[Bill]

scarletnoir wrote: "Anyway, it's a useful list as it confirms my suspicion that 'modernism' is a style of writing which I find indigestible: I have started three of these books (Heart of Darkness, Ulysses and Mrs Dalloway) and have failed to finish any of them."

@scarletnoir, from various reactions you’ve posted in the past, I think that if I compiled an extended list of novels I’ve found admirable and worthwhile, you would find nothing on that list to which you would have a similar reaction.

I’ve enjoyed a number of works to which various critics have put into the “modernism” category, though I’m not at all sure where I myself would draw the lines around the category. One thing I would say about works that I think of as “modernist” is that, at the time of their appearance, they are sui generis, fitting none but the broadest (i.e., poem, novel, drama) of the previously established categories for their art. For example, to cite two works that have not been previously mentioned in this discussion, Cane and Nightwood. The best modernist works, like Walther’s song in Die Meistersinger, “don’t fit any rules, yet don’t contain any faults”.

Whether or not Henry James and Virginia Woolf are modernist (and I think there’s little doubt about the latter fitting the category), I have not yet managed to embrace any of their work, beyond The Turn of the Screw, though I own copies of both The Figure in the Carpet and Mrs. Dalloway. For me both seem a bit too aristocratic in attitude, reluctant to deal with anything “common”, unlike, say, Joyce or Faulkner. I like art that doesn't take its own elitism too seriously: Thomas Pynchon is a great present day example.

[Bill]

CCCubbon wrote: "It’s like you appreciating music and musicians. I’d bet there are some you return to and others whose work is silent after a listen. Non musical me is in awe!"

This reminds me of a discussion I had with a pianist friend who said I was a musician, but I was reluctant to claim the distinction, not composing or playing any instrument. I then found a dictionary definition of "musician" that, in its qualifications of the term, would have excluded Charles Ives; I conceded that I might be a musician "in an Ivesian sense".

[Lljones]

Bill wrote: "(C'mon, you have to admit "If you divide death by life, you will find a circle," is pretty meaningless, at best a kind of verbal Rorschach.)"

Maybe it works better in Arabic or Hebrew.

[Tam]

Bill wrote: "CCCubbon wrote: "It’s like you appreciating music and musicians. I’d bet there are some you return to and others whose work is silent after a listen. Non musical me is in awe!"

This reminds me of ..."

I don't know if you can get this in the US, but I think that you would enjoy 'Add to Playlist' which is a regular on Radio 4, which is available on BBC 'Sounds'. https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m00...
It's hosts are Cerys Matthews and Jeffrey Boakye. I adore Cerys Matthews, and I'm not that much into music. I have my favourites, but so do most people, but this usually takes me into new territory.

They always have interesting guest musicians on, from diverse musical backgrounds, who contribute to the programme, which looks for links across various musical genres. I always find that I learn something interesting from them, and I love their enthusiasm for talking about their own world of music...

[Robert]

Georg wrote: "Robert wrote (#115): "Gpfr wrote: "AB76 wrote: "sMein Kampf would have to be in there, in that it became a gospel for hate ... I cant remember if he had a ghost writer or not..."

Didn't he write i..."

Hitler was allowed a great deal of outside contact while he was in jail. Not surprised that he had a good supply to paper.

[scarletnoir]

Bill wrote: "scarletnoir wrote: "As a counter-example to that statement, however, I thought of another candidate for an effective "agent of change" novel: What Is to Be Done?, a novel that may not have mobilized a mass following, but apparently did have a great influence on Lenin."

That certainly sounds like a contender... I don't know nearly enough about the details of the influences on Lenin to confirm or dispute what you say, but 'it could be so' for sure.

[scarletnoir]

Bill wrote: "I have to confess that I don't want to read any books, fiction or non-fiction, about either Israel-Palestine or the Northern Ireland troubles, though I will go so far as to read book reviews, especially those in the NYRB."

I read an article this week which said that people are avoiding 'depressing news' in order to preserve their mental health - a sensible attitude IMO - things have not been great since the 2008 crash and unlikely to get better any time soon in the UK, with a lack of housing and interest rates going through the roof. So - the Bank of England decides to increase its own interest rate to 'bring inflation under control' by an apparent attempt to impoverish the population further and increase unemployment. This at a time of sky-high fuel prices and rampant food price inflation. I ask you!

I, also, don't tackle as many difficult books as I used to for the same reason - and getting older doesn't help wrt 'resilience' either. I would consider reading books set in NI because of my knowledge of the province; Israel/Palestine not so much.

[scarletnoir]

Bill wrote: "I think that if I compiled an extended list of novels I’ve found admirable and worthwhile, you would find nothing on that list to which you would have a similar reaction."

This is entirely possible, which is why I always insist on us readers being different and having different tastes. This in no way precludes having respect for the opinions of those who like different types of books . I do, however, insist on my right of free speech to explain why I don't 'appreciate' certain of others' masterpieces.

Nothing annoys me more than those who say that people 'ought' to read such and such a book, with the implication that the reader ought also to fall on their knees in admiration. People enjoy different qualities in writing, which is why there is such a variety in literature. I think you are happy to embrace - or at least tolerate - these differences!

[AB76]

Robert wrote: "Georg wrote: "Robert wrote (#115): "Gpfr wrote: "AB76 wrote: "sMein Kampf would have to be in there, in that it became a gospel for hate ... I cant remember if he had a ghost writer or not..."

Did..."

he dined out on having "done bird" but it was a comfortable imprisonment by all accounts and one that seemed to be a large networking event, albeit 20s sinister style

[AB76]

Bill wrote: "scarletnoir wrote: "Anyway, it's a useful list as it confirms my suspicion that 'modernism' is a style of writing which I find indigestible: I have started three of these books (Heart of Darkness, ..."

i must read some Henry James, he ticks none of the boxes i am interested in but of major writers, he is possibly the least visited by me. I read The Turn of the Screw and the Aspern Papers...thats it

[AB76]

Southern England still sweltering in its eighth day of heat, though it could be a touch cooler for 2-3 days before the the globally warmed heat returns Non-fiction reading is very interesting in last few days, with Travels by Paul Bowles(a collection of his travel writing) and Archers Prison Diary Vol 2

Bowles is one of my favourite authors, i love the locations of his North African novels, his cold hard style and the manner with which he creates a novel or short story. With this book, it his collected non-fiction on travel and the Saharan sections bring me back to the world of his novels as he describes the wild expanses of Southern Algeria and the peoples of the desert regions. His style is precise, informative and very readable, a lot of the pieces were written for travel magazines for the american audience

With Archer, we are in Wayland Prison, late summer 2001, as the disgraced Lord, author and Tory, describes Blair era prison life. The prisoners are an interesting collection and many are probably dead or back in civilian life now. Archer manages to be honest and reflective on his fate, one can feel sympathy in stages, though his aggressive fighting of the case before conviction made me loathe him at the time.