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What are we reading? 26 June 2023
scarletnoir wrote: "The Bombay Prince by Sujata MasseyFollowing some recommendations, I took advantage of a heavily discounted offer on the e-book of this title, and enjoyed it.
Ostensibly, the book..."
The first book in this series deals with the lives of three women who live in complete purdah and I think that was the most interesting part. The second is more to do with the rulers, Sultans - a very different way of life.
Regarding the Vaseem Khan books one learns a deal more about the riots and huge death toll after Partition, something of which I was ignorant.
Russell wrote: "La Bête Humaine – Emile ZolaIn a cycle of fated stories, this so far is the most inexorable of all, and the one with the most forthright statement that I can recall of the author’s motivating the..."
I agree, one of the best of the cycle. But I've liked everything I've read by Zola. I believe this one was controversial at the time of its publication for its relentlessly dark view of human nature.
Berkley wrote: "Russell wrote: "La Bête Humaine – Emile ZolaI agree, one of the best of the cycle. "
I agree too - loved it, great writing and great atmosphere.
CCCubbon wrote: "The first book in this series deals with the lives of three women who live in complete purdah and I think that was the most interesting part..."I did think the descriptions of the constraints on women's lives were the most interesting part of the book I read, too. I forgot to mention in that review one repeated observation: on at least a couple of occasions, Perveen - who I assume is around 30 or so - climbs a few flights of stairs and is described as 'breathless' as a result. No-one that age should find such moderate exercise too much for them, but I have the impression that (wealthy) Asian women are discouraged from exerting themselves physically... those comments could have been an indirect way to point that out... or does Perveen suffer from a health problem?
I wonder if my point about Asian women not being expected to break a sweat is correct, and if so, how much has changed in the 100 years or so since the events described in the novel.
I've just put this on hold at the library - Golden Age Bibliomysteries. It's ON ORDER there. Just in case I've missed one or two.
I’ve also just finished Night Squad by David Goodis, not a name I knew till I saw this recommended (by someone here?). It was a good, tight bent cop/murdering gangster tale set in a place resembling the backstreets of 1950s Philadelphia, with all the dirty deeds happening, as the title indicates, in the dark and in the rain, so very noirish.
Geoffrey Chaucer note asking for time off work identified as his handwritingExclusive: Document was originally thought to be written by clerk on behalf of Canterbury Tales writer who worked as civil servant
Simply, Wow!
I caught some of the interview with Barbara Kingsolver at the Hay festival on SkyArts the other day.On being asked about books that she could not put down, she replied: "I have even been known to read at a stop light...but I always put it down when they turn green! :) :)
Greenfairy wrote: "Geoffrey Chaucer note asking for time off work identified as his handwritingExclusive: Document was originally thought to be written by clerk on behalf of Canterbury Tales writer who worked as ci..."
that is fascinating...will check the G now, interesting as the note was written in French as Chaucer was the man who started writing in ye olde englishe and the dawn of english lit(though the G makes clear that french was the buraucratic langauge of the time)
at school i found Chaucer distant and rather dull but looking back i remember the bawdy elements and the reading it aloud in class
Greenfairy wrote: "Geoffrey Chaucer note asking for time off work identified as his handwriting..."Before getting too excited, I think everyone should be aware that this is the opinion of an expert, but based on what evidence? If it is really the only extant example of Chaucer's writing, they have nothing to compare it with. The expert no doubt has a vested interest in his view being supported, as it would lead to research opportunities - and glory!
... it was known that the individual seeking a leave of absence was the author of The Canterbury Tales... the application was assumed to have been made on his behalf by a clerk...a leading scholar argues that (the note) was actually written by Chaucer and submitted by him for King Richard II’s approval.
Prof Richard Green, a Canadian academic, said: “This would be the only known example of his hand.”
https://www.theguardian.com/books/202...
Our academic does supply arguments in support of his theory - but that's all it is or can be, I fear.
Mod
"Chaucer was the man who started writing in ye olde englishe..."
Middle English, not old, please 😉
A lively neice-nephew filled weekend meant zilch reading, amusing thunderstorm in a local forest on climbing trails high above the forest floor curtailed by flashes of lightning, the little ones barely bothered...harnesses on flying to and fro.I have a brief 48hr lull now so finished the superb Travelsby Paul Bowles, collected writing mainly about NW Africa, with the 1950-66 period showing the slow changes from colonial to independent nations.
Next up for non-fiction is The First Irish Cities by David Dickson, a book i found on the Yale Uni website, which i am looking foward to reading. The focus is on 18th century Ireland urban areas.
Gpfr wrote: "AB76 wrote: "Greenfairy wrote: "Geoffrey Chaucer note asking for time off work identified as his handwriting"Chaucer was the man who started writing in ye olde englishe..."
Middle English, not o..."
Apologies!
Mod
Middle English, not old ..."
That's my pedantic side coming out!
Mod
1,001 like the Arabian Nights, chosen in "a Scheherazade moment", as McCann says: she was telling stories to keep herself alive and the Israeli Rami Elhanan and the Palestinian Bassam Aramin are keeping the memories of their daughters, Smadar and Abir, alive by telling the stories of their deaths.
For me the mosaic builds up into a compelling and moving whole.
A fascinating period in the evolution of English
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I've started Deborah Levy's "living autobiography" on "writing, gender politics and philosophy", the first volume of which is Things I Don't Want to Know. So far, more about writing than the other two, childhood in South Africa, a teenager in England ...
@AB, @Gp…. Have either of you read Melvyn Bragg’s The Adventure of English? Sub title The Biography of a Language? May re-read it meself.
Just finished My Phantoms by Gwendoline Riley(2021) I'm no fan of modern fiction generally but i liked this novel, its light style hiding so much depth, the well crafted dialogue that dominates the prose and the sad central situation of mother and daughter...to the end.Although i did find it very cold, hard and English, a reserve of emotions and responses to distress and unhappy lives. A parental-child relationship without deep feeling, something disturbing actually as the inevitable occurs towards the end. The dark humour works mostly but ill fits the naturally grim world of the sufferer, of old age and the stairway to death.
Its certainly the most "now" novel i have read for a long time, dominated by the mobile phone as a character almost "text this text that", product placement with suprised me too, while it thankfully lacked a complicated for complicated sakes plot and characters, which blights modern fiction. It wasnt woke or loaded with cultural tributes but again there was a sense it was written to not offend the vast networks of offended people(though i would suggest aged parents in decline would be offended, but sadly the old in modern Britain seem destined to be marginalised(my volunteering work shows me that, sadly)
I'm glad i read it and that it was a bookshop browse purchase, good ol Waterstones...
Lass wrote: "@AB, @Gp…. Have either of you read Melvyn Bragg’s The Adventure of English? Sub title The Biography of a Language? May re-read it meself."will make a note...thanks
Mod
No, I haven't.
I still have on my bookshelves books by Simeon Potter, Our Language and Language in the Modern World.which we read at university. And we had the delight of lectures by David Crystal. One can download articles by him here:
https://www.davidcrystal.com/GBR/Book...
I've just read this one: "After old words finally die, they will live on in the virtual world".
https://www.davidcrystal.com/Files/Bo...
I can second Lass’s recommendation of the Melvyn Bragg. Read it with great enjoyment years ago and am thinking of re-reading it myself. Not overly academic, and yet you feel you're learning a lot.
Instead of checking off any chores I had listed in my head yesterday, I picked up a very much seen better days (no back cover) paperback by John Penn who according to GR isn't one person. No wonder Google was confused when I asked about him.So there I sat reading
, a police procedural with a slew of suspects. I had no idea who done it until I was told. (After you've read as many mysteries as I have, I'm rather good at culprit pointing.)Lacking a bedtime paperback, I got another of his/theirs (do not mean to be 'woke') off the shelves -
- where a retired military man's name appears in the book section of the newspaper as an ad for a forthcoming book. After which bad things happen.It's going to be 'touch and go' to see if I get my chores done today.
A note for mystery fans. Keep an eye out for John Penn mysteries at your favorite used bookshop as I am.
Good news! I just checked and the library where I have to pick up a hold (Appomattox: Victory, Defeat, and Freedom at the End of the Civil War today also has a copy of Birchers: How the John Birch Society Radicalized the American Right on the shelves. I am anxious to see if the book has any references to other earlier, books on the subject. This lack of additional information is a downside to audio downloads.I must have been busy with other stuff during the Birchers heyday of the '60s' as the highlight I remember is Barry Goldwater's "Extremism in the defence of liberty . . ." pronouncement. The book's author, Matthew Dallek, a George Washingtion University professor, wrote about the invasive, hyperbolic tactics (often lies) used by the Birchers. If they had had the internet then . . .
I want to see if other authors have found the Birchers so similar to today's right-wing GOP and especially Trump and Desantis, who are SO AWFUL.
Mod
Please be woke — being woke is a good thing. Don't lets succumb to lazy rightwing use of the term as abuse, @AB this is for you.
Not that I'm fond of the word, but the meaning, yes!
I'm finding it difficult to settle down to actual books atm (I have around three on the go in various stages), partly because of a minor gut problem making concentration difficult (I hope and assume it's minor) and partly because madame has decamped for Amsterdam at the request of daughter no. 2 for her birthday treat, leaving me to carry the responsibilities of aged mother and temperamental dog alone. In the meantime, I look for short pieces online, and found a gem today from my favourite film critic David Thomson - an extract from his book Sleeping with Strangers: How the Movies Shaped Desire:
https://lithub.com/the-coded-queer-li...
Thomson writes so stylishly and convincingly when setting out his analysis. I've no idea to what extent his thesis here holds water, but it little matters... reading him is a pleasure.
The downside is that I'm 100% sure to buy the book, eventually! Or not really a 'downside', but an expense. I'm sure you know what I mean.
Gpfr wrote: "MK wrote: "do not mean to be 'woke'..."Please be woke — being woke is a good thing. Don't lets succumb to lazy rightwing use of the term as abuse, @AB this is for you.
Not that I'm fond of the wo..."
My use of 'woke' was intended to be just a tad 'tongue in cheek.'
scarletnoir wrote: "I'm finding it difficult to settle down to actual books atm (I have around three on the go in various stages), partly because of a minor gut problem making concentration difficult (I hope and assum..."i'm finding it hard to re-adjust to the adult world of silence and reading after 4 days madness with little ones....my brain is a bit pickled
scarletnoir wrote: "I'm finding it difficult to settle down to actual books atm (I have around three on the go in various stages), partly because of a minor gut problem making concentration difficult (I hope and assum..."On this buying books thing, I have meet two kinds of book collectors - those who like first editions and concentrate on an area, such as children's books, and then there is me who likes nothing better than a bargain (50¢ is good) as long as it has a read or two left. I'm sure there are many others in the middle.
Better World Books keeps me forever logged in so I know that, today, I have 17! books in my cart. And I received a few from them in the last couple of weeks. I know I won't buy them all and will wait until they have a some-percent-off sale, but still.
Mod
As I assumed!
Gpfr wrote: "MK wrote: "do not mean to be 'woke'..."Please be woke — being woke is a good thing. Don't lets succumb to lazy rightwing use of the term as abuse, @AB this is for you.
Not that I'm fond of the wo..."
i dont mind wokery, i just feel it creeps into literature as a template and then bonds itself to the dreadful atmosphere in higher education where historical texts are either given trigger warnings or removed, rather than teaching students about context and the time they were written
i dont think ANY books i was studying between 1987 and mid 90s would be suitable now in an environment that was trying to censor or remove offensive words and ideas but i knew 11-18 the situation, the historical context and i hope modern kids do too
Mod
Yes, but you seem to use 'woke' quite often in a pejorative way — doesn't it give you pause when you've got people like Ron DeSantis saying things like Florida is where woke goes to die and Suella Braverman ranting about 'Guardian-reading, tofu-eating wokerati'?
Gpfr wrote: "AB76 wrote: "i dont mind wokery ..."Yes, but you seem to use 'woke' quite often in a pejorative way — doesn't it give you pause when you've got people like Ron DeSantis saying things like Florida..."
those two are disturbed toads from the sewers, i agree with that but i dont see woke like they do!
Mod
1,001 like the Arabian Nights, chosen in "a Sc..."
Posted the same on the Graun:
The book builds up to and down away from their stories in the centre....
For me the mosaic builds up into a compelling and moving whole....
You've captured the power of this book for me. Bravo.
A word about 'woke': here in the UK, it's clearly being used by the right wing as part of their tactical 'culture wars' distraction in an attempt to make the public look elsewhere as energy prices and mortgage rates rocket. They would like nothing better than for everyone to forget how they have trashed the economy, run down the NHS and allowed private monopolies such as the water companies to run riot by taking on huge debts to pay shareholder dividends - but not invest in infrastructure projects. Fortunately, despite the attempts of the Daily Mail and others to cover their front pages with stories about 'absurd wokery', the 'royal family', the latest 'BBC scandal' and other trivialities, most of their readers do live in the real world, and know the price of a pint of milk or a litre of petrol. (Those papers are especially keen to publish these stories when the latest Tory scandal occurs - as if by coincidence.)
scarletnoir wrote: "A word about 'woke': here in the UK, it's clearly being used by the right wing as part of their tactical 'culture wars' distraction in an attempt to make the public look elsewhere as energy prices ..."i agree, everything can be blamed on woke by the right wing, they will probably try with the weather too
Publishing query:i notice a certain % of NYRB classics are published in the UK by other publishers, same translators and editions, the most recent is the latest Grossman novel which is on my list, which is NYRB in USA and Macelhose in the UK,
I may have missed some detail mind you
i plan in 2024 to read a few WW2 classics, after largely avoiding WW2 this year, they will be:
Berlin FInale (Rein)-1947
Last Times (Serge)-1946
The People Immortal (Grossman)- 1943
The problem with any soviet sponsored lit is the bias and the message and thats why i will read Grossman, when i do, with caution. Serge and Rein look more interesting, especially Rein looking at the murderous nazi collapse in berlin, 1945
Very quiet in here today, i'm usually not around on a Tuesday, so wouldnt have normally noticedEnjoying The Go Between, its evocative descriptions of summers in rural England, so different to coastal summers, the link to the land and the fields, the rivers and how the heat stills the air and sits upon the land. Hartley bases his summer in the novel on a summer he remembered as a child, at the turn of the century, 1899 or 1900
Mod
Sorry to say, but I don't think that there's a betterworldbooks website outside the States. But since they will send me books for free from the UK, members here might try it in reverse.I'm saying this because between now and Friday, they have a 30% off sale on using this code - SAVEBIG23
Of course I bit, but was able to winnow down the numbers a bit (I'm not going to tell). The order contained several books from the UK - worth a reverse try?
I'm going to push refinishing THE FINAL BOOKCASE (sitting on back porch) higher on my list!
MK wrote: "I'm saying this because between now and Friday, they have a 30% off sale on using this code - SAVEBIG23"Thanks for that. I'm reading an essay now by Richard Taruskin where I may want to get some of the books mentioned in his footnotes.
Online retailers seem to be trying to compete with "Prime Day": bookshop.org is offering free shipping and Harvard Book Store informs me that a new warehouse sale will drop on July 14.
https://hbswarehousesale.com/password...
AB76 wrote: "Enjoying The Go Between, its evocative descriptions of summers in rural England, so different..."
I don't normally dupilcate posts from the other place here but I've been reading a book where I kept thinking of L P H -
Edward Wilson of the Antarctic – Naturalist and Friend by George Seaver. I picked this up thinking to add it unread to my Antarctic explorers shelf, but started it and loved it. Finished it in tears as of course Wilson (Ted/Billy) was one of Scott’s companions who died on the way back from the South Pole.
He sounds a lovely man – deeply religious, a wonderful artist – my edition published in 1934 has lots of his pictures. He qualified in medicine but from childhood had been a keen ornithologist and naturalist. He was taken on Scott’s two Antarctic voyages as a scientist/ doctor but anyone on the expeditions who needed to record colours ie unknown parasites found in the local wildlife asked him to paint them because although there are plenty of photos they’re only black and white. His colours were spot on, as were his paintings of the various meteorological phenomena - where apparently he got all the angles correct, and if he showed cirrus clouds, that's what they were - not stratus.
To read what Scott and the others said about him is to love him. I continually thought of L P Hartley’s ‘the past is a foreign country’ – I don't think people like that exist any more.
FrancesBurgundy wrote: "AB76 wrote: "Enjoying The Go Between, its evocative descriptions of summers in rural England, so different..."
I don't normally dupilcate posts from the other place here but I've been reading a b..."
great post Frances...
Bill wrote: "MK wrote: "I'm saying this because between now and Friday, they have a 30% off sale on using this code - SAVEBIG23"Thanks for that. I'm reading an essay now by Richard Taruskin wh..."
I should qualify the 30% off. It is dependent on buying 6 or more books.
Interesting thought on the competition with Amazon. Nothing would surprise me.
MK wrote: "I'm going to push refinishing THE FINAL BOOKCASE ..."... after which you can sell the title to the movie industry as a potential story which will appeal to bibliophiles, to go with:
The Final Countdown (1980)
The Final Destination (2009)
The Final Girls (2015) ... etc.
Lass wrote: "@AB, @Gp…. Have either of you read Melvyn Bragg’s The Adventure of English? Sub title The Biography of a Language? May re-read it meself."Charlton Laird's The Miracle of Language was a fine, witty book on communication.
I see that Milan Kundera has died aged 94... I enjoyed many of his novels, as did madame who also saw him lecture during his time in France. His intelligence is clear from this quote:(in 1980) Kundera lamented that he felt “the novel has no place” in the world, saying “the totalitarian world, whether founded on Marx, Islam or anything else, is a world of answers rather than questions”.
“It seems to me that all over the world people nowadays prefer to judge rather than to understand, to answer rather than to ask,” he continued, “so that the voice of the novel can hardly be heard over the noisy foolishness of human certainties.”
https://www.theguardian.com/books/202...
Memory is a funny thing as one ages and The Go Between by LP Hartley is tweaking memories and also reminding me of things i have forgotten.One is the nature of english summers and their impact on our memories of youth, for me, i remember summers of temperate joy, occasional warmth and sometimes consistent rain but without discomfort or dismay. In the novel, as young Leo observes weather and its effects, is it the adult looking back or the child in that summer remembering? How unreliable childhood memories can be is a possibly unsettling realisation as you reach into your 40s and see nieces/nephews and remember back to your own youth
The other challenge of memory is the incredibly boring sequence of great novels killed by studying in the english education system of the 1980s and early 1990s. I loathed various Hardy novels and especially The Go Between as the life was sucked out of them in classrooms and the enjoyment of teachers as the texts were analysed put me off them even more. At a remove of 30 odd years since i studied The Go Between its far more enjoyable to read it without all the boring repetition of school but also to remember various phrases and motifs that school deemed important which i now disregard
I have also forgotten far more than i remember, it seems a more fussy and rather camp novel than i remember, though i am familiar with this style of Hartleys and its not a negative issue. Leo seems far more likeable now he is a child and i'm an adult,sympathy and empathy is more engaged, than when i was 14 or 15. Norfolk and its environs fascinate me more as well than on boring school afternoons...
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Ersatz TLS
Books mentioned in this topic
It's only a movie, Ingrid: Encounters on and off the screen (other topics)A Year in the Dark: Journal of a Film Critic 1968-1969 (other topics)
The Small Boat of Great Sorrows (other topics)
The Best and the Brightest (other topics)
Murder on the Farm (other topics)
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Authors mentioned in this topic
David Rosenfelt (other topics)Philip Kerr (other topics)
Richard Taruskin (other topics)
Richard Taruskin (other topics)
Matthew Dallek (other topics)
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In a cycle of fated stories, this so far is the most inexorable of all, and the one with the most forthright statement that I can recall of the author’s motivating theme: the pre-destined reappearance of a hereditary crack in the family psyche. With consummate skill he unfolds the drama, which for 500 pages takes no detour. Even the rare moments of happiness feel tainted. The recurrent image of an express train, its great mass thundering down the steel rails, could not be more apposite. I believe some readers here strongly disliked this book. There is a lot of death, and no one dies naturally. I thought it one of the best.