Ersatz TLS discussion
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Weekly TLS
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What are we reading? 28/08/2023
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https://www.theguardian.com/world/202......"
I hadn't read it. So silly!
has anyone heard from LL , noticed her avatar says she was last active in June?
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She's commented on WWR.
Gpfr wrote: "CCCubbon wrote: "Did you read this?https://www.theguardian.com/world/202......"
I hadn't read it. So silly!"
In the long term doubtless population decline will be good for Earth but until things even out the inbalance - too many old people - will cause problems but I don’t believe giving people pets is a good idea.
Gpfr wrote: "AB76 wrote: "has anyone heard from LL , noticed her avatar says she was last active in June?"She's commented on WWR."
interesting that nothing here, her and Georg are notable absentees this summer, hopefully both are well. i guess as the post covid world shuffles back to normal, postponed travel may be kicking in too, for longer periods
The new What We're Reading page on is up The G's book page for those that were waiting for one to open up
Paul wrote: "The new What We're Reading page on is up The G's book page for those that were waiting for one to open up"Does everybody who posts here also participate on The Guardian? I was pretty pissed off when they ended TL&S and booted Sam, and since then I don't think I've looked at more than a dozen articles on the site.
I looked into WWR when it was (re)initiated and at that time it seemed more like the personal blog of one particular poster with an occasional contribution from someone else here and there. I just glanced through the two most recent ones and that seems to be no longer the case, with most of the old gang back posting again, though I'm inclined to refrain, at least for the time being.
Bill wrote: "Paul wrote: "The new What We're Reading page on is up The G's book page for those that were waiting for one to open up"Does everybody who posts here also participate on The Guardian? I was pretty..."
I think the WWR suffers a lack of voices as compared to the old TLS column. It's more difficult to find and quite a few posters have simply never returned either due to objections to moderation, to distaste to the community or other reasons.
It has gotten less monologous in relation to the earlier iterations, but discussions aren't as polyphonic or rapid as they used to be. I think most of the casual entrants have a hard finding it after the first 48 hours so that over the course of the month, only those users who specifically search it out will contribute.
You'd always be a welcome sight back there.
Paul wrote: "Bill wrote: "Paul wrote: "The new What We're Reading page on is up The G's book page for those that were waiting for one to open up"Does everybody who posts here also participate on The Guardian?..."
would be good to see you return Bill but i do find it a much trickier place to post, due to the moderation. I agree Paul that is nowhere near what TLS was(pre-pandemic).
the moderation is inconsistent and pedantic, considering nobody comes on WWR to post the kind of tripe on other G forums, i am suprised they are so particular. It may be the mods are not literary bods and slap anything down, without understanding the context
I think you are correct in assuming that the casual poster loses track after a while. There do occur flurries of the old TS&L but it is more detached is the only word that I can think of for now. It seems to be stricter about posts. I stayed away until fairly recently but have started again.
I keep reminding my self to have a look at the Guardian book-readers chat thing, whatever it's called now, but never seem to get around to it. But I'll do it one of these days. My most recent books include:
Full Moon, one of PG Wodehouse's Blandings Castle novels. I'd say of middling quality by his usual standards, which is quite good enough for me since I like his style.
Vurt, by Jeff Noon, a 1993 science fiction novel that I think I would have enjoyed more had I read it as a younger person in 1993 than I did now as a 61-year-old in 2023 - much as I felt about Donna Tartt's Secret History and a few other early-'90s things I've read recently by authors roughly around my age. Will Self's My Idea of Fun was another recent read that struck me this way. I still found all these books interesting enough that I'll keep trying with these writers.
Hegel's The Philosophy of History. I've been a dabbler in philosophy most of my adult reading life. I'd say this is the most accessible of anything I've read of Hegel's. It's also reportedly been a very important and influential work in the history of ideas (not all of them good ones, IMO) and thus of interest to the casual reader on that score. You can see from this book where some of our ideas of the West's cultural superiority come from - not that Hegel originated them, necessarily, but he put these feelings into words in a striking and persuasive manner. This can make it a maddening read at times but never a dull one.
Berkley wrote: "...Hegel's The Philosophy of History. I've been a dabbler in philosophy most of my adult reading life. I'd say this is the most accessible of anything I've read of Hegel's. ..."
Interesting. I’m tempted. Someone I know has been urging me to try Hegel’s Lectures on Fine Art, about which he used the same phrase - that it is Hegel’s most accessible work. I asked the library to see if they could find a copy for me, and they say it’s on its way. Two volumes! I’ll try some of that and then maybe try the Lectures on History.
I dabble in philosophy too, with (I suspect) the difference that I follow it while I'm reading it and then more or less immediately forget what was said. I find that nowadays things stick with me when I write a note or a review. That process of working out what you think yourself seems to somehow embed it.
Interesting. I’m tempted. Someone I know has been urging me to try Hegel’s Lectures on Fine Art, about which he used the same phrase - that it is Hegel’s most accessible work. I asked the library to see if they could find a copy for me, and they say it’s on its way. Two volumes! I’ll try some of that and then maybe try the Lectures on History.
I dabble in philosophy too, with (I suspect) the difference that I follow it while I'm reading it and then more or less immediately forget what was said. I find that nowadays things stick with me when I write a note or a review. That process of working out what you think yourself seems to somehow embed it.
CCCubbon wrote: "Gpfr wrote: "CCCubbon wrote: "Did you read this?https://www.theguardian.com/world/202......"
I hadn't read it. So silly!"..."
A pet is a good thing.
Russell wrote: "Berkley wrote: "...Hegel's The Philosophy of History. I..."Interesting. I’m tempted. Someone I know has been urging me to try Hegel’s Lectures on Fine Art, about which he used the same phrase - that it is Hegel’s most accessible work. I asked the library to see if they could find a copy for me, and they say it’s on its way. Two volumes! I’ll try some of that and then maybe try the Lectures on History.
I dabble in philosophy too, with (I suspect) the difference that I follow it while I'm reading it and then more or less immediately forget what was said. I find that nowadays things stick with me when I write a note or a review. That process of working out what you think yourself seems to somehow embed it. "
No, I'm much the same way - and not only with philosophy!
I have a relatively slender volume (~300pp) titled GWF Hegel on Art, Religion and Philosophy that I was planning to make my next book in this field. It seems to be just the introductory lectures to the Aesthetics, the Philosophy of Religion, and the History of Philosophy. I'll probably break it up into those three sections and read them separately over the next few months.
Going by the Philosophy of History I think the various lecture series are relatively readable because they were sort of cobbled together by later editors out of Hegel's notes and also student notes, so they're less abstract than, say, the Phenomenology of Spirit/Mind, and make use of examples and illustrations to get the point across.
For the first time in months, the Guardian allowed me to register. Will I be allowed to make comments? The suspense builds....
Robert wrote: "CCCubbon wrote: "Gpfr wrote: "CCCubbon wrote: "Did you read this?https://www.theguardian.com/world/202......"
I hadn't re..."
Of course but what would happen to the pet once the baby arrives?
To use a pet as a bribe to have a baby seems wrong.
Robert wrote: "For the first time in months, the Guardian allowed me to register. Will I be allowed to make comments? The suspense builds...."I've given up trying.
Just scrolled through 80 unread comments here and had to stop everything I’m doing to add my two pennorth re WW1 books. I’m a big fan of Parade's End and have said before that the WW1 parts feel to me exactly as if ‘this is how it must have been’. Incidentally I also don’t like FMF’s The Good Soldier, so it’s good to be in some company there.But from June’22 to March ’23 I read my way through Henry Wiliamson’s Chronicles of Ancient Sunlight series – 15 books. I’ve never really posted about them because in the end they’re a bit unsatisfactory. They’re basically a fictionalised autobiography of HW’s own life from childhood in South London to being a follower of Mosley in the 1930s and running a farm in Norfolk during WW2. Someone on TLS warned me that the final few books are hard going, which is a pity as they make the whole series a lot less impressive than it should be. But what I want to say is that WW1 is covered in depth, over FIVE books, and all based in HW’s experiences. They are really impressive, though made more so probably if you’ve read the three preceding books – which are all excellent reads anyway. So read at least the first eight books of the series if you’re at all interested in WW1.
FrancesBurgundy wrote: "Just scrolled through 80 unread comments here and had to stop everything I’m doing to add my two pennorth re WW1 books. I’m a big fan of Parade's End and have said before that the WW1..."Nice to see you again Frances.
FrancesBurgundy wrote: "Just scrolled through 80 unread comments here and had to stop everything I’m doing to add my two pennorth re WW1 books. I’m a big fan of Parade's End and have said before that the WW1..."I had precisely the same reaction to FMF, Parade's End was great but The Good Soldier was underwhelming.
Berkley wrote: "Russell wrote: "Berkley wrote: "...Going by the Philosophy of History I think the various lecture series are relatively readable because they were sort of cobbled together by later editors out of Hegel's notes and also student notes..."
I think they had to do the same with many of Coleridge’s lectures on the principles of poetry and comparative literature, not least because STC discovered he could speak best when he did it without notes. He was of course an awful cribber from the Germans, though not I think from Hegel. I’ll ask my friend about the reconstruction of the Hegel lectures and report back. (He’s a Hegel specialist – dissatisfied with all the translations of Phenomenology – has been engaged for years in writing a new one!)
I think they had to do the same with many of Coleridge’s lectures on the principles of poetry and comparative literature, not least because STC discovered he could speak best when he did it without notes. He was of course an awful cribber from the Germans, though not I think from Hegel. I’ll ask my friend about the reconstruction of the Hegel lectures and report back. (He’s a Hegel specialist – dissatisfied with all the translations of Phenomenology – has been engaged for years in writing a new one!)
AB76 wrote: "Russell wrote: "Does anyone know a novel about the Spanish Civil War called The Soldiers of Salamis by Javier Cercas (2001)?..."
great novel..."
Thanks, AB. One more for the TBR list.
great novel..."
Thanks, AB. One more for the TBR list.
FrancesBurgundy wrote: "Just scrolled through 80 unread comments here and had to stop everything I’m doing to add my two pennorth re WW1 books. I’m a big fan of Parade's End and have said before that the WW1..."thanks frances...i will explore these now
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I'm rather ashamed to say that I've read these but remember almost nothing about them ☹. However in my defence, it was I suppose 40 or so years ago. I borrowed them from the Paris British Council library in the days when it still had books — and a weird and wonderful collection it was, too — before it went all computer. Members of the library protested but it didn't get us anywhere. I really liked it, in spite of little things like an IRA bomb...
I'll stop rambling now — it's really hot here, supposed to stay over 30° for another 5 days.
FrancesBurgundy wrote: "had to stop everything I’m doing to add my two pennorth re WW1 books"I thought Storm of Steel was an excellent memoir of front line combat. Also, two of the best short novels I've read deal with the trauma of the war: The Return of the Soldier and A Month in the Country.
I have a few unread WW1 novels on my shelves which I thought I would mention: Under Fire, admired by Hemingway, and In Parenthesis, a modernist novel on the war, introduced by T. S. Eliot.
While reading Robert Craft's reviews, I was just reminded of another novel, also unread on my shelves. Citing Anthony Burgess, Craft writes:
… many would endorse the claim that Richard Aldington’s Death of a Hero is “far superior” to certain other British novels of the First World War, as well as Remarque’s German one.
Bill wrote: "another novel, also unread on my shelves. Citing Anthony Burgess, Craft writes:… many would endorse the claim that Richard Aldington’s Death of a Hero is “far superior” to certain other British novels of the First World War, as well as Remarque’s German one. ..."
Death of a Hero is also on my shelf unread - one day maybe...
And thinking about my previous post re Henry Wiliamson, one reason to continue to the end of the series is that it's obvious that WW1 affected him (and his hero) throughout his life - as it must have done to anyone involved in it. His following Oswald Mosley, although we nowadays think of those people as British Nazis, started because of his recognition that the German soldiers were just the same as the British ones.
You can watch a BBC interview with him which explains a lot here https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode...
Clearing my front room aka the storeroom has been a real borearound 7 bookcases of varying sizes, storing books from the last 20 years and i never expected to have to box it all up and move it out for a plasterer but there you go
the biggest bore will be moving them all back in, i think i will just leave the boxes and move my fave bookcases back in (which i removed with books in them)
Books are a precious thing, it felt awful removing them from shelves they graced for so long and i'm not even moving out!
AB76 wrote: "scarletnoir wrote: "I was alarmed to see a comment on the 'Guardian' under my pseudonym - but I didn't write it! Has this happened to anyone else?did somebody manage to create an account as you?"
No idea - no reply as yet, but no further ghost posts either...
giveusaclue wrote: "Joys of technology!.."Indeed - in France, I found that our satellite decoder for British TV (Freeview) no longer works for most BBC channels - the box is SD (standard definition) but the BBC and no doubt others are moving towards transmitting in HD only. And although I have a license (being - generally - a law abiding person), you can't stream TV outside the UK legally - you have to pay for a VPN (virtual private network) which allows your laptop to 'pretend' to be in the UK. I guess that is illegal! Brilliant, innit!
So the choice is - pay a one-off charge to buy a new HD box, or pay a monthly charge for a VPN.
Robert wrote: "We are flooded with these voices prophesying war of Americans against Americans. It comes from left and right, both cashing in on fear. My hope (I still have some) is that people will shake these voices off."Indeed.
I see that in Texas, the Republicans are split between those who would impeach a Trump supporter for various acts of corruption... but the MAGA gang are out in force to defend their crook. At least there are some Republicans left who have some sort of principles, and they are not all a bunch of Trumpist crazies.
I wish you all the best of luck.
Bill wrote: "Does everybody who posts here also participate on The Guardian? ."Occasionally. Like everyone else, I find it is less stimulating than when Sam was running things. ATM, too many threads seem to be dominated by 'the usual suspects' (not a bad thing in itself) who tend to discuss books/authors of little or no interest to me - unfortunately. You also get some in-jokes or semi-private messages, too.
I keep my 'off topic' comments to this forum. On the Guardian, I more often comment on politics or sport!
Gpfr wrote: "I really liked it, in spite of little things like an IRA bomb...."I don't remember that one, though there were plenty of bombs in Paris when we lived there (1982-86)... It's interesting that terrorists and fascists seem to enjoy destroying books - or attacking authors.
It is very hot here in Brittany - too hot for a Northern European like me, anyway! Phew!
scarletnoir wrote: "giveusaclue wrote: "Joys of technology!.."Indeed - in France, I found that our satellite decoder for British TV (Freeview) no longer works for most BBC channels - the box is SD (standard definiti..."
Would you be sure of getting the programmes if you got a new HD box? Decisions, decisions!
scarletnoir wrote: "Gpfr wrote: "I really liked it, in spite of little things like an IRA bomb...."I don't remember that one, though there were plenty of bombs in Paris when we lived there (1982-86)... It's interest..."
Hot here too in S. Derbyshire and AB won't be happy!
giveusaclue wrote: "scarletnoir wrote: "Gpfr wrote: "I really liked it, in spite of little things like an IRA bomb...."I don't remember that one, though there were plenty of bombs in Paris when we lived there (1982-..."
actually my house is barely touched by sept heat, its been 21c at the highest indoors over the last few days and very pleasent. less pleasent moving about 800 books out of my front room!
of course if i'm outside for long periods, the heat is less welcome
Bill wrote: "FrancesBurgundy wrote: "had to stop everything I’m doing to add my two pennorth re WW1 books"I thought Storm of Steel was an excellent memoir of front line combat. Also, two of the ..."
thanks bill enjoyed all of those but didnt know the Aldington book. ee cummings wrote a WW1 novel, its on my pile...somewhere
scarletnoir wrote: "AB76 wrote: "scarletnoir wrote: "I was alarmed to see a comment on the 'Guardian' under my pseudonym - but I didn't write it! Has this happened to anyone else?did somebody manage to create an acc..."
Not quite the same but this happened a year or two ago. I wrote a revue about an old book called The Malory Verse Book which I have had for many years. It was published in 1919 and although for schoolchildren primarily the majority of the poems were written by men when still serving in WW1 and that’s what makes it interesting. Not famous poets but still in print I believe.
Well, that was fine but looking up the book online to gather further information I came across a revue written by a Portuguese Bookshop person which seemed very familiar. Yes, you guessed - it was my revue pasted there anonymously . I didn’t bother to do anything but maybe we should all be aware. I cannot remember whether it was here or in the G that I wrote the revue - I think here.
CCCubbon wrote: "scarletnoir wrote: "AB76 wrote: "scarletnoir wrote: "I was alarmed to see a comment on the 'Guardian' under my pseudonym - but I didn't write it! Has this happened to anyone else?did somebody man..."
My father was an emergency planner, first for the Washington State National Guard, then for the state Department of Emergency Services. He drafted an emergency procedures manual, which was later lifted, word for word, by the California National Guard. It may startle you to hear that his name wasn't mentioned at all....
Robert wrote: "...He drafted an emergency procedures manual, which was later lifted, word for word..."
Years ago I had a comparable experience but with a happier result. I and another partner in our law firm were being interviewed by some American attorneys for a case which required English-law representation in an arbitration for their US clients, about an oil rig that had been constructed in a Singapore shipyard and then towed to the UAE on a barge by an ocean-going tug, where the prospective clients had a contract to drill. It arrived bent. So who was at fault, the shipyard or the tug-operators? The attorneys were interviewing other English law firms as well, for what was to be a three-way arbitration. At a certain point I asked if the relevant agreement had a particular form of exclusion clause in it, one excluding a right of appeal from the arbitrators’ award, which you could do at the time, under an English statute passed about ten years previously. They thought it did, and pulled out this agreement about 100 pages long. Buried in it was a clause – “Is this what you mean?” they said. I read it, about a dozen lines long, and said, “I don’t understand. I wrote that.” I didn’t know where it had come from, but you recognize your own writing. Then the penny dropped. Ten years earlier, when the statute was passed, and I was a junior assistant, two senior people in the firm had written an article about it for a US legal review, and I had contributed a specimen exclusion clause. Obviously it had been read by an in-house US attorney at the clients, he’d put it in a bottom drawer, and when years later he had to insert some English-law arbitration provisions he pasted in my wording. Sometimes luck is on your side. We got the job. It was my partner who did the work. I know we got full compensation for the clients but sadly for the story I no longer remember from whom. I think it ended in a settlement, so the clause itself was never tested.
Years ago I had a comparable experience but with a happier result. I and another partner in our law firm were being interviewed by some American attorneys for a case which required English-law representation in an arbitration for their US clients, about an oil rig that had been constructed in a Singapore shipyard and then towed to the UAE on a barge by an ocean-going tug, where the prospective clients had a contract to drill. It arrived bent. So who was at fault, the shipyard or the tug-operators? The attorneys were interviewing other English law firms as well, for what was to be a three-way arbitration. At a certain point I asked if the relevant agreement had a particular form of exclusion clause in it, one excluding a right of appeal from the arbitrators’ award, which you could do at the time, under an English statute passed about ten years previously. They thought it did, and pulled out this agreement about 100 pages long. Buried in it was a clause – “Is this what you mean?” they said. I read it, about a dozen lines long, and said, “I don’t understand. I wrote that.” I didn’t know where it had come from, but you recognize your own writing. Then the penny dropped. Ten years earlier, when the statute was passed, and I was a junior assistant, two senior people in the firm had written an article about it for a US legal review, and I had contributed a specimen exclusion clause. Obviously it had been read by an in-house US attorney at the clients, he’d put it in a bottom drawer, and when years later he had to insert some English-law arbitration provisions he pasted in my wording. Sometimes luck is on your side. We got the job. It was my partner who did the work. I know we got full compensation for the clients but sadly for the story I no longer remember from whom. I think it ended in a settlement, so the clause itself was never tested.
If an American firm had been involved, they might have invoked the federal Arbitration Act, which swallows up all in its path, including appeal of anything except fraud in the inducement.
AB76 wrote: "Bill wrote: "FrancesBurgundy wrote: "had to stop everything I’m doing to add my two pennorth re WW1 books"I thought Storm of Steel was an excellent memoir of front line combat. Also..."
Some Do Not, Ford Madox Ford's set before the onset of the World War, is quite good.
Russell wrote: "Years ago I had a comparable experience but with a happier result."At least you (or your firm) got some benefit and remuneration from your work, even if indirectly!
I would be surprised and flattered - rather than annoyed - if any of my online comments or reviews were to be plagiarised... after all, I have not been paid for any of them and it's not 'work' in my case.
(I have yet to receive a satisfactory response from the Guardian.)
giveusaclue wrote: "Would you be sure of getting the programmes if you got a new HD box? ."I think so, and have ordered a replacement box. We'll see!
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I don't remember that one, though there were plenty of bombs in Paris when we lived there (1982-86)... It's interest..."
The IRA also bombed Marks & Spencer around the same time. My husband heard it on the radio and had a couple of hours panic as my son and I were supposed to be going there that morning. In fact we got to Bd Haussmann a bit before M&S opened so went into Galeries Lafayette first. No mobile phones at that time of course! Not much damage was done actually.
The Collected Stories
is a large volume of what seems like almost all Elizabeth Bowens shorter fiction and has really been a good read so farAm dipping in and out, backwards and fowards rather than in chronological order, which is unusual for me. I also had to strike out the short stories i read in a Poolbeg Press collection a few years back
I have always enjoyed reading Bowen, my first novel was The Last September. Whats interesting about the short stories is many of the titles conjure up some rather shallow socialite tales but the actual stories are far darker and less easy than you expect.
Robert wrote: "Some Do Not, Ford Madox Ford's set before the onset of the World War, is quite good.."Not sure if you know that Some Do Not is actually the first of the Parade's End books Robert (followed by No More Parades, A Man Could Stand Up and Last Post).
I would also say it's 'quite good', but the next three books are outstanding, all in different ways. Apart from the fact that they dot backwards and forwards somewhat you could say No More Parades is set in WW1, A Man Could Stand Up is set on Armistice Day, and Last Post takes the characters into the post-WW1 world. I believe FMF disowned Last Post but I love it. In all, a great picture of Britain before, during and after the War.
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I think the only Bowen I've read is The Death of the Heart, which I really like and have read more than once. I had a feeling I'd read something else, but don't find a trace. Must get hold of more.
FrancesBurgundy wrote: "Robert wrote: "Some Do Not, Ford Madox Ford's set before the onset of the World War, is quite good.."Not sure if you know that Some Do Not is actually the first of the Parade's End books Robert (..."
i never got into the triology, though i did like the tv series, my late grandfather loved the triology
Gpfr wrote: "My husband heard it on the radio and had a couple of hours panic as my son and I were supposed to be going there that morning..."I can certainly identify with that! Madame had just returned to work (in the rue de Berri) after the birth of daughter no. 1 and had a habit of returning via a gallery joining rue de Ponthieu and the Champs Élysées... and then:
"20 mars 1986 - "Galerie du Point Show"
Elle se situe une vingtaine de mètres plus loin, et s'appelle aujourd'hui "Galerie 66". Connue pour abriter le Zaman Café d'où a démarré "l’affaire Zahia" impliquant des joueurs de l’équipe de France de football en 2010, la galerie a été le théâtre d'une explosion le 20 mars 1986, juste devant le café de Colombie.
Bilan : deux morts et 29 blessés, dont 9 graves. Attentat de nouveau revendiqué par le CSPPA à Beyrouth (Liban) pour le compte du Hezbollah."
https://www.tf1info.fr/justice-faits-...
Well! I was home earlier than madame that day, and caught the news on TV... I was green by the time she got back, very late.
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Books mentioned in this topic
Prom Mom (other topics)The Mistress of Bhatia House (other topics)
Double Illusion (other topics)
Winters in the World: A Journey through the Anglo-Saxon Year (other topics)
Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass (other topics)
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Authors mentioned in this topic
Laura Lippman (other topics)Eric Ambler (other topics)
Richard Taruskin (other topics)
Robert Craft (other topics)
Harvey Sachs (other topics)
https://www.theguardian.com/world/202...
I suppose one can say they are taking the problem seriously but it seems such a daft idea.