What are we reading? 23/10/2023

[MK]

I tend to sign up for emails from publishers. I got yesterday from History Press. I like them and sometimes stick a title on my 'want' list. Here's one that might interest canal friends who also read crime - Dark Side of the Cut: A History of Crime on Britain's Canals.

Canals can be lonely places!

[scarletnoir]

Once again, a busy period - I've scanned the comments but may not have anything much to contribute, but if I do it'll be later...

Exiles by Jane Harper

Following the major disappointment of 'Harlem Shuffle', which fails both as a literary book and as a thriller, I decided to revisit Harper's 'Aaron Falk' series. Falk is an Aussie cop who at this stage is based in Adelaide. He visits some friends in the small town of Murrallee (fictional) for an annual festival, and gets drawn in to investigating (outside his normal cop duties) one or possibly two crimes - a disappearance, and an old hit-and-run case. By the end, Falk succeeds in solving these mysteries and in resetting his own life.

This has some good things in it, but I'm afraid I liked it less than the previous books. As before, the author is very good at depicting the ways in which people communicate verbally and non-verbally - and either miss the point or misinterpret each other. Motivations are convincing, so characterisation is good if not profound. The reasons I liked it less were:

1. Oddly, although the story is set in a small town and many scenes take place out of doors, the story had a claustrophobic feel - an awful lot of the action takes place in only two or three locations - the festival site and environs, and the winery run by Falk's friends. Not a great deal happens in 'real time' - no additional mysteries or corpses crop up (!) so it is very slow paced; and

2. The author is great at describing human interactions, but not so convincing when it comes to describing a key setting; the hit-and-run, and maybe the disappearance too, happened at 'the Drop' - a steep cliff falling away into a dam near the festival site. The way this is described, only a small part of this area is visible, but we are never given a convincing description of it. Now, either the ground falls away steeply to a much lower lever either side of this Drop - or the cliff changes to a less steep fall with trees etc. between the road and the water. It felt as if the author had simply decided that we'd be given this 'Drop' without an adequate description of why it was so short. So, plot-wise, it didn't make sense to me.

It was slow going; I finished it, but it wasn't great.

[scarletnoir]

Looking for some light relief after these two disappointments, I reengaged with Ross Macdonald's 'Lew Archer' series and started The Way Some People Die. It's too soon to say how well I'll like this overall (previous books had weaknesses as well as strengths), but after only a few pages, I've come across passages that amused me more than anything in the last two books. You will know that I have a horror of unnecessary descriptive writing - four pages on the living room carpet - but when it serves a purpose (such as to clearly set a scene or create an atmosphere) I'm all for it IF it is done well. Archer does it well... two passages that made me smile:

She pulled out a chair from the heavy refectory table in the middle of the room. It was a small room, and it was as crowded with coffee- and end-tables, chairs and hassocks and bookcases, as a second-hand furniture store. The horizontal surfaces were littered with gewgaws, shells and framed photographs, vases and pincushions and doilies. If the lady had come down in the world, she’d brought a lot down with her. My sensation of stepping into the past was getting too strong for comfort. The half-armed chair closed on me like a hand. and

I took the picture from her hand. There was something slightly shady about the transaction, a faint implication that she was offering her daughter’s beauty as part payment on my services.

[AB76]

Am gonna miss the De La Mare stories when i finish them, its the kind of collection you dont want to end and follows up two earlier collections which i recommend. Gothic Tales by Conan Doyle and Collected Stories by Mr James, which were both published by OUP,

I was born long after the era a lot of these stories were written but the way of life has been passed down through 3 generations of my family and stories they have told. I do feel at home among the cultural reference points but i think also there is a deep nostalgia for an England that probably never existed, which sounds cynical.

I of course, dont mean the Little England-Brexiteer England that is so manifestly false that it makes me feel sick

[Fuzzywuzz]

I'm typing this on my mobile, which is a bit awkward. I cannot seem to reply to individual posts. Strange.

Re Guardian log-in issues - I had the same problem about two months ago. Prompt for a log-in (but still logged in) and then I got blocked from reading any more articles. This went on for about 3 weeks ago, then seemed to right itself.

I bought a book called 'The Big Over Easy' by Jasper Fforde in Munich Airport in the summer of 2005. Finally read it a couple of years ago.

I'm away visiting my home town at the moment, catching up with family and friends. Bookshop visits are as important as visiting people and the books I have bought during these visits are potent reminders of these trips away.

Re crosswords: I'm not very good at them but Mr Fuzzywuzz and I like to do the Guardian Quick Crosswords on our phones on a Sunday whilst out having coffee - Mr Fuzzywuzz is a whizz. And the 'Check' function is certainly very helpful, possibly bordering on cheating :)

I've just embarked on a new collection of crime books. Someone (sorry, I can't remember who) recommended The Steel Spring by Per Wahloo which I enjoyed immensely - so much so that I bought the entire Martin Beck series of books.

I'm almost finished Roseanna. Martin Beck is the epitome of a police detective who is consumed by his work. However, there is a subtle sadness to his demeanour and a dislike of crowds of people and, possibly, people in general. This book was written and set in the 1960's, when lack of technology meant photos could take days to be delivered. Smoking was also ubiquitous and is like a supporting character.

If anyone visits Cork City, in Ireland, I recommend Vibes and Scribes (2 shops, one selling new stock, the other secondhand).

[Gpfr]

Over on WWR, allworthy has provided an answer to 'why all the Shakespeare':
It is also the 400th anniversary of First Folio next month....hence why there's a ton of Shakespeare on the small screen from Auntie.

[CCCubbon]

In case anyone is wondering about that cryptic clue

19. Develop gun taken out of its sheath (

It is common to have to add or subtract letters from a word to make another answer. Added letters might be b for bishop , s for son, and so on. These are usually signalled in some way with words such as with or without. Here the signal is taken out of its sheath - in other words remove first and last letters of a word for a gun.
Therefore REVOLVER minus the r at the beginning and end leaves us with
EVOLVE which means to develop. and is the answer..

[MK]

I don't know where people here sit on the current mess in the Middle East, but I see (thanks to the AP's Today in History item) that

On Nov. 2, 1917: British Foreign Secretary Arthur Balfour issued a declaration expressing support for a “national home” for the Jews in Palestine.

I then took (unread) off my shelves - The Balfour Declaration: The Origins of the Arab-Israeli Conflict and put in in the TBR pile. I also went online to see what's there and found this - https://balfourproject.org/

Finally, as odd things do seem to connect, I remember hearing (probably NPR) yesterday an item about the Colorado River and who gets to have its water which continues to be oversubscribed. This piece noted that even though several tribes have sovereignty rights over the water, they have never had a voice in its allocation.

Which leads me to - why do incomers feel so superior that they disregard the people already there?

Also Australians and Aborigines.

PS - hope I'm not stirring up a hornet's nest.

[Bill]

MK wrote: "Which leads me to - why do incomers feel so superior that they disregard the people already there?"

I'm currently reading Fintan O'Toole's review of Left Is Not Woke in the 60th anniversary NYRB.

It has to be acknowledged that there are good historical reasons for skepticism about the Enlightenment’s claims to have articulated values for humanity as a whole. It’s not merely that the violence of slavery and colonialism exposed the hypocrisy of many of those who claimed to hold those values. It is that the very idea that one was enlightened justified the domination of those who were not. As Caroline Elkins has shown in Legacy of Violence (2022), her rigorous autopsy of the British Empire, the spread of the rule of law (a central Enlightenment project) was the great moral claim of nineteenth-century imperialism. But since the colonized peoples were not yet sufficiently developed to understand it, they could be subjected to what Elkins calls “legalized lawlessness.” This was the catch-22 for nonwhite peoples: until the indefinite point in the future when, under our firm tutelage, you have become sufficiently enlightened to grasp the universality of our principles, those universals exclude you.

[MK]

CCCubbon wrote: "In case anyone is wondering about that cryptic clue

19. Develop gun taken out of its sheath (

It is common to have to add or subtract letters from a word to make another answer. Added letters mig..."

CCC - you make my head swim! My mind is not geared as cryptic puzzlers must be.

[MK]

Using up a gift link and wondering what ever happened to the ability to think. I certainly do not agree with any stereotypes and cringe at the idea that people different from me (old white female) are any better to worse than I.

Putting the written word in historical context and subsequently learning that that was then and this is now appears to be out the window - rather like 'wash your mouth out with soap' because a child said a bad word that they didn't know was abad word.

Here's the link to the latest literary revisions - https://www.nytimes.com/2023/10/30/bo...

Are we that stupid? End rant.

[CCCubbon]

MK wrote: "CCCubbon wrote: "In case anyone is wondering about that cryptic clue

19. Develop gun taken out of its sheath (

It is common to have to add or subtract letters from a word to make another answer. ..."
Sorry about that - I’ll shut up!
I just like puzzles. If I could show you in person …….

[MK]

What another gift link? How about access to medieval murder maps and links to other medieval maps - like travel routes?

https://www.nytimes.com/2023/11/02/wo...

I've got to get off the web - too much sitting!

[MK]

CCCubbon wrote: "MK wrote: "CCCubbon wrote: "In case anyone is wondering about that cryptic clue

19. Develop gun taken out of its sheath (

It is common to have to add or subtract letters from a word to make anoth..."

CCC - it's not that. Just like I call myself Word Nerd as my email name, some are good at stuff A and some are good at stuff B; and then there are those who are not good at much of anything.

[Gpfr]

MK wrote: "Putting the written word in historical context and subsequently learning that that was then and this is now appears to be out the window ..."

I think the approach of the British Library in their crime classics series is sensible. They put a publisher's note at the beginning explaining that while some people may find upsetting certain

uses of language, instances of stereotyping and some attitudes expressed by narrators or characters which may not be endorsed by the publishing standards of today ... It is not possible to separate these stories from the history of their writing.

and so they don't censor/change.

[CCCubbon]

MK wrote: "CCCubbon wrote: "MK wrote: "CCCubbon wrote: "In case anyone is wondering about that cryptic clue

19. Develop gun taken out of its sheath (

It is common to have to add or subtract letters from a w..."

Yes we each have our strengths and weaknesses but it is my belief that the vast majority of people are far more capable than they realise. I believe that we underuse our brains, are sometimes eaten up with self doubt, have never had a good teacher or sufficient motivation…… but I still cannot play the piano.

[Bill]

MK wrote: "Are we that stupid?"

Don't for a moment think that beloved authors like Roald Dahl, Agatha Christie, and Georgette Heyer were capable of crimethink. They must be held up to current and future generations as shining examples of goodthink.

[AB76]

Having finished the brilliant De La Mare collection, i am turning to a crime novel and as a lot of the reading here seems to be crime novels, i'm in line with the majority for once

Its Vanish In An Instant by Margaret Millar (1952), after enjoying The Blackbirder by Dorothy Hughes a few years back, i googled female crime writers and found Millar, wife of Ross Macdonald

My problem with most crime writing is that however good it is, sometimes the endings dissapoint and the formulaic style can grate

[Bill]

AB76 wrote: "Its Vanish In An Instant by Margaret Millar (1952)"

I'll be interested to know what you think. I've read a few Millar novels, including that one, and intend to read more. I'm not really much for mystery novels, but I've found that her books hold up for the most part as mainstream novels, concentrating on human situations, though they generally have some criminal twist in them which slot them into the mystery genre.

[MK]

Bill wrote: "AB76 wrote: "Its Vanish In An Instant by Margaret Millar (1952)"

I'll be interested to know what you think. I've read a few Millar novels, including that one, and intend to read more. I'm not real..."
Bill - was it you who was reading Laura Lippman's What the Dead Know? If so and you are finished, report please.

[Bill]

MK wrote: "Bill - was it you who was reading Laura Lippman's What the Dead Know? If so and you are finished, report please."

Yes, I finished it two days ago.

I liked it pretty well and it certainly held my interest.

It was kind of a puzzle mystery in that she provided a number of clues over the course of the book, but the way that she handled this was something I hadn't seen before, very different than the typical murder mystery. It's not even clear for most of the novel if there was a murder, but there are two teenage girls that disappeared, which forms the basic mystery.

Most of the action of What the Dead Know takes place over 5 days in the "present" (2005 or thereabout), but it alternate sections between those days flash back to specific days in 1975 (the year the girls disappeared), 1976, 1983, and 1989, with the chapters told from several points of view, both in the present and past.

Though sometimes deeper themes can arise after a novel has settled into my mind, I don't feel at this point that it had a impact on me beyond the puzzle aspect and its presentation, such as illuminating some aspect of psychology or society.

[Robert]

Bill wrote: "AB76 wrote: "Its Vanish In An Instant by Margaret Millar (1952)"

I'll be interested to know what you think. I've read a few Millar novels, including that one, and intend to read more. I'm not real..."

Millar's How Like an Angel is good.

[Berkley]

I didn't get either of CCC's clues either - and I have no excuses, because I am familiar with the Cryptic Puzzle style - and Haggard's She is a book I've read more than once!

I think part of the fun of them is the little surprise you get when you find the answer to a clue, whether you figure it out yourself or have it explained to you. I'd like to try the Telegraph one but it seems it's pay-only.

[AB76]

Bill wrote: "AB76 wrote: "Its Vanish In An Instant by Margaret Millar (1952)"

I'll be interested to know what you think. I've read a few Millar novels, including that one, and intend to read more. I'm not real..."

its started well bill, right away i could feel something better than most crime novels in the opening 20 pages or so but thats not saying much, as i am not a crime novel fan really

[Diana]

Thanks, CCC..., for the reminder. As you know, like Gpfr, I enjoy doing word puzzles and start every morning with Wordle (German & English), Quordle, Octordle and Squareword. At least 15 years ago, I became quite obsessed with Cryptic puzzles and made lists of clues - indicators, wordplay, "crosswordese", double definitions, etc. (I still have them in a file!) I even once happily picked up (and then used) a (still in its wrapper) hardcover Chambers Crossword Dictionary for 5 pounds at a car boot sale, while on holiday in England. I found an online site (fifteensquared), which explained the solutions to the Guardian (and other) puzzles. And yet ....
You helped me with a piece of advice for the Daily Killer Sudoku so that I take that in my stride now! So I turn to you once more ...
Since your recent example and explanation of the cryptic, I'm starting again! This time with The Times Quick Cryptic. The advantage here now - I can immediately check each answer I insert with the correct solution. And I'm chuffed when I get them right! It doesn`t mean I always know how all the others were arrived at. I guess I'm not patient enough to think about them long enough. (I do need time for reading and family, and other things in life!).
Back to fifteensquared? Or should I admit defeat?

[giveusaclue]

Bill wrote: "MK wrote: "Bill - was it you who was reading Laura Lippman's What the Dead Know? If so and you are finished, report please."

Yes, I finished it two days ago.

I liked it pretty well and it certain..."

That looks interesting Bill, I must add it to my evergrowing list!

[CCCubbon]

Diana wrote: "Thanks, CCC..., for the reminder. As you know, like Gpfr, I enjoy doing word puzzles and start every morning with Wordle (German & English), Quordle, Octordle and Squareword. At least 15 years ago,..."
I stopped doing the Telegraph for several months - really just objecting to paying for a paper that I did not read but gave into temptation again
Out of practise it’s taken time to recognise the various clues again and trust my instinct and am gradually improving. I cannot always work a clue out but as you say get a kick when I am right.
Here’s another typical from today’s T

15. Scaling limits unemployment benefit for young person (10)

I still do Wordle, killer s, and also Spelling bee from Wordle site trying to getto the top number daily . Really liked digits on there but that stopped.
Must dash - hospital appt for eyes.

[giveusaclue]

CCCubbon wrote: "Diana wrote: "Thanks, CCC..., for the reminder. As you know, like Gpfr, I enjoy doing word puzzles and start every morning with Wordle (German & English), Quordle, Octordle and Squareword. At least..."

You impress me with you puzzling skills CC. Good luck with the appointment.

[scarletnoir]

MK wrote: "I don't know where people here sit on the current mess in the Middle East..."

Mess is right. Put at its simplest, my views are:

1. The Hamas attack was an atrocity, a terrorist act, a war crime and unjustifiable on any level... but
2. If Netanyahu (not 'all Jews' or 'all Israelis') thinks that this justifies retaliation in kind by killing innumerable civilians, cutting off water and power supplies... then, no. One war crime does not justify another.

I posted recently (maybe not on this forum, though) that I lived from 1971-74 in Northern Ireland... an interesting period. A table from Wikipedia shows that in 1972, the province had 24.58 murders per 100,000 inhabitants - the highest for any country/area in the 1970s except for Lesotho in 1974-6:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of...

What I remember... in areas of Belfast, you'd see murals to the effect of "Remember 1690"; in Republican areas of Derry, murals supporting the IRA. I've only scanned this site quickly, but it seems to give a good idea of the way in which murals were used as propaganda by both sides in the armed struggle:

https://www.mentalfloss.com/photos/55...

What I learnt from living in NI at the most violent period in the conflict: a cycle of retaliatory violence solves nothing; and that -eventually - peace can only come as a result of dialogue. The way in which that conflict was dated as far back as 1690 shows that there will likely be a very long way to go in Israel/Palestine - and indeed, last time I commented on this, someone pointed out that people trying to negotiate a peace in Palestine had been shocked that individuals on both sides started arguing about 'whose fault it was' regarding a conflict some 3000 years ago!

So - let's hope that peacemakers on both sides can gain some traction after this appalling period of bloodletting; but I'm not holding my breath.

[MK]

Bill wrote: "MK wrote: "Bill - was it you who was reading Laura Lippman's What the Dead Know? If so and you are finished, report please."

Yes, I finished it two days ago.

I liked it pretty well and it certain..."

This may be redundant but this is what drew me to the book - https://www.npr.org/2007/03/18/898371....

And - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Murders...

[Bill]

AB76 wrote: "i am not a crime novel fan really"

In my reading, I tend to distinguish between crime novels as a more general group, and mystery novels as a subset of them.

Mystery novels are typified by the classic “Whodunit?” form of a crime, usually murder, being committed at the outset, followed by unwinding of a set of clues and suspects in the course of the book, with a solution revealed at the end. I tend not to be a fan of these, maybe for the same reason cryptic crosswords don’t appeal: the author starts out with full knowledge of the solution and then piles on complexity to obscure it. Maybe it’s because in mysteries the author is set up as the reader’s superior in knowledge and power: the author knows everything about the story and it’s up to the reader to discover what the author has hidden. I prefer entering a book with a sense that the author is saying, “Let’s explore this topic together; I’ll lay out my ideas, and you see what you think about them.”

On the other hand, there are a number of crime novels that are not mysteries; Crime and Punishment tends to be the locus classicus for these, but the idea goes back further, at least to Caleb Williams in the late 18th century. In these the crime is committed in front of the reader’s eyes (as it were) and the concern of the book tends to be the implications and aftermath of that crime for the perpetrator, the victims, and / or society in general. I much prefer this kind of crime novel to the mystery. Good examples of these are Nightmare Alley, The Asphalt Jungle, Strangers on a Train, I Married a Dead Man, In a Lonely Place, Harriet, and Thieves Like Us.

I'd be interested to hear if any of the numerous mystery fans among the contributors have a different take on this.

[giveusaclue]

scarletnoir wrote: "MK wrote: "I don't know where people here sit on the current mess in the Middle East..."

Mess is right. Put at its simplest, my views are:

1. The Hamas attack was an atrocity, a terrorist act, a ..."

As you say, don't hold your breath scarlet. Trouble with peace talks, both sides have to want peace. When Hammas is hell bent on genocide and placing armaments in civilian areas and the Israelis are hell bent on extending territory and racial and territorial survival, I can't see peace coming in my life time.

[scarletnoir]

giveusaclue wrote: "I can't see peace coming in my life time..."

That is what I'm afraid of, too... the best chance would be for the 'supporters' of each side to decide they wanted to lean on the combatants to agree a solution, but that also seems a forlorn hope at the moment.

[scarletnoir]

Bill wrote: "I'm currently reading Fintan O'Toole's review of Left Is Not Woke in the 60th anniversary NYRB...."

I haven't time to read the article (now/ever?) but that is an excellent quote and I agree with what it is saying.

[AB76]

Bill wrote: "AB76 wrote: "i am not a crime novel fan really"

In my reading, I tend to distinguish between crime novels as a more general group, and mystery novels as a subset of them.

Mystery novels are typif..."

interesting thoughts bill. i see C & P as something above almost all literature, a sublime masterpiece that covers all bases

[AB76]

scarletnoir wrote: "MK wrote: "I don't know where people here sit on the current mess in the Middle East..."

Mess is right. Put at its simplest, my views are:

1. The Hamas attack was an atrocity, a terrorist act, a ..."

As i am still unable to comment anywhere on the G, its amazing how fustrating this is. Its like there is a command from Viner to simply erase the readers views but open discussions on anything else

I greatly fear that a ceasefire or a pause will assist Hamas in regrouping, right now their death cult is facing a violent end, though it may take months. (the idea will not die but the bodies of their thugs will).

But on the other hand we have a human refugee camp of 2 million souls with nowhere to go, the order to move South had good intentions i think but Gazans do not and never have lived in a free society under Israeli or Hamas government, so many didnt leave cos they were rightly too scared )of israeli bombing)and wary of Hamas violence, forcing them to stay.

In an ideal world, an orderly evacuation of Gaza City would have occurred before the IDF moved in, leaving Hamas to face an armed enemy and not their usual cynical games. What we have now is a disaster careering into another disaster.

Northern Ireland sometimes feels like childs play concerned to the Palestinian-Israeli situation. I loathe Netanyahu, his tired old ideas and grasping for power have dragged Israel backwards in the last 20 yrs and now he has a crisis for the Israelis bigger than anything since Yom Kippur'73

If i'm being really hopeful, a solution could be the exile of Hamas from Gaza, like what happened with the PLO and Arafat decades ago but considering that caused problems in Jordan and then Lebanon, its short sighted and i should discount it now.

I almost feel like Oct 7th was plan that turned into mayhem early on, i suspect the Hamas fighters were keen on a suicidal confrontation with the IDF almost as soon as they breached the fences. Instead they had hours, unaopposed and possibly just acted on the hoof, cos they could, in a violent orgy of murder. One Hamas fighter being interrogated by the IDF kept saying " we were waiting for the soldiers, to fight them but they didnt come for hours"

I also feel it should be noted that survivors of the music festival observed palestinian civlians raping, robbing and murdering the youngsters, which hasnt been picked up by western press, as far as i can see

I'm not squeamish about death and war but October 7 events haunt me, it was something beyond my imagination, then i think again and remember that i have read endlessly about the Holocaust and no...there is nothing new under the sun....man is wolf to man

[AB76]

I have always been a fan of Raymond Williams since university days, though i remember my tutor was not keen on his politics. as i was less left wing then, i didnt pick him up on that, i would now, as he was a good tutor and i enjoyed chatting with him

Anyway after reading a collection of his writings on Wales a few years ago, i have found a dog eared copy of his last book Towards 2000(1983). the cover is so bad, it looks like it was cooked up on a zx spectrum but the contents are already making me think as he starts to describe what became Thatcherite neo-liberalism in his first essay on the 1960s

Williams represents the eagerness for rigourous debate and discussion which is the best thing the left can give society and when i look at how the G censors a lot of comments, i feel dismay.

[AB76]

another point on the dodgy, ageing Nasrallah and Hezbollah, his threats are always steeped in clerical nonsense but if Hezbollah did attack Israel properly,Beirut would be hammered like it was in the last war, in the mid 2000s. I do wonder if these cowardly terrorists ever contemplate who pays for their macho posturing, it usually isnt them!

[Bill]

AB76 wrote: "i see C & P as something above almost all literature, a sublime masterpiece that covers all bases"

I haven't read C & P since high school, so I can't comment on it in any depth. It does usually get included in "all-time best crime novel" lists like that in Time, and that may be done in an attempt to elevate estimation of the genre in general. Though C & P is influential among some crime genre novelists; I've tended to see most of the Patricia Highsmith novels I've read as a series of variations on the Dostoyevsky novel.

[AB76]

Bill wrote: "AB76 wrote: "i see C & P as something above almost all literature, a sublime masterpiece that covers all bases"

I haven't read C & P since high school, so I can't comment on it in any depth. It do..."

for me i found it to be everything a novel should be, representing reality and the depths of the human soul, something that Dostoyevsky is maybe the finest exponent of. if only i could read it in Russian too!

[Bill]

AB76 wrote: "for me i found it to be everything a novel should be"

For me, a novel has to have some humor in it to really reflect reality, an element I think C&P lacked (I'm pretty sure of my memory in that regard).

In reflecting on my reading, I think that this is a problem crime novels tend to have - they either tend to be full-blown comic novels or are otherwise pretty grim. The mystery genre, though, sometimes manages to inject humor by including an essentially comic character or two among the various suspects.

[MK]

A shout-out to - When Books Went to War: The Stories that Helped Us Win World War II which I am listening to now.

I had no idea about this, and, of course, any book about books gets my attention. It is almost completely an American effort, however, there are good tidbits along the way. it begins with censorship in Germany, book drives in the States, and finally a formal program to get paperbacks (something new in publishing), and magazines to the US troops wherever they were fighting in WW2.

Not ironic was Senator Robert Taft's work to keep military personnel from voting for Roosevelt (Title 5) when the time came. All I can say to that is some Republican 'virtues' remain the same today. And I won't even get into their (and their cohorts) book banning activities.

I will take it outside with me today as I clean up pine needles. We had some high winds yesterday which means I now have a new carpet out front. I won't even talk about the oak leaves in back - that may be for another non-rainy day.

[AB76]

Bill wrote: "AB76 wrote: "for me i found it to be everything a novel should be"

For me, a novel has to have some humor in it to really reflect reality, an element I think C&P lacked (I'm pretty sure of my memo..."

lack of humour, thats a very good point. i am not that bothered with lack of humour but certainly the solemn acres of Dostoyevsky work is almost hyper-serious. Dickens could match him on some of the grim themes but with characters and humour abounding.

[MK]

Bill wrote: "AB76 wrote: "for me i found it to be everything a novel should be"

For me, a novel has to have some humor in it to really reflect reality, an element I think C&P lacked (I'm pretty sure of my memo..."

I find it interesting where people find themselves on a reading scale if there is such a thing.

I read mostly for enjoyment and was brought up in a household that read mysteries.

I also like history and have a current 'bus book' as old age seems to mean Doctor's appointments. It is Douglas Porch's The Conquest of Morocco: A History which, so far (early days yet), is not flattering to either the country's inhabitants nor those seeking its subservience.

[AB76]

MK wrote: "Bill wrote: "AB76 wrote: "for me i found it to be everything a novel should be"

For me, a novel has to have some humor in it to really reflect reality, an element I think C&P lacked (I'm pretty su..."

i wouldnt say i read for enjoyment purely, i am looking for many different things and i dont mind a grim read, i never read to cheer myself up either. However i would imagine as i get older, i may become more of a re-reader and seeking comfort and i have noticed in the last 3-4 yrs that i am mixing genres up a lot more, as well as reading more by women. According to my stats, 8% of what i read was by women between 2000-2017, since 2018 its 20%.

[Bill]

MK wrote: "I find it interesting where people find themselves on a reading scale if there is such a thing.

I read mostly for enjoyment and was brought up in a household that read mysteries."

I was brought up in a household that only read newspapers and magazines (and, though many magazines still included one or more short stories at the time, I don't think my parents read much or any fiction). Entertainment was TV.

I think I started reading in a search for a kind of virtual reality, to enter imagined worlds, graduating from comic books to SF and Fantasy.

I tend to feel unsatisfied when I read a book that is mean solely as entertainment, such as those by Wodehouse (though he can occasionally come up with a phrase or scene that sticks in my mind). Like I said elsewhere, I read fiction looking for an artistic expression of a vision of the world; ideally, a novel is both ludic and serious (as I think are the Beethoven sonatas I am currently listening to).

[AB76]

Bill wrote: "MK wrote: "I find it interesting where people find themselves on a reading scale if there is such a thing.

I read mostly for enjoyment and was brought up in a household that read mysteries."

I wa..."

i also find books that are solely entertainment unsatisfying, if there is levity, i need it balanced with some serious thinking too.

[AB76]

One thing about so much coverage from within Gaza is how backwards and Islamist the place is. Women almost all wearing headscarves and lying low, endless men everywhere. Its almost a complete opposite of Israeli culture over the border and it has reminded me how toxic Hamas are.

I always knew they were a murderous bunch of cowards but didnt realise they were as islamist as some of the Wahabi states like Saudi Arabia. Palestinian women, in Gaza, are almost invisible like in so much of the arab world.

[Berkley]

CCCubbon wrote: "
Here’s another typical from today’s T

15. Scaling limits unemployment benefit for young person (10)"


I think I have this one: (view spoiler)[ putting ascent (scaling) around (limiting) dole (unemployment benefit) we get adolescent (young person) . (hide spoiler)]

[Berkley]

Speaking of crime novels, I'm reading my first ever book by John Dickson Carr, The Devil n Velvet. So far it reads more like historical adventure, though there is a crime (attempted or perhaps successful murder by poison) that is an important plot element, not to mention a supernatural theme (deal with the devil that sends historian back to 1670, where all the action takes place). I like it so far, roughly a third of the way through, and will likely read more by Carr.