What are we reading? 6/11/2023

[scarletnoir]

Bill wrote: "I wonder if I would have been more likely to read the novel with that cover..."

Oh, I definitely would not have bought it with that cover! It was an impulse buy based entirely on the sheer (and deliberate) tastelessness of the pastiche.

You're sort of right about the Brothers: they did indeed have a dislike for travel - but the main protagonist is obliged to go somewhere distant in the Caribbean (Bahamas? not sure) to try to persuade the freeholder of the land on which the monastery was built not to demolish it to build a block of flats... I think. So, he sets out and tells us in minute detail how to cross Manhattan and so on, eventually getting to the airport.... That bit was pretty boring; the main plot was trivial apart from, perhaps, the point about how NYC is constantly being demolished and rebuilt from the ground up. But it was fun, overall... just not quite good enough to make me follow up. (The author wrote an almost Simenon-like number of books under different pseudonyms.)

[scarletnoir]

CCCubbon wrote: "I don’t know what you would make of (Pessoa). I treat (his book) like a dipping in collection of thoughts and read tiny passages at a time .."

Thanks for this. I do like most of that quote, except the rather dismissive point about one's own family - I don't get this bit:
" It is a sign of progress to feel that your own family and its griefs are insignificant and repellent compared with those fictional characters." The rest makes perfect sense.

I'll probably buy the book and read it in the way you suggest, as one might a book of Nietzsche's aphorisms - one or two thoughts at a time.

[scarletnoir]

AB76 wrote: "Oddly some novels based on Pessoas alter ego's were better reads, especially Saramagos The Year In The Death of Ricardo Reis."

Thanks for that suggestion - it's a definite possible!

[scarletnoir]

Paul wrote: "So, I am posting a review I placed carefully in the Guardian pages (pasted here below) of a prize-winning book called a Minor Detail by Adania Shibli.

Unfortunately, any combination of the words ..."

Thanks for that. Writing about war zones without blatantly taking sides is a tricky business... The book sounds interesting. And as I wrote elsewhere, disagreeing with Netanyahu's tactics neither makes one an apologist for Hamas terrorism nor an anti-Semite, no matter how the fanatics may want to paint it.

[giveusaclue]

scarletnoir wrote: ".And as I wrote elsewhere, disagreeing with Netanyahu's tactics neither makes one an apologist for Hamas terrorism nor an anti-Semite, no matter how the fanatics may want to paint it"

Absolutely right scarlet. Many of those protesting in this country seem to have forgotten that the atrocities in this country, Manchester Arena, King's Cross, Lee Rigby weren't committed by Jews. Interesting there have been no elections in Gaza since 2006. Bu the expansionist policy by Israel is like a red rag to a bull.

But don't ask me for a solution!

[giveusaclue]

Referring back to the last thread and the BBC Shakespeare, I had recorded Edward IV and decided to watch it last night. 🙈 Sorry Will but I gave up early on especially after a scene, supposedly in around 1450 or so when Henry VI was in a scene with his adult son Prince Edward who in reality wasn't even born until 1453!

I don't mind that odd tweak of facts but that was more than a tweak.

[Bill]

giveusaclue wrote: "Referring back to the last thread and the BBC Shakespeare, I had recorded Edward IV ..."

Edward IV?

[Bill]

AB76 wrote: "Excellent Marliynne Robinson article in NYRB, on Iowa and its pride in becoming the Florida of the North. The Republican interference in education as an anti-woke drive is alarming"

It was a good article - to my surprise no mention of Calvinism and Aristotle rather than the Bible cited as an authority.

In keeping with their lockstep “conservatism,” the Iowa governor and her legislature have launched a campaign to embarrass the public grade schools. Of course there is now great perturbation about what can or cannot be included in their libraries. This intrusion of the state government on traditionally more or less autonomous communities has the tenor of a moral crackdown. New laws have been enacted to bring unruly librarians to heel. Educational standards for new librarians have been lowered. The governor says, of course, that the legislation “sets boundaries to protect Iowa’s children from woke indoctrination.” It is as if parents zipping up their five-year-old’s jacket feel a qualm of fear because of potential classroom exposure to sinister ideas, not because their state now allows permitless concealed and open carry.

I'm happy to say that the "Moms for Liberty" had their asses handed to them (electorally) this past week in school board elections in my county and in a neighboring county, Bucks, which usually leans more Republican than my area.

[giveusaclue]

Bill wrote: "giveusaclue wrote: "Referring back to the last thread and the BBC Shakespeare, I had recorded Edward IV ..."

Edward IV?"

Sorry Bill that is what the episode was advertised as. It was from a BBC mini series entitled The Wars of the Roses, back in the 60s (black and white). Thought it was odd I hadn't heard of that one before.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_War...

[AB76]

scarletnoir wrote: "AB76 wrote: "do you only read crime novels Scarlet?"

Er... no.

From 2023:
True Grit and Dog of the South by Charles Portis - though they do have crimes in them. Depends how wide you interpret th..."

apologies scarlet, it wasnt meant as a pointed question at all. i remember your Marse reading and think i may have suggested the book and the Pym and Tabucchi reviews!

however clearly at 47, my memory has been addled by covid!

i should also add that if books can deliver light relief from stress and difficult times, that is a good thing. i found my second week of covid decidely unpleasent and was too tired to read, which astonished me. I am so rarely ill or tired (admittedly i'm only 47), that at some points i was wondering if i would ever have any energy again.

[AB76]

Bill wrote: "AB76 wrote: "Excellent Marliynne Robinson article in NYRB, on Iowa and its pride in becoming the Florida of the North. The Republican interference in education as an anti-woke drive is alarming"

I..."

i too was expecting a calvinism mention, remembering your previous posts!

its important we have these articles on what the modern Republicans are doing to the USA.....

[AB76]

Sometimes for no particular reason i let a great novel pass me by and then come back to it with a vague memory of seeing an advert. Danish classic The Liar is another of the impressive NYRB Classics publications and i have now ordered it and plan to read it before Xmas. It reminds me a little of Swedish existentialist writer Stig Dagerman, though thats a superificial comparison right now, i must also try and re-read Jacbsens Niels Lynhe which has never really been a novel i could get into, oddly

I must also recommend Swiss writer Jacques Chessex, i read two of his modern novels on commutes and was impressed with his tales of Protestant Switzerland, especially the Calvinist stronghold of Vaud. I have his 1973 novel The Tyrant next on my list, which was the first non-french winner of the Prix Goncourt. Chessex was French -Swiss and am looking foward to reading it

[Berkley]

Russell wrote: "Gpfr wrote: "Diana wrote: "I‘ve just finished reading Cressida Connolly‘s After the Party (2018) ..."

I found it excellent. I see it was one of my "best books of 2022" and that Anne really liked it too...."

Not a book I was aware of, but you all make it sound v tempting. It's now on my TBR list."

Mine too, now that I've looked her up. I see her father was Cyril Connolly, who is also on my list though I've yet to get around to reading anything; and her daughter is an actress, quite a talented family.

[Berkley]

scarletnoir wrote: "My current Macdonald - The Galton Case - contains a fine parody of a 1950s poetry reading set to music of the sort with which Allen Ginsberg might have regaled his acolytes."

I've been reading Ross MacDonald myself the last two or three years, most recently The Doomsters. I like his stuff and he seems to be getting better and better as I go along the Archer series.

The Galton Case will be next, as it happens, and to add another little spark of amusement, I'm currently reading Kerouac's Dharma Bums which contains a fictionalised description of what was apparently a famous poetry reading in San Francisco in the mid-1950s, at which Ginsberg gave his first reading of the then-unfinished Howl (which I have yet to read, myself). So I have something extra to look forward to in The Galton Case.

[Berkley]

AB76 wrote: "Sometimes for no particular reason i let a great novel pass me by and then come back to it with a vague memory of seeing an advert. Danish classic The Liar is another of the impressive NYRB Classics publications and i have now ordered it and plan to read it before Xmas. It reminds me a little of Swedish existentialist writer Stig Dagerman, though thats a superificial comparison right now, i must also try and re-read Jacbsens Niels Lynhe which has never really been a novel i could get into, oddly

I must also recommend Swiss writer Jacques Chessex, i read two of his modern novels on commutes and was impressed with his tales of Protestant Switzerland, especially the Calvinist stronghold of Vaud. I have his 1973 novel The Tyrant next on my list, which was the first non-french winner of the Prix Goncourt. Chessex was French -Swiss and am looking foward to reading it..."

All those sound interesting. Who's the author of The Liar? I found a couple novels with that title but I don't think either is the one you're talking about (one, which I was already planning to read, is by Stephen Fry).

[[deleted user]]

Berkley wrote: "Russell wrote: "Gpfr wrote: "Diana wrote: "I‘ve just finished reading Cressida Connolly‘s After the Party..."
... I see her father was Cyril Connolly, who is also on my list though I've yet to get around to reading anything; and her daughter is an actress, quite a talented family.

Plus she was married at one point to AA Gill. (I looked her up too.) He wrote some of the funniest columns ever. I remember one in particular (? in The Sunday Times) where he met with the two lady principals of a dating agency for middle-aged men. It was an absolute stitch. Sadly it was not included in a posthumous collection of his pieces.

[Robert]

Red Platoon: A True Story of American Valor by Sgt. Clinton Romesha,
Excellent narrative of a battle, and the lights and shadows of military leadership, at a remote point in Afghanistan.
My late father used to term "failure of military leadership"; Clinton Romesha does not, but I can't describe the high command's decision to place a tiny outpost at the bottom of a bowl formed by steep high ground, allowing it to be fired on by well-concealed Taliban fighters, in any other way.
There was a failure of military leadership by the former commander of the base, too. His sergeants told him that the site was vulnerable, and that the outpost's broken gate was no obstacle to Taliban attackers at all. The old commander was shipped out, and the troops were waiting for the new boss, when the shooting started at dawn.

[AB76]

Berkley wrote: "AB76 wrote: "Sometimes for no particular reason i let a great novel pass me by and then come back to it with a vague memory of seeing an advert. Danish classic The Liar is another of the impressive..."

apologies, i omitted the name it was Martin A Hansen

[scarletnoir]

AB76 wrote: "apologies scarlet."

Absolutely none needed. My reading is split between what might be termed 'literary fiction' (though I often dislike well-known authors) and crime, with rather more of the latter as it's more relaxing!

[AB76]

scarletnoir wrote: "AB76 wrote: "apologies scarlet."

Absolutely none needed. My reading is split between what might be termed 'literary fiction' (though I often dislike well-known authors) and crime, with rather more..."

my mother said very much the same about crime novels a few months ago. when i had my front room done i stored a box of books with them as i had no room. going through it she found a few of the british library crime classics and borrowed them,saying they would be nice and relaxing and not too grim!

[MK]

AB76 wrote: "scarletnoir wrote: "AB76 wrote: "apologies scarlet."

Absolutely none needed. My reading is split between what might be termed 'literary fiction' (though I often dislike well-known authors) and cri..."

I agree with your Mom.

[AB76]

MK wrote: "AB76 wrote: "scarletnoir wrote: "AB76 wrote: "apologies scarlet."

Absolutely none needed. My reading is split between what might be termed 'literary fiction' (though I often dislike well-known aut..."

she is no fan of anything grim, so i take particular care when buying her books for xmas and her birthday in last decade. she is also a lover of moths, deploys a lit moth box on summer evenings and then spends the next morning writing up what insects have gathered in the moth box. She does get a wonderful array but also some hungry hornets, who like it as takeaway snack...

[scarletnoir]

giveusaclue wrote: " a BBC mini series entitled The Wars of the Roses, back in the 60s (black and white).."

I am almost certain that I saw the series at the time - I certainly saw a great deal of televised Shakespeare in the '60s - and enjoyed it. No idea if it has dated well - no doubt it will look clunky in technical ways, and perhaps the adaptations made in order to comment on then-current events will baffle modern viewers.

[giveusaclue]

AB76 wrote: "MK wrote: "AB76 wrote: "scarletnoir wrote: "AB76 wrote: "apologies scarlet."

Absolutely none needed. My reading is split between what might be termed 'literary fiction' (though I often dislike wel..."

A moth box? 😱 I have definite phobia about moths.

[Bill]

giveusaclue wrote: "It was from a BBC mini series entitled The Wars of the Roses, back in the 60s (black and white). Thought it was odd I hadn't heard of that one before."

I thought maybe I'd seen that, but I saw (on DVD) an earlier production, An Age of Kings, which was an abridgement of the 8 history plays from Richard II through Richard III. I remember enjoying it and, other than the obvious difference in duration, not really noticing the cuts. A pre-Bond Sean Connery plays Hotspur.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/An_Age_...

[AB76]

giveusaclue wrote: "AB76 wrote: "MK wrote: "AB76 wrote: "scarletnoir wrote: "AB76 wrote: "apologies scarlet."

Absolutely none needed. My reading is split between what might be termed 'literary fiction' (though I ofte..."

she is a moth and butterfly lover...an incredible knowledge of all kinds of moth. however she does keep saying i need to get rid of my clothes and food moths, which i think are quite sweet, in my house

[giveusaclue]

Bill wrote: "giveusaclue wrote: "It was from a BBC mini series entitled The Wars of the Roses, back in the 60s (black and white). Thought it was odd I hadn't heard of that one before."

I thought maybe I'd seen..."

At Alnwick Castle - Hotspur's home of course, there is a wonderful sculpture of Hotspur in full battle regalia.

Don't know if the are available and suitable for the US region.

https://www.pinterest.co.uk/pin/alnwi...

I'm sure we have mentioned the Hollow Crown series that the BBC did in 2012 and 2016. They are well worth watching if you can get hold of them

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Hollow-Crown...

[giveusaclue]

AB76 wrote: "she is a moth and butterfly lover...an incredible knowledge of all kinds of moth. however she does keep saying i need to get rid of my clothes and food moths, which i think are quite sweet, in my house"

I bravely watched a programme featuring information about moths and, apparently, there are only two of the many varieties in the country that eat wool.

They really give me the screaming heebie-jeebies but I have no problem with butterflies or daddy-long-legs. Go figure!

[AB76]

giveusaclue wrote: "AB76 wrote: "she is a moth and butterfly lover...an incredible knowledge of all kinds of moth. however she does keep saying i need to get rid of my clothes and food moths, which i think are quite s..."

i am lucky that i am not scared of any insects, though hornets can be a nasty suprise, as they fly by day and night! unlike wasps

[giveusaclue]

AB76 wrote: ".i am lucky that i am not scared of any insects, though hornets can be a nasty suprise, as they fly by day and night! unlike wasps"

It isn't logical for me to be scared of moths, but of course phobias are not logical. I am also scared of heights, but this is logical, you can fall off!

[AB76]

giveusaclue wrote: "AB76 wrote: ".i am lucky that i am not scared of any insects, though hornets can be a nasty suprise, as they fly by day and night! unlike wasps"

It isn't logical for me to be scared of moths, but ..."

oh yes....heights make a lot more sense

[AB76]

Having just started The Tyrant by Jacques Chessex, a Swiss-French novel by 1973, i was struck by the feel and the style of european literature again, as opposed to the Anglo-Saxon diet i have read more of this year.

I may be just a feeling, it may be via translation but i somehow feel that european writing has something in its core that is more rewarding than books in english, of anglo-saxon origin. Up to only 5 years ago i read a majority of novels in translation but that has changed and its now roughly 50/50. I wouldnt say anglo-saxon novels arent great or enjoyable but there is something deeper about most european literature that intrigues me without being able to put a finger on it.

As for swiss literature, i am impressed for a small country how good it is with Chessex and Ramuz from the French speaking side and Durrenmatt, Walser and Keller from the German speaking side

[Gpfr]

giveusaclue wrote: "AB76 wrote: "she is a moth and butterfly lover... she does keep saying i need to get rid of my clothes and food moths, which i think are quite sweet..."

"Moths give me the screaming heebie-jeebies but I have no problem with butterflies or daddy-long-legs..."

give, I have exactly the same feelings about moths and butterflies, and while not keen on daddy-long-legs, they don't bother me too much.

AB, the picture this conjures up makes me think I won't be coming to visit you any time soon!

[AB76]

Gpfr wrote: "giveusaclue wrote: "AB76 wrote: "she is a moth and butterfly lover... she does keep saying i need to get rid of my clothes and food moths, which i think are quite sweet..."

"Moths give me the scre..."

my oldest neice ellie (9, turning 10 on the 14th), used to love visiting my house and raiding my fridge but in the summer her spider phobia has got worse and when i by accident described i have spiders in every room, she declined any fridge raids for a few weeks!

[scarletnoir]

Bill wrote: "I thought maybe I'd seen that, but I saw (on DVD) an earlier production, An Age of Kings.."

Ah! That is definitely the series I sort of remembered enjoying... so maybe I also saw 'The wars of the Roses', but maybe not. Any ancient opinion I may have held undoubtedly applied to 'An Age of Kings', rather than the other series.

[scarletnoir]

giveusaclue wrote: "They really give me the screaming heebie-jeebies..."

Maybe it's their unnerving habit of suddenly flying in an open window at night... especially as one common type (no idea what it's called) is bulky and inclined to clatter about inside lampshades. Mind you, daddy longlegs do that, too.

[AB76]

scarletnoir wrote: "giveusaclue wrote: "They really give me the screaming heebie-jeebies..."

Maybe it's their unnerving habit of suddenly flying in an open window at night... especially as one common type (no idea wh..."

some moths are very loud around lampshades. Hardy wrote a poem about the sort of insects that gather if you are reading on a summer evening with windows open.

An August Midnight(Hardy) 1899

A shaded lamp and a waving blind,
And the beat of a clock from a distant floor:
On this scene enter — winged, horned, and spined -
A longlegs, a moth, and a dumbledore;
While ‘mid my page there idly stands
A sleepy fly, that rubs its hands . . .

II

Thus meet we five, in this still place,
At this point of time, at this point in space.
- My guests parade my new-penned ink,
Or bang at the lamp-glass, whirl, and sink.
“God’s humblest, they!” I muse. Yet why?
They know Earth-secrets that know not I.

i have experienced all manner of similar experiences, the maybugs are the maddest, just flying into anything at full speed, they make so much noise!

[giveusaclue]

scarletnoir wrote: "giveusaclue wrote: "They really give me the screaming heebie-jeebies..."

Maybe it's their unnerving habit of suddenly flying in an open window at night... especially as one common type (no idea wh..."

It is their fat hairy bodies and wanting to fly in you face in my case!

[Gpfr]

AB76 wrote: " i have spiders in every room.."

I'm with your niece on this, definitely anti-spider!

[MK]

No eye-rolls allowed. Onions have to be my favorite vegetable. That is based on there are few days when at least a slice or two are consumed. For example, this morning I had an onion sandwich - one folded slice whole wheat with butter, mustard (my second favorite food) sliced yellow onion, topped with salt and pepper.

So when I heard about The Core of an Onion: Peeling the Rarest Common Food―Featuring More Than 100 Historical Recipes and found it ON ORDER at the library, you know I was there post haste!

When Clue mentioned heights, I was right there with her. Not too long after Mt. Saint Helens blew, a road was built through the National Forest to Windy Ridge (east side of the mountain). A spectacular ride then as one minute you were in an evergreen forest and, turning a corner, there was only brown and trees littered the ground like so many matchsticks. Going up was fine because the road hugged the hillside. Coming down was a different story - nothing like driving by a drop-off with no guardrails. When I finally made it to the bottom, I knew what a tension headache was. I have not been back, nor on any mountain highway since.

[scarletnoir]

MK wrote: "No eye-rolls allowed. Onions have to be my favorite vegetable. That is based on there are few days when at least a slice or two are consumed. For example, this morning I had an onion sandwich - one..."

I like onions too - and had pre-boiled cabbage finished by frying with an onion as part of lunch (I'm a veggie). I also like a bap filled with cheddar cheese and a slice of onion, and a ploughman's lunch starring a pickled onion or two - do they eat those in the USA?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ploughm...

[AB76]

Still nothing from Georg for a long time...hope she is ok

[Bill]

AB76 wrote: "I may be just a feeling, it may be via translation but i somehow feel that european writing has something in its core that is more rewarding than books in english, of anglo-saxon origin."

Your comment got me thinking back over my recent reading. I certainly have always preferred books originally written in English and these have made up the vast majority of my reading. (On the other hand, the majority of the vocal music I’ve listened to over my lifetime has been in languages other than English, mostly German).

I looked over books in translation I’ve read in recent years (for German and French I’ve limited myself to 5 each), excluding nonfiction and ancient Latin and Greek works. It’s interesting that the list includes the book I thought the greatest single work of literature I’ve ever read (Faust) as well as what may be the absolute worst book I’ve ever read (Dragon Tattoo). Of the much-praised “classics”, I was rather disappointed in Nana and Zeno’s Conscience.


French
Nana
The Complete Claudine
The Search Warrant
The Strangers in the House
Around the World in Eighty Days

German
The Capital
Before the Storm
Faust
Doctor Faustus
Vienna 1900: Games With Love And Death

Italian
The Liberation of Jerusalem
Zeno's Conscience
The Adventures of Pinocchio

Russian
War and Peace
Boris Godunov and Other Dramatic Works

Scandinavian
Niels Lyhne
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo

[AB76]

1998 documentary on Swiss-French writer Jacques Chessex(in french)

https://www.rts.ch/archives/tv/divers...

[AB76]

Bill wrote: "AB76 wrote: "I may be just a feeling, it may be via translation but i somehow feel that european writing has something in its core that is more rewarding than books in english, of anglo-saxon origi..."

i have read Marlowe's Dr Faustus but not Goethe's Faust since uni

[Bill]

AB76 wrote: "i have read Marlowe's Dr Faustus but not Goethe's Faust since uni"

Including him and others alongside Shakespeare in my full reading a few years ago, I was less impressed with Marlowe than I had been as a younger reader. Soaring rhetoric, but fairly weak on characterization and creating a dramatic arc; I now think Edward II his best work.

[[deleted user]]

Waverley – Sir Walter Scott. Recommended here a few months ago. It’s a perfect read for a wintery evening. The first ten chapters are amusing and leisurely, there’s complete assurance in the writing, and the young hero has just met the charming Miss Rose Bradwardine. Could one wish for anything more pleasurable? It’s like sliding into a deep bath of exactly the right temperature.

[AB76]

Russell wrote: "Waverley – Sir Walter Scott. Recommended here a few months ago. It’s a perfect read for a wintery evening. The first ten chapters are amusing and leisurely, there’s complete assurance in the writin..."

big fan of Scott here, to me he was the man who laid the foundations for the British novel, after the Defoe-Richardson-Fielding era's.

[CCCubbon]

Today’s cryptic clue

20. When everything seems to fail, yet nosh with seafood works (3,2,5,4)

[CCCubbon]

Watched some of the Cenotaph ceremonies - hardly a woman in sight.