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What are we reading? 2/01/2024
For anyone interested in rewatching and can get it, the brilliant Ken Burns Civil War series is starting on Sky Documentaries at 6pm today.
scarletnoir wrote: "Robert wrote: "...post-apocalyptic world..."Those very words are sufficient to make my eyes glaze over... I'll give this one a miss!"
I'm the exact opposite: "post apocalyptic" gets my attention to the extent that I might even give something a try based on that alone. But right now I'm still catching up on some of the earlier works of this sub-genre, along with other science fiction, so it'll be awhile before I decide whether I want to try Leech.
AB76 wrote: "MK wrote: "Ann Stafford's Army Without Banners is being re-issued, and there's an online talk about it - if you are interested. Here's the link - https://www.eve..."
I lie the sounds of this one and will very likely give it a look some day.
Berkley wrote: "scarletnoir wrote: "Robert wrote: "...post-apocalyptic world..."Those very words are sufficient to make my eyes glaze over... I'll give this one a miss!"
I'm the exact opposite: "post apocalypti..."
I know it's a genre with many readers... since we as a species are unlikely to make it through another 200 years, it seem superfluous to read all sorts of books about it!
scarletnoir wrote: "Berkley wrote: "scarletnoir wrote: "Robert wrote: "...post-apocalyptic world..."Those very words are sufficient to make my eyes glaze over... I'll give this one a miss!"
I'm the exact opposite: ..."
i'm also interested in post-apocalyptic fiction, the greatest work of the last 20 yrs was Cormac McCarthys The Road, a wonderfully bleak read, gripping on a hot, uncomfortable smelly commute about 15 years ago
scarletnoir wrote: "giveusaclue wrote: "I will have to go back to Renko again. I enjoyed Gorky Park but was disappointed with Polar Star so haven't tried any for a while..."I don't think he's one of the most consist..."
about chess. The Queen's Gambit by Walter Tevis (he also wrote The Hustler and Color of Money) was a wonderful novel. A girl prodigy learns the game from the janitor of her school. I read it twice and was so disappointed in the movie, oh well. But my brain exploded at the brilliance of the chess talk. I only know how the pieces move but the intensity of the images Tevis worked in words really swept me away.
MK wrote: "Spies? Have you ever picked up David Downing's Berlin in WW2 books? Zoo Station is the first - only after your affair with Mick Herron ends, of course ...."
I tried Zoo Station some years back, MK, and didn't get on with it. I can't remember the specifics, but it was something to do with the shape of the narrative. I got distracted by that and couldn't focus on the action. Another favourite of mine is early Alan Furst, but his more recent books don't match the early ones and I've given up reading him. I'm an early Martin Cruz Smith fan too, but haven't read anything by him for a really long time. Maybe I should try another.
I tried Zoo Station some years back, MK, and didn't get on with it. I can't remember the specifics, but it was something to do with the shape of the narrative. I got distracted by that and couldn't focus on the action. Another favourite of mine is early Alan Furst, but his more recent books don't match the early ones and I've given up reading him. I'm an early Martin Cruz Smith fan too, but haven't read anything by him for a really long time. Maybe I should try another.
Reading so far in 2024 has been top notch, a continuation from 2023In After the Nazi's Michael Kater studies the cultural world of West Germany from 1945-90, he looks at all aspects of the arts and the movements of thinkers and groups in this period. What is remarkable is the constant evidence of Nazi's who escaped the de-nazification or lied about their past, leading to major roles in the arts, controlling cultural outputs and continuing conservative values they carried over from the dark past
In Black Robe, Ulster novelist Brian Moore transports the reader to 17th century French Canada and the journey of a young Jesuit priest to rescue two missing Jesuits in the Quebec wilderness. Its lively, haunting and vividly written, i'm intrigued and also a bit unsettled by its plot so far...
In Futility, William Gerhardie's debut novel, written in 1922, we follow a young man through his view of St Petersburg from 1911-17 from various visits to a large Russian family he knows, before the locations shift east to Vladivostok, with the advent of revolution
And lastly the splendid journalism of Charles Dickens.....
scarletnoir wrote: "Robert wrote: "...post-apocalyptic world..."Those very words are sufficient to make my eyes glaze over... I'll give this one a miss!"
An apocalypse so far in the past that it's only flashes of myth. The author's world-building is as good as LeGuin's in The Left Hand of Darkness. Bits of the past are salvaged and feed legends as much as add facts and new techniques. It's the present mystery that concerns our protagonist....
AB76 wrote: "
Futility by William Gerhardie(1922) is unlike many novels i would choose to read, as it mixes comedy and realism with a light, very 1920s British touchHowever, so fa..."
Sounds intriguing. I'm interested in this period.
Mod
Meanwhile I've been travelling in Greece (like Andy!) with Patrick Leigh Fermor. Mountains and villages, nomad shepherds, monks, Byron, memories of the resistance ... I've been on a great journey.I'm now reading the latest in Val McDermid's Karen Pirie series Past Lying and starting Penelope Lively's "view from old age", Ammonites and Leaping Fish: A Life in Time.
Currently reading
The latest of her books set in Devon. A legendary sailor turns up again in his home village of Greystone. Amidst a raging storm his naked body is found lying in a tender(?) from a local lifeboatman's boat. Examination of the cottage he was renting shows that he was murdered there. Why had he returned to the village and who was the mysterious person he was waiting for?
All this set against the backdrop of the storm, howling gale, torrential rain and power cuts. Perhaps as well I wasn't reading it last week.
On the bright side, it is a lovely sunny day here, cold just as AB likes it, and the river has dropped several feet and we are no longer in a flood alert area.
AB76 wrote: " the greatest work of the last 20 yrs was Cormac McCarthys The Road, a wonderfully bleak read..."Another classic example of how we readers differ in our tastes! I found 'The Road' silly and depressing (or 'bleak' if you prefer), with a wholly unsatisfactory 'ending'. I quite liked McCarthy's 'No Country for Old Men', but after 'The Road' decided that was it - no more, ever.
I found the sci-fi of John Wyndham (Day of the Triffids; The Midwich Cuckoos; The Kraken Wakes... etc.) moderately entertaining in my teens, but since then have given up on sci-fi as it no longer appeals in any way whatsoever.
But... we're all different, and long may it continue!
Ruby wrote: "The Queen's Gambit by Walter Tevis"I can't comment on that as I never read it - or saw the film for that matter (from memory, as much was written about the star's clothes as about any chess content...).
Of course, the notion of a 'chess prodigy' is by no means unheard of - we have one at the moment:
An eight-year-old girl has been crowned best female player at the European blitz chess championships.
Bodhana Sivanandan, from Harrow, north-west London, scored 8.5/13 at the event in Croatia, finishing ahead of seasoned professionals in the process.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england...
However - and but... it's not enough. Brilliance has to be followed up by years of (chess) work and study - a point made in the Renko novels. In Zweig's 'Chess Story', the challenger simply learned to play by himself and in a short time was good enough to beat the word champion. As if! A completely absurd proposition. (The novella was not even well written - or not in translation, anyway.)
Anne wrote: "I tried Zoo Station some years back..."It took me a little while to get into Downing's 'Station' series, as the prose doesn't sparkle as with some other authors. It did keep my attention sufficiently for me to read the next... and the next... and so on to the end of the series. It provides a really good ground level 'feel' for life in Berlin between the mid-30s and the early 50s. The characters, too, grow in depth as the series progresses. But I won't make great claims for the style, and if you don't like it, then that's completely understandable.
Martin Cruz Smith is a bit different - far wittier and more fun to read - inconsistency here for me links to the context of the stories. I especially liked the middle group of Havana Bay, Wolves Eat Dogs and Stalin's Ghost... some of the books are 'thinner' in more ways than one.
giveusaclue wrote: "Currently reading The latest of her books set in Devon. A legendary sailor turns up again in his home village of Greystone. Amidst a raging storm his naked bo..."
You seem unsure of the meaning of the word 'tender', so FYI:
You use a smaller boat—your dinghy—to go from the big boat to the shore. A little boat that runs back and forth to a bigger boat (or ship) is called a tender—because it tends to the needs of the larger craft. Moderately sized recreational boats call their tenders dinghies.
https://www.discoverboating.com/resou....
So it's a small boat used as a sort of shuttle...
scarletnoir wrote: "giveusaclue wrote: "Currently reading The latest of her books set in Devon. A legendary sailor turns up again in his home village of Greystone. Amidst a ragin..."
Thanks, 😀
Robert wrote: "AB76 wrote: " Futility by William Gerhardie(1922) is unlike many novels i would choose to read, as it mixes comedy and realism with a light, very 1920s British touchH..."
things have just shifted east to Vladivostok and the Allied Intervention of 1918, from the mighty Tsarist capital to an eastern backwater we go....a lot of the novel is tied up with a complicated Russian family and while that may have started to bore me as a younger reader, Gerhardie manages to balance this with historical events and some very good comedy
I wish i could find more on Gerhardie's education and life in St Petersburg, he attended German Reformed Schools(aka Calvinist) in the city.
Anne wrote: "MK wrote: "Spies? Have you ever picked up David Downing's Berlin in WW2 books? Zoo Station is the first - only after your affair with Mick Herron ends, of course ...."I tried Zoo Station some yea..."
I listened to the whole 'Berlin' station series thanks to the library. I wonder if it would have made a difference if I had picked up a book instead.
Alan Furst seems to be stuck in Paris recently. But you reminded me, since I am in a re-read/re-listen mode at the moment, to download his Spies of the Balkans. I remember it as my favorite of all of his books and a house companion as it seems we will be doing 'weather' here later this week.
Harry Bosch, anyone? I've just finished #23 which is more Lincoln Lawyer than Harry Bosch - but still entertaining. Resurrection Walk. There might even be a mellower Harry in the future.
Mod
Yes, I read them. I've just got this one, not read it yet.
scarletnoir wrote: "AB76 wrote: " the greatest work of the last 20 yrs was Cormac McCarthys The Road, a wonderfully bleak read..."Another classic example of how we readers differ in our tastes! I found 'The Road' si..."
yes, i am not a fan of crime novels to the same extent as most of this forum, its amazing how much crime fiction is read on here but there are hundreds of crime novels published every year. Vive la difference, not my cup of tea but i can see why they are popular
All of you here who keep track of your reading might like this piece from the Washington Post - https://wapo.st/3TWXvkDPS - I don't keep track, but I do appreciate DATA!
AB76 wrote: "scarletnoir wrote: "AB76 wrote: " the greatest work of the last 20 yrs was Cormac McCarthys The Road, a wonderfully bleak read..."Another classic example of how we readers differ in our tastes! I..."
About mysteries (or crime in the UK), it amazes me the number of sleuths there are - especially shop owners of every stripe whose publications only are in the mass market paperback size. And not only that, but lots of people read them (sorry if I'm being snooty). For me though there are plenty of mysteries/spy stories/etc. to keep me occupied.
Karl Marlantes has a new book out (I'm in line at the library) for it - Cold Victory. Here's the blurb clipped from a local bookstore - From New York Times bestselling author Karl Marlantes comes a propulsive and sweeping novel in which loyalty, friendship, and love are put to the ultimate test
Helsinki, 1947. Finland teeters between the Soviet Union and the West. Everyone is being watched. A wrong look or a wrong word could end in catastrophe. Natalya Bobrova, from Russia, and Louise Koski, from the United States, are young wives of their country’s military attachés. When they meet at an embassy party, their husbands, Arnie and Mikhail, both world-class skiers, drunkenly challenge each other to a friendly – but secret – cross-country wilderness race.
Louise is delighted, but Natalya is worried. Stalin and Beria’s secret police rule with unforgiving brutality. If news of the race gets out and Mikhail loses, Natalya knows it would mean his death, her imprisonment, and the loss of her two children. Meanwhile, Louise, who is childless, uses the race as an opportunity to raise money for a local orphanage, naïve to the danger it will bring to Natalya and her family. Too late to stop Louise’s scheme, a horrified Natalya watches as news of the race spreads across the globe as newspapers and politicians spin it as a symbolic battle: freedom versus communism. Desperate to undo her mistake, Louise must reach Arnie to tell him to throw the race and save Mikhail – but how? The two racers are in a world of their own, unreachable in Finland’s arctic wilderness.
This is another masterful novel from the author of the modern classic Matterhorn, whose “breakneck writing style is both passionate and haunting” (W. E. B. Griffin). Layered with fast-paced action, historical detail, and a keen eye for the way totalitarianism and loss of truth and privacy threatens love and friendship, Cold Victory is a triumph.
And here's a blurb from the Seattle Times (since he's kinda local) - https://www.seattletimes.com/entertai...
Mod
I don't understand what you mean, MK.
Mod
Well, a lot of other stuff is read too. I don't think anyone reads only crime fiction.
Gpfr wrote: "MK wrote: "About mysteries (or crime in the UK), it amazes me the number of sleuths there are - especially shop owners of every stripe whose publications only are in the mass market paperback size...."I get a 5-day a week newsletter from a recently retired librarian (she's been doing this for 19 years and often reads and reviews for the Library Journal). At least once a week her review will be of a mystery where the protagonist is a bookstore owner, an owner of a cupcake shop, a flower shop - you name it there's someone out there solving mysteries in mass market paperback form.
I hope that clarifies it a bit.
Gpfr wrote: "AB76 wrote: "its amazing how much crime fiction is read on here..."Well, a lot of other stuff is read too. I don't think anyone reads only crime fiction."
Even me! 😀
Interesting as the action in Futility moves from the 2 million strong capital of Imperial Russia, St Petersburg or Petrograd, to the Siberian backwater of Vladivostok.I initially felt the eastern naval port would be of a significant size but in that period its population was about 90,000, dotted with wooden houses and many thousand miles from western russia and its culture
It was here that the varied Allies tried to shore up the White Russian or Royalist forces under Admiral Kolchak, which was doomed to failure over 2-3 long years
AB76 wrote: "Interesting as the action in Futility moves from the 2 million strong capital of Imperial Russia, St Petersburg or Petrograd, to the Siberian backwater of Vladivostok.I initially felt the eastern..."
Years ago, our historical society had an unusual presentation-- postcards from Vladivostok during the Allied intervention. Our guest collected postcards. During World War One, stores would not only develop photographs, but make postcards out of them. The speaker collected these before he'd ever heard of Vladivostok. It amazed him to find photographs of Allied troops in Russia, a Japanese military band serenading their American counterparts, who, according to the note on the back, serenaded the Japanese in turn, a banquet room with the flags of all the intervention powers hanging from the ceiling, and so on. When the Iron Curtain fell, a whole new treasure trove opened up for him; the Czech Legion had their own set of postcards. Armored trains bristling with machine guns; American soldiers visiting Czech soldiers' quarters inside the train. A remarkable collection. I wonder if he ever published it, or gave the cards to a World War One museum.
Mod
I hope that clarifies it a bit
Now I get it — I was being slow 🙃
MK wrote: "Alan Furst seems to be stuck in Paris recently."I read one of his books a while ago, and quite liked it without being hooked - one of a group of authors I'd consider again if I run out of books by those I really like!
As for Bosch - we saw the TV series based on the character and enjoyed that, but I haven't read any of the books. I did read one of the 'Lincoln Lawyer' ones - that was in the same category as Furst - quite liked it, not hooked. Maybe one day?
Robert wrote: "AB76 wrote: "Interesting as the action in Futility moves from the 2 million strong capital of Imperial Russia, St Petersburg or Petrograd, to the Siberian backwater of Vladivostok.I initially fel..."
what a coincidence, just before i read this i was googling photos of the Allied Intervention with Japanese flags, various troops of different nations marching by, very interesting robert, i would like to have attended that historical society meeting
With all the barbarism of the 1918-22 period, i wish the Allies had suceeded and prevented the communists ever taking over Russia but then the Whites(aka Royalists) were quite a vicious bunch too
Gerhardie was there in 1918, attached to the British delegation and after it all failed made his way back to the UK via the british empire sea routes.
Mod
Although I like the Lincoln lawyer ones well enough, I think the Harry Bosch books are better.
MK wrote: "All of you here who keep track of your reading might like this piece from the Washington Post - https://wapo.st/3TWXvkDPS - I don't keep track, but I do appreciate DATA!"
Interesting - I can never be bothered to count (an idea promoted by companies which sell books, such as Amazon - probably), but I'm fairly sure that I read 40+ (94th percentile), and possibly 50+ (99th percentile) - FWIW.
Robert wrote: "It amazed him to find photographs of Allied troops in Russia, a Japanese military band serenading their American counterparts, who, according to the note on the back, serenaded the Japanese in turn..."Interesting... this sort of thing can be fascinating background in a historical novel - I assume it is covered in AB's current read. Like most things, incorporating historical detail into a fictional account can be done either well or badly...
(Although it wasn't a major point, the uneasy relationship between Russia and the recently independent Ukraine was well covered in Wolves Eat Dogs... )
Mod
As well as postcards (!), I bought a couple of books:
Olivia Elkaim, Je suis Jeanne Hébuterne
David Foenkinos, Vers la beauté. A Modigliani specialist gives up his job teaching in an art school to become a security guard at the musée d'Orsay.
On a related note, I must re-readLa vie réinventée à Montparnasse by Alain Jouffroy — Montparnasse and its artists just after WWI.
I liked a lot The Mystery of Henri Pick by Foenkinos. Somebody else liked it too, but it must have been on TLS because I've just done a search and nothing comes up in the comments here. I don't remember if it was someone in this group or not.
Mod
I saw the new green and white Penguin Modern Classics Crime & Espionage and bought Michael Gilbert's Game Without Rules.OK, maybe I should start leaving my Visa card at home ...
scarletnoir wrote: "Robert wrote: "It amazed him to find photographs of Allied troops in Russia, a Japanese military band serenading their American counterparts, who, according to the note on the back, serenaded the J..."yes, Gerhardie is skillful at what i call the very english way of inserting historical events into a storyline with aplomb and brevity. Events recur and are discussed, Vladivostok as a place of refuge for the russian elites and the arrival of the Allied troops
Gpfr wrote: "On a different note, since the Orangerie is at Concorde and so is Smith & Sons, I had to pay a little visit there too.I saw the new green and white Penguin M..."Thanks for that. One of my two libraries has an original copy which I have put on hold.
The British Library Mystery Classic searies has certainly spawned a number of copy cats. Here in the States the Library of Congress is on the band wagon as is Otto Penzler's Mysterious Press.
MK wrote: "At least once a week her review will be of a mystery where the protagonist is a bookstore owner, an owner of a cupcake shop, a flower shop - you name it there's someone out there solving mysteries in mass market paperback form."Are there any occult detectives along the lines of John Silence or Carnaki who own a new age book store or something of that sort? I might actually give something like that a try.
MK wrote: "Gpfr wrote: "On a different note, since the Orangerie is at Concorde and so is Smith & Sons, I had to pay a little visit there too.I saw the new green and wh..."yes i spotted the Library of Congress books advertised in the autumn, i have Macdonalds Drowning Pool from the Penguin series on my pile
Bill wrote: "Are there any occult detectives along the lines of John Silence or Carnaki who own a new age book store or something of that sort? I might actually give something like that a try."I can't recall hearing of any but it seems such a natural character concept that someone would have done it by now. I see that wikipedia has an entry on "Occult detective fiction" so possibly that might be one place to start looking.
Gpfr wrote: "I've just come back from visiting a Modigliani exhibition at the Orangerie — a great pleasure!..."It must have been... I envy you.
AB76 wrote: "Robert wrote: "AB76 wrote: "Interesting as the action in Futility moves from the 2 million strong capital of Imperial Russia, St Petersburg or Petrograd, to the Siberian backwater of Vladivostok...."
One of the postcards had a message on the reverse: "The prettiest girl in town is selling sunflower seeds at that stand. I'm going to talk to her when I'm done writing. Ha Ha."
Gerhardie's characters might have watched that scene between the American soldier and the Russian girl. There were also cards of demonstrations by Russian. Their banners had words friendly to the interventionists in Western characters, and insults and denunciations in Cyrillic ones....
An interesting article in The Telegraph today about the bookshop which inspired Hugh Grant film Notting HilI. I didn't know booktokking was a thing!
giveusaclue wrote: "An interesting article in The Telegraph today about the bookshop which inspired Hugh Grant film Notting HilI. I didn't know booktokking was a thing!"I never look at TikTok, but in my reading about the book business in recent years, it seems like the majority of book sales these days are the result of publicity either from TikTok or one of the metastasizing celebrity book "clubs" on TV and (I presume) the web.
@Ruby - have you got extra blankets, just in case? Looks like we going to need them more than shovels - look here - https://cliffmass.blogspot.com/
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I don't think he's one of the most consistent writers out there, though I do find the quality of the prose to be good throughout. What I feel (after reading quite a few Renkos recently) is that - for me - the difference between the best and less good books lies in the context. When that is interesting and detailed, the books work really well.
One point I forgot to make earlier... in Stalin's Ghost (or maybe in Wolves Eat Dogs... can't recall when the character first appears), Arkady takes responsibility for a young waif and stray who is also a chess prodigy... this character, Zhenya, also appears in the next book... It's clear that Smith either knows a good deal about top chess players OR took the trouble to research the topic... for example, at one point in those books Zhenya is challenged to a game, and plays a move in his head... the man asks: "Don't you have a board?" Top class players can play whole games without one, and Zhenya is of course contemptuous as he knows there is no interest in playing someone who needs a physical board and pieces. (I have a friend who can do this.) Pretty much everything chess- related is accurate - unlike, absurdly, the novella Chess Story by Stefan Zweig, which displayed an ignorance so complete that either Zweig knew nothing about the game at top level (and chose to do no research) or did have some idea, but chose to ignore his knowledge as what he knew would negate the way he wished to present his metaphor.
Hint to budding authors: don't write about something you know nothing about, OR don't twist reality to fit some spurious metaphor as it will simply appear for the absurdity it is.
(You may get the impression that I was not impressed with the Zweig: you would be right.)