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What are we reading? 22/04/2024
scarletnoir wrote: "Bill wrote: "In some ways the attempt to transform the Israeli–Palestinian conflict into a white-and-black issue is comprehensible. Once one form of moral harm—racism, colonialism, patriarchy, anti..."i think a deep fear of the "other" is at the heart of many peoples reaction to being harmed or attacked. A problem with modern Isreael(including Israeli Arabs), is how othered the Palestinians have become. A hard working, entreprenurial people, with traditions and roots in many different roles from before the Ottoman Times, Palestinians are now a peripheral people in the West bank and a totally beaten people in Gaza
The Arab world has rarely put Palestine first, it seems to be more committed now but i'm not sure how realistic that is. Certainly nobody seems to want any refugees after the Jordan(1948-70) and Lebanon(1970-1990) situations where both countries were de-stablilised for decades after an influx of refugees. Palestinians became blamed for all these countries ills, in some cases they didnt help themselves but overall they remain semi-outsiders in the Arab world it seems
CCCubbon wrote: "Cannot read much - just cannot concentrate for long..."Do you mean 'actual' reading? I know you have eye problems... maybe audio books would be less tiring if you can get the necessary tech.
AB76 wrote: "Certainly nobody seems to want any refugees after the Jordan(1948-70)."We visited Jordan once, and hired a taxi driver to ferry us around the country... a very nice chap. Turned out he was a Palestinian, and took us on an impromptu visit to a massive camp near Amman... it was quite an eye-opener. They'd been there long enough to make some sort of life for themselves, but it wasn't gracious living for sure. We were told they'd like to go 'home'...
scarletnoir wrote: "AB76 wrote: "Certainly nobody seems to want any refugees after the Jordan(1948-70)."We visited Jordan once, and hired a taxi driver to ferry us around the country... a very nice chap. Turned out ..."
likewise the huge camps around Beirut, the civil war from 1976-90 fell heavily on these areas, fespecially the Sabra and Chatila massacres in 1982. The Christian Militias sided with Israel in the conflict and were often used as pawns during 1982 and the Israeli invasion of Lebanon. Bashir Gemayel (Christian Militia leader and Lebanese President-elect of Lebanon)had just been killed before the massacre and the Israelis knew the Christians would be baying for blood. The scandal is they facilitated the vicious murders and attacks..
The Christian forces in Lebanon were a violent, usually involved in incredibly vicious internecine conflict within family groups, this mafia style set up saw killing after killing of prominent Christians by their own and endless factions fighting each other, within the bigger fight against the Palestinian Militias
I found some youtube footage of the many top Christian family bosses heading into Beirut for a conference in the late 1970s, (most were dead within a decade killed by rival families). Pierre Gemayel, the big man of the Christian Right Wing Militias was the great survivor. A striking figure, he dominates the arrival of the bosses
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scarletnoir wrote: "CCCubbon wrote: "Cannot read much - just cannot concentrate for long..."Do you mean 'actual' reading? I know you have eye problems... maybe audio books would be less tiring if you can get the nec..."
My better half is bringing in my air pods this afternoon so I will try again.
I have been trying to read Femina by Ramirez whichis a bout those achievements of medieval women airbrushed out of history ( get back in the kitchen).
I found Æthelflæd the most interesting.
She was the daughter of Alfred the Great and skilled ruler and tactician who seems to really deserve the epithet’great’ like her father.
She lived c870-917 and was known as ‘Lady of the Mercians’
( yet another cannula inserted - at least it didn’t bleed all over the bed - that’s why I am sitting writing this at 03.43 Cheers)
CCCubbon wrote: My better half is bringing in my air pods this afternoon so I will try again..."Good.
Get well soon!
AB76 wrote: "the Sabra and Chatila massacres in 1982. The Christian Militias sided with Israel in the conflict and were often used as pawns during 1982 and the Israeli invasion of Lebanon. Bashir Gemayel (Christian Militia leader and Lebanese President-elect of Lebanon)had just been killed before the massacre and the Israelis knew the Christians would be baying for blood. The scandal is they facilitated the vicious murders and attacks.."Have you seen the brilliant animation film 'Waltz with Bashir'? It deals with this atrocity.
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1185616/...
CCCubbon wrote: "I found Æthelflæd the most interesting..."Once you have the earphones, here is a link to Tom Holland speaking to Matthew Parris about "Aethelflaed, Lady of the Mercians".
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m000...
Ton Holland, it appears, has written a Ladybird Expert book about her. Ladybird books, it seems, have grown up a lot since the 1970s!
scarletnoir wrote: "AB76 wrote: "the Sabra and Chatila massacres in 1982. The Christian Militias sided with Israel in the conflict and were often used as pawns during 1982 and the Israeli invasion of Lebanon. Bashir G..."yes, i loved it but a very sad story too ofc
With my long awaited WF Hermans (A Guardian Angel Recalls) read ing soon upon me, i have been looking at a lot of photos and sources of May 1940 and the German invasion of Holland. The novel is set over a short period during the invasion and is very well regarded in Holland.One question that always tickles me is whether Rotterdam or Amsterdam was more beautiful an example of the unique dutch urban style before Rotterdam was flattened by the Germans. Old photographs(of which i will post some in the photo section) show the similar style but maybe as more of a working dock city, less crowded in that Amsterdam. I certainly foundon my first visit to Amsterdam that the look of the streets and houses was vividly different to most of Europe, beautiful but in a strange way, the mix of old narrow gabled houses and streets, alongside the unique slim brick (that unique low country brick colour and style..dont know if it has a world for it)later buildings
Bill wrote: "I see that Paul Auster has died, age 77. Gift link:https://www.nytimes.com/2024/04/30/bo..."
while i never enjoyed his novels as much as i expected, he was a seriously good writer, thinker and commentator. at these moments, i find it sad to consider these great minds are no longer able to produce great works, the line has ended. But then i remember they leave a great legacy through their work...
AB76 wrote: "Bill wrote: "I see that Paul Auster has died, age 77. Gift link:https://www.nytimes.com/2024/04/30/bo......"
I wasn't a fan of the only book of his that I've read (The New York Trilogy),, but I stood behind him at the cafe and passed by him on the sidewalk almost daily for a very brief time (due to a girlfriend who lived around the corner from him more than 20 years ago) and he always seemed to be a really decent guy. But lung cancer... yeah that's not much of a surprise.
Paul wrote: "I wasn't a fan of the only book of his that I've read (The New York Trilogy)"I, too, read only The New York Trilogy. No doubt, Auster would have been disappointed in us as readers:
Despite his long and productive career, Mr. Auster at times expressed irritation that much of his career had been assessed in relation to “The New York Trilogy,” his breakout work.I wonder if my disappointment with that trilogy of books might be due to my instinctive literary Francophobia
“There’s a tendency among journalists to regard the work that puts you in the public eye for the first time as your best work,” he said in “A Life in Words.” “Take Lou Reed. He can’t stand ‘Walk on the Wild Side.’ This song is so famous, it followed him around all his life.”
“Even so,” he added, “I don’t think in terms of ‘best’ or ‘worst.’ Making art isn’t like competing in the Olympics, after all.”
His reputation was anything but local, however. He took home several literary prizes in France alone. Like Woody Allen and Mickey Rourke, Mr. Auster, who had lived in Paris as a young man, became one of those rare American imports to be embraced by the French as a native son.Evidently he had a fondness for writing about fictional characters named “Paul Auster”, a piece of cleverness that I would think has a pretty short shelf-life. Walk down any aisle of a supermarket and note down the product names: you’ll come away with enough potential character names to populate Middlemarch.
“The first thing you hear as you approach an Auster reading, anywhere in the world, is French,” New York magazine observed in 2007. “Merely a best-selling author in these parts, Auster is a rock star in Paris.”
I didn't mind the New York trilogy: it was disappointing to me only in the sense that there were moments when it seemed about to blossom into something really special but it never quite got there. It's true that I haven't gone on to explore any more of Auster's writing but I think that has more to do with a general failure on my part to keep up with contemporary literature, something I've been slowly trying to remedy. Perhaps I'll add one of his books to my '90s reading list.
Adding to to house owning disasters. As if leaking hot water cylinders, ridge tiles, weren't enough today brought a blocked sewage pipe. I had a shower and the water (+ other unsavoury things) were coming out of the inspection cover on my neighbour's property! Severn Trent said they would be here before 10pm on Saturday!!! Fortunately, a very good neighbour across the road offered to bring his rods across. After a few hours the problem was sorted. The most disgusting job imaginable!!Another neighbour asked me round for pizza and wine so I am feeling much happier now!!
just opened the latest NYRB and spotted i'm behind you all on the Tom of Finland stuff and the "what does a jew look like", i pace myself with reading LRB or NYRB so might be 2 weeks till i read these pieces but will comment. (i pace myself or i finish them too soon and end up waiting for next issues-TLS has helped to bolster my literary journal reading thankfully)looking foward to reading the Dreyfus piece in the last issue in next few mins...
giveusaclue wrote: "Adding to to house owning disasters. As if leaking hot water cylinders, ridge tiles, weren't enough today brought a blocked sewage pipe. I had a shower and the water (+ other unsavoury things) were..."yuk..glad its sorted!
scarletnoir wrote: "AB76 wrote: "the Sabra and Chatila massacres in 1982. The Christian Militias sided with Israel in the conflict and were often used as pawns during 1982 and the Israeli invasion of Lebanon. Bashir G..."Very good film. Unusual animation technique, good characterization.
Mod
We had this recently. When I bought my flat (the upper half of a 2-storey building), the downstairs flat was divided in two and one part has been uninhabited for ages (complicated story ...). When the man came for dératisation, to put rat poison down in the little back yard, the front room and bathroom were found to be awash in what you can well imagine. Clearing the blockage was quite a lengthy procedure and the smell in my flat that day I leave to your imagination!
Gpfr wrote: "giveusaclue wrote: "Adding to to house owning disasters. As if leaking hot water cylinders, ridge tiles, weren't enough today brought a blocked sewage pipe..."We had this recently. When I bought ..."
We both hope we never have to deal with this again!!
AB76 wrote: "I certainly found on my first visit to Amsterdam that the look of the streets and houses was vividly different to most of Europe, beautiful but in a strange way, the mix of old narrow gabled houses and streets, alongside the unique slim brick..."Amsterdam is one of my favourite cities - I have visited several times. Can't answer your questions... only visited Rotterdam once, as a pre-teen with my parents.
I had a Dutch friend in the 1970s who told me his parents had been reduced to eating bulbs to survive during the war.
Bill wrote: "I see that Paul Auster has died, age 77. Gift link:https://www.nytimes.com/2024/04/30/bo..."
Unlike quite a few of you, I have never read Auster. Given the lukewarm comments, perhaps I won't bother! I'll be busy for a while with new discoveries such as Percival Everett...
giveusaclue wrote: "Adding to to house owning disasters. As if leaking hot water cylinders, ridge tiles, weren't enough today brought a blocked sewage pipe. I had a shower and the water (+ other unsavoury things) were..."Very nasty.
Our long saga of dealing with plumbers, electricians, builders and odd-job men in three different properties is (maybe) coming to an end for a little while - the 'men' are due to complete setting up the heat pump system today. We'll see. (Edit: the hot water is already hot - hooray! The radiators will take longer.)
That only leaves two jobs here - the old oil tank has to be filled with absorbent material (volcanic pellets, apparently) and - yes - the septic tank needs upgrading to the 'normes' (new standards). No idea if the British even bother, since the water companies appear to be free to pump raw sewage into rivers and the sea whenever they feel like it.
Oh... I also forgot: my mother's stair-lift needs replacing... I ordered a new one yesterday!
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I have never read Auster. Given the lukewarm comments, perhaps I won't bother!"
To warm things up a bit, I like Auster!
I liked the New York trilogy at the time, but haven't re-read it since. Novels such as Moon Palace, memoirs -The Invention of Solitude ... I've got 4321 waiting TBR and last night watched a programme about it on Arte replay, with Auster and Hustvedt in their Brooklyn home.
I enjoyed the film Smoke for which he wrote the screenplay.
For some reason, my Kindle completely refuses to load properly, and I have fully charged it and tried resetting (something I've done before a few times). Nothing works. This is unfortunate, as I have read all the proper books I had with me. Just as well there are many books lying around from previous visits!So, I re-read (I think) (Noah's Compass) Author: Anne Tyler
If I have read this before, I didn't remember it - confirming Bill's point about Anne Tyler - but it is an exemplary piece of storytelling. Widower and divorcé Liam Pennywell loses his job and downsizes to a smaller apartment. He then suffers a concussion and a loss of memory. The story concerns what happens afterwards - his relations with his ex-wife, his daughters, his new love interest etc. As usual, the minor tensions and misunderstandings of human life are expertly and often amusingly described.
There are no flat-out evil people in these books iirc - at least, not as active protagonists as opposed to 'figures in the background', maybe. Even dramatic events such as deaths are not played for effect. The behaviours described, though, are often familiar and always believable. No-one does 'something weird' just to spice things up for the reader - clumsy writers plump for melodramatic acts which don't make psychological sense.
I enjoyed it very much, as always, in a quiet way.
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...To warm things up a bit, I like Auster!.."
I'm afraid I'm with the non-enthusiasts. I read one ages ago - can't remember which it was, probably the first volume of the New York Trilogy - and found it austerely intellectual, rather too cold for my taste. (Same goes for the only Siri Hustvedt I read.) I do have Moon Palace and In The Country of Last Things sitting on the shelves unread. In view of your endorsement I might give Moon Palace a try ... at some point.
Gpfr wrote: "To warm things up a bit, I like Auster!"Which seems to reinforce the claim in the obituary that he especially appeals to French readers.
Gpfr wrote: "scarletnoir wrote: "Bill wrote: "I see that Paul Auster has died, age 77..."I have never read Auster. Given the lukewarm comments, perhaps I won't bother!"
To warm things up a bit, I like Auster!
I liked the New York trilogy at the time, but haven't re-read it since. Novels such as Moon Palace, memoirs -The Invention of Solitude ... I've got 4321 waiting TBR and last night watched a programme about it on Arte replay, with Auster and Hustvedt in their Brooklyn home.
I enjoyed the film Smoke for which he wrote the screenplay.."
I was going to mention Smoke too - and the follow-up, Blue in the Face. I might have a look for one or another of the novels. Any opinons on The Music of Chance (1990), Leviathan (1992), or Mr. Vertigo (1994) ?
scarletnoir wrote: "AB76 wrote: "I certainly found on my first visit to Amsterdam that the look of the streets and houses was vividly different to most of Europe, beautiful but in a strange way, the mix of old narrow ..."the hongerwinter was appalling, the amsterdam city musuem had a great display on how bad it was, a modern western nation suffering a famine of middle ages like extent
i also read an article that made a good point, outside of possibly Norway, Holland was the only western nazi occupied nation with no civilian govt of any kind and the only one with an administration run exclusively by the SS( in norway the famous Quisling was at least nominally a leader of the state, while in Holland the dutch civil service did the work for the SS, i found some dreadful senior dutch civil service collaborators, who did the efficient and nasty administration work for the jewish deportations)
The Nazi's in charge of Holland were pretty nasty bunch, the emotionless Seyss-Inquart(who in the Nuremberg Diaries i read was icily honest that he had done bad things and expected to die,), the vicious Carinthian -Slovene Hans Albins Rauter and various other thugs. Rauter in his pomp was tall, fleshy and utterly merciless, at his trial in 1948 he looked like a gaunt,shifty nobody and misreably tried to defend his record but was executed
Various ludicrous Dutch NSB(Nazi) figures had roles of some kind , the Amsterdam police chief was very zealous in hunting jews down and personally leading the hunts with his shock troops. he is credited with being very popular among the dutch police and encouraging them to hunt every last jew down. he died before the end of the war, so evaded justice
Logger24 wrote: "rather too cold for my taste. (Same goes for the only Siri Hustvedt I read.)"What Hustvedt did you read? I recall that the only one I read, What I Loved, conveyed a pretty strong emotional effect in a “show, don’t tell” manner.
I finally got around to that Sargent article in the NYRB, which I found rather odd. It only addressed the exhibit that was nominally under review in the last three paragraphs, though Fenton did have interesting things to say about it. Maybe he really wanted to do the Tom of Finland review, since he devotes more space to speculating on Sargent’s possible homosexual relations with his male models (that is, those he paid to pose, not the subjects of his society portraits).
I found the first part of the article, on the musical interests and activities of Sargent and his circle interesting, though it seemed unconnected to the rest of the review.
[Folksong collector Alma] Strettell and Sargent were Wagnerites—of course they were Wagnerites.I’m not sure why that “of course” is in there: nothing else in the article seems to account for it. I am reminded of Laurence Dreyfus’ statement (in Wagner and the Erotic Impulse) that Henry James “famously loathed music", a claim for which I have been unable to find evidence.
(I’ve somehow always associated Sargent with James, though I’m not sure how close their acquaintance actually was. Sargent did do a portrait of James, but I think the association probably comes more through the frequent use of Sargent paintings on the covers of James novels in paperback.)
Logger24 wrote: "A late entry in the utter grossness stakes. Years ago, in our old house in England, we noticed for some time a funny smell in the water coming out of the taps - the water we washed the dishes with,..."Lovely
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...To warm things up a bit, I like Auster!.."
I'm afraid I'm with the non-enthusiasts... rather too cold for my taste. (Same goes for the only Siri Hustvedt I read.) ..."
I really like Hustvedt, more than her husband, I think.
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I read all these so long ago ... but I didn't care much for Mr Vertigo.
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Which seems to reinforce the claim in the obituary that he especially appeals to French readers."
But I'm not French!
Logger24 wrote: "A late entry in the utter grossness stakes. Years ago, in our old house in England, we noticed for some time a funny smell in the water coming out of the taps - the water we washed the dishes with,..."ewwwwwww!( as my neices would say)
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In Julian Barnes' The Man in the Red Coat, we read that Sargent often sent French visitors to England to James, with a letter of introduction.
Gpfr wrote: "But I'm not French!"Anybody who's read all of Zola's Rougon-Macquart novels and all of Proust (the latter, at least, in the original) counts as French in my book, at least as far as taste in literature, which is what's relevant here.
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..I finally got around to that Sargent article in the NYRB, which I found rather odd."
Siri Hustvedt - It was her first, The Blindfold. I remember nothing about the plot, even reading the blurb, just my reaction.
Yes, the James Fenton article goes way off, leading us lightly down all sorts of cultural avenues, and that for me was the pleasure.
I wonder if he said “of course they were Wagnerites” because he thought all persons of that time who were immersed in European culture and had advanced artistic tastes were Wagnerites. At least, that’s what I thought he meant.
Logger24 wrote: "I wonder if he said “of course they were Wagnerites” because he thought all persons of that time who were immersed in European culture and had advanced artistic tastes were Wagnerites. At least, that’s what I thought he meant."I guess I don’t really have a good feeling for how advanced Sargent’s art or his tastes were for his time, and don’t feel that Fenton’s article enlightened me much on the matter (other than his Wagner enthusiasm).
Some of the interests attributed to figures Fenton discussed alongside Sargent: music of the Renaissance and Baroque (Vernon Lee) and folk song (Strettell) would lead me to think that they might incline more towards Brahms in the Great 19th Century Music Divide.
Cannula number 5 retired defeated yesterday and they released me. Very weak but I amhome again. Cheers
Great news! Rest well and I hope Mr. C takes good care of you.
CCCubbon wrote: "Cannula number 5 retired defeated yesterday and they released me. Very weak but I amhome again. Cheers"Take good care of yourself. Rest up with audiobooks, or stream some TV programmes you like (if the eyes can take it).
CCCubbon wrote: "Cannula number 5 retired defeated yesterday and they released me. Very weak but I amhome again. Cheers"Brilliant. Now take it easy.
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So glad to hear that!
take it very easy. Always good to be home isn't it!?
Lucky that you're here to tell the tale Logger !
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Books mentioned in this topic
Deep South: Four Seasons on Back Roads (other topics)The Transit of Venus (other topics)
The Great Fire (other topics)
Shirley Hazzard: A Writing Life (other topics)
The Man in the Red Coat (other topics)
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Authors mentioned in this topic
Paul Auster (other topics)Paul Auster (other topics)
Paul Auster (other topics)
Paul Auster (other topics)
Paul Auster (other topics)
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a work colleague bought it for me, for a birthday about 6-7 years ago and while i liked it, it wasnt as good as i thought. Your fellow lincolnshire boy(my grandfather), loved it!