Ersatz TLS discussion
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What are we reading? 12/08/2024
Bill wrote: "I don't recall that any of our British posters have called attention to The Queen's Reading Room, mentioned in Michael Dirda's latest column because of Her Majesty's latest selection, [book:Mapp an..."I had always assumed that the Queen's reading stopped at a copy of 'The Racing Post'. Of course, I could be wrong!
AB76 wrote: ".I am not sure if anyone else feels this but i am appalled at how much oxygen the right wing press and brexit mob get on the BBC."Absolutely. In any case, it's been a long-held ambition of Murdoch (and I daresay others of his ilk) to destroy the BBC and have only commercial TV stations... The BBC under the Tories has become far too fearful and willing to bend to right-wing pressure. Having a former candidate for the Tories as Director General (Tim Davie) and a huge financial contributor to the Tories as chairman (Richard Sharp) during the 2000s did nothing to convince me of its even-handedness.
scarletnoir wrote: "I don't for the simple reason that I already buy and read more than enough books - if I subscribed to those magazines I'd probably end up with far more unread books on the TBR pile."I have actually found that the more reviews I read, the less I'm tempted to buy books, though I have checked a few that sounded interesting out of the library. The reviews in NYRB and The New Yorker in particular tend to be informative enough for me to have gotten a good sense of most of the nonfiction books reviewed. As for fiction, very little recent fiction sounds at all appealing to me, though I like to keep a sense of what the trends are; NY Times is good for that, especially their regular genre-based roundups.
I have long been a fan of West Indian literature, especially the flourishing period between 1945 and 1970, when many of the young writers who would later become household names first started to write and circulate in the world of english literature.The variety of styles is impressive, i am currently reading The Murderer by Roy Heath, a Guyanese author and that only South American part of the West Indies has probably delivered the most striking writers like Wilson Harris, Heath, Edgar Mittelholzer and my favourite Jan Carew.
From the small islands come Lamming(Barbados), Kincaid(Antigua) and Walcott(St Lucia). Of these three Lamming is the most demanding to read but brilliant, his novel In The Castle of my Skin is a superb story of growing up on the wealthiest island, Barbados.
The two "big islands" have contrasting fortunes. Jamaica the biggest and most populous does not overflow with writers in print or fame, though Reid, De Visser and Hearne are all well worth reading. Trinidad in comparison is alive with writers and arguably the regions best in VS Naipaul, Sam Selvon and CLR James. Like with Guyana, there is the mix of Indian and African cultures, though unlike in Trinidad, i havent found any Indian heritage writers from Guyana
If i could recommend two novels to everyone they would be:
In The Castle of my Skin by George Lamming
Black Midas by Jan Carew
But there is so much to explore and enjoy
Tam wrote: "That's the trouble with quite a lot of the left, and why they get themselves in to so much trouble by splitting into fractious groups, I guess..."You mean, a bit like the Tory 'five tribes', Reform, Tommy Robinson's lot and the rest on the right? ;-)
giveusaclue wrote: "Mr Herron might be the sort of person who never says one word when 20 will do, as I am finding the book a little over wordy to be honest..."The first half, after the opening chapter, is rather heavy going. It does pick up in the second half, fortunately!
scarletnoir wrote: "AB76 wrote: ".I am not sure if anyone else feels this but i am appalled at how much oxygen the right wing press and brexit mob get on the BBC."Absolutely. In any case, it's been a long-held ambit..."
Robbie Gibb was another tory placeman in the BBC. supposed to be an arbiter of balance, he hounded the left wing BBC journo Lewis Goodall and made life very difficult for him. Gibb was a pro-brexit acolyte of Theresa May and poisoned the well of the BBC show Politics Live in his time as an editor
Politics Live now breaks news from the Daily Mail, Guido Fawkes and other disreputable outlets, an amazing mistake from the BBC
scarletnoir wrote: "Tam wrote: "That's the trouble with quite a lot of the left, and why they get themselves in to so much trouble by splitting into fractious groups, I guess..."You mean, a bit like the Tory 'five t..."
i always see the left splits as a kind of "road paved with good intentions floundering over the small print of the consience" with the right, i just see self interest and cynical opportunism
Mod
I had always assumed that the Queen's reading stopped at a copy of 'The Racing Post'."
Wrong queen — this is Camilla.
I thought we weren't going to do politics?
Mod
For anyone who doesn’t know it, Alan Bennett’s The Uncommon Reader is a delight. It imagines how the old Queen became an avid reader of Genet and Proust. Short too.
That list of bestsellers – like Bill I’ve read 10 out of the 100, but a different 10:
The Virginian
All Quiet on the Western Front
The Grapes of Wrath
Doctor Zhivago
Exodus
The Spy Who Came in From The Cold
Portnoy’s Complaint
Ragtime
The Bridges of Madison County
The Partner
Most of them good or extremely good in their own way. There was only one I heartily disliked, Doctor Z. Even The Bridges of MC was better. To my mind the movie of Doctor Z is a leading example of a film adaptation being easily superior to the book.
The only literary review I read is the NYRB. A standard three page article enjoyably fills the 15-20 minutes I'm riding the exercise bike. I do also like the review section of the weekend WSJ and over the years have bought several books I've been introduced to there.
Logger24 wrote: "I didn’t know about The Queen’s Reading Room. On a quick look at her selections, I’m quite impressed by her willingness to go beyond the safe and obvious."Yes, I thought that on the whole the selections were more interesting than the celebrity book clubs I've seen (which, in my case, are mainly American), perhaps because the list does not rely very much on newly published books.
Of the bestsellers I've read from that list, I have to admit that I got the most sheer enjoyment from Valley of the Dolls; though perhaps Portnoy's Complaint, which I read very many years ago, rivals it in that regard.
Mod
So what did I read? I mentioned Michael Gilbert not long ago. This is another British Library Crime Classic. Death Has Deep Roots: A Second World War Mystery is set just after WWII. A young French woman who was active in the resistance and is now living in London is accused of murder.This is a combination of courtroom drama, with her trial, and thriller, as one of her solicitors tries to find the truth about wartime events in France.
I also read a couple of Laurie Colwin's short stories from The Lone Pilgrim. She's a writer I like a lot. I think we've written about her here before but quite a while back. She died at the age of 48, leaving 5 novels, 3 collections of short stories and 2 books of essays about food and cooking.
Mod
Yes, it's most enjoyable.
Mod
I said earlier that the only English publication I subscribe to is Slightly Foxed. I do also pay an annual sum to The Guardian given that I read it every day.
This is not a subscription as the app on my phone frequently reminds me. I normally read it on my laptop which just politely says "thank you". No problem with ad's here as I use an ad-blocker. I've said before that the articles I can read on my phone are limited, if I do use the app, every so often I get a message flashing up, "You're limited to x more articles this month".
Gpfr wrote: "Wrong queen — this is Camilla..."Ah... Camilla.
Somehow, I never think of her when 'queen' is mentioned - after only knowing Elizabeth II to use that title for 70 years, unless another name is added to the title, she's the only one I think of!
Gpfr wrote: "Tam wrote: " I pay an annual sub to the Guardian, to avoid adverts and to support it..."I said earlier that the only English publication I subscribe to is Slightly Foxed. I do also pay an annual ..."
i've been paying a sum to the G too for maybe 6 years now, i'm glad they havent attempted a paywall like the right wing broadsheets have
From The Berlin Journals by Max Frisch has been a superb reads and i'm almost finishedThe extracts from his extensive journals written while he lived in West Berlin cover 1973-74, when Frisch was in his early 60s. Personally he reveals fears over his memory and the ageing process, plus his approach to social situations and his identity, Swiss or something else?
The key sections of the journal for me covers his frequent visits to to East Berlin and participation in talks, readings and lectures in the East. He observes the Ossies with respect but i feel that he probably should have been far more careful in his indulgence of communism and communists, although at the time, he probably know less about their subversive tactics in the west, using the peace movements as cover and the repression.
He finds the eastern writers have a rehearsed way of communicating, indulge in self-criticism(a tedious marxist procedure) and barely mention west german writers. Having read Brigitte Reimanns diaries in the spring, i can see two sides of these writers forums. Frisch observes the west-facing atmosphere as a respected writer, Reimann observed the in-fighting, stasi pressure, informing and criticisms that dogged every move of the writers of the east
In the West Gunter Grass, Uwe Johnson and Alfred Andersch are regular companions of Frisch. On a visit to London, he declares it a "metropolis" compared to Berlin and compares London to Paris, by saying that London seemed wilder, more contemporary, more vital , also more opaque compared to New York more civilized in every detail
Bill wrote: "I have actually found that the more reviews I read, the less I'm tempted to buy books... As for fiction, very little recent fiction sounds at all appealing to me, though I like to keep a sense of what the trends are; NY Times is good for that, especially their regular genre-based roundups."I read a lot of news, sports reports etc. - all sorts of stuff - so if I started reading magazines as well, I'd have little time to live as well as read!
The problem for me with reviews written by critics or authors is a lack of trust. Do these people know each other? Often, they do - and that can colour the review. Every year, the British satirical magazine Private Eye prints a column on 'log-rolling' - their term for biased reviews - where they give examples of A praising B, then B praising A - or of someone praising a book which has been written by a spouse/sibling/ relative/ friend/ close associate. I know not all reviews are tainted like this, but I don't know any of these people or the circles they move in, so prefer not to risk it.
Mod
I’m certainly very dubious of the enthusiastic endorsements you see printed on the cover of a new book. You know for a certainty the author has sent a pre-publication copy to his/her friends who feel they have to say something positive.
On subscriptions, I should have included The G, to whom I pay the annual fee for total access. I have to confess the page I go to most often is not the books page but the football. Then WWR at the beginning of the month.
I’m well into Turgenev’s A Sportsman’s Notebook (handsome Everyman edition). Hard to put your finger on why his tales are so satisfying. Human stories told simply with great craft, and nothing modern or metropolitan. Peasants going about their lives. Descriptions of the woods and marshes, the dawn, the wind.
A belated thank you to gpfr for renewing the page again.
Found out two new things from the excellent Roy Heath novel i am reading
the novel has constant references to "demerera windows" and "berbice chairs". Both refer to regiosn of GUyana where the novel is set
Demerara windows were used to ventilate in hot and humid climates and reminds me similar methods used in India that i read about last month, while berbice chairs are low reclined chairs with elongated arms that can become footrests.
i love learning new stuff like this
scarletnoir wrote: "The problem for me with reviews written by critics or authors is a lack of trust. Do these people know each other? Often, they do - and that can colour the review. Every year, the British satirical magazine Private Eye prints a column on 'log-rolling' - their term for biased reviews - where they give examples of A praising B, then B praising A - or of someone praising a book which has been written by a spouse/sibling/ relative/ friend/ close associate. I know not all reviews are tainted like this, but I don't know any of these people or the circles they move in, so prefer not to risk it."I don't mind the logrolling, or at least expect it as part of reviewing like I expect, but don't welcome, high humidity in the summer; it's been a feature of the trade at least since the days of Poe (see "The Literary Life of Thingum Bob, Esq."). Perhaps it's because I read reviews for a sense of a book's contents rather than an evaluation of its quality. I think that logrolling is less of a problem with nonfiction reviews; I find that the history reviews in NYRB are generally highly informative and very specific in assessing virtues and flaws in the works reviewed.
Mod
Had to look those up of course!
Ah, The Uncommon Reader? The blessed Alan Bennett. Have several of my Yorkshire compatriot’s books, and had the joy of meeting him at literature events. His audio books also made bearable my lockdown tramps around the garden.
Lass wrote: "Ah, The Uncommon Reader? The blessed Alan Bennett. Have several of my Yorkshire compatriot’s books, and had the joy of meeting him at literature events. His audio books also made bearable my lockdo..."Hey Lass, lovely to hear from you again. Hope all is well.
Tam wrote: "Since yesterday I have come down with shivering, painful stomach, almost a failed desire to vomit, lots of phlegm, headache a bit. I feel like crap!... The sproglet and family are due to come over ..."I fear that next to your situation my hospital situation is small potatoes. Hope you feel better soon.
I listened to this podcast about J.D. Vance that mainly talks about his book Hillbilly Elegy. https://www.dissentmagazine.org/blog/...
One thing mentioned in the discussion of his time at Yale is how, under his mentor, he learned various social skills which enabled him to socialize in elite circles. There was a very similar episode in Norman Podhoretz' Making It. I recall that the symbol of Podhoretz' transformation was his abandoning a jacket with gang insignia which he'd been particularly proud to have earned.
These kinds of narratives make me think about how Bildung (development, education, maturation) shades into Verwandlung (transformation); whether a person is growing into who they are or is being reshaped into a form determined by others, education or indoctrination.
Bill wrote: "I listened to this podcast about J.D. Vance that mainly talks about his book Hillbilly Elegy. https://www.dissentmagazine.org/blog/......"
does Vance sound working class? or blue collar? would he be marked in elite circles as not one of them by accent alone?
as regards verwandlung, i guess character must come into it, more malleable, easily led people probably morph into a new being over 4-5 years of education at elite colleges but many dont
When the Presidential running mates were chosen, I lost all remaining interest in the candidates and their pronouncements. Each party decided to reinforce itself from its dominant faction. I fear that I'll need my protest vote, for the third time in a row. Any four names chosen at random would be better.I've been looking at CJ Sansom's Heartstone. It's really more an historical epic than a conventional mystery. Henry VIII is stirring up a new war-- new coins of uncertain value, new recruits being trained, ships assembled.
AB76 wrote: "does Vance sound working class? or blue collar? would he be marked in elite circles as not one of them by accent alone?"I'm no Henry Higgins, able to detect social and geographic origins from a few subtle tell-tale speech habits. Vance's speech sounds well within the range of American "normal", with no obvious (to me) regional accent. He'd probably have to sound like Jed Clampett or Leo Gorcey (look 'em up, young'uns) or, on the other end of the scale, William F. Buckley, for me to say I hear a detectable class accent.
I can't say whether Vance's speech might have been intentionally modified at Yale; for some reason, I can't find any podcasts of him before he graduated and published his memoir. I'm sure such speech coaching / training is common for those seeking a life of public appearances, or for those with ambitions in certain professions. I remember hearing an interview some years ago with violinist Nigel Kennedy (later just "Kennedy") and being surprised at his speaking voice (I can't say it was "working class", but even to me obviously not "posh"); I'd guess most Anglophone classical musicians with pronounced accents seeking a solo career no doubt get some degree of speech coaching.
AB76 wrote: "as regards verwandlung, i guess character must come into it, more malleable, easily led people probably morph into a new being over 4-5 years of education at elite colleges but many dont"I guess I've felt more or less like a misfit most places, certainly in college, though mine was far from elite, so I am drawn to stories of those attending elite schools who come from backgrounds where such an education is atypical. It's not the academic demands, which I tend to think that someone who gains admission to such a school should be able to handle, but the social milieu and implied career expectations that create the pressure on such individuals between poles of resistance and conformity.
Podhoretz and Vance are one type of example, another is Theodore Kaczynski, the Unabomber, about whom I've had a minor fascination over the years.
History buffs will enjoy this: The Onion's 20th Century Front-Page Archive https://theonion.com/front-page-archive/
An example:
Bill wrote: These kinds of narratives make me think about how Bildung (development, education, maturation) shades into Verwandlung (transformation); whether a person is growing into who they are or is being reshaped into a form determined by others, education or indoctrination."Very interesting terms and ideas... I daresay the balance between the extent to which you shape yourself, or are shaped by others/circumstances depends to quite a degree on levels of stubbornness and of self-awareness. Those who are aware of attempts to influence their thinking are most likely less inclined to go along with it - unless they already fundamentally agree. I think.
As for accents... in my experience most people adjust their accents if they live long enough in a place where their 'original' accent makes them hard to understand. Some do this consciously, some don't... My accent changed quite a bit when I went to study in England, though I never meant for it to happen - I suppose it was an unconscious tuning of speech patterns. My best friend from uni, though, retains his London accent even after 30 years or so working in LA - so it doesn't happen to everyone!
scarletnoir wrote: "The problem for me with reviews written by critics or authors is a lack of trust. ."I met someone recently who used to review books for the Literary Review (which I do subscribe to). I asked him what he did if he didn't actually like the book. His reply was that the LR (and I expect most book review pages?) did expect him to be as positive as possible. It's a difficult thing - one person's printed opinion can ruin the author's chances, and the book might actually appeal to plenty of people. But I'd feel a bit of a hypocrite not being entirely honest.
FrancesBurgundy wrote: "I'd feel a bit of a hypocrite not being entirely honest."Indeed... in our family, we say that "food is too important to lie about", so that if one of us cooks and another finds it lacking, we try to say what could be better next time - otherwise, the food will never be as good as it could be! (I suspect we'd be more circumspect outside the family, and say nothing if we couldn't honestly be positive.)
Books are the same - they're too important to lie about, for me. I always emphasise that 'other opinions are available' - my dislike of a book is absolutely not a personal attack on its admirers. It seems a bit odd that a few take attacks on favourite books personally, when a review is meant to express one individual's reaction rather than pretend to be some universal judgement.
Although I don't subscribe to magazines containing book reviews, I do read them in the Guardian and also other online sources, from time to time. This morning I came across a rather odd one: The Happiness of Dogs: Why the Unexamined Life Is Most Worth Living. Here is the review:https://www.theguardian.com/books/art...
From that, I could see where the author was coming from... humans act and reflect on their actions (what some have termed the 'evil eye' though that has many sillier meanings). Thinking too much can paralyse action... and so on. Dogs, on the other hand, are happy to act - and to do exactly the same things every day: they don't regard the repetition as a Sisyphean punishment. (The author refers to Camus' 'The Myth of Sisyphus' here...)
I have no idea where the author is headed in his book, but if he knows anything, I assume that he must conclude that dogs are Nietzscheans, and that they are actually living through his 'eternal recurrence' in real time:
“The question in each and every thing, ‘Do you want this again and innumerable times again?’ would lie on your actions as the heaviest weight! Or how well disposed would you have to become to yourself and to life to long for nothing more fervently than for this ultimate eternal confirmation and seal?”
Quite so. A brilliant and fascinating thought, from Ecce Homo. See this piece:
https://www.themarginalian.org/2018/1...
That link refers to and quotes from Hiking with Nietzsche: On Becoming Who You Are by John Kaag... the subtitle is 'On becoming who you are', which in turn links to a thought from Bill recently. I rather think that I'd find this one more interesting than the dog book, but who knows? I like dogs.
FrancesBurgundy wrote: "I asked him what he did if he didn't actually like the book. His reply was that the LR (and I expect most book review pages?) did expect him to be as positive as possible."I remember that on the animated series The Critic, the protagonist, a movie critic on TV, was told by his Ted Turner-like boss, "Your job is to rate movies on a scale from good to excellent."
scarletnoir wrote: "Bill wrote: These kinds of narratives make me think about how Bildung (development, education, maturation) shades into Verwandlung (transformation); whether a person is growing into who they are or..."Re accents - I left Lancashire before I was a year old, and have lived here in S. Derbyshire since I was three, but numerous times people have said "where do you come from" because my accent in not totally local. I think it is a lot to do with the shortened (?) vowels which I picked up from my parents. I do say Anti not Arnty for Aunty and scone to rhyme with con! And I wouldn't dream of saying Barth or Grarrss!
When working in a bank someone rang from Uxminster branch but pronounced it Axminster. And we had an account for someone with the name Buttery which Londoners pronounced Battery!
Can be confusing.
giveusaclue wrote: "scarletnoir wrote: "Bill wrote: These kinds of narratives make me think about how Bildung (development, education, maturation) shades into Verwandlung (transformation); whether a person is growing ..."I find the midlands variety interesting, i have noticed Northampton seems to be like a barrier between the long and shortened vowels. I know and have worked with a few people from that area and they are 50/50 short or elongated vowel sounds on stuff like bath, cast, path. South of that long vowel sounds are dominant, north of that short vowel sounds dominate
One theory is the vowel shift starts in diagonal line from Bristol to the Wash. Below that line barth, grarrss, parst, larst dominates
AB76 wrote: "I find the midlands variety interesting, ..."Well I'm from Derby and love accents. I'm amazed that to me someone from Lincolnshire as far eastwards as the Wash speaks just the way I do (or used to), but go westwards and within less than 40 miles you're into a Birmingham accent.
Bristol to the Wash - wasn't that where the ice age glaciers didn't reach? And wasn't the nasalised Midlands accent supposedly due to us all having chronic catarrh?
Living down south now I feel slightly superior not putting an intrusive R in 'drawing'. They all do it, and it's quite wrong and oonecessary in't it duck?
FrancesBurgundy wrote: "AB76 wrote: "I find the midlands variety interesting, ..."Well I'm from Derby and love accents. I'm amazed that to me someone from Lincolnshire as far eastwards as the Wash speaks just the way I ..."
having grown up in the rural depths of the home counties, as a country boy, my accent is 100% RP(recieved pronouncation)naturally, as i have never tried to change it or modify it. (Country boy meaning i avoided an urban home counties upbringing, not the usual meaning of the term)
i have observed that many who try and modify their accent upwards tend to speak slower and draw words out. I even worked for someone who called data "DARTAR"!
Mod
Well I'm from Derby and love accents. I'm amazed that to me someone from Lincolnshire as far eastwards as the Wash speaks just the way I do (or used to) ..."
Being from NE Lincs I’m from the short-vowel side of the divide, but in the space of a term at university I modified my accent to long-vowel – somewhat to the surprise of my family when I came home - as it was suddenly obvious that if I wanted to get anywhere in the legal profession in London, that was the accent I needed to have. It wouldn’t matter now, but 55 years ago it did. The forgery was more or less successful. However, there’s no complete escape from your origins. Occasionally a “bath” or “path” slips through, instead of “barth” or “parth”, and I wonder, where did that come from?
AB76 wrote: One theory is the vowel shift starts in diagonal line from Bristol to the Wash. Below that line barth, grarrss, parst, larst dominate""Danelaw and the invasion of the Vikings? 🤣
FrancesBurgundy wrote: "Living down south now I feel slightly superior not putting an intrusive R in 'drawing'. They all do it, and it's quite wrong and oonecessary in't it duck?reply | flag
.."
Well I'm from Derby and love accents. I'm amazed that to me someone from Lincolnshire as far eastwards as the Wash speaks just the way I ..."
And all those people who say secatary and nuciler instead of secretary and nuclear.
giveusaclue wrote: "AB76 wrote: One theory is the vowel shift starts in diagonal line from Bristol to the Wash. Below that line barth, grarrss, parst, larst dominate""Danelaw and the invasion of the Vikings? 🤣"
very likely.... more norman-saxon-mix in the home counties
My own accent is Californian with Oklahoma intervals.
Mod
After doing my EFL teacher training course at International House, while teaching there during the summer —
Students doing general classes in the morning could do an hour's pronunciation class in the afternoon. After a few days, some of them came to me, saying "We don't know what to do: in the morning you say 'barth' and in the afternoon, Beryl says 'bath'. Beryl of course was from the north of England.
And accents more generally:
teaching in Lisbon, I had classes with a man who, on learning that I had been to neither Oxford nor Cambridge, was worried that my accent wasn't appropriate given that he had to deal with very high class people. He told me this, so I told him to go to the director about it, who reassured him that any pronunciation he picked up from me was sufficiently RP not to shock his interlocutors!
Gpfr wrote: "Concerning vowel sounds ...After doing my EFL teacher training course at International House, while teaching there during the summer..."
When I saw this, I wondered if you were referring to International House in New York, where I stayed briefly - and made some long-lasting friends - in 1970... but the website makes it clear that they are different organisations!
As for accents... In Welsh you are far more likely to drop letters than introduce them where they don't belong. Calling a bath a 'barth' has always puzzled me.
Dropping letters can also cause confusion for non-native speakers, though. I have just started
by Raymond Queneau. The first 'word' is:'Doukipudonktan'
What?
On consulting madame, it seems that this is a shortened and eccentric version of 'D'où q'il pue donc tant' (From where does he stink so much?)
I'm getting used to it, though. It's funny.
Mod
In Welsh you are far more likely to drop letters than introduce them where they don't belong. Calling a bath a 'barth' has always puzzled me. ..."
Well, it's just a non-phonetic way of conveying the pronunciation — there's no 'r' there.
/bɑːθ/
International House in London, in Shaftesbury Avenue in those days.
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Ersatz TLS
Books mentioned in this topic
Fanny Hill (other topics)The Way of a Man with a Maid (other topics)
The Autobiography of a Flea (other topics)
Little Dorrit (other topics)
The Murderer (other topics)
More...
Authors mentioned in this topic
J.D. Vance (other topics)J.D. Vance (other topics)
Jonathan Blitzer (other topics)
Read:
Seventeen
Main Street
All Quiet on the Western Front (a long time ago)
The Good Earth
Anthony Adverse (very long and pretty boring)
The Grapes of Wrath
Valley of the Dolls
Portnoy's Complaint
Jonathan Livingston Seagull (barely a book)
Ragtime