Ersatz TLS discussion

Welcome, TLS-ers. Here's our temporary home away from home.

Thanks, Lisa.

I have remarked in my cancellation message why I left the Guardian supporters. Actions have consequences, they have cancelled TLS, I have cancelled my membership. I am putting my money where my mouth is.

Yes, we need good journalism, but good journalism was not exactly a strong point of the later Guardian, articles not well researched, often relying on the commentariat to go into depth.

Now closing this was the last straw. It was the one column which was the reason for contributing.

Yes, I like the football boards before and after the weekend, and Davis Squires, the cartoonist (how long until they cull him? They have already culled Benoit from Dowling's column and Clare in the community). I also comment(ed) on some of the recipes and on the political live-blog.

But the most peaceful commentariat were the ones under TLS. And the most constructive. I warned them, when they announced the death of the RG, that I was not taking TLS-loss, too. They did not read it. Sorry, not sorry. Cancellation is a game two can play.

FranHunny

Hi! It's me, Justine, formerly 'interwar'. I look forward to being part of this group. Thanks, Lisa!

Thanks for setting this up.

I used to post to Michael Dirda’s Washington Post book chat (under the Gormenghast name Barquentine) and it looks like this group would work something like that. A topic would be posted, such as “favorite books about music”, “what literary character would you like to be?”, etc. and people would post under that topic, not infrequently going pretty far afield as comments were exchanged.

It looks like Goodreads is set up to support a similar topic-driven structure, except that in the WaPo Dirda was the only one who could set up a topic, but here it appears that any member can do so.

Thank again,
Bill (aka Swelter)

AB here....i'm in, new to this site but seem to have sorted it

is this as moderated as the Guardian site?

forgot to add...thanks lisa...very pro-active!

shall we invite sam?

N wrote: "shall we invite sam?"

Of course!

Great minds, etc. AB, I've just asked Sam over at the real TLS.

Gladarvor wrote: "Great minds, etc. AB, I've just asked Sam over at the real TLS."

am gonna get confused now, checking both forums lol!!!

N wrote: "is this as moderated as the Guardian site?"

At the moment, only one moderator - moi. I've invited another to join me, and if they join, will work together to set up some guidelines.

Lljones wrote: "N wrote: "is this as moderated as the Guardian site?"

At the moment, only one moderator - moi. I've invited another to join me, and if they join, will work together to set up some guidelines."

good point, we will need standards, i also was wondering if sam could tell us more about the questionable Guardian rationale for "pausing" the least offensive and most educational forum on the Guardian site! Hands off our Sam!

Hi everybody, just thought I would warn you that the interface here is rather clunky and takes some getting used to. Also, you'll get a TON of emails and other notifications by default. Be sure to take a look at your account settings to control that as much as you would like.

Lljones wrote: "Hi everybody, just thought I would warn you that the interface here is rather clunky and takes some getting used to. Also, you'll get a TON of emails and other notifications by default. Be sure to ..."

just did a thorough un-ticking exercise!!!!

beware the preferences, i just set the emails notifications to "nothing" and a second later they were all back

i will check in here like i did on TLS Guardian, a few times a day and keep in touch, not keen on bunchs of emails all the time!

I see Carmen is on here....great news

I just joined too. I am Sandya, aka . I was very much enjoying TLS and yes, the fact that it was on the Graun was part of its appeal. It was also a lot more fun than the FB page I joined. A total bummer.

aka lorantffy. You are right about weird updates.

Thank you for setting this up. As with many many others, TLS has given me so much pleasure every day over a number of years. So sad.
dihuet

Righty ho, my first book relatd post on ersatz before i head off to listen to some Cut Copy(aussie band)

Hawthorne's Short Stories is going well, there is beautiful language and scene setting, New England in various 17th and 19th century settings. Pilgrims and Puritans(oh yes, they are different) and a romantic tinge(as in German romantic folktales)

Victor Serge Notebooks is astonishing in its breadth of topics discussed as the Belgian exile travels around the Mexican temples and churches or sits in Mexico City plaza's discussing WW2. Its Summer '44 the Hitler Bomb Plot has failed an Serge cautions his audience at a bar that the Nazi defeat is not certain "we dont know how totalitarian states die" he warns. Elsewhere he takes in some lucha libre wrestling (i kid ye not) and gets bombarded by maybugs trying to write outdoors on a balmy mexican evening

Lastly Mine Okubo's startling "Citizen 13660" is a graphic memoir par excellence, written in 1946, while AB Yeshsohua in "The Tunnel" confronts dementia with another superb Israeli setting

Sandya wrote: "aka lorantffy. You are right about weird updates."

welcome sandya! namaste

Thanks so much!

I am reporting this from TLS.

Ribbons among the Rajahs, by Patrick Wheeler.

This book deals with British women in India before the Raj, ie the late 18th-early 19th centuries. The title is a bit of a quiz as no Rajah is actually discussed, unless you count the Baiza Bai, a Rani....

The book focuses on the lives and experiences of British women in the English communities in India and only in the penultimate chapter does it touch upon their interactions with Indian society. I particularly enjoyed the chapter on the voyage out from Britain, which had information new to me, and sympathetic observers such as Elizabeth Gwillim. The early incarnation of the "Fishing Fleet" makes for curious reading, though not surprising under the circumstances. Since the author is an MD, the section on illness was detailed. The mortality among the English in India was huge at this time.

Personally, I am most interested in what might be referred to as Majma-ul-Bahrain "The Confluence of the Two Seas", to paraphrase the Mughal prince Dara Shukoh, the ongoing encounter between the English and Indian civilizations.... That said, these ladies were perhaps more open to India than their successors under the Raj, though you can see that openness gradually closing off even this early. I have in my own collection one of Lady Bessborough's letters from the 1780s, where she excitedly discusses the latest knowledge about Hinduism and how interesting she finds it. Rather refreshing after reading about British Raj contempt for anything Indian and the tedious efforts of Christian missionaries to convert India. This book will be of interest to anyone new to the history of Indian colonialism, and a good introduction to the writings of Fanny Parkes and Emily Eden.

AB76 wrote: "beware the preferences, i just set the emails notifications to "nothing" and a second later they were all back

i will check in here like i did on TLS Guardian, a few times a day and keep in touch,..."

One of the email noptions is on thispage itself - see below, just above the comment box:

You are following this discussion (instant email). Edit

Click on "edit" to turn off notifications about new posts to discussions.

Lljones wrote: "AB76 wrote: "beware the preferences, i just set the emails notifications to "nothing" and a second later they were all back

i will check in here like i did on TLS Guardian, a few times a day and k..."

thanks...done that now

Lljones wrote: "Welcome, TLS-ers. Here's our temporary home away from home."
You know that nothing screams "Here to stay" as the words "temporary" and "Ersatz"?


We had a "temporary" seat of Government in Bonn. It lasted as long as the old BRD up to the reunification.

32 members already! That's not bad.

Hi all,

Justine/Interwar has agreed to co-moderate this group with me - yah! I have a couple of busy days ahead of me, but she and I will 'get together' somehow on Wednesday to draft some guidelines for how this can be structured. In the meantime, feel free to post any suggestions or questions here and we'll incorporate that where we can.

In the meantime, don't forget the 'real' TLS is open for a week!

Thank you both for your efforts!

Is MACH in the house yet?

Hello everyone, and thank you Lisa

Yeah thanks for sorting this out guys. I hope this works as well as TLS. I guess whatever we do will take some getting used to. I do hope we can get back to the old format in some form or another.

Is there a way of replying to specific posts here? Excuse my ignorance

giveusaclue wrote: "Is there a way of replying to specific posts here? Excuse my ignorance"


Yes - at the bottom of each individual post, you should see the 'reply' link, in small, blue font.

Lljones wrote: "giveusaclue wrote: "Is there a way of replying to specific posts here? Excuse my ignorance"


Yes - at the bottom of each individual post, you should see the 'reply' link, in small, blue font."

Thank you, it wasn't showing when I looked, perhaps I had accidentally logged out! 😁

Good Day TLSers. Here as Kayaki, which has nothing to do with kayaks but is the name of a village near Nagasaki.

In case there are any others who need a clue (it is probably just me!) it seems you need to be on the desktop version to be able to reply, edit or delete posts.

halloo all! Kadambari, as was, reporting for duty. I hope I can join this group, even though I only post sporadically. I live in hopes of the day when I can spend time here to my heart's content.

AB76 wrote: "Righty ho, my first book relatd post on ersatz before i head off to listen to some Cut Copy(aussie band)

Hawthorne's Short Stories is going well, there is beautiful language and scene setting, New..."

Growing up in America in the 1950s, we read Hawthorne as a matter of course. 'Young Goodman Brown' was a staple of the high school curriculum. But I especially remember listening to a radio rendition if 'Wakefield' years ago - on Radio 3 or 4 - that I've never forgotten.

does this not support threads, like the guardian TLS?

I guess not. That's a weakness.

I guess not. That's a weakness.

AB76 wrote: "does this not support threads, like the guardian TLS?"

Sadly, no. We'll try to mitigate that by setting up specific discussions. More to come on that organization plan...

Thanks for taking the initiative. I accessed the site via the Guardian and soak up the commentary each week. I've been an occasional poster as SirAlex53.

giveusaclue wrote: "In case there are any others who need a clue (it is probably just me!) it seems you need to be on the desktop version to be able to reply, edit or delete posts."

Over the years I’ve found the desktop version way better than the app..

Andy wrote: "giveusaclue wrote: "In case there are any others who need a clue (it is probably just me!) it seems you need to be on the desktop version to be able to reply, edit or delete posts."

Over the years..."


Yes you are right. I was puzzled because I had seen the reply button on my tablet then looked on my phone and it wasn't there.
I think I will using my laptop for this from now on. That might be a relief to anyone reading my posts as my typing tends to be a bit better on a proper keyboard!

Lljones wrote: "AB76 wrote: "does this not support threads, like the guardian TLS?"

Sadly, no. We'll try to mitigate that by setting up specific discussions. More to come on that organization plan..."

Would weekly groups work it would that get too onerous?

giveusaclue wrote: "I was puzzled because I had seen the reply button...

Note that there is an 'edit' button too - for your own posts only. Something we all begged for over at the real TLS!

Lljones wrote: "giveusaclue wrote: "I was puzzled because I had seen the reply button...

Note that there is an 'edit' button too - for your own posts only. Something we all begged for over at the real TLS!"

Yes, I was pleased to see that, might help with my typos!

I’m here and glad that we can meet and possibly be in touch more readily. I haven’t posted much of late as I felt more and more of a disconnect from the paper. I look forward to lots of recommendations. Who knows. Post Covid we might even have a meet up.
I do follow a few Booktubers and get ideas from there but of late I have tried to read books that I have found for myself. I’m not against Amazon at present. I was shielding and have not been shopping since March except online and I’m grateful for small mercies!!

79 members good stuff