Ersatz TLS discussion

Amidst the conversations, themselves ranging from the erudite to the chatty, there was such a variety of reviews this week, the selection has had to be almost random.

Sandya, kindly, supplied us with four for the price of one: The The Chinese Gold Murders, The Chinese Lake Murders, The Chinese Maze Murders and The Haunted Monastery], by Robert Van Gulik.

I have derived most pleasure this year, during lockdown, wildfires, election, etc from re-reading old favorites. For those of you who haven’t read the Judge Dee novels, the author was a Dutch diplomat working in China and the Far East. He published extensively in several areas of China scholarship, but in his spare time knocking about in antique shops apparently discovered Chinese detective stories-a genre invented, like much else, by the Chinese, in the 17th century. He translated one, “Dee Goong An”, and it was so successful he decided to write others in this mode [….]

I love these novels for their wonderful evocation of life in T’ang Dynasty China. The T'ang Dynasty was China's "Golden Age". The setting is the Middle Kingdom, at the borders of which are only barbarians-Tatars, Uighurs, Koreans, Indians, and the odd Persian, but no Europeans, at that time the Great Unwashed. The judge is a sympathetic character, a staunch Confucian, with three wives and a large household. He has several faithful assistants, Sergeant Hoong, Ma Joong, Chiao Tai, and Tao Gan, in addition to the staff of the Tribunal. […] Not having modern forensics at his disposal, he uses his intelligence and knowledge of human nature to solve crimes. Every sentence carries some detail of life and the complexity of traditional China comes over vividly […]

Rather than a book, Gpfr has recommended a periodical, but one especially relevant to our interests:

Oh joy! When I returned from my certainly not more than 1 km distance walk, I found Slightly Foxed in my letter box. For those who don't know it […] this beautifully produced quarterly aims to introduce "its readers to books that are no longer new and fashionable but have lasting appeal". They also bring out beautiful hardbacks or paperbacks of a selection of books. Laurie Lee's Cider with Rosie is the latest. Plenty of scope for Christmas presents, for other people or yourself!

For something seasonal – at least for those of us in the darkening Northern Hemisphere – Pomfretian has chosen The Light in the Dark: A Winter Journal:

[Horatio] Clare uses a diary format to record life in wintery Hebdon Bridge with his partner, their young son, and his teenage stepson. One review I read played up the focus the book on Clare's depression but in fact that's not the case at all. It's there in the background and we find out his diagnosis in the epilogue. What the book does have is some lovely writing about the weather and his relationship with Aubrey, his 5 year old son. Clare's partner, Rebecca, is also well described and their love for each other is clear.

This time of year traditionally leads us to seek out some good hauntings and cosy murders, and there have been mentions of Arthur Machen, M R James, E F Benson and the Golden Age detective story. Regarding the first category, Tim has been ‘really enjoying’Ghostland: In Search of a Haunted Country by Edward Parnell:

[I]t’s a kind of geo-personal-literary geographical guidebook and memoir and draws on all kinds of connections between places, writers, stories and the supernatural, with odd coincidences and birdwatching notes thrown in. I’m about a third in now and I sense a terrible personal tragedy is about to be revealed. It’s a powerful, fine book- it reminds me a lot of The Rings of Saturn [by W G Sebald] in the way it spirals outwards from a series of places and points in time - the personal tragedy lurks there, though, all the time.

Meanwhile, MK reports:

My library trove from yesterday's pick up included - Mrs. Malory and the Festival Murders by Hazel Holt. Of course I opened it up while having lunch today. I have probably read it before, but so long ago that it doesn't matter. This mystery series is Miss Marple -ish and will be comforting as I snuggle under the covers later on this week.

We are surging corona - wise, and it is all getting so-o-o old. So it is especially nice to be able to look forward to the designated bad guy getting his comeuppance without much blood and gore.

Social issues come to the fore in the wartime story House-Bound, by Winifred Peck. Storm, contending with ‘current event in politics and society’ has found ‘solace om seeing how others have met and dealt with change:

The book deals with an upper middle class family who lose their domestic servants due to the war. The old social order is destructing. Women are no longer prepared to slave in service for a pittance at the whims of the rich. So Rose Fairlaw, for the first time in her life, has to learn how to cook and clean. She sees for a time this drudgery as her « war work ». Not having a servant means the servants can be employed in war work, and she can learn to feed her husband and feel she is doing her bit! It is a novel of its time, and that is its fascination. […]

Rose is a woman of her time, but one of courage and wisdom, and I cannot dislike her for seeing the world so differently to me. Rather I sympathise and cannot expect her to suddenly hold views current in 2020 […] There were longueurs and I found the Christian spirituality uninteresting, much of the book dated, but I am glad I read it for the breadth of understanding it gave me of the time, and a little insight into my own prejudices today.

For those who especially like novellas, The Spinning Heart by Donal Ryan, only 150 pages long, is, according to Francis

an interesting novel where every chapter is narrated by a different character (none narrating two chapters). This allows a story to emerge slowly, the 'truth' slowly emerging as the lives of characters in a small Irish town in the aftermath of the financial crash intertwine.

Rediscoveries are always of interest. AlbyBeginner, having read Troy Chimneys, strongly urges us to consider the work of the ‘unjustly neglected’ Margaret Kennedy:

It’s the story of Miles Lufton - his life during the Regency of the 18th century and the crack between his private and public personas. His public persona is that of a charming, ambitious, insincere MP, while his inner character of an idealistic dreamer periodically needs to be tamped down.

Describing the plot doesn’t really explain why I enjoyed the book so much, though. I think it’s that every sentence is so exquisitely crafted and every character is so wonderfully realised. Kennedy has a superb eye for humour and self-delusion but also writes with great feeling and empathy. She also plays with some fairly sophisticated framing devices and timeframes in a way that enhances, rather than detracts from the story. Kennedy is probably the author I’m most excited to have discovered this year.

And there’s high praise by Alwynne for Tove Jansson’s Letters from Tove. She writes:

I’m fascinated by the access suggested by letters or diaries, both to individuals and the times they lived through. I found these ones particularly engrossing, not just because I’m a Tove Jansson fan but also for the quality of the writing. As you’d expect if you’ve read her novels or stories, Jansson has an impressive ability to convey place and mood, although the tone and content of her letters changes dramatically depending on who she’s talking to. This carefully-curated selection’s taken from a wealth of correspondence with family, friends and lovers; it follows Jansson from 1932, when aged 18 she left her home in Finland to study commercial art in Paris, through to the late 1980s. Sarah Death’s translation’s impressively smooth, convincing in its representation of Jansson’s various styles of expression, her ‘voice.’ […]

For anyone interested in Tove Jansson I highly recommend this excellent, absorbing collection. It’s well-edited and illustrated with a range of photographs, black-and-white drawings and sketches. The editors have inserted an admirable array of overviews, mini-biographies, and notes, providing context, background details or clarifying references readers might puzzle over, as well as an index of the people Jansson discusses.

Note: these are just some of the riches you will encounter if you peruse last week’s comments. And we are, by the way, still working on ways to make that perusal of GR’s unthreaded searches easier to negotiate. One idea, which a number of us have been trying out, is to insert the message number of the comment to which we are replying, as in ‘Justine (346) wrote: “LLJones (315) wrote …”’ This may help readers work back to original posts on a subject of interest .

And please do keep reporting on what you are reading! Or if you haven’t dipped that toe in yet, do give it a go. No matter how long our TBR lists, there’s always room for another one … or two … or seven … or … or … or …

Alwynne (3) wrote: "Justine Thanks for the great summary!

REVIEW The Dance of the Demons

“…Father what am I going to be one day?” Deborah then suddenly inqu..."

And thanks for the wonderful reviews with which you've been enriching these pages! This one (Dance of the Demons/Deborah) especially interests me. I'm also a major fan of Isaac Bashevis Singer!

Foggy and cold in the North Downs but i love it, at last some genuine cold weather in this climate changed covid year

MR JAMES - Casting The Runes (Ghost Stories)
Elegant tales of professors or historians, manuscripts and some genuninely inventive ghost-like elements, softer than Machen but very atmospheric. My OUP edition has a fantastic Grimshaw cover, blackened branches against moonlight....

ANDY BECKETT - When the Lights Went Out (non-fiction)
Three weeks of great reading, its 1978, labour are doing ok but the union pay negiotiations are round the corner...

ALAIN MABANCKOU - Black Moses
Witty and playful prose, translated well, a minute potted history of the tribal prejudices and events of 1970s DR Congo(aka the old French Congo). A delight

Looking ahead, i found a Laurens Van Der Post 1950s novel secondhand and have a dutch east indies classic by Periplus called "Faded Portraits" by Breton De Nuys
(a note on Periplus, i found a goldmine with this publisher as i hunted for colonial era dutch novels about the Dutch East Indies. I found five novels, three of which i have read about 8-9 years ago)
Recommended Dutch East Indies novels:
Max Havelaar by Mulatuli(Penguin Classics...the daddy of them all)
The Hidden Force by Louis Couperus (Quartet)
John Company by Van Schendel (Periplus)

I'm reluctantly rereading, after a 60-year gap, Brave New World. A book group choice. Didn't like it first time round, not enjoying it much more now. Huxley's Marxist-Leninist-Fascist-Fordist world is too loud, too obvious, too cartoonish - every scene and dialogue drenched with didactic message. What we actually see developing in the real world is not so much over-organization and control as increasing messiness, the weakening of the rule of law, and destructive forms of individualism, all of which exacerbate inequality with far less effort than BNW's laboratories.

Justine wrote: "comment#7"

I agree, I didn't care too much for Brave New World either, it seemed ham-handed and unsubtle. 1984 and many others that came afterwards were far more interestingly constructed.

Paul wrote: "I agree, I didn't care too much for Brave New World either, it seemed ham-handed and unsubtle. 1984 and many others that came afterwards were far more interestingly constructed."

Ok, I feel I have to defend it now between the two of you!

I honestly don't remember all of the details, or the quality of the writing (at any rate, I'd have read it in French translation), BUT it did blow my 13yo fucking mind to smithereens. Amongst many other themes, I don't think I quite thought of the world of eugenics in quite the same way afterwards - had I even truly thought about it before? - and this has still some resonance some decades later... (Gattaca, that obviously allowed for a bit more subtlety, had a similar effect on me a few years later.)

The key here in your sentence is 'many others that came afterwards (...)'. It paved the way. Without it, fuck knows what would have come afterwards.

I finished The Happiness of Getting It Down Right: Letters of Frank O'Connor and William Maxwell, 1945-1966 last night. This is the third collection of correspondence between Maxwell, long-time editor of fiction at The New Yorker, and authors he published in the magazine. First, The Element of Lavishness: Letters of Sylvia Townsend Warner & William Maxwell, 1938-1978 ; then What There Is to Say We Have Said: The Correspondence of Eudora Welty and William Maxwell ; now this one. This one featured fewer roses, fewer cats (if any), a few delightful dogs, lots of editing shop-talk as I mentioned before. What stood out in this collection, though, was the depth of the friendship between Maxwell and O’Connor, their wives and their children. Very touching. (If I recall, Maxwell only met STW and EW a handful times. O’Connor moved back and forth between Ireland and US, and the two families forged very strong bonds).

I’m looking forward to getting my hands on some O’Connor story collections soon. Couldn’t find any on my brother’s shelves, so I’ve picked instead, at random, Portrait of Picasso as a Young Man by Norman Mailer . (There’s a lot of Mailer in this house; the title of my bro’s PhD thesis was something like “The Rhetoric of Mailer”).

(BTW, I know there a number of Maxwell fans here, but if anyone is looking for recs of his own fiction, I’ll throw out So Long, See You Tomorrow, They Came Like Swallows and The Chateau.)

Three from me from a rewarding reading weekend, all very much recommended..
The Memory Monster by Yishai Sarid, translated from Hebrew by Yadrenne Greenspan
I've visited Auschwitz twice, both times oustide of the tourist season so it was relatively quiet, though I do remember several groups of Israeli schoolchildren. I now know that Holocaust studies have been mandatory in the country's secondary schools since the 1980s; it is the 15-16 year olds who usually undertake these visits.
This fascinating novel considers the long-term effects of these journeys on those who guide the students through the camps.
A nameless historian prepares his PhD dissertation on the process of Nazis’ extermination techniques while supporting himself and his family by guiding high school students in Poland. He becomes stuck in an endless loop of retelling the horrors of the Holocaust to teenagers who arrive in their groups wrapped in the Israeli flag, singing the national anthem, but leave apparently unaffected, except perhaps for an odd tear. Inevitably, it takes its toll on him.
As expected, its never an easy read, but its message is clear and of huge importance; the Holocaust story must be told, as generations pass we must find a way for memories to be kept alive.

Here's two passages that I hope demonstrate why it certainly gets my recommendation..

“Who among you would have rescued a strange, filthy boy who knocked on your door late at nigh, putting your own life and the lives of your children at risk?” I asked them in our nightly session at the hotel.
Silence. Then whispering. Their brains ground through the options. How to get out of this?
“He isn’t one of your people,” I reminded them. “He’s of a different faith. You don’t even know him. You have no obligation toward him, other than be in humans.”
A few raised their hands.
“Would you die for him?” I persisted. “Would you risk having your home set on fire with you and your children inside?”
At this point the hands usually came down.

The more philosophical of the group would have rescued no one. Only the modest, the simple, the kind, would. I am not one of them, I told myself, and it made it difficult for me to carry on the conversation. I cannot even manage to love these children, who are my people and have done nothing wrong. How would I ever take a strange boy in?

At a concluding discussion with one school group on the bus leaving Auschwitz Berkenau, he asks “What has the trip taught you?”, I hated the question, but I was required to ask it. I’ve heard all this (the standard answers) before. I know it by heart.
Until one boy says..”I think in order to survive we need to be a little bit Nazi,too“.

“We didn’t have to bring you here,” I finally said. “We could have taken you to Paris to see the wonderful streets, or to Italy to eat the best food in the world...
But we brought you here, to the site of the murder. And I suppose we’ve accomplished our mission. We made you see that it’s all about power, power, power. I’m not going to play naive or chaste. You’re right. Power. Hitting. Shooting. Annihilating the other. Because without power we’re like beasts, dependent on the graces of others who, at any moment, in a split-second decision, could chop off our heads, strangle us, strip us of our clothes; play music in the background, turning our horrendous demise into a bit of entertainment....
We have to be a little bit Nazi. You’ve finally said it. You got the point, kids, well done.”

The Moth and the Mountain: A True Story of Love, War, and Everest by Ed Caesar
This is an incredible story about an astonishing life, that on hearing of it as an anecdote, one would think that it was surely fictional.
Maurice Wilson, born in Bradford in 1898, joined the army at 18 and fought in the Great War rising to the rank of captain, was invalided home but without a pension. He travels the world, but is unable to settle anywhere. 15 years later, with a now pronounced dislike of bureaucracy, when he buys a Tiger Moth plane, then learns to fly, and heads to the Himalayas and become the first man to summit Everest. He runs out of money in Kathmandu and has to sell the plane. Unperturbed, from Darjeeling he walks the 300 km to Everert via West Sikkim disguised as a Buddhist monk, as the authorities in Nepal, Tibet and India all refuse him permission to go anywhere near the mountain.
He was courageous, and no doubt foolhardy, but like many who survived the war, no doubt had an element of mental stress and a sense of being indestructible.
Above all though he was lucky. If he has joined to war 6 weeks earlier he almost certainly would have been killed at Passchendale.

He had not brought the right gear: he found some crampons.
He had not packed nearly enough food: he stumbled upon an Aladdin’s cave of supplies left previously. (An abandoned store of delights - plum jam, butter, Bournville chocolate, Nestle’s milk, anchovy paste - from Ruttledge’s expedition a few months previously).

Caesar writes near the end,

Stories as good as Wilsons’s do not stay secret for long.

then he goes on to say how at the time (1933), Reuters had fed the story to the press. “3 loaves and 2 Tins of Porridge” was the Daily Mail headline.
But in a way Caesar is wrong. He is bringing this surprisingly little known and forgotten story to our attention, and as a Canadian. Much of his research was letters from Wilson to his wife, which somehow found themselves in Canada, and were only recently discovered.
As often with this sort of non-fiction the pre-amble is overlong. A chapter is dedicated the prior Everest expeditions which I suspect many embarking on the book will have read of very many times before. But this is a minor complaint about a fascinating book that gives the romantic, uncompromising, pig-headed, and fearless Maurice Wilson the merit of limelight once again.

And, lastly for now, a book that has only one reader and review so far here on Goodreads...but deserves far more..
Gold rush:Tales & Traditions of the New Zealand Goldfields by Gordon Ell
This is a super little book which has been my bedtime reading in the last week or so.
As you would expect, Ell has done his research thoroughly, but what makes it stand out is his way of telling us the stories. They are in page / 2 page chunks, with an element of humour and a remarkable amount of description of the characters. Its high praise to compare it to Jack London's goldrush stories, but it certainly deserves that. I suspect the great man was an influence to Ell's writing.
The personalities of the era (the second half of the nineteenth century) and their exploits make great reading. Some highlights being the Burgess-Kelly Gang and the Maungatapu murders, the Coffin Ship, and the construction of the dray road over Arthur's Pass.
I lived and worked in Central Otago for 3 years, so reading of the shady goings-on in the New Orleans Hotel in Arrowtown was also a highlight (I had many beers there..), as were the pubs of the Dunstan Trail that are just ruins now, the Styx and the Oasis, which I have cycled passed - but now with a fresh insight, must do so again…

Just a note that it may be a bit difficult to get hold of.. I think my copy was from an Arrowtown gift shop. If you've a friend or relative in NZ the best way may be to get them to keep an eye out for it..

..and..a brief horror movie update.
A loud shout out for His House, a British ghost story about refugees from South Sudan - one of the best films of the year I think.
Also, Possessor a psychological horror which certainly has its moments, and kept me interested. Its pretty complicated for late on a Saturday night. One of those that you feel you'd get more out of on second viewing. As Mr Gumby said, "My brain hurts.."

Gladarvor wrote: ".BUT it did blow my 13yo fucking mind to smithereens"

Yeah, I think that was my problem. I read 1984 at 13 and was flabbergasted, but I didn't get to Aldous Huxley until I was in my thirties

Andy(11) wrote: "Three from me from a rewarding reading weekend, all very much recommended..
The Memory Monster by Yishai Sarid, translated from Hebrew by Yadrenne Greenspan [bookcover:The Memory M..."

Great reviews - also 12 ands 13. I reply to this one because the Sarid is the book I'm most likely to read of the three.

Paul wrote: "Gladarvor wrote: ".BUT it did blow my 13yo fucking mind to smithereens"

Yeah, I think that was my problem. I read 1984 at 13 and was flabbergasted, but I didn't get to Aldous Huxley until I was in my thirties."

Ah yes, that'd certainly play a big role! I might have felt the same if I had read them in this order. Mind you, I still have not read 1984, only Animal Farm in my late teens. I'm more surprised by inter's reaction to Brave New World from when she was in her own mid-teens...

Gladarvor (9) wrote: "Paul wrote: "I agree, I didn't care too much for Brave New World either, it seemed ham-handed and unsubtle. 1984 and many others that came afterwards were far more interestingly constructed."

Ok, ..."

I can understand BNW's effect on a very bright 13-year-old - but I think at 16-17 I was already bored by that type of presentation. But yes, Huxley did bring attention to an important topic. After all, what is the private-grammar-everything-else school system in the UK but a way of separating off the Alphas at a young age and assuring them of the best positions in life? And what are our austerity measures but ways of making sure the Epsilons stay down where they belong? Plus which, the temptation to fiddle with genes is, I guess, increasingly present; if something is scientifically and technically possible, separating out good from evil must be tricky.

On the other hand, I feel pretty sure Orwell would have written 1984 - and Animal Farm - even without Huxley's novel of 1932.

Andy wrote: "And, lastly for now, a book that has only one reader and review so far here on Goodreads...but deserves far more..
Gold rush:Tales & Traditions of the New Zealand Goldfields by Gordo..."

very interesting, i have read a lot about the australian gold fields and remember a tv series when i was a kid in the mid 80s about the aussie goldrush but i havent read about the NZ goldrush

Mach, do you have any romanian titles in translation i may like, outside the Cioran, Eliade,Sebastian ones I remember you mentioned a Rebreanu translation is in the works, what was the title of the two novellas that you read them in the summer i think?

Justine wrote (#18): "After all, what is the private-grammar-everything-else school system in the UK but a way of separating off the Alphas at a young age and assuring them of the best positions in life? And what are our austerity measures but ways of making sure the Epsilons stay down where they belong? Plus which, the temptation to fiddle with genes is, I guess, increasingly present; if something is scientifically and technically possible, separating out good from evil must be tricky."

Exactly! My head went *POUF*.

On the other hand, I feel pretty sure Orwell would have written 1984 - and Animal Farm - even without Huxley's novel of 1932.

Ah yes, perhaps he would have, but I guess it's impossible to know for sure. Incidentally, I found this quote by Vonnegut on wiki, who said about one of his novels that he 'cheerfully ripped off the plot of Brave New World, whose plot had been cheerfully ripped off from Yevgeny Zamyatin's We'. Does anybody know anything of the latter? @Rascal/@Anastasia maybe, or @nilpferd if he were around?

(And thanks for this week's recap. As @Mach said, you should absolutely feel free to choose one of your own reviews!)

Andy wrote (#14): "..and..a brief horror movie update.
A loud shout out for His House, a British ghost story about refugees from South Sudan - one of the best films of the year I think."

Glad to hear you liked it! I can't remember whether I recommended it to you, but I definitely wanted to. In case anyone is interested, here is the Guardian article on it: https://www.theguardian.com/film/2020.... Do you think I could stomach it?

(Ah, found my previous comment, I do repeat myself on so many levels https://www.theguardian.com/books/boo...)

Gladarvor wrote: "Paul wrote: "I agree, I didn't care too much for Brave New World either, it seemed ham-handed and unsubtle. 1984 and many others that came afterwards were far more interestingly constructed."

Ok, ..."

My perspective on BNW chimes more with yours I think. I read it when I was around 16 or so, and the same with 1984. Both books have some aspects that are still pertinent in todays world. To me, if you are a Hong Kong native for instance you might think that the road you might be heading for in the future is more like 1984, where individual choices are being shut down, than BNW. But if you are in British Brexitland then you might think that we are heading more towards a BNW type of world where rich elites run everything, and that your future is just about snacking, via privilege, from the offcuts of those groaning tables...

I was very disappointed in the recent TV series of BNW. It seemed like it had become infected by a monetary desire to cash in on a combination of 'Westworld' with a touch of 'Game of Thrones' minus the dragons...

Justine wrote: "Amidst the conversations, themselves ranging from the erudite to the chatty, there was such a variety of reviews this week, the selection has had to be almost random.

Sandya, kindly, supplied us ..."

Letters from Tove is on my list! Thank you for citing my review!

Machenbach wrote: "AB76 wrote: "Mach, do you have any Romanian titles in translation i may like, outside the Cioran, Eliade,Sebastian ones I remember you mentioned a Rebreanu translation is in the works, what was the..."


Those two novella's are what i was after, thanks, that will cover it for now Mach

I fear with translations that covid will have buggered the timings, while its compatible with WFH, i would imagine its placed translators in isolated bubbles with travel limited etc

My TBR pile will be straining the foundations of my house soon!

Gladarvor (21) wrote: "Justine wrote (#18): "After all, what is the private-grammar-everything-else school system in the UK but a way of separating off the Alphas at a young age and assuring them of the best positions in..."

I actually read We, I think when I was in college and might read it again now. I remember even less about it than about BNW. Were all the characters named with number-, or letter-combinations, or something like that?

Re BNW itself, I'd better wait till I finish before commenting further. There was one chapter I quite liked, zapping back and forth among conversations and slogans - imitating futurist style, maybe. I might - or might not - modify my view.

AB76 wrote: "Foggy and cold in the North Downs but i love it, at last some genuine cold weather in this climate changed covid year

MR JAMES - Casting The Runes (Ghost Stories)
Elegant tales of professors or hi..."

AB76 wrote: "Foggy and cold in the North Downs but i love it, at last some genuine cold weather in this climate changed covid year

MR JAMES - Casting The Runes (Ghost Stories)
Elegant tales of professors or hi..."

Can I add a corker to your Dutch East Indies collection AB?
The Black Lake by Hella Haasse - my review is at that link, read a couple of years ago, only 100 or so pages, and good memories of it.
Thanks for those others.

Gladarvor wrote: "Andy wrote (#14): "..and..a brief horror movie update.
A loud shout out for His House, a British ghost story about refugees from South Sudan - one of the best films of the year I think."

Glad to ..."

Justine wrote: "Andy(11) wrote: "Three from me from a rewarding reading weekend, all very much recommended..
The Memory Monster by Yishai Sarid, translated from Hebrew by Yadrenne Greenspan [bookc..."

I recall you did, so thanks for it.
I’m sure you’d stomach it.
It’s got far more themes than just the horror content, which is based around Sudanese folklore, witchcraft, and really interesting in itself.
I really hope the ‘horror’ tag doesn’t put anyone off. There are few films around that delve into the experience of refugees as this does.

Machenbach wrote: "AB76 wrote: "Mach, do you have any Romanian titles in translation i may like, outside the Cioran, Eliade,Sebastian ones I remember you mentioned a Rebreanu translation is in the works, what was the..."

I got quite a few recommendations from various folk at TLS when I was cycling in Romania last year. You also MB I recall. The Vosganian I think.
Not a translation, but McGuinesses’s The Last Hundred Days. And I had fun with Jules Verne’s The Castle of the Carpathians.

Gladarvor wrote: "The key here in your sentence is 'many others that came afterwards (...)'. It paved the way. Without it, fuck knows what would have come afterwards."

Sorry to bring another reference from the documentary world to the limelight of a book forum, but there's a relatively recent film from ARTE comparing the two novels and their authors. I haven't watched it yet, so don't know whether it's worth the trouble.

Possibly of interest to Scandinavian Crime TV fans is The Nordic Murders, soon to be on Walter Presents, which is usually pretty good. It’s set on the island of Usedom, which despite being German, considers itself to be Nordic..

Alwynne wrote: "Machenbach (24) wrote: "AB76 (20) wrote: "Mach, do you have any Romanian titles in translation i may like, outside the Cioran, Eliade,Sebastian ones I remember you mentioned a Rebreanu translation ..."

There was once a feature on Romania in The G Books, in 2008, as part of the World Literature Tour.

Andy wrote: "AB76 wrote: "Foggy and cold in the North Downs but i love it, at last some genuine cold weather in this climate changed covid year

MR JAMES - Casting The Runes (Ghost Stories)
Elegant tales of pro..."

thanks andy, yes Hella Haase was a famous more modern writer about that era and i havent read that one, tanks for the recomm
I also didnt add Maria Dermout's novel of the Indies but thats cos i havent read it yet

The essential text is Multatuli as it resonates well on the BLM 2020 theme, as it is a powerful novel about the injustices of dutch rule, while Couperus explores the racial snobbery while involving elements of the supernatural (the jinn)

Alwynne wrote: " Andy (14) and AB76 (5)

Thanks for the horror movie recs have ‘His House’ on my Netflix list so will bump it up. Horror plus AB76 reading M. R. James made me think of a favourite of mine that I’d ..."

i liked cat people....havent seen his house or night of the demon

Andy wrote: "Possibly of interest to Scandinavian Crime TV fans is The Nordic Murders, soon to be on Walter Presents, which is usually pretty good. It’s set on the island of Usedom, which despite being German, ..."

i think all the german baltic islands are more or less nordic to me, as well as sylt and the north sea islands...not sure about heligoland!

Alwynne wrote: "Machenbach (24) wrote: "AB76 (20) wrote: "Mach, do you have any Romanian titles in translation i may like, outside the Cioran, Eliade,Sebastian ones I remember you mentioned a Rebreanu translation ..."

that Sebastian novel is superb,i was lost in its wonderful style..

So John Banville is lighting up literary Twitter with his comments at the Hay Festival

Asked if he could win the Booker today, Banville said: 'I would not like to be starting out now, certainly. It's very difficult.

'I despise this 'woke' movement. Why were they asleep for so long? The same injustices were going on. It's become a religious cult.

'You see people kneeling in the street, holding up their fists - that's not going to do anything for black people.'

But I was most intrigued by this information about the Booker Prizer, which I had never read before

The shortlist for 2020 was chosen by a panel of five judges - literary critic Margaret Busby, authors Lee Child and Sameer Rahim, writer Lemn Sissay and classicist Emily Wilson.

The list is chosen by judges who read PDFs of the novels without book covers so as not to be influenced.

It’s not clear to me what information is being withheld by this convention. Certainly the cover graphics – How much of an influence would that exert? What about publisher, author, title? I think that a title can occasionally be integral to the effect of a book. And how mysterious can the author’s identity be if the book is a sequel like recent winners by Atwood and Mantel?

Slawkenbergius wrote (#33): "there's a relatively recent film from ARTE comparing the two novels [Brave New World and 1984] and their authors. I haven't watched it yet, so don't know whether it's worth the trouble."

Again, thanks for that Flinty! Arte is usually a guarantee of quality. I'm a bit torn about watching it now, I might wait until I've read 1984 (she says, while the documentary is already playing in the foreground). I'd be almost tempted to re-read Brave New World as well, but I don't want to ruin the memory of how I felt about it the first time around... Re-reading L'écume des jours showed me how much more 'émoussées' my emotions were as a 30-something, compared with my teen self (I mean, I still cried, let's not kid ourselves!).

Thanks inter, I guess I won't give that We a try then, saves me time, perhaps for 1984.

Andy, like Alwynne, I might just give His House a try then.

Bill wrote:

"The list is chosen by judges who read PDFs of the novels without book covers so as not to be influenced.

It’s not clear to me what information is being withheld by this convention. Certainly the cover graphics – How much of an influence would that exert? What about publisher, author, title? I think that a title can occasionally be integral to the effect of a book. And how mysterious can the author’s identity be if the book is a sequel like recent winners by Atwood and Mantel?"

I might read this wrong Swelter, but I don't think that their aim is to keep the judges blind to the name of the authors, but to prevent any bias that might come from the mise en page, the choice of cover illustration, the choice of font, or indeed, the name of the publisher. I do very often find that it determines whether I buy a book, and if I buy it in spite of what it looks like, or which edition house published it, when I finally pick it up from my TBR pile, I might postpone reading it once more, just because of the ugly cover, or how small the margins are.

If all the books have been formatted in the same way (save for any peculiarities wanted by the author themselves), then that's a very good thing in my book.

Gladarvor(46) wrote: "I guess I won't give tha We a try then"

I didn't mean to put you off! I plan to reread it, and also to try the Rose Macaulay mentioned by Alwynne (31)

Alwynne wrote: "I was intrigued by the recent interest in Orwell's novel from the far right, people like Tommy Robinson Stephen Yaxley-Lennon wearing Orwell, 1984 t-shirts etc"

Let's not give him that ;-).

Edit: PS: wondered if the Lynskey talked about how the novel's been co-opted and re-interpreted by the right.

If the arguments hold as well as for the appropriation of the Hawaiian shirt by the same type of people in the US, I'd say it's not worth your time!

PaleFires wrote: "I LOVED it! But in light of Webber and interwar's remarks, suddenly I'm reluctant to re-read it. Will its magic evaporate or will I find that fists of ham attract me? Conundrum!"

Don't! Save your(senseof)self... à bas la relecture!

More seriously, I'm tempted too, but I fear I might lose more than I'd gain, so perhaps not.

Oh, that reminds me: @Tam, yes, I'd heard bad things about its recent TV adaptation, so will give it a wide berth even more so now, thanks!

Gladarvor wrote: "I don't think that their aim is to keep the judges blind to the name of the authors, but to prevent any bias that might come from the mise en page, the choice of cover illustration, the choice of font, or indeed, the name of the publisher."

That the publisher can affect literary judges’ vote seems to be established by the French prize and its recipients described in that NY Times article last week (my post 435). But, again, I wonder how much influence a cover design can have on how a book is evaluated. Certainly, none of my recent 5-star books owed anything to the covers for my enthusiasm.

Perhaps this is where we get into issues that distinguish writer-judges from “average” readers. A writer might have favoritism or a grudge toward certain publishers, but how much attention do TL&S readers pay to who published a book? Personally, I don’t tend to notice it in the cases where I’m reading a book in an edition from the original publisher. I’m now reading The Warmth of Other Suns: The Epic Story of America's Great Migration, and I just got A Children's Bible out of the library for my next book, and I can’t say who published either one. And looking back on the past year, that’s true of all the recently published books I’ve read, except for St. Christopher on Pluto; on that one I noted that it hardly got any reviews in the book press and I think that’s because it’s new fiction from a university press.

I will admit that in my case reprints are another matter – I tend to note when a book’s been reprinted by NYRB, OUP, Virago, Penguin, and a few others, which can weigh in my decision whether to TBR it.

And unlike some here, I am absolutely unaffected by the font of a book, at least in any of the varieties used by the professional publishers I've read. To tell the truth, I can't wrap my head around how someone reads in a way would be affected by the choice of font.

Bill (56) wrote: "Gladarvor wrote: "I don't think that their aim is to keep the judges blind to the name of the authors, but to prevent any bias that might come from the mise en page, the choice of cover illustratio..."

I'm seriously influenced by the publisher, especially with reprints: various university presses, Text, Black Inc, Virago, Reaktion, slightly Foxed, Persephone. I don't care at all about covers, though I have to say that in my very early teens I used to make a beeline for the Gollancz SF which was easy to spot because of the plain bright yellow spines.

Paul wrote: "Justine wrote: "comment#7"

I agree, I didn't care too much for Brave New World either, it seemed ham-handed and unsubtle. 1984 and many others that came afterwards were far more interestingly con..."
Oh man, when it comes to ham-fisted, I think 1984 was pretty extreme. It's a long time since I've read those two, but I recall the protagonist of 1984 reading an extended essay to get Orwell's ideas across.

Alwynne wrote: "I'm reading, finally, Robert Musil's The Man Wi..."

This has been on my TBR list forever.

PaleFires wrote: "Gladarvor wrote: "My head went POUF!"

I'm with you all the way, Glad. We read Huxley and Orwell back to back in high school and discussed their ideas rather than their literary gifts which was un..."

I have a very tatty copy of BNW purchased from oxfam last year. i still havent read it but i do remember on a family holiday in childhood that both my parents read the novel that fortnight and i skimmed through the first chapter as a 7-8 yr old (my reading age was a few years ahead which is a family trait, my oldest neice is rattling through books aged 7, curling up with a book when she gets back from school)

My next non-fiction is an intriguing profile of three men involved in the Caribbean slave trade, as victims and instigators :
THE TRADER<, THE OWNER, THE SLAVE by James Walvin
It looks at slave captain James Newton, the notorious plantation owner Thomas Thistlewood and the famous slave narrative writer Olaudah Equiano.

Thistlewood provided a diary of his cruel and vicious treatment of slaves, his constant violations of slave women, his STD's out of control, the epitome of casual, arrogant imperial power

(I read Equaianos narrative a few years back and was interested in the sections that dealt with his time around the British victory at Quebec. He travelled on a ship as a free man with General Wolfe and remarked that the young officer was friendly and open with him,later to die on the battlefield)
one quote:
"We had the good and gallant General Wolfe on board our ship, whose affability made him highly esteemed and beloved by all the men. He often honoured me, as well as other boys, with marks of his notice; and saved me once a flogging for fighting with a young gentleman."

comment 65 SydneyH wrote: "but I recall the protagonist of 1984 reading an extended essay to get Orwell's ideas across"

Oooh, that I didn't remember.

I've just finished Human Voices
This novel is set in the BBC in 1940 - Penelope Fitzgerald worked there during the second world war.

Broadcasting House itself is an important feature: The gossip of the seven decks increased the resemblance of the great building to a liner, which the designers had always intended.

The BBC is full of acronyms: two important characters are RPD (Director of Recorded Programmes) with his young RPAs (assistants) all but three of whom are women ("the seraglio") - ...he thinks people under twenty are more receptive. He just tries pouring out his worries to each of us in turn.- and DPP (Director of Programme Planning) with his dry, quiet, disconcerting voice. Probably in the whole of his life he had never had to ask for anything twice. who also has to listen to the worries of his old friend RPD.

5000 recordings were in use every week and apt to be mislaid. They looked alike, all 78s... It was rumoured that the Germans were able to record on tapes... 'It won't catch on ...'

There is comedy, for example the efforts of RPD and an elderly German refugee, Dr Vogel ... the greatest expert in Europe on recorded atmosphere in reponse to a memo calling for the recording of our country's heritage. They arrived back with a great number of discs - the Controllers demanded a playback straight away:

'What we've been listening to - patiently... - amounts to more than six hundred bands of creaking. To be more accurate, some are a mixture of squeaking and creaking.'
'They're all from the parish church of Hither Lickington ... What you're hearing is the hinges of the door and the door itself opening and shutting as the old women come in one by one with the stuff for the Harvest Festival'.

Penelope Fitzgerald palpably understood the BBC's profound, fussy, sometimes vain but largely heroic and invaluable commitment to the truth (Mark Damazer)

Broadcasting House was in fact dedicated to the strangest project of the war ... that is, telling the truth. ...the BBC had decided that truth was more important than consolation and, in the long run, would be more effective.

Mmm - and would we say the same now?

Returning to the subject of Judge Dee, there are many lessons in these books.

First, I'm currently reading The Willow Pattern, which is set in the T'ang capital during a plague epidemic. Judge Dee is in charge while the Imperial Administration is up in the hills for the duration. The measures he takes are very similar to a good lockdown with the exception of scavengers going around collecting the dead!! It was pretty funny to reread in the context of covid!

Second, Chinese detective novels end with justice being done as that was what the audience preferred. At the end of the Chinese Bell Murders there is a description, very restrained, of a criminal's execution by quartering. The point is that Judge Dee has armed guards surround the scene so the people waiting never actually see anything. And the same week I read this, Steve Bannon says his bit about beheading and now we have JoeDiGenova spouting off about executing Chris Krebs. Neither has any idea of the true awfulness of their comments or that it took human societies centuries to abolish these practices. Morons.

Sandya wrote: "Returning to the subject of Judge Dee, there are many lessons in these books."

Sandya, I'm getting seriously lost in the order of the Judge Dee I'd like to buy for my dad. The first one (The Chinese Maze Murders, or in French: Le Mystère du labyrinthe, Tr: Anne Dechanet & Jos Simons) is the 17th investigation chronologically, is that right? If so, do you recommend reading them in order of writing/publication (hopefully the same), or according to the chronological events of Judge Dee's life?

"Andy wrote (42): "i think all the german baltic islands are more or less nordic to me

Not only to you. I am from South Germany. Austria and Switzerland, and, for some, France, are much closer, not only in geographical terms.
"Platt" (the dialect in Northern Germany) to me is like a foreign language, as any Southern dialect would be to a Platt-speaker.
Many people think of Germany as a kind of entity. It isn't. It has borders, but these are, to a degree, artificial. Including very different cultures, excluding very similar ones.

I like the Nordic Murder (Usedom Krimis) series. Mainly for their heroine; but also for the Northern taciturnity.