Ersatz TLS discussion

The last month of the year is here, heading towards midwinter or midsummer, depending on where we stand on the globe. But whether it’s snowstorms or heatwaves that threaten, there are always books to keep us warm, or cool …

One novel which provoked warm discussion last week was Castle Gripsholm, by Kurt Tucholsky (translated by Michael Hoffmann). Machenbach writes:

I enjoyed this slim 1931 novel a lot. It’s about a Berlin couple who take a summer holiday in Sweden, and much of the novel is skilfully evocative of that kind of lazy, carefree vacation that is only actually ever experienced by characters in books and is impossible in real life. […] It’s perhaps vaguely reminiscent of Three Men in a Boat or of Jules et Jim, but, as with the latter, there’s also a darker edge to the book, which is supplied by a distraught boarding school child whom they find trying to escape from the clutches of a dragonish headmistress. This is not so much the injection of a more realistic note than it is the introduction of a darker element into what increasingly comes to seem an allegorical fairytale, and the question essentially becomes: will these witty metropolitan decadents be able to rouse themselves from their boozy apathy for long enough to challenge the crazed, authoritarian headmistress? Readers both now and in 1931 could hardly fail to understand the wider political question that Tucholsky asks as he pits his fashionably world-weary urban sophisticates against this raving mini-Hitler….

Also including the theme of saving a child or children, is A Children's Bible, which Bill describes as ‘a kind of mash-up of a comic novel about generational conflict and a novel of environmental apocalypse.’ Elsewhere in Goodreads he writes:

In some ways reminiscent of Tunnel in the Sky as a response to Lord of the Flies – the children prove themselves competent and adaptable, capable of achieving results through teamwork and cooperation, while the adults are specialized to the point of extinction, capable only of solipsism and self-indulgence outside their narrow fields of competence.

Colum McCann’s Apeirogon continues to win widespread admiration. ‘Well, WOW!’ agrees Claire de la Lune, starting off with a quotation from the book: ‘Beyond right and wrong there is a field, I’ll meet you there.’

Two men are brought together by the deaths of their daughters in the Palestine-Israel conflict.

This book shines a light on the human soul. One that condemns violence and retaliation and searches for a different solution, a peaceful solution instead. 'It will not be over until we talk.' The fathers, Rami and Bassam, choose to tell their stories to the world. One has grown up in Israel, under the comfort and protection of the Israeli flag. The other in Palestine, controlled by the Israeli flag. Both are connected by the deaths of their little girls, Smadar and Abir. Their stories are of life and death and also of hope despite their never ending grief. 'When you divide death by life you find a circle.' […]

This incredible book takes the reader on an informative and emotional journey. There is so much in this book that each reader will come away with a different experience. The heart of the story is to listen, understand and pass on their message of peace.

‘I want to recommend At Night All Blood is Black: A Novel, by David Diop, translated by Anna Moschovakis,’ says Andy.

There's so much been written about the Great War, but nothing quite like this. It’s a short novel, like many of the best, about a young Senegalese, Alfa Ndiaye, who along with childhood friend enlists to fight for the French, and soon finds himself in the horror of the trenches. He is driven to madness by watching the gruesome and agonising death of his friend, and he in effect, becomes a sadistic serial killer, which goes beyond even the boundaries of the war. The idea of war turning men into monsters is not a new one, but the telling of such a story by an African is.

It's not surprising that LLJones was drawn to read The Happiness of Getting It Down Right: Letters of Frank O'Connor and William Maxwell, 1945-1966:

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). […]

(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.)

For something a little different, Slawkenbergius has enjoyed We All Hear Stories in the DarkWe All Hear Stories in the Dark by Robert Shearman:

The principle of the volumes is quite simple: not unlike the old adventure game-books by Steve Jackson and Ian Livingstone - Fighting Fantasy -, whenever you reach the end of a story you can choose the kind of tale you'll read next - sad, comic, romantic, epic, thriller, horror, etc. [there are always five options] -, and once your choice made you only have to progress to the number and page that corresponds to it. Shearman has written a number of fantasy short stories, although he's better known for having worked for Doctor Who, so you'll know more or less what to expect from his prose. I've already read a few of the stories and some have a nice mock-Borgesian twang to them, such as 'The Constantinople Archives', which starts like this:

‘We can speculate, and we can speculate, but the probability is that few of the silent movies made during the siege of Constantinople in 1453 were very much good. And there are clear reasons for this, both political and cultural.’

And, because there’s always room for another historical murder, we night mention the Nicholas Le Floch series by Jean-François Parot. Gpfr is now on the sixth, Le sang des farines, or The Baker's Blood:

The books are set in 18th century Paris, Nicolas Le Floch comes to Paris as a young man, joins the police, and his investigative talents soon lead him to becoming commissioner and being charged with special investigations. The first book is L'enigme des Blancs-Manteaux The Chatelet Apprentice.

Quite a lot of interest was shown regarding books to do with maps and places. Russell tells us:

My present to myself this year is The Times Atlas of Great Britain, as I love looking at maps, especially proper OS maps with contours.

And from Machenbach:

[T]his year I'll be asking Sanity Clause for Strata: William Smith’s Geological Maps, published by Thames & Hudson in association with the Oxford University Museum of Natural History.

Stretching from the real world into the literary, Sandya champions John Garth’s The Worlds of J. R. R. Tolkien: The Places That Inspired Middle-earth:

Very much for the Tolkien fan, it is a detailed discussion on how places JRRT knew during his lifetime are reflected, transformed, in his books. I am well read in the JRRT canon and I found much new information here. It is well researched and goes into considerable depth on the subject, pulling in mythology, linguistics, illustration, and fiction.

From Magrat, two recommendations:

If you want a really impressive present, check this out! The Writer's Map: An Atlas of Imaginary Lands edited by Huw Lewis-Jones.

And then:

While you're at it, have a look at this - smaller and less expensive but just as beautiful. Literary Landscapes: Literary Landscapes: Charting the Worlds of Classic Literature edited by John Sutherland.

Finally, for a different sort of map of world languages, you can look at this:
https://www.visualcapitalist.com/a-wo...

And for those who enjoy quizzes, there’s one – ‘A Sense of an Ending’ – under Special Topics.

Alwynne wrote: "Finished over the weekend:

REVIEW The King in the Golden Mask by
Marcel Schwob

The King in the..."

That sounds 'curious' and worth investigating, and I see that my library has this, along with a number of other Schwob items in French.

Icy morning in the North Downs, first real cold since February, those distant pre-covid days....

I trust we are all well as this strange 2020 reaches its final weeks..

Currently reading:

ECA'S ENGLISH LETTERS by Eca De Quieroz (non-fiction)
Always interested in foreign writers views of our funny little island, anglophiles or anti-english personalities. De Querioz was an anglophile and possibly the greatest Portugese novelist. I have enjoyed 3 of his novels in the last 20 years, that bridge betwen Portugal and the UK always fascinates. (I have a classic 19thc Dinis novel lined up for future reading, a new translation)

CASTING THE RUNES and other Stories by M R James (fiction)
Am pacing out these gems of edwardian mystery and horor, a sedate, god fearing style, mixed with a consistency of purpose and discipline

BLACK MOSES by Alain Mabankcou (modern fiction)
This author is a real African talent, mixing a satirical, humourous style with sharp pathos, describing life in the French Congo. I have chuckled aloud many times, he is a rewarding read

NYRB and LRB continue to supply good articles, plus Past and Present, this weeks New Statesman has gone astray, hope it arrives today

Hi everyone, long time no see.

I've been struggling with a bit of a low mood of late, which has made reading anything substantive a challenge. That, combined with The Shock of the New which is the GoodReads interface and its various navigational and formatting challenges and, well....you get the picture.

For many weeks now my GR profile has proclaimed that I am "currently reading" The Slaughterman's Daughter
by Yaniv Iczkovits (tr. Orr Scharf). And I really have been...intermittently. For reasons that I don't fully understand I am just not able to get into it. It isn't that it's not good, because it is good, very good in fact -- even though I haven't gotten too far I can tell how good it is. But I will read it for a while and then...just...can't...continue. So I go read something else, promising to come back. And so far I have but it is really quite bothering me. Oddly, what made me feel better was one of the Guardian's recent "Books That Made Me", featuring (of all people!) Nigella Lawson. In response to the query about "The book I couldn't finish", she writes, "I’m afraid ... ["reader's block"] is a recurrent problem. I never mind not finishing a book when I feel it’s not worth my time, but when I can’t immerse myself in a book I can feel is good, I grow very despondent..." This made me feel better, as it is very much like what I am experiencing with The Slaughterman's Daughter at the moment. Somehow Nigella saying that was like being given permission to accept that I am not up to this particular book at this particular extended moment in time. But I'll be back.

When not trying to read The Slaughterman's Daughter I've been re-reading favorite mystery series: Cadfael, the wonderful Tony Hillerman books featuring Joe Leaphorn and Jim Chee of the Navajo Tribal Police, some early Inspector Morse. The one "semi-serious" novel I recently managed to start, finish and enjoy very much was Isabel Colegate's The Shooting Party . Set in the autumn of 1913 in one of those grandly generic country houses which feature so prominently in so many novels, at first it seems not to differ significantly from a better-than-average episode of Downton Abbey (an impression not at all lessened by Downton creator Julian Fellowes having written the introduction). But as I read further into The Shooting Party the more I realised that Colegate's story really was a bit more than that. The characters do give a first impression of having been ordered straight from Downton Central Casting: the ultra-traditional yet responsible and caring country squire and his good lady wife, an assortment of aristocratic cads and bounders, the young girl trembling on the brink of grown-up love, the Hungarian aristocrat, the Jewish financier, the loyal gamekeeper, the cheeky young footman. And while I wouldn't say they ever achieve fully-fleshed-out status, Colegate is good with telling details -- random thoughts or stray bits of conversation especially -- which lift many of the characters above their stereotypes. I thought she also did well at capturing that sense of "history holding its breath" which is often associated with the long twilight leading up to the beginning of World War I. If you like This Kind of Thing (country house, eve of WWI, long list of characters from both upstairs and down), you may enjoy The Shooting Party. I did.

AB76 (4) wrote: "Icy morning in the North Downs, first real cold since February, those distant pre-covid days....

I trust we are all well as this strange 2020 reaches its final weeks..

Currently reading:

ECA'S E..."

I admire your ability to read three books at once, patiently following the different streams to their respective conclusions. If I find myself reading several, there is always on that takes over - in this case, Apeirogon. I've decided to remove the other 'books I am reading' from my GR profile, and from now on will try to record only the ones I finish!

Karen (5) wrote: "Hi everyone, long time no see.

I've been struggling with a bit of a low mood of late, which has made reading anything substantive a challenge. That, combined with The Shock of the New which is the..."

I certainly understand what you are feeling, not dissimilar from myself on this grey grey London day, as I wait for a promised phone call from the hospital and the (maybe) delivery of library books I ordered more than a week ago. Grump, grump. The Shooting Party sounds a good choice, though!

Since there has been a lot of discussion about authors from the Continent I thought the following might be of interest. There is an excellent podcast on the John Sandoe website featuring Selina Hastings talking about Sybille Bedford, the subject of her new biography, the first published on this writer. https://johnsandoe.com/podcasts/

I knew who Sybille Bedford was-natch-but have not yet read any of her books-yet. However, I remember clearly the BBC dramatization of "A Legacy" from 1975, if only because of the impossibly handsome John Fraser-https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0424671/.... I also like Selina Hastings-my hardback edition of Jane Eyre, bought at Haworth in 1974, has an Introduction by her mother, Margaret Lane.

I am also feeling slightly smug for the following reason-I am a member of the Brontë Society and just had a short article accepted for publication in their journal, Brontë Studies! I am very pleased since I am a scientist by training. I have lots of scientific papers and 2 patents but this is my first publication in English Lit.!

Justine wrote: "AB76 (4) wrote: "Icy morning in the North Downs, first real cold since February, those distant pre-covid days....

I trust we are all well as this strange 2020 reaches its final weeks..

Currently ..."


i think it helps i always have very different topics among the 3 or 4 or even 5 books i am reading, so every one is a refreshing change. My memory is good, so i can switch between worlds/times/topics. Different genre's matter too, usual format is to have classic fiction/non-fiction(history)/other non-fiction(diaries-letters-memoirs) and modern fiction as part of the 3 or 4

Sandya wrote: "Since there has been a lot of discussion about authors from the Continent I thought the following might be of interest. There is an excellent podcast on the John Sandoe website featuring Selina Has..."

great to here about that article being published
My grandfather was an industrial chemist, a director of a company who was a scientist through and through but like you, he loved literature and reading. He was a prominent Hardy Society member and wrote articles and conducted tours (his mother was from Dorset). Like you, i think he enjoyed living in the two worlds, which lets face it, is quite rare

Karen wrote: "Hi everyone, long time no see.

I've been struggling with a bit of a low mood of late, which has made reading anything substantive a challenge. That, combined with The Shock of the New which is the..."

sad to hear of low moods, this is a curious xmas season really, so different to normal, i think many will share that gloom

AB76 wrote: "Sandya wrote: "Since there has been a lot of discussion about authors from the Continent I thought the following might be of interest. There is an excellent podcast on the John Sandoe website featu..."

It's reassuring to know there are other people out there who have broad interests and work in several areas. It is not rewarded in science-one is supposed to be committed 100% to it and other interests are condemned as demonstrating a lack of commitment. I think that is bullshit (excuse my language). People are complex. You can love science and be committed to a research career and still have other interests and desire a full life. This is a US thing-I was trained in the UK and my grad. supervisor, an FRS, had other interests. I've never met anyone here who had as good a mind.

Alwynne wrote: "Thanks Justine : )

Finished over the weekend:

REVIEW The King in the Golden Mask by
Marcel Schwob

The King in the..."

I enjoy your reviews Alwynne, so good to see you back posting reviews in full again. I am hardly reading anything at the moment, book wise, but I am reading reviews and articles from many different sources, they can be just as rewarding in their own way. The plagiarism debate is a legal construct though. Its interesting that if you take a photo of a work of art the photo is yours to do what you like with, but if you copy the words of a written work of art, then copyright still belongs to the author. Music must be even tougher to disentangle the plagiarism phenomena. Still the book sounds interesting perhaps when I get back to reading properly again (my list TBR is growing exponentially).

Justine wrote (#1): "The last month of the year is here, heading towards midwinter or midsummer, depending on where we stand on the globe. But whether it’s snowstorms or heatwaves that threaten, there are always books to keep us warm, or cool …"

Wonderful recap (I want to say as always, we're getting there) inter, thanks a lot!

For those interested in maps (and maps of languages too), there is a wonderful twitter account by a German geographer based in Melbourne: https://twitter.com/simongerman600. I just love it.

I'm a bit surprised by the language map. I cannot see the precise methodology in defining these 23 mother tongues for at least 50M people, but many many African countries are missing (apart from Maghreb, Egypt and SA I think). Also in the French-speaking section, there is no mention of said Maghreb (at least Tunisia, Morocco and Algeria), or Ivory Coast, Senegal, etc. Again, I think all of this can be explained by the procedures they have applied, but as it stands, it's a bit surprising and biased...

I'm sorry I can't take part in the Poetry Quiz, I am an absolute muppet when it comes to Anglo-Saxon poetry (a consistent abject failure on University Challenge too!), but I'm looking forward to people's attempts and to the answers in a week time.

Tam wrote (#13): "I enjoy your reviews Alwynne, so good to see you back posting reviews in full again."

I agree with you jedi/@Tam (and also with your post on the Suggestions thread), and also with Pam/@PaleFires and inter/@Justine.

@Alwynne: I hope you were not considering my post as a negative comment on people having 'high-brow' exchanges on interwar lit... My point is, as far as I'm concerned for (Ersatz) TLS, the more people/comments/topics the merrier; low-brow, high-brow, wonky-brow, off/on-topic, I don't mind, just bring it on!

Sandya wrote (#12): "You can love science and be committed to a research career and still have other interests and desire a full life. This is a US thing-I was trained in the UK and my grad. supervisor, an FRS, had other interests."

Yes, I never said, but I don't feel particularly marginalised here in the UK for reading a book at lunch break in the lab*. In fact, that usually draw in comments on the book I read at the time by the fellow keen readers in the lab and the larger department (there are quite a few, and as @Mach knows, we even have one who does bookbinding!).

Congrats on your first non-scientific publication @Sandya/lorantffy!

*All pre-shielding from covid of course.

I've had a really enjoyable weekend of reading, the highlight of which will be a contender for book of the year.. Three-Fifths by John Vercher
This powerful novel is set in Pittsburgh in 1995 with the backdrop of the LA Riots and the O.J. Simpson trial. It is billed as a 'hard-boiled noir' but that alone doesn't do justice to a piece of literature that is far more than that, an astute commentary on race in today's American cities.
The book’s protagonist is Bobby, a teenager of mixed-race descent who works as a waiter after school to help support himself and his alcoholic mother, Isabelle, an Italian-American, the daughter of a racist white police officer. The action centres on the return from prison of Bobby’s best friend Aaron, a convicted drug dealer now a fully-fledged white supremacist. In a dramatic opening chapter, Aaron savagely attacks a black teenager in a fast-food restaurant.
Like with the best noir writing, Vercher writes an authentic and dynamic dialogue, but in the other aspects he takes on he is as strong; the emergency ward at the hospital, the diner, and particularly racist America. This is really good throughout, and timely - an all-round triumph.

Also, Lands of Lost Borders: Out of Bounds on the Silk Road by Kate Harris
It’s really hard to write a stand-out travelogue book these days, there are so many people doing it, albeit in an amateur fashion. 2020 is so different of course, but in other recent years there are thousands of cyclists making adventurous journeys all over the world, spending their evening writing up their blogs, including incredible photographs and even video of their exploits.
But Harris’s book does stand out. And that’s not because she rides in many places that are on my list for the next few years; the Pamirs, Ladakh, Sikkim and Nepal. It’s because her writing style is easy to get addicted to, but her message, hinted at in the title, is one I, and I suspect most of those adventure journey bloggers, completely believe in and support...

I lay in my sleeping bag, aching all over; and fervently hoped humans never made it to Mars. We didn’t deserve a new world; we’d just wreck it all over again. As a kid I’d genuinely believed that the discovery of alien life, whether sentient beings or microbes, would change lives, incite a revolution near-holy in its repercussions . At the very least people would be kinder to each other, knowing we’re all of a kind, earthlings every one, whether Turkish or Armenian, Indian or Pakistani, Tibetan or Uyghur or Han Chinese. We’d collectively awaken to the fact that we’re all lost in this mystery together.

@Reen Yes, my reference to peonies was based on your response to @roola (I always see their wood pear avatar as a big nose for some reasons) on PoTW a few weeks back. This was a particularly poignant week, and so was the one that has just elapsed. My only contribution would have been inappropriate in the context (correcting Carol on glioblastoma and astrocytes).

And, Stillicide by Cynan Jones
Jones’s vision of Britain in the future is one in which water is in short supply. Heavily armed “water trains” make regular journeys from the wet north of the country into the parched centre of the city, where residents, long deprived of showers and flushing toilets, spray themselves with “alcowash” each morning and leave their business out in the street to be emptied by the “soilmen”. Out in the North Sea, an enormous iceberg is being towed towards Redcar, where it is to be melted down.
The story is related by several voices in alternating chapters, the most prominent being John Branner, Tasker with eliminating terrorist threats on the scrubland surrounding the water train track. It provides a thriller element to a short book that includes so much; a lesser writer might have made this an epic.
It is a powerful piece of climate fiction, exciting, upsetting and very necessary.

..and, indulge me with my horror fixation / recommendation, I promise I’ll be brief..
The Scandinavians are doing some really interesting horror at the moment. Following on from Midsommar is Koko-Di Koko-Da, with a surrealist touch that may put some off, and striking images that imprint themselves in the mind. Parents grieving for the loss of a child take a wild camping trip. Again, if you fancy a night in a tent in the forest this either is, or isn’t for you.. It features a Danish nursery rhyme (hence the title) which I can promise you, will stick in your head. I really enjoyed it, but am quite aware, this won't be for everyone..

Also I have discovered, quite late (there are now two series), What We Do In The Shadows, which is less emphasis on the horror, and more on the humour - a situation comedy I guess, about vampires. I am still chuckling over Colin Robinson, and the idea of an energy vampire.

Karen wrote (#5): "It isn't that it's not good, because it is good, very good in fact -- even though I haven't gotten too far I can tell how good it is. But I will read it for a while and then...just...can't...continue. So I go read something else, promising to come back. And so far I have but it is really quite bothering me. "

I can relate to this so much CE! I was reading until this weekend A Brief History of Seven Killings, and I can confidently say that in other circumstances, I would have loved it. It is really good. But it requires a lot of effort and attention to feel immersed in it (see also Faulkner and Ellroy), and I honestly cannot summon this at the moment. It makes me feel quite low not to be able to appreciate it properly, all the more as I know I would have if that was not for that bloody virus around. So for the moment, I've set it aside, only half-read, and will probably tackle it once more during my holiday break.

Really sorry to hear about your low mood. I hope it picks up soon. Just think: in two weeks, the daylight starts expanding again! Christmas will be different this year no doubt. For the two of us, this will be the first time we will not be with our respective families. We intend to Zoom/Skype the hell out of it. It also helps that in Continental Europe it is all about Christmas Eve, while in Ireland it is about Christmas Day!

Andy wrote: "..and, indulge me with my horror fixation / recommendation, I promise I’ll be brief..
The Scandinavians are doing some really interesting horror at the moment. Following on from Midsommar is Koko-D..."

Did you manage to catch "The Valhalla Murders", i'm on ep 5 and i like it, Icelandic crime drama, formulaic maybe but the backdrops and icelandic culture are fascinating. Some of the houses are awful though, not many buildings date beyond 1970 it seems, it also makes me wonder about the nature of crime among 300,000 people, most crammed into Reyjkjavik

Alwynne wrote: "Tam (13) wrote: "Alwynne wrote: "Thanks Justine : )

Finished over the weekend:

REVIEW The King in the Golden Mask by
[author:Marc..."

i had never heard of this guy, will make a note of this book

AB76 wrote: "Justine wrote: "AB76 (4) wrote: "Icy morning in the North Downs, first real cold since February, those distant pre-covid days....

I trust we are all well as this strange 2020 reaches its final wee..."
I wonder if others have 'Reading Rules' as I do.

1. For bed - there always must be a mystery in progress. Right now that is - The Killings at Badger's Drift by Caroline Graham (re-published by Felony & Mayhem Press) Note: Author dedicated book to Christianna Brand.

2. The library book that is due soonest and cannot be renewed because others are waiting. This can be either fiction or non-fiction. Presently it is The Lions of Fifth Avenue which uses the NYC library as its fulcrum and is a mystery of sorts. I have just begun it.

3. Dare I say - 'the book in the loo?' The just in case book there now is another library book The Cabinet: George Washington and the Creation of an American Institution for which there are no holds and the library has relaxed holds limits temporarily.

I watched a zoom talk with the author of the Cabinet (Liindsay M. Chervinsky) and was impressed. She is the first one who asked 'how did the President's Cabinet come about?' We can thank George Washington once again. Such a wise man - so different from today's (but not next year's) resident.

I especially recommend this one for US history lovers. I also expect it will get promoted to the reading chair in the living room soon.

Gladarvor wrote: "Sandya wrote (#12): "You can love science and be committed to a research career and still have other interests and desire a full life. This is a US thing-I was trained in the UK and my grad. superv..."

Haha! I'd like to see what would happen if I tried that here!! Most-not all-scientists here are IMHO one dimensional. The others are very careful never to indicate they are interested in anything else.

Sandya (8) on Bronte Society article

Congratulations! You are hereby promoted to the position of inhouse Bronte Expert.

AB76 wrote: "Andy wrote: "..and, indulge me with my horror fixation / recommendation, I promise I’ll be brief..
The Scandinavians are doing some really interesting horror at the moment. Following on from Midsom..."

I am enjoying The Valhalla Murders and must get caught up. You might enjoy the movie "Jar City" which is set in Iceland and very good indeed! It is a murder mystery with an interesting science premise. I loved it. I must read the book.

Gladarvor wrote (14): "I'm sorry I can't take part in the Poetry Quiz, I am an absolute muppet when it comes to Anglo-Saxon poetry..."

Anglo-Saxon poetry?!
Like this you mean?
Ic pis giedd wrece bi mi ful geomorre,
(I make this song of my deep sadness).
The Wife's Lament. Apologies for the lack of accents and specific Old English characters.

Sorry Gladarvor, I don't mean this nastily to you, but the French use of 'Anglo-Saxon' often irritates me. Like a reference to "an Anglo-Saxon children's book" when it was not even being used to cover British and American, but was referring to 1 specific book. So I was muttering "Huh, didn't know the Venerable Bede wrote children's books."

Gladarvor (14) wrote: "Justine wrote (#1): "I'm sorry I can't take part in the poetry quiz"

I'm not at all sure anyone will! Maybe poetry was a mistake. Oh well.

Justine wrote: "I'm not at all sure anyone will! Maybe poetry was a mistake. Oh well."

You weren't kidding when you said it would be difficult! (I *think* I know one...)

MK (26): wrote "AB76 (9) wrote: "Justine wrote: "AB76 (4) wrote: "Icy morning in the North Downs, first real cold since February, those distant pre-covid days....

I trust we are all well as this strange 2020 reaches ..."

I'm actually waiting for a nonfiction item to arrive from the library, and don't want to start another one before then. But I'm thinking I need a crime novel with which to balance off my slow but very absorbing reading of Apeirogon. Such an amazing book, but it does get to me emotionally. On the other hand, rules? Forget it!

Gpfr wrote (#30): "the French use of 'Anglo-Saxon' often irritates me. Like a reference to "an Anglo-Saxon children's book" when it was not even being used to cover British and American"

Ah, another pet peeve (after using also a 'foot in the door' one)! I'm just not too sure what would be a good alternative... How would you use one single generic word for English-written UK, US and Irish poetry (and maybe other nationalities I have not spotted from the list)?

Justine wrote (#31): "I'm not at all sure anyone will! Maybe poetry was a mistake. Oh well."

I think you just need one person to take the plunge and others will follow... 24 might also be a bit high, but I do like the idea very much! (I know only one for sure, that's pretty abysmal.)

Alwynne wrote: "Tam (13) wrote: "Alwynne wrote: "Thanks Justine : )

Finished over the weekend:

REVIEW The King in the Golden Mask by
[author:Marc..."

Gladarvor wrote: "Tam wrote (#13): "I enjoy your reviews Alwynne, so good to see you back posting reviews in full again."

I agree with you jedi/@Tam (and also with your post on the Suggestions thread), and also wit..."

I was on the fringes of academia for 20 years or so, in my work-life. It has its weaknesses. When an RA assessment was due in our department it was suggested that I (as a researcher) might contribute an article to a refereed journal. I had one recently written on 'Tourism's impact on sustainability on the Canary islands'. I found a refereed journal that was happy to publish it, but they wanted a lot more references than I had attached to it. I combed through it, and found that most of it was from my own personal observations. I had a reference to the price of water on the Spanish mainland, compared to the Canary Islands. A reference to a geothermal energy company, and one to Canary Island tourism policy, and one to Cesar Manrique's legacy on Lanzarote planning policy. That was it!... Everything else were just observations of my own. Academia does not shine a light when it comes to original ideas and observation, sadly, to me.

If you can't source an already academically 'recognised' source it is as if it doesn't exist as an idea at all. It was not enough!... It is a weakness to me, as many of the 'good ideas' just fall by the wayside... and shrivel up and die, from lack of attention... But i'm sure that Cugel, and others, are out there, somewhere, keeping a concerned eye out for them...

Gladarvor wrote (34): "Gpfr wrote (#30): "the French use of 'Anglo-Saxon' often irritates me".

"Ah, another pet peeve! I'm just not too sure what would be a good alternative... How would you use one single generic word for English-written UK, US and Irish poetry ..."

It absolutely is a pet peeve 😁. For this particular case, English-language poetry? Here, you're looking for a word for a valid grouping. What annoys me is that 'Anglo-Saxon' is often used to bundle together non-homogeneous attitudes/groups/ideas ...

MK wrote: "AB76 wrote: "Justine wrote: "AB76 (4) wrote: "Icy morning in the North Downs, first real cold since February, those distant pre-covid days....

I trust we are all well as this strange 2020 reaches ..."

i have loose rules, which can become rather irritating when i come to choose the next book to read and the rules kick in(dont read two books from same country in a row, read more women, read more non-european etc)

Sandya wrote: "AB76 wrote: "Andy wrote: "..and, indulge me with my horror fixation / recommendation, I promise I’ll be brief..
The Scandinavians are doing some really interesting horror at the moment. Following o..."

i have read a lot of Indriasons novels but not "Jar City" yet, it was lovely to read one of his novels on the ferry to the Vestman islands on a visit to Iceland in 2006. The Vestmans lie to the south of Iceland and the temperature hit a balmy 18c with a strong westerly wind for one day on the islands, which was warmer than Reyjkavik(13c drizzle) but much cooler than London which was (33c). This was July 2006

Vestman Islands are odd, cos its like a large, modern town slapped onto a volcanic rock, its so unlike the faded decaying scottish and irish islands. The ferry departed from a one horse town in Southern Iceland, in a landscape of moon rocks...

FAROE ISLAND WRITERS
Coupla weeks ago i commented on the mighty Faroese duo of Heinesen and Jacobsen, both contemparies of the last century who produced some brilliant novels, there is also a third HJ Jacobsen (aka Hedin Bru)

I find it remarkable that we have three great writers from such tiny islands, who arent linked to the scando-noir craze and all long dead. Jacobsen and Heinesen wrote in Danish, Bru wrote in Faroese

Gpfr wrote (#37): "For this particular case, English-language poetry?"

Works for me! I'll try to remember next time...

Alwynne wrote: "Thanks Justine : )

Finished over the weekend:

REVIEW The King in the Golden Mask by
Marcel Schwob

The King in the..."

Thanks for this Alwynne.
I’ve had it on my tbr list for an age, and your review has prompted me.
I’ve just seen it’s had a reissue also.

AB76 wrote: "FAROE ISLAND WRITERS
Coupla weeks ago i commented on the mighty Faroese duo of Heinesen and Jacobsen, both contemparies of the last century who produced some brilliant novels, there is also a third..."

I actually have a secondhand Heinesen in the bookcase, patiently waiting..The Lost Musicians . Have you read it?

Sandya wrote: "AB76 wrote: "Andy wrote: "..and, indulge me with my horror fixation / recommendation, I promise I’ll be brief..
The Scandinavians are doing some really interesting horror at the moment. Following o..."

Thanks for the recommendation. I’ll get on to it.

AB76 wrote: "Andy wrote: "..and, indulge me with my horror fixation / recommendation, I promise I’ll be brief..
The Scandinavians are doing some really interesting horror at the moment. Following on from Midsom..."

Got to confess I gave up after 4 episodes,
The plot seems so used these days, and I wasn’t taken by the performances.
I did like the setting though.. I think that’s what kept me going so long..

Justine wrote: "AB76 (4) wrote: "Icy morning in the North Downs, first real cold since February, those distant pre-covid days....

I trust we are all well as this strange 2020 reaches its final weeks..

Currently ..."
I was very much a ‘one at a time’ person, but I’ve started to read something different and additional, usually non fiction, last thing at night. The perfect book is in essay, or very short story, format, or anecdotal travel.
I think it’s due to having travel restricted..I’m doing more planning than ever.
Just started Blue Highways, which has been recommended a few times. Just 20 or so pages a night...

Andy wrote: "AB76 wrote: "FAROE ISLAND WRITERS
Coupla weeks ago i commented on the mighty Faroese duo of Heinesen and Jacobsen, both contemparies of the last century who produced some brilliant novels, there is..."

i havent read that one by Heinesen but i heartily recommend him, i have read "The Black Cauldron" by him

Joining in somewhat with the Northern European theme, I have started Crow Girl by Erik Axl Sund , which is slow going as it starts. Hopefully it will draw me in soon.

Re #46 by MK: I tend to have more than one book on the go at the time - a physical book (in this case Crow Girl) and an ebook which I take at a much slower pace as and when I am on the move (currently Eagle of the 9th).

Andy wrote: "AB76 wrote: "Andy wrote: "..and, indulge me with my horror fixation / recommendation, I promise I’ll be brief..
The Scandinavians are doing some really interesting horror at the moment. Following o..."

oddly i was lukewarm after episode one but i am now hooked,

Andy wrote: "Justine wrote: "AB76 (4) wrote: "Icy morning in the North Downs, first real cold since February, those distant pre-covid days....

I trust we are all well as this strange 2020 reaches its final wee..."

2020: The Year of the Staycation!

Karen wrote #5: "Hi everyone, long time no see.

I've been struggling with a bit of a low mood of late, which has made reading anything substantive a challenge. That, combined with The Shock of the New which is the..."


Hopefully you will feel better soon. November and early December are difficult for many folks, mainly due I think to the dismal grey weather. This year of course covid has made things much worse. So hopefully soon we may get more of those crisp sunny days added to the roll out of the vaccine and 2021 should start looking more cheerful.

Meanwhile may I suggest you keep the reading fairly light and easy and don't be hard on yourself.

AB76 wrote: "Sandya wrote: "AB76 wrote: "Andy wrote: "..and, indulge me with my horror fixation / recommendation, I promise I’ll be brief..
The Scandinavians are doing some really interesting horror at the mome..."

I would love to visit Iceland!!