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Weekly TLS
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What are we reading? 19 December 2022
I've put several of these on my to-read list, including Marsé, Anne Holt, Haffner, and the Channon diaries, among others, so thanks as always to everyone for sharing their reading experiences.I haven't yet thought of my book(s) of the year but I could make a start, since I won't finish the one I'm on now until well into next year.
Great introduction, thank you gpfr and a wonderful drawing, your daughter is very talented.
Hello to everyone. I hope you're all surviving the pre-Christmas/other holiday madness.
Lovely introduction, Gpfr. I'll do my books of the year. Are we aiming for Christmas or New Year?
Lovely introduction, Gpfr. I'll do my books of the year. Are we aiming for Christmas or New Year?
Seasons greetings ersatzers, i will be away from my computer from Friday(xmas break with family) and i wish you all a very merry Christmas and a chance for some rest....Its much milder today in the shires, 11c and steady rain, perfect weather for me and the gloom and the mist are very welcome.
A few books on the wind down to the end of 2023 on the go:
Firstly the brilliant, well argued and researched study of Interwar Britain by Richard Overy The Morbid Age, i can only just begin to imagine the amount of work Overy has to do with his sources, notebooks and diaries, to create this wonderful study of the 20 years from Versailles to the outbreak of WW2
Gothic Tales by Arthur Conan_Doyle follows my interest in a short novel he wrote set in the Sudan. This handsome volume is packed with tales written from 1883 to 1913 and will be good to dip in and out of in the Xmas season
Lastly there is the superb Sweet Thunder by Ivan Doig, supplemented on the internet well by a lot of information on Butte and Montana, the settlers, the social conditions and other things. (one article said that in 1879, the city could be divided 50-50 into Catholic Irish immigrants(all democratic voters) and Methodist Cornish immigrants (all Republican voters). The Irish i knew about not so much the Cornish as in the censuses they all listed as "english"
Any Rail history buffs here? Here's a post from Scarthin Booksin Cromford where I hear the trains are running (barring a strike, or two) once again. Of course I'd travel to Matlock and take the bus back because I am no longer (thanks to cranky hips) much of a walker.
Recently acquired: Derbyshire books from the collection of the late Brian Radford, highly respected Railways historian and writer. Long-standing customer and friend of Scarthin Books. Located on Top Floor and in Art Room.
Mod
Lovely introduction, Gpfr. I'll do my books of the year. Are we aiming for Christmas or New Year?"
Oh, New Year, I think.
Thanks to Gpfr for the introduction. My reading of the first volume of "Chips" Channon's 1930s diary continues. I've reached the Czech crisis and the Munich conference between Chamberlain and Hitler. The apotheosis of Chamberlain-- per Channon.
Channon went to Berlin during Hitler's Olympics. Channon had no interest in sport (at least not enough to mention the names of athletes or the winners), but he takes us on a tour of Berlin entertainment. No, not the Berlin cabarets, but the big parties thrown by rival Nazi leaders. Goering, a great showman, comes out on top....
Channon loved meeting with German royals, especially members of the non-Prussian dynasties. By the mid-1930s, he was quite convinced that the Nazi period would end in an imperial restoration.
Haffner's and Channon's books remind of another 1930s work written by a German emigre, Hermann Rauschning's The Revolution of Nihilism - Warning to the West. Published in 1939, and addressed to conservative nationalists, the former Nazi attacks the social changes wrought by Hitler's dictatorship. No, no mention of the measures against the Jews, but much discussion of traditional authority undermined. Rauschning argued that Hitler's regime was revolutionary, that the country was in danger of disaster, and ends with an appeal to the German army to stop the Nazi revolution.
Later summaries of recent reading to follow...
AB76 wrote: "Seasons greetings ersatzers, i will be away from my computer from Friday(xmas break with family) and i wish you all a very merry Christmas and a chance for some rest....Its much milder today in t..."
Glad you were happy with the weather AB! I did a load of washing overnight had had to put it all in the tumble dryer!
I have a vague recollection of people discussing M R James ghost stories last year. For information there is one on Friday at 10 on on BBC2 30 mins long and I think it is an M R James one.
Here's something that, I hope, will be erected elsewhere - https://kuow.org/stories/sea-tac-airp...PS - I badly need to set up one of my own. My give-away stack is getting much too tall.
Mod
Putting them in the airport is an excellent idea.
Here where I live there are several and I cleared out quite a lot of books a month or so ago — not that anyone without an intimate knowledge of my bookshelves would be able to see any difference! The local council has put some in parks (I posted a photo a long while back: page 4 in Photos), and a small group of people took the initiative of putting up others of varying sizes, using whatever boxes/planks came to hand. There are 4 of these in about a 10 minute walk from me.
Mod
I've just read After the Party by Cressida Connolly which alternates between 1979 and 1938 - 1943. We know from the beginning that Phyllis spent time in prison. Going back to 1938, she and her family have just returned to England after years of living abroad and settle in Sussex near her sisters. One of the sisters, Nina, is very involved in political and social activities and Phyllis and the children are soon spending their time at the summer camp she organises. We find out that the charismatic and venerated "Leader" is Mosley.
Recommended, I found it excellent.
Some time ago, having recently re-read Hons and Rebels, I picked up a 2nd-hand biography of Diana Mosley: Diana Mosley: A Life by Jan Dalley and started it after finishing the above novel. This was published in 1999. Diana was still alive, the writer had "many interviews and conversations" with her "over the course of several years".
I am very appreciative of her kindness and patience, and of her help with the factual accuracy of the text. However, the book does not reflect her views either of herself or of the past, nor does she endorse its contents or opinions.She did not give access to her letters and diaries or those of her immediate family.
Bearing all that in mind, I'm finding it interesting — particularly about Mosley so far, since I knew little about his background, whereas I knew more about the Mitfords.
Gpfr wrote: "I've just read After the Party by Cressida Connolly which alternates between 1979 and 19..."
I thought After the Party was great. Connolly had another book out this year, Bad Relations, which I've added to my list.
I thought After the Party was great. Connolly had another book out this year, Bad Relations, which I've added to my list.
MK wrote: "Any Rail history buffs here? Here's a post from Scarthin Booksin Cromford where I hear the trains are running (barring a strike, or two) once again. Of course I'd travel to Matlock and take the bu..."
We are off to spend Christmas in Matlock Bath which is just round the corner from Cromford so will willingly take a look in Scarthin Books. Are there any other particular points of interest around that neighbourhood that you would recommend?
We also plan to take in 'The Museum of Making' in Derby, and Daria insists on visiting Bell End, Worcestershire, on the way home where they have a larger than life size statue of Vladimir Putin with the end of a penis as the top of his head! Due to him being voted for, locally, as 'bell end' of the year'. They have an annual competition for 'bell end' of the year'. Surely way too much competition for that slot, these days... to me... I will post up a photo here, after the encounter, if we manage the slight detour...
Tam wrote: "MK wrote: "Any Rail history buffs here? Here's a post from Scarthin Booksin Cromford where I hear the trains are running (barring a strike, or two) once again. Of course I'd travel to Matlock and ..."
I would recommend Haddon Hall but it is closed over Christmas. It has a much more lived in feel than some of the bigger stately homes.
I hope you have a lovely time and that Dave continues to improve.
giveusaclue wrote: "AB76 wrote: "Seasons greetings ersatzers, i will be away from my computer from Friday(xmas break with family) and i wish you all a very merry Christmas and a chance for some rest....Its much mild..."
thanks for the MR James reminder....looking foward to that
Tam wrote: "MK wrote: "Any Rail history buffs here? Here's a post from Scarthin Booksin Cromford where I hear the trains are running (barring a strike, or two) once again. Of course I'd travel to Matlock and ..."
As I remember, 'where the world of factories began' (my words) is available here - https://www.cromfordmills.org.uk/
I think it is within walking distance of 'downtown' Cromford. I remember taking the bus from Matlock Bath to Cromford with the bus stoping a stone's throw from Scarthins. My caveat is that you might check first if you decide to go as this was quite a while ago.
Glad to hear traveling is on the docket.
Gpfr wrote: "MK wrote: "Here's something that, I hope, will be erected elsewhere - sea-tac-airport-now-hosting-little-free-libraries.."Putting them in the airport is an excellent idea.
Here where I live ther..."
I like that idea of community boxes. Perhaps I can interest our local Parks Dept. to get involved this way.
Robert wrote: "Thanks to Gpfr for the introduction. My reading of the first volume of "Chips" Channon's 1930s diary continues. I've reached the Czech crisis and the Munich conference between Chamberlain and Hitl..."
It is entirely YOUR FAULT! that I have taken The Duff Cooper Diaries: 1915-1951 of the shelf - unread until now.
In the spring of 1915 Duff Cooper was in the Foreign Office (FO), a reserved occupation. The first item of note to me was the FO's worry that the US would enter the war especially after the Lusitania was sunk (because so many Americans had been on the ship).
I had always thought that the US was staunchly isolationist, but I may have the wrong war. Ugh - something further to read up on.
However, the diary can easily be dipped into (in time sequence, of course) so I will put by the sofa for when it moves me to do so.
Does anyone think 2022 has zipped by, i feel soaked in vivid memories of this time last year, maybe as it was the first xmas where lockdowns werent a feature after covid and there was a sense of returning to normality, i'm not sure. The year generally has gone by at a good pace not too fast.I did feel all Proustian typing this, in the way that certain things can make you recall past events, possibly unreliably but vivid. The things that you remember as kids that seemed endless (nice weather) and the changing seasons
One thing that has alarmed in the shires this year, with the weather, is the extremes(significant dry hot period in July-August, then a sustained very cold spell in December, with record mild temps every month as well)
I am a much greater fan of biography or novels that look back than ever before, Bird Alone by O'Faolain and The Stone Angel by Margaret Laurence were great reads this year, that were all about nostalgia and the past. Another novel that i loved a few years back was The Brickhouse by LP Hartley. These are sad, quite dark novels but i think we can all identify with the cosy depths of nostalgia, tinged with fear/loss.
Gpfr wrote: "Various people have been reading about the 30s and 40s and Oswald Mosley has been mentioned.I've just read After the Party by Cressida Connolly which alternates between 1979 and 19..."
about 15 years ago i was keen to buy a 900 page biog of Mosley, nothing to do with any interest in his BUF nonsense but to study a man who started out as a moderate and went so badly wrong over his long life. i never did buy the book, i sometimes feel any long biography needs to be superbly written or it becomes rather tedious
One of the clients at the day centre remembers seeing Mosley campaiging in West London in the late 1950s. He said this very seriously and nobody was quite sure what the next comment may be, until he added that he enjoyed roundly booing the old scoundrel.
Thanks for your time spent on the intro GP. Much appreciated.
I just about managed to wade my way through Trust by Hernan Diaz over the last couple of days..
This is made up of four sections, the first of them presented as a complete 'novel' , called Bonds by Harold Vanner. It concerns Benjamin Rask, an only child born in the 1870s, the heir to a family with esatblsihed wealth from the tobacco business. Bullied, and a loner at school, at a young age he inherits the business on the death of his parents. His failings as a socialite are compensated for by his marriage to Helen Brevoort, who is from a traditional Albany background.
Helen's father suffered from mental illness, and when Helen experiences similar symptoms, Rask sends her for the best treatment money can by, a sanatorium in Switzerland, where her father was treated, and from where he went missing.
In this first quarter the book is at its strongest, by some way.
From then on it never really delivers.
The second section is entitled My Life and follows the career of Andrew Bevel, which ties in with Rask's, though is written as a non-fiction memoir. Not only does his career correspond to Rask's life, but the woman he marries, Mildred, is similar to Helen also, though here she is far more vaguely described. (Both women are philanthropists for example.)
Mildred also becomes ill, and is also sent to Switzerland. In effect, its a duplicate narrative.
In the third part, some light is shed as to the relationship between Bevel and Vanner's novel.
The fourth and final part is Mildred's diary in the last days of her life.
There's a few problems with the novel as a whole though. Bonds pertains to be a novel of the 1930s, but as entertaining as it is, it certainly doesn't read like one.
There's a serious lack of action. Though the third part attempts to remedy this, it seems messy and out of place. This third part is by some way the longest, unnecessarily so.
Ultimately though, the various strands the reader has invested time in to interpret do not tidily come together, and the resounding impression is, what was the point?
Update - Mick Herron books - The newest is a compilation of 5 Slough House Novellas -
. The novellas included are: The List, The Marylebone Drop, The Catch, The Last Dead Letter, and Standing by the Wall.It looks like we will have to wait 'til 09/23 to see if River really does come back.
In the meantime, Mick Herron's bank account must look darned good.😎
Reading English Bards and Scotch Reviewers, since I've reached the point in Moore's Byron biography when that poem. Lo and behold, Byron takes a shot at Walter Scott, specifically the two popular verse romances Scott had published up to that time, The Lay of the Last Minstrel and Marmion. I hadn't meant to read the whole thing but after the first few lines I was hooked. Byron had a great turn of phrase and this satire, provoked by a negative review of his first book of poems, is highly entertaining, even though I don't get all of the references. Interestingly, Moore gives us Byron's own later assessment of this early work, quoting from a copy in which the author scribbled comments around ten years later. He regretted some of the targets he had chosen to attack as a younger man - I imagine Scott would have been one of those, since I believe they became friends at some point.
Gpfr wrote: "Various people have been reading about the 30s and 40s and Oswald Mosley has been mentioned.I've just read After the Party by Cressida Connolly which alternates between 1979 and 19..."
Sounds interesting. I know about Mosley mainly from Rebecca West's "The Meaning of Treason."
giveusaclue wrote: "AB76 wrote: "Seasons greetings ersatzers, i will be away from my computer from Friday(xmas break with family) and i wish you all a very merry Christmas and a chance for some rest....Its much mild..."
Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to you. If you want some dead-of-night reading for this dark season, M.R. James's story about Canon Alberich might be interesting. So might Oliver Onion's (yes, that was his name) "The Beckoning Fair One" or Isak Dinesen's "The Supper at Elsinore."
Mod
were among the many Ribbentrop met in London and invited to attend the Olympic Games as Germany's guests. Literally hundreds had received official invitations and hospitality was lavished on them.Unlike Diana, Mosley did not attend any of these events. He was convalescing after an operation and planning "a grand gesture" which turned into the Battle of Cable Street. He was more attracted by Mussolini than Hitler, but finally met the latter on 6 October when he and Diana were married in Goebbel's house. They had no common language:
Diana remembers that the long day was a strain: having to interpret everything meant that conversation was intermittent and banal.I'm finding this book more interesting than perhaps I expected, chiefly about Mosley.
I have found a new to me author :https://www.fantasticfiction.com/g/he...
It starts one day in Southampton when a body is tossed out of a ranger rover into the path of a following white van. The body with gunshot wounds is that of local restaurateur and drug baron . The book then goes on to cover the preceding week's events leading up to this incident. Khan is one very nasty piece of work and isn't taking kindly to the Albanians muscling in on his territory, double crossing, set ups and exciting escapes from vengeance make for a pretty fast paced book which I really enjoyed. There is a bit of stereo typing in that it is Albanians muscling in and a side order of one of Khan's associates running an under age brothel in, yes, Rotherham, an assassin with a conscience, one or two characters a little more likeable than you feel they should be, but very readable.
DI Lomas appears briefly at the beginning and the end of the book and I am looking forward to starting the series based on his character.
Mod
Making slow progress though. I spent five days baking and packaging holiday cookies. I delivered them yesterday. Today, I will do all the rest of the required shopping for Christmas, regular meals, my brother's meals, etc., as we're waiting for an ice storm to start tonight or early tomorrow. Temps as low as 18F, wind surges up to 55 mph, potential power outages.
Happy Holidays, everyone! See you on the other side.
Mod
Apols for lack of communications chez Lass. Hope all are well, and that you enjoy the coming few days, with those you want to be with! Hope Santa showers you all with books to savour and enjoy. Good Health, and Happy Reading.
Mod
Lljones wrote: "Last week I did something I rarely do: checked my own bookshelves for something to read! Found a Penelope Lively I hadn't read - City of the Mind. It's quite good.Making slow progre..."
Lucky you - I'm inside until the snow/ice disappears - hopefully - on Saturday. While there's not much snow but with below freezing temps (20s) it will stay and foul the roads and hills. Luckily, I have plenty of books to choose from.
Given my lack of will power, top of the list is -
.
Thanks to Tom Mooney for a wonderful recommendation, which I know NellyBells read also, just a day ahead of me.. Kick the Latch by Kathryn Scanlan.
Scanlan's writing has an extraordinary skill to it which makes it such a pleasure to read, the ability to extract a beguiling strangeness from the banal.
This is a fictionalised portrait of a woman's career in horse-racing in the American Midwest, based on a series of interviews the author did with an actual person. It is told in fleeting installments, from half a page to three or four pages, that trace its subject, known only as Sonia, chronologically throughout her lifetime.
This is a fine example of the sort of novel that forms an ordinary life into great art, but the succinct style Scanlan uses I have never come across before, except perhaps in poetry.
Sentences come across as being effective and competent. The first thought is to demand more, but the next is to think, why is that, as Scanlan's efficiency has said it all. Nonetheless, many beg for a re-read.
The anecdotes don't pull together as a conventional plot, they are more like a jigsaw puzzle, each a small part of the whole picture which gradually emerges.
Regardless of interest in sport, the reader is moved by compassion and courage. The compressed approach intensifies the violence rather than dilutes it.
The hundred or so pages give a complete experience, so much so that it passes through the mind as to why some stories require so much more.
This is a rare and astounding piece of prose, unassuming and sincere in its authenticity.
Keep an eye on it, it will go far.
There's something of Willy Vlautin in Scalan's writing, but I can't make out whether thats solely due to Lean On Pete, or the approach used to describing of ordinary working folk.
and, The Thin Man by Dashiell Hammett.
This was Hammett's last novel, published in 1934, and no surprise in that there is plenty to entertain, not least its sound plot, typical of hard-boiled detective fiction.
But for me, reading it with so much experience of the genre, it was other aspects I enjoyed more.
It is funny, and direct, just consider its opening lines..
I was leaning against the bar in a speakeasy on Fifty-second Street, waiting for Nora to finish her Christmas shopping, when a girl got up from the table where she had been sitting with three other people and came over to me. She was small and blonde, and whether you looked at her face or her body in powder-blue sports clothes, the result was satisfactory.
..a balance between the toughness, of Nora as much as Nick, and the wisecracks..and yet the sense of mystery always prevails.
It is also much darker than I had imagined; an unhappy, dysfunctional family, the Jorgensens, and how they, Dorothy, Gilbert and Mimi, fight amongst themselves and tear each other apart.
Of course, this blend of the hard-boiled and farce was to be the template of so much that would follow in the genre.
In many ways, it is a special book.
Berkeley, I have posted a fragment from "The Last Minstrel in a place for a poem :)
Lljones wrote: "Last week I did something I rarely do: checked my own bookshelves for something to read! Found a Penelope Lively I hadn't read - City of the Mind. It's quite good."I read this not long ago myself, so I look forward to your comments. It was only my second Lively, Moon Tiger being the other one.
Greenfairy wrote: "Berkeley, I have posted a fragment from "The Last Minstrel in a place for a poem :)" Thanks for mentioning that - I often forget to look at the poetry panel, for some reason, but I'll have a look.
The King’s Peace – C V Wedgwood (1955)
In 1637, while the Thirty Years War raged on the continent, the British Isles were peaceful and prosperous, and Charles Stuart called himself the happiest King in Christendom. CVW’s survey of the lands he then ruled bears direct comparison with Macaulay’s brilliant account of England in 1685. There was one problem of course: Parliament refused to vote the funds the King desired. Charles had sent them away. He was ordained by God and could rule on his personal authority alone.
In this first volume of the trilogy CVW charts the fall in five short years into merciless enmity and civil war. She avoids any analysis through historical forces, and she tells the story according to what the actors knew and thought at the time, not according to what they might have done had they known the consequences. Does anyone write this sort of history today? I am a hundred pages in and thoroughly enjoying it.
One thing I never really understood (the 17th century having fallen into the gap between O level and A level) was why the uprising against a Stuart king had begun in Scotland. CVW explains that James’ careful policy had one prime aim, to do nothing likely to unite the interests of the Scottish nobility, who at the Reformation had made the episcopal revenues their own, with those of the extreme Calvinists. Charles, by his vigorous policy of re-introducing the rule of bishops on the English model, achieved that very result. The detail of his actions, and the resistance they provoked, is fascinating, and a lesson in how doctrinal religion may engulf a country.
…
GP – What a lovely drawing!
In 1637, while the Thirty Years War raged on the continent, the British Isles were peaceful and prosperous, and Charles Stuart called himself the happiest King in Christendom. CVW’s survey of the lands he then ruled bears direct comparison with Macaulay’s brilliant account of England in 1685. There was one problem of course: Parliament refused to vote the funds the King desired. Charles had sent them away. He was ordained by God and could rule on his personal authority alone.
In this first volume of the trilogy CVW charts the fall in five short years into merciless enmity and civil war. She avoids any analysis through historical forces, and she tells the story according to what the actors knew and thought at the time, not according to what they might have done had they known the consequences. Does anyone write this sort of history today? I am a hundred pages in and thoroughly enjoying it.
One thing I never really understood (the 17th century having fallen into the gap between O level and A level) was why the uprising against a Stuart king had begun in Scotland. CVW explains that James’ careful policy had one prime aim, to do nothing likely to unite the interests of the Scottish nobility, who at the Reformation had made the episcopal revenues their own, with those of the extreme Calvinists. Charles, by his vigorous policy of re-introducing the rule of bishops on the English model, achieved that very result. The detail of his actions, and the resistance they provoked, is fascinating, and a lesson in how doctrinal religion may engulf a country.
…
GP – What a lovely drawing!
Berkley wrote: "Greenfairy wrote: "Berkeley, I have posted a fragment from "The Last Minstrel in a place for a poem :)" Thanks for mentioning that - I often forget to look at the poetry panel, for some reason, but..."Could not resist posting again The Snow Man by Wallace Stevens, it’s simply wonderful.
More favourites tomorrow. Has anyone else a favourite to share on Poems?
MK wrote: "Robert wrote: "Thanks to Gpfr for the introduction. My reading of the first volume of "Chips" Channon's 1930s diary continues. I've reached the Czech crisis and the Munich conference between Chamb..."
Why was Cooper afraid that the US would enter the war? British foreign policy seems to have pointed the other way, There were two large ethnic groups-- the German-Americans and the Irish-- who had no taste for intervention on the British side. The politicians were being careful. On the other hand, if Wilson had asked for a declaration of war after the Lusitania was sunk, he might have gotten it.
(There is a recent book on the Lusitania sinking-- "Dead Wake"-- with a fine narrative of the ship's last voyage, with snapshots from the viewpoints of the passengers and crew-- and the Germans. The ship's captain had just finished giving expert testimony on the Titanic sinking before setting sail. The Lusitania was the only large British liner still in commercial service-- the rest had been swallowed up by the war-- and the ship carried a broad cross-section of passengers anxious to go to England. And not just passengers. Two brothers saw shipping out on Lusitania as a fast, cheap way to reach home. One was on deck as a lookout when the torpedo's wake was seen....)
Gpfr wrote: "I've now encountered Chips Channon in Diana Mosley: A Life, in Germany for the 1936 Olympic Games. He and his wifewere among the many Ribbentrop met in London and invited to attend ..."It would be interesting to compare Diana Mosley's 1936 Olympics with Channon's. Channon was one of the Englishmen invited by Ribbentrop. Channon loved parties, and Hitler's top henchmen-- who were also top rivals-- had big parties ready to entertain.
Russell wrote: "The King’s Peace – C V Wedgwood (1955)In 1637, while the Thirty Years War raged on the continent, the British Isles were peaceful and prosperous, and Charles Stuart called himself the happiest Ki..."
Charles 1st and his Anglican agenda was a nightmare for the three kingdoms, when his father James, had managed to deal quite carefully and cynically with the Presbyterians)(or Calvinists) north of the border.
His Archbishop of Canterbury, William Laud, is a man i see as responsible for a lot of the problems in the 1630s between the established church and dissenting Protestants. Laud remains a very controversial figure
Mod
It seems that Channon had no more interest in sport than Diana did, but their attitude to the rest of the entertainment appears quite different.
Diana and Unity stayed with the Goebbelses at their country house (which had belonged to a Jewish family).
Every day a car was sent to take them to the games. Luckily, Diana reported, their seats were a long way from those of their hosts, so as soon as they got there they could wander off; Diana thought watching athletics was 'the very essence of boredom'... Diana was always dismissive about the Olympic fortnight, describing it as dull ... Yet other foreign observers describe a mesmerising show of extravagance throughout ... The American ambassador ... sent dispatches home ... how can they pay for all this? he kept asking.Diana's remarks about
this orgy of ostentation were surprisingly colourless ... she said they went to 'several of those awfully large rather dull receptions the Germans like'. Memory plays strange tricks... Chips Channon had no bashfulness in telling his readers about playtime with the nazis ..., but Diana cultivated a more serious political stance. ... Such extravaganzas would not have been much to Diana's taste anyway.
AB76 wrote: "Russell wrote: "The King’s Peace" ..."Charles 1st and his Anglican agenda was a nightmare for the three kingdoms...His Archbishop of Canterbury, William Laud, is a man i see as responsible for a lot of the problems in the 1630s between the established church and dissenting Protestants. Laud remains a very controversial figure.""
I’m learning a lot. I knew about Laud but not much about what he actually did. The detail here is engrossing. I’m wondering if we’re going to find that, while religious issues were predominant in Scotland, it is money that was the more immediate cause of the conflagration in England – because the English Puritans pressured by Laud’s measures had an alternative: every year they left in their thousands for New England. I’ve been dipping into an old, late Victorian, general history, by JRR Green (the first ever history of England with illustrations)) and there are pages and pages on the migration. CVW does mention that Charles was concerned that he and his ministers seemed unable to impose religious correctness in the faraway colonies.
I’m learning a lot. I knew about Laud but not much about what he actually did. The detail here is engrossing. I’m wondering if we’re going to find that, while religious issues were predominant in Scotland, it is money that was the more immediate cause of the conflagration in England – because the English Puritans pressured by Laud’s measures had an alternative: every year they left in their thousands for New England. I’ve been dipping into an old, late Victorian, general history, by JRR Green (the first ever history of England with illustrations)) and there are pages and pages on the migration. CVW does mention that Charles was concerned that he and his ministers seemed unable to impose religious correctness in the faraway colonies.
Russell wrote: "AB76 wrote: "Russell wrote: "The King’s Peace" ..."Charles 1st and his Anglican agenda was a nightmare for the three kingdoms...His Archbishop of Canterbury, William Laud, is a man i see as respons..."My readings about Laud came from a study of the Civil War, various great books i read looked at the way this ArchBishop of Canterbury poisioned the well of a country that was beginning to become quite diverse religiously. The dissenting groups were gaining a voice in certain circles and they hadnt yet become a problem for the established church (after the restoration in 1660, dissenters had a tough time, less through violence, more through legislation) But Laud was almost tone deaf it seems in trying to restore Catholic style elements, though he was no Catholic ofc, making the Star Chamber very unpopular and basically trying to put the dissenters back in their box in certain wys)
its quite hard to quantify the strength of Puritan numbers in the 1630s, they seem to have had an influence higher than their numbers and were predominantly an educated, middle class group, with a significant merchant presence. Some see the City of London during the Civil War as a Puritan strongpoint, hard working, individualists/mercantile capitalists, fiercly opposed to Lauds reforms and the established church. (estimates are that maybe 20% of the population of England was Puritan, though of course many had fled to the USA or Holland, so the number in the 1600-1630 period could have been higher)
I always have seen the Presbyterian situation in Scotland far more linked to a national feeling and calling, than in the post-Henrician reformation situation in England. There was always a small presbyterian english presence, especially in some of the Civil War parliaments but very different to the Scottish strain of Calvinism
It was interesting to see when King Charles the 3rd read his proclamations in September, that he promised to defend the Presbyterian faith in Scotland, a throwback to the days you are reading about Russell, where the Presbyterian Kirk was making its first mark on scottish life.
Goodness, I've just seen the predicted weather for the US this week. Stay safe, everyone. (And as warm as possible.)
Two interesting translations from me, the first from Iceland.. Animal Life by Auður Ava Ólafsdóttir translated from the Icelandic by Brian FitzGibbon.
Dýja is an Icelandic midwife with experience. Not only were her female ancestors midwives, but, in the run up to Christmas, with a fierce Atlantic storm about to hit, she will deliver her 1,922nd baby.
But midwifery, which is to the forefront in the initial part of the novel, shuffles into the background as the book continues. It becomes a metaphor for Ólafsdóttir to reflect on the the precariousness and harshness of life on the planet.
Dýja receives blow-by-blow details of the approaching storm from her sister who is a meteorologist, as the whole country fears its arrival. Not many years ago this may be looked at as a dystopian scenario, but now, a population terror-stricken by an approaching storm is a relatively common event.
Dýja lives in an apartment she has inherited from grandaunt Fífa. Fifa died at 93, four years before the novel begins. She was an envionmentalist and wrote three manuscripts, which Dýja discovers and tries to make sense of; they concern animal life and their extinction due to climate change, and the history of midwifery.
When all strands come together, and with a particularly powerful final page, there is much to admire in this novel.. but, with so much going on, the ingenuity comes at a cost, the key characters are hard to warm to, they, and other of the human aspects, are emotionally quite bleak.
Gothic Tales by Arthur Conan Doyle is an excellent collection of stories from OUPI've read six of the stories and they all are brilliant, well written, pieces of late Victorian literature. While they are no ghost stories per se, they do involve the underworld, the mysterious and elements of the supernatural, in well paced 20-30 page texts.
I was interested in returning to non-Sherlock works by this author after reading his short novel The Tragedy of the Korosko set in 1890s Africa. For a short novel it felt much longer and was so well composed and arranged.
Comparing Conan-Doyle to MR James or Arthur Machen is favourable, all three are firstly the master of telling a tale and setting a scene. Its not a skill that is easily come by and can go very wrong over a set of short stories but these three British writers are masters of their craft in the unsettling nestling amid the familiar.
and Kibogo by Scholastique Mukasonga translated from the French (Rwanda) by Mark Polizzotti.
This is the story, of rather four stories as one, of two outcasts from a tormented Rwandan village who try to save their country.
Though the genocide of the 1990s is a fresh and tragic memory, the drought, famine and war of the 1940s and 50s also brought huge devastation to the country. It is here when the tale begins, when five old men pluck up the courage to consult Mukamwezi, a pagan priestess disowned by the community for her faithfulness to deified Kibogo, a self-sacrificing prince.
From this story the others grow amidst a background of superstition, persecution and faith. A defrocked seminary student, Akayezu, joins forces with Mukamwezi, both convinced that only Kibogo with bring salvation.
This is a novel of legends about legend, or the power of story-telling. How, for example, the story of Kibogo becomes legend, as it resonates across generations to provide hope for those villagers who refuse to conform to the European missionaries.
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Season’s greetings to all! with one of my daughter’s calendar drawings to end the year. 2023 will start for Weekly TLS on Monday 9 January.
On a serious and very topical note, Andy has been reading Casablanca Story by In Koli Jean Bofane translated from the French (DR Congo) by Bill Johnston.AB76 says Doig was originally recommended by MK: Scarletnoir continues with the works of Juan Marsé, originally recommended by AB76, his most recent read being Shanghai Nights (transl. Nick Caistor)Robert has "been reading books set in the 1930s and during the Second World War."
FrancesBurgundy's reading is also around the same period: If you want some end of year thrills, CCCubbon has some suggestions:I've read her Vik/Stubo series and the Hanne Wilhelmsen series and will try these.
Greenfairy has readSpeaking of books of the year, Andy has this:Have the rest of you identified books of the year?
Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays, whatever phrase of good wishes and goodwill is appropriate. 😃🎄🎁🍀⛄
I hope everyone has the festive time that suits them with plenty of good reading as well!