Reading the 20th Century discussion

Forgive me if I am wrong, but I don't think we have a thread for the Backlisted podcast? If so, let me know and I will delete this.

I was listening this morning to the latest episode and wondered whether anyone has read anything by Rose Ruane who was a guest and whose novel Birding has been highly lauded by the presenters?

I haven't read anything by Ruane but have Birding on my watch list: I would have got the recommendation from either The Guardian or LitHub both of which I find generally reliable.

Thanks, RC. I have also added Birding to my TBR list.

We don't have a dedicated Backlisted Podcast thread Susan though I quite often post about it.


I set up, or add to the existing thread, of whichever author/book is being discussed in a specific episode.

I pondered that but, as the author could not be described as a favourite, I thought a podcast thread might be good. A few of us do listen to it.

Absolutely

I was at Womad this weekend, and saw Backlisted live. One of the books they were discussing was Cain's Jawbone by Torquemada; Has anyone here actually read this? The book itself is a puzzle; a murder mystery which you can figure out if you can get the 100 pages into the right order. It is fiendishly clever and only a handful of people have ever solved it, so I'm wondering if it's worth my time, I myself have no hope of solving it.

I've heard of it Tania but that's it - no insights to offer I'm afraid


In other Backlisted news, Agatha C is the latest author to be discussed. See my post on our AC favourite author thread....

https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...

I have the first Unbound boxed version of Cain's Jawbone as I was one of the crowdfunders, but I have never seriously tried to solve it and suspect I wouldn't get very far.

Tania wrote: "I was at Womad this weekend, and saw Backlisted live. One of the books they were discussing was Cain's Jawbone by Torquemada; Has anyone here actually read this? The book itself if ..."

Only a few people have solved it. John Finnemore, the comedian, solved in Lockdown and now he with Unbound have come up with a new one.

I'd never heard of it but it sounds intriguing - convinced that as a Christie afficionado I should give it a go!

Roman Clodia wrote: "I'd never heard of it but it sounds intriguing - convinced that as a Christie afficionado I should give it a go!"

I'd love to hear how this goes for you if you do. I would be hopeless, I rarely even get Christie's solutions in a linear book.

Sonia wrote: "Only a few people have solved it. John Finnemore, the comedian, solved in Lockdown and now he with Unbound have come up with a new one..

They did mention this; perhaps it will be a bit easier.

Hugh wrote: "I have the first Unbound boxed version of Cain's Jawbone as I was one of the crowdfunders, but I have never seriously tried to solve it and suspect I wouldn't get very far."

A lovely thing to have even if you never read a word.

I certainly wouldn't be able to solve it. I am hopeless at these things. Loved seeing Backlisted at Foyles though. I love podcasts and am going to see David Hepworth and Mark Ellen at Waterstones in the Autumn. Really looking forward to it and know that Backlisted and Word in Your Ear are good friends and often guest in each others episodes.

I heard about it through the cryptic crossword community, not through anyone here. Torquemada was primarily a crossword setter.

My husband is great at crosswords and anagrams. Not me, sadly!

I'm guessing not the Torquemada of Spanish Inquisition fame. Lol

I have just noticed that Andy Miller has a new book coming out Letting Go of the Balloon: Reading, Writing, Looking, Listening and Very Occasionally Living Dangerously, presumably a follow up from The Year of Reading Dangerously: How Fifty Great Books Saved My Life by Miller, Andy (2014) Hardcover

I have just realised that I have never read The Year of Reading Dangerously: How Fifty Great Books Saved My Life by Miller, Andy (2014) Hardcover despite owning it. Would anybody like to read it as a buddy? I plan to read it soonish anyway, but if anyone else is interested, I thought it would be a good group read.

I've already read it Susan and then gave it away. I enjoyed it very much though took exception to some of his comments e.g. inexplicably anti-Somerset Maugham

I should say Letting Go of the Balloon is not out until next summer, so there is no rush to read The Year of Reading Dangerously, if anyone is interested but doesn't want to do so for a while.

Blurb:
A working father whose life no longer feels like his own discovers the transforming powers of great (and downright terrible) literature in this laugh-out-loud memoir.

Andy Miller had a job he quite liked, a family he loved and no time at all for reading. Or so he kept telling himself. But, no matter how busy or tired he was, something kept niggling at him. Books. Books he’d always wanted to read. Books he’d said he’d read, when he hadn’t. Books that whispered the promise of escape from the 6.44 to London. And so, with the turn of a page, began a year of reading that was to transform Andy’s life completely.

This book is Andy’s inspirational and very funny account of his expedition through literature: classic, cult and everything in-between. Crack the spine of your unread ‘Middlemarch’, discover what ‘The Da Vinci Code’ and ‘Moby-Dick’ have in common (everything, surprisingly) and knock yourself out with a new-found enthusiasm for Tolstoy, Douglas Adams and ‘The Epic of Gilgamesh’. ‘The Year of Reading Dangerously’ is a reader’s odyssey and it begins with opening this book…

I just looked at my four star review of The Year of Reading Dangerously: How Fifty Great Books (and Two Not-So-Great Ones) Saved My Life to remind myself what I thought...


https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

4/5


It is very good and well worth reading

Sounds good, Nigeyb. I look forward to reading it and to reading his sequel.

The Cooler (1974) by George Markstein came up on a recent Backlisted podcast. Been out of print for years until this new limited edition....


https://plumeriapics.co.uk/shop/ols/p...


Needless to stay I ordered it straight away


George who? George Markstein, co-creator of The Prisoner with Patrick McGoohan



First published in 1974, and set in the crucial few days before D-Day, George Markstein’s The Cooler is a gripping World War II spy novel described by the Daily Mirror as “a cracking, bitterly cold thriller about spies who can no longer be trusted.”

Although long out of print, The Cooler is now being republished as a limited edition paperback with an introduction by Rick Davy – keeper of the Prisoner hub The Unmutual – and a striking cover by Time Tomorrow. Only 1,000 copies will be published, available exclusively from PlumeriaPics.co.uk from 29 August – what would have been Markstein’s 98th birthday.

In the vital few days leading up to D-Day, Captain James Loach, Special Operations Executive, is set to embark on his latest mission, Operation Jester. Then comes the message: Operation Jester has been called off, and all the other participants killed. Suddenly, Loach finds himself assigned to ‘The Cooler’, a station somewhere in the remote Scottish countryside, where spies who know too much are sent. There, he will find that one of his fellow inmates is a highly trained and extremely deadly double-agent. Can Loach find the traitor among the nest of spies, before word of the impending D-Day operation is leaked to the Nazis?

A must for any fan of The Prisoner, Danger Man and Markstein himself, The Cooler is only available in this 1,000 copy limited edition and copies are likely to sell fast.


Here's my review...

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

I obtained a used edition of The Cooler. Is this a buddy read here?
(Nigeyb is a good influencer).

It's not a buddy read Susan MG but I'm happy to discuss it having just read it - so could set it up if you like

You never know, others might be inspired too

Some interesting books discussed on the latest Winter Reading episode


I am particularly keen to read....

Earth to Moon: A Memoir by Moon Unit Zappa

Base Notes: The Scents of a Life by Adelle Stripe

The Girls by John Bowen

All My Precious Madness by Mark Bowles



All the titles discussed sound varying degrees of fab. I've only read the Rooney which is up to her usual high standard


Here's the full list....

Fat Time and Other Stories by Jeffery Renard Allen (Graywolf Press)

The Girls: A Story of Village Life by John Bowen (McNally Editions)

All My Precious Madness by Mark Bowles (Galley Beggar)

The North Road by Rob Cowen (Heinemann Hutchinson)

Box Office Poison: Hollywood's Story in a Century of Flops by Tim Robey (Faber)

Intermezzo by Sally Rooney (Faber)

Black and White Baby by Bobby Short (Dodd, Mead and Company) - https://archive.org/details/blackwhit...

The Fraud by Zadie Smith (Penguin)

Base Notes: The Scents of a Life by Adelle Stripe (White Rabbit)

Earth to Moon: A Memoir by Moon Unit Zappa (White Rabbit)



Happy new year! We kick off 2025 - and Backlisted's tenth anniversary year - with our traditional Winter Reading episode, in which Andy, John and Nicky recommend a selection of favourite books to see you through the next few months: fiction and non-fiction, old, new and not yet published. "May you go farther sooner."

https://www.backlisted.fm/episodes/230

I have Earth to Moon on my list too.

I saw that edition of The Girls by John Bowen (any relation?) and fancy reading that.

I've heard good things about All My Precious Madness but sounds a bit blokey for me.

I've read Zadie Smith's The Fraud which does interesting things with the idea of 'the Victorian English Novel'.

Thanks RC





My library has a copy of…


All My Precious Madness


…so will definitely give that a try, plus I’m not averse to a bit of blokey

I also listened and want to read:

All My Precious Madness and Earth to Moon and possibly The Fraud.

Does anyone want to buddy read Earth to Moon at some point? I have it on Audible.

Susan wrote:


"Does anyone want to buddy read Earth to Moon at some point? I have it on Audible."

Yes. Deffo

Count me in

When's good for you?

You seem totally engulfed by reads you've committed to at the moment so guessing you'd prefer the Spring?

Your call

Ben wanted to read it too I think? March? I definitely need to play catch-up as per usual!

March works for me


Ben?

Yes.

Proust and Belleflour might crowd it out, although actually it may end up as a perfect palate cleanser alongside those two. ; )

I've put it on library reserve.

Great news.

I have set up a thread.

Fabulous new episode out today



Here’s the deets……


A Backlisted Special dedicated to biographies and memoirs, with books by Nancy Mitford, Roger Lewis, Elizabeth Jane Howard, P.D. James and Jean Rhys.

John Mitchinson talks to the writer and friend of the show Laura Thompson about five of her favourite books – two of them biographies (Madame de Pompadour by Nancy Mitford and The Real Life of Laurence Olivier by Roger Lewis) and three memoirs (Slipstream by Elizabeth Jane Howard; Time to Be in Earnest by P.D. James and Smile Please by Jean Rhys).

The discussion explores the difference between writing about someone else’s life and writing about your own; the various motivations that lead writers to produce memoirs, and the relationship between both forms and fiction. Laura Thompson is herself the writer of both biography and memoir. She has written a life of Agatha Christie, and books about the Mitford sisters and the Lord Lucan case, as well as a memoir of her grandmother, The Last Landlady. This is her fifth appearance on Backlisted, after joining us for episodes on Nancy Mitford, Antonia White, P.D. James and Agatha Christie.

Books mentioned
Nancy Mitford - Madame de Pompadour; Love in a Cold Climate
Roger Lewis - The Real Life of Laurence Olivier; Erotic Vagrancy: Everything about Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor
Elizabeth Jane Howard - Slipstream
P.D. James - Time to Be in Earnest
Jean Rhys - Smile Please
Laura Thompson - The Last Landlady; Take Six Girls: The Lives of the Mitford Sisters

Loved that episode. I have to agree that Nancy Mitford's non-fiction is fabulous. I am also keen to read the Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor biography, there is also a reissue of the Peter Sellers biography later in the year. I am a huge fan of P.D. James, so would also enjoy that one, plus Slipstream and have read most of Laura Thompson's books. So many new additions to my TBR list. I will let you know what they add to the list in Locklisted, at the weekend.

Thanks Susan


I have that Sellers biography. Must read it

Hello everyone. As promised, here is the Locklisted supplement to our special episode of Backlisted on biography and memoir. Thank you for your excellent recommendations, we are collating them and will post the full list on here. In the meantime, kick back and enjoy Andy, John and Nicky reflecting on the process of transforming experience into art and the nature of truth! Books subjected to scrutiny include, variously but not randomly, The Military Orchid by Jocelyn Brooke, The Climb by Chris Froome and An Encyclopaedia of Myself by Jonathan Meades; and we listen to profiles in song recorded by Pete Astor, Scritti Politti and Little John & Billy Boyo.

The next Backlisted book has been announced on Locklisted as:
A Compass Error

'A powerful and merciless book – a classic coming-of-age novel' -- Hilary Mantel

'Wide windows, not yet shuttered at that hour, opened from the circular white-washed room on slopes of olives and the distant shimmering bay. Flavia turned seventeen, alone, entirely alone for the first time in her life . . .'

As the Second World War looms, Flavia is living in a small village in the South of France. She studies for her Oxford entrance, swims in the sea, eats at local cafés, and lives with the confidence and relish of youth.

Drawn into the demi-monde of artists and writers, Flavia awakes to the pleasures and complications of adult life. Her world is overturned when she becomes fascinated by Andrée – beautiful, sophisticated, yet manipulative – and is caught up in a devastating intrigue.

This is a dramatic companion novel to A Favourite of the Gods, also published by Daunt Books.

This looks good - I read Bedford 's Jigsaw: An Unsentimental Education: A Biographical Novel as a teen but it was already out of print and I picked up a second hand copy randomly as I liked the cover. So nice to see she's being republished.

Thanks Susan


I will listen with interest. The blurb suggests it should hit my sweet spot

Roman Clodia wrote: "This looks good - I read Bedford 's Jigsaw: An Unsentimental Education: A Biographical Novel as a teen but it was already out of print and I picked up a second hand copy randomly as ..."

I keep meaning to tackle that, it follows on from a A Legacy which is definitely worth reading.

Susan wrote: "The next Backlisted book has been announced on Locklisted as:
A Compass Error

'A powerful and merciless book – a classic coming-of-age novel' -..."

I have the NYRB Classics edition which contains both volumes A Favourite of the Gods and A Compass Error

We should nominate a Bedford as a group read soon. I don't want to suggest a buddy at the moment as we've got a lot going on. But I have the feeling she's someone a lot of us will like.

I read A Compass Error in 2023. For me it was middling. From recollection I think I enjoyed the writing more than the story, but I would be up to giving Bedford another go.

Thanks so much for this. Sybille Bedford has also been on my mind and was going to be nominating her soon in another group. I have only read Jigsaw, so this interests me.

Backlisted this week was about What Remains by Hannah Arendt. I have Eichmann in Jerusalem: A Report on the Banality of Evil but have never read it. Perhaps I need to bump that up my tbr list.