Ersatz TLS discussion

Hello, everyone, and welcome to the new thread.
Here we are in the last month of the year. As always, good reading to all 📚📖!

Thanks again Gpfr.

Thanks for the new thread, Gp...

and also thanks to you and to give.. for your confirmation that the TV series van der Valk was based on a series of books... I think I 'sort-of' knew that but had forgotten as I didn't remember the author... I certainly have never read any of them.

give... I'm sure you are right that most medieval kings were 'bullies', though there were exceptions, including 'Hywel Dda':

"Hywel ap Cadell, commonly known as Hywel Dda, which translates to Howel the Good in English,[1] was a Welsh king who ruled the southern Welsh kingdom of Deheubarth and eventually came to rule most of Wales. He... proceeded to gain control over the entire country from Prestatyn to Pembroke.[2]...

Hywel is highly esteemed among other medieval Welsh rulers.[3] His name is particularly linked with the codification of traditional Welsh law, which were thenceforth known as the Laws of Hywel Dda. The latter part of his name (Dda, lit. "Good") refers to the fact that his laws were just and good. The historian Dafydd Jenkins* sees in them compassion rather than punishment, plenty of common sense and recognition of the rights of women.[3] Hywel Dda was a well-educated man even by modern standards, having a good knowledge of Welsh, Latin and English.[3]"

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hywel_Dda

*Dafydd Jenkins was the father of my childhood friend*, who lived just down the road... so I treat his views with due respect!

*We still exchange greetings and speak on the phone every so often, and at Christmas! he is the person I have known for the most years, apart from my mother (102 and still going...).

The Last Town on Earth by Thomas Mullen

I was halfway into a detailed review of this when I hit the wrong key and it all vanished, so a short version.

This deals with an epidemic, but not COVID... the 'Spanish 'flu'. It is set in 1917-18 in Washington state, USA. A small town decides to self-isolate to keep the flu out.... Published in 2006, this was prescient, not a cash-in...

It's quite good up to a point, but more for its historical background than as a novel, as it attempts to refer to too many political and social currents without effectively synthesising them into a fictional narrative. I much preferred Mullen's more recent 'Darktown' trilogy dealing with Atlanta's first black cops, which was excellent. Read that instead...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Las...

scarletnoir wrote: "Thanks for the new thread, Gp...

and also thanks to you and to give.. for your confirmation that the TV series van der Valk was based on a series of books... I think I 'sort-of' knew that but had ..."

Thanks for that interesting post scarlet. Another fact regarding the rights of women was that they had a lot more authority in Saxon times than later, after the Norman Conquest, when the Catholic/Christian church I believe led to a much different attitude to women's rights, or lack thereof. One of the clauses in Magna Carta was that widows could not be forced to remarry against their will and were able to control their finances (theoretically at least). It is a great shame on the nation that the first Married Women's Property act did not come into law until 1882 .

The Married Women's Property Act 1882 was a UK Parliament act that gave married women the right to own and control their own property. The act allowed women to:
Keep any money they earned as their own, separate from their husband's
Have complete personal control over all of their property
Protect their property from court attachments or income tax attachments that their husband might have
Other Married Women's Property Acts include:
Married Women's Property Act 1964
Allowed wives to share housekeeping money and any property derived from that money equally with their husbands
Married Women's Property Act 1925
Allowed married women to acquire, hold, and dispose of any interest in property as if they were not married
Married Women's Property Act 1907
Allowed married women to dispose of real or personal property without their husband's permission
In the UK, people are generally entitled to acquire and hold property in their own right during marriage, including land, savings, investments, and any property they owned before the marriage.

giveusaclue wrote: "Another fact regarding the rights of women was that they had a lot more authority in Saxon times than later..."

Peter Tremayne's Sister Fidelma mystery series is interesting from that point of view. From 7th century Ireland, she is both a religieuse and an advocate.

Gpfr wrote: "giveusaclue wrote: "Another fact regarding the rights of women was that they had a lot more authority in Saxon times than later..."

Peter Tremayne's Sister Fidelma mystery series is..."

Another to go on the list! Thanks, and thanks again for the thread.

I've now finished William Boyd, The Romantic.
One of Boyd's 'whole-life' novels and, as I said before, a very dramatic event-filled life it is, too. In addition to what I've said before, he writes bestsellers, makes beer in the US, discovers — or not — the source of the Nile, and much much more, never forgetting his first great love. Boyd sweeps us along on a most enjoyable ride.

I've also read Elizabeth Strout's, Tell Me Everything. I like her books so much.
In this one we're in Maine with Lucy Barton, Olive Kitteridge and above all, Bob Burgess. Lucy and Olive (who is now in a retirement community) tell each other stories, Lucy and Bob have an amitié amoureuse, Bob, who rarely practises law now, takes on the defence of a man accused of killing his mother ... So quietly and finely written.
I loved The Burgess Boys, where we met Bob and his brother, Jim, and learnt of events recalled in this book. I must read it again.

All change with me, minus the Mansfield diaries, where her developing TB is causing her so many issues and an overwhelming fear of death

I will be starting in next few hours or tommorow, these two books:

Death Comes For the Archbishop(Cather) set in mid 19c New Mexico, which a catholicx publication deemed the best catholic novel by a protestant.

The Last Colony by Phillipe Sands, looking at the Chagos Islands situation since the 1960s and topical as they have just bene handed back to Mauritius(unless Trump gets it reversed)

Absolutely nothing to do with books but I hope you enjoy these:

https://news.sky.com/story/wildlife-p...

Gpfr wrote: "...I've also read Elizabeth Strout's, Tell Me Everything. I like her books so much...

Thanks for the new thread, GP.

I’ve read a few by Elizabeth Strout and was impressed each time (Olive Kitteridge, Olive Again, Lucy Barton), but The Burgess Boys failed to hold my interest. There was one difference: it was an audio version. I think I’d better try it in print.

giveusaclue wrote: "Absolutely nothing to do with books but I hope you enjoy these:

https://news.sky.com/story/wildlife-p..."

I'd be stumped for picking the best.

Virgin Soil – Ivan Turgenev (1877)

The last, longest, and darkest of his novels. He brings two worlds into collision. One has the familiar landscape of a country estate – the head of the house, a government official, who is “a liberal, and therefore superior to all prejudices”; his lady wife, who is in love with her own loveliness; the poor relations living on charity, one of them a strong-willed young woman; and the neighbours who visit for dinner and cards, including a self-satisfied gent given to throwing out provocatively reactionary remarks, e.g. that he esteems two things only – Roederer champagne, and the knout.

Then there’s a second grouping, of discontented radicals on the fringes of society who look forward to “the event” and are always planning “to act”. Their intense conversations are edgy and ineffectual, and the cause they believe in is largely left vague. We learn that part of the plan is to become “simplified”, that is, to become one with the peasants – who remain uncomprehending.

The two worlds meet when one of the radicals, a brooding student who secretly writes poetry, is taken to the estate for the summer, to be a tutor for the couple’s young son.

Turgenev’s message, and the meaning of the metaphorical title, is that Russia will never be cured of its ills by a single dramatic act. The better course for those who wish to change society is to plough deep, as one would with untilled land. If, as it seemed to me, his usual urbane and ironical style works less well with this material, and the story does rather wander in the middle section, it is still thoughtful on contemporary conditions; and as ever there is the masterly interplay of human relations, especially once the student and the young woman move into the same orbit.

The introduction to the NYRB edition (trans. Constance Garnett) gives a good picture of the social context, and suggests that the expatriate Turgenev understood the outlook of younger Russians much better than his critics allowed. For once it is an introduction that does not give away the plot.

Logger24 wrote: "giveusaclue wrote: "Absolutely nothing to do with books but I hope you enjoy these:

https://news.sky.com/story/wildlife-p..."

I'd be stum..."

Me too.

Gpfr wrote: "Hello, everyone, and welcome to the new thread.
Here we are in the last month of the year. As always, good reading to all 📚📖!"

Thanks for the new thread. I've started reading Robertson Davies' Fifth Business, the first in his Deptford Trilogy, which I first read in the early 1980s. Davies has assumed the voice of Dunstan Ramsey, a crusty Scots-Canadian teacher and author who appears in several of his books. I'm getting back into the voice...

Robert wrote: "I've started reading Robertson Davies' Fifth Business, the first in his Deptford Trilogy, which I first read in the early 1980s...."

I hope you enjoy it as much as I did when I re-read it!

Razorblade Tears by SA Cosby.

This book/author had been recommended by a couple of online contacts whose views I respect and whose tastes often overlap with mine, but after the first two or three pages I began to wonder if this had been a mistake, with some clichéd and overwrought passages, for example:

“Do you have a son named Isiah Randolph?” (the cop) said finally. That was when he knew. He knew it like he knew when a fight was about to break out in the yard. Like he knew when a crackhead was going to try to stab him for a bag back in the day. Like he knew, just knew in his gut, that his homeboy Luther had seen his last sunset that night he’d gone home with that girl from the Satellite Bar.

It was like a sixth sense. A preternatural ability to sense a tragedy seconds before it became a reality.

Fortunately, things pick up quickly after that, when the narrative gains pace, and I enjoyed the ride. As usual, there are moments where credulity is stretched - to put it mildly - but Cosby is an entertaining storyteller if you like this sort of thing, and aren't put off by the language and violence.

The tale concerns two men - Ike (black) and Buddy Lee (white), whose sons - who were married to each other - have been brutally murdered. Both have done serious jail time, and have a history of violence. Despite their distaste for the gay lifestyle, they loved their sons and decide to join forces to deliver retribution to the perpetrators.

As the story progresses, it becomes clear that this isn't just a tale of revenge: hidden in plain sight is also a plea - or rather an argument - for tolerance between black and white and from straights to LGBTQ+ individuals. The two men, despite their initial prejudices, develop an understanding and sympathy which seemed improbable at the outset.

I certainly liked it well enough to read more by Cosby, so a recommendation from me.

Logger24 wrote: "Virgin Soil – Ivan Turgenev (1877)

The last, longest, and darkest of his novels. He brings two worlds into collision. One has the familiar landscape of a country estate – the head of the house, a ..."

Oh, that's a great review. I think Turgenev might be more most consistent favorite of the old Russians, but I have not yet read Virgin Soil.

November reads on WWR closed for comments on Dec 4???

Logger24 wrote: "November reads on WWR closed for comments on Dec 4???"

Not even seen it yet!

Probably an error which will be corrected... the G seems short of (competent) moderators nowadays, and comments close earlier than they used to - on the Thursday quiz and Tim Dowling, for example.

Paul wrote: "Logger24 wrote: "Virgin Soil – Ivan Turgenev (1877)

The last, longest, and darkest of his novels. He brings two worlds into collision. One has the familiar landscape of a country estate – the head..."

To both: although Dostoyevsky is my all-time favourite, I like Turgenev a lot as well, and was surprised and rather amused to learn only in recent years about their mutual animosity. Both great writers, but very different characters... and also, I suppose, a degree of jealousy may have played a part as we see often between leading lights in all sorts of endeavours.

As you both seem to like 19th. C. Russian writing, I strongly recommend Herzen's Childhood, Youth and Exile.

Paul wrote: "Logger24 wrote: "Virgin Soil – Ivan Turgenev (1877)

The last, longest, and darkest of his novels. He brings two worlds into collision. One has the familiar landscape of a country estate – the head..."

I really enjoyed Virgin Soil, i like both Turgenev and Dostoyevsky, though keener on the diaries and non-fiction of Tolstoy than his writing.

Turgenev is far lighter of touch than his fellow two greats and also a lot more western orientated.

In the modern fiction doldrums for 10 days, mostly as i dont like modern fiction and also as i have had an unusually reliable year of modern reads, which suprised me

So after a few false starts and re-shelving or re-piling, i have settled for Allan Massie's 1981 tale of Italy The Death of Men, its hardly "modern" but i do count anything past 1980 as modern

I like it so far, a novel of the"Ann Di Piombo", where Italy faced a lot of internal strife and terror, and the remarkable route of the PCI (Italian Communists) to further moderation under the charismatic Enrico Berlinguer(just found this article on him from Oct in the G:https://www.theguardian.com/world/202.... I have always admired Berlinguer


Similarities in the plot of the Moro case intrigue me and it is already a thinking novel, asking questions

scarletnoir wrote: "Logger24 wrote: "November reads on WWR closed for comments on Dec 4???"

Not even seen it yet!

Probably an error which will be corrected... the G seems short of (competent) moderators nowadays, a..."

I think that the journalists are on strike today (wednesday and Thursda) which is the plausible reason for the comments being closed, over the sale of the Observer....

Tam wrote: "scarletnoir wrote: "Logger24 wrote: "November reads on WWR closed for comments on Dec 4???"

Not even seen it yet!

Probably an error which will be corrected... the G seems short of (competent) mo..."

well spotted Tam, i hope the strike prevails and they dont sell the Observer. I dont mind Tortoise media but it will be a less stable future at the hands of the market, rather than sheltered somewhat by the scott trust

I liked your reply Paul to my post on my reading changing from 20s to 40s.

I think any keen reader will see a widening of their palette over time, due to the fact we are clearly all curious and interested in reading, though maybe some retreat to a small range of themes and series of novels to return the constant serotonin hit of a good book?

Happy birthday too, or is 49 a few months off? I thought you were a few months younger than me actually, i'm 49 in Feb.

AB76 wrote: "In the modern fiction doldrums for 10 days, mostly as i dont like modern fiction and also as i have had an unusually reliable year of modern reads, which suprised me

So after a few false starts an..."

I have in the past read the Imperial series and enjoyed it. More recently I read the Bordeaux series, and really enjoyed that. You may wish to have a look.

https://www.fantasticfiction.com/m/al...

Tam wrote: "I think that the journalists are on strike today.."

Good point, Tam - you are almost certainly right here.

giveusaclue wrote: "AB76 wrote: "In the modern fiction doldrums for 10 days, mostly as i dont like modern fiction and also as i have had an unusually reliable year of modern reads, which suprised me

So after a few fa..."

thanks!

Tam wrote: "I think that the journalists are on strike today..."

Thanks, Tam. That certainly explains it.

The book I’ve been reading fitfully, when not diverted by great novels, is To the Finland Station. I’d forgotten how far it is a succession of biographies, which Wilson retells with zest. Currently it’s Bakunin, and it’s not far short of incredible. The eldest of ten children, growing up idyllically on a country estate, all tender feelings and intellectual excitement, as if prefiguring Turgenev or Chekhov, he incited each of them to revolt against their father/their husband/their lover, while he himself was passionately in love with one of his sisters. Though eventually he married, he remained impotent all his life (incest taboo, says Wilson). He turned his volcanic energy first into immersive Hegelianism - his literary group’s idea of fun was to toast the Hegelian categories, each in turn, from Pure Existence to the Divine Idea - and then to acts of absolute destruction, for which he blamed, who else, his despotic mother. I’m agog for the next bit.

Logger24 wrote: "Currently it’s Bakunin, and it’s not far short of incredible. The eldest of ten children, growing up idyllically on a country estate, all tender feelings and intellectual excitement, as if prefiguring Turgenev or Chekhov, he incited each of them to revolt against their father/their husband/their lover, while he himself was passionately in love with one of his sisters. Though eventually he married, he remained impotent all his life (incest taboo, says Wilson)... "

Oh dear, oh dear... now you have prodded me into a rabbit hole which I may or may not disappear into for some considerable time... but not today! Let's keep this short as ATM I don't know enough about the subjects, and with any luck will resist the temptation of "the hole" altogether. But, for the moment....

As soon as I saw the name 'Bakunin', some evil elf or fleeting memory suggested to me that he was in some way the inspiration (or one of them...) for Dostoyevsky's Stavrogin, even if Nechayev was intended as the original target for the satirical aspects of the novel.

So, of course, I consulted Dr Google (as one does) and discovered that an academic whose depth of knowledge on the subject is undoubtedly far greater than my own has had the same idea: the blurb for Confronting Dostoevsky's "Demons": Anarchism and the Specter of Bakunin in Twentieth-Century Russia by James Goodwin states the following:

Although criticized at one time for its highly tendentious spirit, Dostoevsky’s Demons (1871-1872) has proven to be a novel of great polemical vitality. Originally inspired by a minor conspiratorial episode of the late 1860s, well after Dostoevsky’s death (1881) the work continued to earn both acclaim and contempt for its scathing caricature of revolutionists driven by destructive, anarchic aims. The text of Demons assumed new meaning in Russian literary culture following the Bolshevik triumph of 1917, when the reestablishment and expansion of centralized state power inevitably revived interest in the radical populist tendencies of Russia’s past, in particular the anarchist thought of Dostoevsky’s legendary contemporary, Mikhail Bakunin (1814-1876).
Confronting Dostoevsky’s ‘Demons’ is the first book to explore the life of Dostoevsky’s novel in light of disputes and controversies over Bakunin’s troubling legacy in Russia. Contrary to the traditional view, which assumes the obsolescence of Demons throughout much of the Communist period (1917-1991), this book demonstrates that the potential resurgence of Bakuninist thought actually encouraged reassessments of Dostoevsky’s novel. By exploring the different ideas and critical strategies that motivated opposing interpretations of the novel in post-revolutionary Russia, Confronting Dostoevsky’s ‘Demons’ reveals how the potential resurrection of Bakunin’s anti-authoritarian ethos fostered the return of a politically reactionary novel to the canon of Russian classics.

I was also delighted by this comment on Dostoyevsky - from Lenin, no less. Of course, I don't agree but it's a POV I can see can be justified:

(From "The Other Lenin" by Alexander Maysuryan. Moscow: 2006.) (Майсурян А. А. Другой Ленин. М., 2006.)

Lenin's opinion towards Nechaev was closely intertwined with Lenin's opinion on the "revolting, yet genius" Dostoevsky. Lenin decided not to read "The Demons" [...] Lenin admitted: ["Demons" is] Evidently reactionary filth, like Krestovsky's "Flock of Panurge", I have absolutely no desire to waste time on it. I have no need for such literature; what could it possibly give me? [...] I have no free time for this garbage."

Lenin held the author's other works in no higher regard. On "The Brothers Karamazov" along with "Demons" he expressed himself in this way: "I am familiar with the content of both these pungent works, and that is more than enough for me. I just about began reading the "Brothers Karamazov" and then dropped it: the scenes in the monastery made me sick."

Lenin did, though, read the novel "Crime and Punishment". One of his comrades remarked to him in the heat of an argument:

"One could easily arrive at Raskolnikov's "All is permitted" at this rate."

"What Raskolnikov?"

"Dostoevky's, from "Crime and Punishment".

Lenin followed up with unbridled contempt: "All is permitted"?! So we have come down to the sentiments and petty words of a soppy intellectual wishing to drown revolutionary questions in moralising vomit. Just which Raskolnikov are you talking about? The one who whacked the old money-lending bitch, or the one who clapped his forehead against the ground in penitent hysterics at the market-place later on? Perhaps [...] that sort of thing appeals to you? [...]

Trotsky remarked: "Nothing repulsed Lenin more than the slightest hint of sentimentality or psychological waffling."

This attitude was confirmed by Nadezhda Krupskaya (Lenin's wife): "He was very strict towards himself. But he despised digging and torturous self-analysis in the soul."
https://www.reddit.com/r/dostoevsky/c...

Aaargh!

Well, unwisely I continued to dig the subject as I was sure I'd seen a link from 'The Demons' to Bakunin before... and it's a well known one to the specialists:

The polemical vitality of Demons found perhaps its boldest expression in a literary and historical controversy of the early post-revolutionary years. On 25 February 1923, a group of Soviet scholars in Moscow heard an unexpectedly provocative lecture by one of Russia’s rising young philologists and specialists on Dostoevsky. Speaking before the Society for the Appreciation of Russian Letters at the Historical Museum, Leonid Grossman* (1888–1965) declared that Dostoevsky’s Demons, traditionally considered a depiction of “Nechaevism,” also served as the “first monograph” on the father of Russian anarchism, Mikhail Bakunin (1814–1876). Through his fictional Nikolai Stavrogin, Dostoevsky managed “to lift the mask from the face of Bakunin,” to reveal Bakunin’s true “spiritual nature,” and to resolve the “great mystery” of Bakunin’s personality. By demonstrating similarities between Stavrogin and his historical prototype, as well as Dostoevsky’s own interest in Bakunin, Grossman went on to define Dostoevsky’s novel as “one of the most outstanding interpretations” of Bakunin in world literature.5 The implication of Gross- man’s revelation would have been obvious to any politically conscious listener: according to Grossman’s reading, Dostoevsky managed not simply to condemn the “nihilist” spirit of a minor conspiracy, but also to demonize one of the pioneering advocates of international social revolution.

(From Goodwin's book.)

I'd consider buying it except that as a scholarly tome it presumably appeared in a small print run and (in the UK at least) is priced at some £77 plus carriage... so, maybe in another life.

*I thought that Grossman would merit a Wikipedia entry, so I went to have a look - but he doesn't... in the English version at any rate. The French, however, consider him worthy of this accolade:https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leonid_...

scarletnoir wrote: "Aaargh!

Well, unwisely I continued to dig the subject as I was sure I'd seen a link from 'The Demons' to Bakunin before..."

Fantastic, scarlet, thanks for all that. I’d been thinking it was time to re-read Demons (The Devils in my old Penguin/David Magarshack) and this is all the prompt I need. Also, I thought the name of Leonid Grossman was familiar, and the reference to the Memoirs of Anna Dostoevsky in the French Wikipedia entry explained it. I wonder if Wilson is going to make the Bakunin/Stavrogin link.

Always a tricky reading period for me, in a good way, as the xmas season breaks up the normal reading patterns and from 20th to last day of december, i tend to be reading less and being with family more

so i am unsure if i will read all that i aim to do but am enjoying the Cather novel and just ordered Jean Giono's A King Aloneto read after. I like the idea of the wintry, mountain setting of the Giono novel, the mystery and the fact it seems to be on similar theme to works by Swiss French writers like Ramuz and Chessex.

Logger24 wrote: "I’d been thinking it was time to re-read Demons (The Devils in my old Penguin/David Magarshack) and this is all the prompt I need. Also, I thought the name of Leonid Grossman was familiar, and the reference to the Memoirs of Anna Dostoevsky in the French Wikipedia entry explained it..."

I'm nearly certain that the Penguin Magarshak is also the version I read... those old Classics all had black spines iirc. I bought a version of Anna D.'s Memoirs about a year ago, but it's still on the TBR pile. It won't stay there forever, though.

scarletnoir wrote: "... I bought a version of Anna D.'s Memoirs about a year ago, but it's still on the TBR pile. It won't stay there forever, though.."

The Memoirs are a brilliant read. I think it was Berkley who first recommended them here.

“I wonder if Wilson is going to make the Bakunin/Stavrogin link.”

No, he doesn’t. Instead he picks up an idea of GB Shaw that Bakunin was the model for … Siegfried. Wagner met him in the street in Dresden at the time of the uprising in 1849, when Wagner was the conductor of the Dresden Opera. Bakunin had rushed to the city, and in the days following took a leading part in the defence against Prussian troops. Siegfried? Wilson says nothing further, moving on to tell the story of the terrible Nechaev, who when it comes to merciless revolutionary action makes Bakunin himself look anaemic.

Logger24 wrote: "scarletnoir wrote: "... I bought a version of Anna D.'s Memoirs about a year ago, but it's still on the TBR pile. It won't stay there forever, though.."

The Memoirs are a brilliant read. I think it was Berkley who first recommended them here...."

It was me 😉

Logger24 wrote: "Bakunin was the model for … Siegfried..."

I wonder if Bill is reading this? he might have something to add!

My knowledge of opera is slight, and mainly restricted to being able to recognise the better known parts - I often like the music but don't (usually) find the stories of much interest. As for Wagner, Siegfried's Funeral March is a piece I like a lot; by coincidence, I heard Siegfried's Idyll (possibly for the first time) on the radio yesterday.

There is a certain sadness in reading the later years of the Katherine Mansfield Journals and Letters

Spending time in Liguria in NW Italy, for her TB, which is getting worse, she is lonely, angry and depressed. She is staying with a ladyfriend who it seems she utterly loathes and finds the climate taxing, which makes me wonder why she or her friends chose NW Italy in winter, where the climate is not really that mild at all.

She mentions her aborted child and images of children, nightmares and a general sense that she is damned and death stalks her. It was heartwarming to see the visit of her father cheered her up a little as he hugged her and called her "my dear child".

AB76 wrote: "There is a certain sadness in reading the later years of the Katherine Mansfield Journals and Letters

Spending time in Liguria in NW Italy, for her TB, which is getting worse, she is lonely, angr..."

Not one to be reading if you are feeling a bit down then!

scarletnoir wrote: "As for Wagner, Siegfried's Funeral March is a piece I like a lot."

To follow on from my earlier comment... but naturally I went to listen to the Funeral March on YouTube... it's not, and never could be, 'elevator music' - it needs to be played with passion or even - in places - savagery. The first version I came across was by those criteria rather anaemic (no conductor or orchestra cited), but then I came across this extraordinary performance by Klaus Tennstedt and the London PLO:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wXh5J...

Unless it's my imagination, the conductor sheds a few tears along the way. If anyone knows of a better (moe powerful) performance, please let me know!

AB76 wrote: "Always a tricky reading period for me, in a good way, as the xmas season breaks up the normal reading patterns and from 20th to last day of december, i tend to be reading less and being with family..."

I absolutely loved Death Comes For The Archbishop, and I think Cather should be up in the Pantheon of All time Great American Writers.

Paul wrote: "AB76 wrote: "Always a tricky reading period for me, in a good way, as the xmas season breaks up the normal reading patterns and from 20th to last day of december, i tend to be reading less and bein..."

its my first Cather since i read My Antonia in my 20s and i liked that novel, so far i'm enjoying it too!

Sad to see the Observer has been sold and will go behind a paywall, i guess the Guardian will lose 25% of its content or more as well

I like the idea of Tortoise Media but i will never support the paywall idea for newspapers, some journals i subscribe to are paywalled but this will now remove the Observer voice from the majority.

Gpfr wrote: "Logger24 wrote: "... The Memoirs are a brilliant read...."

It was me 😉

Ah - a big smiley thank you.

AB76 wrote: "Sad to see the Observer has been sold and will go behind a paywall..."

Yes.
I was going to query the paywall as it's not mentioned in the article in The G, but then looked at Reuters and indeed you're right. That's too bad.

Gpfr wrote: "AB76 wrote: "Sad to see the Observer has been sold and will go behind a paywall..."

Yes.
I was going to query the paywall as it's not mentioned in the article in The G, but then looked at Reuters ..."

i think the paywall idea was what had annoyed many staff, alongside job security, they had worked in a non-paywall environment and now they will lose probably 50% of their readers.

if journos were paid per reader, all the paywall sites would be non-viable models. No wonder the Times doesnt reveal their subsciber numbers but i would imagine more read the physical paper than online, unlike with the G

feels ignorant to ask but was the Observer never digital then? Just a print paper since the G went online?

some reports claim thats the case but i'm sure the Observer content was basically Guardian branded on a Sunday on the website?

AB76 wrote: "... i'm sure the Observer content was basically Guardian branded on a Sunday on the website?"

That's always what I thought, and I never saw anything to suggest otherwise - never an Observer masthead, for example.