Ersatz TLS discussion

Hello, everyone, and welcome to the new thread.

Thank you G once again.

I am still reading, very slowly by my usual standards, The Eagle and the Hart by Helen Castor. Richard II has just lost his wife, as has Bolinbroke, the future Henry IV. I was aware before I started that Richard II was a pretty ineffectual king, but didn't realise just how big a disaster he was. Quite happy for the plebs to suffer and his lords go to war on his behalf, as long as he could play with his friends at hunting and being regal without actually having to do much reigning. A totally difference kettle of from from his father, the Black Prince, his grandfather Edward III and his uncle John of Gaunt. Basically a right arrogant twonk!

A sign of the times - Henry's wife gave birth to 6 children in 8 years "then her luck ran out" as the book says and she died in childbirth at the age of just 24 leaving 6 children who all survived to adulthood.

giveusaclue wrote: "...A sign of the times - Henry's wife gave birth to 6 children in 8 years "then her luck ran out" as the book says and she died in childbirth at the age of just 24 leaving 6 children who all survived to adulthood."

Which I looked up, as six adult children is a lot, and yet I didn’t remember there being many Lancastrian males after them. It turns out that of the six there were four sons and two daughters who between them produced no surviving children, or no legitimate children, or no children at all, with the exception of Henry VI and Rupert, heir to the Electorate of the Palatinate, who died age 20. The lotteries of childbirth in an age when everything depended on it!

There was a dual review in the WSJ this weekend of Helen Castor’s book and Dan Jones’ book Henry V, which, it is said, covers much the same ground by giving equal weight to the period up to his accession. The reviewer liked both of them. HC is “among the front rank of writers producing thoughtful and engaging popular history” in “clear and uncluttered prose." DJ “injects novelistic immediacy.” I’ll probably read both, eventually.

Thanks for the new thread, GP. As things stand, Apollo Crosbie does not deserve Lily Dale, nor any woman of merit. Also enjoying the Buzzati Christmas stories, each with its own particular charm, and one very sad - the fragment about parents still living in hope of the return of their son from the Eastern Front, ten years after.

Logger24 wrote: "giveusaclue wrote: "...A sign of the times - Henry's wife gave birth to 6 children in 8 years "then her luck ran out" as the book says and she died in childbirth at the age of just 24 leaving 6 chi..."

I can recommend their books to you. I mentioned earlier I think that in the references at the back of Helen's book she includes Dan's books Summer of Blood and The Plantagenets: The Kings Who Made England. She was his first supervisor at Cambridge University, so she must be quite proud of him.

Another famous (very belatedly) William Marshal 1st Earl of Pembroke had 10 surviving children, 5 of them sons none of who produced children. However through his daughter Isobel he was an ancestor of the Bruces and then Stuarts of Scotland and therefore of our current royal family. The current Earl Marshal of England, Edward Fitzalan Howard is a descendent through his daughter Matilda who married the Earl of Norfolk ancestor of the current Dukes of Norfolk.

Sorry, I'm history nerding again.

Thanks, GP, for this new thread.

I'm making good progress on Death of a Red Heroine by Qiu Xiaolong... maybe someone here recommended it?
It does what I like best nowadays in crime books, in that it paints a picture of a society at a particular place and time... Shanghai in around 1990 in this case. I can no longer read 'puzzle' crime stories and am not much interested (as an anti-royalist) in the doings of kings and queens... books which give a feel for how ordinary people lived (or live in cultures I don't know) are the ones which hold my interest.

I was surprised by how critical the main protagonist (Inspector Chen) is of Mao - not that the author has those thoughts, but that he should be allowed to express them. On looking up his biography, all became clearer - he lived in Shanghai until age 35, then was on a fellowship in the USA at the time of the Tiananmen Square protests and the brutal repression. Qiu took the wise decision to stay where he was... though it seems he is now able to return to Shanghai to visit his family members without fear of arrest (apparently).

His is an interesting Wikipedia entry, including a summary of positives and negatives from the critics. I'll write a review when I finish the book.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Qiu_Xia...

scarletnoir wrote: "I'm making good progress on Death of a Red Heroine by Qiu Xiaolong... maybe someone here recommended it?..."

I've read it, but I don't think I've recommended it — I've read the earlier books in the series, but not the most recent ones. I must check where I'd got to ... I would recommend them :)
The first one I read, I read in French. Not looking at it very closely, I didn't realise that it had been written in English.

Gpfr wrote: "scarletnoir wrote: "I'm making good progress on Death of a Red Heroine by Qiu Xiaolong... maybe someone here recommended it?..."

I've read it, but I don't think I've recommended it —..."

On checking (out of curiosity), I see I did recommend them in 2021, as did MK in 2022.
However, although I liked the earlier ones, I see that I was not impressed with the last one I read nearly 2 years ago, Hold Your Breath, China and didn't think I would continue with the series.

Sadly, it's a long time since we've had any word from MK ...

Gpfr wrote: "Gpfr wrote: "scarletnoir wrote: "I'm making good progress on Death of a Red Heroine by Qiu Xiaolong... maybe someone here recommended it?..."

I've read it, but I don't think I've rec..."

I have also wondered about MK? The last I remembered is that she had problems with breathing, and then everything went quiet which seemed a bit ominous to me.

I am really enjoying Apeirogon. And one of the best bits to me are the numerous digressions on birds. Perhaps its an Irish storyteller thing, to loop around and build up patterns of loosely linked 'digressions'. But it also brings back memories of me living in Israel. I was there for over a year, (1975 and 1977) but at two different times, and spent quite a bit of time in the old city of Jerusalem. The second time I had a boyfriend in the army, who hung out with many local Arabs, as he had a friendly rivalry with a local sheik over their respective 'Arab' racing stallions. At the race course in Afula I met the sheik who kindly offered me a ride on his horse. I turned him down alas, as I am merely a competent rider, and the horse looked a bit too lively to me.

He had a rather splendid Arabic costume, where the selvage edge had been adopted as part of design, and so consequently he had, in gold embroidery, all the way down the front, repetitions of 'MADE IN HONG KONG' ... I guess that if we had the same, but in Arabic script, it would look just like an abstract pattern to us... and would use it for decoration as well.

I also remember getting modded by the Guardian, on YTU, awhile back, simply for relaying some of my experiences from there, not even opinions!...

Tam wrote: "I have also wondered about MK? The last I remembered is that she had problems with breathing, and then everything went quiet which seemed a bit ominous to me...."

Yes, exactly. One of the last things she wrote mentioned being on oxygen.

Gpfr wrote: "scarletnoir wrote: "I'm making good progress on Death of a Red Heroine by Qiu Xiaolong... maybe someone here recommended it?... "

I've read it, but I don't think I've recommended it —I've read the earlier books in the series, but not the most recent ones...I was not impressed with the last one I read nearly 2 years ago, Hold Your Breath, China"

As I can foresee the holiday period being more tiring than normal, I've bought in a few 'easy reads' and in this case bought e-books 1-3 in the Chen series as a job lot as that was cheaper than buying 2 and 3 separately... so I now have 'Death of a Red Heroine' twice!

'Hold Your breath, China' seems to be an outlier - not much liked by Amazon readers and sold at £2 less than all the other titles.

Looking further ahead, I made use of a book token birthday present to buy Jonathan Coe's 'The Proof of my Innocence' and Hanif Kureishi's 'Shattered'.

Gpfr wrote: "Yes, exactly. One of the last things she wrote mentioned being on oxygen.."

Oh, that does sound bad.

Having a loathing of putting up a Christmas tree (bah humbug) I wandered out today to see if I could find a small one that was complete which I could keep "oven ready" from year to year. No luck I am afraid. At least I have stuck my Christmas cards onto the glass panels in the door in my living room!

p.s. no, I don't really cook Christmas trees!

Gpfr wrote: "Tam wrote: "I have also wondered about MK? The last I remembered is that she had problems with breathing, and then everything went quiet which seemed a bit ominous to me...."

Yes, exactly. One of ..."

That is indeed worrying.

Gpfr wrote: "Tam wrote: "I have also wondered about MK? The last I remembered is that she had problems with breathing, and then everything went quiet which seemed a bit ominous to me...."

Yes, exactly. One of ..."


That does sound bad. And I have realised we haven't heard from CCCubbon for quite a while, and she had been pretty poorly

scarletnoir wrote: "Gpfr wrote: "Tam wrote: "I have also wondered about MK? The last I remembered is that she had problems with breathing, and then everything went quiet which seemed a bit ominous to me...."

Yes, exa..."

how long ago was this?

I think it was around six months or so ago.

Tam wrote: "I think it was around six months or so ago."

gosh, i hope things are ok

giveusaclue wrote: "Gpfr wrote: "Tam wrote: "I have also wondered about MK? The last I remembered is that she had problems with breathing, and then everything went quiet which seemed a bit ominous to me...."

Yes, exa..."
Oh no, that's quite worrisome to hear about MK. CCCubon posted about 9 hrs ago on the Guaniard, she at least is fine.

Paul wrote: "CCCubon posted about 9 hrs ago on the Guaniard, she at least is fine."

Thanks Paul, that is some good news.

AB76 wrote: "scarletnoir wrote: "Gpfr wrote: "Tam wrote: "I have also wondered about MK?"

how long ago was this?..."

The last post from her I can find is in April.

Isn't life strange? Who could, or would, have imagined that profound Russian author Fyodor Dostoyevsky would become an overnight sensation on - BookTok?
https://www.theguardian.com/books/202...

This story made me laugh... I read White Nights probably 50 years ago, though after - not before, iirc - the four great novels. Perhaps the readers can be persuaded to tackle slightly longer books by Fyodor, such as Notes from Underground* & The Double or The House of the Dead. That would stretch them a bit more. Or maybe they can tackle some other books with "main character syndrome", like some of Hamsun's (Hunger, Victoria) or Hesse's (Demian, Siddhartha).

Or perhaps they'll revert to Mills and Boon, or whatever the current equivalent may be!

*I understand that pedantic translators Pevear and Volokhonsky translate the title as "Notes from the Underground", which for British readers (at least) conjures up the image of an accountant on his journey home on the tube, scribbling down a couple of thoughts about tomorrow's workload.

scarletnoir wrote: "Isn't life strange? Who could, or would, have imagined that profound Russian author Fyodor Dostoyevsky would become an overnight sensation on - BookTok?..."

That’s a nice piece. Of the shorter novels, did you ever try The Eternal Husband? I don’t actually remember anything about the characters or the plot (from 50 years ago) – but I do remember thinking at the time it was the very essence of Dostoyevsky.

NYRB Classics are a much loved and treasured source of good reading for me, the occasional volume is an old translation without much context but the majority are well curated, with great introductions and new translations.

On The Marble Cliffs by Ernst Junger (1939) is such a volume, i'm about a third of the way in, to this slim novel and i was intrigued to see a review from 1943 by French thinker Maurice Blanchot(what a nice touch) as an afterword and an introduction to read when i finish the novel too

In the novel,the fact that Junger is describing events in his native Germany from 1914-39 is clear, though he has formed a fantasy world of groups and cultures which blurs the lines a little. But once the peaceful early pages fade, there is a darkness and menace that brings the Nazi 1930s into focus and even before then as bitter German extremes created anarchy and violence in 1918-1920.His line " no one recognised the early signs" is chilling, as the malaise in these fantasy lands spreads, he refers to the rule of law and how even the authorities now felt that there was very little of that left in regions on the borders and among the forests where the "Head Forester" was surrounded by "a cloud of fear"

Logger24 wrote: "Of the shorter novels, did you ever try The Eternal Husband? .."

No, I don't think so, though I have read a number of the shorter books and stories such as The Double and The Gambler... and FD's venture into black humour, Bobok!

I have received an email from the Goodreads robot to tell me that I've read 19 books this year... it must be at least twice that number (I think) but I can't be bothered to post each one as I go along. Amusingly, not a single book by my 'new author of the year' Percival Everett is listed, even though I've read six!

Like Russell, I'm enjoying Trollope and Dino Buzzati's Contes de Noël et autres textes / Il panettone non bastò.

In the run-up to Christmas, I'm settling myself into my re-visit of Barsetshire like stretching out on my sofa with a cosy blanket and a glass of wine ... I've now finished The Small House at Allington and am over halfway through The Last Chronicle of Barset.

Trollope's observation and humour is very comfortable and comforting and I'm thoroughly immersed in his world:
Mr Crawley, the proud, intellectually brilliant and desperately poor curate is in terrible trouble; Bishop Proudie says his heart is broken; Johnny Eames swears eternal love for Lily Dale although she continues to turn him down, but he can't stop getting entangled with women he doesn't really like; Adolphus Crosbie (who jilted Lily Dale) shows up again ... and so much more.

Anyone looking for a late Christmas present for a young relative might try A Child’s Christmas in Wales by Dylan Thomas. There’s a nice little hardback edition, not expensive at all, with illustrations by Trina Schart Hyman. (I’ve looked at other editions and hers are, imo, easily the best.) I mention it because after discovering this smaller format we got it in for the bookshop and it has sold well. We weren’t at all sure that it would, as it is so non-American and non-Disney – very 1950s Britain, not much money, young boys in shorts and wool sweaters, Meccano sets, coal fires. There’s an excellent short film version with Denholm Elliott, but the book is better.

scarletnoir wrote: "I have received an email from the Goodreads robot to tell me that I've read 19 books this year... it must be at least twice that number (I think) but I can't be bothered to post each one as I go al..."

mine was all correct, when it gave me my "year in books" email, with 78 read, although the year hasnt finished yet

Logger24 wrote: "Anyone looking for a late Christmas present for a young relative might try A Child’s Christmas in Wales by Dylan Thomas. There’s a nice little hardback edition, not expensive at all, with illustrat..."

A "young relative"? This was possibly the first present I bought for my wife a few months after we'd met - certainly the first Christmas present - and she is a literature graduate! Can't fault your good taste, though.

As for the illustrations - the one I got was illustrated by the brilliant Edward Ardizzone. I'm not familiar with the edition you mention so won't claim this one is 'better': each to their own!
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Childs-Chris...

AB76 wrote: "scarletnoir wrote: "I have received an email from the Goodreads robot to tell me that I've read 19 books this year... it must be at least twice that number (I think) but I can't be bothered to post..."

I don't get an email I go to my books then year in books down the left hand side.

I have failed this year's challenge no sure why but the current book is taking a while to read as it is very fact heavy, if that make sense. Hope to finish it by Christmas.

Friend has sent me a link to the GCHQ Christmas Challenge. Managed to do all without looking at the hints except for No.6 which has me stumped at the moment,

https://www.gchq.gov.uk/files/GCHQ%20...

scarletnoir wrote: "...This was possibly the first present I bought for my wife..."

The first present you bought for your wife? No wonder she married you!

Edward Ardizzone was a very fine artist, and the list of books he illustrated is little short of astonishing. I still have my own copy of Little Tim and the Brave Sea Captain. For the Dylan Thomas book, though, I prefer the bolder outlines and colours of Ms Hyman.

Logger24 wrote: "For the Dylan Thomas book, though, I prefer the bolder outlines and colours of Ms Hyman..."

An aesthetic judgement and criterion - which is absolutely fine and as I haven't seen it I won't say anything about that. I will say, though, that Ardizzone captures the look of Wales in that time period, and do wonder whether such authenticity is also achieved by the USA artist? This is difficult to judge from the cover (which is the only picture shown on Amazon).

The book has clearly been illustrated by a number of different artists. Some seem unaware that Swansea - where Dylan grew up - is a city, if a small one by US standards - the second largest in Wales, after Cardiff. It is not a "small town" as it is described by one publisher. Artists who show an isolated house in the country have got it wrong. (I suppose, though, that it was technically a town in the period - city status was achieved only in 1969.)

One cover did catch my attention, as it looked very like Swansea - which is hilly and on the seaside. On reading the blurb it seems that the artist John Upton portrays "the very house Thomas grew up in on Cwmdonkin Drive, Swansea", so Upton must score top marks for authenticity!

anyone here read The Flanders Road by Claude Simon (1960)

i have it lined up for the summer as an annual exploration of the invasion of france continues for me and i picked this a french novel of the defeat. Bit alarmed to find its lacks punctuation but i will make sure i persevere when i get round to it!

Ah, Sadness. I looked at the Guardian's book quiz, and discovered how few of the entries I'd read, or even heard of. Better luck next time...

Merry Christmas, everyone!

Robert wrote: "Ah, Sadness. I looked at the Guardian's book quiz, and discovered how few of the entries I'd read, or even heard of. Better luck next time...

Merry Christmas, everyone!"

Merry Xmas to you

Robert wrote: "Ah, Sadness. I looked at the Guardian's book quiz, and discovered how few of the entries I'd read, or even heard of. Better luck next time...

Merry Christmas, everyone!"

Merry Christmas to you too, Robert.
I haven't looked at the quiz yet ...

Robert wrote: "Ah, Sadness. I looked at the Guardian's book quiz, and discovered how few of the entries I'd read, or even heard of. Better luck next time...

Merry Christmas, everyone!"

I could have guessed at a few but knew the answer to only 4 out of 21. Number 12 made me smile. I'm hoping the first answer is the correct one

Merry Christmas to you, Robert, and everyone here.

Have finished the Junger novel, while interested in the 1943 review by Maurice Blanchot that was part of the NYRB classics edition, i had naively forgotten he wrote the review during the Vichy years and the impact of a review hinting more candidly at how Junger may have portrayed the Nazi's would have been better. Self censoring during occupations delivers far less interesting copy, although Blanchot does write well about the book in general

The last read of 2025 will be a collection of late stories by Afrikaner writer HC Bosman. He wrote in english not afrikaans and covered the tales of afrikaner culture in the Marico region of the Transvaal, on the border with Botswana. I have read three of his books and all are resplendent in dark humour and wit. He died young at 46, in 1951 and is one of very few Afrikaner writers who wrote before 1948 and the election of the apartheid regime.

Logger24 wrote: "Robert wrote: "Ah, Sadness. I looked at the Guardian's book quiz, and discovered how few of the entries I'd read, or even heard of. Better luck next time..."

I could have guessed at a few but knew the answer to only 4 out of 21...."

I got 5 right but 3 of those were guesses!

Just to finish off on A Child’s Christmas in Wales, I was in the village library today to take a look at whichever edition they had, only to find it was out on loan – but, they said, we do have it as an CD audio book, read by Dylan Thomas himself. What??!! I didn’t even know it existed, and what could be better when I believe I may be receiving a Walkman-type CD player for Christmas, mainly for use in the car (since they don’t come with CD players any more, never mind tape players). Interestingly, the case the CD comes in uses a half-dozen of the illustrations by Ms Hyman (which, I have to admit, have a small town look about them), including the beautiful one of the boy standing by himself on the sea shore. The CD also has DT reading five of his poems, one of them Fern Hill, a particular favourite. What a treat to look forward to.

Logger24 wrote: "A Child’s Christmas in Wales .. CD audio book, read by Dylan Thomas himself. ..."

That does sound lovely.

Gpfr wrote: "Logger24 wrote: "Robert wrote: "Ah, Sadness. I looked at the Guardian's book quiz, and discovered how few of the entries I'd read, or even heard of. Better luck next time..."

I could have guessed ..."

I managed 6 with maybe 2 guesses...

Logger24 wrote: "Just to finish off on A Child’s Christmas in Wales, I was in the village library today to take a look at whichever edition they had, only to find it was out on loan – but, they said, we do have it ..."

Sounds good - enjoy!

Just wanted to say hello; I've not been around much at all. 2024 has been pretty awful. No details. I won't make 100 books, but maybe 96 or 97. I'm finishing out the year with Easy Rawlins. I can't find it now but about 2 months ago I read a piece about Walter Mosley and his Easy Rawlins series. I have seen the movie Devil in a Blue Dress at least 4-5 times over the years. Reading it, I just love how Mosley writes. I am slowly going thru the 15 books.

Lost the thread . . . so this article talks about how Easy Rawlins, house by house builds real estate which is very difficult for Black people to do. So the Easy novels are shadowing a major sociological
trend. I will know more when I read more books in the series. And he gets into lots of trouble--he's Black, from the South, he can yassir when he needs to, but he is a property owner, a respected person in his neighborhood.

Wish there were a prequel novel-- how did Easy get to LA?

I discovered Adam Kirsch this year.

I found it! https://www.nytimes.com/2024/12/07/bu...

Happy trails to the forest dwellers. Remember that?

Ruby wrote: "Just wanted to say hello; I've not been around much at all. 2024 has been pretty awful. No details. I won't make 100 books, but maybe 96 or 97. I'm finishing out the year with Easy Rawlins. I can't..."


Hey Ruby! Great to see you around these parts! Sorry to hear that this past year has been one to forget.

Ruby wrote: "Just wanted to say hello; I've not been around much at all. 2024 has been pretty awful. No details. I won't make 100 books, but maybe 96 or 97. I'm finishing out the year with Easy Rawlins. I can't..."

Hello Ruby, good to see you! Sorry you've had a tough year. Easy Rawlins sounds a good way to see the year out.

Finally finished reading The Eagle and the Hart. Three weeks is a long time on one book for me. I have given it 5 stars, only the 2nd time I believe.

It is a really wonderful book and I know now why Henry IV's usurpation of the throne was so relatively easily done as far as initial opposition was concerned. Richard II really was a little sh*t who turned out to be an even bigger one. He only cared about himself and his enjoyment of life and never mind if the rest of the country was going to the dogs. He also had a habit of pardoning people then revoking the pardon three years later and sending them to the block, or the noose or smothering or hanging, drawing and quartering.

Highly recommended for any other history nerds here.

Ruby wrote: "Happy trails to the forest dwellers. Remember that?"

Good one, Ruby.

96 or 97 must be about double what I have managed this year.

giveusaclue wrote: "Finally finished reading The Eagle and the Hart.....Highly recommended for any other history nerds here."

Looks like a definite read for me. Out of interest, did the book say anything about whether, afterwards, Henry felt any gnawings of doubt about the justice of his usurpation?

Logger24 wrote: "giveusaclue wrote: "Finally finished reading The Eagle and the Hart.....Highly recommended for any other history nerds here."

Looks like a definite read for me. Out of interest, did the book say a..."

The book doesn't dwell on that a lot. And I am now frantically trying to remember what I read that did. It makes it clear that he was very aware that if it happened to RII it could happen to him.