We're doing this for our reading group so no review until I've discussed it with them. This is the third Kawabata novel I've read. I might re-read it We're doing this for our reading group so no review until I've discussed it with them. This is the third Kawabata novel I've read. I might re-read it before we gather together as a group....more
I have read some of the Nero Wolfe books before but I've decided to go back and read/re-read the series. I started at the beginning because Libby has I have read some of the Nero Wolfe books before but I've decided to go back and read/re-read the series. I started at the beginning because Libby has a lot of them available for free, which in 2025 is always a good thing.
Nero Wolfe is an over-weight detective in 1930s New York. He never leaves his home. People have to come to him. And the 'outside' investigations are carried out by Archie. The stories are told from Archie's point of view. The vibe of the series is a combination of the British classical detective tradition - think Mycroft Holmes when you picture Nero Wolfe - and the American noir. Archie is a Sam Spade. The tone, however, is - mostly - lighter. Archie has a sense of humour.
As is traditional Nero Wolfe is smarter than Attorney Generals and Police, which they - of course - resent.
This story sees a death on the golf course and investigating the death reveals a number of hidden secrets and issues. Classic detective story.
Stout's books are really enjoyable reads. I look forward to reading the next one....more
This long book makes a fine introduction to the role of Resistance in World War Two. Kochanski does his best to cover every country occupied by the NaThis long book makes a fine introduction to the role of Resistance in World War Two. Kochanski does his best to cover every country occupied by the Nazis (and/or the Italians) during World War Two and how they resisted and the role played by organisations like the SOE or the OSS.
A result of this is, obviously, he also covers the betrayals, the war crimes, the cruelty - especially in the last year of the war when the Germans are bloody mindedly continuing their mass murdering ways even though they know they're done for. There's often an attempt to make Allied actions in WW2 - bombing of civilians, for example - seem comparable to what other the Axis powers did. A war crime is, after all, a war crime. But as soon as Germany and Japan were defeated that bombing stopped. There is no doubt that the Nazis would have never stopped until they were beaten. They devoted manpower and resources to killing Jewish people until the last day. There is no comparison.
He's good on the cock-ups by SOE, but also on their courage and successes. He's good on the competition between resistance groups that in parts of Europe - Yugoslavia, Greece, Albania - became effectively civil wars or the precursor to communist takeovers.
Once more too a book about World War Two reminds you that Poland was absolutely ravaged. First by the Nazis and the USSR, the by the Nazis on their own, then by the USSR again. The treatment of the non-Communist resistance after the war is a stain on Poland - and Russia's - history. The fact that the Poles are still here is one of history's miracles. The fact that they are still civilised to the Germans is incredible.
It doesn't cover the Holocaust in detail because as Kochanski says that's a whole subject of its own but it does come up as part of the role played by the resistance and how people became members of the resistance.
This is a shorter book than the Å·±¦ÓéÀÖ page count suggests. The first four chapters tell the story of Vera Brittain through World War One and then This is a shorter book than the Å·±¦ÓéÀÖ page count suggests. The first four chapters tell the story of Vera Brittain through World War One and then into the period post-war when she wrote the book and how it came to be what it is. Bostridge uses these section both as biography and also to point out the discrepancies between Brittain's account in Testament of Youth and that of her contemporary thoughts as outlined in her letters and diaries. For example the role she played in getting her brother to join up and her time at Etaple.
I don't think these are necessary bad things. Are we the same person at 19 that we were when we were 25? Let alone when we get to 50. Plus time distorts memory. How much of these changes were conscious and how many are not is moot.
The book, whose subtitle is 'The Story of Testament of Youth' then goes on to take us through the book's development in a TV series, a ballet, and a film. This book was published in 2014 just before the film came out and serves - to some degree - as a film tie-in. A bit like the book that came out when Dunkirk was released. It gives you the historical background to contextualise the film.
There's a chapter on the mysteries surrounding the death of her brother in Italy, which also sees Bostridge explain how he ended up writing (with Paul Berry) Vera Brittain's biography. I won't spoil this, because it is worth reading the full explanation and following the process that Bostridge went through to reach what I think is the correct conclusion.
There's then a Gazetteer of places associated with Vera Brittain, which is useful if you want to trail her through life. It would involve some travelling but a number of the places are in London. Then there's a further reading list, which is useful if you're rabbit holing Vera Brittain's life.
So, it is a surprisingly quick read. Bostridge's writing is clear and sharp and this is a little bit of a memoir of his Vera Brittain life too. Despite my faint praise this is a good companion piece to Testament of Youth. ...more
This is a short novel about a woman who works at CROSS, which is the French navy’s rescue centre for the Channel. She took a call from a small boat thThis is a short novel about a woman who works at CROSS, which is the French navy’s rescue centre for the Channel. She took a call from a small boat that was sinking in the channel and her response is being judged in the aftermath of the deaths of 27 of the 29 people aboard.
It is a philosophical meditation on the migrant crisis and our reaction to it. It does much more effectively what Prophet Song failed to do. It confronts us with all the reasoning and language that revolves around migration and the humanity of our responses (and what we ask of those who have to deal with on a practical day to day basis.
It was written by a philosopher, which I think you can tell. It is repetitive, but that repetition is necessary. Repetition as emphasis.
I’ve now read two of the International Booker Prize shortlist. This and Perfection. I’d put this above Perfection, just. But I may re-read Perfection once I’ve read the rest of the shortlist....more
This is a collection of interviews with Philip K Dick, including the last one he undertook in 1982. They're an interesting read. I found myself wishinThis is a collection of interviews with Philip K Dick, including the last one he undertook in 1982. They're an interesting read. I found myself wishing I had Lawrence Sutin's book 'Divine Invasions: A Life of Philip K. Dick.' beside me to get straight into after I'd finished.
The interviews cover a lot of the later part of his career, including the period around the making of 'Bladerunner' and it is fascinating to get Dick's take on the various different screenplays and his satisfaction with the Ridley Scott version.
Dick is clearly well-educated and well-read in the self-taught sense. He dropped out of college. But he seemed to have read widely in philosophy, religion and science-fiction. Amongst other things. His theories of the world and the universe are interesting. And he's spot on with some of his early predictions. He said this in 1977:
Computers are becoming more and more like sensitive cogitation creatures, but at the same time human beings are become dehumanized.
And then there was this:
This is one of the biggest transformations we have seen in human life in our society is the diminution of the sphere of the private. That we must reasonably now all regard the fact that there are no secret and that nothing is private. Everything is public.
And this is decades before social media made us voluntarily offer up our private lives.
There's a lot in here about perceptions of reality and of what constitutes a human being. He quotes the two themes from 'Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep' for example and how the research he did for 'The Man in the High Castle' had led him to read diaries from Nazis and that he thought ...there is amongst us something that is bipedal, humanoid, morphologically identical to the human being but that is not human. It is not human to complain that starving children are keeping you awake.
This story reminded me of something I read in Clive James where he talks about German Civil Servants who worked beneath a Doctor's office where the Doctors were testing some drug on Jewish children that just killed lots of them. And James wonders what went through these peoples heads as every so often there was a thunk on the ceiling as another child's corpse hit the floor above. What kind of beings could they be?
There is also though the feeling that Dick's grip on reality - or our version of reality - is slipping. That he was mentally ill. That he was, perhaps, paranoid. He definitely believed a being took control of him in 1976. In the final interview he calls it Elijah, the prophet. And actually his discussion of that experience fits neatly with Bill Lundberg's experience in 'The Transfiguration of Timothy Archer' that I read recently. Except in that case Lundberg is sharing his mind with the dead Bishop Timothy Archer.
I found it a fascinating read and might have to see if I can get hold of a copy to annotate. I was reading a copy from Libby so my notes are all handwritten. Apparently this is part of a whole series of 'Last Interviews' with many different writers. Some of which I am interested in reading.
Recommended if you like Dick's work or, more broadly, how a creative mind works. Or doesn't. ...more
Hazel Holt's biography of Barbara Pym is mainly an echo of 'A Very Private Eye', which I read earlier in the month. There is, of course, a lot of crosHazel Holt's biography of Barbara Pym is mainly an echo of 'A Very Private Eye', which I read earlier in the month. There is, of course, a lot of crossover for obvious reasons. There is also a lot of crossover in terms of quotations from letters and notebooks.
Holt was a friend of Barbara Pym's, was one of her literary executors, and helped put 'A Very Private Eye' together so perhaps that is no surprise either. It does have more too it to, especially on her relationships and helps contextualise 'A Very Private Eye' too. It is though a biography written by a friend and so one should perhaps approach it in that light.
It is full of quotes - from Pym and from friends of Pym - which means that Holt's own text is probably two thirds or a half of the book which does make you wonder what the point of it was when 'A Very Private Eye' exists. I think it might have been better to merge 'A Lot to Ask' and 'A Very Private Eye' together and call it a biography. This book was published in 1990 and is, I think, out of print whereas 'A Very Private Eye' is still in print so effectively two books that should be one book are becoming one book by default.
That isn't to say I didn't enjoy it. I did but I think reading 'A Very Private Eye' and 'A Lot to Ask' so close together was probably a mistake.
The one thing I did note was, having read 'Jane Austen's Bookshelf' by Rebecca Romney, was how close Pym came to joining 'the Great Disappearance' of women writers in the late-1960s through to the late-1970s. Romney writes well on the different ways a popular writer can disappear and Pym was at risk of vanishing from publication because fashion meant her books were seen as too gentle, too old-fashioned in the counter-cultural world of the late-60s.
She was saved by a sudden interest in her work that came from a TLS article on the under-appreciated writers of the 20th century, where she was the only living writer to be mentioned twice: by Lord David Cecil and Philip Larkin. Up until that point attempts to get her new work published had failed starting with the abandonment of her by Jonathan Cape who had previously published her novels. Tom Maschler at Cape comes out of this book as something of a minor villain. So, she never disappeared and - it seems to me at least - she is going through another renaissance. Probably just because the work is so good and there aren't a lot of books like hers.
I think Anne Tyler says it best: "Who do people turn to when they've finished Barbara Pym? The answer is easy: they turn to Barbara Pym."...more
I normally write my reviews - for what they're worth - straight after I've finished the book. I want to get the thoughts down as soon as I'm done. BefI normally write my reviews - for what they're worth - straight after I've finished the book. I want to get the thoughts down as soon as I'm done. Before I forget. But I think I'm going to have to give this one some thought.
It's the first Philip K Dick novel I've read in a long time. Loosely part of a trilogy apparently. Dick finished it in 1982, but died before it was published. Weirdly it does feel like the kind of book that someone would write as they try and get their thoughts together on the nature of the world, even the universe, at the end of their life.
He pulls together different sources to tell the story of Bishop Timothy Archer from the point of view of his daughter-in-law, Angel. It comes with a bibliography. It is filled with quotes from the Bible, Virgil, from Yeats, from Donne, from Goethe. There's even poetry from Henry Vaughan. It deals with John Allegro's theory of Christ being a magic mushroom, which written like that makes it seem even madder than it actually might be.
It's not a science-fiction book, which you'd expect from Philip K Dick, but it does deal with themes on the nature of reality. Of how we know what we know. Angel towards the end says she coped with all her loss by becoming a machine, but she never really does.
I'm not sure if this is an incredibly profound book or the ramblings of a man who took too many drugs. I'm not sure if there's much difference between the two. Except this isn't rambling. It straightforwardly written, clear, and a little bit cynical. It's never clear whether we're supposed to side with Angel Archer's cynicism or with the possibilities that she refuses to accept.
Still I think I liked it a lot. And it is a reading list of its own.
O, and it makes me want to read more Philip K Dick....more
This is an autobiography made up of extracts from her diaries, her notebooks and letters she wrote over the course of her life. It could do with some This is an autobiography made up of extracts from her diaries, her notebooks and letters she wrote over the course of her life. It could do with some notes. Not a lot but occasional footnotes.
It is a fascinating read and you can see how much of her work was influenced either directly by her life or by the observations she made along the way. The series of men she fell in love with who never seem to have reciprocated her feelings (or for significant periods of time.) Her frustration at the period from the late-60s to late-70s when her style of writing went out of fashion - from a publishers point of view - and she lost confidence in herself - yes, Jonathan Cape Ltd (or whatever you're now called) I'm looking at you - is pretty sad(?) Sad might not be the right word. Frustrating? Annoying?
But like with some the writers mentioned in 'Jane Austen's Bookshelf' it is easy to see her disappearing from view completely if it hadn't been for that 1977 edition of the TLS when Philip Larkin and Lord David Cecil mentioned her in their choice of 'underappreciated 20th century writers.'
That led to her work coming back into 'fashion'. She was nominated for the Booker Prize in 1977 for Quartet in Autumn, which was her 'come back' novel. And I think she's been pretty much in print ever since. She's made it to Kindle, which is a temporary form of immortality (if there can be such a thing.)
There are nice insights into the literary world, into her reading, and just the life of a writer. I'd like to read a biography of her now - probably starting with 'The Adventures of Miss Barbara Pym' by Paula Byrne....more
This is the fourth Barbara Pym novel I've read and once again I enjoyed it immensely. She is the wittiest of writers. She writes clear and clever prosThis is the fourth Barbara Pym novel I've read and once again I enjoyed it immensely. She is the wittiest of writers. She writes clear and clever prose. A little like Jean Rhys her stories play with similar themes, but they're always a joy.
This novel begins with a broken hearted Dulcie Mainwaring at an academic conference where she meets Viola and Dr Aylwin. Aylwin is a handsome academic writing a book on a minor 17th century poet. His wife has left him. From this seed a whole series of relationships and friendships emerge. Dulcie investigates Aylwin's life. Ostensibly out of curiosity.
So, she ends up meeting his mother, his wife, his mother-in-law, and his brother - a Vicar. Things happen. Nothing explosive, mostly. But things. Domestic. Small scale. But I find Pym's subtlety much more appealing than a let it all hang out emotional artillery barrage. Like I prefer British films of the 30s, 40s, and 50s where the suppression of emotion is much more moving than the more modern demonstrative kind. Perhaps I am just an old Englishman.
Most importantly Pym's books are witty. You can see why she is sometimes compared to Jane Austen. Jean Rhys can be witty too, but hers is a dark and sharp wit. The wit in the shadow of the gallows. Pym's wit is observational and most gentle. I enjoy it.
She's also drops in little literary references: quotes from Sir Thomas Wyatt, Proust, and others and her own book appears on someone's shelf, as does a character from a previous book. And I'm pretty she she insert herself briefly into the dining room of a hotel.
I can't recommend Pym's work enough. They're so much fun to read and her style is addictive....more
I really enjoyed this. It's three books in one. Or maybe two and a half. An exploration of the women writers who influenced Austen and why they've sliI really enjoyed this. It's three books in one. Or maybe two and a half. An exploration of the women writers who influenced Austen and why they've slid out the canon when their reputations were so high in the 18th/19th centuries. It's also about reading and rare book collecting. There's also an element of memoir in there.
The writers chosen are Austen herself, Frances Burney, Ann Radcliffe, Charlotte Lennox, Hannah More, Charlotte Smith, Elizabeth Inchbald, Hester Lynch Thrale Piozzi, and Maria Edgeworth. Some of those names were more familiar to me than others. But probably ten years ago none of them would have been, which is a sign of how my reading has changed.
The other thing this book does is talk about how the 'canon' of literature changes. This is something I've been thinking about for a while. A canon is a useful tool to some degree. You can't read every book and having some guidance as to what might be the best things to read is helpful. But canons have a habit of being heavily influenced by the power dynamics of a society you live in and literary fashion. (Or snobbery.) A canon of influential books that doesn't, for example, include science-fiction and fantasy is limited. But what I took from this book is don't let 'canons' limit you. Go explore and make your own canon. Follow the trail from one favourite author back to another and, most importantly, make up your own mind. Don't let critics dictate to you.
There's also a lot in here about the inherent difficulties of being a woman writing in the 18th/19th century. The societal expectations and pressures. And the personal. Hester Lynch Thrale Piozzi being in a loveless marriage whilst going through twelve pregnancies is just one example. It reminded me of how much Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley went through in her life too. Virginia Woolf pointed out the difficulties faced by women writers in 'A Room of One's Own'. This just drives that home.
Romney seems to get mildly irritated with the shadow of Samuel Johnson over a number of these writers. For example people suggested that the final part of 'The Female Quixote' had been written by Samuel Johnson and not by Charlotte Lennox. (An accusation often thrown at women writers - see Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley and Frankenstein.) And Samuel Johnson's involvement with these women - which was (mostly) supportive and encouraging - seems to have been more interesting to academics than their own lives. That's not Johnson's fault. But occasionally you think Romney feels it is.
This has made me really think about my future reading plans. It also helped convince me, once again, that my theory that all literature is just one big book of books in conversation with each other isn't exactly wrong. ...more
This is a slim collection of Herrick's poetry originally published by Everyman in 1996. Herrick was a clergyman and Cavalier poet. He probably best knThis is a slim collection of Herrick's poetry originally published by Everyman in 1996. Herrick was a clergyman and Cavalier poet. He probably best known now for a single poem, 'To the Virgins, to Make Much of Time'. Indeed, he's probably famous just for the first verse of that single poem:
Gather ye rosebuds while ye may, Old time is still a-flying, And this same flower that smiles today Tomorrow will be dying.
That poem contains one theme that Herrick touches upon often - mortality and the need to enjoy life as much as possible in the short time we are here. The shortness of life is a constant refrain.
But Herrick's clergyhood - for want of a better word - doesn't stop him writing of love and lust. Indeed, that too is a regular theme of Cavalier poets. They admired wit - in the sense both of cleverness and humorousness - which is also reflected in this selection. Herrick, I suspect, was good company in the tavern over a flagon of sack.
Indeed two poems here - which I read in a Cavalier Poets collection - are odes to giving up sack and then going back to it again. They're funny as well as smart.
There's a handful of poems about the King or his children that to modern ears are ridiculously brown nosing and over the top. But then, as one can see from the present government of a nation across the Atlantic, Kings attract the fawning courtiers.
Is Herrick a great poet? Possibly not, but he is one of the good ones and a collection like this is worth the time it will take you to read it. Some of these poems I was familiar with from the Cavalier poets collection I mentioned before but most of them were new to me. ...more
If people know Catullus at all it is for his poems to his lover Lesbia. Love poems. But some of that love is pain. Such as LXXXV I hate and love. PerhIf people know Catullus at all it is for his poems to his lover Lesbia. Love poems. But some of that love is pain. Such as LXXXV I hate and love. Perhaps you're asking why I do that? I don't know, but I feel it happening, and am racked. Which reminded me of the beginning of Graham Greene's 'The End of the Affair' - This is a story of hate.
But this collection, which is all that we have of Catullus, contains other poems: wedding hymns, elegies, epigrams, abuse. He can kick at his enemies, unnamed though they often are. Did people know who he was talking about? His friends might have done - some of whom come in for a kicking of their own when the stray into his Lesbia's path.
They vary in length. They vary in subject matter. They vary in levels of abuse and swearing. He's not up to Juvenal's levels of length and breadth of vitriol, but he can make a good go of it. Here's the start of XCVII:
I thought (so help me Gods!) it made no difference Whether I smelt Aemilius' mouth or arsehole, One being no cleaner, the other no filthier.
On reading this I did find myself wishing my Latin was better than almost incompetent. This is Guy Lee's translation from 1997 and I feel sometimes it tried to hard to sound 'modern'. Some of it dropped with an unmusical clang. But the poems are clear and easy to understand, although I think with some of the longer ones more notes were required to explain references. I'd like to find a really thorough modern translation with copious notes.
I do like that this has both the original Latin and the English on opposing pages so if you want to have a go at translating you can. I tried a couple of times with the shorter ones but it became very clear why I got a U at Latin A-Level.
My second book from the International Booker List. I read Reservoir Bitches before the longlist was announced. What did I think?
Well, I enjoyed it. IMy second book from the International Booker List. I read Reservoir Bitches before the longlist was announced. What did I think?
Well, I enjoyed it. I didn't love it. It's the story of a couple of 'expats' from an unnamed southern European country who had moved to Berlin to work and how the city changes as time and gentrification start to bite. It could be about almost any European city. Some of it definitely sounds familiar to someone who lives in London, although I missed out on my drugs, clubs and galleries era. I was more of a pub type of person.
I thought it was well-written and drily funny. I also felt Lantronico was exorcising some of his own experiences. This is apparently his fourth book, but the first to be be translated into English. There's not much extremity in it. The prose feels clear and direct. Almost unemotional. Like a review of a life for some kind of social media website.
It's only about 100 pages long, which makes it a quick read.
Three stars. I did highlight a lot though, which suggests it'll be a book I'll come back to. ...more
I liked it, but I started to feel a little frustrated by it's inability to end. The writing is excellent and Sophie Hughes has done an excellent job tI liked it, but I started to feel a little frustrated by it's inability to end. The writing is excellent and Sophie Hughes has done an excellent job translating (as far as I, a monoligual Brit, can tell.)
At its centre seems to be an allogorical story of the impact that Pinochet's rule had on Chile and Chileans. On their language, on their memory, and on their relationships. That a country can, as a whole, suffer from PTSD.
Not much else to add. This is the second of her books I've read, after Clean. I felt a little similar about that. Perhaps she isn't a writer for me to love, just to like. I admire the writing, but I just can't love these books. ...more
Loading...
