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It's Only a Paper Moon ~ Ella Fitzgerald

Well the humidity broke around 2.00 this morning, with lightning, and eventually thunder and torrential rain, not a bad day today but it's rumbling around again now so looks like we're in for another storm.

War (1934) Louis-Ferdinand Celine Before Celine ran away to Denmark in 1944 (seeing that the Germans were about to lose and his antisemitism was about to become problematic), he had written three more books but had to leave them behind in his apartment as he scarpered. He often claimed that these manuscripts had been stolen but it was only in recent years that this was revealed to be true. And so in 2022 they were finally brought to light. With that in mind, it's worth noting that this book is both a first draft and very much incomplete. As such, the quality is affected and the context slightly altered. Nonetheless, there is enough here to justify publication and provide a coherent narrative. Most importantly of all, you get the very clear Celine voice in the piece, his cynicism, nihilism, and bitterness, his scattergun prose (albeit without the standard ellipses), and his dark, often puerile humour. And that's what I want more than anything else. Everything about the book screams Celine! It begins with Ferdinand, a shell-shocked soldier in Flanders, making his way to safety after being badly injured. The majority of the book is set at the hospital he is taken to, and revolves around his experiences with his pal Cascade, a nurse who gives him hand-jobs, and his irritating parents. If you've read any of Celine's other work, you'll petty quickly know the character as well as the setting, placing this story at the beginning of both Journey and Guignol's Band, a prequel to both. As ever, it seems clear that Celine was somewhat destroyed by the Great War and his whole life (physical and mental) was defined by it. It's little wonder he returns to the subject so often. The story is of little importance (Cascade's prostitute wife, his overbearing parents, the slutty nurse) and the book is, like so much of his work, more concerned with his mental deterioration due to the war. Like so many others, it crippled him in more ways than one. But never enough so that his sense of the absurd and disgusting was ever diminished. The usual sexual scenes are aplenty and the ludicrous, overtly comical, nature of them is maintained. Celine wallows in the trauma of war but equally in the repugnant nature of humanity. He often reminds us that the war is literally stuck in his head, a lifelong tinnitus of explosions, noise, and buzzing, which will, he tells us, stay with him until he dies. I enjoyed the book, but that's because I love Celine. If you're a fan, I would recommend this, if not, however, I would suggest it's probably too lightweight (100+ pages) and ultimately a mere shadow of his main works. The guys who put this together did their best to make it into something but overall, it remains the scruffy, first draft of an unfinished piece that Celine probably wouldn't have published without significant rewrites and further polishing. 8/10

I am not sure what Daniel Defoe was up to before he became an author. I think he was up to his neck in Whig politics. I think he must have been a heck of an operator.

the plod were round, attempting to force me to pay some vile burger company 800 notes, due to some decrepit vicar do goodingbit by sending burgers to eat at various social centres. Making me pay for it', I said, my indignant pause for effect having negligible visible effect upon Smiffy and co. Understanding....

Hello. You may be interested in "Life as Fiction: A Biographical Companion to the Novels of J.L. Carr" (3C Press, 2024; 346 pages, 150 figures) Carr often admitted that the characters and events in his eight novels were derived from his own life or from the experiences of people that he knew. The Ellerbeck family in A Month in the Country is based on his own family’s life at Carlton Miniott in Yorkshire just after World War I; the football team in How Steeple Sinderby Wanderers Won the F.A. Cup is based on the local success of a village team that Carr played for in 1931, extrapolated to a great degree; and the barefoot blonde who opens A Season in Sinji was a real person who was tragically murdered in 1942. Carr used his hymn-singing Wesleyan upbringing, his first career as a primary school teacher and headmaster, his exchange visits to teach in a High School in a small town in South Dakota, his service in the Royal Air Force during World War II, his years spent living in lodgings, his second career as a publisher, and his life-long love of poetry, Anglican churches and cricket to provide many of the places, people and stories in his novels, because he had been there, he knew them, and they were authentic. The main plot of each novel may be fiction, but many of the details are autofiction. This Biographical Companion provides in 893 alphabetically arranged text entries an attempt to identify in J.L. Carr’s unordinary life the sources of the stories, events, places, people, things, and quotations that he used in his eight novels and some of his other writings. You can contact me for a copy at: ah2108@gmail.com

Excellent! Thank you 😊

Pretty Paper - Roy Orbison

fifty-fifty

at me suspiciously. 'D'own worry 'bout 'im. We got ow eye on 'im.' 'Tha's all verry well, but I ain't goin' inta my trubbles wid the bill wiv some complete stranga!' 'I'm no stranger to police involvement myself, I'll have you know!' I stated indignantly. 'Why, only the other day ...

(Oh) Pretty Woman ~ Roy Orbison

My woman, My Woman, My Wife - Marty Robbins

#44 The Book Censor's Library by Bothayna Al-Essa for Kuwait ****** Translated from the Arabic by Ranya Abdelrahman and Sawad Hussain. This is a fantastical satire examining the rise of authoritarianism and the dangers of book censorship : 1984 and Fahrenheit 451 are obvious influences, but oh is this so timely. In a post-Revolution society where imagination and much technology is banned, and conforming to 'logic' is the rule, the unnamed protagonist of this book finds himself a member of the team of book censors responsible for approving (or not) the books people are allowed to read. He's desperate to conform, but finds himself being sucked into the joys of reading (triggered off by reading Zorba the Greek) and into the resistance, the Cancers. At the same time, his daughter is showing scary signs of imagination, where fairy stories (and where did she acquire her knowledge of them) are all too real, making her vulnerable to being shipped off to one of the much feard child rehabilitation centres. I'm not normally a fan of satire, and definitely not of dystopian fiction (and this is both), but, like our protagonist, I was unrelentingly sucked into complete addiction. This was almost an effortless read, particularly noteable given the darkness of the subject matter, the writing crisp and sharp, with not a trace of having been translated. The fantastical element, well controlled, added an edge that both intrigued and entertained (all those rabbits!). Unusually for me, there were some genuine laugh out loud moments. Yet this book is deadly serious, and there were moments which exemplified why I don't enjoy (if that's the right word) dystopian fiction. All in all, a brilliant read. Not quite a 'favourite' (can such a book ever be one?) but another outstanding read on my world tour. Glad to have been able to get hold of this book relatively easily - I thought Kuwait might be one of my more challenging countries that way. This has only recently become available in the UK, and the book is noteably even then printed and published in the States.

42. Orbital by Samantha Harvey ****** A slim novel, just 139 pages, in a beautifully presented paperback (French flaps etc). And an absolutely beautiful read too! A study of one day in the life of 6 astronauts (or rather, 4 astronauts and 2 cosmonauts!) on the International Space Station - a day that includes 16 sunrises as they orbit the earth once every 90 minutes - it may be set in space, but it's so much about the human existence and our place on the earth, or, indeed, in the universe. It was a book that I had to force myself to put down, as to really appreciate it I needed more time and space (!) than one continuous sitting would allow me, and it cries out to be reread soon. Harvey's writing is exquisite, and I was totally involved from the very first word, when the crew are soundly asleep in the early hours of their 'day': Rotating about the earth in their space craft they are so together, and so alone, that even their thoughts, their internal mythologies, at times convene. Sometimes they dream the same dreams - of fractals and blue spheres and familiar faces engulfed in dark, and of the bright energetic black of space that slams their senses. Raw space is a panther, feral and primal: they dream it stalking through their quarters. Well, I loved it anyway! This is on the Booker longlist, and the shortlist is going to be announced in a fortnight's time. This, IMO, has got to be there - if it isn't, the six that are had better be pretty amazing!

41. Walking the Bones of Britain by Christopher Somerville ***** A fascinating walk through Britain from the Outer Hebrides to the Thames Estuary, travelling through the chronology of British geology, from the oldest Pre-Cambrian rocks in the UK on the Isle of Lewis, through to some of the youngest in the south-east. Somerville is a lucid and always interesting writer and whilst there wasn't a huge amount of new learning here for me, I found several individual jigsaw pieces sliding neatly into place, and the pages (and miles) rattling along. I found his commentary on some of the related issues (environmental impact of HS2, response to climate change flooding in the south-east, etc) very much to the point, in an understated way. The list of books, othe resources, and sites to visit at the back definitely add to the usefulness to - I've already installed the BGS Viewer app on my phone, and started using it regularly. I'll definitely be dipping into this for reference and reading in future, and whilst it's a mite overstated IMO, the Specator opinion quoted on the cover describing this as 'one of our finest gazeteers of the British countryside' at least points in a similar direction as mine!

40. Kairos by Jenny Erpenbeck ** Translated from the German by Michael Hofmann. I came to this via the International Booker (so that shows such prizes work!), which this won, and a friend's recommendation. Set in the old East Germany this is the story of an affair between 19-year old Katherina and 53 year old Hans- married with a son. It's an affair that starts off with an intensity that matches the suddenness and unexpectedness of their meeting, but is ultimately, and almost inevitably, doomed - we know that from the outset as the novel is framed by an older and now married Katherina receiving boxes of letters etc after Hans's death. It's also an affair paralleled by the fall of the Iron Curtain: Kairos is ancient Greek for 'the right or critical moment' - critical moments both in Katherina and Hans's lives, and in the history of Gemany. There is no doubt in my mind of the quality of Erpenbeck's writing. The rapid switching back and forth between thought strands that opened the first 'proper' chapter gave an instant edge, a freshness, that instantly grabbed me (and was the final hook in buying the book!), and there was a depth that kept me involved for quite a while. But gradually, it started to feel like so many other similar stories, things started to get rather repetitive (and unremitting), and when the submission and abuse came in, I was on the way out. I did skim through to the end, but there was nothing that persuaded me that this was other than the same old same old. Natasha Walters in the Guardian opened her review with the words "Jenny Erpenbeck's Kairos is one of the bleakest and most beautiful books I have ever read". Well we half agree, but her concept of beauty and mine must be very different!

39. Cheerful Weather for the Wedding by Julia Strachey **** Picked up on a whim in my local independent: Persephone Press is almost always worth a try, and the blurb was very persuasive, especially the recommendation quote from Virginia Woolf, and the phrase describing this as an "eccentric mixture of Katherine Mansfield, Cold Comfort Farm, and EM Forster" (all three of which I love!). At barely 120 pages, this was very much a quick read, finished in under a day and a couple of sittings. And I'm just not sure! Dolly Thatcham is about to get married to the older Owen Bigham on a breezy, bright March day, and the family are gathering and preparing for the day's ceremony; she herself needs sustenance (a bottle of rum!), whilst an ex-lover (or is he?) is waiting to put his oar in. It's a perfect scenario for a dissection of upper middle class social mores, and in many respects this matches expectations. I could instantly see the Cold Comfort Farm connection, portraying much of the same humour and bite with a cast of characters that included the suitably awful (if not quite as luridly drawn!). The Mansfield and Forster connections were not quite so obvious however, and, in fact, it was the quality of writing (at which these two are so superb) which left me asking questions. I think, I hope, it was deliberate, but there was a clunkiness at times which, whilst underlining the action, left me wondering. Also, whilst both Mansfield and Forster are outstanding character writers, there simply wasn't a similar depth here. That's almost inevitable: it's a rare piece of satire that manages that, and this was no exception to the rule. We're not talking carboard cutouts, but nor are we talking rounded individuals either - not surprising given the extensive cast, the space, and the material, but Mansfield? Forster? I think not - this was a very different kettle of fish. However, I did however find myself laughing out loud on a couple of occasions, which is no mean feat for an author to pull off, and, allowing for that clunky niggle, I did find this funny, deliciously so at times, especially in the wake of books like Richmal Crompton's Family Roundabout. The problem is that this latter sort of book has rather got lost in the mists of time, just like those that Stella Gibbons was spoofing, and unless familiar with them and/or 1930s English society, much of the point could easily be missed. But, whatever the faults (and, as I said, I'm not even sure if all these are faults!), I galloped through this, and found it a very easy and enjoyable read. It actually left me wanting more, even if that might have been a mite more depth, but that's still no bad thing. I can easily see me returning to this in the not too distant future to see if I can make my mind up! BTW, the edition I read was in Persephone's Classics series, which are supplied with the full colour cover rather than their standard grey offering. I always like their covers, but absolutely loved this one, the painting used being 'Girl Reading' by Harold Knight, a near perfect match IMO. They say don't judge a book by its cover, but this one certainly attracted me and made me pick it up!

38. Oxygen by Andrew Miller *** Read for one of my book groups. I've previously read a couple of Miller's later books, which I've really enjoyed, and I mean really enjoyed, both featuring on my favourites list, so I was delighted that my group chose one of his to read for our September meeting. This was a bit different from the get-go, as the previous two, Pure and Now We Shall Be Entirely Free, had both been historical fiction, whilst this was contemporary. It focuses on four characters: Alice Valentine, an elderly woman dying from cancer, Larry and Alex, her two sons (Larry an ex-pro tennis player and recently written-out soap star in America, gradually disconnecting from wife and troubled young daughter, and struggling to adjust; Alex a translator and currently caring for his mother), and Laszlo Lazar, a Hungarian emigre and playwright living in Paris. Laszlo is tenuously connected to the first three through Alex, as Alex is translating one of his plays into English. Chapters focus on one character at a time (in no particular order), and much of the story is told as through the subject's eyes. The writing is, as with both previous reads, brilliant. I love the precision and detail painting a vivid picture, sucking me in to each scene. This and the perspectives taken meant that the characters were really fleshed out too, so for about the first quarter or so of the book I was enthralled. Gradually, however, I found myself disengaging, growing restless: this was all very beautiful and insightful, but when was anything actually going to happen? We'd had a couple of what now seemed false starts, but otherwise, and now we are a third of the way into the book, nothing but nothing was actually doing. I think part of the problem also was that there were effectively four threads, and whilst three were reasonably closely connected (although Larry in America was still distant for much of the book), the Laszlo thread never really linked up - this was really two completely different stories intertwined, barely connected by the 'oxygen' thread, which, whilst adding to the imagery, was nowhere near enough to help create a fully successful single novel. Well, eventually, things did happen, but by then I was starting to skim, and what happened wasn't enough to pull me fully back in, although, forcing myself to settle down for the last pages, I loved the ending! Apparently (from Wikipedia), this, Miller's third book, received mixed reviews on publication, and, reading the quotes, I can't really disagree with any of them, both positive and, perhaps to a lesser extent in some cases, negative (some positively didn't like the ending!). I'm glad that several suggested this wasn't as good as his first two, as I have those to come! I am surprised though that this was shortlisted for both Booker and Whitbread. Still good enough that I will continue to look forward to some of his other work.

37. The Book Censor's Library by Bothayna Al-Essa ****** Translated from the Arabic by Ranya Abdelrahman and Sawad Hussain. The book for Kuwait in my global reading project, this is a fantastical satire examining the rise of authoritarianism and the dangers of book censorship : 1984 and Fahrenheit 451 are obvious influences, but oh is this so timely. In a post-Revolution society where imagination and much technology is banned, and conforming to 'logic' is the rule, the unnamed protagonist of this book finds himself a member of the team of book censors responsible for approving (or not) the books people are allowed to read. He's desperate to conform, but finds himself being sucked into the joys of reading (triggered off by reading Zorba the Greek) and into the resistance, the Cancers. At the same time, his daughter is showing scary signs of imagination, where fairy stories (and where did she acquire her knowledge of them) are all too real, making her vulnerable to being shipped off to one of the much feard child rehabilitation centres. I'm not normally a fan of satire, and definitely not of dystopian fiction (and this is both), but, like our protagonist, I was unrelentingly sucked into complete addiction. This was almost an effortless read, particularly noteable given the darkness of the subject matter, the writing crisp and sharp, with not a trace of having been translated. The fantastical element, well controlled, added an edge that both intrigued and entertained (all those rabbits!). Unusually for me, there were some genuine laugh out loud moments. Yet this book is deadly serious, and there were moments which exemplified why I don't enjoy (if that's the right word) dystopian fiction. All in all, a brilliant read. Not quite a 'favourite' (can such a book ever be one?) but another outstanding read on my world tour. Glad to get a book for Kuwait, they are few and far between in this country. This one has only recently become available in the UK (and the book is noteably even then printed and published in the States).

The first of a series of catch-up reviews: 36. The Boundless River by Mathijs Deen ***** A series of 'stories' set around the River Rhine, or, more accurately the Rhine and its tributaries. Early on in the book, Deen talks to a hydrologist about the source of the river, and is told off for focusing in on one 'source' - that the river should be treated as a whole, and that the only 'source' is the rain that falls on the entire catchment. Some of the stories are historical, some contemporary. Some are historical narrative, some are accounts of meetings with people, some are told as stories based on events - the collection (I think they're marginally better described as essays) is eclectic, wide ranging, and thoroughy readable. I did find the stories based on history a bit lightweight - I'd have preferred more history and less fictionalisation, but it certainly left me wanting to know more. I think the aim is to give an overall impression of the history, impact and even personality of the river - and on that I think it succeeds. Having cycled the length of the Rhine a few years ago, I feel quite a strong personal engagement with the river, and this both added to that, and made me want to explore more of the region. My only regret was that it wasn't a thicker book (!), - I wanted more!

Done. Good luck with your research!

Hello everyone. I hope you are all well. My name is Dan and I’m undertaking a bit of research in collaboration with an academic from Sheffield Hallam University called David Peplow and we are looking for participants for the study. We are investigating how poetry is read and engaged with by readers - in particular, what kinds of emotions and mental images it causes readers to experience. The study involves reading 4 short texts and completing a brief questionnaire about your reading experience. If you would like to take part, then please click the following survey link: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1NNauOzgtqXP1sKgB_4qC5YDPFxHGRNLootuisMStfxE/edit?usp=sharing_eil_m&ts=668e4302 As a way of thanks for taking part in the research, you will be entered into a prize draw for the chance to win one of six Amazon vouchers. There will be two £20 vouchers, two £10 vouchers and two £5 vouchers to potentially win. Thank you in advance to anyone who decides to take part. All the best, Dan and Dave

I'm currently reading 'Ham on Rye'. It's a difficult read, but captivating because you see the protagonist developing, learning how to survive and not break.

Natural Woman - Aretha Franklin

Natural Blues - Moby