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Seventy up! 67. Jane Austen, A Brief Life by Fional Stafford ***** Both a brief account, and an all too brief life. What would she have achieved if she'd lived a fully three score and ten? Read to mark Jane Austen's 250th birthday. This was an illuminating and eminently readable biography (almost unputdownable!), focusing mainly on her writing development, and providing a useful framework on which one can then hang more detailed biographies such as Claire Tomalin's. It also made we want to read all Austen's novels again! Perhaps not immediately, but certainly a change of plan, and will move on to her last novel, Persuasion, the only one that I've read just the once. Perhaps the others in the new year. 68. Persuasion by Jane Austen ****** Read as a follow up to Fiona Stafford's biography. It's the only one of the big six that I've read just the once, at which time it wasn't one of my favourites (although I have loved them all, with perhaps Northanger Abbey being the only one rated below six stars).And it still doesn't quite mix it with Emma, Sense and Sensibility and Pride and Prejudice, but it's not far off, and Anne Elliot is definitely one of the great 'heroines'. I'm not quite sure why, but it could be something to do with the overcomplex genealogy perhaps, or the more straightforward romantic plotting. There's no doubting though the glorious Austen writing or her needle sharp character development. It was, for this unashamed Austen fan, a wonderful wallow, and I could have just started it all over again straightaway. I must read the others again in the New Year. (And I'm going to watch the BBC adaptation too, currently available on I-Player). 69. L'Etranger by Albert Camus **** I have read this once before, but only as a studied text for French Literature AS-Level, way back in the mid-70s. Needless to say, I barely remember it other than being a tedious translation effort. It's long overdue another go (particularly after reading and enjoying La Peste a couple of years ago), and as The Meursault Investigation seems to be a good choice for Algeria in Reading the World, now seems as good a time as any! So...it's easy to see why it's a classic. It's good, very good. It's seen as an examination of Absurdist philosophy, and I get that. The satire on French justice in part II (or is that 'justice' in general?) is vicious. To me, however, what came over much more strongly, was Meursault's autism. This was the grim, realist, side to The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time (and no, I'm not compariing them as literature, there is no comparison). I was fairly amazed that I'd never heard this before as it seemed screamingly obvious, so was relieved to find a note about just this right at the end of the book's Wikipedia entry that showed that this has been recognised (I'd begun to doubt myself!). But I can't say I was wowed. For me this is a book more to be admired and respected than enthused about (in contrast to, for instance, La Peste) I found it an interesting read certainly , but I never felt it reached far beyond simply doing what it says on the tin, the raison d'etre always more important than the novel itself. Animal Farm, amongst a number of other classics, had the same effect on me. But I am intrigued to read the Daoud take now! 70. The Meursault Investigation by Kamel Daoud ***** Read as both a follow-up to L'Etranger and as the book for Algeria in Reading the World. This was a fascinating counterpoint to Camus's classic. I was glad to read it immediately afterwards as I might well have missed some (many?) of the points of contact otherwise, and I really enjoyed picking these up! Overall. I was surprised, if anything, to enjoy this more than the original. This felt more human and more deeply rooted in place. There was a colour that Camus's lacked. All of this was obviously deliberate on the part of both authors, but the later book did chime more with me (although it of course needed the earlier work to build on!). Perhaps it would be fairer to say, that they worked really well as a pair, both contrasting and complimenting each other; a case of the sum being distinctly greater than the parts.

It wasn't much more than a passing mention - very positive - in their end of year review of their favourite books. It's not one where I listen to every episode as there are others which do command most of my (fairly limited) listening, but enjoy it selectively (such as their serious of Virginia Woolf centred pods earlier this year).

Just a stub until the New Year…

I Don't Hear You - George Jones

Start here in the New Year

Awww

I Heard it on the Grapevine - Marvin Gaye

fierce a beverage, terribly

Common People by Leah Gordon and Stephen Ellcock “Over the course of several centuries, acts of law gradually prohibited forms of subsistence hunting by labelling this illegal poaching, made small scale farming economically unviable, redesignated former peasants as wage-enslaved industrial workers and created a tribe of society’s outriders, labelled vagabonds, who were condemned as soon as they existed. In essence, the rich and powerful took away nearly all forms of livelihood from the majority class of peasants, and then immediately criminalized them for their ensuing poverty.” This is an important book which looks at the history of land rights and enclosure. In 1600 about fifty percent of England was common land. It is now about three percent. This tells the story of that struggle from the point of view of those who lost most. There are over one hundred photos and illustrations and Gordon, who is a photographer (as well as an indie musician from the 80s, and veteran of many protests concerning land and roadbuilding). Gordon and Ellcock look at the history of rebellion against enclosure right up to the present day, covering things as esoteric as the allotment movement. There is a detailed timeline from 1066, including the 1217 Charter of the Forest which established rights of access to the royal forests. In 1452, 1455 and 1493 there were Papal Bulls establishing the Doctrine of Discovery, setting out legal and religious principles which gave rights to European Christian nations the right to colonize lands outside Europe, stating that any non-Christian landowners could not be legitimate owners. In fact it was their Christian duty to seize the lands and convert any residents. Thus establishing a religious and moral justification for Imperialism, as early as the fifteenth century. These Papal Bulls were not revoked until 2023. Land ownership was an alien concept to many indigenous tribes. Up to 1597 there was opposition in parliament against enclosure and there were acts in favour of enclosure and against it. 1597 was the date when the last Act was passed against enclosure. The first general (rather than specific) act of enclosure was in 1621. The opposition to enclosure is documented as is the Civil War period rise of groups like The Levellers and the Diggers. The opposition to enclosure in the fens lasted over 160 years. Enclosure was also made easier by the Reformation. The changes in belief system meant that there were no more holidays for saints days and less days off work. The ruling classes began to see holidays as an excuse for licentiousness in the lower classes. Enclosure changed the nature of the countryside. One early driver was the wool industry as landowners wanted more land on which to graze their sheep. Enclosure was vital for the Industrial Revolution because it produced many homeless workers who could move to towns and to where the industry was developing and could live in poor conditions and be paid a pittance. It also helped to create the notion that there was a rural idyll in the past when land was in common. There are obviously problems with this, but it is easy to see where the idea comes from. Enclosure also contributed to a rise in vagabondage which led directly to the Poor laws and later workhouses. Enclosure is one of the fundamental parts of British history which is too often misunderstood. Leah and Ellcock have done an excellent job here of documenting a basic history. The photographs and illustrations are marvellous. There are also important sections on allotments and the protests of the 1980s and 90s following the effects of Thatcher’s policies. 10 out of 10 Starting Eleanor of Aquitaine by Alison Weir

I Hear You Knocking (But You Can't Come in) - Dave Edmunds

when imbibed in too

Merry Christmas everyone ( sorry, a bit belated 🫣) 🎄❤️🎄❤️🎄❤️🎄

Merry Christmas everyone

Merry Christmas to all the wonderful people here. 🎅

I also wish everyone a Merry Christmas and hope you have a Happy New Year.

or hashish filled bongs

You too Luna. Merry Christmas all. 📚 📖 📙

Starting here

I hope that each and every one of you have a marvellously Merry Christmas and very happy New Year filled with bookish goodness.

The Voices of Time by J G Ballard “To Powers the sky seemed an endless babel, the time-song of a thousand galaxies overlaying each other in his mind. As he moved slowly towards the centre of the mandala he craned up at the glittering traverse of the Milky Way, searching the confusion of clamouring nebulae and constellations… Like an endless river, so broad that its banks were below the horizons, it flowed steadily towards him, a vast course of time that spread outwards to fill the sky and the universe, enveloping everything within them.” A collection of eight short stories by J G Ballard. The stories were written in the late 50s and early 60s, originally published in 1963. Some have elements of science fiction and there is certainly a strangeness to them. I suppose Kafkaesque is a good way to describe them. The stories are not easy to categorize, but there are elements of how we react to technology and mass media. More than one story has a sense of an outside threat which is not easy to quantify or describe. The first story is dystopian and concerns a neurosurgeon Powers who is overseeing a facility which looks after the many people who have succumbed to a type of sleeping sickness which puts people into a coma, never to wake. He is gradually developing the disease himself. The quality is inevitably variable. One of the better stories is The Garden of Time. An older married couple live in a walled villa and garden. In the garden there grows remarkable crystal flowers. The villa is surrounded by rolling hills. In the distance there can be heard the sound of hordes of people approaching the villa. The sounds appear to be threatening. The couple can pick a crystal flower and the flower pushes the people back. However the garden is running out of flowers and the people get nearer. External threat is a theme in a number of the stories. These stories are interesting and thought provoking. 7 and a half out of 10 Starting The Safekeep by Yael van der Wouden

tricky for Western tongues

Do You Hear What I Hear ~ Bing Crosby

"Zat You", Santa Claus ? - Louis Armstrong

28. Speedboat (Renata Adler, 1976) Its like a story told through context-less anecdotes arranged in a near-random order and I think that's a really fun idea but tbh I just straight up don't have the brain power to connect all the threads and really get much out of it. Its certainly amusing at points in a "sensible chuckle" sort of way but I was mostly just lost. Probably would have dug it if the prose grabbed me more. 6/10