Mike’s Comments (group member since Oct 28, 2021)

Mike’s comments from the Never too Late to Read Classics group.

I read this two years ago for Black History Month 2022 and gave it five stars. I found it thought provoking and felt that, as the reader, we experienced some of what the narrator's life was like. Certainly not for the faint of heart with a handful of disturbing scenes but a worthwhile read that has stayed with me.

Mbuye wrote: "Don't push yourself: Proust has to be read slowly and savoured without stress.

Give him time -- he'll wait."

Encouraging words Mbuye! I've tried to rush Proust a few times to no avail. My prime reading time is late at night and that often doesn't work well for Proust, just too tired to be able to hold one of his sentences in my head. Yesterday morning with a coffee however, a good 20 pages while the children had breakfast and watched cartoons.

I've been making slow progress simply from a lack of time. From my recent reading (Chapter 2 of Part 2) he does seem to return to his normal tone.

I can understand that. The UK can manage ice reasonably well with its fleet of fritters, but the slightest bit of snow and its car crash central and closed schools. Scotland probably manages its snow, but in England it's so rare that there isn't the equipment, nor are our tires changed to winter tires.

It's 2C in the Midlands, the warmest we've had in a week at night. I was speaking to a friend in Dallas earlier tonight so we were madly translating between C and F to understand each other. Even Texas is unusually cold!

My parents, despite being Canadian, use F all the time so I have a rough idea on some of the temperatures. I also remember one winter Scout camp in Algonquin Park in Ontario. It was -40, both C and F.

Pam wrote: "People may not realize that prostate cancer is also tied to BRCA mutations."

Gosh, I didn't. A close friend of mine and mentor has been battling prostate cancer and he has a daughter around my age, I shall have to see if they already know.

We lost my neighbour on Tuesday to a rare stomach cancer. He had hoped I could visit and have a beer with him but I've been fighting a chest infection for the last couple of months so have been unable to see him.

I really enjoyed "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest", I'm glad you did too. aside from the thought provoking plot, I think it's one of the better uses of a first person narrator.

Sorry for your loss Lesle, I'll be thinking and praying for you and your family.

Happy new year to all!

The Guermantes Way by Marcel Proust - 640 pages

Maurice by E.M. Forster - 256 pages

Group total: 584, 800 pages

The baby has sat up on his own for the first, and now second time today! both times he's done it I've not been looking so not sure on technique, but he's getting the results.

Merry Christmas to all, and I hope Santa has been generous to each of you!

Thanks Rosemarie & Lesle! I'm all finished and it's only 2:17 in the morning. I think this calls for a wee bourbon and a book.

I finished the Christmas shopping but have yet to wrap a single present, nor have I put a tree up yet. Tomorrow is going to be very busy!!

Good afternoon from here too! It's a chilly day but 4 times warmer then yesterday. Warm coffee, electric fire on and reading has been the order of the day.

Pam wrote: "Mike - Jerry Douglas will be here in Dec with Tommy Emmanuel. I saw them last year and they were fabulous together. I see that in January, Tommy Emmanuel will be touring with bluegrass artist Molly..."

Jerry & Tommy were due to play Birmingham UK in April 2020, of course it was cancelled. I've seen both Tommy & Molly as part of Transatlantic Sessions so seeing them together would be great but they're not coming close. Ho hum.

I've not come across European Bluegrass Music Association so thank you very much for pointing them out. I will have to keep my eyes on them!

Excellent, that gives me to the end of March to finish In Search of Lost Time and then the three hefties will see me through the rest of the year!

Pam wrote: "I’m going to a bluegrass concert tonight and Rhythm of the Yuletide Dance tomorrow afternoon."

I'm so very jealous, there's not much live bluegrass in the UK. I can't complain too much though, Jerry Douglas' Transatlantic Sessions does come to nearby Birmingham every February and it's always a hoot.

Karin wrote: "Enjoy! My family is in Canada so has celebrated Thanksgiving a day early for decades (on Sunday instead of Monday)--it's not what day, but that you get to celebrate together :)"

When we moved to the UK from Canada, we continued to celebrate Canadian Thanksgiving. Of course the Monday isn't possible as it's work & school, so it was Sunday. When my brother and I left the nest, it became Saturday so that we could have our whiskey sours and wine, and drive home the next day.

I re-read the story this afternoon with a nice mug of coffee. Reading it now in the post pandemic world, it's hard not to be reminded of lockdowns. I was fortunate to have a wife and children to keep me company but I know some of my colleagues were all alone during that time.

There's a definite warning of over-dependence on machines that rings loud and clear. One interesting detail that caught my attention was the description of the video - that it was "good enough". Is Forster hinting that accepting "good enough" is the beginning of societal attrition?

It's of course easy to mock them for beginning to worship The Machine, but I wonder are we really much different? In my old pre-pandemic job I travelled to and from London fairly regularly. I would often sit in a coffee shop, waiting for my train, watching all the people around me. There would be couples sat opposite each other, heads in their phones, people walking out from the underground heading to the platforms, head down in their phones. The idolatory of the mobile phone is real!

The writing is fantastic, I remembered really enjoying it, but it was fresh reading it again today. It's no wonder I discovered a love of short stories after reading this.