Ersatz TLS discussion

Good morning, Erlatzers!

Beautiful day in Seattle yesterday, About 80 degrees F., blue skies, flowers everywhere. Just lovely.

'The Fiddlehead and the Daisy' comes from a friend in Port Townsend:



It's tax day here in the US. I worked up my returns in February, then waited until this weekend to push the button to submit. Then realized I prepared the forms on the computer that died. So I'm scrambling this morning to prepare them again.

Authors on this week's Literary Birthday list include a Viscountess, a bohemian, a convict and a forger. Also authors of two comedies - one divine, one human.

Oh, and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle... A quiz seems in order (show us your stuff, Bill!).

Afternoon all, just avoided a torrential tempest of rain as i returned from Oxfam bookshop with a Novitz classic (aussie pulp-fiction publishers), its called::

The Dark Street by Gavin Holt (1942) and set in nazi germany (a quick google has revealed he was an australian author). onto the pile it goes, a snip at 99p

Otherwise, i have finished John Galts excellent political satire from 1832 and am now reading:

The Way to Santiago by Arthur Calder Marshall (1940), a wartime thriller set in Mexico, published by Faber Finds. Victor Serge mentioned it in his diaries and it sounds fasciating

The Last Enemy by Richard Hillary (1942), a very literate and patient tale of WW2's early years in the RAF. Elements of wartime spirit stirring but softly done

The Confines of the Shadow by Alessendro Spina. A collection of 3 1970s novellas about Italian Libya, in particular the port of Benghazi by a Libyan Christian author educated in Italy

Otherwise LRB, NS and NYRB editions piling up, the slow read of Jeffersons Notes from Virginia (1785) and the Sky Atlantic drama Chernobyl.

Lljones wrote: "A quiz seems in order (show us your stuff, Bill!)."

I got a few questions into the quiz before I realized that the quiz deals with a TV adaptation and not the canonic stories. Evidently the adaptation changed Watson's brother into a sister and is set in the modern day as Holmes detects the sibling's alcoholism by scratchers on her phone rather than on a pocket watch. (Whenever we come home after dark without the porch light being lit, I usually make one or more unsuccessful attempts before getting the door key into the lock; I invariably observe to my wife that Sherlock Holmes would look at the lock and determine that I'm "a man of untidy habits".)

Bill wrote: "Lljones wrote: "A quiz seems in order (show us your stuff, Bill!)."

I got a few questions into the quiz before I realized that the quiz deals with a TV adaptation and not the canonic stories. Evid..."

Yeah, I noticed that after I posted it. I've switched the link to a different 'ultimate' quiz.

Tove Jansson: Work and Love. Tuula Karjalainen

I received this book as a birthday gift from my brother in 2017 and read it then. I decided to re-read it since I have been re-reading old favorites alternating with new books, and indeed, I try to buy only books I know I will re-read. My first roommate in CA, CJ, was bewildered by this. She asked me quite seriously once why I didn’t throw books in the trash after finishing them, as she did. To Indians, books are sacred-you simply do not “throw them in the trash after finishing them.”…..

Tove Jansson (1914-2001) was the much-loved Finnish author of the Moomin books. As I grew up in England, I became familiar with the books at an early age-10 or so-have always loved them and own them all. “Comet in Moominland” was the VERY FIRST book I bought for myself with my pocket money! However, my interest was significantly rekindled when, starting in 2016, I had the opportunity to visit Finland regularly for business. The Moomin books are less familiar here. I know nobody who has read them-the more reason to spread the joy!!

The biography is one of two recent ones. I have not (yet) read the other. It is an excellent overview of Tove’s life. The things that were of most interest to me, since I was not aware of them growing up, were her vast output as a painter and the sheer range of her creative activities. These encompassed oil paintings, frescoes, many still to be seen in Helsinki, the long running Moomin comic strips, a few of which I saw as a child (Moomin is Good), books, short stories, writing for children and adults, theater, tv, film and much else. I always loved the artwork she created for the Moomin books, but it was also a great pleasure to see her paintings and other artistic works.

I enjoyed the detailed description of life in Finland between the wars and during WW2, when Tove, at some risk to herself, illustrated the anti-Nazi political magazine GARM. Most people in the US have not much idea about Finland but it is a country with an interesting history, well worth getting to know better and to visit. Tove was a Swedish-Finn, who, with Finnish-speaking Finns, and the Sami or Lapps, form the 3 main population groups. All over Finland you see fortresses built by the Swedes or Russians and Russian Orthodox churches such as Uspenski Cathedral. It is easy to get the ferry to Petersburg….. and the last time I was there, in 2019, I watched Putin’s state visit from the restaurant of the Hotel Kämp on Pohjoisesplanadi.

The funniest thing I noticed on this read was the absurd condemnation by the New Left of the Moomins as “ruthless members of the upper-class establishment”. This sort of thing is why I have no use for politics by and large and nothing but contempt for much so-called political analysis, L or R. Tove was very much "Art for Art's Sake". She did not have a political agenda. She illustrated the Finnish edition of “The Hobbit”, and in 2016 I received a beautiful calendar with those illustrations, which I saw for the first time. Her drawings are very different from those of JRRT or others, and have their own unique charm, which doubtless draws upon the Finnish epic, “The Kalevala”, a fundamental influence on Middle-Earth referenced all over Helsinki to this day.

Sculptor’s Daughter. Tove Jansson

I bought this book in 1978 and reread it this afternoon after I finished my bio of Tove. Her father was a sculptor, Viktor Janssen, and her mother, “Ham”, an artist. It is one of Tove Jansson’s non-Moomin books. It is a quick read-about 2 hours-and consists of a series of short vignettes written from a child’s point of view. These pieces are full of the child’s imagination, fantasy, and sharply lit perceptions of the circumstances around her. Her Father’s parties, her mother’s humorous forbearance, an iceberg, winter snow, salvaging items washed in by the sea, the death of a wounded seagull. Here are crazy Fanny with her Great Rain Song, the mysterious rites of Christmas, and the snowed in house that invites hibernation. They are the genesis of the Moomin characters and stories. Tove IS Moomintroll, but you also see the monsters that lurk in the child’s imagination, where the Groke lives.

Sandya wrote: "Tove Jansson: Work and Love. Tuula Karjalainen

I received this book as a birthday gift from my brother in 2017 and read it then. I decided to re-read it since I have been re-reading old favorites ..."

I'm a big Moomin fan, introduced to them by my mother as a kid and now i am also interested in the life of Jansson, her novels and the recently published letters collection
I posted a link to some GARM work she did on here or Guardian TLS

On a similar theme Sandya, i recommend the wartime diaries of Astrid Lindgren, who like Jansson created a hugely popular childrens series out of wartime darkness

the Swedish speaking Finns are a fascinating group, most numerous towards the Gulf of Bothnia (Western Finland), of note among these people as writers is Runar Schildt, who wrote about Helsinki

Lljones wrote: "I've switched the link to a different 'ultimate' quiz."

OK - 87% (4 wrong) - not great. There were a few questions that went beyond canonical knowledge, but I did answer (or guess) some of them correctly.

The most I ever remember is somebody mentioned a subject. So to whoever has an interest in VietNam here is a link to a zoom talk (realizing that US Pacific time may not work for everyone) - https://jsis.washington.edu/events/?t...

NY Times: Philip Roth Biography Finds a New Publisher

Just three weeks after W.W. Norton dropped its Philip Roth biography, following accusations of sexual assault and misconduct against its author, Blake Bailey, the book has found a new home.

On Monday, Skyhorse Publishing — an independent press that last year released Michael Cohen’s memoir as well as one by Woody Allen that had been dropped by his previous publisher — said that it acquired “Philip Roth: The Biography.” In a news release, it said it would publish the book in paperback on June 15, and would release e-book and audiobook versions “as soon as possible,” likely this week.

(Note blurb on new edition cover.)

Bill wrote: "NY Times: Philip Roth Biography Finds a New Publisher Just three weeks after W.W. Norton dropped its Philip Roth biography, following accusations of sexual assault and misconduct against its author..."

all the literary journals are reviewing this biog(which sounds very interesting) it was always going to be a big deal, as Roth was one of the last giants of 20th century american lit.

I have read the plot against america and his first novel Goodbye Columbus and i liked them both

Any opinions on the Blake Bailey situation Bill?

AB76 wrote: "Sandya wrote: "Tove Jansson: Work and Love. Tuula Karjalainen

I received this book as a birthday gift from my brother in 2017 and read it then. I decided to re-read it since I have been re-reading..."

Jansson's non-Moomin books are fairly new to me since I moved to the US before most of them came out and they are hard to find here, if not impossible. I don't think I've ever seen Moomin in a bookstore here... I read Pippi Longstocking as a child and also the Adventures of Nils books by Selma Lagerlöf, though she was not Finnish. Wonderful books though!

MK wrote: "The most I ever remember is somebody mentioned a subject. So to whoever has an interest in VietNam here is a link to a zoom talk (realizing that US Pacific time may not work for everyone)"

Thanks a lot MK - that'd be me I think (here is the comment in question)... This makes it 11.30pm-1am here in the UK, but on a Friday night, so I'm considering it!

Sandya wrote: "AB76 wrote: "Sandya wrote: "Tove Jansson: Work and Love. Tuula Karjalainen

I received this book as a birthday gift from my brother in 2017 and read it then. I decided to re-read it since I have be..."

I have a Lagerlof on my pile and read Gosta Berlings Saga

two other Scandinavian female writers you might like are Amalie Skram and Victoria Benedictsson, both writing before Lagerlof

AB76 wrote: "Any opinions on the Blake Bailey situation Bill?"


Bailey seems to have had a pretty sleazy history, which he’s more or less admitted, of “grooming” underage female students to be potential partners once they mature (or, at least reach the legal age of consent). But what seems to have pushed Norton into withdrawing his books - a memoir as well as the Roth biography – from publication is a rape accusation that became public after the book was published and widely reviewed, but of which the publisher was aware before publication.

I was rather bothered by the fact that an author’s personal behavior could lead to the suppression of his work. The fact that here an accusation in itself was sufficient to cause this is pretty alarming, but I don’t even think a criminal conviction should preclude an author’s work from being available. I found myself comparing the Bailey blow-up to the situation in the early 1980s when In the Belly of the Beast: Letters From Prison came out; at the time it seemed to me that the book was published at least partly because Jack Henry Abbott was a convicted murderer – and, in fact, he went on to commit another homicide shortly after the book was published.

Ironically, it may be that the reading public is better served in the Bailey case than it would be without the scandal: the book will be available and its paperback edition will be coming out a year (or more) earlier than would have happened if it had remained under the Norton imprint. But any Pulitzer or ABA nominations are probably off the table at this point.

I note that before the scandal and withdrawal of the book there were a few reviews by women, notably Parul Sehgal and Laura Marsh, that noted sexist assumptions baked into the way Bailey told Roth’s life story. No doubt the spotlight subsequently shone on the biographer’s personal behavior will affect the way many readers will now experience the book.

Bill wrote: "AB76 wrote: "Any opinions on the Blake Bailey situation Bill?"


Bailey seems to have had a pretty sleazy history, which he’s more or less admitted, of “grooming” underage female students to be pot..."

interesting bill, these are strange times in many ways for the arts and the nature of censorship or suppression. I think publishers should be more supportive of their authors in these cases but then who wants a social media storm of abuse and therefore things move fast and without a rational process, which could still end in a cancellation of a print run....

AB76 wrote: "Sandya wrote: "AB76 wrote: "Sandya wrote: "Tove Jansson: Work and Love. Tuula Karjalainen

I received this book as a birthday gift from my brother in 2017 and read it then. I decided to re-read it ..."

I started Kristin Lavransdatter, by Sigrid Undset, during grad school, which I SOOO wanted to enjoy, as a friend had recommended it highly, but I hated Kristin. What a moron! She should have married the man her parents picked for her. I couldn't finish it, caught as I was between wanting to date like my English friends, not wanting an arranged marriage, seeing Kristin ruin her life over Erlend Nikulausson, a useless, pathetic, "bad boy", and understanding first hand why arranged marriage was the norm for centuries. I just couldn't sympathize with her.

Then there's her idiot mother who lets her younger daughter Ulvhild play outside among the horses, resulting in Ulvhild getting kicked and crippled for life.. The reason this annoyed me is I have met several Indian women my age with bad burns and when you ask how, they all say "I fell in the fire when I was a baby". Their mothers were morons too. And then that poor woman, Mary Boyle Countess of Warwick, Robert Boyle's sister (of Boyle's Law), who tells the story of her baby daughter's nurses throwing the child from one to the other like a football until one failed to catch the baby and it fell, at acceleration, on a stone floor, cracked its skull, and died. Unbelievable the number of morons out there. Sorry, rant over.

Just saw this cover on Twitter - I have no idea whether the book is any good, but was amused by the cover design parodying the old Vintage Contemporaries series.

First of all - some responses to comments made last week...

Thanks to Shelflife, Georg and AB76 for your views on Peter Carey... perhaps I'll delay looking into him until Shelflife completes the re-read! Contrasting views there...

But not (so far) on Jane Gardam's 'Old Filth'. Now, I seem to be a bit of an outlier on this one, as all the comments to date have been positive. Following recommendations on TLS, I read this one 2-3 years ago, but was left uncharmed and underwhelmed - and, quite frankly, baffled. The writing style is decent - but not so good that you'd want to carry on reading just for that - but the characters (as far as I remember) belong to that privileged class who have achieved comfortable lives as a result of being born into money, despite an obvious mediocrity and lack of talent. I didn't feel any interest in their lives, and stopped after that first volume.

Now, it could be that the secret lies in reading the trilogy to the end - perhaps there is some key there to make sense of what goes before, and to justify it - but I don't have the patience. If only there was a passage similar to that in the Tony Hancock episode 'The Bowmans', in which the characters all fall down a hidden mine shaft...

(A perusal of Amazon critics shows that around 8% of readers, like me, didn't 'get' this book against 60% who loved it - so I'm not alone - just lonely!)

Finally, a few words on children's books... I missed out on the Moomins, only becoming aware of them when there was a TV adaptation - far too late (I was already around 30 when that first aired), and also Pippi Longstocking - but of the books I read my daughters, Astrid Lindgren's That boy Emil! made me laugh (I did like the bit where Emil accidentally locks his old grandad into the outside toilet - the drawings are wonderful). Other picture books which raised a smile - or even a laugh - were Mr. Gumpy's Outing - wonderfully illustrated by the author John Burningham - and Silly Goose by Jack Kent (we actually had the French edition of that one - 'Bête comme une oie' - the title is enough to amuse, as 'oie' is such a daft word - pronounced 'wah!').

If anyone out there has young children or grand-children, you could derive some pleasure for yourself by buying and reading those three to your (grand)kids! ;-)

Now for an actual review:

by Gianrico Carofiglio

This is the latest (sixth) in the series featuring Italian defence lawyer Guido Guerrieri to be published by Bitter Lemon Press. Carofiglio is a former prosecutor specialising in organised crime. He has also served as a senator, and as an advisor to the anti-Mafia committee of the Italian parliament.

None of that would matter if Carofiglio couldn't write, though - but he remains one of my favourite crime writers, and one of the least well known - he deserves a wider readership in the English-speaking world.

The current novel has three strands - the story concerns a case which arises when a former long-ago lover asks Guerrieri to defend her son on a murder charge. The lawyer from the original trial has since died, and Guerrieri is tasked with providing a better defence for the appeal hearing. As Carofiglio is both an expert lawyer and a canny observer of humanity, the descriptions of how he goes about unearthing new evidence and presenting it to the best effect - making use of his psychological acuity - are entirely convincing. The trial scenes describe a combat of logic and evidence between prosecution and defence, without the melodrama you'd get in (say) Perry Mason (by Erle Stanley Gardner - too long ago for some of you!).

The second strand lies in Guido's gradual recollection of how the affair unfolded; he had more or less forgotten how things went with Lorenza Delle Foglie, but as he meets with her to provide updates on progress, his memory kicks in and more and more details of their liaison return...

Which in turn leads to the third strand - a somewhat philosophical meditation on time, memory, morality and justice - there is no way to summarise all the ideas that pass through Guido's mind during this period. He is, though, the most bibliophilic (is that a word?) of protagonists, haunting an all-night bookshop in his home town of Bari whenever insomnia strikes... I'm left wondering if such an institution exists in reality (Bari really is the author's home town), or if it represents a sort of wish-fulfilment. He makes frequent use of quotations from a vast array of authors, and even - cheekily - justifies his digressions with a defence based on Sterne's 'Tristam Shandy'. As there is a large overlap between the author's views and interests and my own, I enjoy these passages (I guess a reader could skip them if so inclined). Indeed, not so long ago we had a discussion of whether all authors are arseholes, or is is just many of them? Based on an intuition that Guerrieri is a mouthpiece for many of Carofiglio's own opinions and interests, I'd say that he is an author I'd very much enjoy meeting for a drink or a meal - so long as we have a common language! He definitely can't be an arsehole (I think).

So, there it is. You won't get any violence in this book, or any melodrama. You will get intelligent musings on many issues, and you may end up liking Guido as much as I do. I hope the stories will work for at least some of you...

Book design, the look and the feel, its such a draw to us reading magpies (unless you are kindled) and its mostly distracting from the core that we all enjoy, the pages of text

Bright, arty covers, layout are the glittering distractions but mean a lot to me, the real skill of a publisher is packing a classic edition with a good intro/footnotes and maybe extra essays or text from the author

I was thinking about this just now, as my edition of Calder Marshalls The Way to Santiago is a bare, Faber Finds basic with a striking white cover, no illustrations and no intro or footnotes, however, as i said 300 pages of text is always the beating heart of why we read

For design brilliance i would say that Apollo Classics are the best on the market right now, with Rixdorf Editions(a small catalogue) coming second. All time design brilliance has always been Penguin

Mikhail Bulgakov’s Diaboliad and Other Stories features a bonkers narrative, which I like. But I feel a bit cheated by the length of the Alma Classics volume, which I feel should probably have included The Fatal Eggs and Notes on a Cuff as well. Still, the title text has the refreshing quality I get from unusual fiction.
I now resume reading Don Quixote while I wait impatiently for deliveries.

SydneyH wrote: "Mikhail Bulgakov’s Diaboliad and Other Stories features a bonkers narrative, which I like. But I feel a bit cheated by the length of the Alma Classics volume, which I feel should probably have incl..."

Alma do tend to do slim volumes of stories, Bulgakov is a great writer, i must look up the collection you just enjoyed...."bonkers" narratives are all good!!!

AB76 wrote: ""bonkers" narratives are all good!!!"

I'm inclined to agree, but the volume is 140 pages all up, about 40 of which are supplementary notes about Bulgakov, so the Vintage copy may be better value. Diaboliad itself is only about 56 pages.

SydneyH wrote: "AB76 wrote: ""bonkers" narratives are all good!!!"

I'm inclined to agree, but the volume is 140 pages all up, about 40 of which are supplementary notes about Bulgakov, so the Vintage copy may be b..."

i think the cost vs page content alarm would go off in my head. sometimes i realise that a rare book, fleshed out by notes is worth ten quid, even if only 100 pages or so but you do begin to wonder how only 140 pages of a well known authors work , with plenty of other translations is value for £ or $ or Euro's

lucky for you, you enjoyed it, so the case is clos-ed, as Insp Clouseau would say

Going to be reading Le Corbusier's Poesie Sur Alger in next few days, relevant to my last post as its only 75 pages of english text, the other half is the german translation

Its a fascinating little book, i have no idea what to expect but the Swiss master will make me think i'm sure, his plans for Algiers never came to fruition and having seen the plans...i am quite pleased...

scarletnoir wrote: "First of all - some responses to comments made last week...

Thanks to Shelflife, Georg and AB76 for your views on Peter Carey... perhaps I'll delay looking into him until Shelflife completes the r..."

I've read the 'Old Filth' trilogy about 2 years ago. I thought it was good. But I only keep books I intend to re-read and these wouldn't have qualified. Had I not gotten them from the library I might have even had some small regrets about money I could have spent better.

Then again: they were better than at least 60% of contemporary literary fiction I've read (or abandoned) since. All hyped, showered with prices, loved by everybody but me and a very small minority of fellow dissenters.

Thanks for the Carofiglio review. That sounds very good to me, different from the usual crime fare.
I wish I could (after about 30 years) re-read Fruttero/Lucentini, but I think their translations are all out of print. Like Vásquez Montalbáns.

Georg wrote: "I've read the 'Old Filth' trilogy about 2 years ago. I thought it was good... they were better than at least 60% of contemporary literary fiction I've read (or abandoned) since. All hyped, showered with prices, loved by everybody but me and a very small minority of fellow dissenters."

I know what you mean - I suppose that the praise heaped on Gardam made me expect a lot more, but the book didn't deliver - and I repeat: the privileged, spoilt characters got up my nostrils.
Perhaps we can have some sort of 'nay-sayers' thing going on, though - and criticise those well thought of by a majority! (It's probably bordering on heresy to say so, but I wasn't impressed by Evaristo...)

As for Carofiglio - if you do try the Guerrieri series, then I hope you enjoy it. Be prepared for very precise references to Italian law, and terms such as favor rei and favor libertatis! You don't get too much of this sort of thing, though, and even those (such as myself) who have at best a nodding acquaintance with Latin - and the law - can sort of grasp the import without needing a precise understanding of the terms employed. Most of the story is just that, but the realism of the trial sequences grounds it very well.

scarletnoir wrote: "Now for an actual review:

by Gianrico Carofiglio

This is the latest (sixth) in the series featuring Italian defence lawyer Guido Guerrieri to be published..."

Nice review of a book and author I am not familiar with at all. Thank you!!

The Way to Santiago by Arthur Calder-Marshall (1940) has started perfectly,the prose creating a realistic atmosphere of late 1930s Mexico City and its small english colony

Rumours abound of a nazi involvement in Mexico, a journalist is killed, who seemed to be following a good lead into the situation.

Spare but well crafted prose, interesting usage of words ..

Calder Marshall was a friend of Graham Greene's and the early style is similar, though maybe a little more noir....

Reading Das Leben ist zu kurz für später, (transl. Life is too short for later) where the author lives her life as if she died a year later. Interesting, not surprising much, more confirming, that pride is one of our biggest blockages. But also, to a certain extent, peace - keeping politeness. Over 200 pages to go, still.

The Miles Franklin longlist has been released, for anyone who is interested: https://www.smh.com.au/culture/books/...

Bill wrote: "Lljones wrote: "A quiz seems in order (show us your stuff, Bill!)."

I got a few questions into the quiz before I realized that the quiz deals with a TV adaptation and not the canonic stories. Evid..."

"A Study in Pink" overegged the pudding, I fear.

by Anne Tyler

Micah Mortimer is an IT troubleshooter and caretaker for the building where he lives (in the basement). He is in most ways an ordinary man, except that he's on the very edge of the spectrum (as we say nowadays), and so has difficulties in reading between the lines in his personal relationships. That term isn't used anywhere in the book, but he is variously described as 'finicky' (by his sister) and 'weird' by another character. And yet - he's more ordinary than odd.

This is how he considers his problem:
"Sometimes when he was dealing with people, he felt like he was operating one of those claw machines on a boardwalk, those shovel things where you tried to scoop up a prize but the controls were too unwieldy and you worked at too great a remove."

As the story unfolds, we see how this difficulty affects Micah's life, and how he attempts to resolve matters (I'm avoiding details to make sure there are no spoilers).

Once again, the extraordinary Anne Tyler manages to make what looks like the most ordinary life into an amusing and often funny tale - I laughed several times at her wonderfully precise choice of words. IMO, there is no better stylist writing in the English language at the moment. She has rightly won the Pulitzer, but the po-faced miserabilists who award the Booker have always seen fit to pass her over... there are probably more laughs in one Tyler book than in all the Booker winners since the year dot (and if that comment is not literally true, it certainly has a flavour of truth to it).

Tyler will be 80 this year... how many more books has she got in her? Quite a few, I hope, as although this one is shorter than most, she retains her ability to entertain, amuse and empathise.

Have paused Corbusier, as its a small little read i may save it for a summer trip(if i make any), within the UK

So my next non-fiction is Oxford by the late Jan Morris, a study of the town of dreaming spires and car manufacturing, now more just of dreaming spires

Morris is an interesting writer and my interest in her was re-kindled when i was reading Paul Theroux's 1982 travel book about the UK, when he met Morris during his Welsh leg of the journey. Theroux also introduced me to Naguib Mahfouz, a good 20 years ago, when reading his travel book on Africa

AB76 wrote: " The Way to Santiago by Arthur Calder-Marshall (1940) has started perfectly,the prose creating a realistic atmosphere of late 1930s Mexico City and its smal..."

Orson Welles wanted to make a film of this story. It was one of many unfinished projects....

Robert wrote: "AB76 wrote: " The Way to Santiago by Arthur Calder-Marshall (1940) has started perfectly,the prose creating a realistic atmosphere of late 1930s Mexico City..."

yes i saw that and it intrigued me, when i have finished the novel i will try and re-live it as a Welles film, sort of.

I am suprised that Calder-Marshall is so little known and out of print(until Faber Finds came along), makes you wonder how many great authors of the 1930s and 40s remain on a dusty bookshelf in re-publishing limbo

Lean Fall Stand by Jon McGregor
The book is divided into three sections, each bearing a word from the book’s title. The sections aren’t an even spread. The first, which is the most compelling, occupies about a quarter of the whole.
Robert “Doc” Wright is a veteran of more than 30 years in the Antarctic, leading two young assistants on a geographical survey. McGregor’s description of the storm that hits is terrific; that sort of short graphic and expressive prose that can make you almost feel like you are there, like the best writers of non-fiction travel. Polar literature at its best.
Wright takes unnecessary risks in order to take a photograph - the storm strengthens, the radios fail, the three become isolated, Wright suffers a stroke, there is a death. What a powerful start. I slowed my reading pace, and ignored potential disruptions.
There were several ways the story could go now; delving into Wright’s background and mental state having been at opposite ends of the globe to his wife for the 30 years, his culpability in the accident, a previous fatality several years before in which Wright was also involved, the ambition and drive of the young assistants, the effect on Wright’s family.
The second section, which is almost as strong, deals with Wright’s wife travelling to Santiago to bring him home and convalesce. His family are clearly not close to him, and the interest lies in the balance of providing the huge amount of care necessary and continuing with normal life.
As in the first part, McGregor again demonstrates that in such harrowing circumstances language itself is often not enough.
Unfortunately though the third part, and inevitably the longest, falls very flat. The ups and downs of the therapy class for stroke victims Wright attends verges on the boring.
I’ve rarely read a novel like it, with the first two parts being so good, and the last part / half, bring so disappointing, the drudge heightened by expectations.
I can see McGregor’s point. Is losing the power to speak a worse fate than an Antarctic storm? Personally though, if I was to make a recommendation, it would be to read the first 100 pages or so, then pull out..

Hello Forest Folk!
I managed to read very, very little these past few weeks both from exhaustion and lack of much inspiration. I'm too easily distracted, and Luca is too light a sleeper.

I did manage to read an Italian translation of Maryse Condé's I, Tituba, Black Witch of Salem . It was somewhat fascinating, as it really set a different ray of light onto the Salem witch trials. It was to The Crucible as Wide Sargasso Sea is to Jane Eyre, a Caribbean ethnic recasting of an apparently Anglo religious nut-jobbery.
I remember having to recite The Crucible in 10th grade literature class with mad Ms. Marks who wore long flowery dresses with a fisherman's vest overtop and felt-soled rubber boots underneath. She could sneak up on you because of those damned boots and toss sticks of chalk at you from 30 yards.

But, I didn't recall that Tituba was actually a character in Arthue Miller's play, but having browsed through it again, she was indeed there and Condé did a rather fantastic job of making Tituba, the Parris' slave as the convenient "black sheep" for lack of a better term, as opposed as the naked first reveller. Of course they blamed her in their hysterical power play.
Written simply, unadorned, but concisely puts a subtly fresh look on the WASP-centric narrative underlying such seemingly well-known historical events. Not perfect, but simple and well-told.

Now I've moved onto my second China Miéville novel; The City and The City The City & the City, after having previously read Kraken and not much caring for it. We'll see if Miêville manages to write less fervently self-lovingly this time around.

Paul wrote: "Hello Forest Folk!"

Good to see you. I feel like we are short of a few regulars at the moment.

scarletnoir wrote: "Now for an actual review:

by Gianrico Carofiglio

This is the latest (sixth) in the series featuring Italian defence lawyer Guido Guerrieri to be published..."

Thanks for this SN. I added it to my list a week or so ago. I’ve read only one of his before, The Cold Summer , which I enjoyed, and as you say, something of a variation on crime in that there’s little violence. I suspect his earlier novels relied more on his area of expertise, he was a prosecutor. There’s quite a bit of the politics of the day involved as well.
I look forward to this.

Andy wrote: "scarletnoir wrote: "Now for an actual review:

by Gianrico Carofiglio

This is the latest (sixth) in the series featuring Italian defence lawyer Guido Guerr..."

my favourite italian crime novelist is Carlo Lucarelli, especially his Mussolini era triology, though i still havent read the final book, it seems to be scarce

Andy wrote: "scarletnoir wrote: "Now for an actual review:

by Gianrico Carofiglio

This is the latest (sixth) in the series featuring Italian defence lawyer Guido Guerr..."

i am ordering "The Cold Summer" now, thanks for the tip andy

Andy wrote: "I’ve read only one of his before, The Cold Summer The Cold Summer by Gianrico Carofiglio , which I enjoyed

I've read that one, too,as well as the six Guerrieri books - very much to my taste (though I like a lot of different stuff!). It's the only book by Carofiglio featuring cop Pietro Fenoglio to be available in English, as far as I know - I'm assuming there are others, because Amazon lists it as 'Pietro Fenoglio:1'.

I've loved all his books, except for the gambling-based one called 'The Past is Another Country'. It seemed like an early work, less well finished or interesting than the others... or perhaps it bored me as I don't gamble.

AB76 wrote: "my favourite italian crime novelist is Carlo Lucarelli, especially his Mussolini era triology, though i still havent read the final book, it seems to be scarce"

I've read the trilogy - not bad, but not outstanding IMO... mainly interesting for the historical aspect, I'd have thought.

Pity you can't get the third volume, though - I'd have sent you mine, but I'm almost certain that it went to Oxfam!

Robert wrote: "Bill wrote: "Lljones wrote: "A quiz seems in order (show us your stuff, Bill!)."

I got a few questions into the quiz before I realized that the quiz deals with a TV adaptation and not the canonic ..."

Robert wrote: "Bill wrote: "Lljones wrote: "A quiz seems in order (show us your stuff, Bill!)."

I got a few questions into the quiz before I realized that the quiz deals with a TV adaptation and not the canonic ..."

Re Anne Tyler. V good review of Redhead. Abu the Side of the Road. I did a fair bit of re-reading her novels during the first lockdown, and bought Redhead, along with, Ann Patchett’s The Dutch House when we were briefly “ let out” a few months ago. Both novels just did he job nicely.

If I may return briefly to Anne Tyler - although I have often read about my favourite authors' back stories, somehow I seem to have neglected to do so with Tyler, despite having read all her novels and rating her in the absolute top rank of living authors.

Since posting my review, I clicked on her Wikipedia entry to remedy this oversight, and found this paragraph almost as funny as passages from her own books - especially her first comment:

Tyler has clearly spelled out the importance of her characters to her stories: "As far as I'm concerned, character is everything. I never did see why I have to throw in a plot, too."[5] In an earlier (1977) interview, she stated that "the real joy of writing is how people can surprise one. My people wander around my study until the novel is done. It's one reason I'm very careful not to write about people I don't like. If I find somebody creeping in that I'm not really fond of, I usually take him out."[5] Pollitt had even earlier noted how Tyler's characters seem to take on a life of their own that she doesn't seem to totally control: "Her complex, crotchety inventions surprise us, but one senses they surprise her too."

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anne_Tyler

scarletnoir wrote: "AB76 wrote: "my favourite italian crime novelist is Carlo Lucarelli, especially his Mussolini era triology, though i still havent read the final book, it seems to be scarce"

I've read the trilogy ..."

thanks scarlet, i am not sure why its so scarce, the first two were easy to find!

This is a note for all cat lovers.
Green fairy posted a grand poem written in the 9th century about a monk and his cat, Pangur Ban over on A place for a poem and Tam gave more information and a link which tells you much more. Do read if you have time.

scarletnoir wrote: "If I may return briefly to Anne Tyler - although I have often read about my favourite authors' back stories, somehow I seem to have neglected to do so with Tyler, despite having read all her novels..."

I share your love for Anne Tyler and have read most of her books.
But I was really disappointed by A Spool of Blue Thread. Gave up on that after about 80%