Ersatz TLS discussion

Welcome to the last new thread of 2023.

May you all be able to celebrate this period as you wish and with all the good reading your hearts may desire!

i second that message, i'm looking foward to a busy xmas from next weekend, with 5 little ones and a crowded parental house in the shires

Berkeley wrote:

Do you remember which character it was who said this? I'm thinking it was old man Karamazov, the father of the brothers, but don't feel 100% certain...

It's not surprising that neither of us could remember, as it appears to come from a reported conversation with an unnamed Doctor from Ch. 4: " A lady of little faith". The online version is a little different in translation from that I found before:


"It's just the same story as a doctor once told me," observed the elder. "He was a man getting on in years, and undoubtedly clever. He spoke as frankly as you, though in jest, in bitter jest. 'I love humanity,' he said, 'but I wonder at myself. The more I love humanity in general, the less I love man in particular. In my dreams,' he said, 'I have often come to making enthusiastic schemes for the service of humanity, and perhaps I might actually have faced crucifixion if it had been suddenly necessary; and yet I am incapable of living in the same room with anyone for two days together, as I know by experience. As soon as anyone is near me, his personality disturbs my self-complacency and restricts my freedom. In twenty-four hours I begin to hate the best of men: one because he's too long over his dinner; another because he has a cold and keeps on blowing his nose. I become hostile to people the moment they come close to me. But it has always happened that the more I detest men individually the more ardent becomes my love for humanity.'
https://www.ccel.org/d/dostoevsky/kar...

Edit: It surely would not have been 'old man Karamazov', who was a totally selfish bastard iirc!

Gpfr wrote: "Welcome to the last new thread of 2023.

May you all be able to celebrate this period as you wish and with all the good reading your hearts may desire!"

Thank you, as always, for doing this... and Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to all!

(I'm not religious, but if Merry Christmas is offensive to anyone - though I rather doubt it in this small group - then 'Season's Greetings' instead!)

MK wrote: Second is upcoming as I've downloaded the audio for March Violets which I hope to begin as I work outside...

This is the first Bernie Gunther novel - after the first three, the author Philip Kerr 'paused' the character for quite a few years. I enjoyed them all to a greater or lesser extent, though I sort-of feel that some of the middle ones were among the best. Have you read any others?

scarletnoir wrote: "(I'm not religious, but if Merry Christmas is offensive to anyone - though I rather doubt it in this small group - then 'Season's Greetings' instead!)"

Haha, I'm not religious either but always say Merry Christmas, and don't believe anyone has a good reason to be offended by it. Nobody is forced to celebrate Christmas if they don't want to. What does grate with me is when people say Happy Holidays. But that is just me!

So here is hoping that all my fellow Tlsers have avery Merry Christmas and a Happy and Healthy New Year.

Berkeley wrote: Speaking of adaptations, I also learned today that the book I'm reading right now, Antonio Tabucchi's Pereira Declares: A Testimony, was made into a movie in 1995 with Marcello Mastroianni and Daniel Auteuil (wonder if he spoke Italian?) which Iwill probably try to see at some point.

That's interesting - I read the book, and liked it - I have since read several more by Tabucchi and liked them all to different degrees. I didn't know there was a film, but will try to see it if it crops up on Arte or wherever.

scarletnoir wrote: "MK wrote: Second is upcoming as I've downloaded the audio for March Violets which I hope to begin as I work outside...

This is the first Bernie Gunther novel - after the first three, the author Ph..."

I have but long enough ago that a re-read (or in this case a listen) is almost a first read. I don't remember the one I didn't finish, but I stopped with the description of the Katyn massacre. Just too gruesome.

giveusaclue wrote: "Haha, I'm not religious either but always say Merry Christmas, and don't believe anyone has a good reason to be offended by it. Nobody is forced to celebrate Christmas if they don't want to."

Offense over seasonal greetings reminds me of one of a funny tweet from a few years ago. This may make no sense to those outside of the US.

Every December different car manufacturers in the US try to clean out inventory with special sales promotions and each company has a particular slogan for their promotion. Commercial TV is saturated with these ads.

Someone tweeted: "He wished me Happy Honda-days, but I informed him: 'We observe Toyotathon.'"

I bought quite a few 'easy to read' books a while back - and they have come in useful as I make slow but steady progress with Évariste... life has also been a bit busy and complicated recently, which hasn't helped with that. So, rather than devote more time and space to these lighter efforts than they deserve, I'll summarise them here:

The Lew Archer series by Ross Macdonald - I very much enjoyed these post-Chandler PI books set in southern California (for the most part). The plots can be a bit too complex and convoluted, but the writing is very good, and often humorous. You also get unexpected digressions at times - into Seneca and the Stoics, for example! Highly recommended if you like this sort of thing. I have now run out of available novels after reading 8 of the 18... the rest are not in print or to be had 'pre-loved' (!) except at exorbitant prices for first or signed editions. Last one I read - and last in the series - was The Blue Hammer, where Archer actually gets off with a girl - even more reckless than he is - and as both survive, we can write our own happy ending to the series.

Spirit of Steamboat by Craig Johnson - this features Sheriff Walt Longmire, but is a novella and is not a crime story. It involves an air rescue using the plane used to fly Eisenhower into Europe following D-day (according to the author - I'm not sure if this is historically accurate). A terrific thriller, very well written and with interesting details about the aircraft.

Several books by Scottish crime writer Stuart MacBride - the best was the long stand-alone novel A Dark So Deadly. This contrives to combine elements of realism in its social commentary and depictions of Scottish mainly working-class life with a far-fetched but entertaining plot (if you don't mind gruesome), as well as a current (Mick Herron inspired?) trend for a group of cops who are meant to be deadbeats. Someone - presumably the author - went to great lengths posting a two-page A4 description of the fictional town and its inhabitants online. Although I much prefer 'real' locations, here at least the made-up place was thought through carefully and in detail. Very much weaker were a couple of short pieces by MacBride - Partners in Crime - am I alone in finding DI Steele annoying rather than funny? - and The 45% Hangover - a bit better, but I wouldn't bother with those two, really.

I also read Stay Buried by Kate Webb - a decently written police procedural set in Wiltshire, where I had to check a number of place names, as they seemed too 'Midsomer Murders' to be true - but for the most part, they really exist! Not bad, but no discernible humour so I'm unlikely to read another, though certainly not completely ruling it out.

Finally, Havana Bay by Martin Cruz Smith - Arkady Renko book 4. Until very recently, I had only been aware of the very early and latest books in this series, but now can see that I missed at least half a dozen in the middle. That's good news, as I thoroughly enjoyed this - a rattling good yarn, where Renko goes to Havana to try to find out what happened to an old friend. Set during the "Special Period", the Russians were far from popular:

Soviet troops began to withdraw from Cuba in September 1991,[56] and Castro's rule was severely tested in the aftermath of the Soviet collapse in December 1991 (known in Cuba as the Special Period). The country faced a severe economic downturn following the withdrawal of Soviet subsidies worth $4 billion to $6 billion annually, resulting in effects such as food and fuel shortages...

So, I learn a bit of history along with a great story - perfect.

@Scarletnoir,

Property is very cheap in the Midsomers because nobody wants to live there as it is too dangerous!

I don’t drop in much these days, but I wish you all health and happiness for the season and coming year. And, of course, happy reading.

Lass wrote: "I don’t drop in much these days, but I wish you all health and happiness for the season and coming year. And, of course, happy reading."

Thanks, Lass, and the same to you.

giveusaclue wrote: "@Scarletnoir,

Property is very cheap in the Midsomers because nobody wants to live there as it is too dangerous!"

You'd think so, but I suspect those cute cottages sell at a pretty high price!

scarletnoir wrote: "I bought quite a few 'easy to read' books a while back - and they have come in useful as I make slow but steady progress with Évariste... life has also been a bit busy and complicated recently, whi..."

i liked Havana Bay and i have Gorky Park lined up for Jan 2023, as a re-read, i read it in library periods at school, so memory is pretty fuzzy

Library periods were fun, i thought, 60 mins where kids were encouraged to sit and read, picking books from the modest but quite diverse school library. at a younger age i used to leaf through a huge set of hardbacks about WW2, then on to footballer biographies and around 16-17yo to quite a few novels

Bill wrote: "...Someone tweeted: "He wished me Happy Honda-days, but I informed him: 'We observe Toyotathon.'"

I've chosen "Enjoy the season..." for my holiday greetings this year.

Good to see you, Bill.

Hi all. Just dropped by to say I haven't disappeared. I check in with you all several times a week, but silently since I'm without much time to share reading experiences these days. Looking forward to that changing in the new year. Thanks as always to, @gpfr, and to all, enjoy the season!

Lljones wrote: "Hi all. Just dropped by to say I haven't disappeared. I check in with you all several times a week, but silently since I'm without much time to share reading experiences these days. Looking forward..."

hey LL, have a great Christmas and new year!

A focus of my historical reading in the last few years has been scholarly works about the culture of post war major european nations and two works i read so far were superb:

Mass Culture and Italian Society in the Cold WarMass Culture and Italian Society from Fascism to the Cold War

France's New Deal: From The Thirties to the Post-War EraFrance's New Deal: From the Thirties to the Postwar Era

Both these books combine, cultural,social and political analysis of the period after WW2, though with Nord's book on France he also looks at 1936-44 and the Vichy era, highlighting a lot of continuity with the post war French governments.

Lined up for Jan 2024 i have:

After the Nazis: The Story of Culture in West Germany
which covers 1945-90. I have rather skipped ahead with Katers books as he also wrote one on Nazi culture

I have read similar style works about East Germany but less focused on 1945-55. Similar books about post war Britain have been written by Beckett and Kynaston. These are all important studies as the laudable post war-consensus fades ever more into neo-liberal mulch or populist dribble in european politics

Yale French Studies 102: Belgian MemoriesI found an copy of Yale French Studies edition Belgian Memories and have been reading it slowly.

The focus is based on the federalisation of Belgium into communities and was compiled in 2001.One essay focuses on literature and its depiction of reality in the Belgian Congo in the last century.

With Belgium now a fractured nation along linguistic lines, it seems any collective guilt for colonial excesses has faded, almost as if one linguistic community blames the other. (though the essay makes a good point that while French may be the language of the congo from colonial times, the Flemish influence on religion was significant, the majority of missionaries were from Flemish regions)

The essay also looks at how the Congolese reaction to the post 1960 period is useful in understanding a collective response from modern Belgium and the Congo to colonialism, It seems after Mobotu eliminated almost all colonial presence in his new state, Zaire, upon his removal the people observed and remember the cruelty, violence and repression which seemed very similar to the Belgian rule of their ancestors. There is now, or in 2001 when the essay was written, a nostalgia in the Congo for the period before Mbotu and colonial order, which makes me wonder how common this may be across Africa, where violent regimes overseen by aged dictators is very common. The essay was written by a Congolese professor.

AB76 wrote: "...There is now, or in 2001 when the essay was written, a nostalgia in the Congo for the period before Mbotu and colonial order, which makes me wonder how common this may be across Africa, where violent regimes overseen by aged dictators is very common. ..."

A nostalgia for some degree of order would be understandable. I have a nephew, a Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society, who has visited all but about a dozen countries worldwide. He was in the DRC recently and said it was the most frightening place he’s ever been in.

Today I visited for the first time since its renovation the Bibliothèque Nationale (BnF) — the original site Rue Richelieu. I'll post pictures in Photos.
The reading room, la Salle Ovale, is free access, anyone can go in and work there on a desk or sit in an easy chair and read one of the books.
This was just a brief visit, so I only went there. Access now is from Rue Vivienne, not from Rue Richelieu as it used to be.

The nearby Passage Vivienne is decorated for Christmas.

Gpfr wrote: "Today I visited for the first time since its renovation the Bibliothèque Nationale (BnF) — the original site Rue Richelieu. I'll post pictures in Photos.
The reading room, la Salle Ovale, is free a..."

Lovely photo. When I hear/see the name Richelieu I always think of Charlton Heston in the Three Musketeers. Going back a few decades, of course.

Russell wrote: "AB76 wrote: "...There is now, or in 2001 when the essay was written, a nostalgia in the Congo for the period before Mbotu and colonial order, which makes me wonder how common this may be across Afr..."

it does seem that Conrad over 100 years ago found the esscence of that place, i knew people who say the same thing as your nephew, a dangerous, lawless place

the vast size doesnt make it easily governable while so much of the colonial road system has returned to nature as it is underused and badly maintained.

Africa seems unable to halt its backward slide, i can only think of one good example of a system that works and that is Botswana, with a tiny population.

Having read two very cosy mysteries, quite silly really, I am back in the ancient world of Alexander the Great's Legacy:



The various opponents are just as power hungry, blood thirsty and devious as ever, in this thoroughly enjoyable series. It may be fiction but there is obviously a lot of actual factual history to learn of. I can really recommend this series for anyone interested in ancient times, or not until they start reading it.

Lljones wrote: "Hi all. Just dropped by to say I haven't disappeared..."


Good to know ;-)

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Gpfr wrote: "Today I visited for the first time since its renovation the Bibliothèque Nationale (BnF) — the original site Rue Richelieu. I'll post pictures in Photos.
The reading room, la Salle Ovale, is free a..."

Lovely photo - I never visited that building... did some work in the British Museum reading room back in prehistoric times, though (around 1974):

https://www.britishmuseum.org/about-u...

Lljones wrote: "Hi all. Just dropped by to say I haven't disappeared. I check in with you all several times a week, but silently since I'm without much time to share reading experiences these days. Looking forward..."

Good to hear from you again, and look forward to hearing more from you soon.

Meanwhile, Merry Christmas and a happy 2024.

Gpfr wrote: "Today I visited for the first time since its renovation the Bibliothèque Nationale (BnF) — the original site Rue Richelieu. I'll post pictures in Photos.
The reading room, la Salle Ovale, is free a..."

Beautiful.

Merry Christmas, folks.

Gpfr wrote: "Welcome to the last new thread of 2023.

May you all be able to celebrate this period as you wish and with all the good reading your hearts may desire!"

Many thanks for your assistance, and Merry Christmas.

Lljones wrote: "Hi all. Just dropped by to say I haven't disappeared. I check in with you all several times a week, but silently since I'm without much time to share reading experiences these days. Looking forward..."

Hope to see you back next year.

A little Xmas nostalgia here - https://www.edp24.co.uk/news/23999986...

Nothing like a dish from a retiring book editor (NYT gift link) - https://www.nytimes.com/2023/12/21/bo...

MK wrote: "Nothing like a dish from a retiring book editor (NYT gift link) - https://www.nytimes.com/2023/12/21/bo......"

Lovely and interesting, thanks, MK.

Special thanks also to GP for keeping our corner fresh all year.

Merry Christmas to everyone.

Merry Xmas all

i'll be offline ine from the 23rd till about the 28th, just come back from an a xmas short trip on a heritage railway with the little ones, they loved it, dashing about and singing xmas songs from 4-7pm

the little girls(7 and 10) are trying to charge me for makeovers, i am resisting so far, as it could get expensive

the 10yo is a bookworm, absorbed in a young adult book almost all day, she seems to manage a book a week or more...

Before I return to Dublin to see what Quirke is up to I read a different book which also features some who works in a mortuary.
Cassie Raven is a mortuary technician, the one who preps the bodies, removing the organs and brain. The book is called Body language by AK Turner.
It sounds rather gruesome but is quite fascinating in detail with a story that keeps the pages turning
There are a couple more in the series which I shall read. The mortuary and story are set in Camden in London.

CCCubbon wrote: "Before I return to Dublin to see what Quirke is up to I read a different book which also features some who works in a mortuary.
Cassie Raven is a mortuary technician, the one who preps the bodies, ..."

https://www.fantasticfiction.com/b/gr...

CCCubbon wrote: "Before I return to Dublin to see what Quirke is up to I read a different book which also features some who works in a mortuary.
Cassie Raven is a mortuary technician, the one who preps the bodies, ..."

A little off beat, but several years ago I was in London (Bloomsbury-ish area) and needed to print something, so I went to the library (surprise, surprise). There, I noticed the local (Camden) Heritage Center upstairs. It was there that I learned about the Arandora Star and its sinking by German torpedo off the Irish Coast.

This is by way of saying the Heritage Center is well worth a visit. In addition to local historical items, they also do talks.

You can have the big attractions like the British Museum, but I like to seek out the smaller, local attractions - like this one which is located at WC1X 8PA. There are also videos available online here - https://www.camden.gov.uk/about-the-l...

I( enjoyed Dangling Man by Saul Bellow (1944), a short intelligent exploration of the human experience of waiting, of being un-tethered to any of life's suffocating structures of employment, a netherworld, waiting for a the draft in WW2 Chicago

No society ostracises the unemployed quite like anglo-saxon society does and Bellow observes tiny details that creep into life when you are without a position. His narrator is not really in the category of unemployed, he is waiting for the army draft papers but he drifts like many ostracised by the unkindest lashes of anglo-saxon democracy

Chicago plays a part with its snowy streets, Christian Science reading rooms, bars, boarding houses and friends of the narrator, dotted about, some deployed far afield, to the war, others exempt or waiting too

MK wrote: "A little Xmas nostalgia here - https://www.edp24.co.uk/news/23999986..."

Well, thanks for that - it brought back many memories of Christmas in the 1950s, and of the books we read then - I certainly devoured a lot of Enid Blyton (Noddy, Secret Seven, Famous Five...) before graduating to stuff for older boys (Biggles, Eric Leyland's 'Flame' books, John Pudney) and then to crime (Agatha Christie etc.) and spies (James Bond/Ian Fleming...).

I know that Blyton is pretty much dismissed nowadays (the Noddy books did have a 'golliwog', for example), and would not make any claims for their literary quality. The books did, however, foster a love of reading and ran through a series of characters where the language used was carefully graduated to suit the readers as they aged. It sounds simple, but not many authors seem to master that skill. They were great fun - at the time.

I also remember with affection Dinky toys, and was left reflecting on a particularly mortifying occasion - especially,I suspect, for my friend, whose Christmas card I was reading yesterday... Our group of friends were invited to his birthday party, and he was presented with around SIX identical presents of the recently released red Mersey Tunnel Police Land Rover... oh, dear. But our mothers meant well...
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/1659252675...

My own collection may possibly be in the attic, but would not be presentable or worth much on collector's sites (why do people buy toys if not to play with - or books if not to read, for that matter? Is everything an "investment' nowadays?). I loved my F1 racing cars - Ferrari, Alfa Romeo, BRM, Cooper - and played with them on the pavement until they were well battered and scraped. So, no re-investment value there, I'm afraid.

The tale of the teddy bear did intrigue me, for the author is a little coy about the timeline there - it reads as if he was the 'child' bringing his bear to artist Margaret Thomas's parties, but since she didn't move to Suffolk until 1984, that can't be the case. Perhaps he was accompanying one or more of his own children? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Margare...
I was a bit concerned that the artist's "STRICTLY NO RABBITS" injunction was not a joke, and was to be taken seriously. The fact that a child was bawled out for bringing a rabbit seemed concerning, to put it mildly... I don't see any sane person having a fit of the screaming abdabs over that.

I was given my own mother's bear (from the 1920s) but it was already battered and I never developed much affection for it - I preferred the cars. At some point, it lost an arm 'thanks to' myself or more probably my (more destructive) brother, and has since disappeared for good. It also lost an eye, and looked like a naked version of the author's.

Looking at the photo of the author's bookshelf, I espy a copy of Black Beauty, which I read around six times in my childhood. It had me in floods of tears every time, and despite everything I remain a bit of a sentimentalist at heart - though I don't extend much mercy to the mercenary opportunists who run the world ATM.

Anyway, and although I posted it before (I think) - Merry Christmas to everyone out there... and a final thought for the season: we will soon of necessity be welcoming my mother (101) for a week or so, as her boiler is kaput (great timing!), so I bought and installed an Alexa Echo to read her audiobooks here. I joked with madame that we should ask 'it' for the meaning of life... to my surprise, the beast came back with an answer:

"The meaning of life, as explained by Bill, is to "Be excellent to each other!"

A profound and uplifting thought... here is the original. Be happy! And Party On!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rph_1...

CCCubbon wrote: "Cassie Raven is a mortuary technician, the one who preps the bodies, removing the organs and brain. The book is called Body language by AK Turner.
It sounds rather gruesome but is quite fascinating in detail with a story that keeps the pages turning."

If that is to your taste, you may enjoy the factual description of work in a crematorium which I read and enjoyed (if that is the word? Yes, it is!) some time ago: Smoke Gets in Your Eyes & Other Lessons from the Crematory by Caitlin Doughty.

I was especially much taken by the use of a device I'd never heard of - the "cremulator". A word which deserves to be better known!

AB76 wrote: "No society ostracises the unemployed quite like anglo-saxon society does ..."

Mm, not sure about that ...
And, as I remember writing about with gladarvor and others, I don't really agree with lumping Britain and the US together under the 'anglo-saxon' umbrella.

Gpfr wrote: "AB76 wrote: "No society ostracises the unemployed quite like anglo-saxon society does ..."

Mm, not sure about that ...
And, as I remember writing about with gladarvor and others, I don't really ag..."

interesting.....i always have linked both as anglo-saxon societies, there are too many similarities, in the approach to so many things, though many are not obvious and more insidious.

its nothing to do with race either, as the anglo-saxon term racially means almost nothing, so wooly and vague. Obama and Sunak, ethnically half or non-anglo-saxon(for simplistic argument) embody anglo-saxon values, as do the entire american judiciary, civil service and outlook on life. Mercantile capitalism, wedded to punishment rather than reform, charity rather than state spending etc. Anglo_Saxon, in my terminology is not Protestant either really, it serves mammon and enrichment, with some hypocrasy about god and the 10 commandments as window dressing.

The anglo-saxon system waxes and wanes of course, under FDR in then 1930s(New Deal) or Labour in the UK 1945-51, there was a system that shed so much of the damaging anglo-saxon values and attitudes, that pollute Anglo-American culture

I did a cross stitch that said " Be excellent to each other" and framed it for a wedding present for two of my daughter's friends who play in a rock band.They were delighted:)

I'm reading Sunless Soltice, which is part of the British libraries Tales of the Weird series .
These tales range from the Victorian era to the 70s
There are vignettes about the various authors included.
The tales I've read so far haven't been very scary, but they are interesting nonetheless.
A very happy Christmas/ Holidays to all and Happy reading :)

I want to write about what I've been going through the last 4 months. Weaning off meds I've been on for 13-14 years. It's almost over: night sweats, aches and chills, fatigue, etc. Have not been able to read hardly at all. If anyone here is on SSRIs or SSNIs and wants to quit - please know in advance that it takes a long time, and it is hard. But I can see out to the other side and my doc and friends are helping me.

I'm on the verge of crying which I have done only once in 14 years when I put Nelly to sleep., At the time I broke thru the drugs and sobbed for 10 minutes. Why I am on the verge of crying is b/c I want to tell y'all that this ersatz thing helps me in my life. Not just the recs per se but the commitment and love of books.

I dont post much but I read everything and to know that the reading life is central to a good life and we all believe that, and here you are.

Ruby wrote: "I want to write about what I've been going through the last 4 months. Weaning off meds I've been on for 13-14 years. It's almost over: night sweats, aches and chills, fatigue, etc. Have not been ab..."

sad to hear your situation in last 4 months Ruby and glad that the ersatz thing is a help. Coming off anything addictive is a serious undertaking but it sounds like you are in good hands

Started a 1970s edition of Conrad Tales of Unrest, which has impressed so far, the first short story i read , entitled The Lagoon was a perfect mix of atmosphere and reflection.

i also tracked down one of Conrads 1920s novels, which i have never seen in Penguin classics but managed to order a copy.

Ruby wrote: "I want to write about what I've been going through the last 4 months. Weaning off meds I've been on for 13-14 years. It's almost over: night sweats, aches and chills, fatigue, etc. Have not been ab..."

Oh Ruby how hard for you. I hope the New Year brings you much happiness and health.