Ersatz TLS discussion

Hello, everyone

Welcome to the last thread of January.

We all read (of course 😉, otherwise we wouldn't be here), but who re-reads?
I think MK does, AB76 doesn't, scarletnoir's mother prefers it to new books ... I wrote a couple of days ago that I often read books more than once and always have done.
Anyone else?

Anyway, as always, happy reading, whether it be for the first time or not!

I’m rereading Margaret Drabble’s novels this year. Having enjoyed Penelope Lively’s “Ammonites and Leaping Fish”, I’m currently rereading “The Photograph” - and no doubt more of her work. What a wonderful writer!

Temps of 12c can seem balmy without a cold wind, after a pretty chilly January in spells in the Shires

My "periphery of war" informal and accidental triology which started with Gerhardie and Stuart, continues with Korean-American author Richard E Kim's 1964 novel The Martyred Set in the Korean War and covering an investigation into a number of Protestant Koreans murdered by the communists in Pyongyang, it has started well. (Pyongyang was a major centre of Korean christians in 1930s, with maybe 16% of population being Christian. The novel is set in the early 1950s as allied forces occupy the city)

Elsewhere i am reading Nigerian author Chinua Achebe's There Was A Country, his autobiographical work on the Biafran War and the events that led to it, a major part of his life and i have always been interested in Nigeria, i also enjoyed the great Nigerian novels of the 1950s written by Amadi, Ekwensi and Achebe himself.

Tide Race by Brenda Chamberlain (1962) is an account of her life living on Bardsey Island off the Welsh coast and follows an informal theme of British island narratives, that started with Synge, followed by St Kilda memories in 2022 and now on a Welsh community

I have David Peace's Patient Xon order, i love the work of Akutagawa and hopefully i will enjoy this, modern novels are not my fave, so lets see

forgot to add that Kim Il Sung, the first dicator of North Korea was from a Protestant family and the church where his mother worshipped is still preserved in Pyongyang

Gpfr wrote: "Hello, everyone

Welcome to the last thread of January.

We all read (of course 😉, otherwise we wouldn't be here), but who re-reads?
I think MK does, AB76 doesn't, scarletnoir's mother prefers it t..."

on re-reading, i'm sure as i get older i will do more, once i have maybe exhuasted back-catalogues. Orwell is one author i am keen to return to as i have read all his fiction and Paul Bowles could be next as i have my last Bowles novel to read on the pile

Strictly speaking i have re-read more than many may think but even then its barely 2%. I try to be count books i read before i was 24(when i started reading seriously) as not re-reads. My reading up to 24 was patchier, mostly music magazines, sports magazines and occasional novels alongside a lot of newspapers. i was deffo a reader but a lot less organised and more cynical of literature, mainly a hangover from too much studying at school and uni i guess

Gpfr wrote: "Hello, everyone

Welcome to the last thread of January.

We all read (of course 😉, otherwise we wouldn't be here), but who re-reads?
I think MK does, AB76 doesn't, scarletnoir's mother prefers it t..."

I re-read a lot. Now and then, even 3 times (or 4 times) over time. I used to love debut fiction, not so much now. Fiction really disappoints and I quit so many books so my attitude is something like 'why even bother" when there are wonderful novels to read again and get new sparks from. I have favorite authors, a lot of them, so I jump on the queue when my library sends me an alert.

I reread history, too., And science. My brain only remembers so much.

Diana wrote: "I’m rereading Margaret Drabble’s novels this year. Having enjoyed Penelope Lively’s “Ammonites and Leaping Fish”, I’m currently rereading “The Photograph” - and no doubt more of her work. What a wo..."

The Photograph is a favorite; I have it on audio with Daniel Gerroll and wife Patricia Kalember narrating. She is so-so but Daniel is tops. This will be 3rd time when I get to it.

Everyone here has probably figured out that I am lousy on names, so I am going to say 'thank you' to whoever recommended Game Without Rules which I have just begun. I hope I can tear myself away from Calder and Behrens to do the wash and the grocery store run today.

No eye rolls please, but this a.m. I thought about this - who are challenging Trump - women! E Jean Carroll (first in time), Liz Cheney (next longest), and now Nikki Haley who is doing a good job rattling him.

Where are the men?

Gpfr wrote: "Hello, everyone

Welcome to the last thread of January.

We all read (of course 😉, otherwise we wouldn't be here), but who re-reads?.."

I used to do it more often... especially in my 'formative years' (say, late 'teens and twenties) - books which I found especially significant regarding thoughts about how to live (Dostoyevsky, Nietzsche, Camus, Sartre and a few others, no doubt). I also re-read books which were especially entertaining or enjoyable for other reasons. later, I got out of the habit except when, in France, I'd run out of books and would pick up a Chandler or similar to keep me going.

More recently, I have at times bought hard copies of books I especially enjoyed as ebooks, with the intention of re-reading them eventually - Charles Portis, Juan Marsé and a few others.

While I am doing other things (taking the skin off beets so I can pickle them is next), I listen to books both good and so-so. Yesterday on my so-so list was Allison Montclair's series about The Right Sort Marriage Bureau - and The Unkept Woman which was much more intrigue than matching possible marriage prospects. Its redeeming value is how a wealthy, widow after WW2 might have been treated by her family.

Re-reading? A fair few come into that category. Mostly favourite authors. The novels of Margaret Atwood, Linda Grant, Margaret Forster and Helen Dunmore have had a second outing.

I do re-read, though generally after a gap that’s long enough to forget what actually happens, so there’s still a sense of discovery. The ones I can immediately think of are Great Expectations, Middlemarch, Vanity Fair, Scarlet and Black, Charterhouse of Parma, the great Tolstoys, the great Dostoevskys, Proust, some DH Lawrence, some Hemingway, and… The Camomile Lawn, five times??! The common factor is that they were all profoundly striking on my first reading and feel kind of embedded. The big one hanging out there for a re-read is Patrick O’Brian.

Thanks G for the new thread.

I don't reread much these days but when I do I read book I first read a long time ago.

One I have read 3 times I think is:

Imperial Governor: The Great Novel of Boudicca's Revolt

I first read it probably around 50 years ago after my father had got a copy from the library. I would still recommend it.

I have moved onto:

The Crocodile Hunter: The spellbinding new thriller from the master of the genre

The first of his books I have tried. Jonas Meyrick has worked for the security services for decades. He is known to his disparaging colleagues as The Eternal Flame because he never goes out. He is anti-social and has an old fashioned way of working which gets results searching out terrorists, but never gets the credit.

On the evening of his retirement when he is supposed to attend a very understated farewell reception, he is sitting outside when a young man he recognises sits next to him. He is wearing a suicide vest, which (incredibly) Jonas manages, more by luck than judgement to disarm, and save a catastrophe. The young man is arrested and Jonas becomes a sort of hero, pressed into staying on with the security services. I can't help thinking of Alec Guinness.

Meanwhile a former mercenary soldier who is returning incognito from the Middle East helps an Iraqi family acquire a boat and get across the channel to safety. He then disappears, No doubt Jonas will be in search of him.

So far so interesting.

AB76 wrote: "Temps of 12c can seem balmy without a cold wind, after a pretty chilly January in spells in the Shires

My "periphery of war" informal and accidental triology which started with Gerhardie and Stuar..."

My Dad was in Seoul for a couple of years before the war broke out. (Radio operator, US embassy.) He told me about exploring the city in long walks. Korea had been an unloved colony of the Japanese and local conditions reflected it. Whole families might live in alleys as beggars. It was not unknown to find a homeless person dead in the street. Once he passed an early morning crowd of Koreans, staring at a mansion. He had never sensed so much emotion in a crowd, but passed by without incident. He learned later that the last important opponent of Syngman Rhee, the strongman of the South had been murdered during the night. He had lived in the mansion, and the crowd outside were his followers. Dad wondered what his fate would have been if the people had decided that he had something to do with the killing...
When a war broke out between the ROK and Communist guerrillas, Dad, who had been trained as a radio operator by the US Army and loaned to the State Department, went to the boonies with another soldier, and set up a communication system for the ROK Army. The Communists would kill any opponents that they found in a village.
One Sunday, after the guerilla war ended, he was asked if he could assign a radio operator to remain at the embassy all day. He was the supervisor at that time, and volunteered himself. "I thought that it was a flap at the border, and thought it would be interesting." It turned out that this was the day that the North Koreans invaded. Dad wasn't told about the problem at first; he simply waited for messages to be encoded, which was done by hand in those days. Then a dispatch arrived from Washington: "AP and UPI report North Koreans have crossed border. What is your situation?" So he learned after all....

I’m not one for re- reading. Last night I tried to remember which books that i had read more than once and came up with
Pride and Prejudice, war and Peace, Rebecca, Great Expectations and oddly The Bridges of Madison County
Sometimes I start to read something only to find it familiar, I have read it before, but i usually bin it then.The Bridges book is by R J Waller

Reading in bed last night The sea made me smile to remember various discussions on looking in the mirror here. I try to avoid them!

Usually these days I do not dally before my reflection any longer than is necessary. There was a time when I quite liked what I saw in the looking-glass, but not any more. Now I am startled, and more than startled, by the visage that so abruptly appears there, never and not at all the one that I expect. I have been elbowed aside by a parody of myself, a sadly dishevelled figure in a Hallowe’en mask made of sagging, pinkish-grey rubber that bears no more than a passing resemblance to the image of what I look like that I stubbornly retain in my head.

Robert wrote: "AB76 wrote: "Temps of 12c can seem balmy..."My Dad was in Seoul for a couple of years before the war broke out.

Interesting story, Robert. I’m very ignorant about the Korean War. Was the eventual success in pushing back the North Koreans one of the reasons the US thought it could do the same in Vietnam?

A Drink before the War – Dennis Lehane (1994)

I saw Mystic River years ago but never read a Lehane before. Tough-guy writer, tough story of racist Boston, tough private eye, tough woman for a partner, tough cops, supertough gangsters. Attempts at humour and sentiment all weak. Now I know what he’s about, no need to read another.

Russell wrote: " saw Mystic River years ago but never read a Lehane before."

I read Shutter Island after reading a positive spoiler-free review and was totally blind-sided by the big twist / revelation in the second halfway of the book, which I didn't think was very well done.

I later saw the Scorsese film and have since wondered whether the use of the Mahler quartet as source music (via an LP) early in the film was simply an anachronism or meant as a subtle clue to the later plot twist.

Robert wrote: "AB76 wrote: "Temps of 12c can seem balmy without a cold wind, after a pretty chilly January in spells in the Shires

My "periphery of war" informal and accidental triology which started with Gerhar..."

interesting Robert. I have another korean war novelThe Hunters by James Salter on my pile too.

i had forgotten that Seoul was taken by the Commi's at the start of the war, it reminded me how close to the DMZ the capital is

Russell wrote: "Robert wrote: "AB76 wrote: "Temps of 12c can seem balmy..."My Dad was in Seoul for a couple of years before the war broke out.

Interesting story, Robert. I’m very ignorant about the Korean War. W..."

Recently I read JFK: Coming of Age in the American Century, 1917-1956. This paragraph is a quote from it. (Note that Sen. McCarthy was the Red Baiter who caused so much damage with his rhetoric.)

p. 474
[Sen.] McCarthy’s position was further strengthened by the sudden outbreak of war on the Korean Peninsula in late June 1950. Colonized by Japan in 1910, Korea had been divided in two by the Soviet Union and the United States after Japan’s defeat in 1945, with the Soviets in control of the land above the 38th parallel and the Americans in charge in the south. The division was supposed to be temporary, but as Cold War tensions deepened, the split persisted. Both the North’s Communist leader, Kim Il Sung, and the South’s US-backed President Syngman Rhee, sought to take control of a reunified Korea. Kim struck first; on June 25th after securing reluctant approval from Stalin and Mao, he sent his troops across the parallel into the South. In short order they captured the southern capitol of Seoul and appeared well positioned to march all the way down the peninsula and hand Kim control over the entire country.

My son Ollie did his Phd on Korea, which resulted in this book https://www.amazon.co.uk/American-Pre...

£85 seems a bit steep, I have to say!... I do remember reading it on a couple of occasions, before publication, but mostly looking for spelling mistakes!... Overall impression was on just how much meddling, internationally, went on, on multiple sides, and how much international politics is defined by ideological power-brokering by powerful men and their financial/political backers... Oh, and how the media can be used, both as propaganda for particular sides, and as a sort of fifth column, in many instances, as an instrument of that power-brokering!... so looking around now... not much change then...?

I do find myself wondering quite what might have happened if they had had the internet back then though...

Tam wrote: "My son Ollie did his Phd on Korea, which resulted in this book https://www.amazon.co.uk/American-Pre...

£85 seems a bit steep, I have to say!... I do rememb..."

Well done Ollie.

Power/money/land was always a motive for war since humans began to populate the earth. I think ideology possibly came in with religion then politics but even then it still comes down to a great extent to power/land/money.

But folks are welcome to disagree with me. 😀

I may have to take a peek at this Korea/US Army mystery series - https://www.discovermysteries.com/mar...

PS - If you hanker for the original Roald Dahl books in paperback - Blackwells has them for you.

Tam wrote: "My son Ollie did his Phd on Korea, which resulted in this book https://www.amazon.co.uk/American-Pre...

£85 seems a bit steep..."

I see it has received one rating, five stars. That wouldn’t have been his Mum by any chance?!

Russell wrote: "Tam wrote: "My son Ollie did his Phd on Korea, which resulted in this book https://www.amazon.co.uk/American-Pre...

£85 seems a bit steep..."

I see it has ..."

No. I haven't reviewed it. All I expected was a nod of appreciation for the typo spotting, which he did give me. Well at least he got one happy customer. Though I think perhaps that people interested in the historical politics and history of Korea, in the cold war era, is quite a small. To the best of my knowledge his dad didn't review it either. Authors don't have any say as to how book prices in academia are pitched these days, it seems. Though that said his dad has had many books published, and these days the collective royalties amount to a reasonably good meal out for us both, per annum!....

Though I should qualify this. A few years back the publishers changed to paying authors an amount up front, with no royalties. In Dave's case about £2,000 or so, per book, so the 'dinner out' is based on the actual royalties from the books before then. There are also changes in that many academic publishers have geared themselves to, mostly, e-publications, and also offer the ability, of the possible readers, to buy only relevant chapters of books at a time, so the cost of these is quite small, to the readers. I hope that clarifies things.

Thanks for opening the new thread. I'm a very infrequent re-reader,but, like AB, I expect that wll increase as I get older and read my way through the entire backlist of favorite authors. Maybe even going right back to the beginning whenever I get around to finish Proust's cycle.

Tam wrote: "Russell wrote: "Tam wrote: "My son Ollie did his Phd on Korea, which resulted in this book...£85 seems a bit steep....." No. I haven't reviewed it...."


As well as charging high prices, university presses typically sell wholesale to retailers at zero discount from the listed retail price, meaning that the retailer makes no profit at all unless prepared to charge something even higher than the list price. Which is why a small bookshop like ours can carry only a very few of the enticing titles put out by those presses, just the ones that fit well with our genre. This is not a complaint, as there is no doubt a very small market for most university publications, beyond those college libraries that think they have to have them, and it’s good that these titles get published at all. An upfront fee in lieu of a dribble of royalties sounds not too bad a deal.

Russell wrote: "Tam wrote: "Russell wrote: "Tam wrote: "My son Ollie did his Phd on Korea, which resulted in this book...£85 seems a bit steep....." No. I haven't reviewed it...."


As well as charging high prices..."

i'm a big reader of university press publications as they provide me with more than the popular history books that are brilliantly written but always leave me wanting more. I prefer a solid 250 page immersion in a decade or a thematic study of a period than 400 pages covering 50 years and lots of anecdotes...

i am always prepared to pay a bit more but the prices can sometimes be prohibitive, i can see why as you explain Russell

Paul wrote: "Thanks for opening the new thread. I'm a very infrequent re-reader,but, like AB, I expect that wll increase as I get older and read my way through the entire backlist of favorite authors. Maybe eve..."

Proust is one where i read some in sixth form library periods at school(these were great sessions to just sit and read, though i confess Proust vied with a George Best biography in lower sixth during these periods) and i must return for a serious read of the great Frenchman.

Now i am chuckling at memories of the famous monty python sketch, the all england summarise proust competition!

Russell wrote: "Robert wrote: "AB76 wrote: "Temps of 12c can seem balmy..."My Dad was in Seoul for a couple of years before the war broke out.

Interesting story, Robert. I’m very ignorant about the Korean War. W..."

I suppose that Lyndon Johnson and Bobby McNamara had some such idea, though McNamara was more impressed with his own performance during the Cuban Missile Crisis. Bobby thought that he could dictate policy better than that of his military advisers, and run it all from Washington. There is a little book, Lyndon Johnson's War, that passes harsh judgment on this pair. They lied to the Joint Chiefs, they lied to the American public, and they lied to themselves.

I've always been a re-reader, ever since my earliest days when I would re-read favourite adventure books by the likes of Alistair MacLean. Besides, I'm old enough now that re-reading something I haven't looked at in 20 or 30 years, I often find I've retained only general impressions and few random details.

My most recent re-read was E.R. Eddison's The Worm Ouroboros, and I found I recalled the overall atmosphere, Eddison's highly stylised, faux-Elizabethan language, and much of the detail of the opening chapters, but very little of the rest. The interval between these two readings was over 40 years.

AB76 wrote: "Robert wrote: "AB76 wrote: "Temps of 12c can seem balmy without a cold wind, after a pretty chilly January in spells in the Shires

My "periphery of war" informal and accidental triology which star..."

Dad wrote and published his own short account, "Seoul Survivor," in a Foreign Service journal years ago.
After the embassy staff destroyed equipment and burned files, Ambassador Muccio ordered them to move to the airport. They waited on the tarmac for the transports to come. And waited.
The older men were tense; they knew that the sound from the North was artillery fire, and no evacuation planes were in sight. Finally, someone asked "Hey. Who built this airport?"
The answer was "the Japanese military." Did a cable link the former base to Japan? They located the oldest telephone room at the airport, and went to work. Soon they found an English-speaking Japanese operator, who linked them to MacArthur's headquarters.
"We're the US embassy staff. We're at Kempo airfield. Where are the planes?"
"We were told that Kempo had already been overrun."
"Not yet. Send the planes."
Fighter aircraft appeared over the airfield. Dad was never so glad to see American planes. Then the transports arrived, and began dropping passengers. "One was a good-looking woman." They were journalists, who had come to cover the fall of Seoul. "So we weren't even the last Americans there."

MK wrote: "Russell wrote: "Robert wrote: "AB76 wrote: "Temps of 12c can seem balmy..."My Dad was in Seoul for a couple of years before the war broke out.

Interesting story, Robert. I’m very ignorant about t..."

McCarthy was almost unknown before Korea. The Hiss case, the Berlin blockade, the Rosenberg case, the Communist coup in Czechoslovakia-- the atmosphere was building up, and the invasion of South Korea-- suddenly his "list of card-carrying communists," announced before the invasion, became big news.

giveusaclue wrote: "Tam wrote: "My son Ollie did his Phd on Korea, which resulted in this book https://www.amazon.co.uk/American-Pre...

£85 seems a bit steep, I have to say!......"

Korea was a poor country in 1950, a former Japanese colony divided between Russian and American advisers when the Japanese were disarmed. Not a likely target for imperial conquest, but Kim Il Sung wanted to take the whole peninsula, and made his pitch to Stalin and Mao.
The book Inside the Kremlin's Cold War, researched during the brief open interval after Russian Communism fell, recounts the messages that passed between Stalin and Mao. Mao was concerned about the possibility of World War III; Stalin conceded that this was possible, but thought that the Western powers were not in a position of strength. And so Kim was given his guarantees...

CCCubbon wrote: "I’m not one for re- reading. Last night I tried to remember which books that i had read more than once and came up with
Pride and Prejudice, war and Peace, Rebecca, Great Expectations and oddly The..."

I find myself skipping between favorite passages, though I keep dipping into Robert Graves' Claudius the God these days.

Paul wrote: "Maybe even going right back to the beginning whenever I get around to finish Proust's cycle."

A reading equivalent to painting the Forth Bridge?

Russell wrote: "there is no doubt a very small market for most university publications, beyond those college libraries that think they have to have them.."

Exactly so... apart from the odd academic in the same field (who would presumably have some access to funds from their uni. to buy relevant books), these volumes are usually aimed at university libraries.

Robert wrote: "Robert Graves' Claudius the God these days.."

I enjoyed that, along with 'I, Claudius' and "Count Belisarius'.

Robert wrote: "AB76 wrote: "Robert wrote: "AB76 wrote: "Temps of 12c can seem balmy without a cold wind, after a pretty chilly January in spells in the Shires

My "periphery of war" informal and accidental triolo..."

wow, great story..thanks for that

Robert wrote: "giveusaclue wrote: "Tam wrote: "My son Ollie did his Phd on Korea, which resulted in this book https://www.amazon.co.uk/American-Pre...

£85 seems a bit stee..."

Sadly almost 74 years since the war broke out, North Korea remains a very poor and backwards country, in stark comparison to the South

My late brother-in-law fought in the Korean war. He was in the Airborne division so was parachuted in. He said he could never understand why the Koreans kept coming forward , one dying another picking up the rifle of the fallen man, coming forward to the opposing guns.
When he returned home unknown to him his parents had bought a budgie which they let fly free in the dining room. At the table, the first time the bird flew overhead he dived under the table. It took him a long time to recover.

There Was a Countryby Chinua Achebe is a fascinating autobiographical account of Nigeria's collapse into civil war in 1966

The great Nigerian writer frames the period between the 1950s and 1966 well, as Nigeria moved from being an advancing nation in the last years of British rule into a basket case of corruption after independence. Achebe is scathing and honest about the Nigerian situation, unlike many African politicians, seeing the tribal polarisation and corruption as ruining so many dreams

As an Ibo/Igbo, Achebe was a victim of the anti-Igbo atmosphere that followed the military coup. The Igbo, who live in Eastern Nigeria were disproportionally present in every aspect of Nigerian civil society and became a convenient scapegoat for other more numerical power groups like the northern Muslim Hausa's and the Western mixed Christian/Muslim Yoruba's

In a perceptive passage, Achebe remarks how ambitious, indivualistic and hard working the Ibo were, which reminds me of the Anglo-Saxon way of life that defines mercantile capitalism and hence how the Ibo became so much a part of the late British colonial period.

I have just got to the stage where Achebe and his family are forced to flee Lagos for the East, as various Ibo figures are killed or abducted. Which is the start of the civil war and the Biafra conflict

CCCubbon wrote: "My late brother-in-law fought in the Korean war. He was in the Airborne division so was parachuted in. He said he could never understand why the Koreans kept coming forward , one dying another pick..."

at the old folks day centre i volunteer at, quite a few of the men have national service stories of various conflicts like Korea, Cyprus and Suez to recall. A famous combatant in Korea was Michael Caine, doing his national service at the time

i saw an interesting military veterans article which says there are 800,000 national servicemen between the age of 82 and 100 still living in the UK. they form the largest ex-military contingent now. My dad always regretted he didnt do national service, born in 1945, it was scrapped a few years before

Robert wrote: ".... There is a little book, Lyndon Johnson's War, that passes harsh judgment on this pair. ..."

Thanks. One to look out for.

AB76 wrote: "Which is the start of the civil war and the Biafra conflict..."

It may be worth pointing out (if our fellow commenters here are not aware) that the excellent Half of a Yellow Sun by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie also deals with the Biafra war, in a very effective, indirect way... seen for its effects, rather than through descriptions of conflict.

I'm old enough to remember this war... my very imperfect memory has it that it was in a sense a proxy war over Nigerian oil between the British and the French - please correct this no doubt simplified version of what happened. What I do recall - and the effects of which are covered in that novel - is the disgusting British so-called "quick kill" policy. It was claimed that the kindest solution to the Biafra secession would be to support the Nigerians with a view to a rapid ending of the war - a "quick kill" as opposed to a slow one. Of course, in practice the result was totally different, and the degree of suffering and death makes the present Gaza atrocity look like small beer indeed:

https://www.theguardian.com/commentis...

http://archive.spectator.co.uk/articl...

I have rarely felt ashamed of Labour-led British governments, but this was an absolute disgrace which I have never forgotten.

AB76 wrote: "My dad always regretted he didnt do national service, born in 1945, it was scrapped a few years before."

Well, I was born in 1948 and was mighty relieved that it was scrapped before I got old enough... as someone who hates taking orders, I would have been a very poor soldier... especially if ordered to carry out acts which I might have considered as repugnant or morally unacceptable.

The problem with the military is that obedience to a superior officer is regarded as a higher good than obedience to one's moral compass.

Russell wrote: "Tam wrote: "Russell wrote: "Tam wrote: "My son Ollie did his Phd on Korea, which resulted in this book...£85 seems a bit steep....." No. I haven't reviewed it...."


As well as charging high prices..."

I am on a Western US history kick. Towards that end I've signed up for several university press newsletters. When they announce a sale, I'll scroll through. Recently I bought A Promise Kept: The Muscogee (Creek) Nation and McGirt v. Oklahoma at a decent discount. The same goes for Treaty Justice: The Northwest Tribes, the Boldt Decision, and the Recognition of Fishing Rights from the University of Washington Press.

The Boldt Decision was huge in the state of WA and beyond. It is 50 years old in 2024. For the Muscogee their decision by the Supreme Court was only in 2020. Fallout will continue on that for some time.

scarletnoir wrote: "AB76 wrote: "Which is the start of the civil war and the Biafra conflict..."

It may be worth pointing out (if our fellow commenters here are not aware) that the excellent [book:Half of a Yellow Su..."

it will be interesting to see how Achebe frames the war as the book develops, there were elements of genocide in there too i think. my knowledge of tribal Nigeria was good before i started the book as i have read a lot of Nigerian literature but i have read very little about Biafra and never really explored it until now

Excellent NYRB article on the biography of Tove Jansson. It was lovely to read about the Moomins and remember my childhood love for these wonderful tales, via by my mother who loved them in the 1950s.

The element of fear and the otherwordly was always apparent to me as a child, it wasnt a scary world the Moomins lived in but it could be unsettling. i wasnt aware that the first Moomins novel was in some ways a reaction to the Soviet invasion of Finland in 1939

i had to laugh out of respect at how cleverly subversive the shadow characters in moominland midwinter are, representing an old chararcter who lives in a closet and various other creatures who are free in the midwinter darkness as everyone else sleeps(a homosexual theme which i hadnt picked up before but Frances Wilson in the article points out)

scarletnoir wrote: "AB76 wrote: "My dad always regretted he didnt do national service, born in 1945, it was scrapped a few years before."

Well, I was born in 1948 and was mighty relieved that it was scrapped before I..."

i would be happy to go to war as a young man, i knew that, as it would contain a purpose, not sure about national service as it probably would have very little purpose and lots of boredom. Of course war is not really exciting, its something quite alarming but adrenalin and testosterone always reminds me i would be like most young men in 1939 or 1914 and would sign up...BUT i'm sensible enough to realise that the first taste of battle would be a total and utter shock and i would regret volunteering!

NB. B4 anyone thinks i'm a delusional 47yo calling himself "young", i'm looking back to when i was 21 and what i would have done...lol