edwinbcn - 2015 Reading - Part 1

This year, I am really late to participate in Club Read 2015.

I have been very busy with my work, and expect to be busy the coming year as well.

I have no particular goals for the coming year.

Progress with Group Reads:

Literary Centennials:
1915: Saul Bellow - Saul Bellow's heart. A son's memoir
1915: Denton Welch - I left my grandfather's house

British & American Author Challenge:
Penelope Lively - Oleander, Jacaranda. A childhood perceived
Carson McCullers - Reflections in a golden eye
Henry James - On Provence
Henry James - The birthplace
Evelyn Waugh - Tactical exercise, and other late stories

Monthly Author Reads:
February: Virginia Woolf - Moments of being

Reading Globally:
Anita Desai - The artist of disappearance

Half of Man is Woman: 8 out of 21 (38%)
Penelope Lively - Oleander, Jacaranda. A childhood perceived
Carson McCullers - Reflections in a golden eye
Anita Desai - The artist of disappearance
Virginia Woolf - Moments of being
Vita Sackville-West - No signposts in the sea
Semira Dallali - Onbewoonbaar lichaam
Alissa Nutting - Tampa
Chaja Polak - Over de grens

Good to see your thread up and running. It is really only this thread that is having a late start. You have been in evidence elsewhere! Hope work doesn't interfere too much with your reading and participation here, although it is completely understandable that it can sometimes get the upper hand.

I know I'm happy to see you with your new thread. I already have it starred and am looking forward to following your reading again this year, even if I rarely comment.

My late starting of the thread here, coincided with my "unfinished business", writing up reviews in Club Read 2014.

Between January 1 and February 10, I wrote up 36 reviews for books I read during the period between the end of September and the end of December, last year.

If you are interested, or have not had a look there for a while, you can find my thread here:

http://www.librarything.nl/topic/182182#5049014

In case some of you might wonder what this group read refers to:

Half of Man is Woman: 4 out of 12 (33%)

In the Group "Reading Books by Women" I set myself the challenge to make half of my reading consist of books by female authors. I will keep the tally at the top of my thread.

You can find this New Group Reading Books by Women here:

http://www.librarything.nl/groups/readingbooksbywomen

Great reviews of your 2014 books, Edwin. I am always amazed at the number of books you are able to read and review so thoughtfully. And you work. How do you find the time? I'm back here to follow your 2015 thread.

001. Saul Bellow's heart. A son's memoir
Finished reading: 2 January 2015



It is perhaps safe to say that the work of Saul Bellow does not get the attention it deserves, as many people still feel that Saul Bellow deserves little or no attention. Bellow is a Nobel Prize Winner, but his work is barely read, and not included in school or university curricula. This is not based on demerit of the work, but of the man. Saul Bellow died somewhat quietly in 2005, his death received little attention, as in the past 25 years his work had received little attention. For the truth is that academia had spat him out.

The 1960s and 70s witnessed Bellow's multiple marriages and divorces, five marriages and four divorces, all as a consequence of his unbriddled hedonism. Then, in the 1980s he associated himself with the ideas of Alan Bloom and in the discussion about the cornerstones of civilization blurted out that Western culture has demonstrated itself to be superior, as Western culture has brought forth classical music, literature, etc, whereas Bellow claimed other cultures had not. Naturally, this type of racism and cultural bias were strobgly condemned in academic circles. Bellow was rowing against the tide, and met the full force of feminism, and left-oriented activism. He never recovered from deep-seated suspicion.

Critics and great, contemporary authors agree that the work of Saul Bellow belongs to the greatest among Twentieth Century literature. Bellow seems to have had the bad luck of standing in the spotlight at the wrong time. He won the Nobel Prize in 1976. Surely, there must have been writers with an equally bad track record in their relations with women, for instance Hemingway, or, more recently V.S. Naipaul, but they were never criticized that severely.

As a result, a full appreciation of Bellow's work has not (yet) taken place. There is only a modest amount of critical literature, and a full biography, Bellow: A Biography by James Atlas only came out in 2012, but has received very little attention so far. Another interesting publication, also in 2012, are Saul Bellow: Letters, edited by Ben Taylor. In addition to these, several memoirs have been published, some by the children of Saul Bellow.

One of these memoirs, Saul Bellow's heart. A son's memoir was written by Bellow's oldest son, from his first marriage, Greg Bellow. As the title suggests, not the work, but the man takes central stage in this memoir, and in line with his profession, Greg Bellow is not concerned about his father's soul, but his father's heart. This concern for the heart is somewhat troubling. Early in the memoir, Greg Bellow writes that his book is not an academic work, but aims to be a personal memoir. The author also claims to have waited long, and hesitated, but felt he still had a valuable contribution to make.

Saul Bellow's heart. A son's memoir, Greg describes how the young Saul Bellow was an idealistic and cheerful person, while the older Saul Bellow became a grumpy, and pessimistic person. As can be expected, the author does not draw a sharp line of division. Saul Bellow was born in 1915, this year exactly 100 years ago. That means that in 1976, he was 61 years old, and his sexual escapades took place in the decades before, and after that. Not a very convincing construct.

Greg Bellow does not claim any academic objectivity. In fact, the author is much too involved with his subject. Greg Bellow has a considerable chip on his shoulder, and an Oedipus complex that fills out the room. Greg Bellow's professional career is that of a psychotherapist, but it is remarkable how little insight he apparently has in the undigested anger and disappointment he has in his father. The memoir is at least as much about Greg as about Saul.

However, the angry Greg does provide the reader with an honest picture of Saul, the man, and given the biographical history of Saul Bellow that may just be needed. Besides the biography of Bellow and a detailed description of the various marriages, Greg Bellow describes Saul's life and the creation of his various works. Therefore, at about 240 pages, Saul Bellow's heart. A son's memoir is a reasonably sizeable biography of Saul Bellow.

002. Proud to be a mammal. Essays on war, faith and memory
Finished reading: 8 January 2015



Writing in Polish, Czesław Miłosz is mainly considered a Polish writer, although he lived in the United States of America since 1960, and became a citizen in 1970. In 1980, he won the Nobel Prize for Literature. Miłosz is mainly remembered as a poet, but has written a very considerable number of novels, essays and non-fiction works.

Proud to be a mammal. Essays on war, faith and memory, published in Penguin series of Central European Classics. The publisher also attached the time period 1942-97 to the book, although this does not appear on the title page. While the essays in the collection clearly relate to culture and life in "Central Europe", if Poland and Lithuania may be considered as such, and to the author's life experience over that period, these epithets are slightly misleading. In fact, in many of the essays, Miłosz mentions living though his eighth or even ninth decade, which means that these essays bolong to his latest productions, looking back on his life experience during that period.

The collection starts with a long essay, situated during the early occupation of Poland by the Nazis in 1941. It describes how the author fled from Russia occupied Poland, into Nazi occupied Poalnd and from thence to Warsaw. This essay has a dual purpose of showing the ethnic and cultural roots of the author, as coming from a region which alternately belonged to Lithuania, Russia, and Poland, and demonstrate which uncanny amount of luck the author had in escaping the enemy. Subsequent essays describe cultural aspects of the region the author belongs to, such as a description and explanation of street names of Vilnius ("Wilno"). The essay "Proud to be a mammal" positions the author clearly with the believers in evolution, rather than creationism. The essay shows that, although the author grew up as a catholic, his outlook in life has for a long time tended to be more scientific. But in the final essays, there is a discernable return to religious themes, and the author's view on faith.

As most of the essays were written during the last period of the author's life, rather than forming a selection of essays collected over the period of his life, it must be assumed that the author's religious views are expressed through the earlier essays as well as the later essays. Although the essays are apparently on light and very various topics, they are connected and unified by a very strong under current. The reader can still experience that the role of faith is stronger in the later essays, or, in other words, that the role of faith changed in the author's life. Nonetheless, while the early essays seem to suggest that man's actions largely determine the outcomes, there is already the strong suggestion that an uncanny amount of luck might be seen as fate.

Proud to be a mammal. Essays on war, faith and memory is a very strong collection of essays, moving, and fascinating for readers who are interested to contemplate the development of faith over a difficult life experience.

003. Oleander, Jacaranda. A childhood perceived
Finished reading: 11 January 2015



Oleander, Jacaranda. A childhood perceived is not so innocent as it sounds. Penelope Lively writes that she conceived the title from her experience as a child in car rides, observing the blossoming shrubs, alternatingly planted along the road: Oleander, Jacaranda, Oleander, Jacaranda, Oleander, Jacaranda. Flowers you don't see much in England.

Although Penelope Lively may have many beautiful memories of Cairo and Egypt, the memoir consists of a mix of impressions, through the lens of the mature author. These memoirs are based on actual memories, and memories induced through photos, and a visit to Cairo. These three views are all mingled, and present the memoir with a great deal of nostalgia. All familiar sights find a place, although some are introduced very late, so that "Groppi" isn't mentioned until page 80, or so.

Naturally, the home, with the garden and a small pond are all lively in the author's memory, although she wonders how memory plays games, as the size of the pond is incorrectly remembered, probably because to a small child the pond appeared bigger. This distortion works through at various levels. Moreover, the reality of the present day is different from that forty years ago. Then, the children could swim in the harbour of Alexandria, as the water was clean.

Oleander, Jacaranda. A childhood perceived is a wonderful memoir for readers who get a fuzzy feeling of nostalgia about British imperial past. The memoir breathes the air of nostalgia, and celebrates the expat / colonial lifestyle, with its white superiority over the local population.



Other books I have read by Penelope Lively:
Going back
Next to nature, art

004. Barcelona the great enchantress
Finished reading: 26 January 2015



Barcelona the great enchantress is often described as a condensed version of Barcelona, also by Robert Hughes, whereas it would probably be better described as a more intimate, personal description, highlighting the personal interest of its author. At various moments, Hughes describes his personal relation to the city of Barcelona, as relationship of more than 40 years of attraction. Hence, Barcelona the great enchantress.

In this short work, Hughes manages to describe all that is important to know about Barcelona, as if delving into the essence of this magnificent city. The focus is on architecture, as it enables the author to draw an uninterrupted line from the Roman origins, the Middle Ages up to the Modern period, exemplified by the work by Antoni Gaudi.

The history of Catalonia, and Barcelona, is firmly rooted in the Gothic. Hughes describes which features of Gothic architecture in Barcelona are unique, and describes the gothic sites which form the heart of Catalan identity namely the Council of Hundred (Conseil de Cent and the Llotja, the earliest business exchange in Barcelona. While the Cathedral in Barcelona is admired for its endearing garden and the custom of holding geese in the cloister, Hughes writes that the Santa Maria del Mar, in all its austerity, is his favourite Gothic church, in Barcelona, not far from the Picasso museum.

For all its brevity, Barcelona the great enchantress describes all major sights in the city, the fresh market, the Boqueria on the Ramblas, not far from the Opera and the Placa Real. Gaudi is described as one of the main proponents of the Modernista period, and the expansion of Barcelona beyond its old city perimeter into the development of the Eixempla.

As one would read a beloved novel more than once, thus, one can return to Barcelona, by reading different books about the city. Barcelona the great enchantress should definitely not be omitted.

I now want to read all four of these books, even the Bellow memoir. And i really appreciated your overview of Saul Bellow. I hope i can remember the Barcelona book if i ever manage to get to Barcelona.

>9 edwinbcn: I fell in love with Milosz after reading his The Issa Valley, and also his interviews with Aleksander Wat published as My Century, so this sounds very intriguing even though I'm not though I"m not that interested in the role of faith.

>13 rebeccanyc:

I was not very interested in the role of faith either, but it happens to be there, and as a reader one should have some perceptiveness and patience, to see and understand the role it seems to play in Miłosz writing. I did not enjoy each of the essays and sich, for instance, the essay about the street names in Vilnius, but the collection as a whole left a deep impression on me, through this strong undercurrent.

I had never read anything by Miłosz before, and could feel the hand of a true master in the collection.

>12 dchaikin:
Barcelona is the undisputed book about Barcelona to turn to, so remembering that Barcelona the great enchantress is by the same author, should help you find it. Perhaps you should read this small book first, and be enchanted, and tempted.

>14 edwinbcn: I agree with you about "perceptiveness and patience" and Milosz is truly a "master." I urge you to try The Issa Valley, which I recommended in >13 rebeccanyc:.

Thanks, Rebecca. I read your review, and put The Issa Valley on my wish list. After the essays, I will definitely want to read more of this author.

005. A week at the airport. A Heathrow diary
Finished reading: 29 January 2015



A week at the airport. A Heathrow diary is a memorial piece of writing, documenting Heathrow airport. It is a dull and rather uninteresting booklet. Have any such memorials been written about Paddington or Waterloo station in the 1850s? If so, we are not reading them

The resulting, small book was a commission. The company that manages Heathrow Airport, "a multinational enterprise, otherwise focused on the management of landing fees and effluents" (p. 144) invited Alan de Botton to become "Heathrow's first writer-in-residence". Once the commission was accepted, the author's patron, "Colin Matthews, the chief executive of BAA, the owner of Heathrow" made no demands, and the author was left entiirely free to write the book as he wanted. In the opening chapter, the essayist ponders on this generosity, and the institute of patronage of artists. Foolish or not, De Botton decided to accept the invitation.

Why De Botton was approached is not mentioned, perhaps because he wrote The Art of Travel (2002) or is more generally seen as an essayist. However, he is a bit of a maverick, and particularly his earlier works did not seem very serious. Was Heathrow from the start looking for a "middle-of-the-road man"? Not that exuberantly famous, neither controversial. Or was the author chosen for any particular skill. That was in 2009. In 2011, Tony Parsons became the second writer-in-residence at Heathrow. He wrote Departures: Seven Stories from Heathrow. This booklet apparently did not do very well. Did he screw up? There haven't been any new writers-in-residence at the airport since. Have the powers-that-be lost interest in literature, so soon?

A week at the airport. A Heathrow diary is quite successful, surprisingly, as it is also pretty dull. De Botton is quite sarcastic at times about his commission and the facilities he could make use of. An airport is just not that fascinating. Are the "Airport Priests" really there because travellers anticipate the possibility of death? De Botton really wants to show that his patron made a good choice selecting him, and sprinkles the text with philosophical observations and references to philosophers. Hence, the observation that the dominance of consumerism at the airport is connected to travellers fear of a deadly accident. It seems rather far-fetched. On the other hand, the author does not mention the stress that is often so palpable at airports.

We do not normally stand still, to contemplate a utility such as an airport. On the other hand, an essay can be about anything, why not an airport? Whether De Botton did the best he could, writing A week at the airport. A Heathrow diary is doubtful. He just did his job, it seems. The book is well-crafted, but not inspired. A week at the airport. A Heathrow diary may not be so interesting now, but perhaps in 2160, a 150 years on, it will be a valuable source, or even common people may read it with relish.



Other books I have read by Alan de Botton:
How Proust can change your life
Kiss and tell
The Romantic Movement. Sex, shopping and the novel

0060. Reflections in a golden eye
Finished reading: 31 January 2015



The characters in Reflections in a golden eye all seem to struggle with their role in society. In almost all cases, they do not really fit. Their emotions are restrained, and they cannot realize themselves. Restrictions come from marriage to an unsuitable partner, their position in society, their limited knowledge and experience, and their inability to break free from conventions. In many cases, constraints also come from the way other people see them. In fact, as Captain Penderton says "any fulfilment obtained at the expense of normalcy is wrong, and should not be allowed to bring happiness." and "It is better (...) for the square peg to keep scraping around the round hole rather than to discover and use the unorthodox square that would fit it." (p. 112)

Private Williams cannot fulfil the normal development of his sexuality because he lacks the knowledge and experience how to devlop normal relations with wormen. Most women in the novel are unhappily tied in marriages that are unhappy, for once, in the case of Captain Penderton because he is homosexual, a thing he could never admit to.

The only character in the novel who is free from all these limitations and constraints, who moves like a child, girlish at times, affected, but apparently not necessarily gay, is Anacleto, the Philipino house boy. He represents the sexual freedom of the Pacific Islands, a more natural, unrestrained spiritual and physical freedom, darting like a little elf between the heaviness of the more seriously troubled American characters.

Reflections in a golden eye is a short, very well-crafted novel, about a theme which has not altogether disappeared, although society has progressed quite a bit since the 1940s.



Other books I have read by Carson McCullers:
The ballad of the sad café and other stories

>17 edwinbcn: particularly his earlier works did not seem very serious

I was going to have to reluctantly and painfully disagree with that statement until I saw that we have read different books by Alain de Botton. I am not in a position to speak about yours. But The Art of Travel is a very serious book, and one that I enjoyed immensely. I have his Consolations of Philosophy but have not gotten around to reading it yet. It may be less serious because it seems designed to appeal to popular taste regarding the beauties of philosophy. I do recommend The Art of Travel. Interesting review of A Week at the Airport, by the way.

>19 Poquette:

In the late 1990s, I read three books, The Romantic Movement , Kiss and Tell and How Proust Can Change Your Life, by Alain de Botton, who was then considered an emerging author. I was mostly disappointed by these books (I then did not write reviews, but kept a log with star ratings); saying his books are not very serious, I mean to express the sense that his books are full of light observations, somewhat tongue-in-cheek. I cannot remember exactly, but his work seemed to belong to that type of postmodernism which suggests that even the most banal can be elevated.

Following you comments above, I read some reviews on LT and had a look at Wikipedia. It seems my impression is quite confirmed, and I agree with you that the early works I read were apparently not so successful. Two years ago, I started reading The Art of Travel, but mislaid the book, and did not finish it.

Recently, I purchased four books by De Botton, How Proust Can Change Your Life, Essays in Love, The Consolations of Philosophy and A week at the airport. I may still buy and reread the earlier two.

I lost sight of the work of De Botton because I had moved to China in 2000; Four of his books were published before 2000, of which I read three. However, I remain sceptical, and will see. According to Wikipedia, it has been suggested that De Botton "tends to state the obvious" and that some of his books appear "pompous and lacking focus".

This is also the feeling I got from A week at the airport, where some quite "hardcore" philosophy (e.g. Melanie Klein) was thrown in ... my suggestion, in my review, to impress BAA and appear "very serious".

I think Alain de Botton is a bit of a maverick, and I think that part of the postmodern playfulness is that readers cannot very well distinguish between "true and serious philosophy" and "pompous, bombastic twaddle". Maybe, De Botton has found his true topic, and come into more profound contemplation (the titles of his books do not seem to suggest so). I now have four unread books by him on my tbr, so I will see.

By the way, on Wikipedia it says that "de Botton replied to a competition advertised among British literary agents by BAA, the airport management company, for the post of "writer-in-residence" at Heathrow Airport". That is a lot less glamourous than his own suggestion in the book that one day he was called. I am sure that one day he was called after his application, but still there is a difference, if you know what I mean.

Having to go to the bookstore to buy a present for the daughter of a friend I am visiting tonight, I came home with Amsterdam, a book by Ian McEwan which I am not entirely sure to have read, and three more books by Alain de Botton.

The discussion above prompted me to buy Kiss & Tell, which will be a reread, The Pleasures and Sorrows of Work and Religion for Atheists. I did not see these last two books at this Xinhua Bookstore three weeks ago. I think the Chinese publisher has a license to publish all books by De Botton in bilingual editions, so I may be able to purchase more later this year.

However, I won't read these books until some time next year.

I admire your willingness to read everything by De Botton. And any writer who is trying to appeal to a mass audience is bound to merit criticism for not being serious by specialists. He's inevitably going to displease someone. Probably not everything he wrote is worth reading by everyone.

I understand where you are coming from and don't disagree.

He is a nice guy, by the way. I had a question about something in The Art of Travel and his email address was published in the book. So I wrote to him, he responded immediately and we had a pleasant exchange.

007. The artist of disappearance
Finished reading: 2February 2015



Could it be that the essence of a culture is best preserved at the perifery? There are various examples, probably known to all readers of specific features or language, culture or custom that still exist in remote areas, sometimes isolated communities in one's own country, sometimes overseas parts which were former colonies, where certain inflections or cultural traditions have remained alive. In The artist of disappearance Anita Desai brings together three short stories which each describe how Indian ways of thinking, or lifestyles have been preserved in remote areas.

In the first story, "The Museum of Final Journey's the narrator is a well-educated man who takes up a post in a remote district, far from the city where he studied. Although his roots are in this area, it is obvious that he has estranged from living conditions there. He wonders at an exquisite art object he sees in a home and assumes it must be stolen or plundered. He hears from, and eventually visits a museum which houses an enormous, and very valuable collection of anthropological, historical and artistic objects, which he marvels at as he is led through the rooms of the museum, to the last courtyard, where a living treasure, an elephant is kept. The curator explains that he sells off pieces from the collection to feed the elephant. The story seems to contrast the cultured, materialistic world view of the Western view that would focus on preserving the collection of objects, versus the local cultural view that the objects can be sacrificed to keep the elephant alive, and that the elephant is much more important than the art objects.

The second story, "Translator translated" is about two old school friends. One of the two women, Tara, has studied literature at university and after a career in journalism has become an editor at a publishing house. Her school friend. Prema, is enthusiastic about a book written in a local languages, and Tara is persuaded to have one of those books translated and published. Prema also has a degree in English literature, but studied the local language in an evening course, after she had lost it, and then wrote her thesis on an author who wrote in the local language, "Oriya". The translation and publication of the book is successful and leads to a revival in academic interest in both the local languages and the author. The author is persuaded to write more, but in the end her new works are disappointing, lacking the originality are purity of the first work. The story contrasts high culture and low culture, high culture as represented by Jane Austen and Simone de Beauvoir, the works studied at school and university, versus local langauge or dialect writers. In the end, the weight of high culture crushes and corrupts the underappreciated lower, local culture.

In the last story, "The Artist of Disappearance" an old man cannot be persuaded to leave the ruin of his old, burntout house to take up residence in a new apartment. Instead, he hold on to living in old clothes and the old house. Through his lifestyle, he has come very close to nature. Then, a film crew arrives in the village. They are bustling, young people, who want to make a film about unspoilt nature, or the way the modern world threatens nature. As they cannot find what they are looking for, their attention is turned to Ravi, the old man in his ruined house and grown-over garden. Looking for him, they cannot find him at home, they turn up everything in his house, and peek at every corner. The story suggests the intrusiveness of modern, fleeting ideas into the stilled, quiet world of memory and nature of the old man.

The three stories show a different outlook on life, more deeply Indian, that still exist and contrast sharply with the dominant, imported Western cultural values, that are intrusive, corrupting and superficial. The old culture runs deep, far from the centre, where it still exists in small pockets, enclosures and in retreat.

These are three lovely stories, each very original and sincere, and very recognizable. The story telling is quite simple and straight-forward. Highly recommended.

008. I left my grandfather's house
Finished reading: 3 February 2015



Denton Welch lived but a short life, and died early, several years after a car accident he had at the age of 20, and suffered from the remainder of his life. The paintings he has left show an extraordinary talent and great originality. Likewise, his prose, most of it composed in the final years of his life, is highly original and externalises his innermost feelings.

I left my grandfather's house is a prose fragment, extracted from the diaries. It is a retrospect description of a walking tour Denton Welch made as a young man. The description itself is not based on diary notes, but on memory, remembered and written down several years later. Therefore, the description of the route is incomplete, and partly a reconstruction, as Welch could not remember everything.

However, his memory is very vivid and detailed regarding his adventure and the people he met. The young Denton is described as very inexperienced and awkward, at a loss to show himself to people, and describing his mixed feelings about the various sorts of people he meets on the way. As a wanderer of small means, he needs to put himself in a position of dependence on people, and their hospitality to provide accommodation. The young Denton in the narrative is clearly very uncomfortable about that, but nonetheless manages.

The young Denton is not only very ill at ease with strangers, he is particularly uncomfortable in relation to his aunt.

The prose style is somewhat reminiscent of the writing of Stella Gibbons, as it highlights peculiarities in people, characterizing their features and speech.

009. On Provence
Finished reading: 7 February 2015



The non-fiction of Henry james gets much less attention than the novels and novellae. Still, James wrote a avriety of essays, biography, including autobiography, and travel writing. Of the latter, Italian Hours and The American Scene have remained popular. An earlier book on travel in France now remains somewhat obscure. It was originally serialized as En Provence and published in book form in 1884 as A Little Tour in France. In 2014, the Hesperus Press published a selection from this work under the title On Provence.

The text of On Provence represents only one-third of the original work, A Little Tour in France, or only 13 of 40 short chapters. It includes James descriptions of the cities of Narbonne, Montpellier, The Pont du Gard, Aigues-Mortes, Nîmes, Tarascon, Arles, Arles (the Museum), Les Baux, Avignon, Villeneuve-les-Avignon, Vaucluse and Orange. The original preface by Henry James is included. The Hesperus edition begins with a description of Narbonne, which is given section number 1 (section 24 in the original edition), and finishes with the description of Orange as section 13 (corresponding to section 36). On the whole, this poses few problems, although the text contains some references to James's earlier description of Carcassonne.

It has been suggested that 0ne reason why A Little Tour in France is now less popular is the predominant interest of Henry James for remains of classic origins, castles and architecture. Travel in the late Nineteenth and early Twentieth century, was a very different thing from the present-day travel experience, although particularly to well-educated travellers today, visiting important buildings is still part of the program. However, while sight-seeing is now just a part of a travel itinerary, to travellers at that day and age it was the main thing, and they went about it in a very systematic way. Modern travellers may make a very eclectic use of a travel guide, focussing mainly on the most famous spots, and devote more time to other activities. Nineteenth century travellers studied their travel guides as textbooks, viewing the sites as actual illustrations. Travel was a very studious affair, sampling monuments from (classical) history, to gain a better understanding of history and our cultural heritage. After all, although there were illustrated books and paintings, there were no films or DVDs.

Serious travellers would choose an authoritative travel guide book and follow up on all of their suggestions. Readers of E.M. Forster's A Room with a View may remember how Lucy carries her Baedeker of Italy guidebook with her while walking the streets of Florence. For his travels in France, Henry James relied on Stendhal's Mémoires d'un touriste and John Murray's A handbook for travellers in France. James faithfully visits all the sites enlisted in these guides, and often comments what his learns from their descriptions. Henry James travelogue of France consists of his experience of France. He describes the places and the people he encounters and marvels at the architecture. Travelling in Europe, being almost like an open air museum, modern travellers are very likely to find James descriptions accurate, and many places he visited can still be visited today.

On Provence is a nice introduction to the original work, A Little Tour in France. The title is a little bit misleading, as the description is only marginally about the area known as the Provence, and then not even about the heartland of the Provence. Besides, modern readers will mostly associate the Provence with a more quiet lifestyle, thinking more of nature than of architecture. Apparently On Provence is published in a series of "On xx destination". It is also likely that the publisher looked at the original title for the series. The text of A Little Tour in France is available from various Internet sources, but contains mistakes. Thus, in free e-texts the typical French diacrits o are left out of spelling, and the ebook on the Gutenberg project suggests that Alphonse Daudet is the author of a book called Les Aventures Prodigieuses de Taitarin, where it should be Les Aventures Prodigieuses de Tartarin.

Some knowledge of the French language would be helpful reading A Little Tour in France or On Provence, as Henry James uses the language freely, and would assume his readers to know French. James regularly refers to a companion or travel companions, but these are never named. In later years Henry James is known to have travelled the French countryside with Edith Wharton, who owned an automobile, but these trips are not included in this early work.

On Provence ( A Little Tour in France) is delightful reading, showing Henry James in a quite personal light.



Other books I have read by Henry James:
Washington Square
The spoils of Poynton
The turn of the screw
The Aspern papers
The Europeans

010. De pagode
Finished reading: 8 February 2015



De pagode ("The Pagoda") is a short story by the Dutch novelist Gerrit Komrij. It is a short fictional piece in which the reader is drawn into a little horror story through the perspective of the narrator, to be surprised that the whole story is a mere illusion.



Other books I have read by Gerrit Komrij:
Een zakenlunch in Sintra, en andere Portugese verhalen
Vila Pouca. Kroniek van een dorp
Hercules
De klopgeest
Dubbelster
Intimiteiten
De buitenkant
Verwoest Arcadië
Fabeldieren

011. Moments of being
Finished reading: 10 February 2015



Virginia Woolf is a writer who is still very much with us. This is quite surprising, as Woolf had her roots in the Victorian Age, and died in the early 1940s. Many other writers of that era are now obscure. That this was not her fate, can be understood from the quality of her fiction. Apart from some pothumous publications into the 1950s, most of Virginia Woolf's works were published during the 1920s and 30s, and as the main representative of stream-of-consciousness her works have become canonized and included in highschool and university curricula guaranteeing many new generations of readers. Besides, Virginia Woolf appeals to readers imaginations through her participation in the Bloomsbury Group, as a publisher, running the Hogarth Press and her role in female emancipation and gender issues. Because although she grew up in a Victorian milieu most of her literary work was created and helped shape the landscape of modernity.

Sustained academic interest throughout the 1960s through 80s led to the publication of Virginia Woolfs autobiographical writings, foremostly the Letters and Diaries, most of which were published during the 1970 through 1990s. This is really still very recent, and therefore many of these materials appear very fresh to modern readers, who are unlikely to be familiar with much of that material. Who has read, for instance, her Greek travel diary, edited by Jan Morris and published as Travels With Virginia Woolf (1993). A selection of the Diaries has recently appeared in the Red Series of Vintage Books.

Moments of Being brings together a collection of previously unpublished autobiographical essays of Virginia Woolf. In these essays, readers will find the source for many pieces of common knowledge about Virginia Woolf such as the famous scene of horror in which, as a young woman, she imagined seeing something move behind her in the mirror. There are many autobiographical details about herself, her family members, Lytton Strachy and other members of the Bloomsbury Circle, as well as essential descriptions of the author's environs, particularly the houses she lived. Moments of being was first published in 1976, but interested readers are advised to read the updated and expanded second edition, first published in 1985, which includes many new manuscript materials and versions which were discovered later.

Including 27 pages of introduction, Moments of Being is a modest volume of 230 pages, including two larger and four smaller contributions. The earliest youth work "Reminiscences" is somewhat stilted, and could be skipped, or simply included for completeness, as it only consists of 30 pages. Far more interesting is "A Sketch of the Past" which displays all the characteristics of the mature style of Virginia Woolf. In the final pages of this work, Woolf describes how she experienced the transition from the Victorian Age to the Edwardian Period, showing how changes in architecture, and symbolized by the move from 22 Hyde Park Gate to 46 Gordon Square in Bloomsbury, and manners created a very different world, particularly favourable to the earliest beginnings of women's emancipation. The shorter essays, such as "22 Hyde Park Gate", "Old Bloomsbury" and "Am I a Snob?" were written for the Memoir Club and were read aloud to its members. These pieces are very humourous, and one can almost hear the peals of laughter that they must have earned Woolf as she midly satirized her companions and herself. In some of these essays, Woolf writes very openly about homosexuality, as she would later playfully show her ambivalence in her novel Orlando.

The essays and autobiographical writings in Moments of Being are arranged in the order of the historical events they describe, not the order of conception. It is an absolutely delightful book, which I regret not to have read during my students days, and am very happy to have discovered now, and read with relish.



Other books I have read by Virginia Woolf:
The London scene. Six essays on London life
Selected short stories
Monday or Tuesday
A room of one's own
Orlando
Jacob's room
Mrs. Dalloway

>23 edwinbcn: I'm looking forward to reading at one book by Anita Desai for this quarter's Reading Globally theme read; I've had three on my TBR for decades. So I was glad to know you liked the one you read, even though I don't have it.

>

I enjoyed reading it, and I could feel Anita Desai was well in control of the stories themes and interconnectedness, which, I would suggest means a good writer and a good editor. Perhaps I am just imagining or haven't scrutinized carefully enough, but my impression is that nowadays the thematic unity of story collections and essay collections is not as coherent as in the past.

I tend to avoid Indian literature, I am not sufficiently interested to enter that realm of culture. I was very disappointed reading The inheritance of loss by Kiran Desai a few years ago. But for the Reading Globally group I will make some exceptions and test the water, and I am glad to say I liked The Artist of Disappearance.

The review of The Artist of Disappearance stood out for me too. And i loved your introductions to many of these reviews. I'm not feeling any urge to read De Botton.

>30 dchaikin:

Thanks, Daniel. However, I do not think it was the book I liked most. It perhaps surprised me most to recognize some typical Indian themes, so that the book made good and coherent sense.

012. The birthplace
Finished reading: 10 February 2015



Given the stature of Henry James as an author in Americal letters, his readership seems to focus on a narrow selection of his works, many some of the large novels, and a small selection of the novellas with very little variation. Of the short stories and novellas, only Daisy Miller, The Aspern Papers and The Turn of the Screw are widely read, while The Jolly Corner and The Beast in the Jungle are occasionally anthologized. However, Henry James wrote a vast number of short stories and novellas.

In 2012, the Hesperus Press published a volume which brings together two short stories / novellas, namely The Birthplace and "The Private Life". The edition includes a foreword by Mark Rylance. This seems an unhappy choice. Mark Rylance is the author of two works on Shakespeare, and was probably selected because in The birthplace Henry James satirizes the personality cult around Shakespeare. The introduction is weak.

The most well-known and most important book that is characterized by its use of capitalized personal pronouns is probably the Bible. Capitalization of pronouns, "He" and "Him" and "They" is also a prominent feature in The birthplace, out of reverence for an unnamed author, most likely meant to be Shakespeare.

The birthplace is an entertaining satire about a couple of librarians who are chosen to become the guardians of the birthplace of a renowned author. The fact that little is known about the author, either in general or by them, does not seem to matter: the audience, the visitors, will either know better or believe any utterance. Likewise, the word of the previous guardian is taken as gospel.

The second story, "The Private Life" is included with The birthplace for its assumed closeness in theme. "The Private Life" is about the contrast between a person's private appearance and public appearance. The story is much deeper felt, and more personal than its companion novella. Henry James is usually seen as an author who excels in large naturalistic and realistic description, but as the short story "The Real Thing" demonstrates, James was also interested in writing that can only be understood if the reader has an eye for symbolism.

"The Private Life" is an interesting exploration of symbolism, but Henry James does not explore it to the full limit. The story hinges on the proposition that some people have a "public persona" and a "private persona" who are actually two, physically identical individuals. In other people, the "public persona" is so "large" that the "private persona" is very small, actually less than one. However, this assertion is not tested. The suggestion is ingenious, and the story is meeted out very well to explore this idea.

It seems that "The Private Life" is a story whicj in essence is very close to Henry James personal life, although the mirroring duality in the life of the author is different from the situation in the short story. Critics are undecided about the issue to what extent Henry James should be seen as a closeted homosexual. The meaning of "The Private Life" may perhaps be extended to understand the author's view of his public appearance and his private, inner self.

The two short stories by Henry James are not often anthologized or read. The birthplace could be read as a curiosity, for all readers with a skeptical eye about the personality cultus around William Shakespeare. "The Private Life" is a story which is very interesting to be aware of, as it seems marginally related to "The Birthplace", but can, in other respects, create a better understanding of Henry James as an author. The non-realistic, symbolistic style of "The Private Life" is interesting, as it may help readers appreciate other work by James, such as The Turn of the Screw.



Other books I have read by Henry James:
On Provence
Washington Square
The spoils of Poynton
The turn of the screw
The Aspern papers
The Europeans

>29 edwinbcn: I didn't like The Inheritance of Loss either. But over the years I've read several Indian books I really liked, which I listed (along with the disappointments) in this post on the Reading Globally thread. I note it says I read Clear Light of Day, by Desai, but I have no recollection of what it was about!

Edwin - caught up with your thread at last. I am intrigued by the reviews of the Desai and Moments of Being - as always a thought-provoking range of reads.

Still catching up with your reviews Edwin, just thought I would comment on >8 edwinbcn:

A fascinating review of Greg Bellows book, but I was also interested in your thoughts on what I would deem as non-fashionable writers. Saul Bellow obviously falls into this category and I think much of it is to do with being labelled as "politically not correct" and so people read him (if they bother at all) with this in the fore front of their mind and this excludes the many virtues in Saul Bellow's books. He is not an easy read and maybe people lose patience with him, which is a pity. I am looking forward to reading him later in the year.

013. No signposts in the sea
Finished reading:



No signposts in the sea is a book that grows on you. While the story initially seems a bit boring, and of light kaliber, the development of the relationship between the two main characters, Edmund and Laura provides depth.

When Vita Sackville-West wrote this novel, her last, she was already terminally ill. She and her husband had started making cuises and voyages a few years earlier. No signposts in the sea is told from the viewpoint of Edmund, who is also terminally ill. During the voyage, Edmund comes to terms with the finality of life.

The beauty of the story lies in the contrast between the finality of life and the infinity of the sea. The title, No signposts in the sea does not occur in the novel, but there is another sentence that is very similar, viz. "There are no tombstones in the sea" (p. 48). Tombstones are reminders of death. Perhaps the title should be understood as suggesting ultimate freedom, one can (still) go in any direction.

The contrast between the land and the sea, is also reflected in the personality of Edmund and Laura. It has been pointed out that Edmund is an unlikely character, as he has supposedly never traveled before, although he is an expert on the Middle East. However, this objection seems very contemporary. It enforces the provincial views, the lack of openmindedness and some of the pettiness, such a jealousy or erotic fantasies which Edmund cannot see separate from his dealing with Laura. When Edmund observes the beauty of Asian men stripped to the waist, several times over the course of the novel, this is not with an erotic view, although even that idea may not be entirely impossible, but, more in the sense of estrangement, as British men of the Victorian Age and later, actually well up till today, will normally never be seen in that way. British men are fixed in a kind of formality, which excludes a free, more natural expression of physical prowess and beauty.

Much of Edmund's complicated sense of being is contrasted by the much more natural, and more simple Colonel Dalrymple. However, the most spiritual of the three, is of course Laura. She has a very full, rich life experience, of which Edmund only sees a glimpse, for example when she tells him how she got through the war. To Edmund, the voyage is like a spiritual awakening, although till the very last he confuses embracing the spirit of eternity with the physical embrace of Laura.

014. Two days in the life of the terrestrial globe, and other stories
Finished reading: 14 February 2015



Although Vladimir Odoevsky was a prominent author in his own time, even dubbed the "Russian Hoffmann" given his interest to write about the fantastic, Odoevsky is now quite forgotten. This is a pity, because his short stories and novellas are well worth reading, and Odoevsky is seen as one of the earliest writers of science-fiction. In his novel Year 4338 a description can be found which suggests an application of blogging as we recently know it. Odoevsky combined a body of technical knowledge with a rich imagination to write science-fiction about 25 years before Jules Verne and 60 years before H.G. Wells.

The recent revival of interest in Vladimir Odoevsky is mostly the work of one man, Neil Cornwell. As the bibliography shows (p. 131), Cornwell has written several books and articles about Odoevsky, including a biography, in 1986, and translated several volumes of short stories by the Russian author. Cornwall has also written new introductions to a new edition of stories published earlier, as well as the introduction to Two days in the life of the terrestrial globe, and other stories, published in 2012 by One World Classics.

The Romantic period is often characterized for writing about the passion, and the most often described passion is love. However, in the title story, Odoevsky focuses on the sentiment of fear, and panic, as attendents of an aristocratic ball fear the imminent destruction of the Earth by an asteroid on a collision course.

Odoevsky and Ludwig von Beethoven were contemporaries, and in "Beethoven's last quartett" we find a description of Beethoven in his final days, as the opening of the story announces that it was the Spring of 1827 (Beethoven died 26 March 1827). It is a passionate story about the genius of the composer, blending in admiration and anecdote.

Some of the stories bear characteristics of the Gothic genre, for example "Opere del Cavaliere Giambattista Piranesi", a Hoffmanesque tale, and "Imbroglio" which approaches the early crime fiction. in these stories many of the stock elements of the genre are presents, such as Italianate scenery, monks, etc, but in Odoevsky are much more realistic that in Vernon Lee or other proponents of the genre. Perhaps Odoevsky has real experience travelling to Italy.

Cornwall has apparently attempted to create a collection that offers a representative choice of the work of Odoevsky. "The Little Town in the Snuffbox" is a children's story that is very ingenious, and with a clear didactic purpose, as at the end the author admonishes young readers / listeners: "But you will understand it all even better when you come to study mechanics." (p. 37).

"The Black Glove" seems to be the most typical Russian tale, and a sharp criticism of Russian life at the time.

Excellent reviews, Edwin. Vita Sackville-West is one of my favourite writers and I have No Signposts in the Sea on the tbr shelf along with Moments of Being by Woolf. Your reviews are a reminder that I should get to them sooner rather than later. I'm also attracted to On Provence by Henry James and will search it out.

Two days in the life of the Terrestrial Globe, and other stories look like a bit of a discovery for those of us interested in early science fiction.

Indeed, Vivienne. On Provence was very enjoyable, and rings a lot of bells that would create all kinds of crosslinks to other literary works, for instance Stevenson's Travels with a Donkey in the Cevennes, which was written around the same time. Henry James and Stevenson could almost literary have met each other on the road. I must say I am still not so used to ebooks, and I am quite happy with my edition of On Provence. When I bought it, I was unaware that it only constituted about 30% of A Little Tour in France, and naturally, I would hav preferred reading the longer work.

The works of Woolf and Vita Sackville-West above are quite close. Sackville-West was born too late to have a real taste of Victorian life, she only experienced it as a young child. So the effects of the transition from the Victorian Age to the Edwardian period were very strong in Virginia Woolf, but less pronounced in Vita Sackville-West. However, during the following two, three decades, they were contemporaries, and much of the spiritual wisdom of Virginia Woolf, particularly with regard to gender, is reflected in Laura, in Sackville-West'sNo signposts in the sea. Reading it in tandem with Moments of Being appears to have been a happy choice.

As you may have noticed, Barry. I rarely commit myself to a reading project, as i know work often gets in the way, but at the same time, I try to stay close with what other group members are reading. I call this convergent reading.

Two days in the life of the Terrestrial Globe, and other stories is a small volume which seems particularly interesting to get to know the author, Vladimir Odoevsky, and I would particularly recommend it for readers who are interested in the Gothic genre. This collection contains only one short story, and very short at that, which demonstrates Odoevsky's interest in science-fiction. I have no idea how easy or difficult it might be to obtain that novel Year 4338.

Here is what Wikipadia enlists about that work. Written in 1835, Odoevsky predicted the telephone, blogging and the Internet and e-readers:

Odoyevsky has been credited to have predicted blogging, and the basic principles of the Internet. In his unfinished utopian novel Year 4338 he mused:

Finally, today we received a household journal from the prime minister, where we, among others, were invited to a soiree. You need to know that in many houses, especially those well connected, such journals are published, having replaced regular correspondence. . . . The journals usually provide information about the hosts’ good or bad health, family news, various thoughts and comments, small inventions, as well as invitations; in case of a dinner invitation, also the menu. Besides, for communicating in emergency, friends' houses are connected by means of magnetic telegraphs that allow people who live far from each other to talk to each other.

And in the same novel he predicts:

Invention of a book, where a machine changes letters into several books.

015. A Place in the country
Finished reading: 15 February 2015



A Place in the country is a collection of essays that breathe the atmosphere of nostalia and Heimatsverlangen, a longing for one's nation. For a long time, this type of sentiment was all but taboo for German authors. Sebald describes how, as a young man he travelled to England to work there for three years, packing his most dearest authors. What binds all these authors together is their connection to the ancestral homeland, which is also Sebald's. However, this homeland connection seems more spiritual than actual, as sebald was born in Bavaria, while the authors brought together in his selection originate from the area of Southwestern Germany and Switzerland. It is less a home land, and more like a home region, the Allgäu, which includes the southernmost parts of Baden-Württemberg and Bavaria, in the border region with Switzerland and Austria, including the Black Forest. This is Sebald intellectual Heimat, as he studied at the University of Freiburg and later lived in St. Gallen for a year.

A Place in the country is a collection of essays about Johann Peter Hebel, Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Eduard Mörike, Gottfried Keller and Robert Walser, with an additional essay about the artist Jan Peter Tripp. Most of these authors are considered marginal, for once, because Hebel wrote in a German dialect which is very hard to understand, and Mörike is considered a minor German author. In almost all essays, Sebald pays more attention to the authors' troubled lives than to their literary production, and in the case of Rousseau Sebald seeks proximity to the author through the experience of the land, the small island and the monastery where Rousseau lived, a place Sebald often visited.

Another feature that binds these authors is that they were all outsiders, particularly in the case of Keller and Walser pathologically. They were introverted people who shied away from contact, which in the case of Walser even found expression in the form of a nearly impossible to deciphre micro script.

Most of the essays are easy to read, as they focus more on biographical detail than on literary features. However, at the beginning of several of the essays, there are cryptic references to historical figures. Thus, the essay about Mörike begins with a reference to Napoleon, "and his precursor, thre trailblazer with the red Phrygian cap" (p. 69). In some of the essays the author uses unnecessary difficult terminology, for instance hinting at "Hebel's particular fondness for the paratactic conjunctions" (p.17). There are several long quotations in "Alemannic" dialect from Hebel and Sebald often uses french quotations or references. For a German author, it would be more logical to use the German place names than the French, but in many places Sebald apparently prefers "Lac de Bienne over "Bieler See. Although they are small details, they lend the essays a somewhat artificial type of erudition, which seems characteristic of Sebald's writing style. In the English edition of A Place in the country most of these difficulties have been smoothed by the translator / editor Jo Catling who has also provided and excellent introduction, translator's notes, and bibliography. The translation is excellent, with dialect passages quoted in full plus translation in brackets, but where needed, essential terminology is retained in German, and explained in notes.

It was the aim of the author to create "a beautiful book", and this aesthetic sense has been retained in the English edition. The text is richly illustrated, containing several large full-colour plates of contemporaries of the authors. The cloth edition of Hamish Hamilton (Penguin Books) is a gorgeous volume, and the beauty of the book greatly enhances the pleasure of reading it.

016. The south country
Finished reading: 28 February 2015



Edward Thomas is now mostly remembered as a poet, or more specifically as a 'war poet', but before turning to poetry in 1914 Edward Thomas was mainly active as a writer of non-fictional prose. He is the author of a single novel. His main output consists in essays describing the natural history and country life in south and south-west England and Wales around the turn of the century. These essays were collected and published in beautifully illustrated volumes, such as about Oxford (1903), Beautiful Wales (1905), The Heart of England (1906) and The south country (1909). He also wrote biographies and critical sudies, e.g. about Algernon Charles Swinburne, George Borrow and Walter Pater. In fact, The south country was written alongside and published in the same year as Edward Thomas's biography on Richard Jefferies, His Life and Work (1909). Edward Thomas admired Richard Jefferies and The south country is at least indebted to his predeccessor in the choice of the title, which resembles Jefferies' Wild Life in a Southern County, published in 1879.

The south country consists of 16 essays about the countryside in England. The language in these essays is heavily-laden with poetic references, and beautiful descriptions. It shows the earliest attempts of Edward Thomas at developing a feel for the beauty of words. He often muses on the poetic quality of place names in the English countryside. The essays are of somewhat uneven quality, and elaborate descriptions force to slow and careful reading. The later essays seem to be lighter in tone than the earlier essays. The poetic quality of the first six essays seems a bit too heavy, very rich and complex. They also contain various philosophical thoughts of the author, or observations he made on his wanderings. The next three essays broaden the view to include descriptions of people, but some of these descriptions appear a bit too heavy-handed. However, from the tenth essay, "Summer - Sussex" the author manages a light, airy style describing various characters in the countryside, while both describing people and nature in a more balanced, and pleasant way.

These essays describe nature in southwest England in a beautiful way, and give readers a glimpse of life in the countryside that was very soon to alter and disappear. Besides the poetic descriptions of nature, Edward Thomas offers up gorgeous characterizations of the people he met in the villages and hamlets he passed through, such as in "Going Westward" where he describes "a thick, bent, knotty man" (...); "merely to look at him is to see a man five generations thick, so to speak, and neither Nature nor the trumpery of modern man can easily disturb a human character of that density." (p. 215-6).

The south country is illustrated with wood engravings by Eric Fitch Daglish.

As Wild Life in a Southern County inspired Edward Thomas to write The south country, thus, readers who enjoyed reading The Old Ways: A Journey on Foot (2013) by Robert Macfarlane to look back at the work by Edward Thomas. For although the times, and the people change, we are still blessed with the richness and beauty of the countryside, to which we can turn for eternal inspiration.

Reply to a question on another thread, in the Monthly Author Group

It is not such a bad question, and I recall considering something similar the moment I wrote the review. The answer is that letters and diaries are not essays. Moments of Being does not collect all the autobiographical writings or works, but only autobiographical essays.

In the introduction the editor explains that the texts constituting Moments of Being were found among Woolf's papers. Of some, there is more than one versions, and there are also versions in different stages of pre-publication editing.

Perhaps I should have been a bit more careful in the use of the word "all". The various introductory texts in this volume speak of "a collection' of autobiographical writings", does however mention they were previously unpublished, i.e. by 1976. The Letters and Diaries were published later, but the current volume, Moments of Being, does not contain any letters or diaries.

Based on the introduction, I cannot claim that "this collection" comprises "all autobiographical essays" as I stated in my review. Possibly, or even probably, there may be other autobiographical essays, for instance "the essays published potshumously by Leonard Woolf" (I do not know what this refers to exactly). Moments of Being only collects previously unpublished materials.

Naturally, Wikipedia cannot be taken for the most complete or scholarly bibliography, but Moments of Being is listed as one of only two "autobiographical works", the other being The Platform of Time: Memoirs of Family and Friends, edited by S. P. Rosenbaum (London, Hesperus, 2007). I do not know whether the latter contains other autobiographical materials, although often Hesperus prints selections.

I am not an expert on the bibliography of Virginia Woolf, and I hope this short reply answers your question, at least in the main points. It seems quite clear that the material in Moments of Being is of a very different nature from the letters and Diaries, but Moments of Being should probably not be described as a complete collection of "all" autobiographical essays / writings.

017. Tactical exercise, and other late stories
Finished reading: 28 February 2015



In 2011, Penguin Books re-issued the works of Evelyn Waugh in a hardcover edition of Penguin Classics, comprising a total of 25 volumes. The series includes several works of Waugh which have been out of print for many years. Volume 22, Tactical exercise, and other late stories, brings together some late prose fragments and stories, which were originally written between 1939 and 1962. While many of these prose texts are unmistakenly written by Waugh, bearing all characteristics of his prose style, most pieces lack the optimism of his earlier works. The are satirical, but with a bitter tinge.

Work Suspended is an unfinished novel. A writer returns to London after the death of his father, a painter, who was killed in a car accidents. The fragments describes how the author moves from a bohemian lifestyle abroad to a homely life in England. There are two absurd episodes in which the author has to deal with the man who killed his father. There is no real plot. Work Suspended does not seem very attractive to casual readers.

""Charles Ryder's Schooldays" was written in the same year as Brideshead Revisited. It is a fragment that was found among Waugh's papers. It is not included in the novel, and deals with Ryder's youth. The fragment can be read as a separate short story.

Scott-King's Modern Europe is a long short story or novella. The novella reads like a compendium volume to Black Mischief, as it deals with a "banana republic" in Europe. The fictional country has many characteristics of Spain, Italy and Yugoslavia, andcan be read as a criticism of totalitarian states as they emerged after World War II.

More dystopian fiction was conceived in the form of the novella Love Among the Ruins, which criticizes the welfare state as it emerged in Britain, particularly criticizing the penetentiary system. Waugh was quite visionary in predicting a state department of euthenasia. While Orwell's Nineteen-eightyfour may be seen as a "hard' future dystopia, Love Among the Ruins is a 'soft" future dystopia, not more or less horrendous in its outlook.

"Tactical Exercise", "Compassion" and ""Basil Seal Rides Again" are each short stories which are often published together with Waugh's shorter novels.



Other books I have read by Evelyn Waugh:
Black mischief
Labels. A Mediterranean journal
Brideshead revisited
The ordeal of Gilbert Pinfold
Helena
Vile bodies
Decline and fall
The loved one. An anglo-american tragedy
A handful of dust

I've just been catching up with your thread, and I'm really enjoying all your reviews. I particularly liked the ones of Bellow and Woolf (both are going on my TBR list). Looking forward to following your thread through the year.

Enjoying, as always, catching up with your very varied reading.

Edwin I had a quick look on the net and found a few books by Vladimir Odoevsky at reasonable prices. They all seem to be collections of short stories and perhaps the most appealing is The Salamander and other Gothic tales, which I might consider.

Enjoyed your reviews of A Place in the Country and The South Country. I am familiar with a couple of of Edward Thomas's poems but have not read anything by W G Sebald. Both of these books look like a pleasure to own

I also enjoyed your reviews of the Sebald and the Edwars Thomas. I do hope to read something from Sebald one of these days.

>45 edwinbcn: That sounds very intriguing. I've never read anything by Waugh but I have a few of his novels on my shelves and maybe it is time to try some...

Enjoyed all your reviews - it is an eclectic selection of books - and I had never heard of most of those authors.

Sad news. Since late in April, my Internet connection is now so slow, that I cannot use LibraryThing at home. I can look at the site, but cannot edit records or post messages.

It is a combination of "heaviness" of LT to load, and the reduced speed by my ISP. In the past, they were always willing or able to give me higher speed, but this time they won't budge.

It has been said that the government has ordered higher Internet speed in Beijing by June 1, but it remains to be seen whether that will happen.

I can use LT in my office, but do not have a lot of time to do so.

Will join in more when I have time or the situation improves.

Sorry to hear about your internet woes, Edwin.

Ditto.

Looking forward to "seeing" you back and glad to hear it is only internet problems keeping you away. I'm sure it has helped add to your already prodigious reading.

I know how much I value connection to Librarything, hope yours is sorted out and you're more able to share your thoughts.

I've only read Thomas' poetry and a biography, and mean to begin with some of his other writings - the biography I read which tracked his development as a poet disparaged them a bit as being part of why he wasn't writing poetry, or was that me. I'm curious to read them. I've read Sebald's The Rings of saturn (which also wanders in England) and must return to the Emigrants which I began soon after and was enjoying very much, I enjoyed the film about him After, Patience.

Update:

LibraryThing is not blocked in China, but because part of the architecture of LibraryThing makes extensive use of Google (e.g. "ajax googleapis") the functionality of LibraryThing is so much obstructed that effectively LibraryThing does not work in China. It is possible to view most parts of the site, but impossible to enter new records, edit existing records or add messages to the Groups.

A dot sighting! Edwin! Send a smoke signal! :)

Actually, I am at home in Nanning, where the necessary file is apparently still present in the computer's cache.

For Beijing, I will need a VPN to circumvent the Great Fire Wall of China.

Yuck. Hope you manage to sort it out, and welcome back!

How frustrating! And annoying!

81 books read sofar....

Well that's one advantage of bad internet access: more time for reading :-D

I miss your posts, Edwin. I hope you are able to come back. 81 books... I hang my head in shame.

That's no much of an issue.... last year with full access to LT I had already read 84 books by the end of July, 3 more than now. So, I am pretty well on schedule, or even a bit behind.

You owe us 81 reviews.

Sorry to hear about your on line problems, we miss you here Edwin

81 minus 17, Barry. I reviewed 17 books between January and March.

Then, too, I read another 11 books, since last week, so 64 + 11 = 75

018. Angst en schoonheid. Louis Couperus, de mystiek der zichtbare dingen
Finished reading: 28 February 2015



Within the world of Dutch letters, Louis Couperus has a status comparable to that of Marcel Proust. Therefore, one would expect that a book-long essay about Couperus and his work would cause a stir and some excitement, but apparently not. Angst en schoonheid. Louis Couperus, de mystiek der zichtbare dingen (Engl. "Fear and Beauty: Louis Couperus and the mysticism of the visual world") is a very interesting exploration of the works of Louis Couperus.

Bas Heijne writes that he has had a life-long interest in Couperus, and parts of the essay are reflections on his teaching creative writing using novels of Couperus as examples. The essay can roughly be divided into two parts, each pondering an idea of the author about aspects of Couperus.

The first part looks mainly at biographical aspects of Louis Couperus. The inspiration for this part is formed by the recent discovery of a film fragment of only 23 seconds, recorded on 9 June 1923, a few weeks before his death (p. 25). This fragment forms the basis of a broad speculation about Couperus as a person, suggesting that an explanation for Couperus' enormous productivity could be found in his urge to make himself invisible. According to this thesis, Couperus would hide in world he conjured up, assuming identity in his own novels. Pointing at the correspondence of Couperus, which is scant and mainly with his publisher, Heijne points out how particularly impersonal this correspondence is, mainly only about royalties and practical matters related to the publishing of his books. Couperus was also very sparse with comments about himself in interviews. Marcel Proust also did not write much correspondence.

Another motive for making himself invisible could perhaps be found in Couperus' homosexuality, a theme often embedded in his novels. In that view, Couperus would be masquerading in his work, assuming other identities in the form of characters in his novels. Couperus is often described as a very narcistic personality.

The other main thesis of the essay focuses on fear, particularly the fear experienced by the Dutch for the mysticism of the East. This part of the essay is merely a reformulation of a very well known motive in the work of Couperus centred on the novel De stille kracht (Engl The Hidden Force). Heijne's vivid descriptions seem to be based on the 1974 TV serial based on the novel.

The two theses of the essay are not very clearly connected, although there is a faint suggestion that Couperus "ghostly" appearance was a result of his fatique. Obviously, the essay discusses many of Couperus novels, mainly in relation to the author's personal development, and some contemporary novelists, besides.

The writing style of the essay is fluent and with ease. It is obvious that Heijne is in his element. The fragmented nature of the essay likely stems from the fact that it is based on previously published and unpublished material brought together. Regardless of the success of the essay as a unity or formation of a single coherent thesis, Angst en schoonheid. Louis Couperus, de mystiek der zichtbare dingen is a must read for those with an interest in Louis Couperus.



Other works I have read by Bas Heijne:
Onredelijkheid
Laatste woorden
Vreemde reis

I read the book above (# 18) in February, and had difficulty reviewing it because upon my return to Beijing in March, I had left it in Nanning (where I am now).

My Internet problems did not really start until the end of June. Now, I feel I cannot properly review most of the books I read between 1 March and 1 August, because I read them and keep them in Beijing. From the middle of July, I wrote a few reviews on Goodreads, but not for all books read then.

I will try to reviw what I have, especially my reading in August, here in Nanning. Hopefully, I can work out my Internet problem when I am back in Beijing.

070. Slaughterhouse Five
Finished reading: 9 July 2015



Slaughterhouse-Five is a book about the Second World War, or at least a small part of it. Vonnegut witnessed and survived the fire-bombing of Dresden, and the novel is a remarkably impotent attempt at describing the aftermath. Vonnegut survived the the bombing of Dresden as a POW, kept in a cellar at a short distance from the inner city.

Central themes of the book are the surreality of the result of the event, the before and after, and the transportation from the pre-bombing state to the post-bombing state, a transition from the city appearing as one of the most beautiful in Europe to a landscape resembling "the surface of the moon".

This psychedelic experience, and the horror, mentally completely unhinge the main character. The novel seems the expression of a post-traumatic experience, which offers no rational explanation for any part of the event, and only the super-natural, not the divine, but extra-terrestrial, seems to make sense of this "not-of-this-planet" type of disaster.

The inability to form a whole picture, is echoed in the novel's embedded vignettes, which appear as fragments or shards, held up to illustrate the incredible, such as the soldier who was shot because he stole an undamaged tea pot.

Defeat in the face of so much power, and one's own powerlessness, or impotence, is repeated by the main characters mantra "so it goes".

Instead of trying to describe the desctruction of dresden in a conventional novel, the traumatic experience found its form in an experimental, science-fiction work or semi-autobiographical fiction. It is mixture of fiction and meta-fiction, with a strong streak of the absurd.

Slaughterhouse Five is an unpleasant read, in a style of writing, which does not find a lot of sympathy now. Alas, so it goes.



Other books I have read by Kurt Vonnegut:
Cat's cradle
Fates worse than death. An autobiographical collage
A man without a country. A memoir of life in George W. Bush's America

071. Family business. Selected letters between a father and son
Finished reading: 14 July 2015



Both father and son, Louis and Allen Ginsberg, were poets in their own right, but Allen's fame would soon eclipse that of his father. Therefore, the selected letters collected in this edition are more than a personal record of family affairs. They are a correspondence between two poets, with Louis often commenting on and giving Allen advice on how to write poetry. Louis is the role as a mentor comes about quite naturally, firstly, of course a the father, and also as the more mature, more experienced poet of the two of them. Besides, Louis was a lecturer, and in that role it would be natural for him to guide Allen in his development as a poet.

However, it does not become apparent to what extent Allen heeded his parent's advice, for example, telling him not to use foul language in his poetry. A close study of the poetry, or other biographical sources might reveal whether Allen Ginsberg heeded that advice, or not.

Family Business: Selected Letters between a Father and a Son spans the correspondence between Louis and Allen Ginsberg betweem 1944 and 1976. Thus, the reader will get a very comprehensive overview of the personal development, both as a poet and the private life of Allen Ginsberg.

The letters describe intimate, personal details about Allen's coming out and his sexual orientation. In the letters to his father, Allen seems reticent to write about his exploits with the other writers of the Beat Generation, such as Burroughs and Kerouac, or his contacts with Neal Cassidy. The letters are mostly about Allen's output as a poet, and less about his experiments with prose.

Mention is made in the letters of the genesis and success of all major poems, such as Howl and Kaddish. The letters could also be very well read as an introduction into the reading of Ginsberg's poetry, as I have started reading the Collected Poetry of Allen Ginsberg alongside.

There are some gaps, where letters are missing, but this does not diminish the overall value of the collection. The letters are also of great value to understand the Beat Generation, particularly from the political and social point of view. In vehement discussions with his father, Allen Ginsberg describes his political views of the day, his ideas about Communism and the anti-war stance.

The letters in this collection show how Allen blooms: his development as a poor poet and his subsequent entry into the world, earning more and more money as his fame unfolded and spread. The letters reveal his personal development as he travelled around the world

Reading collections of letters is not the most common type of reading activities, and might be considered relevant only to academics. However, in the case of Family Business, I would surely suggest anyone with an interest in the poetry and person of Allen Ginsberg to have a look at this book. The book is rather bulky and voluminous, well-edited and annotated, and a pleasure to hold, when reading.

073. Chike and the river
Finished reading: 16 July 2015



Chike and the River is a charming little tale by Nobel Prize Winner Chinua Achebe. The language is simplistic, to the extent that the booklet would do well as a children's book. It's moral message is also of that stature.

The story seems to encourage young people in Africa to go out from the villages and look for a better future in the big cities, but warns of dangers and offers moral guidelines. In the course of the story, life in the village is shown as poor, simple but rather virtuous, while the city, the river, and Lagos, beyond the city and down the river are shown as places where danger lurks. Life in the city also requires money, and Chike learns the hard way how to come bye the money he needs: deceit, theft and reward.

Whether read as a children's tale or a simple short story, readers of all ages may learn something from this booklet set in Africa.



Other books I have read by Chinua Achebe:
Things fall apart

074. Here and now. Letters 2008-2011
Finished reading: 16 July 2015



Without having read any letters by either Paul Auster or J.M. Coetzee, it is hard to decide how "natural" this collection of correspondence is. Any two writers can of course be friends, and will then, likely correspond. Still, the start of this correspondence per explicit suggestion to "begin exchanging letters on a regular basis" does smack a bit of commercial interest.

The somewhat artificial basis of the correspondence remains in the background, and resonates with the decision to publish such a small, immature collection within five years of its commencement: Here and now. Letters 2008-2011.

Auster and Coetzee do not have much in common, and do not have much to tell each other. They banter a bit about writing, mentioning books, which they have often "seen" in film adaptations. Their closest proximity is in the discussion of major literature, which, inevitably, both of them have read: Dostoyevsky, Kafka, and to a lesser extent, Philip Roth.

There is quite a lot of talk about politics, esp. Israel, and sports. All rather banal.

Auster is revealed as not using email or a mobile phone, and there is some further discussion about their attachment to type writers, and the significance of modern communication technology to prose fiction.

Fortunately, both authors are gifted writers, and the letters read easily. Therefore, despite its limited interest, reading Here and now. Letters 2008-2011 does not set the reader back much time, and could be read at a glance in a few hours.



Other books I have read by Paul Auster:
Report from the interior
Winter journal
Sunset Park
The music of chance
Oracle night
The book of illusions
Leviathan
In the country of last things
Hand to mouth. A chronicle of early failure
Moon Palace
The New York trilogy
The locked room
Ghosts
City of Glass
The red notebook. True stories, prefaces and interviews

Other books I have read by J.M. Coetzee:
Slow man
Disgrace
Dusklands
Waiting for the Barbarians
Elizabeth Costello
Life and times of Michael K
Stranger shores. Essays, 1986-1999
Boyhood. Scenes from provincial life
The Master of Petersburg
Youth
Foe

Wow! You can post reviews again! Hooray!

Enjoyed catching up with your reading, as always. I love Achebe, and the background on Allen Ginsberg and his relationship with his father was intriguing. Interesting that Auster and Coetzee corresponded.

Was just catching up on your thread, and did have a little chuckle at your quip "the great firewall of China" - very funny.

Enjoyed reading your recent reviews - some really interesting ones.

083. Sibelius. Les cygnes et le silence
Finished reading: 4 August 2015



Richard Millet, French, is the author of several novels and essays. He has a strong predilection for language and culture. Particularly his interest in the Christian foundation of Western culture led to his involvement into a heated polemic about the defense of Western cultural values in Europe between 2005 and 2012.

Music is another lifelong interest of the author. Some of his earliest writings recall the time he lived in Bayreuth, and Millet has written elsewhere about his passion for contemporary music, particularly Schoenberg and Berg. Sibelius. Les cygnes et le silence begins with some of these reminiscences, and memories of playing Sibelius on the piano with his father a quatre mains in Bayreuth. In 2004, Millet published Pour la musique contemporaine. He plays the piano and the violin.

Sibelius. Les cygnes et le silence is a book-length essay about the Finnish composer Jean Sibelius. In this essay, Millet proposes to contemplate two questions which have fascinated him. The first of these is who Sibelius was. The essay is a magnificent description of Sibelius' career, with the main focus on his work and how it relates to other contemporary music and culture in Europe in the Twentieth Century. Two chapters are specifically dediated to the composers life, but seen through his musical development. They also explore Sibelius main sources of inspiration. It is beautifully written, and regardless of whether one has a special interest in Sibelius, the essay is a joy to read about the general musical culture of European music.

Sibelius main style was developed in orchestral works, particularly in the form of symphonies. The essays explores the sources that inspired the composition of these works and their connections to contemporaries. Yes, the swans appear in various places, as Sibelius writes about them: "Nothing in the world, neither art nor music, touches me as much as swans and wild cranes" (p.71). It appears they are the epitome of his sense of beauty.

The other question Millet struggles with is why Sibelius stopped composing and remained silent for the remaining 35 years till his death. This silence has puzzled the author, but his essay naturally fails to answer that question. At the beginning of the essay, Millet lists three other composers who fell silent after s short and very successful musical carreer, notably Rossini, Elgar and Ives. What the latter two have in common with Sibelius is that their silence came in the second decade of the century: Elgar fell silent in 1919, Ives and Sibelius both in 1926. Sibelius started an Eighth Symphony, but abandoned it.

Sibelius. Les cygnes et le silence is a beautifully written essay about European music and culture during the first quarter of the Twentieth Century. In 2015, Richard Millet received the newly created Prix de littérature André-Gide for it. This new literary prize was established in 2014, and Richard Millet is the first French author to receive this prize, the jury praising Sibelius. Les cygnes et le silence for its exceptional beauty of language. Highly recommended.

084. Lettres à Eugène. Correspondance 1977-1987
Finished reading: 5 August 2015



Lettres à Eugène. Correspondance 1977-1987 is apparently the first volume of correspondence of the French author Hervé Guibert, who died in 1991. Guibert's novels consist of fictionalized autobiography, which shows his gruesome life and death suffering from AIDS. During his lifetime Guibert was friends with Michel Foucault, and if ever their correspondence would be published that should be an interesting volume.

Unfortunately, Lettres à Eugène. Correspondance 1977-1987 is not. This volume collects the correspondence between Guibert and the Belgian poet Eugène Savitzkaya. Both Guibert and Savitzkaya were born in 1955, and their correspondence begins in 1977, with Guibert's letter of admiration on the publication of Savitzkaya's short novel Mentir. Although this was his first novel, by 1977 Savitzkaya had already published six volumes of poetry. In 1977, Hervé Guibert published his first collection of prose, La Mort propagande (reviewed last year). This letter is followed by a thank-you letter, by Savitzkaya. A similar short courtesy exchange ensues four years later, in 1981, when Guibert sends Savitzkaya his fotonovela Suzanne et Louise (1980). Their correspondence does not really take off until after February 1982, when they met in Paris. The last letter is dated January 1987. In this year, the two authors did not need to exchange letters much, because they both stayed as resident writers at the Académie de France in Rome, popularly known as the Villa Médicis.

This means that the whole correspondence actually only covers a period of about four years. They may mark the beginning of the literary career of both authors, but these years are rather uneventful, and the correspondence reflects that. The authors were not lovers, so, although their friendship is warm, it is of no special interest. Hervé Guibert was not diagnosed with AIDS until the following year, 1988. Hence, the correspondence does not ponder on any significant part of the author's life.

Perhaps this is the reason, Guibert acceded to its integral publication in his literary testament in 1991, allowing publication of this correspondence, but forbidding the correspondence of all and any other letters with other correspondence. Lettres à Eugène. Correspondance 1977-1987 is published as an annotated edition, bringing together some 80 letters of both authors. However, on the whole it is rather uninteresting.



Other books I have read by Eugène Savitzkaya:
Exquise Louise

Other books I have read by Hervé Guibert:
La Mort propagande et autres textes de jeunesse
Mes parents
À l'ami qui ne m'a pas sauvé la vie
L'homme au chapeau rouge

085. Miss Blanche
Finished reading: 6 August 2015



In 2001, when Rotterdam was celebrated as the European Cultural capital, the city of Rotterdam took the initiative of instituting the "Rotterdams Leescadeau", a free book publication, or a par with the national Boekenweekgeschenk, the literary book publication distributed for free during the National celebration of Books. In 2004, the Rotterdam Leescadeau was written by Nelleke Noordervliet. For the occasion she wrote the short novella Miss Blanche.

Nelleke Noordervliet was born in Rotterdam. As a historian and novelist, she has cleverly woven part of Rotterdam's history into this short novella. Noordervliet was born in Crooswijk, a part of Rotterdam which is among the oldest areas of the city, its history going back to Roman times, and the name "Krooswijck" first recorded in the Fourteenth Century. Rotterdam is a city with a very long history, home to the humanist thinker Desiderius Erasmus. Unfortunately the old city was destroyed in a bombing at the beginning of the Second World War.

In Miss Blanche, Noordervliet recalls the area of Rotterdam she grew up in. The story is centred around an elderly tobacconist, Herman Hillebrand Wedigh. Old Mr Wedigh is a somewhat somber man, whose business in clearly in decline, but one day he is inspired by a young Turkish woman who walks past his shop. He follows her around, discovers where she works and then books a long, expensive holiday at the travel agent where she works. Soon after, he is robbed and wounded as burglers break into his home, and suspicion falls on the young woman, whom he calls Halina in his imagination.

The novella is short, and seems to relate to the atmosphere of racial tensions in Rotterdam and elsewhere, partly as a possible result of growing unease with Muslim communities in general, following 9-11, and a much longer, simmering uneasiness of criminal suspicion, especially with regard to petty crime, and the tendency, whether justified or not, of Dutch people to think of minorities, especially of Turkish and Moroccan descent in a criminalized context. In fact, the novella captures the Dutch attitude very well: joy and perhaps even erotic interest at first sight, and suspicion when trouble brews. Actually, old Mr Wedigh does not seem to suspect "Halina". As such, the novella is light, and inconclusive, showing the darker side, but also the light and optimistic.

Nelleke Noordervliet has included some interesting cultural references into this short novella. Old Mr Herman Hillebrand Wedigh is a give-away, as the author supplies the reference, and the old man priding himself on a possible family connection with the historical Hermann von Wedigh, whose portrait was painted by Hans Holbein the Younger in 1532. Holbein the Younger made several portraits of Erasmus and illustrated his The Praise of Folly.

More intriguingly, the title of the novella, "Miss Blanche" refers to a brand of cigarettes that was produced in Rotterdam during the first half of the Twentieth Century. In 1916, a Turkish tobacco merchant established a tobacco company in Rotterdam, Vittoria Cigarette Company. His daughter was called Blanche, and he named the brand after her. The complete visual design for the brand Miss Blanche Virginia cigarettes, including packaging, advertising, and point of sale displays, was desingned by the Hungarian painter and designer, Vilmos Huszár, who lived in the Netherlands, and was one of the founding members in 1917 of the art movement De Stijl, together with Piet Mondrian and Theo van Doesburg.

As a work of literature, Miss Blanche is rather light, but the cultural references in relation to Rotterdam, the the connection to its industrial past makes it interesting. Cigarettes and the cultural history of smoking is relatively short, as contested by Richard Klein in Cigarettes are sublime. Since 2003, public advertising for tobacco became illegal in the Netherlands, and it may well be that following smoking bans as they are imposed in public areas virtually world wide, smoking will be looked upon with revulsion, in the near future.



Other books I have read by Nelleke Noordervliet:
Millemorti

086. L'archéologue
Finished reading: 10 August 2015



"Doctor, Doctor, can you hear me?"

In L'archéologue, a short novel by Philippe Beaussant an archaologist tells his life story, which spans most of the Twentieth Century and is sprawled across the globe, connecting cultures and continents across the globe in a feverish narrative. From Egypt, to Bali and Cambodia. The story is told with a passion, bordering on delirium, and increasingly incoherent, as cultural references become mixed, bringing Asian culture together with Western cultural references. There is not much of a story, and the narrative seems a succession of namesdropping and achievements.

French literature is often characterized by a chute an unexpected turn, which makes the reader suddenly see the story in an entirely different light. revealing this chute would be a real spoiler. However, it saved the story for me. The chute at the end of L'archéologue is very original and fuses the story with drama.

A little rough up there on Slaughterhouse-five, but enjoyed going through a bunch of your reviews. Good luck with the net accessibility.

I really disliked Slaughterhouse Five when I read it many many years ago. What did you think of the other books by Vonnegut that you've read?

>

Of the four books I have read by Vonnegut two were autobiographies, the other two were his most well-known novels. These books are of very little personal interest to me. I once angered an American friend by saying that Vonnegut would never have become as famous as an author if he had been European, let's say British. However, I must say I think I can place Vonnegut in a strand of literature, which is quite removed from the mainstream now and seems related to works by Dutch authors such as Ward Ruyslinck and Hugo Raes.

So-called mainstream writing has an amalgamated, suave style, which makes all mainstream books very similar. It is probably the effect of the editors of the major publishers.

I would not know of other American authors who write in Vonnegut's style. His voice seems quite unique and authentic. I would locate Vonnegut's personal style as "typical" for the 1960s and 70s, an almost anarchistic disdain for form and striving for freedom to express the authorial voice in an entirely unconventional way, freely experimenting. I would also assume that Vonnegut probably (secretly) smoked pot.

Slaugherhouse-Five is psychologically brilliant, but personally, the literary form has no appeal for me.

087. De merkwaardige verrijzenis van Ángel Arcadio Picasso
Finished reading: 10 August 2015



De merkwaardige verrijzenis van Ángel Arcadio Picasso is a novella by the Belgian, Flemish author Paul Koeck. During the 1960s, Koeck became fascinated by Spain, and has spent a lot of time in Catalonia. Spanish culture has inspired him to write novels, short stories and plays set in Spain.

De merkwaardige verrijzenis van Ángel Arcadio Picasso is set in Spain of the Twentieth Century. The story features a succesful entrepreneur whose riches are founded upon the exploitation of a department store, begun under the regime of Generalissimo Franco. It breathes the atmosphere of Barcelona, with a possible wink at El Corte Ingles. The said family is not related to the famous painter, Pablo Picasso. The focus of the novella is on the life of the son of the family, and his career in the film business. However, his career and life in general are fueled by the family fortune more than talent or hard work. In fact, Ángel Arcadio Picasso rise in the world has very little to do with hard work, and rather more with corruption, the working of money, and beautiful women.



Other books I have read by Paul Koeck:
Het plantenoffensief

088. The secret garden
Finished reading: 12 August 2015



Unlike some novels such as Robinson Crusoe, Treasure Island or even Pollyanna, which were written for adult readership, but are now mainly read as children's literature, The secret garden was conceived as a children's story that could also be read by more mature readers. What it has in common with the former, is that it is unmistakenly a classic. The story is both interesting and engaging, and very well written.

The story is fairly straight-forward. Two children, one neglected and the other spoilt find the way out of their deplorable mental condition by discovering the regenerative power of nature. The novel poises the inability of over-civilisation against the healing power of nature and the natural way of life.

Frances Hodgson Burnet has written several novels featuring neglected or very spoilt children. The little girl in the story was an unwanted child, whose selfish parents had no time or interest to raise. As a orphan she is raised in the care of her uncle. However, the uncle is buried in sorrow over his deceased wife, spending more time away from his estate to mourn, wandering aimlessly across the European continent.

The story makes use of various forms of symbolic imagery. The story developes from winter into spring, from darkness and harshness into light and warmth, both in nature and human relations. The girl discovers the walled garden, believed to be desolate and ruined, but in fact an earthly paradise, and a quiet harbour, where time has stood still. Belief in the magic of the place, the garden enables Mary to reconnect with others, first with a robin, and later in friendship with Dickon. In turn, Mary's refound ties with life and nature, enables her to restore her cousin Colin to health.

Frances Hodgson Burnet is an American author but her British roots can be clearly felt in this novel, which is written in the same tradition as Wuthering Heights or the novels of Thomas Hardy.

089. Les parleuses
Finished reading: 15 August 2015



Besides reading the novels, short stories and plays of Marguerite Duras, there are several collections of interviews, which, as primary texts can help readers better understand the author and her work. In the interviews, both biographical details and questions related to the works are discussed. Naturally, the quality, depth and focus of the interviews largely depends on the interviewer. They take the initiative, and they ask the questions. Their temperament also dtermines the rhythm and flow of the interview. In some interviews, Duras tells more, is more prompted to long, explanatory or narrative answers, while in other interviews her role is more modest. In general, in the case of collected interviews both the interviewer, and interviewee are listed as authors.

Les parleuses (Engl: Woman to Woman) Marguerite Duras faces a very strong personality, in Xavière Gauthier. The interviews in Les parleuses were published in 1974. They mainly deal with Duras work written in the 1960s, particularly Le Ravissement de Lol V. Stein (1964), (Engl: The Ravishing of Lol Stein) and Détruire, dit-elle (Engl: Destroy, She Said). Les parleuses is one of Gauthier's earliest publications, after a volume of poetry and two volumes of essays.

In one of the early interviews, Gauthier confesses to Duras that she was totally captivated by her work, and after reading one of her books had to read them all. Throughout the interviews, Gauthier's strong personality remains overbearing, and she often dominates the interviews, while Duras tends to give short answers or even exclamations of surprise. Her ideas are strongly determined by the then current feminism, and feel somewhat dated.

In her later work, Xavière Gauthier came to play an important role in the feminist movement in France. She is mainly active as an editor and essayist.



Other books I have read by Marguerite Duras:
Abahn Sabana David
Un barrage contre le Pacifique
Les lieux de Marguerite Duras
Écrire
La maladie de la mort
L'Amant de la Chine du Nord

090. Vision à New York
Finished reading: 16 August 2015



Vision à New York consists of a series of interviews conducted by David Hayman and Philippe Sollers. Published in 1981, the interviews mainly cover Sollers' output during the 1960s and 70s, with specific detail to James Joyce, as at that time Sollers was working on the French translation of Finnegan's Wake.

The interviews are mainly biographical, and apart from ideas about James Joyce and some other English and American authors, not much is said about Sollers' work. In 1981, Philippe Sollers was still a relatively unknown author, who had nonetheless published six novels and six collections of essays. He had not yet developed the main focus of his work, namely French (European) literature and culture of the Eighteenth Century, however in his later years the balanced ratio of novels and essays would remain.

The interviews in Vision à New York are dated and of little interest to general readers.



Other books I have read by Philippe Sollers:
Liberté du XVIIIème
Studio
Les folies françaises

>83 edwinbcn: It's a long time since I read The Secret Garden but I remember loving it. Enjoyed your review - brought it all back.

Enjoying your reviews again Edwin. I am particularly interested in Sibelius: Les Cygnes et le silence. It just might be worth while for me to tussle with the French to read this book.

You might try, Barry. I noticed recently that you have added some French books to your reading list. It must be said, though, that Sibelius: Les Cygnes et le silence is not an easy read. As I mentioned in the review, its author Richard Millet is renowned for his interest in and virtuosity in language. Besides, he takes national pride in the national language, French. He was a lector for Gallimard publishers.

Then, too, the effort is well worth. I have added Sibelius: Les Cygnes et le silence to my permanent collection, and intend to read more by Millet. I think books like these will not be translated into English.

091. On the road
Finished reading: 19 August 2015



Jack Kerouac's novel On the road is unmistakenly a classic. The novel belongs to the early work of Kerouac. Prior to the publication of On the road he had written various short stories and shorter novels, but most of these were published posthumously, most even as late as during the first decade of the Twenty-First Century. When On the road was published in 1957, Kerouac had only one published novel to his name: The Town and the City (1950).

The early and later prose styles of Jack Kerouac are very different. The novel On the road falls in neither category. It is different altogether, although is shares characteristics with Kerouac's early prose style.

Kerouac's earlest prose was written during the 1930s and 1940s. His earliest collection of short stories, Atop an Underwood: Early Stories and Other Writings was written between 1936 - 1943, and published in 1999. The Sea Is My Brother, long known as "the lost novel" was written in 1942, and published in 2011. Written in 1944, The Haunted Life and Other Writings consists of a fragment of a novel and other prose, was published 2014. A novella from the same period, 1944-5, Orpheus Emerged was published in 2002, while the novel, written jointly with William Burroughs, And the Hippos Were Boiled in Their Tanks was written in 1945, and belatedly published in 2008. These early prose works are written in a fairly conventional prose style, although themes such as the search for freedom and detachment from convention can be found, besides the beginnings of an interest in experimentation with drugs.

In his later prose style, Kerouac's search for freedom and detachment from convention is pushed into his use of language. His late prose, written in a type of stream of consciousness is a wildly extatic outpour of verbiage, poetic at times, and often incoherent. Some of these prose texts were likely written while drunk or under the influence of drugs. The novel Big Sur aims to describe the main character's mental and physical deterioration as he is battling with advanced alcoholism. It is not really enjoyable to read.

On the road was written in 1951, in only three weeks time. The novel compounds seven years of experience "on the road" and is largely autobiographical. Kerouac developed a special technique for writing the novel, reducing distractions so that he could concentrate without interruptions. This led to the production of the first typescript of the novel, referred to as "the scroll". This so-called scroll was published in 2007 as On the Road: The Original Scroll.

It took six years to publish On the road. As explained in the excellent introduction to the Penguin Modern Classics edition, by Ann Charters preparation for publication involved extensive revision of the manuscript. Kerouac's editors asked him again and again to make extensive changes to the novel, both in structure and detail. Names of characters, originally real names of the core group of members of what was soon to become known as the Beat Generation were changed to fictional names. A critical reading and comparison with "the scroll" should reveal how extensively the regular edition of On the road was altered.

The quality of the prose of On the road clearly exceeds any of the prose written before. On the road is unmistakenly a classic. Its prose has a distinct, lyrical quality. It is a great work of fiction. However, in terms of the message it might convey, the novel is dense. Where critics see an epic, mythical journey, often compared with Bunyan's The Pilgrim's Progress, this is not clear to the reader. While the original manuscripts is said to describe several journeys, these have been reworked in the final edition to present a single journey. On the road is somewhat boring because it focuses on one character, while the novel lacks a clear narrative.

On the road is a celebration of America. The experience of hitch-hiking and freedom of travelling all over the continent, and in its descriptions of their adventures on the road, and the places they pass through, the novel gives an attractive image of the United States. It is easy to see how the novel could inspire young people to go out and seek adventure, hitch-hiking "on the road".

Perhaps On the road is the best place to start when reading Kerouac for the first time.



Other books I have read by Jack Kerouac:
Maggie Cassidy
Tristessa
Doctor Sax. Faust part three
Big Sur
And the hippos were boiled in their tanks

092. Lonesome traveler
Finished reading: 20 August 2015



The early and later prose styles of Jack Kerouac are very different. Kerouac's earliest prose was written during the 1930s and 1940s. These early prose works are written in a fairly conventional prose style, although themes such as the search for freedom and detachment from convention can be found, besides the beginnings of an interest in experimentation with drugs.

In his later prose style, Kerouac's search for freedom and detachment from convention is pushed into his use of language. His late prose, written in a type of stream of consciousness is a wildly extatic outpour of verbiage, poetic at times, and often incoherent. Some of these prose texts were likely written while drunk or under the influence of drugs. They are not really enjoyable to read.

Lonesome traveler brings together various texts of Kerouac's travel writing, or short stories based on his travels. The first story, ""Piers of the Homeless Night" is stylistically the least accessible. It is a pain to read. There are better, more lyrical examples of Kerouac's stream of conscious style in some of the other stories.

Various members of the Beat Generation loved travelling to Mexico, as it is the nearest foreign country, which is very different from the American way of life. Besides, in Mexico they access to a native culture of using drugs, and were free to experiment. "Mexico Fellaheen" and "Railroad Earth" describe such journeys to Mexico, where Kerouac did not only find drugs, but also a much freer, more relaxed lifestyle, and he feels tempted to look at the suave, slender bodies of Mexican men. These two stories have strong elements of Kerouac's later prose style. "New York Scenes" is a lovely portrait of New York City.

While Kerouac found freedom on the road by hitch-hiking, for longer voyages he mustered on board ships. "Slobs of the Kitchen Sea" presents a story describing such a sea adventure.

"On a Mountain Top" describes Kerouac's longing for solitude, to work and to meditate. In describes his awakening interest into Buddhism. The story describes an experience of living in nature on Desolation Peak, close to Thoreau's Walden experience. (O lonesome traveler!)

"Big Trip to Europe" is a hilarious story, in which Kerouac describes his trip to Tangier, Marseille, Paris, and the most funny part of it, his attempt to convince British customs that he is not just a penniless bummer, but a renowned American author.

The last story, "The Vanishing American Hobo" is an endearing tribute, evoking the spirit of Benjamin Franklin and Walt Whitman as they traveled the open road. It describes how people's attitudes towards wanderers have changed, from sympathy to disgust, and how "hobos" are now seen as a nuisance and a danger.

Lonesome traveler is another form of writing about Kerouac's experience "on the road", and his quest to seek freedom in far off places.



Other books I have read by Jack Kerouac:
On the road
Maggie Cassidy
Tristessa
Doctor Sax. Faust part three
Big Sur
And the hippos were boiled in their tanks

093. The Garden of Evening Mists
Finished reading: 22 August 2015



The Garden of Evening Mists by the Malaysian author Tan Twan Eng has received much critical acclaim and won both the Man Asian Literary Prize (now called the "Asian Literary Prize") in 2012, and the Walter Scott Prize for Historical Fiction. The novel is especially praised for its beautiful language, but ultimately it is nothing more than an ordinary piece of pulp fiction.

Readers of The Garden of Evening Mists are confronted with an overwhelmingly beautiful style of writing, bringing to life the lush, emerald-green magic of the Malaysian forest, tea plantations and the beauty of Japanese gardens. There are rich allusions to Asian architecture, gardening and culture in general, mixing the finer sentiments of colonial history, with the harshness of the Japanese occupation, and Malaysian nationalism.

The novel has a large number of personae, whose complex relationships are gradually revealed to the reader. The narrative structure is not entirely linear. Most of the novel is a flash back of the main character, with further reminiscences embedded. However, the narrative develops beyond the time of the flashback point at the opening of the novel. The novel has apparently two main characters, or possibly three. With the large number of personae, and the four groups of characters, i.e. Yun Ling and her sister, the Japanese, the tea planters and the Communist freedom fighters, it seems the author was unable to focus on one particular group, and ultimately his fascination seems to lie most with the Japanese, particularly in the enigmatic character of Aritomo, the gardener.

The sub-plot in the novel of the freedom fighters of the South-African Transvaal, personified in the character Magnus Pretorius, whose name so clearly points to Pretoria, and his defiance of British colonial rule in Malaysia is mirrored in the guerilla of the Communist freedom fighters striving for Malaysian independence. Pretorius personal history at the hands of the British in South Africa, and his sister's death in a concentration camp, mirrors Yun Ling's experience during the Japanese occupation. In the novel, Tan Twan Eng writes that Pretorius found his home when he discovered that Jan van Riebeeck was buried there, in Malacca, "(i)n the church grounds" of St. Paul’s (p. 51). However, there is no church on the hill named St. Paul’s in Malacca, and old Van Riebeeck is buried in the Groote Kerk, Jakarta, Indonesia, formerly Batavia.

Although Yun Ling is presented as a very strong character, her submission to Arimoto, again and again, is a key feature of the novel. Her willingness to submit to Aritomo seems much more from a belated type of Stockholm syndrome that from love, as claimed in the novel. The relationship between Yun Ling and Aritomo lack depth, and it is increasingly obvious that Aritomo simply uses Yun Ling. In a way, she has never left the camp, and the place she is looking for is written on her back. The cruel irony of the book is that Yun Ling will never know the location of the camp, because she can never find it, although she creates and carries the key to finding it.

As the novel seemingly develops around two main characters, Yun ling and Aritomo, however, Yun Ling's position is that of submission to Aritomo, likewise The Garden of Evening Mists
has two entwined main story lines, in which the story line of Aritomo takes the upper and Yun Ling's takes the lower. Thus, the tragedy of the fate of Yun Ling's sister is made subordinate to the quest for Yamashita's gold, in the plot structure of the role of the Golden Lily, which, in the novel has been transplanted from the Philippines to Malaysia.

The major importance of the Golden Lily motive in The Garden of Evening Mists turns the novel into pulp fiction on the level of The Da Vinci Code; however, the beauty of the use of languages will attract literary readers. Still, particularly the end of the novel, may disappoint literary readers, and it is quite surprising why the novel was awarded the Man Asian Literary Prize for Literary fiction.

094. Paris
Finished reading: 27 August 2015



Julian Green, in the francophone world known as Julien Green, was an American author, born in 1900, who lived most of his life in Paris. As he wrote most of his books in French, he has remained obscure to the English-speaking readership of the anglophone world, although, actually, quite a number of his works have been translated into English. Bilingual and fluent in English, Green translated some of his French works into English himself. Besides a large number of novels, short stories and plays, Julian Green is best known for his diaries, published as Journal, (Engl: Diary spanning the largest part of the Twentieth Century between the years 1919–98, in 19 volumes published in French, from 1938 to 2001.

Written in French, and published in 1984, is the short work Paris. It is an hommage to the city of his birth and hometown, the capital of France. The elegance of the edition in the Penguin Modern Classics series is that it is a bilingual edition, printing the French text and the English translation on opposite pages. The translation is not made by the author, but by J.A. Underwood.

Paris by Julian Green consists of 19 vignetes, describing parts of the city or buildings. It is a very personal and intimate portrait of the city. Green is not interested in places which traditionally attract many foreigners, such as Mont Martre. His descriptions often involve details which would go unnoticed to the temporary resident or traveller. Thus, Green remembers Notre Dame by the great canvas to cover the empty window where the great rose window was replaced in 1940 or the lost cries of peddlers selling chickweed for the little birds. Rather than describing landmark buildings, Green chooses less well-known corners of the cities, steps and stairways, and the Church of the Val-de-Grâce. Describing the influence of modernity on the city of Paris, Green chooses to remember the demolished old Palais du Trocadéro rather than the Eiffel Tower. A photo of the demolition in 1930, witnessed by the author is included.

The bilingual Penguin edition of Paris includes 16 B/W plates, photos taken by the author of some of the apartments he lived in and iconic places of Paris, but also sculptures which caught his eye, such as 'The Shadow' by Rodin, cherubs and tritons on the monuments and fountains of Paris. The edition is complemented with explanatory notes and biographical details.

095. Moon tiger
Finished reading: 30 August 2015



Moon tiger is a brilliant novel by the award-winning author Penelope Lively. In 1987, she was awarded the Booker Prize for her novel Moon tiger. Penelope Lively was born in Cairo, Egypt and spent her early youth, including the years of the Second World War there, from 1933 to 1945. She recorded her early memories of life in Cairo and Alexandria in her memoir, Oleander, Jacaranda. A childhood perceived (1994). Moon tiger is also describes that period in Egypt, but by a protagonist who is at least 20 years older.

In Moon tiger, Claudia Hampton, a historian, passing in and out of consciousness remembers her life and times. The narrative is interspersed with fragments of a book about the history of the world, which Hampton had been working on. Thus, the Second World War is fought against the setting of ancient history. This perception is stronger in the mind. As E.M. Forster in Aspects of the novel described the authors congregating, imagining: the English novelists as seated together in a room, a circular room, a sort of British Museum reading-room – all writing their novels simultaneously. Likewise, Claudia Hampton's perception of history is circular, rather than linear: she cannot "write chronologically of Egypt" (p. 80) In Claudia's mind everything is there, simultaneously.

This motive is worked out throughout the novel, along the lines of Claudia's life. Her love for Tom, their still-born child, her marriage marriage with Jasper and her daughter Lisa. As she passes back and forth into consciousness, she passes back and forth into episodes of history, world history as well as her life history, which coincide in Egypt, as later, personal and world history intersect in the Hungarian Revolution of 1956. The idea of the circularity of history is reflected in the circular shape of the "moon tiger", the slowly burning coil.

Moon tiger is a beautifully conceived novel, written in a fine style, close to the prose style of Iris Murdoch. The main idea of the circular, or instantaneous nature of history is exquisite, and in making the main character in the novel a historian, the novel offers ample material for the reader to ponder the relation and differences between time and history.



Other books I have read by Penelope Lively:
Oleander, Jacaranda. A childhood perceived
Going back
Next to nature, art

096. Tonio. Een requiemroman
Finished reading: 31 August 2015



A.F.Th. van der Heijden is one of the most important contemporary Dutch authors. His most impressive novel cyclus to date consists of the 5-volume cycle De tandeloze tijd. A second multi-volume cycle of novels is underway. Besides, Van Der Heijden (1951) has published a number of novels and short story collections. A number of his works are marked by the sub title as "a requiem". These publications were written to commemorate friends or family members. Between 1986 and 2012, Van Der Heijden published three such "requiems": De sandwich commemorates the death of a youth love and youth friend of the author. Asbestemming is presented as a requiem for his father, and Uitdorsten. Klein requiem voor mama, mam, ma for his mother. In his latest, grand novel and requiem, the author laments that he had never foreseen that one day he would have to write a requiem for his son. That requiem was published in 2011; Tonio. Een requiemroman, a requiem for his son, who died in a traffic accident in 2010.

Matrimonial happiness is often a spoiler of great art. A.F.Th. van der Heijden is essentially an autobiographical author, and between 1988, when his son was born, and 2010, when his son died, he devoted several short stories to describe his son and family. Some of these were included in Engelenplaque (2003) (Diaries) and Gentse lente (2008) (short stories). These short stories about domestic happiness are all very sentimental, and of little interest to readers of the authors main works. Although these fragments were used in the composition of Tonio. Een requiemroman, the author has found a way to reach a much higher level of literary achievement. The dramatic impact has spurned the author to the creation of great art.

In Tonio. Een requiemroman, Van Der Heijden has rediscovered the authorial voice that was so characteristic of De tandeloze tijd, and many readers missed in the much less well received new cycle of Homo Duplex. This sense is felt strong, as the setting of Tonio. Een requiemroman is the same as the most succesful novels in De tandeloze tijd cycle, notably De gevarendriehoek, and Advocaat van de Hanen, namely the city of Amsterdam.

Tonio. Een requiemroman describes the life of Tonio van der Heijden in meticulous detail, particularly the reconstruction of the last 24 hours of his life. It is a voluminous lament of the author and his wife for the loss of their son. The fact that this tome-like novel was published only a year after the death of Tonio is remarkable, especially because the author at first made the impression of being so devastated that he might never be able to publish again.

Despite its size, exceeding 630 pages, Tonio. Een requiemroman never bores. It is extremely well-written, as the narrative swings between a very personal tragedy and universal significance. As the novel demonstrates, and the facts about the final hours of his life show, Tonio's death was a pure tragedy, in which "blind fate' destroyed the life of a young person, full of promise and ambition, leaving no one to blame. Naturally, the parents blame themselves, though even they learn that this should not be.

Despite the grave and serious theme of death, Tonio. Een requiemroman offers a sufficient dose of hilarity to make for attractive reading. In this sense of humor, the author reaches the best heights of his previous succesful work, a level absent from many of his works for quite a while. Readers will love the role played in the novel by the city of Amsterdam.



Other books I have read by A.F.Th. van der Heijden:
Doodverf
De gazellejongen. Het verzameld werk van Patrizio Canaponi
De draaideur
Een gondel in de Herengracht en andere verhalen
Gentse lente
Voetstampwijnen zijn tandknarswijnen
Kruis en kraai. De romankunst na James Joyce
Drijfzand koloniseren
MIM, of De doorstoken globe
Het leven uit een dag
Hier viel Van Gogh flauw
Ik heb je nog veel te melden. De briefwisseling tussen Jean-Paul Franssens en A.F.Th. van der Heijden
Gevouwen woorden
Engelenplaque
De Movo tapes. Een carriere als ander
De sandwich
Advocaat van de hanen. De Tandeloze Tijd. Deel 4
Onder het plaveisel het moeras. De Tandeloze Tijd. Deel 3, Tweede boek
Het hof van barmhartigheid. De Tandeloze Tijd. Deel 3, Eerste Boek
Weerborstels. De Tandeloze Tijd. Een intermezzo
De gevarendriehoek. De Tandeloze Tijd. Deel 2
Vallende ouders. De Tandeloze Tijd. Deel 1
De slag om de Blauwbrug. De Tandeloze Tijd. Proloog
Een gondel in de Herengracht en andere verhalen
Uitdorsten. Klein requiem voor mama, mam, ma
Asbestemming: Een requiem

>89 edwinbcn: enjoying your reviews. I personally hated On the Road - I found it endlessly dull, but I enjoyed your different perspective on it.

Enjoying your varied reviews, as always. I read On the Road as a teenager and of course loved it then; it was interesting to read your adult and non-US take on it.

Jack Kerouac drunken bum or great literary talent, well of course he was both of these things. Perhaps he is one of those authors whose life is more interesting than his works. Having said that I loved On the Road when I read it and have a soft spot for The Dharma Bums. I very much appreciated your review of Lonesome Traveler.

I would agree with your review of The Garden of Evening Mists I chose this book for our book club to read and I found it disappointing. Not a bad novel, but nothing so special as to warrant the critical acclaim it has received.

Intrigued by Paris by Julian Green. I will look out for that one in my local book store.

I remember liking Moon Tiger and so I am glad that you found much to admire in it.

Thanks, all of you.

Kerouac is definitely not my favourite author, but important as a literary phenomenon. I now better understand what StevenTX meant when I wrote my original very negative assessment of Kerouac's Big Sur.

I guess, rebecca, that part of the attraction of On the road was just that youthful sentiment of counter-culture and quest for freedom. I suppose in the 1960s -70s anyone under 40 could call themselves "youth".

Yes, Barry (and others): Paris by Julian Green is worth while, and although i mainly read the French, having the English translation just on the opposite page was helpful and reassuring. Although sometimes it was confusing, as my reflex was to finish reading the page on the left, and continue on the right-hand page, rather than turn the page.

I was happy to enjoy reading your reviews, and posting my own, thus renewing my participation on LT.

However. tomorrow I will depart from my home in Nanning (South China) to go back to Beijing, which means I will be cut off from LibraryThing for another period.

While in Nanning, I still finished reading the following works, however, I have no time to review them now:

097 Travels in the scriptorium by Paul Auster
098 Het dieptelood van de herinnering by Hella Haase
099 Am Tiberufer by Paul Heyse

I had especially hoped to review the latter as a non-English Nobel Prize Winner.

Presumably, I will not be able to post on LT while in Beijing in september, and my next sojourn will be in October, when I plan to visit Amsterdam.

I have been thinking of taking a VPN to ensure access to LT, but the most recent news that Google will return to the Chinese market may help me to get back to LT without a VPN. According to the news item this morning, Google might return to the Chinese market as early as "this fall".

Wish you all a good time reading, and see yah next time.

Good luck, Edwin. I look forward to your return to the land of LT access.

>100 NanaCC: Ditto.

All the best on your travels. I will miss your reviews and your comments on the various threads. Your review of The Secret Garden in particular made me think. It must be time to reread it. It is probably the book that made me consider horticulture as a field of study; I loved the descriptions of the garden and the idea that a garden is a magical place. That and all the Flower Fairy books which my granny went over with me again and again long before they became a thing. Sadly my lovely childhood copy of The Secret Garden seems to have disappeared along the way. I will have to get another.

Looking forward to hearing from you again in ?October.

To my great surprise, LT loaded in a flash in Beijing, today. (!)

019. Onbewoonbaar lichaam
Finished reading: 7 March 2015



Onbewoonbaar lichaam (Engl: "Uninhabitable Body") is a psychological novel by the Dutch writer Semira Dallali. The novel is the expression of a spiritual rebirth.

In the novel, from The Hague to Amsterdam, the main character goes back to the city where she lived as a student. She retraces her steps, reminiscing on people she used to know, and events she remembers, walking along streets, and canals, and crossing squares. The city of Amsterdam is described in detail: the Gerard Doustraat, where she had her first room, the Utrechtsestraat, the Hartenstraat, the Haarlemmerstraat, cycling to Uilenstede. The remembered time is 1985: a pivotal moment in August of that year, and subsequent wanderings, in the following months.

The memories are varied: a fire observed on a canal, a first boyfriend, flirting on the street. But not so innocent as it seems. Men making sexual allusions comes scarily close when they are a doctor, a bar tender, a teacher: too close! (p. 40-1) In a big city, such as Amsterdam, there is a lot of undirected violence, such as Curly, a female tramp who is agressive, targeted at Semira, for no clear reason. Psychological violence, and physical violence.

For all the clarity of the description of the city, the ultimate violence in the novel, the rape, is not described, clearly. One day, cycling to Uilenstede, a man jumps onto her bike and forces her to keep going, directing her where to go. "'Doorfietsen jij', zegt hij, 'doorfietsen.' (p. 89) He tells her to keep on cycling. "Waarom ontvoert hij me?" (p. 88). Why does he abduct me?, she thinks. Faint hope, when she sees a woman with two dogs, but to no avail.

The memory of the rape, in the novel, is a memory within a memory. After being raped, Semira aimlessly wanders through the city, as her mind wanders: in and out of consciousness. When standing in front of a bookstore, reality is mixed with a flashback. She falls and she faints: "Toen was het alsof ik door een luik viel en diep de aarde ingleed." (p. 86) And then it felt as if I fell through a trap door, deep into the earth."

Onbewoonbaar lichaam is a novel that tries to describe the indescribable. The first chapter consists of descriptions all kinds of dead birds found in different places in the city. The bodies are in perfect condition, but the birds are dead. It is a metaphor for the mental state of the main character. There is no apparent physical damage, on the outside, but inside, she is dead. She cannot enjoy sex: "het einde is in zicht (p. 58), she is pessimistic about life, "het einde is in zicht (p. 18). "She can see the end."

The Semira in the novel has a bad relation with her Dutch mother, Marga, a relation characterized by physical disgust. Her French-Tunesian father is dead. The short novel end with Semira reaching out to her Tunesian relatives.

The indescribable in the novel is lifted to a more universal, mythical level, by strong references to Greek mythology. The rape is presented as the rape of Persephone, and the abduction of Persephone by Hades, carrying her off into the earth, into darkness. At the beginning of the novel, Semira has a dream. In the dream, she finds a coin bearing three faces and a torch. The torch shines and shows the way to a door. Behind the door a woman beckons, pronouncing the words 'in darkness, light'. (p. 14). Hecate, another Greek godess, often depicted with dogs, witnessing the abduction of Persephone. She is the godess of the threshold, as dogs guard the gates to hell. Semira remembers her wanderings in Amsterdam, nine years earlier vaguely, but asserts that the memory must be there, "ergens in mijn geheugen moest een spoor van woorden zijn uitgelegd, dat het hele traject als met broodkruimels uitstippelt". A path that can be traced following bread crumbs, left behind. A trace to lead out of the labyrinth. Hecate is also the godess of crossroads. "Trivium", where three roads come together: the roads from Holland, from France and from Tunis.

Onbewoonbaar lichaam (2002) is the debut novel of Semira Dallali. The author, like the Semira in the novel, has a French-Tunesian father and a Dutch mother, and the novel is partly autobiographical.

020. Tampa
Finished reading: 8 March 2015



"... thirty-one is roughly seventeen years past my window of sexual interest." (p.1). Thus, Celeste describes her husband, and thus, right from the start she makes clear what she wants. Celeste is a female, predatory pedophile.

Sadly, repeated sex scandals over the past three decades have numbed readers, and although sexual assault on children by pedophiles still evokes horror, Tampa, by Alissa Nutting is much more a parody than a shocking novel.

The inversion, of making the pedophile in Tampa a female character highlights the groteskness of the idea. Pedophilia is grotesk of itself, and Alissa Nutting uses hyperbole to magnify the problem: the disproportionate, excessive weirdness of Celeste Price is almost humoristic.

Celeste Price is married to the over-averagely handsome Ford. Aged 26, she works as a high school teacher. She is smart, direct and predatory. The novel is written from her perspective, so the reader follows her ridiculous reasoning in line. Celeste's mind is like a parallel universe. Her predatory, rational acting comes natural to her. Her sexual drive toward young adolescents is complete and hard-core. The novel shuns no taboos. Celeste strives for complete sexual relationships including penetration.

Tampa makes the most of its theme, driving Celeste to ever more precarious escapades. Nothing is crazy enough. If she cannot have a boy, she masturbates. She focuses on pupils in her own classes, whom she first approaches after class. If successful, she tries to develop complete sexual relationships with the boys in their homes. Caught, almost in flagrante with Jack's father, she seamlessly proceeds to seduce the father, merely to cover up what has been going on with the son. When Jack's father dies of a heart attack, she takes it in her stride. When boys pass on, or become "too old" she swoops down onto other boys.

Most if not all pedosexual scandals in the real world involve men predating on either young boys or girls. A female sexual predator and sociopath such as Celeste Price in Tampa, do they exist? The psyche of Celeste is a clever construct, whether 'realistic' or not. Nutting does a better job with Celeste's young victims. The psychology of the boys in the novel is quite convincing. Not entirely plausible, though, Tampa has the bravoura of the novels of John Irving, while Celeste has the obsessed mindset of a female American Psycho.

Like the novels of John Irving, ridiculous and balancing on the edge of credibility, Tampa by Alissa Nutting is very well written. However, as the novel is very explicit about sexuality, it is clearly not for everyone. Besides, its taboo theme, however close it may come to parody, is probably not acceptable to all readers.

021. Over de grens
Finished reading: 9 March 2015



In Over de grens (Enl: "Across the border"), relations are the result of fate: the fateful event of the holocaust. The survivors are burdened by the guilt and the question whether they really love their partners or whether their bond is the result of circumstance. As a result, they cannot truly come together. There remains a barrier, a boundary.

Over de grens (2001), the fifth novel by Chaja Polak consists of seven short stories, set in 1961, 1965, 1968, 1973, 1979, 1990 and 1992. Rosa van Esso appears in each of these stories, although she is not always the main character.

In the first story, Rosa is 13 years old, traveling in northern France with her mother. There, in the family of Levensky, maried to Maria Pia, in whose home he survived the war, she meets Manuel, their adopted son. Years later, Rosa lives with Manuel in Rome. Marriages are often unfulfilled, such as in the case of Mees Visser and Bregje Hoppe. Mees meets Rosa in the home of a friend, and she reminds him of the girl he loved in his youth, Judith. Judith did not survive the camps. In his heart, Mees has always remained young. This young Mees is still longing, looking for Judith. He thinks Judith has come back in the form of Rosa. When Rosa is 45, towards the end of the novel, she visits Berlin. There she discovers that, although her parents survived the war, they carried a big secret.

The difficulty in reading Over de grens is that the stories are so fragmented. Over de grens is a novel: the seven stories add up to more than seven. However, the seven stories form diachronic slices of Rosa's life history. Each episode reveals nuances in the relations of people, but there is no overarching plot which drives a story. Besides, the characters are all fairly "flat". There is no development in most of the characters other than aging, and there is no development of relationships, even in the case of Rosa, the main character. However, fragmentation and disorientation are parts of the life experience of holocaust survivors.

The stories in Over de grens are more descriptive than reflective. They describe the characters lives at various moments. The past is a factual part of their lives, but whatever happened in the past is buried in the past, both to the reader and to the characters. The horror of the holocaust is not experienced by most of the characters in the novel. Their experience with the horror is only indirect. Over de grens documents the life experience of Jewish people who live with the memory, but not the burden.



Other books I have read by Chaja Polak:
Verloren vrouw

A female sexual predator and sociopath such as Celeste Price in Tampa, do they exist?

I'm convinced "everything exists". But I doubt one can get to a clear picture of this phenomenon. For one thing, is it correct to call her a paedophile? The calculation gives the age of her preferred partners as fifteen--or is that the upper limit? As far as I know, paedophiles pursue prepubescent children, not teenagers.

If merely sleeping with a teenage boy while being an older woman is pathological, there are heaps more of female sexual "psychopaths" around than anyone is imagining.

Hm, Lola.

Your definition of pedophilia is the medical definition, but popularly the word pedophilia is widely used to describe sexual interest in any minor in the age group below 16. As far as I remember, Celeste (in the novel) teaches students in the first year at high school, which would make the boys she targets 12 or 13. The quotation from page 1 says she is interested in boys of roughly 14.

My question was partially rhetorical. We can all imagine any type of perversion or pervert to exist. I think that although media coverage of pedophilia is mainly focused on male perpetrators, there are surely cases of women, e.g. nuns abusing (young) girls, but in the popular mind it is mainly about men and boys.

I would surmise that if the novel had been written by a man, about a male teacher predating on boys in that age group, otherwise using the same language, etc. the book would have been unacceptable or unpublishable.

>108 edwinbcn:

Well, part of it is that traditionally preying on female teenagers was just seen as "normal"--young females are seen as natural targets, whereas young men ought to be "predators in training". So to see them objectified and pursued, by women or men, is probably generally less frequent in mainstream literature. Women are also, rightly or wrongly, seen as incapable of inflicting as much damage as men.

Have you read Gabriel Matzneff? He is notorious for his openly advertised predilections for Les moins de seize ans--either sex, although I think in his publications he concentrates more on the girls--thus paying respect to both classic French prejudices, about nubile girls and against homosexuality (but I suspect he is rather more drawn to boys in reality).

Really interested in the books you've read recently.

Tampa has been on my wish list for a while - whilst it's not a book I think I'll necessarily enjoy per se, it intrigues me.

Onbewoonbaar lichaam sounds very interesting, but not translated into English yet as far as I can see, so I shall just have to settle for enjoying your excellent review.

Thanks, Alison.

As far as I can see, Onbewoonbaar lichaam is Dallali's only book publication, and I thinks she is mainly active as a Dutch author. However, according to her LinkedIn page she currently resides in Houston, Texas area.

I read Tampa out of curiosity. It exceeded my expectations.

022. Transatlantic
Finished reading: 11 March 2015



With Transatlantic Colum McCann foremostly proves himself as a writer of novellas, but as a novel Transatlantic is too aenemic. Contemporary literary criticism recognizes the fact that the concept of "the novel" and "the novella" are constructs which do not have absolute, or even very clear demarcations. Particularly post-modern writers tend to seek the frontiers of the genre, and mix or b(l)end genre. Besides, the designation "novel" or "novella" seems to be a strategic decision of the publisher, as in the eye of the reader, i.e. the consumer, a novel has more prestige than a novella. However, it would have been more true to present Transatlantic as a collection of four novellas.

Regarding Transatlantic as a collection of novellas would solve the problem of the loose structure of the novel. While all parts of the book are related because they have a link connecting the United States and Ireland across the Atlantic, the link is too weak to suggest that Transatlantic is a novel, and in calling the book a novel, the reader feels strained to look for an over-arching story and coherent pattern of meaning, where there is none.

Colum McCann writes well, but the four parts of the book are little engaging, and therefore the "novel" as a whole is unsatisfactory. The story of Frederick Douglass visiting Ireland in the 1840s is the most interesting and engaging, but even each part of the novel lacks depth to stand on its own. Transatlantic is clearly a pile of undigested material. Reading it is frustrating and a waste of time.



Other books I have read by Colum McCann:
Everything in this country must
This side of brightness

000. After the plague
Finished reading: 13 March 2015



The stories in After the plague never had any appeal to me, and I thoroughly loathed reading this collection of short stories.



Other books I have read by T. C. Boyle:
Tooth and claw, and other stories
Riven Rock

024. The story of Lucy Gault
Finished reading: 15 March 2015



Novels are highly rated by the reading public when they tell an interesting story, with a good and engaging plot, or are beautifully written, each carrying the reader over to another reality. However, it seems that literary editors and lectors at publishers handle different criteria. One of these seems to be the ability to tell a story. The novels of William Trevor are characterized by having a very thin, unsubstantial plot. Sentiment, rather than plot drives his novels.

The story of Lucy Gault is such a novel. A single, fateful action determines the course of the story of Lucy's life. The novel is based on this very thin story, and thrives on beautiful description and sentiment.



Other books I have read by William Trevor:
The children of Dynmouth
My house in Umbria

025. Breaking God's flail. Chan sculpture and the death of a great kahn in Song Dynasty Hechuan
Finished reading: 16 March 2015



China has the oldest culture in the world with a continuous history of more than 5,000 years, and for the largest part of its history, China was closed to foreigners. China's chosen and self-imposed isolation created a mystery. In fact, China's isolation lasted deep into the Twentieth Century, and it's so-called reform-and-opening up is mainly to be understood in economic sense. Then, too, the Chinese language forms a formidable barrier. Thus, both physical and language barriers have barred curious foreigners from access to its formidable history and culture. Growing interest in China's culture and language has led to more knowledge about China, but given the fact that most of that exchange has taken part in barely 40 years, our current knowledge about China and its history and culture is but scant. At the forefront of exploration are scholarly works, but these publications are difficult to read, and do not appeal to the larger audience. Popular works about China are remarkably consistent and repetitive, mainly repeating the most basic facts known to the Western public.

Although Chinese people express a great desire to inform foreigners about their history and culture, of which they are deservedly proud, much of that communication is still hindered by the language barrier. Particularly Chinese of Chinese literature and history are often the weakest in foreign languages. They can neither describe nor translate works into English. The number of foreign translators with a command of Chinese to read and translate such works is still limited. Furthermore, many contemporary history books in China are written with a strong ideological slant, which is not always acceptable to foreign readers. Another factor of influence is the cultural misunderstanding of what Chinese and Western people find important or interesting about Chinese culture. In fact, it is still possible that China does not want to communicate all of its essence, or may withdraw in renewed isolation.

Suffice to say that China is a vitually unexplored treasure trove of historical and cultural material. Thousands of stories lie waiting to be told. As cultural exchange broadens, Chinese people will likely develop a better sense for what interests foreign readers, and as more Westerners acquire fluency in the Chinese language, they will want to explore its language and culture and write about their fascinating journey therein.

One of these emerging writers is the young scholar / journalist Kim Hunter Gordon. Of British descent, Hunter Gordon came to China more than six years ago, at first as a journalist. He settled in China to work on a PhD about Kunqu Opera, and has started writing and publishing books about China, including a travel guide for Chongqing, and a collection of essays about the historical city Datong. Breaking God's flail. Chan sculpture and the death of a great kahn in Song Dynasty Hechuan is a small monograph about an historical event in Thirteenth Century China.

In the Thirteenth Century, China was conquered by the Mongols, and by 1259, the Mongol empire spanned all across the Eur-Asian continent, encompassing all most of China, Iran, Iraq, the south-central parts of Russia, and all of the Ukraine. In fact, the Mongols were knocking on the door of Europe, having reached as far as Hungary. Most Western readers are familiar with the basic facts of how Chingghis Kahn established this empire. Breaking God's flail tells the less well-known part of the story, how this empire was maintained and eventually fell apart, focussing of the story of Chingghis' grandson Mongke. The book tells the story of the pivotal role of the Diaoyu fortress in Sichuan province, forming a turning point in Chinese history from which the power of the Mongols was broken, and Song Dynasty China began to determine the course of Chinese history.

Besides the military history of the Diaoyu fortress and the economic importance of Hechuan during the Southern Song Dynasty, the book also introduces a rich description of culture of that time in providing a description of the history of the Erfo Temple and its rich sample of period Chan sculpture in the temple, not far from Chongqing.

Breaking God's flail. Chan sculpture and the death of a great kahn in Song Dynasty Hechuan is a gem. Kim Hunter Gordon tells a story which is hard to find in other sources, although it is of great importance to Chinese history. Besides, the Mongol conquest and the subsequent demise of the Mongol Empire is important and of interest to Western readers. The book is written in a style that meets half-way between a scholarly monograph and popular science, and being relatively short at under 150 pages is very accessible to wide readership. The book has appeared in a hardcover edition and is richly illustrated with many full-colour photographs.

Fascinating review of Breaking God's Flail -- having recently read The Secret History of the Mongol Queens, which is admittedly popular history, Gordon's book sounds to be an appealing scholarly supplement.

Sounds like a great book. As you say, the basic facts of Chingghis Khan's reign are familiar, but what eventually happened is less well known. You seem to be the only person on LT with this book. Although I can find references to it elsewhere, and an ISBN, it seems to only be available on Google play.

Thanks, Jane. From your review of Weatherford's book, I understand that the scope of that book was much broader. It describes the same historical period, but the book by Weatherford follows the demise of the Mongol empire into the Fifteenth Century.

I think I would be more interested in that other book by Weatherford you mention in your review, Genghis Khan and the Making of the Modern World.

With China's ambition of developing "One Road - One Belt" policy, I expect that history of the central Asian region, the area stretching between China in the east and Italy in the west, formerly known as the Silk Road, will rise in eminence, and more interest in Mongolia and Samarkand and the whole region, including Persia (Iran) will increase. A colleague of mine in doing a PhD on trade relations in that area.

You may have noticed that only one copy of Breaking God's flail. Chan sculpture and the death of a great kahn in Song Dynasty Hechuan is registered on LibraryThing. The book was published in China in 2012.

Indeed, Sassy. Unfortunately, it seems Amazon does not list the book. I bought the book at the Page One bookstore in Beijing. The Page One Bookstore is an international chain that may do mail order.

In any case, I think we will hear more from the book's author, because as a (former) journalist, currently a students, but having already published 3 books about China over the past 6 year, Kim Hunter Gordon surely seems to be a budding new author in the field of Asian studies.

026. After the fireworks
Finished reading: 16 March 2015



Aged 36, Aldous Huxley was a well-established author when he published Brief candles, a collection of four short stories or novellae, in 1930. It is a work which now finds few readers. Brief candles consists of four bleakly satirical tales about unpleasant people: "Chawdron", "The Rest Cure", "The Claxtons" and the longest, "After the Fireworks". The last of these, was chosen and published separately as the novella After the Fireworks by the Hesperus Press in 2009. It is a nice and careful edition, published with a foreword by Fay Weldon and a short glossary, explaining Huxley's references to classical mythology and Italian literature.

Huxley's After the Fireworks forms a nice companion to Henry James' The birthplace, also published by the Hesperus Press, reviewed above. In both works the admiration and infatuation of readers with an author forms the main theme.

After the Fireworks tells the story of the older, and successful author Miles Fanning, and Pamela Tarn. It is the story of infatuation, initially the irrational admiration of Pamela for Miles, but as the story develops, Miles' attitude or burgeoning amusement with her infatuation turns into a budding romance on his part, as he is falsely led to believe that a romance might be possible. The novella explores all dimensions of the infatuation. Miles is first shown to be cruel, and on the verge of taking advantage of the young Pamela, while he is later shown as fragile as he falls under the spell of the young girl. On the other hand, Pamela is not quite all innocence herself, and is shown to be actively pursuing and scheming in her determination to possess Miles. The turns of the story develop against the backdrop of the warmer climate of Italy.

The novella brims with references to classical works of infatuation. Miles Fanning is the author of several novels, his latest entitled "The Return of Eurydice". Towards the end of the novel he laments, asking why Apollo has left him, as he feels his reason has given way to passion. Meanwhile, the darker side of the Orpheus myth is explored likening Miles to the Devil and Pamela to the light, Hell taking the shape of Dante's hell, and far echo's to the infatuation of Beatrice.

In her name, Pamela surely reminds readers of the ruthless young epistolary heroine of Samuel Richardson, while the name "Tarn" suggests her true love is hidden. In fact, her crush on Miles stands in the shadow of a truer love for Guy, her boyfriend at home in the colder climate of Scotland.

In After the Fireworks, infatuation is described from the classical definition of Freud, whose name appears on the very first page of the story. And as infatuation is the bastard sister of romantic love, and in its adoration the earliest stage of a deeper attachment or even more mature love, the illusion of infatuation inevitably leads to disappointment when learning the truth about a lover, after the emotional fireworks. Huxley's novella takes an interesting turn there as each gets his due.

In its treatment of adoration for an author, Huxley's novella After the Fireworks resembles The birthplace by Henry James. However, while in James's work the adoration stands closer to devotion, Huxley tends more to the irrational passion of infatuation. In fact, the mad and ruthless love of Pamela for Miles foreshadows the wild love of fans for the stars of popular mass culture. In that sense, After the Fireworks is still quite relevant to our time.



Other books I have read by Aldous Huxley:
Brave New World revisited
The genius and the goddess
Heaven and hell
The devils of Loudun
Antic hay
Brave new world

Enjoyed your last two reviews Edwin. Packed full with the sort of information that makes me want to read those books.

Thanks, Barry.

Although I was quite busy with work, I spent the last two weeks of September going through my book collection and throwing out books. Particulary over the past 10 years, I have bought too much contemporary fiction which I often do not really appreciate. I have gotten rid of about 700 books.

From now, I would like to concentrate more on classics and modern classics, at least much fewer contemporary lit.

Furthermore, I have also decided to definitely concentrate my reading on China, and thrown out all unread books about Africa and India.

In the back of my head, I also have a growing sense that I may want to move by the middle of next year, so I need to lose weight and volume....

>

Yesterday, I finished reading a book which had been on my TBR pile since 1982.....

More power to your elbow with reading the classics. Contemporary fiction is so overrated.

Interesting as always to catch up with your reading. I loved McCann's Let the Great World Spin but surprisingly have not been interested in reading more by him, although I actually own several books of his.

>119 edwinbcn: Thanks for the info edwin. No luck so far, but will wait a few months and try again.

027. London under
Finished reading: 16 March 2015



Peter Ackroyd is the undisputed chronicler of the history of London in his London: The Biography. This splendid volume of the zenith of London now has a slim companion volume, which focusses on the dark recesses below the pavement on the city. London under describes the history and variety of sub-terrean London.

London under is a tantalizing in that it is both profoundly interesting but seemingly too ephemeral. No less than 13 short chapters produce less than 180 pages, each describing a different system of canals, pipes, tubes, tunnels hidden in the dark under the city. Besides descriptions of the respective systems, several chapters are devoted to describing people whose profession led to to live underground, as diggers or dwellers, historical or fictional, as in the last chapter some science fiction of H.G Wells in The Sleeper Awakes.

London under is a very light and entertaining read, packed with facts, spanning almost all of London's history, bringing many gems of information and anecdotes about the London underworld to light.

A delighting read.



Other books I have read by Peter Ackroyd:
Three brothers
The fall of Troy
The Plato papers
The Great Fire of London

028. The doll
Finished reading: 18 March 2015



"The Doll" is the title story of a collection of early stories published in a volume as The doll. Most stories were written in the 1920s - 1930s, some while she was still living at home with her parents. The title story, "The Doll" was written in 1927, when Daphne du Maurier was only 20 years old. Some of these stories were published in magazines, but were long lost or uncollected. They were rediscovered and published, some for the first time, in 2011.

As one might expect of neglected youth work, The doll is a mixed bag. The collection is probably very valuable to scholars and lovers of the work of Daphne du Maurier, but to other readers the quality of the stories varies a lot. The title story, "The Doll" is an outstanding piece of fiction, particularly psychologically very interesting, verging on the pathological. One could read it as a mix between horror and erotica. It is definitely haunting, and will stay with you for a long time.

Most stories in the collection could be described as 'atmospheric'. Blending the atmospheric, rich description with a sense of alienation creates a typical adolescent fiction haunted by sexual repression and death, however, Daphne du Maurier's prose style is clearly very good, and developing. Weird, but interesting.

029. The bluest eye
Finished reading:



The bluest eye belongs to the more readable novels of Toni Morrison. It is less experimental, and written in a more traditional style, accessible to broad readership. It is essentially a rather sad story of a coloured girl, growing up in such dire circumstances that she denies her identity. The longing for blue eyes is a pars pro toto, it is a longing to be different, to escape from her miserable livelihood. A sad and touching story.



Other books I have read by Toni Morrison:
Beloved
A mercy
Playing in the dark. Whiteness and the literary imagination

030. Ape and essence
Finished reading: 20 March 2015



Ape and essence by Aldous Huxley is a bit difficult to get into, but once into the story, this short novel is both interesting and engaging. The narrative structure of the book is unusual, resembling a film script. The beginning of the book consists of a science-fiction account of history, referring to various historical event as they could have happened. The film script, written by a genius, by accident escapes destruction, and is, hence, available to being read.

The scripts describes a story in which most of the civilized world has been destroyed in an atomic war, except New Zealand. An expedition from New Zealand reaches the coast of California, to make contact, and investigate the situation in the United States. Having landed, the expedition members are captured, and the leading scientist is brought before the leader of the community. In various exchanges, it becomes clear what has happened, how history in the US developed after the war and various anthropological details of American society of that time are revealed.

Ape and essence is a dystopian novel, describing a lapse from civilized society into a barbarous state. While this type of story is now very common, and many films and novels are based on a similar premise, often elaborated along very similar lines, Huxley's Ape and essence is probably the classic that gave rise this this type of genre. The description is more anthropological than contemporary dystopian novels which focus more on horror. Huxley's novel is probably a bit too vanilla for lovers of the genre, and the convoluted beginning of the novel forms an additional barrier. Nonetheless, to lovers of science-fiction, Ape and essence is probably an essential read.



Other books I have read by Aldous Huxley:
After the fireworks
Brave New World revisited
The genius and the goddess
Heaven and hell
The devils of Loudun
Antic hay
Brave new world

031. In the orchard, the swallows
Finished reading: 21 March 2015



In the orchard, the swallows is not just a simple love story, although just such a simple love story forms the basis of this cruel tale. In the orchard, the swallows is a modern Romeo and Juliet set in modern time in Pakistan. Not death, but spiritual death separates the lovers. The young man thrown into prison, which he barely survives, to be forgotten, cut off from the world, his love, and father, who dies during his imprisonment. Upon his release, he is nursed back, taken into the home by an old man. Recovering, pensively, he writes this heart-rending account of life in a note-book. His cruel experience is transient, while love, cruelty, human nature, and nature are for ever.

In the orchard, the swallows contains beautiful descriptions of nature, the orchard, and the soothing presence of the swallows, perhaps a symbol of homeliness. Some parts of the book consist of telling, or lamenting monologues, which are a little bit overbearing. The setting in Pakistan is a bit estranging, but apparently rendered quite convincingly and true.

Noted Ape and Essence

032. History of the rain
Finished reading: 28 March 2015



History of the rain is a potentially very interesting story, but very poorly executed. A young woman, Ruth, suffering from an illness is bound to spend her days at home. To pass the time, she starts reading her grandfather's library. The books are numbered. The story has no development. It seems the author felt compelled to include all (?) or as many of the 3000+ books of the grandfather's library. There is no (?) system to the way the books are included in the story; what follows is an unstructured name-dropping of book titles, without apparent purpose.

History of the Rain might have won the Booker Prize if the book reading in the novel, i.e. the catalogue numbers proved to be a compelling plot element. On reading History of the Rain, I could not discern any logic, nor significance in the choice of books or the order of their reading. The random reading informs neither the character in the novel, nor the reader in the real world.

In fact, the plot of the novel itself is very weak, if not to say absent. To me History of the Rain is just a combination of a very weak plot and a potentially interesting idea, which, however, at the hands of Niall Williams falls flat.

The way Williams deals with the idea is uninspired and mechanical. It also seems that the number of books referred to get higher as the novel progresses, becoming more of a barrier and mental burden than help in understanding the novel or inspire the reader. Incredibly boring.

033. Never let me go
Finished reading: 28 March 2015



Ars longa, vita brevis

Never let me go is the sixth novel of Kazuo Ishiguro. It is written in a largely understating style. The novel is classified as a science-fiction novel, but this is only correct in so far that it describes a reality that is not of the present but could fairly well be imagined in the future. In fact, the technology to clone people seems to be just around the corner, and humanity does not seem far away from stepping over the moral dilemma to make cloning and organ-harvesting, as in the novel, possible and acceptable.

At first, it seems as if the fact that the children are created by cloning with the purpose of harvesting their organs is the mystery of the novel, but this fact is revealed to the reader fairly early on in the story. The alert reader can pick it up very soon from the way the "donations" are described, while the fact is stated plainly and explicitly after about 80 pages (thereabout). However, this is just the given situation, it is not the mystery.

Life itself is the mystery. Never let me go is more likely to be understood as a parable in which the short life of the children represents the whole curriculum vitae of (wo)man. The donations are moments in life which determine the further course of life, or may actually end it. The short lives of the children are not very different from the lives of most people: their lives have an undetermined livespan, during which they fulfil an apparent purpose, while nonetheless struggling with the question what life is for. The children in the novel have been created for an apparently very clear and obvious purpose, namely the production of organs for transplants. Likewise, most people are led to believe that mankind was created for the purpose of its works, and that the fulfilment of life lies in work, whether or not that work represents a sacrifice. The emphasis on the importance of physical health is more obvious in the world of the children, as without it there would be no donations; nonetheless, the parallel is clear.

Still, both is our world as well as in the world of the children, art plays a somewhat different role. The children at the institution are encouraged to produce art, and the best works are collected in a gallery. Neither in the minds of the children, nor to the reader, does it ever become clear whether this gallery is to be understood as a place to sell art or collect and display, only. However, in the novel, the gallery is revealed to have a clear purpose, namely to justify the existence or the creation of the cloned children. One of the criteria for the quality of the art is whether it was produced out of love, which in the world of the children leads to redemption: a deferral to live a bit longer, by three years. However, it is later revealed that this is not true.

The parallels with our world are obvious. We are but like small children knowing little about life, told that life is all about keeping healthy so we can do our work, with a vague sense that art serves a higher purpose.

Accepting the story about the children in the institution as a parable for the life of mankind, Never let me go opens numerous perspectives and appears a a novel of tremendous depth. All questions that have pained humanity throughout its existence are called up: why are we here, were we created for some purpose, if so, what, what is the function of art, is humanity an experiment, etc.



Other books I have read by Kazuo Ishiguro:
When We Were Orphans
A pale view of hills
An artist of the floating world
The remains of the day

034. Liberté du XVIIIème
Finished reading: 29 March 2015



Liberté du XVIIIème consists of selections, representing about one fifth, i.e. 167 pp. from La guerre du goût. While the original work is conceived on a much broader scope, the selections, as the title demonstrates focus on the culture of the Eighteenth Century, mainly French culture, but inclusive of the broader European cultural context, mainly literature and music. There are the familiar French authors such as Voltaire and Sade and Casanova, but French culture is presented on a much broader scale, introducing less familiar authors such as Fragonard, Saint-Simon and Les Liaisons dangereuses. What makes the work interesting is that it introduces 18th century culture, while connecting this culture with French culture of a century onwards, the circle of Rimbaud aswell as our own time. The tone and level of the work is fairly general, and not too difficult, and Sollers explores the culture in more depth than some of his other work.



Other books I have read by Philippe Sollers:
Studio
Les folies françaises

035. Fortunate exile
Finished reading: 29 March 2015



Fortunate exile is a collection of modern poetry by the Canadian poet Irving Layton. The poetry in this collection rips fresh tears in the memory of the holocaust. Although Layton lived in Canada, not quite in "exile" his anger at the treatment of Jewish people burst forth in a type of scar literature describing the fate of Jews during World War II.

A lot of literature, stories, poetry and memoirs appeared relatively late during the Twentieth Century, as it took Jewish people to recover from the profound trauma of the war, and European readership collectively repressed that awful period. However, as Layton lived overseas and observed from the side-line, he started publishing from as early as 1945, and, very productively had published more that 40 volumes, when Fortunate exile was published in 1987.

The poems are strong reminders of the holocaust, the pain and suffering of Jewish people.



Other books I have read by Irving Layton:
Europe, and other bad news

036. Abahn Sabana David
Finished reading: 29 March 2015



Abahn, Sabana and David are the names of three characters in the novella Abahn Sabana David by Marguerite Duras. Although this prose text most resembles a novella, the reading never feels far removed from a theatre text. The tone and atmosphere is close to Beckett's Waiting for Godot.

It is the story of four people, who get together in a room. Largely consisting of dialogue, with very little description, the story is difficult to follow, the more, because there are two characters with the same name, each named Abahn; however, one of them is soon reduced to be merely referred to as "The Jew". The tension in the novella consists of the waiting for Gringo, while Sabana and David guard the Jew, who awaits execution.

From the difficulty of reading Abahn Sabana David, and deciding on its significance, it seems a work that is perhaps of interest to a more specialist readership, rather than newcomers to the work of Duras.



Other books I have read by Marguerite Duras:
Un barrage contre le Pacifique
Les lieux de Marguerite Duras
Écrire
La maladie de la mort
L'Amant de la Chine du Nord

037. Telemachus in het dorp. Een verhaal zonder wind of wolken
Finished reading:



Marnix Gijsen published Telemachus in het dorp. Een verhaal zonder wind of wolken (1948) after his break away from the Catholic Church and faith. The novel is a severe criticism of the hypochrisy of life in the Flemish countryside, where life in small villages during the turn of the century was dominated by the mayor, the parson, the school head master, and the village council secretary. In the fictional village Blaren, the latter three are the most powerful, and they are all family members of the young Marnix: Uncle Louis Leenaerts, the parson, Uncle Leander, the head master, and Uncle Felix, the council secretary.

As the young Marnix is caught playing sexual games with one of his friends, he is sent to spend the summer holiday in Blaren. Telemachus in het dorp. Een verhaal zonder wind of wolken is a retrospective view on this summer. While as a young boy, Marnix was unlikely to see through the hypochrisy in the village, the sharp eye and comment of the elder Marnix is ruthless. The Telemachus of the title should not be taken to refer to the Odyssey by Homer, but rather as a reference to François Fénelon's Les Aventures de Télémaque (1699), (Eng. The Adventures of Telemachus, Son of Ulysses, a fierce denunciation of the aristocracy, which is what Telemachus in het dorp. Een verhaal zonder wind of wolken is.

The myth of the village as a pure, and peaceful haven is soon broken by describing the background of some of the locals. Uncle Felix is described as a womanizer. Rape, suicide, adultery, avarice, socialism: all the "evils" associated with life in the cities are also found in the countryside.

038. The Indian summer of Gabriel Murray
Finished reading: 30 March 2015



When A Share of the World was published in 1953, Evelyn Waugh called it the book of the year. The early novels of Hugo Charteris (1922 - 1970) were received enthusiastically, while the author was named one of the most talented authors of the post-war generation. Charteris published 11 novels, of which The Indian summer of Gabriel Murray was the last, published in 1968, two years before his death from cancer.

The Indian summer of Gabriel Murray describes the reclusive life of Gabriel Murray, a retired naval officer. Murray's life is rather uneventful, and reminiscences of his life, memories tied to the house, Bindles, and objects in the house, create an image of the British aristocratic life of the first part of the Twentieth Century. The sea and memory of ships is never far away.

In an odd juxtaposition, the quiet life on the Scottish sea board is invaded by elements of modern life: and love, a romance late in life.

The novel is well-written, but did not make any sense to me.

039. Een man van horen zeggen
Finished reading:



After death, family and friends live on in our memory. That is the main idea of Willem Jan Otten's novella Een man van horen zeggen. Gérard Legrand, a musician, famous player of Bach, has been dead for about ten years. The novella starts a few days before his 65th birthday, as his youngest son, Frank, is reminded of his father's birthday on a calender in the bathroom.

Legrand only exists in the memory of his family and friends. Thus, the novella skips through time, depending on the moments anyone thinks of Legrand, while playing his records, or thinks of him. Through the thoughts of his two sons, his wife of his first marriage, and the second wife, his life is reconstructed, and the effect of his actions and death are charted in the lives of his family. The most disturbing actions of his life were his divorce and suicide, which have left their marks in the lives of the women he loved and his two children.



Other books I have read by Willem Jan Otten:
Specht en zoon

040. Human voices
Finished reading: 6 April 2015



Human voices is apparently based on the author's own war-time experiences working at Broadcasting House for the BBC Radio. Unfortunately, the novella is largely, merely descriptive, describing a rather boring set of people who are mostly not very interesting. A very tisesome and boring read.



Other books I have read by Penelope Fitzgerald:
The bookshop

041. Gesloten huis. Zelfportret met ouders
Finished reading: 10 April 2015



Gesloten huis. Zelfportret met ouders (Engl. "Closed home. Self-portrait with parents"), is a reflective and unpretentious novel. After the death of the parents, the children, the narrator, Tjit Reinsma, is one of them, come to clear out the home: all the furniture, possessions, books, papers and diaries of the deceased parents must removed. Various possessions, photos, and objects, recall memories, not only in the narrator in the story, but also in the reader. Remembered stories of the parents war-time experience, finding food and kindling during the cold "hunger winter", in the last year of the war, 1944, walking all over North-Holland, are memories shared by many people in that province.

There are many tender memories in the book: recognizable for anyone who grew up in the Netherlands between 1960 and 1980; household items, brand names of typical products. The novel is a warehouse of Dutch cultural images of the Twentieth Century.

The life of the Tjit Reinsma mirrors the life of many Dutch contemporaries, particularly the lives of the baby-boomers, many of whom have suffered a form of manic depression. After clearing out the parents home, Tjit turns to clean out his own home, to deal with the ghosts in his own life. The hardest task are the removal of the parents diaries, and papers he wrote during his depression. They do not only describe the siblings earliest youth, but also the family mystery: the tragedy that had been shrouded, and was never talked about, buried in the mists of the past. The post-war welfare state brought affluence and prevented unnecessary deaths, as for instance the death of children at an early age, as could still happen during the early Fifties. These lost and painful experiences, the knowledge of what had happened to the two siblings of the narrator, Jan and Rita, when he was only five years old, a truth he can barely face.

Gesloten huis. Zelfportret met ouders was first published in 1994. It was the literary debut of Matsier in which he gave the main character his real name: Tjit Reinsma. Reinsma was born in Krommenie, as small town in North-Holland.

042. De bruidskogel
Finished reading: 18 April 2015



During the early 1990s Els de Groen traveled extensive through Albania, where she heard about the Kanun the ancient book of laws that has a great influence on the lives of people in Albania. The Kanun of Albania should not be confused with the Quanun, sometimes also referred to as Kanun, which were laws promulgated by Muslim sovereigns, particularly the Ottoman Sultans. The Kanun of Albania are a codex that is believed to go back to sources in the Bronze Age, possibly retaining elements from Indo-European prehistory. The oral laws were first codified in the Fifteenth Century, although there is earlier written evidence that such customary laws were in effect.

In the novel De bruidskogel, the Kanun plays an important role. The Kanun applies to all Albanians, both Christians and Muslima, alike. In 12 books consisting of 1,262 articles, the Kanun governs the basics spheres of life in Albania, deciding how to conduct in all matters of society ranging from the church; family and marriage; the house, livestock and property, and transfer of property; Work; and above all, Honour. During the Communist period, the Kanun was effectively suppressed, but since the fall of Communism in 1989, the Kanun has made a come-back. Although young people try to ignore these ancient traditions, the Kanun is particularly prevalent in matters of honour for which no equivalent exists in the current Albanian legal code. Thus, as of 2014, some 3,000 Albanian families were estimated to be involved in blood feuds, which, since the early 1990s has led to the deaths of 10,000 people.

In De bruidskogel, Era studies the Kanun. She has been separated from her boyfriend, with whom she is betrothed to become married for many months, and during this she falls in love with Arben. Era's boyfriend, Skënder, is a traditionalist. He is away on a mission to restore honour to his family, in a blood feud to revenge the death of his brother. Arben in more modern. Era struggles with her research into the Kanun, not only to make sense of it for her studies, but also whether and how to apply the Kanun to her own life. She realizes that her affair with Arben would not only hurt Skënder, but in view of the Kanun would lead to severe punishment: a woman who commits adultery may be shot in the back by her husband. However, what preoccupies her more is Skënder's safety. The rule of the blood feud stipulates that all males in both families be murdered. She decides to travel to the remote mountainous area, to find Skënder and stop him from his intended murder.

De bruidskogel is a very intense novel, with an enticing plot. The landscape, the villages and the people are portrayed convincingly. Through the novel, readers learn not only about the astounding aspects of the Kanun, but also some of the poetry of the ancient text.

Els de Groen was a member of the European Parliament for the Netherlands from 2004 - 2009. For more than 20 years, she worked as a journalist, writing for various magazines, and authoring numerous works of fiction and non-fiction. Since the early 1990s, she has demonstrated a profound interest in Eastern Europe.

Her novel, De bruidskogel was published by De Geus, a publisher with a strong interest to publish about developing countries. There is not English translation of De bruidskogel, but readers interested in the Kanun in literature, may find more about it in novels by the Albanian author Ismail Kadare, particularly in his novel Broken April.

043. Nachtkermis
Finished reading: 18 April 2015



For many years, during the 1980s and 1990s, Amsterdam rivalled with San Francisco and Berlin for being the Gay Capital of the world. However, with the turn of the century, Amsterdam as a Gay Capital quickly lost ground, and particularly over the past few years have seen the rise of Barcelona, while the gay scene in Amsterdam has withered.

Nachtkermis by Jos Versteegen is a book-length poem celebrating the hay-days of gay life in Amsterdam during the 1990s. To readers familiar with the gay scene in Amsterdam during those years, the poem provides a vivid picture, making the scene almost tangible. The poem includes various well-known landmarks, such as cafe De Jaren and RoB, while the urban landscape of the inner city of Amsterdam forms the background. Some people, such as Fabiola are mentioned, but mostly the poem provides generec descriptions of boys, men and transvestites as peopled the scene at the time. The event described could be the 1994 Gay Pride or any edition of the annual Koninginnedag (Queen's Day), with its abundant, carnevalesque atmosphere, celebrating not just the Queen's birthday, but the liberal gay scene of Amsterdam's queens in general.

044. Let us compare mythologies
Finished reading: 19 April 2015



Poetry and song find their origins in the same fount. Leonard Cohen is now perhaps best known as a singer. With his song he has touched the heart of millions. The same warmth, and beauty is found in his poetry, centered around themes of love, power, and religion.

Let us compare mythologies was first published in 1956. It contains the poetry Leonard Cohen wrote while he was a student at university. His poems are pure, elegant and profound. They can be understood by anyone who will take the time to read them, or listen. Many of the poems contain references to the natural world. Some poems are made up of repetetive elements, like a refrain, as one would expect in a song. Some of the poems contain cultural references, to the Hellenistic tradition, or religion. However, while they may mystify, they do not obfuscate the meaning of the poems.

The poems in Let us compare mythologies are close to the poetry as many readers would like it. Gentle and beautiful.

045. The Gate of Angels
Finished reading: 21 April 2015



The Gate of Angels is a novel by Penelope Fitzgerald, set in 1912, but the novel utterly fails to capture the spirit of that time. Besides, by setting the story at a fictional college, all recognition of the cityscape of Cambridge is removed. Thus, the setting of the novel is bleak and devoid of couleur locale.

The novels of Penelope Fitzgerald are often inspired by very simple ideas, or seemingly no ideas at all. Boy meets girl by accident is apparently inspiring to the author, but is essentially very commonplace and banal, about as banal as cows frolicking in a pasture. To conclude that these are instances of the imagination ruling over reason, is a quantum leap requiring more than all the reason of Oxford and Cambridge combined.

The Gate of Angels is a very boring book.



Other books I have read by Penelope Fitzgerald:
Human voices
The bookshop

Unfortunately neither Nicolaas Matsier nor Els de Groen appear in English translation except for what seems to be a children's books No Roof in Bosnia. Your reviews of literature in Dutch often make me wish I could learn the language.

It's good to see that Irving Layton is still being read. The man himself always projected that physicality and force so present in his poetry. His influence on Leonard Cohen was immense.

Thanks, Sassy.

Particularly since I started writing reviews on LT, I have noticed that a fair number of Dutch books are translated in other European languages, and vise versa, but that often no English translation is available.

Of everything that is published in French, German and all the other languages, I guess only a fraction, is ever translated into English.

In 2011, I bought two volumes of poetry by Irving Layton, second-hand. I did not really enjoy reading his poetry, but it is forceful and a hard reminder of the holocaust.

046. Zonder geluk valt niemand van het dak
Finished reading: 24 April 2015



The Dutch poet Jan Hanlo was a seriously, mentally disturbed person, who spent part of his life in a mental institution. After institutialization, he mainly wrote prose.
Zonder geluk valt niemand van het dak is acollection of prose fragments, published posthumously. It describes his stay in the clinic in 1947.

The title of the book consists of a twist in a Dutch idiomatic saying. According to Hanlo, the twist makes the phrase more logical, whereas in fact it makes it confusing. It is a good illustration of his twisted mind.

127.
"The Collected Short Stories"
Finished reading: 8 November 2015




047.
Transactions in a Foreign Currency
Finished reading: 29 April 2015




049.
Under the 82nd Airborne
Finished reading: 30 April 2015




126.
All Around Atlantis
Finished reading: 8 November 2015




The Collected Short Stories of Deborah Eisenberg is an omnibus volume consisting of four previously published collections of short stories: Transactions in a Foreign Currency, Under the 82nd Airborne, All Around Atlantis and Twilight of the Superheroes.

The short stories of Deborah Eisenberg are meticulously detailed descriptions of situations in contemporary American life. There is hardly any plot development, but insubsequent volumes, the stories do seem to become more unified and focussed. The stories give very detailed, atmospheric descriptions of American people, particularly from the point of view of women. The style of writing is very feminine.

Having finished three out of four volumes in this omnibus, I quit. I do prefer the later stories over the early stories, and they certainly grow on you, however, over all the stories are boring, and I cannot recall any.

048. The Smith of Smiths. Being the life, wit and humour of Sydney Smith
Finished reading: 29 April 2015



Hesketh Pearson is now best rembered, if at all, as an author of biographies. Besides having a career in the theatre, he was a prolific author. Many of his biographies are about authors who came to fame during the last quarter of the Nineteenth or first quarter of the Twentieth Centuries, and who were contemporaries of Pearson. Sydney Smith is an exception, as he lived during the late Seventeenth to early Eighteenth Century.

The Smith of Smiths. Being the life, wit and humour of Sydney Smith of this clergyman, Sydney Smith. It is a comprehensive biography, describing all features of Smiths' life. Unfortunately, what was humourous in Smiths' day, or in Pearson's eyes, does not seem so witty, now.

Given that Sydney Smith was a clergyman, the biography deals extensively with the life scenes of such a vocation. The biography provides an excellent description of the literary and clerical scene of the early Nineteenth Century, around the time of Jane Austen.



Other books I heave read by Hesketh Pearson:
Skye High. the Record of a Tour Through Scotland in the Wake of Samuel Johnson and James Boswell

050. Geheim dagboek, 1987-1990
Finished reading: 30 April 2015



Geheim dagboek, 1987-1990 is volume 17 in the complete diaries of the Dutch author Hans Warren (1921-2001). When Warren started publishing his diaries in 1986, he said the aim was to publish all of his diaries from his earliest age, as a teenager till his dying days.

Up until the middle of the 1980s, Warren was a minor poet, barely recognized within the literary scene, but the publication of the diaries propelled him onto the mainstream literary scene. Particularly in the diaries written during the 1950s through 1970s, Warren appeared as very sexually promiscuous. The diaries describe how he tried to balance a marriage with Mabel MacLaurin from 1952 till their divorce in 1975, and sexual escapades with North-African boys in Paris.

Although volume 17, Geheim dagboek, 1987-1990, was written in the years 1987-1990, it was not published until 2005. In 1990, Hans Warren was 69 years old. 1987-1990 were also the years when he came to fame, based on the publication of the diaries written in his youth. The contrast could not be greater, having this elderly man in his late sixties building up a literary reputation on his very explicit homosexual diaries. Having divorced from his wife Mabel MacLaurin, Warren then lived with his much younger lover, Mario Molegraaf, who was more than 40 years younger than he. During the 1980s - 1990s, Molegraaf did not feature in the public image of Hans Warren.

In the later diaries, as in Geheim dagboek, 1987-1990, Hans Warren appears as a very thrifty, Calvinist and vain personality. He takes pride in dominating the jury of a literary prize, forcing it to proclaim and obscure author, Brigitte Raskin as the winner of the AKO prize winner in 1989. The diaries are pretty boring revolving around a limited number of obsessions: buying antiques, and worries about burglary; fine dining; and masturbation, and to a lesser extent, sexual intercourse with Mario.

While previous volumes were mainly set in Paris or North-Africa, Geheim dagboek, 1987-1990 describes Warren at home in the Netherlands. Descriptions of Zeeland and the contemporary scene in Amsterdam, are largely familiar to contemporary readers, particularly visits to literary venues, bookstores and restaurants, such as Le Pêcheur (now defunct).



Other books I have read by Hans Warren:
Verzamelde gedichten, 1941-1981
Demetrios
Steen der hulp
Natuurdagboek, 1939 - 1940
Geheim dagboek, 1942-1944
Geheim dagboek, 1945-1948
Geheim dagboek, 1949-1951
Geheim dagboek, 1952-1953
Geheim dagboek, 1954-1955
Geheim dagboek, 1956-1957
Geheim dagboek, 1958-1962
Geheim dagboek, 1963-1970
Geheim dagboek, 1971-1972
Geheim dagboek, 1973-1975
Geheim dagboek, 1975 - 1976
Geheim dagboek, 1977 - 1978
Geheim dagboek, 1984-1987
Geheim dagboek, 2001
Een vriend voor de schemering

Catching up here Edwin

I am a big Admirer of Leonard Cohen and so it was great to see a review of Let Us Compare mythologies

I failed to get as much out of Never Let me Go as you did.

Thanks, Barry. When I bought the volume of poetry, I did not make the connection, especially my copy is promoted as a "50th anniversary edition". I did not realize the poetry was written by Leonard Cohen the famous singer, until I read the biography on Wikipedia. However, reading the poetry, the connection is obvious. Wonderful poems!

It is the way I like poetry to be: meaningful and full of music.

You gave Never Let me Go three stars. That was my original assessment. However, reading other reviews while writing my review deepened my understanding to evaluate the novel with 4.5 stars. Frankly, this is not what I felt while reading it.

It is obvious that my original reading of the novel is too simple; however, it is not clear to what extent the second interpretation of the novel is due to the mastery of the novelist, or a cascade of luck and fortuitious reading into depth.

051. The financier
Finished reading: 1 May 2015



Given the havoc that bankers and financiers cause in society, it is remarkable that hardly any information on what a financier is can be found on for instance Wikipedia, other than that they are people who make their money through investments. It is therefore hard to quickly determine how far back the history of financiers goes, the Renaissance, probably; the South Sea Bubble of 1720 is often cited as one of the first great speculation scandals.

Reading The financier (1912) by Theodore Dreiser gives readers an uncanny sense of recognition, as the main character of the novel, Frank Cowperwood could just have sprung up from the pages of a contemporary newspaper, or e-Reader, for that matter.

The financier is the first volume in a trilogy, but can very well be read on its own. It describes a complete cycle of fortune, misfortune and recovery of Cowperwood. As a son of a banker, nonetheless, young Frank set out to make his fortune all by himself, starting very modestly by buying a chest of soap and selling it at a profit. In the first twelve chapters, the novel develops rapidly, seeing young Cowperwood setting up as a brokerage, at first as a partner and increasingly independently, running across Mr Butler's pretty young daughter, as early as in chapter 12.

As a young, and upcoming financier, he marries the affluent widow, several years his senior. In his burgeoning wealth, Cowperwood buys a house, soon to be replaced by a more magnificent mansion, decorated by a fashionable architect, Ellsworth.

Young Cowperwood begins an affair with the young Aileen Butler; her father has them shadowed by private detectives and leaks evidence of adultery to Cowperwood's wife. The hatred of old Mr Butler knows no boundaries and he is bent on destroying Cowperwood, and separating him from his daughter.

Growing wealthy through the Civil War Years, the Great Chicago Fire of 1871 leads to Cowperwood's bankruptcy, as he is unable to find money to financy his creditors. The financial crisis caused by the Fire leads to the uncovering of a network of illicit borrowings and speculation with money from the city's Treasury. Cowperwood is made a scapegoat and goes to jail.

His lover, Aileen, visits him in jail and remains loyal until he is released two years later. Money works in jail to ease some of the discomfort. Soon after his release, Cowperwood starts with new energy to recoop his lost wealth.

Although the novel starts and developes rapidly, the story is dragged out throughout the bankruptcy and jail episodes. Nonetheless, the novel seems to need this volume, and it never seems too wordy or lengthy. The novel is simply elaborate and descriptive in great detail, but it seems appropriate to tell the story with so much detail. It certainly helps to be interested or even a bit knowledgeable in the world of finance, to know the difference between various types of financiers and financial services, and the bulk of the story is developed in this environment.

Frank Cowperwood is portrait as a sympathetic financier, whose passion for Aileen seems sincere, although his earlier marriage to the rich widow was probably not. He is a man of good taste. The other characters, old Mr Cowperwood, Mr Butler and other characters, such as Stener are all described in psychologically very convincing portraits, and the tragedy of the novel is sufficiently moving.

While not the easiest novel to read, The financier is still very rewarding.

Glad I'm not the only one baffled by what's going on in finance. I had a friend who worked in the field and at some point I asked him what he did day to day. His response was "you see every quarter..." That was the most I could follow of the whole explanation.

>156 janemarieprice: LOL. Listen to someone talk about finance is akin to hearing Charlie Brown's teacher talk, IMO.

It could be worse, though. I met one of my closest LT friends for the first time several years ago in London, when we met to see a play at the National Theatre. I made her cry twice by telling her about a very sick baby that I had taken care of in the hospital earlier that week. I suppose it's better to be bored than to be emotionally traumatized. :-)

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Due to the Great Firewall of China, I only enjoyed limited access to LibraryThing in 2015. I re-established and lost connection several times. I finished the following books, which I had no time to review.

052. De vriendschap by Connie Palmen (Dutch)
053. Brieven aan Bernard S., 1965-1975 by Gerard Reve (Dutch)
054. Venises by Paul Morand (French)
055. De grote wereld by Arthur Japin (Dutch)
056. Echoes down the corridor. Collected essays, 1944-2000 by Arthur Miller (English)
057. Cold mountain by Charles Frazer (English)
058. Family and Friends by Anita Brookner (English)
059. De stille man by Albert van Hoogenbemt (Dutch)

060. Liberty in the Age of Terror: A Defence of Civil Liberties and Enlightenment Values by A.C. Grayling (English)
061. Xanadu. Marco Polo and Europe's discovery of the East by Johm Man (English)
062. Keynes. The return of the master by Robert Skidelsky (English)
063. The art of decanting. Bringing wine to Life by Sandra Jordan (English)
064. Bobos in paradise. The new upper class and how they got there by David Brooks (English)
065. Apparition and Late Fiction: A Novella and Stories by Thomas Lynch (English)
066. Jeeves and the wedding bells by Sebastian Faulkner (English)
067. Country girl. A memoir by Edna O'Brien (English)
068. Asbestemming: Een requiem by A. F. Th. van der Heijden (Dutch)
069. Een roerige bruiloft op Adrillen by Max Dendermonde (Dutch)

070. Slaughterhouse Five, or the children's crusade, etc (Reviewed on Club Read 2015)
071. Family business. Selected letters between a father and son (Reviewed on Club Read 2015)

072. Ein springender Brunnen by Martin Walser (German)

073. Chike and the river (Reviewed on Club Read 2015)
074. Here and now. Letters 2008-2011 (Reviewed on Club Read 2015)

075. De holocaust is voorbij. Afrekenen met Hitlers erfenis by Avraham Burg (Translated)
076. The Arab awakening by Tariq Ramadan (English)
077. Die Ringe des Saturn by W.G. Sebald (German)
078. Anprobieren eines Vaters. Geschichten und Erwägungen by Erich Hackl (German)
079. When the women come out to dance by Elmore Leonard (English)
080. This Isn't the Sort of Thing That Happens to Someone Like You by Jon McGregor (English)
081. What is an editor? Saxe Commins at work by Dorothy Commins (English)
082. Rappaccini's daughter by Nathaniel Hawthorne (English)

083. Sibelius. Les cygnes et le silence (Reviewed on Club Read 2015)
084. Lettres à Eugène. Correspondance 1977-1987 (Reviewed on Club Read 2015)
085. Miss Blanche (Reviewed on Club Read 2015)
086. De merkwaardige verrijzenis van Ángel Arcadio Picasso (Reviewed on Club Read 2015)
087. L'archéologue (Reviewed on Club Read 2015)
088. The secret garden (Reviewed on Club Read 2015)
089. Les parleuses (Reviewed on Club Read 2015)
090. Vision à New York (Reviewed on Club Read 2015)
091. On the road (Reviewed on Club Read 2015)
092. Lonesome traveler (Reviewed on Club Read 2015)
093. The Garden of Evening Mists (Reviewed on Club Read 2015)
094. Paris (Reviewed on Club Read 2015)
095. Moon tiger (Reviewed on Club Read 2015)
096. Tonio. Een requiemroman (Reviewed on Club Read 2015)

097. Travels in the scriptorium by Paul Auster (English)
098. Het dieptelood van de herinnering by Hella S. Haasse (Dutch)
099. Am Tiberufer by Paul Heyse (German)
100. Little Lord Fauntleroy by Frances Hodgson Burnett (English)
101. Beijing by Philip Gambone (English)
102. John Barleycorn by Jack London (English)
103. Le Paradis by Hervé Guibert (French)
104. Love and summer by William Trevor (English)
105. Burning daylight by Jack London (English)
106. Inleiding tot de kennis van de ambtenaar by A. Alberts (Dutch)
107. Timbuktu by Paul Auster (English)
108. Memoires. 1953-1957 by Willem Oltmans (Dutch)
109. Jump, and other short stories by Nadine Gordimer (English)
110. De Romeinen in Nederland by Dr. W A Van Es (Dutch)
111. Imaginary homelands. Essays and criticism 1981-1991 by Salman Rushdie (English)
112. De verschrikkelijke eenzaamheid van de inbreker by Jan Leijten (Dutch)
113. Clear. A transparent novel by Nicola Barker (English)
114. Gillespie and I by Jane Harris (English)
115. Memoires. 1957-1959 by Willem Oltmans (Dutch)
116. De man voor het venster, 1932-1940 by Maurice Gilliams (Dutch)
117. Simon Winchester's Calcutta by Simon Winchester (English)
118. Der alte König in seinem Exil by Arno Geiger (German)
119. Memoires. 1961 by Willem Oltmans (Dutch)
120. In the skin of a lion by Michael Ondaatje (English)
121. De witte stad by J. Bernlef (Dutch)
122. Dan Leno and the Limehouse Golem by Peter Ackroyd (English)
123. She. Understanding feminine psychology by Robert A. Johnson (English)
124. Coming to Jakarta. A poem about terror by Peter Dale Scott (English)
125. Het fluwelen labyrint by Jan van Aken (Dutch)
126. All around Atlantis by Deborah Eisenberg (English)
127. The collected stories of Deborah Eisenberg by Deborah Eisenberg (English)
128. American theocracy. The peril and politics of radical religion, oil, and borrowed money in the 21st century by Kevin Phillips (English)
129. Hold everything dear. Dispatches on survival and resistance by John Berger (English)
130. The varieties of scientific experience. A personal view of the search for God by Carl Sagan (English)
131. A widow's story. A memoir by Joyce Carol Oates (English)
132. Alphabet juice. The energies, gists, and spirits of letters, words, and combinations thereof; their roots, bones, innards, piths, pips, and secret parts, tinctures, tonics, and essences; with examples of their usage foul and savory) by Roy Blount jr. (English)
133. The ancestor's tale by Richard Dawkins (English)

I'm sorry about your firewall troubles. I miss your thoughtful reviews.

Thanks, Colleen.

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