henkmet

I could compile a list of what I plan to read, group reads I intend to join etc &c but experience shows I won't follow any of that, so let's see if I can manage some simple diary keeping...

Finished Young Henry IV by Heinrich Mann. Very interesting work; enjoyed it a lot.

Now reading The Map and the Territory, which I have a very hard time liking.

Other than that and for reasons I don't quite understand, I'm suddenly interested in statistics and machine learning and reading up on the subject(s).

Finished books (date):
It was the war of the trenches(1/1/13)
The map and the Territory (7/1/13)
Sunset Park (9/1/13)
Fevre Dream (15/1/13)
Milton: Poet, Pamphleteer and Patriot(21/1/13)
A thousand years of good prayers(23/1/13)
The cornet-player who betrayed Ireland(23/1/13)
sun and steel(30/1/13)
Catherine of Aragon(8/2/13)
Last Night in Twisted River(21/2/13)
Spring Snow(26/2/13)
A brief history of science(quit reading 5/3/13)
The ninth, Beethoven and the world in 1824(11/3/13)
Life in Victorian Britain (2/4/13)

Wish list (source):
The Spell (deebee1)
The Embarassment of Riches(deebee1)
Maerchen der Brueder Grimm(it's their centiversary. Or something)
The Black Count (rebeccanyc)
Paradise Lost(Milton's biography)
The walls of Delhi(kidzdoc)
The Vagrants(earlier read by same author, rachbxl, arubabookwoman)
Cronus' children(deebee1)

Welcome, henkmet. Some readers reserve spaces at the top of their threads for various lists or charts. As you stroll around Club Read you will see that some have quite extensive documentation of their reading or 'challenges'...etc. To each his/her own.

I'm not sure how much reading we shall have in common but I will enjoy popping in here every once in and while to see what you are reading. By the way, are you reading in English or Dutch or both?

Welcome to the group. Thanks for bringing Young Henry of Navarre to my attention. I was disappointed that while there is a Kindle version in German, not so for the translated version. Nevertheless, I've added it to my wishlist.

Avaland, thanks for the welcome. I read English, Dutch, German or French depending on what I can find. Young Henry of Navarre was in Dutch, The map and the territory is in English. And yesterday I picked up Gargantua and Pantagruel again (in English) of which I managed to finish book I out of V. Very handy to have something stored on your phone in case a paper book is somehow inconvenient.

Arubabookwoman, if you don't mind reading Dutch, there is an OCR'ed version.

The map and the territory 7/1/2013

As mentioned above, I had a hard time liking the book. I read somewhere that Houellebecq writes things to satirise his critics. Not being in the know on what critics are saying about him, I found myself guessing most of the time:

- Is the editing poor on purpose, because he received criticism on that before?
- Does Jed Martin change his artistic procedure drastically and seemingly at random because MH had been accused of something similar?
- Is the epilogue several chapters because...?
- Are multiple pages apparently verbatim copies from wikipedia because...? (with acknowledgement, even)

There are certainly chapters that are pleasant to read, particularly those that deal with Jed's relationship with Olga, but on the whole there seemed to be an overbearing focus on the details of Jed's photography and painting which I found rather implausible and uninteresting. Such philosophical observations as made it into the text were rather obvious and didn't provoke much further thought.

The writer includes himself in the plot for reasons that escape me. The character of the Michel Houellebecq in the book isn't developed much and constant references to himself as 'the author of Atomized' are completely inappropriate (or is that in response to...?). The author is found ritually slaughtered in his house, the description of which completely failed to interest me. (yes, wikipedia mentions complaints about obscenity)

The book didn't meet the expectations I had based on the author's name and the Prix Goncourt. I may or may not give Houellebecq a second chance but this book gets a meagre 2.5 stars.

next: Paul Auster- Sunset Park

Interesting to read your review of The Map and the territory. I have Extension du Domaine de Lutte sitting on my bookshelf and have taken it down a couple of times and read the first few pages. It might be similar in style to The map and the Territory

Interesting thoughts on The Map and the Territory. I read Houllebecq's Atomised before he won the Prix Goncourt, and was surprised when he got the award. Not that I had any inkling of the basis for the decision. Atomised left me unimpressed with both the writing and the idea, I decided I wouldn't give him a second chance.

Sunset Park - Paul Auster

Though this book is just over 300 pages, there isn't much text per page and it can probably classify as a novella. I finished it rather quickly anyhow.

The story begins very classicly in media res. We start following the events seen (mostly) through the eyes of an initially unnamed protagonist. We get to know Miles Heller while he is holding down some going-nowhere job in Florida where he is clearing out houses of those evicted due to the 2008 crisis. Oddly enough, he has the habit of taking pictures of objects left behind ... not quite unlike Jed Martin in the novel I read only days ago...

We gather that he is from New York and that he is in love with an high school girl, Pilar, who he met when both were reading 'The Great Gatsby' in the park. He seems to be a bit in the slumps and there we arrive at a major theme of the novel: getting in and out of the slumps. Bit by bit we learn his history which is very powerfully overshadowed by the death of his stepbrother who was overrun by a car after Miles gave him an angry push. Ever since he has been unable to tell whether it was truly an accident or whether he had acted intentionally, a thing which weighed so heavily on him that he fled New York without letting his father and stepmother know his whereabouts.

He is forced into action when Pilar's sister is threatening to announce him for having an affair with an underage girl and he flees back to New York to live with an old friend and two girls in a squatter house in sunset park (hence, the title). We are treated to short chapters focussing on each of these in turn and it seems they all live in a kind of limbo. Alice is struggling to finish her PhD and the relationship with her boy friend is in a dead end. Ellen is holding down a job as real estate agent which isn't suited to her. She paints but without success, she is fighting depression and she really would like to have a boy friend. Bing is an non-conformist activist claiming to run a repair shop for antiquated things but he really only survives by framing pictures. He also suspects he might be gay because he is very attracted to Miles, who is off limits however, and he is afraid to approach another man. Finally, Miles is added to the house, waiting for Pilar to have her birthday so they can officially live together. He is also putting off the moment when he will see his parents and step parents again. Miles' godfather is going through a phase of writer's block (which he describes as the slumps). His father's marriage, to complete the picture, is at a low point after he stuck his dumb ass penis in another woman and his wife ran off to London to teach a semester there. His father's publishing business is surviving but longing for the end of the crisis so people may start buying books again.

Alice's PhD thesis, on man-woman relationships that have changed due to WWII, as exemplified by the movie 'The Best Years of Our Lives', furnishes another major theme of the work, or the same theme seen from a slightly different angle.

Paul Auster being Paul Auster, both books and movies get lots of love. Baseball features heavily as well, especially where there are stories about players who are unlucky to get wounded or otherwise in the slumps. Contrasted by an extremely lucky player who escapes death thrice ... but dies of old age at the end of the novel.

Narrative imperative has it that eviction notes and personal developments chase each other in all those lives. Alice breaks with her boy friend and manages to nearly finish her PhD before being knocked down the stairs by he police who come to evict them. Ellen, after a flurry of erotic drawings, finds the man who got her pregnant while he was a boy of sixteen and they fall for each other. Bing has his male-male coupling and discovers he is not interested in it. Miles' father rushes to London to save his marriage, gets pneumonia on cue and is lovingly treated by his wife. Miles' godfather found an interesting new book to write and Miles meets his father (but not his mother) and finally dares to confess his feelings of guilt about his stepbrother's death. Though we do not directly get to know Miles' stepmother's feelings, we get the impression she will not be able to restore the relation with Miles, true to the musings earlier that we grow weaker as we grow older: those who receive the blows young can recover but not so those who receive blows later in life.

The book is written with a nice pace and, despite the way my review may make it sound, is never depressing nor is it openly hopeful in the ending. Also, though it may seem that narrative imperative has to account for a lot it never felt contrived while I was reading.

Notable errors: Miles' grandmother is found when she was dead 48 hours but less than 24 hours after having a phone conversation with her son.
Miles' grandfather was wounded when a baseball crashed his eye, making him 'legally blind'. He could, however, at sixty still trounce his son in a game of tennis.

Enjoyed your review of Sunset Park henk

Great review! Not sure if it's for me but sounds like there's a lot to think about.

Enjoyed your review. You have me interested in Paul Auster.

Picked up Fevre Dream at a discount sale (a sale which will dominate my reading for some time to come...). It's a work by much younger GRR Martin than the Ice and Fire series. While he already seems to have his preference for gritty and grizzly writing, he is not yet so successful in it as his characters still come across as rather stereotypical, from the purely evil, demonic Damon Julian (the name!...), the good hero Joshua York, a vampire like Julian, to the human Abner Marsch who could have come straight from a hard-boiled. The general plot is rather predictable as well, with the goodies about to win before they are nearly killed and etc. Nevertheless, the writing, descriptions, dialogues are all quite ok so it's just an easy read during commute. And I did learn some on the river trading steamboats in the 19th century. And was reminded that I should perhaps still try to read Byron ...

Now on to a biography of Milton, poet and pamphleteer. (which I may or may not read in conjunction with paradise lost)

And was reminded that I should perhaps still try to read Byron ...

I haven't read GRR Martin, but that was not a line I expected. Good luck with Milton and PL. I need to give that a 2nd try some day.

SHE walks in beauty, like the night
Of cloudless climes and starry skies,
And all that's best of dark and bright
Meets in her aspect and her eyes;
Thus mellow'd to that tender light
Which Heaven to gaudy day denies.

One shade the more, one ray the less,
Had half impair'd the nameless grace
Which waves in every raven tress
Or softly lightens o'er her face,
Where thoughts serenely sweet express
How pure, how dear their dwelling-place.

And on that cheek and o'er that brow
So soft, so calm, yet eloquent,
The smiles that win, the tints that glow,
But tell of days in goodness spent,—
A mind at peace with all below,
A heart whose love is innocent.

This poem (the first stanza anyway) is referenced multiple times as a sort of theme. It's not related to any of the human (or vampire) characters but to a steamship and, surprising as it may be, it wholly fits the atmosphere.

Now several chapters into the Milton biography and the discussion of his relationship with Charles Diodati and male-male relationships in contemporary England in general, is very interesting.

I think I also need to try Byron...

Nice review of the Auster, and it reminds me why I never liked him!

It was the war of the trenches
This was a reread. I first read this graphic novel when I was about twenty and I can vividly remember the impact that it had at that age. If you have a weak stomach you should not read this.

While I have always been a reading youth, the war came to me in adventure books where a few children and their dog hatch a cunning plan, outsmart the Germans and save the day. Or it would be Bigglesworth and his friends doing their breathtaking acrobatics in the air. In all those books, at most some anonymous enemy dies, or rather, disappears, and war was a game. Surely, I was always a bit of a pacifist and I knew the numbers from history but I don't think I understood what was behind those numbers. Then I read Tardi.

There isn't an actual plot to this black-and-white graphic novel, it consists of a number of episodes with some people reappearing (if they have managed to survive). War is depicted as an utterly unheroic struggle for survival against unhygienic circumstances, mud, fleas, military police and flying bullets and shells.

The signature scene is based on the story Tardi heard from his grandfather, who lost his way on the field with a kettle of food and was forced to spend the night in foul smelling mud only to find out the next day that he had dug his hands in someone's rotting intestines. His comrades complained of the lost food.

Life isn't worth much and friendship lasts only until you get a chance to pull the boots of your dead mate. There are a few scenes where there is fraternising between French and German soldiers who want to get out of the war but these attempts predictably end with the deserters put up against the wall. For the rest, soldiers are living with death, living with the dead (take that corpse out of the barbed wire. The smell is demoralising the men) and, eventually, actively looking for heir own death.

The first time I read this I felt very miserable and still it's not a pleasant read, though, as far as I'm concerned essential reading for anyone who thinks there's something heroic about war.

Henk - I was alerted to your presence by Darryl (kidzdoc). I am also based in Malaysia (since 1994) and am over in the 75ers group more often than not.

Whereabouts in Malaysia are you staying?

If you have a chance look me up. http://www.librarything.com/topic/148360#3849483

#19 - great review. I will keep this graphic novel in mind. (When you said " I first read this graphic novel when I was about twenty", I was thinking you meany a long time ago...)

>20 PaulCranswick: I work in KL but I live in Seremban, both since 2001. Yours is a very busy place indeed. 75ers means 75 posts a day?

>21 dchaikin: Dan, that would be about twenty years ago as my memory has it. The book was first out in French in 1993 so my friends and me must have been amongst the very first readers of the Dutch translation. (to be slightly more exact, I'm 1970 vintage)

Henk we should meet up at some stage for a coffee and a book chat - LT Meet-ups are rare events in these parts. You may note from my thread that I am often in or around the bookshops. Let me know.
75 posts a day - hahaha; this time of year is a bit hectic in the group and my own thread is, or was last year's busiest with just shy of 10,000 posts but we all go at our own pace.

Well, borders being next to starbucks definitely helps arranging that.

#21 ok...wikipedia gives the publication date as 2010 - must be a translation date. (oh, we are about the same age. I'll be 40 in April.)

Milton: Poet, Pamphleteer and Patriot

I haven't (yet) read anything by Milton nor anything about Milton and in fact, I knew preciously little about England during that time. A good opportunity then to educate myself a bit.

Anna Beer presents a mix of all three ingredients above. The first part of the book deal with Milton in Cambridge and his friendship with Charles Diodati. This friendship was extremely close, as witnessed by a correspondence full of inside jokes. In fact, it has apparently drawn remarks on homo-eroticism. To place this in context, as well as later Milton's misogyny, there is quite a bit of background on the 17th century culture: male/male friendships and the shocking lack of emancipation at the time. I welcome such information and that's just as well because it's given interspersed with the biographical details and therefor hard to skip.

Though the poetry of this age is probably not major in itself, it is discussed to show Milton's cleverness and wit.

Milton eventually marries and he starts his career as pamphleteer. He publishes a number of tracts on divorce (arguing that this should be possible). A little after, when the people are about to behead Charles I, he quickly publishes a pamphlet defending the right of the people to do so. The common theme of the pamphlets seems to be that people should have a free choice.

During the short-lived republic or common-wealth, he is asked, owing to his formidable linguistic abilities, to be Latin scribe for the Council. Though he stops writing poetry at this time in favour of first pamphlets then Defenses for the English People, this period is covered at length, inclusive of the practical implications that his blindness must have caused him.

The last period of his life he is again producing poetry. With most of his life behind him, he can now work on his magnum opus: Paradise Lost. Followed later by Paradise Regained and Samson Agonistes. This later period is described a bit sketchy compared to his earlier life but there is quite some space given to an analysis of Paradise Lost with several excerpts to illustrate the points given.

I greatly enjoyed reading about the history, the cultural differences between then and now and of course Milton's poetry. I think Anna Beer did a good, careful job to write an interesting history from the little direct and the scattered indirect information there is. At times she can not hide her annoyance at the lack of emancipation in the 17th century and lets some snide (but pointless) remarks slip through. I might have wished for some more detail in the later part of Milton's life but perhaps there isn't more material or maybe there's nothing much interesting happening. I'll now go and add Paradise Lost to my wish list.

Helpful review. This is now on the wishlist for whenever I get to PL.

Good review of Milton: Poet, Pamphleteer and Patriot I will definitely read this when I get to reading Milton. It's always a sign of a good biography if it encourages you to go out and read books by it's subject

I read Milton: Poet, Pamphleteer and Patriot when it came out, and thought it was quite good, but I preferred John Milton: Life, Work and Thought, which seemed a bit more rigorous than Beer's biography. Excellent review.

Two small books to report today:
A thousand years of good prayers
This is a small book of short stories by Yiyun Li, a Chinese lady living in the USA now. All stories are about Chinese, though some are set in the US. They give strong picture of a society where social control is oppressive (to a western reader) and enforcing a very traditional life-style. Gossip rules and indeed, one story consists of nothing apart from an extended gossip.

This traditional life-style is has survived all the upheavals in 20th century China, revolution, civil war, dictatorship, communist party and more recently the advent of capitalism. The early stories center around those families or individuals who due to all these changes have lost the control over their lives. Powerless and uncomprehending they undergo whatever happens to them. While obviously not cheerful, I found these enormously endearing.

In some later stories the focus is more on the tension between those characters that are more compliant with tradition or party rule and those of a younger generation that are rebelling.

Overall, very intriguing stories. I'll look out for other titles by her.

The cornet player who betrayed Ireland

4 short stories set in Ireland. I'd never have picked this up except that cornet was my first instrument when I was 9..

The title story deals with loyalty to either of two Irish nationalist factions. The brass band is all for Redmond except for the star cornet player who supports O'Brien. When the band has to play at political functions the cornet player first joins (presumably betraying Ireland) but later defects. While it might be fascinating to see the background for people's fanaticism either way, the fact that the storyteller is the young son of the cornet player makes this rather impossible; now it's just a story.

There is a humorous story about a boy very frightened for his first confession but discovering the priest is a kind man.

Another, very sketchy story, about a man going to seed is somewhat saved by mentioning Maupassant.

The most interesting story has two Irishmen guarding two English hostages ands striking up a comradery with them if not exactly friendship (chum, is the word the author uses). After events on the English sides, the ringleader comes to tell that the hostages should be shot.

All in all, it's a very quick read (didn't last a single commute) but it won't leave any lasting impression.

I'm trying to remember whether someone else around here recently posted on something by Yiyun Li. Anyway, I'm intrigued by your review (or report).

I like the sound of A Thousand Years of Good Prayers, another one for the wishlist. I like the idea of reading about the elements of a culture or lifestyle that carry on after major upheavals - we only usually hear about what has been lost.

>31 dchaikin: Daniel, I'm sure somebody reviewed her collection Gold Boy, Emerald Girl. I can't remember who it was (apologies, reviewer!) but I can tell you it had a very appealing ginko leaf design on the cover. Useful, no?

Cariola posted a great review.

That's the one. Thanks!

A Thousand Years of Good Prayers sounds good to me too. Thanks for your comments.

I really enjoyed Yiyun Li's novel The Vagrants so I'll be looking out for A Thousand Years of Good Prayers - thanks for bringing it to my attention.

While officially reading Catherine of Aragon, I took a little time off to read Sun and Steel in preparation of a group Mishima read in the salon. I saw it advertised as a collection of essays which is odd because it's one continuous text. I'd rather call it a pamphlet anyway.

In short, Mishima deals with the difference between mind and body (or mental awareness versus raw physical consciousness. Or whatever) and how these can only ultimately reconciled by death. Despite Mishima developing this theme several times and from slightly different perspectives, I could never really shake of the feeling that I was reading the railing ravings of a lunatic and so the book left me rather unconvinced. Supposedly the book describes his development throughout his life and as it was written only two years before his ritual suicide it may shed some light on that.

I was reading the railing ravings of a lunatic

sold! Usually these are the best things to read.......

I will second Rachbxl's recommendation of The Vagrants by Yiyun Li--I really enjoyed it.

thanks rachbxl and arubabookwoman. Wishlist duly updated.

Catherine of Aragon

Another biography/history book; my second this year.

The first chapters seem to be wavering between a 'real' biography and something more dramatised. Fortunately, Tremlett drops this more descriptive style quickly and you can feel you're reading history. Without notes and I only found out on the last page that those are available on the publisher's website. Well, everything better than endnotes (I hate endnotes, especially if these contain additional explanation that I don't want to miss).

The biography starts with the union of Aragon and Castile in the form of Ferdinand and Isabel. Their daughter Catherine was betrothed at an incredibly early age to Arthur, the eldest son of Henry VII. When they finally got married at the ripe age of 15 or so, Arthur had only a few months to live and Catherine found herself a pawn on the chessboard of european politics; though a pawn with the capability to be transformed into a queen (GT's image).

Held on an ever tighter budget by Henry VII as long as Ferdinand didn't want to commit to the dowry, she must have had several miserable years before marrying the younger brother of Arthur, Henry VIII-to-be, for which they receive papal dispensation. There follow a number of chapters in which their marriage is described in good detail. We get to see Henry as a physically powerful man who is nevertheless very impulsive and has no patience for matters of state which he leaves fully to an upstart called Wolsey.

Then happens what we've all been waiting for: Henry wants rid of Catherine to marry Anne Boleyn and instead of resorting to accusing her of adultery or beheading her for some pretext or other he wants to have the marriage annulled, which would require the pope to go back on the dispensation given by his predecessor. Wolsey, charged with delivering the annulment does what he can but can't force the pope to make any move whatsoever. Since the disappointment of the king spells death (his impulsive character!), this means Wolsey exit and the rise of Thomas Cromwell (great-great-granduncle of Oliver Cromwell). Fed up waiting for the pope, Henry thinks that it's actually strange for a king to submit to anyone anyway and he declares himself head of the church in England. This allows the newly appointed archbishop of Canterbury to announce the annulment, which is just as well as Henry and Anne had already married anyway.

The ordeals of Catherine during the six years of the legal battle, continuing to hope that Henry might tire of Anne before her death rather than several weeks after, as was the case, her continued loyalty to Henry, her pleas to an indecisive pope and her nephew Charles V (who found other parts of the European chessboard more lucrative, apparently) are described in as minute detail as the sources allow. Here we run in the main limitation of the biography. It seems that the majority of the sources is decidedly Spanish, which made me suspect that the picture might be a bit biased. Nevertheless, Tremlett does an admirable job in combining all available material in a coherent narrative.

I thoroughly enjoyed learning a bit of history with this biography.

Excellent review henkmet. Catherine of Aragon goes on my to buy list

Great review of Catherine of Aragon, Henk!

#41 Now you are prepared for Hilary Mantel's Wolf Hall & Bring Up the Bodies

#44 Thanks for the suggestions Dan! And I'm sure my wife will beg me to watch the Tudors as well.

Nice review. I've been looking for a good biography of Catherine who too often seems to get short shrift as people want to rush on to Anne, but from what I've read of her (Catherine) she seemed like someone who could have ruled in her own right.

>42 baswood:, 43, 46: thanks for the kind words. Seems my manners have been on holiday.

#46 I think she could have. I didn't do justice in my review to the chapters that describe how she set up what amounted to her own diplomatic/intelligence agency. Also, Tremlett quite rightfully points to the sheer duration of her marriage; longer than all Henry's other marriages taken together.

Catherine was an intriguing character in Bring Up the Bodies, after she was displaced by Anne and imprisoned in a castle. So this book sounds interesting too.

Last night in Twisted River

This is a story of two intersecting love triangles set in northern New Hampshire and their 50 year aftermath.

The main characters are cookie, cookie's son the writer, cookie's friend Ketchum and deputy constable Carl for the males, cookie's dead wife Rosie, cookie's girl friend Injun Jane for the females.

Before the start of the novel the triangle consists of cookie, Ketchum and Rosie. Rosie wants both men and forces them be friends. The reader only learns this much later. Then she dies. The second triangle consists of Injun Jane, her legit boy friend Carl and her lover cookie. The writer, then only twelve years old, sees Jane riding his father cow-girl style and mistakes her for a bear. She dies when he hits her with a frying pan.

Father and son go on the run and live through a good amount of relationships etc before Carl finds them nearly fifty years later and shoots cookie. The novel refuses to die when cookie does and drags on a bit until Ketchum is also dead and the writer starts a new novel.

The most interesting part was the beginning when the life in logging camps/towns is described. The people were not that interesting, they were mostly caricatures of themselves.

The novel jumps from one period to the next with plenty of flashbacks, perhaps inspired by the twisted in the title. There are plenty of details about all the main characters but somehow they don't bring the characters to life; they don't stick. The 60 year old writer at the end of the novel doesn't think in any way different from the 12 year old boy of the beginning. At no point does he feel even the slightest bit of remorse about killing his father's girl friend to name something. Another very odd thing is that characters refuse to act their age for example near the end where an octogenarian minor character is contemplating her reaction to Ketchum and wondering whether she should marry him.

The prose is ok and Mr Irving has a wealth of ideas, they just don't add up to a novel.

This is only a partial review of a brief history of science as I didn't finish it and am not planning to.

The premise of the book is interesting: as seen through the development of scientific instruments. This opens up the opportunity for the ultimate geek book where we witness the progress of science, leaning on emerging technologies which again are derived from scientific principles. Nerdy, bootstrappin' goodness. But alas, Crump wanted a book without formulas, without nerdery, without much technology and, yes, without too much science.

What's left could still have been a worthwhile book, if for no better reason then to embed all those trivia that we all (?) have floating around in our memory into a continuous narrative. But if on top of everything else the book keeps jumping around in time, revisiting an already-treated scientist in later chapters and if the author continuously gives the feeling that he doesn't understand the little science that made it in the book then it sucks the joy right out of reading.

Henk, you think they would commission someone to write a book like this that understood some science. I don't think leaving the science out of it is the answer. It sounds very poor.

Barry, I quit reading halfway for a reason. But having said that, his credentials are not bad: mathematician, anthropologist and till retirement in1994 employed in Amsterdam as professor (in anthropolgy, but with special interest in the history of science). The expectations I brought to the book may have been a factor, but I'm not retracting any of my criticism.

That book sounds awful, Henk. Thanks for warning us about it.

Henk, pity about the book. A premise like that sounded promising, though indeed, the title already gives a hint that it's bound to be a hit and miss affair.

is it possible that he in fact wrote quite a good book, but then it was ripped apart by some dumbarsed editor, on the grounds that 'readers won't understand it' ?

happens more often than not.

TC, it's quite possible an editor ruined it. It's published by Robinson of Constable&Robinson. Perhaps Oxford or Cambridge university press would have allowed a better book to slip through. However that may be, the book-as-is is all I have so it's all I can judge.

The ninth, Beethoven and the world in 1824

In this short (just over 200pp) book Harvey Sachs takes the première of Beethoven's ninth symphony, on 7 May 1824, as the occasion to take a look at the world at that time (pretty much as it says on the box).

He describes the production of the concert and Beethoven's dealings around the concert in part one, including the rather familiar picture of the somewhat impoverished genius whose household was a terrible mess.

Part two describes the world (Europe) in the aftermath of Napoleon: monarchs who are trying to restore their old powers but people who have already tasted egality, liberty and brotherhood, the ideals of the revolution. It was this part that was really interesting for me. Too many artist appear in this part to discuss here, but Goethe, Heine, Stendhal, Balzac, Byron, Hegel make an appearance, to name but a few. Surpisingly, not much attention is given to Schiller (author of the Ode to Joy), presumably because he was already dead.

The third part is a walk through the ninth symphony, describing the themes, variations and how the author experiences them. It had me take out my CD to listen again; never a bad thing.

The last part describes the lasting influence of Beethoven in general and the ninth in particular. It describes the polarising effect the ninth had on comtemporaries, fortunately without ever taking part in unpleasantries (quoting them is fun, though).

Harvey Sachs is both a musician and a writer and this shows throughout the book. The descriptions of contemporary writers, poets and painters are very interesting (I must now go and look into Heine, for instance). What makes the book especially enjoyable to read is that, though he has very definite opinions, Sachs never becomes dogmatic.

One thing that I realised was how poorly organised my own knowledge is, with nearly completely separated timelines for history, music, literature etc. Even on Romantic music is was surprised how much of the movement happened simultaneously, rather than in a neat sequence. But I'm sure that, even for people with much better knowledge than me there is much of interest hinted at in this pleasant book.

random quote:
Beethoven's contempt for most human beings conflicted with his all-embracing love for humanity.

Excellent review of The ninth, Beethoven and the world in 1824. This is definitely one for me to read, it goes straight onto next months buying list. It's good to have timelines in mind as you say there was so much going on in Europe and it's good to get some idea of context for a great work like this.

Sounds like a wonderful book; there should be more of this kind. Interesting thought about the separated timelines. I don't have too much trouble with that, but tend to compartmentalize the activities, so that I could not read a nineteenth century author and at the same time listen to music that would have been current when the book was written. Wish I could, but it just doesn't work. I would have to do it for a book like this though.

Added to my list.

Seems to be an interesting read. I'm now listening to the work, inspired by your review. Here's a trivia: did you know that Ode to Joy was adopted by the EU as the European Anthem? I couldn't care less, really, but just thought that with EU's problems now, Mozart's last masterpiece is starting to look more appropriate to the times, rather than this joyful piece.

58/59/60 Thanks for the kind words.

60 Yes, Europe realised after WW2 that cooperation was the way to prevent new armed conflicts. Ode to Joy is a symbol of this optimistic outlook. And yes, the EU never figured out a joined foreign policy with as all-time-low the misery in (former) Yugoslavia in the eighties. And of course the failure of the proposed constitution, which was never the inspirational document that the US constitution is. The present problems are mostly economical with the 3% hardliner mafia stamping out any economic recovery in the budding stages. But to suggest a requiem is a bit premature (though I realise you meant it tongue-in-cheek).

>57 henkmet: love that quote.

Fun review of The ninth, Beethoven and the world in 1824.

>62 QuentinTom:,63 Thanks

What an interesting book! I love that quote.

A brief history of Life in Victorian Britain

It took me a long time to finish this book but through no fault of the book; I've just been too busy lately.

Michael Paterson delivers exactly what it says on the cover: a brief history of life in Victorian Britain (A social history of Queen Victoria's reign).

The book is organised by topic with a few rather general chapters in the beginning followed by chapters on taste, transport, religion etcetera. Since the victorian age was rather long, this means scanning through the period a number of times. This inevitably leads to some duplications but they are kept to minimum.

The thing that struck me most is how many developments are a result of improved travel. That is quite obvious if you think about it, but sometimes you need someone to point it out to you. For example, the rules of many sports, which varied widely between towns/schools early in the period. This didn't matter as games were only held within the town or school. When it became feasible to transport teams between towns, leagues sprung up and with it the need to institutionalise the rules.

The book reads very easily and for me, as non-Brit and not really in the know of the period, quite suitable. But it also gives the impression of summarising a number of more specialised histories. In fact, entire pages are verbatim quotes from other books. I suspect that people with more background knowledge might be better served reading those books instead. Nevertheless, I enjoyed it.

I have spent time wondering why team sports seemed to be such modern phenomena. I never considered how dependent they are on modern transportation.