thorold gives his harness bells a shake in Q1 2026
This topic was continued by thorold quotes a relevant line of verse in Q2 2026.
Talk Club Read 2026
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1thorold
Whose woods these are I think I know.
His house is in the village, though;
He will not see me stopping here
To watch his woods fill up with snow.
My little horse must think it queer
To stop without a farmhouse near
Between the woods and frozen lake
The darkest evening of the year.
He gives his harness bells a shake
To ask if there is some mistake.
The only other sound's the sweep
Of easy wind and downy flake.
The woods are lovely, dark, and deep,
But I have promises to keep,
And miles to go before I sleep,
And miles to go before I sleep.
Robert Frost, Stopping by woods on a snowy evening
3thorold
Welcome to my first Club Read thread of 2026!
Big plans — this will finally be the year I slay the TBR pile and rescue the dragon that has been confined in a cave for hundreds of years by that wall of books… No, just joking, I’ll be happy if I get to the end of the year without the pile growing significantly.
According to the Year in Review stats https://www.librarything.com/stats/thorold/year
I read 139 books during 2025 but acquired 160, so acquisitions are only slightly outpacing my reading. Quite a few of those 160 were library books or have been offset by books given away or sold, so I’m not exactly fighting for space (plus, for the moment, some of the books are still in Ohio, and that doesn’t count as taking up shelf-space…).
The 2025 Q4 thread was here: https://www.librarything.com/topic/374300
The picture above is from the December cold snap we experienced in NE Ohio before returning to Holland, where the holidays have been snow-free, as they usually are.
Big plans — this will finally be the year I slay the TBR pile and rescue the dragon that has been confined in a cave for hundreds of years by that wall of books… No, just joking, I’ll be happy if I get to the end of the year without the pile growing significantly.
According to the Year in Review stats https://www.librarything.com/stats/thorold/year
I read 139 books during 2025 but acquired 160, so acquisitions are only slightly outpacing my reading. Quite a few of those 160 were library books or have been offset by books given away or sold, so I’m not exactly fighting for space (plus, for the moment, some of the books are still in Ohio, and that doesn’t count as taking up shelf-space…).
The 2025 Q4 thread was here: https://www.librarything.com/topic/374300
The picture above is from the December cold snap we experienced in NE Ohio before returning to Holland, where the holidays have been snow-free, as they usually are.
4wandering_star
What a fabulous photo - very atmospheric!
5rhian_of_oz
Happy New Year! Aren't we the dragons guarding our book hoards?
6cindydavid4
>1 thorold: one of the first poems I memorized in school and still admire lovely to read it oon the first day of the year
7dchaikin
>1 thorold: this poem is always lovely
>2 thorold: and this picture is gorgeous!
>3 thorold: come on, now. You’re supposed to slay the dragon and save the damesel! Where’s your Malory (well, in Malory, the Damesel is raped and killed before the thug is slain. Hmm. Ok, save the dragon)
Happy New Year cross-pond hopper.
>2 thorold: and this picture is gorgeous!
>3 thorold: come on, now. You’re supposed to slay the dragon and save the damesel! Where’s your Malory (well, in Malory, the Damesel is raped and killed before the thug is slain. Hmm. Ok, save the dragon)
Happy New Year cross-pond hopper.
8thorold
>4 wandering_star: >5 rhian_of_oz: >6 cindydavid4: >7 dchaikin: Thanks!
Who needs damesels…? Dragons are so much more fun.
Who needs damesels…? Dragons are so much more fun.
9dchaikin
>8 thorold: and they can be cute too!
10thorold
And I’ve already finished my first book of 2026, a lightweight item I didn’t get as a Christmas gift 15 years ago, but came across in a bookshop the other day instead…
By my reckoning I’ve read 81 of Crace’s “notable books”, including several I wish I hadn’t…
Brideshead Abbreviated: the digested read of the twentieth century (2010) by John Crace (UK, 1956- )
By my reckoning I’ve read 81 of Crace’s “notable books”, including several I wish I hadn’t…
Brideshead Abbreviated: the digested read of the twentieth century (2010) by John Crace (UK, 1956- )
11baswood
>10 thorold: I enjoy his political sketches - not sure about 100 digested reads though
12dchaikin
>10 thorold: Must have been a fun book to write 🙂
13AlisonY
>8 thorold: You stirred up all sorts of happy memories there with Ivor the Engine. :)
14LolaWalser
Happy new year, Mark, merry continent-hopping.
15kjuliff
>10 thorold: Thank you for this review. I’m definitely interested in reading it and will see if it’s available in audio. I’m wondering how Crace handles Michel Houellebecq.
16thorold
>14 LolaWalser: Thanks!
>15 kjuliff: Predictably, he doesn’t approve of him much! Like quite a number of other unattractive middle-aged straight white male authors, Crace mocks him for living out his sexual fantasies in fiction…
>15 kjuliff: Predictably, he doesn’t approve of him much! Like quite a number of other unattractive middle-aged straight white male authors, Crace mocks him for living out his sexual fantasies in fiction…
17thorold
Since we are doing the “one read per continent” thing in Reading Globally this quarter, I thought I’d be deliberately contrary and have a look to see if I have anything from Antarctica in my piles. This is a book I must have bought from a library sale forty or so years ago, and which I don’t recall ever reading. It doesn’t really qualify for Reading Globally, as it’s written by a New Zealander who only spent a year or so in the Antarctic, but it is about as close as we will get…
No Latitude for Error (1961) by Edmund Hillary (New Zealand, 1919-2008)
(The Commonwealth Antarctic Expedition was a bit before my time — the only association I have with it is one of our teachers claiming that it had given rise to the newspaper headline “Vivian Fuchs off to the Antarctic”. I expect that was apocryphal…)
No Latitude for Error (1961) by Edmund Hillary (New Zealand, 1919-2008)
(The Commonwealth Antarctic Expedition was a bit before my time — the only association I have with it is one of our teachers claiming that it had given rise to the newspaper headline “Vivian Fuchs off to the Antarctic”. I expect that was apocryphal…)
18kjuliff
>16 thorold: Good, but he can be mocked by more than this.
I don’t agree with you about middle aged straight white males. Some have created great works, not in their youth. I have personally known quite intimately a number of these gentlemen. No complaints. ;)
I don’t agree with you about middle aged straight white males. Some have created great works, not in their youth. I have personally known quite intimately a number of these gentlemen. No complaints. ;)
19thorold
>18 kjuliff: Obviously not a very original line of attack, anyway: I seem to have said something similar when I reviewed Les particules élémentaires 12 years ago: https://www.librarything.com/work/60812/reviews/57387160
20dchaikin
>17 thorold: sounds like fun stuff. That maybe headline is really funny
21kjuliff
>19 thorold: I am afraid I am never original. It was meant in jest.. Lots of people say this sort of thing; there’s no need to take it seriously. I did put in a wink in the end to show you that it was a joke reply.
But asa feminist I feel compelled at times to support heterosexual, middle-aged white men. I can’t help it. I just support minorities.
— edited to fix typo
But asa feminist I feel compelled at times to support heterosexual, middle-aged white men. I can’t help it. I just support minorities.
— edited to fix typo
22thorold
>21 kjuliff: LOL!
A short book I picked up somewhere or other in May, knowing nothing about the author.
La fille du Gobernator (1994; The governor’s daughter) by Paule Constant (France, 1944- )
A short book I picked up somewhere or other in May, knowing nothing about the author.
La fille du Gobernator (1994; The governor’s daughter) by Paule Constant (France, 1944- )
23rocketjk
Happy New Year and as always I'll look forward to your varied and interesting reading and reviews. Cheers!
24labfs39
>22 thorold: This sounds quite interesting, and I have read nothing from or about French Guiana.
25dchaikin
>22 thorold: French Guiana. Huh. Interesting - book and author
26Dilara86
>22 thorold: Concurring with >24 labfs39: and >25 dchaikin:. I don't think I'd ever heard of this author...
27thorold
After my comment above that it rarely snows in Holland, we’ve had five days more-or-less snowbound. Not as much snow as Cleveland, of course, but Dutch infrastructure is much less well equipped for dealing with it… Anyway, it means I’ve managed to clear at least one nice thick book off the TBR shelf. Volume 4 of Canetti’s memoirs still awaits me on the shelf…
Das Augenspiel: Lebensgeschichte 1931-1937 (1985; The play of the eyes) by Elias Canetti (Austria, UK, etc., 1905-1994)
Das Augenspiel: Lebensgeschichte 1931-1937 (1985; The play of the eyes) by Elias Canetti (Austria, UK, etc., 1905-1994)
28dchaikin
>27 thorold: great review! i can really fall for memoirs and this sounds like a good one. I kept looking for the word “nazis”, but it didn’t make your review.
29thorold
>28 dchaikin: I don’t think the actual word appeared in the book, either, but of course there were plenty of references to “the new regime in Germany” and the like, and to Germans in exile in Switzerland and elsewhere. And he talks about how disturbed he was by the German book-burnings happening so soon after he wrote about burning books in Auto-da-fé.
But he seems to have made a point of not getting into hindsight: the story is more about intellectual life in Vienna carrying on almost regardless of the disaster that was building up in Europe.
But he seems to have made a point of not getting into hindsight: the story is more about intellectual life in Vienna carrying on almost regardless of the disaster that was building up in Europe.
30dchaikin
>29 thorold: that’s interesting in itself
31labfs39
>27 thorold: After my comment above that it rarely snows in Holland, we’ve had five days more-or-less snowbound.
I have a lovely memory of traipsing around the countryside near Utrecht in a dusting of snow. The sheep looked at me as though to say, What is this stuff?
I have a lovely memory of traipsing around the countryside near Utrecht in a dusting of snow. The sheep looked at me as though to say, What is this stuff?
32thorold
>31 labfs39: Yes, Holland looks very pretty in the snow. Especially if the canals freeze and everyone is skating — we havent quite got that this time (yet), just a lot of nasty wet snow.
Another one from the pile, extracted from a Little Library somewhere I think. I’m never quite sure whether I like Kingsley Amis or find him annoying…
The Biographer's Moustache (1995) by Kingsley Amis (UK, 1922-1995 )
Another one from the pile, extracted from a Little Library somewhere I think. I’m never quite sure whether I like Kingsley Amis or find him annoying…
The Biographer's Moustache (1995) by Kingsley Amis (UK, 1922-1995 )
33dchaikin
>32 thorold: “ I’m never quite sure whether I like Kingsley Amis or find him annoying…” - says more than your review. 🙂 I do want to read him.
35thorold
>33 dchaikin: You should, but not this book. Try something like Lucky Jim or The old devils.
>34 rasdhar: Thanks!
Another chunky book read to make much-needed space on the TBR shelf. This goes together with things like Baudrillard’s America and Terry Eagleton’s Across the pond that I read last year.
American vertigo (2006) by Bernard-Henri Lévy (France, 1948- )
>34 rasdhar: Thanks!
Another chunky book read to make much-needed space on the TBR shelf. This goes together with things like Baudrillard’s America and Terry Eagleton’s Across the pond that I read last year.
American vertigo (2006) by Bernard-Henri Lévy (France, 1948- )
36thorold
Time for a proper go at the one-read-per-continent thing: a book from Asia that I came across by chance in a local little library nearly a year ago. Oddly enough it turns out to be marked “Withdrawn from stock — Kensington and Chelsea Libraries”, and it is an edition published in India, so it has seen the world...
Perumal Murugan is apparently a well-known writer in Tamil, although I hadn’t come across him before. He got involved in a fairly major row with Hindu fundamentalists over one of his most recent books, One part woman.
Seasons of the Palm (2001; English 2004) by Perumal Murugan (India, 1966- ), translated from Tamil to English by V Geetha
Perumal Murugan is apparently a well-known writer in Tamil, although I hadn’t come across him before. He got involved in a fairly major row with Hindu fundamentalists over one of his most recent books, One part woman.
Seasons of the Palm (2001; English 2004) by Perumal Murugan (India, 1966- ), translated from Tamil to English by V Geetha
37kac522
>36 thorold: Aren't the travels of books interesting? Not quite as far-flung as yours, just last week I found a Persephone book, House-Bound by Winifred Peck, at a Half-Price Books here in suburban Chicago. It was marked "Withdrawn--from the Southwark Public Libraries." It's the first time I've found a withdrawn library book at Half-Price Books, let alone one from London. And it was in remarkably decent condition, considering all the due date stamps.
39AnnieMod
>36 thorold: Nice review. Another author I probably should return to.
>38 mabith: I quite liked his Pyre a few years ago (one of the very few times I managed to read a book because it got nominated for something - the International Booker in that case). Review in the work if you want to check.
>38 mabith: I quite liked his Pyre a few years ago (one of the very few times I managed to read a book because it got nominated for something - the International Booker in that case). Review in the work if you want to check.
40Dilara86
>36 thorold: I read One Part Woman a few years ago. It was also quite dark in places, but I learned a lot. Seasons of the Palm sound very interesting, I might see if I can get hold of it.
41thorold
Another continent. This relatively short book has been on the TBR for just over two years, waiting for the right moment.
I read Es’kia Mphahlele’s memoir Down Second Avenue a few years ago. He’s one of the legends of South African literature — he came from a poor background in the townships around Pretoria, managed against the odds to complete high school, qualified as a teacher himself, but was banned from teaching after organising opposition to the government’s “Bantu education plan” in the 1950s. He was mentored as a writer by Nadine Gordimer and wrote for Drum magazine before going into exile in Nigeria in 1957. He later taught in Paris, London, the US and Kenya before his eventual return to South Africa.
In Corner B (1967;2011) by Es'kia Mphahlele (South Africa, 1919-2008)
I read Es’kia Mphahlele’s memoir Down Second Avenue a few years ago. He’s one of the legends of South African literature — he came from a poor background in the townships around Pretoria, managed against the odds to complete high school, qualified as a teacher himself, but was banned from teaching after organising opposition to the government’s “Bantu education plan” in the 1950s. He was mentored as a writer by Nadine Gordimer and wrote for Drum magazine before going into exile in Nigeria in 1957. He later taught in Paris, London, the US and Kenya before his eventual return to South Africa.
In Corner B (1967;2011) by Es'kia Mphahlele (South Africa, 1919-2008)
42thorold
And a thin book from the pile. I bought this in March. I’ve read three or four other books by Modiano in the past.
Chevreuse (2021; Scene of the crime) by Patrick Modiano (France, 1945- )
Chevreuse (2021; Scene of the crime) by Patrick Modiano (France, 1945- )
43labfs39
>42 thorold: I've read Dora Bruder and Suspended Sentences: Three Novellas. Which Modiano works have you read and/or would recommend?
44thorold
>43 labfs39: I think my favourite so far is Dora Bruder, which you read too. Otherwise, I think Rue des boutiques obscures was the most interesting. La petite bijou and Villa triste were good, but maybe a bit too “generic Modiano”. There are still a lot I havent read, of course, and they are all fairly short, so there’s no excuse for not reading more…
45labfs39
>44 thorold: I find Modiano's writing identifiable: read a couple of pages and you know who wrote them.
46dchaikin
>35 thorold: >36 thorold: >41 thorold: >42 thorold: four interesting reads and helpful reviews. I appreciate your insight into the reading experience - Modiano and Murukan’s Thomas Hardy quality
47baswood
>44 thorold: I enjoyed la petite bijou
48thorold
>45 labfs39: Yes! >46 dchaikin: Thanks!
Something that caught my eye recently — I’ll read anything that has John Carey’s name on the cover. Sad to see reports of his death a few weeks ago. I was a big fan of The intellectuals and the masses thirty years ago!
A Little History of Poetry (2020) by John Carey (UK, 1934-2025)
Something that caught my eye recently — I’ll read anything that has John Carey’s name on the cover. Sad to see reports of his death a few weeks ago. I was a big fan of The intellectuals and the masses thirty years ago!
A Little History of Poetry (2020) by John Carey (UK, 1934-2025)
49kjuliff
>48 thorold: inspiring and inspiring review. I checked what was. available in audio and can borrow Suspended Sentences continuing novellas
Afterimage, Suspended Sentences, and Flowers of Ruin.
Doyou think this would be a good star to this writer’s work?
Afterimage, Suspended Sentences, and Flowers of Ruin.
Doyou think this would be a good star to this writer’s work?
50thorold
>49 kjuliff: I haven’t read that, but it sounds like classic Modiano, I don’t think you could go far wrong with that. I can imagine that his books would work well on audio.
51dchaikin
>48 thorold: this sounds so fun. But that’s a crazy thing to say about Dante. He’s always on my mind when I’m reading.
52rocketjk
>42 thorold: I just checked, remembering that I'd read a short Modiano novel several years back but not remembering the title, and found that I'd read Honeymoon and enjoyed it. It's been quite a while, but "the sense of being slightly adrift in the loops of time and consciousness" is about how I remember the book, in a very positive sense.
53Dilara86
>48 thorold: The Oxford-centric outlook doesn't appeal, but I'm intrigued. I'll see if I can borrow it from somewhere.
54thorold
>51 dchaikin: To be fair, he’s talking about Dante’s medieval moral compass being very difficult for modern readers to adjust to, not about his qualities as a word-painter.
We’re in England for a few days. Here’s an old crime novel I read on the plane yesterday:
Til Death (1959) by Ed McBain (USA, 1926-2005 )
We’re in England for a few days. Here’s an old crime novel I read on the plane yesterday:
Til Death (1959) by Ed McBain (USA, 1926-2005 )
55baswood
>48 thorold: I read reviews and sometimes the name of the author rings a bell with me that I cannot place. When I looked up John Carey I noticed he had edited The Faber Book of Utopia which sits on my go-to reference shelf. I dip into this book whenever I read anything that could be considered utopique. There are 100 books selected of which I have read a few. I must get round to reading Carey's introduction.
56wandering_star
>48 thorold: I hadn't seen that John Carey had died. My university boyfriend was a huge admirer of his work!
57thorold
Another book I had sitting around on the TBR for too long. Dutch novelist Anna Enquist has been a favourite of mine for years, largely due to the interesting things she has to say about music.
Het geheim (1997; The secret) by Anna Enquist (Netherlands, 1945- )
Het geheim (1997; The secret) by Anna Enquist (Netherlands, 1945- )
58thorold
Over in the Continents thread @AnnieMod reminded me that it’s ages since I have progressed with my Maigret readthrough. It turns out that I have a few on my e-reader, so I pressed on with the first I haven’t read (I think I’m missing Maigret et son mort which should come before this).
La première enquête de Maigret (1949) by Georges Simenon (France, 1903-1989)
La première enquête de Maigret (1949) by Georges Simenon (France, 1903-1989)
61AlisonY
I only popped on here for a minute but you've given my wish list a hefty battering. Noting some great book and authors that are new to me.
62thorold
A book I picked up in a charity shop the other day, still thinking about Es’kia Mphahlele (>41 thorold:)
The poet Dennis Brutus had a similar background to Mphahlele, as someone from a poor background who worked hard to get a teaching qualification and was then forced into exile because of his political activism, although he was considered “coloured” by the authorities. Brutus is chiefly remembered as the leader of the successful campaign to get South Africa’s racially segregated teams banned from international competition, one of the things that seem to have hit the regime hardest. He spent time imprisoned on Robben Island before being allowed to go abroad.
A Simple Lust (1973) by Dennis Brutus (South Africa, 1924-2009)
The poet Dennis Brutus had a similar background to Mphahlele, as someone from a poor background who worked hard to get a teaching qualification and was then forced into exile because of his political activism, although he was considered “coloured” by the authorities. Brutus is chiefly remembered as the leader of the successful campaign to get South Africa’s racially segregated teams banned from international competition, one of the things that seem to have hit the regime hardest. He spent time imprisoned on Robben Island before being allowed to go abroad.
A Simple Lust (1973) by Dennis Brutus (South Africa, 1924-2009)
63Dilara86
>61 AlisonY: Seconding this!
64edwinbcn
>62 thorold: I have always liked sourcing books from second-hand bookstores and markets for the pure joy of making unexpected finds, authors I would never have discovered through modern bookstores or libraries.
65baswood
>64 edwinbcn: I am with you on this Edwin
66cindydavid4
yup.
67thorold
>61 AlisonY: >63 Dilara86: Thanks!
>64 edwinbcn: >65 baswood: >66 cindydavid4: Yes, that’s where all the interesting surprises come from. Currently on a low-baggage trip, I’m having to be quite careful and turn some interesting books down, which is frustrating…
>64 edwinbcn: >65 baswood: >66 cindydavid4: Yes, that’s where all the interesting surprises come from. Currently on a low-baggage trip, I’m having to be quite careful and turn some interesting books down, which is frustrating…
68labfs39
>67 thorold: There's always shipping, she says with a diabolical laugh
69thorold
>68 labfs39: We had a day in Chester today, but I think we’re still within the limits of what we can squeeze into hand-luggage tomorrow…
70thorold
One small random item I found nestling in a box of “foreign language” books in a Chester bookshop, which I picked up mostly because it was very cheap…
Emil Waas was a graphic artist noted for his drawings made as a prisoner of war in Russia, who also edited a string of books about linguistic oddities in later life.
Erwarte Näheres unter vier Buchstaben: Kleinanzeigen und Pressenotizen der Jahrhundertwende (1969) by Emil Waas (Germany, 1919-1981)
Emil Waas was a graphic artist noted for his drawings made as a prisoner of war in Russia, who also edited a string of books about linguistic oddities in later life.
Erwarte Näheres unter vier Buchstaben: Kleinanzeigen und Pressenotizen der Jahrhundertwende (1969) by Emil Waas (Germany, 1919-1981)
71labfs39
>70 thorold: What an interesting and amusing find! I guess it's the equivalent to today's social media posts: short, personal, misspelled, and sniping.
72thorold
>71 labfs39: Yes, or maybe a community WhatsApp group — Waas points out that some papers in those days had very small circulations, 800-1000 copies, so a large proportion of the readers would have known each other.
73thorold
I felt slightly awkward buying this Yorkshire novel in Manchester, but for some reason it didn’t catch my eye when we were in York earlier in the week…
This is Andrew McMillan’s first novel. He is already quite well known as a (gay) poet, and is the son of Barnsley poet Ian McMillan, known to many as the presenter of the long-running BBC radio show “The Verb”.
Pity (2024-02-08) by Andrew McMillan (UK, 1988- )
This is Andrew McMillan’s first novel. He is already quite well known as a (gay) poet, and is the son of Barnsley poet Ian McMillan, known to many as the presenter of the long-running BBC radio show “The Verb”.
Pity (2024-02-08) by Andrew McMillan (UK, 1988- )
74kjuliff
>73 thorold: Maybe not quite a Germinal for the 2020s, but a step in that direction.
I’m convinced and have put Pity on my list.
I’m convinced and have put Pity on my list.
75thorold
>74 kjuliff: Enjoy!
We’re on a short impromptu visit to Brussels this week, I’ve managed to take in a couple of nice bookshops (Tropismes and Evasions) so there will be a few more French books coming up… What I’m actually reading here is something that came up from the last trip, though, more on that shortly.
We’re on a short impromptu visit to Brussels this week, I’ve managed to take in a couple of nice bookshops (Tropismes and Evasions) so there will be a few more French books coming up… What I’m actually reading here is something that came up from the last trip, though, more on that shortly.
76kjuliff
>73 thorold: I managed to get an audio version of Pity i’m almost finished listening/reading. Thank you for your review which put me onto this book which I’ve thoroughly enjoyed. I will try to write a review as soon as possible.
77thorold
>76 kjuliff: I’m glad you found it interesting!
My travel reading over the last few days was provoked by visiting Ordsall Hall — a Tudor manor house incongruously sandwiched between industrial estates and council houses in Salford — last week and learning how its preservation was at least partly due to the notoriety it got from its role in a popular Victorian novel. I hadn’t read anything by Harrison Ainsworth, but I was vaguely aware of him as a popular writer with Manchester roots. Project Gutenberg came to the rescue, as ever…
Guy Fawkes; Or the Gunpowder Treason (1842) by W Harrison Ainsworth (UK, 1805-1882)
My travel reading over the last few days was provoked by visiting Ordsall Hall — a Tudor manor house incongruously sandwiched between industrial estates and council houses in Salford — last week and learning how its preservation was at least partly due to the notoriety it got from its role in a popular Victorian novel. I hadn’t read anything by Harrison Ainsworth, but I was vaguely aware of him as a popular writer with Manchester roots. Project Gutenberg came to the rescue, as ever…
Guy Fawkes; Or the Gunpowder Treason (1842) by W Harrison Ainsworth (UK, 1805-1882)
78FlorenceArt
>77 thorold: Not going to read this, but I enjoyed your review. Trying to picture a desperate pursuit in row boats…
79thorold
>78 FlorenceArt: No, I don’t think you’re missing much by not reading it! Even Cruikshank didn’t bother trying to illustrate rowing boats pursuing each other in the Thames fog. He seemed to be fascinated with the size of Guy Fawkes’s hat, though, it gets bigger and bigger…
80thorold
And a Dutch book I’ve had sitting around on the shelf for a while:
Du holde Kunst : over muziek (1994) by Maarten 't Hart (Netherlands, 1944- )
Du holde Kunst : over muziek (1994) by Maarten 't Hart (Netherlands, 1944- )
81SassyLassy
>75 thorold: Lovely bookshop - it seems you could write a short story though based on the expressions of the browsers!
>77 thorold: This sounds vaguely familiar. I'm wondering if my ten year old self could have read it or something similar.
>77 thorold: This sounds vaguely familiar. I'm wondering if my ten year old self could have read it or something similar.
82labfs39
>81 SassyLassy: I thought something similar about the expressions. My youngest niece the other day accused her sister of giving her the "bodacious side-eye". That phrase popped in my head when I saw the photo.
83thorold
>81 SassyLassy: >82 labfs39: Yes — it comes up in all the lists of “cool bookshops to visit in Brussels”, but despite that it is a very good shop, well-curated and with staff who are helpful and know what they are doing. And interesting customers! Well worth a visit (but only if you read French, their selection in other languages is small).
The secondhand shop Evasions was fun too, lots of stock and very reasonable prices, but not easy to find your way around on a first visit (and they double-stack their shelves!). We were also advised to visit a shop called Passa-Porta for Dutch books, but we didn’t get there this time (plenty of places nearer home to look for Dutch books…).
The secondhand shop Evasions was fun too, lots of stock and very reasonable prices, but not easy to find your way around on a first visit (and they double-stack their shelves!). We were also advised to visit a shop called Passa-Porta for Dutch books, but we didn’t get there this time (plenty of places nearer home to look for Dutch books…).
84thorold
The oddest of the books I picked up at Tropismes, I’m not sure quite why apart from the intriguing title. I enjoyed The Simpsons when I first came across it, maybe ten years after it started, and even had a phase of watching the DVDs with the commentary track turned on, but I haven’t watched it for years.
Les Simpson ou le paradoxe du donut intemporel (2026) by Romain Nigita (France, - )
Les Simpson ou le paradoxe du donut intemporel (2026) by Romain Nigita (France, - )
85thorold
A book that I heard about through a review by @SassyLassy who read it last year. I thought I hadn’t come across Olivia Laing before, but it turns out that I read their novel Crudo in 2020 and it didn’t make much impression. I also apparently have The silver book on the shelf. Who knew?
Anyway, this ticked all the right boxes. I was already a fan of Jarman, Milton, Sebald, Suffolk, and the late Ronald Blythe, and I liked the little bit of John Clare I’ve read…
The Garden Against Time (2024) by Olivia Laing (UK, 1977- )
Anyway, this ticked all the right boxes. I was already a fan of Jarman, Milton, Sebald, Suffolk, and the late Ronald Blythe, and I liked the little bit of John Clare I’ve read…
The Garden Against Time (2024) by Olivia Laing (UK, 1977- )
87SassyLassy
>85 thorold: So happy it worked for you. That bibliography really is something.
88cindydavid4
>85 thorold: and its another bb coming from mark!
Our house at the top of acul de sac so our backyard and the two sides are huge .we have plenty desert landscaping and every season we get a crop of some kind of flowers and this season it's poppies and African daisies I do exploring though because sometimes it will find another type of flower that we've never seen It's lots of fun So yes I am interested in that book . Another famous author with a the Garden was George Orwell.He was known for his roses in fact there is a book written about him and his garden called Orwell's RosesThe book brings up many facets of Orwell that I did not know
Our house at the top of acul de sac so our backyard and the two sides are huge .we have plenty desert landscaping and every season we get a crop of some kind of flowers and this season it's poppies and African daisies I do exploring though because sometimes it will find another type of flower that we've never seen It's lots of fun So yes I am interested in that book . Another famous author with a the Garden was George Orwell.He was known for his roses in fact there is a book written about him and his garden called Orwell's RosesThe book brings up many facets of Orwell that I did not know
89thorold
I came across this in a local thrift store a few weeks ago. It’s the first book I’ve read by Austrian novelist Eva Menasse, although I’ve read a couple by her husband Robert Menasse — those books were both set in Brussels, where I was last week, so maybe that’s what made me take this off the shelf…?
I fell into a trap I’ve fallen into a few times before with other books, struggling a little to make sense of the dialect words in the text from their context, only to find after finishing the book that there was a comprehensive glossary of “Austrianisms” at the end…!
Dunkelblum (2021) by Eva Menasse (Austria, 1970- )
I fell into a trap I’ve fallen into a few times before with other books, struggling a little to make sense of the dialect words in the text from their context, only to find after finishing the book that there was a comprehensive glossary of “Austrianisms” at the end…!
Dunkelblum (2021) by Eva Menasse (Austria, 1970- )
90baswood
>89 thorold: Interesting scenario and the language of the day is German. Although the town of Dunkelblum is fictitious it must resonate with many European readers who found themselves in impossible situations at the end of the war and are not able to talk about it.
91thorold
>90 baswood: Yes, it made me think of questions I never asked people who aren't around to be asked any more...
92thorold
A little one from the pile. I remember giggling at the first book at some point, probably in a colleague’s office, but I don’t think I ever had a copy. This sequel turned up in a Little Library, whither it will no doubt return soon!
We always get our sin too (2008) by Maarten H Rijkens (Netherlands, 1946- )
We always get our sin too (2008) by Maarten H Rijkens (Netherlands, 1946- )
93rasdhar
>70 thorold: This sounds so interesting - what a great way to keep alive an archive of material that might otherwise go unremarked.
>85 thorold: One more vote for The Garden Against Time, excellent!
>85 thorold: One more vote for The Garden Against Time, excellent!
94thorold
A book I picked up a couple of weeks ago under the impression that it was something new. Apparently not, but I don’t seem to have read it before, so it was interesting anyway.
Love in a Dark Time (2001; 2025) by Colm Tóibín (Ireland, 1955- )
Love in a Dark Time (2001; 2025) by Colm Tóibín (Ireland, 1955- )
95Julie_in_the_Library
>89 thorold: They really ought to tell you up front, in a table of contents or a footnote or something, that the glossary is there at the back so that you know from the beginning. It's much less useful if you don't find it until you're already done with the book!
96thorold
>95 Julie_in_the_Library: Yes, the best thing might be to have a footnote by the first occurrence of a term that is in the glossary saying something like “See glossary for this and subsequent dialect terms”. But a lot of book designers these days hate footnotes.
No-one looks at a contents table for a novel — a lot of non-English books have the contents table at the end, anyway.
But, really, if I’d been seriously confused by the terms I expect I’d have looked to see whether there was any kind of glossary in the book, so the fact that I didn’t means the author did a reasonably good job of placing the dialect terms so that their approximate meaning was clear from the context.
No-one looks at a contents table for a novel — a lot of non-English books have the contents table at the end, anyway.
But, really, if I’d been seriously confused by the terms I expect I’d have looked to see whether there was any kind of glossary in the book, so the fact that I didn’t means the author did a reasonably good job of placing the dialect terms so that their approximate meaning was clear from the context.
97cindydavid4
>96 thorold: this happens alot in fantasy and it drove me crazy didne bother me so much in Dune because it was unexpected. but generally you think authors would put the index or dictionary in the front of the book, or have it directed in the back, in the front. I am suspecting tho this was not a decision by the writer but by publisher or others., still...
98Julie_in_the_Library
>96 thorold: I do actually like my fiction to have tables of contents, so I know how many chapters I'm looking at, but I do recognize that I'm in the minority on that one.
99thorold
>98 Julie_in_the_Library: A case in point: a Spanish book with the contents table in the back. But no glossary…
I read this now because of a book-club deadline, but I would have got to it sooner or later anyway — I’ve read four of his other books in the past few years, starting with El ruido de las cosas al caer a few years ago. This is his latest.
Los nombres de Feliza (2025) by Juan Gabriel Vásquez (Colombia, 1973- )
The cover-art is a photo of Feliza Bursztyn by Hernán Díaz, which is discussed at one point in the text.
The photographer Hernán Díaz, who was exhibiting his portraits at the La Tertulia Museum, approached Feliza to talk about the one he had taken of her: Feliza appeared with her legs crossed and dressed in a black turtleneck sweater; in one hand of long fingers protruded a ring, a large opaque glass marble, and from the other hung a lit cigarette.
"Everyone is talking about this photo," Hernán told her. "I think it's one of those who are going to stay."
I read this now because of a book-club deadline, but I would have got to it sooner or later anyway — I’ve read four of his other books in the past few years, starting with El ruido de las cosas al caer a few years ago. This is his latest.
Los nombres de Feliza (2025) by Juan Gabriel Vásquez (Colombia, 1973- )
The cover-art is a photo of Feliza Bursztyn by Hernán Díaz, which is discussed at one point in the text.
El fotógrafo Hernán Díaz, que estaba exponiendo sus retratos en el Museo La Tertulia, se acercó a Feliza para hablarle del que le había tomado a ella: Feliza aparecía de piernas cruzadas y vestida con un suéter negro de cuello de tortuga; en una mano de dedos largos sobresalía un anillo, una gran canica de vidrio opaco, y de la otra colgaba un cigarrillo encendido.
«Todo el mundo está hablando de esta foto», le dijo Hernán. «Yo creo que es de las que van a quedar».
The photographer Hernán Díaz, who was exhibiting his portraits at the La Tertulia Museum, approached Feliza to talk about the one he had taken of her: Feliza appeared with her legs crossed and dressed in a black turtleneck sweater; in one hand of long fingers protruded a ring, a large opaque glass marble, and from the other hung a lit cigarette.
"Everyone is talking about this photo," Hernán told her. "I think it's one of those who are going to stay."
100SassyLassy
>99 thorold: One more good reason to learn Spanish, as it is not translated yet - one to keep in mind. In the meantime, I'll look for one of his works in English.
That is a wonderful photograph.
That is a wonderful photograph.
101rocketjk
>99 thorold: & >100 SassyLassy: Great review. Thanks. I read Vasquez's The Informers many years back and thought it was excellent.
102baswood
>99 thorold: it stands a good chance of getting on the reading-list of your book-club. I have read The informers and The Sound of things Falling which were both book club choices and full of Colombian history
103labfs39
>99 thorold: >101 rocketjk: Nice to hear the praise for Vasquez and The Informers. I plan to read it in September for Paul's Americas Challenge.
104thorold
>101 rocketjk: >103 labfs39: The informers is the one I haven’t read yet, I’ll have to get to that as well soon.
105thorold
This is one I knew I was going to want to read as soon as I heard it was coming, and I’ve been eyeing it up in bookshops in several different countries trying to decide when I could buy a copy without overstepping baggage limits. In the end it came home with me from Brussels, but I could probably have got it nearer to home with a bit more planning!
As a student, I loved Atwood’s early novels and stories, but for some reason went off her a bit after The handmaid’s tale. I’ve only read a couple of her later books. Odd, when most other people I’ve discussed her with have said that they discovered her through that book but found the early novels hard to get into. Anyway, I think there might be a re-read of my Atwood shelf coming up soon…
Book of Lives: A memoir of sorts (2025) by Margaret Atwood (Canada, 1939- )
As a student, I loved Atwood’s early novels and stories, but for some reason went off her a bit after The handmaid’s tale. I’ve only read a couple of her later books. Odd, when most other people I’ve discussed her with have said that they discovered her through that book but found the early novels hard to get into. Anyway, I think there might be a re-read of my Atwood shelf coming up soon…
Book of Lives: A memoir of sorts (2025) by Margaret Atwood (Canada, 1939- )
106labfs39
>105 thorold: Which are your favorite Atwood novels? I've only read Oryx and Crake, which I didn't care for, and The Handmaid's Tale, which I did. Oh, and a short story, Cut and Thirst.
107thorold
>106 labfs39: I’ll tell you when I’ve re-read a few! Off the cuff, The edible woman, Cat’s eye and The blind assassin are the ones that come to mind.
108kac522
>105 thorold: I read a lot of the early ones, too, but after The Handmaid's Tale I didn't read any of the other dystopian ones. Of the early ones I've read the ones you mention in >107 thorold: plus Surfacing and The Robber Bride. Of later ones that I've tried, I really enjoyed Hag-Seed, which is a modern re-telling of The Tempest. I've also liked several of her essay collections and earlier short story collections.
109thorold
This is one that came into the house just the other day, but it was slightly too fat to fit into the gap on the TBR shelf, so I compromised and read it right away…!
I read TSB’s first book just under a year ago.
Fake Law (2020) by The Secret Barrister (UK, - )
I read TSB’s first book just under a year ago.
Fake Law (2020) by The Secret Barrister (UK, - )
110kjuliff
>109 thorold: It’s difficult to see how the British public could be persuaded to self-educate to make up retrospectively for the total lack of basic legal education in the high-school curriculum
Interesting review and I’m tempted to try to get hold of this book. But re the quote above, I can’t remember myself or my children learning about the legal system in high school in Australia. Perhaps things have changed there. I do remember learning about systems of government but information about the penal system has been acquired in my adult life by reading newspaper reports.
I wonder if it’s different in other countries.
Interesting review and I’m tempted to try to get hold of this book. But re the quote above, I can’t remember myself or my children learning about the legal system in high school in Australia. Perhaps things have changed there. I do remember learning about systems of government but information about the penal system has been acquired in my adult life by reading newspaper reports.
I wonder if it’s different in other countries.
111rocketjk
>110 kjuliff: I learned about the American legal system the way everybody else of my advanced age did in the U.S.: by watching Perry Mason. Later on, of course, there was the all-consuming refresher course called Law and Order. Ha! I crack myself up.
112thorold
>111 rocketjk: A staple of popular books about the English legal system (including this one) is explaining to us how all those things we see lawyers and judges doing in American TV shows are different in England & Wales!
Just back from seeing Juan Gabriel Vásquez (cf. >99 thorold: ) doing a Border Kitchen event in The Hague — very interesting! Apart from the new book, he was talking about his interest in Joseph Conrad, something that I wasn’t aware of (he published a biography, Joseph Conrad: el hombre de ninguna parte, in 2004). And of course he also talked a lot about how he researched Feliza Bursztyn and what he could do as a novelist when writing about real people that a biographer wouldn’t be able to.
I got my copy of Los nombres de Feliza signed, anyway…
Just back from seeing Juan Gabriel Vásquez (cf. >99 thorold: ) doing a Border Kitchen event in The Hague — very interesting! Apart from the new book, he was talking about his interest in Joseph Conrad, something that I wasn’t aware of (he published a biography, Joseph Conrad: el hombre de ninguna parte, in 2004). And of course he also talked a lot about how he researched Feliza Bursztyn and what he could do as a novelist when writing about real people that a biographer wouldn’t be able to.
I got my copy of Los nombres de Feliza signed, anyway…
113FlorenceArt
>109 thorold: >110 kjuliff: I didn’t learn about the legal system at school either, and I don’t think French schoolchildren do today either. Most French people, including me, and like >111 rocketjk:, learn about law by watching American series, which can lead to slight misunderstandings.
114thorold
>113 FlorenceArt: ...whereas the rest of us learn about French law from Maigret and Engrenages/Spiral, no doubt with equally puzzling effects if we were ever to meet it in real life.
115rocketjk
>112 thorold: "A staple of popular books about the English legal system (including this one) is explaining to us how all those things we see lawyers and judges doing in American TV shows are different in England & Wales!"
My sister, who is a lawyer, has explained to me a time or two how all the things we see lawyers and judges doing in American TV shows are, in fact, unrealistic, to put it mildly. I was joking above, as I'm sure you discerned. I fear that folks who get their ideas about the American legal system from American TV shows are coming away with a warped, to put it mildly, idea of how things work here. But, to your real point, yes, watching British crime/legal shows does give us Yanks an idea of the differences between the two systems. Or maybe actually reading about the two systems. That might do the trick!
Really interesting information about Vasquez. Thanks. Would love to have been at that event, assuming it was conducted in English so that I could understand a word of it. :)
My sister, who is a lawyer, has explained to me a time or two how all the things we see lawyers and judges doing in American TV shows are, in fact, unrealistic, to put it mildly. I was joking above, as I'm sure you discerned. I fear that folks who get their ideas about the American legal system from American TV shows are coming away with a warped, to put it mildly, idea of how things work here. But, to your real point, yes, watching British crime/legal shows does give us Yanks an idea of the differences between the two systems. Or maybe actually reading about the two systems. That might do the trick!
Really interesting information about Vasquez. Thanks. Would love to have been at that event, assuming it was conducted in English so that I could understand a word of it. :)
116thorold
>115 rocketjk: Yes, it was in English, like most such events with international writers here. I think the audience was about 70% Spanish-speaking, including a lot of Colombians. Obviously word got around that he was coming!
Website for Border Kitchen / Crossing Border events:
https://www.crossingborder.nl/en
Website for Border Kitchen / Crossing Border events:
https://www.crossingborder.nl/en
117thorold
From my neglected pile of library books, something French and musical. I’ve read two other books by Echenoz before this one.
Ravel (2006) by Jean Echenoz (France, 1947- )
Ravel (2006) by Jean Echenoz (France, 1947- )
118labfs39
>117 thorold: I was lukewarm about his novel 1914 as well.
119thorold
>118 labfs39: Quite a few LT/CR regulars reviewed and liked Ravel about 15 years ago when it was up for some sort of translation prize, so maybe I read it at the wrong moment — it's a very different kind of bio-fiction from Feliza, which is what I had in my head this week!
120thorold
I put this one on my wishlist many years ago after reading about it in an article on Turkish authors, but kept forgetting to check whether it is available anywhere. Turns out that it is in print as a Penguin Modern Classic.
The time regulation institute (1962; English 2013) by Ahmet Hamdi Tanpınar (Turkey, 1901-1962), translated from Turkish by Maureen Freely and Alexander Dawe
The time regulation institute (1962; English 2013) by Ahmet Hamdi Tanpınar (Turkey, 1901-1962), translated from Turkish by Maureen Freely and Alexander Dawe
121thorold
Yesterday we wandered into Broese, one of the biggest bookshops in Utrecht, only to discover that they were in the closing stages of a remainder sale and had got down to “5 books for €10”. I came home with two portions…
I’ve eyed up the coffee-table version of this book a few times over the past six years, but kept deciding that I didn’t have room. When I found the pocket edition on sale, though…
Best Buildings - Holland (2019) by Toon Lauwen (Netherlands, - )
I’ve eyed up the coffee-table version of this book a few times over the past six years, but kept deciding that I didn’t have room. When I found the pocket edition on sale, though…
Best Buildings - Holland (2019) by Toon Lauwen (Netherlands, - )
122thorold
Another one from the bargain pile. This was a book aimed at the Christmas market a couple of years ago, and it did win an award for political writing, but my copy was evidently one of those that missed their target and stayed on the bookseller’s shelves too long.
Matt Chorley is a political journalist who recently moved from the Times to the BBC. And a part-time stand-up comedian too, apparently.
Planes, Trains and Toilet Doors: 50 Places That Changed British Politics (2024) by Matt Chorley (UK, 1982- )
Matt Chorley is a political journalist who recently moved from the Times to the BBC. And a part-time stand-up comedian too, apparently.
Planes, Trains and Toilet Doors: 50 Places That Changed British Politics (2024) by Matt Chorley (UK, 1982- )
123Dilara86
Just caught up on this thread and Dunkelblum in >89 thorold: sounds really interesting. Better still, the English version should be available on Everand from March, 9th!
124LolaWalser
>120 thorold:
One of the hundreds-odd books I have with a bookmark somewhere... glad to see its worth finishing.
I had a similar reaction to the Echenoz, which is fairly frequent with new French stuff (why bother with something so skimpy, to write and publish?). But I do admire their generous publishing philosophy; better that than the alternative.
One of the hundreds-odd books I have with a bookmark somewhere... glad to see its worth finishing.
I had a similar reaction to the Echenoz, which is fairly frequent with new French stuff (why bother with something so skimpy, to write and publish?). But I do admire their generous publishing philosophy; better that than the alternative.
125thorold
>124 LolaWalser: Yes, The time regulation institute takes a long time to get going, I can see how it might easily end up back on the pile with a bookmark!
126thorold
Back to my Maigret read-through (cf >58 thorold: above). This next one, from 1949, turned out to be the earliest that I have a physical copy of in my library. I originally posted a review of it on LT in 2011.
Mon ami Maigret (1949) by Georges Simenon (Belgium, France, 1903-1989)
Mon ami Maigret (1949) by Georges Simenon (Belgium, France, 1903-1989)
127thorold
It’s a while since I came across a Y2K book, and I couldn’t help wondering how this pristine copy of one had ended up in a thrift store 26 (or 25) years after the event…
Questioning the Millennium: a rationalist's guide to a precisely arbitrary countdown (1999) by Stephen Jay Gould (USA, 1941-2002)
Questioning the Millennium: a rationalist's guide to a precisely arbitrary countdown (1999) by Stephen Jay Gould (USA, 1941-2002)
128thorold
A few months ago, someone here (was it @Rachbxl ?) was posting about what a great writer Esther Freud (daughter of Lucian, great-granddaughter of Sigmund, etc.) was, and I realised that I had never actually read any of her books. I suspect that there was some strange confusion in my mind back in the nineties between the title of her best-known novel and the name of another author of the time who often sat on the shelf next to her, Kinky Friedman.
Anyway, a copy fortuitously turned up in the sale bins at Broese last week, so I was able to make good the omission. Obviously I will have to look for more now…
Hideous kinky (1992) by Esther Freud (UK, 1963- )
Anyway, a copy fortuitously turned up in the sale bins at Broese last week, so I was able to make good the omission. Obviously I will have to look for more now…
Hideous kinky (1992) by Esther Freud (UK, 1963- )
130FlorenceArt
>129 thorold: Elvis, Jesus and Coca-Cola? Hmmm. Trying to imagine what this might be about, and coming up with nothing good 😉
131kac522
>128 thorold: I remember liking the movie based on the book, although I never read it. I did read another of hers, Mr Mac and Me, about a boy and Charles Rennie Mackintosh.
>129 thorold:, >130 FlorenceArt: A blast from the past--Kinky Friedman and the Texas Jewboys.
>129 thorold:, >130 FlorenceArt: A blast from the past--Kinky Friedman and the Texas Jewboys.
132thorold
>130 FlorenceArt: >131 kac522: I have to admit, I haven't the least recollection of what it was about, catchy title notwithstanding... It certainly didn't make me run out and look for any more of his books.
133rocketjk
>131 kac522: "Kinky Friedman and the Jewboys."
Small point of information: it was Kinky Friedman and the Texas Jewboys :)
Small point of information: it was Kinky Friedman and the Texas Jewboys :)
134kac522
>133 rocketjk: Of course--thanks! It was in my head but not in my fingers typing...fixed!
135cindydavid4
>128 thorold: and another BB flies in the door, I love that you say there is a minimal of twee. always a plus in my book
136VladysKovsky
>42 thorold: I read Rue des boutiques obscures by Modiano and intend to read Villa Triste this year.
I find you capture very accurately Modiano’s curious affair with time and memory.
I find you capture very accurately Modiano’s curious affair with time and memory.
137VladysKovsky
>48 thorold: Ah, another author in common. I have The Unexpected Professor arriving in the mail
138VladysKovsky
>105 thorold: I am not going to start on another book by Atwood. I’ve read too much of her! Her middle period is my favourite, I can somewhat enjoy her early work, but am annoyed with her later novels.
Of her nonfiction work I quite enjoyed Negotiating with the Dead
Of her nonfiction work I quite enjoyed Negotiating with the Dead
139VladysKovsky
>120 thorold: “The cult of progress “! Very much agree with your take!
We read this at my book club from Turkish Contemporary Literature theme.
We read this at my book club from Turkish Contemporary Literature theme.
140VladysKovsky
Sorry for spamming! I just discovered your thread.
141thorold
>140 VladysKovsky: No problem, nice to see you popping up here :-)
You'll enjoy The unexpected professor, I hope! I still haven't got anywhere with the planned Atwood read through — too many books arriving on the TBR from all directions in the last couple of weeks...
You'll enjoy The unexpected professor, I hope! I still haven't got anywhere with the planned Atwood read through — too many books arriving on the TBR from all directions in the last couple of weeks...
142VladysKovsky
>141 thorold: Too many books is a familiar problem - I still see it as a good problem to have!
143thorold
>142 VladysKovsky: Yes. Still a long way to go before we turn into Peter Kien…
144VladysKovsky
>143 thorold: Not sure of the reference. Forgive my ignorance
145thorold
>144 VladysKovsky: Sorry — I’m still in a Canetti craze. Kien is the protagonist of Die Blendung/Auto-da-fé who ends up being destroyed by his books.
146thorold
From a book narrated by a five-year-old to an academic study of cuteness. Sort-of makes sense, but it was the luck of the bargain bin again, really. A book I would probably never have picked up had it not been in the sale, but interesting anyway. Not having been around young people for a few decades I knew practically nothing about manga, Hello Kitty and the rest before reading this…
Irresistible: how cuteness wired our brains and conquered the world (2023) by Joshua Paul Dale (USA, - )
Irresistible: how cuteness wired our brains and conquered the world (2023) by Joshua Paul Dale (USA, - )
147wandering_star
>146 thorold: interesting! I'm intensely curious about the role of mascots in Japan. Plenty of foreigners in Japan love them (myself included) but I think mostly in a self-consciously ironic way. I'd love to know how, say, older professionals actually feel about them. I've seen mascots in a range of circumstances where they don't seem particularly appropriate, most notably once sharing a stage with the UN Secretary-General. Did the book say anything about that?
148cindydavid4
>146 thorold: i read something about this back in school. made sense to me. wonder how much that has to do with our perception of beauty .
149thorold
>147 wandering_star: Dale talks about the mascot-overload, but he doesn’t ever say anything about a “grown-up” section of the population that finds this all a bit naff, something we would assume must exist from our European perspective. He’s always with the people who are watching and enjoying it. Maybe the grumps don’t actually exist in Japan, or feel socially constrained to pretend they enjoy it too?
150thorold
Apropos of nothing in particular, this is the follow-up to L’usage du monde, which I read and enjoyed very much back in 2012. No idea why it took me 14 years to get to the next book, but I’m still moving faster than Bouvier was…
This is one of the books I bought at Tropismes in Brussels (>75 thorold: above)
Le poisson-scorpion (1981) by Nicolas Bouvier (Switzerland, 1929-1998)
This is one of the books I bought at Tropismes in Brussels (>75 thorold: above)
Le poisson-scorpion (1981) by Nicolas Bouvier (Switzerland, 1929-1998)
151wandering_star
>149 thorold: thanks, I will keep trying to find out!
152LolaWalser
>150 thorold:
Is he the best travel writer ever? Could be.
Speaking of things "kawaii", have you seen videos of Punch, the little orphan monkey who is trying to integrate into his (zoo) tribe and meanwhile must do with a plushie given to him by the zookeepers?
Peak kawaii. Plus heartbreak.
Is he the best travel writer ever? Could be.
Speaking of things "kawaii", have you seen videos of Punch, the little orphan monkey who is trying to integrate into his (zoo) tribe and meanwhile must do with a plushie given to him by the zookeepers?
Peak kawaii. Plus heartbreak.
153thorold
>152 LolaWalser: It’s between him and Bruce, probably, and he was obviously a much nicer person than Bruce….
I’m not sure if I dare look for your monkey…
I’m not sure if I dare look for your monkey…
154thorold
Back to Maigret. This one should have come before Maigret’s first case, but I forgot to load it on my e-reader on my last trip. It perfectly filled yesterday’s train journey.
Maigret et son mort (1948) by Georges Simenon (Belgium, France, 1903-1989)
Maigret et son mort (1948) by Georges Simenon (Belgium, France, 1903-1989)
155thorold
Going back to Margaret Atwood’s first novel, which I probably last read about forty years ago…
The Edible Woman (1969) by Margaret Atwood (Canada, 1939- )
The Edible Woman (1969) by Margaret Atwood (Canada, 1939- )
156thorold
Another book I brought back from Tropismes in Brussels, and another Nobel laureate I haven’t got to before. This short bio was written as the first in a series of “lives of illustrious men” intended to inspire and encourage ordinary people in a time when (Rolland felt) there wasn’t much for anyone to look up to and admire, except for the examples of the Boer people (resisting British imperialism) and the Dreyfus whistle-blower Colonel Picquart.
Vie de Beethoven (1903) by Romain Rolland (France, 1866-1944)
Vie de Beethoven (1903) by Romain Rolland (France, 1866-1944)
157thorold
This has been on my shelves for five years, so about time I read it. It fits in with >156 thorold: — Zweig and Rolland were good friends and both stood up against the jingoism of their fellow-writers during World War I — and it also has some overlap with the Canetti memoirs I’ve been reading. I’ve read quite a bit of Zweig’s fiction and his biographies over the years, and quite enjoyed it, but never really got why he was such a very successful writer in the 20s and 30s. This book stands out a bit more for me, but maybe that’s just because I’m reading it at the right sort of age and in the right sort of period of deteriorating international situation to enjoy its pessimism to the full?
Die Welt von gestern (1944; The world of yesterday) by Stefan Zweig (Austria, etc., 1881-1942)
Die Welt von gestern (1944; The world of yesterday) by Stefan Zweig (Austria, etc., 1881-1942)
158Dilara86
>157 thorold: I read The World of Yesterday last September and it made a big impression on me, probably for the same reasons as you.
159LolaWalser
In Vienna once I stumbled upon Zweig's Gymnasium (high school) which he evokes with such nostalgia. It's still a school. The massive door looked just like the one on my own. Strange things remain unchanged while people's lives are upended
160VladysKovsky
>157 thorold: this book I would really like to read. I feel like I belong to the world of yesterday as well. A different yesterday but yesterday all the same.
161thorold
>159 LolaWalser: Fun! I found it interesting how Zweig shows absolutely no nostalgia for teachers, buildings or curriculum, only for the literary and theatrical excitement of his classmates. (Quite different from Canetti, who rarely mentions classmates but goes on endlessly about the wonderful teachers he had.)
Zweig’s even more cynical about university, where he claims to have worked out that if he skipped all the time-consuming stuff like going to lectures, getting drunk, fighting duels, falling in love and singing student songs, he could cover all the material required for a doctorate in the last few months before the exam. Thus leaving several idle years of “studies” when no-one was hassling him to get a proper job and settle down, during which he could write poems and essays and build connections with editors and publishers. I suspect it wasn’t quite as clean-cut a strategy as he makes out, but it seems to have worked for him…
Zweig’s even more cynical about university, where he claims to have worked out that if he skipped all the time-consuming stuff like going to lectures, getting drunk, fighting duels, falling in love and singing student songs, he could cover all the material required for a doctorate in the last few months before the exam. Thus leaving several idle years of “studies” when no-one was hassling him to get a proper job and settle down, during which he could write poems and essays and build connections with editors and publishers. I suspect it wasn’t quite as clean-cut a strategy as he makes out, but it seems to have worked for him…
162LolaWalser
Zweig cynical?? He's the most marshmallowy sentimental purple-prosing softie imaginable! Now I'll have to dig out the book again... not a bad thing, at all. :)
Canetti, otoh... just the opposite.
Incidentally, it was only reading your post that I realised that Zweig and Bernanos overlapped in Brazil. Zweig was enthused and wrote a utopian novel (iirc); Bernanos despairing and cursing all things to come (modern). Wonder if they met. (No, likely.)
Canetti, otoh... just the opposite.
Incidentally, it was only reading your post that I realised that Zweig and Bernanos overlapped in Brazil. Zweig was enthused and wrote a utopian novel (iirc); Bernanos despairing and cursing all things to come (modern). Wonder if they met. (No, likely.)
163thorold
A book, partly about holiday reading, that has been on a couple of trips with me and come back with a bookmark in the opening pages. Time to finish it!
I’ve read Bolaño’s short stories, but haven’t got to any of the novels yet. This probably wasn’t the best one to start with, but it was interesting when I finally got going with it.
El tercer Reich (1989, 2010; The third Reich) by Roberto Bolaño (Chile, Mexico, Spain 1953-2003)
I’ve read Bolaño’s short stories, but haven’t got to any of the novels yet. This probably wasn’t the best one to start with, but it was interesting when I finally got going with it.
El tercer Reich (1989, 2010; The third Reich) by Roberto Bolaño (Chile, Mexico, Spain 1953-2003)
164dchaikin
>163 thorold: yesterday I was looking up the word subornation in grammar and now I can say we have opposite subordinations. 🙂 I might have said, "Although it focuses on a dark obsession with Germany and WWII, it somehow manages to preserve the atmosphere of a sunny Spanish beach town." Enjoyed your review, and the book too.
165thorold
>164 dchaikin: Beach half-empty vs. Beach half-full? :-)
166dchaikin
>165 thorold: 🙂 apparently that’s exactly it
167thorold
A little book that caught my eye in the thrift store when I was looking for something else yesterday. I’ve read one or two of Weldon’s books over the years, but nothing for a long time. The last was the short story collection Wicked women, which I read in 2013:
Letters to Alice on First Reading Jane Austen (1984) by Fay Weldon (UK, 1931-2023)
Letters to Alice on First Reading Jane Austen (1984) by Fay Weldon (UK, 1931-2023)
168dchaikin
>167 thorold: interesting scenario! Sounds fun
169kac522
>167 thorold: Yeah, that's a fun one. Weldon knows her Austen. She also wrote the script for the 1980 BBC series of Pride & Prejudice (with Elizabeth Garvie & David Rintoul), and of all the adaptations, it's the closest to the book, with much of it taken word for word.
170thorold
Another short book — I was up to four VSI’s on the TBR shelf, so time to finish at least one of them!
Japanese Literature: a very short introduction (2022) by Alan Tansman (USA, 1960- )
Japanese Literature: a very short introduction (2022) by Alan Tansman (USA, 1960- )
171Dilara86
>167 thorold: another one for the wishlist...
172SassyLassy
>167 thorold: That was a fun book. I should dig it out again.
173WelshBookworm
>170 thorold: VSIs - I need to get back to these!
174labfs39
>146 thorold: Cute Studies? What will academics think up next. On the other hand, the study comparing the bacteria on the lips of Danish lobsters with those in Maine is seminal. I mean, who knew lobsters had lips?
>167 thorold: Letters to Alice might be perfect for when I'm in one of my reading slumps. Sounds fun.
>170 thorold: I would benefit from reading the VSI on Japanese literature. What I know would balance on a lobster's lip.
>167 thorold: Letters to Alice might be perfect for when I'm in one of my reading slumps. Sounds fun.
>170 thorold: I would benefit from reading the VSI on Japanese literature. What I know would balance on a lobster's lip.
This topic was continued by thorold quotes a relevant line of verse in Q2 2026.
