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Source: (consider it) Thread: Mordor: twinned with Slough
Firenze

Ordinary decent pagan
# 619

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quote:
Originally posted by Percy B:
No I haven't read the lecture - just the press report. I am pleased you say it's not what it seems.

I provided the link in order that you might form an opinion of your own.
Posts: 17302 | From: Edinburgh | Registered: Jun 2001  |  IP: Logged
Percy B
Shipmate
# 17238

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Thank you, how kind. I do have an opinion of my own, why think I don't?

My original remark on the issue was to highlight how the opinions of an author outside of her or his novel can influence the reader, in this case me. That was what I was more concerned about rather than the actual incident reported. But it was still kind of you to take the time to signpost to the lecture.

On a bigger point, I was uncomfortable reading H G Wells novels some years ago, for a while, when I learned of some of his extreme comments.

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Mary, a priest??

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Timothy the Obscure

Mostly Friendly
# 292

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I'm rereading Freedom and Necessity by Emma Bull and Stephen Brust. It's a fantasy in the form of a 19th century epistolary novel, whose protagonists are English Chartist radicals in 1849. Engels makes a major cameo appearance. The fantasy element is subtle and builds up slowly, but it should be counted as one of the best fantasy novels ever. Unfortunately, I suspect the fantasy readers saw the title and said "Huh?" (it's a reference to Hegel).

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When you think of the long and gloomy history of man, you will find more hideous crimes have been committed in the name of obedience than have ever been committed in the name of rebellion.
  - C. P. Snow

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Kelly Alves

Bunny with an axe
# 2522

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On the graphic novel front-- if you are in the mood for something really different, and want to experience a master of the genre, pick up Gilberto (Beto) Hernandez's Heartbreak Soup, or if you really want to be shook up, his Blood of Palomar--both are compilations of his "Palomar 'series run through the nineties in the ground breaking comic book, Love and Rockets.

Beto's story is, when he started running this series about strange happenings in a secluded Central American town people started congratulating him on his excellent homage to Gabriel Garcia Marquez. His response: "Who?" he then picked up One Hundred Years of Solitude and said to himself, "Damn, my stuff is a homage to this guy." and he immediately wrote a couple scenes where his characters argued about Gabriel Garcia Marquez.

Other compilations of Love and Rockets include novelized versions of his brother's stories, Las mujeres perdidas (The lost women) and The Death of Speedy, the latter which won an Eisner and is considered a classic of ninteis era underground comics.
Mujeres marks the transition of L&R from a punk-flavored sci-fi series about girl rocket mechanics to a more magical realism treatment of the punk scene in Oxnard,/ Greater Los Angeles, CA. (Basically, it's the last major story line in L&R that revolves around rockets.)Speedy is firmly set in the punk/ Latino gang scene of Oxnard, and traces the downfall of a reformed gangbanger as he alienates those closest to him.


I must add, all of the above graphic novels are quite-- uh, graphic.

[ 23. February 2013, 04:51: Message edited by: Kelly Alves ]

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I cannot expect people to believe “
Jesus loves me, this I know” of they don’t believe “Kelly loves me, this I know.”
Kelly Alves, somewhere around 2003.

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Jack the Lass

Ship's airhead
# 3415

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For the last year or two I've been signed up to free ebooks from University of Chicago Press. You get sent a link once a month to a free book to download - most months I'm not that interested in the title on offer and don't bother, but I have downloaded 4 or 5 that looked interesting. One of those that I finished recently was "The Lavender Scare: The Cold War Persecution of Gays and Lesbians in the Federal Government" by David K. Johnson. It details Government paranoia and the systemic and systematic persecution and rooting out of gays and lesbians from government jobs from the 1940s onwards, and the links to the much better known McCarthy-led persecution of alleged Communists (although arguably the 'Lavender Scare' was much more pervasive and had a much more devastating effect) starting with the State Department but moving on to every other department also. It features both government sources, media reports and also accounts from many people who lost their jobs but also those who then mobilised to lobby for change and for their rights. It was a great read, although very depressing - I'd highly recommend it.

I've just started one of the others I downloaded a few months ago - "Pilgrimage to the End of the World: The Road to Santiago de Compostela" by Conrad Rudolph. I'm not very far into it yet, so can't say much about whether it's any good, but it seems to start by giving the history of the pilgrimage, then a bit of a guide to what to expect, and a bit of a reflection on what the author himself learnt from the pilgrimage.

Having also recently got an eReader I discovered Project Gutenberg and Feedbooks, and I decided that having reached this advanced age having never read any of the Russian classics this would be a good chance to discover some. I started slowly - a Pushkin short story, "Queen of Spades", which was OK but I think I need to build myself up a bit before I tackle "War and Peace".

I'm also reading Frances Hodgson Burnett's "The Secret Garden" (an old-fashioned paperback!). I have spent my adult life thinking that I had read it as a child and this would be a re-read, but now I'm quite a way into it I don't think I remember it at all. I know I read (and reread, many many times) her "A Little Princess" as a child - I wonder how I didn't ever get to read "The Secret Garden" then? Anyway, although it is very much 'of its time' I am really enjoying a little bit of escapism.

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"My body is a temple - it's big and doesn't move." (Jo Brand)
wiblog blipfoto blog

Posts: 5767 | From: the land of the deep-fried Mars Bar | Registered: Oct 2002  |  IP: Logged
churchgeek

Have candles, will pray
# 5557

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My reading for pleasure has often been biographies (and autobiographies), especially about artists & creative people. Being a huge Joy Division fan, I've read a few books on the band, but now Peter Hook (who played bass) has come out with Unknown Pleasures: Inside Joy Division. The US release is gorgeous: black on black hard cover with a tiny dust jacket, and the edges of the pages are black. (It actually looks like an old 3/4" videotape case to me, which isn't gorgeous, but the book is.)

Anyway, the point is that this book is hilarious! When you read books about JD written by outsiders (people who weren't in the band, i.e., every other book written prior to this one), they can be downers, or they focus on the myth and image. Peter Hook's writing style is really conversational and he recounts everything with a great sense of humor. Plus, he really does give insight into the band's creative process, which is precisely what I like to read bios of creative people for. And you get to see where the myth and image of JD came from. If you see someone on the bus or train reading this book and laughing their ass off, they're not some twisted sicko. Well, they might be, but that's another matter.

I also enjoy reading histories of or pertaining to Detroit, my hometown, which is a lot more fascinating than people realize. I'm pleased to see myself becoming fairly knowledgeable on the subject!

Mostly, though, I have to read what I'm working on in school - although some of that is related to Detroit, happily, since I'm working on industrial ruins.

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I reserve the right to change my mind.

My article on the Virgin of Vladimir

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Cara
Shipmate
# 16966

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Jack the Lass, re Russian classics, though I don't know that many of them, I love Anna Karenina and have read it several times, would recommend it before War and Peace as easier to get into--and it's also brilliant.

Churchgeeek, you must surely know already, but I'll mention it just in case, that a new book about Detroit has just come out, and been widely reviewed--ah yes, found it-- The Last Days of Detroit by Mark Binelli, reviewed in the British press in January.

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Pondering.

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Keren-Happuch

Ship's Eyeshadow
# 9818

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Seconded re Anna Karenina. It's the only Russian classic I ever really got on with although I have read others.

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Travesty, treachery, betrayal!
EXCESS - The Art of Treason
Nea Fox

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The Great Gumby

Ship's Brain Surgeon
# 10989

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Huh, just goes to show. I stalled completely on Anna Karenina, although admittedly that was with a small baby in the house. In contrast, Crime and Punishment was utterly gripping, and remains one of my favourite novels.

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The first principle is that you must not fool yourself, and you are the easiest person to fool. - Richard Feynman

A letter to my son about death

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Eigon
Shipmate
# 4917

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I've just finished the Green Arrow graphic novel, The Longbow Hunters - and I want to go straight out and buy the sequel!
When I worked in London, I used to get Green Arrow comics occasionally, and I think I must have been reading stories just after this one, because Black Canary was recovering from something very traumatic that had happened in her recent past. This story shows the traumatic event, along with a rival archer lurking on Seattle's rooftops, a plot about Japanese gold and drug running - and Oliver Queen wants to settle down and get married. There's a flashback to show how Oliver became Green Arrow, too, to get the reader up to speed on the character. All that and a mention of Errol Flynn as Robin Hood! It's all great fun.

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Laugh hard. Run fast. Be kind.

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mark_in_manchester

not waving, but...
# 15978

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Might I recommend Unapologetic by Francis Spufford?

quote:
'The point... is to show those on the fence that belief need not mean the abandonment of intelligence, wit, emotional honesty. In this, Francis Spufford succeeds to an exceptional degree.' Theo Hobson, Times Literary Supplement

Also correctly described in 'Third Way' along the lines of 'probably the swear-iest Christian book you'll ever read...'.

Read it in case anyone you've ever thought is entirely hard-boiled against Christian propaganda/dogma/apologia, ever gives you the opportunity to suggest a book by a Christian which they might enjoy. It really is (IMHO) fantastic.

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"We are punished by our sins, not for them" - Elbert Hubbard
(so good, I wanted to see it after my posts and not only after those of shipmate JBohn from whom I stole it)

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Cara
Shipmate
# 16966

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Ah, great to know this about Spufford's Unapologetic , Mark, which is on my shelf, but as yet unread--will get to it the sooner for this recommendation.

Gumby, I was gripped by Crime and Punishment , too. But I'm surprised you couldn't be doing with Anna Karenina --well, as you say, it just goes to show. Perhaps it was the presence of the small baby--I know how distracting they can be! Not necessarily conducive to sitting down with a Russian for long chunks of time...as I recall, it does take a little while to get into Anna K, but once in, I was well and truly in.

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Pondering.

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Jack the Lass

Ship's airhead
# 3415

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Thanks for the thoughts on the Russian classics! I am a bit daunted by the prospect so am trying short stories first, most recently "First Love" by Turgenev. Are all Russian classics populated by princesses, countesses, hussars and soldiers down on their luck? I can't say I've been grabbed by any of the characters so far.

I'm also having a break and have just started Jonas Jonasson's "The 100 year old man who climbed out of the window and disappeared". I'm not too far in yet, but it seems to be a bit slapstick, and (possibly - too soon to say for sure) a bit dark. I'm enjoying it so far.

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"My body is a temple - it's big and doesn't move." (Jo Brand)
wiblog blipfoto blog

Posts: 5767 | From: the land of the deep-fried Mars Bar | Registered: Oct 2002  |  IP: Logged
la vie en rouge
Parisienne
# 10688

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I think with the Russian classics, the translation makes a huge difference. The first time I read Crime and Punishment I couldn't get on with it all, but later I tried it in a different translation and couldn't put it down.

In the same vein, despite thinking The Brothers Karamazov to be one of the most phenomenally amazing novels ever written, I think the Penguin translation sucks (I love it so much that I've read it twice nonetheless, but sigh over what a better translator could have done with it).

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Rent my holiday home in the South of France

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Cara
Shipmate
# 16966

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I haven't read any Turgenev but have read a wonderful book about him, which made me want to read him...
Twilight of Love: travels with Turgenev by Robert Dessaix. One of those wonderful cross-genre books I like so much, part travel, part exploration into history...I can't do better to convey its atmosphere than the jacket raves from writers I admire: "A moving,melancholy, vastly informative excursion into the Russian mind. This is one of the best travel memoirs I've read in years." Alberto Manguel.
Michael Arditti said: "The most inventive portrait of a writer's life and legacy since "Flaubert's Parrot." (High praise indeed, I think Flaubert's Parrot is brilliant.)
The book is about the desire to understand a writer, to follow in his or her footsteps, to see what he saw, feel as he felt, to try and transcend the barrier of time, even though we know it's impossible. In S Petersburg Dessaix stands opposite a house where Turgenev lived: "I wanted to fly back across the gap between then and now, but it was unbridgeable."
In a quick flip-through now, I don't see any reference to the story "First Love" (there's no index), but anyway it's a wonderful book.

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Pondering.

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la vie en rouge
Parisienne
# 10688

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I have finally slogged my way to the end of Les Misérables. I honestly think the last volume is the weakest of the five, which is a bit irritating after you've already waded your way through a thousand-odd pages. Also of all the wordy digressions that go on for chapters, I have to admit that I find the one about the sewer one of the less inspiring ones.

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Rent my holiday home in the South of France

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Keren-Happuch

Ship's Eyeshadow
# 9818

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I have finally finished reading Pawn in Frankincense, the fourth Lymond book (see earlier discussion).

Although just as heart-breaking as I'd been led to expect (and I was seriously annoyed with myself for stumbling on a massive spoiler on a review of an earlier book from the series. Grr. mumble...), I did actually enjoy it more than the previous one. Was still skipping masses of description to get to the plot, but more engaging for me. I got to a stage though where I'd got to within sight of the end but couldn't bear to know what happened and put off reading it for ages!

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Travesty, treachery, betrayal!
EXCESS - The Art of Treason
Nea Fox

Posts: 2407 | From: A Fine City | Registered: Jul 2005  |  IP: Logged
Scots lass
Shipmate
# 2699

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I've been waiting to find out what you thought of it! I remember it left me stunned.

The development of Philippa is well done though, and the relationships between the group are fascinating. It also made me really want to visit Istanbul and North Africa!

Posts: 863 | From: the diaspora | Registered: Apr 2002  |  IP: Logged
Trudy Scrumptious

BBE Shieldmaiden
# 5647

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quote:
Originally posted by la vie en rouge:
I have finally slogged my way to the end of Les Misérables. I honestly think the last volume is the weakest of the five, which is a bit irritating after you've already waded your way through a thousand-odd pages. Also of all the wordy digressions that go on for chapters, I have to admit that I find the one about the sewer one of the less inspiring ones.

I found Les Mis to be much less of an awful slog than I'd remembered/expected, but I certainly share your thoughts about the sewer digression. Also, not knowing much of these matters (or wanting to) I wondered, Is Hugo correct about this? Would human sewage make wonderful fertilizer if only we channeled it properly? Surely if this were true, in 150 years since he wrote that someone would be actually doing it?

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Books and things.

I lied. There are no things. Just books.

Posts: 7428 | From: Closer to Paris than I am to Vancouver | Registered: Mar 2004  |  IP: Logged
ArachnidinElmet
Shipmate
# 17346

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quote:
Originally posted by Trudy Scrumptious:
... but I certainly share your thoughts about the sewer digression. Also, not knowing much of these matters (or wanting to) I wondered, Is Hugo correct about this? Would human sewage make wonderful fertilizer if only we channeled it properly? Surely if this were true, in 150 years since he wrote that someone would be actually doing it?

A number of people are.

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'If a pleasant, straight-forward life is not possible then one must try to wriggle through by subtle manoeuvres' - Kafka

Posts: 1887 | From: the rhubarb triangle | Registered: Sep 2012  |  IP: Logged
Trudy Scrumptious

BBE Shieldmaiden
# 5647

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quote:
Originally posted by ArachnidinElmet:
quote:
Originally posted by Trudy Scrumptious:
... but I certainly share your thoughts about the sewer digression. Also, not knowing much of these matters (or wanting to) I wondered, Is Hugo correct about this? Would human sewage make wonderful fertilizer if only we channeled it properly? Surely if this were true, in 150 years since he wrote that someone would be actually doing it?

A number of people are.
Good to know, I guess.

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Books and things.

I lied. There are no things. Just books.

Posts: 7428 | From: Closer to Paris than I am to Vancouver | Registered: Mar 2004  |  IP: Logged
Chorister

Completely Frocked
# 473

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I'm currently reading 'Sir John Hawkins' by Harry Kelsey. I love reading the exploits of the Elizabethan 'pirates' - Hawkins and his cousin Sir Francis Drake, et al. There are so many connections with Creamtealand, and so many legends of derring-do. For sure, they were terrible men at times, doing trade in all sorts of questionable ways, using slaves as pawns in a global game of wealth aquisition, using threats to get what they wanted (often with the connivance of the Spanish and Portugese who were equally as knavish in their tricks) but also with the support of the Queen of England, and also while doing good, founding Hospitals and other worthy ventures on the way. Perhaps they were the ancient equivalent of Sir Jimmy Saville - at once devil and do-gooder? Stories of what they got up to, and what they considered to be acceptable practice, take your breath away.

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Retired, sitting back and watching others for a change.

Posts: 34626 | From: Cream Tealand | Registered: Jun 2001  |  IP: Logged
Timothy the Obscure

Mostly Friendly
# 292

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Just finished The Marriage Plot by Jeffrey Eugenides. It definitely earned the Pulitzer, the way it was a really engaging traditional novel while in its subtext quite unobtrusively but deliberately demolishing postmodernist literary theory.

Now reading Why Priests? A Failed Tradition by Garry Wills, who is always delightful to read (though he's preaching to the choir on this one).

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When you think of the long and gloomy history of man, you will find more hideous crimes have been committed in the name of obedience than have ever been committed in the name of rebellion.
  - C. P. Snow

Posts: 6114 | From: PDX | Registered: May 2001  |  IP: Logged
Cara
Shipmate
# 16966

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Yes, I thought The Marriage Plot was brilliant.

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Pondering.

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Jengie jon

Semper Reformanda
# 273

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An odd memory, but I believe that areas particularly famed for their market gardens around London were often recipients of London's night soil, its take a bit of hunting but here is one page that corroborates out this story.

Jengie

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"To violate a persons ability to distinguish fact from fantasy is the epistemological equivalent of rape." Noretta Koertge

Back to my blog

Posts: 20894 | From: city of steel, butterflies and rainbows | Registered: May 2001  |  IP: Logged
Freelance Monotheist
Shipmate
# 8990

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About a third of the way through Life After Life by Kate Atkinson. Really quirky and odd set-up for a story, but so intriguing.
I couldn't get on with her novels about the policeman at all, but this seems like a return to form. I love Human Croquet though and still consider that to be her best work and one of my favourite books!
I've also got Robin Hobb's latest offering on the go, which is the fourth book in her Dragon series, which I'm completely addicted to, as it has strong female characters, the fantasy world it's set in is really diverse and it has dragons! Plus it's set in the same world as her other series, about magic ships, so the plots are interlinked.
Need to buy the first book in the Game Of Thrones series and Oranges Are Not The Only Fruit, plus whatever gems Amazon suggests I should purchase!

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Denial: a very effective coping mechanism

Posts: 1239 | From: Paris, France | Registered: Jan 2005  |  IP: Logged
venbede
Shipmate
# 16669

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Just finished Jeanette Winterson's memoir Why be happy when you can be normal?

The title is what her adopted mother said to her when she said she was a lesbian and wanted to be normal.

Perhaps it's better to have read Oranges are not the only fruit first.

Despite her mother's Elim church trying to exorcise her of her lesbianism and locking her up for three days with no food, she is quite without self-pity and appreciative of the meaning and support that church could give in the context of working class Accrington in the 60s.

I found it very moving and hopeful.

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Man was made for joy and woe;
And when this we rightly know,
Thro' the world we safely go.

Posts: 3201 | From: An historic market town nestling in the folds of Surrey's rolling North Downs, | Registered: Sep 2011  |  IP: Logged
leo
Shipmate
# 1458

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quote:
Originally posted by venbede:
Just finished Jeanette Winterson's memoir Why be happy when you can be normal?

The title is what her adopted mother said to her when she said she was a lesbian and wanted to be normal.

Perhaps it's better to have read Oranges are not the only fruit first.

Despite her mother's Elim church trying to exorcise her of her lesbianism and locking her up for three days with no food, she is quite without self-pity and appreciative of the meaning and support that church could give in the context of working class Accrington in the 60s.

I found it very moving and hopeful.

Brilliant books - we did the Why be normal... one in my book group.

She's far more sympathetic to her mother than in Oranges...

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My Jewish-positive lectionary blog is at http://recognisingjewishrootsinthelectionary.wordpress.com/
My reviews at http://layreadersbookreviews.wordpress.com

Posts: 23198 | From: Bristol | Registered: Oct 2001  |  IP: Logged
Trudy Scrumptious

BBE Shieldmaiden
# 5647

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quote:
Originally posted by venbede:
Just finished Jeanette Winterson's memoir Why be happy when you can be normal?

The title is what her adopted mother said to her when she said she was a lesbian and wanted to be normal.

Perhaps it's better to have read Oranges are not the only fruit first.

Despite her mother's Elim church trying to exorcise her of her lesbianism and locking her up for three days with no food, she is quite without self-pity and appreciative of the meaning and support that church could give in the context of working class Accrington in the 60s.

I found it very moving and hopeful.

I read Why Be Happy without having read Oranges first. Really enjoyed it and it did make me want to read the novel.

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Books and things.

I lied. There are no things. Just books.

Posts: 7428 | From: Closer to Paris than I am to Vancouver | Registered: Mar 2004  |  IP: Logged
Keren-Happuch

Ship's Eyeshadow
# 9818

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quote:
Originally posted by Freelance Monotheist:
About a third of the way through Life After Life by Kate Atkinson. Really quirky and odd set-up for a story, but so intriguing.
I couldn't get on with her novels about the policeman at all, but this seems like a return to form. I love Human Croquet though and still consider that to be her best work and one of my favourite books!

Longing to read this but there's a queue of 60 at the library so may be waiting a while...

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Travesty, treachery, betrayal!
EXCESS - The Art of Treason
Nea Fox

Posts: 2407 | From: A Fine City | Registered: Jul 2005  |  IP: Logged
venbede
Shipmate
# 16669

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quote:
Originally posted by venbede:
Just finished Jeanette Winterson's memoir Why be happy when you can be normal?

The title is what her adopted mother said to her when she said she was a lesbian and wanted to be normal.

There's an awful typo there. JW said she was a lesbian and wanted to be happy. Her mother said "Why be happy..."

Her mother was distinctly not normal even I should imagine by Elim Pentecostal standards.

I read Oranges when it first came out, and the gay press was saying it showed how dreadful religion could be to gays. That wasn't exactly how it came across. In the book there are some feisty old women in the congregation who are quietly supportive. And the lesbian seems to gain strength from the bloody-mindedness in the face of a hostile world which she learns from Elim.

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Man was made for joy and woe;
And when this we rightly know,
Thro' the world we safely go.

Posts: 3201 | From: An historic market town nestling in the folds of Surrey's rolling North Downs, | Registered: Sep 2011  |  IP: Logged
leo
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# 1458

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The later book shows how Jeanette valued religion, to some extent, partly be appropriating it. or example, she wrote
quote:
I understood twice born was not just about being alive, but about choosing life.
She writes warmly about church
quote:
Mrs Smalley opened her mouth underwater to praise the Lord and lost her top teeth. ....I saw a lot of working-class men and women — myself included — living a deeper, more thoughtful life than would have been possible without the Church. These ' were not educated people; Bible study worked their brains. They met after work in noisy discussion. The sense of belonging to something big, something important, lent unity and meaning
However she is very damning in her exposure of her exorcist
quote:
He shoved me onto my knees to repent those :words and I felt the bulge in his suit trousers. He tried to kiss me. He said it would be better than with a girl
....The church was a place of mutual help and imaginative possibility.

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My Jewish-positive lectionary blog is at http://recognisingjewishrootsinthelectionary.wordpress.com/
My reviews at http://layreadersbookreviews.wordpress.com

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Cara
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# 16966

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Re Jeannette Winterson and the church, she has also always credited her childhood knowledge of the Bible, which was all-pervasive in her home and church, as contributing enormously to her work and life as a writer. The Biblical stories, language, and imagery were deeply formative........

I don't have "Why be happy...." near me but I'm pretty sure this brilliant book mentions this, and it's come up in various essays as well.

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Pondering.

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Heavenly Anarchist
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# 13313

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I'm glad I just read this as I have been thinking about reading 'Why be happy'. The BBC dramatisation of Oranges is one of my favourite pieces of TV drama, I have it on DVD.
Off to buy a copy of the book.

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'I love deadlines. I like the whooshing sound they make as they fly by.' Douglas Adams
Dog Activity Monitor
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Golden Key
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# 1468

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quote:
Originally posted by venbede:
Perhaps it's better to have read Oranges are not the only fruit first.

There's a good film of that. Saw it on the PBS network, years ago.

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Blessed Gator, pray for us!
--"Oh bat bladders, do you have to bring common sense into this?" (Dragon, "Jane & the Dragon")
--"Oh, Peace Train, save this country!" (Yusuf/Cat Stevens, "Peace Train")

Posts: 18601 | From: Chilling out in an undisclosed, sincere pumpkin patch. | Registered: Oct 2001  |  IP: Logged
Ariel
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# 58

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"Charmed Life", by Diana Wynne Jones. This is the first book I've read by this author, after several people have recommended her.

It was very readable, lively and interesting, and the story was original. I don't know whether I'd want to read it again, though. It was clearly aimed at children and isn't as grown-up in tone as some other children's books I've read. But it would be a great book to read to a child. I also found Chrestomanci irritating - too much of a fop without a great deal of character.

But good fun overall, and I wouldn't mind reading another.

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Eigon
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# 4917

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I've just been reading Black Orchid by Neil Gaiman, a graphic novel (the pictures are by Dave McKean).
I sort of remember reading it when it first came out, in 1988, though at the time I had no idea who Neil Gaiman was - I was just looking for a comic that was a bit different from Superman and other caped crusaders.
There was an awful lot that I missed first time round that I've picked up this time. For instance, I know more or less who Swamp Thing is now, and I have at least heard of the Arkham Asylum (but who was the little man in the big hat, I wonder?). And it's a brave storyteller who kills off the main character right at the beginning of the story.
It does make me happy though, to think that somewhere in the Amazon rainforest there are purple flower ladies being worshipped by Amazonian Indians.

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Laugh hard. Run fast. Be kind.

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ArachnidinElmet
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# 17346

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Ooh, Black Orchid. I've got a copy of the first edition of the comic signed by Dave McKean. Worth nothing on Antiques Roadshow, but it makes me happy.

I read the first couple of stories in an anthology series (the name escapes me, Shockwave maybe?)which also included Grant Morrison's Animal Man and a Hellblazer story. It came out in the early 90s and specified 'for more mature readers' on the front due to the sex and drug use and violence. As a teenage reader of superhero comics it was catnip. [Big Grin]

[ 31. March 2013, 22:14: Message edited by: ArachnidinElmet ]

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'If a pleasant, straight-forward life is not possible then one must try to wriggle through by subtle manoeuvres' - Kafka

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LeRoc

Famous Dutch pirate
# 3216

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I just finished Caesarion by Dutch writer Tommy Wieringa, but I have to say I wasn't much impressed by it. Especially because of the clichés: a boy discovers that his mother was in the porn industry, he looks in the jungle for his father who abandoned him when he was young, he becomes a gigolo for rich elderly ladies, his mother dies of cancer because she only resorts to alternative treatments... It was a bit too much for me.

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I know why God made the rhinoceros, it's because He couldn't see the rhinoceros, so He made the rhinoceros to be able to see it. (Clarice Lispector)

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Ariel
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# 58

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Someone lent me "Howl's Moving Castle" by Diana Wynne Jones. What a delightful read - unpredictable, interesting and amusing. I've been lent the DVD as well, I don't much like animations but the story has been so enjoyable that I'll watch it and see how it goes.
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Firenze

Ordinary decent pagan
# 619

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quote:
Originally posted by Ariel:
Someone lent me "Howl's Moving Castle" by Diana Wynne Jones. What a delightful read - unpredictable, interesting and amusing. I've been lent the DVD as well, I don't much like animations but the story has been so enjoyable that I'll watch it and see how it goes.

Except it's more manga, and can't capture the play on Howl/Hywel.
Posts: 17302 | From: Edinburgh | Registered: Jun 2001  |  IP: Logged
leo
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# 1458

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I have recently read two novels by Peter Ackroyd, both about murders in London: Hawksmoor and Dan Leo & the Limehouse Golem .

They are both clever, post-modernist works but at an ordinary, story level, you can also smell the hovels in which people lived - and died.

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My Jewish-positive lectionary blog is at http://recognisingjewishrootsinthelectionary.wordpress.com/
My reviews at http://layreadersbookreviews.wordpress.com

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Firenze

Ordinary decent pagan
# 619

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They're both stoating reads, though of the two, I thought Hawksmoor the more compelling. There's something about the 17thC and the blend of surviving ancientry and nascent modernity (Newton was an astronomer and an astrologer) which makes it such a good locale for a certain sort of novel ( An Instance of the Fingerpost is another case in point).
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Scots lass
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# 2699

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Does that mean I ought to forgive Ackroyd for his utterly inaccurate portrayal of the Public Record Office in The House of Doctor Dee and read one of them? I didn't much like it anyway to be honest, are the others better?
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Firenze

Ordinary decent pagan
# 619

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Inaccuracies about the PRO are the least of it; he was totally off boil in Dr Dee IMO.
Posts: 17302 | From: Edinburgh | Registered: Jun 2001  |  IP: Logged
Scots lass
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# 2699

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I'm sure that was the least of it but it was what stuck in my memory! (Over-attached to my profession, perhaps...)

I'll try and track down the ones mentioned up-thread and give him another try.

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la vie en rouge
Parisienne
# 10688

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Because it was free on Kindle... I just finished Apparent Danger, the true story of the fundamentalist pastor of the first megachurch in the USA, who was put on trial in Texas in the 1920s for shooting a man to death.

It's a phenomenal courtroom drama that I was completely gripped by. (I was a bit bummed at how the trial turned out, but that's history's fault, not the author's [Roll Eyes] )

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Rent my holiday home in the South of France

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Golden Key
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# 1468

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If the Dr. Dee mentioned above is the one from Eliz. I's time, try the novel "The Fyre Mirror". I don't remember the author's name, but she's written a series of Elizabethan mysteries--with the queen as sleuth!

[Smile]

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Blessed Gator, pray for us!
--"Oh bat bladders, do you have to bring common sense into this?" (Dragon, "Jane & the Dragon")
--"Oh, Peace Train, save this country!" (Yusuf/Cat Stevens, "Peace Train")

Posts: 18601 | From: Chilling out in an undisclosed, sincere pumpkin patch. | Registered: Oct 2001  |  IP: Logged
Keren-Happuch

Ship's Eyeshadow
# 9818

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I'm in the middle of Pratchett's Snuff - was really enjoying it, but kind of stalled. It's a big hardback though and doing lots of travelling next week so will need lots of littler books to take with me. Choices, choices...

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Travesty, treachery, betrayal!
EXCESS - The Art of Treason
Nea Fox

Posts: 2407 | From: A Fine City | Registered: Jul 2005  |  IP: Logged
Trudy Scrumptious

BBE Shieldmaiden
# 5647

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Just finished Guy Gavriel Kay's latest, River of Stars. Wonderful, wonderful fantasy. Actually I guess that depends on what you read fantasy fore --it's barely fantasy at all; the fantastic elements are very minimal. It's more like parallel-world history -- his Kitai is basically medieval China, but making it fantasy leaves him free to play fast and loose with history. And I love that it's set in something other than a European society, since most fantasy worlds are so Eurocentric. Very rich, very detailed, very real characters, as always with Kay. And then I had a Twitter conversation with him (fangirl squeeeee!!! GGK answered me on Twitter) about how unfair it is (for both author and reader, in a way) that an author works for 3-4 years on a book that I can finish reading in 3-4 days ... and then long for more ....

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Books and things.

I lied. There are no things. Just books.

Posts: 7428 | From: Closer to Paris than I am to Vancouver | Registered: Mar 2004  |  IP: Logged



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