What are you reading now?

[vinteuil]

.

... to accompany the current Maigret series with Bruno Cremer on Talking Pictures I am re-reading Maigret a Peur and l'Affaire Saint-Fiacre. I know that they are not as 'deep' as Simenon's romans durs - but I still find them very impressive, in terms of atmosphere, locality, psychology. I was struck by how closely the telly version of Maigret a Peur followed the book - almost all the dialogue was verbatim (even if it was filmed in the Ain rather than Fontenay-le-Comte.. )

[french frank]

Hopefully a lot of woodland (and associated wildlife habitats) north of Birmingham will now be saved as HS2 has been cancelled. The Woodland Trust has been campaigning in this direction.

I'm not entirely persuaded of the actual amount of permanent damage potentially caused. My brother and I inherited a small field with a tiny strip of woodland at the bottom for which an earlier planning application had been refused. As it was stuck in the middle of nowhere it was neglected until it was pointed out that as members of the public were walking across it we needed to take out insurance for it. When we went to inspect the 'field' 30 years after it had been abandoned it was entirely covered with regenerated ancient woodland, and we donated it to the neighbouring town council for 'recreational purposes'.

[Sir Velo]

Hopefully a lot of woodland (and associated wildlife habitats) north of Birmingham will now be saved as HS2 has been cancelled. The Woodland Trust has been campaigning in this direction.

Only to be lost again to the resulting spurt in road building (see Darwin's Oak).

[smittims]

Hopefully a lot of woodland (and associated wildlife habitats) north of Birmingham will now be saved as HS2 has been cancelled. The Woodland Trust has been campaigning in this direction.

[french frank]

Just started Guy Shrubsole's The Lost Rainforests of Britain. Apparently England/Britain has a large percentage of the world's existing temperate rainforests which require moderate temperatures and plenty of rain. I have become enthusiastic about reintroducing a rainforest to our Common - under which there are several streams and fresh water springs. Unfortunately the council seems to favour planting exotic ornamental species ('it depends what trees they have available') which might create something else. Apparently the sign of the remnants of temperate rainforest is the number of species (epiphytes - ferns, lungworts, liverworts, lichens) which grow on other species,

[vinteuil]

An item of news from Australia last week reminded me of John Lanchester’s debut novel The Debt to Pleasure, which I am re-reading (again) with pleasure. Ostensibly a seasonal recipe book, it turns into something very different. It’s laugh out loud funny (the recipe for Lemon Tart is priceless).

... one of my absolutely favourite books. As you hint, you need to read it several times to understand what's going on.

Sadly, I don't think any of John Lanchester's subsequent works have lived up to earlier expectations

.

[PatrickMurtha]

'Growing', Leonard Woolf's memoir of his year in Ceylon at the start of the twentieth century. Written up to sixty years after the events it describes, I imagine it gave him some pleasure; today it's a valuable picture of a vanished era.

Excellent! I should love to read that. Michael Ondaatje’s Running in the Family is another wonderful book about growing up in Ceylon.

[Belgrove]

An item of news from Australia last week reminded me of John Lanchester’s debut novel The Debt to Pleasure, which I am re-reading (again) with pleasure. Ostensibly a seasonal recipe book, it turns into something very different. It’s laugh out loud funny (the recipe for Lemon Tart is priceless).

[smittims]

'Growing', Leonard Woolf's memoir of his year in Ceylon at the start of the twentieth century. Written up to sixty years after the events it describes, I imagine it gave him some pleasure; today it's a valuable picture of a vanished era.

[Jonathan]

I'm currently reading for the final time prior to publication, my first novel - The Ventos Conspiracy. Just tweaking a few things here and there. Intending to publish either this weekend or the next.

[JasonPalmer]

Enjoyed john le carres call for the dead, george smiley at his best !

[PatrickMurtha]

Just finished Arthur Ransome’s non-fiction tribute, Bohemia in London (1907), which he published when he was only 23 and just starting to make a name for himself. It paints a considerably cheerier picture of the New Grub Street lifestyle than Gissing does in his famous novel (but then, Gissing really piles on the misery).

[french frank]

btw I'm taking bets on at what page I shall give up on The New Puritans).

Page 54. Enough.

[PatrickMurtha]

I was always miffed that my "A" level class missed "L'etranger" by a year, while we ended up with "Le ble en Herbe".

If memory serves, we also got La Peste, Germinal and Pere Goriot.

That is more advanced than my French classes in high school. I did not continue French at university, but took up Russian unsuccessfully. Nor did I continue Latin, which I had enjoyed in middle and high school.

I am not a good linguist on the speaking / listening side. My Spanish is still indifferent after 13 years in Mexico. I have always been much better at reading languages, and if I really applied myself, I could get to literary level reading in both Spanish and French. I never seem to find the time, though…

[french frank]

... Strait is the Gate is the obvious negative (?) twin to The Immoralist. They're both fairly autobiographical.

La Porte Etroite is a bit insipid. I have to thank L'Immoraliste/Gide for introducing me to Agrigento, so having visited Paestum (which has a railway station) I set off for Sicily and the Valley of the Temples in Agrigento (which, if I remember, he deliberately avoided because he was "supposed to" visit it). Memorable visit (mine).