Originally posted by smittims
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What are you reading now?
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It was real when I saw a docoumentary about 25-30 years ago on the Franklin expedition. The significance of the finding of the permafrost-preserved bodies was firstly that they are (I think) the only found relics of the expedition (unless more have been found since) , and secondly, the tragic discovery that they were poisoned by their own rations, the lead sealant in the tinned food.
I suppose that, with the gradual melting of the snow and ice due to climate change, more discoveries will be made. I gather it's now possible to sail round the north of Canada in summer.
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Originally posted by johncorrigan View PostOn holiday this year I read Michael Palin's 'Erebus', the story of the ship...I had picked it up in a charity shop and enjoyed it a lot more than I thought I would - very well written and researched, it seemed to me.
There was a documentary (I think it may have been a repeat) on More4 about the search for HMS Erebus - "Hunt for the Arctic Ghost Ship" which made me think it would be worth reading the book again. The TV programme was one of these that has inserted reconstructed acting bits in - a format I dislike - which meant it was rather too long for the material in my opinion but interesting all the same. I could have done without seeing the 3 crew members that had been buried on a beach and preserved by the cold though - at least I assume that was real and not a reconstruction.
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Chopin in Kentucky by Eilzabeth Heichelbech (me neither), a third cousin twice removed of Catcher in the Rye with a female narrator whose imaginary companion is Chopin. Sounds odd and is written in very short chapters but makes me laugh as the author has a deadpan way of describing scenes that tickle me.Last edited by gradus; 05-08-23, 17:26.
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I'm well into The American, possibly Henry James' easiest read, and a big success in its time. For the first half of the book it's intriguing, humorous, then suddenly dramatic, a superbly-structured novel that carries you along eagerly.
I try to re-read the James canon every ten-twenty years. I think one of the reasons he's such a good novelist is that he's impartial, he doesn't preach or tell you what to think.
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Goodbye Russia: Rachmaninoff in Exile by Fiona Maddocks. Excellent read, well researched, as mentioned earlier. I feel I know the man and his music much better now.
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On holiday this year I read Michael Palin's 'Erebus', the story of the ship...I had picked it up in a charity shop and enjoyed it a lot more than I thought I would - very well written and researched, it seemed to me. Then a friend had given me a shot of 'For the Good Times' by Michael Keenan, a Scottish writer. This book concerns Sammy, a young guy brought up in the Ardoyne in Belfast who joins the local branch of the IRA in the 1970s and meets Tommy. The book was riveting in places and also very disturbing. It was very well written and gave a picture of some of the violence being perpetrated on all sides...I read the 350 pages in less than two days - I had to see what happened, but I was desperate to get out of that world as quickly as I could...the reason for the title of the book, by the way, is that they were all Perry Como fans. I then took up the second of McCarthy's 'Borders' trilogy, 'The Crossing', a year or so after I read the first one, 'All the Pretty Horses'. Unlike 'For the Good Times', I was happy to stay in that world on the New Mexico/Mexico border for a week or so...I travelled through some of those places in New Mexico, many years ago...a wonderful read, spoiled a bit by my lack of knowledge of Spanish which got in the way from time to time...my problem, not McCarthy's. Such beautiful use of language and imagery.
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Originally posted by Mandryka View PostJust finished Cormac McCarthey's Blood Meridian. I'm just posting here in case anyone's read it and has an idea about what it's "about"
If you are interested, may I recommend Amy Hungerford’s two superb lectures, given at Yale (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FgyZ4ia25gg) which draw out the literary allusions (eg Moby Dick, inter alia), and the Gnosticism that underpins the book’s philosophy. As for what horror is revealed when the door of the jakes is opened, I am no longer certain, nor the meaning of the deeply symbolist epilogue. Perhaps another read is required.
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Originally posted by Mandryka View PostJust finished Cormac McCarthey's Blood Meridian. I'm just posting here in case anyone's read it and has an idea about what it's "about"
Though that was quite a while ago.
I've just read The road for the first time (immensely depressing, and it's put me off tackling Demon Copperhead for a while) but I seem to remember finding The Border Trilogy much more gripping and readable.
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Just finished Cormac McCarthey's Blood Meridian. I'm just posting here in case anyone's read it and has an idea about what it's "about"
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Originally posted by ardcarp View PostGeraldine McCaughrean's Where the World Ends. It's about the population of Hirta, which is one of the St Kilda island group. The story (which is loosely based on fact) is set in the century before the population of the islands had to be removed because living there was no longer tenable.
The reason I'm posting this now is because a rare St Kilda folk melody was played by Nicola Benedetti* at the recent Scottish musical event/service for the Royals...and by co-incidence I'd just read the book. The story is how all the teenage (and perhaps younger) boys of Hirta were landed...with difficulty... by boat on a remote rocky island 'Stac' in the company of two adults to 'harvest' gulls' eggs and the gulls themselves plus feathers to provide food and income for the coming year for the small population of Hirta. The suspense in the book rests on the fact that no-one came to pick them up again. Time went on, the seasons passed, and their struggle for survival against all the odds as seasons came and went (including a couple of deaths and extreme hardship) seems to have no reason. I won't do a spoiler, in case anyone wants to read this extraordinary book.
*Back to Nicola Benedetti. Fabulous playing, of course, from her and the RSNO. However, the folk song, which was passed down by aural tradition, was almost 'arranged' out of existence. How much more telling had it been played (or sung?) in its Gallic simplicity. A plus though. Four minutes of Radio 4 time on the Sunday Morning Radio 4 news programme were given over to this music...with no talking over.Last edited by Ein Heldenleben; 09-07-23, 15:52.
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There's a fascinating film by Michael Powell (he of 'I know where I'm going') about the de-population of a fictional Scots Island: The Edge of the World. It was, of course, also based loosely on the St.Kilda experience, and was filmed on Foula, which is (relatively) near to Shetland.
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Originally posted by ardcarp View PostFour minutes of Radio 4 time on the Sunday Morning Radio 4 news programme were given over to this music...with no talking over.
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Geraldine McCaughrean's Where the World Ends. It's about the population of Hirta, which is one of the St Kilda island group. The story (which is loosely based on fact) is set in the century before the population of the islands had to be removed because living there was no longer tenable.
The reason I'm posting this now is because a rare St Kilda folk melody was played by Nicola Benedetti* at the recent Scottish musical event/service for the Royals...and by co-incidence I'd just read the book. The story is how all the teenage (and perhaps younger) boys of Hirta were landed...with difficulty... by boat on a remote rocky island 'Stac' in the company of two adults to 'harvest' gulls' eggs and the gulls themselves plus feathers to provide food and income for the coming year for the small population of Hirta. The suspense in the book rests on the fact that no-one came to pick them up again. Time went on, the seasons passed, and their struggle for survival against all the odds as seasons came and went (including a couple of deaths and extreme hardship) seems to have no reason. I won't do a spoiler, in case anyone wants to read this extraordinary book.
*Back to Nicola Benedetti. Fabulous playing, of course, from her and the RSNO. However, the folk song, which was passed down by aural tradition, was almost 'arranged' out of existence. How much more telling had it been played (or sung?) in its Gallic simplicity. A plus though. Four minutes of Radio 4 time on the Sunday Morning Radio 4 news programme were given over to this music...with no talking over.Last edited by ardcarp; 09-07-23, 11:51.
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Originally posted by Lordgeous View PostGoodbye Russia: Rachmaninoff in Exile by Fiona MaddocksOriginally posted by smittims View PostI hadn't heard of that; it sounds fascinating.Originally posted by Lordgeous View PostIts good so far! It's new, just published.
It gets a pretty decent full page review from David Fanning in August's Gramophone (similarly just arrived) too.
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