Finally got through Hawksmoor (a tad disappointing), now into Ballard's High-Rise.
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"Gone Chopin, Bach in a minuet." -
Before my recent holiday I loaded on to my new Kindle Music in the Castle of Heaven by John Eliot Gardiner and Sword of Honour by Evelyn Waugh. Gardiner has very many illuminating things to say about Bach and his music, but the Kindle format is limiting, partly because all the figures are in monochrome. In any case, one needs scores and recordings to hand to get the best out of the chapters on the choral works. However, I see that the paperback is out the day after tomorrow at a very modest price.Comment
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I remember reading Sword of Honour around the time of an appendix operation and stretching the stitches by laughing too much, no doubt the operation uses keyhole techniques these days, but not then.
Presently occupied with Men and the Fields, Adrian Bell's involving series of essays about the English farming scene of which he was a part.Comment
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Finished The Time In Between, many thanks to Richard Tarleton for the recommendation. My wife and I are now busy watching the TV series on our computers on a web site called "Drama Fever".Comment
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Excellent news richard. Is the TV series dubbed, subtitled or just in the original? I see the DVDs are about £28 on Amazon, something for the long winter evenings!Originally posted by richardfinegold View PostComment
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Richard, I am unable to pull up the DVD. I've tried the Amazon US and UK sites, and also just tried googling it. If you could assist me I would appreciate it because my wife and I really don't want to watch on the computer.Originally posted by Richard Tarleton View Post
Drama Fever has placed 10 minute excerpts on you tube. They are subtitled, not dubbed. It looks like a high class production. The internet features meany comparisons to Downton Abbey.Comment
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pm on the way!Comment
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The 20th of July by Hans Hellmut Kirst.
I've loved Kirst's novels for many years and re-read them again and again. Best known here, perhaps, for The Night of the Generals and the Gunner Asch series there is no-one better at exposing the inner workings of the Wehrmacht. There is lots of black humour and weary cynicism, all caught to perfection in the translations of J.Maxwell Brownjohn.
My favourite H H Kirst novel is The Wolves (first published as The Fox of Maulen). Set in East Prussia during the Nazi period it is very funny, ultimately tragic and would make a wonderful TV series.
Anyone else know these? If not, they can all be picked up for 0.01 at Amazon. http://www.amazon.co.uk/s/ref=nb_sb_...+hellmut+kirstLast edited by Petrushka; 12-07-14, 00:05."The sound is the handwriting of the conductor" - Bernard HaitinkComment
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Sounds interesting. Do you know the Bernie Gunther novels by Phillip Kerr?Originally posted by Petrushka View PostComment
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Good news. We are able to access the subtitled series on Hulu PlusOriginally posted by Richard Tarleton View PostComment
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Indeed - this sounds very interesting. I'll have to check it outOriginally posted by Petrushka View Post
Currently reading "War" - by Sebastian Junger - a book that my nephew (he's in the Army) left at my mother's. I'm glad he did as it is a good read.
It's an account of the US experience in Afghanistan. Reading it, I'm reminded of Dispatches by Michael Herr - which was about an earlier unhappy experience in Vietnam. This prompts an obvious question - "When will we ever learn?"
War actually inspired a documentary "Restrepo" made by Junger and Tim Hetherington and I'd recommend that wholeheartedly.
Sadly Hetherington was killed in 2011 when reporting the conflict in Libya.
Best Wishes,
Tevot
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I'm now halfway through the complete works of Jules Verne on my Kobo.
Not sure if I'll manage them all without a break.Comment
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I do, yes and like his period detail. At a guess, I'd say Kerr was probably influenced by HH Kirst. Kirst himself, though, is something different. I first read his books way back in the 1960s and just love the psychological insight into the German mind under the Nazis. The dialogue is full of catchy one-liners that I guarantee will stay in your mind for years.Originally posted by richardfinegold View Post
The Wolves is something of a masterpiece in my view. Centred on a town in East Prussia from 1933 to 1945 where some of the population, notably Alfons Materna, take a delight in taking a pop at the arrogance of the local Nazis. It's got some very funny episodes but is, as we reach 1945, inevitably tragic. You can see the potential for a good TV series or film in this book. I first read it in 1969."The sound is the handwriting of the conductor" - Bernard HaitinkComment
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Have you got to Michael Strogoff yet, Alpen? I saw the Anton Walbrook film a couple of times in the 60s on TV - it turned up again in the 1980s - and later read the book, which I found in a second hand bookshop. Apparently JV showed good knowledge of Siberia, but there had been no Tartar rebellions of this type since the Middle Ages.Originally posted by Eine Alpensinfonie View Post
For some reason these clips are dubbed in Spanish. A cracking film, with that great Hollywood baddie Akim Tamiroff as Ogareff
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... I hope the "complete works" include the poems, the plays, the geography of France, the accounts of the history of exploration. And the six volumes of correspondence...Originally posted by Eine Alpensinfonie View Post
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