On Books: Particularly The One That's Ninety Percent Belgian

Hello there. Hope you're feeling well today.

First a quick word about this blog and me. Car had a bit of a bash last week. It's thankfully drivable and if the eyesight test is anything to go by will be right as rain once the garage the insurance company picks deals with it. Cannot obviously chat about the circumstances at this time....except it wasn't my fault.

Me? Shaken but not stirred.

Even when I get the courtesy car I'm a bit too nervous at present to do any exploring of places in South Wales new to me. So that bit of the blog will be put on hold for (I assume) a few weeks.

But there will always be the books.

So have at last finished Thomas Wolfe's You Can't Go Home Again. I've discussed this book in an earlier post with regard to it's attitude to African Americans. I'm afraid to say that didn't change. It does however almost makes me delighted to tell you that this novel is just plain awful even if you took that part away.

Basically about the travails of an American writer. You think you know where this is going to and then for no coherent reason vears off in both style in location. It's as if Mr Wolfe wrote the novel, then felt that he needed to make it bigger thinking it would make the book more important than it actually is. Characters appear then wander off as if they had a prior engagement....I wish I did.

The new book from the Kindle is Operation Eichmann by Zvi Anaroni and Wilhelm Dietl. It's about the capture of the notorious Nazi and bringing him to justice in Israel. Mr Anaroni was the lead investigator, so it should be an interesting read.

As for the library, yesterday I borrowed two books. This was the first:

Jeffrey Archer - Tell Tale

This is an intriguing book for me as I've not read one of his works in decades (for reasons I'll chat about when I've finished it).

It's to book I'm about to start. Because the other, and the one I finished in a day, was this:

Alec Le Sueur - Bottoms Up In Belgium

Having married a Belgian woman Mr Le Sueur has knowledge of a much maligned country and so what he's produced here is part travel book, part guidebook, part history book, part reminiscence of things Belgian that most people across the channel would not be aware of (and even less so post Brexit - again it seems to be affecting a lot of what I'm reading at the moment).

It was written,I should point out, in 2014.

Perhaps I should mention my own "Belgian" story here. Many, many, years ago I was having a conversation with a guy and for reasons I no longer recall he demanded me to name him a Belgian writer apart from Herge.

"George Simenon" I replied.

"He's French" came the indignant response.

"Actually he was born in Leige". From which I swaggeringly left the room.

What might seem like an act of bigheadeness on my part was actually because I was afraid he was going to ask me to name another  Belgian writer. I literally quit whilst I was ahead.

I loved this book. So let's get the critisms in first. There were three chapters which seemed pointless to me. First was that on the Formula 1 Grand Prix. I'm sure you could create regional variations everywhere of "the traffic to get there is awful/it's expensive/it's noisy. Ditto the Belgian history in Eurovision (aside from the interesting fact that the entry is alternately in Flemish/French).

Even the chapter on the EU seemed not really all that "Belgian" to me (Brexit again).

That out of the way this is the book Belgium needed to sell itself to the outside world. It taught me many things I was not aware of (suspect British people will be stunned by what Mr Le Sueur reveals about Stella Artois and a certain "British" sportsman..I know I was) in a humorous and friendly way. And unlike the book on the Scilly Isles I discussed previously this wasn't the sort of travel book that focuses on the eccentrics of a place.

(Without wishing to spoil things for the reader I should mention that there's one chapter that because of circumstance ends on a tragic note. The author writes about the situation humanely and should be praised for doing so)

I'm not going to Belgium (or indeed anywhere else) any time soon. But the Belgian tourist board should give this man a medal. For it's made me want to visit one day.

Can I name ten famous Belgians? At a push yes. Two cyclists,one writer and a combination of footballers and the cast of Professor T.

Until the next time

The Dilemma For The Left Wing Reader Regarding The N Word:Should I Stay Or Should I Go?

Hello there. Hope you're feeling well today.

Regular readers will remember that I chatted about the American school that banned Harper Lee's classic novel To Kill A Mockingbird from their exam board lists because some people felt uncomfortable with the use of the N word. This action inspired me to go to the library and read this book (so thanks for that).

On reading it confirmed my view that with regard to the N word context is what you judge a novel on. Here it was perfectly acceptable especially when you read the passage when Atticus Finch condemns it.

But now I find myself in a dilemma regarding the current book I'm reading on the Kindle: Thomas Wolfe's novel You Can't Go Home Again (published posthumously in 1940). I'm about a quarter of the way through and the N word has been used twice. Afro Americans in this book a poor lower order who work in menial jobs. Susceptible/gullible to the avarice of the (white) guy who's apparently the lead villain.

Nothing suggests,aside from the very last point, that the writer disapproves. It's just normal American small town life.

And all of this, apart from giving an idea as to how bad the bad guy is has apparently nothing to do with the plot.

I remember reading John Buchan's book Prester John. Which as I've said before was even allowing for the attitudes of the time stunningly racist. I kept reading it thinking, "well this is going to change" but I was wrong.

So I'm inclined to stop reading this novel.

But....

As I've said I'm about a quarter of the way through the book. What if something changes? What if Mr Wolfe shows that he doesn't approve of the racist society as it was then? If that turns out to be the case then it makes me look like an idiot.

And that's the dilemma. Remember unlike Harper Lee's classic novel I've no idea what to expect from this book. Thomas Wolfe is a new writer to me. So should I stay or should I go?

For the moment I'm staying. I feel uncomfortable about that but the thought of a plot change (unlikely I think but don't know for certain) to undermine the impression currently given makes me give Mr Wolfe the benefit of the doubt.

It's a big doubt though.

Until the next time.

No I Won't Watch A Christmas Movie, I Won't Watch A Christmas Movie....Oh Alright Then

Hello there. Hope you're feeling well today.

Well it's Sunday. Lunch has been eaten. We're not going out. Nothing planned....what to do? I've no idea. Might as well start reading Thomas Wolfe.

But wife/daughter have plans.

"Let's spend the afternoon watching Christmas movies" they say. Channel 5 are showing three,count them three Xmas movies in what's not even the middle of November and they want me to watch it with them.

As regular readers will know I'm not a Christmas person at the best of times. But definitely not now. I refuse. I'm adamant. They start watching Christmas movie number one. But not me. Ear pieces are on. I listen to the latest Backlisted Podcast. It's on R F Delderfield. Bit ironic that. My mother has a few of his books. Could have had a look last week.

They look daggers at me. But bah humbug to that. Can't say I don't catch bits of it though as cups of tea need to be made. Apparently this blonde woman is torn between career and the love of her life which can only be solved when she discovers the true meaning of Christmas. With the help of Christopher Lloyd and William Shatner (why were they in this rubbish? Blackmail?) as the Santa figure.

Shatner's involvement prompts an astonished remark from my daughter.

"He is Captain Kirk?"

I didn't understand why she made that remark. Then I realised that she was thinking of Chris Pine.

Anyway that was movie one. Up comes movie two. I  know what I'm going to do here. I'm going to take a nap.

So I see it and then slowly nod off. I can hear through the nap my wife speaking.

"Don't bother waking him up. He'll regret these lost moments with his family".

I know that of all the regrets I have in my life. That will not be one of them.

As for the movie. Well on the bits I saw when I was awake the North Pole was in trouble and a young elf went to a boy's house to help him find the true meaning of Christmas. Apparently the council will not light up the town's Xmas tree.

I think you see where this is going.

As for "famous person who was obviously blackmailed to appear in this movie" I give you in the role of Santa Robert Wagner.

And to the final film, where I pretended to watch sport on the laptop, Deck The Halls starring Matthew Broderick and Danny DeVito. It was the most Hollywood and most expensive of the three and basically it was about two neighbours who fought to be the best decorated house until they find the true meaning of Christmas.

I avoided these Christmas films. To those of you who say I'm a Scrooge well Bah Humbug. You wouldn't get me to watch these awful movies if I can help it. Anyway it's November, remember that folks.

So I win. But.....

But then my daughter falls ill. I won't say what happened to her. That's personal. All I need to say is that she's fine now. Just one of those one day things.

It's now Monday. Daughter is feeling better and is in front of the TV. Another Christmas film. She asks that I watch it with her and the wife. Daughter knows from an early age that when she's unwell mum, and in this case dad, will give in to anything.

So I watched it.

Moonlights and Mistletoe. About a successful woman who has to go back home to her father's declining Santa theme park called "Santaville" when he has an accident. There she discovers the true meaning of Christmas. It's interesting that two of the movies I've seen involves women changing the course of their lives if it wasn't for Christmas. Not sure whether it means anything but worth mentioning.

Anyway it was soppy rubbish. As to who seemed to have the blackmail note, I give you Tom Arnold as the father.

But I watched it anyway. A Christmas movie in November.

To those who believe it then it was a Christmas miracle.

To me it was just part of the Dad service.

Until the next time.

On Books: Particularly The Best Non Fiction Book I've Read This Year Despite One Disappointment

Hello there. Hope you're feeling well today.

Well Absolute Friends by John Le Carre is finished. I did enjoy it, but on reflection it's not Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy. Mind you reading it for the most part whilst you're fighting dozing off in a hospital reception whilst your mother is having a cataract operation is probably not the best circumstance to give a book proper attention. But there you are.

The next ebook on the Kindle was (and I'm doing the Literary eqvilant of taking a deep breath here) The Lock And Key Library. Classic Mystery And Detective Stories. Old Time English. This Public Domain ebook (and so free) was basically a collection of horror stories by well known writers. These stories ranged from the surprisingly uninteresting (Lawrence Sterne, William Thackeray) to the downright bonkers (Bulwer-Lytton, Thomas De Quincey).

But it also had The Signalman by Charles Dickens. I'd been meaning to read this for a while. It was for the most part the calmest story in the whole collection but also the most chilling. For that alone I was happy to have read this book.

Which is more than I could say for The Great Cycle Adventure by James Plumley. A free ebook about a cycle ride he and his friends had in France,Spain and Morocco.

This is a slight book (took about fourteen minutes) and is basically his diary of the trips in print form. Really that's it. A few paragraphs here and there with no detail,explanation nothing. Really a waste of time.

The next ebook to read turns out to be You Can't Go Home Again by Thomas Wolfe. I'm looking forward to reading this I must admit. We'll see how it turns out.

Went to the library yesterday. The book I took out was:

Voices From D-Day - Jon E Lewis

Seems like the right book to read at the right time.

When I borrow a book from the Library I share it on Twitter. The literary version of instagramming the meal you're about to have. Normally there's no reaction. Occasionally a few people comment and that's it.

When I tweeted out that the next book from the library I was reading was The Old Ways by Robert Macfarlane I was inundated with likes and people saying how much they enjoyed it. I realised then that this was a book that men and women have taken to their hearts and loved.

Having read it now I can see why. Colour me converted.

It's a book about particular rambles the author takes on foot. Sometimes alone, other times with friends and or acquaintances. He can picture the scene and make you think you were there and definitely makes you wish you were there. The poet's language is evocative and moving.

But it's not all lyricism. He can go off in a tangent and discuss books and writers and paintings for example which have a connection to his journey and effortlessly go back to his trek. That takes talent. Once you read it for the first time you'll want to dip into it for the rest of your life. It can be described, in more ways than one but only as a term of praise, as a rambling book.

He can make the distant sounds of the M11 part of the countryside. Whereas the Essex part of the M11 I know (turn off from the M25 depart at Epping turn-off) is anything but.

This book for me is unique in that there are certain writers Mr Macfarlane mentions who I've already downloaded to read in due course. I've never done that before. Also it makes me seriously consider undertaking such routes through South Wales (as regular readers of this blog will know I've said previously I don't mind long walks as long as there was a purpose at the end of it).

And there's the disappointment.

For there is no walk undertaken in Wales in this book. There are walks undertaken in England (including Wiltshire in the west), Scotland and the all encompassing "abroad". But not in Wales. Which is a pity.

Now I'm sure you will say that I'm obsessed with Wales and/or you'll say that with regard to Robert Macfarlane it's his book and so his rules. You would be quite right. Which is why it's a disappointment and not a criticism. It does not hide the fact that it's a truly wonderful work which I heartily recommend and is unquestionably the best non fiction book I've read this year.

Until the next time.

On Haggard, Image vs Reality and The Amazon E Book Game (May Edition)

Hello there. Hope you're feeling well today.

What a difference twenty four hours makes. There was I giving praise to the early part of King Solomon's Mines yesterday but having finished it oh my word it reminded me of the unreal tosh that was Beatrice, the previous Haggard novel I'd read.

It is, as I said previously a novel clearly written to be a bestseller, but a Victorian bestseller. So there's the foreign climes, in this case Africa, and of course most of which is British Empire Africa. So you get the racism, this case of the "nobel savage" variety, as well as "we are the masters" feel that an Empire or hard right Brexit can bring.

Haggard lays that with a trowel. As well as early on the hunting of animals as sport. There is a moment where the characters stop their all important journey for a spot of shooting at creatures whose only crime was to live in their natural environment. I was only surprised they didn't have a cup of tea afterwards

And there's the plot which probably at the time made Victorian readers high on adventure but the modern counterpart makes you wonder whether Haggard was high on drugs.

The real question you need to ask yourself of King Solomon's Mines is this. Would an updated version be successful? I'd argue that it wouldn't be. I'm glad I read it. Literary bucket list and all that. But I won't be encouraging others to follow.

Many years ago, I think aged ten. I picked up Ivanhoe. I remember not understanding anything and putting it down. It was the last time I've ever done that with a book, since then I follow the Mastermind principle of "I've Started So I'll Finish".

Well it's not Ivanhoe but the next book in the great ebook unread is The Talisman by Sir Walter Scott which is set in The Crusades, the first in a succession of Middle East military failures by the West you could argue.

Yesterday I discovered through a third party (ie gossip) that a person I knew was in financial difficulties. My first reaction (inwardly) was to laugh. Now this may seem cold but he is the sort person happy to flash the latest/most expensive cars, holidays, phones, whatever at you so the idea that all of this was a front seemed like natural justice.

But on thinking this further perhaps there is something more worrying around the corner here in Britain. For he is the second person I know in such a state and both of them are similar. They both have I had assumed well paid jobs, both had expensive hobbies and both are fans of the latest whatever on the market (the second person though was less ostentatious). These were men with seemingly comfortable lives and yet all of it, should the gossip be believed, is hanging by a thread.

Everything I'm going to say then is based on my knowledge, as well as the gossip, of two people. But let's say everything I've been told is correct. These men were not happy with what they had. They aspired for something a lifestyle that was beyond their reach and might ultimately be disastrous for them. You might say they should live within their means and are grown adults, which is true. Yet companies pummel these ads constantly at us. You buy this whatever and your life will be better. You don't need to pay it all now. Oh no we can arrange terms of repayment so you can buy now and pay considerably more later. Don't worry about that though. Remember Image is everything.

And in this world we live in image is everything.......until reality bites.

Ok then as I'm writing this it's the first of May. It's 5:06 on the first of May on a Bank Holiday to be precise (not just reality but insomnia bites as well). And that all means the Great (as everything seems to have that as it's title now) Amazon Ebook Game ....May edition.

The rules of this game are simple armed with just £5 (though as I seem to have loose e change this month £5.92) and see how many ebooks I can purchase for my Kindle. Stretching the money out as thinly as possible.

So I'm looking at the Amazon Daily Deal. I'm not interested in what's on offer aside perhaps from The White Queen by Philippa Gregory. Should I buy it? Will I make a mistake in thinking that the book's not for me judging by it's girlie cover? Me the most manly of men. Especially when I take my spectacles off.

Go to Wikipedia. There is a quote from David Starkey describes her writing as "good Mills and Boon" (what does that actually mean) and another from Helen Brown saying that her novels have "lashings of romantic licence".

It appears then that in this case you can judge a book on it's cover. Rejected.

Now it's the turn of the Monthly Deal. I notice a Michael Connelly novel featuring Harry Bosch The Black Ice for 99p. Never having read his work before but hearing loads of good things about him I'd be a fool not to buy it....so bought. I go further through the list. There's another Connelly book offered at 99p, The Lincoln Lawyer, so that's bought as well.

The Black Echo. The first of the Harry Bosch books is offered for 99p as well. Great I think. I'll buy it as well I think. That is until the Kindle kindly reminds me I purchased it in 2015.....memories eh? But another Connelly book comes into the picture. The Poet. 99p so bought. And wait for it, an ebook original The Safe Man, 99p that's purchased as well. Looks like this is a Connelly month.

There are Harry Bosch short story collections on offer for 99p but I think I should read the novels first.

I look at what's recommended for me "in Literature & Fiction". Thomas Wolfe's novel You Can't Go Home Again intrigues me.99p. Taken.

That all leaves me in this month's budget with an annoying 97p to spend. I find Fathers and Sons bu Ivan Turgenev for 75p. Done.Leaving me with a carry over of 22p for next month.

Must admit I enjoy this game. You never know how things turn out.

Until the next time.