Books and Beer

Lara Lara Laughs wrote:You'd have to be slightly mad to think that Atticus and his actions are not highly admirable.

I read TKAMB at school. It's a lovely book. Shame she didn't write anything else. I remember there was some speculation that Truman Capote wrote most of it for his friend. No idea how true that was.

They are indeed admirable, but as a fictional character he fails somewhat . . . the reason being he is a victim to what may be described as the "feminine note" in literature, in which male characters are required to be wholly worthy of either the affections of a female protagonist or of the author herself. The very best female novelists are able to avoid this . . . unfortunately the majority fall into the trap again and again . . .

Lara Lara Laughs wrote:...

I read TKAMB at school. It's a lovely book. Shame she didn't write anything else. I remember there was some speculation that Truman Capote wrote most of it for his friend. No idea how true that was.

Not that it has anything to do with what you said, but Lee was research assistant to Capote while he was writing In Cold Blood, I think.

tac wrote:

Lara Lara Laughs wrote:You'd have to be slightly mad to think that Atticus and his actions are not highly admirable.

I read TKAMB at school. It's a lovely book. Shame she didn't write anything else. I remember there was some speculation that Truman Capote wrote most of it for his friend. No idea how true that was.

They are indeed admirable, but as a fictional character he fails somewhat . . . the reason being he is a victim to what may be described as the "feminine note" in literature, in which male characters are required to be wholly worthy of either the affections of a female protagonist or of the author herself. The very best female novelists are able to avoid this . . . unfortunately the majority fall into the trap again and again . . .

Perhaps. But that reading of things means there is no room for principled men in books by women. At all. Maybe good people do exist. Besides, the book is loosley based on Lee's upbringing. There may have been a real Atticus Finch for all we know.

I'd have thought the opposite is true as well. It could be easier for a female novelist to have wildly bad and unworthy men in their novels. In the spirit of feminism and all that.

There's a new Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy book out.

Anyone read it.

LLL, whether good people actually exist or not, or even whether there was a "real life" Atticus Finch, has nothing to do with the fact that AF fails as a fictional character.
Nor does the presence of unworthy characters oppose my point (though I see I was not as clear as I could have been) . . . the criteria by which worthiness is judged is the telling factor. The standards of worthiness are set by the female character of author . . .

furriner wrote:

footwork wrote:........

Medea by Euripides. (Are plays acceptable in this here thread?) I guess the notion of killing innocents to exact revenge, is still with us today. She was a bloodthirsty piece of work, that one.

Only if one follows the 'format'

Which is:

In the interests of doon things the roight way , allow me to format you this:



He's best known for his work with E.T., but I love his imagination and sense of humour. Craaazy.

Huh. Never even heard of the guy, far less the book. Will try it.

It's actually a collection of short stories.
'Stroke of Good Luck: A True Nurse Romance' is notable.

I came across the following poem in Patrick Lindsay's book 'Fromelles'. Thought I would post it in the book thread, because I love it so much.

The Visitor by Michael Edwards

I half awoke to a strange new calm
And a sleep that would not clear
For this was the sleep to cure all harm
And which freezes all from fear.

Shot had come from left and right
With shrapnel, shell and flame
And turned my sunlit days to night
Where now none would call my name.

Years passed me by as I waited,
Missed the generations yet to come,
Sadly I knew I would not be fated
To be a father, hold a son.

I heard again the sounds of war
When twenty years of sleep had gone,
For five long years, maybe more,
Till peace once more at last had come.

More years passed, new voices came,
The stones and trenches to explore,
But no-one ever called my name
So I wished and waited ever more.

Each time I thought, perhaps, perhaps,
Perhaps this time they must call me,
But they only called for other chaps,
No-one ever called to set me free.

Through years of lonely vigil kept,
To look for me they never came,
None ever searched or even wept,
Nobody stayed to speak my name.

Until that summer day I heard
Some voices soft and strained with tears,
Then I knew that they had come
To roll away those wasted years.

Their hearts felt out to hold me,
Made me whole like other men,
But they had come just me to see,
Drawing me back home with them.

Now I am at peace and free to roam
Where 'ere my family speak my name,
That day my soul was called back home,
For on that day my family came.

Simkat, that's not bad, but a bit ditty like.

More books:



Which was Ok.

This was better:

Also read Owen Parry's civil war series, of which one example:



He's ok, certainly worth a read but not outstanding.

Read this again, what a fine writer and a superb book:





"It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife."

Indeed!

I've read the Mitrokhin Archive, former KGB agent who defected to the UK.



Reckons the KGB were paying Indira Ghandi huge amounts of money.

I gotta get my hands on that ^^.

There apparently was a high level Soviet mole in IG's government in the early 70s; names abound but some people alleged it was Morarji Desai. Now this guy says it was IG?

Never actually directly accuses her, more like money in suitcases was going into her house and never coming out again.

If you're interested, get the 2nd book - deals more with India. The first linked above deals with the cold war and the absolute paranoia in the USSR about British Spies (it turns out Britain never had that extensive a spy network like the Ruskies did in London)



More here on the 2nd book
http://www.sepiamutiny.com/sepia/archives/002246.html

Cheers JKL.

JKLever wrote:Never actually directly accuses her, more like money in suitcases was going into her house and never coming out again...............

Phurt. By that definition every second politician in India would be KGB, with the rest queuing up to join.

Read a fair few books the last few weeks, but am posting this one just for the section I will quote from it in my next post - it deserves a separate post.

Pretty good book if you want to know about Germany/ Austro-Hungary vs Russia in WWI. The scale of the massacres there were not much less than the western front.

And now the quote, on the Romanian army in 1916:

All foreigners noticed the incidence of what was delicately known as 'immoralite': indeed among the first prescriptions, on mobilisation, was a decree that only officers above the rank of major had the right to use make-up.

Oh lordy, lordy lordy. The world is a rare and wonderful thing.

Furry - have you read Robinson's 'War Story' and 'A Good Clean Fight' (anything but) as well?

Read War Story, lardy.

Robinson's a good writer.

JKLever wrote:Indeed!

I've read the Mitrokhin Archive, former KGB agent who defected to the UK.



Reckons the KGB were paying Indira Ghandi huge amounts of money.

This one looks good. Might have to word up Santa.

If you sit on his knee and squirm, you might get a couple of volumes.

Just finished The White Tiger, by Aravind Avinda.
Not bad for an Indian especially for a first novel. Savage and funny.

Some idiot kindly bought me Dan Brown's latest exercise in making money despite being a dreadful writer - the Lost Symbol. My God, it's excruciatingly awful.

When I saw the title of this thread I was hoping it would be a place where people recommended the ideal beverage to accompany your book. A bit like a posh menu would.

Something like -
The Name of the Rose by Umberto Eco washed down with a Kopperberg Pear Cider
or
Slaughterhouse-five by Kurt Vonnegut to go with Samuel Adams Winter Lager

Could even extend the idea to cricket books, Fred Trueman's autobiography would need a good Stout, Tom Graveney's a Cider, and anything by Peter Roebuck would probably need a large dose of Bitter.