After the Wake by Brendan Behan (published 1981, but most of the short stories and pieces originally written and published in the 1940s, 1950s).
9 out of 10
I've had this book for ages and dipped in and out of it - I'm not good with short stories. This time I just read it through from cover to cover. Where did I get this? It is an obscure publisher - maybe from some alternative bookshop somewhere. There was that one in Manchester, round the side of Debenhams, years ago - 'Grassroots' - that sold lefty, feminist and alternative perspective books. Gone now (I think).
Brendan Behan was an Irish nationalist and member of the IRA. He was also an author, a playwright, a diabetic and a very heavy drinker who sent himself into an early grave. He spent time in prison for his republican activities.
I award this book 9 out of 10 on the back of about 5 of the short stories that he tells. Some of his writing is obscure and occasionally disjointed, so one has to work very hard to understand it, if at all.
But I want the whole world to read 'The Last of Mrs Murphy' which is funny and tragic and Irish and so human. I want the whole world to read 'The Execution' in order to stand in the shoes of someone with values and beliefs and loyalties that might not lie easy with the reader, especially the English one. And 'The Confirmation Suit' is such an important story, as is 'After the Wake'.
Paul and I sometimes judge people by whether we would want to have them round for dinner. I don't think I'd be able to spend an evening in Brendan's company, unless we hid the alcohol. But then he wouldn't stay! But maybe he'd show us what craic really is.
I learned some things about Ireland and its relationship with the history of other countries - notably the Spanish Civil War and Mexico. I already knew a fair bit about Ireland's relationship with England.
Next, I'm going to read Elizabeth Gaskell's 'Sylvia's Lovers'. I've read others of hers, like Cranford and North and South. She is political, like Behan, but she is a different gender, and from another age.
Monday 28 February 2011
Saturday 26 February 2011
Just finished reading . . .
An Accidental Man by Iris Murdoch (1971)
8.5 out of 10
We bought this from some charity shop somewhere, sometime ago. I love reading books that have been read by other people, and that are a bit yellowed round the edges of the pages. When we go away on the canals, or in the campervan, we visit small towns and head for the charity shops to get more books.
I can't believe that I've read a book published in 1971 and I have been thinking of it as a modern book. Is it?
I really like Iris Murdoch. But how does she do it?! She creates these characters who are enmeshed in all kinds of tangled relationships, having personal crises, and tipping each other over the edge. I find none of them likeable - mostly they are tragic, sad or hopeless, and yet they sometimes say or do things, and you think - 'oh yes - I recognise that - it is so true to life'. She is a mistress of her art - an accomplished story-teller.
In this book I definitely didn't like anyone, but I did feel irritated that people were interfering in each other's lives, and not just walking away and leaving them to it. Did Iris want me to sympathise with anyone? No, I don't think so.
The best bits were 3 or 4 chapters in which the text was all based on either letters written between characters or mindless chatter at cocktail parties.
Anyway, I'm glad they didn't get married. I'm sorry that Ludwig went back to America only to face being sent to fight in Vietnam, and I can't believe that Mavis could be so stupid as to be kind to Austin!
She lost 1.5 marks for going on about fine philosophical points just a little too much.
Next I'm reading Brendan Behan.
8.5 out of 10
We bought this from some charity shop somewhere, sometime ago. I love reading books that have been read by other people, and that are a bit yellowed round the edges of the pages. When we go away on the canals, or in the campervan, we visit small towns and head for the charity shops to get more books.
I can't believe that I've read a book published in 1971 and I have been thinking of it as a modern book. Is it?
I really like Iris Murdoch. But how does she do it?! She creates these characters who are enmeshed in all kinds of tangled relationships, having personal crises, and tipping each other over the edge. I find none of them likeable - mostly they are tragic, sad or hopeless, and yet they sometimes say or do things, and you think - 'oh yes - I recognise that - it is so true to life'. She is a mistress of her art - an accomplished story-teller.
In this book I definitely didn't like anyone, but I did feel irritated that people were interfering in each other's lives, and not just walking away and leaving them to it. Did Iris want me to sympathise with anyone? No, I don't think so.
The best bits were 3 or 4 chapters in which the text was all based on either letters written between characters or mindless chatter at cocktail parties.
Anyway, I'm glad they didn't get married. I'm sorry that Ludwig went back to America only to face being sent to fight in Vietnam, and I can't believe that Mavis could be so stupid as to be kind to Austin!
She lost 1.5 marks for going on about fine philosophical points just a little too much.
Next I'm reading Brendan Behan.
Sunday 20 February 2011
My secret diary 1972 February (ii)
Dear Reader
As I have said in the last entry my diary entries in early spring 1972 were noticeable by their absence. So, I am offering compensation for the second half of February 1972 by adding a photo of my scrap book from that time. I used to keep a scrapbook, but now, 40 years later, things are dropping out, and some things were never even stuck in - and things don't seem to be in date order, so here is a bit of a collage of things that were significant to me circa 1972.
If you go round the photo clockwise, from the top left:
1) my dad worked in a wholesale confectioners, so he sometimes brought home damaged boxes of sweets for us, or free gifts that reps had given him. Don't ask me why but one day he come home with all these little tattoo / stickers - hundreds of them. As well as sticking them everywhere I used to raise money for charity by selling them at school in break-times. Why didn't I grow up to be an entrepreneur? These are some of the stickers, that I made a collage with.
2)Little black and white felt badge with a griffin's head on it. My school badge. One of the first things we had to do, when I started school, was to sew it onto the hatband of my blue velour hat.
3) I wrote interminable lists of pop songs. I used to listen to the new weekly pop charts when they came out on the radio, and jot them down, so we could discuss them at school. Which makes me wonder, on reflection, whether this was just my obsession, and did I bore everyone else with it? Oh dear.
4) Oh I loved George Best. Oh, Oh, Oh. I knew I would never marry him, I was too young, but he was my fantasy boyfriend. This was one of my favourite pictures of him, maybe out of Jackie Magazine. What you may not be able to see is that he has autographed it for me! We used to hang about his boutique in Manchester, just to see him. He didn't ask me to marry him when I asked for his autograph. Or, if he did, I didn't hear him.
5) And another autograph of George. He was sitting having a quiet romantic coffee in a cafe near his boutique, when (I think) me, Carol and Julie (3 eager 14 year olds - can you imagine all the nudging and daring each other that took us to the point of speaking to him?) asked him for his autograph. I had one of those autograph books with pastel coloured pages, wich I got school-teachers and aunties to put nice little poems in, and then after George appeared in it, I didn't bandy it around amongst ordinary people. He was having his romantic cuppa with Eva Haralstead, his Miss World girl-friend. I had to ask for her signature too, but I hated her.
6) I was obsessed by Charlie Brown and Peanuts (still love the humour), and used to copy them in crayon.
7) When I realised that George Best may not be for me, I transferred my affections to Robert Redford - or to be more accurate - to the Sundance Kid. Swoon.
What will I do to compensate for lack of diary in March?
As I have said in the last entry my diary entries in early spring 1972 were noticeable by their absence. So, I am offering compensation for the second half of February 1972 by adding a photo of my scrap book from that time. I used to keep a scrapbook, but now, 40 years later, things are dropping out, and some things were never even stuck in - and things don't seem to be in date order, so here is a bit of a collage of things that were significant to me circa 1972.
If you go round the photo clockwise, from the top left:
1) my dad worked in a wholesale confectioners, so he sometimes brought home damaged boxes of sweets for us, or free gifts that reps had given him. Don't ask me why but one day he come home with all these little tattoo / stickers - hundreds of them. As well as sticking them everywhere I used to raise money for charity by selling them at school in break-times. Why didn't I grow up to be an entrepreneur? These are some of the stickers, that I made a collage with.
2)Little black and white felt badge with a griffin's head on it. My school badge. One of the first things we had to do, when I started school, was to sew it onto the hatband of my blue velour hat.
3) I wrote interminable lists of pop songs. I used to listen to the new weekly pop charts when they came out on the radio, and jot them down, so we could discuss them at school. Which makes me wonder, on reflection, whether this was just my obsession, and did I bore everyone else with it? Oh dear.
4) Oh I loved George Best. Oh, Oh, Oh. I knew I would never marry him, I was too young, but he was my fantasy boyfriend. This was one of my favourite pictures of him, maybe out of Jackie Magazine. What you may not be able to see is that he has autographed it for me! We used to hang about his boutique in Manchester, just to see him. He didn't ask me to marry him when I asked for his autograph. Or, if he did, I didn't hear him.
5) And another autograph of George. He was sitting having a quiet romantic coffee in a cafe near his boutique, when (I think) me, Carol and Julie (3 eager 14 year olds - can you imagine all the nudging and daring each other that took us to the point of speaking to him?) asked him for his autograph. I had one of those autograph books with pastel coloured pages, wich I got school-teachers and aunties to put nice little poems in, and then after George appeared in it, I didn't bandy it around amongst ordinary people. He was having his romantic cuppa with Eva Haralstead, his Miss World girl-friend. I had to ask for her signature too, but I hated her.
6) I was obsessed by Charlie Brown and Peanuts (still love the humour), and used to copy them in crayon.
7) When I realised that George Best may not be for me, I transferred my affections to Robert Redford - or to be more accurate - to the Sundance Kid. Swoon.
What will I do to compensate for lack of diary in March?
Sunday 13 February 2011
Just finished reading . . .
Palace Circle by Rebecca Dean (audio book)
6 out of 10
Well, I've just had a couple of long solitary car journeys in which I've been able to finish the 14 CDs which comprise this book. I picked it up from the library (I'm up to D in the alphabet), having no idea how trashy / serious it might be. I think it falls between the two. It is about the period of time, in British and Egyptian society (higher echelons) between 1911 and 1944.
It is mainly about relationships, affairs, generations, changing morals, the aristocracy, and how to behave in Royal Circles. All good fun, but 2 interesting overlaps with other parts of life arose.
1) the book covered the period when Edward VIIIth abdicated because of his love for Wallis Simpson - and we are all in a tizz because the film 'The King's Speech' was soooo good. The protagonist of my book was an American woman who had married into the English aristocracy, and she is a pal of Wallis. So I got two perspectives on the events of that time.
2) The protagonist and her high-ranking husband go and live in Cairo, to be part of British influence there, and continue to live there until the book ends in about 1944. We see the tensions between the Egyptian wish to get the British presence out of their own country, and the British and American desire to stay influential in Egypt because of the Suez Canal, and also, Egypt's position in the Middle-East. We also see the moves to overthrow the monarchy. I was listening to all this while, in parallel, the current events were happening in Egypt in Tahrir Square, leading to the overthrow of President Mubarak.
So, I'm glad that I read this book, because it helped me to understand Egypt's past a little.
But, it did go on for a long time (the book), and seemed to change its genre from romance, to historical to thriller. So, 6 out of 10 is what it gets.
6 out of 10
Well, I've just had a couple of long solitary car journeys in which I've been able to finish the 14 CDs which comprise this book. I picked it up from the library (I'm up to D in the alphabet), having no idea how trashy / serious it might be. I think it falls between the two. It is about the period of time, in British and Egyptian society (higher echelons) between 1911 and 1944.
It is mainly about relationships, affairs, generations, changing morals, the aristocracy, and how to behave in Royal Circles. All good fun, but 2 interesting overlaps with other parts of life arose.
1) the book covered the period when Edward VIIIth abdicated because of his love for Wallis Simpson - and we are all in a tizz because the film 'The King's Speech' was soooo good. The protagonist of my book was an American woman who had married into the English aristocracy, and she is a pal of Wallis. So I got two perspectives on the events of that time.
2) The protagonist and her high-ranking husband go and live in Cairo, to be part of British influence there, and continue to live there until the book ends in about 1944. We see the tensions between the Egyptian wish to get the British presence out of their own country, and the British and American desire to stay influential in Egypt because of the Suez Canal, and also, Egypt's position in the Middle-East. We also see the moves to overthrow the monarchy. I was listening to all this while, in parallel, the current events were happening in Egypt in Tahrir Square, leading to the overthrow of President Mubarak.
So, I'm glad that I read this book, because it helped me to understand Egypt's past a little.
But, it did go on for a long time (the book), and seemed to change its genre from romance, to historical to thriller. So, 6 out of 10 is what it gets.
Sunday 6 February 2011
My secret diary 1972 February (i)
Oh dear. I think I may have warned you that my diary entries for Feb - early April 1972 get very sparse, and often non-existent.
Well, I have nothing to report for the first half of February except comments that I wrote in 1972 about things I had written in 1971. These had little arrows pointing to the 1971 entries.
Feb 14th
AT* Good grief!! Remember the old pennies and half-crowns? 10/- notes? Halfpennies? Threepenny bits!? The good ol' days. **
Feb 15th
NB Britain has now signed many contracts and things which sort of make her nearly in the Common Market. It's almost definite now. I'm glad, I think it will be good for England (in a defensive and trading point of view)***
Commentary
Feb 14 - *AT = after-thought
** this had an arrow pointing to a place in 1971 where I had carefully written out 2/6 = 12 1/2p, 1 shilling = 5p, 2 shilling = 10p.
Feb 15 - *** this had an arrow pointing to a 1971 entry that said 'D-Day ie Decmal Day. Big step for Britain towards Common Market.
More importantly, because there is a gap in my diary entries, and as compensation, I am including here a photograph and transcription of the very first page of the dairy, on which I recorded some of my favourite music, over the years I kept the diary.
Good records
Lee Marvin - Wandrin' Star
Rare Bird - Not enough love
Dave Clark 5 - Come on you people
From 'Hair' - Good morning starshine
- It's easy to be hard
- Aquarius
Melanie
Dahlia Lavi - Love's Song
Simon & Garfunkel - Bridge over Troubled Water
England Football Team 1970 - Back Home
Don Fardon - The Belfast Boy (NB this was about George Best, who I loved)
Barrie McGuire - On a Painted Ocean & flip
The Planet Suite by Gustav Holst
Mozart's Eine Kleine Nachtmusik
Beethoven
+ a lot of others from everybody
Simon & Garfunkel, Simon & Garfunkel
The Beatles, Don McLean
Don McLean - Vincent - beautiful
The Mamas and the Papas
Bob Dylan
Well, I have nothing to report for the first half of February except comments that I wrote in 1972 about things I had written in 1971. These had little arrows pointing to the 1971 entries.
Feb 14th
AT* Good grief!! Remember the old pennies and half-crowns? 10/- notes? Halfpennies? Threepenny bits!? The good ol' days. **
Feb 15th
NB Britain has now signed many contracts and things which sort of make her nearly in the Common Market. It's almost definite now. I'm glad, I think it will be good for England (in a defensive and trading point of view)***
Commentary
Feb 14 - *AT = after-thought
** this had an arrow pointing to a place in 1971 where I had carefully written out 2/6 = 12 1/2p, 1 shilling = 5p, 2 shilling = 10p.
Feb 15 - *** this had an arrow pointing to a 1971 entry that said 'D-Day ie Decmal Day. Big step for Britain towards Common Market.
More importantly, because there is a gap in my diary entries, and as compensation, I am including here a photograph and transcription of the very first page of the dairy, on which I recorded some of my favourite music, over the years I kept the diary.
Good records
Lee Marvin - Wandrin' Star
Rare Bird - Not enough love
Dave Clark 5 - Come on you people
From 'Hair' - Good morning starshine
- It's easy to be hard
- Aquarius
Melanie
Dahlia Lavi - Love's Song
Simon & Garfunkel - Bridge over Troubled Water
England Football Team 1970 - Back Home
Don Fardon - The Belfast Boy (NB this was about George Best, who I loved)
Barrie McGuire - On a Painted Ocean & flip
The Planet Suite by Gustav Holst
Mozart's Eine Kleine Nachtmusik
Beethoven
+ a lot of others from everybody
Simon & Garfunkel, Simon & Garfunkel
The Beatles, Don McLean
Don McLean - Vincent - beautiful
The Mamas and the Papas
Bob Dylan
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