tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1365244084462704027.post4304350927693736247..comments2024-03-27T12:08:02.812+00:00Comments on THE SMALL THINGS: FridayTania Kindersleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18355967725006605825noreply@blogger.comBlogger14125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1365244084462704027.post-6907643762060327862010-10-30T19:03:15.929+01:002010-10-30T19:03:15.929+01:00Ellie - SO glad I am not alone. I feel most reass...Ellie - SO glad I am not alone. I feel most reassured.<br /><br />Betty M - LOVE turnip joke.<br /><br />Ellen - yes, I think there IS a bit of self-indulgent man thing, esp with the self-consciously Great Novelists. So pleased you like the dogs; a compliment for them always makes me smile.<br /><br />Violet - delighted that you love Snake as much as I do. It really is a thing of beauty and a joy forever.<br /><br />Anon - promise I shall try The Rainbow, just for you.<br /><br />Vivien - yes I LOATHE the present tense. How interesting you have the same buzzing bee in yr bonnet. I think it can only work in those slim novellas written by young people, set in Paris, where nothing much happens. Otherwise: NO. So pleased you like the politics and the dogs; you know I always fret about boring readers with both.<br /><br />Mystica - I discover that sedum is also called stonecrop (not a very romantic name), but when I looked it up it did say of the Northern Hemisphere. So that might be why you do not know it. Seems very unfair, when I get to grow your lovely eucalyptus in my northern fastness.<br /><br />Staircase Witch - I never managed Gravity's Rainbow either. Love how we are all coming out of the closet on our literary blind spots.Tania Kindersleyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18355967725006605825noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1365244084462704027.post-71082479964071423312010-10-30T02:42:13.995+01:002010-10-30T02:42:13.995+01:00I admit to being a D. H. Lawrence fan, but Sons an...I admit to being a D. H. Lawrence fan, but <i>Sons and Lovers</i> was never my favorite. I completely understand, though--he's kind of an acquired taste. Maybe the way lutefisk is an acquired taste. <br /><br />I managed--barely--to get through it once, but I have disliked <i>Gravity's Rainbow</i> for a very long time. It is supposedly the greatest postmodern novel ever written, linguistically complex, etc., etc., but it seemed to me to hammer one single overarching idea into the reader, and to do so with an unending variety of graphic and thoroughly repulsive imagery. <br /><br />My favorite Updike is <i>The Centaur</i>. I once started <i>Rabbit Run</i> and like you couldn't get through it. I couldn't relate to the character. Whoever said he was self-involved is absolutely correct.Staircase Witchhttp://staircasewitch.blogspot.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1365244084462704027.post-59672665095428537672010-10-29T23:43:52.176+01:002010-10-29T23:43:52.176+01:00I've read two of your three favourites, I forg...I've read two of your three favourites, I forgive me liked Lolita, I didnt know half your brothers words, I knew just two of the scientific discoveries and what else - is there another name for sedum? I am looking high and low for this plant here in Melbourne. They have beautiful, absolutely wonderful gardens in my suburb and have not seen this. I've seen something like this in purple but not in pink. Is there a commonplace name for this and please dont lose the dog on the blog gene! Just btw Melbourne was 28 degrees yesterday and today a supposedly 17.Mysticahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10941269615559681014noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1365244084462704027.post-65424128015068408562010-10-29T23:34:58.443+01:002010-10-29T23:34:58.443+01:00I've recently rediscovered Guy de Maupassant -...I've recently rediscovered Guy de Maupassant - Une Vie; Pierre et Jean; Bel-Ami (all read in English!) and his short stories. Wonderful analyses of character and descriptions of the Normandy countryside and coast, and of Paris in the late 19th c. <br /><br />Always loved D.H. Lawrence's poems. <br /><br />Do you worry when novels are written in the present tense? There seem to be more of them about. I can't stand it - my mind keeps wanting to translate into the past tense. I don't mind a few short chapters in the present tense, but not the whole lot. Lugged home from the library the vast tome of Wolf Hall, Hilary Mantel, to find it was all in the present tense, so had to heave it back unread. Even Homer, or the people who wrote the works, <br />c. ?8th c. BC, wrote in the past tense. Many academics now describe the past in the present tense (in Radio 4's "In Our Time", for instance). It's a new habit which probably comes from America - a populist attempt to make the past seem more vibrant. But to me it seems like a retreat to the primitive, to early languages when there wasn't a past tense. Oh well - bee in bonnet time... one has to adjust! Others I've spoken to don't seem to mind or even notice it.<br /><br />Your political commentaries are always interesting, and the dog photos are lovely!Viviennoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1365244084462704027.post-53097833345722727382010-10-29T21:40:42.066+01:002010-10-29T21:40:42.066+01:00Love a list; Virgo porn.
I am beside myself that y...Love a list; Virgo porn.<br />I am beside myself that you can't read my beloved DHL not even The rainbow?Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1365244084462704027.post-4109136617971065742010-10-29T21:06:13.034+01:002010-10-29T21:06:13.034+01:00Thank you Tania for giving me such an unexpected t...Thank you Tania for giving me such an unexpected treat tonight by introducing me to 'Snake'.<br />Having read D.H.L. as a teenager and having loved many of his novels, was never tempted though to rivisit them later in life. <br />But I loved this poem, its intimacy, the way it enravels as in film or a dream. I felt I really knew that regret at breaking the spell of such a rare and magical experience, just because you can. <br />So, Thank you so, again!!Violetnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1365244084462704027.post-43851821447198053042010-10-29T20:41:45.650+01:002010-10-29T20:41:45.650+01:00Looks like you are far from alone. I also hate Up...Looks like you are far from alone. I also hate Updike (and Phillip Roth). Just can't get into the self indulgent man thing I guess. <br /><br />I doubt there is a dog-picture-posting gene, but when you have such lovely dogs how can you resist?Cinderellenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08944325468803416106noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1365244084462704027.post-46721848712935719202010-10-29T20:31:37.062+01:002010-10-29T20:31:37.062+01:00My book club tried a Rabbit book last month. Most ...My book club tried a Rabbit book last month. Most of us couldn't get past chapter 1 and the rest hated it. I have a blind spot for Thomas Hardy. Too many bloody turnips.Betty Mhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02106396238018550134noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1365244084462704027.post-34081032803721071412010-10-29T19:47:01.226+01:002010-10-29T19:47:01.226+01:00I loathe Updike. I finished "Rabbit, Run"...I loathe Updike. I finished "Rabbit, Run" and threw it across the room, I hated it so much. What stuck with me as most hateful from that book was Rabbit's grand discovery that "if you have the guts to be yourself, other people will pick up the pieces." I also finished "Lolita," but I agree with you: it isn't for me. And D.H. Lawrence makes me want to cry with despair. (My credentials: I am an English teacher and a fellow Eliot-lover. Does that make me serious?). <br /><br />I have also heard that Updike wrote better things than the Rabbits, but that book made such a searingly negative impression that I haven't wanted to try. Maybe I should.Elliehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04888019230555832929noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1365244084462704027.post-65056967855623691582010-10-29T17:41:58.966+01:002010-10-29T17:41:58.966+01:00Please don't lose sleep over the omission Tani...Please don't lose sleep over the omission Tania I doubt the conundrum will be unravelled before you put pen to paper again. If by chance it is, I take it the party will be at your place?<br /><br />btw, I have tried three times to read Sunset Song. And me living on the edge of the Howe of the Mearns. It just won't click. <br /><br />Now that's my 'philistine' label showing.BrightYangThinghttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18160676752288900248noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1365244084462704027.post-50159548016755547812010-10-29T16:55:48.361+01:002010-10-29T16:55:48.361+01:00BYT - Damn, I KNEW I had forgotten something. (Yr ...BYT - Damn, I KNEW I had forgotten something. (Yr comment is making me laugh a lot.)Tania Kindersleyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18355967725006605825noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1365244084462704027.post-75261658230488394442010-10-29T16:49:26.384+01:002010-10-29T16:49:26.384+01:00Along with cheers for the lovely lists, the pictur...Along with cheers for the lovely lists, the pictures an yesterday's wonderful family story (I assume they all gave consent to be made so public - I would be lynched!) may I add a tinge of disappointment. I was so looking forward to a treatise on fiscal tighteningBrightYangThinghttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18160676752288900248noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1365244084462704027.post-36891126505077141592010-10-29T16:30:39.440+01:002010-10-29T16:30:39.440+01:00Lou - excellent advice, I shall. (I fear I may hav...Lou - excellent advice, I shall. (I fear I may have set the cat among the pigeons with my terrible literary confessions.)Tania Kindersleyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18355967725006605825noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1365244084462704027.post-43093178646405142312010-10-29T16:28:10.424+01:002010-10-29T16:28:10.424+01:00Hello. I love Updike but didn't get on with th...Hello. I love Updike but didn't get on with the Rabbit series...try Couples...much better :-). Lou xLouhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13457538074763854583noreply@blogger.com