Sunday 23 December 2018
L'Empire des loups - Jean-Christophe Grangé
Un écrivain de 'thriller' bien connu en France. Une lecture très emballante, qui te tient au moment, mais à la longue, cela devient évident que c'est surtout la violence extrême qui retient l'attention. L'histoire en elle-même est pleine de trous, de coincidences improbables. A l'examen, elle ne se tient pas debout.
Tuesday 18 December 2018
Trainspotting - Irvine Welsh
An alternate view of life and the inhabitants of Edinburgh. The language is quite amusing, as it is written in the local vernacular - quite colourful. You can see the influence of Scottish on Ontario language, particularly the curse words.
A funny book - not much actually happens in the sense of going anywhere with the story. It is more a rambling portrayal of the lives of a bunch of junkies and the crazy (and disgusting) situations they put themselves in.
More a political statement and an anti-Scottish romanticism statement.
A funny book - not much actually happens in the sense of going anywhere with the story. It is more a rambling portrayal of the lives of a bunch of junkies and the crazy (and disgusting) situations they put themselves in.
More a political statement and an anti-Scottish romanticism statement.
Moon of the Crusted Snow - Waubgeshig Rice
Canadian First Nations writer from northern Ontario.
Interesting story premise: in a remote northern reserve power, supplies, media, phone, basically everything is cut off as the larger world outside falls into chaos. What happens next? How do they survive? Who survives?
There is even a Wendigo figure.
Fairly well-written. Some good lines on Native history and experience.
It also does not paint a particularly rosy picture of the inhabitants of the reserve on the whole.
Interesting story premise: in a remote northern reserve power, supplies, media, phone, basically everything is cut off as the larger world outside falls into chaos. What happens next? How do they survive? Who survives?
There is even a Wendigo figure.
Fairly well-written. Some good lines on Native history and experience.
It also does not paint a particularly rosy picture of the inhabitants of the reserve on the whole.
A People's History of Scotland - Chris Bambery
An interesting book that takes a working person's perspective on history and changes in Scotland since the 1600s. Some time is spent looking at the Clearances, but a lot of the book chronicles social history of urban and working class Scots through the Industrial Revolution to the post-Independence vote.
A lot of the history of Scotland since the beginning of industrialization seems to be a history of unions and social protest for better working conditions, better pay, stable jobs. This history, particularly in the 20th century, seems to mark it off from the history of England, where social protest seems to have been less of a force (except in the Border regions, which shares similarities with Scotland economically.
Bambery manages to bring out the elements of colonialism operating in the relation between England and Scotland.
He also touches on a lot of other issues, some worth exploring further:
- blows up the myth of Scottish clans, tartans and all: upper class English romantic invention in the late 1800s
- the general decline of England since 1900: causes, elements
- Thatcher's goals and policies which deliberately lead to the collapse of British manufacturing, social hardship, and incidentally shifted the economy to a London/finance base
- also a source for Scottish authors, both current and historical, who stand apart from the English literary stream
Through this book you get a sense of the ugly, exploitative effects of the British/Anglo model of capitalism.
A lot of the history of Scotland since the beginning of industrialization seems to be a history of unions and social protest for better working conditions, better pay, stable jobs. This history, particularly in the 20th century, seems to mark it off from the history of England, where social protest seems to have been less of a force (except in the Border regions, which shares similarities with Scotland economically.
Bambery manages to bring out the elements of colonialism operating in the relation between England and Scotland.
He also touches on a lot of other issues, some worth exploring further:
- blows up the myth of Scottish clans, tartans and all: upper class English romantic invention in the late 1800s
- the general decline of England since 1900: causes, elements
- Thatcher's goals and policies which deliberately lead to the collapse of British manufacturing, social hardship, and incidentally shifted the economy to a London/finance base
- also a source for Scottish authors, both current and historical, who stand apart from the English literary stream
Through this book you get a sense of the ugly, exploitative effects of the British/Anglo model of capitalism.
Wednesday 5 December 2018
Twenty-five Lectures on Modern Balkan History - Steven W. Sowards
A series of lectures from a university course on the internet: http://staff.lib.msu.edu/sowards/balkan/
A good general overview from a prof. at an American university - worth noting, as there is less chance of a nationalistic bias, or an underlying ethnic agenda.
Sowards begins with an attempt to find a definition for the term "Balkan" - what exactly is different about this area that sets it apart from Western Europe.
He mentions how the mountainous terrain tends to isolate populations and make communication between areas, and with the outside world in general, more difficult. He also mentions that generally poorer soil and dryer climate which affects agricultural output, the source of wealth for much of the period in question. He sees multi ethnicity as playing a role to a degree, and also in Turkish held areas, a tendency to identify by religious affiliation rather than linguistic or ethnic affiliation, which would otherwise form a base for the development of nationalism.
Repeated wars and suppressed revolts over two or three centuries also played a role in keeping populations low, and rural.
Economic ideas:
Through the 18th and early 19th century (and later) land formed the basis for wealth. Elites occupied agricultural land at the will of the Sultan, and land was not inheritable (in theory). The Sultan worked to keep some kind of balance between rural workers and nobles in terms of taxes etc. As central authority broke down in the course of the later 18th and 19th C., local landlords became independent local centres of power, and worked to expand their land holdings. They also increased the level of taxation in various forms on peasants working the land. In the later 18th C, landlords began to increase wealth by selling grain, etc. directly to Western European markets, with several important effects. First, as the West was wealthier, prices on produce rose, and this caused increased poverty in the Balkans. Second, because the selling was direct, towns did not grow and benefit from increased commerce, so they remained small and poor, with no developing capital in a middle-class base. Third, as well as exporting, nobles and wealthy landholders began importing cheaper mass produced goods from the West, putting local artisans and craftsmen out of business, again increasing poverty.
As central authority collapsed further (including the Habsburgs in northern Balkans), and revolutions against the Ottomans began to occur, like the ones in Serbia and Greece, the only real change was who occupied the top landholder positions, changing to local strongmen instead of Ottoman officials. The system itself remained the same. (I am reminded here of the accounts of Patrick Leigh Fermor's hide across Central Europe in the early 30's. You see ghosts of this old landed aristocracy still hanging on in Hungary, etc. in his book.)
A good general overview from a prof. at an American university - worth noting, as there is less chance of a nationalistic bias, or an underlying ethnic agenda.
Sowards begins with an attempt to find a definition for the term "Balkan" - what exactly is different about this area that sets it apart from Western Europe.
He mentions how the mountainous terrain tends to isolate populations and make communication between areas, and with the outside world in general, more difficult. He also mentions that generally poorer soil and dryer climate which affects agricultural output, the source of wealth for much of the period in question. He sees multi ethnicity as playing a role to a degree, and also in Turkish held areas, a tendency to identify by religious affiliation rather than linguistic or ethnic affiliation, which would otherwise form a base for the development of nationalism.
Repeated wars and suppressed revolts over two or three centuries also played a role in keeping populations low, and rural.
Economic ideas:
Through the 18th and early 19th century (and later) land formed the basis for wealth. Elites occupied agricultural land at the will of the Sultan, and land was not inheritable (in theory). The Sultan worked to keep some kind of balance between rural workers and nobles in terms of taxes etc. As central authority broke down in the course of the later 18th and 19th C., local landlords became independent local centres of power, and worked to expand their land holdings. They also increased the level of taxation in various forms on peasants working the land. In the later 18th C, landlords began to increase wealth by selling grain, etc. directly to Western European markets, with several important effects. First, as the West was wealthier, prices on produce rose, and this caused increased poverty in the Balkans. Second, because the selling was direct, towns did not grow and benefit from increased commerce, so they remained small and poor, with no developing capital in a middle-class base. Third, as well as exporting, nobles and wealthy landholders began importing cheaper mass produced goods from the West, putting local artisans and craftsmen out of business, again increasing poverty.
As central authority collapsed further (including the Habsburgs in northern Balkans), and revolutions against the Ottomans began to occur, like the ones in Serbia and Greece, the only real change was who occupied the top landholder positions, changing to local strongmen instead of Ottoman officials. The system itself remained the same. (I am reminded here of the accounts of Patrick Leigh Fermor's hide across Central Europe in the early 30's. You see ghosts of this old landed aristocracy still hanging on in Hungary, etc. in his book.)
Saturday 1 December 2018
Un mese con Montalbano
Collezione divertente di più di 30 racconti da Camilleri. Vale la pena di leggerli. Si può vedere chiaramente il carattere simpatico e sagace di Montalbano di fronte all'umanità. Alcuni dei racconti si può vedere come filmi nella seria di Montalbano del RAI.
The Destiny of Nathalie X - William Boyd
Collection of short stories. Many read like the works of a younger Boyd. Some include his excellent biting sarcasm directed at a variety of targets: Hollywood, foreign language students in France. Some are just unusual, interesting short stories.
Transcription - Kate Atkinson
A spy novel set during WW2 and the early years of the Cold War. Loosely built around the double agent revelations that actually occurred in MI5 during the 50s and 60s. Better written than the other book I tried by her. The ending comes as quite a surprise, but mostly because there seems to be almost nothing hinting at in the course of the story.
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