Sunday, February 10, 2019


This one will have to be pretty well all Eng Lit – I haven’t knit a stitch yet today, and suspect that I am off to bed pretty soon.

Liz, I agree with you that KD’s new striped hap looks like an easy and fun knit, and I remain tempted. Ann, I think when she says that the Millarochy club samples are enough to knit the hap, she is referring to the samples that come with this year’s club. I didn’t sign up in time, so I haven’t got those. I’ve still got last year’s. It’s probably just as well that I don’t have any more.

Non-knit

I was wrong about today’s rugby match. It was played in London, not Paris – and England are almost unbeatable there. That’s why (among other reasons) that there is almost no hope that we will retain the Calcutta Cup this year. England smashed poor France today.

Kristen, I think there is much to be said for re-reading “Persuasion”. I, too, have read it recently. Don’t, whatever you do, attempt “In Cold Blood”. I have finished it, skipping a handful of the most distressing pages at the end, and will soon, and very happily, put it back on the shelf forever.

It could be the basis for a potentially interesting conversation, but I don’t really want to talk about it. It’s intended as a “non-fiction novel”. In a real novel, one knows that the author’s invention is supreme. Here, no one is in charge; that’s part of what is distressing. Another distressing aspect is Capote’s own relationship with some of the principal characters, however artfully concealed. And I don’t, on the whole, like Mr. Capote. But the worst is the actual subject-matter.

I wouldn’t mind going on to read “Breakfast at Tiffany’s”. I remember the movie with delight; I wonder if I have ever read the story. But there doesn’t seem to be a Kindle edition. Pattie, I wouldn’t mind reading him “On Writing” but I can’t find it. (Stephen King wrote such a book, and it’s good. I like Mr. King, in contrast to my feelings about Mr. Capote.)

I think the opening pages of “Persuasion” are the best in all of English literature (although Evelyn Waugh’s “Handful of Dust” is pretty good). We could have a side-discussion on the subject of first pages. I will read the next section of “Cousin Phillis” tomorrow, and am happy to follow you back to “Persuasion” if that’s what you decide, Kristen. I hope nothing I have said is tempting you towards “In Cold Blood”.

14 comments:

  1. Persuasion it is - I am persuaded! I've only ever seen the last few minutes of Breakfast at Tiffany's, where she throws Cat into the rain and abandoned him and I burst into tears with horror. I've not really forgiven her even though I know she went back for him! (Yes I know it's only a story but I get so involved!) But if there's a book I'll it a go.

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    1. Oh, and I slowly making my way through King 'On Writing'; v good even though his books are too scary for me. So no fear of reading 'In Cold Blood'

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  2. The book, Breakfast at Tiffany's is rather different from the movie, especially at the end. I remember being a bit sad and disappointed having seen the movie first. Usually I find movies much less satisfying than the books, and seldom see the movie first.
    I went through a Jane Austen phase a few years ago and loved each and every book.
    And I am very much enjoying this "conversation."

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  3. It's difficult to compare the opening pages of Austen's novels to anything else, I find, because they are so very familiar. What else has one read and re-read over so many years, studied, analysed, taught and memorised? Do I not remember you saying that "Mansfield Park" was your favourite?

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  4. I read "In Cold Blood" many years ago, probably around the time it was published. Goodness, I would have been almost too young for such a book. No way could I read it again. It's such a cold book, one of the coolest I've ever read.

    I refuse to watch horror films as well.

    A note you will enjoy: I've cast on a BSJ for my new great-granddaughter. At 67 I think I'm on the young side, but that doesn't quench the delight.

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  5. Persuasion - my favourite Austen by far. Juliet Stevenson's Audible narration is also superb - an excellent narrator as well as a fine actress, she also narrates Emma, Northanger Abbey, Sense & Sensibility, and my two favourite George Eliots, Middlemarch and Daniel Deronda.

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  6. Of course you're all right, I misremembered and gave credit to Capote for King's On Writing. Nothing redeemed Capote for me, but I thoroughly enjoyed King's memoir.

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  7. Have you ever read any Barbara Pym? I am addicted to her books the first of which are set in the 1950’s England. Not a lot happens in her books but the writing and characters and in keeping with Jane Austen.

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    1. Yes, about Barbara Pym. Although I laughed out loud several times reading Crampton Hodnett.

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  8. Anonymous1:13 PM

    How is the local public library - do they provide access to e-books through one's library card?
    Or can they deliver your requests to your local branch?

    We are very spoiled here by the amazing Toronto public library system - streaming music and films are things I am just learning to access through the library.
    Lisa RR

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  9. Now that you've shelved it...I couldn't imagine you reading 'that book' alone in a flat in the city. I did so as a 20 something (many years ago) alone in my first floor studio apartment in Pittsburgh and slept with the light on for weeks!

    When you mentioned Persuasion, my mind instantly went to Possession by A.S. Byatt. I'm not an Austen fan, but I do like Byatt and her enemy sister, Margaret Drabble. Perhaps their feuding fuels the reading?
    For opening lines, one of my favorites is: "Last night I dreamt I went to Manderley again."

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    1. Anonymous1:59 PM

      Ah, yes--that is indeed a lovely opening line!

      Jean, I completely understand your feelings about that Capote book. I read it years ago and don't feel a need to do it again.

      Perhaps today you can get some knitting in....it's foggy here; if I didn't have to work, it would be a lovely day to stay curled up on the sofa with some tea, knitting, and the cat--who would insist on occupying my lap......
      Laura

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  10. Crampton Hodnett is one of my favourites, such delightful and flawed characters.

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  11. I read In Cold Blood when I was about 11 years old. UGH It was an awful experience. And so very sad.

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