Nat Leach

Thanks- I’ll be interested to hear what you think if you do read him. Part of me still feels I was too harsh, and the other part thinks I raised some valid points.

Same. I keep catching myself complaining about “kids these days” and starting to realize I will be a full-fledged grumpy old man before I know it.

Reminds me of when they “invented” “silent walking” - walking without earbuds - where I come from, that’s just called walking.

Mine’s a bit dim too, but you’re probably right, although I think it was still much more unsettling than people who just watched it for the Peter Pan connection would have liked. It has a shockingly low rating on IMDB, and I suspect that’s why.

Oh no! Yes, that would nag at me forever too.

I am on a much slower pace (as with most things) but, coincidentally, will be finishing Leviticus tonight.

I’m just impressed that you managed an X. It is the only letter missing from my project.

I saw the film many years ago and thought it was very good (Alan Rickman especially), so I am intrigued (even though my last attempt at Bainbridge did not go so well).

Yes!

Judith Hearne- Brian Moore, NCL edition from 1964

Now reading: I know this book has been reissued, but I am a sucker for these old New Canadian Library editions- probably because of my childhood memories, as my parents had many of these.

In which I mention multiple masterpieces and malign many mediocrities:

This is such a great album- I go back to it a lot.

Thanks- I really was torn on this one.

You both make me feel that I was too cranky with this one. And I totally agree about the hope/dread- I just couldn’t put it down during those last 50 pages needing to know how it would turn out.

CD cover: Sonic Temple- The Cult

In The Cult song, “New York City”, I know the line is “Hell’s Kitchen is a DMZ” but my brain always hears it as “Hell’s Kitchen is a DMV”

I have read a bit about it and it sounds like just my kind of thing. I’m looking forward to it!

Book stack: Sybille Bedford- Jigsaw, Goethe- Elective Affinities, Gogol- Dead Souls, Mikhail Lermontov- A Hero of Our Time, Mulatali- Max Havelaar, Jan Potocki- The Manuscript Found in Saragossa, Alejandro Zambra- Chilean Poet

There were also some birthday books:

The World of Frankenstein- A Jigsaw Puzzle by Adam Simpson. Image depicts a number of scenes from the novel.

My daughter’s commitment to her tradition of giving me a Frankenstein themed birthday present every year is truly impressive.

A worn and stained blue-covered hard back book with an Everyman logo just about visible in the centre.

Cover page: The Essays of Montaigne, John Florio’s translation. With Montaigne’s birth and death dates, and a biographical note usefully added by a previous owner.

During grad school, I spent the better part of a summer with this book, and it came to mean a lot to me. Fortunately, I didn’t read the whole thing, so there is still more to look forward to.

DVD case of “Victor Frankenstein” starring James McAvoy and Daniel Radcliffe, directed by Paul McGuigan.

A lot has been said about Del Toro’s questionable choices in his Frankenstein, but if you really want to talk about questionable choices, I have just the movie for you:

We’re on a corner too and my nemesis is the snowplow, which pushes the snow bank into my driveway when it turns the corner.

On the plus side, I live in a city with sidewalk plows (on the minus side, they also push snow into my driveway).

Ha ha, yes! A convert to alphabeticism!

I was just reading about this book, and could not find it! Great to hear about this translation!

I agree- The Pirate is fantastic, and is in many ways the quintessential Minnelli film in its play with fantasy vs reality, and spectacle as self-expression.

I’ve loved this poem since I studied it as an undergraduate. I still remember our professor asking us, “so, why was Hardy so interested in this geriatric bird?”

I recently watched this as well and very much agree about Bardot- her character has much more range than we usually see from her.

I just remember that the film was a big deal (at least in Canada), but didn’t know much about the book. I have been kind of wondering how well both would hold up from a contemporary perspective.

I am halfway through Ginger Coffey, so will be finishing that one, but also trying to decide on another one to read as well, given that there are so many good choices.

Thinking about Brian Moore because of nonsuchbook.bsky.social and because he is finally up next for me, 6 years after the Nov 2019 library sale when I bought many of his books. At the time ds228.bsky.social teased me that I wouldn’t get to the M shelf for 3 years. He massively overestimated me.

I don’t know much about Walser, but I was looking at this one and Jakob von Gunten, so it is good to hear such high praise. I am looking forward to it!