tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21602861.post1280220218843154952..comments2023-10-17T12:05:26.540+01:00Comments on Razor-blade of Life: Bother you, Ian McEwanZhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00822383355869390919noreply@blogger.comBlogger27125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21602861.post-49019830030300495332007-08-12T23:18:00.000+01:002007-08-12T23:18:00.000+01:00I loved "Atonement", being unaware of the subletie...I loved "Atonement", being unaware of the subleties you are aware of.luckyzmomhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04176703683321469118noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21602861.post-40086562170153536972007-08-11T21:11:00.000+01:002007-08-11T21:11:00.000+01:00And bother that too. I'm absolutely not seeing it...And bother that too. I'm absolutely not seeing it - do you see the absurd novella Chesil Beach is longlisted for the Booker? Really me!Zhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00822383355869390919noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21602861.post-65801930323328917132007-08-11T16:44:00.000+01:002007-08-11T16:44:00.000+01:00You'll be delighted to know the movie of Atonement...You'll be delighted to know the movie of Atonement is out in the UK on September 7th...badgerdaddyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08275758525851693777noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21602861.post-3101372116695017462007-08-06T21:29:00.000+01:002007-08-06T21:29:00.000+01:00I've never kept a diary, not past the end of Janua...I've never kept a diary, not past the end of January. I rarely write letters and I never had a pen-pal, though I have kept in touch with one schoolfriend. But writing a blog is different - and you've put it better than I could. I agree with you completely.Zhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00822383355869390919noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21602861.post-46224532219520603742007-08-06T21:23:00.000+01:002007-08-06T21:23:00.000+01:00I wonder about the reading blogs thing satisfying ...I wonder about the reading blogs thing satisfying a need to read. . .<BR/><BR/>for me it satisfies a need to write too - and satisfies a desire to communicate (irrespective of what one reads or writes about)<BR/><BR/>it reminds me of the pen-pals of my youth; it is more satisfying than a hand written diary <I>(altho I do keep one of those too)</I> in some ways, as I love the look of the finished piece, the addition of images reminds me of ripping pictures out of magazines to decorate a scrapbook, or sticking in photos; it (sometimes) has immediate feedback - more so than a letters page might if one truly published say, more so than waiting for a reply from a pen-pal; it seems interactive whilst indepedent but also interdependent - if you see what I mean<BR/><BR/>you never know what someone is going to write about next, so there is always a surprise waiting for you, even if it's only a comment in a column <BR/><BR/>I think it satisfies lots of needs<BR/><BR/>:-)I, Like The Viewhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00423569600315825506noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21602861.post-1955652295569237642007-08-06T20:07:00.000+01:002007-08-06T20:07:00.000+01:00"...most modern people - shallow, boring and incon...<I>"...most modern people - shallow, boring and inconsisitent" ...</I> present company excepted, of course, I hope? (except for inconsistent, which I prefer to think of as mercurial)<BR/><BR/>On the whole, I agree. But hope still triumphs over experience, for I am, as you know, quite foolish.Zhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00822383355869390919noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21602861.post-79261173150378662412007-08-06T19:48:00.000+01:002007-08-06T19:48:00.000+01:00I think most modern fiction books are like most mo...I think most modern fiction books are like most modern people - shallow, boring and inconsisitent.<BR/><BR/><I>"Do you think, perhaps, that reading blogs fulfils a need in us formerly met by books?" </I><BR/><BR/>Most of them (that I read) are better written...<BR/><BR/>I can't be bothered to read modern fiction. If I read fiction at all, it'll be something written pre-80s. <BR/><BR/>Non-fiction, however, I could happily read all day.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21602861.post-43232408933060516452007-08-06T18:42:00.000+01:002007-08-06T18:42:00.000+01:00You are too, Arabella. Great, that is.You are too, Arabella. Great, that is.Zhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00822383355869390919noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21602861.post-77599924589073747762007-08-06T18:40:00.000+01:002007-08-06T18:40:00.000+01:00Z - I have a lovely picture in my mind of McEwan i...Z - I have a lovely picture in my mind of McEwan in an oversize pinnie, cracking eggs.<BR/><BR/>Also made me think of the first time I heard "cunt" repeatedly in the theatre: in the 90s at The National - Judi Dench having a great time as the bar proprietor in 'Absolute Hell' (if you don't know it: set in a supposedly Colony Rooms type of place just after the end of WW2). There was a palpable sense of awkwardness in the audience at first. Needless to say, she was great.Arabellahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01976792737020577126noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21602861.post-30748158564455694722007-08-06T17:10:00.000+01:002007-08-06T17:10:00.000+01:00Should have read -McEwan could have made the story...Should have read -<BR/><BR/>McEwan could have made the story work but in his eagerness to ensure that no one would be able to envisage the possibility of Robbie's innocence, he over-egged it. <BR/><BR/>Bum. Sorry.Zhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00822383355869390919noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21602861.post-51336873312688952202007-08-06T17:05:00.000+01:002007-08-06T17:05:00.000+01:00Duly noted, Badgerdaddy: I will.Hello and welcome,...Duly noted, Badgerdaddy: I will.<BR/><BR/>Hello and welcome, Arabella. I see you love Crime and Punishment too, so we're in harmony really.<BR/><BR/>What I disliked about Atonement was the sloppy plotting, and it mattered because it was the pivot of the story. There was no possibility that Robbie would have even written that letter to a girl he respected who was not of his social class (and whose family had so helped him). Having accepted that plot device, there was no possibility that he would have been stupid enough to have put the wrong one in the envelope. Okay, accept that one too. But Briony, a 14-year old from that particular stratum of the middle class, would not have read "In my dreams I kiss your cunt, your sweet wet cunt" and understood it. It was an impossibility too far. McEwan could have made the story work, by making no one able to envisage the possibility of Robbie's innocence, that he over-egged it. <BR/><BR/>The upper classe and aristocracy did swear like troopers. It was the upper middle women, themiddle and lower middle class and 'respectable working class' women who didn't (I despise the whole 'class' thing, but that doesn't mean I don't understand its nuances in social history).<BR/><BR/>I didn't read Enduring Love, but I thought Saturday was implausible and disliked the smug family. And that interminable ball-by-ball squash game...<BR/><BR/>Actually, I think McEwan is a good writer, though not as good as he thinks he is, but he annoys me, but I'm sorry for sounding off like this - not sure what's coming over me.Zhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00822383355869390919noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21602861.post-40961615401330781762007-08-06T12:16:00.000+01:002007-08-06T12:16:00.000+01:00I couldn't finish 'Enduring Love' but I enjoyed 'A...I couldn't finish 'Enduring Love' but I enjoyed 'Atonement'. Felt it was an interesting sort of homage to those 'Big House' between-the- wars novels by Elizabeth Bowen and Rosamund Leheman.<BR/>Remember the flack that Mary Wesley caught when she published 'The Camomile Lawn'? Poor woman spent so much time defending the fact that everyone she grew up with swore like troopers!Arabellahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01976792737020577126noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21602861.post-81478842463686914712007-08-06T10:32:00.000+01:002007-08-06T10:32:00.000+01:00I'm fashionably late, I see.Can I recommend a coup...I'm fashionably late, I see.<BR/><BR/>Can I recommend a couple of bits of fiction to you? Okay, okay, three bits.<BR/>Giant Under The Snow, by John Gordon (I'm almost certain it's set in Norwich - it's a childrens book, supposedly, but it's still a favourite of mine. I recently read it to SLF at bedtime, too. She liked it)<BR/><BR/>And two grown-up ones - <BR/>Memoirs of an Invisible Man, by HF Saint (terrifically realised and very practical book about surviving being invisible. I mean, where would you live?)<BR/><BR/>The Big Clock, by Kenneth Fearing (with a name like that, how can this be a bad book? Written in the 40s I think, and really stands the test of time. One of the finest and most original crime novels I have read)<BR/><BR/>Go on, give them a go.badgerdaddyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08275758525851693777noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21602861.post-28940829594684529652007-08-06T09:27:00.000+01:002007-08-06T09:27:00.000+01:00At present, I'm reading Peter Ackroyd's biography ...At present, I'm reading Peter Ackroyd's biography of Shakespeare, Vic Gatrell's 'City of Laughter' (London in the 18th century as portrayed by the satirical prints and cartoons of the era) and The Nice and the Good, an Iris Murdoch I haven't read before - I haven't read anything of hers for decades and I'm seeing if they stand the test of time (mind you, I was too young for her 40 years ago when I first read her).<BR/><BR/>Happy birthday to LL, Boy. Nice Sunday dinner!Zhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00822383355869390919noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21602861.post-48403106097796661042007-08-06T09:15:00.000+01:002007-08-06T09:15:00.000+01:00Nope, I didn't like attonement either, for your re...Nope, I didn't like attonement either, for your reason, plus, frankly, it was just dull. Didn't put me off reading though. Couldn't survive the commute if I didn't have a book for the train.<BR/><BR/>Was in the kitchen yesterday as well. Its LL's bday today, and she requested a carrot cake. Plus we had some lovely Atlantic Salmon in, so grilled that up with steamed runner beans and tomatoe and garlic rice. Made for a very sweety boy, so its a good thing we ate outside.The Boyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06052411992134880131noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21602861.post-26239761630042729212007-08-06T09:07:00.000+01:002007-08-06T09:07:00.000+01:00Don't read fiction much, but diaries are usually f...Don't read fiction much, but <I>diaries</I> are usually fascinating. <BR/>Not current political figures, but historical - Dorothy Wordsworth, Thomas Turner, and the great Parson Woodforde, to name 3 I can see from here.<BR/>Just like blogs.stitchworthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04827825336666824765noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21602861.post-64082898844245741052007-08-06T08:55:00.000+01:002007-08-06T08:55:00.000+01:00I felt I'd maybe been rude to book group members, ...I felt I'd maybe been rude to book group members, but a friend's group read it and I talked to him afterwards - he put forward some of my points and people were coming up with ever more convoluted defences that, actually, made the book more of a cheat than ever if they were right.<BR/><BR/>I like rereading books. One gains more from rereading a good book.<BR/><BR/>Do you think, perhaps, that reading blogs fulfils a need in us formerly met by books?Zhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00822383355869390919noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21602861.post-44057039468847871352007-08-06T08:47:00.000+01:002007-08-06T08:47:00.000+01:00funnily enough I left my book group after having t...funnily enough I left my book group after having to read Atonement<BR/><BR/>dreadful book<BR/><BR/>however, when I'm feeling a bit miz there is nothing like the wit and human observation of the witches of the Discworld to cheer me up<BR/><BR/>weirdly, I don't read half as much as I used to either - altho I did enjoy <I>Natural Flights of the Human Mind</I> (but not <I>Astonishing Splashes of Colour</I>)<BR/><BR/>am currently stuck on rereading the <B>John Le Carre</B> books that I read in my youth (and probably didn't really understand then)<BR/><BR/>those and sudokuI, Like The Viewhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00423569600315825506noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21602861.post-4466070986344186392007-08-06T07:19:00.000+01:002007-08-06T07:19:00.000+01:00Irresistible. Sorry.Irresistible. Sorry.Zhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00822383355869390919noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21602861.post-35352289609663156782007-08-06T07:18:00.000+01:002007-08-06T07:18:00.000+01:00We used to have a stallion donkey. He gave off ce...We used to have a stallion donkey. He gave off certain male scents in the spring and my then dog Chester thought that a good roll would make him irresistable. It smelled appalling and several baths in scented shampoo didn't completely clear it.Zhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00822383355869390919noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21602861.post-89017877574662289882007-08-06T04:27:00.000+01:002007-08-06T04:27:00.000+01:00My dogs, prefer rolling in cow poo and eating rabb...My dogs, prefer rolling in cow poo and eating rabbit poo. I do wish they would learn to bathe themselves and brush their teeth. Ah well, at least I'll never have to pay for them to attend college.<BR/><BR/>My patience with fiction depends on my mood, but mostly I like Terry Pratchett and the like- light and funny and yes, suspension of disbelief but not all of my senses. I am happy that I finally learned to put books down that are not worth my time. I'll remember to steer clear of Ian.heybartenderhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09916319179509954795noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21602861.post-15860259016164825252007-08-05T17:38:00.000+01:002007-08-05T17:38:00.000+01:00Horse poo is nicest, I find, MurphHorse poo is nicest, I find, MurphZhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00822383355869390919noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21602861.post-89672684872346267812007-08-05T17:36:00.000+01:002007-08-05T17:36:00.000+01:00I always find rolling in poo a viable alternative ...I always find rolling in poo a viable alternative to reading Ian McCewanRoghttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09430706557035189147noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21602861.post-8096090447425095342007-08-05T16:26:00.000+01:002007-08-05T16:26:00.000+01:00Atonement was, I think, written mainly for earnest...Atonement was, I think, written mainly for earnest book group members to discuss.<BR/><BR/>Much of the time I used to spend reading was when I was watching the television. My children used to be irritated that I would not let them change channel, protesting "I'm watching that" when my nose was in my book half the time.<BR/><BR/>Reading was also an escape from too much to think about. I lost myself easily in a book. Peachy life nowadays, nothing to forget about.Zhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00822383355869390919noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21602861.post-14678533190123266482007-08-05T16:20:00.001+01:002007-08-05T16:20:00.001+01:00i too am suffering with the Aga. Most of the time...i too am suffering with the Aga. Most of the time it's a blessed comfort. At least we haven't any guests to moan about it. I think one of the reasons one spends less time reading - m'aussi - is the amount of time one spends writing or plotting. I bought 'Atonement' for one of the kids and am ashamed to say I didn't read it. I do think the days when I read voraciously are over but there has always been a strong leaning to non fiction.Pathttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01529798893653033970noreply@blogger.com