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riggbeck

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Ceci n'est pas un ours.

Jusqu'ici tout va bien.

Dost thou think because thou art virtuous, there shall be no more cakes and ale?

I also hang out at:
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democratsabroad , to politicalscience group
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Spread the word! is now part of the !

We're having a great time here. We're enjoying connecting with everyone.

2024 is a crucial election year, and overseas votes will determine the outcome. Visit VoteFromAbroad.org to register TODAY!

We follow back!


@politicalscience @politics @uspolitics @DemocracyMattersALot @GottaLaff

riggbeck ,
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@democratsabroad @politicalscience @politics @uspolitics @DemocracyMattersALot @GottaLaff

Welcome to Mastodon. I've been putting off registering to vote in the US election and this is a timely reminder. Pay no attention to the poster advising a CW. They are grossly over-used and abused here. Politics is the everyday stuff of life and it's ridiculous to put a CW on it.

beexcessivelydiverting , to bookstodon group
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Today's comes from :

"If you don't love another living soul, then you'll never be disappointed.”

@bookstodon

riggbeck ,
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@beexcessivelydiverting @bookstodon

Talking of disappointing, isn't that the family portrait where Disappointing Branwell is painted out?

faab64 , to palestine group

I'm so sick and disgusted by these people.

It's just really hard to understand.

How can they be so evil?

@palestine @israel

riggbeck ,
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@faab64 @palestine @israel

And there I was, thinking that all the violence in his films (which I thoroughly enjoyed) was purely ironic.

riggbeck , to bookstodon group French
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@bookstodon

I'm reading Poor Things, by Alasdair Gray. Much as I loved the film, the book goes into much more detail about the characters, putting Bell's glorious voice front and centre. At one point she breaks into iambic pentameter which it's impossible not to read out loud. It's a visual treat as well, with etchings by William Strang and typeset in varying sizes. You can see where the film changed some of the characters, and how it jazzed up the brothel segment out of all recognition.

riggbeck , to bookstodon group French
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@bookstodon

I think a good book should mess with your head. There should be enough in it to keep you speculating for a long time about the characters and their ideas.

Rites of Passage, by William Golding, takes a scalpel to early 19th century English ideas of class, seen through two very different prisms, both in journal form, both unreliable narrators.

It is set during a six month voyage to Australia in1812, on an ancient, unseaworthy Royal Navy warship converted for passenger use. 1/n

riggbeck OP ,
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@bookstodon

Edmund Talbot is the ridiculously snobbish godson of a Lord whose "distinguised brother" has a high position in government. For 'godson', I think we might infer his Lordship's bastard son. Edmund is going out to Australia to serve on the Governor's staff. He also has a secret mission, not explicit in the journal, which I'm guessing is probably bad news for the Aboriginal population. Edmund is blissfully unaware that the officers & sailors see right through his naive arrogance. 2/n

riggbeck OP ,
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@bookstodon

Edmund starts out as he means to continue by pulling rank on the Captain through his aristocratic connectiona. Captain Anderson is a proud, angry, stubborn man, but he's out-gunned in the class system, so he takes out his rage on another passenger, a hapless parson. James Robert Colley is a naive, foolish young man of humble origins who believes implicitly in the class system. He also completely believes in his faith & yearns to help others, according to his lights. A good man. 3/n

riggbeck OP ,
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@bookstodon

Captain Anderson socially humiliates Colley by denying him the right to walk on the quarterdeck where other 'ladies and gentlemen' are free to go. He's not allowed to preach, except when Edmund twists the Captain's arm, and it doesn't go well. This is not altruistic. Edmund is playing shipboard politics and wants to get one over on the Captain because he knows he hates Colley. Edmund despises Colley, a gentleman by profession, but so far beneath him with his rustic ways. 4/n

riggbeck OP ,
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@bookstodon

The other ladies and gentlemen, as well as the emigrants who have to berth wth the sailors, are portrayed in an equally unflattering light in Edmund's journal. Some deserve it. A drunken portrait painter ostensibly traveling with his wife and daughter, who may well be prostitutes, for example. By and large, they take their cue from the Captain and shun Colley. But there is much worse in store for him, and this is the heart of the developing tragedy. So far we've heard Edmund. 5/n

riggbeck OP ,
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@bookstodon

After the worse has happened, we hear from Colley, in his unsent letter to his sister in England. And the class system gathers protectively round itself to avoid a scandal. Edmund is chastened by his part in the proceedings, but still the arrogant bastard I detested at the beginning. And yet, I was half on board with his ignorant estimate of Colley, and half-cheering Anderson's dislike of the clergy. This is what I mean about a novel messing with your head. You should read it. 6/e

ChrisMayLA6 , to bookstodon group
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I sometimes thought my father thought he could't die while he still had books on his pending pile (a stab at immortality I seem to be replicating)... so, it was strangely touching to see Tom Gauld has had similar thoughts.

@bookstodon

Cartoon: man talking to ghost - frame one: Man, 'I thought you'd died' Ghost (reading a book), 'My life has ended but I cannot pass over to the spirit realm when so much remains undone' frame two: Man, 'you mean all these books you bought and never got round to reading?' Ghost (floating next to a full/overflowing bookshelf), 'It won't take long, there are fewer distractions when you're dead'. frame three, A few months later: Man, 'Is it me or are these piles getting bigger?' Ghost (now surrounded by books), 'My library card still works, but once I I've read these I'll start on the ones in the attic'.
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    • riggbeck ,
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    @ChrisMayLA6 @ericatty @davidpnice @bookstodon

    That brings to mind the Twilight Zone episode about the man who welcomes the end of the world, of which he's the only survivor. Finally he's free from all the distractions, and can read for as long and as much as he likes. Then he breaks his glasses.

    riggbeck , to bookstodon group French
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    @bookstodon
    Having lived on another planet most of my life, I just started reading Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, about which I knew very little. It seems to be a stinging critique of capitalism. Haven't met the vile Mr Wonka yet, but I'm sure I'll hate him and his dubious employment practices.

    No spoilers, please.

    riggbeck , to bookstodon group French
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    @bookstodon

    This is why real print and paper books matter. Their materiality tells parallel stories about the people who owned and loved them, and how they related to the ideas in the books.

    I want to go to this exhibition in June.

    https://www.theguardian.com/books/article/2024/may/05/scottish-artist-receives-hundreds-of-copies-of-orwells-nineteen-eighty-four-in-the-post

    riggbeck , to bookstodon group French
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    @bookstodon

    Excellent article by George Monbiot (he has a new book out) that really gets under the skin of a conspiracy theorist. Unsurprisingly, what he finds is a toxic mess.

    George makes a good point that we're all conspiracy theorists, only most of us care about the real ones like the Post Office persecution of their subpostmasters.

    https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2024/may/04/youre-going-to-call-me-a-holocaust-denier-now-are-you-george-monbiot-comes-face-to-face-with-his-local-conspiracy-theorist

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