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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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riggbeck , to bookstodon group French
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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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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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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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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

riggbeck , to bookstodon group French
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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.

Jennifer ,

@riggbeck @bookstodon I read that when I was young and I'm sure all the social commentary was over my head. That would be a good one to revisit!

glauber ,
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@riggbeck @bookstodon Read Matilda too. And the BFG. There's also a sequel to Charlie which is also very good.

Roald Dahl wrote so much good stuff.

riggbeck , to bookstodon group French
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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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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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