Surprise, surprise

 

A family visit to loved ones who live six thousand miles away, isn't for an afternoon, a day or a weekend. So when I arrived early in March it was for a three-week stay. More than six months later I'm still with them. Unable to forecast the future, I hadn't reckoned on a pandemic leaving me marooned. And even months into my prolonged presence here, I didn't dream that I, and they, would become evacuees, with ash falling from the sky and wildfires breathing their foul breath upon us. But then they say life is full of surprises. Unfortunately, not all of them are pleasant.

https:stanleybloom.weebly.com

Stranded

I came to visit my nearest and dearest early in March. Nearly three months and repeated flight cancellations later, here I am still. At the same time, my 90-day maximum ESTA allowance for staying in the country without a visa, is almost over. So what happens now? Who knows? The authority in charge of these matters says it will be in touch within 24-48 hours.

 

https://stanleybloom.weebly.com

Dismal Reading

A 432-page dystopia would not be my preferred reading at any time let alone in these dire days. But that is what members of the book club chose at their last (online) meeting, for discussion next time. Owing to the 9-hour difference between Stockholm and the location where I am stranded, I had no say in the matter. But the next meeting is due to take place two hours later, to accommodate me.

Thus I have been struggling to get through at least a substantial part of the work, reading reluctantly in fits and starts and escaping for relief after each chapter to anything from Sherlock Homes (I hadn't read all the tales) and The Three Musketeers (I hadn't read that either) to books on photography, publishing and making soup, (all downloaded free of charge from you-know-where.) Almost to my own surprise, the one that has intrigued me most, as it would seem to contradict my distaste for the dismal, is Daniel Defoe's Journal of the Plague Year 1665.

Those were very different times when it comes to medical knowledge and resources. And there was no means of rapidly transporting people from one country and continent to another, taking the disease with them. Yet there are some remarkable similarities with the present situation. Despite all the advances of the past three-to-four centuries, knowledge of the current affliction and how to cure or prevent it is woefully weak. Then as now, there were the unscrupulous, quick to take advantage of our ignorance and fears, nowadays with a surge in cyber fraud, at that time by going around offering to sell wonder potions that were either useless or dangerous.

Then, although transport may have been very different in 1665, the first two cases Defoe mentions were Frenchmen in London. Moreover, many of the wealthier citizens left the city for the countryside, thus spreading the disease to rural areas that might have remained free of it. And while surrounding boroughs recorded alarming increases in the number of fatalities, the City of London suffered much less owing to draconian measures announced by the Lord Mayor, something of an equivalent to the lock-down of our day but very much harsher, with imprisonment for anyone who did not comply.

To some extent the measures were counter-productive as nobody was allowed to enter or leave a house where someone had contracted the disease. Such a house was watched night and day. It meant that others in the household who might have escaped the illness were condemned to stay where they were most likely to get it and according to Defoe, many died as a result.

Not pleasant reading, yet I turn to it in preference to Atwood's fictional Gilead, which I have now finally decided to abandon.

 

https://stanleybloom.weebly.com

Can there be beneficial Corona effects?

Could some benefits nevertheless result from the deadly virus? For instance, could many employers and employees realise there can be certain advantages in working from home when and where possible? At least part of the time. Can it be that many people are more efficient when spared the hassle of getting to and from work and the distractions of the office?

This would mean fewer vehicles on the roads. There is certainly far less traffic right now. This must mean fewer accidents, fewer people killed or injured, less pressure from this source on the hard-pressed health services, cleaner air for this reason and because so few planes are flying – with further health benefits, greatly reduced dependence on imported fossil fuel, benefiting both the economy and the climate. Could the deadly virus be saving some lives as well as taking so many?

Then what effect can being confined to the home be having? Could it lead to a lasting growth in distance learning, food deliveries, the birth rate, perhaps even the divorce rate? Some industries could continue to benefit greatly, while others decline. The possible ramifications are many and varied and worth thinking about in these gloomy days.

Thoughts from someone stranded far from home

https://stanleybloom.weebly.com

Letter from London to the Bookworms Book Club in Stockholm

Letter to the Stockholm Bookworms prior to a meeting to discuss the much-hyped 'Normal People' by Salley Rooney.

Greetings from London,

I couldn't resist sacrificing some valuable shopping time to have a brief word about this book. It is definitely not my cup of carrot juice. I had difficulty getting beyond the first few chapters. Had I picked it up in a bookshop to read a little before making a decision, it would have gone back on its shelf double quick. Apart from finding the present tense uncalled for and difficult to get used to, I kept coming across expressions like, “It's a face like a piece of technology.” Can someone explain what “a piece of technology” is and what such a human face really looks like

 

Before long there was: “She was attuned to his body in a microscopic way.” What, may I ask, is that supposed to mean? And then: “Their secret weighed inside her body...pressing down on her pelvic bones.” After that, I'd had enough as the writing was beginning to press down not only on other vital parts of my anatomy but all my senses.

An Amazon 1-star reviewer gives some more Rooneyisms, like: “He's wholesome like a big baby tooth.” And: “The heat beats down on the back of Connell's neck like the feeling of human eyes staring.” And so it goes on. And on. Book of the year? For me, how this gibberish got into print remains one of the mysteries of the year. At the very least, the publisher's editor should be arrested and put on trial charged with gross negligence, causing untold harm to perfectly innocent and unsuspecting readers duped by the hype.

Yet on both the British and US Amazon sites, 44% of those rating the book gave it a 5, although no fewer than 24% of the UK reviewers were lone-star people and some of those would have given it a very round nought if that were possible. Nevertheless, let's let the admirers (I suspect that Rooney has a very large extended family) have their say.

“I loved this book, I couldn't put it down,” writes one (her mother?). “I felt a strong connection with all the characters, it explores human relations at it's best and worst... This is one of those books that will stay with me and I can't wait for what Sally Rooney (my daughter?) comes up with next!”( Hmmm.)

“I cried a little and found it moving,” writes someone else. “It was an easy read, which was a pleasant welcome after some stuff I have read recently.”

Here's another member of the fan club: “Rooney has a real talent in making you care about these characters and what happens to them, as well as subtly explaining the reasons for their seemingly unexpected and usually misguided actions and decisions... I cannot recommend this book highly enough...”

Contrast those remarks with these from the opposite end of the scale:

“I absolutely hated this book and hated that it sucked hours of my life reading it. I kept hoping it would get better but it just droned on. If this is what millennial writers have to offer, I will begin re-reading the classics or authors from previous generations who knew how to write. Ugh. Horrible.”

“If I could have given this book no stars I would have! It was so dull, boring, badly written and irritating! I had no empathy with any of the characters. I can't believe the comments on the cover are actually about this book!”

“Quite the most inane and intensely annoying book I have ever read.No cliche is left in the bag,the main characters are self absorbed bores,stuff just stupidly happens to enable the damn thing to keep moving forward until the inevitable ending is crowbarred in.”

“Worthless. I wish I could delete the mental pain caused by "this thing", but it is too late now that I've read it. There was no space in the household waste for it, and Bonfire night is too far away, so I have recycled it.”

And there's lots more in the same vein, on both sides. I don't think I've ever found a book with opinions about it so polarised 

My advice is beware of people with heat-ray eyes breathing down your neck, and above allt, take good care of those pelvic bones.

Love to all,

Stanley

http://stanleybloom.weebly.com

Books And Biscuits

We had tea and biscuits at the first book club meeting. But if you meet on a Sunday afternoon and carry on talking well into the evening, tea and biscuits don't make for very stimulating conversation. Certainly not after the first hour or two. So the simple afternoon tea soon gave way to more substantial sustenance, with anything from sandwiches and slices of pizza to pieces of home-made pie. But not even that lasted long once one of our members provided a two-course dinner, which has been the norm ever since. If the host or hostess wants help in the kitchen from others, it is willingly provided. Convinced that good books and good food go well together, we realise we had initially not only insulted our stomachs, but the authors we read. Well, most of them.

We choose books to discuss in democratic fashion, taking turns to suggest three titles, the one then receiving the most votes becoming our book for the month, or whenever the next meeting is scheduled for. This replaced our former method under which anyone could make suggestions at any meeting, which in practice meant the same people, with the same tastes, were always at the ready, while others had to accept their choices. OK, the rest of us could blame ourselves for not taking the trouble to come armed with suggestions, but otherwise could only react by harshly criticising a book we did not like.

There are no dissenting views about the food, however. Indeed, word of it has spread well beyond our circle, with the result that some people who seldom if ever open the covers of a book but with a good appetite (for food prepared by others) have wanted to join. We meet in each other's homes, but it does happen that a member unable to accommodate us hosts a meeting at someone else's place.

At the moment, we are a couple of people short, so if you are in the Stockholm area and are a book lover, do get in touch. (We are a friendly bunch.)

https://stanleybloom.weebly.com

stanleybstanleyb@gmail.com

Mythos

Thoughts on Mythos, the Greek myths retold by Stephen Fry

Mythos, a book-club choice, effectively reveals what an extraordinarily large crowd of cunning, self-seeking, vengeful cut-throats and sexual predators the Greek deities and demigods were. Without saying as much, it clearly illustrates that there was no attempt to combine morals with religion in those times. But it is mostly what the book doesn't do that leaves me dissatisfied.

Thus there is little or no attempt to place the myths in a wider context. What are their origins? What are the influences from the prehistoric past? What do they tell us about the people, or peoples, and their societies that devised them? The Hellenic world covered a vast area in the eastern Mediterranean. How widespread was belief in these mythical beings? All, or only some of them? And if morals weren't mixed up with religion, sport certainly was. Why no mention of this?

The ancient Games at Olympia were devoted to Zeus, those at Delphi to Apollo and so on. Participation or attendance was part of a religious duty or devotion. Yet the only mention of sport of any kind comes when Cadmus, said to be unrivalled in throwing stones, the discus and javelin, states that he is pretty good at running round the track as well. Round the track?! The ancient Greeks didn't run round tracks! They ran over a straight course. Then we are told that Cadmus's female companion bursts out: “My hero!” And buries here head on his chest! It makes me wonder whether Fry is writing the script of a third-rate Hollywood film or perhaps a Mills and Boon novelette?

To be fair, it's not all like that, but it does raise the question of whether trying to put twenty-first century supposedly 'with-it' language into the mouths of ancient Greek characters makes the whole thing sound ridiculous. Then Fry admits in his Afterword that he has 'tinkered' with the tales, and says that is what people have always done with myths. But unless we are already very knowledgeable on the subject, how are we to know what is Fry and what is ancient Greek? And if we know all about the myths already, why read this book? Many volumes have been written on the subject. Does this add anything? I doubt it.

One useful thing Fry does, however, is to point out words in the English language that are derived from the names of these beings. But such references are scattered here and there. I would have liked to see a comprehensive list of them, as well as a clearer table of the main deities. I found the great list of names at the beginning simply too long to be anything other than off-putting.

A final thought: without any kind of analysis, reading tale after tale about these characters and their antics simply became tedious. The club as a whole gave the book a weak three out of five, using the Amazon-Goodreads etc. rating system, – which, let it be said, was well below the average on those sites. I gave it two-point five.