What are you reading ?

[ElThomsono]

I've started on The Grapes of Wrath, I'd been put off by the size of it but it turns out this 1940 print is pretty large, it's probably not that long a book.

I'd read Of Mice and Men not long ago, I quite like Steinbeck's style. It's a short easy read, for those of us who didn't cover it in school.

 

[Saint-Just]

Oh. You have great taste. Mrs Watkins (our teacher of American literature, the one who had SH5 on the program), also had Tortilla Flat, Of Mice and men, Cannery row, Death of a salesman and A view from the bridge, Faulkner’s The Sound and the Fury and As I lay dying, William’s The Glass Menagerie…
It’s funny how some teachers leave an imprint without you even realising it. I haven’t re-read any of those recently yet the names came back instantly (I would be at a loss to name the authors we did in French, let alone the books we studied). She was passionate about Southern authors (in case you had any doubt )
It seems you’re enjoying what she enjoyed so take your pick in the above.

 

[ElThomsono]

I read the first act of Death of a Salesman last night, it's decent; so far it hasn't outright stated that we need to have UBI to combat the ills of capitalism but I suspect it's what Miller was getting at.

Haha, I'll look the others up; I've been going through lists of books and picking and choosing and I'm yet to find something I've not enjoyed. Saying that, Dostoyevsky was a close call.

 

[noddy]

I reread Thor Heyerdahl's Easter Island book, Aku-Aku. A page turner, if you like that sort of thing.

It reminded me that I have long wanted to read the Blasket Island novels ... I mean since I was sixteen and accidentally saw an Open University programme.

So, I finally bought one, nearly half a century later. Peig Sayers: An Old Woman's Reflections.

It is very good, and I am glad there is a bunch more.

 

[Jaggededge]

Moby dick is killing me. Can't wait to start on the sequel about the transgender whale. Maby dick.

 

[5teep]

Started listening to "Scottish History for Dummies" on Audible.

It had me raging within about 10 minutes, some of the stuff they claim is simply wrong but the worst, by faaaar the worst is they chose an Englishman to narrate it!!!!!!!!!!! The guy butchers every single Scottish place name and half the peoples names.

I turned it off for my health.

 

[Templogin]

Just finished Pompeii by Robert Harris. Really enjoyable book, but not as good as Ghost by the same author. I did enjoy the "technical" details of how water was managed. The end seemed a long time coming. I was hoping for more information about Attilius and Corelia at the end.

I have now started on A Murder of Crows by Sarah Yarwood-Lovett, which is OK so far. Another book from Libby, the online library service, of which there are a few by this author. If you have an eReader and haven't signed up I can recommend Libby and BorrowBox as useful tools.

 

[ElThomsono]

I've started on The Grapes of Wrath, I'd been put off by the size of it but it turns out this 1940 print is pretty large, it's probably not that long a book.

This book's great!

 

[ElThomsono]

Bloody awful subject matter, but very compelling reading.

 

[Beachlover]

Bloody awful subject matter, but very compelling reading.

Why would you want to read a book about haemorrhoids???

 

[BorderReiver]

 

[Templogin]

Started listening to "Scottish History for Dummies" on Audible.

It had me raging within about 10 minutes, some of the stuff they claim is simply wrong but the worst, by faaaar the worst is they chose an Englishman to narrate it!!!!!!!!!!! The guy butchers every single Scottish place name and half the peoples names.

I turned it off for my health.

Englishman here!

There are two things that come to mind. When Radio 4 gets too much to bear, normally on the 43rd use of the word misogyny, I switch over to Radio Scotland and I love to hear the accents especially the women's. I give the football commentary from the talking heads a miss as they seem as over-excited as their English equivalents. If I were commentating it would be in my normal voice, which has the intonation and unabated enthusiasm of Jack Dee's.

Shetland has its own dialect. When I first came here some of it was unintelligable. Gradually I learnt the meanings of the word, but I am careful to try not to use them as the locals say that (sooth fok) visitors butcher them. Very occasionally I will use them and intentionally butcher them for effect by exaggerating or mis-pronouncing them for comic effect.

 

[ElThomsono]

I remember not long after I moved down here, saying Ports-mouth and having one of the Swanage guys crack a smile, Ports-mith, he says. Lol, ok.

Like people say Ed-in-bur-uh, people from there say Edin-bruh, and the rest of us say Em-bra.

 

[CaptainBeaky]

... the rest of us say Em-bra.

Surely that's just the bit around the edge?

 

[Templogin]

The jocks are as bad as the English for pronouncing placenames completely differently to how they are written. A case in point is Findochty. Simple enough surely - FIN - DOC - TEE. Oh no, that would be too easy. The locals call it FIN - EK - TEE. There are many more liike that in Shetland, but I won't labour the point.

 

[Winnet]

Almost as good as Aberchirder near Turriff. It is pronounced Fogielian (Foggy-loan).

Or Auchleven near to Inverurie, Auchleven is also called Premnay.

G

 

[Saint-Just]

Village near me is Mersham. That’ll be Mer-Zam for the locals, thank you.
I know it’s not a spectacular difference but in terms of English pronunciation and accent Kent is rather boringly bland so those little things stand out.
Near Steve is something the Frenchman in me finds much more incomprehensible: Beaulieu, home to the National Motor Museum, means beautiful place in French. However it reads and should be pronounced as bow-li-eu, not bew-lee FFS!
Take the French names you want, but at least try to pronounce them correctly

 

[5teep]

The jocks are as bad as the English for pronouncing placenames completely differently to how they are written. A case in point is Findochty. Simple enough surely - FIN - DOC - TEE. Oh no, that would be too easy. The locals call it FIN - EK - TEE. There are many more liike that in Shetland, but I won't labour the point.

Which brings us neatly to that other Scottish sound that English folk can't make, the 'ch' as in loch

 

[Saint-Just]

Which brings us neatly to that other Scottish sound that English folk can't make, the 'ch' as in loch

Germans pronounce it the same way
To be fair it’s in Breton as well if you spell it “c’h”
Amusingly c’h is a letter in Breton, as is ch, but c (as a letter) doesn’t exist (so the alphabet goes a, b, ch, c’h, d,…)

 

[MaC]

Village near me is Mersham. That’ll be Mer-Zam for the locals, thank you.
I know it’s not a spectacular difference but in terms of English pronunciation and accent Kent is rather boringly bland so those little things stand out.
Near Steve is something the Frenchman in me finds much more incomprehensible: Beaulieu, home to the National Motor Museum, means beautiful place in French. However it reads and should be pronounced as bow-li-eu, not bew-lee FFS!
Take the French names you want, but at least try to pronounce them correctly

Please don't listen to how we pronounce French up here.....gigot chops are jiggit, sighbees are ciboles, etc.,

 

[Winnet]

hors d'oeuvres = horses doov-rers

G

 

[Saint-Just]

There are some you get (mostly) right: bœuf, mouton, porc, veau.
Likewise we are good at pronouncing sandwich and weekend

 

[CaptainBeaky]

Village near me is Mersham. That’ll be Mer-Zam for the locals, thank you.
I know it’s not a spectacular difference but in terms of English pronunciation and accent Kent is rather boringly bland so those little things stand out.
Near Steve is something the Frenchman in me finds much more incomprehensible: Beaulieu, home to the National Motor Museum, means beautiful place in French. However it reads and should be pronounced as bow-li-eu, not bew-lee FFS!
Take the French names you want, but at least try to pronounce them correctly

And there are, in Kent just down the road and within a stone's throw from each other, Meopham (Mepp'umm), Wrotham (Root'umm) and Trottiscliffe (wait for it... Trozz'lee).

 

[Oldtimer]

I remember not long after I moved down here, saying Ports-mouth and having one of the Swanage guys crack a smile, Ports-mith, he says. Lol, ok.

Like people say Ed-in-bur-uh, people from there say Edin-bruh, and the rest of us say Em-bra.

Give it bit longer and you'll be pronouncing Portsmouth " Pompey ".

 

[MaC]

Feeding Scotland by Catherine Brown.
It's an interesting wee read. A blast from the past, how to feed folks well and simply on virtually only what was grown and hunted here.