Reading the 20th Century discussion

Welcome to The Midnight Bell 2020 edition….


….a general discussion thread in which you can talk about anything and everything.

It also masquerades as a classic British pub.

Get your first pretend pint free - other pretend beverages are also available.

Come one, come all, gather round and, of course, be of good cheer.

Happy new year one and all


The Midnight Bell is open today - and every day

Good idea to update the threads for the New Year, Nigeyb. Happy New Year to all.

Just popped in to wish everyone a happy 2020 with lots of blissful books!

Happy new year everybody. I'm looking forward to reading with you again this year!

I'm one of those Kindle users who didn't pay the extra £10 and so I get adverts on my Kindle when I first turn it on. These ads are never of any interest to me. I assume publishers pay for them.

What seems clear is that they are not generated by what I have previously read and purchased. Indeed, they are always so completely inappropriate or irrelevant that I marvel at just how wide of the mark they are.

Has anyone else noticed this?

And why, with so many clever algorithms, do Amazon not tailor them to each individual Kindle user?

Has anyone bought a book based on a Kindle advert?

I bought my Kindle before Amazon saw they could generate revenue with the advertising. But I have a backup device for when this one goes out and I think it has the ads on it. Since I pretty much ignore the sleep screen, I'm guessing I won't even know which books are being pitched.

I get the ads too, Nigeyb. I have a Kindle Fire HD and most ads seem to be for games, which aren't of interest to me, but there are sometimes ads for things like a Kindle books sale or a reminder to look at Kindle daily deals, which I find quite useful.

They also recently had an ad for a cheap 3-month membership of Kindle Unlimited - I had already signed up via another offer, but would have appreciated this if I hadn't done. I haven't often seen ads for specific books.

Interesting. Mine are all book ads and frequently slightly trashing looking romance type novels. Bizarre eh?

Perhaps I should try one?

I get games, trashy books (usually bare-chested men with stubble and tattoos), and the occasional reminder of a Kindle accessory sale. I have sometimes investigated a book (not the trashier ones) , and have probably bought one at some time. But it doesn't worry me - it's just a door that I have to pass through: I don't have to pay it any attention.

I get the ads on my new kindle. Nothing I would ever buy. Bought one by mistake once but they took it back. They're pretty good about that - long as it was never read.

Has anyone read anything by Celia Fremlin? In another group, a member has posted a couple of books by her and I see a comment on the Faber and Faber site that she is Britain's equivalent to Patricia Highsmith, Celia Fremlin wrote psychological thrillers that changed the landscape of crime fiction for ever: her novels are domestic, subtle, penetrating - and quite horribly chilling. I also think Virago has published some in their Crime series.

As it is available digitally from my library, I have added her The Hours Before Dawn to my over-burdened wish list. It won the Edgar in 1960.

Not me Elizabeth, however the description ticks a few of my boxes (e.g. Highsmith, Faber and Faber, game changer....). I'll go and investigate - thanks

And now you've inspired a Celia Fremlin thread in favourite authors....


https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...

Thanks again Elizabeth

Somebody once said 'you can never have too many books', suffice to say on a sunny Saturday afternoon they didn't have to empty all the book cases and move said books cases in readiness for a new carpet!!

Michael wrote: "Somebody once said 'you can never have too many books', suffice to say on a sunny Saturday afternoon they didn't have to empty all the book cases and move said books cases in readiness for a new ca..."

You have my sympathy with the disruption.

Michael wrote: "Somebody once said 'you can never have too many books', suffice to say on a sunny Saturday afternoon they didn't have to empty all the book cases and move said books cases in readiness for a new ca..."

Haha, but there's always the upside of finding books still waiting to be read and rediscovering old favourites.

Yes RC, most books await to be read as finding time is always an issue. 90% of the books are my partner's. She explained they are ready for her retirement when she wouldn't be able to afford to buy those books!

Michael wrote: "She explained they are ready for her retirement when she wouldn't be able to afford to buy those books!"

Ha! There are all kinds of retirement plans.

I'm heading out in a few minutes for a trip to Phoenix for my older granddaughter's wedding on Thursday. Back late Friday. I look forward to catching up when back in snowy Ketchikan (and it will be colder this year, too!).

By the time you get to Phoenix she'll be rising....


Have fun

Michael wrote: "Somebody once said 'you can never have too many books', suffice to say on a sunny Saturday afternoon they didn't have to empty all the book cases and move said books cases in readiness for a new ca..."

That made me smile! But it'll look great when it's done, I'm sure, so all worth it in the end.

A friend of mine ran out of bookshelf space and started using the stairs. That was the point at which his wife put her foot down and made him have a clear out!

Sue, stairs as bookshelves is a bit drastic, that wasn't an option in our previous home as it was a bungalow! We moved home instead, we have plenty of room now.
Yes we could buy Kindle or similar or use the library but it's not quite the same.

I've just opened up our two new buddy reads, Wolf Hall and God is an Englishman, a little early - please drop by and have your say!

Michael wrote: "Sue, stairs as bookshelves is a bit drastic, that wasn't an option in our previous home as it was a bungalow! ."

Yes we are in a bungalow too, so no stairs, but I'm hoping to squeeze a bookshelf up in the loft this year, to hold those books I don't read often but don't want to get rid of. And the space a bungalow doesn't have in stair space is to some extent compensated for by a big loft I suppose!

Did anyone see this story on the BBC?

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england...
"A 100-year-old bookshop has been inundated with orders after tweeting it had a "tumbleweed" day in which it had not sold a single book."

It's a heart-warming story.
:-)

Yes I did see that story. I hope people keep using it.

I saw it too - looks like a lovely bookshop.

That's great.

Yep, really good. Did anyone recognise the guy working in the bookshop with all the Portsmouth FC tattoos and badges plus a blue top hat? I’m sure that he is a ‘fan-celebrity’ from a few years ago when Pompey were doing really well - he was always filmed in the crowd for his passion...and always shirtless!
Is anyone able to confirm what I’m going on about? - a story within a story I reckon...couldn’t believe my eyes.

The man you mention still goes. He has a big bell too and a few years back changed his name to Portsmouth Football Club. That’s hardcore.

Oh yep, forgot about the bell - something to do with the Pompey chimes, no doubt.

Wonder why he didn’t use his ‘new’ real name on the tv news item (see Sues link above)?

Btw - I use to teach a young lady called ‘Ann Field’ - excellent student, grade A’s all the way from me!!

ah yes, Anfield small matter of a footie match tomorrow at 16:30. I shall be supporting the team that would ordinarily play in red.

Just hope we are all treated to a good game of football tomorrow, Michael. May the best team win....Walk On!

Ps. Shame about City and Chelsea today? Lol.

Indeed, 'tis a same isn't it, and for Spurs and Arsenal too. Just goes to show anything can happen.

I will soon be opening a thread for us to nominate a group read book for our April 2020 discussion

We're going back to decades and the decade in question will be the 1950s. So that's a book, fiction or non-fiction, written in, set in, or about the 1950s.

What would you like to read?

Nigeyb wrote: "We're going back to decades and the decade in question will be the 1950s. So that's a book, fiction or non-fiction, written in, set in, or about the 1950s.

What would you like to read?"


I'm mulling over perhaps nominating a Graham Greene.

My current front runner is....

The Quiet American (1955)

Graham Greene's classic exploration of love, innocence, and morality in Vietnam

"I never knew a man who had better motives for all the trouble he caused," Graham Greene's narrator Fowler remarks of Alden Pyle, the eponymous "Quiet American" of what is perhaps the most controversial novel of his career. Pyle is the brash young idealist sent out by Washington on a mysterious mission to Saigon, where the French Army struggles against the Vietminh guerrillas. As young Pyle's well-intentioned policies blunder into bloodshed, Fowler, a seasoned and cynical British reporter, finds it impossible to stand safely aside as an observer. But Fowler's motives for intervening are suspect, both to the police and himself, for Pyle has stolen Fowler's beautiful Vietnamese mistress.

First published in 1956 and twice adapted to film, The Quiet American remains a terrifiying and prescient portrait of innocence at large.

It came second in the last 1950s poll, so there is some support for it.

Well remembered Val - and encouraging too. Thanks.

I thought I remembered that it had been nominated in some category, so went and checked the old polls.

And, for anyone who is interested, here is a summary of the final poll results for our Dec 2017 poll for a group read based around a theme of the 1950s....


Judy: Adrift in Soho by Colin Wilson - 8 votes, 36.4%

Cordelia: The Quiet American by Graham Greene - 5 votes, 22.7%

Val: On the Beach by Nevil Shute - 3 votes, 13.6%

Roman Clodia: Bonjour tristesse by Françoise Sagan - 3 votes, 13.6%

Pamela: Excellent Women by Barbara Pym - 2 votes, 9.1%

Nigeyb: Room at the Top by John Braine - 1 vote, 4.5%

Susan: Last Curtsey: The End of the Debutantes by Fiona MacCarthy - 0 votes, 0.0%

I've been wanting to read Peyton Place forever but it's expensive and I'm not sure whether it's good trashy or just trashy - has anyone read it?

I'm also thinking about Breakfast at Tiffany's and (very different) The Grass is Singing.

I had to read The Quiet American at school for GCSE and it's ground into my mind!

I enjoyed Breakfast at Tiffany's which is also very quick and easy to read.


I've never read Peyton Place but suspect that it is just trashy. Surely, if not, it would be turning up on lists of books to this day?

I know little about The Grass Is Singing however a quick peek at the reviews suggest a promising looking novel.

Nigeyb wrote: "I enjoyed Breakfast at Tiffany's which is also very quick and easy to read.


I've never read Peyton Place but suspect that it is just trashy. Surely, if not, it would b..."

I devoured the novels of Doris Lessing in my late teens and early twenties and have wondered about re-reading them. I thought The Grass Is Singing was powerful but particularly loved Martha Quest and the rest of the. ‘Children of Violence’ series.

Ooh, thanks Clare! Unaccountably, I hadn't read any Lessing till I picked up a pristine copy of her The Golden Notebook in a second hand bookshop last year - I'm keen to read more and the Children of Violence series looks fascinating. It appears pretty autobiographical from the little I know?

Nigeyb wrote: "I've never read Peyton Place but suspect that it is just trashy."

Might well be - but the reason why it's so expensive is that it's published by a university press which indicates some kind of academic recuperation. Anyway, I've crossed it off my list as being impractical.

Roman Clodia wrote: "Ooh, thanks Clare! Unaccountably, I hadn't read any Lessing till I picked up a pristine copy of her The Golden Notebook in a second hand bookshop last year - I'm keen to read more and ..."

Yes, it’s based quite closely on Lessing’s own life.

I read Peyton Place many years ago (pre-goodreads). If memory serves, I would say it would be more good trashy. I probably would have wanted to give it 3.5 to 3.75 stars if I’d been on Goodreads. I didn’t love it (4 stars) but I more than just liked it.

Thanks, Lynaia, that's good to know - I shall continue to look out for it second hand.

Thinking about what was distinctive about the 1950s, I come up with these mainly UK based ones:
Fear of nuclear war.
Emergence of an educated working class.
Britain alternately trying to get rid of its empire or hold on to what remained of it, depending on who was in government.
Sputnik and other innovations in space technology.
A few mountains out of molehills political problems, e.g. Suez and Profumo.
A few celebrations: Festival of Britain, Coronation of Elizabeth II, successful ascent (and descent) of Everest, Calder Hall nuclear power station, end of rationing.
Cold War proxy wars.
Birth of the EEC (forerunner to EU).
Almost all the novels I can think of related to any of them have already been nominated in one category or another, unfortunately, and I'm not sure I want to nominate a non-fiction book about any of them either.
What does the 1950s make you think of?