Podcast & Book Recs

[neadods]

American iTunes has picked up a BBC Radio 4 podcast called "Shakespeare's Restless World." It's 13 episodes, each running slightly over 13 minutes, about political events in Shakespeare's time. Although the narrator has a slightly disconcerting habit of referring to things that we can't see ("This is an example of a silver whatsit" or "Where I am..."), I'm finding it an interesting listen.

I had an epiphany today - I'm suddenly buying a bunch of books because I'm actually trying to buy a lazy weekend with nothing to do but read a good book. Which is a bit much to ask Barnes and Noble to deliver.

That's not stopping me from reading books...

A Jane Austen Education was a great deal more charming and a lot less navel-gazing than I expected it to be throughout. In fact, it's given me new eyes for Persuasion (which needs a reread) and encouraged me to take another run at Mansfield Park, despite having failed 3 times to read it before.

And despite my absolute inability to wade through The Turn of the Screw again, (ye gods, that's turgid!), I have high hopes for Florence and Giles. It's a book that's going to demand to be taken on its own leisurely terms -- the second paragraph is a single sentence* -- but that sentence is built of gorgeously evocative words and phrases such as "a house uncomfortabled and shabbied by prudence, a neglect of a place... leaked and rotted and mothed and rusted."

I think the bedroom and library cleaning can go for a little while longer. I may have found me a book that takes precedence this weekend no matter the chores waiting.


*Nowhere near the run-on winner; I think I still have my copy of The Pyrates, in which the first sentence ends halfway down the second page.

Comments

[penfold-x.livejournal.com]

I'm suddenly buying a bunch of books because I'm actually trying to buy a lazy weekend with nothing to do but read a good book. Which is a bit much to ask Barnes and Noble to deliver.

I laughed at this, initially (the way you put is it quite amusing), but on second thought, I'm seriously beginning to question how many of the things I've bought are actually attempts to acquire much less tangible goals/experiences.

[melusinehr.livejournal.com]

I haven't had a chance to listen to the Shakespeare podcast yet (the eps have been sitting on my computer for the last few weeks), but I highly, highly recommend the History of the World in 100 Objects podcast, which is the same guy from the British Museum, and is fantastic. There's a book out now, which has pictures of all the objects and the same info as the podcasts, but the podcasts are free and you can look at all the objects online.

[neadods.livejournal.com]

I've heard about that, but I think I'd have to listen to it on the computer while I can look at the picture. I'm usually listening to podcasts while I drive to/from work and it was making my teeth grit a bit to keep hearing references to something I couldn't see.

[neadods.livejournal.com]

I'm seriously beginning to question how many of the things I've bought are actually attempts to acquire much less tangible goals/experiences

I'm only now starting to get a grasp of *how much* of my spending comes under that heading.

[melusinehr.livejournal.com]

I listened to them in the car and looked up the pictures after, but I completely understand not being able to make that work. Still, most of the discussion is about what the objects signify rather than what they look like, if that helps. If not, I've seen the book (I still need to buy myself a copy!), and it's pretty.

[neadods.livejournal.com]

most of the discussion is about what the objects signify rather than what they look like

That helps a lot.

[inamac.livejournal.com]

The Shakespeare objects are also online: here.

Radio 4 seem to be doing a lot of these 'interactive' things, which need a few pictures to enhance the experience. I can't say it's good radio, but it is fascinating.

[persiflage-1.livejournal.com]

Ooh, not heard of that JA book.

I had to read Turn of the Screw for my English degree. I hated it.

[fyrdrakken]

It does put a new perspective on the amount spent on consumables and experiences as compared to tangible items that you can keep, if you ask yourself questions like, "How likely am I to be rereading this book?" or, "Where would I be able to store this item?" (Yarn starts to look like much better value for money as you contemplate the many hours of enjoyment in knitting it up, and then afterwards also having an item worth wearing or snuggling with. At least until you start building up more of a stash than you can actually knit up...)

[fyrdrakken]

I know the feeling. In my case, I've been able to put off doing much book-buying by focusing on the amount of unread fanfic lurking on my Kindle (though occasionally there are sales and I find myself stocking up while it's cheap, like the Patrick O'Brian spree a month or so back) -- but it becomes a source of minor stress, thinking about all that stuff waiting to be read that I don't have time to get to, and having too many weekends where I'm too busy to lie around reading for hours on a Saturday afternoon... (Or, too many at-home hours that could be spent on reading, but I feel obligated to clear things off the DVR, or knit something too complicated to do while reading. And the Olympics are starting tonight, which is going to pretty much eat any at-home reading time I would have gotten for the next couple of weeks...)

[tempestsarekind.livejournal.com]

I liked A Jane Austen Education (I posted about it under my "austen" tag somewhere), though I did feel a bit like the book was written for people who knew the novels a little less well than I did, and didn't necessarily see the lessons coming. Anyway, I *do* hope you give Mansfield Park another go; I really love that one, and I feel like it gets short shrift because Fanny Price isn't like Elizabeth Bennet. (I have an essay about *that*, too, under the "mansfield park" tag.) But I have really grown to love the character over the years, and am very glad I didn't just stop with that first reading of it in college.

Persuasion, weirdly, is the Austen novel I read the least. I mean, I guess one of them has to be, unless I just made sure to reread them all at regular intervals, but I never really feel like reaching for it.

Also, I am The Failiest Shakespearean, so I've only listened to one of the "Shakespeare's Restless World" podcasts. I did read the British Museum blog posts, though, so I hope that counts for something!

[neadods.livejournal.com]

It's one of the more obscure ones, although not as obscure as Lady Susan, which is nigh onto impossible to get unless you buy an anthology the size of a sofa.

I read Turn once when I was younger and got through it. Not this time!

[neadods.livejournal.com]

but it becomes a source of minor stress, thinking about all that stuff waiting to be read that I don't have time to get to

I know! But at the same time, you're still trying to get that feeling of sitting down all the more when you're stressing about trying to get through all that stuff.

[neadods.livejournal.com]

What I liked about Education was that he got different lessons from the books than I did - and left the reader with the impression that while those lessons are there, they are not necessarily The One True Interpretation because they map so neatly to his life, and maybe your life has something else to contribute to the interpretation.

Persuasion I've only read the once. (Northanger is my favorite, and most people bash on it, poor thing.)

[tempestsarekind.livejournal.com]

That makes sense. I sort of felt like I guessed where he was going, a lot of the time, based on my knowledge of Austen's novels - but that's my problem, not the book's.

My favorite Austen is Emma, I think because it's the one that most thoroughly conjures up a whole (if small) world in Highbury, in addition to drawing individual characters. But I love all of them!

[persiflage-1.livejournal.com]

Really? It's pretty readily available here - judging by the number of copies my local library holds!

Looked at Amazon - they've even got a Kindle version.

[neadods.livejournal.com]

Of Lady Susan alone? I'll have to see if ours does too.

[neadods.livejournal.com]

I'm charmed by Emma. It's one of my regular rereads.

[persiflage-1.livejournal.com]

Yes ma'am!

[tempestsarekind.livejournal.com]

Yes, it's so much fun to spend time with! And more relaxed than P&P or Persuasion, say, which are great but I do still find myself anxiously anticipating what's going to happen! (Obviously I *know* what will happen, but I sit back and enjoy Emma in a different way, possibly because Emma's in no danger of getting turfed out of her home or being miserable if she doesn't marry.)

[tempestsarekind.livejournal.com]

Also - for those who don't do e-books - Lady Susan is readily available in both the Penguin and Oxford editions (not just the big anthologies): it's usually bundled in with something else, like the juvenilia or Northanger Abbey, so you might have to read the back of a few copies in the bookstore or library, but they're the same price as the other novels.

[neadods.livejournal.com]

I think that's one of the reasons why Austen herself liked Emma so much. There really wasn't a major lesson for Emma to learn (aside from "don't be a dick") and no Moral Lesson to impart to the reader. Chick Lit.

[neadods.livejournal.com]

Hmmm... I was about to make an English book order too...

[tempestsarekind.livejournal.com]

Hee, yeah. No one's falling off walls or catching deadly illnesses or anything; Emma is brought face to face with her bad behavior by something as simple as a reprimand by a friend.

[neadods.livejournal.com]

Exactly! It's a soothing sort of a book; no real tempests, no real problems, but also the sort of stumbles that everyone has had in their lives.

[fyrdrakken]

Mind you, the benefit of turning reading fanfic into a perceived obligation is that just sitting around reading for a few hours starts to acquire the virtue of productivity, while remaining something genuinely enjoyable to do.