Wednesday Reading Meme

[osprey_archer]

What I’ve Just Finished Reading

D. E. Stevenson’s Mrs. Tim Carries On, in which World War II begins, and Mrs. Tim tries to keep on keeping on even while worrying about air raids, the beginning of rationing, and most of all her husband who didn’t make it back to England during the evacuation of Dunkirk… A bit heavier than some of Stevenson’s other works but still full of her gentle charm.

I’m surprised this book wasn’t reprinted during the rash of D. E. Stevenson reprints a few years ago – there’s a big market for World War II fiction and I think modern readers would enjoy it.

I also finished John Le Carre’s Smiley’s People, in which Smiley defeats Karla by using Karla’s own methods against him. Just as Karla used Smiley’s love for Ann to blind him to Bill Haydon’s treachery (for surely he suspected Haydon because Haydon was having an affair with Ann!), Smiley manages to bring Karla down because his love for his daughter has led him into an escalatingly disastrous operation to get her proper medical care.

Is it worth it to win with these methods, Smiley wonders, by using people’s best and most human impulses against him? He has exactly the wrong level of conscience: just enough to feel bad about what he’s doing, but not enough to ever stop doing it.

We end with Karla crossing the bridge in Berlin to the West, but even after he defects we still don’t hear him speak. Presumably he will talk at his debriefing at Sarratt, but his only recognition of Smiley is to toss the cigarette lighter he stole from Smiley at Smiley’s feet. Smiley does not pick it up.

What I’m Reading Now

I’ve stolen genarti’s New Year’s Resolution to read at least one unread book that I already own each month, so this month I’m reading a book about the history of servants in England in the 19th and early 20th centuries. (Actually it seems to be mostly Edwardian with a few forays earlier.) Very interesting!

What I Plan to Read Next

After years of procrastination, I’m going to read Thackeray’s Vanity Fair.

Comments

[troisoiseaux]

After years of procrastination, I’m going to read Thackeray’s Vanity Fair.

I'm looking forward to your thoughts on this!

[osprey_archer]

Charlotte Bronte was a big Thackeray fan so it seems like the natural next step to give him a try.

[troisoiseaux]

It always boggles my mind to think about Famous Classic Authors reading and being fans of other Famous Classic Authors, even when intellectually I know that the dates line up!

[osprey_archer]

I also just love Author Friends. Charlotte Bronte and Elizabeth Gaskell! Ernest Hemingway and F. Scott Fitzgerald! The entire Golden Age Detection Club! Yessss I just love it all.

[black_bentley]

Ooh, the resolution to read a book you already own each month is a great idea! I might have to steal that as well, and try to get rid of some of my ridiculous TBR.

Luckily, I've already read one for January so I'm inadvertently on track :D

[osprey_archer]

Yes, it's such a good idea. I've actually read one for January too, but I figure the important thing is getting twelve into the year and not which month... and you just know there'll be a month when it doesn't happen.

[asakiyume]

He has exactly the wrong level of conscience: just enough to feel bad about what he’s doing, but not enough to ever stop doing it. --This is ... very identifiable. I feel like there's inertia involved. You can decide something you're doing is wrong, bad, mildly undesirable, not what you want, etc., but summoning up the energy to make a change--that's another thing. ... Maybe it ought to be easier when the bad thing you're having an attack of conscience about is using people's love of their children against them, but it seems like as with small things, so with big ones...

[osprey_archer]

I see this so much with things like shopping on Amazon. People will say things about how Amazon treats its workers badly, undercuts local business, etc.... and then go order more stuff from Amazon. And not just things that are hard to source elsewhere; things they know very well they could buy locally. But inertia, as you say.

[asakiyume]

As with so many things, I feel like summoning the energy to address something like this can be easier when there are others doing it too or people who can be cheerleaders. Poor Smiley just needed some friends who said, "How about... other methods? You can do it, dude! Just break it down into small steps..."

[osprey_archer]

Instead he's surrounded by other spies, who are more likely to cheerlead him in the opposite direction. "The method worked! It was amazing! Just drop your pesky conscience and you could be one of the greatest spies ever..."

[regshoe]

Ooh, history of servants sounds like an interesting subject.

Vanity Fair! I also look forward to hearing what you make of it :D

[osprey_archer]

I don't know how I'll like Vanity Fair but whether I like it or not it will certainly be an Experience.