Book about Llandudno

Neil gave me a book about the history of Llandudno. It was written by an acquaintance of him. That seemed a perfect present! I love history, and I am keen to learn more about Llandudno, and I like supporting local initiatives. 

I’ve read it now. And now I have to be careful. It was a gift! But I have criticisms. And I still appreciate the gift! But I was a bit disappointed that the book mainly seems to be a list of people pulled out of various census records. Of quite a lot of people you get the date and location of birth, and subsequent addresses, and what profession they claim to have in the various census records. And what spouses and children they get. And then a date of death. Perhaps a quote from the local newspaper when their death is announced. And then you move onto the next one. I also figured the book could have done with a proofreader.

There are quite some pictures. Some portraits, but also townscapes. It would be cool to go to the locations they depict, and see what things look like now. Maybe a nice mission for a day when we don't feel like a big activity!

Book: Tadwlad

It took me several months! In January, we started reading a book for Welsh class: Tadwlad (Fatherland). I often struggle to find time to read books, and this one turned out to be written in South Welsh, which is sufficiently different from North Welsh to make this book decidedly less easy to read for someone like me. It was a bit like running through treacle. 

Warning: spoiler alert.

At the very beginning of the book, in the first sentence even, the main person finds out that his father, whose funeral he is just attending, was adopted. He never had any idea.

The main character, Dylan, is working with refugees. It is specified that he used to have a much more lucrative career, but something happened, and he ended up losing his job in his wife (with whom he has a son). But he now has that other job, and a new girlfriend. I expected the thing that made him lose his initial job would be elucidated later on in the book.

Of all the refugees he works with, two are specified. One is Nabil, a Syrian medic. He is the second narrator. He comes across as alone and rudderless. And he is wary of Hadi, an Iraqi barber. The latter tends to have a small group of acolytes around him. Nabil finds them intimidating.

The book mainly trundles on with the daily life of both main characters. Not much happens. Somewhere halfway down the book, Dylan finds out that his father was born in Lübeck, after the end of the second world war. And that his grandfather was there.

It then trundles a bit more, until a big thing (in the context of this book) happens: Hadi plants suspicion in Dylan's mind about that Nabil has a wife, but never mentions her. Does he have something to hide? Dylan asks, and Nabil retreats. This was a moment of suspended disbelief for me; would anyone working with refugees really be so blunt? People flee for a reason. They might not necessarily want to talk about all the losses they have suffered before they reached the UK. 

Then more trundling follows, until towards the end of the book, everything suddenly accelerates. We find out that Nabil’s wife drowned during the Channel crossing. Nabil has always felt inferior as the son of a day labourer, found out he has a knack for being charismatic and entertaining, and also, for hairdressing, and manages to establish himself with a business in Mosul. Until the religious authorities disapprove of the modern hairstyles he cuts. He strikes to deal with them, and is then seen as a traitor. He flees. And is wary of privileged people, such as middle-class folk with a good education.

Then, Hadi is attacked by racists, but manages to stagger back to the refugee centre. There, Nabil applies tourniquets and saves him. Slightly too convenient for my taste, but hey ho. 

In the last chapter you suddenly hear the voice of Dylan's father. He travels to Germany, talks to someone who has gone through the archives in order to find out about his mother, and is told that there is no mention anywhere of his father. The archive lady suspects strongly that his mother was raped by a soldier of the Red Army, and was never keen to talk about that with anyone. The father then decides he is also not keen to talk about that with anyone. And then the book ends.

I suppose this is all about the secrets we keep, and that we might have particular reasons to keep them. It doesn't have to be anything malicious. I found it quite elegant that we never find out what happened to Dylan. 

I suppose another theme is refugees. If you live in Western Europe in this day, having to flee might well look like something that happens to distant people. But it might be closer than you think.

As dénouements go, I found the rape story a bit obvious. I suspected that as soon as I read about the war and Lübeck, but I had the impression it is supposed to come as a surprise. Maybe I'm wrong!

So what did I think about it altogether? I must say, I am glad I read it. I would really have preferred it to have been written in North Welsh, but you can't always get what you want. I quite like that there wasn't much going on. I thought book would have been stronger without the blunt tool of one person saving another person's life after a violent attack. But if the book really would have been as pedestrian as I like them, I suspect it wouldn't have been chosen for a project such as this. This book had been recommended to Welsh classes all over the country, and in the end there was an online event in which you could ask the author questions. I wasn't even halfway by the time that happened, so I didn't participate in that. But this was bigger than our Welsh class. Maybe a bit of blood helps inclusion! 

Now this book can go back to the library. And what is next for me? I am well over halfway in Jacko’s book about breathing and running. That may be the next review! And I am flying through a small book about historic Llandudno. But on my list is also the latest book by Peredur the linguist. At least that will have been written in North Welsh! 

Ragnarok

Yes, the apocalypse of the Norse mythology. But also: no, not that Ragnarok. I this case, I am referring to the book by A.S. Byatt. This book, however, is named after the apocalypse of the Norse mythology. But it is set in WWII Britain. My sister liked the writer, and knows I like Nordic mythology, so she figured it would be a great birthday present. And it was!

One imagines the book to be partly autobiographical. The protagonist is a child that is evacuated during the war, and when it ends, goes back to Sheffield, where she came from. That seems to match with the life of the writer. And this child loves to read. That also seems to match with the life of the writer. And this girl reads a translation of the Norse story of the end of the world. Even though it isn't, really. It's a bit of a biblical flood kind of story; everything that was gets destroyed, but afterwards there is a new start.

The protagonist isn't keen on that new start. Is she keen on returning to Sheffield? Not necessarily.

I like to reading the thoughts of this child. She is quite pensive for her age. And does ponder function of myths, and contrasts paganism with christianity. And think about the critical notes in her own Ragnarok book, where the translator comments on that not all parts might be of the same age, and might have been created in effectively different worlds.

I'm burning through books this week! They say you should start as you intend to go on. I don't think I'll keep this up! But I'll try to not slow down too much…

Local library

It's always fun to blog about triumphs! But sometimes when you blog, you end up broadcasting your failures. This is one of those posts I find a bit difficult.

I moved to North Wales yonks ago. And as you guessed from the title, I only joined the library now. I feel a bit bad about it! If you don’t use these facilities, they vanish. And borrowing books instead of buying them is more environmentally friendly, and doesn’t lead to your house cluttering up. Only advantages! 

Why didn’t I? I suppose it never made it to the top of the to do list. I don’t read much. I can borrow anything from the University library, which is a lot bigger. When I tried in Plymouth, I was a bit disappointed by the range of books available (I seem not to have blogged about that). It tends to take me longer than the borrowing period to read a book. 

What got me to snap into action? Welsh class! We will be reading a book for it. I had a look in the local Welsh books shop, but they didn’t have it. The University library seemed to only have it in digital form. So then I got my skates on and became a member of the library in my town. It’s free to join, and really close by! And they had the book. 

Now I'm a member! I intend to visit fairly regularly from now on. But I should get my teeth into that book for Welsh class first!

Cam i’r gorffennol

It took me about a year but I finished it! And I've had this book for years. I bought it from the author himself; he is a local celebrity, as he had been in the most famous punk band in Wales ever, but is also an archaeologist. And I like archaeology. And I've been on two guided tours with him. Through the media of Welsh. And at the end of one of them, he sold this book. I obviously bought one! “Cam i’r gorffennol”, or a step into the past. 

I don't think that book was actually meant for being read cover to cover. It is basically a list of interesting archaeological locations, and a description of what you can find there, and what is known about them. But I read it cover to cover anyway. Initially I took it with me to the Netherlands; then I got sidetracked by other books, but I recently finished it.

Quite a number of these places I have already visited. Bryn Celli Ddu, Tre’r Ceiri, Din Lligwy, Tomen y Mur… but it's nice to read a bit more about them anyway. And there are several I haven't visited yet, and want to now, like Dinas Emrys and Bryn Cader Faner. I'll try to visit some of these in the new year! That's a nice thing about an archaeology book: it's double enjoyment. Once when you read it, and once when it takes you places you otherwise wouldn't have visited. And I'm sure Neil will be up for things like that too!

The epic of Gilgamesh

 I like old stuff! Old houses and old cars and old whatnot. It also includes old stories. I absolutely loved reading authors like Tacitus and Caesar in the language in which they had written it, in secondary school. 

I still read old stuff. And I decided I should read the oldest stuff. I thought the Epic of Gilgamesh was the oldest known more or less complete story, at roughly 4000 years old. Is it? Im not sure! But it sure is old. 

It is largely a story about Gilgamesh, the king of Uruk (probably a historical figure), and his friend Enkidu, who is created as a sort of wild animal, but who is dragged into civilisation. They go on mighty quests. They also have an adventure when the gods decide to exterminate humanity, but they get a warning, and they build a boat in which they save loads of creatures. A familiar plot line! 

I suppose that in tablets with cuneiform, this is a huge tome, but on paper it is minute. It was good for taking with me on my travels. I’m glad I read it! I have no way of judging the translation, but it’s cool to read a story that has travelled across millennia. Especially the casual remarks about how people lived then are amazing. I can recommend! 

Giving up on die Blechtrommel

If I can at all read books in their original language, I will! It's the real thing. And as skilful as translators might be, a translation is not the original work. And, of course, if a book is not in a language I am fluent in, there is a translation going on in my head, and it will inevitably be flawed, but at least I still get to see the original. I had once read "all quiet on the Western front" and I felt like I missed something. I then read "im Westen nichts Neues" and although I struggled a bit with the vocabulary, I did feel like I had now felt the spirit of the original work. 

Years later, I found "die Blechtrommel" in a secondhand shop. In the UK it is known as "the tin drum". I bought it! I had long had that story on my wish list. And it lingered for a while in my book cupboard. The time never seemed right for a German book. Until I decided to deal with it.

I have now given up. It is not very accessible German. It was a bit reading through treacle. And if you go to bed, and there is a book on the bedside cabinet, and you're not grabbed by a desire to read a bit of it, there is something wrong. It's better to read some book than no book! But with this one, it was too tempting to read the paper instead. So I've decided to get rid of it. Maybe one day I'll read it in English or Dutch. And now I'll move on with a book I had already started, in Welsh. That's non-fiction again. I'll have to get some fiction in some feasible language ready for when I finish that!

A Climate of Truth

I should now know how to thrive in the Anthropocene. Last year, there was a public lecture with that title, by Mike Berners-Lee. I was a bit unsatisfied at the end of it, but his lecture had partially been a plug for a book that was about to come out. He said that if people wanted to know more, they could just read the book. You can put a lot more information in one of those than you can in a one hour lecture. So I ordered the book.

I've read it now. Does that mean I know how to thrive in the Anthropocene? Well, not really! He does provide an easy checklist at the end of the book, after he's explained in detail what he thinks is wrong with the world in what could be done about about it, and you can just start there, I suppose.

This checklist is six pages long. I can't repeat all of this! But he starts with politics. And I've been trying to vote in people who are kind to the planet since I was 18. So far it hasn't really worked. And I think most people I know vote along these lines as well. I don't think I live in a diverse world!

Next is media. He says you have to be very careful about which media you trust and fund, but my choices tend to get his OK. 

Then he gets to work. Here he turns a bit Rutger Bregman: he figures you should use your talents and energy for the good of the world. So don't get sucked into finance or corporate law or that sort of destructive jobs. I suppose that working at the university and telling young people about climate counts as the sort of job that at least tries to make a difference.

Next is activism, volunteering and giving. I try to do all that as well! I support a number of charities that I think actively try to make the world a better place, and I am active in the local sustainability movement. It hasn't quite had Greta Thunberg levels of effect, but well, most people are not Greta Thunberg.

The second last one is sustainable personal lifestyle. I actually sometimes get some shit for that! But I do my best. I take the train to get to the Netherlands, and I bike to work. I am a bit infamous for my cold house. 

He ends with: look after yourself. He says "enjoy and appreciate life where you can, because there is no point saving a role that's no fun to live in."

I suppose it was to be expected that me reading this book would be him preaching to the converted. Is there anything new in there? I suppose the most novel thing he does is bring out social pressure and calling people out. That is so un-British! He wants us all to give people who don't do what this book advises you to do a lot of stick for that. I'm not quite sure if that would help. Will they not just dig their heels in? And quite a lot of people live in social bubbles. I suppose I have "lefty" written on my forehead, so I am not likely to have friends who read the daily mirror, watch GB news and vote Tory or worse. So there won't be many people I could call out. But I will keep his words in mind next time I do hear a rightwing voice.

Even though I am not British, I am a bit hesitant about the calling out thing. I suppose you need to know when and how! I vividly remember calling out the misogyny in the underground community. That didn't work at all. I suspect it made things worse. You don't want that to happen if what is at stake is the planet. But I suppose someone needs to do it. Someone needs to start. Societal change does happen! The example I always use was that when I moved to Amsterdam, it was decidedly uncool to have light on your bike. When I left Amsterdam, it had become decidedly uncool to NOT have light on your bike. Did people call each other out? How did this change happen? I actually don't remember! But this is the sort of thing that we need to see when it comes to the planet. Flying for frivolous reasons is still socially accepted. Buying loads of stuff you don't need is still socially accepted. Having a regular bath is still socially accepted. Voting against the planet’s interest is still accepted. So many things are still socially accepted. And it takes us to hell in  a handcart.

Anyway. The next thing I should do is lend this book to someone on whom it might have a positive effect. I will keep an eye out for opportunities! It is a good word, so let it spread. Maybe it is not too late...

Room

I raced through this book! I only recently blogged about finishing the previous one. And I wanted fiction this time.

When, many years ago, Room came out, it piqued my interest. But I can be a bit slow! I didn’t buy it at the time. And by now even a film has been made about it. But I got my proverbial together and ordered it. It arrived on time to be next in line after Emperor of Rome. Is there anybody who doesn’t know what this book is about? For in case of yes: a woman and her small son are locked up in a room, and have been so for years. The son has never been anywhere else. This much is clear from the cover of the book. The rest of this text contains spoiler alerts.

It’s a page-turner. It might not start fast, but that’s how I like it. I was quite into the daily routines of Room. But quite early only in the book, the woman decides it is time to try to make their escape. It becomes clear she has tried before, but not since the boy was born. But she thinks he is now so old he can be involved in an escape attempt. Additionally; she fears for her life as the man who is keeping them captive is in financial trouble, and what would he do if he can't afford food and energy for three people anymore? What happens if the mortgage lender repossesses the house?

The book is told from the perspective of the boy, and as far as he is concerned she seems to suddenly get the idea to try to escape. The reader assumes she has not thought of much else in the past seven years, but has only now decided to involve him. It is clear she hasn't been willing to admit to the boy that they are in a highly unusual, even traumatic, situation. But now she must.

They hatch a plan and manage to execute it. She first pretends the boy is ill, and later that he has died. She tells the man to take the body away and bury it somewhere far away. The boy is rolled into a carpet, and is instructed to play dead. The assumption is that the man will put the boy in the carpet in the back of his pick-up truck, without checking. And he will inevitably have to stop at traffic lights sometimes. The boy is instructed to then jump out and run for help.

It actually works out that way. So much could go wrong! But the book won't work if he doesn't make it out. So the boy runs to a dog walker, pursued by the abductor, and the dog walker doesn't trust the situation and phones the police. They show up pretty promptly.

The problem then is that the boy has only just turned five and has never before been outside Room. How on earth does he know where he came from? But the dog walker has a description of the car, and the boy remembers how often the car stopped or turned. The police have enough to go on. They find his mum.

This all went a bit fast for me. I have a bit of a long attention span! But that's OK. Because then you wonder how they will fare in the outside world.

The situation is fundamentally different for the woman and the boy. The woman has finally been released from a seven year nightmare. The boy has been ripped away from everything he knows except his mum. She wants to go outside and feel the sky and the rain and the sun, but he doesn't see the attraction. He is scared of rain, and perfectly happy to be in a confined space. And he isn't happy that if he is outside, he has to wear special sunglasses and a lot of sunblock.

The boy has to come to terms with the absolute avalanche of new things thrown at him. The woman has to deal with the intrusive press, the police wanting to take evidence, social services sticking their noses into what happens to the boy, having to deal with lawyers, and finding out that some people haven't really responded to her disappearance (or even on her return, with child) the way she had hoped. They are on completely different trajectories.

There were some scenes that raised my eyebrow. They both are something I would see as a safety breach. Soon after the woman is rescued and brought to a psychiatric hospital, her mother comes visiting, with her new partner. The woman's brother also shows up; he has a partner and small child. And only days later, after they probably have only spent a few minutes in each other's company in total, these relatives come and pick the boy up for a visit to a museum. The mother is having a bit of a breakdown and can't get out of bed, and the reader is given to believe she doesn't even know this is going on. What psychiatric clinic would allow a child like that to be taken away from the mother, for hours, without her consent? By practically strangers? That didn't seem plausible to me.

The other thing was that the woman is put on medication. And she is given such a large supply of it she is capable of plausibly attempting suicide with it. I would think she just gets her daily dose and not more.

The author also puts some societal criticism in. The boy grew up in scarcity; his captor is really not going to spend more on his prisoners than necessary. He is baffled at the over-abundance and waste, both in food and consumer goods, in the wider world. He is also puzzled by that everyone seems to be in a hurry. 

The book ends with the boy wanting to go back to visit Room. They get permission. When he gets back there, it doesn't feel familiar anymore. You imagine he has peace with just not living there anymore. And then you have to imagine the rest of his life.

I thought it was beautiful! And I thought it was a plausible attempt to get inside the mind of a boy in a situation like that. I'm glad I finally read it. Only 15 years late! 

Emperor of Rome

Whenever I come across Mary Beard in the media, I like what she does. And I know she writes books, but I have never read one. And then I came across one in a charity shop. I bought it! It was Emperor of Rome. And when I had finished my Welsh book I started it.

It's basically an evaluation of what we actually know about emperor of Rome. It's not even that much. And she also evaluate information that is out there about them, but which might not be very reliable. For instance, quite early in the book she mentions the important distinction between emperors who had been murdered, and emperors who had peacefully transferred power to their successor (still by dying, probably, or maybe exclusively). Their successes probably keen to paint them in a particular light. If they came on the throne as the Sun of the previous emperor who had died in natural death, they load there position basically to the authority of their successor, and they wanted to paint them in a very positive light. If they had been involved in murdering the previous one, they of course benefited from showing that person in a very negative light. And there is a risk that a lot of vote will be written about an emperor is in that period not long after the end of their tenure, so we might get very biased views on all of them.

She dives into what we know about various aspects of the lives of the emperors. Their food, their administrative duties, their travels, military campaigns, etc. There clearly was a lot of spin, and a lot of gossip. But also some interesting sources on the cogs of the empire turning. These would be letters from regional administrators to Rome or vice versa, or court transcripts, or suchlike. 

I really enjoyed it! It’s great to read a work of history with such clear explanation of how we know. And the Romans are not my favourite topic, but that’s OK. It suddenly sort of is when it’s Mary Beard writing about them. But for my next book I want fiction! 

Using eBay to tidy up a bit

When I decided I was happy with my new fitness tracker watch, I obviously had a now redundant old one lying around. It is absolutely no use to anyone if it lies around in my house. So I disconnected it from my phone, erased all the data, and put it on eBay. I did specify that the battery life is very short, but even so. Someone will have use for it! And that was clearly true. People were bidding on it.

That inspired me to be a bit more proactive. I have a bit of a policy that I can't increase the amount of shelf space for my books. If you move house, books are a menace! And how many of the books you have will you re-read? So I for instance put Memorial up. I didn't intend to read that again. I'm sure someone else will like it.

It's not as if I have made enormous amounts of space in my house now, but I think I have set something in motion. I think I want to keep listing things that are no longer of use to me. Let's see if they can have a new life somewhere else…

Cysgod y Mabinogi

After moving quite quickly through several books, I stalled a bit on the second novel by Peredur (the linguist). I often read in bed, but then it’s annoying to have to use a dictionary. And for most of this book I don’t need it, but the narrative voice in the book changes a lot. From a casual-talking ne’er-do-well via a pompous lawyer to a mythological figure. And with the lawyer I sometimes wanted the dictionary, and with the mythological figure, even more so. So when I reached a chapter narrated by the lawyer, I stalled. Easier to read the newspaper as it doesn't require a dictionary! And then it took quite a while.

I brought the book with me to the Netherlands, and I also made some progress in it when I was a bit under the weather after I came back. And with that acceleration I finished it in January.

So what's the verdict? I like it more than the previous one, to be honest! The other one had a different narrator in every single chapter, which means you never really get to know anyone, or see any character development. This book only has 5 protagonists, with each between 5 and 15 chapters (which can be as short as 1,5 pages). So you get to follow them through the whole story. Or at least as far as they manage to stay alive. At the end of the book, two are confirmed alive, one confirmed dead, and two assumed dead. But two of these deaths are really late in the book. 

And what about the story? It is a lot easier to follow than the previous book. Spoiler alert: a bunch of people are trying to release the old god (or similar creature) Llyr onto the world, and the idea is that while doing that they will flood the entire planet, after which a new society can be built with only those that Llyr has chosen to stay alive. And then there are some people trying to thwart that plan. And almost all chapters are by the people who are trying to thwart that. Another spoiler alert: they succeed. But they also know that Llyr is still out there and will try again.

It has a quite diverse cast. I found the characters quite believable. And it is a page turner. It even has a very assertive cat. 

What I was not so keen on was the Hollywood action film side of it. It's just some fairly normal people who are trying to oppose mythological creatures, combined with an army of determined sect members. You would think they don't stand a chance. But in this book, they do. It would happen in the Hollywood movie like that too. The baddies are always bad shots, and the goodies are always lucky! If some otherworldly creature lashes at you with tentacles or claws, they always miss. But anything you do against them always works.

Given that this is a blend of mythology and contemporary life, timelines don't work very well, but I think it is reasonable to assume that if these mythological creatures really existed, they would be from the Bronze Age. And the protagonists have a sort of headquarters that has been there since that time, but at some point the sect comes visiting and sets it on fire. Would no one really have thought of that all the way since the Bronze Age?

There also is a mysterious artefact in the book. It is very powerful, and everyone is very keen for the other side to not have it. And after days of being hunted and hungry and beaten up and hypothermic and thirsty and all other uncomfortable things you can imagine, two of the protagonist just break it with their bare hands. Really? It has survived quite a lot of bashing around until then.

So this is quite my style of book? No not really. I'm more than Mrs Dalloway sort of person. No chasing, no guns, no mythological object, just a woman pondering some things. That is exciting enough for me! But you don't get to read a book by a friend very often. So I'm glad I did it! 

I'm also convinced I'll get to do it again. The whole book ends with a cliffhanger. It is clear that some of the beings involved in the failed ceremony are regrouping and considering their options. I am certain there will be a third book! I think he's on a roll. And I'll read the next one as well!

Book loot

A while ago I reviewed a book proposal. It was interesting to do, but it had another perk; I did that (as expected) on the request of a publisher, and they let me pick books they had published to a certain value as a reward. And I am trained as a geologist but mainly active in climate science, so I decided to pick a book on ocean circulation and a book on atmospheric science. I sure still have a lot to learn about these topics! These fluids were not really the focus of my studies. And I'll bring them home. I could imagine brushing up my knowledge in a comfortable chair by the fire this autumn. Could be a lot worse!

 

Invisible women

When ‘invisible women’ came out and got attention in the press, I figured it was right up my street. I bought it. And then didn’t end up reading it for a long time. 

This year I’ve been on a reading spree. I started with books that I had lent or been given. And when I got through that pile I started on this one. 

So for those who haven’t heard of it: the front of the book sums it up. It’s all about data about women not being gathered, and therefore women not being taken into consideration. And this spans many fields. Maybe the most obvious one is medical research; a lot of it has historically been done on men only. And then you get a medical science, fit for men only. I think many of us have heard of the worse outcomes for women if they have a heart attack; if only men are studied, the symptoms are only recognised in men. And delayed diagnosis is bad. 

This book goes into countless examples more! Everything from public transport to pensions and public toilets and disaster relief. And because she covers so much, she has to rush through it all, but she has an extensive bibliography, so you can see what it’s based on. 

I suppose all women have felt examples like this in their lives. When people think of ‘people’, you often realise they were thinking of ‘men’. (And straight white able-bodied cisgender ones at that, but that’s a bigger topic than suits this post). If there is PPE available, it’s often in one-size-fits-blokes. If you get a race T-shirt, it’s always a man’s cut. One’s line manager who walks into a meeting, sees three or four women sitting together, and immediately comments the women are banding together, and should he be worried? He’s seen three or four men sitting together countless many times, but that never solicited a response. I saw an interesting advertisement for volunteers for research on fitness. Then I read on and noticed they only wanted men. That was soon followed by a more inclusive one! Maybe there had been so much backlash they had to redesign their project. Phrases like ‘the world and his wife’. Or ‘there was a fire, and somebody’s wife died’. And so on. 

It was an interesting read! Not happy reading, obviously, but good to get an idea of the extent of the problem. And I know the bibliography will be aging, but once you have one article to start with, you can follow the trail. 

I would recommend this book to everyone! Especially men. They are more likely to not quite be aware of this. And it’s a good read! 

Reviewing a book proposal

In between the other things I have been doing I did something I had never done before: I reviewed a book proposal. I had reviewed a book before, but never a book that didn't exist yet. A scientific publisher contacted me with the question whether I was willing to review a proposal some bloke sent them, for a book about ecology within the context of oceanography. I think they had seen my staff webpage where I indicate I teach ocean sciences undergraduates about all sorts. They figured I might be a good candidate.

I'm not an ecologist and neither am I an oceanographer, but I suppose I have to know about all these things to a certain level in order to do my job properly. So I said yes. And I thought it might be interesting.

The documentation was an extensive proposal about the book, with a synopsis of every chapter, and some background information about what size it would be and who they had in mind as the audience. And then some samples of the author’s writing.

The one thing that I found most unusual about this book was that it had an extensive section on the history of human exploration of the seas. You don't normally get that! You might very well get a bit about how people found out about plate tectonics, because without plate tectonics you can't understand the oceans, and maybe something about the earliest sediment cores and the stable isotopic records that came from them, which have explained so much about our climate system. But this guy went further! It even had information about boat design. And navigation.

An octant; to be covered in this book. 

I thought it was quite a comprehensive proposal; there was only one topic of which I thought they weren't giving enough information by far. But I was wondering a little bit about the balance of the three sections the book comprised of. I thought it would be better with four, but if you split the one I didn't see as a unit, you ended up with two rather short sections and two rather long ones. I am not going to go into detail; I consider the material of the book confidential until it is published. But I think the things I say in this post are general enough.

I don't know if this book will ever end up written, but I must say I hope so. But I hope they manage to address the things I thought were suboptimal. I will see! I would expect them to contact me if it does hit the market; given that they know I teach in that field, I'm sure they'd want me to ask the library to buy some. So I'd find out.

I get paid in books. They'll have to ship from the USA, so it could take a while, but I look forward to getting some new knowledge in exchange for my applied knowledge!

Second book launch

Only two years ago, I attended my first book launch. Peredur, the linguist who I have been practicing Welsh with, has his second book out. Of course I wanted to be there when it was launched!

The timing was a bit unfortunate; that day, it would initially be dry, but in the late afternoon it would start raining. There was an actual weather warning for rain out, so it was probably going to be unpleasant. If it were not for the book launch, I would have gone home fairly early to avoid that.

They came, and I biked to Main Arts in the rain. I quickly went inside. There already were drinks there, and some people. I had a wine and a chat. And when the opportunity arose, I bought the book, and asked Peredur to sign it. 

At some point it started. We were in a huge room! I sat down third row. Nice balance between elbowing myself front row, and showing disinterest by sitting in the rear. 

The interviewer this time was a fellow author: Bethan Gwanas. I must admit I haven't read anything by her yet. And she had a completely different style from Aled Hughes, a radio presenter, who did it last time. To be honest, I preferred Bethan! She was very unfiltered. And she was a bit of a fan girl. That must have been good for Peredur’s ego. 

Bethan Gwanas and Peredur

She asked things such as how he has got the idea for his books. And he told her it had all started with a short story he had written for an online Eisteddfod during lockdown. And then it had snowballed from there.

She also asked about the two books hang together, and it seems that they are related but that you can read them entirely independently. I will find out myself!

He had different chapters with different protagonists in the first book, and now he did again. Some of them even the same ones. And he spoke of difficulties with these different voices. One of them, for instance, is from South Wales, so he had to mimic a South Welsh way of speaking. That sort of thing can go wrong! She also asked him to read a fragment from that, so we could find out how good his South Walian pronunciation really is.

There is also one chapter that is written in the second person, rather than the rest of both books, which is in third person. And they discussed a bit what the significance thereof was. And why the protagonist of this chapter has such a name. Peredur confessed he had just wanted to avoid that anyone with the same name, even if it was entirely by coincidence, would have an issue with that.

This chapter also seems to be in the most formal Welsh. After all the colloquial speech of the other protagonist (he read out another fragment; yes one of them is indeed very colloquial) that stands out. And Peredur confessed to have been a bit self-conscious; he wanted a chapter in which he proved he could really also write "proper " Welsh.

In the end, Peredur thanked everyone in the room, because he said he couldn't have done this without the support from the publisher, his friends, family, and colleagues. So he dedicated the book to us. But he reminded us that we still would have to pay for our own copy.

With that it was coming close to an end. He invited us to stay a bit longer, as we hadn't finished the Prosecco yet. And I walked out of the room, back to the drinks area. And when I saw daylight again, I realised it wasn't raining. And that made me decide to just go. I had already had two glasses of wine before the event; drinking any more would probably be a bad idea anyway. And I had already chatted to the people there. So I skedaddled!

I'll start this book as soon as I have finished my current one. Stay tuned for a review!

Another book: Memorial

After having read a lot of books that I had borrowed or received as a present, and re-reading Un Nos Ola Leuad, I was going to read a novel I had bought for myself for the first time in a long while. I had bought it quite a while ago, after I had read the review in the newspaper. It sounded interesting! I had never heard of the writer, but I decided to take a chance.

What attracted me in this book was that it dealt with a relationship, but seen from the separate perspectives of the two people in it. And I was interested to see their different perspectives on similar events. People can sometimes have such a different view on the same thing! I had already enjoyed that to a modest extent in Blasu, where two children of the protagonist have a completely different view on her..

So how was it? I must admit I was a bit disappointed! For two reasons. The first one was that there was less reflecting on the same things from the two people in the relationship. They do a lot of reflecting on things that concern only them and not their partner, such as family relationships. So you don't get the two contrasting perspectives.

A bigger reason was that it was all about a relationship, but I really struggled to spot any affection. I was wondering a bit if it really wasn't there, or whether how it is expressed is cultural to such an extent I just didn't recognise it. I'm convinced that at least some of it was the former. The two men involved are not very inclined to communicate with each other, they both cheat, they consider breaking up, and the words they use about their interactions are cold and carnal. That was not what I had been hoping for.

There was one additional thing: the suspension of disbelief. The story is that a young Black American has moved in with a young Japanese American. The Japanese guy's parents both moved to America as adults, and have also since moved back. Independently of each other; they are not together anymore. And then at some point the mother lets the son, Mike, know that the father has cancer and doesn't have long to live. Mike then tells his mum she should come over to stay with him, as she might want to not think about the situation. However; pretty much while she is in the air on her way to him, he decides that he wants to go and visit his dad, with whom he has lost contact. That seems implausible. Maybe I just don't know what strange contradictory urges the imminent death of a parent can bring out people, but I thought it was weird. Would you really go to Japan if your mother has just travelled halfway around the world on your invitation? But if you really feel like this is the last chance you have to reconcile with your dad, maybe you do.

In the book, anyway, Mike totally does go to Japan. Pretty much as soon as his mother arrives. And that leaves his mother staying with his boyfriend Ben. They have never met before. And Mike ends up working in the grotty-sounding diner his father runs in Osaka.

You do get a lot of interaction in the book between Mike and his mum, and Ben and Mike’s mum. That was quite interesting.

In the end, Mike decides that, after having come back to the US after his dad’s death, he has to go back to Osaka to run the diner for a while. Ben decides to stay in the US. The men seem to have decided that means breaking up, but Mike's mother thinks otherwise. You don't find out what the final decision is. I think that is an elegant ending.

In the end I am glad I read it, although I wish there had been more relationship in the book, but obviously, you only know what's in a book when you read it. And my next book is already on the go: I am going back to non-fiction. Stay tuned!

Guided walk about On Nos Olau Lleuad

I looked at the weather forecast, changed into quick-dry trousers, and set off to the starting point of the guided walk about celebrated Welsh book Un Nos Olau Leuad. We would gather rather high up in the village, and I assumed we would walk down from there. The evening would end in a pub near me. 

It was only raining mildly. I figured that I was the first one! You could either go straight to the beginning, or hitch a ride with the local electrical van, and I had chosen to walk. I figured the van would first wait for stragglers, and be a bit later. And soon another slightly bedraggled lady ended up at the same address. I approached her asking if she was there for the same purpose, and she was! And then more appeared. Two of them I recognised from an earlier guided walk; that had been archaeology and ecology in the Carneddau. We had a nice chat.

After a while we decided to check the junction nearby, and we found the van and everybody belonging with it. They hadn't bothered to look around the corner to the actual address where they had told us to meet. But now we were complete, and it could start. 

The first thing the guide, Ieuan Wyn, did was if a bit of an introduction. He reminded people of when the book was written and published, and what the circumstances were of the author. He also touched on the form of the narrative; it’s childhood memories from an adult man. Even though that is a bit weird; when you read the book, it really has a childlike perspective, where things that happen are taken as given, and not reflected on. Adults looking back tend to do that differently, but hey ho. 

He then proceeded to mention a lot of locations that were mentioned in the book, and explained what their real names were. Quite a lot of them are slightly altered, and some I thought I recognised, but wasn't sure of. Braich-> Braichmelyn, Pont Stabla -> Pont Twr (the most plausible bridge), etc. Some locations I really couldn't place, like an auntie’s house which turned out to be in Deiniolen, and the house where the protagonist lives. And that was the house where we had gathered. 

The street and house where both author and protagonist lived

Ieuan Wyn explain the various locations where the author had lived, which were all quite nearby. And took us to the house that is the location of a nasty eviction at the very start of the book. But then the rain was hammering down! It was decided that we will try to do some of the talking inside the bus. We could still see the locations from the inside. And after we had seen these locations higher up in the village, we went to the church. The protagonist is a churchgoer, not a chapel goer. I had never been in there! It had been built by Penrhyn Estate (of course) and there are several scenes that are set inside it. It was nice to see the details all matching up.

To the church 

Inside

After church we went to the little parking space next to my house, as that plays a role as well. Not as a parking lot, obviously. But although there were probably about 20 pubs in the town at the time where the novel is set, there is only mention of one (now closed), and that his back entrance where is now the parking lot. So some of the scenes were really set nearby! And the guide also spoke a bit about the two various locations where there had been holding cells; I blogged about the older ones earlier, and now I also know where the newer ones, in use at the time of the book, are. I think had actually found out before, but forgotten again. 

After that we went to the pub. I was glad! I was hoping for something hot. The communications about this event had been that a light meal would be served. Coming in we noticed it wasn't hot at all, but at least we could get a hot cup of tea or coffee with it. That helped!

I chatted a bit more with some of the other participants, but I did not stay long. And even then it was after nine when I left. And the next day was going to be a long one. But I was glad I had gone. It really lives more in your head if you know where all these scenes are set! So that was an evening well spent. And I was also glad I had managed to read almost the entire book beforehand. The guide read out scenes that related to the locations where we were, and I recognised all of them from recently having read them. Even finishing the book would not have given me more relevant locations. So both the re-reading and the walk were a success! I am now a better informed reader and Bethesda resident…

Re-reading Un Nos Olau Leuad

Before I had the faintest idea I would ever live in Bethesda I had read this book, which is by many considered to be the best book written in Welsh ever, and it’s both set in the town, and written by a man who was from there. I didn't really recognise any of the places mentioned in the book. It is cleared at a lot of places are not referred to as modern inhabitants do. Back in the early 20th century, the A5 was not known as the A5, for instance! 

Moving to Bethesda I became more curious where everything would have taken place, but I didn't really act on that curiosity. Until I saw advertised a guided walk in the area in the theme of the book. It would both involve locations that had been important in the life of the writer, and locations that feature in the book. That sounded enlightening! I signed up.

That meant that now I needed to really quickly reread the book. I wanted to have it fresh in my memory when I would join the tour!

Socrates op Sneakers

I got through another book! This one was another one I had been given by Roelof. My whole reading started pretty much with Sapiens, which he had also given me. And in between I had read Summertime, which was a book he had lent me.

This book is not a novel; this is a book about asking better questions. I don't think you are intended to read it like a novel, but I did that anyway.

The reader says it can be very useful and entertaining to ask questions beyond what one normally does. Both the type of questions and the approach to them. In the first category you would have questions such as ‘is it ever ok to lie to friends’. In the second category you could start with some normative comment someone makes, such as ‘person X is such a good parent’, and then keep asking questions in order to find out what the people in the discussion think a good parent is, and why exactly. That sort of stuff! 

I like things like this, but I’m not quite sure I’m in the right country for it. I’ve learned to keep my mouth shut. But maybe this book can help me open it again, in a way that is societally acceptable. It does go into how to not piss off the people you are asking these questions. Although it also discusses why annoyance can be the sign you’re onto something! 

I think my first opportunity to put this to practice will be a walk with the Kates that’s coming up. The Kates are not very English in their communications. And then later the Finland trip with my sister. I’ll try out my new skills!