Sunday, October 15, 2023

Sunday Salon



Book-ish

Two golden age mysteries on the blog: C. King Daly's Obelists at Sea, which began a series, and the second collection of stories in H. C. Bailey's Reggie Fortune series, Mr. Fortune's Practice.

I signed up for the most recent Classics Club spin. What will it be?

Xenophon's Memorabilia of Socrates in a new translation by Martin Hammond:

"The trouble is, Socrates, that your habit is to ask questions to which more often than not you already know the answer."
Ha!

Also another translation of Rostand's Cyrano de Bergerac, this one by Brian Hooker, the text used for the José Ferrer movie version.
"There's things in this world/A man does well to carry to extremes."
Currently reading Isaac Bashevis Singer's The Slave.

One More Quote

"Man is a pauper when it comes to reason, but is a millionaire of the emotions."
-Isaac Bashevis Singer

That's not actually from The Slave but from something else I was reading about Singer.

Around




This guy couldn't quite decide what to do about the pigeon at his feet; I think he's likely a juvenile, and was maybe thinking, heck, I'll just go for the suet feeder. (Just above him to the right.)

I think the pigeon was ill, though it did manage to get away later.



Sigh. There's an eclipse back there somewhere, though it was only ever going to be about 20% for us.

Hope you had a great week!

9 comments:

  1. You have found so many Golden Age mystery novels! I need to make a list. I always enjoy the details of fashion, food, cars, and relationships in them (as well as the suspense/puzzle).
    best, mae at maefood.blogspot.com

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    1. I've got a few more I've downloaded from Project Gutenberg. It's a pretty good source if they're old enough.

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  2. Cyrano is fabulous, but as I'm French, I've never read it in translation. Must be tough to do, with all the hilarious rhymes

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    1. The Anthony Burgess translation does the bulk in heroic couplets, the English equivalent of rhymed Alexandrines, so he's got opportunities to try some fun rhymes. The Hooker is well-done, but he only rhymes the pieces in a particular meter/form such as the ballade in Act I where Cyrano kills Valvert.

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  3. I love the bird photo! The eclipse wasn't too impressive for me either. My experience looked a lot like yours. :)

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    1. When the leaves start falling off the trees, the hawks think they can act in our back yard.

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  4. Love that photo of the hawk! And the eclipse was about 95% for us, and pretty cool to watch. Though I didn't really get to see that ring of fire either.

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  5. It looks like I will be reading The Big Sleep as my spin pick this time. Good luck with yours!

    The eclipse was 95% at home, but we were off in Chicago this weekend and missed it completely.

    I am always happy to hear about a new translation of a good book.

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