Category: General

Not a lot to explain here – the Around the NFL podcast dissolved and was replaced by Heed the Call, but the Browns were so awful, and the whole Deshawn Watson caper so detestable, that I barely paid any attention to the season. I spent a lot of jigsaw time doing a “from the start” catchup of the Fallout podcast, but tailed off on it the last few months. The Dery Brothers one is always terrific, and conversely, I unsubbed from the mostly unfunny TrashFuture, however it also seems to have deleted the stats from it from 2024. Phone Hacks wins again, though it gets too puerile at times and I skipped a few episodes after hearing the guests.

Penguin “vintage” paperbacks have come to my attention, and now I’m coveting anything with a vaguely fun cover so long as it’s 40-50 years old. They are probably worth bugger all, but that artwork! In this vein, the ambiguous Because of Cats (1963) by American Nicolas Freeling was a slam dunk, due to it also being set in the Low Countries and featuring protagonist Van der Valk, which Kim, in typical style casually mentioned was the TV series we watched last year. How did I not twig to that? A out-of-favour youth is drowned in a mishap by a cult-like group of young men (ravens) and women (cats), groomed by a Svengali figure who mostly wanted sexual favours. I’d love to read the other two in this series oneday. 4 stars.

After 30 years, I wanted to see how Bukowski held up – the answer was that I probably should have chosen a better one of his to test things, as Women (1978) was a bit of a repetitive slog in the back half, going way too long. Of course, it’s all fascinating in a voyeuristic way and it was completely compelling, but part of me hated myself for forging on to yet another chapter where Henry would attempt to get into the pants of another fangirl, only to mostly be too drunk to finish the job. I’m going to try another, because it was still fun and he’s done a lot better. 3 stars.

I knew the synopsis (roughly) – I figured I would like it because I’ve read (and loved) Milkman and The Road and other bleak, worsening material, but I was nervous because of Beyond the Sea, and I was right to be. I didn’t really enjoy this one either – I seem to be in the minority. I heard him on a podcast, and I don’t even like the way he talks – I just don’t think I understand him as a person. Paul Lynch wrote Prophet Song and it won the Booker in 2024 and I still much prefered The Bee Sting by a long way. He has a way of adding the metaphysical to things that don’t need it – from memory I felt the same way about The Luminaries too. I just start drifting off when I read “the noise blooms into sleep, upward and adrift through the two worlds” or “The sudden vertigo of time and yet when she opens her eyes, the mirror continues to speak its truth that there is only this moment now”. Bah. It was still reasonably compelling, but I couldn’t wait for it to finish. 3 stars.

In addition to looking slightly unhinged, I can confirm that Shirley Jackson, born in 1916, had quite an original mind. After this short, dark novel We Have Always Lived in the Castle (1962), I’d gladly read another of hers, although I don’t think I’ve read a more bleak book in my life! Two sisters, ostracised by their village after a poisoning event, retreat into a world of makebelieve and ritual. There are no Hollywood endings here. 4.5 stars.

Madame Bovary by Flaubert (1856) had been on my list for awhile, and although I knew it was about a woman lacking excitement and wanting more, I was unprepared for how sympathetic I would be for her somewhat saintly husband Charles, who I’d assumed would have bad habits or be a womaniser. It’s been a few months since I finished it, and I have completely lost the mood and tone of this book to be honest, so it’s a shame to summarise like this, but I remember being enthralled. 4.5 stars.

How good is Muriel Spark, and has she ever written anything pedestrian? The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie (1961) was an exquisite treat. An independant schoolteacher takes various class pets under her wing and flatters them, treats them as adults and grooms them to defend her lifestyle. Suspicious peers meanwhile try and find the chink that will have her turfed out of her job. Completely charming and witty, I’ll read it again oneday for sure. 5 stars.

I just didn’t have the tolerance for The Infinities (2009) by John Banville, after maybe misjudging the synopsis, and giving him the benefit of the doubt, but by page 90 it was all over. Shortly after the “mischievious Greek God(s)” started their narration, I started to find it irksome, and when I realised how often they would intervene, and the bawdy manner of it all (not normally a problem for me), it just became untenable. Lots of nice reviews but they weren’t enough for me. 2 stars.

Another short vintage Penguin with a fun cover and crazy title – a wild ass of a man (1967) by Barry Oakley was worth trying out. I had reservations because he was Australian, but nope, the writing was good, the references to Melbourne rang true (for the era) and it was easy to cheer for the theologian / artist / salesman / conman / imposter that was Muldoon. Jeremy (partner of Jean at the Op Shop) knew of the author and recommended another title – that was quite a surprise. 3.5 stars.

A recent podcast Secret Life of Books offhandedly recommended Boswell’s London Journal (1762-1763) as something very readable and compelling, and I remembered that I’d bought a nice 1951 hardback of it about 8 years ago and figured now or never. So I began.. The context is everything and so I read all the intro stuff first (luckily no spoilers). To be honest I knew very little about “famous” Samuel Johnson before, and don’t know all that much afterwards except that he spent many years authoring a famous Dictionary and that he had a prodigious and most noteworthy mind! I kept having to remind myself it was the daily diary of a 21 year old determined to thwart his dad’s plans for him to follow in his lawyerly footsteps. The son James Boswell of course wanted the flash and sexy prestige of joining the London based guards – zero risk to his life and plenty of social life. A huge amount of it was him meeting X for breakfast, walking and talking for awhile and then onto lunch and dinner with a different crew, keeping regularly in touch with possible patrons who could sway his entry as an army officer without the requisite payments. It sorta got tedious in a way. His description of taking regular street women for sex provided a nice contrast but he was a bit of a twat really. I should read something decent about Johnson I suppose as he was the major figure here. 4 stars.

The ToyTown Facebook page alerted me to a new Distant Violins edition (#29) 30 odd years since the last. Why not I said, and happily threw down $20 to see what David Nichols had been up to. He’s madly into the Finland indie band scene, some recent updates to some older bands and the naive cartoons he’s been doing forever. I don’t find them particularly funny or clever tbh but whatever, let the man be creative. I read it in a couple of sittings and I’m glad he did it. How do I rate this haha?

Yet another Penguin (vintage) and yet another enjoyable experience. I even learnt a new word “char” meaning domestic help. What a charming (if unbelievable) story was Flowers for Mrs. Harris by Paul Gallico, who I’d only heard of previously for his book The Snow Goose, which I’d never read. A skint London working woman Mrs Harris gets besotted by the luxury feel of a Dior dress and resolves to own one by travelling to the Paris showroom herself. She manages to save the money and then through a series of empathetic exchanges, manages to charm everyone with her commonsense and makes unlikely folk fall in love or resolve their life issues. Utterly lovely and with an ending of acceptance. 4 stars.

Kim gently chided me for reading a Young Adult book here, and I’m not 100% sure she was incorrect. Sci Fi is tricky like that, but I was pretty satisfied with Jeff Van der Meer‘s last book and the idea of reading my first trilogy in probably more than 30 years (ok let’s ignore Wolf Hall for now, that’s a very different beast) was hugely appealing, as was the cover artwork. Annihilation was intriguing and quite a page turner. A huge forcefielded piece of land along the U.S coast seemingly seduces or proves the undoing to anyone crossing into it. Many missions of people are sent into explain what is happening in the mysterious Tower and Lighthouse but those that aren’t killed come out somewhat vague and lobotomized. I’m pretty sold on the concept so far, however I got worried when the narrative started to focus on the organic words growing down the wall of the tower and what they might mean. A bit dull. I’m hoping the next two books are as intriguing. 4 stars.

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The biggest surprise to me is the amount of baseball stuff I listed to, since I definitely started souring on the topic after my disastrous foray into collecting cards via the swindling, yet polite John Heckert of Swanton, Ohio. The long story cut short was he stole $1000 dollars of cards from me by refusing to mail them to my U.S postbox address.

Amazingly, the Phone Hacks podcast has continued to be fantastic, and I’m so happy that my friend Michael continues to listen with me year after year to these deviants!

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An up and comer I’m really enjoying lately is the NZ duo of Guy Montgomery and Tim ? In The Worst Idea of All Time, so watch for them to rise in the ranks in 2022…

I can hardly think of any major changes I made in my life through the strange year and a bit that is/was March 2020 till now. I’d already stopped running because of my heel (turned out there was nothing they could do for me – even surgery was unlikely to fix it), but I guess I’d begun riding into work in the summer of 2019/20 – maybe 3 days a week? That certainly stopped.

The one thing that ramped up (in opposition to the drop in clothes buying and work trips to NZ) was my buying of baseball cards and jigsaws. I probably spent 3k on those over the year and suspect that the obsessional eBay and Facebook Marketplace searching I did up to 10 times a day were a reaction to the boredom felt and general powerlessness. At least it wasn’t alcohol or promiscuity! Those buying urges have eased off and been replaced by a new one of course. The great caravan hunt ensued, starting in September 2020 and culminated in a somewhat worn Bailey Unicorn making its way from Leeds to Wollongong via a 2.4m wide shipping container. The old van sold and was towed out the door in about 5 hours in early December, giving us a driveway back after 7 years (felt wonderful too). Amidst all these changes, I also developed an interest in Bespoke Cupboard Designs, which added a touch of personalization and creativity to my home. For those looking to transform their home with a fresh coat of paint, click here for painting services that guarantee a professional and flawless finish.

We did a recent trip to Maryborough and found the van to be beautifully insulated and warm ( Kim’s primary concern) but it wasn’t the smoothest tow and had us searching Carsales in a panic for a 3-ton- capable car before sanity prevailed and we’re now checking a few suspension options and loading ideas. There’s always something to make you worry I think.

Fergus has been yelping a little in the night, having trouble settling and it’s like a baby crying even though he’s not seriously distressed. The tablets don’t seem to work at all, so we’re resigned to lack of sleep as his decline deepens. He got disorientated the other night and weed in the bedroom which is extremely rare, and I think we both looked at each other and gulped. I don’t particularly want to take him to Woolgoolga this year as he is right near the end and the slightest touch will topple him and the inevitable weeing and restlessness doesn’t make for a fun holiday really. Let’s see how we go I suppose.