A Maritime sailor has to use all of his sea lore to stay one step ahead of the bad guys–and the law.
Maher draws on his background as investigative joA Maritime sailor has to use all of his sea lore to stay one step ahead of the bad guys–and the law.
Maher draws on his background as investigative journalist to build a fictional Nova Scotia that feeks gritty and noir-like, drawing just enough on the recent past for things to feel authentic but not so much that it ever feels like a bad roman-a-clef. Likewise, you can tell he has experience as a sailor because his protagonist, Scarnum, really puts the work in.
Put off reading this for a long time because of certain mixed feelings. On the one hand, Maher is a journalist whose work I've followed for years and whose judgement I generally trust. On the other hand, Chester, Nova Scotia just seems so boring. But I was wrong on the second part. He really makes the place come alive with backwoods gangsters, crooked icecream stand cops and seafood billionaires smuggling cocaine.
I'd put Salvage alongside Nick Cutter's The Troop, Linden MacIntrye's Punishment and Lynn Coady's Watching You Without Me as part of a growing trend of well-written genre fiction set in the Maritimes. ...more
Some interesting stuff in this about the development of the horse.
Did you know, for example, that horses grow bigger when raised in fenlands? It's beSome interesting stuff in this about the development of the horse.
Did you know, for example, that horses grow bigger when raised in fenlands? It's because of all the water in the grass. But they can actually outgrow their strength, so it's not a solvesall for big horses. Was hoping there'd be more on the medieval destrier, but it's the nature of the thing that we're left with a lot of conjecture. The Renaissance stuff was interesting too, how the Italians rediscovered Xenophon's On Horsemanship and how you can get more agile horses through kindness. ...more
Liked or really liked: Randy Travis, Chick-a-Chee (Halloween story), the title story, Paris (the slaughterhouse story), Edge of the World (about her mLiked or really liked: Randy Travis, Chick-a-Chee (Halloween story), the title story, Paris (the slaughterhouse story), Edge of the World (about her mother's depression)....more
A bit more speculative than Osprey's superb gladius entry, but that's the nature of the game, I guess.A bit more speculative than Osprey's superb gladius entry, but that's the nature of the game, I guess....more
Covering the so-called 'murder for lobster' case, though I guess the community hates that name.
Reminded me a lot of the Icelandic Sagas. Think about iCovering the so-called 'murder for lobster' case, though I guess the community hates that name.
Reminded me a lot of the Icelandic Sagas. Think about it: tiny farming/fishing community out on the Atlantic, seemingly cut off from civilization, trying to come up with a solution for those who transgress societal norms. Actually I kept thinking about this line from one of the sagas: "Thorbjorn said that no one had ever spoken so moderately and reasonably with him that he thought that, if more people had spoken to him about matters that seemed out of order, he would have committed fewer impulsive killings."
Call it Egil's Saga for the Maritimes, lol. ...more
This was really good. Short enough I would've finished it if I hadn't been interrupted. Been meaning to check out Wiebe's novels for a while now and fThis was really good. Short enough I would've finished it if I hadn't been interrupted. Been meaning to check out Wiebe's novels for a while now and finally will. Really liked the layers the ending was working on, playing with gritty authenticity and the watering-down and gentrification/generification....more
Simenon rules. Tells a story simultaneously from the timeline leading up to and the timeline after the committing of a crime, with the nature of the cSimenon rules. Tells a story simultaneously from the timeline leading up to and the timeline after the committing of a crime, with the nature of the crime (rather than the identity of the killer) being the mystery, only revealed at the end. It works because Simenon is a master of psychology....more
Maigret is so good he's catching criminals in his time off, or rather, refuses to. Maigret is so good he's catching criminals in his time off, or rather, refuses to. ...more
Covid-19 as the Five Point Palm Exploding Heart Technique of the global capitalist system. Good book to read out loud and annoy friends and family witCovid-19 as the Five Point Palm Exploding Heart Technique of the global capitalist system. Good book to read out loud and annoy friends and family with your Zizek impression. It's not like anyone can read anything he writes without doing the voice.
Found this bit helpful:
What can we do to survive the mental pressure of living in a time of pandemic? My first rule here is: this is not the time to search for some spiritual authenticity, to confront the ultimate abyss of our being. To use an expression by the late Jacques Lacan, try to identify with your symptom, without any shame, which means (I am simplifying a bit here), fully assume all small rituals, formulas, quirks, and so on, that will help stabilize your daily life. Everything that might work is permitted here if it helps to avoid a mental breakdown, even forms of fetishist denial: “I know very well … (how serious the situation is), but nonetheless … (I don’t really believe it).” Don’t think too much in the long term, just focus on today, what you will be doing till sleep. You might consider playing the game that features in the movie Life is Beautiful: pretend the lockdown is just a game that you and your family join freely and with the prospect of a big reward if you win. And, on the subject of movies and TV, gladly succumb to all your guilty pleasures: catastrophic dystopias, comedy series with canned laughter like Will and Grace, YouTube documentaries on the great battles of the past. My preference is for dark Scandinavian—preferably Icelandic—crime series like Trapped or Valhalla Murders.
However, just surrendering to the screen won’t fully save you. The main task is to structure your daily life in a stable and meaningful way. Here is how another of my friends, Andreas Rosenfelder, a German journalist for Die Welt, described the new stance towards daily life that is emerging:
I really can feel something heroic about this new ethics, also in journalism—everybody works day and night from their home office, participating in video conferences and taking care of children or schooling them at the same time, but nobody asks why he or she is doing it, because it’s not any more a question of so “I get money and can go to vacation etc.,” since nobody knows if there will be vacations again and if there will be money. It’s the idea of a world where you have an apartment, basics like food and water, the love of others and a task that really matters, now more than ever. The idea that one needs “more” seems unreal now.
I cannot imagine a better description of what one should shamelessly call a non-alienated, decent life, and I hope that something of this attitude will survive when the pandemic passes. ...more
Catiline's Conspiracy was okay but it was The Jugurthine War that was most interesting, it's a classical war campaign narrative. There's war elephantsCatiline's Conspiracy was okay but it was The Jugurthine War that was most interesting, it's a classical war campaign narrative. There's war elephants and night battles and treks through the desert to remote towns. Interesting to read about ancient North Africa too, which you never hear about, aside from Carthage. That said, the book was a bit of a slog at times. Those sentences go on forever with clause after clause inserted....more
Season 6 of The Wire might just be the best yet. Honestly, the story of the Baltimore Gun Trace Task Force is pretty wild. Also nice to see defence laSeason 6 of The Wire might just be the best yet. Honestly, the story of the Baltimore Gun Trace Task Force is pretty wild. Also nice to see defence lawyers getting credit as the real heroes for once....more
Really cool. A cowboy long past his prime is barely scraping by, turning his past into pulp fiction. A former Pinkerton agent tracks him down and talkReally cool. A cowboy long past his prime is barely scraping by, turning his past into pulp fiction. A former Pinkerton agent tracks him down and talks him into robbing American Nazis when they put on their rally in Madison Square Garden. One of the few pieces of contemporary art that manages to feel timely. Wish there was more of this....more
Brooks' voice is palpable in this, you can't help but hear it in your head as you read. It all comes off as more of a tRIP to the only good youtuber.
Brooks' voice is palpable in this, you can't help but hear it in your head as you read. It all comes off as more of a transcript of an unaired TMBS episode than a book proper, though I don't necessarily see that as a bad thing.
It is a genuine tragedy though that his time was cut short and that we will have to settle for this as his only book....more
Oh this ruled. Starts off with a brute force Arizona bank robbery like something out of Hell or High Water and doesn't let up as the story rolls east Oh this ruled. Starts off with a brute force Arizona bank robbery like something out of Hell or High Water and doesn't let up as the story rolls east to the swamps of Florida. Longer review here. Recommended....more
Really interesting chapters on the Saracens from the chansons de geste. He breaks them down into three types: the Foreign Saracen, wholly alien from aReally interesting chapters on the Saracens from the chansons de geste. He breaks them down into three types: the Foreign Saracen, wholly alien from a Western European audience in appearance and/or behavior; the Familiar Saracen, in whom an audience could find familiar traits (i.e., honor, loyalty, nobility); and the Saracen Convert, who converts to Christianity in the course of the tale and becomes an ally.
Also great chapters on the Arab geographers and comparisons of east/west travel narratives.
(view spoiler)[From the intro: In a manner of speaking, this book does not approach the Other as a corollary of subjugation, but as a reflexive response in the formation of group identity, as an articulation of Self in encounters with difference. This book attempts to understand the competing impulses (to understand a part of the world and its peoples and to dismiss it as alien, inferior) at work in the medieval West and Mediterranean/Near East. In this context, the Other is not primarily a signifier of power (although power is undeniably, inextri- cably linked with the idea of the Other, particularly as it renders subjugated groups as “Other,” a phenomenon witnessed in medieval Western Europe and the Muslim Mediterranean and Near East); rather, it is a signifier of dif- ference and perceived difference. It is within this framework that the idea of the Other is evoked in the pages of this book. The Other as a concept has become indelibly linked to discourses of domi- nance and oppression, of asymmetrical relationships of power. In particular, it has a strong association with the “East–West” or “Islam–West” dialectic.13 In this context, the influence of the colonial legacy is undeniable; past and present events are inevitably interpreted through the prism of the last three centuries. However, the Other as a concept is not bound to the power to dominate. Asymmetries of power enable one group to impose its worldview upon another group, to “Other” it, but the concept itself is enabled by the power of an individual or group to formulate a perspective of the world in which their characteristics, customs, and beliefs are normative. Gayatri Spivak once famously wondered if the subaltern could speak. However, one might also be justified in querying whether the oppressor can hear. Our concept of who is the Other is often colored by our perception of who occu- pies the dominant position; as the late Chinua Achebe reminds us in Things Fall Apart, the colonizer is also the Other to the colonized; they only differ inasmuch as the colonizer is able to project his perspective through the appli- cation of military, political, and economic force. The question of the Other, of “who is Othering whom,” is often fraught with the baggage of historical systemic oppression, and discussions have a tendency to devolve into exercises in censuring or exonerating individuals or groups. Understanding the historical consequences of the utilization of this concept as justification for conquest and exploitation is vitally important; however, it is also important to understand the concept itself, to recognize it as a frame of reference common to all, a corollary to the concept of the Self. This book endeavors to do just that, to examine the ways in which the Other was employed by two cultural and religious regional entities as a means by which to comprehend a neighbor in the world beyond their borders, and the tension between the desire to render a foreign entity the Other and the need to understand it. To this end, this book’s focus is on the medieval worlds of the Muslim Mediterranean and Near East and Christian Western Europe, and how they perceived and portrayed one another through several genres of literature, ranging from the scientific to the wildly imaginative. We will examine the origins of the Other in the medieval East–West dialectic; and then we will examine the origins of its Other. (hide spoiler)]...more
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