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Declan wrote: "Wow! I've got to say, that teacher has me pretty gob-smacked. It sounds like a bad comedy sketch.

I was discussing in another thread the use of the Jackeen. It wasva formally derogatory expression..."

That's interesting. If I had heard the word without any context, it sounds almost like a term of endearment. I guess not :)

Someone could probably write an article on the different connotations of the word "yankee." Someone probably has. In New England, it's a positive term if used to describe someone who has deep roots in New England. And it has positive connotations of being thrifty, inventive ("yankee ingenuity"), being resilient or being a scrapper. That is totally different, though, than the "New York Yankees" because of the two teams' rivalry. And it would be different, yet again, in the North/South context.

Allan wrote: "I've just finished reading 'The Emperor of Ice Cream' by Brian Moore, a novel published in the sixties about life in wartime Belfast. Glenn Patterson rates it as his favourite Belfast novel.

Whil..."

I have that book on my shelf, and your comments have made me really look forward to reading it, Allan.

Living south of the Mason-Dixon line* I often call myself a Yankee before anyone else gets a chance. I have a good friend here locally who like me is from New England and we constantly refer to our "Yankeeness" which is especially obvious when it comes to being thrifty. It helps me to realize it's not so much a personal characteristic, but something I was surrounded with growing up. For example, we "hate" to throw anything away even small amounts of yarn, string etc. I hesitate to bring up the stereotype of Scottish thriftiness but the first time I traveled in Scotland years ago I went to an Ironmonger to buy some string. The proprietor asked "Why would you buy string?" and opened a drawer with bits of string rolled up into neat little balls, and gave me a couple.

I edited above because part of the story was lost!

*

Barbara wrote: "Living south of the Mason-Dixon line* I often call myself a Yankee before anyone else gets a chance. I have a good friend here locally who like me is from New England and we constantly refer to our..."

That's a great story, Barbara. Every time I hear the phrase "Mason-Dixon line" now it reminds me of a favorite song, "Sailing to Philadelphia," sung by Mark Knopfler and James Taylor.

Although my husband was an AF brat, he lived in Louisiana with his grandma as his dad did 2 tours in Vietnam. We then moved there for four months (over my strenuous objections) and the Civil War is not over. According to them the war was about state rights not slavery as portrayed by the Yankee media. There are confederate flags everywhere and I mean everywhere. The worst thing in the world is to be a Yankee. Luckily, as a Calif., I am not a Yankee. We were too busy and too far to fight in the War. Whew! Of course, if Lincoln had lived things might have been different. The South was really abused after the War but I don't understand still dealing with it 150 years later.

Declan wrote: "From this side of the pond it's easy to forget how different one State can be from another.

I can't believe you were actually called Yankee. Was it intended playfully?"

They are so different, Declan. Remember we're three thousand miles across and can you imagine anything more different than Alaska and Hawaii?

Susan wrote: "They are so different, Declan. Remember we're three thousand miles across and can you imagine anything more different than Alaska and Hawaii?"

That's true, but because those states aren't physically connected to the rest of the US it's easier to assign them their own identity. I've been to GA and TN, and they were similar enough, but I've also been to CA and FL and the were very different. FL was noticeably different from TN and GA, too, even though they're quite close. Even while in CA, San Francisco was very different to the country side. You could feel the politics changing as you drove outwards.

There's a kind of elegance to that.

Allan wrote: "I felt a strange sense of symmetry when reading the second chapter of the book Mae recommended a few weeks ago in another thread, the novel 'Return to Killybegs'.

The chapter is set on the same n..."

So now I have to move the Emperor of Ice Cream closer to the top of my list!

I'm about to finish a lovely book called "The World Unseen by Shamim Sharif," which is this month's selections for the "Lez Reads" group I'm in it. It takes place in South Africa in the early 1950s and explores the effect of apartheid on the country's Indian community and theme of forbidden love. The main form of "forbidden love" in the novel is that of two women, but I'm particularly enjoying how that theme is also looked at through the prism of a couple inter-racial couples and through the prism of adultery.

@LMM. I'm so glad you like it. It's one of my all-time faves. There are a few characters in that who have stayed with me since I finished it.

@Sara. That sounds like kind of tough read. From the background you've given us, I'm imagining that there are more than a couple of heart-stopping scenes.

The main ones would be Doc, Mack and Hazel. And you'd need a heart of stone not to love the rest of the flop-house boys, too.

I couldn't really say. I liked then quite early on, but I definitely liked them more by the end.

Declan - I thought it was you posted you'd just finished a Steinbeck book a couple of days ago and it was brilliant. But I think I got my wires crossed. It wasn't Cannery Row. Maybe I made it up!

Im losing my messages here - was looking for the title of the Steinbeck book Declan just read and found it - Sweet Thursday.

Yes, it was Sweet Thursday. I love that book just as much ad Cannery Row. I smile just thinking about those books. :)

I tried to get a copy of Sweet Thursday from Paperback Swap but I don't accept books with underlining so I said no. The request has gone to another person with the book so I think I'll be getting it. I just requested Cannery Row. PBS doesn't allow people to post books with writing, highlighting or underlining except for textbooks. Because many novels are required texts for courses, there seems to be a loophole. I rarely write in books and anyway it's hard to read a book with someone else's underlining as it often is not what you would have underlined. Oh well, a bit of a tangent on the topic of reading Steinbeck.

@LMM. I'm so glad you enjoyed it. I know it's a little childish, but when you've enjoyed something so much you can't help but take other people's thoughts on them to heart. I hope you enjoy Sweet Thursday just as much. :)

@Barbara. I hope you get hold of a copy soon. I'd love to know what you think now that the Å·±¦ÓéÀÖ Ireland Steinbeck fan club is going from strength to strength.

I'm trying to broaden my range, both because I don't want to be a stagnant guy afraid to learn something new, and also because I still believe I'll stumble into a quiz team someday and will be able to utilize the knowledge.
With this in mind I've just finished: A Brief History of Time by Steven Hawking. Been meaning to read it for a while now actually, because I really like astronomical physics and the way the world works and while the book was pretty far over my head, I did get the gist of some of what he was trying to say. The lab coat is a little ways away for me yet at any rate haha ;)

Right now I'm trying to read some Nietzsche. I did a bit of Philosophy in college and was alright at it but it all fell apart as I got bored. So far still bored but still trying. Back to fiction after it probably. Hard to find books of interest.

I'd looked into Nietzsche after I'd read Crime and Punishment, because there seemed to be a lot of the concepts seemed to be based around Nuetzsche's Man and Superman.

I found out in the group that Dostoyevsky was there first.

See, I take the heavier books at a snail's pace if I'm not grasping them immediately. I have a fiction book called Gravity's Rainbow (which is supposed to be amazing) as an example. I was reading along, couldn't fathom what was going on at all at all. That was five months or so ago and I'm still reading it, just a chapter a week sorta thing when I've tonnes of time. Really helps.

I'm super pretentious with my English according to some, so usually the wordy element of it all just falls to the side for me. Just not in these damned cases. Blasted Hawking, he's a bloody black hole of information...grrrrrrr to myself for not being smart as him :P

I'll look into The abyss! I honestly know nothing about Nietzsche beyond what I'm reading now so bring it on, couldn't hurt like. (Y) :)

@Declan I heard if you get stuck into Russian Lit. everything's in there somewhere. All sorts of theories and ideologies. Once you go Russian, you'll never look back. Even if it is depressing as hell to read. Any truth to that?

I'd recommend C&P to both of you. People hear that it's Russian and then see the size of it, and it puts them off. Don't let that put you off. It's quite accessible and very engaging.

@Declan I'll see if I can pick up a second hand version in town tomorrow, they'll probably only have abridged editions though which are crap and I want no part of.

@Littlemiss Ah, but with an e-book I wouldn't get that rush when I turn pages and note I'm halfway through the book...the even weight in both hands, the bend in the binding that says..."you're doing well Niall...I'm your book, I love you". Book whispering, it's the latest craze with the teens these days...you know, after STD's and alcohol :P

Wow - all this heavy reading is more than I aspire to right now. I will try to read some Steinbeck before year's end. There are certain books like Gravity's Rainbow, A Confederacy of Dunces, Infinite Jest and others that some rave about. Perhaps they are writers' writers.
I just glimpsed at the Wikipedia article on Nietzche, and interestingly his work is now being reinterpreted as apparently his sister reworked some of his unpublished works to fit her husband's antisemitic views. I am sure there is a debate going on about this, and probably not everyone who sees Nietzche as anti-semitic will be convinced. Of course, in my university students aren't supposed to use Wikipedia as a source, and I just did.

Niall, I knew there was a reason you fitted in so well around here.

Barbara. Never use wiki as a source, just use the sources wiki lists at the bottom. It's a cheat AND it's more reliable since it's probably more accurate (depending on authorship).

Barbara, do you have a link to a article about that?

I fit in? Some old school associates are going to get a very impromptu news letter tomorrow quoting you there Declan haha ;)

I can stamp a watermarked letter for you, Niall.

Very profesh! You're obviously a much quoted man, and I respect that.

I get respect? I think I might need a letter to show a few people.

I've only ever met one Niall, and I didn't like him... So I'm guessing no.

Ah Declan, you met dud-Niall. He's minus craic. We're trying to oust him from the club but you know how it is with these things...all cliques and politics. The Niall's are a fractured system of power. :P

In all honesty we don't know each other but Dec's a solid guy (who won't mind if I call him Dec hopefully haha) and it all falls into place.

Niall wrote: "Barbara. Never use wiki as a source, just use the sources wiki lists at the bottom. It's a cheat AND it's more reliable since it's probably more accurate (depending on authorship)."

Niall - great tip!

If I come across dud Niall again, I'll tell him he needs to sling his hook.

And Dec is fine, btw. It's Deco that gets under my skin. And thanks to The Commitments it's now international.

He's fountain of useful information, Barbara.

Ah sure people are always slating Wiki for its reliability like that. Especially colleges and it grinds me because it's like any catalog of sources. Bit of sweet, bit of sour.

Declan wrote: "Barbara, do you have a link to a article about that?"

If you mean Nietzche, here's the wikipedia a href=" link text
Following Niall's suggestion to look at the actual sources this is a reference that refutes the notion that Nietzche's philosophy was the predecessor of Nazism. Although I took a philosophy course at university, it didn't stick so I am embarrassingly ignorant of philosophy.
Keith Ansell-Pearson, An Introduction to Nietzsche as Political Thinker: The Perfect Nihilist, Cambridge University Press, 1994, pp 33-34.

Thanks for that, Barbara. I'll have a read of that tomorrow.

Littlemissmuffet wrote: "Yeah I'd seen 'Crime and Punishment' was yer monthly read a while ago, so I added it to my 'to-be-read' shelf. I've never read any Russian works like that, so am looking forward to it."

It's one of Declan's favorite books. I was nervous to read it but it was quite good. Of course, Declan was there to walk us through so be sure to ask him questions.
I am so pleased you are reading "A Thousand Splendid Suns." I love Hosseini's work and am so glad to be a woman in western Civilization. Let me know what you think when you're done.

@Susan. I seem to remember thar you had no problem finding your feet with C&P. Now who's being self effacing?

@LMM. You seem to be expecting disagreement. I know we had more then one opposing view in the past, but it's bound to end sometime... I think. :)

@LMM. Yeah, we did, actually. That proves what I was saying about people agreeing about books; if everyone agrees, the discussion peters out quickly and it's less memorable.

@Allan. It's there on our bookshelf under monthly reads. I think you'll enjoy it. I'd imagine that some talented and well-known actor is reading the audio book?

Steinbeck's life was quite interesting too. His love-life was turbulent, to say the least.

@Allan. I'm curious as to who it might be.

I didn't know about that letter. I'm a little surprised by that having read a thing or two about his relationships.

92 audio books including a lot of Tolstoy and Dostoyevsky? He sounds like an audio book big-hitter.

Thanks for coming back with his name, Allan.

That he suddenly left his first wife, who was a caring and considerate woman by all accounts, for a much younger actress/singer, and they were quite malicious toward one another. The details are a little muddled in my head, right now, but I'll try to find the article later, for you.

That I don't know, but I certainly that Steinbeck was a little messed-up in the love department, to put it mildly.

You might be right, but that's pretty messed-up, in my opinion.

(The blind pursuit, that is. Not his idealism.)

I love the sentiments behind those... But I'm too much of cynic to take them at face value.