Juliette

Something we don't talk about enough in housing is what will happen when a generation of renters start to retire. The private rented sector is not set up for old age:

www.standard.co.uk/homesandprop...

Just so deeply unpleasant waking up in a country where such a nasty, fascist policy proposal is making front-page news. Lots of pandering to the 'island of strangers' crowd in the UK, far less sympathy for the basically liberal majority feeling increasingly alienated from mainstream politics/media

The Finishing School by Muriel Spark. Not my favourite of hers, perhaps because the social world - a finishing school in Switzerland - felt less developed and real than in others of her novels, but still good fun

Reasons to Be Cheerful by Nina Stibbe. Solidly funny and charming, though it did seem to lack emotional heft or even just plot direction for a while. Admittedly this was made up for by the ending, but with the result that the protagonist's central coming-of-age experience felt a little forced in

Bel-Ami by Guy de Maupassant. Enjoyed this mostly for its description of late 1800s Paris and especially its newspaper industry, but the plot was definitely compelling. The female characters felt a bit flimsy or unfinished, albeit their ambition and drive (professional or personal) is fully detailed

La Vie devant soi by Romain Gary. A lovely book, which treats its marginalised characters with such kindness, even while finding the humour in their difficult, sometimes traumatic experiences. Has a lot to say about dignity in old age in particular and even the contemporary assisted dying debate

Also the Catholic message seemed to be more explicit here - usually it's there but quite diffuse. Made me appreciate more how the 'cruelty' of Spark's omniscient narrators, somewhat gleefully exposing the characters' flaws/foibles, can be read as a sort of divine percipience or even judgment [2/2]

Memento Mori by Muriel Spark. Another Spark and I enjoyed this as much as I have almost all of her writing. Laugh-out-loud funny at points and it felt a bit chunkier and more coherent, thematically, than others of her novels. [1/2]

but interesting to see ideas about psychological suffering already circulating in 1945 (though it is perhaps naïve to assume they weren't) [2/2]

Saplings by Noel Streatfeild. Adult fiction but still ultimately concerned with children's lives and in particular the effects of war on their wellbeing. Not as good as the novels specifically written for children, the depth you expect in mature writing seemed to be lacking, [1/2]

also the number of people in my friend's rural Italian village who have recognised me from my last visit is really challenging my pet theory that I've had a glow-up in recent years

Accidentally bought a black 'kimono' / cover-up thing that closely resembles an Oxbridge gown, giving me a donnish aspect even as I lie in a bikini on a beach in central Italy

Under the canal Saint Martin: large hole in underground roof covered by metal netting, plants visible and poking through, blue and cloudy sky

Troglodytes in the Loire: hole in cave roof, white light coming through

Catacombs: hole in roof of quarry, white and blue light just visible coming through

Subterranean summer 👁️

But I ended up quite liking it, partly because it's one of the few novels I've read that actually try to represent what modern, digitised life feels like. Excessively cynical, in a way that probably reflects badly on the author, but ultimately it's satire [2/2]

Text beginning 'They were born in the early 80s. They went to an elite university but not to Oxbridge...'. Think it's from an article (/series of tweets?) by Hannah Proctor

Le perfezioni by Vincenzo Latronico. A novel written in the style of this (now) meme [1/2]

so much so that you don't come away with a firm grasp on either Christopher Marlowe or the other characters [2/2]

A Dead Man in Deptford by Anthony Burgess. Can't say I enjoyed this because it's very bloody and I have an easy-to-turn stomach. It did convey though a strong sense of the difficulty of negotiating between private belief and public expression in Elizabethan England, [1/2]

Intérieur nuit by Nicolas Demorand. Instructive and poignant account of life with bipolar disorder, incl. the limits of its treatment. Very well written: a great example of the essayistic style of writing that the French seem to do so much better than the British (or at least more often?)

Benevolenza cosmica by Fabio Bacà. Interesting concept (protagonist who only experiences good luck) but overall I thought this just needed more editing. The characters in particular felt a bit under-developed, often seeming to resemble one another (notably possessed of the same blokish humour)

The Gaza discourse has been Vylanised – but that diversionary strategy just doesn’t work any more | Archie Bland Those appalled by Israel’s actions in Gaza, and the kind of media frenzy prompted by Bob Vylan’s Glastonbury appearance, are finding their voice, says Archie Bland, editor of the Guardian’s First Edit...

I wrote about the Vylanising of the Gaza discourse, and what happens if you keep telling people things they can see aren’t true. www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

Yet another scan for which, for inscrutable, French reasons, jeunes filles and other women are obliged to go completely topless in front of male medical professionals, without even a hospital gown or similar for decency. Un pays sans aucune pudeur !

Visa income rules discriminate against working-class people, British father says Leighton Allen, who cannot bring his family to the UK, says it feels as if he is being punished for not earning enough

And of course he is entirely correct. Labour, the party that punishes working-class people if they fall in love with foreigners.

Sometimes I feel like life is running away with me but today the radiologist described me as 'une jeune fille de 28 ans' in his report 🫶🏼

Justine by Lawrence Durrell. Actually started this in the summer of 2024 (in the more Alexandrian setting of Marseille). Beautiful language but found it hard to sustain attention or interest, over 300 pages, for a narrative written in quite so lyrical or analytical a key

Lord Arthur Savile's Crime by Oscar Wilde. Clever and well crafted short story, comedy of manners-cum-gothic thriller. Felt that the absurd premise could have been taken somewhere darker or edgier but that's ultimately a matter of taste

True Grit by Charles Portis. As good as I'd heard: a lot sharper and funnier than you'd expect a western to be, with some powerful images of human connection and weakness. (Bandit Tom Chaney repeatedly declaring 'Nothing has gone right for me' an effective counter to any self-pitying tendencies)

The Beginning of Spring by Penelope Fitzgerald. Fitzgerald at her best (my favourite after Innocence, I think): funny, tender, and rendering ordinary, even 'failed' lives in all their intellectual and emotional dignity. Also just enjoyable as a fictional account of pre-Revolution Russia

Israel is accused of the gravest war crimes in Gaza Distinguished lawyers, senior humanitarians and diplomats tell Jeremy Bowen why they are increasingly concerned about the catastrophe inside Gaza

Jeremy Bowen's long, measured, objective, but ultimately entirely clear and conclusive essay on Israeli war crimes. As Jonathan Sumption puts it:

"These things make genocide the most plausible explanation for what is now happening."

www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Thought the protagonist's character and circumstances were well drawn but that the other female characters - her mother, her maid etc. - could have been better explored; too often they felt like foils. [2/2]

The Marriage Portrait by Maggie O'Farrell. Liked this a lot more than I did Hamnet, which I was not a fan of. I still find O'Farrell's writing a bit overly imagistic and, as a consequence, rather slow, but the plot was compelling once you're past the first 100 pages. [1/2]