Monkeyshines

Category: Idle Thoughts

  • Book Battle 5: Bibliomania

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    James
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    Just in time for Christmas, the return of a Monkeyshines “favourite” that precisely no-one has asked to see make a return! Yes, it’s a rather random, rather pointless, book battle, where the books (rather than the books’ characters) struggle against my tortuous metaphors and each other, and the rounds are decided using a list of…

  • Twinkle, Twinkle,…

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    James
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    I tend not to re-read books, largely because I extend my library at a faster rate than I read, so I’m slowly accumulating an ever-increasing number of unread books. But sometimes it’s nice to revisit an old favourite, either to find that while the text has remained constant, the reader has changed sufficiently to discover…

  • The War-and-Peace-O-Meter: Week Seventeen

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    James
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    Previous weeks: 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 11, 12, 13, 14, 16 And so we come to the end. I started War and Peace five months ago. Since then there have been riots on the streets of London, and the News of the World has closed due to the phone-hacking…

  • The War-and-Peace-O-Meter: Week Sixteen

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    James
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    Previous weeks: 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 11, 12, 13, 14 I had thought that I’d have finished by now, and indeed, I have read the main body of the book plus most of the epilogue. But, to be honest, the latter part of the epilogue is a bit of…

  • The War-and-Peace-O-Meter: Week Fourteen

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    James
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    Previous weeks: 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 11, 12, 13 As one nears the end of an epic piece of literature, I think there’s often a small sadness, that your time in another world, with its cast of wonderful characters, is coming to an end. Certainly, a book can be…

  • The War-and-Peace-O-Meter: Week Thirteen

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    James
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    Previous weeks: 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 11, 12 The pagination-odometer ticked round into four figures this week, which doesn’t happen often. In fact, I’m not sure I’ve ever read a book that long; I read all three Lord of the Rings books in a single tome, but I don’t…

  • The War-and-Peace-O-Meter: Week Twelve

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    James
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    Previous weeks: 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 11 Up to page 909 (of 1358) this week, roughly two-thirds through the book, and at the end of Part II of Volume III. I think this volume has already taught me more history than three years-worth of secondary school History education. (I…

  • The War-and-Peace-O-Meter: Week Eleven

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    James
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    Previous weeks: 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 Avid readers of my War-and-Peace-O-Meter will have wondered what happened to Week Ten’s instalment. Had I abandoned my mission, to concentrate on the oeuvre of Maeve Binchy? Had I dropped the book on my foot, broken every phalange and metatarsal, and spent the…

  • The War-and-Peace-O-Meter: Week Nine

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    James
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    Previous weeks: 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 We’re past the halfway mark, folks, and squarely into the book’s third volume. It starts with a rather fine, and admirably precise, review of the causes of the 1812 French invasion of Russia. Tolstoy muses on the strange way that huge incomprehensible events are…

  • The War-and-Peace-O-Meter: Week Eight

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    James
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    Previous weeks: 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 I’m glad that I’ve got a good solid hardback edition of the book; it’s taking quite a beating on my daily commute, but is bearing up well. I like to keep books looking as nice as possible, but there’s nothing sadder than a pristine book,…