It has been a quiet week here (for a change). Our Play Reading class is about to start a new play next week. Good Reads describes it as:
“Ring Round the Moon by. Jean Anouilh, Christopher Fry(translator). NYTs Brooks Atkinson called it a work “of many moods… wistfully romantic, satirical, fantastic…” To make his points about love, Anouilh invented a story about twin brothers — Frederic, shy and sensitive, and Hugo, heartless and aggressive. To save Frederic from an unhappy marriage, Hugo distracts him by bringing to a ball a beautiful dancer who entrances everyone. The twins are played by the same actor. “Beautifully translated with wit and grace and style,” said critic George Jean Nathan, that plays “like a theatrical miracle.”
Jean Anouilh – June 23, 1910. He died 23 June, 1987.
“Anouilh was born in Cérisole, a small village on the outskirts of Bordeaux and had Basque ancestry. His father was a tailor and Anouilh maintained that he inherited from him a pride in conscientious craftmanship. He may owe his artistic bent to his mother, a violinist who supplemented the family’s meager income by playing summer seasons in the casino orchestra in the nearby seaside resort of Arcachon.”
I think we will have quite a bit of fun reading this. I didn’t know Stephen Fry translates pieces of literature. I’ll let you know how we go with this.
BOOKS:
I finished the Australian book, My Mother, A Serial Killer by Hazel Baronwith Janet Fife-Yeomans. Wow, what a tale. I will never forget these characters. I found it most interesting to follow the family dynamics throughout their lifetimes with everyone knowing the crimes Dulce, the mother, committed and how their children coped with this knowledge. I thought it was written very thoughtfully and although the crimes were committed, I didn’t feel any of it was sensationalised for the reader. Great journalistic reporting.
I am now reading the book, The Other Typist by Suzanne Rindell, published in 2014. I remember reading reviews about it at the time. It sounded interesting so I picked it up where it has been sleeping on my bookshelves since.
I am planning a real crackdown on my TBR piles of books. Looking at a serious challenge for the remainder of this year and the first half of next year. We’ll see. More on that later.
The Good Reads blurb is as follows:
“A haunting debut novel set against the background of New York City in the 1920s…
Confessions are Rose Baker’s job. A typist for the New York City Police Department, she sits in judgment like a high priestess. Criminals come before her to admit their transgressions, and, with a few strokes of the keys before her, she seals their fate. But while she may hear about shootings, knifings, and crimes of passion, as soon as she leaves the room, she reverts to a dignified and proper lady. Until Odalie joins the typing pool.
As Rose quickly falls under the stylish, coquettish Odalie’s spell, she is lured into a sparkling underworld of speakeasies and jazz. And what starts as simple fascination turns into an obsession from which she may never recover.”
I love the time period where it takes place, the early 1920’s. I love that it is in New York city. I love remembering about typewriters!! I loved typewriters. I loved the sound they make, the way the type is imprinted onto the white, crisp paper. The nostalgia of it all.
I remember when in university doing my Masters degree in the early 1970’s at Central Michigan University. I had an electric typewriter. It was a high school graduation gift.
I had a report due and spent quite a bit of time on it. I thought everything was fine. Content, structure, you know what I mean. It was handed back to me to do it again. “Why?” I asked. “Clean the letter /e/ on your typewriter. It has a slight smear on it. You cannot deliver professional reports if the keys on your typewriter aren’t clean. So off I went, cleaned the key, typed the entire thing again and turned it in.
Younger people out there….. you have no idea.
I am also reading a library book that came in about the early days and photographs of Annie Leibovitz. I’ll do a separate post about this book. It is called Annie Leibovitz: The early years, 1970 – 1983. I’m finding it very interesting at this point.
The rest of the week went by with my dogs, cats and I pretty much holed up. Mr. Penguin was house sitting for a friend. The wind howled into Tasmania from the Southern Ocean for five consecutive days. We had quite a bit of rain earlier in the week. Lots of snow on the mountain. I won’t take the dogs out in the strong winds because there are too many gum trees around here and the branches are known for dropping when you least expect it.
We watched some Netflix, read, studied photography, fed and watered animals and cleaned up hairballs and litter. There is always laundry and Odie had a bath and is very fluffy this week.
That’s our week. Hope yours was under control. See you later.
And just for fun…….
Mr Penguin gets home from house sitting and Cousin Eddie helps him unpack.Odie has a bath and becomes a big fluff ball.This is how we spend cold, very windy nights here.We’re all staying warm. See you next time.
I don’t think I’ve said much about it. It is a U3A class (University of 3rd Age for retired people). Run by volunteers. I go to it every Tues afternoon. Our teacher is a retired drama teacher in her 80s. About 18 in the class. It’s good fun.
Gum trees! Makes me think of that Kookaburra song! Kookaburra sitting in the old gum tree, eating all the gumballs he can see, laugh, kookaburra laugh, kookaburra, save some gum for me…or that’s how I remember it anyway, and DO NOT ASK ME how a kid that grew up in Scottsdale, Arizona came to know that song AND STILL REMEMBERS IT.
My co-worker went on an Australia-New Zealand-Tasmania trip a couple years ago and the funniest video he posted was himself walking through a cemetery / park type place on his way to a famous street market in Tasmania. He was walking along telling us about the cemetery/park and saying how spooky and scary it was being all alone and then all of a sudden some creature makes a sound and his voice goes high as he says “What was that????” I died it was so funny. Anyway, I’m wondering if it was a kookaburra.
Are Tasmania Devils a real thing and have you ever seen one?
All the books you mentioned sound REALLY GOOD and are going on my TBR. Especially The Other Typist!!! That sounds neat!
Yes I know where he was. St David’s Park is an old cemetery. Near Salamanca market. You can google those places for picutpres in Hobart. Yes Tassie devils are real. Google to see photos. Only found in Tasmania. I have seen them.
lovely doggies… ours just lie on us… my life as a dog cushion… Nathan was a good friend of H.L. Mencken: they were newspaper savants in the early 1900’s but later drifted apart over politics… Mencken was pretty conservative until he was old; then he got a bit more human… i’ve never read many plays; i should remedy that; i have a lot of Elizabethan drama that i’ve accumulated; maybe i’ll try to put a dent in that stack… funny story re the typewriter! lol!
I know what you mean re: dog cushion. Interesting information. I was not familiar with this playwright. Plays are good fun but you need to read them aloud! Your wife will love that!
I am now reading the book, The Other Typist by Suzanne Rindell, published in 2014. I remember reading reviews about it at the time. It sounded interesting so I picked it up where it has been sleeping on my bookshelves since.
I am also reading a library book that came in about the early days and photographs of Annie Leibovitz. I’ll do a separate post about this book. It is called Annie Leibovitz: The early years, 1970 – 1983. I’m finding it very interesting at this point.
A Penguin's Journey- Books, Travel, Photography 
I am ploughing through a TBR pile this year too! Trying to avoid buying more until it is reduced by half. Here’s hoping. Nice to meet a Taswegian!
LikeLike
P.S. Could you tell us or link us to where you already told us about the Play Reading Class? That sounds really interesting! Thanks!
LikeLiked by 1 person
I don’t think I’ve said much about it. It is a U3A class (University of 3rd Age for retired people). Run by volunteers. I go to it every Tues afternoon. Our teacher is a retired drama teacher in her 80s. About 18 in the class. It’s good fun.
LikeLiked by 1 person
It sounds very interesting!
LikeLiked by 1 person
I like the sound of that too. I’m not an actor’s shoelace, but I used to love reading plays when I was at school.
LikeLiked by 2 people
Gum trees! Makes me think of that Kookaburra song! Kookaburra sitting in the old gum tree, eating all the gumballs he can see, laugh, kookaburra laugh, kookaburra, save some gum for me…or that’s how I remember it anyway, and DO NOT ASK ME how a kid that grew up in Scottsdale, Arizona came to know that song AND STILL REMEMBERS IT.
My co-worker went on an Australia-New Zealand-Tasmania trip a couple years ago and the funniest video he posted was himself walking through a cemetery / park type place on his way to a famous street market in Tasmania. He was walking along telling us about the cemetery/park and saying how spooky and scary it was being all alone and then all of a sudden some creature makes a sound and his voice goes high as he says “What was that????” I died it was so funny. Anyway, I’m wondering if it was a kookaburra.
Are Tasmania Devils a real thing and have you ever seen one?
All the books you mentioned sound REALLY GOOD and are going on my TBR. Especially The Other Typist!!! That sounds neat!
Cousin Eddie and the doggos are TOO CUTE!
LikeLike
Yes I know where he was. St David’s Park is an old cemetery. Near Salamanca market. You can google those places for picutpres in Hobart. Yes Tassie devils are real. Google to see photos. Only found in Tasmania. I have seen them.
LikeLiked by 1 person
That’s it! St David’s and Salamanca market. How exciting to see a Tassie Devil!!!!!
LikeLiked by 1 person
lovely doggies… ours just lie on us… my life as a dog cushion… Nathan was a good friend of H.L. Mencken: they were newspaper savants in the early 1900’s but later drifted apart over politics… Mencken was pretty conservative until he was old; then he got a bit more human… i’ve never read many plays; i should remedy that; i have a lot of Elizabethan drama that i’ve accumulated; maybe i’ll try to put a dent in that stack… funny story re the typewriter! lol!
LikeLike
I know what you mean re: dog cushion. Interesting information. I was not familiar with this playwright. Plays are good fun but you need to read them aloud! Your wife will love that!
LikeLike