Reflections of a working writer and reader
The middlebrow or the upper Philistine cannot get rid of the furtive feeling that a book, to be great, must deal in great ideas. Oh, I know the type, the dreary type! He likes a good yarn spiced with social comment; he likes to recognize his own thoughts and throes in those of the author; he wants at least one of the characters to be the author's stooge. If American, he has a dash of Marxist blood, and if British, he is acutely and ridiculously class-conscious; he finds it so much easier to write about ideas than about words; he does not realize that perhaps the reason he does not find general ideas in a particular writer is that the particular ideas of that writer have not yet become general. Vladimir Nabokov
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I’m not a Buddhist (or anything like that), but this guy sits alone in the grounds of the University here and we had a little chat this morning.
I got the impression that it’ll be OK, 2007 . . .
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A happy new year to you, John!
May 2007 bring you all that you seek.
And many thanks for keeping me entertained with your blog.
I bought the ingredients for a cottage loaf today, albeit the organic wholemeal version plus dried yeast (ouch), and I’ll get back to you in due course. This little cottage mamma will be a contemporary one! There’s nothing like a challenge, and your posted recipe provided that. 2007 will see me have a go!
I can’t even begin to compete with Virginia Woolf, however.
Have a good one, John,
All the very best,
CFR
jb says: Thanks CFR, I hope that loaf recipe is good. You might have to be a little creative with it. Happy New Year.
Hello John,
I got the distinct impression that 2006 was sent off pretty gladly and that more than a fair few were happy to see the year go.
2007? Yes, really hoping it will be ok.
Once more, a happy new year.
jb says: I’m sure 2007 will have its problems, Susan. But there’s some hope . . . Rumsfeld’s gone.
I had the same conversation with almost the same inanimate object of devotion and he too said that it was all gonna be Ok. Though it may get a little worse, or tarnished around the edges, or dropped off at the pawn shop for a short spell, or…
Happy New Year John.
jb says: Well, I wasn’t going to mention the bad bits. Happy New Year, Fromage.
I’m really glad you had that little chat, because the first thing I heard on NPR this morning was a bolus of the old prophetic doom-gloom from Pat Robertson.
jb says: I only listened to that guy one time.
Happy New Year.
I was a bit surprised that he’d managed to infiltrate public radio…
jb says: Friends in high places . . .