The Magician

The Magician by Colm Tóibín
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

After few chapters of this book I felt uncomfortable - Thomas Mann goes to his study and writes, writes, writes.
The book mentions only 3 titles.
I looked for some reviews, and I like title of one of them: Colm Toibin imagines the life of Thomas Mann .
From this point I stopped bothering about T. Mann's writing and historical events around him.
What was left - fascination with young boys, young men.
And quite a number of family scenes, mostly toxic.
Was it enough?
I got a strong personal sentiment to T. Mann books, which I do not bother to explain, so reading this book let me feel being close to him. Otherwise I would consider it a waste of time.
Still I preferred other books on this topic - first of all - House of Exile . Also T. Mann's relation about writing Dr Faustus - Die Entstehung des Doktor Faustus . I read a translation to Polish, cannot find English translation so I got impression that Colm Toibin did not read this book which explains some discrepancies in his story.As for me, I stay some 60 years under magic of Magic Mountain, some memory HERE .

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Sunday Reign

Pilate then went back inside the palace, summoned Jesus and asked him, “Are you the king of the Jews?”

“Is that your own idea,” Jesus asked, “or did others talk to you about me?

“Am I a Jew?” Pilate replied. “Your own people and chief priests handed you over to me. What is it you have done?”

Jesus said, “My kingdom is not of this world. If it were, my servants would fight to prevent my arrest by the Jewish leaders. But now my kingdom is from another place.”

“You are a king, then!” said Pilate.

Jesus answered, “You say that I am a king. In fact, the reason I was born and came into the world is to testify to the truth. Everyone on the side of truth listens to me.”

Gospel according to John 18: 33-36

Most of this liturgical year we heard St Mark's gospels.
This one, ending the year was by St John.
In my opinion, not very realistic.

In Mark's words it was much simpler:

Very early in the morning, the chief priests, with the elders, the teachers of the law and the whole Sanhedrin, made their plans. So they bound Jesus, led him away and handed him over to Pilate.

“Are you the king of the Jews?” asked Pilate.

“You have said so,” Jesus replied.

The chief priests accused him of many things. So again Pilate asked him, “Aren’t you going to answer? See how many things they are accusing you of.”

But Jesus still made no reply, and Pilate was amazed.

Gospel according to Mark 15: 1-5

Today I was pondering over the next sentence of Pilate, not included into Sunday's reading
After Jesus' words: Everyone on the side of truth listens to me.

"What is truth? retorted Pilate.

What is truth?

I am only an old, small man, so my truth on Sunday was simple.

Last Sunday our parish was visited by Society of St Vincent de Paul representatives who handed Certificates of Appreciation to some hard working members of the Society.

One of them was...

Here comes the true story -
When they started reading the names, I did not wait for mine, but stormed to the front of the church.
The officials were so concentrated on their actions that they did not bother that when they read name Lucia, some male came to them, parish priest had to intervene.

And then - attention please - when they finally read my name they gave me the title - King of Treasurers.

It all emboldened me so much that I asked for a microphone - look HERE.

Attentive readers/watchers noticed in this video clip a strong, healthy laughter - this was my wife.
My sub conscience remembered her - when I was to say:  Society gave a purpose to my life - my tongue slipped and said: gave purpose to my wife.

P.S. I retired from the function of a treasurer in March this year.

The dictionary of Lost Words

The Dictionary of Lost Words by Pip Williams
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

The story starts with paper slip falling under the table and being caught by a little girl.
I was delighted to realize that this is the essence of the book - the girl catching, or being caught by words.
The book has over 400 pages, my full respect to the author, that she managed to use them so wisely and tactfully.
Note: this is a stub of a review. Maybe I will elaborate on it a bit more.

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Comrade Koba

Comrade Koba by Robert Littell
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

Probably most complicated way (so far) to tell enigmatically about some events from history of Soviet Union.
I acknowledge author's knowledge of Soviet Union's history and effort he put to write this book.
Yes, there were some lines when I smiled, but generally I was bored and frustrated.


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Pedalling Poland

Pedalling Poland by Bernard Newman
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I was motivated to read this book when I learned it has been recently published in Poland.
Firstly I found the idea strange - to publish a sort of cyclist's memories some 90 years after they have been originally published.
The second reservation was - memories from cycling trip.
My own experience says, that it cannot avoid frequent references to condition of the roads and some details of cycling effort.
That's correct - I would say it takes some 20% of the book.
What remains?
Many, many scenes from the world which no longer exists.
Poland between world wars was a strange country.
It has been created at the conference table in Versailles after 123 years of non-existence. Politicians who created it, had to consider interests of many countries and a very volatile political climate. In the effect, Poland had a very irregular shape and included few areas boiling with political conflicts.
Effect on the book - we read quite a number of stories from a very volatile world, which was doomed for disappearance and which disappeared.
Here I give credit to the author for being an honest and compassionate judge.
On the other side - personally I do not find such scenes enriching, after reading them I felt rather empty.
Important point - the author is quite optimistic about the future of Nazism. He acknowledges economic progress it brought to Germany and is absolutely sure that in years to come, this orderly and hard working nation will turn it in a good way.
How wrong!
In the last scenes of the book, the author visits a site of a battle of Tannenberg - a massacre of Russian Army in early stages of WWI. Nazis build there a gigantic memorial glorifying the victors and it looks like the author was strongly and positively impressed by it.
I found it very disappointing.

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Music you can live without

Basically I am quite sceptical about opinion polls.
ABC/Classic's 100 countdown is an exception.
Reason is very simple - it does not promote any consumables nor any actions. Just music.

This year though it stirred some negative emotions - just the title - Music you can't live without .

It brought to my imagination an image of a young, visibly overweight person, pushing forcefully a monstrous sandwich into his/her mouth and gasping - I am starving. 

The point is that we can live without music as this person would not starve without this sandwich.

This title I interpreted as an outcome of self-centered universe ruled by enormously inflated I.

 I expected ABC/Classic to avoid this trap. I was wrong.

The results are:
1. Beethoven - Piano Concerto No 5.
2. Beethoven - Symphony No 9.
3. Vaughan Williams - The Lark Ascending.
4. Vivaldi -The four Seasons.
5. Elgar - Enigma Variations.

Piano Concerto No 5 - I agree.

In my young years my musical experiences were limited to weekly concerts of Warsaw Philharmonic and the program of Polish Radio.
Somehow I got a number of chances to listen, on radio and live, to Beethoven's Piano Concerto No 4, but Number 5 - never.
I was already in my mid-twenties when it came on me,  unexpectedly, just part 1 - Allegro.
The impact was paralyzing, probably one of most memorable in my life...
But the piece ended, over 50 years ago, and I am still alive.

So to stay alive on a lighter note I recommend a quiz available on ABC/Classic website

Can you recognize a classical piece after hearing just the first note?

A link to Beethoven - HERE

To J.S. Bach - HERE.

I got some reasons for satisfaction...

At the end  - my choice - Opening chorus from J.S. Bach's St Matthew Passion.
I specifically selected performers dressed suitably for our current weather.

Dance, dance, dance

Dance Dance Dance by Haruki Murakami
My rating: 1 of 5 stars

No story about a non-person.
Emptiness interrupted by some memories from swimming club in ancient Egypt and blind wandering in darkness., maybe something more, but it is really irrelevant.
I had a break after some 20 pages, when I realized that a main character is a non-person.
Due to lockdown I could not return book to the library nor borrow another one, so I gave it another chance, but it was too hard.
Looking at gray skies is more exciting.
After all this effort, one question still remains - what Jack's London book was the main character reading?

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To Hell and Back

To Hell And Back: The Banned Account of Gallipoli's Horror by Journalistand Soldier Sydney Loch by Sydney Loch
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

The title says it all.
In November 1914, a young Australian volunteer was sent to fight in Europe in the I WW.
Firstly he landed in Egypt, after few months his contingent was transferred to Turkey. On 25th of April 1915 they disembarked on the coast in, what was later called, ANZAC Cove.
Amazingly honest and sincere report of daily life in Gallipoli trenches.
Here I have to distance myself from the book.
My point is, that I did not receive it as a book, as a story.
In my opinion, there is no story. The author reports, day after day, his small experiences, and they are small - deliver a message, find a colonel, wait, wait.
This is punctuated with observation, that someone fell and did not raise.
So, from this point of view, I can't honestly say - I liked it, or recommend to someone.
I just appreciated it very much.
As the title explains, the book was banned in Australia when authorities realized it is not a fiction.
It contains notes on the history of publishing the book and on life of Sydney Loch, which was much, much more than one military campain.
In this context I consider it as a very important reading.

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A Gentleman in Moscow

A Gentleman in Moscow by Amor Towles
My rating: 1 of 5 stars

My impression - no story about nobody.
One of the first lines characterizes him well - Asked to state his occupation, he replies, “It is not the business of a gentleman to have occupations.”
Sentenced by Soviet regime to idle life in the hotel, he lives idly and on random occasions shows his "class". End of story.
Sorry (relief for me), I put the book away after some 45 pages.

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The Spy who loved

The Spy Who Loved: The Secrets and Lives of Christine Granville by Clare Mulley
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This book was a hard read for me.
I classify it as a thoroughly presented biography and a number of times I wondered whether it was a proper way for presentation of such a haphazard life.
Christine Granville, real name Krystyna Skarbek, was born into Polish aristocratic family.
Her father, Jerzy Skarbek, to rescue family finances, married a daughter of Jewish bankers. It looks like he was not suitable for family life.
They had 2 children, but after the end of Great War, Jerzy realised that the times of great Polish untamed landlords ended so he spent the rest of his life in casinos all over Europe.
Krystyna looks to me like a copy of her father.
Never decided for a stable career path, tried few temporary jobs and when her finances took a bad turn followed steps of her father - married a rich Jew.
The marriage did not last long and then it looked that she met a match - Jerzy Gizycki, equally untamed Polish gentleman.
Unfortunately a breakout of the II WW did not give them a chance to try to share life. Jerzy enrolled to Polish army in France, Krystyna to British intelligence, which sent her to the post in Hungary where she could cooperate closely with Polish Resistance.
Here it came a diffilult time for Krystyna and for the author.
The nature of working as a spy close to the frontier, is not to be noticed.
So, how to wear off boiling energy?
So what to write about?
Clare Mulley chose to mention many, many, fragmented reports about Kristina's activities.
Reading them was frustrating and tiresome for me, but I appreciate honesty of the author. I appreciate also her insight into quite complicated history of Poland and of it's resistance network in the early stage of German occupation.
Long list of minor facts is punctuated with some dramatic events like crossing border to Poland, being arrested by Germans, escape from Hungary and landing in Middle East.
And there is a parallel story - contacts with men on whom Kristyna has a magic influence.
Again, Clare Mulley chose a tactfull and honest way of reporting this side of Krystyna's life.
Stay in Middle East lasted almost 3 years and it was extremely frustrating time for Krystyna who was boiling with energy and will to help her country. On the other hand it was time when world leaders had to make decisions on which life of millions peoples depended and unfortunately these decisions were devastating for Poland.
In 1944 Krystyna eventually is send on the front line - south of France, where she shines as the most effective secret agent.
And then the war ends and she becomes a troublesome person for all parties involved.
France under general de Gaulle wants to forget about years of its weakness, all British agents are requested to leave within 24 hours.
Poland, free Poland, does not exist.
England has to bring its life to normality, Krystyna with her checkered life becomes a trouble.
On the personal front it goes even worse.
Krystyna is in touch with a number of men, who dream of spending the rest of life taking care of her, but it looks like she instinctively knows, that she will not fit into regular family life.
And so her life ends abruptly.
It left me, the reader, extremely sad and disappointed.
I can imagine a book which would dramatise Krystyna; story in a way, which could satisfy the reader, but I appreciate honesty of the author, who chose the hard but true way.

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I was Vermeer

I Was Vermeer: The Rise and Fall of the Twentieth Century's Greatest Forger by Frank Wynne
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I had known the story of Han van Meegeren quite well, read about it on a number of web pages and from a number of perspectives, so I did not expect much of this book - just a recollection of known stories.
I was very pleasantly surprised.
Yes, it was the same story, but very nicely structured and paced.
It very smoothly covered areas of history of art, painting (and forging) techniques and private life of the main character.
I checked the information about the author.
Looks that his main profession is translation.
How right - I thought.
What is translator's job?
Making a copy of a piece of art using material of quite different kind.
Well done :)

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Putting the Boot in

Putting the Boot in by Dan Kavanagh
My rating: 1 of 5 stars

Story about...
Sorry, but I have not found any story.
Just some deliberations on troubles of a very average 3rd division soccer club.
There is some glimpse of a criminal affair, but generally it is no attraction for me and in this case I had not enough patience to wait for solution.
Gave up after some 110 pages.

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The missing hours

The Missing Hours by Emma Kavanagh
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

My feeling for this book changed few times.
From curiosity to being annoyed, to despair and willing to stop reading it, to finding funny side of the story and finally to some appreciation of author's effort.
What was funny?
At some stage I came to conclusion that the sister-brother team of detectives are just sloppy bureaucrats, who are spending time on reading irrelevant stories.
Actually I was wondering - what they were doing all that time?
There are numerous mentions how late it is, how tired and hungry they are, but not a hint what actually they were doing all that time?
Another point was, that I got impression that they missed few essential steps in their investigations and it looked to me that certain Olivier, who expected to be promoted to position now taken by one of main characters, woud have done the job much better.
I have to acknowledge lots of effort of the author to make the story very complicated and confusing. She succeeded - I was confused and had no will to go back and verify and cross reference facts and events.

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TheComfort of Strangers

The Comfort of Strangers by Ian McEwan
My rating: 1 of 5 stars

If the book has been written by some other author, probably I would have put it away after 10 pages. Because it was Ian McEwan, I put it away less than 30 pages before the end, when I realized it will become unbearable.
In the first pages I gave some credit to the author as his detailed observation of each detail in behaviour of two main characters built some tension and awoke hopes that there will be some conclusion.
But when it reached a terribly long, detailed story from the childhood of Robert, a person met accidentally in the street, I lost any hope.

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The Kites

The Kites by Romain Gary
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

The book start was quite promising - a boy from slightly extravagant family, a girl with an aristocratic air, lots of charm and a very capricious love.
And this was the end of the story. I am not joking, the story ended.
So what is going on for next almost 300 pages?
I have a problem to define it, basically there are some considerations about grandeur of France, which revolve around one object - a 3 star Michelin restaurant in Northern Normandy, the rest are just frills.
There are dozens mentions about French Resistance, many casualties listed, but there is no supporting story, just a name of a person executed by Germans.
Quite substantial part of the book relates to attitude of old Prussian aristocracy to Hitler, for me this was the a quite painful joke. I can hardly believe, that the author, with his Jewish-Polish background, could seriously discuss such an issue.
So, most than half of the book was upsetting for me.
So why I gave it any star at all?
Just appreciation of authors style and consistency.

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