Great Circle - Maggie Shipstead

 

Great Circle by Maggie Shipstead is a historically fictional novel that you wish were true.  This is a rolling, rollicking and wonderful story about pioneering aviatrix, feminist and iconoclast Marian Graves.  We follow Marian's life from her tumultuous beginnings culminating (almost) in her ambitious flight around the great circle of the globe (pole to pole) in 1951.

Marian is a character you wish were real in every sense.  Wanting to become financially independent when 14, she cuts her hair, dresses as a boy, buys a car, teaches herself to drive and becomes a moonshine runner in 1920s USA.  One day some some barnstormers visit her town, she scores a flight and from that moment she determines to be a pilot, even though "girls" are not supposed to do that sort of thing.  She flies alcohol from over the Canadian border, landing on glaciers and out-flying every man that dare takes her on.

A disastrous and brief marriage in her later teens ensures Marian will never again answer to anyone, but she still finds passion in her life. During WWII Marian joins a squad of women pilots who transport Spitfires and all manner of planes across airfields in Britain.  Marian tests the full capabilities of every plane she flies fearlessly.

After the war a rich benefactor agrees to fund her great circle flight and Marian tackles her hardest challenge.  Drama ensues.

This book was a complete joy to read, not inconsequential in length at nearly 600 pages, but the hours just rolled by without me noticing.  My favourite reading experience is to be just lost in a book for hours on end Great Circle provided just that.

The book has been shortlisted for the 2021 Man Booker prize.  I have no idea if it's a worthy winner, but for me, this book was a complete delight.  Recommended for humans.

Until next time, peace and love.

The Paper Palace by Miranda Cowley Heller

 

The Paper Palace by Miranda Cowley Heller is a family drama which mainly focuses on Elle a 50 something mother of three and academic, married to a handsome Englishman, Peter, a financial journalist.  There's too much ground to cover here, but the novel traverses two timelines simultaneously: Elle's life from birth and a 24 hour period where the family and friends gather at the family holiday shacks on Cape Cod - named the paper palace after the cheap wall material from which they are constructed.

Elle and her sister Anna's upbringing and early adulthood are chaotic.  Her parent's are often distracted by their own lives to worry too much about their children.  There is a succession of step parents and divorces and a lifelong childhood friend Jonas.  Elle and Jonas meet at Cape Cod in their tweens and a bond develops between the two which waxes and wanes, but endures over the decades.  A major trauma occurs in their teenage years which means the two share a dark secret for life.

The book begins the morning after a drunken night at the paper palace and an infidelity happens - you can guess who.  From there we explore the previous 50 years leading to that point and the next 24 hours.

Heller's writing rolls along very nicely and I found nearly all the characters well drawn.  There are unexpected turns in the story which kept me on the hook.  I read this book quickly so that's a sign I enjoyed it.

No book is perfect of course and there were some gaps in time and one or two thin characters which could have benefited from more development.  At nearly 400 pages perhaps the editors called time - I imagine there's some commercial pressure in the publishing industry to keep novels to a manageable length.

All in all I found this a entertaining read and highly recommended.

Until next time, peace and love.

New release - Geoffrey O'Connor - For As Long As I Can Remember

 

Busy time at the Lounge with lots going on.  So I've not had much time for updating this blog. But, I have picked up a new album by Melbourne's Geoffrey O'Connor called As Long As I Can Remember.  Here's a vid of the title track:

It's an album of duets with female artists, including one-time Darwin pop songstress Jess Ribero and being rather fond of the 80's, this album takes me back to some of the soft synthy disco pop from that era (but in a nice way).  Here's another track featuring the delightful Laura Jean with lots of Spandau Ballet-esque finger clicking:

I am am enjoying this album a great deal.  It's a polished production with lots of pop hooks and gorgeous vocal duets.  It definitely feels a like a summer record to me which is what we need given most of the country is in lockdown.

You can buy this album through Geoffrey O'Connor's Bandcamp page or via Chapter Music.

Until next time, peace and love.

We Were Not Men - Campbell Mattinson

Here's an Australian novel by Campbell Mattinson, We Were Not Men, that took 30 years to write.  It tells the story of twins Eden and Jon Hardacre who are orphaned at around nine years of age and grow up under the care of their grandmother, Bobbie.

After the death of their parents in a car crash and recovery from their own injuries the boys throw themselves into swimming and become champions for their ages.  The Rio Olympics beckon.  This book seems to be inspired by a true story and maybe it is as Mattinson is a journalist and the story's genesis was an article he wrote in the 1990s.

Campbell Mattinson is a vivid writer and there are some wonderful passages in this story describing the boys relationship.  I particularly found the descriptions of swimming to be most effective.  I enjoyed the arc of the story and overall it was a satisfying read.  

The dialogue did not work for me so much.  The character of Bobbie seems to express not much more than aphorisms throughout the story and this tended to be the case with the other characters.  I can only think this was a deliberate decision on the part of the author and the editors, but I wanted more from the characters in their dialogue.

With the Olympics on currently and the Australian women swimmers going so well the timing of my reading of this book was fortuitous.

Recommended for anyone really.  Until next time, peace and love.

Jupiter's Travels - Ted Simon

Here's an unusual book which was lent to me by a friend, Peter.  I say unusual in that it's not one I would normally think to read.  Always go with a recommendation it seems.

It tells the tale of Ted Simon's travels on a 500cc Triumph motorcycle starting in 1973 through to 1977.  Written on his return to the UK it is very much a time capsule story.  It coincides with the dismantling of the European colonies in Africa, Asia and the Americas, the OPEC oil crisis and the height of the Cold War.  

Ted journeys through African countries in civil war, Rhodesia(!) and apartheid South Africa.  Brazil is still under the control of the generals and Chile is a mass of bloodshed.  Cambodia and Vietnam have to be avoided due to war, but Afghanistan is quiet and peaceful.  It certainly brings home just how much the world and geopolitics have changed.

Ted Simon writes in an an engaging style and like all good travel books it's about the people Ted meets along the journey that makes the story interesting.  He bares all on the page including the odd sexual encounter and bouts of what would probably diagnosed these days as depression .  At all times he is empathetic with those he meets, even when he is held captive as a spy in Brazil for weeks on end.  I found him to be a broad minded and progressive thinker for a man of his times.

I looked Ted Simon up on the web.  He appears to be still alive at the age of 90 and living in the UK somewhere.  He started out as a chemical engineer and then switched to journalism in the early 70's before becoming an organic farmer in California for a long time.  He wrote a few other books and reprised his world journey in the early 2000's at the age of 70.  That might be an interesting book to read for the contrast, although the world is much different from then now.

Highly recommended for those who like books.  Until next time, peace and love.

New music for you

 

Welcome back to the Lounge. I have been enjoying some new releases here and I thought you might like to hear them too.  First up is the tremendously talented Aldous Harding with her new single; Old Peel.  It comes with a typically quirky video in which you don't get to see much of Aldous until the final scene.  This song is a total earworm so be careful.

If you like that then you might enjoy this brief live performance by Aldous and her band for KEXP from a year or so back.  There is a short interview in the middle too - she's a strange cat for sure.

Courtney Barnett continues to evolve as a songwriter and here's her new single; Rae Street.  Clearly she has been listening a lot to her mate Kurt Vile.

The new Goon Sax vinyl landed at the Lounge today so we'll give them a run too.  They've gone big time with producer John Parish (he did Aldous too).  It's a change of direction and here's their new single Desire.

That's it from the Lounge for now.  Until next time, peace and love.

Different Every Time - Robert Wyatt

A bit of a break from the Lounge for various reasons.  This post is well overdue as I finished this book quite a while back now.  It's the official biography of Robert Wyatt, a classic English eccentric character.  A man not of these times.

Robert formed and played drums in Soft Machine, a jazz tinged, proggy art rock group in the mid 60's, most associated with the Canterbury scene.  Soft Machine toured the States twice with Hendrix and gigged at the UFO Club in London with The Pink Floyd as they were known back then.  Greatness seemed inevitable, but it was not to be.  After being kicked out of his own band in the early 70's he briefly formed Matching Mole and then, after a life changing accident which left him a paraplegic, he settled into a brilliant solo career.

Robert's upbringing was anything but conventional, his mother was a journalist who raised him as a single parent for a time before she married Robert's stepfather who had defied the English class system by attending Oxford and Cambridge, despite his working class background.  Robert wasn't terribly interested in school and his summers were often spent in Portugal or on the Greek islands staying with a family friends, one of whom was poet Robert Graves.

Robert struggled with being a band leader and became rather carried away with the rock and roll lifestyle, which included drinking bouts with that icon of moderation, Keith Moon.  In 1973, while very drunk at a party he fell from an apartment balcony.  The accident was a catalyst for Robert to reset his life and music and while in hospital he composed his 'first proper' solo record, Rocky Bottom, produced by Nick Mason of Pink Floyd, as they were known by then.  An album which usually features in greatest album of all time lists.  Here's one of my favourite tracks from that record, the simply brilliant 'Little Red Riding Hood Hits the Road'.

For the next 40 years or so he recorded with the likes of Eno, Phil Manzanera, David Gilmour and later Bjork.  Commercial success mostly stayed at a distance until 1980 when the Elvis Costello penned Shipbuilding single became a hit.  After that he faded back out of sight to record the occasional and always acclaimed album.  Always broke and fighting off depression and alcoholism he performed live only once after his accident; being crippled with anxiety when facing an audience.

After finally kicking the grog and getting treatment for depression he released some of his finest work in the early 2000's before retiring from music altogether after his final album Comicopera was released in 2007.

The Robert Wyatt story is actually a story of two people, Robert and his partner of 50 years Alfreda Benge who gave up a promising film career to be with and care for Robert.  Alfie as she is known, managed the business side, painted the album art and eventually took over lyric writing duties.  A true partnership.

Here's another great song.  It's a cover of the Chic (yes them) song 'At Last I am Free'.  Warning, it's not disco.

The book is a thoroughly enjoyable read with Robert and Alfie helpful subjects, as are his numerous collaborators over the years.  As books go it's a conventional sort of read, but it's hard to tell the story of someone's life in anything other than a linear progression from birth.  What shines through in this book is Robert' singular and unconventional artistic spirit.  He is now considered something of a national treasure in England these days and seems to be enjoying his retirement.

Have a listen To Robert Wyatt if you haven't already.  Until next time, peace and love.

Suburban evil

 

Designed by Dante

I have long held the view that suburbia is mostly a hell-scape.  Most of us live there, but I do ask myself often: how could it have been done better?  I read somewhere the big construction and auto companies in the U.S. pressured city halls in the post-war period into approving more and more suburbs with larger blocks with the intention of driving up demand for construction and motor vehicles.  The work of the devil right there I tell you.

Evidence of  Beelzebub's work is also clear in the rise of the leaf blower as an instrument of suburban torture.  It's bad enough living next door to Fred and Rosemary West as I do, but I am also surrounded by 'men' who feel compelled to rev their leaf blowers at all hours of the weekend.  Combined with assorted angle grinders, lawn mowers, lawn edgers and brush cutters, at times it sounds like a small engine testing facility has opened up next door to my house.  

I reserve a higher level of contempt for the leaf blower though, conceived in the 7th circle of Hell by Dante and now in plague numbers in the suburbs.  Their operators, almost exclusively men, are addicted to 'blipping' their wretched throttles.  There is a special place set aside for these people in my version of Hell.  That place will be silent.  Absolutely silent.

Here are my preferred tools for dealing with leaves and other detritus in the garden:

These are simple, pure and noble tools which have been used for centuries by humankind.  They have served us very well.  We do not need Dante's damned leaf blower and the agents of Satan who operate them.  Rise up and reclaim the suburbs from these beastly machines!!

Until next time, peace and love.

In the Peppermint Workshop

Today we're in the Peppermint Workshop and working on bikes. In the foreground to the left is my 1972 Moto Guzzi Eldorado 850 which sports a 955cc big bore kit. To its right is a 1955 Puch 250 SG split single two stroke. 

Back left is a 2011 Moto Guzzi V7 Racer ridden by my lovely wife and back right is my 2012 Moto Guzzi Griso 1200 SE which is a fire breathing monster.

We're servicing the two newer bikes today and procrastinating on fixing the other two.

Until next time, peace and love.

More music books!

 

I know, I know.  The music books are getting out of hand.  I am part way through this bio of eccentric and avant garde(ish) musician Robert Wyatt.  Wyatt started out in English psychedelic experimentalists Soft Machine who toured the USA twice in 1968 with Jimi Hendrix and with whom Wyatt was good friends.  He had a rather interesting bohemian upbringing spending summers in Mallorca with poet Robert Graves who was a family friend.  I am up to about 1970 where Soft Machine has just released their third album and Robert is looking like he's about to exit the band.

Next on the list is a book by indie rock goddess Kristin Hersh about her late friend Vic Chesnutt.  I enjoy both Kristin's and Vic's music and by all accounts this is a loving tribute to this troubled man.

There is a connection between these books in that both Robert Wyatt and Vic Chesnutt pursued their musical careers despite enduring physical disabilities which left them both wheelchair bound.  All the more remarkable considering how difficult the world is to navigate for people with disabilities.

Until next time, peace and love.