{"id":39179,"date":"2021-05-17T06:30:33","date_gmt":"2021-05-16T18:30:33","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/helenlowe.info\/blog\/?p=39179"},"modified":"2021-05-16T21:36:15","modified_gmt":"2021-05-16T09:36:15","slug":"reading-older-books","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/helenlowe.info\/blog\/2021\/05\/17\/reading-older-books\/","title":{"rendered":"Reading Older Books"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"On May 6 I mentioned rereading books that count as very old friends,<\/a> which is something I like to do, despite the importance of keeping up with new books and titles, which is\u00a0as important for authors as it is in any other field.<\/p>\n

Conversely, I also believe it\u2019s important to know what\u2019s been written before, if only in order to know if \u201cthe new\u201d is really all that new. O-o…<\/p>\n

Needless to say, there is an awful lot pundits insist should<\/em> and must<\/em> be written now, which has in fact been done before if only one delves back \u2013 but that<\/em> is another post again to this one. \ud83d\ude09<\/p>\n

\"\"Today my theme is the somewhat eclectic array of older titles that have crossed my reading ken of recent times, originating in such diverse quarters as the back of the bookshelf (somewhat cobwebby, but hey, that\u2019s what dusters are for!), the local hospice shop, the library remaindered table*, and the neighbourhood \u201cbook fridge.\u201d**<\/p>\n

I hope to share my \u201cterribly important thoughts\u201d on a few of them over the next wee while, with the foremost contenders being:<\/p>\n

Amazons II<\/em><\/strong> \u2013 an anthology of original speculative stories about women warriors, edited by Jessica Amanda Salmonson, and published by DAW in 1982.<\/p>\n

Maquis<\/em><\/strong> \"\"by George Millar, DSO, MC \u2013 the \u201cfirst book of true war adventure to be published in England and America after the War (1945)\u201d, it\u2019s a firsthand account of the authors\u2019 experience as an operative in Nazi-occupied France. My edition was republished by PAN in 1956 and was not, I gathered, quite so heavily censored.<\/p>\n

These Lovers Fled Away<\/em><\/strong> by Howard Spring. Published in 1955, this novel (basically) follows four young men and those closest to them from the turn of the twentieth century through two World Wars to the period when the novel was written.<\/p>\n

\"\"The Grandiflora Tree<\/em><\/strong> by Shonagh Koea. Published in 1989 by Penguin, this novel is the only one set in New Zealand and explores bereavement and how little we may actually know those to whom we are (ostensibly) closest.<\/p>\n

I found each interesting, albeit in very different ways, so will be interested to see what you think when I post on each one \u2013 not necessarily one a week, although I shall strive for a reasonably prompt delivery on this post\u2019s promise. \ud83d\ude00<\/p>\n

—<\/p>\n

*By way of an aside, I am sometimes surprised at the very good books that get let go via remaindered tables \u2013 to my gain, of course, since I snatch up any \u201cfinds\u201d, although not without a qualm for what other reading \u201cpunters\u201d will miss being wowed by in future.<\/p>\n

** \u201cBook fridges\u201d first appeared in Christchurch following the earthquakes, one of the very many interim uses for lots were commercial buildings in particular had been demolished and would have otherwise remained empty and unused for years. Basically, the one in my \u2019hood is the shell of a commercial fridge where one can leave books or acquire them, as you will. They\u2019re slowly going as the city rebuilds, which is a shame, as they\u2019re a great way of recycling books.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

On May 6 I mentioned rereading books that count as very old friends, which is something I like to do, despite the importance of keeping up with new books and titles, which is\u00a0as important for authors as it is in any other field. Conversely, I also believe it\u2019s important to know what\u2019s been written before, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[19,14,24],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-39179","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-funstuff","category-other-writers","category-what-im-reading"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/helenlowe.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39179","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/helenlowe.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/helenlowe.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/helenlowe.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/helenlowe.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=39179"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/helenlowe.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39179\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":39188,"href":"https:\/\/helenlowe.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39179\/revisions\/39188"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/helenlowe.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=39179"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/helenlowe.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=39179"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/helenlowe.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=39179"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}