News from the Barsetshire woodshed

[lblanchard]

So I didn't woodshed last night, but I did play "Countrywide" twice just to put my calluses on notice that they're still on duty. I can now play it, haltingly, at the tempo that Tommy Emmanuel plays it when he says, "I'll play it nice and slow for you." The bars o' doom are up nice-and-slow tempo but the notes aren't completely ringing yet. The bridge is shaky and the bridge lick remains a disaster. (I'm not sure that I'll attempt the final lick in this lifetime.)

I also finished the second reading of Angela Thirkell's High Rising and got deliciously into the first of the Trollope Barsetshire novels, The Warden, which I am also loving to pieces. A pity that Barsetshire is imaginary.

The transplanted Class of 2011 still looks fine -- I was able to re-pot Part II by reusing the potting soil from the two pots of cat grass. Of course, they're bulbs so they won't look terribly unhappy until it's too late, most likely. I'm still pretty surprised by all the light that's coming in my office window now that 32 hippeastrum yearlings have been reduced to six, and those six have had a crew cut.

Comments

Barsetshire?

[chakolate.livejournal.com]

I looked up Barsetshire on the public library website, and they list two different authors. Is this a group sort of thing, where lots of different authors use the same fictional setting?

And what do you like about the books?

I'm trying to find some good quick-reads, light stuff I don't have to think too hard about, but people's tastes are so different I just don't trust recommendations very much any more. Someone told me Monica Hughes' novels were wonderful, but when I got one from the library it was so depressing I couldn't finish it.

Re: Barsetshire?

[lblanchard.livejournal.com]

As far as I know, there are only two novelists to inhabit Barsetshire -- Anthony Trollope and Angela Thirkell. I enjoyed the bit of Thirkell fluff I read and cited above and am also enjoying the Trollope fluff. You can get the collected works of Trollope from Kindle for $2.99. That's something like 47 novels.

EDITED TO ADD: What I like about the Thirkell I read, and I hope it will also hold true for Trollope, is that no one dies or comes to serious harm. In that way, High Rising was very Austen-like.

Re: Barsetshire?

[chakolate.livejournal.com]

Oh, that sounds great. Austen-style but fluffy is just what I'm looking for.

If anybody recommends the Jack Reacher novels, be aware that the hero, who in most ways exactly fits the definition of 'hero', kills people almost at the drop of a hat. Very, very violent.

Heh - going from a Reacher novel to an Amy Tan novel almost gave me whiplash.

Re: Barsetshire?

[lblanchard.livejournal.com]

People -- at least the ones I've met so far -- are very genteel in Barsetshire. A couple have mean streaks, but they're genteel mean streaks. I can recommend High Rising without reservation. The protagonist is a widow who supports herself by writing whodunits set in the fashion industry and has an annoying railfan child.

Re: Barsetshire?

[chakolate.livejournal.com]

Thanks! I've put a hold on it at the library.