Sitting in the dark, baby, it's an art
Earlier this evening ![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
spatch informed me of the tradition of drinking a health to Tolkien on his birthday, so we toasted the Professor with elderflower tonic water, which seemed like something that hobbits will like when they get around to inventing cocktail culture.
Autolycus remains a beautiful cat, stronger than his failing body. He purrs so loudly that he can be heard over the phone even when he's not specifically on the call. I woke this morning to find him lying in my arms like a kitten nestled into a mama cat. Things mostly are cat hospice around here. As long as he wants it, we are supporting him. In the meantime we reassure Hestia of how loved she is even as everyone's schedules go to hell.
I understand that the film version of Russell Hoban's Turtle Diary (1975) is highly regarded and it does have a terrific cast, but when one of the novel's protagonists is described by the other as a "tall hopeless-looking man with an attentive face and an air of fragile precision like a folding rule made of ivory," I can't help wishing it had been filmed in a year when Bill Nighy would have been a shoo-in for the part.
I am having a lot of trouble acclimating to the year.
spatch informed me of the tradition of drinking a health to Tolkien on his birthday, so we toasted the Professor with elderflower tonic water, which seemed like something that hobbits will like when they get around to inventing cocktail culture.Autolycus remains a beautiful cat, stronger than his failing body. He purrs so loudly that he can be heard over the phone even when he's not specifically on the call. I woke this morning to find him lying in my arms like a kitten nestled into a mama cat. Things mostly are cat hospice around here. As long as he wants it, we are supporting him. In the meantime we reassure Hestia of how loved she is even as everyone's schedules go to hell.
I understand that the film version of Russell Hoban's Turtle Diary (1975) is highly regarded and it does have a terrific cast, but when one of the novel's protagonists is described by the other as a "tall hopeless-looking man with an attentive face and an air of fragile precision like a folding rule made of ivory," I can't help wishing it had been filmed in a year when Bill Nighy would have been a shoo-in for the part.
I am having a lot of trouble acclimating to the year.
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Are you reading Turtle Diary? I love that Hoban book, altho it's not my favourite of his (that would probably be Kleinzeit).
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Scritches deployed as we speak.
Are you reading Turtle Diary? I love that Hoban book, altho it's not my favourite of his (that would probably be Kleinzeit).
I actually read it at least a week ago, but it has been the kind of at least a week where I kept not remembering to make this observation to the internet because I am stressed and sleep-starved and feel incredibly stupid. I loved it. It was the first of his novels (as opposed to children's books) I had read besides Riddley Walker.
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Unlike everyone else, I never read his children's books, and came to Riddley Walker very late (and I honestly prefer Pilgermann). (I didn't see Turtle Diary for a long while either.) This was back when his books were actually hard to get, and I checked them out of the Santa Fe Public Library again and again -- The Lion of Boaz-Jachin and Jachin-Boaz (1973), Kleinzeit (1974), Turtle Diary (1975), Pilgermann (1983), The Medusa Frequency (1987). Medusa Frequency is one of my absolute favourites. I think I saw Lion reviewed somewhere and that was why I picked it up. Then there was a long gap, and weirder books that didn't appeal to me as much -- Fremder (1996), Mr. Rinyo-Clacton's Offer (1998), Angelica's Grotto (1999). I didn't really click with a lot of the later books, which made me really sad, until Angelica Lost and Found (2010), which is just beautiful. I was glad he was getting a lot more publicity and publishing more novels, though, even if I didn't like them (which just about broke my heart).
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Awww. Glad to hear he still sounds happy, whatever may be going on (and very very audibly so!) ♥
is highly regarded and it does have a terrific cast
I had to go look it up, and although I don't know which character is the one you would have had be Bill Nighy, you're right, that really is a particularly awesome cast nevertheless.
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He is still purring, still enjoying goat's milk, still seeking out people, still interested in human food. He is physically much, much more fragile than he was even on New Year's Day. However much time he has left, we are trying to make it good for him.
I had to go look it up, and although I don't know which character is the one you would have had be Bill Nighy, you're right, that really is a particularly awesome cast nevertheless.
William, who in 1985 was played by Ben Kingsley, who is probably great, it's just that I read that description without even knowing there was a film and Bill Nighy immediately cast himself.
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<3<3<3 Of course.
William, who in 1985 was played by Ben Kingsley, who is probably great, it's just that I read that description without even knowing there was a film and Bill Nighy immediately cast himself.
*nods* Well, he would. Ben Kingsley does not automatically meet that description in the same way, but also, being Ben Kingsley, probably will also be great nevertheless.
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"Frances" Russell Hoban? My goodness.
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I'm glad to hear it! I would expect Glenda Jackson to be, too.
What I remember about the performances in general (saw it big screen when it came out) is subtlety in the face of some odd circumstances.
The book is like that. The premise sounds as though it should be broad and quirky; the execution is slant and sweet and a little but not tragically sad. I loved its language and its voices. It isn't timed at all the way it feels it should be, either.
"Frances" Russell Hoban? My goodness.
The introduction to the NYRB reprint which
Emmet Otter
https://youtu.be/nZqYHS4uzWE?si=J_OPDgPYRuFwXgDL
Re: Emmet Otter
The source picture book was written and illustrated by Russell and Lillian Hoban and that's the part that blows my mind!
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-- I mean, just, why. And is it me or does nearly every critic seem to miss that William and Neara want to free the turtles because they are trapped? The first line of the book is "I don't want to go to the zoo anymore," and yes human loneliness, yes thwarted almost-romance, but there's a whole lot about nature and humanity despoiling it and suicidal depression. "Aww, it's like Eleanor Rigby." Well not quite.
Anyway.
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Me too. Hugs for the kitties (and for you as well, of course!)
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*hugs*
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2023 was difficult enough to grasp!
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Just chiming in to say I LOVE elderflower tonic water. On a similar note, one of my local groceries has a store brand lime-mint-elderflower sparkling water which is great for cocktails, lemonade/limeade, or even just by itself.
I am having a lot of trouble acclimating to the year.
Same. Part of it's the hangover from the holidays (I am not built for such heavy, near-non-stop socializing!), but part of it, inevitably, is just the new year. A favorite quote from Rachel Field's 1942 novel And Now Tomorrow has been running through my head, simply due to how very accurate it is: "One grew used to years, like garments. At least one knew where the holes and patched places were; one had learned not to strain threadbare folds past endurance. A new year felt stiff and semi-fitted as one tried to move in it without self-consciousness. It was like dresses that used to be made to allow for growth, too sturdy and voluminous and reaching to boot tops. Only time and hard use would accomplish the fitting, and I did not look forward to that inevitable process."
I'm glad to hear Autolycus remains happy, despite his decline. Being surrounded by comfort and love is what we should all hope for as we get ready to go. <3
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My actual favorite quinine-based soft drink is bitter lemon, but the elderflower is a strong secondary contender. (I also like tonic water on its own. I am under no illusions that it protects me from malaria, but it tastes nice.)
On a similar note, one of my local groceries has a store brand lime-mint-elderflower sparkling water which is great for cocktails, lemonade/limeade, or even just by itself.
Nice! I would in fact try that.
A favorite quote from Rachel Field's 1942 novel And Now Tomorrow has been running through my head, simply due to how very accurate it is
That is very good; thank you.
I'm glad to hear Autolycus remains happy, despite his decline. Being surrounded by comfort and love is what we should all hope for as we get ready to go.
*hugs*
He is sunlamping beside me as we speak.
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Hmm. I confess, I tripped over the idea of Bill Nighy acting as a hopeless-looking man for any length of time. The rest of the description does suit him excellently, though!
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Absolutely. Thank you for the offer and the hope.
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I still don't know why you aren't posting your Sapphire & Steel fic to AO3, so, sure.
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Well, when it is, I still hope to see it.
Hestia is possibly messing with worldwalls, and Autolycus is a healer with the multiplanetary credentials to mark it.
He is Dr. Autolycus and she keeps the hearth; I believe it.
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One of my friends picked elderflowers and made syrup from them. It was easy and delicately delicious.
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I tell him every time how much people he has never met wish him well.
One of my friends picked elderflowers and made syrup from them. It was easy and delicately delicious.
Oh, that's neat. Was there a recipe involved?
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*hugs*
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Thank you. He was especially adorbnoxious last night when I was trying to sleep.
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*hugs*
Scritches transferred.
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*hugs*
Nine
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Duly performed.
*hugs*
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That description sounds of the tall hopeless-looking man sounds like someone you would write. The attentive face, the sense of being foldable.
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We have had that kind of nesting. All good cats.
That description sounds of the tall hopeless-looking man sounds like someone you would write. The attentive face, the sense of being foldable.
I'm honored! It's a very good novel.
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