'a curious document this journal'

the second character in unforgiven years by victor serge (daria) keeps a journal;

 'a curious document this journal, whose carefully chosen words sketched out only the outer shapes of people, events and ideas, a poem constructed of gaps cut from the living material, because - since it could be seized - it could not contain a single name, a single recognisable face, a single unmistakable strand of the past, a single allusion to assignments accomplished... no expression of torment or sorrow (this was for the sake of pride), no expression of doubt or calculation (for the sake of prudence), and nothing ideological, naturally for ideology is the sludge at the bottom of the pitfall... the construction of this featureless record, similar to a thought puzzle in three dimensions turned entirely towards some undefinable and secret fourth dimension, had furnished her with an exhilarating occupation...'

april's books

read

 camembert - pierre boisard - book group - free

akenfield  - ronald blythe - one pound - probably horsemouth's book of the year so far

english traits - ralph waldo emerson - one pound (versus)

letters from england  - voltaire - at brother's while babysitting

the plague - albert camus - two pounds fifty

the unforgiving years - victor serge - two pounds fifty - amnesty hammersmith

to do list

letters of anton chekov - ed. lillian hellman - halcyonandon - one pound - introduction read

emile - rousseau - halcyonandon - one pound (some progress)

magic toyshop - angela carter - book group - free - as yet untouched.

escape into olomec time

horsmouth has been dreaming of escape - it required the carefully timed crashing of two vans so as to fake the death of one of the protagonists (before the patrol returned). for some reason a mid-period freddie mercury was there with a white switchblade (most stylish). 

the reason for this dream is probably horsemouth's reading of victor serge's unforgiving years, andy says he has read 3 other victor serge novels, horsemouth might have to as well, this one is pretty damn good. the war has ended - the narrative has taken us from stalingrad to dresden (carnage carnage carnage) now the survivors are hiding out in the mexican desert in olomec time. 

this is probably horsemouth's last 'full' week of work - there was a bank holiday monday, he doesn't have to work this morning, he has his normal wednesday off (he knows he's not going to get a lot of sympathy here). 

sean braved the transport hell that is the east of the seaside towns (and their vital infrastructural improvements that will benefit us all) to come and visit - things proceed with life offering up some resistance. in an email he said the following,

'particularly enjoyed the Akenfield/pastoral idyll post. Yes, 1914 war was a great step forward for the rural workers - Horsemouth is current front runner for the feral prole counter-intuitive revisionist theory of the year award.

Seriously! You put the finger on what irritates me about the vogue for all that hey-nonny-no nonsense; like, in that Electric Eden book theres a whole bit where Shirley Collins goes on about the tragedy of how the whole "folk tradition" ended in 1914....Yeah, there are no "folk" outside of quaint rural English villages, which weren't actually quaint at all, but were in fact so shit that even moving to the city to be a factory worker or a soldier on the western front was preferable. Fuck 'em, and their "get off my land" countryside bollocks.'

earlier horsemouth was over at howards (and then a quick pint in the murder mile) the musicians of bremen working season may be over, they need to top and tail the tracks and send a few of them off for mastering (it does make them sound better), they also need to select the strongest tracks and ask themselves if they should be spread out over a range of genres or clustered round one particular sound... and then they need to go and play live. it's been a while.