The Secret Agent (Joseph Conrad, 1907)

246 pages.

Joseph Conrad remains a favorite author.  So skilled at making characters multi-dimensional - not cartoonish, not good/bad.

Discussion between Assistant Commissioner and Chief Inspector - so good at describing organizational behavior.  A good example of the multi-dimensional characterizations.

The anarchists.  Humans.  True believers more or less; for some it's more of a job.  I like the way he handles them here; perhaps liked it better in Conrad's "Under Western Eyes".

Great description of the types of personalities that gravitate toward the far left (pp 42-43 in the Penguin paperback).  (Of course I don't think that's a great place to end up, so perhaps that's why I like the description so much!)

Mr. Verloc.  His wife (Winnie), and her mother and brother (Stevie, poor thing).  Chief Inspector Heat - competent - made me think of the similar character/role in two Dickens novels (Our Mutual Friend and Bleak House).

A good read.  Even if I didn't love the wind-up.

Sense and Sensibility (Jane Austen, 1811)

I liked it because I think Austen writes so very well.

But I think the plot was quite the weakest of her works that I've read so far.

Lots of implausible plot twists, and most of the characters were not very likeable.  Including darling Edward, who behaved like a child during most of the book.

Lead character:  Elinor.  She has "sense".

Willoughby - ugh.   The Steele sisters.  The Palmers.  The Middletons.  The Ferrars.

Marianne - all "sensibility" and thus not very sympathetic until the end of the book.  Colonel Brandon??

Boys in the Boat - 9 Americans and their Quest for Olympic Gold (Daniel Brown, 2014)

Book club selection (via POC; session held (via Zoom) September 6, 2021).

A glimpse of faraway Seattle (distant in time and geography) - useful.

A view of the Depression, the dust storms, the national mood.  Hoovervilles.  Genuine "hard times."  Useful context for the 1930s.  How the perception of "hard times" has evolved.

Many of the 1930s Washington stories resonated with stories we were hearing about the Depression when growing up in 1960s Iowa - vivid memories - and relatively fresh, the Depression didn't end until WWII.  (It would be like us today talking about events from late 1990s.)  They wouldn't have been surprised to hear of children in Washington working like adults, folks doing without, they were doing their version of the same.  Describes a hand-cranked cream separator.  Laying asphalt - classic summer job.  Making do.

Just before embarking for Berlin - author describes the 1936 heat wave as the rowers spend time in NYC.  EMG family always talked about that summer - crop wilted, dragging mattresses onto lawn to be able to sleep.  (At age 7, he thought it was an adventure.)

While in NYC hotel - author mentions the rowers meeting Joe Fortenberry (captain of Olympic basketball team) - Antiques Roadshow tells us he was credited with the first slam dunk, and with prompting a rule change to outlaw defensive goaltending.  Hitler required outdoor basketball - gold medal game was played in sand in a driving rainstorm.  Appraised his gold medal at $100-150k.

Pocock as a mystical figure - compares to who?  Horse whisperers.  Author says Pocock's grandfather worked on Stanley's Lady Alice!

History of rowing; how it doesn't start, but becomes, elite.  Development of shells.  This was interesting.

Got a little carried away at the end - Hitler watching the US overtake Germany as a harbinger of WWII outcome.  But OK.

A view of rowing as a sport of national interest - interesting and it was hard to believe - this is the early 1930s, not that long ago.  Boxing, baseball, horse racing, ? Then I see the movie "After Office Hours" on TMC - 1935 - in theater lobby, Clark Gable et al are discussing the races at Poughkeepsie!