Tír Na HiFi

Just finished reading "A Gallant Company" by J.F. Vance.

All about the POW's in Stalg Luft III during WWII. Approx 300 pages, a great read, pity it had such a sad ending, where almost 50 POW's were murdered. What was very interesting is the diversity of the lives of the POW's, some of them really were adventurers.

Another great read...

The Governor.... John Lonergan..



A man who has attempted to make things better during his life, rather than making things worse.

With a lot of people flying into Carcassonne these days, and being welcomed to "Cathar Country" , here is an excellent, entertaining (If that's not an oxymoron considering the sea of blood that was shed as a result of the Albigensian Crusade and subsequent Inquisition), and very readable history of the relevant period. Based on scholarly research it gives a narrative account of the main events and characters, along with an excellent overview of the various later 'mythologising' of the Cathar story by groups as diverse as the German SS, Theosophists, and New Age.

I'm sure you'll enjoy it !
If you get a chance at all, go to Albi and 'experience' the cathedral of St Cecile, which is quite amazing in terms of its sheer size, dominating the countryside around, and 'terrifyingly beautiful' both within and without.
Interestingly, it forms the starting point for O Shea's journey of exploration of the Cathar story too.

(There is a very interesting Toulouse Lautrec museum/collection close by too,which is well worth a visit!)

This is a very interesting discourse on the artistic temterament and creative process from the reference point of manic depressive illness (now known as Bi Polar disorder) by Kay Redfield Jamison, a very eminent psychiatrist who also has a diagnosis of MDep.
To read this book, I think one first needs to promise oneself that you will avoid any temptation to "self-diagnose", and renew that promise regularly!!
For the CM fans, you will find a number of prominent composers feature, including the topical Mahler, which may give an interesting perspective on the 'dynamic range' of his music discussed elsewhere.
There are a number of lists of famous artists in the indices.

In posting this I am also aware of the difficulties regarding diagnosis of the living, not to mention of the deceased. however, The author approaches the subject with a rigour, respect and sensitivity that you might expect from one who is so personally involved

P.S. What I find most interesting are the personal first hand accounts, from letters and journals etc, of the artists featured. for me, it gives a new insight boh into the artists and [/i the works themselves.

I have just finished reading it for the second time, it is gory and it is a great read:

Seán wrote:I have just finished reading it for the second time, it is gory and it is a great read:

I find him very hard to finish.... took me a good year to finish the pretty horses, still haven't finished the road!

Seán wrote:I have just finished reading it for the second time, it is gory and it is a great read:

That's a genuine modern masterpiece, Sean. Only Suttree comes close in McCarthy's output, in my opinion. As much as Hermann Melville is the guiding stylistic influence in Blood Meridian, William Faulkner's influence looms large in Suttree. Both books deserve to be read and re-read.