Teaser Tuesday - 28 Feb

Teaser Tuesday
The rules are:

• Grab your current read.
• Let the book fall open to a random page.
• Share with us two (2) 'teaser' sentences from that page, somewhere between lines 7 and 12.
• You also need to share the title and author of the book that you’re getting your 'teaser' from .. that way people can have some great book recommendations if they like the teaser you've given!

Comfortably seated in deep armchairs, they made war almost as tourists, while we, on foot all the time, had wandered for thousands of kilometres over the roads of the north and east.
Among the Germans in Paris a no less relaxed atmosphere prevailed.

Another teaser fromn Michael Burleigh's The Third Reich - A New History - starting with a comment from a Languedoc peasant on the German war machine.

Mutterings - 26th Feb

This week's free word associations from Unconscious mutterings are:

1. Unsolicited :: mail
2. House :: White
3. 24 hours :: cover
4. Permission :: chmod (a unix command for modifying file permissions)
5. Inbox :: EMail
6. Presidential :: Status
7. Rising :: Sun
8. Hold :: House
9. Hourglass :: Timer
10. More :: Less

Institutionalised violence

A quote from Michael Burleigh's The Third Reich - A New History which I featured in yesterdays teaser. He's talking about the reactions to ReichKristallnacht

Hot violence, being driven by passion, was liable to peter out as moods changed; cold bureaucratic violence was a full time career option.

And when it's 'just' concerned with filling forms it is far easier to get collusion by the majority.

Teaser Tuesday - 21st Feb

Teaser Tuesday
The rules are:

• Grab your current read.
• Let the book fall open to a random page.
• Share with us two (2) 'teaser' sentences from that page, somewhere between lines 7 and 12.
• You also need to share the title and author of the book that you’re getting your 'teaser' from .. that way people can have some great book recommendations if they like the teaser you've given!

The Nazi retailers association, NS-Hago, could clearly exert enormous pressure on, for example, a Jewish porcelain manufacturer which was dependent upon them for retail outlets. District Economic advisers (Gauwirtschaftsführer) monitored Jewish businesses and established a creeping control over those taking them over.

Another teaser fromn Michael Burleigh's The Third Reich - A New History

Mutterings - 19th Feb

This week's free word associations from Unconscious mutterings are:

1. Crown :: Porgy (we had this word a few weeks back, it's nice to see that my word association is still the same!)
2. Landmark :: Monument
3. Shock :: Horror
4. Affair :: The End of (Graham Greene novel)
5. Appear :: Manifest
6. Contemplate :: Silence
7. Hinge :: Bracket - http://www.hingeandbracket-official.co.uk
8. Function :: Mapping (a bit mathematical here!)
9. Obstinate :: Stubborn
10. Fulfill :: Prophecy

Mutterings - 12th Feb

This week's free word associations from Unconscious mutterings are:

1. Reminder :: Diary
2. Shelves :: Book
3. Interpret :: Language
4. Tissue :: Box
5. Miracle :: Baby
6. Bed :: Sleep
7. Truck :: Load
8. Feelings :: Hurt
9. Polish :: Mazurka
10. Family :: Close

Teaser Tuesday - Feb 7

Teaser Tuesday
The rules are:

• Grab your current read.
• Let the book fall open to a random page.
• Share with us two (2) 'teaser' sentences from that page, somewhere between lines 7 and 12.
• You also need to share the title and author of the book that you’re getting your 'teaser' from .. that way people can have some great book recommendations if they like the teaser you've given!

The students wore white t-shirts with the words Juifs Contre la Guerre across their chests. They we talking, laughing, leaning on their signs.

from Alexander Maksik's You Deserve Nothing. This is our book group book of the month - and I've just finished it! It was a book I gradually went off as it progressed, the Guardian review highlights some of the shortcomings, sub-Camus - I'd forgotten that the woman in 'Etranger' is also called Marie, by the time we had the tale of the dark days of the French police under Papon and the Algerian Massacre I was feeling emotionally manipulated and then after a bit of digging I found this tale relating to the background of the book (don't follow that link if you want to read the book with an open mind!). If you have followed it - then my summary can't be separated from those events.

The herb garden

The herb garden, a photo by rajmarshall on Flickr.

We had a bit of snow last night in Macclesfield..today pavements are difficult and the footbridge over Hibel Rd is far too exciting even for me!

Mutterings - 5th February

This week's free word associations from Unconscious mutterings are:

1. Conditions :: Weather
2. Transfer :: Airport
3. August :: Birthdays
4. Glasses :: Passes (men seldom make passes...)
5. Crown :: Porgy & Bess (the villain in that opera)
6. Release :: Prison
7. Incriminating :: Evidence
8. Island :: Spell (A John Ireland piano work)
9. Manners :: Miss
10. Sentence :: Death