Umbrella Magnolia at Penn State Mont Alto

Most of the year this tree is unobtrusively tucked between the bookstore and Conklin Hall. But now the flowers are out in full strength. They are particularly fragrant, but they are stunning.

 

History of the Pennsylvania Forest Academy Presentation

John LeCarre

There is a fantastic interview of John LeCarre in the New York Times Magazine this weekend. It was very enlightening and has gotten me interested in rereading some of his books. I found some of his recent books too preachy, especially The Mission Song. However, the description made me want to find and read A Most Wanted Man.

I do have the omnibus of the Smiley novels and read Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy and am almost at the end of The Honourable Schoolboy. I have held off with it since the end seems like Smiley was betrayed by his own people. Maybe it's time to go back?

Wikipedia has a list of all LeCarre's books. (link here)

Novels

• Call for the Dead (1961)
• A Murder of Quality (1962)
• The Spy Who Came in from the Cold (1963) (Edgar Award 1965, Best Novel)
• The Looking Glass War (1965)
• A Small Town in Germany (1968)
• The Naïve and Sentimental Lover (1971)
• Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy (1974)
• The Honourable Schoolboy (1977)
• Smiley's People (1979)
• The Little Drummer Girl (1983)
• A Perfect Spy (1986)
• The Russia House (1989)
• The Secret Pilgrim (1990)
• The Night Manager (1993)
• Our Game (1995)
• The Tailor of Panama (1996)
• Single & Single (1999)
• The Constant Gardener (2001)
• Absolute Friends (2003)
• The Mission Song (2006)
• A Most Wanted Man (2008)
• Our Kind of Traitor (2010)
• A Delicate Truth (2013)^[31]

[edit]Non-fiction

• The Good Soldier (1991) collected in Granta 35: The Unbearable Peace
• The United States Has Gone Mad (2003) collected in Not One More Death (2006)

[edit]Short stories

• Dare I Weep, Dare I Mourn? (1967) published in the Saturday Evening Post 28 January 1967.
• What Ritual is Being Observed Tonight? (1968) published in the Saturday Evening Post 2 November 1968.
• The Writer and The Horse (1968) published in The Savile Club Centenary Magazine and later The Argosy (& The Saturday Review under the title A Writer and A Gentleman.)
• The King Who Never Spoke (2009) published in Ox-Tales: Fire 2 July 2009.

[edit]Omnibus

• The Incongruous Spy (1964) (containing Call for the Dead and A Murder of Quality)
• The Quest for Karla (1982) (containing Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy, The Honourable Schoolboy and Smiley's People) (republished in 1995 as Smiley versus Karla in the UK; and John Le Carré: Three Complete Novels in the U.S.)

[edit]Screenplays

• End of the Line (1970) broadcast 29 June 1970
• A Murder of Quality (1991)
• The Tailor of Panama (2001) with John Boorman and Andrew Davies

All my texts

This semester I had the opportunity of having a work study student to help me with things. So, I asked her to work on a project I had wanted to do for a long time. She worked on entering all my forestry and related texts to my Librarything account. I'm not sure what I'll do with them, but I am really happy to have these books cataloged. Some of them have no covers. They are too old. Maybe that will be the next project. Here  is a link to the books: http://www.librarything.com/catalog/&tag=forestry-text

Canada

I read this in ebook format. It's amazing. It has some of the most emotionally painful scenes I have ever read. When the narrator, Dell, and his sister visit their arrested parents in the jail every detail brings out what a sad, experience this is. Yet, as a reader I didn't feel manipulated. This is how it would really feel. The author makes frequent use of repetition and foreshadowing. Again, it is done so naturally I never felt it was artificial. When the narrator says he never went to a place again or never saw someone again, you know something important is going to happen.
In a way the book relies a lot on coincidences to move the plot forward. Maybe the plot isn't the most important thing. The inner thoughts of Dell and how he reacts to the world are what count.

I also have this story in audiobook format. I intend to listen to it later on. 

Master and Commander - 2

I have just finished the chapter where the Sophie seizes a small French cargo ship off the French coast. Since the cargo is all gunpowder, needing very careful handling, Captain Aubrey orders his Lieutenant, James Dillon, to take the ship in to the port of Mahon.

Meanwhile the wife of the French ship's captain has gone into labor with her first child. Dr. Maturin goes over to help deliver the baby. When there are complications he says that he needs to stay on the ship to help with the delivery.

After the baby is born Maturin and Dillon spend their evening eating and drinking some good wine courtesy of the grateful French captain. This is their first chance to honestly discuss their past in the United Irishmen. Neither was involved in the uprising, but they regret how it ended and all the friends they lost. Maturin says he no longer believes in political revolutions.

At one point Dillon asks Maturing if he is really becoming Captain Aubrey's friend. Maturin says that he really appreciates the Captain's good qualities. Dillon says that he can't like the Captain. He is resentful that he didn't get a command. He despises the Captain's eagerness to go after enemy ships to condemn them for profit, partially because he, Dillon, already has money. He also suspects that the Captain may not be truly brave as he let an enemy galley go in a previous engagement, even though he needed to to save a ship in the convoy. Dillon admits that his criticisms may have no basis in fact and are even contradictory. But he says he can't help how he feels. This doesn't mean he won't do his duty though.

In the end he apologizes for having spoken so freely to Maturin. It shows however, that Maturin knows what he is doing as he becomes more involved with the Navy and as he and Aubrey become closer friends.

---------------------

I also noticed in several scenes how the author describes Maturin's reptilian gaze when he is startled or before he understands the situation.

Rereading Master and Commander

I have been tempted for a while to reread Patrick O'Brian's Master and Commander and maybe go through the series again.

In the opening, when Maturin and Aubrey meet at a concert, I was surprised that their meeting almost resulted in a duel! Aubrey couldn't help tapping with the beat and bumped into Maturin. Fortunately, when they met the next day Jack apologized.

The story is so much about relationships. When Jack takes over the Sophie he has to navigate his way through the Navy hierarchy in his new role to get the ship parts and supplies. Even getting all the men he needs is a delicate process.

Having read the whole series I am surprised at how many themes that will come up later are already there. For example, Admiral Harte is already against Jack and suspects him of having eyes on his wife, which he does. The steward, Killick, has already made his appearance. But as of yet he is not described as mean or ill-natured. 

In a few scenes Jack is adjusting to the loneliness of command. When he eats his first meal in his cabin, he is alone and misses the companionship of the wardroom. Yet, even so, we know his is destined to command.