MissdeVine

@kasstl1 @PoolsVB Nice! I’d love to know what Austen would have made of Wuthering Heights or Vilette 😂

@VineMissde @PoolsVB That's understandable. I like to teach it as a "response" if you will to Romanticism -- cf Anne's conversation with Capt. Benwick about poetry etc.

I've asked a few of you this question privately, but I'd like to open it up to any who would like to comment -- Due to a colleague's sudden retirement at the end of last term, I've been asked to step in and teach a fall semester survey course in 19th-century British Literature (Romanticism through Modernism). If you have any favorite poem(s) etc. that you feel are absolutely not to be missed, I'd love to have your suggestions!

@kasstl1 @PoolsVB I do associate Persuasion more with the Long Eighteenth Century than with 19th C Romanticism though. You don’t want to do a Brontë? *teaches grandmother to suck eggs*

@PoolsVB I’m going to teach Persuasion as the novel, The Importance of Being Earnest as the drama, and The Speckled Band and A Christmas Carol as the short stories—which is to say that I want to make sure I haven’t missed any great poems. ☺️

@kasstl1 @PoolsVB I’m not the person to recommend Victorian poetry, but you need to set A.S. Byatt’s Possession as supplementary reading for extra credit…

@DreyfusJames @Waterstones And yet when I went in on publication day to buy the last @jk_rowling Strike and Ellacott book, they sneered at me and told me they hadn’t got around to unpacking it yet. Funny that.

Look at the absolute state of @Waterstones in Southampton. Their “LGBTQIA2S+” section. Promoting Q+ bollocks & very little else. Barring one or two publications, the rest are historically illiterate or plain fatuous. “The Queer Arab Glossary” anyone…? It’s of little wonder gay youth of today know absolutely zero of their own history if this junk is being peddled, front & centre…🙄

The last day of #StrikeTour25 is here and we are doing a classic, Margot’s Route! And next year we will have all the new #TheHallmarkedMan locations to visit!

@9Discordia9 @kasstl1 @jembloomfield I can only read her books with big gaps in between because each is such an intense portrait of the unravelling of a personality, and The Wych Elm is possibly the most devastating

@VineMissde @kasstl1 @jembloomfield The Witch Elm shook me like probably no other "crime" book ever did

On a recent rereading of Agatha Christie's 1930 Murder at the Vicarage, I was struck by how she introduces her famous detective Miss Marple for the first time and I've been meaning to ask @jembloomfield about it. I'm not sure what word I would use to describe Christie's approach -- reticent? muted? gradual? -- but Marple's nonchalant entrance, if it may even called an entrance, seems to me very different from the traditional way a fictional detective is first described. We meet Hercule Poirot, for instance, in much the same way that Conan Doyle ushers in Sherlock Holmes: the reader is prepared for a mixture of genius and oddity and his eccentricities in both regards are underscored. The narrator and reader, that is to say, are ordinary, but the detective is immediately perceived as unusual and set apart. But in Murder at the Vicarage, the Rev. Leonard Clement first mentions Marple as a part of a group of ladies in St. Mary Mead and we barely notice her! Her initial importance to the story is as a key witness. If Clement singles her out, at first it is merely for her nosiness, and only gradually does he (& the reader) grow to appreciate her shrewd insights and observations. No doubt some of this is a result of Christie's choice of the vicar as a somewhat unreliable narrator, but I can't think of another fictional detective who receives such a muted introduction as Miss Marple, and I wonder whether I have misread the story or whether @jembloomfield, @beatricegroves1, or other mystery fans may know of any?

@kasstl1 @9Discordia9 @jembloomfield Either! (Or The Wych Elm - a standalone.) The Searcher is her intriguing stab at the western, but set in the West of Ireland. In the Woods is deeply eerie and without a conventionally neat ending. The Wych Elm is a brilliantly multi-faceted twisty look at privilege and the self

@VineMissde @9Discordia9 @jembloomfield Thanks! Both you and @9Discordia9 have piqued my interest in Tana French. Which should I read first -- In the Woods or The Searcher?

@kasstl1 @9Discordia9 @jembloomfield French is a phenomenal writer! She nails plot, theme, character, and sense of place in the most lovely prose. One of the most literary writers in the genre

@9Discordia9 @jembloomfield That's interesting! I'm not familiar with her work.

A view of the election with something to offend everybody... Regardless of your politics, we're not getting out of this period of political neurosis until we hold the people on our side/team/etc. to higher standards of ethics and integrity. The Founders designed our government to be divided in order to force compromise and to find the middle ground between the extremes. In fact, our country thrives when both parties are healthy and strong. You should want the other political party to be as healthy, vigorous, and sane as possible. But that is not where we are. To the Republicans, you've once again chosen a man who is completely unfit to hold public office and who only tells the truth by accident because you think he sincerely cares about you. To speak frankly, like someone whispering to a friend at a party to tell him that he would do well to fix his fly, your party bears many of the hallmarks of a cult. Good luck; it won't end well. To the Democrats, you have a lousy candidate for the third time in a row and it's no use saying the Other Guy is deplorable though it may be true. The threat of DJT ought to have made your candidate selection process more earnest and involved, but your party leaders (incl. the VP) lied about the fact that the sitting President -- who by the way was elected 4 yrs ago to restore normality to the country not cater to The Crazy -- has long been unable to perform the duties of his office. Good luck; you'll need it. Want to get rid of "orange man"? Want to "drink liberal tears?" Then Stop. Listening. To. The. Catastrophizing. Yes, of course, elections matter. That's why I'm ranting and why I'm hoping for a divided government to come out of these elections. Held prisoner by their extreme elements, both parties tell normal citizens that the country is done for if they don't vote for their shitty candidate. They tell you the time for debate is over. That's BS. The Constitution was built for opposition not unity. We're supposed to reach compromise through rational argument. The people who say it's too late for that or who tell you that everyone on the other side is evil are shysters, frauds, or cranks. They profit from hate, not honest debate. We're a nation of 330 million people; we're not all going to fall in line and agree about everything. And that's ok. I think the only way out of this political hellscape is for both sides to hold their own representatives accountable when they don't live up to the principles of liberal democracy; otherwise, we not only bring out the worst in ourselves but in the other side as well (as we've seen for the last decade) -- and the country suffers. Everybody loses.

@jk_rowling @9Discordia9 @NABurkinshaw @Freerangescots What does it say about me that even though - like Strike - I am firmly House of Bollocks, I still scrolled quickly down to read Aquarius and Pisces (Feb 19 cusp)? 😂

Aries: your forthright nature, blunt speech and hot temper mean people are scared to tell you you smell funny. But you do. Thursday is a good time to buy a towel rail or a gecko. Lucky cheese: Brie. Taurus: people call you lazy, but if you really want something you're more than capable of whining listlessly from your bed until someone fetches it for you. Taureans in relationships should count themselves lucky. Your ruler, Venus, is a bitch. Gemini: intellectually curious and easily bored, you'll have to engage in slow, tedious and repetitive work this week, but stick with it, because when you're busy you've got less time to be an arsehole. Lucky dog: dachshund. Cancer: always sensitive and emotional, you'll feel especially weepy on Sunday, when Uranus moves into your opposing sign. Try and stop clinging to people like a bloated tick. Tuesday is a good day to find your backbone. Leo: this week's Jupiter transit means your unshakeable conviction that you're the most gorgeous and charismatic person in existence will reach new and nauseating heights. You are likeliest to suffer death by erotic auto-asphyxiation on Monday. Virgo: this weekend sees Saturn square to your ruler, Mercury, causing your irritable bowel syndrome to flare up. Correct someone's grammar to restore your usual state of twitchy self-satisfaction. Lucky fraction: ⅔. Libra: indecisive and superficial, you're currently toying with the idea of a new venture, but will ultimately decide to pass. Wise. You'd have been crap. A chance encounter will leave you with elbow burns and a well-deserved sense of self-loathing. Scorpio: Machiavellian, vengeful and twisted, you're at constant risk of tipping over into full-blown psychopathy. Get someone to handcuff you to a radiator through Saturday night's Pluto-Venus sextile unless you want to make your first kill. Sagittarius: your hedonistic tendencies, total lack of tact and this week's retrograde Mars make it likely you will be beaten into unconsciousness in a bar on Friday. Lucky fish: pilchard. Capricorn: venal and calculating, you'll enjoy embezzling cash/sabotaging an office colleague this week. Warning: Shirley in accounts knows what you're up to. Capitalise on the upcoming moon-Saturn conjunction to falsify your expense report. Aquarius: you see yourself as a quirky individualist, but in fact you're an unpopular oddball whose acquaintances turn off the lights and lie on the floor if they suspect you're outside. Sunday's auspiciously placed Jupiter offers a fleeting chance to make a friend, but you won't. Pisces: unfocused, unrealistic, unreliable: these are your better qualities. With ruler Neptune moving into Virgo, Wednesday will see you either dropping your stash in front of your parole officer or waking up to find yourself participating in a porn shoot. Lucky condiment: Piccalilli.

I've had a shitty couple of days but @jk_rowling has cheered me right up. Looking forward to the definition of Leo-on-the-cusp-of-Virgo.

‘Strike made the short journey on the Central line, exiting the Tube at Holborn and heading for Lincoln’s Inn. He then took up a position behind a tree in the gardens from which he could watch the neo-classical façade of Lavington Court Chambers, and waited.’ #StrikeTour24

@jk_rowling We have drunk all this (and more) in the Duke of York and we *still* can’t agree on what might happen (or even what we want to happen) in #thehallmarkedman… Give us a crumb, please! #StrikeTour24

Robin was right - definitely the best pasta in London! Thanks for a lovely dinner at Il Portico @JamesChiavarini and team! A great start to #StrikeTour24 🙌🙌

@kasstl1 Mission: Impossible, right?

By a weird and unplanned coincidence we’re watching a movie involving “Job 314” on 3/14 in the (wait for it…) 314 area code. 🤪

🦢Coming to St Michael's Mount today. 🦢 Please tweet a pic if you find me. Leave me there, take me home or move me to a new location (don't hide me up the cliffs or at a roadside tho - safety first!) #StrikeSwans #CormoranStrike #StMichaelsMount #TheSilkworm #RobertGalbraith

It’s been a while. A digital love letter to Aunt Joanie. #TroubledBlood #CormoranStrike #RobertGalbraith #BBCStrike #CBStrike #TomBurke @BronteFilmandTV @RGalbraith @jk_rowling #TheRunningGrave youtu.be/dKn_cjWroFA

@jk_rowling @RickValens1 And storytelling. There’s a lot of telling stories

@jk_rowling @RickValens1 I tell people to read Watership Down. ‘Rabbits?’ they say, unpersuaded. Well, yes, rabbits, but it’s actually about tyranny and leadership and courage and community and love and sacrifice.

"Elinor agreed to it all, for she did not think he deserved the compliment of rational opposition.” - Sense and Sensibility

@jk_rowling @lumos @ilporticolondon Bored of flicking though ‘Calorie-counted recipes to save you time and money’ trying to decide what to cook for dinner, I take a break to scroll through the @ilporticolondon menu. Oh. My. Word. *swoons in Italian*

James owns one of the best Italian restaurants in London. He hosted a dinner last year to raise funds for my charity @lumos's work in Ukraine, for which he's been targeted by trans activists ever since. The next bit's for Strike fans (see below the line) @ilporticolondon features in the next Strike novel, #TheRunningGrave (James didn't know this; it was supposed to be a surprise, but hey ho). Tweet me your most entertaining (or accurate, or insightful, or amusingly bonkers) predictions for what happens in #TheRunningGrave and I'll buy the author of the winning tweet dinner at @ilportico for themselves and three guests. I'll also pay for your travel if you're outside London. And you're allowed to buy all the most expensive stuff, including champagne (even though Strike doesn't like it.) Let the games begin. Deadline will be 10pm UK time.