Unthinkable Wings

In non-plague news, today I learned that Val McDiarmid was inspired by childhood reading of the Chalet School:

in one of the more bizarre examples of literature influencing life I was guided by the Chalet School books, which I loved. It is through these that I realised that being a writer was actually a job. And all these girls went on to higher education at either the Sorbonne, the Kensington school of Needlework, or Oxford.

In the comments of this mildly satirical piece on how to write book recommendation lists, the author, James Nicholls, wonders if anyone would be interested in his "Top Ten Books That Are By Any Objective Standard Terrible That James Nevertheless Rereads."

Which got me wondering what I reread that falls into that capacity... but also wondering whether, if a book can keep you coming back to it, is it really terrible across the board, or is it merely mostly terrible, yet with one redeeming feature (which, admittedly, you may be virtually the only person left alive who still values it)?

I've got a suspicion I might, ten or twenty years down the line, end up placing "A Long Way to a Small Angry Planet" in that category - I certainly think it's going to end up looking like a massive period piece, unless of course civilisation does break down entirely - but I do enjoy it very much, even though I'm not quite convinced it's actually a good book...

Has something happened to LJ? I clicked to a user profile (it looked like a legit link) on a fan works rec post, and it took me to a porn site (in the sense of a site where you can buy videos of nude women, not in the sense of fan works).

An article, which might be of interest to some readers, on the links between Anglo-Catholicism, Theosophy, and the Occult.

In Potter related news (is it really twenty years? And how many friends would I not have made were it not for Potter?), Stephen Bush of the New Staggers has done a director's commentary of his ancient Harry Potter fic, and it's one of the funniest things I've read in ages.

(He had an LJ aged 12? Precocious or what?)

There is a pious Catholic out there who runs a blog (www.happysaints.com) dedicated to chibi-ish pictures of the saints (I think the idea is that they're for use in catechesis with children, but they're a bit too sugary for my taste).

Today's saint of the day is S. Dominic Savio, but he appears to be being played by the Eleventh Doctor...

This 1894 general knowledge paper, from Trinity College Glenalmond, is rather fun. It's not the King Williams Quiz - though you can see how the KWQ grew out of that sort of thing - but I found it quite diverting (and very tough, in places!) Feel free to have a crack at it!

I've just discovered that the Guardian is running a very interesting series of blog posts by Juliet Jacques, a transwoman, on her journey through transition, a transgender journey.

The comments section are actually much better than is generally the case on CiF - there are some eejits (though it seems, for once, to be being fairly rigorously modded), but in general the standard is pretty high and there are more trans* people sharing their experiences.

... anyone who knows Oxford, whether in real life or in books. Or those who enjoy seeing images of the past. Or young men in well cut trousers falling out of punts.

The British Council brings us an archive film on Oxford, from 1941, though it reflects a pre-war world.

Lots of lingering shots of Oxford. And, for some reason, topless economists....

ETA: the other odd thing about that film is that I keep thinking I recognise people in it. Very peculiar!

Other notable figures with an enthusiasm for Machen have included Brocard Sewell, Barry Humphries, Stewart Lee and Rowan Williams, Archbishop of Canterbury. Wikipedia: Arthur Machen.