September 25 round up
The big news personally this month is that Maren and I got married. It was a lovely, small wedding with some friends and my daughter here in Cardiff. It was second time around for both of us, and there’s something about that which means you get to carve the occasion you want, freed from expectations or norms. There’s probably a life lesson there. We then went off to Crete for a fabulous honeymoon, so just getting back to normal life now. It feels a bit odd to be celebrating ourselves while all of _this_ is going on, but hey, people got married during the Blitz. Life always goes on, and we had cake.
Books
Because we were in Crete, I read Margalit Fox’s The Riddle of the Labyrinth. It details the history of decoding the Linear B script found at Knossos. This is largely credited to Michael Ventris, but Fox brings to light the largely forgotten efforts of Alice Kober. She divides the book into thirds, focusing on Arthur Evans, who excavated at Knoss, and attempted the first decryption, Kober who devised a method and made significant breakthroughs, and Ventris who finally cracked it. It’s an intriguing account on its own, but also derives some historical justice for Kober. Fox is remarkably fair-handed, even to the quite awful Evans (more on his approach in a later post), and while some men in the account rather mistreated Kober, there were also plenty of men who supported and championed her. The sad part of the tale is not there is really one male villain who undermined her role, but rather the whole systemic weight of patriarchy and wealth.
I’ve already posted about Andrea Lange’s Meet Me by the Fountain: An Inside History of the Mall, which details the architecture and social impact of shopping malls in the US. I thought it was fascinating to consider the impact on cities and the social engineering involved in malls, and also the possibilities of repurposing them. Another thought-provoking read (even if I didn’t necessarily agree with all the conclusions and some of his application of psychology was a bit suspect) was Drunk: How We Sipped, Danced, and Stumbled Our Way to Civilization, which argues that alcohol in particular is not some evolutionary hangover (ahem) but rather a crucial part of social function. As for fiction reads this month, it’s mainly been holiday fair, but if you want to feel good and hopeful about the world then David Nicholls’ You Are Here was a joy.
Vinyl
I seem to, unintentionally, had a grumpy old man month on vinyl (although not as grumpy as Van Morrison). I picked up the February release from Bonnie Prince Billy (Will Oldham), The Purple Bird. Often a troubadour on the darker side of things, this is more uplifting fair from Oldham, with a Nashville twang filtered through his indie folk style. Sheffield grumpy man, Richard Hawley had his classic Coles Corner reissued to mark the 20th anniversary (how does 20 years go so quickly?). It’s a timeless album in that it harked back to classic crooners, with yearning, weary vocals and wry lyrics.
The best album I bought this month is Cass McCombs’ Live Interior Oak. I hadn’t really kept tabs on McCombs since his debut album A, back in 2003, but bought this after reading a favourable review. This double album is a real treat, with ballads, uptempo rockers and acoustic skiffle numbers, it’s an artist at ease with their place and talent.
