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Downloaded Obama Books

Martin Kelly's website has reminded me of how many actual books the internet contains. I have, from time to time, taken advantage of the Gutenberg project to download whole books which are now out of print. This venture, in which an American author has written an intellectual analysis of Barack Obama from a conservative point of view promises to be interesting. I feel slightly inhibited by the inadequacy of my printer, but otherwise quite keen on the idea of downloading the whole thing. You may wish to have a look too.

In the longer run, the idea of portable electronic devices like the kindle with which one can take a whole library on a train--in London, a metal box where people go to read, as in the poem--leaves me in two minds. I like old paperbacks. Neil Clark's recommendation of Cyril Hare's books, for instance, caused me to trawl second-hand bookshops for Francis Pettigrew and Inspector Mallet mysteries. I found the old Penguin green paperback editions, designed to slip into a jacket pocket, and loved them. I also recommend Hare's stories thoroughly.

Somehow, I can't imagine giving all that up for some piece of metaphysical volcanic slate linked to the interweb. Nor can I imagine minimalist libraries with strips of electronic paper at the desks as wholly enticing. Can you? I'm open to persuasion.

The picture on this post is another Botticelli of St Austine in the cell. You can find it here.

Comments

Anonymous said…
Intimidatingly well-written for such a casual medium but that's why it is so interesting. I share your Irish roots and also have a son studying at Oxford. He also has a big orange head. Greeting to you from Oz.
6:19 am
Martin Meenagh said…
I'm flattered--thank you. I hope that your son is well and not experiencing 'fifth week blues' at the minute. I'm glad of the Oz greeting too, because I've been carting around Robert Hughes' memoir, 'Things I didn't know' for the past week or so. You'll also have noticed quite a few Australian posts dotted around the blog, 'specially when I get sentimental and put up my favourite 'Advance Australia Fair' video. I apologise for any offence!

All the best, in any event.
8:05 am
Anonymous said…
Fifth year blues maybe. He's a medical student. 'Advance Australia Fair'is an absolute horror so no offence taken. God save the Queen is worse. How do you feel about 'Land of Hope and Glory'?
5:20 am
Martin Meenagh said…
I don't think the tune to God save the Queen is necessarily bad, though the words and brokebacked freedom they imply are. Beethoven's recast of the melody in the Diabelli Variations, or America's 'My Country 'Tis of Thee' turn the tune to advantage, I think.
I have a taste for sentimental schmaltz--collections of flags and anthems and so forth.

The rendition of Advance Australia Fair at the Sydney Olympics reminds me of a friend's flat, and of her, which if truth be told is probably why I like it.

I also have a taste for Haydn, so the Kaiserlied, and all its sad, strained history as 'Deutschland Uber Alles' is one I'd mention in any anthem discussion. The Hatikvah and the Irish soldiers' Song too; perhaps what I'm really saying is that I have some late Victorian or Edwadian taste for schmaltz and overladen words. If I'd been Italian it would have been opera!

Very good luck to your son. Medicine is even more of a schlep than barristering when it comes to the hoops people have to jump (understandably) to get to the certificate of completion--but for obvious reasons!

All the very best,

Martin
12:07 pm
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