The Transit of Venus by Shirley Hazzard is included on The 1,000 Novels Everyone Must Read list, albeit it does not make it on my favorite books’ compilation - 8 out of 10

 

The Transit of Venus by Shirley Hazzard is included on The 1,000 Novels Everyone Must Read list, albeit it does not make it on my favorite books’ compilation

 

8 out of 10

 

In a way, it is a strange coincidence – I do not favor conspiracy theories, the Hand of God notions, or a sign that something is up, or down with juxtaposing names, elements – that I have started The Delta of Venus https://realinibarzoi.blogspot.com/2024/10/the-model-and-other-stories-aka-by.html and then The Transit of Venus

 

Otherwise, they are both on the same, aforementioned list, and it could just be that I favored The Transit, after starting The Delta – the latter is still in processing stage, I have posted a couple of notes, because it is divided in stories, and the next one will be Models and Artists, but I have to take the Delta slowly

It is so erotic, arousing, I wonder how the young ones absorb those descriptions, graphic, detailed, of oral, anal, all kinds of sex, in models and Artists we meet a hermaphrodite, lesbian couple, nymphomaniac, all sorts of genitalia and bodies – by the way, Orange Jesus was talking about ten minutes with…

 

The penis of a golfer as topic, I mean the likely future leader of the free world – The Economist has just published data that show him with 54% chances, moving ahead of Kamala Harris for the first time since August – is showing clear signs of dementia, on top of the Narcissistic Personality Disorder he has always manifested

But I am doing the ‘weave’, what the Orange Felon calls his rambling from one subject off to the wild, then another silly thing, dancing – he was just dancing and asking for songs at a recent Town Hall event, my God, if you see this in a comedy, you would not believe the character could be so damn stupid and disgusting

 

Let us squeeze in something about The Transit of Venus - Shirley Hazzard worked in British intelligence and her book was called ‘An almost perfect novel...Miss Hazzard writes ✍️ as well as Stendhal’ and this is the conclusion of none other than the New York Times, the you have ‘Iridescent’ and this is another reputable publication, The WaPo aka Washington Post and to end with ‘Full and satisfying’ The Los Angeles Times

Alas, Schopenhauer is to be introduced here, with his imperative – actually, a Categorical Imperative for this reader, he said the only way to read good books is to avoid the bad ones, and The Transit of Venus is not bad, hey, it is iridescent and like written by Stendhal (which means the plan to read again Le Rouge Et Le Noir https://realini.blogspot.com/2017/05/le-rouge-et-le-noir-aka-red-and-black.html is out in a puff of smoke)

 

Nevertheless, it is not mesmerizing for me, which brings me to Protagoras – ‘man is the measure of all things, of those that they are, that they are, and of those that are not, that they are not’, said millennia ago, but true in that it does not matter if experts say Ulysses is the best book ever, if you cannot enjoy it, too bad

Then there is the question of time and what Seneca has said about it https://realini.blogspot.com/2023/06/despre-viata-fericita-aka-on-happy-life.html essentially, we have enough time, if we do not waste it, and however full and satisfying The Transit of Venus is for the LA Times, it does not do for yours truly

 

To use the comparison with tuning in to a radio station, I started the program, it was promising, I enjoyed the first few pages, but then I lost the transmission, it got blurred, it was on and off, just like in the communist days, with Radio Free Europe and Voice of America, which were jammed by the Ceausescu regime

Which brings me to my participation in the 1989 Revolution http://realini.blogspot.com/2022/03/realini-in-newsweek-participant-in.html that took down one of the most horrible tyrants in history, like Kim of North Korea, or Orange Jesus from next year, when his cohorts of morons will anoint him king, the Orange Chosen goddamn it

 

To end with, these are the lines I wrote aside, while trying to read The Transit of Venus: ‘Ted Tica was to work with Professor Sefton Thrale…He is received by his wife, Charmian Thale, he is wet, has an orange suitcase…young woman is a wonder, at the start. Eminent, elderly, ailing scientist helped write opinion on new site for telescope. Tuve was young and poor and had highest references. Grace Bell appears beautiful to him.

She has a good dress from son of the household, to whom Grace was engaged, his name is Christian. We have two sisters from, Australia, one laughed with gravity. Caro is the other sister waiting for a government job in London for now, they stay with the old astronomer. Edmund Tice will take his own life, and we are told quite soon

 

Sefton Thrale said you owe your existence to astronomy, The Transit of Venus, the name comes from just that, the passage of the planet -James Cook apparently wanted to observe Venus as it crossed the face of the sun on 3rd June 1769 and to determine distance of earth 🌎 from the sun🌞 Caro established as a child of Venus.

Disagreement is felt in the house, Ted said there is no site whatever in England for this kind of telescope. There isn't the visibility. They all know it. But for politics and gain, and out of littleness will have it here. There are good sites in the south of Europe. Great Expectations is mentioned how the boy helps the escaped convict, but out of fear, in that instance, it us who remembered it as compassion. Ted helped a German in the war, gave him a sandwich, tea and pullover. German had escaped. It would be discovered he was a scientist with missiles installation and Ted helped him get away then rocket raids. Zen Master story -he now makes American weapons

https://realini.blogspot.com/2017/02/contempt-aka-le-mepris-by-alberto.html

 

Now for my standard closing of the note with a question, and invitation – maybe you have a good idea on how we could make more than a million dollars with this http://realini.blogspot.com/2022/02/unique-in-world.html?q=unique+in+the+world   – as it is, this is a unique technique, which we could promote, sell, open the Oscars show with or something and then make lots of money together, if you have the how, I have the product, I just do not know how to get the befits from it, other than the exercise per se

 

 There is also the small matter of working for AT&T – this huge company asked me to be its Representative for Romania and Bulgaria, on the Calling Card side, which meant sailing into the Black Sea wo meet the US Navy ships, travelling to Sofia, a lot of activity, using my mother’s two bedrooms flat as office and warehouse, all for the grand total of $250, raised after a lot of persuasion to the staggering $400…with retirement ahead, there are no benefits, nothing…it is a longer story, but if you can help get the mastodont to pay some dues, or have an idea how it can happen, let me know

 

As for my role in the Revolution that killed Ceausescu, a smaller Mao, there it is http://realini.blogspot.com/2022/03/realini-in-newsweek-participant-in.html

 

Some favorite quotes from To The Hermitage and other works

 

‘Fiction is infinitely preferable to real life...As long as you avoid the books of Kafka or Beckett, the everlasting plot of fiction has fewer futile experiences than the careless plot of reality...Fiction's people are fuller, deeper, cleverer, more moving than those in real life…Its actions are more intricate, illuminating, noble, profound…There are many more dramas, climaxes, romantic fulfillment, twists, turns, gratified resolutions…Unlike reality, all of this you can experience without leaving the house or even getting out of bed…What's more, books are a form of intelligent human greatness, as stories are a higher order of sense…As random life is to destiny, so stories are to great authors, who provided us with some of the highest pleasures and the most wonderful mystifications we can find…Few stories are greater than Anna Karenina, that wise epic by an often foolish author…’

 

‚Parturiunt montes, nascetur ridiculus mus’

 

“From Monty Python - The Meaning of Life...Well, it's nothing very special...Try and be nice to people, avoid eating fat, read a good book every now and then, get some walking in, and try and live together in peace and harmony with people of all creeds and nations.”