Sting for Nolte - 20th July
20th July 2007
Guest: Tom Lister- writer of Sting For Nolte
Competion question: What is the title of Sting's autobiography?
Answer : Broken Music
Winner : Euan Ogilvie
Prize : Sting For Nolte T-Shirt
'Sting For Nolte' are going to be performing at The Gilded Balloon at the Edinburgh
Fringe Festival from the 1st to the 27th August. For more information log onto
www.stingfornolte.com
BOOKS
Catch-22 by Joseph Heller (courtesy of Wikipedia)
Catch-22 is a satirical, historical fiction novel by the American author Joseph Heller,
first published in 1961. The novel, set during the latter stages of the Second World War
from 1943 onwards, is frequently cited as one of the great literary works of the Twentieth
century.
The novel follows Captain John Yossarian, a U.S. Army Air Forces B-25 bombardier, and a
number of other characters. Most events occur while the airmen of the Fighting 256th (or
"two to the fighting eighth power") Squadron are based on the island of Pianosa, west of
Italy. Many events in the book are repeatedly described from differing points of view, so
the reader learns more about the event from each iteration.
Cheese- Willem Elsschot (Synopsis courtesy of Amazon.co.uk)
Cheese is a gentle, satirical fable of capitalism and wealth. A clerk in Antwerp suddenly
becomes the chief agent in Belgium and Luxembourg for this red-rinded Dutch delight and
is saddled with 370 cases containing ten thousand full-cream cheeses. But he has no idea
how to run a business, or how to sell his goods, and he doesn't even like cheese. Steeped
in the atmosphere of the 1930s, in a world full of smart operators and and failed
businessmen, Cheese gracefully incorporates the rigid class divisions of the time and a
man's obsession with status. It is as relevant in our age of Internet investors and
dot.com failures as it was when it was written.
From the Back Cover
A delicious satire about business, greed, ambition and cheese - Edam's great moment in
world literature.
Frans Laarmans is a humble shipping clerk. One day he is suddenly elevated to the
position of chief agent for a Dutch cheese company, with responsibility for Belgium and
the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg. Thrilled at the change in his status, he goes on leave and
sets up an office at home. He takes delivery of ten thousand full-cream Edams.
But running a business is not as straightforward as he thought. As the bulk of the twenty
tons of cheese sits in storage, crates and crates of it, it starts to haunt him. And
when his employer, the brusque Mr Hornstra, wires him to say he is coming to Antwerp to
settle the first accounts, Laarmans begins to panic...
Cheese is a comic classic in Holland and Belgium - the equivalent of Three Men In A Boat
or Diary Of A Nobody. It is a delightful period piece, but also timeless in its
skewering of the pretensions and pomposity of businessmen, as relevant in an age of
dot.com failures as it was when it was written. --This text refers to an out of print or
unavailable edition of this title.
Blow to the Heart- Marcel Theroux
Published by Faber and Faber
The violent death of Daisy's husband leaves her a widow at thirty-two, obliterating every
thing she has lived for. As she struggles to build a new life, a chance encounter with
her husband's killer becomes the starting point of a journey into obsessive hatred.
To win a copy of 'A blow to the Heart' by Marcel Theroux, tune in to next week's Book
Club. My guest next week is Ann Hamilton- American Writer and member of the reader's
group Book Talk.
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