I loved this! Neville looks at the emerging trends of the COVID pandemic as they appeared in 2020 via the lens of Jungian psychology mediated by the Ancient Greek pantheon. His insights are fascinating, and his predictions and cautionings largely accurate, which is unfortunate given the post-pandemic exacerbation of authoritarianism.
It's interesting to be reminded of the strangeness of the period, and of the prevailing hopes and fears. 5⭐

"The COVID19 crisis seems to be demanding what is conventionally referred to as 'strong leadership'. However we may reasonably be concerned that it is also contributing to a phenomenon which is already manifest - a global inflation of the Zeus archetype, observed in the deterioration of democracy and the increasing power of people described by Noam Chomsky as "sociopathic buffoons"."

"If we take the lead from archetypal psychology, the Greek pantheon can provide us with a language for talking about a wide range of distinct philosophies, value systems, energies, feeling states, habits of behaviour and political ideologies. It enables us to avoid accepting a single perspective on the climate crisis or the COVID19 crisis and our psychological response to them as representing the whole truth about these phenomena. ⬇️

This quarter's Person-Centered & Experiential Psychotherapies journal is a tribute edition to Australian psychologist-therapist Bernie Neville, who died in 2021. I haven't come across his work before, but it sounds interesting as he blends the Jungian archetypes of the Ancient Greek gods with the person-centred psychology of Carl Rogers.
He wrote the tagged book in 2020, his perspective on how these processes were playing out during the pandemic.

Is being trapped under a cat sufficient reason for calling emergency services? #CatsOfLitsy #Caturday
Luckily, Skye has trapped me with the tagged book, which I'm really enjoying. Cristoff merges travelog with her literary perspective on the lives of the ordinary people she meets, with vignettes of Patagonian history, relating these to the books she's reading.
Hearing of the mass murders of immigrant Arab traders in the 1900s by bandits who ⬇️

"My father was born in the middle of Patagonia, but everybody around him spoke Bulgarian."

#FirstLineFridays @ShyBookOwl

Next up, "False Calm" by María Sonia Cristoff, the title of which has me on edge! ? It's suggestive of emotional undertow and brittle tension.

It's a travelogue \ reportage \ revisiting of her Patagonian homeland, specifically seeking out the less populous, less thriving, more isolated and ailing towns.

Adjectives from the blurbs included: magical, intimate, humane, bold, beautiful, artful, atmospheric. I hope it lives up to expectations ?

It is unreasonable of me to rate this 5⭐, and yet this is where we find ourselves! 🧐
Of the 144 pages, about 35 contain Tolkien's words, but they are interesting in being post-apocalyptic science fiction! Set hundreds of years in the future following an environmental catastrophe, archeologists/philologists draw comically inaccurate conclusions about mid-20th century Oxford based on fragmentary documents relating to the consumerist worship of ⬇️

?Lovely Tolkien-painted endpapers at the front of the book, which continues on the back endpapers. It's a watercolour of Oxford and surrounding countryside, not produced specifically for "The Bovadium Fragments", but in keeping with it, according to the publisher's note. Also, the book ribbon is almost exactly the perfect colour green ? There are other illustrations by Tolkien, some not previously published, also with contemporary ⬇️

After the dark vibes from my last few books, my next is a bit of whimsy from under Professor Tolkien's bed, about town planning, urban sprawl, mechanisation, and the sacrifice of human living spaces to the Almighty Automobile 🙇‍♂️👑🚘👑🙇‍♂️

This is the composite image of the cover art by JaeHoon Choi for the eight books in the Korean horror series, Lovecraft Reanimated, three of which have been translated into English, and I hope more of them will be despite a bit of unevenness in the current offerings.
The top right cover with the image of an Elder Thing from HPL's "At the Mountains of Madness" looks especially intriguing!

Seoyoung Yi's Lovecraftian novella is intense, merging body horror with patriarchal, sexist attitudes towards women's bodily functions and, possibly with a patriarchal, sexist reaction, I was put off my breakfast yoghurt! This one could have been called "The Yeast from Yuggoth"!
Despite the gross-out factor that doesn't normally appeal to me, I enjoyed (if that's the right word) this entry in the Lovecraft Reanimated series: a stench-filled 4?

This is my third in the Lovecraft Reanimated series, another text-based story rather than a graphic novel, and I'm hoping it's as good as "Alien Gods" after the rather disappointing "The Call of the Friend"?
There are eight of these books in the original Korean series, and the cover art by Choi, who drew TCotF, is excellent, regardless of my view of his narrative skills in his own offering.
Cover gallery link in comments... ?️

I read this a couple of days ago and had to let it rest a bit to re-read it and see if it struck me any differently.
I was not unpleasantly surprised upon opening it to find it is a manhwa rather than a text story, and there are some nice set-piece illustrations in it, particularly Choi's representation of the cult statue of Cthulhu. However, the story itself is almost opaque and I couldn't clearly understand what Choi is trying to suggest ⬇️

Written in 1967 at the height of the Vietnam War, this starts out as good-guy-vs-evil-robot Heinleinian military sci-fi, but through flashbacks we quickly see that the human MC is a symbol for US imperialist aggression, & the "good guy" is as much a Killing Thing as the robot, which is reacting (albeit with overwhelming violence) to threats made to its existence.
There's a general styled on Curtis "bomb them back into the Stone Age" LeMay, who ⬇️

"There was the desert, glittering white sand that shifted like talcum when touched, cottony white sky, a quarter of it glaring with the white heat of the sun."

#FirstLineFridays @shybookowl

Although it's not a comedy or satire, this is hitting the same anti-militarisation vibe for the Vietnam War that Dr. Strangelove hit for the nuclear arms race and Mutually Assured Destruction. I'm about ⅓ through and really enjoying it so far.

@TieDyeDude I apologise, Andrew, for always being a day late for #TuesdayTunes
This week, though, I hadn't heard/seen this dub poetry performance by Benjamin Zephaniah until today, so hopefully on this occasion I'm excused 🙂‍↕️
It's called Big Brother and is about the surveillance society, and though recorded in the '90s is still relevant 👁️‍🗨️
▶️ https://youtu.be/4JYYZD9REck?si=Ua3dM-QUNgVHlnmq

A very quick read (as long as you don't start watching videos of Benjamin's performances and interviews as you go along! But, also, you should do that, too) at 27 pages, but gives an insight into the development of the poet's class and race consciousness, and why he's an Anarchist (spoiler alert: don't read the zine title! 😉).
I'm somewhat mortified at never having read any of his books, just an awareness of him from TV, which I need to rectify.

"I'd like there to be a revolution, but everybody's too busy shopping."

The last essay in this little book of articles about Benjamin's anarchist beliefs is a transcript from an interview he did with journalist Kishnan Guru-Murthy. This 4 minute video clip from the full 45 minute conversation covers most of what's in this section of the book: https://youtu.be/MxTg1yseV-s?si=TSu8nuZiCBrRpwDK

"If you need a book, you need a book. And it doesn't matter what you need it for; to pass an exam, to learn to read, or to keep your mind exercised, they are all important to you, at that time, when you need a book."

Yeah, this☝️on a t-shirt ? ?

“Fuck power, and let's just take care of each other.” ✌️🫂✌️

I've been wanting to re-read the Alice books for a while, and perhaps doing this new jigsaw will be the impetus I need! 🐰🧩

What I intend to be my last #BookHaul 📚 of October consists of two more volumes in Honford Star press's Lovecraft Reanimated series of Korean authors' takes on the Cthulhu Mythos 🐙, and a travel memoir by an Argentinian writer visiting Patagonian ghost towns 👻 🏚️

This is a graphic history focusing on the origins of the British police as protectors of capitalist interests (the first recognisable police organisation being set up in docks to protect cargo being scavenged by poor workers), and the long history of undercover police as agents provocateurs to infiltrate, radicalise and demonise anti-establishment movements.
A little disjointed at times, but nonetheless an interesting insight into social control.

Just when you think the world is going to hell in a handcart, what should arrive to cheer you up but Anarchist #BookMail 😁🏴 Obviously, the world is still in that handcart, but at least I've got something for the journey!
• Spycops is about the scandal of that name, that proves Britain is a surveillance society with secret police.
• Warp and Weft is hefty study of how wellbeing is affected by oppressive social systems.
⬇️

Ok, here's hoping this classic sci-fi novel suits better than my last book, which I bailed on.

Man versus revenge-filled robot ??? As it's Kate Wilhelm, I expect there to be some nuance and underlying message, rather than just Space Opera "pew-pew" ??

Well, I previously mentioned I was struggling with the author's overblown language, which was a distraction from the genuinely interesting stories, and I thought I'd look at reviews to see what others had made of the book to see if it's worth me continuing. The reviews for *this* book are ok, but I saw reviews for another commenting on the author's transphobic, terfy views, and that was the clincher for me to bail.
⬇️

"Once I was young and pretty like her. My heart burning so brightly in my chest I could have scorched cities with it; my yearning so vast and deep it could have bottomed out the world."

I'm liking the stories in terms of subject and meaning, but, oh! The language is overblown, filling the Mariana Trench of my soul to bursting, drenching the hinterlands of my psyche with emotional waves of liquid fire!! ?
I might have to bail if this goes on! ?

While "inspired by Lovecraft" is a prominent selling point for this Korean horror novella, and was the reason for me picking it up, it simply borrows a few weird horror tropes - e.g., the Old Dark House, cursed by being built on a graveyard, resulting in the uncanny deaths of its occupants; a suggestion of the influence of Nyarlathotep - while remaining firmly rooted in its Korean-ness: it's suggested that part of the curse of the house is ⬇️

"To me, becoming a crazy woman was a fear worse than death."

#FirstLineFridays @ShyBookOwl

"From the deep forests of Russia and eastern Europe come stories of an old witch."

#FirstLineFridays @ShyBookOwl

While I'm not an Austen fan myself (I know! Please don't set the hounds on me!), #PemberLittens may be interested to know that the BBC is releasing weekly episodes of P&P read by Julie Andrews:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/brand/p0m4yp43?partner=uk.co.bbc&origin=share-mobil...

#BookHaul
While I was in Chester, I popped into Waterstones and got the top two books, then found a lovely little indie, Books on the Walls, where I got the bottom two.
On Agoraphobia: the author's bibliotherapy led him to discover that the literary world is full of agoraphobics, and this book is about them 😰
Medusa: A 1920s weird novel set at sea 🦑
Alien Gods: Only 97 pages, but they are translations of Korean reimaginings of H.P. Lovecraft ⬇️

My son was up in Chester on a training course today, and as we arranged to meet for tea, I took the opportunity of visiting Bartholmey beforehand, as it's a setting in Garner's "Red Shift", which I read earlier this week.
St. Bertoline's church was the scene of a massacre perpetrated by Royalists in the Civil War, which is a key scene in the novel, and the effigies that 20th century MCs Tom and Jan have to persuade the rector to show them are ⬇️

Next up, feminist short stories retelling European mythical and fairy tales, focusing on shapeshifting women, written by psychologist/mythographer Sharon Blackie.
I have high hopes for this 🤞🏻🔥🦊🐺🔥

The subtitle of "Mad World" is "The Politics of Mental Health", and it looks at the socio-political causes of mental and emotional distress through an anti-capitalist lens.
While accepting that suffering and distress are common human experiences that will happen under any social system, Micha (first names seem right, somehow) reflects upon how these experiences are frequently generated, and overwhelmingly exacerbated, under capitalism.
⬇️

I frequently return to Gomez, and it's hard to pick a standout track as they're all terrific (👴) IMHO, but this track is the one that was playing when I remembered it was time for #TuesdayTunes @TieDyeDude
🎵 Rhythm and Blues Alibi
👨‍🎤 Gomez
💿 Liquid Skin
▶️ https://youtu.be/gZIhD-dbXQM?si=vhv-YUmDmo-fR0XS

"Autonomy is central to the spirit of 'self-diagnosis', a process by which people self-identify with diagnostic terminology without (or in spite of) professional opinion. Self-diagnosis works on the principle that state, medical or psychiatric authority is not a precursor to understanding ourselves. Self-diagnosis may allow us to avoid the state violence that can result from an 'official' diagnosis."

Author pic.

"We often discuss diagnosis as an adjective (something we are) or a noun (something we have), when in actuality, diagnosis is a verb - a process by which doctors look at a set of attributes (or 'symptoms'), and choose a lens through which to gaze at us."

"Disability is not always clear cut or straightforward - it can be invisible, elusive, nuanced, leaky, transient or in flux. It is worth thinking critically about these ambiguities, and acknowledging that the resultant 'imposter syndrome' is a part of the disabled experience for a significant number of people. Many of us are worried that we don't 'count', but that is no reason to shut ourselves off from the movement entirely."

"Some asylums in the US [listed] arbitrary and politically laden reasons for incarceration like 'immoral life', 'politics' and 'novel reading'."
Damn! I'd be in trouble on all three counts! ?

Next up, a look at the social causes of impaired mental wellbeing, looking at the roles of capitalism, race, disability, and, I imagine, other issues, in creating environments that literally drive us mad.

Where to start with a book like this? It's been said of Garner's work that it's complex, not complicated, and that seems fair.
There's a simplicity in presenting much of the story as dialogue, but as the time periods of the present day, 17th and 2nd centuries overlap and intertwine, there's more going on than is immediately apparent.
I picked this up in the Children's section, but this is far from suitable for a child, in terms of the interplay ⬇️

Yesterday, I picked up this 1958 edition of stories by Nikolai Leskov. It was published in Moscow, USSR by the Foreign Languages Publishing House, and has an invitation at the back to write with feedback on the book, which I am 100% choosing to believe was a recruitment and communication channel for Soviet spies in the West during the Cold War! 🕵🏻‍♀️⚒️
The dust jacket is a bit worn, but to be expected having been packed into a valise and ⬇️

I had a major flashback to being 8 years old when I saw this 1972 edition of the Collins National Encyclopedia in a second hand bookshop today!
Flicking thorough, I recognised the line illustrations and even some of the entries! I spent hours reading this book, memorising facts and trivia - it's why I was so popular in school! 🫠 🤓
But it's the image of Ed White's spacewalk and the specific shade of blue on the cover that really hit me 💙😊

Next up, Alan Garner's Red Shift: a time-slipping tale of generational trauma set in his native Cheshire, from the present day (as it was in 1973), to the English Civil War period, to Roman-occupied Britain.
Garner's love of astronomy is embedded in the title, and the opening dialogue about the relativistic motions of the planet, solar system, galaxy and local galactic cluster sets the scene for the permeability of space-time 🌌
#BookmarkMatching

Professor Dallerhyde spends his afternoons outside the London Zoo cage of a pair of Hackenfeller's Apes, Percy and Edwina, frustrated in his attempts to study their mating habits by Percy's dolorous indifference to his companion. Then Kendrick arrives, informing Dallerhyde that Percy has been requisitioned for a one-way experimental trip on a space rocket, and the Professor's morals and sentimentality mix to formulate an escape plan... 4🐒
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"Radiant and full-leafed, the Park was alive with the murmuring vibration of the species which made it its preserve."

#FirstLineFridays @shybookowl

I like the way the novel starts with a zoologist's-eye-view of creatures cavorting and disporting themselves in their natural environment, the identity of the animals shortly disclosed when it is revealed that some of them are playing cricket ?

"He enjoyed the sunshine on his face and the patterns of the white dust at his feet. The persistence of the aeroplane's noise, however, reminded him of an uneasiness in himself. Uneasiness seemed to be the background of all ruminations belonging to the twentieth century, just as all its landscapes were presided over, somewhere in the distance, by an aeroplane." ☀️✈️?️

"Once we acknowledge sentiment in other animals, we are bound to acknowledge what follows: their right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness."
- Brigid Brophy

[Quotation not necessarily from the tagged book ?]

A 1953 satire about animal rights. The blurb says that Brophy's 1965 manifesto, "The Rights of Animals," kick-started the modern animal rights movement, so she has good credentials. Her other biographical details say she also campaigned for prison reform, gay rights, pacifism, humanism and vegetarianism, so I'm expecting to find "Hackenfeller's Ape" hitting my marks ??