Reading 2024: Money from Holme by Michael Innes

Some people do the Wordle puzzle to keep their minds agile. The writer known as both J.I.M Stewart and Michael Innes seems to have written novels with the same end in mind. He was astonishingly prolific. 

Money from Holme is set in the art world of London. It is only 171 pages long. Those pages contain a cleverly plotted tale about an unprepossessing man who thinks he can take advantage of an artist but ends up in a farce. As the story treats the politics of a fictitious African country as risible - 

"First, there was a Fascist revulsion. Then there was a Communist revulsion. And after that there was the revulsion of the Moderate Democrats. That was the worst"

- it probably wouldn't be allowed to be published now. Additionally, much fun is had with the muddled English of a London gallery owner of probably Central European origin, which is a racism of sorts, I suppose, if you're in the market for taking offence at racism. 

The novel is frivolous and amusing and contains a reference to those "rotten chaps in Whitehall" and so I enjoyed it. It is definitely not a must-read for the improvement of one's soul but it may give some people an hour or two of mild pleasure. 

Words and Phrases, an Occasional Series

My husband tells me that he has discovered the most dominant element of my personality - namely, I don't like change. As he has had the dubious privilege of spending his life with me pretty much continuously since the day of Brezhnev's death - also known as the day we first met - I think he probably has as good a perspective on the topic as anyone. This dislike of change - if I accept it exists (and actually I do) - may explain why I get het up about new bits of language that suddenly appear and begin infesting every journalistic piece I read.

Which brings me to today's gripe - a new (at least to me) coinage that makes me feel queasy each time I see it:

"meet cute".

It's round the wrong way, it makes no sense, it is maddening. Maybe only because it's new? I don't know. I just think it's disgusting.

All the Fun of the Fair

I have a huge talent for time wasting and one of my favourite methods of doing so is looking at auction catalogues. In that context I browsed through this one yesterday and was struck by the exuberance of the objects. I can't think where I would put a fairground horse but I have the idea that glimpsing one around the place would always be cheering - even though I am fully aware that no actual horse ever has their legs in that position when galloping.

  

I love the use of the word "important" in auctioneers' catalogues - to whom? In which circles?

New Club

I just listened to this long interview between Louis Theroux and Nick Cave. I don't listen to contemporary music so I have little idea about Cave's work in that area. However, I am always stimulated by the interviews with Cave that I've read or listened to, and this one is no exception. Among the topics covered are: drug addiction - surprising insights there; Kylie Minogue - as radiant and oddly brave as I've always hoped she might be; and Cave's churchgoing.

This last is the thing that especially caught my attention. Cave admits that he goes to church very regularly, but he goes out of his way to emphasise that he is not a Christian, even though he also explains how very significant going to church is for him.

This dabbling on the edge of faith is becoming more and more common. The two other examples that spring to mind immediately are Louise Perry and Tom Holland. Jordan Peterson is hovering somewhere in the same "faith adjacent" area, I gather. Douglas Murray, as an ex choir scholar, is presumably steeped in the Christian faith and has said he cherishes Christianity, describing himself as a Christian atheist. Ayaan Hirshi Ali has even come out of the closet and declared herself Christian, but in a rather equivocating kind of way, so that I feel she also is still really a member of this new club of teeterers.

I suppose they are all embarassed to make any further leap, because to say you are a Christian is to provoke the not in-valid accusation that you are entirely irrational. How can you believe some bloke who lived 2,000 years ago was the embodiment of God? How can you even admit a God exists?

There is no proof. None of it is measurable scientifically. But for me at least, irrationality is not a criticism. The whole of existence is irrational and in the face of that I feel only humility (not a particularly encouraged trait at present). We understand nothing on the vast scale of existence, only a few bits of the mechanics. I am therefore content to ignore other people's scorn and pity and follow Saint Anselm's lead when he said:

"I do not seek to understand in order that I may believe, but I believe in order to understand. For this also I believe - that unless I believe I shall not understand."

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PS If I wanted to be cynical, I might ask how it happens to be so easy for one group of people - Muslim asylum seekers in Britain - to embrace Christianity when it is so hard for the majority of the British population. It is a puzzling phenomenon, (hem hem, as Nigel Molesworth would say).