Topic: What are you currently reading?

[ritter]

...
Also, I must confess that I have lost interest in Proust. After all, what do I care about the sentimental tribulations of an aging intellectual dandy in love with a winsome coquette, or about the various snobs and fops who grate on his nerves? 

“No es la miel para la boca del asno” (Sancho Panza in Don Quijote, Part 1, Chapter LII). 

Good evening to you, Andrei.

[Florestan]

“No es la miel para la boca del asno” (Sancho Panza in Don Quijote, Part 1, Chapter LII). 

Equivalent Romanian proverb: Ce știe țăranul ce e șofranul? (literally, What does the peasant know what is saffron?)

Good evening to you, Andrei.

Good evening, Rafael.

[Florestan]

To some degrees Chekhov’s works present fatalistic and pessimistic views, which I like. In that regard, Thomas Hardy, Katherine Mansfield, and Yasunari Kawabata often remind me of Chekhov.

Fatalistic and pessimistic views do not preclude a humorous and humane approach, such as Chekhov's and Hardy's*. Haven't read anything by Mansfield or Kawabata.

*I'm currently reading Far from the Madding Crowd and ;pretty much every page gave me at least one chuckle.

[Dry Brett Kavanaugh]

Fatalistic and pessimistic views do not preclude a humorous and humane approach, such as Chekhov's and Hardy's*. Haven't read anything by Mansfield or Kawabata.

*I'm currently reading Far from the Madding Crowd and ;pretty much every page gave me at least one chuckle.

Well-said. Their novels are humorous as well. I haven’t read Madding Crowd, but I heard that it is a great novel. I will buy an edition in my primary language.  I re-read his short stories this summer and they were wonderful. Thousand Cranes (or Snow Country) by Kawabata is worth reading, imo.

[Dry Brett Kavanaugh]

The Cynic Philosophers: From Diogenes to Julian.

[steve ridgway]

I’m reading The Gallery of Geography by Rev. Thomas Milner, 1889. The original owner wrote his name and house name in it so I was able to find it on a house sales website and see where he probably sat and read it looking out at the forested hills of central Scotland.

[LKB]

Just finished Richard Preston's Crisis in the Red Zone: The Story of the Deadliest Ebola Outbreak in History, and of the Outbreaks to Come.

Quite illuminating, I couldn't help feeling relieved that our current pandemic doesn't involve a filovirus.

LKB

[Pohjolas Daughter]

Just picked up a copy of Louise Glück's "Poems 1962-2012" to read.

PD

[steve ridgway]

Fifty Shades of Grey

[SimonNZ]

Fifty Shades of Grey

Verdict?


TD: Finished:



currently on the go:

[Mandryka]

[steve ridgway]

Verdict?

Half way through Fifty Shades of Grey it’s very easy reading, a transparent writing style that conveys the story clearly with no attempt to impress the reader with sophisticated use of language or references. I’m finding it interesting to learn about the different sexual practices and attitudes, what the attraction is, why people might enjoy them, and the general idea that one’s preconceptions and conditioning might have made one reject something as unpleasant or disgusting when in fact when one tries it, it might actually turn out to be rather enjoyable. I doubt I’ll be adopting either character as a role model but it’s making me think about where I agree or disagree with them and what my own position might be.

[Dry Brett Kavanaugh]

Schrodinger.

[Florestan]

Schrodinger.

What's his view of it?

[steve ridgway]

What's his view of it?

It changed while he was looking.

[Florestan]

It changed while he was looking.

The cat was dead while being alive... or was it viceversa? 

[Dry Brett Kavanaugh]

What's his view of it?

Pretty much the world according to Upanishad, IMO.
Individuality and locality are not real. There is only the Whole.
I am in the middle of the book, and I wonder if he talks about ideality/physicality of time.

[steve ridgway]

Individuality and locality are not real. There is only the Whole.

I guess if everything began in a single point then there could only be differentiation of that whole. As if you cut a cake in half you don’t really get two smaller cakes.

[Pohjolas Daughter]

Just started a mammoth-sized book called Black Lamb and Grey Falcon:  A Journey Through Yugoslavia by Rebecca West.

I stumbled across this book whilst looking for travel books that I thought that a friend might enjoy reading (for Christmas).  Not so certain that it might be his cup of tea, but the description definitely intrigued me.    Rebecca West (her pen name), real name Cicely Isabel Fairfield, was born in 1892 in England.  From what I've been reading so far about her in the introduction, she was an extremely intelligent, forward-thinking, feminist who wrote on a variety of topics, sometimes writing critical studies (like of Henry James) and wrote novels too. You can read more about her on Wiki.  Quite a fascinating woman and life!

In any event, she made a number of trips to what was then Yugoslavia during the 1930's.  It sounds like this book (originally published in two volumes) will be a combination of travel essays, history, politics, religious and cultural studies and thoughts on this former country.  It was published in 1941.

PD

[SimonNZ]

I've had that on the shelves for a while waiting to be read. I'll be very interested to know what you make of it.

I got it after reading an essay by Geoff Dyer on why its one of his favorite books. He highlights the skill of the historical/political analysis and how applicable and insightful it is for events of later years.