What are you currently reading?

Started by facehugger, April 07, 2007, 12:36:10 AM

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aligreto

Hemingway: The Short Happy Life of Francis Macomber





This is a collection of short stories. I have enjoyed Hemmingway's short stories ever since I was a young man and I have subsequently enjoyed this re-read.

vers la flamme

Quote from: aligreto on February 25, 2021, 02:02:04 PM
Hemingway: The Short Happy Life of Francis Macomber





This is a collection of short stories. I have enjoyed Hemmingway's short stories ever since I was a young man and I have subsequently enjoyed this re-read.

I read Macomber earlier this month and found it to be an amazing story. The collection in which I read it seemed to be more of a mixed bag and there was at least one story that I didn't get all that much out of. Hemingway is a great writer, of course, and he's written at least two books that I really love: A Moveable Feast and especially The Sun Also Rises which changed my life when I first read it in high school.

SimonNZ


milk

Quote from: SimonNZ on February 24, 2021, 07:26:06 AM
Love that and the whole Gateway/Heechee series, especially the way the author's ambition and scope expands outwards with each subsequent book.
I'm on to the second one now. I liked the first. I have a hard time with sci-fi. I love Le Guin but most others in the genre don't work out for me. Gateway has a cranky edge to it that I like even though I think I can imagine a lot of people not getting into it.

Dry Brett Kavanaugh

Quote from: vers la flamme on February 25, 2021, 02:17:46 AM
Yukio Mishima, Confessions of a Mask



A suggestion from our own Dry Brett Kavanaugh. So far, I am finding it to be intriguing for its deep inner monologue, exploring in depth the inner world of its tortured protagonist. Parts of it I am finding to be quite relatable, which is probably not a good thing.

Dazai's No Longer Human is a fine book with some similarities to the Mask. But it is not as dark as Mishima.

vers la flamme

#10546
Quote from: Dry Brett Kavanaugh on February 27, 2021, 08:54:34 AM
Dazai's No Longer Human is a fine book with some similarities to the Mask. But it is not as dark as Mishima.

I'm unfamiliar with Dazai. I'll have to check that out. I finished Mishima's Confessions yesterday morning, it's such a brilliant book.

Now onto Leo Tolstoy's The Death of Ivan Ilyich, a reread, but I'm enjoying it much more this time around.


Pohjolas Daughter

Just starting this book:  Sarah Dunant's "Blood & Beauty"



It's a work of fiction dealing with the Borgias.  I quite enjoyed her book:  "The Birth of Venus" a number of years ago.  :)

From what I understand, she's a British author who has spent quite some time in Italy and has done a fair bit of research about certain periods and regions in Italian history.
https://www.sarahdunant.com
Pohjolas Daughter

vers la flamme

Quote from: vers la flamme on February 27, 2021, 01:57:59 PM
I'm unfamiliar with Dazai. I'll have to check that out. I finished Mishima's Confessions yesterday morning, it's such a brilliant book.

Now onto Leo Tolstoy's The Death of Ivan Ilyich, a reread, but I'm enjoying it much more this time around.



This is an unbelievably heavy book, especially for how short it is. I get the impression that Tolstoy was truly tormented by the idea of his own mortality.

aligreto

Somerset Maugham: The Trembling of a Leaf





This is a fine collection of short stories which are set in the South Sea Islands. Maugham was a master storyteller and these tales are gems.

vers la flamme

Quote from: vers la flamme on February 27, 2021, 01:57:59 PM
Leo Tolstoy's The Death of Ivan Ilyich

Well, that was an absolutely incredible read. As I said it was a reread; I read it during Russian lit class in college, but it did not leave much impression on me at the time. Reading it now a few years down the line, it was a completely different story. I guess I found it so much more relatable this time around. I need to get around to reading more Tolstoy...

vers la flamme

Just started Fyodor Dostoevsky's The Brothers Karamazov



Another reread (technically) though I don't think I ever finished it in the past. In any case it's been over 10 years since I last read any of it. So far, so good. I know some people dislike the Pevear & Volokhonsky translation, but it seems to be doing it for me well enough so far.

Dry Brett Kavanaugh

#10552
Quote from: vers la flamme on February 28, 2021, 01:40:17 PM
Well, that was an absolutely incredible read. As I said it was a reread; I read it during Russian lit class in college, but it did not leave much impression on me at the time. Reading it now a few years down the line, it was a completely different story. I guess I found it so much more relatable this time around. I need to get around to reading more Tolstoy...

As you will probably be aware, when Tolstoy listened to Tchaikovsky's Andante Cantabile, he was moved and wept. But the relationship between the two was complex.

https://www.pushkinhouse.org/blog/2020/4/22/when-tchaikovsky-met-tolstoy


Currently reading this fine book.

Florestan

Quote from: Dry Brett Kavanaugh on March 01, 2021, 06:50:55 AM
As you will probably be aware, when Tolstoy listened to Tchaikovsky's Andante Cantabile, he was moved and wept. But the relationship between the two was complex.

https://www.pushkinhouse.org/blog/2020/4/22/when-tchaikovsky-met-tolstoy

An even more detailed analysis here:

http://en.tchaikovsky-research.net/pages/Lev_Tolstoy
Every kind of music is good, except the boring kind. — Rossini

LKB

Picked up Robin Olds' Fighter Pilot yesterday. Pretty good read thus far.

Sierra Hotel,

LKB
Mit Flügeln, die ich mir errungen...

Jo498

Quote from: vers la flamme on February 28, 2021, 01:40:17 PM
Well, that was an absolutely incredible read. As I said it was a reread; I read it during Russian lit class in college, but it did not leave much impression on me at the time. Reading it now a few years down the line, it was a completely different story. I guess I found it so much more relatable this time around. I need to get around to reading more Tolstoy...
I am probably missing a few of the not so famous Tolstoy shorter prose but IMO "The death of Ivan Ilyich" is the best (of the one I read). It's probably one of the best medium length prose pieces I have ever read by anyone. As a classical listener you need to read "Kreutzer sonata" but it is not as good.
Tout le malheur des hommes vient d'une seule chose, qui est de ne savoir pas demeurer en repos, dans une chambre.
- Blaise Pascal

BWV 1080

Quote from: Pohjolas Daughter on February 27, 2021, 02:06:41 PM
Just starting this book:  Sarah Dunant's "Blood & Beauty"



It's a work of fiction dealing with the Borgias.  I quite enjoyed her book:  "The Birth of Venus" a number of years ago.  :)

From what I understand, she's a British author who has spent quite some time in Italy and has done a fair bit of research about certain periods and regions in Italian history.
https://www.sarahdunant.com

Thanks, two chapters into this and liking it - been looking for some historical fiction that does not suck.

Dry Brett Kavanaugh

Quote from: Florestan on March 01, 2021, 07:18:32 AM
An even more detailed analysis here:

http://en.tchaikovsky-research.net/pages/Lev_Tolstoy

Detailed, good description. It reminds me of a relationship between Wagner and Kierkegaard a little bit.

Florestan

Quote from: Dry Brett Kavanaugh on March 02, 2021, 07:38:39 PM
Detailed, good description. It reminds me of a relationship between Wagner and Kierkegaard a little bit.

I'm not aware of any close connection between Wagner and Kierkegaard and afaIk they never met. You might have meant Schopenhauer.
Every kind of music is good, except the boring kind. — Rossini

Dry Brett Kavanaugh

Quote from: Florestan on March 03, 2021, 12:19:10 AM
I'm not aware of any close connection between Wagner and Kierkegaard and afaIk they never met. You might have meant Schopenhauer.
It's Nietzsche. I regret my error. Wagner admired Schopenhauer, but the latter was not interested in him or his music.