What are you currently reading?

[vers la flamme]

Yesterday I started Thomas Hardy's The Mayor of Casterbridge



I have been meaning to read Hardy for some time now, but I never make it very far. This one is very good so far. Very vivid language and writing. Hopefully I'll be able to finish as I think this is one of his shorter ones.

[Mandryka]

The way the book ends is with his announcement of a quest to find "yagé" which, I believe, is ayahuasca, which comes from a vine in South America. He does also try mescaline while living in Mexico in the final third of the book and seems unimpressed.

Never read any Jean Genet, but I have been meaning to. Will try and find The Thief's Journal. (And 1001 Nights!—is there a translation you recommend?)

Yage, that's right, I was trying to think of the word, I kept thinking Mage. He wrote a whole book about Yage dealing I think.

You Americans take the weirdest drugs -- I'm sure an old mate of mine used to say there was some drink with a worm at the bottom of the bottle and if you eat the work it's . . . yage.

You know about how Burroughs killed his wife?

[Dry Brett Kavanaugh]

How do you like Ryu?

I am sure you will like the book, but I don't know if you (and other Western readers) will like it very much. I see a 50-50 chance.
In the 1980-90s, probably Ryu was the most popular writer among hipsters in Japan. Haruki was popular among normal/average people.
Ryu's stories often involve with bizarreness/coldness in fashionable, urban life.
You may want to pick and read one of his English translations (ie. Tokyo Decadence is my personal fav.) You won't regret.

[Dry Brett Kavanaugh]

A fine book on the subject discussed above.

[vers la flamme]

Yage, that's right, I was trying to think of the word, I kept thinking Mage. He wrote a whole book about Yage dealing I think.

You Americans take the weirdest drugs -- I'm sure an old mate of mine used to say there was some drink with a worm at the bottom of the bottle and if you eat the work it's . . . yage.

You know about how Burroughs killed his wife?

I do, it's an odd story - sounds like he went back and forth on his story, usually coming back to the idea that it was a drunken game of William Tell gone horribly wrong. Who knows what really happened. Anyway, it happened during the timeline of the events of Junky, the Mexico years, but was of course omitted from the book (along with all but the most oblique references to Burroughs' character having a wife at all!) When I was younger, I was really into all the Beat guys, but never got all that into Burroughs' writings, so I'd love to play catch-up now and read some more of his books.

Can't say I've ever tried ayahuasca/yagé but I have tried mescaline a couple of times. Weird stuff indeed... I also was recently served a shot of Mezcal presented with salt obtained from the worm in the bottle, dried and ground. Better than it sounds!

[Artem]

I am sure you will like the book, but I don't know if you (and other Western readers) will like it very much. I see a 50-50 chance.
In the 1980-90s, probably Ryu was the most popular writer among hipsters in Japan. Haruki was popular among normal/average people.
Ryu's stories often involve with bizarreness/coldness in fashionable, urban life.
You may want to pick and read one of his English translations (ie. Tokyo Decadence is my personal fav.) You won't regret.

I read In the miso soup around the time I discovered Haruki Murakami novels and found it too violent for my liking at the time. I didn't pursue Ryu anymore, although I kept devotedly reading Haruki.

[Dry Brett Kavanaugh]

Talking about Mescaline and Ayahuasca, I'm sure many members know/like The Doors of Perception. One River, Wade Davis, is a great book about Ayahuasca, Amazon, and Richard Evans Schultes- renowned Havard ethnobotanist.

[vers la flamme]

Talking about Mescaline and Ayahuasca, I'm sure many members know/like The Doors of Perception. One River, Wade Davis, is a great book about Ayahuasca, Amazon, and Richard Evans Schultes- renowned Havard ethnobotanist.

A friend years ago tried to put me onto Wade Davis. Seems like an interesting character. I'll have to seek out the book. I haven't read Huxley's Doors of Perception since I was much younger; I'd love to reread it with a bit more life experience under my belt.

[Dry Brett Kavanaugh]

Yesterday I started Thomas Hardy's The Mayor of Casterbridge



I have been meaning to read Hardy for some time now, but I never make it very far. This one is very good so far. Very vivid language and writing. Hopefully I'll be able to finish as I think this is one of his shorter ones.

Haven't read the work, but I admire Hardy. Personally, I see similarities bet. him and Kawabata (ie. Fatalism, pessimism, irony, etc.)

A friend years ago tried to put me onto Wade Davis. Seems like an interesting character. I'll have to seek out the book.

Great friend !    Imo, all undergraduate students in North America should read the book.

[vers la flamme]

Haven't read the work, but I admire Hardy. Personally, I see similarities bet. him and Kawabata (ie. Fatalism, pessimism, irony, etc.)


Great friend !    Imo, all undergraduate students in North America should read the book.

He is a great friend. We've both put each other onto some great stuff over the years.

I can see the Hardy/Kawabata thematic connection too, though stylistically they couldn't be more different. There are a lot of ideas around the relationships between people and their physical and social environment. I'm excited to finally be reading something of his. I'm roughly a third of the way into the book.

Are there any books by Thomas Hardy that you particularly admire, or recommend? There are a good handful of his novels that I'd like to read, and I'm curious about his poetry, too.

[SimonNZ]

Jude The Obscure is one of the very great novels by any author. An essential read/experience. In many ways its unfortunate that was my introduction to hardy because whatever the many merits of the four or five I read after they never quite met the expectation that set.

[Dry Brett Kavanaugh]

He is a great friend. We've both put each other onto some great stuff over the years.

I can see the Hardy/Kawabata thematic connection too, though stylistically they couldn't be more different. There are a lot of ideas around the relationships between people and their physical and social environment. I'm excited to finally be reading something of his. I'm roughly a third of the way into the book.

Are there any books by Thomas Hardy that you particularly admire, or recommend? There are a good handful of his novels that I'd like to read, and I'm curious about his poetry, too.

I read only few of Hardy's novels, and I believe that some other members know his works much better than I do. I like his Tess and short stories, including Alicia's Diary and Withered Arm. Also, I remember that our man Florestan likes Far from the Madding Crowd. I haven't thought about his poetry. Sounds very interesting and I will check it out!

[Florestan]

I read only few of Hardy's novels, and I believe that some other members know his works much better than I do. I like his Tess and short stories, including Alicia's Diary and Withered Arm. Also, I remember that our man Florestan likes Far from the Madding Crowd. I haven't thought about his poetry. Sounds very interesting and I will check it out!

Tbh, I'm stuck somewhere about half of it. It was a page turner until then but somehow I lost my interest after --- and I found The Buddenbrooks a much, much better reading. I'll try to finish it nevertheless, hopefully I'll remember enough of it not to start it anew. 

I concur with Simon on Jude the Obscure, though. A masterpiece, and just as in his case, my very first Hardy.

[SimonNZ]

1/3 of the way into:



King's nonfiction freewheeling history and analysis of the horror genre. It's a pity he doesn't write more nonfiction, as this, like On Writing and some few scattered essays I've found is excellent. And, frankly, I'd be quite willing to trade away half of his fiction for one more more nonfiction (though the best of his fiction can be very good indeed).

I don't actually have the edition above, I just liked the author portrait. The one I have is an update with an additional chapter that includes much praise for The Blair Witch Project.

[Dry Brett Kavanaugh]

The Rubáiyát. Omar Khayyám

[vers la flamme]

Rereading Alexander Pushkin's Tales of Belkin for, I think, the third time.



Pushkin was, of course, one of Russia's greatest writers, and though this is perhaps not one of his more profound works (I wouldn't know as I haven't read much else by him), great writers are meant to be read and reread. Much to admire in these stories; very humane writing. I would love to read some of his poetry, though I've heard it's well nigh untranslatable. Maybe someday I'll learn Russian, but it's not my highest priority at the moment.

[Artem]

Vladimir Nabokov translated Pushkin's Eugene Onegin. I haven't read it in English myself, but I bet it is a curious read.

[SimonNZ]

I used to have that. One slim volume of the poem and one big fat volume of his commentary.

[Mandryka]

I used to have that. One slim volume of the poem and one big fat volume of his commentary.

Like Pale Fire! I must dig that out and look at it again.

[vers la flamme]

Just started Joseph Conrad's Heart of Darkness



I found a copy of this Penguin Classics edition for $1 at a Goodwill thrift store earlier today and figured I'd give it a try. I know very little about Conrad except that he is extremely highly regarded by many, and in particular it seems he's something of a writer's writer. This is my first time reading anything of his. My first impression is that he is quite wordy, and that there is something about the protagonist, Marlow, that rubs me the wrong way. Can't say I'm quite hooked yet, but I will persist—it's a short book, in any case, at just over 100 pages.