What are you currently reading?

[DavidW]

Oh I've read The Club Dumas!  It is significantly different from the movie that they both can stand on their own.

[vers la flamme]

These on the go:

I ordered this. Excited to read it.

[Dry Brett Kavanaugh]

I ordered this. Excited to read it.

It's in my library. I will open it this summer!

[Brian]

I've been saving Gardiner on Bach until some time when I can really make a project of listening to the cantatas, because - not surprising given his recordings - apparently the cantatas are a major part of his discussion in the book.

I'm reading "Can You Forgive Her?" If there is a GMG Trollope Society to go with our Dickens fans, please consider me a member.

[Mookalafalas]

I've been saving Gardiner on Bach until some time when I can really make a project of listening to the cantatas, because - not surprising given his recordings - apparently the cantatas are a major part of his discussion in the book.

I'm reading "Can You Forgive Her?" If there is a GMG Trollope Society to go with our Dickens fans, please consider me a member.

On the Bach, me too. I got the book and read about half, but it absolutely becomes clear you need to have a set of the Cantatas on hand to get the most out of the book. I keep meaning to come back to it...
   On the Trollope, I am surprised you're a fan. I gave him a try, and just couldn't get into him. I love Dickens, and did my doctoral diss on 18th century British lit, so you you'd think he'd be in my wheelhouse, if not made to order for me. I'll have to give him another shot...

[Mandryka]

Very good, and it's prompted me to revisit Rossellini - I watched Europa 51 last night, Germany Year Zero over the weekend. Stromboli is coming up soon.

[Dry Brett Kavanaugh]

Very good, and it's prompted me to revisit Rossellini - I watched Europa 51 last night, Germany Year Zero over the weekend. Stromboli is coming up soon.

One of my friends is a big fan of Slavoj Zizek!

[Ganondorf]

Returned briefly to my reading marathon of whole Proust's In Search of Lost Time. Read today at library the first section of Sodom et Gomorrhe where the narrator (finally!) figures out that Charlus is gay. There was an interesting reference in that section to what the narrator saw going on between Vinteuil and Albertine which renews my suspicions that maybe they were really making love after all. Or am I missing something? The passage in Sodom et Gomorrhe kind of seems to imply that the narrator wants to see what Charlus is doing with Jupien BECAUSE he remembers what he saw at Vinteuil's, kind of like he seems to be anticipating what he shall shortly find out.

[Mandryka]

Returned briefly to my reading marathon of whole Proust's In Search of Lost Time. Read today at library the first section of Sodom et Gomorrhe where the narrator (finally!) figures out that Charlus is gay. There was an interesting reference in that section to what the narrator saw going on between Vinteuil and Albertine which renews my suspicions that maybe they were really making love after all. Or am I missing something? The passage in Sodom et Gomorrhe kind of seems to imply that the narrator wants to see what Charlus is doing with Jupien BECAUSE he remembers what he saw at Vinteuil's, kind of like he seems to be anticipating what he shall shortly find out.

It's worth going back to the passage in Swann's Way where, Marcel, hiding, looks through the window. Do the two women know that they are being spied on? If so, how does that effect their actions?

[Florestan]

Totally weird. The ideas and values of the France of 200 years ago have about as much to do with my life now as the Greece of Homer. It doesn't work through story, it rather works through the tension caused by the interaction of alien life forms. Balzac is good at it, 400 pages and no boring bits. He's easy to read and there are some super passages of purple prose -- I mean, it's not Alexandrines but apart from that, the prose is sometimes as purple as Racine's verse. As I'm reading, I'm wondering what should I read next -- Pere Goriod, Peau de Chagrin, Illusions Perdues . . . ?

Without wishing to lower the tone of the forum, why on earth doesn't Felix just shag Henriette -- she'd be a lot better as a result -- and give her husband a good slapping?

Felix himself answers the question:

Si vous me demandez pourquoi, jeune et plein de fougueux vouloirs, je demeurai dans les abusives croyances de l'amour platonique, je vous avouerai que je n'étais pas assez homme encore pour tourmenter cette femme, toujours en crainte de quelque catastrophe chez ses enfants ; toujours attendant un éclat, une orageuse variation chez son mari ; frappée par lui, quand elle n'était pas affligée par la maladie de Jacques ou de Madeleine ; assise au chevet de l'un d'eux quand son mari calmé pouvait lui laisser prendre un peu de repos. Le son d'une parole trop vive ébranlait son être, un désir l'offensait ; pour elle, il fallait être amour voilé, force mêlée de tendresse, enfin tout ce qu'elle était pour les autres. Puis, vous le dirai-je, à vous si bien femme, cette situation comportait des langueurs enchanteresses, des moments de suavité divine et les contentements qui suivent de tacites immolations. Sa conscience était contagieuse, son dévouement sans récompense terrestre imposait par sa persistance ; cette vive et secrète piété qui servait de lien à ses autres vertus, agissait à l'entour comme un encens spirituel. Puis j'étais jeune ! assez jeune pour concentrer ma nature dans le baiser qu'elle me permettait si rarement de mettre sur sa main dont elle ne voulut jamais me donner que le dessus et jamais la paume, limite où pour elle commençaient peut-être les voluptés sensuelles. Si jamais deux âmes ne s'étreignirent avec plus d'ardeur, jamais le corps ne fut plus intrépidement ni plus victorieusement dompté.

[Florestan]

A fascinating piece of cultural and social history. Highly recommended.

[Mandryka]

Felix himself answers the question:

Si vous me demandez pourquoi, jeune et plein de fougueux vouloirs, je demeurai dans les abusives croyances de l'amour platonique, je vous avouerai que je n'étais pas assez homme encore pour tourmenter cette femme, toujours en crainte de quelque catastrophe chez ses enfants ; toujours attendant un éclat, une orageuse variation chez son mari ; frappée par lui, quand elle n'était pas affligée par la maladie de Jacques ou de Madeleine ; assise au chevet de l'un d'eux quand son mari calmé pouvait lui laisser prendre un peu de repos. Le son d'une parole trop vive ébranlait son être, un désir l'offensait ; pour elle, il fallait être amour voilé, force mêlée de tendresse, enfin tout ce qu'elle était pour les autres. Puis, vous le dirai-je, à vous si bien femme, cette situation comportait des langueurs enchanteresses, des moments de suavité divine et les contentements qui suivent de tacites immolations. Sa conscience était contagieuse, son dévouement sans récompense terrestre imposait par sa persistance ; cette vive et secrète piété qui servait de lien à ses autres vertus, agissait à l'entour comme un encens spirituel. Puis j'étais jeune ! assez jeune pour concentrer ma nature dans le baiser qu'elle me permettait si rarement de mettre sur sa main dont elle ne voulut jamais me donner que le dessus et jamais la paume, limite où pour elle commençaient peut-être les voluptés sensuelles. Si jamais deux âmes ne s'étreignirent avec plus d'ardeur, jamais le corps ne fut plus intrépidement ni plus victorieusement dompté.

It's quite a contrast with Frédéric's attitude to sex with Mme Arnoux in L'Éducation sentimentale. Presumably the relationship in the Flaubert is somehow a distorted reflection of the relationship in the Balzac.

[Iota]

I dipped into the above again and read a short story called Yesterday (the title referencing the fact that a character in the book invents a nonsense rhyme in a Japanese dialect to fit the tune, and sings it in the bath).
A beautifully written story, which I'm mentioning mainly because I'm just amazed at how easy Murakami's prose is to read! It's so transparent, it almost reads itself! I'm not sure I've experienced anything else quite like it. I'm very curious if it reads so naturally in the original in Japanese
My feeling may be coloured by the fact that I recently read the 900 page David Copperfield in which I had to park up almost every 5 minutes to admire the view. Wonderful though that was, the contrast with Murakami could hardly be greater.

[Brian]

   On the Trollope, I am surprised you're a fan. I gave him a try, and just couldn't get into him. I love Dickens, and did my doctoral diss on 18th century British lit, so you you'd think he'd be in my wheelhouse, if not made to order for me. I'll have to give him another shot...

Almost done with Can You Forgive Her? now and my enthusiasm has waned a little bit but not a lot.

He is a witty and genial presence as a narrator, somewhat flippant about the seriousness of his story but in an endearing way. (Not an ironic detachment way.) He is insightful about human nature and human flaws. His plots, unlike Dickens', grow organically and are less reliant on surprise coincidences and twists. Both are predictable, in a way; you can always expect a minor Dickens character to come back at the end, and Trollope's characters basically either make the right choice, or make the wrong one.

The prose of both is admirable but imperfect. I love Dickens in full flight, but at times he is clearly padding his word count. Trollope is more straightforward, for better and worse: the highs aren't as high and I don't think there's a single passage I'd describe as being really amazingly written, but the overall reading experience is pleasant. It's kind of like a good thriller novel writer transposed into the Victorian era.

In this book particularly the treatment of female characters and women's rights issues are notable. Even when Trollope hits the limits of his sympathy, it's interesting to see where the limit is. The major flaw of the book is that its plot revolves around a woman trying to decide between two potential husbands and waffling back and forth, but she has basically no character outside of that choice - she doesn't do much else, have hobbies, make witty conversation, etc. At the time, critics apparently nicknamed the book Can You Stand Her?  Interestingly, her dilemma is mirrored in the fates of two other women who are supporting characters and who are much more lively, entertaining, and cheerworthy.

[SonicMan46]

Unsettled Land (2022) by Sam W. Haynes - sweeping history of Texas from the 1820s, through the 9 years or so of the 'Texas Republic' to statehood in the USA in 1845 - brief summary below.  Recommended to those who are fans of the Lone Star State - I've made over a half dozen visits in previous decades, mostly to San Antonio, location of the Alamo.

Blood and Thunder (2007) by Hampton Sides - epic his of Kit Carson and the American 'conquest' of the West - intermittently covers Carson's life from the late 1820s when he migrated from Missouri to the Santa Fe region to the time of his death in 1868 - summary in second quote - intertwined are stories of many others involved in this James Polk land grab, such as Stephen Kearny, John C. Fremont, and James K. Polk to mention just a few.  Excellent book and highly recommended, again to those with an interest in the topic.  Dave

The Texas Revolution has long been cast as an epic episode in the origins of the American West. As the story goes, larger-than-life figures like Sam Houston, David Crockett, and William Barret Travis fought to free Texas from repressive Mexican rule. In Unsettled Land, historian Sam Haynes reveals the reality beneath this powerful creation myth. He shows how the lives of ordinary people—white Americans, Mexicans, Native Americans, and those of African descent—were upended by extraordinary events over twenty-five years. After the battle of San Jacinto, racial lines snapped taut as a new nation, the Lone Star republic, sought to expel Indians, marginalize Mexicans, and tighten its grip on the enslaved. (Source)

In the summer of 1846, the Army of the West marched through Santa Fe, en route to invade and occupy the Western territories claimed by Mexico. Fueled by the new ideology of "Manifest Destiny," this land grab would lead to a decades-long battle between the United States and the Navajos, the fiercely resistant rulers of a huge swath of mountainous desert wilderness. At the center of this sweeping tale is Kit Carson, the trapper, scout, and soldier whose adventures made him a legend. Sides shows us how this illiterate mountain man understood and respected the Western tribes better than any other American, yet willingly followed orders that would ultimately devastate the Navajo nation. Rich in detail and spanning more than three decades, this is an essential addition to our understanding of how the West was really won. (Source)

 

[Dry Brett Kavanaugh]

I dipped into the above again and read a short story called Yesterday (the title referencing the fact that a character in the book invents a nonsense rhyme in a Japanese dialect to fit the tune, and sings it in the bath).
A beautifully written story, which I'm mentioning mainly because I'm just amazed at how easy Murakami's prose is to read! It's so transparent, it almost reads itself! I'm not sure I've experienced anything else quite like it. I'm very curious if it reads so naturally in the original in Japanese
My feeling may be coloured by the fact that I recently read the 900 page David Copperfield in which I had to park up almost every 5 minutes to admire the view. Wonderful though that was, the contrast with Murakami could hardly be greater.

Yes, it does.

[JBS]

Re Trollope: there's a reason Barchester Towers remains a favorite Victorian novel.

It's sort of like  the love child of Jane Austen and Charles Dickens

[Mandryka]

The language is just so beautiful. Forget about the the characters, the narrative construction, the ideas etc. The linguistic style is astonishing. I've only had this response before to one other work - and that was in English and more than a century older: Thomas Malory's Le Morte D'Arthur.

[SimonNZ]

Adding these to the mix:




and surprised at how quickly I got through vol.2 of Caro's LBJ - an unexpected but genuine page turner

[Iota]

Yes, it does.

Thanks, that's good to know. I guess if I could master Japanese the same way Kitaru does the Kansai dialect in the story, I could find out for myself ..