What are you currently reading?

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

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USMC1960s

Reading Dostoyevsky. The Brothers Karamazov. 800+ pages but easy reading compared to Dickens or even Hugo or Dumas.
But tedious at times.


Florestan

Not yet reading, but just bought: Thomas Mann - Complete Short Stories & Novellas, Romanian translation in two volumes.



Covers read: Nobel Prize for Literature - Death in Venice, Mario and the Wizard - Short Stories

Would it be a good idea to start a new thread, "Books Purchased Today"?
Every kind of music is good, except the boring kind. — Rossini

ritter


Florestan

#12224
Just finished this curiosity:



Marie of Romania - Masks (A Novel of an Impossible Love)

A saccharine, sentimental novel, set in post-WWI Romania and Constantinople, yet not entirely implausible and stylistically very well written --- astonishingly so actually, considering Romanian was not her native language. She (as queen consort) and King Michael (her grandson) were the two most popular royals in the whole history of the Kingdom of Romania (1866-1947).
Every kind of music is good, except the boring kind. — Rossini

Dry Brett Kavanaugh

Quote from: Dave B on November 30, 2022, 08:37:14 AMReading Dostoyevsky. The Brothers Karamazov. 800+ pages but easy reading compared to Dickens or even Hugo or Dumas.
But tedious at times.

Big fan of Dostoevsky, but never been a fan of Karamazov.

Spotted Horses

Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of he Dead, Olga Tokarczuk.



This book is something of a literary detective story. It involves a series of deaths in an isolated village in Poland. The central character is a woman in late middle age who has a great respect for nature and wildlife. Also important is her circle of eccentric friends. The first death is a neighbor who has choked on a lamb bone. This is followed by a series of deaths in strange circumstances, all of which have a mysterious connection to wildlife and possible local government corruption. It seemed a bit preachy and political until the conclusion.
There are simply two kinds of music, good music and the other kind. - Duke Ellington

Pohjolas Daughter

Quote from: Spotted Horses on December 08, 2022, 02:52:17 AMDrive Your Plow Over the Bones of he Dead, Olga Tokarczuk.



This book is something of a literary detective story. It involves a series of deaths in an isolated village in Poland. The central character is a woman in late middle age who has a great respect for nature and wildlife. Also important is her circle of eccentric friends. The first death is a neighbor who has choked on a lamb bone. This is followed by a series of deaths in strange circumstances, all of which have a mysterious connection to wildlife and possible local government corruption. It seemed a bit preachy and political until the conclusion.

It sounds interesting.  I did a (very quick) googling of her name.  Interesting to read that she has a background in clinical psychology and also worked as a psychotherapist before dedicating herself fully to writing.

PD
Pohjolas Daughter

Spotted Horses

Quote from: Pohjolas Daughter on December 08, 2022, 03:03:40 AMIt sounds interesting.  I did a (very quick) googling of her name.  Interesting to read that she has a background in clinical psychology and also worked as a psychotherapist before dedicating herself fully to writing.

Reading this book I had the impression that storytelling was secondary to a political message, but it came together in the end. I'm thinking of seeking out more works by Tokarczuk.
There are simply two kinds of music, good music and the other kind. - Duke Ellington

Spotted Horses

Quote from: Dry Brett Kavanaugh on December 07, 2022, 01:51:35 PMBig fan of Dostoevsky, but never been a fan of Karamazov.

I thought it Karamazov was brilliant the first time I read it, tedious the second time, brilliant the third time. I think my favorite book by Dostoyevsky is The Idiot.
There are simply two kinds of music, good music and the other kind. - Duke Ellington

Spotted Horses

Quote from: ultralinear on December 08, 2022, 03:54:38 AMInteresting.  I generally give any book that I'm not enjoying about 80 pages to win me over, in case it's a question of getting used to the authorial voice.  But I did give up on this one.  In spite of the promising premise, something about the writing made it seem just too much of a slog.

Yes, it is a bit like Melville's Moby Dick, and the elaborate descriptions of whale fishing technology.
There are simply two kinds of music, good music and the other kind. - Duke Ellington

Dry Brett Kavanaugh

Subtle is the Lord: The Science and the Life of Albert Einstein. Abraham Pais.




SimonNZ

Started:



publisher's synopsis:

"Reporter Sally Hayden was at home in London when she received a message on Facebook: "Hi sister Sally, we need your help." The sender identified himself as an Eritrean refugee who had been held in a Libyan detention center for months, locked in one big hall with hundreds of others. Now, the city around them was crumbling in a scrimmage between warring factions, and they remained stuck, defenseless, with only one remaining hope: contacting her. Hayden had inadvertently stumbled onto a human rights disaster of epic proportions.

From this single message begins a staggering account of the migrant crisis across North Africa, in a groundbreaking work of investigative journalism. With unprecedented access to people currently inside Libyan detention centers, Hayden's book is based on interviews with hundreds of refugees and migrants who tried to reach Europe and found themselves stuck in Libya once the EU started funding interceptions in 2017.

It is an intimate portrait of life for these detainees, as well as a condemnation of NGOs and the United Nations, whose abdication of international standards will echo throughout history. But most importantly, My Fourth Time, We Drowned shines a light on the resilience of humans: how refugees and migrants locked up for years fall in love, support each other through the hardest times, and carry out small acts of resistance in order to survive in a system that wants them to be silent and disappear."


Artem

Quote from: Spotted Horses on December 08, 2022, 03:40:46 AMReading this book I had the impression that storytelling was secondary to a political message, but it came together in the end. I'm thinking of seeking out more works by Tokarczuk.

My exact same thoughts after reading that book. However, it didn't make me explore the author further.

LKB

Quote from: Spotted Horses on November 25, 2022, 04:01:35 AMSteinbeck, Cannery Row, a quick read (especially since circumstances afforded me a larger than usual chance to use my Kindle).

I read this book out of nostalgia for central California. The action takes place on and around Ocean View Boulevard in Monterey California, which at the time (the 1930's) was the site of an array of Sardine canneries. Steinbeck expresses admiration for the passions and disorder of the people who struggle to make a meager living in the shadow of the canneries, particularly Doc, a marine biologist who runs a business selling samples of marine animals, and Mack, the leader of a group of vagrants squatting in an abandoned warehouse. Ironically, the canneries have since been replaced by fancy hotels and restaurants and Monterey has become a playground of the wealthy.

Steinbeck is near and dear to me. It was his Travels with Charley which fired my interest in non- fiction, after years of reading only Sci-Fi and music-related publications.

To any who haven't read Steinbeck's non- fiction, I recommend both Travels with Charley and The Log from The Sea of Cortez.
Mit Flügeln, die ich mir errungen...

Spotted Horses

Quote from: LKB on December 15, 2022, 02:21:54 AMSteinbeck is near and dear to me. It was his Travels with Charley which fired my interest in non- fiction, after years of reading only Sci-Fi and music-related publications.

To any who haven't read Steinbeck's non- fiction, I recommend both Travels with Charley and The Log from The Sea of Cortez.

I'll admit never having explored Steinbeck's non-fiction, although it is on my list.
There are simply two kinds of music, good music and the other kind. - Duke Ellington

Dry Brett Kavanaugh

History of My Life. Giacomo/Jacques Casanova.
Annual revisit.



SimonNZ

Quote from: Dry Brett Kavanaugh on December 16, 2022, 01:05:20 PMHistory of My Life. Giacomo/Jacques Casanova.
Annual revisit.



Annual?!  How many times have you read it?


Acouple of other things still on the go, but decided to do a second read of this and knocked it off in a couple of sittings. Still highly impressed, and would be among the first books I'd recommend to anyone new to Auster:


Dry Brett Kavanaugh

Quote from: SimonNZ on December 16, 2022, 01:29:28 PMAnnual?!  How many times have you read it?


Acouple of other things still on the go, but decided to do a second read of this and knocked it off in a couple of sittings. Still highly impressed, and would be among the first books I'd recommend to anyone new to Auster:



I read it more than 10 times. Same for Hesse, Stendhal, Dostoyevsky, my doctoral dissertation, etc..

Mandryka

Quote from: Dry Brett Kavanaugh on December 17, 2022, 06:02:37 AMI read it more than 10 times. Same for Hesse, Stendhal, Dostoyevsky, my doctoral dissertation, etc..

What was it about to cover such a prima facie diverse range of prose writers?
Wovon man nicht sprechen kann, darüber muss man schweigen