What are you currently reading?

[ritter]

A recent performance of Calderón de la Barca's El gran teatro del mundo ("The Great Theatre of the World") here in Madrid made a strong impression on me (as had a previous one almost 30 years ago). I decided it's high time I read Hugo von Hofmannsthal's adaptation of / homage to Calderón's auto sacramental, Das Salzburger große Welttheater ("The Salzburg Great Theatre of the World"), written specifically for the Salzburg Festival (although it did not meet with much success, as opposed to the earlier Jedermann -—"Everyman"—- which has become a cornerstone of the festival).

[Mandryka]

Obélix avait raison, ils sont fous, ces Romans.

[SimonNZ]

Both of these on the go:



And with rewatching The Night Manager tv miniseries considering a read of one of the few Le Carre's I haven't done yet:

[hopefullytrusting]

Just recently finished This One Summer by Jillian and Mariko Tamaki



A true feminist graphic novel, beautifully drawn and wonderfully crafted - delves very deeply into issues otherwise avoided in most works, and, in my opinion, to their great detriment. On its surface, it appears to tell the tale of two girls who are friends by matter of circumstance of summering, but it grows dark and gritty quite quickly, as reality begins to accrete around the protagonist, who is realistically unlikeable (something most other works wouldn't dare).

High recommendation.

[San Antone]

Alternating between these two novels:

The Sound and the Fury
A Norton Critical Edition
Third Edition
by Michael Gorra (Editor, Smith College), William Faulkner (Author)



The text for the Third Edition is again that of the corrected text scrupulously prepared by Noel Polk, whose textual note precedes the novel. David Minter's annotations, designed to assist readers with obscure words and allusions, have been retained. "Contemporary Reception," new to the Third Edition, considers the broad range of reactions to Faulkner's extraordinary novel on publication. "Criticism" represents eighty-five years of scholarly engagement with The Sound and the Fury.

Call for the Dead
A George Smiley Novel (George Smiley Novels Book 1)
by John le Carré

[Crudblud]

Yukio Mishima - Confessions of a Mask (translated from the Japanese by Meredith Weatherby)

[ritter]

Valery Larbaud: Allen.



This is a short novella about five friends traveling from Paris to the Bourbonnais in central France. There cultured conversations touch, among other things, the relationship of Parisians with the provinces (and vice-versa). As always, Larbaud's dandyish - cosmopolitan prose is delightful.

The title of the book is the enigmatic word used as motto by Louis II "the Good", duke of Bourbon, which is thought to be an archaic form of "allons" ("let's go"), although it can also refer to the English "all".

[Florestan]

[Spotted Horses]

The Real Cool Killers, Chester Himes



A crime novel set in Harlem. In some sense a conventional genre novel in which a white man is killed in Harlem and the case is investigated by two black police officers. But with a certain literary quality, and reflecting the reality of race relations in the mid 20th century.

[AnotherSpin]

One of the books by Shri Parthasarathi Rajagopalachari (Chariji), the third Raja Yoga Master in the Sahaj Marg system of the Shri Ram Chandra Mission.

[Papy Oli]

In the last 2-3 weeks:

Dickens - A Christmas Carol
Poe - Murders in the Rue Morgue
London - Call of the Wild.

[foxandpeng]

In the last 2-3 weeks:

Dickens - A Christmas Carol
Poe - Murders in the Rue Morgue
London - Call of the Wild.

Good reading pace!

[ritter]

Lincoln Kirstein's Ballet: Bias & Belief.