What are you currently reading?

[NikF]

He's certainly an interesting writer, yes. And quite different from anyone else I've read. 'Château d'Argol' is on my (near infinite!) 'to read' list.

[Mookalafalas]

I just read Kristin Thompson's "The Frodo Franchise"--about how the LOTRs production/distribution affected both the movie industry and the lives of many peripheral figures, like bloggers and webmasters and tourguides, etc.  Thompson and her Husband David Bordwell are two of the best writers on film. I have pretty much all of their stuff.  They are academics, so break everything down into incredible detail and analyse what is going on (empirically, without all the Big Theory shenanigans), but also really love movies--which is surprisingly rare in academic film writing.  Perhaps it's because I am starting a new semester and am feeling a lot of stress (which makes me want to read, for some reason), but I couldn't put this book down. 
   I am now reading the new Anne Tyler.  To my amazement, it seems to be very good. I am a huge fan of her work, and feel that in spite of her Pulitzer she tends to be under-appreciated.  She is the ultimate chronicler of American domesticity. However, her last book was abysmal.  I thought she was finished (she is 70 now).  Her best work was from the mid 60s through the mid-80s (before her Pulitzer), but this is pretty darned good so far. 
[asin]1101874279[/asin]

[Ken B]

I just read Kristin Thompson's "The Frodo Franchise"--about how the LOTRs production/distribution affected both the movie industry and the lives of many peripheral figures, like bloggers and webmasters and tourguides, etc.  Thompson and her Husband David Bordwell are two of the best writers on film. I have pretty much all of their stuff.  They are academics, so break everything down into incredible detail and analyse what is going on (empirically, without all the Big Theory shenanigans), but also really love movies--which is surprisingly rare in academic film writing.  Perhaps it's because I am starting a new semester and am feeling a lot of stress (which makes me want to read, for some reason), but I couldn't put this book down. 
   I am now reading the new Anne Tyler.  To my amazement, it seems to be very good. I am a huge fan of her work, and feel that in spite of her Pulitzer she tends to be under-appreciated.  She is the ultimate chronicler of American domesticity. However, her last book was abysmal.  I thought she was finished (she is 70 now).  Her best work was from the mid 60s through the mid-80s (before her Pulitzer), but this is pretty darned good so far. 
[asin]1101874279[/asin]

No sword of power? No earth-force only female gorlons can feel?

😜

[Minor Key]

The Divine Comedy, the Musa translation.  About halfway through "The Inferno". 

[NikF]

The Brian Hooker translation of Cyrano. It's a reread. This copy has been with me for years.

[Mookalafalas]

I'm only about 100 pages in, but just what I was hoping for.  Wonderfully well researched and written.  Not too much time is given to any one person, but gives a very good general picture.  Also, there is a magic sword called Hurdsbeckerandum
[asin]B00JGAS65Q[/asin]

[Todd]

I've been hopscotching around The 40s: The Story of Decade, a collection of articles from The New Yorker from the 40s.  Some are light and fun; some are more pointed fun (like George Orwell's scathing review of Graham Greene's The Heart of the Mattter); some interesting for the personages being written about while alive (eg, Thomas Mann, Albert Einstein); and others are a bit heavier, as one would expect.  The centerpiece of the book, and by far the longest work, is John Hersey's 1946 piece simply titled Hiroshima.  Well worth reading.

[Drasko]

Joris-Karl Huysmans - À rebours

Halfway through, feels more like a catalogue than a narrative. I like catalogues.

[NikF]

Joris-Karl Huysmans - À rebours

Halfway through, feels more like a catalogue than a narrative. I like catalogues.

One of my favourites. I hope you continue to enjoy it.

[kishnevi]

Joris-Karl Huysmans - À rebours

Halfway through, feels more like a catalogue than a narrative. I like catalogues.

Huysmans is the sort of writer for whom narrative is a literary formality, an inconvenience to be supplied to the reader only when absolutely necessary.

[kitsune]

One of my favourites. I hope you continue to enjoy it.

Same here.

Now reading (first time):

[Karl Henning]

Another hot MS.

[kitsune]

For some reason I chose to read Sentimental Education some years ago over Bovary, but the former is lovely for sure.

[Mookalafalas]

I'm reading Shantaram, by David Gregory Roberts.   It's a hell of a book.  I've been working on it for a couple of years, which is really strange for me. I tend to finish books quickly.  The problem for me is that it is half memoir and half novel, and the mix throws me off in some ways. Instead of losing myself in it, I am always picking it apart and questioning the author's decisions.  That's too bad. It deserves more unconditional appreciation.
  I tried to put up an image, but they are either too big or are something other than simple images. 

[Ken B]

This week I am working on these:

The Touchstone of Life, Loewenstein. Information processing in cells.
French verbs Past Tenses, Heminway. Drills mostly.
Bayes' Rule, J V Stone. Yes the title has a possessive error. Stats.
Live By Night, Dennis Lehane. Crime novel set in the 20s and 30s.
The Sense of Style, Steven Pinker.
The French Correction, susskind. Superb little grammar book.

I usually have several on the go at once.

[Linus]

The Monk by Matthew Lewis



Has anyone stumbled upon this?

It's from 1796 and seems an example of the pulp fiction of the time. Think Jane Austen + The Name of the Rose + a soap opera of your choice.

It's pretty fun to know that high-quality trash was written even in those days.

[kishnevi]

The Monk by Matthew Lewis



Has anyone stumbled upon this?

It's from 1796 and seems an example of the pulp fiction of the time. Think Jane Austen + The Name of the Rose + a soap opera of your choice.

It's pretty fun to know that high-quality trash was written even in those days.

I tried to read it once. But failed.
Much better is Mrs. Radcliffe. The Mysteries of Udolpho starts slow and sentimental, but kicks into high gear. And once it does that, it is unstoppable. Her other great book is The Italian, which I prefer, since it skips the sentimentality and gets to work right away.

[Linus]

I tried to read it once. But failed.
Much better is Mrs. Radcliffe. The Mysteries of Udolpho starts slow and sentimental, but kicks into high gear. And once it does that, it is unstoppable. Her other great book is The Italian, which I prefer, since it skips the sentimentality and gets to work right away.

Much obliged for the recommendations.

[Ken B]

The Monk by Matthew Lewis



Has anyone stumbled upon this?

It's from 1796 and seems an example of the pulp fiction of the time. Think Jane Austen + The Name of the Rose + a soap opera of your choice.

It's pretty fun to know that high-quality trash was written even in those days.

I have not read The Italian, but I also gave up on The Monk but liked Udolpho.

[milk]