What are you currently reading?

[SimonNZ]

I thought conservatives were all for public shaming.  Well, except when it's directed at them apparently.

Ronson doesn't address it, but I was thinking of the differences in D and R reactions to shaming all the way through reading the book, and of the differences in causes.

[Ken B]

I thought conservatives were all for public shaming.  Well, except when it's directed at them apparently.

I am sure you believe lots of false things about conservatives.

[Daverz]

I am sure you believe lots of false things about conservatives.

It's true that conservatives are constantly readjusting my conception of how low they can go all the time.

[Ken B]

It's true that conservatives are constantly readjusting my conception of how low they can go all the time.

Funny. You trip over one of your prejudices, and see it as confirmation! 

[NikF4]

Reading for the train journey.

[SimonNZ]

3/4 way through

As good as a one volume history of the subject can be, but there are paragraphs that could have been chapters and chapters that could easily have been entire books. As great a writer as Chernow is, its too much story for for a mere 800 pages.

[JBS]

https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/1941-The-Year-Germany-Lost-the-War/Andrew-Nagorski/9781501181115

[Florestan]

Fascinating reading. Ken, JBS, Todd, don't miss it if you haven't read it already.

[Ken B]

Fascinating reading. Ken, JBS, Todd, don't miss it if you haven't read it already.

Thanks for heads up.

[JBS]

Fascinating reading. Ken, JBS, Todd, don't miss it if you haven't read it already.

Noted
But if it's not at the public library, I may wait a while to read it.
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[NikF4]

Anais Nin: Cities of the Interior, Volume 2.



Took the opportunity offered by enforced absence to go through stuff in my gym locker and forgot I had this.

[SimonNZ]

Finished:



Started:

[Christo]

Halfway both:

                                                                                       The authors, Zweig and Roth, both exiled, meeting in the Summer of 1936 in the Belgian seaside resort of Ostende.

[Muzio]

I thought conservatives were all for public shaming.....

Yes, for example, the Covington school children and the local bakery near Oberlin College.  Those pesky conservatives! 

[SimonNZ]

on the go:

[SimonNZ]

Finished:



"Great" here meaning notable or worthy of attention - a few are damning portraits, including one on Adolph Hitler assessing and warning of his menace and ambition as viewed at the time of writing in 1935.

On the whole an excellent collection of biographical and psychological portraits (well, except for his unconvincingly positive assessment of Haig). I'm surprised it hasn't remained one of Churchill's more popular books.


Started:

[aligreto]

Honoré De Balzac: Cousin Betty

Translated by: James Waring
Published by: The Home Library Book Co.

I am about one quarter of the way through this version and I am enjoying it. The translation is obviously very good as the narrative, and indeed the dialogue, flows very freely, neither of which is laboured in any way.

[ritter]

Starting this now almost forgotten novel:

[asin]2070202496[/asin]
I was only vaguely aware of Marcel Arland (1899-1986), but recently stumbled on his name again as his art collection was auctioned off in Paris. It included some rather interesting items, among them two terracotta bas-reliefs (one of the really superb) by Manolo Hugué (which alas way exceeded their pre-sale estimates and were thus beyond my reach).

Arland became director of La Nouvelle Revue Française in the 50s, succeeding Jean Paulhan (with whom he had closely collaborated). In 1968, he was elected to the Académie Française.

His novel L'Ordre, a roman de formation dealing with two brothers who had not fought in WW1 because of their age (something that must have been refreshing in literary circles at the time), won the Prix Goncourt in 1929. So far (two chapters in) the writing is rather accomplished and evocative. Let's see whether it can retain my interest for its 500+ pages...

[SimonNZ]

finished a couple of quickies:

Still going with Henry Adams

[SimonNZ]

Had Castiglione on my shelves unread for nearly two decades, but once dipped into I read it in a headlong rush in two sessions.

I was expecting a standard hectoring and priggish Etiquette Book, now only of historical intensest, but this is presented not in the author's voice but as a debate between nobles of the court of Urbino, some whose values reflect the Courtly tradition, others who are remarkably forward-looking, and we're left to judge the best advice/argument for ourselves.

There's a wonderful long middle section on humour that gives examples of varieties of jokes from the time, which would make an enjoyment on its own if anyone doesn't want to do the whole thing.

Will be following up soon with Peter Burke's history of the literary reception and influence of the work across the centuries, which I've also had waiting for two decades.

But in the meantime have started: