What are you currently reading?

[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.
Amazon US MP pricing

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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:

[Ken B]

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:

Never read the Castiglione.

Embracing Defeat was good as I recall. Long ago I read a Japanese mystery written in 1947. In it was a character who was like a Japanese version of a Southern Lost Cause type. What amazed me was that by the author and the other characters he was treated as a joke. This in a pop novel two years after the war. A small but perfect example of the phenomenon of embracing defeat. So unlike the confederacy.

[Florestan]

Technicalities aside, I relish his revisionist outlook and his sense of humour.  Hands down my favourite musicologist / music critic / writer about music.

[Alek Hidell]

SimonNZ: I saw a few pages back that you read the first volume of Guralnick's Elvis bio. Have you read the second?

TD: Just finished this one -



And just started this one -

[SimonNZ]

SimonNZ: I saw a few pages back that you read the first volume of Guralnick's Elvis bio. Have you read the second?

Only volume one so far. Would you recommend the second?

Guralnick's certainly a good writer, and there was plenty of interesting detail I didn't know (not that I'm a particularly big Elvis fan), including the difficulty of a small operation like Sun having a major success nearly bankrupt them. Recreates the historical time and place well, too.

The Attica book looks interesting. How did you rate it?

[Alek Hidell]

Only volume one so far. Would you recommend the second?

Guralnick's certainly a good writer, and there was plenty of interesting detail I didn't know (not that I'm a particularly big Elvis fan), including the difficulty of a small operation like Sun having a major success nearly bankrupt them. Recreates the historical time and place well, too.

The Attica book looks interesting. How did you rate it?

I recommend both. Of course the second half of Elvis' life is much sadder than the first, with Colonel Parker's exploitation of his meal ticket, the movie years, the great comeback in '68 followed by the eventual tragic decline to the end.

The Attica book is sad in its own way, too, but it's a well-told account that gives time to all sides. I read some Amazon reviews that accused the author of being biased in favor of the convicts, glossing over the crimes that landed them in the prison in the first place, but those seem to me to be barely relevant. No matter what their crimes, they had many legitimate grievances and, of course, the response to the riot - state police charging in like the Einsatzgruppen - was a total clusterfuck.

[SimonNZ]

I recommend both. Of course the second half of Elvis' life is much sadder than the first, with Colonel Parker's exploitation of his meal ticket, the movie years, the great comeback in '68 followed by the eventual tragic decline to the end.

I thought Guralnick, in that first part at least, was much less damning of the Colonel than is usual. Presley wanted to be big and Parker had the connections and knew how to get him national rather than local exposure and market saturation. And if the films weren't that good, well, he seems to say, most films aren't. Still early days at the end of volume one, though.

I'll see if I can track down the Attica nook. Thanks.

[SimonNZ]

Started: