What are you currently reading?

[steve ridgway]

You were not alone.
Thankfully my daughter also grew up with a love of books.

I'd read all the books in the children's section of the library by the time I was 11, so they gave me tickets for the adult section .

[aligreto]

I'd read all the books in the children's section of the library by the time I was 11, so they gave me tickets for the adult section .

I had a somewhat similar experience and in order to help my case I learnt the basics of the Dewey Decimal Classification System 

[Papy Oli]

wow big book   

you'll need to change the first [img] tag to [img width=250] (or 300) to resize the image to more acceptable size for us browsing 

[Florestan]

wow big book   

you'll need to change the first [img] tag to [img width=250] (or 300) to resize the image to more acceptable size for us browsing 

I've been trying to figure out how to post the same content as yours without getting the tags to actually work and truncate my post. Now I know how to do it, thank you!. 

I'd have replaced width=250 with height=350, though. 

[Papy Oli]

I've been trying to figure out how to post the same content as yours without getting the tags to actually work and truncate my post. Now I know how to do it, thank you!. 

I'd have replaced width=250 with height=350, though. 

Fair point about the height, Andrei. I have only ever used the width one for the CD pictures...never thought of the height   

[Florestan]

Fair point about the height, Andrei. I have only ever used the width one for the CD pictures...never thought of the height   

Well, Olivier, that's too funny: I have always used the height for both CDs and books and it works just fine --- never thought of the width.   

[j winter]

Good tips on height and width      I think the last book I read might be improved by adjusting the depth... I'll have to experiment with that...

[Papy Oli]

Well, Olivier, that's too funny: I have always used the height for both CDs and books and it works just fine --- never thought of the width.   

Good tips on height and width      I think the last book I read might be improved by adjusting the depth... I'll have to experiment with that...

Does that mean that with all those, we can post pictures of books in multiples volumes....    

[Florestan]

Good tips on height and width      I think the last book I read might be improved by adjusting the depth... I'll have to experiment with that...

Good one! 

[ritter]

Just finished:


A fascinating lecture given by Adorno in 1967. As an unedited spoken text, it is very approachable and straightforward, and its 55 pages touches on some interesting points concerning the rise of right-wing extremism. The text is not (and does not intend to be) a fully developed theoretical framework on its subject matter,  and just touches on some "aspects" of it, as the title suggests.

Adorno had suffered the rise of Nazism firsthand in the 30s, and then in 1967 was addressing the (short-lived) rise of the NPD (Nationaldemokratische Partei Deutschlands). Now, we're seeing similar trends in Europe (AfD in Germany, RN in France, Vox in Spain), and the text is once again quite relevant. Not that Adorno was clairvoyant or anything of the sort, simply that the claims and tools used by these political groups were the same in the 30s, 60s and now (with the natural place- and time-related variations).

The book will be published in English translation this month:

[asin]1509541454[/asin]
Highly recommended!

And now starting:

[asin]2221203070[/asin]
I had never read any Julien Green before, and this new edition of the first volume his uncensored diaries, covering the years 1929-1940 (another three volumes covering the rest of his life—he died in 1998–will be published next), seemed like a good starting point (even if I'm afraid the 1200+ pages of this first volume are not suitable to read in one go).

A curious figure, Julien Green. Born Julian (his given name was frenchified by his first editor) in 1900 in Paris into a patrician family from the southern US, he spent most of his life in France, and the vast majority of his literary output was in French. He was elected to the Académie (from which late in life he resigned from for some obscure reason), but rejected French citizenship when it was offered to him by president Pompidou himself.

He converted to Catholicism as a young man, and is considered one of the great French "catholic" writers of the 20th century, as well as a great stylist in the language. But, he also was a homosexual—and a rather promiscuous one, as we only now get to know—, and had a lifelong (and open) liaison with journalist Robert de Saint-Jean (a not uninteresting diarist and essayist himself), until now thought to have been a "platonic"  relationship.

Green's diaries (considered among his best work) were released during his lifetime in the sancta sanctorum of French publishing, the Bibliothèque de la Pléiade. It turns out, though, that that edition was expurgated by the author, and the complete manuscripts  (enhanced by ca. 60% compared to what was available until now) were deposited in the Bibliothèque Nationale with the rest of his literary legacy. Parts of what now appears are openly homoerotic (pornographic, really), and random sexual encounters with usually working-class men (shared in some instances with his companion and with other notable literary figures) are profusely described. That a "catholic" author would even put these things in writing is surprising,  and he must have foreseen these pages would eventually see the light of day (given his prestige) after his death. Be that as it may, the diaries' real interest is in their reflection of the author's intellectual pursuits, as a firsthand document of artistic life (mainly) in Paris during the past century, and in their concise but stylish French prose.

[Florestan]

Just finished:


A fascinating lecture given by Adorno in 1967. As an unedited spoken text, it is very approachable and straightforward, and its 55 pages touches on some interesting points concerning the rise of right-wing extremism.

With all due respect, don Rafael, that's a very outdated book. How about "Aspects of the New Left Radicalism"? Given the recent (ie, since at least Podemos 's rise to governmental influence, if not downright governmental power) developments in your own country, the latter title is much more actual than Adorno's, which incidentally was completely  misplaced and misfired, given that the self-same right-wing radicals he so vocally denounced willingly gave him political asylum and never ever thought of forbidding him the right to print the most vocal critique of the very society that they upholded and that made possible to print his very critique without any fear of retaliation. I think it's only poetical justice that he died of a heart attack induced by students yelling at him the very slogans he yelled at the "bourgeois". 

I say it loud: (petty) bourgeois and proud! 

[ritter]

With all due respect, don Rafael, that's a very outdated book. How about "Aspects of the New Left Radicalism"? Given the recent (ie, since at least Podemos 's rise to governmental influence, if not downright governmental power) developments in your own country, the latter title is much more actual than Adorno's, which incidentally was completely  misplaced and misfired, given that the self-same right-wing radicals he so vocally denounced willingly gave him political asylum and never ever thought of forbidding him the right to print the most vocal critique of the very society that they upholded and that made possible to print his very critique without any fear of retaliation. I think it's only poetical justice that he died of a heart attack induced by students yelling at him the very slogans he yelled at the "bourgeois". 

I say it loud: (petty) bourgeois and proud! 

You,ve got this all wrong, querido Andrei, oh so, so wrong.

Primo. Whataboutism has nothing to do with this. Denouncing the rise of right-wing extremism is a necessary thing per se, even if an author does not denounce the rise of left-wing extremism. Both are equally nefarious and dangerous. And Adorno, as Marxist-trained as he was, never embraced communism or the misguided tangible political manifestations of Marxism. He was first and foremost centred on (often very illuminating) cultural critique and the situation of man in modern society, but he never proposed any of the (ultimately catastrophic) false utopias that were being imposed on parts of the world in the 20th century.

Secundo. Adorno's critique was never aimed against representative liberal democracies as such, but rather towards phenomena taking place within those democracies (which were the ones he knew and could study). And, at least AFAIK, he never wrote a word of ingratitude or attack against the country that generously gave him shelter in the darkest of times, and never refers to the US or the Federal Republic of Germany as being "right-wing extremist". What he does is point out, with deep analysis—that one can agree with or not, that is another matter—the problems he perceived within those systems (once again, mainly from a cultural and sociological—but certainly not political—point of view).

Tertio. On a personal note, you will understand that I, an upper-middle class citizen of an advanced western democracy,  of bourgeois/professional background (of many generations), cannot and will not ever embrace the destructive force of the new left-wing radicalism, which in essence is seeking to subvert the whole system I believe in (and is "the least bad of systems" IMHO) and destroy my "class", as well as—and perhaps more importantly—block the perspective of anyone being given the possibility of joining that  "class". And seeing the traditional Social Democrat party of Spain finding support in Podemos (and to a certain degree, embracing the ideology of the latter) breaks my heart. But, this will not make  me turn a blind eye to the quick rise of extremism on the other end of the spectrum (perhaps you do not know that the far-right Vox party now has the third largest representation in the Spanish parliament, ahead of Podemos), and that the traditional centre-right Partido Popular is—similarly to the Socialists, but in the other direction—radicalising itself to stop the drainage of votes on the right (a suicidal attitude, I'm afraid). But this destructive polarisation of politics is not a problem exclusive to Spain. Schlechte Zeit für Zentrismus.  And you will agree with me that the impending potential economic catastrophe worldwide is the perfect breeding ground for extremist solutions, on either side of the political spectrum.

Your (apparently knee-jerk) reaction to the name Adorno, and your saying that a book I doubt you've had the chance to read is "very outdated" appear to reflect only preconceived notions (and possibly complete ignorance of Adorno's oeuvre). I will not  claim a deep knowledge of the man's thought (I lack—by far—the philosophical training to tackle the  "big" books), but what I have read (Minima Moralia, shorter essays, the writings on music, and, many years ago, the Dialectics of Enlightenment—co-authored with Max Horkheimer) has always been thought-provoking and illuminating, even if I have on occasions disagreed with the author's approach and conclusions. On many other occasions, though, I (and many more, of whatever political persuasion) perceive in him an intellect of the highest rank, with whom I at least often feel a close affinity. And his prose, extremely difficult as it may be, can also be extremely rewarding and, yes, beautiful.

So, cher ami, I can only recommend you read this small book, Who knows? You might even like it... 

Un fuerte abrazo,

[AlberichUndHagen]

Nice . . . at some point, I may re-read War and Peace.

So far I haven't managed to finish anything by Tolstoy. War and Peace simply didn't click with me. Anna Karenina I liked a lot more that which i managed to read although I didn't get very far because my psychological well-being at that time was very fragile. I'm probably going to eventually return to Tolstoy and perhaps finish both of them (provided the libraries open at some point).

[Jo498]

Try some of the shorter prose pieces, e.g. "The Death of Ivan Ilic", "Hadji Murat", "The cossacks" etc. There are quite a few ranging from short story to short novel length. They are not all similarly great but most of them masterpieces and also accessible.

I finished the Decamerone. It took me more than one month, so a bit longer than the deka hemérai or 10 days (or two weeks, the narrators take breaks for friday and saturday because they don't want to share lascivious stories on the days Jesus suffered) it takes in the fictional setting and the pandemic is not over. I don't know if the plague in Florence was over in 1348 after these two weeks. Probably not.
A hundred stories. They cover a very broad range. Some or fairly silly or maybe also dependent on Italian word play that gets mostly lost in translation. Many are also rather dependent on very ribald confusions being played for laughs and a handful were probably considered as bordering pornography until fairly recently. (The most daring story is maybe the following: One of two close friends begins an affair with the others' wife. Her husband finds out and as revenge he provokes a situation where his friend has to hide in a chest (for fear of being discovered) and the cuckolded guy then has sex with the others wife on top of the chest. Because they were great friends and this was considered a fairly mild revenge (as opposed to killing/maiming whatever) they agree to remain great friends and set up a menage à quatre to everyone's content!)
Mostly still entertaining although the horny monks and some other tropes are a little old when they return for the third time in a very similar fashion. The amazing thing for me is also the window into the mid-14th century. This was written only a few decades after the Divine Comedy, Boccaccio being less than 50 years younger than Dante. And it is mostly the exact opposite: Everyone is horny all the time and very little afraid of ending up in the first circle's storm...

[aligreto]

Mayle: A Year in Provence





This book was all the rage at one time and everybody read it, except me [because everybody else did at the time]. It describes exactly what it says on the cover. The characters are wonderful and true to life, if something of a caricature. What I found most appealing was the accounts of conversations that were had. I had many laugh out loud moments but I think that one would need a smattering of basic French to fully appreciate the humour.

[SimonNZ]

Still going with Robert Fisk, but in the meantime finished this:

[greg]

Just started this massive undertaking- the legendary, one and only, Umineko no Naku Koro ni (it's a visual novel in the mystery genre).

I say massive, because if it were a book, it would be over 3600 pages! Expecting to take about 2 months to finish this.

What led me to pick it up were: 1) it's related to Higurashi When They Cry, which I love, and 2) the reviews of some people make it sound like this was some sort of life-altering experience that it's so good.

Finished the first half (Questions arc). The second half (Answers arc) is supposed to be just as long. It took well over 100 hours to get through the first half.

My conclusion is... 10/10. Honestly this is so good that it makes most stories, regardless of genre/format, look bad. It's a murder mystery but there is some really heavy stuff that will make you think, to say the least.

But it will remain a sort of "underground" story because visual novels aren't often read outside of Japan.

[SimonNZ]

Started:

[Florestan]

Started:

Does he say when Rome fell? (I presume that by Rome he means not only the city itself but also the empire.)

[SimonNZ]

I'm only a few chapters in but from the introduction it sounds as though he intends to stop at 476.