What are you currently reading?

Started by facehugger, April 07, 2007, 12:36:10 AM

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SonicMan46

Beginning Ubuntu Linux, 2nd ed (2007) by Keir Thomas - this is not my usual book posting, but the HD on my IBM laptop 'died' a month or so ago; I bought a Dell Latitude w/ VISTA as a replacement (my son, an IT guy, got me 25% OFF) - I was goin' to just dispose of the IBM, but thought of 'playing around' w/ a Linux clone, so I put in a HD replacement & up the memory to 512 MB - installed Ubuntu and am having a BALL w/ this OS - amazed by the quality of the programming, the 'free' programs available, and the virtual lack of a need for a firewall (one is built in), anti-virus, & malware software - I was on my wireless network almost immediately!  The book below has been a BIG help - have not played w/ UNIX since the early 80s, and that was in the SHELL mode, which you can pretty much avoid these days, if desired -  :D  P.S. and if you want to see a BUSY forum, visit ubuntuforums.org!


Danny

Yevtushenko: Selected Poems translated by Robin Milner-Gulland and Peter Levi, S.J.

Lilas Pastia

Saramago's Baltasar and Blimunda.

Quote from Wikipedia:
Quote
Baltasar and Blimunda (Portuguese: Memorial do Convento, 1987) is a novel by the Portuguese author José Saramago.

It is a love story set in the 18th century with the construction of the Convent of Mafra, now one of Portugal's chief tourist attractions, as a background. Two young lovers interact naturally with historical characters including the composer and harpsichordist Domenico Scarlatti and the priest Bartolomeu de Gusmão, recognized today as an aviation pioneer, all in the shadow of the Inquisition. The lovers are always at center stage wrapped in Saramago's language, which ranges from short simple sentences to surrealistic, unpunctuated paragraphs that help to intensify both the action and the setting.

I haven't come yet to the Scarlatti encounters, but so far it's a masterly work. This is my second Saramago novel and there's no doubt he's one of the best novelists and historicists, on the same level as Ivo Andric.

Kullervo

Just finished Pére Goriot, starting on this today:



I read this long ago in 8th grade, but I think now I will be able to appreciate it beyond the obvious dramatic aspects of the story.









Bogey

Quote from: Corey on November 10, 2007, 07:12:26 AM
Just finished Pére Goriot, starting on this today:



I read this long ago in 8th grade, but I think now I will be able to appreciate it beyond the obvious dramatic aspects of the story.




Easily in my top 10 all time fiction reads Corey.
There will never be another era like the Golden Age of Hollywood.  We didn't know how to blow up buildings then so we had no choice but to tell great stories with great characters.-Ben Mankiewicz

Kullervo

Quote from: Bogey on November 10, 2007, 07:19:18 AM
Easily in my top 10 all time fiction reads Corey.

I loved it this time around, and realized how much I was missing when I read it in 8th grade. I love the way Wilde uses the tastes and comments of his characters to make statements about the cultural world of the time (e.g. "Dry-goods! What are American dry-goods?" "American novels"  ;D).

Started this today:


Anne

I am reading Haydn A Creative Life in Music written by Karl Geiringer in collaboration with Irene Geiringer.  The oversize paperback (370 pages) is very well written and enjoyable.   

Bogey

Quote from: Corey on November 13, 2007, 01:08:02 PM
I loved it this time around, and realized how much I was missing when I read it in 8th grade. I love the way Wilde uses the tastes and comments of his characters to make statements about the cultural world of the time (e.g. "Dry-goods! What are American dry-goods?" "American novels"  ;D).


And dare I say about himself....borders on an autobiogrphy at times, no?

There will never be another era like the Golden Age of Hollywood.  We didn't know how to blow up buildings then so we had no choice but to tell great stories with great characters.-Ben Mankiewicz

Kullervo

Quote from: Bogey on November 13, 2007, 06:23:29 PM
And dare I say about himself....borders on an autobiogrphy at times, no?

In the introduction there is a quote from Wilde: "Basil Halliward is what I think I am: Lord Henry what the world thinks me: Dorian what I would like to be — in other ages, perhaps."

I will definitely be getting his complete works very soon. :)

Bogey

Quote from: Corey on November 14, 2007, 04:21:40 AM
In the introduction there is a quote from Wilde: "Basil Halliward is what I think I am: Lord Henry what the world thinks me: Dorian what I would like to be — in other ages, perhaps."

I will definitely be getting his complete works very soon. :)

Do you have the edition with an introduction by Camille Canti Corey?
There will never be another era like the Golden Age of Hollywood.  We didn't know how to blow up buildings then so we had no choice but to tell great stories with great characters.-Ben Mankiewicz

Kullervo

Quote from: Bogey on November 14, 2007, 04:44:01 AM
Do you have the edition with an introduction by Camille Canti Corey?

I can't remember, it's already sent back to the library. It was one of the newer Modern Library editions.

rockerreds


Danny



A deep and consistent pleasure to read (as all GK books).  A quote:

"Millions of mild black-coated men call themselves sane and sensible merely because they always catch the fashionable insanity, because they are hurried into madness after madness by the maelstrom of the world."

bhodges

Quote from: Corey on November 13, 2007, 01:08:02 PM
Started this today:



Oh hope you like it.  :D  I tried reading an earlier edition and came away thinking the novel was just "OK."  (Actually I didn't finish it.)  But somehow this new translation is much more interesting, and I enjoyed it thoroughly.

--Bruce

The new erato

2nd volume of Walsh's Stravinsky whilelistening to the late works in the Sony Stravinsky box.

Lady Chatterley

Joys and Sorrows by Pablo Casals (ghost written by Albert Khan).

Kullervo

Quote from: bhodges on November 14, 2007, 11:17:41 AM
Oh hope you like it.  :D  I tried reading an earlier edition and came away thinking the novel was just "OK."  (Actually I didn't finish it.)  But somehow this new translation is much more interesting, and I enjoyed it thoroughly.

--Bruce

Well, it certainly has a lot to live up to; Buddenbrooks was the best book I've ever read.  :)

Lilas Pastia

Die Buddenbrooks is Mann's shortest and most approachable big novel.  He went on to expand some of its themes in Zauberberg, most notably the disintegration of the body (tuberculosis was prevalent at the time), while retaining its amazing mix of comedy, high drama and the historical context the characters evolve in. I have read both at least four times. Bigger and better than both is his mammoth biblical take on the story of Joseph And His Bothers. I think THIS is my all-time favourite book!


longears

Quote from: Danny on November 14, 2007, 11:14:30 AM
A deep and consistent pleasure to read (as all GK books).  A quote:

"Millions of mild black-coated men call themselves sane and sensible merely because they always catch the fashionable insanity, because they are hurried into madness after madness by the maelstrom of the world."
Love the Chesterton quote, Danny.  Heretics, eh?  I may have to look into that one.  Thanks.

Danny

Quote from: longears on November 15, 2007, 04:51:28 AM
Love the Chesterton quote, Danny.  Heretics, eh?  I may have to look into that one.  Thanks.

Chesterton is among the most quotable (and provocative) of authors;  if you like Heretics read its sequel Orthodoxy and The Everlasting Man.