What are you currently reading?

[aligreto]

Maurice Walsh: The Honest Fisherman...





Some very light reading in a collection of six short stories. Walsh is one of the best tellers of a tale that I have read and he does so with a twinkle in his eye.

[Turbot nouveaux]

A short, practical work in these times when the world is staring into the abyss.

[asin]1847924883[/asin]

I might get that for my politically active offspring, nodogen, thanks for bringing it to attention.
And hello, by the way, nice to see you again.

[NikF]

I found this in a secondhand book shop in Edinburgh at the weekend and picked it up on the recent recommendation of oor ritter.

[Crudblud]

Cormac McCarthy - No Country for Old Men

Having already seen the Coen brothers film adaptation a couple of times I was well spoiled on plot, but it was interesting to note the similarities and divergences between the two tellings of essentially the same story. I like McCarthy's stripped down prose, even more than The Road it is notable for its brutal frankness. I have yet to read his acclaimed earlier novels (mainly because they're hard to find around here without paying exorbitant prices, and ordering online is not presently a possibility for me) so I have not encountered his "best", but if his latest two are pulpy dime novels then his best stuff must really be something.

[Karl Henning]

My brother recommended this (listening to the audiobook via OverDrive, on loan from the BPL):

[asin]1939529840[/asin]

[Jaakko Keskinen]

Slowly but steadily continuing my way through the unabridged Les Miserables. Just finished the first book of Volume 2, the one describing the battle of Waterloo. I'm actually surprised how similar that part was to abridged version. Unlike the first book of Vol. 1 which describes Bishop Myriel's life, including a very detailed description of his house. Luckily Hugo writes extremely well even when getting side-tracked so it's not of much consequence.

[Ken B]

Picked up a copy of "Silence" by John Cage from the library:

Never heard of that.

[Ken B]

A Scott Alexander column. So it's long. He's always interesting but looooong. But this one is, even for him, brilliant. http://slatestarcodex.com/2014/09/30/i-can-tolerate-anything-except-the-outgroup/

[André]

This looks like an interesting - and entertaining - read:



Reviews here:

The short one:
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/29799814-class

And the long one:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/how-miserable-it-must-be-to-be-a-progressive/2017/09/13/2b783eda-97ef-11e7-b569-3360011663b4_story.html?tid=pm_opinions_pop&utm_term=.b4fc219ec21f

[bwv 1080]

Picked up a copy of "Silence" by John Cage from the library:

Is that the edition where 4' 33 plays when you open it?

(Sorry someone had to make a 4'33 joke)

I saw john cage speak around 1990, he came to our music school.  Was an engaging guy and a great experience to hear him expound on his ideas about listening to music and sound

[bwv 1080]

You met Cage?? 

No, just attended a lecture he gave

[Jaakko Keskinen]

[bwv 1080]

First of a planned three volume 2000+ page biography.  Very well written and avoids a lot of far-to-easy psychoanalysis or counterfactuals.  Amazing how incompetent both the Tsarist regime and the provisional government that replaced it were.

[SimonNZ]

A.A. Gill - Pour Me

I'm generally a fan of his, but this is probably the best thing he's written

also listened to an audiobook of Stephen Fry's third volume of memoirs, which was much better than I was expecting and has made me want to get the earlier two

[aligreto]

also listened to an audiobook of Stephen Fry's third volume of memoirs, which was much better than I was expecting and has made me want to get the earlier two

He has a wonderful speaking voice.

[Crudblud]

Any JG Ballard fans?

Yo.

[Jaakko Keskinen]

Any Fitzgerald fans? I think the book I am reading now, The Last Tycoon, is my first one from him. After this, I'm going to read The Great Gatsby.

[Spineur]

Any Fitzgerald fans? I think the book I am reading now, The Last Tycoon, is my first one from him. After this, I'm going to read The Great Gatsby.

Read and enjoyed
- This Side of Paradise
- The Beautiful and Damned
- The Great Gatsby
some of his short stories.

From the point of view of english style, he is a very readable writer for a european.

[ritter]

Reading this interesting account about the scandal in Argentina after the local permière (in 1967) of Ginastera's opera Bomarzo was cancelled by direct order of the then dictator Onganía. The book also provides some very interesting background information on the opera.

[Jaakko Keskinen]

Finished Buddenbrooks. I enjoyed it greatly, although I liked the beginning and the middle parts more than the ending, the ending got a bit too depressing for my current state of mind (yes, I know that is exactly the point of the novel, decline of a family and all that) although I enjoyed the Wagner references.