What are you currently reading?

[Karl Henning]

Galahad is my favorite, but I have noticed that he is best when he doesn't appear often, and you wish for more of him, rather than when he is a central character.

Very interesting!  (FWIW, I have not yet plunged in at Blandings.)

We never feel that about Jeeves, or Psmith, meseems.

[Karl Henning]

Re-reading:

That looks mighty interesting.

[bwv 1080]

As with tagging mp3s (?) there is a tension between cookie-cutter organization, and variations in the organization of an artwork 

Yes, but at least mp3/cd tracks can be meaningfully lapeled.  Don't know why audible can't label chapters

[Daverz]

An entertaining read so far:

[asin] B004J4WNJE[/asin]

[Karl Henning]

David Ossman (yes, of course, that David Ossman), The Ronald Reagan Murder Case.

[SimonNZ]

Finished:



The Wolff book was much better than I expected it to be, and is kind of misrepresented by the "shocking revelations!" advertising its had.

[ritter]

Accompanying my recent revisiting of late 19th to early 20th century Italian opera (scapigliatura to verismo and decadentismo) with this book by eminent left-wing critic Rubens Tedeschi (who died in 2015 at the age of 101):

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I got to Tedeschi through conductor Gianandrea Gavazzeni, as both men had a bit of a feud concerning many of the composers of the period (particularly Mascagni—a guilty pleasure of mine, I must admit  ). Gavazzeni was a great promoter of this repertoire (in the opera house, on record and in print), and Tedeschi called him "a champion of lost causes", contradicting many of the arguments given by the conductor. Most interesting to compare these two views of a troubled but IMHO fascinating era in operatic history.

The subtitle of the book is slightly misleading. The first edition started with Boito and the scapigliatura, and essays on the "big four" (Rossini, Bellini, Donizetti and Verdi) seem to have been appended at the end in this later reprint.

Tedeschi also wrote a book on d'Annunzio and music. Apparently rather difficult to get hold of, but I've just ordered the one copy that was being offered on AbeBooks 

[SimonNZ]

Also picking away at this on audiobook at about one disc per day,and finding it very good:

[Ken B]

Also picking away at this on audiobook at about one disc per day,and finding it very good:

A dreadful book. It is deeply unreliable. Armstrong is either unaware of,or ignores the large corpus of modern historians and their work on the sources. Cf ibn Warraq, The Quest for the Historical Mohammed.
Even Robert Spencer's extremely hostile and tendentious book is better than Armstrong's.

[SimonNZ]

Interesting. Im not at all familiar with the scholarship. What sort of things does she get wrong?

[Ken B]

Interesting. Im not at all familiar with the scholarship. What sort of things does she get wrong?

She relies pretty much entirely and uncritically on traditional Muslim sources, which are of course all late. Just as one example, Patricia Crone has shown there was no trade route through the Medina/Mecca region at that time. That's a huge hit for any claim of historicity. She makes, as I recall from my reading of her, no mention of the problems with isnads and ahadith, nor the early variants of the Koran, the theories it has origins nearer Syria, bupkis, and so on. Just religious apologetics.

Aside from warraq as I recommended, Andrew Rippin has a good book on Islam that discusses this. The Oxford short intro to the Koran is excellent.

[zamyrabyrd]

She relies pretty much entirely and uncritically on traditional Muslim sources, which are of course all late. Just as one example, Patricia Crone has shown there was no trade route through the Medina/Mecca region at that time. That's a huge hit for any claim of historicity. She makes, as I recall from my reading of her, no mention of the problems with isnads and ahadith, nor the early variants of the Koran, the theories it has origins nearer Syria, bupkis, and so on. Just religious apologetics.

Oh gosh, I read Armstrong's Islam, a Short History (2000), very superficial. People like her become apologetic for something they have not even the basic understanding. I do have a thing about "former" nuns, though, priests, too, like Martin Luther. 

[SimonNZ]

She relies pretty much entirely and uncritically on traditional Muslim sources, which are of course all late. Just as one example, Patricia Crone has shown there was no trade route through the Medina/Mecca region at that time. That's a huge hit for any claim of historicity. She makes, as I recall from my reading of her, no mention of the problems with isnads and ahadith, nor the early variants of the Koran, the theories it has origins nearer Syria, bupkis, and so on. Just religious apologetics.

Aside from warraq as I recommended, Andrew Rippin has a good book on Islam that discusses this. The Oxford short intro to the Koran is excellent.

I'll see if i can track those down. Thanks.

[NikF]

Nabokov's Dozen



For my train journey.

[milk]

A dreadful book. It is deeply unreliable. Armstrong is either unaware of,or ignores the large corpus of modern historians and their work on the sources. Cf ibn Warraq, The Quest for the Historical Mohammed.
Even Robert Spencer's extremely hostile and tendentious book is better than Armstrong's.

I read a book by her years ago, I can't remember which one. If I am not mistaken, her thesis is that religions have a more-than-superficial commonality. If I remember right, her view is a bit pollyannish, like, all religion tends to the uplifting of humanity - something that appealed to me at the time but seems like quackery now.

[Judith]

Reading a wonderful book on the story of "Academy of St Martin in the Fields" by Meirion and Susie Harries. Tells about the history of the church St Martins and Neville Marriner starting the orchestra.

Sorry. Maybe wrong thread as it's music related!

[LKB]

They Call it Pacific by Clark Lee

Mr. Lee was working with the Associated Press in Asia when the USA was drawn into WWII. This book is an engaging account of his various encounters and adventures during the Japanese conquest of the Philippines, as well as the subsequent campaigns which began to change the course of the Pacific War.

Readers considering this opus should bear in mind its contemporary nature ( it was published in 1943 ), and set their expectations accordingly. With that caveat stated, I'm happy to recommend this work.

Cheers,

LKB

[SimonNZ]

Started:

[Jaakko Keskinen]

[Ken B]

Robert Littel
The Company

An 800 page novel about the CIA. After 400 pretty good pages it has bogged down a bit, but not enough to give up on yet.