What are you currently reading?

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

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NikF

A reread, but fitting for the train journey -

"You overestimate my power of attraction," he told her. "No, I don't," she replied sharply, "and neither do you".

MN Dave

"The effect of music is so very much more powerful and penetrating than is that of the other arts, for these others speak only of the shadow, but music of the essence." — Arthur Schopenhauer

bwv 1080




QuoteAll Things Must Fight to Live stands out for me because it is not gratuitous. It would have been far more easy to write a book that focuses only on the depravity of the war (and it has been done too many times already-The Rebels Hour, The Greatest Silence: Rape in the Congo, etc.). Instead, Mealer offers balanced war reporting and a nuanced look at the lives of ordinary Congolese.

In addition to following the war in both urban and rural conflict zones, the author immersed himself in a two-thousand mile journey by barge, bicycle, and train through the heart of the country. While his meandering trip was fraught with complications such as a train derailment, he was able to see the impact that the war has had on Congolese living in the vast and impoverished interior.

Here's a brief except to pique your interest:

We went in first with soldiers, young and terrified Ugandan kids straight from the villages, whip-thin in their baggy fatigues and wound tight around their triggers even high above the clouds. The Ugandan army flew Antonov-26s into Congo, scrapped by the Soviet bloc and born again for African war, steel Trojan horses loaded with gun-mounted jeeps, barrels of diesel, and crates of banana moonshine. You found a place on the floor and instantly started sweating, nestled between rifles and rocket launchers so close to your eyeballs you could study the paint chips on the grenades. There was little cabin pressure to soothe the landings, and going in fast, you felt like your eyes would pop out of your skull. The soldiers buried their faces in their hats to hide the tears. And all you could do was wince and give a thumbs-up and be thankful that the engines were so loud that no one could hear you scream. (xiii)

https://newsoutofafrica.wordpress.com/2008/11/11/africa-reading-challenge-review-viii-all-things-must-fight-to-live/

Sydney Nova Scotia

When Giants Walked the Earth: A Biography of Led Zeppelin
Biography by Mick Wall

Good God they ripped off every one and every thing..................
Sydney is my name and games is my game

Sydney Nova Scotia

Not reading yet, as still getting copy

The Big Note: A Guide to the Recordings of Frank Zappa
Sydney is my name and games is my game

Jaakko Keskinen

Now at the beginning of Volume IV in Les Misérables, starting the very chapter which reportedly has the longest sentence in French literature, 823 words long.
"Javert, though frightful, had nothing ignoble about him. Probity, sincerity, candor, conviction, the sense of duty, are things which may become hideous when wrongly directed; but which, even when hideous, remain grand."

- Victor Hugo

aligreto

Quote from: Alberich on September 11, 2018, 07:35:43 AM
Now at the beginning of Volume IV in Les Misérables, starting the very chapter which reportedly has the longest sentence in French literature, 823 words long.

I found Les Misérables to be a sometimes cumbersome but always interesting read and I did enjoy it.

Ken B

Quote from: aligreto on September 11, 2018, 12:22:58 PM
I found Les Misérables to be a sometimes cumbersome but always interesting read and I did enjoy it.
#metoo But I am not seriously tempted to reread it. I am planning to reread a lot of thick books ...

Florestan

Quote from: aligreto on September 11, 2018, 12:22:58 PM
I found Les Misérables to be a sometimes cumbersome but always interesting read and I did enjoy it.

Ditto. My favorite Hugo novels, though, are 1793 and Les travailleurs de la mer.
There is no theory. You have only to listen. Pleasure is the law. — Claude Debussy

Ken B

Quote from: Florestan on September 11, 2018, 12:49:20 PM
Ditto. My favorite Hugo novels, though, are 1793 and Les travailleurs de la mer.
Anyone have interest in a REreading thread?

Florestan

Quote from: Ken B on September 11, 2018, 12:58:14 PM
Anyone have interest in a REreading thread?

After I go through the 100+ books awaiting for a first reading, count me in.  ;D
There is no theory. You have only to listen. Pleasure is the law. — Claude Debussy

Ken B


Florestan

Quote from: Ken B on September 11, 2018, 01:30:13 PM
Is that the page count?

Fortunately not. Actually the original title is Quatrevingt-treize (Ninety-three).
There is no theory. You have only to listen. Pleasure is the law. — Claude Debussy

MN Dave

"The effect of music is so very much more powerful and penetrating than is that of the other arts, for these others speak only of the shadow, but music of the essence." — Arthur Schopenhauer

bwv 1080

Quote from: MN Dave on September 12, 2018, 05:20:49 AM
ELRIC

Have you seen this?  Michael Moorcock said it was the story he would have written today.  Alan Moore is also involved with the comic adaptation


MN Dave

#8875
Quote from: bwv 1080 on September 12, 2018, 05:34:51 AM
Have you seen this?  Michael Moorcock said it was the story he would have written today.  Alan Moore is also involved with the comic adaptation



Yes, I've read it. Moore does the intro to the Elric collection I'm reading, first of a series (Del Rey).

[This will be my second reading of the Elric saga, the first since I was a teen. We'll see how far I get. Have not much patience for fiction these days.]
"The effect of music is so very much more powerful and penetrating than is that of the other arts, for these others speak only of the shadow, but music of the essence." — Arthur Schopenhauer

Karl Henning

Quote from: Ken B on September 11, 2018, 12:58:14 PM
Anyone have interest in a REreading thread?

Well, I am re-reading The Lord of the Rings . . . .
Karl Henning, Ph.D.
Composer & Clarinetist
Boston MA
http://www.karlhenning.com/
[Matisse] was interested neither in fending off opposition,
nor in competing for the favor of wayward friends.
His only competition was with himself. — Françoise Gilot

NikF

A rereading thread appeals to me for a number of reasons. What a lot of people consider as a reread, is a first read for me. And so as long as when imparting their thoughts they're capable of leaving their ego at the door, I'm happy to benefit from their insights.
"You overestimate my power of attraction," he told her. "No, I don't," she replied sharply, "and neither do you".

bwv 1080

Quote from: Ken B on September 11, 2018, 12:58:14 PM
Anyone have interest in a REreading thread?

Did Gravity's Rainbow earlier this year and now rereading Steven Erikson's Malazan Book of the Fallen (which is over 10x the page count of LOTR FWIW)

Draško



Modesty Blaise - O'Donnell/Holdaway - omnibus consisting of first eight episodes. In Serbian, large format, hardcover, first of planned 12 books.