What are you currently reading?

[rockerreds]

Arthur Schopenhauer - World as Will and Representation

I read this in 1998 and was completely blown away by it-enjoy.

[bwv 1080]

Where are you?  I am taking my time - two chapters from Bilocations

This is worth a look if you have not seen it

http://against-the-day.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=Main_Page

Great way to keep track of the characters and check unfamiliar references

[MishaK]

[Kullervo]

A friend of mine keeps begging me to read Akutagawa. What do you think?

[Kullervo]

I read this in 1998 and was completely blown away by it-enjoy.

Without exaggeration, this is the most important thing I've ever read. All the things I've felt to be true are here spelled out in clear and unambiguous terms. I can't conceive of a time when this book will lose its impact.

Now back to fiction: Henry James's The Golden Bowl. Is it any good? I don't know yet, but James's reputation certainly precedes him.

[Haffner]

Maynard Solomon's "Beethoven."

I must admit...it's pretty damn dry. I'm having a hard time staying with it.

It's WAY too psycholoanalytical. Solomon's book on Mozart is much better.

Get Beethoven by Lewis Lockwood and don't bother finishing the Solomon. It just gets worse.

[Haffner]

I read this in 1998 and was completely blown away by it-enjoy.

Both Richard Wagner and Nietzsche were as well. However, Nietzsche soundly refutes alot of this work in his own "Thus Spoke Zarathustra" and "Twilight of the Idols", the latter more vehemently than the former.

[J.Z. Herrenberg]

J.M. Coetzee, Disgrace.

A spare, coolly lyrical novel about a poetry professor in South Africa, who resigns after a sexual harassment case, and goes to live for the time being with his daughter. Then something happens that makes him, eventually, into a less egocentric person (or does it? haven't finished it yet).

[ChamberNut]

It's WAY too psycholoanalytical. Solomon's book on Mozart is much better.

Get Beethoven by Lewis Lockwood and don't bother finishing the Solomon. It just gets worse.

Haffner, I have both the Solomon's book on Mozart and Lewis Lockwood's book on Beethoven.  I particularly enjoyed the Lewis Lockwood Beethoven.

[George]

The 80 page liner notes to this 4CD box set:



And yes, it's good. 

[orbital]

A suitable book to read for daiy commute. There are some inconsistencies in the plot, IMO, but nevertheless entertaining as a whole. Whatever you do, do not read the paragraph from the Library Journal on the Amazon page as it gives out the most important/intriguing  part of the plot 

[J.Z. Herrenberg]

Haffner, I have both the Solomon's book on Mozart and Lewis Lockwood's book on Beethoven.  I particularly enjoyed the Lewis Lockwood Beethoven.

I just borrowed the Lewis Lockwood Beethoven from the Royal Library in The Hague. I'm looking forward to reading it!

[MishaK]

A friend of mine keeps begging me to read Akutagawa. What do you think?

Great stuff. Not the most brilliantly written that I have seen, but great in its own way. I found the descriptions of Christian worshippers from the perspective of traditional Buddhist Japanese from several centuries ago particularly fascinating. Have you seen Kurosawa's Rashomon? It is based on two of the short stories in the book above.

J.M. Coetzee, Disgrace.

A spare, coolly lyrical novel about a poetry professor in South Africa, who resigns after a sexual harassment case, and goes to live for the time being with his daughter. Then something happens that makes him, eventually, into a less egocentric person (or does it? haven't finished it yet).

Excellent book. I just bought Slow Man. Hopefully will find some time soon to read it.

[Mystery]

Just finished Lolita by Nabokov. Lots of words I had to look up but that is a good thing! I am still at the stage of life where I'm keen to learn anything and everything! Well-written and very interesting, though skimmed  parts of the second half. Quite disturbing as well...

[Kullervo]

Now back to fiction: Henry James's The Golden Bowl. Is it any good? I don't know yet, but James's reputation certainly precedes him.

Actually I decided to do what I really want and finally read Mann's Doctor Faustus.

[Lilas Pastia]

I never got to finish Faustus. I tried twice, but left it before i was midway through. Strange, as I am a huge Mann fan. What am I missing?

[bwv 1080]

Henri Poincare's last essays.  Got interested when I read a quote by Nassim Taleb who said he was the greatest French philosopher

Great works on the limits of science and knowledge and the impossibility of any authoritative system of ethics or morality

[gmstudio]

It's WAY too psycholoanalytical. Solomon's book on Mozart is much better.

Get Beethoven by Lewis Lockwood and don't bother finishing the Solomon. It just gets worse.

Excellent...this is exactly the sort of "letting me off the hook" I was looking for.

[Bogey]

Mixed reviews...much like Ike's career.  However, the strong points that some reviewers have pointed out are what I am looking for, so I will give it a go.

[Kullervo]

I never got to finish Faustus. I tried twice, but left it before i was midway through. Strange, as I am a huge Mann fan. What am I missing?

I am enjoying reading it but there is something about it that makes it tend to drag. I wonder if a different translation would make it any better (I have the H.T. Lowe-Porter version).