What are you currently reading?

[JBS]

I have had LeFanu on my radar for decades,  but never actually read him. I know about him from mentions in two of the Lord Peter Wimsey novels (Nine Tailors and Gaudy Night) by Dorothy Sayers.

I started Evans's first volume, but got distracted...

[Karl Henning]

Still sticking largely with the classics at the moment.  I'm approaching mid-point on War and Peace, and have pulled down two volumes of short stories -- Nathaniel Hawthorne and Rudyard Kipling -- and have been diving back and forth between the three.  I have to admit, the prospect of not being able to go out this weekend and staying in with a pile of books (and CD's of course) is not particularly upsetting...  

Nice . . . at some point, I may re-read War and Peace.

[Karl Henning]

The Proud Tower, Barbara Tuchman's majestic and elegantly opinionated survey of pre-WWI Europe and the USA. The writing is exquisite: it sweeps across the landscape but everything that falls under her eye is cut down precisely to size. It should be possible for a reader inclined to disagree with Tuchman's political sympathies to read past her interpretation and glean important facts, but such a reader would be missing out on most of the fun.

Great book!

[steve ridgway]

I've found the Open University have a load of free online courses and have started with In the night sky: Orion.

https://www.open.edu/openlearn/science-maths-technology/the-night-sky-orion/content-section-overview?active-tab=description-tab

[aligreto]

Oh, that sounds like a fun distraction for these days and times (particularly after listening to too much news).  I hadn't heard of him before now and must admit that it's been a while since I've read ghost stories; I did love them growing up and was a big fan of Poe (had to keep a dictionary next to me whilst reading his stories as some of the Victorian words and/or meanings were unknown to me).  Also, loved watching the Poe movies with Vincent Price.   

I did have fun (a few months ago...ish) reading some early short stories of George R.R. Martin's ...trying to recall the title now.  Hold on please, I'll try and find it.  I think that it was Dreamsongs, Volume I.  It was a combo of Sci Fi and Horror.  A number of really well-written (and scary!) stories.

At the moment, reading too much news(!), some articles and fun things too about what is going on in the tennis world, a couple of books that I have about birds...how to identify, their habits, how to attract them, etc.

Best,

PD

The important thing is to keep reading and to encourage it wherever possible, especially among the young.

[Pohjolas Daughter]

The important thing is to keep reading and to encourage it wherever possible, especially among the young.

Agreed.  By the way, I was the kid with the flashlight reading under the covers past bedtime, belonged to book clubs, and walked out of the library arms filled with books.   

[aligreto]

Agreed.  By the way, I was the kid with the flashlight reading under the covers past bedtime, belonged to book clubs, and walked out of the library arms filled with books.   

You were not alone.
Thankfully my daughter also grew up with a love of books.

[steve ridgway]

You were not alone.
Thankfully my daughter also grew up with a love of books.

I'd read all the books in the children's section of the library by the time I was 11, so they gave me tickets for the adult section .

[aligreto]

I'd read all the books in the children's section of the library by the time I was 11, so they gave me tickets for the adult section .

I had a somewhat similar experience and in order to help my case I learnt the basics of the Dewey Decimal Classification System 

[Papy Oli]

wow big book   

you'll need to change the first [img] tag to [img width=250] (or 300) to resize the image to more acceptable size for us browsing 

[Florestan]

wow big book   

you'll need to change the first [img] tag to [img width=250] (or 300) to resize the image to more acceptable size for us browsing 

I've been trying to figure out how to post the same content as yours without getting the tags to actually work and truncate my post. Now I know how to do it, thank you!. 

I'd have replaced width=250 with height=350, though. 

[Papy Oli]

I've been trying to figure out how to post the same content as yours without getting the tags to actually work and truncate my post. Now I know how to do it, thank you!. 

I'd have replaced width=250 with height=350, though. 

Fair point about the height, Andrei. I have only ever used the width one for the CD pictures...never thought of the height   

[Florestan]

Fair point about the height, Andrei. I have only ever used the width one for the CD pictures...never thought of the height   

Well, Olivier, that's too funny: I have always used the height for both CDs and books and it works just fine --- never thought of the width.   

[j winter]

Good tips on height and width      I think the last book I read might be improved by adjusting the depth... I'll have to experiment with that...

[Papy Oli]

Well, Olivier, that's too funny: I have always used the height for both CDs and books and it works just fine --- never thought of the width.   

Good tips on height and width      I think the last book I read might be improved by adjusting the depth... I'll have to experiment with that...

Does that mean that with all those, we can post pictures of books in multiples volumes....    

[Florestan]

Good tips on height and width      I think the last book I read might be improved by adjusting the depth... I'll have to experiment with that...

Good one! 

[ritter]

Just finished:


A fascinating lecture given by Adorno in 1967. As an unedited spoken text, it is very approachable and straightforward, and its 55 pages touches on some interesting points concerning the rise of right-wing extremism. The text is not (and does not intend to be) a fully developed theoretical framework on its subject matter,  and just touches on some "aspects" of it, as the title suggests.

Adorno had suffered the rise of Nazism firsthand in the 30s, and then in 1967 was addressing the (short-lived) rise of the NPD (Nationaldemokratische Partei Deutschlands). Now, we're seeing similar trends in Europe (AfD in Germany, RN in France, Vox in Spain), and the text is once again quite relevant. Not that Adorno was clairvoyant or anything of the sort, simply that the claims and tools used by these political groups were the same in the 30s, 60s and now (with the natural place- and time-related variations).

The book will be published in English translation this month:

[asin]1509541454[/asin]
Highly recommended!

And now starting:

[asin]2221203070[/asin]
I had never read any Julien Green before, and this new edition of the first volume his uncensored diaries, covering the years 1929-1940 (another three volumes covering the rest of his life—he died in 1998–will be published next), seemed like a good starting point (even if I'm afraid the 1200+ pages of this first volume are not suitable to read in one go).

A curious figure, Julien Green. Born Julian (his given name was frenchified by his first editor) in 1900 in Paris into a patrician family from the southern US, he spent most of his life in France, and the vast majority of his literary output was in French. He was elected to the Académie (from which late in life he resigned from for some obscure reason), but rejected French citizenship when it was offered to him by president Pompidou himself.

He converted to Catholicism as a young man, and is considered one of the great French "catholic" writers of the 20th century, as well as a great stylist in the language. But, he also was a homosexual—and a rather promiscuous one, as we only now get to know—, and had a lifelong (and open) liaison with journalist Robert de Saint-Jean (a not uninteresting diarist and essayist himself), until now thought to have been a "platonic"  relationship.

Green's diaries (considered among his best work) were released during his lifetime in the sancta sanctorum of French publishing, the Bibliothèque de la Pléiade. It turns out, though, that that edition was expurgated by the author, and the complete manuscripts  (enhanced by ca. 60% compared to what was available until now) were deposited in the Bibliothèque Nationale with the rest of his literary legacy. Parts of what now appears are openly homoerotic (pornographic, really), and random sexual encounters with usually working-class men (shared in some instances with his companion and with other notable literary figures) are profusely described. That a "catholic" author would even put these things in writing is surprising,  and he must have foreseen these pages would eventually see the light of day (given his prestige) after his death. Be that as it may, the diaries' real interest is in their reflection of the author's intellectual pursuits, as a firsthand document of artistic life (mainly) in Paris during the past century, and in their concise but stylish French prose.

[Florestan]

Just finished:


A fascinating lecture given by Adorno in 1967. As an unedited spoken text, it is very approachable and straightforward, and its 55 pages touches on some interesting points concerning the rise of right-wing extremism.

With all due respect, don Rafael, that's a very outdated book. How about "Aspects of the New Left Radicalism"? Given the recent (ie, since at least Podemos 's rise to governmental influence, if not downright governmental power) developments in your own country, the latter title is much more actual than Adorno's, which incidentally was completely  misplaced and misfired, given that the self-same right-wing radicals he so vocally denounced willingly gave him political asylum and never ever thought of forbidding him the right to print the most vocal critique of the very society that they upholded and that made possible to print his very critique without any fear of retaliation. I think it's only poetical justice that he died of a heart attack induced by students yelling at him the very slogans he yelled at the "bourgeois". 

I say it loud: (petty) bourgeois and proud! 

[ritter]

With all due respect, don Rafael, that's a very outdated book. How about "Aspects of the New Left Radicalism"? Given the recent (ie, since at least Podemos 's rise to governmental influence, if not downright governmental power) developments in your own country, the latter title is much more actual than Adorno's, which incidentally was completely  misplaced and misfired, given that the self-same right-wing radicals he so vocally denounced willingly gave him political asylum and never ever thought of forbidding him the right to print the most vocal critique of the very society that they upholded and that made possible to print his very critique without any fear of retaliation. I think it's only poetical justice that he died of a heart attack induced by students yelling at him the very slogans he yelled at the "bourgeois". 

I say it loud: (petty) bourgeois and proud! 

You,ve got this all wrong, querido Andrei, oh so, so wrong.

Primo. Whataboutism has nothing to do with this. Denouncing the rise of right-wing extremism is a necessary thing per se, even if an author does not denounce the rise of left-wing extremism. Both are equally nefarious and dangerous. And Adorno, as Marxist-trained as he was, never embraced communism or the misguided tangible political manifestations of Marxism. He was first and foremost centred on (often very illuminating) cultural critique and the situation of man in modern society, but he never proposed any of the (ultimately catastrophic) false utopias that were being imposed on parts of the world in the 20th century.

Secundo. Adorno's critique was never aimed against representative liberal democracies as such, but rather towards phenomena taking place within those democracies (which were the ones he knew and could study). And, at least AFAIK, he never wrote a word of ingratitude or attack against the country that generously gave him shelter in the darkest of times, and never refers to the US or the Federal Republic of Germany as being "right-wing extremist". What he does is point out, with deep analysis—that one can agree with or not, that is another matter—the problems he perceived within those systems (once again, mainly from a cultural and sociological—but certainly not political—point of view).

Tertio. On a personal note, you will understand that I, an upper-middle class citizen of an advanced western democracy,  of bourgeois/professional background (of many generations), cannot and will not ever embrace the destructive force of the new left-wing radicalism, which in essence is seeking to subvert the whole system I believe in (and is "the least bad of systems" IMHO) and destroy my "class", as well as—and perhaps more importantly—block the perspective of anyone being given the possibility of joining that  "class". And seeing the traditional Social Democrat party of Spain finding support in Podemos (and to a certain degree, embracing the ideology of the latter) breaks my heart. But, this will not make  me turn a blind eye to the quick rise of extremism on the other end of the spectrum (perhaps you do not know that the far-right Vox party now has the third largest representation in the Spanish parliament, ahead of Podemos), and that the traditional centre-right Partido Popular is—similarly to the Socialists, but in the other direction—radicalising itself to stop the drainage of votes on the right (a suicidal attitude, I'm afraid). But this destructive polarisation of politics is not a problem exclusive to Spain. Schlechte Zeit für Zentrismus.  And you will agree with me that the impending potential economic catastrophe worldwide is the perfect breeding ground for extremist solutions, on either side of the political spectrum.

Your (apparently knee-jerk) reaction to the name Adorno, and your saying that a book I doubt you've had the chance to read is "very outdated" appear to reflect only preconceived notions (and possibly complete ignorance of Adorno's oeuvre). I will not  claim a deep knowledge of the man's thought (I lack—by far—the philosophical training to tackle the  "big" books), but what I have read (Minima Moralia, shorter essays, the writings on music, and, many years ago, the Dialectics of Enlightenment—co-authored with Max Horkheimer) has always been thought-provoking and illuminating, even if I have on occasions disagreed with the author's approach and conclusions. On many other occasions, though, I (and many more, of whatever political persuasion) perceive in him an intellect of the highest rank, with whom I at least often feel a close affinity. And his prose, extremely difficult as it may be, can also be extremely rewarding and, yes, beautiful.

So, cher ami, I can only recommend you read this small book, Who knows? You might even like it... 

Un fuerte abrazo,

[AlberichUndHagen]

Nice . . . at some point, I may re-read War and Peace.

So far I haven't managed to finish anything by Tolstoy. War and Peace simply didn't click with me. Anna Karenina I liked a lot more that which i managed to read although I didn't get very far because my psychological well-being at that time was very fragile. I'm probably going to eventually return to Tolstoy and perhaps finish both of them (provided the libraries open at some point).