What are you currently reading?

[aligreto]

James Joyce: Dubliners





My edition of this book has an insightful introduction by a well known Irish poet, Padraic Colum. Joyce was a master of depicting and describing people. It is somewhat sad that upon reading this book again, albeit in my autumn years, that I see so much of what I grew up with has disappeared. I am sure that it is the same for most cultures. I wonder what Joyce would think of modern Dublin if he came back now.

[Mandryka]

I appreciate the feedback. I'm going to get my hands on the Magic Mountain I think.

There are two translations, Lowe-Porter (which is the one I read) and a newer one which everyone seems to agree is better, or at least, closer in feel to Mann's prose,  by John Woods. I have the Woods but haven't read it.

[AlberichUndHagen]

The part in Joseph tetralogy where Jacob marries unknowingly Leah instead of Rachel rather blew me away. Even though Laban's deception is obvious even to someone who is not familiar with Old Testament or this particular part of it, doesn't matter. The genius lies in the subtle ways in which Mann repeatedly reinforces the irony of Jacob having in reality married Leah and not Rachel, such as with Jacob noting in the darkness of wedding chamber the sister's voice resemblance, in Jacob's mind completely innocently but the reader comprehends the entire affair in its true hideous light. Mann truly deserves his epithet "The ironic German".

[André]

The part in Joseph tetralogy where Jacob marries unknowingly Leah instead of Rachel rather blew me away. Even though Laban's deception is obvious even to someone who is not familiar with Old Testament or this particular part of it, doesn't matter. The genius lies in the subtle ways in which Mann repeatedly reinforces the irony of Jacob having in reality wed Leah and not Rachel, such as with Jacob noting in the darkness of wedding chamber the sister's voice resemblance, in Jacob's mind completely innocently but the reader comprehends the entire affair in its true hideous light. Mann truly deserves his epithet "The ironic German".

Excellent !

There are many such 'coups de théâtre' in Joseph & His Brothers. Mann prepares them well beforehand, the reader always in the know, and he lets the character be duped in full view, a bit like those scenes in Nozze di Figaro or Falstaff where the Count and Almaviva are fooled by the other characters. Same with Esaü being duped by Jacob and Isaac. Priceless.

The most felicitou (for me) is the 'Recognition Scene'  where Joseph takes his brother Benjamin's hand to fan himself, a gesture that was described early in the first book (like 1500 pages earlier) when the two were only kids. A masterstroke !

[vers la flamme]

There are two translations, Lowe-Porter (which is the one I read) and a newer one which everyone seems to agree is better, or at least, closer in feel to Mann's prose,  by John Woods. I have the Woods but haven't read it.

Woods is the one I've been looking at, and it is he who translated the Dr. Faustus I've been reading. Think I will go with that one, unless I happen to find the older translation at a used bookshop or something.

[Mandryka]

The part in Joseph tetralogy where Jacob marries unknowingly Leah instead of Rachel rather blew me away. Even though Laban's deception is obvious even to someone who is not familiar with Old Testament or this particular part of it, doesn't matter. The genius lies in the subtle ways in which Mann repeatedly reinforces the irony of Jacob having in reality married Leah and not Rachel, such as with Jacob noting in the darkness of wedding chamber the sister's voice resemblance, in Jacob's mind completely innocently but the reader comprehends the entire affair in its true hideous light. Mann truly deserves his epithet "The ironic German".

I'm going to try to read it again.

Amazingly I managed  to find it, or rather, them. Here we go. Very deep is the well of the past. Should we call it bottomless?

[Brian]

Just finished "Barchester Towers," a delightful mixture of Dickens and Wodehouse with a wee splash of Austen for flavoring. Parts of it get very plotty (and then this happened, and then this happened), which is a disadvantage as the plot is very predictable, but the characters and narrator make for such delightful company that it hardly matters.

I had the impression, never having read him, that Trollope was a very serious social commentary novelist in the Dickensian vein, and then just getting started on "The Warden" and "Barchester Towers," I thought that given the subject matter he might be very religious and religion-focused. But happily: no! The real themes of these novels are:
1. The universality of office politics, with all of its caprices and inanity;
2. The ways that people completely fail to communicate with each other; and
3. The total illogic that guides everyone through their day-to-day decisions.

-

Now I'm starting two very very contrasting books: "Gilead" by Marilynne Robinson, written as a 300-page letter from a dying rural parson to his young son (what is it with me and religion novels now?), and "How to Be Idle," by Tom Hodgkinson, a collection of essays on topics like sleeping in, calling in sick, taking a long lunch, "The First Drink of the Day," fishing, smoking, rambling, and napping. So far, "Gilead" has a totally extraordinary narrative voice which helps tie together the anecdotal, chapter-free structure, and "How to Be Idle" is charming, witty, a wee bit subversive, but hung up frightfully by the totally unrealistic upper-crust notion that it is practical for everyone to quit their jobs and laze around without worrying about how to pay their rent.



Up next: a first-ever crack at one of the ultimate quarantine reads: Moby-Dick!

[Mandryka]

François Bon is a great, great author. He spent some time teaching creative writing to young prisoners in Bordeaux. This book is based on what they wrote. He encourages to write about what they have lived, what they have experienced in their lives. Very often he will just reproduce their writing, with all its quirks of grammar and style and spelling. And then make a comment about what ideas it provokes for him, or a reflection about the impact the author had on him.

Wonderful book - just 100 pages but maybe you need a week to get through it, a book to sip, not to read all at once.

François Bon is also a great eccentric with a strong YouTube presence, well worth exploring (especially the series of videos he made on Rabelais.)

[AlberichUndHagen]

[Christo]

Read Gilead when it appeared, over a decade ago, and was impressed. Somewhat less so by its two sequels, Home and Lila, but a remarkable author she definitely is. Did you see her conversations with another reader/admirer, one Barack Obama?
https://www.nybooks.com/articles/2015/11/05/president-obama-marilynne-robinson-conversation

[SimonNZ]

I'm meant to be fun reading Clancy's The Hunt for the Red October, but I keep getting sidetracked with my readings for my job.

I read that not so long ago and was more impressed than I expected to be. Particularly by one bit that isn't in the film where one of the Russian subs chasing the October experience a reactor meltdown and Clancy describes the process inside the reactor microsecond by microsecond.

I hope to get around to Cardinal Of The Kremlin at some point.

[FelixSkodi]

I read that not so long ago and was more impressed than I expected to be. Particularly by one bit that isn't in the film where one of the Russian subs chasing the October experience a reactor meltdown and Clancy describes the process inside the reactor microsecond by microsecond.

I hope to get around to Cardinal Of The Kremlin at some point.

That is good to hear. My idea is to work through, chronologically, Clancy's corpus, but we'll see how that goes.

[JBS]

I'm meant to be fun reading Clancy's The Hunt for the Red October, but I keep getting sidetracked with my readings for my job.

That was a fun read, better than the movie, I think. But it did have its faults. The best developed character in the book gets killed on page 3.

[Iota]

.. But it did have its faults. The best developed character in the book gets killed on page 3.

  That does indeed seem like a justified reservation ...

... "Gilead" by Marilynne Robinson, written as a 300-page letter from a dying rural parson to his young son (what is it with me and religion novels now?) .. So far, "Gilead" has a totally extraordinary narrative voice which helps tie together the anecdotal, chapter-free structure ...

I also have Gilead sitting on a pile of yet to be read books, so interesting to hear the comments here.

I've just begun Talking it Over by Julian Barnes, I probably won't be straying too far from a dictionary as I do, but am enjoying it so far.

[SimonNZ]

I can't remember...who died on page three?

[JBS]

I can't remember...who died on page three?

Do you remember how the captain killed the KGB officer assigned to the ship so he get his plan going?

[SimonNZ]

Do you remember how the captain killed the KGB officer assigned to the ship so he get his plan going?

Sort of, though now I think I'm mostly remembering the movie. I don't remember thinking that character was way more interesting in the book, but I'll take your word for it.

[FelixSkodi]

Well this is now on the top of my list (work reading):

[aligreto]

Mary Robinson: Climate Justice





Various stories recounted from around the world reflecting the impact that the use of fossil fuel based economies in the leading industrial nations is having on the poorest and most at risk societies. The precept of Climate Justice is a valid one.

[Karl Henning]

Mary Robinson: Climate Justice





Various stories recounted from around the world reflecting the impact that the use of fossil fuel based economies in the leading industrial nations is having on the poorest and most at risk societies. The precept of Climate Justice is a valid one.

Truly.