What are you currently reading?

[vers la flamme]

I seem to recall enjoying the first one more than the second.

TD: still going with Halberstam's book on war during the Clinton years, but am also getting through this when needing something lighter:

Bryson must have written about 50 books on as many completely unrelated subjects. The only one I read was A Walk in the Woods, which I greatly enjoyed.

[Iota]

Somewhat mentally adrift at the moment, reading is quite slow. Recently finished A Short History of England by Simon Jenkins, which for somebody whose knowledge of said subject is sketchy, is full of interest.

I read two short novels over the past three days: Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol (which I'd never read before, though of course I knew the plot from countless adaptations and retellings), and Kazuo Ishiguro's An Artist of the Floating World. I liked both of these books a lot, and found much to admire in both of these writers and hope to read more from each.

I haven't read Ishiguro's An Artist of the Floating World (might be an apt description of Takemitsu ..), but The Remains of the Day is a spellbinding novel, on a completely different level to the film imo (which wasn't bad).

And The Unconsoled by Ishiguro is one of my favourite novels. A breathtaking feat of imagination about a concert pianist arriving in a foreign city for a concert, and finding almost everything beyond his comprehension or even recall. There's been no other literary experience like it for me, the only book I frequently had to turn back a page, not quite believing I had just read what I had. Moving too. I suspect it's probably a love it or hate it novel, but I'd recommend very highly.

[Dry Brett Kavanaugh]

If you do read it, let me know what you think. I believe Ishiguro came to England with his family early on in life, and to watch an interview with him, it shows. His English is flawless with no trace of an accent. I mean, he talks like a Beatle. I believe he's on record having said something along the lines of that when he writes about Japan, what he's really writing about a world of the imagination, informed by memories from early childhood. Anyway, as an English writer, he's damn good. I'm excited to read more of his stuff and will try and get Remains of the Day next. I believe some folks were talking about that book a few pages back in this thread.

As for me, I've finished Ibsen (Hedda Gabler and Master Builder—both were phenomenal!) and now am back to Murakami with Hear the Wind Sing and Pinball, 1973, his first two novellas, published in one volume. What can I say; I'm hooked, but I must admit these early works certainly do betray a certain lack of writing experience. But I am enjoying them nonetheless. I've read about 12 novels and plays in December, most of them very short, but I'm reading more than I ever have. It's a great feeling! I hope to take this habit into 2021.

I agree. When Ishiguro, legally and racially Japanese, writes about Japan, probably he is writing about a foreign country. I will look for the book. Have a great new year. I really enjoyed reading your posts this year.

[Dry Brett Kavanaugh]

I haven't read Ishiguro's An Artist of the Floating World (might be an apt description of Takemitsu ..), but The Remains of the Day is a spellbinding novel, on a completely different level to the film imo (which wasn't bad).

The film is a fine, sophisticated and nuanced movie. I liked it a lot. I must get the  book.

[Artem]

Artforum by Cesar Aira. A very short novella, or a collection of brief personal recollections about the magazine and related experiences, like waiting for it to show up in the mail.

[ritter]

Revisiting Paul Claudel's extraordinary Le Soulier de satin (The Satin Slipper):

   


I first read this fascinating work some 30 years ago (when I learned that the title of Pierre Boulez's Dialogue de l'ombre double was inspired by a scene of this play), and since then have also seen Manoel de Oliveira's abridged (only 6 hours long!) screen adaptation, and later (also on DVD) Olivier Py's 2009 staging at the Théâtre de l'Odéon (which, at 9 hours, is slightly less abridged).

What led me to tackle this piece again is that Antoine Vitez's 1987 Avignon production, which was the first staging of the full text (all 11 hours of it) and was filmed sometime later in Brussels, has been released on DVD this year. Reading this work again, using the Pléiade edition as "subtitles" to what's being said onstage (onscreen) is proving a wonderful experience. The wonders of Claudel's text, with it's excesses and all, fully blossoms. What a piece!: the cloak-and-dagger ("the scene of this drama is the world, and more specifically Spain at the end of the 16th century...") alternates with the comic, with the mystical, with the religious, with the beautifully poetic, and there's wonderful meta-theatrical moments, while the underlying story—that of two lovers whose love is impossible, getting close to each other over the years, but never actually meeting—is very engaging. I'm enjoying this (one journée at a time—there's 4 of these "days") immensely, and am thrilled that a work that had made such a strong impression on me so many years can still produce the same effect (and I must say that Vitez's staging appears to me much more accomplished than either Oliveira's or Py's work).

[vers la flamme]

Somewhat mentally adrift at the moment, reading is quite slow. Recently finished A Short History of England by Simon Jenkins, which for somebody whose knowledge of said subject is sketchy, is full of interest.


I haven't read Ishiguro's An Artist of the Floating World (might be an apt description of Takemitsu ..), but The Remains of the Day is a spellbinding novel, on a completely different level to the film imo (which wasn't bad).

And The Unconsoled by Ishiguro is one of my favourite novels. A breathtaking feat of imagination about a concert pianist arriving in a foreign city for a concert, and finding almost everything beyond his comprehension or even recall. There's been no other literary experience like it for me, the only book I frequently had to turn back a page, not quite believing I had just read what I had. Moving too. I suspect it's probably a love it or hate it novel, but I'd recommend very highly.

They both sound excellent! I'm planning on reading Remains of the Day sometime soon. The Unconsoled looks like a more of an involved reading experience so I'll likely save it for later.

I agree. When Ishiguro, legally and racially Japanese, writes about Japan, probably he is writing about a foreign country. I will look for the book. Have a great new year. I really enjoyed reading your posts this year.

Happy new year to you too! I've enjoyed your posts and our conversations as well.

[SimonNZ]

Bryson must have written about 50 books on as many completely unrelated subjects. The only one I read was A Walk in the Woods, which I greatly enjoyed.

A Walk In The Woods would be my favorite of his travel books. Around about 2000 i read everything he'd written up to that point and thought his work was Mother Tongue. Since then I'd have to add that his book on Shakespeare was unexpectedly excellent. But I'll read anything he does. Only the one on Australia was an actual letdown.

[LKB]

Blue Water Sailor, by Don Sheppard.

An account of life as a mustang posted on a USN destroyer, ca. 1960. Quite enjoyable, and fairly revealing.

,

LKB

[vers la flamme]

I've just started Honoré de Balzac's Père Goriot yesterday; I'm about a third of the way into it. So far, so good. Such great characters, including the city of Paris, a character itself. I can see how Dostoevsky was influenced by some of these themes as well as Balzac's style of writing.

[Brian]

A Walk In The Woods would be my favorite of his travel books. Around about 2000 i read everything he'd written up to that point and thought his work was Mother Tongue. Since then I'd have to add that his book on Shakespeare was unexpectedly excellent. But I'll read anything he does. Only the one on Australia was an actual letdown.

I haven't read any Bryson in 5-7 years but at the time my favorite of his travel books was The Lost Continent, where he travels around America's rural small towns. It seems to be unpopular because it's more caustic and ruthless than his other travel books, which are kinder and more generous in their descriptions of the locals. Wonder how that book stands up now.

[AlberichUndHagen]

I've just started Honoré de Balzac's Père Goriot yesterday; I'm about a third of the way into it. So far, so good. Such great characters, including the city of Paris, a character itself. I can see how Dostoevsky was influenced by some of these themes as well as Balzac's style of writing.

I've long been intending to read Pére Goriot. I much prefer Balzac to Proust. I wonder why Marcel Proust who wrote In search of lost time in 20th century, was so steeped in victorian-like hypocrisy that he needed to disguise the lovemaking scene of two lesbians while Balzac wrote about lesbian relations rightfully without any kind of shame and openly almost 100 years earlier in La fille aux yeux d'or. And yes, there is an "openly" homosexual character of Charlus in Proust but I take it this to be once again an implication of Proust's sexist views towards women. And I believe Charlus is referred to specifically as "aberrant", not homosexual.

Must seek out Pére Goriot at some point. I've heard it's very much like King Lear (not that I'm a huge fan of that work).

[AlberichUndHagen]

Finished fairly recently the third part of Mann's Joseph tetralogy. Liked it quite a bit, the characterization of Mut-em-enet was superb. My progress was much slower than with the first and second parts however. It may take some time before I'll start the last part, since I am moving out and it stresses me quite a bit.

[André]

Indeed, Mut-em-enet is quite the character. But so is her husband in his own way, an imposing yet highly fragile man. The way he rewards the two quarrelling small persons at the end is priceless. It reminds me of Sarastro similarly treating Monastatos in The Magic Flute. And the story of Joseph's watch in the Cretan loggia is also a great piece of writing.

[Mandryka]

I've long been intending to read Pére Goriot. I much prefer Balzac to Proust. I wonder why Marcel Proust who wrote In search of lost time in 20th century, was so steeped in victorian-like hypocrisy that he needed to disguise the lovemaking scene of two lesbians while Balzac wrote about lesbian relations rightfully without any kind of shame and openly almost 100 years earlier in La fille aux yeux d'or. And yes, there is an "openly" homosexual character of Charlus in Proust but I take it this to be once again an implication of Proust's sexist views towards women. And I believe Charlus is referred to specifically as "aberrant", not homosexual.

Must seek out Pére Goriot at some point. I've heard it's very much like King Lear (not that I'm a huge fan of that work).

Are you sure they were making love?

It's  important to the ideas in the book that we're never clear what they're actually doing. If you read the scene in Du Côté de Chez Swann carefully you'll see that it's at least suggested that the two women know they're being watched and are staging the thing as a sort of joke to wind him up. And (though I haven't checked this for about 20 years) I think there's a moment much later on, in Albertine Disparue maybe, when he's pretty well finished with Albertine, that Gilberte comes to see him and they discuss what he saw through the window in terms which make it unclear what was really going on. This is Proust's point -  unknowability.

I should add that there's plenty of explicit lesbian sexuality in the book. I'm sure that  Proust didn't feel the need to hide it. Think of that scene where the women's tits go hard when they dance with each other, or, better, Charles Morel seducing young girls and then passing them on to Albertine to finish off. But it may be true that all the women who have lesbian sex also have straight sex - while it's hard to imagine Charlus with a woman.

I'll just add that the whole scene seems weird to me, but maybe I'm really sexually naive. Have you ever had S&M sex by getting your partner to break a photo of their dad? I mean, it doesn't sound very hardcore to me - but I'm not a lesbian.

[SimonNZ]

Not currently reading Dante, but have a few Dante-related books buried it may be time to put near the top of the pile:

Italy begins year of Dante anniversary events with virtual Uffizi exhibition


currently reading this, having not yet been able to find a copy of Absolute Friends:

[AlberichUndHagen]

Are you sure they were making love?

It's  important to the ideas in the book that we're never clear what they're actually doing. If you read the scene in Du Côté de Chez Swann carefully you'll see that it's at least suggested that the two women know they're being watched and are staging the thing as a sort of joke to wind him up. And (though I haven't checked this for about 20 years) I think there's a moment much later on, in Albertine Disparue maybe, when he's pretty well finished with Albertine, that Gilberte comes to see him and they discuss what he saw through the window in terms which make it unclear what was really going on. This is Proust's point -  unknowability.

I should add that there's plenty of explicit lesbian sexuality in the book. I'm sure that  Proust didn't feel the need to hide it. Think of that scene where the women's tits go hard when they dance with each other, or, better, Charles Morel seducing young girls and then passing them on to Albertine to finish off. But it may be true that all the women who have lesbian sex also have straight sex - while it's hard to imagine Charlus with a woman.

I'll just add that the whole scene seems weird to me, but maybe I'm really sexually naive. Have you ever had S&M sex by getting your partner to break a photo of their dad? I mean, it doesn't sound very hardcore to me - but I'm not a lesbian.

A very good point. I may assume too much. I guess it is mainly Balzac's writing style which makes me prefer him to Proust. Sometimes Proust's sentences are so long (I swear there are some length of an entire page!) that I forget how they started when I get to the end. Although since memory is a very important part of In search of lost time, this may be very fitting, no?

[Dry Brett Kavanaugh]

Kiss of the Spider Woman, by Argentine writer Manuel Puig.
A friendship between a transsexual avoiding a real-world and a socialist revolutionary in Argentina.

[Mandryka]

A very good point. I may assume too much. I guess it is mainly Balzac's writing style which makes me prefer him to Proust. Sometimes Proust's sentences are so long (I swear there are some length of an entire page!) that I forget how they started when I get to the end. Although since memory is a very important part of In search of lost time, this may be very fitting, no?

There's a great musicality to his way of handling French which may not come across in translation -- the long sentences in French are mostly fine if you read aloud!

[vers la flamme]

I've long been intending to read Pére Goriot. I much prefer Balzac to Proust. I wonder why Marcel Proust who wrote In search of lost time in 20th century, was so steeped in victorian-like hypocrisy that he needed to disguise the lovemaking scene of two lesbians while Balzac wrote about lesbian relations rightfully without any kind of shame and openly almost 100 years earlier in La fille aux yeux d'or. And yes, there is an "openly" homosexual character of Charlus in Proust but I take it this to be once again an implication of Proust's sexist views towards women. And I believe Charlus is referred to specifically as "aberrant", not homosexual.

Must seek out Pére Goriot at some point. I've heard it's very much like King Lear (not that I'm a huge fan of that work).

No comment on Proust; I've read nothing of his. What other Balzac have you read? I'm trying to decide where to go next.