Topic: What are you currently reading?

[Jo498]

Admittedly I have not read all of the shorter earlier novels and novellas by Dostoevsky but all the big late ones and a bunch of the shorter ones and I'd also recommend the Gambler. It is fairly short (moderately sized but short compared to the big Five) but both funny and intense and has a similar psychological depth (only here wrt gambling not murder or ill-fated love affairs) to the big ones.

[BWV 1080]

Just finished


Interesting story, was not aware that there was basically nothing in Florida south of St Augustine until the early 1900s.  Also the FL land bust which began in 26 was the spark that culminated un the Great Depression

[BWV 1080]

Dr. Lee Know - Mitochondria and the Future of Medicine.

Disappointing, been on a biology reading kick and looking for more material, unfortunately this not a doctor or scientist, just another quack naturopath

[vers la flamme]

Just finished


Interesting story, was not aware that there was basically nothing in Florida south of St Augustine until the early 1900s.  Also the FL land bust which began in 26 was the spark that culminated un the Great Depression

A couple of years ago I read another good FL history book called The Swamp which went in depth on the draining of the Everglades and the subsequent real estate boom. Worth a read. I'll have to check this one out. I'm a native Floridian so these things are of special interest to me.

I've just finished Haruki Murakami's A Wild Sheep Chase and started Kazuo Ishiguro's The Remains of the Day. So far, so good.

[Dry Brett Kavanaugh]

Oku No Hosomichi, Narrow Road to the Deep (North), Basho Matsuo.
This is a Heartbreak Hotel of Haiku.  I am sure some mebers like/write haiku.
Basho traveled the deep North- the less developed region in Japan, in the 17th century, and wrote haikus in the journey.


The old pond
A frog leaps in.
Sound of the water.


The summer grasses.
All that remains
Of warriors’ dreams.

[AlberichUndHagen]

Finished Yesterday George Bernard Shaw's Major Essays, consisting of The Quintessence of Ibsenism, The Perfect Wagnerite, and Sanity of Art. What a ride! Shaw is a master as an art critic and at analyzing stuff. He brought to me several points about Ibsen and Wagner which I never had noticed before!

[BWV 1080]

Dense, but good science writing -  lays out clearly what are observed facts and then details range of explanations currently under debate without having an obvious axe to grind

[vers la flamme]

Kazuo Ishiguro's The Remains of the Day. So far, so good.

I'm reading this book slowly but wow, what a book. The end of the long second chapter had me crying like a baby. Incredible writing.

[Mirror Image]

I’ve been re-reading certain sections of this great little book:

[steve ridgway]

Disappointing, been on a biology reading kick and looking for more material, unfortunately this not a doctor or scientist, just another quack naturopath

Thanks for the warning. I think I’ve learnt a bit about how mitochondria and cells work from the first section (which is what I was after), not so much from the second about various diseases, will be careful with the last bit about recommendations.

[Artem]

The Melancholy of Resistance by László Krasznahorkai. Didn't like it as much as some of his other books, but some of the passages were really great, especially the beginning of the novel. I think this novel deserves a rereading.

[Dry Brett Kavanaugh]

Maxims,  La Rochefoucauld.
Insightful observations about human nature and society more relevant today.

[Dry Brett Kavanaugh]

I'm reading this book slowly but wow, what a book. The end of the long second chapter had me crying like a baby. Incredible writing.

I liked the subtle nuances in the movie, and the book is on my list.  It seems to me that all the reviews I read are very positive. For instance, the Guardian offers very enthusiastic review:

https://www.theguardian.com/books/booksblog/2016/jan/07/the-remains-of-the-day-by-kazuo-ishiguro-book-to-share

[Iota]

I'm reading this book slowly but wow, what a book. ... Incredible writing.

+1

[Papy Oli]

Well, someone had to bring the general serious tone of that thread down



 

[Dry Brett Kavanaugh]

Thanks for the warning. I think I’ve learnt a bit about how mitochondria and cells work from the first section (which is what I was after), not so much from the second about various diseases, will be careful with the last bit about recommendations.

I will get a copy.

[vers la flamme]

I liked the subtle nuances in the movie, and the book is on my list.  It seems to me that all the reviews I read are very positive. For instance, the Guardian offers very enthusiastic review:

https://www.theguardian.com/books/booksblog/2016/jan/07/the-remains-of-the-day-by-kazuo-ishiguro-book-to-share

Having finished the novel yesterday afternoon, I share this critic's enthusiasm. I've definitely recommended it already to several friends. What a heartbreaking, amazingly written story. I'm excited for you to read it. I made my girlfriend watch the movie with me last night and we both enjoyed it (as you say, the subtle nuance was at times captivating - what a performance from all actors involved), though I must say the book was much, much better for its sense of inner monologue throughout. Now that I've read both The Remains of the Day and An Artist of the Floating World, I'm hooked, and I just might go out and buy another of Ishiguro's books today, though I'm not sure which to read next.

[Dry Brett Kavanaugh]

Silence, Shusaku Endo.
A 17th century Jesuit missionary's quest for truth in Japan, where Christianity was strictly prohibited.
The protagonist faces a dillemma-  unless he publicly renounces Christianity, his followers would be executed by the government.

[Iota]

Having finished the novel yesterday afternoon, I share this critic's enthusiasm. I've definitely recommended it already to several friends. What a heartbreaking, amazingly written story. I'm excited for you to read it. I made my girlfriend watch the movie with me last night and we both enjoyed it (as you say, the subtle nuance was at times captivating - what a performance from all actors involved), though I must say the book was much, much better for its sense of inner monologue throughout. Now that I've read both The Remains of the Day and An Artist of the Floating World, I'm hooked, and I just might go out and buy another of Ishiguro's books today, though I'm not sure which to read next.

I agree, good as the film is, it doesn't approach the intimacy created by the book's extraordinary prose, which for me is on another level.

I've read three other Ishiguro books, The Unconsoled, Never Let Me Go and When We Were Orphans. The Unconsoled is a rare and unforgettable novel, one of my favourites. Never Let Me Go is as usual brilliantly written, though I found it somewhat depressing and harrowing at times. And When We Were Orphans I found somewhat confusing and the least engaging.

For all of these, it's well over a decade since I read them last, but the first two certainly, have left very vivid impressions.

[Florestan]

Silence, Shusaku Endo.
A 17th century Jesuit missionary's quest for truth in Japan, where Christianity was strictly prohibited.
The protagonist faces a dillemma-  unless he publicly renounces Christianity, his followers would be executed by the government.

As a convinced but not devout Orthodox Christian, I have a hard time solving this dilemma.