What are you currently reading?

[Handelian]

Mozart by Jan Swafford

[vers la flamme]

McCarthy, All the Pretty Horses.

Damn, I am really enjoying this book. Not at all what I was expecting after the other McCarthy I've read. I reckon this won't be my last time reading it.

[Benji]

Ive read The Road some years back, and that really did a number on me. McCarthy really gets under the skin and if you're like me and occasionally prone to be mildly misanthropic, that book will be fuel for the fire!

Now, having experienced that you might think I'd find a more optimistic read, but no. The second McCarthy book I picked up to read was Blood Meridian... Wow. Now, that is a real blood-curdling, soul-draining read. It stayed with me for weeks. McCarthy is a genius - I love the way he writes, it is so easy to read and so rich, but often so chillingly photographic when it comes to the violence. I have a few other books of his on my shelf but haven't had the energy to tackle them since Blood Meridian ... And that was five years ago. Anyway, I highly recommend it in case that wasn't clear. 😎

My recent reading is Ted Chiang's collection of short stories 'Exhalation'. He's another writer who writes so wonderfully eloquently and in a very readable way. Very impressive given the high concept sci-fi of these stories. Half way through and every story has been a treasure so far.

[vers la flamme]

Ive read The Road some years back, and that really did a number on me. McCarthy really gets under the skin and if you're like me and occasionally prone to be mildly misanthropic, that book will be fuel for the fire!

Now, having experienced that you might think I'd find a more optimistic read, but no. The second McCarthy book I picked up to read was Blood Meridian... Wow. Now, that is a real blood-curdling, soul-draining read. It stayed with me for weeks. McCarthy is a genius - I love the way he writes, it is so easy to read and so rich, but often so chillingly photographic when it comes to the violence. I have a few other books of his on my shelf but haven't had the energy to tackle them since Blood Meridian ... And that was five years ago. Anyway, I highly recommend it in case that wasn't clear. 😎

My recent reading is Ted Chiang's collection of short stories 'Exhalation'. He's another writer who writes so wonderfully eloquently and in a very readable way. Very impressive given the high concept sci-fi of these stories. Half way through and every story has been a treasure so far.

I read about half of Blood Meridian in high school, not long after I read The Road, which I loved at the time. Can't remember why I ever put it down. Anyway, I might be reading that next.

[Benji]

I read about half of Blood Meridian in high school, not long after I read The Road, which I loved at the time. Can't remember why I ever put it down. Anyway, I might be reading that next.

Probably because of nervous exhaustion! 😄

[DavidW]

Middlemarch.

[vers la flamme]

I read about half of Blood Meridian in high school, not long after I read The Road, which I loved at the time. Can't remember why I ever put it down. Anyway, I might be reading that next.

Actually reading Child of God next. So far, so good. An incredibly fucked up book, about brutality, nature, and man's inhumanity to man, as far as I can tell. But I'm only about a third of the way in.

[vers la flamme]

Middlemarch.

Always wanted to read this. What do you think?

[Iota]

Always wanted to read this. What do you think?

One of those books I put down and thought, do I really ever need to read anything else after that? A wonderful thing imo. (Sorry you didn't ask me, but thought I'd chip in anyway.) Actually was going to reread it a couple of weeks ago until I found my copy had gone missing. 

[DavidW]

Always wanted to read this. What do you think?

Too early to tell yet but it is much easier to read than Mill on the Floss.

[Dry Brett Kavanaugh]

Six Crises, Richard Nixon.
Excellent writing and great insights.
One of the most intelligent presidents of the U.S.A..

[SimonNZ]

Finally getting around to this after having had it on the shelves for years, and of course its as good as its reputation and fully justifies being used as a much-quoted primary document in so many histories of the era. Only a hundred pages in but already the extended eyewitness descriptions of the Anschlus and of the fate of the Sudetenland have justified buying and reading. And the close analysis and cataloging of the propaganda at each step. And in the sense of events unfolding daily on top of each other in a headlong rush.

I hadn't heard before this that Hitler had suppressed the publication of any translation of Mein Kampf, as it would undermine his pretense of peaceful intentions and the first English edition didn't appear until 1939.

[Benji]

Finally getting around to this after having had it on the shelves for years, and of course its as good as its reputation and fully justifies being used as a much-quoted primary document in so many histories of the era. Only a hundred pages in but already the extended eyewitness descriptions of the Anschlus and of the fate of the Sudetenland have justified buying and reading. And the close analysis and cataloging of the propaganda at each step. And in the sense of events unfolding daily on top of each other in a headlong rush.

I hadn't heard before this that Hitler had suppressed the publication of any translation of Mein Kampf, as it would undermine his pretense of peaceful intentions and the first English edition didn't appear until 1939.

Do you know the book Travellers in the Third Reich? If not you might find it a good companion read to your current reading. (I haven't finished reading my copy yet but it was well reviewed)

[SimonNZ]

I wasn't aware of it. Looks interesting. Thanks for the heads-up.

[vers la flamme]

Just finished Arthur Conan Doyle's The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes. A fun read. I have this anthology:

[asin]0553212419[/asin]

... of which I'm now about halfway through. I'm only picking it up here and there between other reads and on vacation and the like.

[vers la flamme]

Now The Snows of Kilimanjaro and Other Stories by Ernest Hemingway. Mixed feelings so far. Not my favorite Hemingway.

[asin]0684804441[/asin]

[Dry Brett Kavanaugh]

Le Rouge et Le Noir (The Red and The Black), Stendhal.

[Florestan]

Le Rouge et Le Noir (The Red and The Black), Stendhal.

This is a book I started twice and twice gave it up before reaching its middle. The third time I started it (after a hiatus of more than a decade) 'twas a page turner from start to finish. I guess it's one of those books which require a certain degree of maturity and life experience to be fully enjoyed. A masterpiece.

The Charterhouse of Parma is also very good.

Rumor has it that Lucien Leuwen is at least as good as the two above but I haven't read it.

Stendhal was an avid music lover and his memoirs of his Italy years as an officer in the French army are chock-full of musical references (he was mainly an opera guy). They can be found online but I'm too lazy to provide a link. IIRC, they are titled Rome, Florence & Naples.

[Dry Brett Kavanaugh]

This is a book I started twice and twice gave it up before reaching its middle. The third time I started it (after a hiatus of more than a decade) 'twas a page turner from start to finish. I guess it's one of those books which require a certain degree of maturity and life experience to be fully enjoyed. A masterpiece.

The Charterhouse of Parma is also very good.

Rumor has it that Lucien Leuwen is at least as good as the two above but I haven't read it.

Stendhal was an avid music lover and his memoirs of his Italy years as an officer in the French army are chock-full of musical references (he was mainly an opera guy). They can be found online but I'm too lazy to provide a link. IIRC, they are titled Rome, Florence & Naples.

Well-said. It is an intriguing, thrilling, and entertaining read. The book has been one of my all-time favorite works since I read it first time when I was 12 y/o. The book also "vividly" depicts the corruption, deception and hypocrisy in church, aristocracy, and local govts.  S's skills in that aspect could possibly be even higher than that of Dostoevsky.

I have 2 biographies of Stendhal. They say that unlike the protagonists in Parma and the Red, he was ugly (or non-good looking at best). I guess, perhaps he admired beautiful people. Yes, he liked everything in Italy. S even admired Casanova and his written memoir (as I do).

[Brian]

I enjoyed Red/Black last year on a first read - haven't read Charterhouse yet but want to. Red/Black is definitely one of those books which improves cumulatively from a quiet beginning to a fully developed world.

I'm ping-ponging between Albert Murray's essay collection The Omni-Americans and James M. Cain's pulpy crime noir classic The Postman Always Rings Twice.