What are you currently reading?

[Karl Henning]

L. Frank Baum's Oz books. Don't know why I never read them before....

[SimonNZ]

Following logically from Beckett, but very much adding his own flavor to the pot.

Can tell at a glance that that is going to be a Dalkey Archive edition. One of those rare publishers where you can pick up any obscure thing they put out knowing how carefully their list is curated.

Its a real pity their Context magazine can no longer be read on their website.

[vers la flamme]

After a few false starts I'm now well into yet another great book, one that was much discussed here a couple of months ago. Shusaku Endo's Silence.



So far I'm really enjoying it. The images of a religion practiced in persecution in a bleak and destitute corner of the world (from the eyes of the protagonist, a Portuguese priest, that is) are incredibly striking. It's hard for me to fathom being in the shoes of any one of these characters, so rough is the hand that each is dealt. Anyway, reading this has put me very much in a historical frame of mind that I enjoy being in. Clearly a meaningful book. I look forward to reading it more over the days to come.

[vers la flamme]

After a few false starts I'm now well into yet another great book, one that was much discussed here a couple of months ago. Shusaku Endo's Silence.



So far I'm really enjoying it. The images of a religion practiced in persecution in a bleak and destitute corner of the world (from the eyes of the protagonist, a Portuguese priest, that is) are incredibly striking. It's hard for me to fathom being in the shoes of any one of these characters, so rough is the hand that each is dealt. Anyway, reading this has put me very much in a historical frame of mind that I enjoy being in. Clearly a meaningful book. I look forward to reading it more over the days to come.

I'm about a third of the way in now. Wow. I wasn't ready for how good this book would be...

By the way, I just read the part where our protagonist wanders the mountains in solitude, while listening to Arvo Pärt's Sarah Was Ninety Years Old. It was such a perfect fit I couldn't help but wonder whether it was inspired by this book. More likely is that both Pärt and Endō were inspired by similar feelings.

[aligreto]

After a few false starts I'm now well into yet another great book, one that was much discussed here a couple of months ago. Shusaku Endo's Silence.



So far I'm really enjoying it. The images of a religion practiced in persecution in a bleak and destitute corner of the world (from the eyes of the protagonist, a Portuguese priest, that is) are incredibly striking. It's hard for me to fathom being in the shoes of any one of these characters, so rough is the hand that each is dealt. Anyway, reading this has put me very much in a historical frame of mind that I enjoy being in. Clearly a meaningful book. I look forward to reading it more over the days to come.

I have read that one albeit a couple of years ago. I found it to be compelling reading.

[Florestan]

I'm about a third of the way in now. Wow. I wasn't ready for how good this book would be...

By the way, I just read the part where our protagonist wanders the mountains in solitude, while listening to Arvo Pärt's Sarah Was Ninety Years Old. It was such a perfect fit I couldn't help but wonder whether it was inspired by this book. More likely is that both Pärt and Endō were inspired by similar feelings.

I have read that one albeit a couple of years ago. I found it to be compelling reading.

Looks like a book right up my alley, thank you gentlemen for mentioning it.

And lo and behold! it has been translated into Romanian so I'll order it.

[Dry Brett Kavanaugh]

Yes vg book and excellent writing/structure though the story is depressing and hard to take. Several people I know in the U.S like the book. Also, Endo's The Sea and Poison is considered to be his masterpiece in Japan while it won the Akutagawa Prize. It is a solid work and I recommend it.

@Andrei, the book looks awsome. Please post your thoughts after reading it. We will discuss.

Correction: Endo's White Man, not The Sea and Poison, won the Akutagawa Prize. I regret my error.

[aligreto]

And lo and behold! it has been translated into Romanian so I'll order it.

Serendipity 

It is not necessarily an easy read but it is an engrossing one. Enjoy it when you eventually get it.

[Florestan]

@Andrei, the book looks awsome. Please post your thoughts after reading it. We will discuss.

I'll surely do, Matt.

[Florestan]

Just ordered (Romanian translations all):

Shusaku Endo - Silence
Eric Emmanuel Schmitt - Madame Pylinska and the Secret of Chopin
Thomas Mann - Buddenbrooks
Thomas Mann - Lotte in Weimar
Flaubert - Sentimental Education

[vers la flamme]

Yes vg book and excellent writing/structure though the story is depressing and hard to take. Several people I know in the U.S like the book. Also, Endo's The Sea and Poison is considered to be his masterpiece in Japan while it won the Akutagawa Prize. It is a solid work and I recommend it.

@Andrei, the book looks awsome. Please post your thoughts after reading it. We will discuss.

Will definitely check this out next. Thanks. Endo has written a handful of very acclaimed books it seems, many of which seem to be eclipsed today by the success of Silence. It appears he is a Japanese writer of serious stature and is now very much on my radar, now that I've started reading this book. Can't wait to read more of his work.

Just ordered (Romanian translations all):

Shusaku Endo - Silence
Eric Emmanuel Schmitt - Madame Pylinska and the Secret of Chopin
Thomas Mann - Buddenbrooks
Thomas Mann - Lotte in Weimar
Flaubert - Sentimental Education

I read Buddenbrooks last year and it absolutely blew me away. Probably one of the five greatest books I've ever read. Mann was a genius. Please do let me know what you think when you read it. Same goes for Silence.

[Florestan]

Mann was a genius.

Wholeheartedly agrred. I read Doktor Faustus and The Magic Mountain several times each --- and each time I was spellbound.

Please do let me  know what you think when you read it. Same goes for Silence.

Will most certainly do.

[Dry Brett Kavanaugh]

Just ordered (Romanian translations all):

Shusaku Endo - Silence
Eric Emmanuel Schmitt - Madame Pylinska and the Secret of Chopin
Thomas Mann - Buddenbrooks
Thomas Mann - Lotte in Weimar
Flaubert - Sentimental Education

Haven't read Lotte In Weimar. I must get a copy.

Will definitely check this out next. Thanks. Endo has written a handful of very acclaimed books it seems, many of which seem to be eclipsed today by the success of Silence. It appears he is a Japanese writer of serious stature and is now very much on my radar, now that I've started reading this book. Can't wait to read more of his work.

Half of his literary works are collections of funny and silly essays while the other half are dark novels highlighting the lack of erhics in the Japanese society/culture. He personally thinks that 1) Japanese lack ethics/moral 2) because they are not Christian. Fine with 1), but not sure about 2).

[Florestan]

Haven't read Lotte In Weimar. I must get a copy.

I've read many moons ago (a loan copy) and I remember enjoying it greatly. Can't hurt having it permanently at hands, methinks.

He personally thinks that 1) Japanese lack ethics/moral 2) because they are not Christian. Fine with 1), but not sure about 2).

/OT Rant/

I'm a Christian (Greek Orthodox). I don't know about (1) because I've never been to Japan but I find (2) to be a non-Christian notion. Only God / Jesus Christ know who is a Christian and who is not, cf:

Matthew 7:21-23 (New King James Version)

"Not everyone who says to Me, 'Lord, Lord,' shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven. 22 Many will say to Me in that day, 'Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?' 23 And then I will declare to them, 'I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!'

I'm much more interested in practising my faith and correcting my own sins than in reproaching others for not following my own faith and being sinful on their own.

Cf. Romans 12:19 (King James Bible) --- Dearly beloved, avenge not yourselves, but rather give place unto wrath: for it is written, Vengeance is mine; I will repay, saith the Lord.

/End of OT rant./

[Dry Brett Kavanaugh]

Just ordered (Romanian translations all):

Shusaku Endo - Silence
Eric Emmanuel Schmitt - Madame Pylinska and the Secret of Chopin
Thomas Mann - Buddenbrooks
Thomas Mann - Lotte in Weimar
Flaubert - Sentimental Education

Are these translations of the original text, or English text? What kind of people are these translators? Academics?
Thank you for the powerful quotes from the Bible.

P.s. I remember you indicated that in the Romanian language, a letter exclusively signifies only one sound, and one sound is wrtitten/expressed by a single letter exclusively, something like that.  Ghoti = fish

[Florestan]

Are these translations of the original text, or English text? What kind of people are these translators? Academics?

Usually they are translated from the original by professional translators, some of whom might be academics as well.

P.s. I remember you indicated that in the Romanian language, a letter exclusively signifies only one sound, and one sound is wrtitten/expressed by a single letter exclusively, something like that.  Ghoti = fish

Yes.

[Dry Brett Kavanaugh]

History of quantum physics and the theory of Quantum Gravity, discussed by my favorite scientist. Always nice read.

[vers la flamme]

Graham Greene, The Heart of the Matter



After reading Endo's Silence I decided to check this book out, as Greene was an admirer of Endo's work and this is one of Greene's famous "Catholic" novels. I read one of Greene's books back in high school; I remember I picked The Power & the Glory to write a paper on, though I can't remember what prompted me to make that choice nor do I recall much of the book today. As for this one, so far so good. Interesting characters, interesting setting.

[Florestan]

Endo's Silence has just arrived.

Note to Dry Brett Kavanaugh: it's translated from the original Japanese edition published by Monumenta Nipponica in 1969. (Japanese title: Chinmoku).

Will start reading it asap.

[Dry Brett Kavanaugh]

Endo's Silence has just arrived.

Note to Dry Brett Kavanaugh: it's translated from the original Japanese edition published by Monumenta Nipponica in 1969. (Japanese title: Chinmoku).

Will start reading it asap.

Wonderful. I thought that probably it would be a translation of the English edition/translation. Again, nice cover!