What are you currently reading?

[Dry Brett Kavanaugh]

I could've bet that my late father's library had some Yasunari Kawabata, but at a very cursory search I found only Yasushi Inoue's Tea Master. Any thoughts on this one?

Probably it would be a solid/decent work. He is a very good writer and I saw good reviews on the book.
The book is not dealing with a big philosophical or social issue though.

[Florestan]

Probably it would be a solid/decent work. He is a very good writer and I saw good reviews on the book.

Thanks.

The book is not dealing with a big philosophical or social issue though.

The Bible, Cervantes, Shakespeare, Dostoyevski, Tolstoy and Dickens cover those areas for me more than enough. 

[aligreto]

TD



W. Somerset Maugham --- Up at the Villa. (Romanian translation: The Villa on the Knoll)

A vivid illustration of the old and true dictums that (1) hell is paved with good intentions, and (2) be careful what you wish for, it might actually happen.

Did you enjoy the writing style, Andrei?

[Florestan]

Did you enjoy the writing style, Andrei?

Yes I did, very much so. Classical yet humorous --- and praise of Mozart's music.

Excellent.

[vers la flamme]

George Orwell's 1984



Somehow, I've never read this, or any other Orwell, before. Most people I know had to read this in high school but for whatever reason it was never on the curriculum. Anyway I'm finding it quite shocking, not only for its crushing bleakness, but also for its powerfully vivid language of violence and sexuality. There is something very English about it in that sense. At the same time I'm very much enjoying it. I'm just shy of the halfway point of the book.

I did read Ray Bradbury's Fahrenheit 451 in school (and really enjoyed it at the time; I'd love to reread as an adult) and it seems there are numerous parallels between the two books, not only in the nature of the dystopian societies depicted, but also in the two protagonists and their stories of rebellion.

[vers la flamme]

George Orwell's 1984

This book depressed me horribly. I found it absolutely crushing. But man, was it riveting. I couldn't put it down; I read the whole sizable book cover to cover in two days. It's one of those books that is so ingrained in the public consciousness that I felt I had already read it long before I ever really had, but I was wrong about that; this book is not what I thought. I can't stop thinking about it. Definitely a new favorite. I want to try and read everything Orwell ever wrote; there's not terribly much of it, as he died young.

[Alek Hidell]

I want to try and read everything Orwell ever wrote; there's not terribly much of it, as he died young.

I need to do this too, or at least a lot more - he was an excellent prose craftsman and a clear-headed thinker (at least from what I have read).

[Dry Brett Kavanaugh]

The Bible, Cervantes, Shakespeare, Dostoyevski, Tolstoy and Dickens cover those areas for me more than enough. 

Strangely/Interestingly, not many people talk about Shakespeare on this thread. Personally I am not a big fan of his works. I maybe missing something since I read his works when I was pretty young.

[SimonNZ]

Strangely/Interestingly, not many people talk about Shakespeare on this thread. Personally I am not a big fan of his works. I maybe missing something since I read his works when I was pretty young.

There's a seperate Shakespeare thread, which unfortunately has been largely inactive the last couple of years.

https://www.good-music-guide.com/community/index.php/topic,23394.280.html

But speaking of Shakespeare I've off and on been picking away one chapter at a time a John Middleton Murray (he of the Bloomsbury group, married to Katherine Mansfield) study of Shakespeare's works from the 1930's.

I'd had it unread for so long I was considering putting in the next box to go to the charity shop, but as soon as I chanced a few pages I immediately assessed the quality of the intellect and that it would produce distinct individual interpretations and ideas.

(can't find an image of the Jonathan Cape paperback edition from the 60s I've got)

[vers la flamme]

The obvious next step with Orwell: Animal Farm



No, I had not read this either. So far, so good.

[SimonNZ]

The obvious next step with Orwell: Animal Farm



No, I had not read this either. So far, so good.

I read practically every word of Orwell when I was in my 20s and have reread a number since, but I've never understood the bestseller status of Animal farm or how it has eclipsed so many better works by him.

Personally I'd recommend Down And Out In Paris And London as the next essential Orwell after 1984. Or a single volume selection of the essays.

[vers la flamme]

I read practically every word of Orwell when I was in my 20s and have reread a number since, but I've never understood the bestseller status of Animal farm or how it has eclipsed so many better works by him.

Personally I'd recommend Down And Out In Paris And London as the next essential Orwell after 1984. Or a single volume selection of the essays.

Maybe you'll be pleased to know that I was able to order a copy of Down and Out (which I've been curious to read since noting Anthony Bourdain's brief mention of it in his book Kitchen Confidential, which I read a few weeks ago) for fairly cheap and will be reading that next.

[SimonNZ]

Maybe you'll be pleased to know that I was able to order a copy of Down and Out (which I've been curious to read since noting Anthony Bourdain's brief mention of it in his book Kitchen Confidential, which I read a few weeks ago) for fairly cheap and will be reading that next.

Nice. I look forward to hearing what you think of it.

I think I've mentioned it on this thread before, but I also feel that Keep The Aspidistra Flying deserves to be much better known than it is, fwiw.

[vers la flamme]

Nice. I look forward to hearing what you think of it.

I think I've mentioned it on this thread before, but I also feel that Keep The Aspidistra Flying deserves to be much better known than it is, fwiw.

Can't say I know anything about that one. Care to sell a new but enthusiastic Orwell fan on it? What's it about? Fiction, nonfiction, or what?

[SimonNZ]

Can't say I know anything about that one. Care to sell a new but enthusiastic Orwell fan on it? What's it about? Fiction, nonfiction, or what?

A novel. A huge spleen-vent about worship and pursuit of the money-god as the only path in life and the quixotic pursuit of another.

[vers la flamme]

A novel. A huge spleen-vent about worship and pursuit of the money-god as the only path in life and the quixotic pursuit of another.

Thanks; that sounds very interesting. Going to be looking out for that and a collection of essays (there are many of these; not sure which would be the one to go for, but I expect one can't go wrong).

[aligreto]

George Orwell's 1984



Somehow, I've never read this, or any other Orwell, before. Most people I know had to read this in high school but for whatever reason it was never on the curriculum. Anyway I'm finding it quite shocking, not only for its crushing bleakness, but also for its powerfully vivid language of violence and sexuality. There is something very English about it in that sense. At the same time I'm very much enjoying it. I'm just shy of the halfway point of the book.

I did read Ray Bradbury's Fahrenheit 451 in school (and really enjoyed it at the time; I'd love to reread as an adult) and it seems there are numerous parallels between the two books, not only in the nature of the dystopian societies depicted, but also in the two protagonists and their stories of rebellion.

I also devoured quite a large amount of Orwell's novels when I was a young man and I loved them.
Given the two books that you have mentioned it is predictable that I should suggest Brave New World by Aldous Huxley. Have you read it? It is basically on the same theme. The writing style is different of course but I like it.

[vers la flamme]

I also devoured quite a large amount of Orwell's novels when I was a young man and I loved them.
Given the two books that you have mentioned it is predictable that I should suggest Brave New World by Aldous Huxley. Have you read it? It is basically on the same theme. The writing style is different of course but I like it.

I've read some of it years ago but never did finish; I'll have to check it out. I know many feel that it offers a more believable dystopian vision for the West. I've read a couple of Huxley's nonfiction books, The Doors of Perception and The Perennial Philosophy, and enjoyed both.

[aligreto]

I've read some of it years ago but never did finish; I'll have to check it out. I know many feel that it offers a more believable dystopian vision for the West. I've read a couple of Huxley's nonfiction books, The Doors of Perception and The Perennial Philosophy, and enjoyed both.

Yes, Huxley was another one that I became obsessive about.

[Florestan]

Speaking of dystopias, may I recommend you guys read We by Yevgeni Zamyatin, which preceded Huxley by a full decade and Orwell by no less than three, as it was written in 1921 and has the distinction of being the very first book banned the newly instated Soviet censorship.