What are you currently reading?

[Dry Brett Kavanaugh]

Peter Camenzind, the first novel written by Hermann Hesse. Beautiful, and semi-autobiographical, story with melancholy, joy, and love. The name of protagonist's first love, Rösi Girtanner, sounds so elegant and cool. (It is pronounced like Raisee Ghi-ruh-tanner.)  A few quotes are below.

''That's the way it is when you love. It makes you suffer, and I have suffered much in the years since. But it matters little that you suffer, so long as you feel alive with a sense of the close bond that connects all living things, so long as love does not die!"

"I began to understand that suffering and disappointments and melancholy are there not to vex us or cheapen us or deprive us of our dignity but to mature and transfigure us."

[Dry Brett Kavanaugh]

It looks very interesting.

You will like the book!

[André]

Peter Camenzind, the first novel written by Hermann Hesse. Beautiful story with melancholy, joy, and love. The name of protagonist's first love, Rösi Girtanner, sounds so elegant and cool. (You pronounce like Raisee Ghi-ruh-tanner.)  few quotes are below.

''That's the way it is when you love. It makes you suffer, and I have suffered much in the years since. But it matters little that you suffer, so long as you feel alive with a sense of the close bond that connects all living things, so long as love does not die!"

"I began to understand that suffering and disappointments and melancholy are there not to vex us or cheapen us or deprive us of our dignity but to mature and transfigure us."

I went through an extensive Hesse phase in my late teens/early twenties. I recall having liked this one. A couple of years back I bought the collected novels of Hesse. I still have to unwrap it...

[Florestan]

Thomas Mann, The Magic Mountain



This is definitely a great book, but I'm finding it a challenging read given my current state of mind. May or may not shelve it for later reading.

I read it twice in its entirety and several times fragmentarily. Depending on my mood, I side either with Settembrini or with Naphta --- and always with mynheer Pepperkorn. Oh, and btw, if I were 20 years younger I wouldn't mind a one night stand with Clavdia Chauchat. 

Strange coincidence, though, as I've just started this for a first reading:



Started it yesterday at noon and I'm already more than halfway through the first volume. A real page turner. Thomas Mann, a bourgeois artist, a poet of the bourgeois lifestyle. Excellent.

[Florestan]

Peter Camenzind, the first novel written by Hermann Hesse. Beautiful, and semi-autobiographical, story with melancholy, joy, and love. The name of protagonist's first love, Rösi Girtanner, sounds so elegant and cool. (It is pronounced like Raisee Ghi-ruh-tanner.)  A few quotes are below.

''That's the way it is when you love. It makes you suffer, and I have suffered much in the years since. But it matters little that you suffer, so long as you feel alive with a sense of the close bond that connects all living things, so long as love does not die!"

"I began to understand that suffering and disappointments and melancholy are there not to vex us or cheapen us or deprive us of our dignity but to mature and transfigure us."

The first Hesse book I ever read --- it blew me right away. A great little book from a guy who would eventually become one of my favorite writers.

What other Hesse have you read, or plan to read?

[Ganondorf]

I started my journey with Mann with Royal Highness and Buddenbrooks and they are still my favorites. I loved Magic mountain too. I am still not finished with Joseph. So far there is no book by Mann yet which I have not liked.

[Florestan]

I started my journey with Mann with Royal Highness and Buddenbrooks and they are still my favorites. I loved Magic mountain too. I am still not finished with Joseph. So far there is no book by Mann yet which I have not liked.

I'm reading Royal Highness in paralel with The Budenbrooks --- as my life is split between two locations, but I find the latter much more of a page turner than the former.

How about Doktor Faustus? Any other fan here?

[vers la flamme]

I read it twice in its entirety and several times fragmentarily. Depending on my mood, I side either with Settembrini or with Naphta --- and always with mynheer Pepperkorn. Oh, and btw, if I were 20 years younger I wouldn't mind a one night stand with Clavdia Chauchat. 

Strange coincidence, though, as I've just started this for a first reading:



Started it yesterday at noon and I'm already more than halfway through the first volume. A real page turner. Thomas Mann, a bourgeois artist, a poet of the bourgeois lifestyle. Excellent.

That is an absolutely phenomenal book. I read it (Buddenbrooks) last year and it jumped right to the top of my favorite books of all time. You're going to love it. I'm sure The Magic Mountain will prove to be just as good or better, but I'm afraid I may not be in a good state of mind for it at the moment.

[Florestan]

That is an absolutely phenomenal book. I read it (Buddenbrooks) last year and it jumped right to the top of my favorite books of all time. You're going to love it. I'm sure.

Oh, I already love it!

Look, I don't know yet if Tony eventually married Gruenlich or not --- and please don't spoil it for me. My question for you is this: do you think she should have married him? My own answer is yes. Such a marriage would have most likely been exactly like her mother's, ie resulting in a tranquil, peaceful and bourgeouisly happy marriage --- marrying Morten Schwartzkopf would have most likely resulted in misery, bitterness and resentment.

[vers la flamme]

Oh, I already love it!

Look, I don't know yet if Tony eventually married Gruenlich or not --- and please don't spoil it for me. My question for you is this: do you think she should have married him? My own answer is yes. Such a marriage would have most likely been exactly like her mother's, ie resulting in a tranquil, peaceful and bourgeouisly happy marriage --- marrying Morten Schwartzkopf would have most likely resulted in misery, bitterness and resentment.

Hell no. I won't spoil it, but all is not as it seems with Gruenlich. Can't say whether poor Morten would have made a better match or not.

[Florestan]

all is not as it seems with Gruenlich.

Oh, as far as I can tell Gruenlich is dishonest --- he tells Schwartzkopf sr that Tony succumbed to his proposal, which is a blatant lie. But I still think that eventually Tony would be better off with him than with Morten.

Morten is honest and likeable, don't get me wrong --- but I'm not sure he's the right match for Tony; actually, I think he's the wrong match for her, despite her own feelings --- born a Buddenbrook, always a Buddenbrook. 

Be it as it might, I love this book --- a masterpiece.

[vers la flamme]

Oh, as far as I can tell Gruenlich is dishonest --- he tells Schwartzkopf sr that Tony succumbed to his proposal, which is a blatant lie. But I still think that eventually Tony would be better off with him than with Morten.

Morten is honest and likeable, don't get me wrong --- but I'm not sure he's the right match for Tony; actually, I think he's the wrong match for her, despite her own feelings --- born a Buddenbrook, always a Buddenbrook. 

Be it as it might, I love this book --- a masterpiece.

It only gets better. So happy to see you're enjoying it. I burned through it in about a week last summer and as I may have alluded to already, I found it life-changing. It's amazing to think that Mann was 25 when the book was published, as old as I was at the time of reading. It's a fully mature work.

[André]

Oh, as far as I can tell Gruenlich is dishonest --- he tells Schwartzkopf sr that Tony succumbed to his proposal, which is a blatant lie. But I still think that eventually Tony would be better off with him than with Morten.

Morten is honest and likeable, don't get me wrong --- but I'm not sure he's the right match for Tony; actually, I think he's the wrong match for her, despite her own feelings --- born a Buddenbrook, always a Buddenbrook. 

Be it as it might, I love this book --- a masterpiece.

Except that the Buddenbrook genes become weaker with each generation. And yes, a masterpiece.

[Dry Brett Kavanaugh]

I went through an extensive Hesse phase in my late teens/early twenties. I recall having liked this one. A couple of years back I bought the collected novels of Hesse. I still have to unwrap it...

I remember that both you and I love the movie of Steppenwolf. Weird and likable movie! 

The first Hesse book I ever read --- it blew me right away. A great little book from a guy who would eventually become one of my favorite writers.

What other Hesse have you read, or plan to read?

I have been reading Hermann Hesse since 13 y/o. As I am getting older, his works are getting more and more impressive and impactful. I read most of his novels and a few collection of essays and poems. I even had a book of his painting works. Interestingly, I haven't read Glass Bead Game or Journey to the East. Hesse before Demian and Hesse after D are very different- almost different author. 
I hung portraits of three individuals in my house- Hesse, Arthur Schopenhauer (philosopher), and Admiral Heihachiro Togo.


P.s. the book below is an interesting book.

[Florestan]

I hung portraits of three individuals in my house- Hesse, Arthur Schopenhauer (philosopher), and Admiral Heihachiro Togo.

I greatly enjoyed this book.

P.s. the book below is an interesting book.

Thanks.

[Dry Brett Kavanaugh]

I greatly enjoyed this book.

Yes, I like the book (and another biography authored by Cartwright.) The book reveals that S and his mother, a novel writer and more famous than S at that time, didn't get along. Naturally, S didn't like her friends, except for Goethe. He liked Italian operas and didn't like German operas. The book discusses a funny episode about the incident when S visited a park and was examining plants. Intrigued by the well-dressed, aristocratic looking S, an employee at the park politely asked S who he was. His response was " if you could tell me who I am, I should be greatly in your debt."
Also, the book does a good job explaining his and Kantian philosophy. Very good book.

[Dry Brett Kavanaugh]

The Charterhouse of Parma (La Chartreuse de Parme), Stendhal. Honor, women, and aunt.

[Florestan]

Yes, I like the book (and another biography authored by Cartwright.) The book reveals that S and his mother, a novel writer and more famous than S at that time, didn't get along. Naturally, S didn't like her friends, except for Goethe. He liked Italian operas and didn't like German operas. The book discusses a funny episode about the incident when S visited a park and was examining plants. Intrigued by the well-dressed, aristocratic looking S, an employee at the park politely asked S who he was. His response was " if you could tell me who I am, I should be greatly in your debt."
Also, the book does a good job explaining his and Kantian philosophy. Very good book.

Yes. Schopenhauer was a devotee of Mozart and Rossini and disparaged Wagner in no uncertain terms. He was a mysoginist / misanthrope and a political reactionary. He despised Hegel and his philosophy and was bitterly sarcastic toward them. He was also heavily antagonistic toward Christianity (as he knew it). While I disagree with him on many topics, he's hands down my favorite German philosopher --- not least for his crystal clear, literary, almost poetic prose. I'd take him over his nemesis Hegel any time .

[Florestan]

The Charterhouse of Parma (La Chartreuse de Parme), Stendhal. Honor, women, and aunt.

First time I read this book in my early 20s, I abandoned it a quarter-way through.

Second time I read it, 20 years after the first attempt, it was a page-turner.

One of those books which can be truly understood and appreciated only by people who have felt, thought and experienced a lot. 

[Dry Brett Kavanaugh]

Yes. Schopenhauer was a devotee of Mozart and Rossini and disparaged Wagner in no uncertain terms. He was a mysoginist / misanthrope and a political reactionary. He despised Hegel and his philosophy and was bitterly sarcastic toward them. He was also heavily antagonistic toward Christianity (as he knew it). While I disagree with him on many topics, he's hands down my favorite German philosopher --- not least for his crystal clear, literary, almost poetic prose. I'd take him over his nemesis Hegel any time .

Yes I like philosophies of Schopenhauer and Kant, rather than snake oil/alchemy of Hegel. His straight-ahead writing is very likable. S publicly, and Kant implicitly, were probably among the first atheist philosopher in the West. S admired Buddhism and Hinduism while his favorite book was Upanishads (admired by your friend Wagner as well.)
As for philosophers, he liked Kant, Plato, Gracian, Hume, etc. Albert Einstein hanged three portraits in his work room. They were Maxwell, Michael Faraday, and Schopenhauer.