What are you currently reading?

[Dry Brett Kavanaugh]

Thank you for the clarification, Fergus and Andre. I will re-read Knulp next week. I am in the middle of Demian now.

[Dry Brett Kavanaugh]

Thanks, I will. Here's the book I bought a couple of years back (still unopened):

Contents:

ROMANS
Peter Camenzind / L'Ornière
Rosshalde / Knulp / Demian
Le Dernier Eté de Klingsor / Siddhartha
Enfance d'un magicien
Le Loup des steppes / Narcisse et Goldmund
Le Voyage en Orient
Le Jeu des Perles de Verre

Knulp, Le dernier été de Klingsor and Le Voyage en Orient are those I haven't read yet.

I don't see Gertrude. Imho, it is a wonderful and enjoyable novella- a story of love triangle among an introverted composer, a passionate opera singer, and a girl of upper-class family.

[vers la flamme]

And here I thought I'd already read most of the good Hesse books already. I've only read Demian, Siddhartha, Narcissus & Goldmund, and the Fairy Tales. I have a lot of catching up to do. I've loved everything of his that I have read.

[aligreto]

Thanks, I will. Here's the book I bought a couple of years back (still unopened):



Contents:

ROMANS
Peter Camenzind / L'Ornière
Rosshalde / Knulp / Demian
Le Dernier Eté de Klingsor / Siddhartha
Enfance d'un magicien
Le Loup des steppes / Narcisse et Goldmund
Le Voyage en Orient
Le Jeu des Perles de Verre

Knulp, Le dernier été de Klingsor and Le Voyage en Orient are those I haven't read yet.

So you have no excuse; you actually own it 

It only takes a matter of hours to get through it 

[aligreto]

And here I thought I'd already read most of the good Hesse books already. I've only read Demian, Siddhartha, Narcissus & Goldmund, and the Fairy Tales. I have a lot of catching up to do. I've loved everything of his that I have read.

So lots more to enjoy 

[aligreto]

Thank you for the clarification, Fergus and Andre. I will re-read Knulp next week. I am in the middle of Demian now.

   

And I have read neither of those 

[Dry Brett Kavanaugh]

And I have read neither of those 

The both are wonderful books. Demian is a psychological-surrealistic story of a young man/intelligentsia of upper-middle class family. The strangely attractive novel was significantly influenced by Carl Jung and his theories of synchronicity, symbols, collective unconscious, dream, etc. At the time of writing the novel, Hesse was receiving a psycho-analysis treatment from a psychiatrist who had been Jung's student. Later, however, Hesse would prefer Freud to Jung. Gertrude is an enjoyable story of romance and music.

Post Ed. Demian has an organist friend, who plays Bach, Max Reger, and Buxtehude. I imagine Hesse liked their organ music.

[aligreto]

The both are wonderful books. Demian is a psychological-surrealistic story of a young man/intelligentsia of upper-middle class family. The strangely attractive novel was significantly influenced by Carl Jung and his theories of synchronicity, symbols, collective unconscious, dream, etc. At the time of writing the novel, Hesse was receiving a psycho-analysis treatment from a physician who was Jung's student. Later, however, Hesse would prefer Freud to Jung. Gertrude is an enjoyable story of romance and music.

Cheers and thank you. They will both be read....eventually 

[Artem]

Finished these books recently:


My second Vuillard book. Extremely short. 60 something pages. But it piqued my interested to read more about the Peasants war.


Collection of contemporary short horror stories from Argentina. Good diversion from the usual stuff I read.


This was a very pleasant surprise. Beautiful book. Published in 1931. So it has that charming, frivolous, innocent tale and a very gloomy feel in the end, predicting the horrible events to come.


It was ok. Not as disturbing as the Big notebook that I read many many years ago.


Disappointing, because this books just takes the style of Bernhard and uses it for a little over then 100 pages to critique the state of affairs in El Salvador. I will try to read something else by this author, because Latin American literature is one of my biggest passions.

[Dry Brett Kavanaugh]

Cheers and thank you. They will both be read....eventually 

Sounds good.    I am in a similar situation. There are many books waiting on my reading list.

[aligreto]

Sounds good.    I am in a similar situation. There are many books waiting on my reading list.

I cannot read and simultaneously listen to music. I must give my full attention to either one or the other. This is a real killer of both time and opportunity.

[Fëanor]

Some basic Stoicism ...

Epictetus:  The Enchiridion

Marcus Aurelius:  Meditations, (Introduction by Gregory Hays)

[Florestan]

Just finished this:



My kudos to them all: six honest, sincere and intelligent people who eventually rejected Communism precisely because they were honest, sincere and intelligent.

[Stürmisch Bewegt]

I cannot read and simultaneously listen to music. I must give my full attention to either one or the other. This is a real killer of both time and opportunity.

I can do it, but am quite aware that both suffer from such foolish multi-tasking.  I had a roommate once decades ago; he was training to be an X-Ray Technician.  He claimed that to study he needed to have the radio AND TV on.  (On reflection, I think they must have served to numb the pain of studying for him, which meant he wasn't studying at all).  He failed his licensing exam 3X, and so was barred from trying that test ever again.  Last I knew he was selling fire extinguishers...

[aligreto]

I can do it, but am quite aware that both suffer from such foolish multi-tasking.  I had a roommate once decades ago; he was training to be an X-Ray Technician.  He claimed that to study he needed to have the radio AND TV on.  (On reflection, I think they must have served to numb the pain of studying for him, which meant he wasn't studying at all).  He failed his licensing exam 3X, and so was barred from trying that test ever again.  Last I knew he was selling fire extinguishers...

It is about concentration, isn't it  Some have greater powers than others. The above is a sorry tale though.

[Stürmisch Bewegt]

This afternoon I began - and with singular determination to complete in full - reading David Cairns' monumental two-vol. biography of Hector Berlioz, my hero and idol.  And no, Symphonie Fantastique will not be on in the background...nor the Roman Carnival Overture...

[aligreto]

This afternoon I began - and with singular determination to complete in full - reading David Cairns' monumental two-vol. biography of Hector Berlioz, my hero and idol.  And no, Symphonie Fantastique will not be on in the background...nor the Roman Carnival Overture...

Interesting. I would be interested in your thoughts when you eventually finish it.

[SonicMan46]

Issac's Storm (2011) by Erik Larson - about the early September 1900 'hurricane' that directly hit Galveston, TX causing over $100 billion dollars damage, adjusted to 2010 inflation and likely at least 8,000 deaths, the most deadliest natural disaster in USA history (see pic below, same link as in the quote). The book's name refers to Issac Cline, chief National Weather Bureau meteorologist in Galveston at the time of the storm - he lost his pregnant wife and almost one of his three children; in his name, the National Weather Service offers the Isaac M. Cline Award as its highest honor.

The Eagle's Claw (2021) by Jeff Shaara - an historic 'novel' about the Battle of Midway in early June, 1941 between the Imperial Japanese Navy and the United States early in WW II - one of the greatest sea battles of all time, plus the first that involved carrier based aircraft doing all of the fighting.  Dave

More than $34 million in damage occurred throughout the United States, with about $30 million in Galveston County, Texas, alone. If a similar storm struck in 2010, damage would total approximately $104.33 billion (2010 USD), based on normalization. In comparison, the costliest United States hurricanes – Hurricane Katrina in 2005 and Hurricane Harvey in 2017 – both caused about $125 billion in damage. (Source)

The Battle of Midway was a major naval battle in the Pacific Theater of World War II that took place on 4–7 June 1942, six months after Japan's attack on Pearl Harbor and one month after the Battle of the Coral Sea. The U.S. Navy under Admirals Chester W. Nimitz, Frank J. Fletcher, and Raymond A. Spruance defeated an attacking fleet of the Imperial Japanese Navy under Admirals Isoroku Yamamoto, Chūichi Nagumo, and Nobutake Kondō near Midway Atoll, inflicting devastating damage on the Japanese fleet that rendered their aircraft carriers irreparable. Military historian John Keegan called it "the most stunning and decisive blow in the history of naval warfare", while naval historian Craig Symonds called it "one of the most consequential naval engagements in world history, ranking alongside Salamis, Trafalgar, and Tsushima Strait, as both tactically decisive and strategically influential". (Link above)

   

[LKB]

Issac's Storm (2011) by Erik Larson - about the early September 1900 'hurricane' that directly hit Galveston, TX causing over $100 billion dollars damage, adjusted to 2010 inflation and likely at least 8,000 deaths, the most deadliest natural disaster in USA history (see pic below, same link as in the quote). The book's name refers to Issac Cline, chief National Weather Bureau meteorologist in Galveston at the time of the storm - he lost his pregnant wife and almost one of his three children; in his name, the National Weather Service offers the Isaac M. Cline Award as its highest honor.

The Eagle's Claw (2021) by Jeff Shaara - an historic 'novel' about the Battle of Midway in early June, 1941 between the Imperial Japanese Navy and the United States early in WW II - one of the greatest sea battles of all time, plus the first that involved carrier based aircraft doing all of the fighting.  Dave

   

A recommendation for anyone interested in the Battle of Midway who hasn't already had a crack at it:

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shattered_Sword

[Brian]

I can't believe Jeff Shaara is still doing his thing writing novels about battles after something like 20 years - and all because his dad did it. Michael Shaara's novel about Gettysburg was remarkable, and then Jeff made it a trilogy about the Civil War. I actually met Jeff and got a book signed at Gettysburg in like 2003. Lost track about that time, however (he was in the middle of a series about the Revolution). Guess he is just doing all of America's wars.