What are you currently reading?

Started by facehugger, April 07, 2007, 12:36:10 AM

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Dry Brett Kavanaugh

Yes, you guys are right. The 1001 nights may not be an adventure novel because of the surreal nature of the story. Plus, the original text is for adult readers. Treasure Island is an excellent adventure novel for children.

vers la flamme

I'm constantly blown away by my un-well-read-ness (seriously, there must be an English word for this concept) while reading this thread, and constantly adding to my list of books to read. Many fascinating works named on the previous page. For example I have not read a single of the 1001 Nights. I'm always grateful for these frequent reminders of my own ignorance  0:)

Dry Brett Kavanaugh

#11262
Quote from: Florestan on July 20, 2021, 04:06:27 AM

I'm in contrarian mood today, beware!  >:D :P

Today? You read Einstein's Special Theory of Relativity too much.
Have you heard about this book? Looks like a (very) good book and I am thinking about purchasing it.

https://www.amazon.com/Empire-Black-Sea-Mithridatic-World/dp/0190887842


JBS

Quote from: Dry Brett Kavanaugh on July 20, 2021, 06:36:31 AM
Yes, you guys are right. The 1001 nights may not be an adventure novel because of the surreal nature of the story. Plus, the original text is for adult readers. Treasure Island is an excellent adventure novel for children.

I have the Burton translation, which is for extremely adult readers. But it's a book to dip and out of.

Hollywood Beach Broadwalk

vers la flamme

Haruki Murakami's Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki & His Years of Pilgrimage



Really, really loving this book so far. Like so much of Haruki Murakami's work, music is the lifeblood of the work; the title of course comes from Liszt's famous Années de pélèrinage which plays an important role in the story. But more than that, a story is being told about the mysteries that are sometimes right at the core of our lives. I'm a sucker for this kind of story. For those who are allergic to this author's brand of "magic realism", this book is light on it, although there is still plenty of weird sex and other trademarks of his that are possibly in truth flaws.

Artem



I like Cesar Aira's books a lot. He's one of my favourite contemporary authors. His novels, at least those that have been translated into English language so far, are usually brief, 80-120 pages or so. Some of them are personal reflections, some of them are historic tales. This one is about a civil servant Varamo in Panama in the 1920s who gets his salary in counterfeit money, but ends up writing one of the greatest poems in Spanish language. Although he never wrote anything before.

Florestan

Quote from: Dry Brett Kavanaugh on July 20, 2021, 06:58:54 PM
Have you heard about this book? Looks like a (very) good book and I am thinking about purchasing it.

https://www.amazon.com/Empire-Black-Sea-Mithridatic-World/dp/0190887842

Never heard about it but looks interesting indeed.

TD



No translation nedeed, I hope.

So far, so good. A totally different atmosphere than that of The Buddenbrooks and a complete contrast between the lax and frivolous mores of the French bourgeoisie and the austere and serious North German ones. One can see why a mutual distrust and animosity should have gradually developped between the two lifestyles.
Every kind of music is good, except the boring kind. — Rossini

aligreto

Somerset Maugham: Up at the Villa





Here is the tale of a young and very beautiful widow. She had married for love and her husband turned out to be a drunk and a gambler. She is living, on a short stay, in said villa just outside of Florence. In her social world there are two men encircling her; two very different characters. One is a high flying diplomat who has just been offered a very important job. He proposes marriage to her but she hesitates, promising to give her answer when he returns from a short trip. The other man is of her own age who has an undenied reputation as a philanderer and an unreliable and untrustworthy character. He has been trying to have an affair with her.
During these three fateful days another man, previously unknown to her, enters her life in a very innocuous way. This eventually leads to a situation where events very quickly spiral out of control. It is in the handling of, and the eventual resolution of the issue that tests the mettle and moral character of the other two men. This novella is an entertaining and engaging read.

Dry Brett Kavanaugh

Quote from: Florestan on July 23, 2021, 04:43:44 AM
Never heard about it but looks interesting indeed.

TD



No translation nedeed, I hope.

So far, so good. A totally different atmosphere than that of The Buddenbrooks and a complete contrast between the lax and frivolous mores of the French bourgeoisie and the austere and serious North German ones. One can see why a mutual distrust and animosity should have gradually developped between the two lifestyles.

I only have read Madam Bovary decades ago, and I thought it was fair/average. I will check out his other works.


Quote from: aligreto on July 23, 2021, 05:34:55 AM
Somerset Maugham: Up at the Villa





Here is the tale of a young and very beautiful widow. She had married for love and her husband turned out to be a drunk and a gambler. She is living, on a short stay, in said villa just outside of Florence. In her social world there are two men encircling her; two very different characters. One is a high flying diplomat who has just been offered a very important job. He proposes marriage to her but she hesitates, promising to give her answer when he returns from a short trip. The other man is of her own age who has an undenied reputation as a philanderer and an unreliable and untrustworthy character. He has been trying to have an affair with her.
During these three fateful days another man, previously unknown to her, enters her life in a very innocuous way. This eventually leads to a situation where events very quickly spiral out of control. It is in the handling of, and the eventual resolution of the issue that tests the mettle and moral character of the other two men. This novella is an entertaining and engaging read.

The work has been on my list. Hope I will get a copy next year!


LKB

Citizens of London by Lynne Olson.

A very detailed and impressive account of the beginnings of the American-British alliance. It's gone a long way in filling some of the gaps in my knowledge of WWII.
Mit Flügeln, die ich mir errungen...

vers la flamme

George Orwell's Down and Out in Paris and London



I'm about a quarter of the way into the book. Wow, it's absolutely brilliant. Shocking portrayals of abject poverty, yet I keep finding myself laughing out loud at the sheer humanity of it all. I love Orwell's quintessentially English authorial voice here; he's very polite, even when describing situations of horror. An amazing read so far.

Dry Brett Kavanaugh


aligreto

Quote from: vers la flamme on July 24, 2021, 07:25:37 AM
George Orwell's Down and Out in Paris and London



I'm about a quarter of the way into the book. Wow, it's absolutely brilliant. Shocking portrayals of abject poverty, yet I keep finding myself laughing out loud at the sheer humanity of it all. I love Orwell's quintessentially English authorial voice here; he's very polite, even when describing situations of horror. An amazing read so far.

If you are liking that one I can readily recommend "Keep The Aspidistra Flying" if you have not already read it.



vers la flamme

Quote from: aligreto on July 24, 2021, 01:50:56 PM
If you are liking that one I can readily recommend "Keep The Aspidistra Flying" if you have not already read it.




I have not, and you are not the first to recommend it to me. Will definitely seek this one out ASAP.

SimonNZ

#11274


2/3 way through a second reading of Pale Fire

And feeling the same way I did when first read in my late teens: the poem itself is astonishingly beautiful and its a pity Nabokov didn't write more poetry, and the unreliable biographer/critic stuff is often good parody - but the seemingly endless "Land of Zembla" stuff kills my enjoyment and turns what should have been fun into a slog. No doubt the Zembla story all works on some higher level of meaning if I was willing to read numerous interpretations, but now as before I don't see why I should bother.

vers la flamme

Quote from: SimonNZ on July 24, 2021, 04:49:21 PM


2/3 way through a second reading of Pale Fire

And feeling the same way I did when first read in my late teens: the poem itself is astonishingly beautiful and its a pity Nabokov didn't write more poetry, and the unreliable biographer/critic stuff is often good parody - but the seemingly endless "Land of Zembla" stuff kills my enjoyment and turns what should have been fun into a slog. No doubt the Zembla story all works on some higher level of meaning if I was willing to read numerous interpretations, but now as before I don't see why I should bother.

Sounds fascinating. I never did read any Nabokov and this seems like an intriguing place to start.

aligreto

Lee & Andrew Child: The Sentinel





This is what it is, an entertaining page turner of a crime novel.

vers la flamme

Just spent the afternoon hours reading Georges Bataille's Story of the Eye



Well, that's about as fucked-up as it gets ;D I know people who call this their favorite book of all time—I certainly wouldn't go that far, but it was an intriguing and disturbing read.

Artem

Quote from: vers la flamme on July 25, 2021, 03:43:48 AM
Sounds fascinating. I never did read any Nabokov and this seems like an intriguing place to start.
I've read almost everything that Nabokov wrote in Russian and English, but for some reason I remember nothing about Pale Fire. Lolita was my introduction to this great author. Nabokov's lectures about Russian and European literature are also a fascinating read.

Dry Brett Kavanaugh

Quote from: vers la flamme on July 25, 2021, 12:20:41 PM
Just spent the afternoon hours reading Georges Bataille's Story of the Eye



Well, that's about as fucked-up as it gets ;D I know people who call this their favorite book of all time—I certainly wouldn't go that far, but it was an intriguing and disturbing read.

I read the story decades ago, and had a mixed feeling.