What are you currently reading?

[Mandryka]

Last night I started William Faulkner's As I Lay Dying



So far, I'm really enjoying this. Though I may not always understand everything that's happening, it's not nearly as difficult as I was expecting.

Well I'm half way through, I was beginning to lose patience with the realist narrative and gothic and the sheer absurdity, the nonsense, of the trip. And then . . . .Addie's chapter made me prick up my ears. What the fk is that about?

[vers la flamme]

Well I'm half way through, I was beginning to lose patience with the realist narrative and gothic and the sheer absurdity, the nonsense, of the trip. And then . . . .Addie's chapter made me prick up my ears. What the fk is that about?

Yess, that was the best chapter in the book for me. When I first read it, I thought, she's pure evil, the way she describes taking pleasure in torturing kids, banging the preacher, hating her husband and her kids and whatnot. But of course there's more to it than that. If you have an hour to kill, I enjoyed this lecture on Youtube by Arnold Weinstein; the part about Addie's chapter (I can't remember the time stamp, sorry) was quite illuminating. (It's morning here and I need more coffee, maybe we can talk about this more intelligently later in the day.) Anyway here's the lecture:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R3WD1Xf2EcY

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RXXDMbZT8zE

But finish the book first, of course. I lost patience at the halfway point too, the river bit was particularly trying for me, but it's all well worth it in the end.

[Artem]

Hit or miss, these Kafka stories, but a few of them are truly poignant: The Metamorphosis, In the Penal Colony, and A Hunger Artist all completely blew my mind. A good many of the shorter stories, especially those in the first person, I couldn't make heads or tales of.

I love Kafka's novels. The Castle, The Trial, Amerika are my absolute favourites. But I just could not get into his short stories at all. His diaries were far more interesting to read.

[vers la flamme]

I love Kafka's novels. The Castle, The Trial, Amerika are my absolute favourites. But I just could not get into his short stories at all. His diaries were far more interesting to read.

Interesting! Sounds like I need to read Castle and Amerika, and reread Trial.

(Just noticed an unintended and very bad pun in my post—"heads or tales", referring to short stories )

[vers la flamme]

Just started Friedrich Nietzsche's The Birth of Tragedy



So far, so good. I found this at a Goodwill thrift store for $1. Seems it may be an easier read than Beyond Good & Evil and Thus Spoke Zarathustra.

[Spotted Horses]

It is a rite of passage. I read a fair bit of Nietzsche when I was around 20 years old. I have never felt the slightest temptation to read any of it again.

[Artem]

Read this two back to back. Haruki Murakami is one of those authors who's short and long form work is equally great. I love his short stories. These two collections are the latest translated into English. Men Without Women came out several years ago. Except one great story, it's mostly superficial writing. I didn't like it. The latest one "First Person Singular" is much better and is closer to Haruki Murakami's earlier work. It has that fleeting sense of mystery found in the everyday life. I feel encouraged after reading his latest collection that he can still produce great work.

[vers la flamme]

Read this two back to back. Haruki Murakami is one of those authors who's short and long form work is equally great. I love his short stories. These two collections are the latest translated into English. Men Without Women came out several years ago. Except one great story, it's mostly superficial writing. I didn't like it. The latest one "First Person Singular" is much better and is closer to Haruki Murakami's earlier work. It has that fleeting sense of mystery found in the everyday life. I feel encouraged after reading his latest collection that he can still produce great work.

Personally, I loved Men Without Women. It was my first of Haruki Murakami's fiction. All of the stories resonated with me, unlike The Elephant Vanishes which I read last month, which was more hit or miss for me.

[Dry Brett Kavanaugh]

Lady Chatterley's Lover. D. H. Lawrence.

[Mandryka]

But finish the book first, of course. I lost patience at the halfway point too, the river bit was particularly trying for me, but it's all well worth it in the end.

Maybe the novel is a study of the power of parents to manipulate children.

[vers la flamme]

This morning I started William Faulkner's Light in August



So far, I really like it. If As I Lay Dying is a saga of the Bundren family and their tribulations following the death of the family's matriarch, Light in August appears to be a saga of a city, the fictional Jefferson, Mississippi (where the story of AILD ends). We see how newcomers to the town interact with its longtime denizens, and the subtle ways in which the town changes with their arrivals. But I'm still in the first fifth of the book or so, and it's a long one—my copy is over 500 pages. I'm finding it a page turner, but I reckon it will take me some time. Narratively, it's much more straightforward than AILD. It does follow several different characters, but the third-person omniscient narration seems to be rather easier to follow.

Was Faulkner interested at all in Thomas Hardy? I can't help but find parallels between the worlds created by these two authors, Hardy's Wessex and Faulkner's Yoknapatawpha County, though these may be only superficial similarities.

[SimonNZ]

Finished these two:



that was a second reading of Founding Brothers which I wanted to do after recently watching the John Adams miniseries

started:

[aligreto]

Somerset Maugham: Don Fernando





This has been my most unsuccessful read as far as Maugham is concerned. I have read it before and was not engaged with it. This time around I am still not enthused by it. Why? It is a work of nonfiction. It is a combination of his own thoughts and impressions of Spain in the Golden Age, its culture, history, food, literature and national characteristics. It is also something of a travelogue. Maugham discusses in detail things that I have no interest in. It is akin to a collected series of essays. Others may find it intriguing and compelling.

[vers la flamme]

William Faulkner's Light in August

Enjoying this greatly, and kind of plowing through it; I'm about halfway through. Real page-turner. Faulkner's prose is brilliant: though more straightforward here than in AILD, it's still deeply psychological and very disturbing. The last three or four chapters have delved a lot more deeply into the character of Joe Christmas, who is kind of a violent sociopath, but a fascinating character. I seem to get the impression that Faulkner's books are all quite different from each other in style, tone, and technique, even if they share some common ground in terms of thematic material. This book seems to have something to say about race, though I cannot figure out what that something is just yet.

[Mandryka]

A bit like Magic Mountain, with a ship instead of a sanitorium!

[Dry Brett Kavanaugh]

Capote, Miriam.

[vers la flamme]

William Faulkner's Light in August

I finished it this morning. Pardon my French, but that book was absolutely fucking phenomenal! I loved it, and can't stop thinking about its characters, its themes, its world, and Faulkner's brilliant prose in which thoughts, places, and memories, real and false, come to life in equal measure. If As I Lay Dying didn't get me there on its own, Light in August has made me a believer. I want to read all the Faulkner I can get my hands on, and I'm sure I will in time, but I don't want to burn myself out so I think I'll take a break for a bit. I did go to Barnes & Noble today and picked up a copy of The Unvanquished, so I think that will be next, when the time comes.

Who else has read this book? I wonder if it left as big an impact on anyone else as it did me. It seems most would agree that it belongs in the upper echelon of William Faulkner's work, but it is usually placed somewhat below the "holy trinity" of The Sound & the Fury, As I Lay Dying & Absalom, Absalom!—having only read one of these, I wouldn't be able to say one way or the other. But I do think I liked it better than As I Lay Dying. That may change with rereading, as I'm sure I didn't pick up on everything there is in AILD on the first read, but for now I can say that Light in August was the book to sell me on Faulkner.

P.S. I'm glad I read it in the month of August.

[Karl Henning]

A book written by a friend of mine from Buffalo Daze: Gary Barwin: Nothing the Same, Everything Haunted

[André]

I finished it this morning. Pardon my French, but that book was absolutely fucking phenomenal! I loved it, and can't stop thinking about its characters, its themes, its world, and Faulkner's brilliant prose in which thoughts, places, and memories, real and false, come to life in equal measure. If As I Lay Dying didn't get me there on its own, Light in August has made me a believer. I want to read all the Faulkner I can get my hands on, and I'm sure I will in time, but I don't want to burn myself out so I think I'll take a break for a bit. I did go to Barnes & Noble today and picked up a copy of The Unvanquished, so I think that will be next, when the time comes.

Who else has read this book? I wonder if it left as big an impact on anyone else as it did me. It seems most would agree that it belongs in the upper echelon of William Faulkner's work, but it is usually placed somewhat below the "holy trinity" of The Sound & the Fury, As I Lay Dying & Absalom, Absalom!—having only read one of these, I wouldn't be able to say one way or the other. But I do think I liked it better than As I Lay Dying. That may change with rereading, as I'm sure I didn't pick up on everything there is in AILD on the first read, but for now I can say that Light in August was the book to sell me on Faulkner.

P.S. I'm glad I read it in the month of August.

It's a really great book. I should re-read it myself, as it must be min 15 years since I last read it.

Do give a look at Intruder in the Dust, one of Faulkner's 'simplest' opuses, and a really endearing work.

[vers la flamme]

It's a really great book. I should re-read it myself, as it must be min 15 years since I last read it.

Do give a look at Intruder in the Dust, one of Faulkner's 'simplest' opuses, and a really endearing work.

I only just heard about Intruder recently, and I really want to read it. Sounds like a good one.