What are you currently reading?

[André]

Very moving. I read it fast, not something I usually do.

[aligreto]

G. & W. Grossmith: The Diary Of A Nobody





This is indeed the diary of a nobody and deals exclusively with simple domestic affairs, family, friends and work in an undistinguished lower middle class suburban home in late Victorian times. There are, however, some amusing passages and observations which did raise a smile for me. These simply remind me that some things just do not change over time.


The book is of little consequence and will be culled from my library.

[JBS]

I have that in an edition from Oxford World's Classics that has been superseded by a different cover. My copy has one of the illustrations as the cover art. This Penguin edition, with another illustration, will give an idea of them.

George wrote the text; his brother Weedon did the illustrations.

My opinion of the book is the same as that of Fergus, but I prefer not to cull it.

[SimonNZ]

Started:




Also started a second reading of the Lattimore Iliad, hopefully doing one "book" per day for he next 24 days, and may dip into some secondary reading for it.

[aligreto]

Gide: Isabelle





A young scholar is invited to an old chateau to do some research. The circumstances and relationships of the inhabitants of the chateau seem somewhat curious. Unexpectedly, this young man is shown a miniature of a young woman. He becomes infatuated, even obsessed, by the idea of her. Through misadventure and probing he becomes aware of her history. He ultimately even meets her and hears her own account of her story. The revelation of the truth can often be difficult and even brutal, unpalatable and not to be to one's wanting or liking.

[SimonNZ]

Knocked off this quickie in a couple of sittings.

Despite its classic status it now seems mostly superficial and dated. Hard, perhaps impossible, to appreciate how original and myth busting it struck its first audience in 1921.

[Dry Brett Kavanaugh]

Plutarch Essays (Moralia).

[Dry Brett Kavanaugh]

Moliere: Don Juan.



 

[aligreto]

A Bronte: Agnes Grey





Having recently read both Wuthering Heights and Jane Eyre I thought that I should tackle the works of Anne Bronte. I started with Agnes Grey. Yes, Anne had her own take on things but I felt that she was less eloquent in her telling of her story. Her writing style was not exactly ponderous, more pedantic, for me, I would say. This applied to both her plot and her character developments.

[Spotted Horses]

Home Fire, Kamila Shamsie.



A novel about a family of Pakistani background living in London. Two younger twins are generally religious, an older sister is more secular and skeptical of religion. The younger brother is lured into fighting for the Islamic State in Syria and his twin sister is desperate to bring him back, leading to her entanglement with the son of the Home Secretary, who is a conservative who leaves behind his Muslim background to become a Brittish nationalist. A brilliantly constructed novel, which I later learned was modeled after Sophocles' Antigone.

[ritter]

Revisiting the poetry of Vicente Aleixandre, with his collection Sombra del Paraíso (Shadow of Paradise).



I had read Aleixandre some 45 years ago after he was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1977. At the time, I found him impenetrable. Today, in a bookstore close to home, they had the recently reissued volume of his complete poems (1500+ pages) and I went for it.

Sombra del Paraíso is a large collection published in 1944, and is widely regarded as among its author's most successful works. It deals with a sort of dawn of the world conjured through childhood memories, but also has a strong sensual component and surrealist touches. Aleixandre's free verse is quite beautiful, and even if this isn't an easy read, I definitely no longer find it impenetrable. How age and experience changes our perception of things....

[SimonNZ]

These on the go:

[vers la flamme]

The Quiet American by Graham Greene. Loving it so far.

[aligreto]

Hesse: The Prodigy





This wonderfully told story is essentially a dissertation by Hesse on the unbalanced effect that the rigours of the education system has on the holistic well being of children.

This is the story of a young and academically gifted boy who is obliged to carry the weight of responsibility for academic success on his young shoulders not only for his ambitious father but also from all of the "elders" of his small town. He drives himself incessantly in his quest to be successful. However, in doing so, he isolates himself from his friends, peers and indeed from "normal" life for someone of his age. He is successful in his examinations and obtains a place in a celebrated seminary. There he comes under the influence of a disaffected and malcontent young man and through this connection he becomes further isolated from his peers and the quality of his study also begins to suffer. The young man eventually suffers a breakdown. He returns home and plunges deeper into despair and melancholy. He even picks the branch from which tree he contemplates hanging himself. He then comes into contact with a beautiful young woman and, momentarily, Life rejuvenates his soul. The tale essentially tracks which path he will actually choose to follow.

[milk]

Does anyone here strongly recommend any Rushdie? I was going to read Midnight's Children but I don't really like magical realism, if that's what it is. I just admire him as a person and feel for him in this moment. That's why I ask. I'd like to support him in some way.

[SimonNZ]

Does anyone here strongly recommend any Rushdie? I was going to read Midnight's Children but I don't really like magical realism, if that's what it is. I just admire him as a person and feel for him in this moment. That's why I ask. I'd like to support him in some way.

You might be interested in his memoir "Joseph Anton" (the name he was given by his protection detail). It's warts and all - you may not like the portrait that emerges, but it's an honest one.

[Spotted Horses]

Does anyone here strongly recommend any Rushdie? I was going to read Midnight's Children but I don't really like magical realism, if that's what it is. I just admire him as a person and feel for him in this moment. That's why I ask. I'd like to support him in some way.

I remember being impressed with Shalamar the Clown, and The Moor's Last Sigh. I also was put off by the magical aspects of Midnight's Children.

[vandermolen]

Just finished this fine and thought-provoking book:

[Artem]

Does anyone here strongly recommend any Rushdie? I was going to read Midnight's Children but I don't really like magical realism, if that's what it is. I just admire him as a person and feel for him in this moment. That's why I ask. I'd like to support him in some way.

Midnight's Children is very straightforward, easy to read book. It was the only Rushdie's book I read and it didn't make me want to explore his writing further. It's a kind of book you take on a holiday and leave at the hotel when your vacation is over.

[Spotted Horses]

It's a kind of book you take on a holiday and leave at the hotel when your vacation is over.

It is also the kind of book that wins the Booker Prize, and get voted to be the most significant book to have won the Booker Prize.