What are you currently reading?

[SimonNZ]

Conrad is among my very favorite writers.

iirc that is the one that has The Duel, which Ridley Scott made into the film The Duelists

I used to have a copy but lost it before getting to read it and haven't stumbled on a copy since

[JBS]

Picked up at the bookstore, two Bronte novels that get hardly any attention compared to JE and WH
Charlotte's Villette
Anne's Tenant of Wildfell Hall
Prompted in great part by Aligreto's post last week.

[Dry Brett Kavanaugh]

A Philosophy of Boredom. Lars Svendsen.

[Dry Brett Kavanaugh]

Yes, I thought that you might say that Manabu. I was wondering how well Wilde's witticisms would translate into any other language [not being a polyglot myself  ].

I think the dark humor, irony and sarcasm in Wilde's works are very similar to those of Japanese.
Arguably/possibly Wilde's humor may become funnier and wittier in Japanese language than the original English language.

[vandermolen]

What an odd medical prescription. It was obviously efficacious as you seem to have turned out OK 

Yes, indeed it was! He was quite an unusual doctor. I remember once, many years ago, I was quite poorly, and he made a house call to see me (this would never happen now - you can't even get an appointment to see the doctor at the surgery). Anyway, as he came upstairs the two cats jumped off the bed and ran downstairs. When he left, he asked 'shall I send the cats back up?'

[Florestan]

iirc that is the one that has The Duel, which Ridley Scott made into the film The Duelists

Indeed.

I used to have a copy but lost it before getting to read it and haven't stumbled on a copy since

Read it in full here: https://www.gutenberg.org/files/2305/2305-h/2305-h.htm#link2H_4_0004

[Florestan]

Yes, indeed it was! He was quite an unusual doctor. I remember once, many years ago, I was quite poorly, and he made a house call to see me (this would never happen now - you can't even get an appointment to see the doctor at the surgery). Anyway, as he came upstairs the two cats jumped off the bed and ran downstairs. When he left, he asked 'shall I send the cats back up?'

Reminds me of the good doctor in Cronin's The Citadel. 

[SimonNZ]

Indeed.

Read it in full here: https://www.gutenberg.org/files/2305/2305-h/2305-h.htm#link2H_4_0004

Have you seen the film The Duelists? Can you say how the film represents or deviates from the story?

[Florestan]

Have you seen the film The Duelists? Can you say how the film represents or deviates from the story?

I've seen the film but I haven't read the story yet. I've just finished reading the first story in the set, Gaspar Ruiz. The Duel is the last but one in the set so it'll take a while until I get to it.

[aligreto]

Picked up at the bookstore, two Bronte novels that get hardly any attention compared to JE and WH
Charlotte's Villette
Anne's Tenant of Wildfell Hall
Prompted in great part by Aligreto's post last week.

I may have, but cannot remember whether or not I have, read Villette in the distant past. If I did I cannot remember it now.
The Tenant of Wildfell Hall was a bit of a difficult read for me in terms of the slightly archaic language but it certainly was a compelling read and I frequently found it to be a page turner. That slight struggle was, however, definitely worth it for me. I hope that you enjoy it as much as I did.

[aligreto]

I think the dark humor, irony and sarcasm in Wilde's works are very similar to those of Japanese.
Arguably/possibly Wilde's humor may become funnier and wittier in Japanese language than the original English language.

That is interesting to read Manabu.

[aligreto]

Yes, indeed it was! He was quite an unusual doctor. I remember once, many years ago, I was quite poorly, and he made a house call to see me (this would never happen now - you can't even get an appointment to see the doctor at the surgery). Anyway, as he came upstairs the two cats jumped off the bed and ran downstairs. When he left, he asked 'shall I send the cats back up?'

He certainly sounds like a character indeed!

[vandermolen]

He certainly sounds like a character indeed!

He had quite a dry manner which I liked. Once when I was quite ill and he'd done nothing for weeks about it he said 'well, perhaps I should leap into action'.

[aligreto]

He had quite a dry manner which I liked. Once when I was quite ill and he'd done nothing for weeks about it he said 'well, perhaps I should leap into action'.

Well, perhaps that just might be appropriate in the circumstances 

[Florestan]

He had quite a dry manner which I liked. Once when I was quite ill and he'd done nothing for weeks about it he said 'well, perhaps I should leap into action'.

And did he eventually?

[Pohjolas Daughter]

Yes, indeed it was! He was quite an unusual doctor. I remember once, many years ago, I was quite poorly, and he made a house call to see me (this would never happen now - you can't even get an appointment to see the doctor at the surgery). Anyway, as he came upstairs the two cats jumped off the bed and ran downstairs. When he left, he asked 'shall I send the cats back up?'

PD

[aligreto]

Tolstoy: Master and Man





This is a short novel. It recounts the story of how the master in question takes a servant out into a snowstorm in order to conclude some business. The storm gradually deteriorates and the master makes a decision along the road. This is the story of that journey and the implications and consequences of that decision.

[Papy Oli]

A recent discussion in this thread (with its very diverse reactions to the book) spurred me to watch a BBC Arena documentary this week about James Joyce's Ulysses.

Here is the link to the BBC page: https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/m001bvp2/arena-james-joyces-ulysses

and a version currently available on Dailymotion: https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x8dkscn

(warning: there are rude bits  )

It ended up being a gripping watch, so much so that I read a few pages of Ulysses and Portrait of an Artist as a Young Man on the Gutenberg website and actually got quickly drawn into the style of it (that continuous flow is not dissimilar to Damon Galgut's The Promise which I mentioned earlier this year). I ordered a used copy of both books. I also have an unread Odyssey on my shelves, so I might throw its relevant chapters in the mix as I go along.

I am sure there's an irony somewhere that, for someone who doesn't read novels, I end up being drawn by Ulysses  Either it will be a very short-lived project or I'll come back to you on this in a few years...  :laugh

[Spotted Horses]

The Hole



A book which won the Shirley Jackson prize, and although I can see that she could be considered and influence, I don't find this author as effective. The plot centers on a man who wakes in the Hospital from a severe accident which has left him paralyzed and gravely injured, and in which his wife died. We read of his efforts to recover in the Hospital and then at home with the help of various caregivers, and his Mother-in-Law. As her malignant neglect increases the narrator begins revealing more sinister details of his life, and of the events leading up to the accident.

[Scion7]

sort of cross-referencing for MP3 tags, actually:

Camille Saint-Saens, A Life - Brian Rees

Camille Saint-Saens: His Life and Art - Watson Lyle

Saint-Saens - Arthur Hervey

Saint-Saens: a Critical Biography - Stephen Studd

... along with various liner notes, tracts, programmes, etc.