What are you currently reading?

[SimonNZ]

Thanks, I wasn't aware of that. The whites were bastards! That's the first time I've come across the concept of the post war Reconstruction. I really know nothing about America!

PBS did a very good 3-hour documentary called "Reconstruction: The Second Civil War", which you might find a useful introduction. Here's the first half:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Ge90PXpgg0

[SimonNZ]

Heh. I actually collect the Harper Torchbook series, and that's one I don't have.

Though I do have this Heisenberg in the series:

[San Antone]

PBS did a very good 3-hour documentary called "Reconstruction: The Second Civil War", which you might find a useful introduction. Here's the first half:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Ge90PXpgg0

What is not widely known is that most of the Southern solders fighting in the Civil War did not own slaves.  They were poor sharecroppers themselves. The reason they fought was because the Union army invaded their land.

[Steinway D]

After giving up on Disgrace (The animal cruelty was too much for me), I started this today. I like it very much so far. Apparently there's a lot of human cruelty in it, but I can deal with that! 

[Brian]

After giving up on Disgrace (The animal cruelty was too much for me), I started this today. I like it very much so far. Apparently there's a lot of human cruelty in it, but I can deal with that! 

This was quite an entertaining read. A well-told tale of human nature and weakness at the point of extremity. I need to read Grann's previous book, now a famous and acclaimed Scorsese film.

[Florestan]

While browsing the Internet Archive I stumbled upon this and was instantly hooked.

[Papy Oli]

does it mention Pascal Dusapin or Franck Bedrossian, for example? Or Brian Ferneyhough and Giancinto Scelsi? Or Valentin Silvestrov and George Rochberg?

And how far back? Does it cover Alessandro Scarlatti or Franz Ignaz von Beeke or Joseph Starzer?

(No one expects the Spanish Inquisition!)

Dusapin - Yes
Bedrossian - No
Ferneyhough - Yes
Scelsi - Yes
Silvestrov - No
Rochberg - Yes
Scarlatti - No
Beeke - No
Starzer - No


Bear in mind, this is a summarised one-volume version of 4 books, maybe the coverage is wider in the full version.

Does he explain what is "new and special" about Haydn op 33?

Please PM me your email address and I'll send you photos of the full composer index, the tables of contents and the three pages relating to Op.33 

[Mandryka]

Dusapin - Yes
Bedrossian - No
Ferneyhough - Yes
Scelsi - Yes
Silvestrov - No
Rochberg - Yes
Scarlatti - No
Beeke - No
Starzer - No


Bear in mind, this is a summarised one-volume version of 4 books, maybe the coverage is wider in the full version.

Please PM me your email address and I'll send you photos of the full composer index, the tables of contents and the three pages relating to Op.33 

Thanks. I think I'm just going to buy volume 3!

[Papy Oli]

Thanks. I think I'm just going to buy volume 3!

Ok no worries, I'll keep the pics aside for a few days in case you change you mind.

[Mandryka]

Ok no worries, I'll keep the pics aside for a few days in case you change you mind.

Ah, if you've made them then yes please! I just didn't want to put you to any more trouble. I felt slightly embarrassed about putting you though the Spanish Inquisition. I'll pm my email forthwith.

[Papy Oli]

Ah, if you've made them then yes please! I just didn't want to put you to any more trouble. I felt slightly embarrassed about putting you though the Spanish Inquisition. I'll pm my email forthwith.

It's all good, PM read & email sent 

[Mandryka]

After Absalom Absalom, it seems natural to read the David Story.

Now I don't want to offend anyone but I am really horrified. I mean, this God person is horrible. Just horrible.

Look - the bit I'm up to, Saul gets commanded by God to commit a crime against humanity and destroy a whole nation -- i.e. genocide -- and all their animals  (intimations of the holocaust there!) And he spares just one of them and a few of their sheep. So what happens? God gets angry because Saul hasn't obeyed his (totally immoral)  command TO THE LETTER and sacks him from his job as king and then . . . the icing on the cake . . . God's top manager Samuel proceeds to put the saved one to death by slicing him up!

Yuck.

[vers la flamme]

After Absalom Absalom, it seems natural to read the David Story.

Now I don't want to offend anyone but I am really horrified. I mean, this God person is horrible. Just horrible.

Look - the bit I'm up to, Saul gets commanded by God to commit a crime against humanity and destroy a whole nation -- i.e. genocide -- and all their animals  (intimations of the holocaust there!) And he spares just one of them and a few of their sheep. So what happens? God gets angry because Saul hasn't obeyed his (totally immoral)  command TO THE LETTER and sacks him from his job as king and then . . . the icing on the cake . . . God's top manager Samuel proceeds to put the king to death by slicing him up!

Yuck.

It says translation with commentary—is it a kind of prose rewrite, or is it a faithful, literal translation? Interested to read this nonetheless.

[Mandryka]

It says translation with commentary—is it a kind of prose rewrite, or is it a faithful, literal translation? Interested to read this nonetheless.

Alter is a serious scholar, Chair in something philological at UC Berkeley I think. It is faithful   - though bear in mind that there are competing and sometimes inconsistent sources. The commentary is often about the difficulty of translation - there's a lot of words where scholars dispute the meaning. It is very readable, and the edition I have is just the size of a normal book - not like a big, fat bible. So it's nice to hold.

It's more brutal than the Iliad. We're almost at Blood Meridian levels of shock. There's even scalping - except it's not scalping - it's foreskinning. They take foreskins as a war trophy!

Re Faulkner, yesterday I was struck by the commentary on the introduction of David. There are basically two intros - one where he plays music to make Saul feel better, and another where he kills Goliath. And Alter says this is quite common in biblical narrative - the two conflicting stories giving different facets of a character.

And that is very Absolam Absolam (IMO.)

[vers la flamme]

Alter is a serious scholar, Chair in something philological at UC Berkeley I think. It is faithful   - though bear in mind that there are competing and sometimes inconsistent sources. The commentary is often about the difficulty of translation - there's a lot of words where scholars dispute the meaning. It is very readable, and the edition I have is just the size of a normal book - not like a big, fat bible. So it's nice to hold.

It's more brutal than the Iliad. We're almost at Blood Meridian levels of shock. There's even scalping - except it's not scalping - it's foreskinning. They take foreskins as a war trophy!

Re Faulkner, yesterday I was struck by the commentary on the introduction of David. There are basically two intros - one where he plays music to make Saul feel better, and another where he kills Goliath. And Alter says this is quite common in biblical narrative - the two conflicting stories giving different facets of a character.

And that is very Absolam Absolam (IMO.)

Cool, I'll keep an eye out for a copy. I wanted to start Absalom Absalom, but I'm in the middle of too many books right now, so it will have to wait until I finish at least one of them.

[JBS]

After Absalom Absalom, it seems natural to read the David Story.

Now I don't want to offend anyone but I am really horrified. I mean, this God person is horrible. Just horrible.

Look - the bit I'm up to, Saul gets commanded by God to commit a crime against humanity and destroy a whole nation -- i.e. genocide -- and all their animals  (intimations of the holocaust there!) And he spares just one of them and a few of their sheep. So what happens? God gets angry because Saul hasn't obeyed his (totally immoral)  command TO THE LETTER and sacks him from his job as king and then . . . the icing on the cake . . . God's top manager Samuel proceeds to put the saved one to death by slicing him up!

Yuck.

But bear in mind there were still enough Amalekites to raid a town, burn and loot it, and take all the inhabitants captive later on in Saul's reign. You'll get to that part in chapter 30.
David organizes a counter raid that recovers all the loot and captives and kills most of the Amalekite raiders. But not all:

Not a man of them escaped, except four hundred young men who rode on camels and fled.

And Haman in the Book of Esther is possibly a descendant of Agag, the guy whom Samuel sliced and diced.

[Florestan]

to raid a town, burn and loot it, and take all the inhabitants captive

Looks like the descendants of the Amalekites are still alive today...

[AnotherSpin]

[Brian]

One of the most powerful novels I've ever read, I think.

[Florestan]

The received wisdom about Albeniz's life, especially his early years, is a cobweb of myths and fabrications, mainly of his own making. Prof. Clark, an expert in Spanish music*, has done a titanic detective work in order to disentangle facts from fiction and present a realistic biography of the swashbuckling pianist. Highly recommended.

* He also authored a book about Granados, which I read a few years ago.