What are you currently reading?

[Florestan]

He said his name is Meeeowwww

Well, he doesn't strike me as a particularly original, strong and self-conscious personality, let alone an alpha male. 

He most certainly didn't read T.S. Eliot

https://poets.org/poem/naming-cats

[steve ridgway]

Speaking of free will, we're on page 666 of this thread. Just saying...

Straight on, keep going .

[DaveF]

Straight on, keep going .

Bolton or Preston - the choice (if such a thing exists) is yours.

Now to thread duty:



I've never read anyone who can quite equal Eliot's calm, thoughtful, gentle yet devastatingly penetrating tone of voice.  Mean now to get on to the perhaps less well-known ones - Romola, Felix Holt.  Adam Bede is certainly a great novel, but she was to do better; the most interesting characters (possible plot-spoiler) and their fates are rather callously dismissed in a couple of sentences in the final chapter.

[Florestan]

Bolton or Preston - the choice (if such a thing exists) is yours.

Now to thread duty:



I've never read anyone who can quite equal Eliot's calm, thoughtful, gentle yet devastatingly penetrating tone of voice.  Mean now to get on to the perhaps less well-known ones - Romola, Felix Holt.  Adam Bede is certainly a great novel, but she was to do better; the most interesting characters (possible plot-spoiler) and their fates are rather callously dismissed in a couple of sentences in the final chapter.

I've always wanted to read some George Eliot but never managed to. What is her best novel, in your opinion? The only one that I really shouldn't miss?

[DaveF]

I've always wanted to read some George Eliot but never managed to. What is her best novel, in your opinion? The only one that I really shouldn't miss?

Middlemarch is generally thought to be the masterpiece.  For a much shorter introduction, Silas Marner.

[Florestan]

Middlemarch is generally thought to be the masterpiece.  For a much shorter introduction, Silas Marner.

Thank you very much, sir! Will report back, if and when. 

[Mandryka]

Thank you very much, sir! Will report back, if and when. 

Middlemarch is absolutely worth reading. Unputdownable.

[Florestan]

Middlemarch is absolutely worth reading. Unputdownable.

I was initially very reluctant to heed your recommendation, coming from you as it does* --- but then I suddenly remembered that an important character from Umberto Eco's Foucault's Pendulum (now, that's a real unputdownable page-turner, if you ask me) is named Casaubon and he specifies there is a Middlemarch character of the same name --- so I will try to read it asap. 

* English humor alert       

PS May I humbly suggest Munkustrapus as a name for you know what --- I mean, whom?

[Mandryka]

I was initially very reluctant to heed your recommendation, coming from you as it does* --- but then I suddenly remembered that an important character from Umberto Eco's Foucault's Pendulum (now, that's a real unputdownable page-turner, if you ask me) is named Casaubon and he specifies there is a Middlemarch character of the same name --- so I will try to read it asap. 

* English humor alert       

PS May I humbly suggest Munkustrapus as a name for you know what --- I mean, whom?

You will see Casaubon in some of the more nerdy people who post here.

[Florestan]

You will see Casaubon in some of the more nerdy people who post here.

All the more reason to read Middlemarch asap. 

[AnotherSpin]

But my cat is conscious. There's no reason to think he doesn't have a conception of himself (as the alpha cat in his garden, for example.) I don't believe in free will for anything, people or not.

Yes, and more -- paradoxically, the illusion of freedom of choice makes a man not free.

[vers la flamme]

Googling earlier today "Karl Barth Mozart" led me to this very interesting collection of essays, which I plan to read over the next few days, taking a break from Runciman.



Starting, of course, with Barth's Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart.

(Free on Archive.org, requires registration)

What did Barth have to say about Mozart?

[vers la flamme]

You will see Casaubon in some of the more nerdy people who post here.

Like who, me? 

I really want to read some Eliot as well, especially Middlemarch... but I've read so many lengthy books this year already I might save it for next. Edit: Maybe I'll try Silas Marner.

[Florestan]

What did Barth have to say about Mozart?

Well, God, angels, Bach ——- it's all a few posts above, really. 

[DaveF]

Thank you very much, sir! Will report back, if and when. 

My pleasure - so I hope it's "when".  Given my Warwickshire origins (many decades ago) I like to think that we have produced the greatest playwright (obviously), the greatest novelist (Eliot) and... well, composers are slightly more of a problem - William Croft, Robert Simpson, Robin Holloway - worthy figures all...

[JBS]

I've always wanted to read some George Eliot but never managed to. What is her best novel, in your opinion? The only one that I really shouldn't miss?

I liked Daniel Deronda more than Middlemarch.

[Mandryka]

I liked Daniel Deronda more than Middlemarch.

I got bored by all the Zionism stuff, and so abandoned it. But it started well, maybe I should go back to it and try again.

[Mandryka]

Like who, me? 

I really want to read some Eliot as well, especially Middlemarch... but I've read so many lengthy books this year already I might save it for next. Edit: Maybe I'll try Silas Marner.

Have you read Anthony Powell's A Dance to the Music of Time? I just suddenly thought you may like it.  Short in a way, 12 short novels, funny, intelligent and arguably "great." I had a friend at university who wrote a doctorate about it, and argued it was a really major contribution to literature. 

[Ganondorf]

Bolton or Preston - the choice (if such a thing exists) is yours.

Now to thread duty:



I've never read anyone who can quite equal Eliot's calm, thoughtful, gentle yet devastatingly penetrating tone of voice.  Mean now to get on to the perhaps less well-known ones - Romola, Felix Holt.  Adam Bede is certainly a great novel, but she was to do better; the most interesting characters (possible plot-spoiler) and their fates are rather callously dismissed in a couple of sentences in the final chapter.

Hetty in Adam Bede is such a fascinating character. She's selfish, shallow and vain and does questionable things - yet she is depicted essentially as an impulsive child, not as cruel in a cold, calculating sense. In fact, by today's standards she really IS still a child. Which makes what happens to her much harder to stomach...

George Eliot is my favorite female writer, along with Natsuko Ishikawa.

[Ganondorf]

I liked Daniel Deronda more than Middlemarch.

I agree wholeheartedly. Deronda is always her masterpiece for me.