What are you currently reading?

[SimonNZ]

Started:

[Henk]

Book just arrived, earlier than expected. Happy to read a tough philosophical book again. Was feeling lazy.



Btw this one arrived too:

It's open-access: https://mitpress.mit.edu/9780262552554/the-ecology-politic/

[Brian]

I've been looking forward to reading this since 1973 and have thought of it off and on since then.  Spotted this copy (revised ed.) in a thrift shoppe the other morning and thought, "Hey, it's now or never!"  I could say it's worth the wait but more to the point: it's good and interesting enough to have been further up on my reading list.  There is a third, more recent edition.

Interesting, thank you. This sounds somewhat like Akenfield, an oral history of life in a remote English village in the midcentury.

[Mister Sharpe]

Interesting, thank you. This sounds somewhat like Akenfield, an oral history of life in a remote English village in the midcentury.

Yes, good comparison! Even if the Wylie book is a shade more academic than Blythe's.  Even so, it's a rippingly good read. And like Akenfield, it's surprising how personal things can get in Rousillon (masquerading as Peyrane in the book).  Can't help but recall Peter Mayle's works, too, more whimsical though they be.  I'm a quarter of the way through and it's got me wondering just what was done to update things in the 3rd ed. It'd make a good class topic to compare Akenfield with Rousillon, it's the same time period.  Speaking of Blythe, did you ever see Brian May's (yup, Queen's guitarist) A Village Lost and Found?  It's motivated by much the same love of town and country that compelled Blythe, along with the kind of puzzlers that many people delight in via British murder mysteries (where the locales are seemingly as significant as Who Done It).   

[Brian]

Yes, good comparison! Even if the Wylie book is a shade more academic than Blythe's.  Even so, it's a rippingly good read. And like Akenfield, it's surprising how personal things can get in Rousillon (masquerading as Peyrane in the book).  Can't help but recall Peter Mayle's works, too, more whimsical though they be.  I'm a quarter of the way through and it's got me wondering just what was done to update things in the 3rd ed. It'd make a good class topic to compare Akenfield with Rousillon, it's the same time period.  Speaking of Blythe, did you ever see Brian May's (yup, Queen's guitarist) A Village Lost and Found?  It's motivated by much the same love of town and country that compelled Blythe, along with the kind of puzzlers that many people delight in via British murder mysteries (where the locales are seemingly as significant as Who Done It).   

Thank you for the recommendation! I'll look for that book.

[Mister Sharpe]

Thank you for the recommendation! I'll look for that book.

I cherish my copy, more on same here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Village_Lost_and_Found

[Dry Brett Kavanaugh]

Heroes - Baltasar Gracian. Christopher Maurer.

[ritter]

José Moreno Villa: Jacinta la pelirroja — Poema en poemas y dibujos ("Jacinta the Redhead - A Poem in Poems and Drawings").




Moreno Villa (1887 - 1955) was a secondary, but fascinating, figure of the Spanish "Silver Age", a flourishing of artistic and literary activity spanning roughly the period from the loss of the last colonies in the Spanish-American War in 1898 to the outbreak of the Spanish Civil War in 1936. He was a poet, painter and scholar, and a permanent figure at the Residencia de Estudiantes in Madrid, which was the epicentre of much of the intellectual activity in the city. He left Spain during the Civil War, never to return, and died in Mexico City.

This illustrated poem is a long love song to Jacinta, the pseudonym of Florence Ruth Louchheim, an American heiress with whom Moreno Villa had a torrid affair in Madrid (they intended to marry, but the couple's trip to New York so that the groom could meet his prospective in-laws ended in disaster and the wedding plans were cancelled).

[ritter]

And now, back to the Italian novecento, with Carlo Emilio Gadda's novel Quer pasticciaccio brutto de via Merulana ("That Awful Mess on Via Merulana").



From Wikipedia:

"Rome, Fascist Italy, 1927. Detective Francesco Ingravallo, known to friends as Don Ciccio, is called in to investigate the murder of Liliana Balducci, a well-to-do woman who happens to be a close friend. As Don Ciccio and his colleagues dig deeper into the grisly murder, the mechanics of the detective novel take a backseat to the wordplay and experimentation with which Gadda presents a panorama of life in early fascist Rome".

I only hope that the "wordplay" doesn't make this too challenging for a non-native Italian speaker like me. The book mixes Italian with regional dialects (from Molise and Rome).

[Ganondorf]

After having finished re-reading Joseph I decided to start Faustus anew. And boy, I'm liking it even more this time. When it comes to novelists, Mann is clearly my soulmate.

[Mandryka]

Time for a biggie





Life, friends, is boring. We must not say so.   
After all, the sky flashes, the great sea yearns,   
we ourselves flash and yearn,
and moreover my mother told me as a boy   
(repeatingly) 'Ever to confess you're bored   
means you have no

Inner Resources.' I conclude now I have no   
inner resources, because I am heavy bored.
Peoples bore me,
literature bores me, especially great literature,   
Henry bores me, with his plights & gripes   
as bad as achilles,

who loves people and valiant art, which bores me.   
And the tranquil hills, & gin, look like a drag   
and somehow a dog
has taken itself & its tail considerably away
into mountains or sea or sky, leaving           
behind: me, wag.

[Papy Oli]

Completed: Edmond Rostand - Cyrano de Bergerac (Loved it).

DNF: Anita Brookner - Hôtel du Lac (Booker Prize 1985 - Way too sluggish for my liking. gave up a third of the way in).

[JBS]

Checked this out from the library today.


Originally serialized in Yiddish newspapers in the 1960s/70s, but not translated into English until now; the subject is Jewish life in a small Polish town in the 1930s.  I read Grade's longest novel, The Yeshivah, years ago. Hopefully this one is not as depressing.

[Florestan]

Edmond Rostand - Cyrano de Bergerac (Loved it).

IIRC, this was the first play I ever read (in a superb Romanian translation, rhymed and keeping the original meter*) and it made me fall in love with two things: drama and French literature --- to which I've remained faithful ever since.

* by Mihai Codreanu, an excellent poet on his own.



Your post brought about sweet memories of my long lost and much regretted late childhood/early teens. Thank you.

[Papy Oli]

IIRC, this was the first play I ever read (in a superb Romanian translation, rhymed and keeping the original meter*) and it made me fall in love with two things: drama and French literature --- to which I've remained faithful ever since.

* by Mihai Codreanu, an excellent poet on his own.



Your post brought about sweet memories of my long lost and much regretted late childhood/early teens. Thank you.

Hi Andrei,

I am glad this reading spurred such pleasant memories for you 

For me, I never saw the movie (only the famous "Peninsule" tidbit by Depardieu  ) nor read it before. It was simply a revelation. Some of Cyrano's lines had such a beautiful flow to it, and fun to boot!

Guess I am finding out (better late than never) that literature can be quite a hoot!! (That was my 29th book since Christmas Day - some are short granted, but that Kobo E-reader opened a new world to me)  

PS: By the way, While The TBR pile is already way too high, I have added Arturo Perez-Reverte to the even longer Wishlist (selected "The Siege") because of his mention of yours in an old "Crime" thread.


TD:

Not selected a French book yet but on the English side at the moment:

Mick Herron - Slow Horses (Slough House Vol.1)

[Florestan]

@Papy Oli

Reverte's "The Siege" --- what is the original Spanish title?

[Papy Oli]

@Papy Oli

Reverte's "The Siege" --- what is the original Spanish title?

El Asedio

[Florestan]

El Asedio

Thanks. Never heard about it. Is it about Captain Alatriste?

[Papy Oli]

Thanks. Never heard about it. Is it about Captain Alatriste?

No mention of The Siege in the Alatriste Series : https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Captain_Alatriste

Here's the Goodreads summary of The Siege :

Cádiz, 1811: The Spanish port city has been surrounded by Napoleon's army for a year. Their backs to the sea, its residents endure routine bombardments and live in constant fear of a French invasion. And now the bodies of random women have begun to turn up throughout the city—victims of a shadowy killer.

Police Comisario Rogelio Tizón has been assigned the case. Known for his razor-sharp investigation skills—as well as his brutal interrogation methods—Tizón has seen everything. Or so he thought. His inquiry into the murders reveals a surprising pattern: Each victim has been found where a French bomb exploded. Logic tells him to pass it off as coincidence; his instinct tells him otherwise, and he begins to view Cádiz as a living chessboard, with himself and the killer the main players.

In a city pushed to the brink, violence and desperation weave together the lives of a group of unlikely people: the Spanish taxidermist who doubles as a French spy; the young woman who uses her father's mercantile business to run the enemy blockade; the rough-edged corsair who tries to resist her charms; and the brilliant academic furiously trying to perfect the French army's artillery and bring Cádiz to its knees once and for all. And as Napoleon presses closer, Tizón must make his next move on the bomb-scarred chessboard before the killer claims another pawn.

Combining fast-paced narrative with scrupulous historical accuracy, this smart, suspenseful tale of human resilience is Arturo Pérez-Reverte at the height of his talents.
 

[Florestan]

No mention of The Siege in the Alatriste Series : https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Captain_Alatriste

Here's the Goodreads summary of The Siege :

Cádiz, 1811: The Spanish port city has been surrounded by Napoleon's army for a year. Their backs to the sea, its residents endure routine bombardments and live in constant fear of a French invasion. And now the bodies of random women have begun to turn up throughout the city—victims of a shadowy killer.

Police Comisario Rogelio Tizón has been assigned the case. Known for his razor-sharp investigation skills—as well as his brutal interrogation methods—Tizón has seen everything. Or so he thought. His inquiry into the murders reveals a surprising pattern: Each victim has been found where a French bomb exploded. Logic tells him to pass it off as coincidence; his instinct tells him otherwise, and he begins to view Cádiz as a living chessboard, with himself and the killer the main players.

In a city pushed to the brink, violence and desperation weave together the lives of a group of unlikely people: the Spanish taxidermist who doubles as a French spy; the young woman who uses her father's mercantile business to run the enemy blockade; the rough-edged corsair who tries to resist her charms; and the brilliant academic furiously trying to perfect the French army's artillery and bring Cádiz to its knees once and for all. And as Napoleon presses closer, Tizón must make his next move on the bomb-scarred chessboard before the killer claims another pawn.

Combining fast-paced narrative with scrupulous historical accuracy, this smart, suspenseful tale of human resilience is Arturo Pérez-Reverte at the height of his talents.
 

Thanks. I'll look into it.

Reverte is an interesting writer --- but tbh his finales are a bit of a letdown.