What are you currently reading?

[SonicMan46]

Mannahatta: A Natural History of New York City (2009) by Eric W. Sanderson - got a great offering from the History Book Club (been a member for 35 yrs!) - any 3 books for $33, plus free S&H, so just starting to read this well illustrated tome; some excellent recommendations - description HERE for those interested.

Great photo on the opening page - Manhattan as seen by Henry Hudson on the west side of the island, and the current NYC on the east side - should be a fasinating read! 

 

[Dr. Dread]

[karlhenning]

I loved his Khlit stories as a kid!

[Dr. Dread]

I loved his Khlit stories as a kid!

Yep. Pretty entertaining.

[Lilas Pastia]

Finished this few days ago. It's fairly good, Sembach's style is rather dry and he does push few ideas that don't really work for me, like linking Art Nouveau with film, connection I don't see on deeper level (he drops that one quickly anyhow) and more so the idea of Art Nouveau being the style that thrived in provinces rather than centers, while that works for France (Nancy), Germany (Weimar, Darmstadt, Munich) or in cases of Glasgow and Helsinki, Sembach gets in major problem trying to fit Vienna into his scheme and with some theoretical acrobatics he makes the Vienna some sort of sublimation of movement. I'm not sure I buy that on first spin, would have to re-read that part.
Other than that book is actually quite decent, focusing on architecture and design rather than painting (good idea).

After this one I intended to go straight in some decent sized book on Bauhaus (given that Gropius and Rohe were students and assistants of Peter Behrens) but that'll have to wait. My between the errands stop at largest local bookstore yesterday was pretty pathetic (haven't had the time for browsing around), Ullman & Konemann book on Bauhaus which was my primary target was out of stock and so was some unrelated stuff I was also looking for, like Terrail's Fragonard and they haven't even heard of Liotard, let alone of his pastels (now I see there is only one book in English and difficult to find even on-line). Not to walk out empty handed I picked up Ullman & Konemann's book on Romanesque art. At first dips looks impressive, though I'm not sure I'll start that now or try to get the Bauhaus to keep the momentum.



Other than this I've been leisurely re-reading some Chekhov stories, nothing else due the shortage of time.

Among my youth litterary explorations. Still have La Steppe (and other short novels) in my library. The kind of wonders you never wish to put aside, even as you grow older - and older  0:). Tchekhov's nouvelles ('short stories') - just like Maupassant's have been with me for 40 years. They never age.

[Drasko]

Among my youth litterary explorations. Still have La Steppe (and other short novels) in my library. The kind of wonders you never wish to put aside, even as you grow older - and older  0:). Tchekhov's nouvelles ('short stories') - just like Maupassant's have been with me for 40 years. They never age.

Yes, completely agreed, Chekhov takes rereading extremely well. "Slice of life, delicate observation and ocassional epiphany" was superb description of his short stories I read somewhere.
His works (any genre) also work very well as film stories. There are several excellent Russian films based on Chekhov, don't know if you had the chance to see them, here's few:


My Tender And Affectionate Animal (Shooting Party)


Unfinished Piece For The Player Piano (Platonov)


Lady With A Dog

There is also superb Serbian film based on Ward VI, I'd send you that but unfortunately it is released with no subtitles.

[Brian]

Anna Karenina
translated by David Magarshack

[Dr. Dread]

[Bu]

[bwv 1080]

Mike had a little self-hatred for jolly old england there, didn't he?

[Bu]

The last MacDonald was soooo good, had to read another:

[Haffner]

The greatest autobiography ever written.

[Brian]

The greatest autobiography ever written.

[SonicMan46]

Death, Dissection and the Destitute (2000), 2nd edition - by Ruth Richardson; published originally in 1987 (w/ just an afterword added) - fascinating topic w/ many medical & ethical implications today, esp. in the procurement of 'body organs' for transplantation - brief description on HERE  - 

[Brian]

Death, Dissection and the Destitute (2000), 2nd edition - by Ruth Richardson; published originally in 1987 (w/ just an afterword added) - fascinating topic w/ many medical & ethical implications today, esp. in the procurement of 'body organs' for transplantation - brief description on HERE  - 

Congratulations! This is the 100,001th post in the Diner.

[bhodges]

David Huron: Sweet Anticipation: Music and the Psychology of Expectation (2006)

--Bruce

[Harpo]

Olive Kitteridge by Elizabeth Strout. Won the Pulitzer Prize. A series of related stories about the residents of Crosby, Maine. Olive, a crochety math teacher with a sometimes surprising streak of kindness, is involved in all the stories. It's more depressing than heartwarming--lots of suicidal ideation--but very satisfying. Strout successfully touches on many facets of the human condition. Recommended fiction.

[Dr. Dread]

Mike had a little self-hatred for jolly old england there, didn't he?

[Dr. Dread]

Just finished a satisfying American frontier novel: Mike Roarke's THUNDER IN THE EAST...

...and now...



Vikings. The first in a trilogy. So far, I like...

[CD]

Berlin Alexanderplatz was excellent.

I'm now about halfway through this: