What are you currently reading?

[Bogey]

Well, I'm into my American Revolution mode - currently reading the book below:

Almost A Miracle:  The American Victory in the War of Independence (2007) by John Ferling - just getting started; nearly 600 pages, so will take me a while (since I often read 3-4 books at a time); so far, quite well done w/ much detail - don't expect a quick & easy read of this one! 

I made it about a third of the way through, Dave.  Very heavy on the detail of each and every battle.  Found it a bit too repetative and text bookish, but will probably return to get the info in my head.  I am cruising through this at the moment. 



Easy and fun.  Filled with wonderful anecdotes.  Do not let the first few pages make you put it down, Dave.  The story of John Adams and his wine crisis when he moved from France to England was priceless.

[SonicMan46]

I made it about a third of the way through, Dave.  Very heavy on the detail of each and every battle.  Found it a bit too repetative and text bookish, but will probably return to get the info in my head.......

Bill - completely agree w/ your assessment of the Ferling book - this is long & quite detailed; willing to spend some time and the detail is fine w/ me having read & studied this period so much; but, would not be a recommendation for me to someone wanting an introduction to this war - just plenty of shorter tomes of suggest!  Dave 

[Maciek]

My copy of The Original of Laura arrived yesterday!

[johnshade]

My copy arrived a few days ago. I have not had time to read it yet. I have mixed emotions about it's being published.

I own and have read all his published works. The first Nabokov book I read was Pnin in 1960.

John Shade

Does the quotation below give you any hints?

[Scarpia]

The Little Stranger, by Sarah Waters.  This is part historical fiction, part ghost story, a tale of a family living in a deteriorating English estate in the post-war 1940's.  One by one the residents meet a bad end, and we are left wonder if the demons assailing them are supernatural, or in their minds.

A well told story, but not as vivid as Water's earlier work, paticularly Fingersmith and Tipping the Velvet.   I recommend it, but I recommend those earlier works even more, if you don't know them.

[Brahmsian]

Prokofiev

by Thomas Schipperges

[CD]

I loved Molloy and Malone Dies, and probably would have loved The Unnameable as well. I've been really distracted as of late, and existential dread doesn't really work in short little bits. I'll come back to it later when I can focus all my attention onto it.

Reading:

[Franco]

Ayn Rand - The Fountainhead



She was very popular when I was in High School (1960s) but I never read the books.  I received a $50 gift for a birthday gift and went (for the first time in years - all my shopping has been online for a while) to the Borders store to look around and saw a Centennial Edition set of this one and Atlas Shrugged, which were priced at $48, so I went for them.

So far, I am enjoying it.

[karlhenning]

Prokofiev

by Thomas Schipperges

By 'oo?

[karlhenning]

A bio of Peggy Guggenheim, Mistress of Modernism.  'Tis good to be reminded that there were non-artists who helped drive various strands of Modernism (that much-maligned creature).

[MN Dave]

The Black Rider by...

Frederick Schiller Faust (May 29, 1892 - May 12, 1944) was an American western fiction author. Faust wrote mostly under five pseudonyms, though he is primarily known by one, Max Brand, today. Faust was born in Seattle and both his parents died soon after. He grew up in central California and later worked as a cowhand on one of the many ranches of the San Joaquin Valley. Faust attended the University of California, Berkeley, where he began to write frequently. He did not attain a degree, as he was deemed a troublemaker, and he began to travel extensively.

During the 1910s, Faust started to sell stories to the many emerging pulp magazines of the era. Faust attempted to enlist when the United States joined World War I in 1917, but was denied entry. In the 1920s, Faust wrote furiously, achieving success and fame. He soon became overworked and was diagnosed by a doctor with an undefined heart condition. Faust continued to travel and write a massive amount of material, working in many genres. He invented the western character "Destry" and the non-western character "Dr. Kildare," later a popular television series.

In the 1930s, Faust joined the literary trek to Hollywood and wrote scripts. When World War II broke out, Faust insisted on doing his part by becoming a front line correspondent. Faust was quite famous at this point and the soldiers enjoyed having this popular author among them. While traveling with American soldiers as they battled Germans in Italy, Faust was mortally wounded and died in a fox hole in 1944.

Faust wrote in many genres, though he is mainly known today for his thoughtful and literary westerns. Though Faust did work as a cowboy and did travel extensively throughout the west, the authenticity of his westerns is credited to the large amount of western lore he kept on file and to the depth he put in his characters.

Faust also managed a massive outpouring of fiction, rivaling Edgar Wallace and especially, Isaac Asimov as one of the most prolific authors of all time, and he may have published more than 500 books worth of novels and short stories.

[Opus106]

Ayn Rand - The Fountainhead



She was very popular when I was in High School (1960s) but I never read the books.  I received a $50 gift for a birthday gift and went (for the first time in years - all my shopping has been online for a while) to the Borders store to look around and saw a Centennial Edition set of this one and Atlas Shrugged, which were priced at $48, so I went for them.

So far, I am enjoying it.

Hardback, leather-back? I bought a paperback centennial edition (of The Fountainhead) for the equivalent of a few Dollars just a couple of months ago.

Right now, though, I'm reading The Bourne Identity, by Robert Ludlum, while occasionally dipping my toes into Christoph Wolff's book on Bach.

[bwv 1080]

Operation Mars, which occurred around the same time as uranus, the stalingrad counteroffensive was a massive debacle for the soviet army which was subsequently downplayed and spoken of very little.  around 400,000 soviet soldiers were casualties in this attempt to encircle and destroy the 9th army outside of vyazma.  the harrowing accounts of the carnage among the frozen swamps and forests convey a good sense of what people endured in the great patriotic war

[MN Dave]

For review:

This was outstanding.

[Lethevich]

Turner's Rivers, Harbours and Coasts (Shanes)
Turner's England (Shanes)

Can't think of a more consistent painter of stare-able scenes, hundreds of them, even the obscurities can have me zoning out on the page for a few minutes.

[secondwind]

The World in Six Songs, by Daniel Levitin
Fascinating stuff--music and evolution--who knew?

The Story of My Life and Work, by Booker T. Washington
Filling some of the gaps in my knowledge of American history and great Americans.  Very readable and interesting.

The Turn of the Screw, by Henry James.  Rereading it just in case the GMG discussion every begins. 

[CD]

Didn't feel the need to finish the Schrader book. He was basically saying in so many words what I had already derived from simply watching the films of the directors covered.

Now reading:

[Lilas Pastia]

Didn't feel the need to finish the Schrader book. He was basically saying in so many words what I had already derived from simply watching the films of the directors covered.

I'm always intrigued to see Ozu considered more than Mizoguchi among japanese directors. For lack of opportunity, I have seen lots of the latter, and NONE from Ozu...  What's your opinion, Corey?

What is defined as 'transcendental style', for that matter?  Isn't the cover a scene from Vampyr?

[CD]

I'm always intrigued to see Ozu considered more than Mizoguchi among japanese directors. For lack of opportunity, I have seen lots of the latter, and NONE from Ozu...  What's your opinion, Corey?

What is defined as 'transcendental style', for that matter?  Isn't the cover a scene from Vampyr?

I haven't seen much, but I was recently blown away by Late Spring. I've seen a few others (Early Summer, Tokyo Story) but I don't think I "got" them at the time, and am planning to rewatch them within the next week or two.

Schrader's definition of transcendental style in film is basically "anything in film that evokes the human response to the metaphysical". The cover is from Vampyr, which is odd, as he lists it among Dreyer's "anti-transcendental" films.

[Scarpia]

Just read "A House and it's Head" by Ivy Compton-Burnett. 

The author, a 20th century English writer, has a unique style; the books consists of transcribed dialog with almost no additional description.  Characters and scenes change abruptly and without mention, so it is sometimes a challenge to keep track of who is talking.  Attention is focused on a sort of verbal warfare that takes place between the characters, relating to action that is often learned of only by indirect mention in the dialog.  The main characters in this book are the self-centered and tyrannical (in a petty way) head of a household and his daughters.  The action involves the death of his wife and his two subsequent marriages, which is accompanied by a surprising amount of scandal.  Clearly a book written by a person who felt herself alienated from conventional society.  Very interesting.