What are you currently reading?

[Ten thumbs]

Now reading Mary Shelley's 'The Last Man', which is at last deservedly in vogue. One thing struck me though when my wife criticized its 'old-fashioned' style - if this is a fault then the same applies to Beethoven.

[Sergeant Rock]

Reading this:



"Russia's expulsion of Napoleon's Grande Armée in 1812 is considered one of the most dramatic events in European history. However, Tolstoyan myth and an imbalance of British and French interpretations have clouded most Westerners' understanding of Russia's role in the defeat of Napoleon."

It provides a different perspective on the Napoleonic wars in the same way Peter Hofschröer's 1815: The Waterloo Campaign - The German Victory balanced the British-biased books I'd read for thirty-five years.

[karlhenning]

Just started The Gesualdo Hex by Glenn Watkins (a name I somehow want to think is a pseudonym for a resident of Watkins Glen).

This is an excellent book!  And there are hardly any musical examples in it, so it is excellent for the layman, as well.

[Scarpia]

Tried to read "The Ring Resounding," Culshaw's account of Decca's recording of the Solti Ring.  Couldn't get through 10 pages.  The biggest pile of shameless, self-important, self-congratulation I have ever seen. 

[karlhenning]

Gosh, that just sounds all wrong, Scarpia!

[Franco]

Tried to read "The Ring Resounding," Culshaw's account of Decca's recording of the Solti Ring.  Couldn't get through 10 pages.  The biggest pile of shameless, self-important, self-congratulation I have ever seen.

Actually that sounds about right considering the subject is Wagner.

[karlhenning]

Wicked, Franco!

[Scarpia]

Actually that sounds about right considering the subject is Wagner.

Although even Wagner might rebel at the thought that he, as the composer, is somewhat less interesting and important than the bloke in the control room, twiddling the knobs and telling Solti over the intercom that the tempo is wrong.

[karlhenning]

Although even Wagner might rebel would scoff at the thought that he, as the composer, is somewhat at all less interesting and important than the bloke in the control room, twiddling the knobs and telling Solti over the intercom that the tempo is wrong.

Corrigenda.

[karlhenning]

Current Onion edition

[MN Dave]

A hoot so far.


This guy will scare your pants off. Better wear a tight belt!

[Drasko]

I'm about hundred pages from the end and so far it's been excellent.

[CD]

That's a good endorsement Drasko. I always see lots of Ishiguro in bookstores and kind of figured that he was one of those writers who was widely published at one point but didn't live up to the hype. I'll check him out.

Reading:



Yes, it's good.

[Daverz]

Re-reading Roseanna AKA Kvinna i Göta kanal AKA Die Tote in Göta-Kanal AKA De vrouw in het Götakanaal, by Sjöwall och Wahlöö.

I love the Sjöwall & Wahlöö novels [in English translation] and plan on rereading the whole series one day.

[karlhenning]

I'm about hundred pages from the end and so far it's been excellent.

A frank irreverence, but . . . given this trend in titling fiction, as I walked home the other day, a sight in some nearby mulch gave me the idea for a book title: The Unscoopered.

[Drasko]

That's a good endorsement Drasko. I always see lots of Ishiguro in bookstores and kind of figured that he was one of those writers who was widely published at one point but didn't live up to the hype. I'll check him out.

I'd limit my endorsement to this particular one, haven't read anything else (though liked The Remains of the Day movie). This one was recommended to me by Sidoze, he said The Remains of the Day is also good, different but introduces some key tropes and preoccupations Ishiguro would more extremely develop in The Unconsoled. He thought his later two novels don't live up to these, but then couple of my other friends thought Ishiguro's last to be excellent.

Anyone familiar with Murakami? I've seen flood of his books at local bookstores but wasn't sure what to try, if anything.

[lisa needs braces]

This looks interesting!

http://www.amazon.com/Ninth-Beethoven-World-1824/dp/140006077X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1278250158&sr=8-1

[CD]

Anyone familiar with Murakami? I've seen flood of his books at local bookstores but wasn't sure what to try, if anything.

I'm not but a friend I trust says that Wind-Up Bird Chronicles is worth it.

[Drasko]

Noted, thanks!

[greg]

Yoshio Toyoshima- Fuukei

http://www.aozora.gr.jp/cards/000906/files/42555_22848.html

I found a site which has tons of classical novels by Japanese authors (in original Japanese, of course) in HTML format. This means that, with my add-on, I can move my mouse over each word I don't know, and the definition pops up, making my study potentially powerful and efficient at the same time- that is, if I actually do it consistently!

I first tried to get into some more Souseki, since I liked the little that I've read by him, but his language is too outdated and complex for someone like me to understand (I've even heard his stuff is a nightmare for translators). This one I can actually understand enough to get by with, and it's short.

Of course, I really should be doing this more instead of being on here so much... kinda hard to cut back on GMG, though. It's so relaxing for the mind.