What are you currently reading?

[Leon]

No more than you should be. 

Good deal. I found his essay  (in Sisman's book "Haydn & His World", IIRC) to be quite readable too. The other authors in your book are all familiar names, so that speaks well for the scholarship in there. The writers are the ones who are obtuse? Hell, I thought it was me! 

I had not even noticed that Beghin was the editor and not the author, and had assumed that it was his book entirely.   

Shows you how early I am in the journey of discovery.

[Gurn Blanston]

I had not even noticed that Beghin was the editor and not the author, and had assumed that it was his book entirely.   

Shows you how early I am in the journey of discovery.

Yeah, I think he just wrote the introductory essay to establish the theme, and then the others wrote variations from there. I've been holding off waiting for a price drop on it, but I'm thinking that will never happen (although it was $45+ for quite a while).  Guess it's time to un-ass a few $$ in that direction.

[Leon]

Yeah, I think he just wrote the introductory essay to establish the theme, and then the others wrote variations from there. I've been holding off waiting for a price drop on it, but I'm thinking that will never happen (although it was $45+ for quite a while).  Guess it's time to un-ass a few $$ in that direction.

It took several weeks, at least six, for my copy to ship.  I am unsure why, and don't know if the publisher needed to print more and now ship times would be quicker.

[Fëanor]

Your equating ignorance and bigotry with fascism is far-fetched and historically inaccurate. Fascist movements attracted intelligent people as well, both in file-and-rank and the top echelon, while the original and arguably the only fascists proper, the Italians, were notoriously irreligious and anti-clerical.

Besides, ignorant or bigot members are not limited to TP; any party in any country has them in scores.

OTOH, do conservative Christians have the right to organize politically and to act by peaceful and democratic means in order to achieve their goals?

This will be my last post on the "American Fascists" topic per the request to clam it.

Fascism has always assumed a local character. Italy, Germany, Spain, Argentine, etc. where all different. US fascism, (if it were to emerge and I'm not predicting that it will necessarily), would have its own complexion. Reread my definition of fascism: it doesn't require jackboots or anti-Semitism. Mainly it require a mass of gullible voters being mislead with phoney issues concocted by opportunistic leaders determined to rule without democratic input, (humm ... Dick Cheney??).

[Bogey]

This will be my last post on the "American Fascists" topic per the request to clam it.

That is actually a funny line. 


Thread duty:

50% through Mr. Copperfield, Mr. Henning.  I am greatly enjoying it.  Here are some lines that I have returned to a number of times:

"Let us have no meanderings."
(I believe I will use this one with my students when they come back in two weeks. )

";of the evening schoolroom dimly lighted and indifferently warmed, and the morning schoolroom which was nothing but a great shivering machine."

"There was a second lady in the dining room, of a slight short figure, dark, and not agreeable to look at, but with an appearance of good looks too...."

"I find my breath gets short, but it seldom gets longer as a man gets older."

"I thought about my predecessor, who had died of drink and smoke; and I could have wished he had been been so good as to live and not bother me with his decease."

[Ataraxia]

THE BURNING COURT by John Dickson Carr.

[Bogey]

THE BURNING COURT by John Dickson Carr.

Thanks for the link, Dave.  I will try his works down the road a bit.

[Karl Henning]

Thread duty:

50% through Mr. Copperfield, Mr. Henning.  I am greatly enjoying it.  Here are some lines that I have returned to a number of times:

"Let us have no meanderings."
(I believe I will use this one with my students when they come back in two weeks. )

";of the evening schoolroom dimly lighted and indifferently warmed, and the morning schoolroom which was nothing but a great shivering machine."

"There was a second lady in the dining room, of a slight short figure, dark, and not agreeable to look at, but with an appearance of good looks too...."

"I find my breath gets short, but it seldom gets longer as a man gets older."

"I thought about my predecessor, who had died of drink and smoke; and I could have wished he had been been so good as to live and not bother me with his decease."

Cheers, Bill! : )

[lisa needs braces]

Just started my re-read of Bleak House.

Dickens uses the phrase "old school" in one of the opening chapters. But as urbandictionary.com informs me:

The term old school is of English origin and dates back to at least the 19th Century and is used to denote something that is considered to be out of date with currents trends/ideas and thinking. An early example of the term can be found in the Charles Dickens novel Bleak House (first published 1852).
Description of Mr. Tulkinghorn from the novel Bleak House. "He is of what is called the old school—a phrase generally meaning any school that seems never to have been young".

[Bogey]

Just started my re-read of Bleak House.

Dickens uses the phrase "old school" in one of the opening chapters. But as urbandictionary.com informs me:

Hope you post some favorite lines from the book.  My wife LOVED the Gillian Anderson effort.  I want to read it before viewing.

[springrite]

Because of the Camels by Brenda Blair

Brenda Blair is a mentor, friend and collegue of mine. In my most recent trip to Nigeria, I worked with her to bring Employee Assistance to the African nation. We worked on 5 EAP trainings in China. Last year she received the Lifetime Achievement Award from the EAP Association at the conference in Denver (where I also met Bogey)

She spent some time in Nigeria in the 70's and met her husband, an expert in African history.

The novel is based on historical events and facts, but other parts are fictionalized. It is about the time when the US Department of War decided to buy camels from Africa and bring them to Texas to be used by the military. This event changed the life of many people, including an Egyptian who came with the camel, the sea captain, a young girl who was somehow involved in this, the families, etc.

Engaging story, made all the better when you know it's not just made up.

[lisa needs braces]

Hope you post some favorite lines from the book.  My wife LOVED the Gillian Anderson effort.  I want to read it before viewing.

I'll be reading it pretty slowly this time around. 20 minutes before falling asleep.

One interesting feature of the book is that Dickens alternates an omniscient narrative with a first person narrative by one of the central characters. Since the book is pretty long, this really helps in keeping your interest.

My above post is incomplete -- i meant to add that I thought the phrase "old school" was a relatively modern Americanism.

[Karl Henning]

Hope you post some favorite lines from the book.

Bill, I've totally crashed in my effort to re-read Copperfield. This free e-book I found is only about a quarter of the novel. Before seeking an e-book to replace it properly, I am re-reading Cato's first novel.  (Well, I don't know that it is absolutely his first, but it's the first I've read.)

[Karl Henning]

My above post is incomplete -- i meant to add that I thought the phrase "old school" was a relatively modern Americanism.

Not a bit of it, old bean.

[lisa needs braces]

My favorite experience of Dickens has been an audio-book version of Great Expectations.  It's a book that's very well suited to audio book form and the reader (whose name I don't remember -- it was a library loan) was quite fantastic. I look forward to re-experiencing David Copperfield  that way years down the road.

[lisa needs braces]

Were early humans unabashed swingers? This book questions the focus on the nuclear family as being central to the role of parenting in the human species.



Quote from the book:

Could it be that the atomic isolation of the husband-wife nucleus with an orbiting child or two is in fact a culturally imposed aberration for our species--as ill-suited to our evolved tendencies as corsets, chastity belts, and suits of armor? Dare we ask whether mothers, fathers and children are all being shoe-horned into a family structure that suits none of us? Might the contemporary pandemics of fracturing families, parental exhaustion, and confused, resentful children be predictable consequences of what is, in truth, a distorted and distorting family structure inappropriate for our species?

Quite a good read so far. 

[Bogey]

Bill, I've totally crashed in my effort to re-read Copperfield. This free e-book I found is only about a quarter of the novel. Before seeking an e-book to replace it properly, I am re-reading Cato's first novel.  (Well, I don't know that it is absolutely his first, but it's the first I've read.)

No worries, Karl.  25% Copper is pure gold.  I hope to read the canon of work in the next 12 years or so.  That would give me a number of years after to reflect on the total and re-read what I want.  I also would like to finish off Hemmingway, Austen, and Lewis as well.  I cranked out another 25% of the Copper yesterday and hope to finish it up in the next week or so.

Abe,
Thanks for the heads up on the audio....who is the reader you so much enjoy?

[lisa needs braces]

That's the thing, I don't remember his name. I'll look into it.

[lisa needs braces]

I'm 80% certain the narrator was John Lee. Here you can listen to a sample of his reading of Great Expectations:

http://www.amazon.com/Great-Expectations/dp/B004H887QA

[Bogey]

I'm 80% certain the narrator was John Lee. Here you can listen to a sample of his reading of Great Expectations:

http://www.amazon.com/Great-Expectations/dp/B004H887QA

I will check it out....thank you.