What are you currently reading?

[listener]

Around India in 80 Trains by Monisha Rajesh
ideal for the armchair traveller, written  by someone who loves train travel but is not the sort of train buff that describes wheel arrangements and train sheds instead of the places visited. 

[Cato]

Thanks for the Verne paper/glue warning, GD. 

Cato or whoever-among-Mannomanes, has anyone had some personal experience comparing the translations of Mann's DOCTOR FAUSTUS by Lowe-Porter and by Woods, respectively?

Good for you for tackling Doctor Faustus!

John Woods began new translations back in the 1990's I believe.

Both translations have their merits, but the one by Woods is less Victorian, and therefore does what an "updated translation" is supposed to do. 

I can say that his translation of Joseph and His Brothers is a huge improvement over Löwe-Porter's.

Re: screenwriters: I think most of the truly great film directors ignore them, as they perhaps should.  I would like to see narrative advice from great film editors.  The closest I've gotten is from the fascinating Walter Murch, though he's too humble a workman to actually condescend to give novelists tips. 

Murch got a shot at directing back in the 1980's with Return to Oz a very dark sequel with no singing or dancing, which is not what audiences were expecting of course, and so the movie nose-dived.  It is, however, an excellent movie with a marvelous score by David Shire.

[Geo Dude]

I'm taking a break in the middle of 20,000 Leagues Under the Seas to read Moby Dick (first time, the damn thing just kept calling out to me after I downloaded the complete Melville to my Kindle).  My mind is currently envisioning returning to the Verne as being a sort of calm after the storm.

[Florestan]

Moby Dick (first time)

I'll join you soon, I have a whole bunch of sleepless nights ahead. 

Octave, Cato:

My favorite Doktor Faustus line (quoted by memory): The main merit of Romanticism is to have gotten music out of her previous town's brassband status and to have integrated it into the general intellectual circuit.

[Octave]

Late thanks for that quote, Florestan; priceless.

Have any of the GMG squad read part or all of Will Durant's STORY OF CIVILIZATION books?  If so, how do you rate them?  Can any insiders offer a hint at how trends and changes in historiography have treated Durant over the decades since his death?  I am interested in reading at least some of this series, but it's hard for me to know if there is a proper or ideal way in; it's a big undertaking.

[Todd]

Starting in on the second section - Revolution era stuff.  Pretty good so far, though Meacham throws in a bit too much speculative writing for my liking sometimes.  If it is unknown what Jefferson felt or thought, one ought not to opine on the matter; one ought to focus solely on what Jefferson said, wrote, and did.

[jlaurson]

Snobs
Julian Fellowes
UK Link Krautmazon

[mahler10th]

Just started today...

[Beorn]

I saw the Peter Jackson movie recently and am now reading THE HOBBIT for the second time in my life. Having a fine time. I'm not quite sure yet if I'll proceed directly to Lord of the Rings.

[Gold Knight]

George R.R. Martin--A Game Of Thrones

[Beorn]

George R.R. Martin--A Game Of Thrones

NICE! 

[Gold Knight]

NICE! 
[/quote

@ Beorn, Thanks. I guess you enjoyed reading this, then?

[Beorn]

NICE! 

@ Beorn, Thanks. I guess you enjoyed reading this, then?

Of course! What's not to like? I have to get back to that series one of these days.

Thread duty:

I'm reading an ARC of this "literary" horror antho.
[asin]1906331367[/asin]

[Geo Dude]

The beast is slain!  I've finished Moby Dick.  It took longer than expected due to the essay sections being a bit of a drag at times, but when Melville is writing as a novelist (or a playwright) his prose is brilliant.  I detected what I thought was a Shakespeare influence--some quick Googling confirmed that I was correct, which left me proud of my ability to detect that influence because I'm not particularly well-versed in Shakespeare--and this lead me to start on Shakespeare.  I read A Midsummer Night's Dream and then decided that I should go further back down the chain of literary influences and do a full read-through of The Bible.  I selected the ESV on the grounds of it being free on Kindle and (allegedly) aiming for a literal, accurate translation.  Walt Whitman wedged himself in there somehow or another so I'm also working on Leaves of Grass.  I will also be restarting 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea soon.

[Daverz]

Cloud Atlas.  Yeah, I saw the movie first.  I assume the book will be less...Matrixy.  Enjoying the prose so far.

[asin] 0812984412[/asin]

Bonus Doona Bae:

http://www.youtube.com/v/CQQUEicr6d8

[Geo Dude]

I've heard good things about Cloud Atlas.  Let me know what you think.

[Wanderer]

I've heard good things about Cloud Atlas.  Let me know what you think.

Go for it.

[Beorn]

The great stuff. 
[asin]0375708677[/asin]

[Bogey]

I will mark down the Archer novels, Dave.

[Beorn]

I will mark down the Archer novels, Dave.

Good man.