What are you currently reading?

[Karl Henning]

Is that a tie-in with Hesse's forthcoming book?

[North Star]

Is that a tie-in with Hesse's forthcoming book?

No.

I did read Siddhartha a year ago, though. Should read Narziß und Goldmund and Gertrud soon, too, as I have them in the same hardback.

[Karl Henning]

"cat" does make for a nice absurd IQ, though!

[Karl Henning]

Should I re-read Siddhartha?  When I was just out of high school I read it, and I was underwhelmed.  Maybe I just expected . . . something else.

[Cato]

Should I re-read Siddhartha?

No.   0:)

I did read Siddhartha a year ago, though. Should read Narziß und Goldmund and Gertrud soon, too, as I have them in the same hardback.

Yes, that one is preferable to Siddhartha, which comes across almost as a satire on Indian fables, although that is not the intention!  Narziß und Goldmund is probably Hesse's best...yet even it at times is too consciously symbolic.  The other book I have not read.

[North Star]

No.   0:)

Yes, that one is preferable to Siddhartha, which comes across almost as a satire on Indian fables, although that is not the intention!  Narziß und Goldmund is probably Hesse's best...yet even it at times is too consciously symbolic.  The other book I have not read.

I think I agree with Cato here.
Somehow I would have expected you to have read Gertrud, though!

Styled as the memoir of a famous composer named Kuhn, Gertrud tells of his childhood and young adult years before it comes to the heart of the story; his relationships to two troubled artists, the eponymous Gertrud Imthor, and the opera singer Heinrich Muoth. Kuhn is drawn to Gertrud upon their first encounter, but she falls in love with and marries Muoth, whom the composer befriended as well some years before. The two are hopelessly ill-matched, and their destructive relationship provides the basis for Kuhn's magnum opus.

[Karl Henning]

Thanks, gents!

[Cato]

Re: Hermann Hesse

Demian is probably my favorite Hesse book, followed closely by Steppenwolf - those two were very important to me in my early college years.  Although I tried to read the Glass Bead Game I could not finish it.  I think I read one or two of the others but they did not make much of an impression.

That book (which at one time had an English translation with a Latin title Magister Ludi ) has an excellent premise - a future society that is quasi-medieval - but so much does NOT happen in the book that it is difficult to finish.

It is almost a meditation on a future, medievalistic society than an actual story about such.

[Geo Dude]

This is still striking me as essentially, it's more fun to read the rubbish after your lobotomy.

That seems to be a reasonable interpretation.

[Karl Henning]

Dan Brown's Inferno: Reviews round-up

Including:

In his two-star review, the Telegraph's Jake Kerridge said Inferno was Dan Brown's most ambitious novel yet - and his worst.

"As a stylist Brown gets better and better: where once he was abysmal he is now just very poor," wrote Kerridge. "His prose, for all its detailing of brand names and the exact heights of buildings, is characterised by imprecision. It works to prevent the reader from engaging with the story.

"This mattered less in his previous novels, but with Inferno I sense for the first time that Brown is aiming at a tauter, better book, one more interested in the real world, longing to escape from the prison of his pleonasm.

"But in the end this is his worst book, and for a sad, even noble, reason - his ambition here wildly exceeds his ability."

[Florestan]

[Dan Brown's] ambition here wildly exceeds his ability.

As if he had any...

[Karl Henning]

Evaluation of his ambitions and ability is such a different matter if we speak of his marketing a book, rather than writing one.

[Cato]

Evaluation of his ambitions and ability is such a different matter if we speak of his marketing a book, rather than writing one.

This reminds me:

A former stuntman-turned-director named Hal Needham formed a company in the late 1960's with stunt-car drivers in order to crank out movies featuring very little plot, but with very many car stunts and crashes.   

Needham even wrote a script called Smokey and the Bandit

He and his friend Burt Reynolds made that and a series of other movies with cardboard characters, very dumb and in some cases very old jokes, and all kinds of car crashes.

They also made a fortune as a result!  Needham once took out a full page ad in (maybe?) Variety with a picture of himself laughing and lying in a wheelbarrow of money, which a guard was wheeling into a bank.  I believe the caption was something like: To All the Critics Who Hate My Movies.

[Geo Dude]

As if he had any...

Or creativity for that matter.  Plagiarize another (crappy) writer's work and then have your publisher sue said writer when they point out that you have plagiarized their work.  A brilliant strategy!

[Wakefield]

As if he had any...

Well, it's clear you're talking about literary abilities, but I would like to have his ability to make money, as Cato has suggested. You know, pecunia non olet.

The problem with cheap literature aren't writers, but readers and their horrible and deformed tastes. But it's like porn: somebody must do the dirty work, if they want to spend their money. 

[Geo Dude]

The problem with cheap literature aren't writers, but readers and their horrible and deformed tastes. But it's like porn: somebody must do the dirty work, if they want to spend their money. 

This comment brings back traumatizing memories of reading Amazon reviews of Faulkner after Oprah put some of his novels on the recommended list.

[Florestan]

Well, it's clear you're talking about literary abilities, but I would like to have his ability to make money, as Cato has suggested. You know, pecunia non olet.

The problem with cheap literature aren't writers, but readers and their horrible and deformed tastes. But it's like porn: somebody must do the dirty work, if they want to spend their money. 

There is a huge difference though: with internet all around, one must really be nuts to spend money on porn. 

[Karl Henning]

This reminds me:

A former stuntman-turned-director named Hal Needham formed a company in the late 1960's with stunt-car drivers in order to crank out movies featuring very little plot, but with very many car stunts and crashes.   

Needham even wrote a script called Smokey and the Bandit

He and his friend Burt Reynolds made that and a series of other movies with cardboard characters, very dumb and in some cases very old jokes, and all kinds of car crashes.

They also made a fortune as a result!  Needham once took out a full page ad in (maybe?) Variety with a picture of himself laughing and lying in a wheelbarrow of money, which a guard was wheeling into a bank.  I believe the caption was something like: To All the Critics Who Hate My Movies.

Probably I am rephrasing slightly . . . back when Michael Caine passed, I recall a column of tribute which mentioned Jaws: The Revenge, which (the writer of the column suggested) was quite the turkey.

Caine, naturally possessed of more charm and wit than Mr Needham above, responded, "I've not seen the movie, but I have seen the very nice house which it helped me buy."

[Florestan]

Or creativity for that matter.  Plagiarize another (crappy) writer's work and then have your publisher sue said writer when they point out that you have plagiarized their work.  A brilliant strategy!

Dan Brown's The Da Vinci Code is the only book I've ever regretted buying in 25 years of purchasing all sorts of books. Even Paulo Coelho has more ideas and makes for a more pleasant reading.

[Florestan]

Probably I am rephrasing slightly . . . back when Michael Caine passed, I recall a column of tribute which mentioned Jaws: The Revenge, which (the writer of the columne suggested) was quite the turkey.

Caine, [...] responded, "I've not seen the movie, but I have seen the very nice house which it helped me buy."

Good reply but I wonder:first he passed and then he responded or the other way around?