What are you currently reading?

[Karl Henning]

For just a taste . . . one of his daughters was born on 12 October, a year when both Columbus Day and Yom Kippur fell on that date.  One of his witty friends (George S. Kaufman, IIRC) advised him that the child be named Christopher Kipper.

[Mookalafalas]

For just a taste . . . one of his daughters was born on 12 October, a year when both Columbus Day and Yom Kippur fell on that date.  One of his witty friends (George S. Kaufman, IIRC) advised him that the child be named Christopher Kipper.

  I loved Oscar Levant when I was a junior high school student. He was in a quite a few movies, and his dry, sarcastic, deadpan delivery was terrific.

[Florestan]

Just started



Marcel Proust - In Search of Lost Time, vol. I (Romanian translation)

This is soooooo much right up my literary alley.... The way he describes a stove-heated room, only Schubert could have put to music...

Mesmerizing!

[Ken B]

Just started



Marcel Proust - In Search of Lost Time, vol. I (Romanian translation)

This is soooooo much right up my literary alley.... The way he describes a stove-heated room, only Schubert could have put to music...

Mesmerizing!

Mesmer, Mesmer. Rings a bell. Wait, wait. He's the one puts people to sleep, right?
Yes, fits Swann's Way well.

[ritter]

Just started



Marcel Proust - In Search of Lost Time, vol. I (Romanian translation)

This is soooooo much right up my literary alley.... The way he describes a stove-heated room, only Schubert could have put to music...

Mesmerizing!

Your starting one wonderful journey here, Florestan! If your liking Swann (which is such a marvel), just wait until you get to the À l'ombre des jeunes filles en fleur or  to Le Coté de Guermantes...it's all so varied, so rich, so beautiful at times...The characters, the descriptions, the insightsd...and it grows and grows on you...

[Florestan]

Mesmer, Mesmer. Rings a bell. Wait, wait. He's the one puts people to sleep, right?
Yes, fits Swann's Way well.

Margaritas ante porcos. 

[Ken B]

Margaritas ante porcos. 

Hey, i just had a margarita AND bacon. How did you know?

[Florestan]

Your starting one wonderful journey here, Florestan! If your liking Swann (which is such a marvel), just wait until you get to the À l'ombre des jeunes filles en fleur or  to Le Coté de Guermantes...it's all so varied, so rich, so beautiful at times...The characters, the descriptions, the insightsd...and it grows and grows on you...

Proust's writing is right up my alley, so I won't stop until the final volume. 

[Florestan]

Hey, i just had a margarita AND bacon. How did you know?

Reading Proust opens the third eye. 

[kishnevi]

The Chinese version is better
http://www.amazon.com/Story-Stone-Dream-Chamber-Vol/dp/0140442936/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=undefined&sr=8-1&keywords=story+of+the+stone

The link is to volume 1 of five.  There is at least one abridged translation, which I read as a teen before this complete translation appeared. 
Do not know if a Romanian translation was ever made, although I suspect there must be at least one.
After the original,  read Barry Hughart's alternate history, the second Master Li novel.

[Florestan]

Do not know if a Romanian translation was ever made, although I suspect there must be at least one.

There is a classic one. Come to think of it: the Romanian translator never finished his translation, because he was imprisoned for bourgeois formalism and died before having the time to revise the whole translation. The last two volumes were revised, and translated where need be, by his wife.

You guys of the free world cannot even imagine someone being imprisoned for translating  Proust. 

[kishnevi]

There is a classic one. Come to think of it: the Romanian translator never finished his translation, because he was imprisoned for bourgeois formalism and died before having the time to revise the whole translation. The last two volumes were revised, and translated where need be, by his wife.

You guys of the free world cannot even imagine someone being imprisoned for translating  Proust. 

Wait, was he translating Proust or Cao Xueqin?  I was referring to the Houng Lou Meng, not Proust.

[Drasko]

Proust's writing is right up my alley, so I won't stop until the final volume. 

When you finish it, and I have no doubts that you will (I couldn't put it down when I read it few years ago), try to find second version of sixth volume, Albertine disparue. Late in life Proust made a huge revision of Albertine, cutting half of it and making some very important changes, but the manuscript was found only some thirty years ago and then published for the first time. That second version can't be incorporated in the whole work because changes Proust made demand revision of the seventh volume to which he never gotten around to. Still I found it to be amazing 'what could have been' and really intriguing addition to regular canon. Don't know if there is Romanian translation, but it is available in English under the title Albertine Gone:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Albertine-Gone-Marcel-Proust/dp/0701133597

[Henk]

Wait, was he translating Proust or Cao Xueqin?  I was referring to the Houng Lou Meng, not Proust.

Wishlisted that book. In return I can recommend this one (if you already don't know it):


http://www.amazon.com/Collected-Mountain-Mandarin-Chinese-English/dp/1556591403/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1409745350&sr=8-1&keywords=han+shan

Didn't complete reading it, but I love the atmosphere it breathes.

[Florestan]

Wait, was he translating Proust or Cao Xueqin?  I was referring to the Houng Lou Meng, not Proust.

Oh, sorry, I misunderstood your post.

[Florestan]

When you finish it, and I have no doubts that you will (I couldn't put it down when I read it few years ago), try to find second version of sixth volume, Albertine disparue. Late in life Proust made a huge revision of Albertine, cutting half of it and making some very important changes, but the manuscript was found only some thirty years ago and then published for the first time. That second version can't be incorporated in the whole work because changes Proust made demand revision of the seventh volume to which he never gotten around to. Still I found it to be amazing 'what could have been' and really intriguing addition to regular canon. Don't know if there is Romanian translation, but it is available in English under the title Albertine Gone:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Albertine-Gone-Marcel-Proust/dp/0701133597

Thanks, I'll try to get it.

[Ken B]

The Formation of a Persecuting Society, by R I Moore.

It's not quite what I expected; I was looking for more of a how-to book, this is medieval history!

[Karl Henning]

First, you find the goat . . . .

[Ken B]

I finished Contested Will which I picked up because of some of the comments here. An excellent book. One thing That dismays me is the rising tide (as I see) of antirationality. This book nicely addresses a small portion of that, making points relevant to the whole.
It is also a book that implicitly argues for the value of art and grappling with it, a topic we have obliquely debated here. Recommended.

[Karl Henning]

Glad you enjoyed it, too.