What are you currently reading?

[Florestan]

The only Finnish writer I´ve read is Mika Waltari and I like his works, he is very good at writing historical novels.  My favorite is The Dark Angel (Johannes Angelos, 1952), a love story set in Constantinople right before its fall to the Turks.

[Karl Henning]

  My Ex-brother-in-law is Estonian. He said the Kalevala is Estonia's national epic....

He also said, "Finland? Where is that?"   

[Moonfish]

Well there are Kalevala and Kanteletar the epic and the lyric poem collections by Elias Lönnrot, I read that (or some of it) in high school, and The Seven Brothers, the first Finnish novel, written by Aleksis Kivi, read it in both jr. and sr. high, a great book still. There's also Waltari (Sinuhe, e.g.), F. E. Sillanpää (Nobel prize winner), Minna Canth (some excellent realist plays, particularly about women's position), Eino Leino, a poet who died at the age of 47, wrote a good bit of poetry (influenced very much by Kalevala) and translated e.g. Dante.

Kalevala is monumental. I think even Harold Bloom included it in his Western Canon list!! Alas, I have yet to read it. Aren't a number of Sibelius' tone poems inspired by the stories from Kalevala?
I used to read Zacharias Topelius when I was a kid (my dad read his stories to me) . How are his works regarded in Finland today? Not top tier?

[North Star]

  My Ex-brother-in-law is Estonian. He said the Kalevala is Estonia's national epic.... Didn't know it was Finnish til now.

And consider the fact that Estonia's national anthem is the same as ours, just with different lyrics..

Kalevala is monumental. I think even Harold Bloom included it in his Western Canon list!! Alas, I have yet to read it. Aren't a number of Sibelius' tone poems inspired by the stories from Kalevala?
I used to read Zacharias Topelius when I was a kid (my dad read his stories to me) . How are his works regarded in Finland today? Not top tier?

Sibelius' music was certainly influenced by Kalevala (Kullervo, Lemminkäinen, Pohjola's Daughter, Luonnotar, and to a lesser extent En Saga and Tapiola) - like the whole national romantic movement in Finland, Leino and Gallen-Kallela included.
Kalevala was obviously a strong influence on Tolkien, too - Túrin Turambar is "an attempt to reorganize...the tale of Kullervo the hapless, into a form of my own", as Tolkien wrote in one of his letters.

Topelius is well regarded, his stories, hymns and songs are definitely core 'repertoire'.

[Ken B]

  My Ex-brother-in-law is Estonian. He said the Kalevala is Estonia's national epic.... Didn't know it was Finnish til now.

I thought you were still amongst the pre-divorced Al. 

[Mookalafalas]

He also said, "Finland? Where is that?"   

I thought you were still amongst the pre-divorced Al. 

Ken, Ken, Ken, your schadenfreude is showing .
      My sister's ex-husband. 

[Ken B]

  Ken, Ken, Ken, your schadenfreude is showing .
 

I'm told it's slimming.

TD Intuition Pumps by Daniel Dennett

[Karl Henning]

Another particularly fine short story by Robert Sheckley, "Ask a Foolish Question."

[Ken B]

Another particularly fine short story by Robert Sheckley, "Ask a Foolish Question."

Why are you reading Robert Sheckley?

[Karl Henning]

Decades ago, a schoolmate made a gift to me of Dramocles:  An Inter-Galactic Soap Opera, which was the most rattling fun I'd ever had reading science-fiction.  Now and again over the years, I go back to him (Sheckley, I mean).  There's still a sort of "pulp science-fiction" moldy-paper vibe to the writing, yet in large part it holds up surprisingly well, I think.

[North Star]

I wonder what would happen if I bought a copy of Waiting for Godot online - it would probably get lost in the mail and never arrive..

[Ken B]

Decades ago, a schoolmate made a gift to me of Dramocles:  An Inter-Galactic Soap Opera, which was the most rattling fun I'd ever had reading science-fiction.  Now and again over the years, I go back to him (Sheckley, I mean).  There's still a sort of "pulp science-fiction" moldy-paper vibe to the writing, yet in large part it holds up surprisingly well, I think.

I was asking a foolish question. 

[Karl Henning]

And I knew it not!

[Florestan]

Not reading; purchased today. 



Ivan Goncharov - Oblomov



Olga Slavnikova - Light Head (Romanian translation: The Enemy of the People)



Henrik Ibsen - The League of Youth

[Artem]

Finished reading Thomas Bernhard three short novellas. Not an easy but very rewarding reading nonetheless.


Also preordered on Amazon collection of novellas by Patrick Modiano, who won this year's Nobel Prize in literature. Looking forward to read that one.

[Mookalafalas]

Not reading; purchased today. 

Ivan Goncharov - Oblomov

Oblomov is quite amazing, IMO.  Hilariously funny.  It is kind of like the original of O'Toole's "A Confederacy of Dunces".  That said, I didn't finish it. It is on the book shelf, with many other unfinished (but good) books with a book mark in it...

[Cosi bel do]

Also preordered on Amazon collection of novellas by Patrick Modiano, who won this year's Nobel Prize in literature. Looking forward to read that one.

I'll be interested to hear what you think of it (even if I haven't read these 3 novellas in particular, that I think are not among his best selling ones).

[Karl Henning]

One of the books I started re-reading on my Nook™, and which I wind up neglecting for long stretches, yet returning to with a note of gladsome surprise:  The Blithedale Romance.

The Scarlet Letter is obligatory reading in the US public schools;  and under those circs, I didn't much care for Hawthorne at that age.  I certainly needed to be in my mid-20s before I could appreciate him properly.  I do enjoy all his work (I've not read quite all of it, even yet), but I probably like the "sleeper hit," The Blithedale Romance, best of all.

[Florestan]

It is on the book shelf, with many other unfinished (but good) books with a book mark in it...

Welcome to the club! 

I have never bought more CDs than I could listened to, the concept of a CDs pile is alien to me. Books on the other hand, oh boy! a pile of 50 is always the norm! 

This might be of interest to some of you: what prompted me to buy Slavnikova´s book on the spot was a quote from her about the book:

There is in the Russian tradition a real cult of suffering, that can be seen both in literature and in the Orthodox faith. Suffering is seen as a prerequisite for spiritual completion. But my leading character doesn´t want to suffer or to sacrifice himself; he doesn´t care a fig about spiritual completion. All that he wants is to preserve his liberty - his, and everybody else´s, because in this country you can always become a martyr against your will, and nobody will ever ask if you´re prepared to suffer or not.



   

[Jaakko Keskinen]

Henrik Ibsen - The League of Youth

I have read only 3 Ibsen plays so far (Peer Gynt, A doll's house and John Gabriel Borkman) and I've enjoyed him immensely (Peer Gynt and Borkman had their bit awkward moments, though, although they're splendid plays). Doll's house has aged very well, I can't believe it was written in 19th century! It is easily my favorite of those three.