What are you currently reading?

[Ken B]

The literal meaning of the Arabic title is The Book of a Thousand Nights and a Night.

My copy is another used book store find, the 1962 reprint
1934 Limited Editions Club edition: The Book of the Thousand Nights and a Night: The Complete Burton Translation with the Complete Burton Notes, the Terminal Index, and 1001 Decorations by Valenti Angelo, 3 Volumes in slipcase (reprinted by The Heritage Press, 1962)

Burton is notoriously inaccurate alas. And did you know Ali Baba and Aladdin's Lamp are not supposed to be in the 1001?
Most translations are from faulty texts too, unless it's relatively modern.
I have and recommend the Haddawy translation, based on the oldest extant manuscript.

[Wakefield]

There are 11 other translations into Finnish from various other translations - e.g. a Norwegian on - or incomplete translations of the original.

An outstanding number considering Finland's population.

[Ken B]

An outstanding number considering Finland's population.

Not really. It's a very dirty book.

[Wakefield]

Burton is notoriously inaccurate alas. And did you know Ali Baba and Aladdin's Lamp are not supposed to be in the 1001?
Most translations are from faulty texts too, unless it's relatively modern.
I have and recommend the Haddawy translation, based on the oldest extant manuscript.

All of this is technically true, but - as usually happens with classics - I think there is not inaccuracy powerful enough to destroy them.

That being said, the reasons that you point out were, precisely, what I considered to pay EUR 120 for a new version.

BTW, this Borges essay is a jewel:

http://www.oocities.org/tidbits4you/ArabianNights.Borges.html

[Ken B]

All of this is technically true, but - as usually happens with classics - I think there is not inaccuracy powerful enough to destroy them.

That being said, the reasons that you point out were, precisely, what I considered to pay EUR 120 for a new version.

BTW, this Borges essay is a jewel:

http://www.oocities.org/tidbits4you/ArabianNights.Borges.html

Damn you all! Now I want to read the frigging thing again and I do not have the time!
Instead of books it would help if you guys justed posted free time I could use to read them. 

[kishnevi]

Not really. It's a very dirty book.

Which is why Burton's version is so valuable.

[Wakefield]

Damn you all! Now I want to read the frigging thing again and I do not have the time!
Instead of books it would help if you guys justed posted free time I could use to read them. 

It's the awful truth.

Anyway, as a sad single 45 y.o. man  , the last five years I have read things like The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, The Essays of Montaigne, Boswell's Life of Johnson and some other monumental classic (all of them in good Spanish translations).

I also tried Chateaubriand's Memoirs from Beyond the Tomb and Mommsen's History of Rome. but I quit.

[Florestan]

Mommsen's History of Rome

That one was a page turner for me. 

[North Star]

An outstanding number considering Finland's population.

Not really. It's a very dirty book.

Most of the translated editions are cleaned up. 

[Karl Henning]

Bowdlerized!

[Wakefield]

That one was a page turner for me. 

I was interested in Mommsen from my childhood, when I read some volumes devoted to Rome by Carl Grimberg. I started full of expectations, but maybe it wasn't the right moment to me.

I recently enjoyed very much the "History of Rome" by the journalist Indro Montanelli. A collection of essays more than a conventional "history", it's an extremely interesting¡g and fresh book. 

[Mookalafalas]

I was interested in Mommsen from my childhood, when I read some volumes devoted to Rome by Carl Grimberg. I started full of expectations, but maybe it wasn't the right moment to me.

I recently enjoyed very much the "History of Rome" by the journalist Indro Montanelli. A collection of essays more than a conventional "history", it's an extremely interesting¡g and fresh book. 

  I'm just starting the Rome volume of Durant's "Story of Civilization".  I read a one volume "Rise and Fall" about 20 years ago, and later bought the full 3 volume in a gorgeous set, but haven't even cracked it    

[ZauberdrachenNr.7]

  I'm just starting the Rome volume of Durant's "Story of Civilization".  I read a one volume "Rise and Fall" about 20 years ago, and later bought the full 3 volume in a gorgeous set, but haven't even cracked it

I thought it was 11 volumes (don't want you to be cheated outta some civilization!)  I've read many of them and am always impressed at Durant's accomplishment.  Be aware, however, that specialists (aka envious bastards) find fault with him all over the place.

[Karl Henning]

I thought it was 11 volumes (don't want you to be cheated outta some civilization!)

I need all the civilization I can get!

[Mookalafalas]

I thought it was 11 volumes (don't want you to be cheated outta some civilization!)  I've read many of them and am always impressed at Durant's accomplishment.  Be aware, however, that specialists (aka envious bastards) find fault with him all over the place.

I'm afraid I wasn't clear. Yes, the Durant is 11 volumes. I've read 6 (well, most of 6).  The 1 and 3 volume sets I was referring to are of Gibbon's "The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire". I made a hash of it by incorrectly referring to it as "The Rise and Fall".

    And yeah, I know academics love to beat up on Durant.  Of course he made mistakes and some sloppy generalizations. He was, after all, just an "amateur historian". However, unlike 97.89% of academics, he knew how to write clearly, succinctly, and with style. Perhaps that is the real reason they can't forgive him  
   

[Karl Henning]

However, unlike 97.89% of academics, he knew how to write clearly, succinctly, and with style. Perhaps that is the real reason they can't forgive him  

I like that 

[Ken B]

That one was a page turner for me. 

For me a page turner was the Book of Luke. I wanted to know how it ends.


With apologies to Oscar Wilde

[Wakefield]

I'm curious, dear GMGers.

If you had to choose the book of fiction that impact you the most (1) in your childhood, and (2) as a teenager: what would those works be?

Mine are:

1) As a child (around 9 or 10 y.o.): The Duel (Joseph Conrad) and The Call of the Wild (Jack London)

2) As a teenager (around 16 y.o.): Demian by Hermann Hess.

[NikF]

I'm curious, dear GMGers.

If you had to choose the book of fiction that impact you the most (1) in your childhood, and (2) as a teenager: what would those works be?

Mine are:

1) As a child (around 9 or 10 y.o.): The Duel (Joseph Conrad) and The Call of the Wild (Jack London)

2) As a teenager (around 16 y.o.): Demian by Hermann Hess.

That's a good question. For me -

1) Watership Down by Richard Adams.

2) Black Spring by Henry Miller.

[kishnevi]

For me
1) My mother made sure I read heavily as a child, with the result that no book stands out in my mind above the rest.  As a preteen, I remember two books by Thomas Costain, The Silver Chalice and The Tontine, Desiree by Anne Marie Selinko, and The Roman by Mika Waltari (although Wikipedia's description of the latter does not match my faint memories of the story).  These all happened to be books my mother owned.
2)As a high school student,  The Lord of the Rings and Will Durant's Story of Philosophy
And to add one more level
3)In college,  Jane Austen and  Homer in Lattimore's translation, and Ariosto.