What are you currently reading?

[Ken B]

[quote  link=topic=68.msg903440#msg903440 date=1435167987]
... Until no one feels a need to kill those of another race.
[/quote]

Rather a low bar. Despite what the nazis said, most of the people they killed were of their own race. Most of those killed in Nanking were of the same race as their killers ...

[Karl Henning]

Point taken.  Is "until no one feels the need to kill anyone else" too quixotic? . . .

[Jaakko Keskinen]

Contrary what the cover says, only part of this christmas number for Household Words in 1856 is written by Dickens. Major part of this is also written by Wilkie Collins and the middle section contains short stories by authors Percy Fitzgerald, Harriet Parr, Adelaide Anne Procter and Reverend James White. While this is definitely one of the greatest christmas numbers of Dickens in charge of, there were several bad things. For starters, it took me forever to find a copy of this with the complete text, not only the Wreck part written by Dickens. I always wondered why did it end so abruptly. I was amazed when I heard that there were much much more to come. Also the uneven quality is influenced by several different authors writing this, some clearly greater than others. Although, oddly enough, the parts I most hated were written by the two most important authors of this collaboration: Dickens and Collins. Holy shit, the biggest sin of this collaboration is the stupid death of Mr. Rarx, "the jerk", and after previously having described the main character Captain Ravender's "death"... in the end it's revealed that he didn't die after all and he was saved and everyone lived happily ever after etc. Oh give me a break, Dickens! I am so sick of these miraculous recoveries and your inability to let your main characters die (A tale of two cities could be seen as an exception, although Dickens probably saw Charles Darnay (which doesn't in any way sound like the name of our author, oh no) as the true main character, who of course survives and lives happily ever after). And Mr. Rarx "the jerk"... I say "jerk" in quotation marks because everyone seems to hate him even when he is doing nothing bad (which means most of the time). Designated jerk, not an actual jerk. Actually, much of this work before the shipwreck (and even after it) reminds me of HMS Pinafore, including having a character on the ship who is supposed to be seen as a jerk but actually fails to seem that bad. Hell, even in work like David Copperfield or Little Dorrit it bothered me how the main characters treat the bad guy like shit far before he actually has done anything bad, or anything that would even imply that he would commit bad actions. That's why I like main characters like Pip more, because even though he is meant to be seen as a more flawed character, I actually feel that he is much more humane and much less jerkass towards other people. I like jerks, though, but they have to be written effectively, and actually meant to be jerks, not straight-out- goodies who just fail being good in reader's eyes.

That being said, there is something to enjoy for. The shipwreck is described powerfully enough, I like several of the characters, the "jerk" mr. Rarx is given some interesting attributes, and even redeeming qualities which seem to be redeeming qualities even in the author's eyes. Of course, like I said, it's hard to talk about redeeming qualities when the character doesn't seem that much of a bad guy. The description of scenery is vivid, shining in colors of the Golden Mary of the title, the lust for gold is often superbly powerful and the several "lesser" authors actually write quite effectively. Having female authors in the group also is a nice plus, and they write fine prose and poetry. And it's interesting to see several authors trying their hands in one entirety, and to read about the development of this christmas number. If I am not mistaken, this was one of the first collaborations of Dickens and Collins, if not their very first one. Maybe I should start reading more Collins. I've heard that he creates a magnificent scoundrel in Count Fosco in The Woman in White. The Moonstone has gathered much praise as well.

Has anyone ever read Collins? Are his books worthwhile to read?

[Ken B]

Contrary what the cover says, only part of this christmas number for Household Words in 1856 is written by Dickens. Major part of this is also written by Wilkie Collins and the middle section contains short stories by authors Percy Fitzgerald, Harriet Parr, Adelaide Anne Procter and Reverend James White. While this is definitely one of the greatest christmas numbers of Dickens in charge of, there were several bad things. For starters, it took me forever to find a copy of this with the complete text, not only the Wreck part written by Dickens. I always wondered why did it end so abruptly. I was amazed when I heard that there were much much more to come. Also the uneven quality is influenced by several different authors writing this, some clearly greater than others. Although, oddly enough, the parts I most hated were written by the two most important authors of this collaboration: Dickens and Collins. Holy shit, the biggest sin of this collaboration is the stupid death of Mr. Rarx, "the jerk", and after previously having described the main character Captain Ravender's "death"... in the end it's revealed that he didn't die after all and he was saved and everyone lived happily ever after etc. Oh give me a break, Dickens! I am so sick of these miraculous recoveries and your inability to let your main characters die (A tale of two cities could be seen as an exception, although Dickens probably saw Charles Darnay (which doesn't in any way sound like the name of our author, oh no) as the true main character, who of course survives and lives happily ever after). And Mr. Rarx "the jerk"... I say "jerk" in quotation marks because everyone seems to hate him even when he is doing nothing bad (which means most of the time). Designated jerk, not an actual jerk. Actually, much of this work before the shipwreck (and even after it) reminds me of HMS Pinafore, including having a character on the ship who is supposed to be seen as a jerk but actually fails to seem that bad. Hell, even in work like David Copperfield or Little Dorrit it bothered me how the main characters treat the bad guy like shit far before he actually has done anything bad, or anything that would even imply that he would commit bad actions. That's why I like main characters like Pip more, because even though he is meant to be seen as a more flawed character, I actually feel that he is much more humane and much less jerkass towards other people. I like jerks, though, but they have to be written effectively, and actually meant to be jerks, not straight-out- goodies who just fail being good in reader's eyes.

That being said, there is something to enjoy for. The shipwreck is described powerfully enough, I like several of the characters, the "jerk" mr. Rarx is given some interesting attributes, and even redeeming qualities which seem to be redeeming qualities even in the author's eyes. Of course, like I said, it's hard to talk about redeeming qualities when the character doesn't seem that much of a bad guy. The description of scenery is vivid, shining in colors of the Golden Mary of the title, the lust for gold is often superbly powerful and the several "lesser" authors actually write quite effectively. Having female authors in the group also is a nice plus, and they write fine prose and poetry. And it's interesting to see several authors trying their hands in one entirety, and to read about the development of this christmas number. If I am not mistaken, this was one of the first collaborations of Dickens and Collins, if not their very first one. Maybe I should start reading more Collins. I've heard that he creates a magnificent scoundrel in Count Fosco in The Woman in White. The Moonstone has gathered much praise as well.

Has anyone ever read Collins? Are his books worthwhile to read?

Collins definitely is. The Woman in White is one of the most readable books I ever came across. I read it in just over one day and then started on The Moonstone. He's less reliable once you get past those two, but Armadale was good.
I also recommend Uncle Silas by Le Fanu as a great read.

[Brian]

I haven't read "Woman in White" but Collins' "Moonstone" is a fun read and is also widely credited as the first true detective novel.

[Jaakko Keskinen]

Thank you! I'll read him more as soon as I can!

Recently finished these three Stevenson short stories:







Didn't care much for Janet (the language style was annoying) but Markheim and Falesá are definitely among the best stuff I've ever read from Stevenson. Markheim reminds me of Raskolnikov, I wonder if Stevenson ever read Dostoyevsky? Falesá is a very appealing work what with its neat handling of racism etc. I really like the main character. Yes, he is a deeply flawed character but that only makes him more complex and layered.

[aligreto]

+1 for Collins' The Woman in White.

[Artem]

Two books that I finished recently:



Satantango was great and I look forward to reading more books by this writer.

[Jo498]

"Woman in White" is very good (I read this in German, it was translated by Arno Schmidt, a notoriously difficult postwar author who did quite a few translations (to make a living, I guess) and also had a taste for the underrated/trashy), the "Moonstone" might be even better, it is certainly funnier because the main narrator (an elderly butler of the family where the mystery takes place) is very comically drawn. This may not be as deep as e.g. Dickens but it is at least as readable.

[Jo498]

As opposed to Kant, who only failed in German.

His first academic language was Latin although he was among the first German academics to write all of his major works in German (there are a bunch of rather early academic dissertations in Latin). Leibniz around 1700 wrote only Latin and French. (Academic papers in many subjects were still mostly in Latin until decades later (e.g. Gauss), in Classics and related subjects until the early 20th century.)
There are some oddities in grammar which I suspect to stem from this factor but these are probably not the main problems. It's not so bad once one gets used to it (Hegel is much worse, also because his ideas are harder to understand).

Germany was almost 100 years behind e.g. Britain in this respect. I am not exactly sure why (because Luther's bible translation that brought he German language "to the people" is almost 100 years before King James) but the first great German language drama and poetry appears also only around Kant's time in the mid-late 18th century.

[Drasko]

Satantango was great and I look forward to reading more books by this writer.

I'm planning to start reading The Melancholy of Resistance. Haven't read Satantango but I've seen the film, and Werckmeister Harmonies as well.

[Karl Henning]

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[Bogey]

Started this one this morning right at dawn.  As you know, I could not have chosen a better time of the day to start this one, Miloš, and it was just by chance.

About a quarter of the way through and absolutely glued to the pages Kindle while sometimes re-reading lines as I go.  A couple that stood out so far:

"For all her chic thinness, she had an almost breakfast-cereal air of health, a soap-and-lemon cleanness, a rough pink darkening of the cheeks."

"A disquieting loneliness came into my life, but it induced no hunger for friends of longer acquaintance: they seemed now like a salt-free, sugarless diet."

[Wakefield]

I have used that same Audrey's picture as wallpaper for my Mac. 

[Karl Henning]

I don't know if I can ever bring myself to watch the movie;  but I can certainly appreciate the merits of that still 

[Bogey]

I don't know if I can ever bring myself to watch the movie;  but I can certainly appreciate the merits of that still 

By all means, feel free to judge this book by its cover.

[Karl Henning]

By all means, feel free to judge this book by its cover.

Hah!

[Bogey]

From 1940:

[Drasko]

Started this one this morning right at dawn.  As you know, I could not have chosen a better time of the day to start this one, Miloš, and it was just by chance.

About a quarter of the way through and absolutely glued to the pages Kindle while sometimes re-reading lines as I go.  A couple that stood out so far:

“For all her chic thinness, she had an almost breakfast-cereal air of health, a soap-and-lemon cleanness, a rough pink darkening of the cheeks.”

"A disquieting loneliness came into my life, but it induced no hunger for friends of longer acquaintance: they seemed now like a salt-free, sugarless diet."

I knew you'd gonna like it. Great novel, beautiful writing. Harder hitting that the movie version.

Haven't had much reading time myself last few weeks, currently at about 2/3 through Right Ho, Jeeves and maybe 1/6 through Braudel's Mediterranean, but that one is huge and I was planning to go slowly.

[Bogey]

I knew you'd gonna like it. Great novel, beautiful writing. Harder hitting that the movie version.

Haven't had much reading time myself last few weeks, currently at about 2/3 through Right Ho, Jeeves and maybe 1/6 through Braudel's Mediterranean, but that one is huge and I was planning to go slowly.

At only 110 pages, I was able to finish it in one day as I had the day off.  Agree with you on it being a bit more harder hitting.  In fact, the movie should have just followed the book.  I was sure that this would have been one of those instances where I was going to like the movie more, but after a day of reflection the book is superior IMO.