What are you currently reading?

[Florestan]

Just finished Alejo Carpentier's The Lost Steps. Excellent.

[Harpo]

David Huron: Sweet Anticipation: Music and the Psychology of Expectation (2006)

--Bruce

Tell me more!

[Air]

The Iliad by Homer.

Not in Ancient Greek though, I can't really learn a language with four moods, seven tenses, and a middle (somewhere between active and passive) voice.

[Anne]

The Iliad by Homer.

Not in Ancient Greek though, I can't really learn a language with four moods, seven tenses, and a middle (somewhere between active and passive) voice.

Do you also plan to read The Odyssey by Homer?  It follows the 10-year voyage and adventures of Odyssus after the Trojan War before he finally gets home.  Regarding the difficulty of Greek, one might also mention that it has its own alphabet.  What would the college fraternities and sororities due without it?

[Florestan]

Just finished Marquis de Custine's Letters from Russia. Russia in 1839. As they say, he might have not described very accurate Nicholas I's Russia, but he described remarkably accurate Stalin's Russia.

Required reading for anyone interested in the subject.

[CD]

Second attempt. The last time I tried I was working two jobs simultaneously, and thus didn't have the time or energy to really devote long sessions to reading it. Now I can give it its due.

[bwv 1080]

Second attempt. The last time I tried I was working two jobs simultaneously, and thus didn't have the time or energy to really devote long sessions to reading it. Now I can give it its due.

There are free mp3s of people reading the entire book here:

http://librivox.org/ulysses-by-james-joyce/

I listened through the first 5 chapters after having read the book and there is much to be gained from hearing the words spoken

[MishaK]

Finally reading the Brothers Karamazov for the first time. How did I live before without this book?!

[Brian]

Finally reading the Brothers Karamazov for the first time. How did I live before without this book?!

That's exactly how I felt when I read it for the first time. A revelation!

As for me ... "King Lear," by, ask Rob Newman who wrote it. 

[Harpo]

Meanwhile, at the other end of the scale, I have nearly finished this:

So glad that someone besides me is reading literature that is not a. in a foreign language b. translated from a foreign language or c. a required tome from college. I wonder what GMG-ers are really reading.  ;)Time for a trip to Borders for their "buy 1, get one for 50%"

[Lethevich]

So glad that someone besides me is reading literature that is not a. in a foreign language b. translated from a foreign language or c. a required tome from college.

Hey! I've been having a fine time going through Terry Pratchett's books - but to be honest, they don't merit mentioning more than once, as they are much the same

[Lethevich]

Can I get some recommendations for Walter Scott? I am going through "THE CANON" after being surprised at how readable Wuthering Heights was. Scott has always been a writer from whom I had read nothing by but regardless was sure that I disliked. Everything about his biography, his Ediburgh memorial, etc screeched "you do not want this". Are there any examples of him at his least... creaky/verbose? Or perhaps the books assumed to be his best may have a vital spark above what surely must be some mundane moments in such a large output?

[Bu]

My third straight Ross MacDonald novel, The Ivory Grin published in 1952:

[CD]

So glad that someone besides me is reading literature that is not a. in a foreign language b. translated from a foreign language or c. a required tome from college.

Or maybe that's just what they enjoy. 

[Dr. Dread]

My third straight Ross MacDonald novel, The Ivory Grin published in 1952:

You're reading the good shit. 

[CD]

There are free mp3s of people reading the entire book here:

http://librivox.org/ulysses-by-james-joyce/

I listened through the first 5 chapters after having read the book and there is much to be gained from hearing the words spoken

That sounds like a good idea, but I'm already enjoying it so much this time around that I wouldn't need it.

[Bu]

You're reading the good shit. 

Damn right.  Am hooked again by his prose; next after this one I'll probably read the Drowning Pool or Black Money. Seriously, can't get enough!   

[Ten thumbs]

Can I get some recommendations for Walter Scott? I am going through "THE CANON" after being surprised at how readable Wuthering Heights was. Scott has always been a writer from whom I had read nothing by but regardless was sure that I disliked. Everything about his biography, his Ediburgh memorial, etc screeched "you do not want this". Are there any examples of him at his least... creaky/verbose? Or perhaps the books assumed to be his best may have a vital spark above what surely must be some mundane moments in such a large output?

Not sure about Walter Scott but don't start at the beginning. I made this mistake years ago and soon abandoned the attempt. Speaking of Wuthering Heights, I'm now reading Shirley because I've just discovered that I never have. I'm planning to read Villette next. These novels are beautifully written.

[Lethevich]

Speaking of Wuthering Heights, I'm now reading Shirley because I've just discovered that I never have. I'm planning to read Villette next. These novels are beautifully written.

It's The Professor by Charlotte next up for me, as I ran into it for £1 and thought "why not?".

[Brünnhilde ewig]

One Step Behind, the book of the last three Wallander video episodes, written by Henning Mankell.

Even after watching the DVD three times - Kenneth Branagh in the title role - I am fascinated by the book and already ordered the other two. Who knows I might even go for the entire ten books of the Wallander series.

And more: I am not a mystery reader! My author before Mankell were Thomas Bernhard's plays in the original German.