What are you currently reading?

[aligreto]

Sophia Craze: Charles Russell





I have recently re-read two early Steinbeck novels depicting Man's relationship with a hostile environment. The settings and atmosphere in both of those books brought to mind my memory of the paintings of Charles Russell. Charlie Russell was active in and around the same time as the settings of those early Steinbeck novels. I gave it another read and I was delighted to reacquaint myself with his wonderful paintings. This is a large format book which greatly assists with the appreciation of the quality reproductions contained therein. His works are very detailed, even being praised at the time for their detail and accuracy by the "Indians", or Injuns as he himself called them,  he painted. I also like the way in which his subjects are often set in the midst of the wild landscapes Russell was so familiar with.

[aligreto]

Hardy: Far From The Madding Crowd






I devoured Hardy's novels when I was a young man but it has been many years since I have attempted to re-read any of them. He was an excellent writer of character and he was also particularly able in describing doom and misfortune when it descended upon his characters. This one is no different but it is perhaps, because it is a relatively early novel, a little bit more optimistic than some.

[relm1]

I'm currently enjoying this book

[j winter]

Hardy: Far From The Madding Crowd






I devoured Hardy's novels when I was a young man but it has been many years since I have attempted to re-read any of them. He was an excellent writer of character and he was also particularly able in describing doom and misfortune when it descended upon his characters. This one is no different but it is perhaps, because it is a relatively early novel, a little bit more optimistic than some.

I've somehow managed to get this far without reading Hardy; I should probably remedy that.  What would you recommend as a starter?

[Florestan]

Hardy: Far From The Madding Crowd






I devoured Hardy's novels when I was a young man but it has been many years since I have attempted to re-read any of them. He was an excellent writer of character and he was also particularly able in describing doom and misfortune when it descended upon his characters. This one is no different but it is perhaps, because it is a relatively early novel, a little bit more optimistic than some.

A few years ago I started this enthusiastically and thought it was a page turner. Suddenly, about halfway into it I got stuck and never get past it. Honestly, I dread the prospect of beginning it anew. 

[aligreto]

A few years ago I started this enthusiastically and thought it was a page turner. Suddenly, about halfway into it I got stuck and never get past it. Honestly, I dread the prospect of beginning it anew. 

Yes, it is rather long but I never found it tedious.

[aligreto]

I've somehow managed to get this far without reading Hardy; I should probably remedy that.  What would you recommend as a starter?

If you do not know Hardy then I would recommend starting with "Wessex Tales". It is a collection of short stories and depicts the world of Hardy well. You will lose nothing in terms of characters, good plots and descriptive writing. It would be a good sampler, I think, without you having to delve deep into his much longer novels. If you do not like Hardy then you have not committed yourself to too much.

[Dry Brett Kavanaugh]

If you do not know Hardy then I would recommend starting with "Wessex Tales". It is a collection of short stories and depicts the world of Hardy well. You will lose nothing in terms of characters, good plots and descriptive writing. It would be a good sampler, I think, without you having to delve deep into his much longer novels. If you do not like Hardy then you have not committed yourself to too much.

I agree.

[Spotted Horses]

If you do not know Hardy then I would recommend starting with "Wessex Tales". It is a collection of short stories and depicts the world of Hardy well. You will lose nothing in terms of characters, good plots and descriptive writing. It would be a good sampler, I think, without you having to delve deep into his much longer novels. If you do not like Hardy then you have not committed yourself to too much.

That advice would apply to someone who enjoys short stories. I've read the Wessex tales but it never resonated with me.

My favorite book is Return of the Native. One obstacle to that one is the fact that the first chapter describes only the landscape, and you have to get past that if you are not already into Hardy. Tess of the d'Ubervilles and Jude the Obscure are other favorites of mine.

I am puzzled to see Hardy Novels described as "long." They never seemed so to me.

[aligreto]

That advice would apply to someone who enjoys short stories. I've read the Wessex tales but it never resonated with me.

My favorite book is Return of the Native. One obstacle to that one is the fact that the first chapter describes only the landscape, and you have to get past that if you are not already into Hardy. Tess of the d'Ubervilles and Jude the Obscure are other favorites of mine.

I am puzzled to see Hardy Novels described as "long." They never seemed so to me.

To my mind that one single chapter could put an unfamiliar reader of Hardy off his books unecessarily. I see where you are coming from here but I would not offer that challenge to a novice in Hardy.

Just to point out to our prospective reader the next Hardy novel on my to re-read list is 482 pages long and the one that I have just read was 447 pages if you read the notes at the end. That is a big enough reading time committment for me.   

[Ganondorf]

Having recently finished Mrs. Warren's profession, I have to say I never understood James Agate's quote about Shaw: "Shaw's plays are the price we pay for Shaw's prefaces." I am not questioning in any way Shaw's prefaces but those plays of his that I've already read have been wonderful. Mrs. Warren's profession was absolutely hilarious. I actually laughed out loud several times which happens rather rarely in my case. My only minor quibble is how you can see this was written in 1893 (and performed conveniently almost the very minute Victorian age ended) due to how women aren't allowed to even write nor say anything mildly sexual without threat of scandalizing everyone. One might ask that isn't the whole point of the play how prostitution is an awful awful sin. Well, this play never struck me that way. Prostitution, or at the very least prostitutes are handled relatively leniently by Shaw and he says in his preface that much. My only objection was in reference to a minor moment where Mrs. Warren's daughter writes something considered obscene on a paper and immediately snatches it away as if she had just contaminated the very air of the room by writing it. And the daughter otherwise would most likely resonate well with modern audiences considering she drinks whisky and smokes cigars in a play written in 1893!

Currently reading Major Barbara. Wonderful, wonderful.

[j winter]

To my mind that one single chapter could put an unfamiliar reader of Hardy off his books unecessarily. I see where you are coming from here but I would not offer that challenge to a novice in Hardy.

Just to point out to our prospective reader the next Hardy novel on my to re-read list is 482 pages long and the one that I have just read was 447 pages if you read the notes at the end. That is a big enough reading time committment for me. 

Thanks for the conversation and recommendations, all!  I definitely enjoy both short fiction and novels, so I think I'll give Wessex Tales a try.  Much obliged!

[Spotted Horses]

Thanks for the conversation and recommendations, all!  I definitely enjoy both short fiction and novels, so I think I'll give Wessex Tales a try.  Much obliged!

As I remember the first story of the Wessex tales was my favorite, I won't spoil it with any plot description.

I wouldn't recommend Return of the Native as a start, but Tess draws you in pretty quickly, as I recall.

[Dry Brett Kavanaugh]

Thanks for the conversation and recommendations, all!  I definitely enjoy both short fiction and novels, so I think I'll give Wessex Tales a try.  Much obliged!

Nice. I especially like Withered Arm in the book. Also I like his "A Changed Man and Other Tales", especially Alicia's Diary in the collection.

[Florestan]

An inspiring little book which depends not at all on ever having read a line of Proust

Nor on ever having been an inmate of a Soviet prison camp, I hope.

[SimonNZ]

Title says it all:



An inspiring little book which depends not at all on ever having read a line of Proust.

I meant to order that some time back. Thanks for the reminder.

[aligreto]

Galsworthy: Five Tales





Galsworthy is a Nobel Laureate. He is a writer who, in these stories, paints wonderful word pictures and who also describes wonderful characters who are filled with the essence of real life.

[ritter]

Starting Alfredo Casella's memoirs, I Segreti della giara (the title being a reference to one of the composer's greatest works, the ballet La Giara)



Casella, a composer I greatly admire, was probably the most cosmopolitan of the generazione dell'ottanta (he lived and studied many years in Paris, knew and admired Mahler, and so on), and seems to have met everyone who was anyone, so this might be an interesting read. The book was finished in 1938, and from what I've read was written at the behest of fascist official Giuseppe Bottai —and dedicated to him— to "improve" Casella's public standing: he was a leading composer, and  had had fascist sympathies since the early or at least the mid-20s (and his —unrecorded— 1937 opera Il Deserto tentato apparently was an exhortation of Italy's imperial ambitions, and was dedicated to Mussolini himself), but his wife was Jewish and threatened by the ignominious racial laws that the dictator adopted late in his infamous regime).

Also,  reading some scattered articles from this anthology:



Alberto Savinio (brother of Giorgio de Chirico) was a writer, painter and composer. The one composition I know by him, Les Chants de la mi-mort, didn't really impress me much, but his sets for the 1952 revival of Rossini's Armida with Maria Callas in the Maggio Musicale in Florence are stunning. Our fellow GMGer @GioCar recommended this book some time ago, and Amazon in Spain was offering it deeply discounted, so I went for it.

Savinio can be merciless in some of his opinions, but his writing shows a deep knowledge and love for music (even when one doesn't agree with him).

[Ganondorf]

Reading Major Barbara was a blast, now reading another so far splendid Shaw play:

[aligreto]

Solzhenitsyn: One Day In The Life Of Ivan Denisovich





This is a Classic spawned under the rule of a brutal regime. As is universal with the human condition both the best and the worst of human nature are on display here. The book is about survival in the harshest of conditions, physical, psychological and emotional. It is bleak on many levels.