What are you currently reading?

[Stürmisch Bewegt]

That's the one ! 

Librairie = Bookstore; Bibliothèque = Library; Go Figure...

[André]

Librairie = Bookstore; Bibliothèque = Library; Go Figure...

Indeed !

[vers la flamme]

Well, TBK is almost a fast-paced whodunit, while TGBG is much more abstract and philosophical. I'm very interested in vers la flamme's findings.

I know what you mean, definitely with regard to the second half of the book, especially—it became quite the page turner. But given the whole 800-page book takes place over a couple of days, and then another couple of days several weeks (months?) later, and consists almost entirely of dialogue, I would call it ultimately pretty slow paced. But it was a hell of a book and a fascinating read.

[Dry Brett Kavanaugh]

Yes, that last interaction hit me hard, especially because I lost my mother when I was a kid. I suspect I'll be rereading Narcissus & Goldmund at least a few more times throughout my life. There's a few more big Hesse works I still need to read for the first time, too: Steppenwolf and The Glass Bead Game being the big ones.

I am rereading it about every 2 years. It's getting better and better. I am sorry about your mother, I think I know how you feel.
Just finished reading The Seagull.

[Dry Brett Kavanaugh]

Started:



on the "Indo-European" mother tongue and its traces in modern usage

Very interesting. Probably I will buy the book.
I was going to buy the books below.

[Ganondorf]

The film adaptation was terrific (Stroheim's Greed) so I was excited to find this in a library. So far, unfortunately, it doesn't quite have the charm the film has. The book isn't very subtle in its thematic significance and symbolism. Nevertheless, the basic storyline I am familiar with is still there and there are some great passages. Unfortunately certain Jewish character in this book is extremely racistly drawn, even for its time.

Also, I have to say this, Mcteague is a real creep. I mean, he makes out with a passed out woman in dentist's chair. while he's supposed to treat her. How messed up is that?

[SimonNZ]

Has anyone read Oil! by Upton Sinclair - the one There Will Be Blood is based on? There's a copy at the secondhand bookshop near me that I'm on the fence about.

[Dry Brett Kavanaugh]

The film adaptation was terrific (Stroheim's Greed) so I was excited to find this in a library. So far, unfortunately, it doesn't quite have the charm the film has. The book isn't very subtle in its thematic significance and symbolism. Nevertheless, the basic storyline I am familiar with is still there and there are some great passages. Unfortunately certain Jewish character in this book is extremely racistly drawn, even for its time.

Also, I have to say this, Mcteague is a real creep. I mean, he makes out with a passed out woman in dentist's chair. while he's supposed to treat her. How messed up is that?

As I said before, the original books are usually much better than their movie adaptations- ie, Gatsby, Memoir of Geisha, idiot (Kurosawa), Gone with the Wind, Lady Chatterley, etc. Only exceptions for me are Zhivago and L'amant (The Lover) by Marguerite Duras. I don't know why this happens, besides my personal preference.

The interesting book you discussed reminds me of the book I read and enjoyed several years ago. It is called Fairyland. It is a memoir of the female author's adolescence with homosexual father-poet in San Fransisco in the 1970s. It was a fun read and Abbott's writing was super sharp.

[SimonNZ]

Only exceptions for me are Zhivago and L'amant (The Lover) by Marguerite Duras.

Golly! What makes you prefer the film to the book?

[Dry Brett Kavanaugh]

Golly! What makes you prefer the film to the book?

I was wondering about that. Probably, my bias, lack of understanding/sophistication, etc. But are these all?
Any movie adaptations you prefer to the original literary works?

Ed. I know most people prefer Zhivago to the movie.

Ed. For L'amant, come to think of it, I like the music and the narration by Jeanne Moreau (in French). Plus, cinematography.

[SimonNZ]

Any movie adaptations you prefer to the original literary works?

I'm sure there are. I'll try and think of some.

I did read half of Jaws recently and admired Spielberg's improvements...but then its not hard for a slick film to be better than a pulpy novel.

[Dry Brett Kavanaugh]

For artistic merit, I may (or maynot) have to accept that the Duras is better. But for likability, the movie is more attractive and well-organized.

[JBS]

I was wondering about that. Probably, my bias, lack of understanding/sophistication, etc. But are these all?
Any movie adaptations you prefer to the original literary works?

Ed. I know most people prefer Zhivago to the movie.

Ed. For L'amant, come to think of it, I like the music and the narration by Jeanne Moreau (in French). Plus, cinematography.

Witches of Eastwick is a much better film than book.  Of course the cast helps.

World According to Garp might be another. It cuts and elides several parts of the book
Some cuts help, some hurt, and the resulting difference would undoubtedly strike different people differently.  (And again the film's cast certainly helps the movie.)

[Brian]

Sadly just gave up on "Circe" by Madeline Miller, the latest in a long, diverse series of acclaimed novels from the past ~20 years that I've failed to enjoy. Others include "Overstory" by Richard Powers, "The Last Samurai" by Helen DeWitt, "The Power" by Naomi Alderman, "The Flamethrowers" by Rachel Kushner, anything and everything by Jonathan Franzen (with "The Corrections" I still haven't finished the horrible first chapter)... also barely managed to finish "There There" by Tommy Orange.

I wish I could figure out from the reviews whether a novel would be good or not, but the review industry seems so keen to lavish praise that they're no longer reliable guides for me.

[aligreto]

I have read the following two books in succession. These two books have common themes; they are both tales of the sea and they were both set in the first half of the nineteenth century.

Dana: Two Years Before The Mast





Two Years Before The Mast is an autobiographical account of Dana's experience as a common sailor. It depicts the hard life of that occupation and illustrates the characters whom he encountered and the places that he visited on his trip from Boston, around Cape Horn, up to California and back again.


Forester: The Commodore  




The Commodore depicts the adventures of Horatio Hornblower in the Baltic and his influence on the war against Napoleon Bonaparte. It is a good yarn but a work of total fiction.

[Dry Brett Kavanaugh]

World According to Garp might be another. It cuts and elides several parts of the book
Some cuts help, some hurt, and the resulting difference would undoubtedly strike different people differently.  (And again the film's cast certainly helps the movie.)

You maybe right about Garp. For me personally, it is difficult to determine as both the book and movie were good. Same for his (John Irving) Hotel New Hampshire. Both the book and movie are excellent though, as for artistic quality, the book is better than the movie. I haven't read or watched Cider House Rules, but I heard that both the book and movie were great.

[vers la flamme]

Just finished Hiroko Oyamada's The Hole.



A very quick read, I read it all today. In short, I loved it. What an eerie, vivid, strange, and beautiful book. I've been enjoying very much my forays into Japanese literature since New Year's. For this recent fascination, I have largely to blame my discovery of Haruki Murakami as well as the guidance of our friend Dry Brett Kavanaugh here, but this one was a random find from one of the take-a-book-leave-a-book boxes in my neighborhood. I'll very much be looking forward to reading Ms. Oyamada's only other published book (at least in English translation), The Factory.

[vandermolen]

Newly published:

[Dry Brett Kavanaugh]

Just finished Hiroko Oyamada's The Hole.

A very quick read, I read it all today. In short, I loved it. What an eerie, vivid, strange, and beautiful book. I've been enjoying very much my forays into Japanese literature since New Year's. For this recent fascination, I have largely to blame my discovery of Haruki Murakami as well as the guidance of our friend Dry Brett Kavanaugh here, but this one was a random find from one of the take-a-book-leave-a-book boxes in my neighborhood. I'll very much be looking forward to reading Ms. Oyamada's only other published book (at least in English translation), The Factory.

Thank you, and Artem, for the interesting reviews of Oyamada. I need to get her books. I read and heard about her many times. Again, it seems that her works are hardcore artistic literature, rather than entertainment novels. Also I heard that The Hole is (just) a little similar to Kobo Abe's Woman In Dunes, which I like. You may want to check it out. When I read various reviews of Japanese literature on Amazon USA, the sophistication of the readers impresses me. But I never see these people in my town! Perhaps they are tiny intelligentsia, which account for 1-3 percent of the population?
Now re-reading here and there in Casanova's History of My Life.

[steve ridgway]

Newly published:

Did they not invent Gematria?