What are you currently reading?

[vers la flamme]

Knowing nothing about that author, what is "his best"?

[Brian]

Knowing nothing about that author, what is "his best"?

There is some discussion on this in the "What, ho!" thread, which is how I decided which books to read first.

[vers la flamme]

There is some discussion on this in the "What, ho!" thread, which is how I decided which books to read first.

Summer Lightning seems to have been the gateway drug for you, so I suppose I'll start there.

[Peter Power Pop]

Just started:

Walt Disney: The Triumph of the American Imagination (Neal Gabler)

[San Antone]

Pence, Charlotte. The Poetics of American Song Lyrics. University Press of Mississippi 2012.

[JBS]

Got these two from the library used book rack



The Mascagni is drawn from the composer's own letter, diaries, and other writings, plus contemporary articles and interviews, compiled into a narrative as it might gave been written by Mascagni just before his death in 1942. The foreword notes that this leads to some odd omissions, such as no account of when or how he met his wife, and little or no mention of his non-operatic works.

[SimonNZ]

Finished Katja Hoyer's new book on East Germany, which was very good indeed.

There are some fans of the Rest Is History pocast here, so I hope they heard the recent episode which had her on to talk about the book:

322. East Germany: Life Behind the Iron Curtain


Starting:

[SimonNZ]

Thanks for posting this, it's very helpful.  I haven't started Hoyer's book yet but am looking forward to it.  I've read a number of (highly) personal narratives of life in the GDR, also a couple of (somewhat polemical) histories, but there's long been a need for something more authoritative.  I first went to Dresden not long after the Wall came down, and was very struck by how different the people were.

I've read Stasiland, which I liked very much, but for different reasons. What else could you recommend from your reading?

I've got a book at home called The Making Of The GDR 1945-53, which was actually written by a good friend of mine, but which I (shamefully) have still not read. I've pulled it out again and put it on the top of the pile.

[SimonNZ]

[...]

Though when - or whether - I'll ever get around to it, I really don't know.  My "to read" pile has reached absurd dimensions.

Your friend's book looks interesting - I would add it to the list, except I'd almost certainly never get to it.  

I hadn't encountered any of those before, so that's very useful. Thank you.

[Florestan]

[Florestan]

This was a fascinating and delightful reading. Lots of misconceptions and prejudices exposed and debunked in a scholarly yet eminently readable manner. Highly recommended.

Next:



and

[SimonNZ]

Half way through Tuchman's book on the 14th century. Taking a break with this:

[BWV 1080]

My two reading projects are (mostly) rereading Vollman's Seven Dreams and Pynchon

[Florestan]

Just finished the biographical section of this. Very enjoyable and informative reading, essential for a proper understanding of the life and achievement of this complex, generous, and prodigiously talented man, in Osborne's own and very apt words.

The idea even crossed my mind, to listen to all of Rossini's operas in chronological order (those which have been recorded, that is --- and to my surprise, a very good deal of them have. Of the total of 39 I have 23 and more are available). It should be a fun and interesting project.

[vers la flamme]

Alex Ross's Wagnerism. Very fascinating book, a lot more about what happened after Wagner than about the lifetime of the composer himself.

[Florestan]

Alex Ross's Wagnerism. Very fascinating book, a lot more about what happened after Wagner than about the lifetime of the composer himself.

I intend to read this one too.

[vers la flamme]

Today I started Carson McCullers' The Heart is a Lonely Hunter. I'm not very far into it, but it's very good so far; her writing style is quite unique.

[Ganondorf]

Reread this:



And read for the first time completely this:



Both astonishingly well written. I may not agree on every point with them but still especially the latter book (as Shaw initially thought the work somewhat unfinished) contains great insight to many aspects which make Wagner's Ring the masterpiece it is.

[vers la flamme]

Today I started Carson McCullers' The Heart is a Lonely Hunter. I'm not very far into it, but it's very good so far; her writing style is quite unique.

Well, that book just ripped my heart out through my throat. It was a beautiful novel, but turned out to be quite bleak and hopeless in the end. It's as incredible to believe that the author was 23 when she wrote it as it is to believe that Thomas Mann was 25 when he wrote Buddenbrooks.

[Dry Brett Kavanaugh]

Well, that book just ripped my heart out through my throat. It was a beautiful novel, but turned out to be quite bleak and hopeless in the end. It's as incredible to believe that the author was 23 when she wrote it as it is to believe that Thomas Mann was 25 when he wrote Buddenbrooks.

Great book. When I saw the movie first and later read the book around 20 years old, I never imagined that I would live in Deep South.