What are you currently reading?

[Ganondorf]

Touché, my friend, although my point still stands that having over a 4000-page book revolve around such a character is exhausting. 

Edit: for what it's worth, Mann's Joseph tetralogy also revolves around an insufferably narcissistical person but I just appreciate Mann's gentle (and at times not so gentle) ironic style much better.

[AnotherSpin]

Touché, my friend, although my point still stands that having over a 4000-page book revolve around such a character is exhausting. 

Edit: for what it's worth, Mann's Joseph tetralogy also revolves around an insufferably narcissistical person but I just appreciate Mann's gentle (and at times not so gentle) ironic style much better.

Thomas Mann's Joseph and His Brothers is, no doubt, a monumental work, but I fear it might seem a bit... drawn out. He retells the biblical story with such detail that it sometimes feels like we're sitting in a lecture on ancient history one more time. But, I must say, Mann masterfully weaves in philosophical musings and humor, making it quite enlightening. Though, I suppose not everyone might appreciate its pace and abundance of genealogical details. My impression is based on a very old reading, probably from the early 80s. I couldn't imagine how I would perceive it today.

Added: It seems to me that if I were to read the cycle now, I would attempt to discern how the text reflects the time of its writing and publication. From the turmoil and instability of the Weimar Republic to the stability of Hitler's regime and the subsequent cataclysm of the great war.

[vers la flamme]

Reading a few of Georges Simenon's Maigret books recently, currently Pietr the Latvian which I think was the first of them. Loving these so far. Great murder mystery plots, with a less eccentric detective than you sometimes get with these kinds of books, more of a straightforward French cop type. I also love the mid-century Paris atmosphere of them. Best of all there are about three thousand of them so I'll never run out of books to read.

[San Antone]

Reading a few of Georges Simenon's Maigret books recently, currently Pietr the Latvian which I think was the first of them. Loving these so far. Great murder mystery plots, with a less eccentric detective than you sometimes get with these kinds of books, more of a straightforward French cop type. I also love the mid-century Paris atmosphere of them. Best of all there are about three thousand of them so I'll never run out of books to read.

40 years ago I went through a Georges Simenon period - I must have read more than a dozen of the books, and loved them.  He wrote many more.  I have since downloaded a bunch on my Kindle with the plan to read them again. 

My only hope is that I still find them as good as I remember them.  I even read a thick biography of Simenon, which still sits on my shelf.

[vers la flamme]

40 years ago I went through a Georges Simenon period - I must have read more than a dozen of the books, and loved them.  He wrote many more.  I have since downloaded a bunch on my Kindle with the plan to read them again. 

My only hope is that I still find them as good as I remember them.  I even read a thick biography of Simenon, which still sits on my shelf.

I hope you enjoy them too!

[Henk]

A classic. Prose translation.

My goal is to read much about Greek mythology and Roman life.

[AnotherSpin]

Finished the first book by Byung-Chul Han, whom I recently learned about from @Henk. While I no longer have a particular interest in philosophy texts as such, I found this book unexpectedly engaging. It resonated more than I anticipated. I might read more of Han's work, his books are quite short, after all.

[hopefullytrusting]

Just recently repurchased this (this is a book I want as used as possible, as part of reading a text like this is reading with the prior readers, as I like to see what trails they were following, so I love when traces and trails are left behind): Heidegger's Being and Time

[AnotherSpin]

Just recently repurchased this (this is a book I want as used as possible, as part of reading a text like this is reading with the prior readers, as I like to see what trails they were following, so I love when traces and trails are left behind): Heidegger's Being and Time

For some reason, an observation by Byung-Chul Han came to mind, in which he notes how, in the Chinese tradition, time is seen as a continuous process rather than a sequence of significant events or ruptures. This suggests that ruins, which symbolize the end of an era or event, do not hold the same cultural significance as they do in the Western tradition. Han also offers insights into why the owners of priceless scrolls leave their marks on them – seal stamps and inscriptions.

[Papy Oli]

In the last week and a bit:

I have completed Edna O'Brien's 2nd volume "The Lonely girl", following on the lives of Kate and Baba, 2 teenagers in post-WWII Ireland. An uneasy but hard to let go of read still. You can't help but feel heartbreak for Kate for all the crap that is thrown at her throughout her young life (violent drunk dad, very creepy neighbours, unhinged "best" friend, spurned by a divorcee "boyfriend", the religious pressures of the priest and the nuns, turning conveniently a blind eye to most of what she is going through). Will follow up with Vol.3 very soon.



As a palate cleanser in a way, I went on with Mark Haddon's "The curious incident of the dog in the night-time", a 2023 prize-winning (young adult but not just...) novel following a 15-year old boy on the autistic spectrum investigating the murder of a neighbour's dog, with all the challenges that his personality and family life involve. All narrated by the boy himself, it is an eye opening, touching, very quirky and at times very funny read on his views and perspectives of our everyday life. I'd strongly recommend that one.



Halfway through now: A Japanese 1946 crime novel, "The Honjin Murders" by Seishi Yokomizo.  Set in the 1930's among a very dodgy rich Japanese family, it follows the investigations on the murder of the rich groom and his "commoner" bride in the night following their wedding on the family estate (locked room mystery type). Picked that one at random in the Kobo recommendations. So far so good.



I usually try to to have one book in English and one book in French on the go. I am aiming to start something "meatier" so I have picked up Zola's first volume of Les Rougon Macquart ("La Fortune des Rougon"), the series that obviously includes Germinal, L'Assomoir, etc... Slow start on this one but i'll see how I get on.

[Christo]

A classic. Prose translation.

My goal is to read much about Greek mythology and Roman life.

Some of the most comprehensive descriptions of the latter -- including detailed descriptions of the life of practically the only person in all of antiquity of whom we really know anything -- can be found in the Classical-Greek collection of 71 manuscripts known as 'the books', biblia. Recommended.

[Henk]

Some of the most comprehensive descriptions of the latter -- including detailed descriptions of the life of practically the only person in all of antiquity of whom we really know anything -- can be found in the Classical-Greek collection of 71 manuscripts known as 'the books', biblia. Recommended.

I think that isn't true, for instance Plutarch wrotes biographies of Roman Emperors.
Couldn't find any information about your recommendation. Do you have a link for me to visit? Thanks in advance. 😀

[AnotherSpin]

I think that isn't true, for instance Plutarch wrotes biographies of Roman Emperors.
Couldn't find any information about your recommendation. Do you have a link for me to visit? Thanks in advance. 😀

It seems to me that @Christo is referring to the life of Jesus Christ — and quite understandably so. That said, I must confess that the mention of a cycle comprising 71 manuscripts leaves me rather puzzled, as well.

Still, I quite agree that the writers of the Roman era — Plutarch, Suetonius, Tacitus, and others left us with some vivid and enduring portraits of historical figures. Also, Xenophon certainly deserves mention, as does Diogenes Laërtius, whose accounts of the philosophers are nothing short of delightful. As for Plato's depiction of Socrates — it remains, I daresay, more than remarkable; a figure who seems to breathe and speak across the centuries.

[SimonNZ]

Some of the most comprehensive descriptions of the latter -- including detailed descriptions of the life of practically the only person in all of antiquity of whom we really know anything -- can be found in the Classical-Greek collection of 71 manuscripts known as 'the books', biblia. Recommended.

You can't possibly mean Jesus.

[vers la flamme]

I read Suetonius's Lives of the Caesars a few months back. Very enjoyable.

[Henk]

I read Suetonius's Lives of the Caesars a few months back. Very enjoyable.

Yes, where I wrote Plutarchus, I meant Suetonius.

[Christo]

71 manuscripts

I was referring to the 71 scrolls & other books -- not "manuscripts" -- better known as "the books", or biblia, as stated. The most complete collection of descriptions of life in antiquity, mostly written & read in Greek, the lingua franca of the Hellenistic & Roman world.

[Henk]

As for Plato's depiction of Socrates — it remains, I daresay, more than remarkable; a figure who seems to breathe and speak across the centuries.

Xenophon wrote also a book about Socrates, which might be more faithful to his character and thought than Plato's account.

[vers la flamme]

Yes, where I wrote Plutarchus, I meant Suetonius.

I really want to read Plutarch, too, but I'm not sure what edition to get. Most of the classic reprint houses break them up into separate Roman and Greek lives, and it seems the only complete translation of all of the lives is the (presumably antiquated) Dryden, which in any case does not seem easy to get.

[AnotherSpin]

I was referring to the 71 scrolls & other books -- not "manuscripts" -- better known as "the books", or biblia, as stated. The most complete collection of descriptions of life in antiquity, mostly written & read in Greek, the lingua franca of the Hellenistic & Roman world.

«Manuscripts» - that's exactly the word you used. I still can't understand which collection of texts you're referring to. Could you provide a link or more detailed information about the source?

Edit: Perhaps you mean the Dead Sea Scrolls? But there are hundreds of them, and the main languages are Aramaic and Ancient Hebrew, not Greek.

Edit 2: If you're talking about New Testament manuscripts in Greek from the 2nd to 4th centuries CE that aren't part of the Qumran corpus, there are hundreds of them, so the number 71 definitely doesn't apply. Well, it seems my memory from university history courses has reached its limits here... :-)