What are you currently reading?

[Kullervo]

Just picked this up:

I need to read the Greeks languishing on my bookshelf. 

[mn dave]

I need to read the Greeks languishing on my bookshelf. 

I shouldn't say this because I'll jinx myself, but I'm attempting a ten-year reading plan and this is the first book on the list. Well, actually the plays The Clouds and Lysistrata are first on the list.

[Kullervo]

I shouldn't say this because I'll jinx myself, but I'm attempting a ten-year reading plan and this is the first book on the list. Well, actually the plays The Clouds and The Lysistrata are first on the list.

Are you using this list?

http://www.interleaves.org/~rteeter/grtfad4.html

I already own and have read a good chunk of those, and most before I even knew about the list.

As I've found in using a similar list I've made for composers, the best thing is to not be dogmatic about it and slip out of the list every now and then. Otherwise (for me) it starts to feel like work.

EDIT: I should also probably add that since I collect old Modern Library editions, most of what I read is on that list without having to consult it first — so in a way it's just a coincidence that I've read a lot of it.

[mn dave]

Are you using this list?

http://www.interleaves.org/~rteeter/grtfad4.html

I already own and have read a good chunk of those, and most before I even knew about the list.

As I've found in using a similar list I've made for composers, the best thing is to not be dogmatic about it and slip out of the list every now and then. Otherwise (for me) it starts to feel like work.

I've seen that list before, but no. I'm using this one:

http://www.io.com/~beckerdo/books/gb195210.html

And I know what you mean about it starting to feel like work, so I'll have to see how it goes. Right now, I figure if I can read all the books for a given year before the 365 days are up, then I can read whatever I want until the the next year's reading begins. Then again, I don't want it to become a race because I'd like time to absorb what I'm reading.

[I just noticed something with that list. It repeats books.  ]

[Novi]

Just picked this up:

Jolly good romp, Dave!

You should take a look at Aubrey Beardsley's illustrations for Lysistrata as well. He does a fine line in oversized phalluses and the like .

[mn dave]

Jolly good romp, Dave!

You should take a look at Aubrey Beardsley's illustrations for Lysistrata as well. He does a fine line in oversized phalluses and the like .

Hm. I wonder how those tie in? I guess I'll find out soon enough.

So far, The Clouds is a hoot.

[Kullervo]

I cannot take seriously any reading list that omits Mann. 

[mn dave]

I cannot take seriously any reading list that omits Mann. 

Maybe if I survive the decade, I can turn to Mann. 

[mn dave]

I cannot take seriously any reading list that omits Mann. 

They have a full PDF list here of the works included:

http://store.britannica.com/jump.jsp?itemID=344&itemType=PRODUCT&path=1%2C2%2C22%2C94%2C128

One of them is A Death in Venice.

[Kullervo]

One of them is A Death in Venice.

That's seems akin to a list of the Greatest Symphonies of All Time including Beethoven's 8th but leaving out 3, 5, 6, 7 and 9.   

[mn dave]

That's seems akin to a list of the Greatest Symphonies of All Time including Beethoven's 8th but leaving out 3, 5, 6, 7 and 9.   

Everything else on there is crap. Right?

[Kullervo]

Everything else on there is crap. Right?

I would have to live three lifetimes in order to answer that question.

[mn dave]

I would have to live three lifetimes in order to answer that question.

Or clone yourself, then have a meeting when you guys are finished! 

[mn dave]

Hm. Do I want to read books on arithmetic?

I think not.

[Bogey]

[karlhenning]

Very nearly done with this; and it has indeed been very good.

[bwv 1080]

This is a real new Tolkien book, not a history or fragment like most of the other posthumous material.  Set in the first age it is about the tragic hero, Turin and is a worthy addition to Hobbit, LOTR & the Simarillion (the story of Turin is in this book in a very brief historical narrative form)

[karlhenning]

That "extended fragment" was one of the strongest bits of the Silmarillion, I thought.

[Renfield]

That "extended fragment" was one of the strongest bits of the Silmarillion, I thought.

I second the thought.

[J.Z. Herrenberg]

I second the thought.

I can't. Yet. The Silmarillion is a book I still have to enjoy, fortunately. And the Children of Húrin, too.