What are you reading?

Feel free to post anything unrelated to wet shaving or men's grooming (I.e. cars, watches, pens, leather goods. You know, the finer things of life).
notthesharpest
Assistant Dean SMFU
Posts: 9449
Joined: Mon Apr 18, 2005 10:32 am
Location: Vancouver, BC

Post by notthesharpest »

I've been bravely trying to understand some of what Northrop Frye has to say in The Great Code - it's billed as a study of the Bible and literature, and turns out in my opinion as a really interesting study of the roots of "western literature" and even "western culture" as a whole, and while obviously his treatment is very conscious of the Bible and its huge influence, is not "preachy" or even "religious" in tone. Frye was indeed an ordained minister, but clearly first and foremost a brilliant professor.

Maybe a little too brilliant for me, unfortunately. But I don't think Coles Notes ever got around to this one. :)
User avatar
jww
Woolly Bully
Posts: 10960
Joined: Sat Mar 11, 2006 10:49 am
Location: Ottawa, Canada

Post by jww »

GA Russell wrote:...

I am finding The Ninth Directive to be so delicious that I don't want to read it for more than a half hour at a time!
This is how I felt about most of the Ludlum books I have read -- especially the Bourne Identity -- just could not put that one down. I have often ogled Quiller books, but never made the jump -- sounds like something I would enjoy. Onto the list the go.
Wendell

Resident Wool Fat Evangelist & anglophile. Have you hugged a sheep today?
User avatar
wenestvedt
Posts: 1981
Joined: Wed Jun 28, 2006 5:37 pm
Location: Rhode Island

Post by wenestvedt »

I just got a review copy of the new translation of "303 Squadron" about the daring Polish pilots of the RAF during the Battle of Britain. Tons of photos, and the tone of the text is very much of its time (1940). Loving it so far.
User avatar
fallingwickets
Clive the Thumb
Posts: 8813
Joined: Mon Nov 06, 2006 11:59 am

Post by fallingwickets »

is that fiedler or king, Will?

thanks

clive
de gustibus non est disputandum
User avatar
paddy
Posts: 1028
Joined: Mon Feb 20, 2006 3:04 pm
Location: London

Post by paddy »

I am off on vacation for the next 2 weeks. Have a few books to read:

The autobiography of Lauren Fignon (pro cyclist) - When we were young and carefree

Great Expectations - Charles Dickens - always wanted to read this - finally getting round to it.

Ernest Hemingway - For whom the bell tolls - again never read it. it's time i did.

Redcoat - by Richard Holmes - a history book about the British Army during the Crimea War.

most of these will be read on a beach in Egypt, looking out over the Red Sea and with a cold beer in the other hand!
Remember: this is all just wasted time and lives talking nonsense to strangers about pieces of metal, hair and chemical compounds.
User avatar
drmoss_ca
Admin
Posts: 10731
Joined: Thu Jul 08, 2004 4:39 pm

Post by drmoss_ca »

Since the Dance to the Music of Time, I have read Hilary Spurling's guide to the novel sequence (Invitation to the Dance), a pre-press version of my brother's edition of my father's war diaries, and am now on Ben Goldacre's Bad Science. Simple, basic and useful to anyone who feels inadequately equipped to evaluate the claims of modern day shamans.

After that, the stack on the back of the bedside table includes a biography of Wellington, a collection of Canadian short stories, a biography of Alexander the Great, The Lost Beauties of the English Language by Charles MacKay, a couple of old novels passed on to me by my Ma, and Forrest and Gross's views on the wedge strategy of the intelligent (tee hee) design movement. Under that are three books about darkroom techniques that I really ought to read before I waste more paper under the variable contrast enlarger. One of them details how to develop b&w film in instant coffee, vitamin C and baking soda. Such things are important to a certain kind of mind.

Excuse me, I have some reading to attend to...

Chris
"Je n'ai pas besoin de cette hypothèse."
Pierre-Simon de Laplace
User avatar
Straight Arrow
Posts: 1259
Joined: Wed Oct 17, 2007 7:45 pm
Location: NJ

Post by Straight Arrow »

Right now it's Travels with Charley by John Steinbeck. It's a wonderful account of Steinbeck's trip with his dog, Charley, traveling throughout the US in a pickup truck fitted with a tiny house. I love his writing style...a concise prose using an economy of words that in their simplicity are capable of great strength.
Rich
User avatar
Squire
Squadron Leader
Posts: 18932
Joined: Mon Apr 18, 2005 3:41 pm
Location: North East, MS

Post by Squire »

And the truck was named?
Regards,
Squire
jthomas60506
Posts: 114
Joined: Mon Jun 23, 2008 6:02 pm
Location: Chicago

Post by jthomas60506 »

ThePossum wrote:
jthomas60506 wrote:Bonhoeffer by Eric Metaxas
The Blooming of a Lotus by Thich Nhat Hanh
Would love to hear your impressions of Metaxas book. Sounds like interesting reading both from a historical stand point and to maybe get into Bonhoeffer's head a bit. Have read Bonhoeffer's "Cost of Discipleship" and found it very interesting as well as inspirational.
I'd say that the book does both quite well. Much of the book deals with Bonhoeffer's development as an intellectual and a theologian. It details many of the tensions and seminal events that formed his faith (one of which was his first trip to America and a visit to an African American church in Harlem.)

As you come to appreciate his faith, you realize that he probably could not have acted any differently in his opposition to Hitler and, ultimately, in his complicity in the plot to kill him.

Much of what Metaxas presents of Bonhoeffer's imprisonment comes from his correspondence and from the sketchy reflections of a few of his fellow prisoners who survived. It's an inspriring story of faith, but it also reminds of how much more we could be doing with the time we're given.

jt
User avatar
Straight Arrow
Posts: 1259
Joined: Wed Oct 17, 2007 7:45 pm
Location: NJ

Post by Straight Arrow »

Squire wrote:And the truck was named?
"Rocinante"...after Don Quixote's horse.
Rich
User avatar
Kyle76
Posts: 1381
Joined: Mon Jun 04, 2007 6:11 am
Location: North Carolina

Post by Kyle76 »

Straight Arrow wrote:Right now it's Travels with Charley by John Steinbeck. It's a wonderful account of Steinbeck's trip with his dog, Charley, traveling throughout the US in a pickup truck fitted with a tiny house. I love his writing style...a concise prose using an economy of words that in their simplicity are capable of great strength.
That book has been on my radar for 30 years. I even owned it and read a few pages one time. I think it has gotten away from me, but I need to obtain another copy. Wonder if Steinbeck would use a 40-foot motor home today?
Jim
User avatar
Squire
Squadron Leader
Posts: 18932
Joined: Mon Apr 18, 2005 3:41 pm
Location: North East, MS

Post by Squire »

Correct Rich, I think that was a nice touch.
Regards,
Squire
User avatar
drmoss_ca
Admin
Posts: 10731
Joined: Thu Jul 08, 2004 4:39 pm

Post by drmoss_ca »

Should any of our members NOT have read Don Quixote, be not afraid of Edith Grossman's latest translation. As accessible as any, and just as enjoyable. My son read it right through when he was 15, so you can do so too.

Chris
"Je n'ai pas besoin de cette hypothèse."
Pierre-Simon de Laplace
User avatar
wenestvedt
Posts: 1981
Joined: Wed Jun 28, 2006 5:37 pm
Location: Rhode Island

Post by wenestvedt »

Clive, it's the Arkady Feidler one, but they had it newly retranslated. I am really enjoying it so far!

- Will
P.S. I read Don Quixote. That book was a sharp disappointment.
notthesharpest
Assistant Dean SMFU
Posts: 9449
Joined: Mon Apr 18, 2005 10:32 am
Location: Vancouver, BC

Post by notthesharpest »

I started to try to read it thirty years ago, when I still pronounced it Kwik-Sote. I gave up after about two pages. :) I still haven't got around to reading it for real.
User avatar
giammi
Posts: 1022
Joined: Fri Dec 14, 2007 6:06 am
Location: Zürich, Switzerland

Post by giammi »

Coincidentally I found the "Kite Runner". Didn't even remember that I bought it time ago and read it during my trip to Germany
Giammi

Camminare sul filo del rasoio
User avatar
giammi
Posts: 1022
Joined: Fri Dec 14, 2007 6:06 am
Location: Zürich, Switzerland

Post by giammi »

notthesharpest wrote:I gave up after about two pages.
Reminds me that I asked a Spanish woman about that book as she read it during her studies at the university. She said that it is the most boring book she ever had to read and she would have stopped at page 2 if she were not from Spain.

I haven't read the book, so I can't judge if she was just kidding or not.
Giammi

Camminare sul filo del rasoio
notthesharpest
Assistant Dean SMFU
Posts: 9449
Joined: Mon Apr 18, 2005 10:32 am
Location: Vancouver, BC

Post by notthesharpest »

giammi wrote:
notthesharpest wrote:I gave up after about two pages.
Reminds me that I asked a Spanish woman about that book as she read it during her studies at the university. She said that it is the most boring book she ever had to read and she would have stopped at page 2 if she were not from Spain.

I haven't read the book, so I can't judge if she was just kidding or not.
Thirty years ago, I was eleven years old, so I had two excuses - not from Spain and not smart enough either. :)
Ken
Posts: 840
Joined: Thu Feb 10, 2005 9:05 pm

Post by Ken »

drmoss_ca wrote:Should any of our members NOT have read Don Quixote, be not afraid of Edith Grossman's latest translation. As accessible as any, and just as enjoyable. My son read it right through when he was 15, so you can do so too.

Chris
I recently read an interesting book on translation by Edith Grossman, entitled "Why Translation Matters." (Yale 2010)

Ken
User avatar
drumana
Posts: 5051
Joined: Thu Apr 05, 2007 1:02 pm

Post by drumana »

Straight Arrow wrote:Right now it's Travels with Charley by John Steinbeck. It's a wonderful account of Steinbeck's trip with his dog, Charley, traveling throughout the US in a pickup truck fitted with a tiny house. I love his writing style...a concise prose using an economy of words that in their simplicity are capable of great strength.
Great book, as is any by Steinbeck. A few years back I didn't have TV and read a bunch of classics including almost everything by Steinbeck. Good stuff, albeit a tad depressing sometimes. "Travels with Charley" is unique among his library. Very nice read.

Currently, I'm reading "The Road" by Cormac McCarthy. It's rather dark, but good.

I'm also re-reading one of my favorite books, "The Glass Bead Game" by Herman Hesse (one of my favorite authors), and a Joseph Campbell book called "The Art of Living".
-Andrew-
Post Reply