What are you reading now?

[salymap]

I'm grateful to the thread of when to eat when going to a concert for reminding me of Hemingway's 'A Moveable Feast',a book club edition from way back with large print. Nice short chapters suit my eyes and fascinating
glimpses of Paris in the 1920s.

[Mandryka]

Yesterday, I finsihed 'When Nietzsche Wept' by Irvin D. Yalom - a novel that imagines a confrontation between Nietzsche and Josef Breuer, one of the founders of modern psychology. Very readable, and should be read by anyone interested in 19th century philosophy and/or psychology.

Now contemplating my second reading (after 17 years!) of Brothers Karamazov (now in the acclaimed Pevear/Volkhonsky translation): last time, I remember enjoying it without entirely understanding it.

[Don Basilio]

I've just begun John Cowper Powys Wolf Solent. I was intrigued by something that nobody I know has read, and has such a list of admirers (the introduction to my edition was by Robertson Davies.) Not my usual thing, but I'll be very interested to see how it goes.

[french frank]

I've just begun John Cowper Powys Wolf Solent. I was intrigued by something that nobody I know has read, and has such a list of admirers (the introduction to my edition was by Robertson Davies.) Not my usual thing, but I'll be very interested to see how it goes.

I'll be interested to hear how it goes, too. I have a copy but haven't yet ventured beyond the first few pages as it's rather long and other things crop up.

I read Mr Weston's Good Wine by TF Powys. I think I enjoyed it but don't remember much about it.

[french frank]

I picked out a pocket edition of The Citizen of the World from our secondhand bookshop's Free Books box which is usually out on the pavement if it's not raining. Made a start on it in the bistro but the food came rather quickly. Not sure how far I'll get with this rather lengthy tome. Anyone read it, willingly or unwillingly?

[verismissimo]

Bruce Chatwin's The Songlines.

[Don Basilio]

I've finished J C Powys' Wolf Solent. I'll get my thoughts together. I'm not sure what I would eventually make of it: like his hero Jung, I'm not sure whether it is disturbingly profound, or the work of a shameless charlatan. Probably both.

Mr Weston's Good Wine I have read. It has the odd distinction of being a Christian allegory with a title taken from Jane Austen's Emma. (Mr Elton makes his ill judged proposal of marriage to Emma under the influence of Mr Weston's good wine.) F R Leavis was a great fan.

[amateur51]

Made a start on it in the bistro but the food came rather quickly.

This wouldn't be Bell's Diner or Café de Daphne that I knew from the Montpelier district of BS6 long ago, french frank?

[AjAjAjH]

Rosemary Sutcliffe -'Eagle of the Ninth'. Hear it dramatised on 'Children's Hour many, many years ago. Having seen the new film, 'The Eagle', last week, thought I ought to read the novel. Finding Rosemary's style of writing a little difficult.

[string]

Intuition by Allegra Goodman. I can't remember why I picked it up now. Not loving it so far but will persevere as it's an easy read.

[johnb]

This wouldn't be Bell's Diner or Café de Daphne that I knew from the Montpelier district of BS6 long ago, french frank?

My local 'caff'!

I remember it when it was a junk shop, then it became rather nice antique shop (the owner lived in a lovely house just opposite me) before its transformation to a restaurant.

[amateur51]

My local 'caff'!

I remember it when it was a junk shop, then it became rather nice antique shop (the owner lived in a lovely house just opposite me) before its transformation to a restaurant.

Which one, johnb? Café de Daphne or Bell's Diner?

[Don Basilio]

I finished this week



There are so many distinguished novelists who either loved this book or are supposed to have influenced it (according to the blurb on my copy) that I suspect enthusiastic readers are rather desperate to make the case for it: there’s Hardy (detailed description of Wessex scenery with a cosmic dimension) Tolstoy (very long, lots of characters) Iris Murdoch (convoluted romantic relationships) Proust (never got Proust, but presumable social comedy and metaphysical insights) Roberstson Davies (who wrote the intro to my copy, rumbustious Jungianism) D H Lawrence (sex) Jane Austen (more social comedy, but I have my doubts).
But there was one comparison that kept coming up for me, that the publishers didn’t mention.

Stella Gibbons Cold Comfort Farm.

In fairness to Powys, his characters have genuinely seen something nasty in the woodshed, and are not just using it as an excuse to morally blackmail others. Although I’m usually very resistant to lush descriptive passages, here they were so OTT, that I was amused and at the same time could sympathise with the cosmic epiphanies of the principal character.

Like Jung, I frequently suspected this was the work of a charlatan, but was fascinated. I hope to get round to Powys’ further novels in due course.

[johnb]

Which one, johnb? Café de Daphne or Bell's Diner?

Bell's Diner.

If I remember correctly Café de Daphne occupied the shop that was previously the Herbert's Bakery shop, before Herbert's moved their shop to the back of the actual bakery. Café de Daphne eventually closed but there is still an eatery there - the Thali Cafe.

[Richard Tarleton]

One for baby boomers - "Life", by Keith Richards. Good to hear the view from the engine room of the world's greatest rock n' roll band, and told, in spite of any ghost writing involved, very much in Richards' own voice. As witnessed by anyone who saw the BBC interview with Andrew Graham-Dixon at the time of publication he's an engaging character (if a dangerous one to be close friends with) and the story is told with an engaging honesty. I've only come across one other outstanding book on the subject, "The True Adventures of the Rolling Stones" by Stanley Booth, Playboy journalist and writer in residence on the 1969 tour that ended in the infamous Altamont concert, recently reissued.

On a musical note Richards reveals the secret of his 5-string "open tuning", which as a guitarist of a different stripe and long-term Stones fan I found fascinating.