What are you reading now?

[Bella Kemp]

Last night I finished Hobsbawm's Age of Revolution. I am really quite tempted to go and buy and read the rest of the books in that series, but before that I have Lois Fitch's Brian Ferneyhough to read. (Finnegans Wake is also an ongoing project).

I wonder, Joseph, if you have ever read William Faulkner? Reading your posts across a variety of topics it strikes me that you might like him. If you are at all interested, I recommend Light in August to begin with - one of the great books of the Twentieth Century and one of those books that leads you to reconfigure your consciousness and how you view the world.

[Maclintick]

In retro-mode, as many seem to be in these COVID-infested times, re-reading Patrick Leigh-Fermor's A Time of Gifts, in tandem with Nabokov's Lolita, which I would venture, paradoxically, couldn't be published in today's more puritanical and yet vastly more sexualised society. it's an incomparable work of literature, even more so when one considers it was published in VN's second or third language, and encapsulates that 60s mores of "anything-goes" (only for men, it should be noted ! ) paralleled in cinema -- e.g The Man Who Fell To Earth -- desperately "cool" in its time, with Bowie'N'All, yet featuring a nauseatingly explicit scene depicting carnal relations between professors and students...Oh, it was alright in the 60s...

[muzzer]

Plus one for Faulkner and Nabokov. Most highly recommended.

[Joseph K]

I wonder, Joseph, if you have ever read William Faulkner? Reading your posts across a variety of topics it strikes me that you might like him. If you are at all interested, I recommend Light in August to begin with - one of the great books of the Twentieth Century and one of those books that leads you to reconfigure your consciousness and how you view the world.

Thanks for the recommendation.

[muzzer]

I’m interested as to what if anything determines our choice of what to read next. I have a very long list in my head and a to be read pile that is in fact several piles in various places, and I’m sure I’m not unusual. But it’s great to be nudged. I came across a podcast interview with Martin Amis this morning (thebibliofile.ca) which sent me to Nabokov for the day. I feel as if he’s been at my shoulder for a few months but this was the prompt I needed. I really value Amis for this sort of thing generally (I appreciate he’s something of a divisive figure). I wonder what nudges others here....?

[Bella Kemp]

I’m interested as to what if anything determines our choice of what to read next. I have a very long list in my head and a to be read pile that is in fact several piles in various places, and I’m sure I’m not unusual. But it’s great to be nudged. I came across a podcast interview with Martin Amis this morning (thebibliofile.ca) which sent me to Nabokov for the day. I feel as if he’s been at my shoulder for a few months but this was the prompt I needed. I really value Amis for this sort of thing generally (I appreciate he’s something of a divisive figure). I wonder what nudges others here....?

Every book has its moment and Lord alone know why. There are times when I feel a burning desire to read, say, a Thomas Hardy, or a Ruth Rendell and then at other times they leave me cold. A nudge (sometimes from this forum) might steer one in a certain direction. I'm also very affected by a book's cover - if I don't like it, I won't pick it up. One of the delicious pleasures of life is choosing my next read.

[gurnemanz]

I’m interested as to what if anything determines our choice of what to read next. I have a very long list in my head and a to be read pile that is in fact several piles in various places, and I’m sure I’m not unusual. But it’s great to be nudged. I came across a podcast interview with Martin Amis this morning (thebibliofile.ca) which sent me to Nabokov for the day. I feel as if he’s been at my shoulder for a few months but this was the prompt I needed. I really value Amis for this sort of thing generally (I appreciate he’s something of a divisive figure). I wonder what nudges others here....?

A few years ago our choir did Carmina Burana and invited singers from neighbouring choirs to join us. Such a guest singer introduced himself to us as Tony Briggs and was next to me in the bass section. As we got to chatting it transpired we were both linguists (I had no idea he was a retired professor of Russian). Translation came up and when I asked him what sort of stuff he did, he modestly mentioned the new Penguin War and Peace. I was suitably impressed. On the evening of the concert he gave me a copy, signed and with a friendly message. Having, like many people, never quite got around to reading this book, I now had the perfect nudge and made sure I did a very thorough job on it.

[gradus]

A few years ago our choir did Carmina Burana and invited singers from neighbouring choirs to join us. Such a guest singer introduced himself to us as Tony Briggs and was next to me in the bass section. As we got to chatting it transpired we were both linguists (I had no idea he was a retired professor of Russian). Translation came up and when I asked him what sort of stuff he did, he modestly mentioned the new Penguin War and Peace. I was suitably impressed. On the evening of the concert he gave me a copy, signed and with a friendly message. Having, like many people, never quite got around to reading this book, I now had the perfect nudge and made sure I did a very thorough job on it.

Nudge-wise, R4 serialisations often do the trick or references to other authors in books I'm reading can send me scurrying after their works; for years I've been trying to get hold of a history of the Balkans by ???, it's been so long I've forgotten the name, Charles somebody or other.

[french frank]

A few years ago our choir did Carmina Burana and invited singers from neighbouring choirs to join us. Such a guest singer introduced himself to us as Tony Briggs and was next to me in the bass section. As we got to chatting it transpired we were both linguists (I had no idea he was a retired professor of Russian). Translation came up and when I asked him what sort of stuff he did, he modestly mentioned the new Penguin War and Peace. I was suitably impressed. On the evening of the concert he gave me a copy, signed and with a friendly message. Having, like many people, never quite got around to reading this book, I now had the perfect nudge and made sure I did a very thorough job on it.

What a lovely story! Yes, even now once I've finished reading a book, it's completely arbitrary what I will choose next. I suppose, were I a fan of spy fiction, the next one would be a Le Carré, but I'm more likely to read a lesser work that appeals than a better work which doesn't. At the moment I'm stuck with what I have on my shelves. I do have W&P but it missed out when I was on a Russian kick. I do prefer shorter works, and short stories, to epics. I've become too used to scholarly 'books for reference' which I dip into for what I'm looking for. Hadn't read for pleasure for decades - but I am now.

[gradus]

Bill Cash's book contra the EU, 'From Brussels with Love'. Always a good idea to get hold of the enemy's Part 1 orders.

[bluestateprommer]

In the homestretch of reading The Thibaults by Roger Martin du Gard, after years of it sitting on the shelf. Hey, if it's good enough for Bernard Haitink, it's good enough for me :) , even if I got my copy well before that interview mentioned it as being on Uncle Bernie's reading list. (Wonder if he reads it in the original French.) I guess that one can regard it very superficially as kind of an upscale soap opera, in its depiction of family tensions with various storyline threads over the years of the tale. The translation by Stuart Gilbert has a somewhat dated air about it, but it is sort of an old-fashioned novel, after all.

[french frank]

In the homestretch of reading The Thibaults by Roger Martin du Gard

I have Jacques Thibault, a section of the work, which was a set text for my undergrad degree. I can't remember ever reading it - or any lecture or tutorials that were given on it.

[muzzer]

Bill Cash's book contra the EU, 'From Brussels with Love'. Always a good idea to get hold of the enemy's Part 1 orders.

Bill Cash, onetime Parliamentary agent iirc. How the mighty.

[Rjw]

One Two Three Four
The Beatles in Time
by Craig Brown.

It's been difficult to put this down.

[Rjw]

Now I've read

Mr Wilder and me by Jonathan Coe.

A nice quick read.