What are you reading now?

[Padraig]

I have just finished re reading Seamus Heaney's Aeneid book VI. How he makes the translation flow the way it never did for me. Yet I recognise now what my hacked English versions of the elegant Latin should have sounded like, more than sixty years since I grappled with the 'hunt for the main verb of a sentence' and 'disentangling the subordinate clauses.' I'm glad I got the chance to rediscover Virgil.
There is a short extract posted on the Heaney thread.

[DracoM]

Keep the Aspidistra Flying / Orwell.

[french frank]

I've just finished reading Piranesi by Susanna Clarke (she of Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell with which everyone except me is already familiar). Brother was determined that I should read one of his latest modern choices - and it sounded more my taste than Alexander McCall Smith or Philip Pullman.

Might have to reread it straight away as I'm not certain whether it's an impressionistic enigma - you get the general drift of what it means and supply the missing pieces which you feel you need) - or whether it's a tightly constructed, every detail accounted for narration where I've missed most of the essential clues. I found it more interesting than most fantasy literature.

https://www.theguardian.com/books/2020/sep/17/piranesi-by-susanna-clarke-review-an-elegant-study-in-solitude

https://www.theguardian.com/books/2020/oct/04/piranesi-by-susanna-clarke-review-byzantine-and-beguiling

[DracoM]

Golding: Fire Down Below.

[Pulcinella]

Golding: Fire Down Below.

I hope that you're reading the trilogy in sequence, Draco!

[Pulcinella]

Just starting Barnaby Rudge (free Kindle edition).

[Leinster Lass]

Antony Beevor's 'D-Day'.

[jayne lee wilson]

"Cats vs Dogs.....
Misbehaving Mammals, Intellectual Insects, Flatulent Fish and the Great Pet Showdown".

...a New Scientist book about Animal behavioural psychology & much else, including advice about how to ensure your recently deceased Hamster becomes a fossil.......

[cloughie]

"Cats vs Dogs.....
Misbehaving Mammals, Intellectual Insects, Flatulent Fish and the Great Pet Showdown".

...a New Scientist book about Animal behavioural psychology & much else, including advice about how to ensure your recently deceased Hamster becomes a fossil.......

I always though flatulent fish were the source of the bubble in a spirit level!

[french frank]

Just finished G.Greene's Monsignor Quixote (so-so) and shall begin Karel Čapek's Tales from Two Pockets tonight. What would we now be calling robots/bots if he hadn't first invented his 'roboti'?

[Joseph K]

As I mentioned, I'm reading Lois Fitch's book on Ferneyhough.

It's a very good book. However, twice so far the sixth string quartet is mentioned as being a 40 minute work, when it isn't, so that's a bit weird.

[Leinster Lass]

I believe Benjamin Disraeli knocked out a couple of novels, and Tom Hanks recently enjoyed success with a collection of short stories. Now a couple of members of your royal family are following Prince Charles onto the printed page. The Duchess of York is to (co-) write a Mills & Boon novel, and the Duchess of Cornwall has launched a book club. While this is very commendable, I'm not sure that Hilary Mantel's 'The Mirror And The Light' is the best recommendation for somebody who's being encouraged to start, or return to, book-reading. Apart from the fact that it's VERY long, it's the third part of a trilogy, and I would have thought that at least some knowledge of what happened might be helpful.
I'm currently reading a book which would be funny if it was a novel, but unfortunately its definitely off the non-fiction shelves: 'The Blunders Of Our Governments' by Anthony King and Ivor Crewe.

[gradus]

An OUP book from 1947, The Character of England, with chapters written by 20 contributors from Lady Bonham Carter on Childhood and Education to J M Young on Government.
The dust jacket also lists other OUP books on aspects of England including Shakespeare's England, Johnson's England, Early Victorian England, English Life in The Middle Ages, English Men and Manners in the 18th Century, The Wayfarer's Companion - English History in her Buildings and Countryside, and The Evolution of England.
An interesting reading list.

[muzzer]

I’ve just finished Peter Strawson’s book on Kant, The Bounds of Sense, which has only served to confirm how little I appreciate of the source material, and I’m not sure life’s long enough to get to grips with it, to be honest. Are there any good books on Kant that keep things simple?

I’ve also just finished the second volume of Brian Boyd’s classic biography of Nabokov, and moved swiftly onto the first volume. I like to think the master wouldn’t disapprove of taking things back to front. It is of course quite the monumental achievement of Boyd, and a joy to read.

[Pulcinella]

Just started Martin Chuzzlewit, part of my free Dickens on Kindle offerings.