What are you reading now?

[DoNothing]

Gordon, that's interesting that you were so impressed with Maria Edgeworth. I'm a bit of an Austen geek, but have never read any Edgeworth, even though she was much admired by Austen. Thanks for the recommendation.

[Don Basilio]

umslopogaas

I'm sorry if I sounded a bit superior - I genuinely like Dostoyevsky and Chaucer. I've read A la recherche and Moby Dick, and I keep meaning to re-read them to try to appreciate them. They didn't light my fire the first time (apart from the mystical meditation on the nature of time at the end of Proust - but I may have misunderstood it.)

[french frank]

Gosh! So many good ideas here. I've read Mann's Buddenbrooks, but Faustus sounds altogether much stronger stuff. When I have time ...

[vinteuil]

<quote> No-one seems to have responded to my earlier post enthusing about Thomas Mann's Doctor Faustus, but I'm still hopeful: surely all you musical people must have read it? I will happily post more if any one is interested, I think it is a masterpiece </quote>

Umslopogaas - you're right - 'Dr Faustus' is a masterpiece... not as immediately enjoyable as 'Buddenbrooks'. 'Tonio Kroger'. 'Death in Venice', but good, dark, clever, deep - I loved it

My own reading? - just finished Arnold Bennet "Riceyman Steps" - a masterpiece - now into Simenon "le Bourgmestre de Furnes", marvellous, then on to Antal Szerb "Love in a Bottle" (I thought his "Journey by Moonlight" was glorious); next Pierre Bayard, "How to Talk About Books You Haven't Read" - surely compulsory reading for these and other Boards...

[Don Basilio]

I'm thinking of reading The Magic Mountain. How does it compare with Doctor Faustus?

[vinteuil]

I'm thinking of reading The Magic Mountain. How does it compare with Doctor Faustus?

Don Basilio - many years since I last read "The Magic Mountain". I remember loving it at the time (I was probably in my twenties... ) - but even then, conscious that it was a bit - l o n g - its length justified by its interest, but only just, only just... (I was, in the end, floored by "Joseph and His Brothers" - just t o o long... )

[umslopogaas]

I'm enjoying this thread!

DracoM, thanks for the tip about Mrs Gaskell's Ruth. The local Waterstones didnt have a copy, but after a bit of head-scratching over whether Mrs Gaskell is Elizabeth Gaskell - turns out she is - they've ordered me one.

verissimo, a second hand copy of Doctor Faustus was a lucky find, I've been trying to get a new copy to give as a Christmas present and Waterstones seem to be struggling, looks as if it may be out of print.

Vinteuil, interesting that you describe Buddenbrooks, Tonio Kroger and Death in Venice as 'enjoyable'. I have read them and I suppose you could call Mann enjoyable, though light-hearted he certainly aint! In fact, I did not find those three memorable, except of course through the medium of the film of the last one. Have you ever tried The Magic Mountain? Ye gods, that is a slow journey. A group of people recovering from tuberculosis in a sanatorium high in the Alps, they do nothing all day except sit around with blankets over their knees and talk. There is a minor love story, but it takes two hundred pages to introduce the girl, another two hundred before the hero kisses her and as far as I can recall, that's as far as it goes. I know it got him the Nobel Prize, but honestly, life is too short. Save it for your convalescence if you get tb. But Doctor Faustus is in a class by intself.

Incidentally, I dont know if this is a normal occurrence, but I found that if you linger too long over these posts, they time out and you cant send. However, the Select All and Copy functions work fine, so I've taken to copying when I've finished, to save me having to create it all over again.

[ostuni]

Like vinteuil, I read the Magic Mountain ages ago (I had a bit of a Mann obsession in my late teens: pretentious, moi?), and probably won't re-read it again. But I'm keen to give Doctor Faustus another go, especially since there's now a new English translation (John Woods) that's apparently much better than the rather clunky old HT Lowe-Porter ones that were around when I was a lad... And yes, Antal Szerb's Journey by Moonlight is wonderful.

To answer the thread's question: Engleby, Sebastian Faulks.

[Don Basilio]

Gordon, that's interesting that you were so impressed with Maria Edgeworth. I'm a bit of an Austen geek, but have never read any Edgeworth, even though she was much admired by Austen. Thanks for the recommendation.

I read Castle Rackrent in my teens before I really got to know and love Jane (she's quite my favourite re-read.) I can't remember the details, but I'd have thought the big difference is that Edgeworth indicates people living in real poverty, whereas nobody in Austen gets poorer than Mrs Smith in Persuasion.

I haven't read anything by Susan Ferrier, but I've heard that she is also very close to Austen. I did start Fanny Burney's Evelina in my teens, but never got round to finishing it.

[verismissimo]

As I draw wearily to the end of Blink (worth an essay, not a book), the question is, "What next?"

This can on occasion take some days, as I give various tomes a test run...

[Eudaimonia]

For those of you who are in the mood for Thomas Mann, try "Confessions of Felix Krull, Confidence Man: The Early Years". Very funny...unforgettable! Unfortunately, the Wikipedia summary in English is lame, but for those of you who know German, try this:

http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bekenntnisse_des_Hochstaplers_Felix_Krull

Right now, I'm reading "I Explain A Few Things: Selected Poems of Pablo Neruda":

“Laughter is the language of the soul,” Pablo Neruda said. Among the most lasting voices of the most tumultuous (in his own words, “the saddest”) century, a witness and a chronicler of its most decisive events, he is the author of more than thirty-five books of poetry and one of Latin America’s most revered writers, the emblem of the engaged poet, an artist whose heart, always with the people, is literally consumed by passion. His work, oscillating from epic meditations on politics and history to intimate reflections on animals, food, and everyday objects, is filled with humor and affection."

[sigolene euphemia]

Saul Bellow
"Humboldt's Gift"

[Thespian]

C J Sampson - Revelations (Nearly finished so don't tell me the end!)

[Don Basilio]

Following my own advice, I've just ordered Susan Ferrier's The Inheritance through the Book Depository for myself for Christmas.

[vinteuil]

Don Basilio - am I right in thinking you were reading Richardson (we know, I think, that "Sir Charles Grandison" was Jane Austen's favourite book... ) ?

If so - I wonder how you got on?