What are you reading now?

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

Just finished (for the 5th time) Eco's Island of the Day Before - still my least favourite of his novels, with many passages that I find myself having read through two or three times without actually reading them once: not something I ever find in his other works. But, even so, the world of Eco's language, of his vast imagination, of his humour, of the Mahlerian embracing everything the world of culture has to offer - within a few sentences I'm in that brighter, joyous universe, and I shall miss being there for the next few days.

[silvestrione]

Just finished (for the 5th time) Eco's Island of the Day Before - still my least favourite of his novels, with many passages that I find myself having read through two or three times without actually reading them once: not something I ever find in his other works. But, even so, the world of Eco's language, of his vast imagination, of his humour, of the Mahlerian embracing everything the world of culture has to offer - within a few sentences I'm in that brighter, joyous universe, and I shall miss being there for the next few days.

Gosh, 5th time! perhaps we should have a thread, 'Novels You Have Read at Least 5 times'! (Struggling to get much beyond Pride and Prejudice, Women in Love, and Little Dorrit,).

But Eco now , I've not read any. Where should one start?

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

My favourite (the one I have ready next) is The Mysterious Flame of Queen Loana - a man recovers his memory after suffering a stroke by going over the things his parents kept from his childhood: a glorious celebration of popular culture; wonderful insights into Fascist-era Italian history; intensely funny and poignant - one of the great literary works of my lifetime.

My second favourite is Foucault's Pendulum - a remarkable novel in that it is a parody of Dan Brown's Da Vinci Code; just written 14 years before it! Mischievous in its depiction of Vanity Press publishing firms and merciless in its parody of occultists. (Eco's final novel, Numero Zero covers similar territory - but is much shorter, which might appeal to some readers more than his other work. Eco needs readers who share his love of language, and of exploring connections between different types of writing and learning. Many readers attracted to The Name of the Rose [my third favourite] after seeing the Sean Connery film were disappointed that there was so much more to the book than "the plot" - his books are around 600 pages long, but they are such good company.)

[vinteuil]

.

... I confess I gave up on The Prague Cemetery.

I have enjoyed his essays : I particularly remember Faith in Fakes -

https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/0749396288

.

[richardfinegold]

.

... I confess I gave up on The Prague Cemetery.

I have enjoyed his essays : I particularly remember Faith in Fakes -

https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/0749396288

.

I also gave up on the Prague Cemetery. Maybe it's better in Italian

[Richard Tarleton]

My second favourite is Foucault's Pendulum - a remarkable novel in that it is a parody of Dan Brown's Da Vinci Code; just written 14 years before it! Mischievous in its depiction of Vanity Press publishing firms and merciless in its parody of occultists. (Eco's final novel, Numero Zero covers similar territory - but is much shorter, which might appeal to some readers more than his other work. Eco needs readers who share his love of language, and of exploring connections between different types of writing and learning. Many readers attracted to The Name of the Rose [my third favourite] after seeing the Sean Connery film were disappointed that there was so much more to the book than "the plot" - his books are around 600 pages long, but they are such good company.)

I was disappointed by the Sean Connery film, having read the book a couple of times first (but I generally find that with books of films, with the exception of Jane Austen where the films are generally better )....recently read Foucault's Pendulum for at least the third time....don't think I read Queen Leona, was not enthused by Baudolino, Island of the Day Before or the Prague Cemetery but felt it was probably something lacking in me rather than them - something I couldn't quite get.

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

The Prague Cemetery is my joint fourth favourite (with Baudolino).

[vinteuil]

My favourite (the one I have ready next) is The Mysterious Flame of Queen Loana - a man recovers his memory after suffering a stroke by going over the things his parents kept from his childhood: a glorious celebration of popular culture; wonderful insights into Fascist-era Italian history; intensely funny and poignant - one of the great literary works of my lifetime.

... yes, I loved Queen Loana - not sure I wd call it 'one of the great literary works of my lifetime' - but it's great fun.

.

[Wychwood]

I enjoyed The Name of the Rose but very quickly gave up on Baudolino. No doubt my loss, but for me Eco isn't really a "must read" novelist.

[gradus]

H J Massingham, The English Countryman. Not an easy read, Massingham has a rather dense congested style imv but some interesting ideas, some (but only some) of which are prescient given our environmental difficulties.

[Conchis]

I've just re-read Ayn Rand's We The Living, for the first time since 1991.

I remember the book making a big impression on me back then, particularly for its Soviet villains. I remembered Pavel Syerov and Comrade Sonia but had forgotten Morozov the speculator.

I think this may be the best of Ayn Rand's novels, though she'd certainly disagree on that point. You don't have to agree with her politics to get that tyranny of any kind is being attacked here.

[Richard Barrett]

I was reading Paul Griffiths's Olivier Messiaen and the Music of Time which for the first time explained to me clearly how all those otherworldly harmonic progressions actually work. Don't ask me to explain it though! Griffiths also goes into many interesting arguments about how one might think about the birdsong and the music's theological apparatus as well. The sections on harmony are I suppose a little specialised, but nevertheless the book would be food for thought for anyone interested in this composer and his work. After that I moved on to Anthony Gottlieb's The Dream of Reason, a history of philosophy from its beginnings to the middle ages, which is so far quite informative but sometimes annoyingly glib and patronising, tending to give the impression that the pre-Socratic Greeks were blundering around in the darkness grabbing any vaguely plausible idea they could get hold of. But that's an area I already knew a certain amount about. I'm looking forward to learning more about Aristotle who is quite an unknown quantity to me. I'm also looking forward to moving on to some fiction once I get to the end of it.

[Petrushka]

Re-reading Stolen Journey by Oliver Philpott, one of the three escapers in the famous Wooden Horse escape from Stalag Luft III in 1943. Long out of print, I picked up a 1950 edition on Amazon in reasonable condition. Philpott gives a vivid impression of life as a POW and of his escape and tells his story well. It's a book that could well do with re-issue.

Best Second World War POW book, in my opinion, is A Crowd is not Company by Robert Kee.

[Stanfordian]

Re-reading Stolen Journey by Oliver Philpott, one of the three escapers in the famous Wooden Horse escape from Stalag Luft III in 1943. Long out of print, I picked up a 1950 edition on Amazon in reasonable condition. Philpott gives a vivid impression of life as a POW and of his escape and tells his story well. It's a book that could well do with re-issue.

Best Second World War POW book, in my opinion, is A Crowd is not Company by Robert Kee.

I love reading and re-reading these escape books. I have sixty or so. Yes, those you mention are very fine reads.

[Bryn]

Keith Rowe: The Room Extended by Brian Olewnick.




I've known Keith for half a century but this biography has been a real eye-opener. I had no idea what a chequered and strife-torn early life he experienced. The writing style may not be of the very best but the content is both relelatory and wholely engaging. Strongly recommended to those who know Keith's music.