What are you reading now?

[Padraig]

About 100 pages into rereading David Harvey's Seventeen Contradictions and the End of Capitalism, and just started the most recent edition of Alex Callinicos's The Revolutionary Ideas of Karl Marx, which should complement it, I'd've thought.

So it's light reading for a Summer evening,Joseph.

I'm rereading as well - Modern Irish Short Stories, spotted when I bought my last book. I first read most of these stories at school and retained a fond liking for them. They are certainly worth another read. Selected and introduced by Frank O'Connor, published by OUP in 1957, my copy is an eighth reprint (1975), previously owned by a local Grammar School girl and includes her original notes. I like that our bookshop buys and sells secondhand books, though we do have an excellent specialist shop for that. I am able to unload many of my books from time to time, on a non- profit basis of course. But I'll keep this one. If you spot it snap it up. It has stories by the Masters - O'Flaherty, O'Faolain, O'Connor, George Moore, Joyce and more.

[french frank]

If you spot it snap it up. It has stories by the Masters - O'Flaherty, O'Faolain, O'Connor, George Moore, Joyce and more.

And I'm wondering whether to go back to the O'Brien tome again next. Having found an easy way in with The Third Policeman, I'm wondering whether it's time to steel myself and tackle At Swim-Two-Birds. As I'm currently only half way through A Time of Gifts I have some time for mental preparation …

[Padraig]

I got to the end of John Banville's Ancient Light and only then realised it's the third book in a trilogy. That's my next two books decided then.

I know I've said this before but I haven't come across another living author who writes English prose as beautifully as Banville.

John Banville also writes under the name of Benjamin Black, where he turns his hand to the craft of crime fiction. I've read his novel Snow, which is of that ilk, but under 'Banville'. Though he distinguishes between his two genres there is some inevitable overlap in the writing. One reviewer described his crime fiction as beach reading for brainy people.

[Ein Heldenleben]

And I'm wondering whether to go back to the O'Brien tome again next. Having found an easy way in with The Third Policeman, I'm wondering whether it's time to steel myself and tackle At Swim-Two-Birds. As I'm currently only half way through A Time of Gifts I have some time for mental preparation …

I found At -Swim -Two- Birds a more difficult read than Ulysses and a good deal less rewarding.

[LeMartinPecheur]

And I'm wondering whether to go back to the O'Brien tome again next. Having found an easy way in with The Third Policeman, I'm wondering whether it's time to steel myself and tackle At Swim-Two-Birds. As I'm currently only half way through A Time of Gifts I have some time for mental preparation …

Rather less mental prep required for The Best of Myles https://www.amazon.co.uk/Myles-Harpe...r%2C152&sr=1-4, strongly recommended to all. Might even be my desert island book...!

[french frank]

I found At -Swim -Two- Birds a more difficult read than Ulysses and a good deal less rewarding.

I've never even approached Ulysses (and in fact don't find it an appealing prospect). I did enjoy The Third Policeman, but reading the Wikipedia plot summary of At S-T-B I suspect I might also find the mental effort not worth the candle. Rather as I felt about some of those Radio 4 programmes with a studio full of guests all talking exuberantly and enjoying themselves more than I was enjoying them.

[Richard Barrett]

I loved At Swim-Two-Birds (but I've never managed to get past the first chapter of Ulysses). I'm not being facetious in saying that I really don't see how it involves "mental effort", although I can imagine that the sense of humour might not appeal to all.

[french frank]

I loved At Swim-Two-Birds (but I've never managed to get past the first chapter of Ulysses). I'm not being facetious in saying that I really don't see how it involves "mental effort", although I can imagine that the sense of humour might not appeal to all.

That's presumably because you've read it - I'm just going by the somewhat convoluted plot(s) as described in Wikipedia. If it's the same sense of humour as The Third Policeman it will appeal to me

I'm not sure that the style of A Time of Gifts is to my taste. I've never read anything by Stephen Fry but can imagine him writing in a somewhat similar way.

[Sir Velo]

I'm not sure that the style of A Time of Gifts is to my taste. I've never read anything by Stephen Fry but can imagine him writing in a somewhat similar way.

PLF does make demands of the reader doesn't he? An architectural glossary to hand is always a good idea I find (although to be fair "Between the Woods and the Water" contains even more of that somewhat self indulgent writing).

However, for me he conjures up the wonder of a wide eyed innocent enraptured by the beauties of a world soon to vanish forever in a way few other writers ever have. "Bliss was it in that twilight to be alive..."

[LMcD]

Currently engrossed in Victoria Hislop's 'Those Who Are Loved'. As usual, she doesn't shy away from the episodes of grim realism without which her books would be less convincing and compelling. I'm also learning more about Greece's recent history.
She's also the only author who has helped us choose our Charity Of The Month. (Lepra UK - obviously).

[Ein Heldenleben]

I've never even approached Ulysses (and in fact don't find it an appealing prospect). I did enjoy The Third Policeman, but reading the Wikipedia plot summary of At S-T-B I suspect I might also find the mental effort not worth the candle. Rather as I felt about some of those Radio 4 programmes with a studio full of guests all talking exuberantly and enjoying themselves more than I was enjoying them.

Ulysses is well worth the effort though the first time I read it I had two books going with it simultaneously (Ulysses on The Liffey and the Stuart Gilbert guide )which is ridiculously really but then I had never read any Homer and had only a sketchy knowledge of it.
There’s quite a strong family connection with my grandad owing an early copy of the book (quite an unusual thing in 20’s Dublin I think ).I still have his 30’s Bodley Head copy . He could identify the real people behind many of the characters and knew one or two. He was also a big At Swim Two Birds Fan.

[LHC]

Ulysses is well worth the effort though the first time I read it I had two books going with it simultaneously (Ulysses on The Liffey and the Stuart Gilbert guide )which is ridiculously really but then I had never read any Homer and had only a sketchy knowledge of it.
There’s quite a strong family connection with my grandad owing an early copy of the book (quite an unusual thing in 20’s Dublin I think ).I still have his 30’s Bodley Head copy . He could identify the real people behind many of the characters and knew one or two. He was also a big At Swim Two Birds Fan.

I’d agree with this (that Ulysses is worth the effort). I read it at university, and struggled with the first few chapters, but really enjoyed it by the end. Indeed, as I finished the final pages, I would have happily gone back to the beginning and read it again.

[Joseph K]

I’d agree with this (that Ulysses is worth the effort). I read it at university, and struggled with the first few chapters, but really enjoyed it by the end. Indeed, as I finished the final pages, I would have happily gone back to the beginning and read it again.

I started reading it in my first year of uni. I recall telling my mum what chapter I was on and her mentioning a funeral and me being nonplussed. I think that discouraged me at the time from persevering. I came back to it four or five years later and though I didn't have a guide to help me and I haven't read any Homer, I still enjoyed it; I think I have the Oxford edition which does feature some commentary.

Which reminds me, I am still some way through Finnegans Wake (for which I do have a book to help me). I mean to start it up again soon...

[Hitch]

Hitler's Private Library: The Books That Shaped His Life by Timothy W. Ryback

The book's opening sentence strikes the wrong note - "He was, of course, a man known better for burning books than collecting them..." - but it is not a sign of things to come. Mr Ryback examines Hitler's intellectual and political development from the First World War onwards by perusing the contents of his personal library, held in various institutions in America and Germany. There are many fascinating details: one volume coughs up a short, black hair that, with a little imagination, might have belonged to a certain toothbrush moustache.

Ryback uses circumstantial evidence to convey how Hitler's ideology and egotism were reflected in, and reinforced by, his choice of reading matter. Unusually for anything to do with Hitler, this book feels intimate. A picture is revealed of a man who gradually came to think that if he willed something strongly enough, that thing would happen; if it didn't happen, then the will was weak and required strengthening until triumph was achieved. (Leni Reifenstahl makes an appearance in these pages.) Such is the road to self-delusion.

Hitler was a voracious reader who used books to close his mind. Ironically, Hitler's Private Library left me with no wish to read more about him. Despite that, I recommend it to anyone with an interest in the subject.

[ardcarp]

Just finished In the Shadow of the Ombu Tree and am embarking (ho-ho) on Landfall by Hugh Fitzgerald Ryan. He should be better-known as an author, I think, because he combines the mind of an Irish academic with the ability to write engagingly.