What are you reading now?

[Joseph K]

The Sea by John Banville. Richard B mentioned this author and am pleased to report I'm enjoying the book.

Also going over The Enigma of Capital by David Harvey again in the hope I'll absorb yet more of it this time (which might be the third or possibly fourth - but hey, this is an enigma after all...)

[gradus]

Barchester Towers by Trollope. At last I've got round to him and he's so good, every bit as good as he's cracked up to be.

[cloughie]

Barchester Towers by Trollope. At last I've got round to him and he's so good, every bit as good as he's cracked up to be.

I was totally turned off this by having to do it for O Level and nothing would entice me to open it ever again!

[gradus]

I was totally turned off this by having to do it for O Level and nothing would entice me to open it ever again!

10 years on, you may think differently.

[Bryn]

Don't laugh, Mishal Nyman: Collected Writings. At the time of their writing, I held him in some disdain. This was conditioned by frequent encounters with him at new music concerts where he struck me as something of what Jacob Rees-Mogg was to present himself as, in Michael's case, sprawled across the seating of the Purcell Room, etc. Fortunately, a few years later, I got to know Michael, who gave me a number of interesting discs and I even bought his VCS3 from him. Though I attended many of the events, his reviews of which are reprinted in this collection, I did not read them at the time. I can now appreciate how very perceptive his reviews were. I am much enjoying catching up with them. That said, I still prefer his own music in the context of the films he wrote them to accompany. I do wish he had not withdrawn his A Handsom, Smooth, Sweet, Smart, Clear Stroke: Or Else Play Not At All of 1982, though. I thought it the very best of his Purcell-based works, from the extract its premiere, as broadcast on Radio 3. His Think Slow, Act Fast, especially as played by Hoketus, makes some recompense for his withdrawing A Handsom, Smooth, Sweet, Smart, Clear Stroke: Or Else Play Not At All, I feel.

[Petrushka]

I was totally turned off this by having to do it for O Level and nothing would entice me to open it ever again!

I was the same with Pride and Prejudice. Studied it for O Level in 1971/2 found it incredibly boring and vowed never to touch it again. Fast forward 30 years and something made me pick it up and give it a second chance. I found it an absolute delight! Austen's gentle humour shone through and her characterisation of male thoughts and feelings was astonishingly accurate. I loved it and mourned the loss of those 30 years when, as a 17 year old, I'd written it off as rubbish.

[cloughie]

10 years on, you may think differently.

I’ll think about it again in 2032!

[muzzer]

I feel I must get to Austen and am missing out, but have always been put off by the tv and film overkill. At the moment it’s all things Gogol here. Conundrum upon enigma etc. Collecting the various translations is a hobby in itself,

[smittims]

Do read Jane Austen, muzzer. Her novels are so much better than the TV adaptations, which have to cater for the intellectual level of the average TV viewer; so all the subtle ironies are ... ironed out.

Trollope is my favourite. I'm re-reading 'The Prime Minister' for the third or fourth time. I never tire of him (Trollope, that is, not the Prime Minister).

[Pulcinella]

Do read Jane Austen, muzzer. Her novels are so much better than the TV adaptations, which have to cater for the intellectual level of the average TV viewer; so all the subtle ironies are ... ironed out.

Trollope is my favourite. I'm re-reading 'The Prime Minister' for the third or fourth time. I never tire of him (Trollope, that is, not the Prime Minister).

Good grief!
Has there been yet another change of Prime Minister?

[smittims]

Anything can happen in this crazy century.

[DracoM]

'The Three Taps' / Ronald Knox.
A detective story - yes, Ronnie Knox writing an elegantly and amusingly written detective story!

[muzzer]

Do read Jane Austen, muzzer. Her novels are so much better than the TV adaptations, which have to cater for the intellectual level of the average TV viewer; so all the subtle ironies are ... ironed out.

Trollope is my favourite. I'm re-reading 'The Prime Minister' for the third or fourth time. I never tire of him (Trollope, that is, not the Prime Minister).

Which Austen would you recommend to start with?

[DracoM]

Emma

[Sir Velo]

Which Austen would you recommend to start with?

I remember a former poster here advocating that the best place to start if one wanted an acquaintance with Bruckner, was Symphony No 0 (or even 00!) and then work your way forwards. The great risk with that approach is that you would never get beyond "1" and therefore miss out on all the greater glories to follow. Therefore, I would suggest that it depends on whether you're after a deeper acquaintance or just for something light and frothy. If the latter go for Sense and Sensitivity or Northanger Abbey. If more sombre hues are your thing, try Persuasion or Mansfield Park. If you want to start with the best, then Emma. However, be warned, it'll be all downhill after that.