What are you reading now?

**ChandlersFord** · 27-11-22, 21:53

Originally posted by Bella Kemp View Post

I hope all is well with you now, Jayne. Your first sentence reminded me of:
'Nearly midnight. The hour when an invalid, who has been obliged to set out on a journey and to sleep in a strange hotel, awakened by a sudden spasm, sees with glad
relief a streak of daylight showing under his door. Thank God, it is morning! The servants will be about in a minute: he can ring, and someone will come to look after
him. The thought of being assuaged gives him strength to endure his pain. He is certain he heard footsteps: they come nearer, and then die away. The ray of light beneath
his door is extinguished. It is midnight; someone has just turned down the gas; the last servant has gone to bed, and he must lie all night suffering without remedy.'
I won't insult the intelligence of forumistas by identifying the source of this passage. I can't pretend, however to have read the whole epic, but have read these first pages many times and they always move me deeply

I urge to read the whole thing. It may not be the easiest book to get to grips with but it's the only one I've read that actually changed my life (for the better, I might add!).

**smittims** · 28-11-22, 08:42

Well, Bella, 'the whole epic' is there, in various accessible translations; do try someday. I hope you will find it all as enthralling as I have over the last fifty years.

**Joseph K** · 28-11-22, 12:30

Originally posted by Bella Kemp View Post

I won't insult the intelligence of forumistas by identifying the source of this passage.

I guess I'm not intelligent enough to have read this book, or at any rate its opening paragraph.

I'm currently midway through J.G. Ballard's The Day Of Creation and enjoying it a lot.

**Pulcinella** · 28-11-22, 13:10

Originally posted by Joseph K View Post

I guess I'm not intelligent enough to have read this book, or at any rate its opening paragraph.

I'm currently midway through J.G. Ballard's The Day Of Creation and enjoying it a lot.

You're not alone: I Googled and found it mentioned here.

11 boring books to help tackle insomnia.

11 Boring Books to Help Battle Insomnia

https://www.klova.com/blogs/the-daily-snooze/11-boring-books-to-help-battle-insomnia

Who hasn’t fallen asleep reading a book before? Have you ever considered trying it when you’re struggling to get some shut-eye at night? It’s a legit trick. Just dive into something dull. “Pick something boring,” says J. Todd Arnedt, director of the Behavioral Sleep Medicine Program at the University of Michigan Medical School. It creates the “perfect conditions for sleepiness to manifest.” (And make sure it's a good old-fashioned paper book. The light emitted from e-readers and other devices keeps the brain awake.) Textbooks on esoteric subjects are obvious, but how about books that are actually beloved? Books that’ll make you sound like a true intellect when you tell people what’s on your nightstand? There’s no shortage of novels to choose from – and the sleep-inducing effectiveness will be different for each reader – but we did some digging (and testing) and think we’ve come up with a good collection to conk out to. (No offense to the authors or anyone who may adore any of these books!) Here are 11 boring books to help battle insomnia: On the Road by Jack Kerouac (1957) What makes it a real snooze: Although this book is known for being about the wild, carefree, and radical beat generation, it’s actually quite dull. Another good title for it could’ve been “The Very Long Newspaper Article About Hitchhiking and Traveling Around the U.S. in the Post World War Two Era.” Excerpt: One night when Dean ate supper at my house—he already had, the parking-lot job in New York—he leaned over my shoulder as I typed rapidly away and said, “Come on man, those girls won’t wait, make it fast.” I said, “Hold on just a minute, I’ll be right with you soon as I finish this chapter,” and it was one of the best chapters in the book. Then I dressed and off we flew to New York to meet some girls. As we rode in the bus in the weird phosphorescent void of the Lincoln Tunnel we leaned on each other with fingers waving and yelled and talked excitedly, and I was beginning to get the bug like Dean. Swann’s Way by Marcel Proust (1913) What makes it a real snooze: A kid lays in bed watching candlelight flicker and wonders when his mother will come in the room. He thinks random thoughts and notices things in the room. He recalls memories of his mother. This scene goes on for something like twenty-four pages! You’ll be asleep every night after three pages of reading, so even just this one episode in the book will assure eight solid nights of awesome sleep. Excerpt: I would lay my cheeks gently against the comfortable cheeks of my pillow, as plump and blooming as the cheeks of babyhood. Or I would strike a match to look at my watch. Nearly midnight. The hour when an invalid, who has been obliged to start on a journey and to sleep in a strange hotel, awakens in a moment of illness and sees with glad relief a streak of daylight shewing under his bedroom door. Oh, joy of joys! it is morning. The servants will be about in a minute: he can ring, and someone will come to look after him. The thought of being made comfortable gives him strength to endure his pain. He is certain he heard footsteps: they come nearer, and then die away. The ray of light beneath his door is extinguished. It is midnight; some one has turned out the gas; the last servant has gone to bed, and he must lie all night in agony with no one to bring him any help. Pale Fire by Vladimir Nabokov (1962) What makes it a real snooze: Vladimir Nabokov was an intelligent man who loved word games and this book is essentially him enjoying his own private word game. It starts with a very long poem that is 999 lines long and then a story follows that somewhat describes the poem. Or maybe that doesn’t even remotely describe what the plot is because it more than likely doesn’t have a linear plot that is possible to describe. As you’re reading you may imagine Nabokov – the genius – entertaining himself with yet another hidden meaning while you – the normal person – are bored to tears. You’ll be quite happy to choose the pillow over staying up and reading more. Excerpt: I was the shadow of the waxwing slain By the false azure in the windowpane I was the smudge of ashen fluff--and I Lived on, flew on, in the reflected sky, And from the inside, too, I'd duplicate Myself, my lamp, an apple on a plate: Uncurtaining the night, I'd let dark glass Hang all the furniture above the grass, And how delightful when a fall of snow 10 Covered my glimpse of lawn and reached up so As to make chair and bed exactly stand Upon that snow, out in that crystal land! Gravity's Rainbow by Thomas Pynchon (1973) What makes it a snooze: With this book sometimes you’ll wonder why you should read the next page because the last 150 have made absolutely no sense. Most people read a book because they relate to the characters and establish a relationship with them. People read Gravity’s Rainbow to be able to say that they did. They often go on to write another book or lengthy article about what they thought Gravity’s Rainbow was about. A ripple effect of boringness. Excerpt: The night room heaves a sigh, yes Heaves, a Sigh — old-fashioned comical room, oh me I'm hopeless, born a joker never change, flirting away through the mirrorframe in something green-striped, pantalooned, and ruffled — meantime though, it is quaint, most rooms today hum you know, have been known also to

I haven't read it, though I have plodded through some of the others.

**smittims** · 28-11-22, 13:21

But you may have come across its famous first sentence:

'Depuis longtemps je me suis couchee de bonne heure.'

I apologise for not being able to type acutes.

**Pulcinella** · 28-11-22, 13:27

Originally posted by smittims View Post

But you may have come across its famous first sentence:

'Depuis longtemps je me suis couchee de bonne heure.'

I apologise for not being able to type acutes.

Afraid not, but I'm not too sure that I should take that seriously a website (the one I linked to) whose description is so poorly written as to confuse lay and lie, and assure and ensure!

What makes it a real snooze: A kid lays in bed watching candlelight flicker and wonders when his mother will come in the room. He thinks random thoughts and notices things in the room. He recalls memories of his mother. This scene goes on for something like twenty-four pages! You’ll be asleep every night after three pages of reading, so even just this one episode in the book will assure eight solid nights of awesome sleep.

**smittims** · 28-11-22, 13:32

That's good. It reminds me of a famous summary of Keats 'Ode on a Grecian Urn'.

What say, what play?
Dunno; nice, though.

**Bella Kemp** · 28-11-22, 13:47

Originally posted by ChandlersFord View Post

I urge to read the whole thing. It may not be the easiest book to get to grips with but it's the only one I've read that actually changed my life (for the better, I might add!).

Thanks for the advice ChandlersFord. I will give the whole thing a go someday: I'm waiting for a long hot summer, or maybe a deep, dark winter.

**Joseph K** · 28-11-22, 14:10

Originally posted by Bella Kemp View Post

I hope all is well with you now, Jayne. Your first sentence reminded me of:
'Nearly midnight. The hour when an invalid, who has been obliged to set out on a journey and to sleep in a strange hotel, awakened by a sudden spasm, sees with glad
relief a streak of daylight showing under his door. Thank God, it is morning! The servants will be about in a minute: he can ring, and someone will come to look after
him. The thought of being assuaged gives him strength to endure his pain. He is certain he heard footsteps: they come nearer, and then die away. The ray of light beneath
his door is extinguished. It is midnight; someone has just turned down the gas; the last servant has gone to bed, and he must lie all night suffering without remedy.'
I won't insult the intelligence of forumistas by identifying the source of this passage. I can't pretend, however to have read the whole epic, but have read these first pages many times and they always move me deeply

I've actually read In Search of Lost Time. Had you quoted the first few sentences I would've recognised it...

**french frank** · 24-12-22, 12:15

The US Congressional Report on the Jan 6 attack on the Capitol. I know we've heard most of the facts in outline but the detail is breathtaking. Gripping stuff, even. Just breaking off for a snack

**Joseph K** · 24-12-22, 12:43

Last night I (finally - I am afraid the time I give myself to read isn't as much as I'd like, owing to a love for listening to music and practising guitar!) finished The Day of Creation by JG Ballard. Astonishing stuff which if anything sits even more uneasily with me than did The Unlimited Dream Company; although overall I prefer the latter work (one of my favourite works of literature of all time) once again in The Day of Creation Ballard conjures a psychotic, surreal headspace very vividly. And his descriptive passages are just awesome.

Earlier this week I finally received a book I'd ordered a few months' ago in Waterstones - Ballard's The Drowned World, so I'll be starting that tonight.

**Petrushka** · 24-12-22, 13:30

Time once again for my traditional annual read of Dickens' A Christmas Carol' now in a facsimile book of the original 1843 edition bought from the Dickens Museum last year.

**smittims** · 24-12-22, 13:47

'Dombey and Son' (his longest?) is coming up for me , when I've finished The Iliad, in E.V.Rieu's translation, only the second time I've read it; not an easy read, all those violent deaths, and am I the only reader to be irritated by the gods' frequent interfering?

**ChandlersFord** · 25-12-22, 22:32

Originally posted by smittims View Post

'Dombey and Son' (his longest?) is coming up for me , when I've finished The Iliad, in E.V.Rieu's translation, only the second time I've read it; not an easy read, all those violent deaths, and am I the only reader to be irritated by the gods' frequent interfering?

I think Dombey and Son may indeed be the longest: other contenders are Martin Chuzzlewit and Little Dorrit.

I read it many years ago, and can recall enjoying it. However, it isn't all that good and can never compete with the 'biggies'.

**DracoM** · 25-12-22, 22:49

WARNING: unless you are [as I was] a serious fan of Cormac McCarthy, the hitherto much admired American novelist /winner of Pulitzer etc - then be VERY wary of his last two books - The Passenger' and 'Stella Maris'. Amazing shift of method, concerns, language. I was astonished.

His 'No Country for Old Men' and 'Child of God' are IMO far, FAR better.

What are you reading now?

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