What are you reading now?

[Petrushka]

Currently reading Alone in Berlin by Hans Fallada.

If you haven't read this I implore you to do so. Set in wartime Berlin this is one of the most desperately terrifying novels I have ever read. The translation has one or two grating Americanisms but that apart this is a masterpiece. I nearly missed my train stop the other evening! Strongly recommended.

[french frank]

Are there any fans of George Borrow here? On the look-out, as ever, for the small pocket editions, I bought a copy of The Romany Rye a couple of days ago. Other than that I've only read Wild Wales. He seems, like Gissing, to have been an interesting character.


Still reading Our Mutual Friend - I'm at p. 213.

[Anna]

Are there any fans of George Borrow here?
Still reading Our Mutual Friend - I'm at p. 213.

I always think I would like to read a biography of George Borrow, he does seem so interesting, so I suppose I must search for one. I have a much read copy of Wild Wales of course but was surprised looking on Amazon that all his books are available on Kindle.

DublinJim mentioned Vikram Seth's Golden Gate, coincidentally I picked that up last week in a charity shop plus The Egoist by George Meredith. I only know Meredith through his poem Modern Love. However I'm still reading Great Expectations so they will have to go on the ever increasing To Read pile.

[PatrickOD]

Anna, maybe you know this, but I was pleasantly surprised to discover by accident that the original, complete, film of Great Expectations is on You Tube.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N-bjy28dNiQ

[Nick Armstrong]

I'm still reading Great Expectations so they will have to go on the ever increasing To Read pile.

Anna, how far have you got??

You may be interested in this: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-15779928

[Anna]

Anna, how far have you got??

You may be interested in this: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-15779928

I'm afraid reading has been slow, I wish to savour and not rush and finish too quickly, so just over halfway and Mrs. Joe has now died. I had seen about the new film and think Helena Bonham-Carter would be right but I cannot see Robbie Coltrane as Jaggers (well, not at the moment whilst I'm so engrossed in all the characters and have them firmly visualised in my head)

Patrick, I know the David Lean film, oh what a fright it gave me when first viewed and Magwitch popped up on the marshes!!! Again, whilst reading I couldn't watch.

I also picked up today a biography of George Eliot (by Kathryn Hughes), I'm quite excited about reading this although it's years since I read anything of hers.

[Atticus]

I'm reading Thomas Mann - Dr.Faustus. A book crammed with music and musical analysis so far Beethoven's Piano sonata op111 is the centre of sublime artistic creativity. I can see where the book might be going but I love Mann's books because they have something profound and enduring to say about the human condition.

[Chris Newman]

oh what a fright it gave me when first viewed and Magwitch popped up on the marshes!!!

That has always been the scariest scene in any film for me: "'Old your noise!"

[PatrickOD]

You're right Anna - the film has it's moments - I didn't realise that I had not seen it since about 1950, and my moment was the first sight of Estella. (heaving sigh)
But of course the novel has to be savoured - my memory is of lots of humour that the film did not catch, so it's going on my list to re-read now. And now that you've mentioned George Eliot, I remember concluding that Middlemarch was the greatest novel of all time. I wonder if I still think so.

[Anna]

And now that you've mentioned George Eliot, I remember concluding that Middlemarch was the greatest novel of all time. I wonder if I still think so.

I don't know re Middlemarch being G. Eliot's best, but then that means I will have to re-read Mill on the Floss because I thought that was!

[Sparafucile]

Hi,
I've recently finished reading Felix Holt - the Radical which, frankly, was a bit of slog at times. She seemed more keen on exploring the historical circumstances of the Reform Act and the legalities of property and inheritance than in telling the story and developing character, none of whom 'came off the page', as it were. I read Adam Bede earlier this year when on a prolonged period of sick leave, and utterly loved it. Alongside Middlemarch, possibly my favourite George Eliot novel. I plan on tackling Romola next year (I'm a glutton for punishment!), which perhaps along with Felix... must be her least-read and least-studied novel.

At present I'm finishing off Paul Mason's (of Newsnight) Live Working or Die Fighting, and dipping into some 'Father Brown' and Elizabeth Bowen stories.

[DublinJimbo]

Having finished Vikram Seth's The Golden Gate, and largely due to having joined here, I've moved on to Alex Ross's The Rest is Noise. This was one of the very few hard-back books I bought in the past twenty years. It's a wonderful read, and it's good to return to it for a third time.

[EdgeleyRob]

How do you all find the time to do so much reading and listen to so much music? I can't read and listen to music at the same time.
I've just finished reading Aaron Copland - The Life and Works of an Uncommon Man by Howard Pollack.Fascinating read but it has taken me about 2 months to finish it!

[vinteuil]

... but I cannot see Robbie Coltrane as Jaggers ...
.

well, of course not. Jaggers has to be our very own Caliban, n'est-ce pas?

Me, in my younger days I always hoped I might be Dr Casaubon. Sadly I now realise I will only ever be Mr Brooke...

[amateur51]

In 1989, Disney made a surprisingly good (snob!) film-for-TV of Great Expectations with Anthony Calf as Pip, Anthony Hopkins as Magwitch and Jean Simmons as Miss Havisham (having played Estella in the Lean film).

The role of Jaggers was played by the long-dead Ray McAnally who I felt was Jaggers to-the-life - a wonderful personation.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/4/49/Ray_McAnally.jpg