What are you reading now?

[Mandryka]

Cosima Wagner-The Lady Of Bayreuth by Oliver Hilmes

An excellent biography, which I read in next to no time: fairly sympathetic, too, which makes for a pleasant change.

[french frank]

From Machiavelli.

Replace 'ruler' and 'prince' with 'government'; 'take up arms' with 'go to the polls'; and, mutatis mutandis, the mobile vulgum is not so changing:

'What happens is that men willingly change their ruler, expecting to fare better. This expectation induces them to take up arms against him; but they only deceive themselves, and they learn from experience that they have made matters worse. This follows from another common and natural necessity: a prince is always compelled to injure those who have made him the new ruler, subjecting them to the troops and imposing the endless other hardships which his new conquest entails. As a result, you are opposed by all those you have injured in occupying the principality and you cannot keep the friendship of those who have put you there; you cannot satisfy them in the way they had taken for granted ...'

[DublinJimbo]

Raintree County by Ross Lockridge Jr

A recommendation on an occasionally-visited blog led me to this, and I'm thankful I found it. That blogger nominated it as a contender for the title 'The Great American Novel' and I find it hard to argue with that. It's a big book with an epic sweep and is utterly involving. I'm a third of the way through its 1000-plus pages, am devouring it at an alarming rate, and know that I will miss it desperately when I get to the end.

[Barbirollians]

Dear Lupin - The Letters of Roger Mortimer to his son Charles - very funny .

Sweet Tooth - Ian McEwan - not finding it as compelling as so much of his other work .

[amateur51]

Dear Lupin - The Letters of Roger Mortimer to his son Charles - very funny .

Sweet Tooth - Ian McEwan - not finding it as compelling as so much of his other work .

Many thanks for the reminder, Barbs - I'm glad to hear that you're enjoying it

[amateur51]

I'm about to start The Epigenetics Revolution by Nessa Carey.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/The-Epigenetics-Revolution-Understanding-Inheritance/dp/1848313470/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1362228385&sr=8-1

Has anyone else read it or does anyone have any informed views on the science of epigenetics?

http://sse.royalsociety.org/2012/exhibits/epigenetics-exposed/

[richardfinegold]

I'm about to start The Epigenetics Revolution by Nessa Carey.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/The-Epigenetics-Revolution-Understanding-Inheritance/dp/1848313470/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1362228385&sr=8-1

Has anyone else read it or does anyone have any informed views on the science of epigenetics?

http://sse.royalsociety.org/2012/exhibits/epigenetics-exposed/

I had never heard the term before. After viewing the link you provided, it appears to be a science dedicated to explaining the old dilemma of the discrepancies that result from phenotype vs. genotype. Since genetic analysis shows a remarkable homogeniety is most of our DNA sequences, what explains the phenotypic variability that we all share? Most geneticists think that there is some mechanism that turns genes and and off, resulting in variable expression. The link that you provided seems to be a discipline intended to explain the mechanics of this.

[richardfinegold]

As noted elsewhere, I'm slugging through Jane Austin's Mansfield Park, my chief impediment being the lack of sympathy I feel for the heroine, Fanny Price. I am also reading Robert Service Spys and Kommisars, about dipomatic maneuvering and skullduggery on the part of both the Bolsheviks and the Allied and Central Powers at the time of the Russian Revolution,

[french frank]

In praise of Fanny Price.

[Mandryka]

Andre Bely - Petersburg

Not enjoying it much, so far (I'm up to page 140). Yet more evidence that I don't draw too well with 'magic realism' (if that's what it calls itself).

[vinteuil]

In praise of Fanny Price.

... not everyone is so positive. See my #20 on the "Jane Austen's heroines" thread...

[verismissimo]

The Young Cosima by Henry Handel Richardson.

Richardson (real name Ethel) was a piano and composition student at the Leipzig Conservatorium in the 1890s, but decided that her real talent lay in writing. She is regarded as Australia's first important novelist. Her first novel, Maurice Guest, was set in and around the conservatorium.

The Young Cosima was a latish work (1939), a novel featuring Liszt, von Bulow, Wagner and Cosima.

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

Henry Handel Richardson ... (real name Ethel).

For some reason, that's the funniest thing I've encountered this Comic Relief Day!

[Petrushka]

The Reichs Orchestra by Misha Aster about the Berlin Philharmonic 1933 - 1945. Not much about music in the book but a fascinating read nevertheless despite being littered with typos and similar errors. A pity because it's a well researched and well written book.

[richardfinegold]

The Reichs Orchestra by Misha Aster about the Berlin Philharmonic 1933 - 1945. Not much about music in the book but a fascinating read nevertheless despite being littered with typos and similar errors. A pity because it's a well researched and well written book.

Was this book a companion piece to the documentary released by the Orchestra, with the same title, in 2007?