Currently Reading (Take 2) — Page 36
Posted: 2/9/15 at 7:59pm
Too many to mention, to be honest. I just keep rereading them. Their beauty never diminishes, and they fill me with happiness untold. It's like returning to revisit old friends who are always there, and ever welcoming.
Today I revisited poems by La Fontaine and Du Bellay.
I am enraptured and bow down in gratitude before such beauty.
A merciful refuge from our crass, tawdry world.
Posted: 2/9/15 at 8:17pm
Posted: 2/9/15 at 8:28pm
Starting W is for Wasted by Sue Grafton. Always enjoyed Kinsey Milhone.
And finally Amy Pohler's "Yes, Please".
Posted: 2/9/15 at 8:35pm
Perhaps further along in your studies.
But you seem to be doing more than enough reading without it.
Updated On: 2/9/15 at 08:35 PM
Posted: 2/10/15 at 7:58am
Fantod, did you genuinely read Finnegans Wake in the last two weeks? From start to finish? If so, you're a better man than I.
An acclaimed one-woman stage adaptation of the book ran briefly at BAM last year, called "Riverrun" - it would have been nice to have seen that, because despite my best attempts I've found the actual novel to be impenetrable. It's famously known as the masterpiece that nobody has actually ever read. I'll try again, though, because I'm pretentious like that.
Michael Chabon wrote an interesting essay about it a couple of years back, if you're interested.
What to make of Finnegans Wake?
Posted: 2/10/15 at 11:25am
(A finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award)
Described as: A young Armenian-American goes to Turkey in a “love thine enemy” experiment that becomes a transformative reflection on how we use—and abuse—our personal histories.
I'm finding it very engaging.
by Melanie Toumani
Posted: 2/10/15 at 11:37am
Posted: 2/10/15 at 12:27pm
Here's an audio of Joyce himself reading from Finnegans, circa 1929. I wouldn't expect you to listen to the whole eight minutes, but it's just cool to hear his voice.
Edit - grr, why can't we embed videos anymore?
YouTube
Updated On: 2/10/15 at 12:27 PM
Posted: 2/10/15 at 1:03pm
Posted: 2/10/15 at 1:22pm
Posted: 2/10/15 at 8:26pm
Posted: 7/7/15 at 2:06pm
Any summer reading planned? Not long until Go Set A Watchman, hooray.
Upcoming 2015 - anything tickle your fancy?
Posted: 7/7/15 at 2:22pm
Looking forward to Ta-Nehisi Coates' book, which comes out next week.
Posted: 7/8/15 at 12:34am
Slooowly picking my way through A Conspiracy of Paper. It's written in the first person and I'm finding the protagonist to be an annoying sexist, but it's good enough for workplace lunchtime reading. I want to see how the mystery turns out.
Posted: 7/8/15 at 12:46am
I just finished "The Green Road" by Anne Enright (Ireland's first laureate for fiction). It has shifts in narrative structure and mood and I shifted along with the book as I read it. I liked it. Then loved it. Then liked it. Then started to not like it. Then started to HATE it. Then was almost completely won back by it. Then was won back, finally, and overall liked it by the end.
I just started CounterNarratives by John Keene.
Posted: 7/9/15 at 7:49pm
"Introduction to Functional Programming Through Lambda Calculus" by Greg Michaelson. The first two chapters alone have completed transformed my thoughts on what's computable and the nature of both computer and natural languages. If you dabble in the digital arts or churn out code for a living, it's a must-read.
Posted: 7/9/15 at 7:56pm
Just finished my required school reading for the summer:
To Kill a Mockingbird
Their Eyes Were Watching God
A History of the World in 6 Glasses
All were great. Starting Ulysses tonight.
Posted: 7/9/15 at 9:58pm
I've got a bit left to go in Cheryl Strayed's Wild, and then I'm planning on re-reading To Kill a Mockingbird in anticipation of next week's big release!
Posted: 7/10/15 at 7:53pm
After devouring the first book in A Game of Thrones, I am now plodding my way through the second book, A Clash of Kings. The second book is definitely not as fast paced as the first.
Posted: 7/10/15 at 8:20pm
The third book in the series, STORM OF SWORDS, is one of the most bitchin' reading experiences you'll ever have.
Posted: 7/10/15 at 9:19pm
But then the series falls right of a cliff
Posted: 7/11/15 at 8:58am
"But then the series falls right of a cliff"
Not so much over a cliff as all over the map. Martin seems to really be invested in exploring every single square inch of Westeros, and it can make for some dry patches, especially involving one character who is engaged on what the reader knows is a wild-goose chase. Still, I dug it, and there's a lot to recommend in DANCE WITH DRAGONS.
Fantod, enjoy ULYSSES. Are you reading it cold, or getting any help? I know there are assorted guidebooks to help one keep one's bearings, and I can vouch that they can be useful.
Posted: 7/11/15 at 1:16pm
Well I finished the Odyssey in two different formats (a poem adaptation and a play adaptation), so I think I will be okay on the plot. I've also read Portrait, Finnegans Wake, and Dubliners so I'm familiar with Joyce's style. With him, though, it's really less about the plot and much more about how the words make you feel.
I didn't really enjoy either the 4th or 5th Song of Ice and Fire books at all, and found them to go by super slowly. But I know a lot of people strongly disagree with me on that.
Posted: 7/11/15 at 2:07pm
I love Ulysses. Follow "Ulyssses Reader" on Twitter for fun quotes, or...
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