I still have Citizens on my shelves somewhere. I remember finding it very informative at the time, but I'm afraid that I've lost much of what I learned by now.
About 200 pages into Švejk, I suppose I find it funny in spite of myself. He takes all these horrible things, like the treatment of soldiers in the military jails, the callousness and inefficiency of the Austrian officers, and just makes you concentrate on the absurdity of it all. Long way to go, though. It's also gotten me interested in learning more about Austrian involvement in WWI. Seems like all we generally read about in this country is the Western front.
I heard about it quite accidentally, I think, not even sure how. It ended up on my Amazon wish list and now it's here.
"If a thing is worth doing, it is worth doing badly."
G.K. Chesterton
Lady Onogaro (May 26th, 2014)
The book has the same kind of meditative quality as I remember that film having. I read not too long ago the book The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry, another book along the same themes, so I thought it interesting that Cullen takes this iconic figure as his main character--though the subject is not Sherlock Holmes, really, at all. But then it seems to me that almost every book that has really moved me or touched me has done so because I feel that it is, on some level, talking about me (even the Sherlock Holmes stories, strange as that might seem). I agree with what Edward St. Aubyn said in his interview with Teri Gross last week: "Books always had this very powerful effect on me because of some communication, somebody seeming even in a very symbolic or displaced way to understand what I was feeling. And I think that is the miracle of literature, is this private communication between one intelligence and another." And that's why the book touched me.
Lady Onogaro
"Be yourself--everybody else is already taken." --Oscar Wilde
Back into China Mieville's "Kraken"
"Something driven and intense and intent on itself. And since shortly after that, it had unfolded again and become something a little more itself, emerged from a pupa of unspecificity into sentience, an obsessive moment of now that trod heavily in time."
Last edited by Bogon07; May 26th, 2014 at 06:37 PM.
sinistral hypergraphica - a slurry of ink
"Nothing means less than zero"
La folle journée ou le mariage de Figaro by Beaumarchais. My French isn't really up to scratch to catch all the jokes but it's mostly slapstick type comedy (my husband, quick, behind the sofa). For it's time it made very free with the faults of nobility, which is why I read it but I should really have read the Barber of Seville first.
THE MISSING INK by PHILLIP HENSHAW
Last edited by GING GING; August 1st, 2014 at 09:37 PM. Reason: wrong first name
Last book I read was "Prey" by Michael Crichton. Currently reading "The Terror" by Dan Simmons. Pretty good book so far!
Anyone else own an ereader? I've had mine for months and just can't seem to enjoy it.
I have a kindle paperwhite and it usually sits under my pillow for those times when insomnia hits. I used to use my book light but that kept blinking out. Initially I found it difficult to enjoy but find myself enjoying it more but it certainly cant replace a physical book for me.
velo (August 4th, 2014)
Yesterday I read On Becoming a Novelist by John Gardner.
What I've read this summer:
"Octopus: the ocean's intelligent invertebrate" by Jennifer Mather. Fascinating & informative. Enjoyable despite an unnecessarily outspoken Naturalistic Evolutionary bias.
" Handbook to Life in Ancient Egypt" by Rosalie David. Dry, but informative enough to engage. Mostly a synopsis of archaeological discoveries over the past century.
"Archaeology and The Bible" by J.A. Thompson. A very dated book, but still relevant, & fun to "fact check" against more recent academic journal articles. Probably my favorite read so far.
"Robinson Crusoe" by Daniel DeFoe. Painfully moralistic. I'm not a third of the way through, and may never finish it. For those of you who remember struggling through Melville's "Moby Dick," this one is less interesting, & not nearly as well written.
"A Farewell to Arms" by Ernest Hemingway. I hate Hemingway's sloppy grammatical style & structural technique. Seriously. I cringe when I see in Hemingway the same errors that were so painstakingly beaten out of me, & that I strive to eradicate from my students--but his stories are just so gripping! He writes in a way that makes the mundane so deep and real that he is one of my favorite authors. Nobody captured the human condition like Ernest Hemingway. Nobody.
"Changeling" & "Madwand" by Roger Zelazny. I read these as a teen, but re-read them to be able to dialogue with my daughter as she enjoyed them. Zelazny was to science fiction as M.C. Escher was to art. Pure genius.
Last edited by Dreck; August 4th, 2014 at 08:17 PM. Reason: There's no maybe; it's Moby, not Miby.
Online arguments are a lot like the Rocky Horror Picture Show.
As soon as the audience begins to participate, any actual content is lost in the resulting chaos and cacophony.
At that point, all you can do is laugh and enjoy the descent into debasement.
Bogon07 (August 4th, 2014), LagNut (August 8th, 2014), tiffanyhenschel (August 5th, 2014)
I just finished The Cuckoo's Call by "Robert Galbraith." (J.k. Rowling) I'm not a big mystery/detective fan, but I liked this one. Then again, I also thought The Casual Vacancy was well written, so my taste is probably not with the majority.
Draw close. Hold hands. Life is short. God is good. - Jan Karon
After fighting against them for years I finally got one a year and a half ago. It's not the same experience as reading a book, but I have learned to appreciate mine for its own benefits. It is more convenient for traveling, for sure. I really like that I can change the screen from white to beige to black depending on the light in the room. I have less eye strain now.
Draw close. Hold hands. Life is short. God is good. - Jan Karon
velo (August 4th, 2014)
I've been using an eReader since they were first available. I love the fact I can have so many books in 1 small package. I also love that I can buy a book immediately I hear about it or whenever I feel like it and I don't have to go to the shop either. I think they're ideal for reading novels.
These days I tend to buy from independent booksellers or smaller chains and never from Amazon.
That said, there are some books I prefer to have in "hard copy" especially those with pictures. Also, I prefer a physical book if it's a reference book and I want to make notes. (I can do that on my eReader but prefer marking notes and inserting tabs onto physical pages.)
velo (August 10th, 2014)
Yes! When I finally gave in and got my ereader, I carefully thought through my criteria for buying hard copies. As a result, I buy fewer hard copies of books, but they tend to be more expensive per book. Since I'm not buying as many, I can splurge on the occasional first edition and look for beautiful editions that are as much about the art of the printed page as the words on the page.
Draw close. Hold hands. Life is short. God is good. - Jan Karon
velo (August 10th, 2014)
Doing the 'Jack Reacher' series. On book #12, Nothing to Lose.
Beyond Good and Evil by Friedrich Nietzsche
A couple of the students in our High School Bible class are reading that. I had a copy many, many years ago; back when I thought he was profound & read a bunch of his stuff. When Nietzsche is good, he is spot-on good. When he isn't, though, you're in for some ridiculous rambles.
Online arguments are a lot like the Rocky Horror Picture Show.
As soon as the audience begins to participate, any actual content is lost in the resulting chaos and cacophony.
At that point, all you can do is laugh and enjoy the descent into debasement.
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