Currently Reading (Take 2)

[Fantod]

What are your favorite poems?

We're reading Sylvia Plath in school right now and I really like her work, despite how dark it is.

[After Eight]

^

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.

[Fantod]

I really wish I could read French. English and German with a little Spanish, but no French.

[sabrelady]

Finished the All Souls Trilogy by Deborah Harkness. A vampire & witch romance/ adventure w heavy historical elements. Sadly I really enjoy it and have reread it already.
Starting W is for Wasted by Sue Grafton. Always enjoyed Kinsey Milhone.

And finally Amy Pohler's "Yes, Please".

[After Eight]

Fantod,

Perhaps further along in your studies.

But you seem to be doing more than enough reading without it.

[Jay Lerner-Z]

Eric, thanks for the suggestion - that sounds great, I'll be sure to look it up.

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?

[NYadgal]

"There Was and There Was Not"

(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

[Fantod]

I should have been more specific. I have been reading Finnegans Wake for the past two months (same with Gravity's Rainbow), but finished it in the past two weeks. There is no way I could finish the whole book in two weeks! I also had a nice edition with a handy plot synopsis that I frequently referred to so as not to get lost. It reminded me of The Skin of Our Teeth (which I was just talking about on the main board).

[Jay Lerner-Z]

Still...impressive. Have you read any other James Joyce?

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

[Fantod]

Thank you, and thanks for the audio. I have also read Portrait of the Artist as well as a few stories from Dubliners. This summer I want to read Ulysses, but that makes me nervous to even start.

[Jay Lerner-Z]

Ulysses is a piece of cake compared to Finnegans Wake, so you should be fine. Enjoy!

[sabrelady]

^^^^ Yes Ulysses is so much easier then Finnegan's Wake. This year I'm participating in Bloom's Day.

[Jay Lerner-Z]

Any summer reading planned? Not long until Go Set A Watchman, hooray.

Upcoming 2015 - anything tickle your fancy?

 

[LarryD2]

Looking forward to Ta-Nehisi Coates' book, which comes out next week.

[Plum]

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.

[FindingNamo]

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.

[javero]

"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.

[Fantod]

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.

[BroadwayGuy12]

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!

[bwayphreak234]

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.

[Roscoe]

The third book in the series, STORM OF SWORDS, is one of the most bitchin' reading experiences you'll ever have.

[Fantod]

But then the series falls right of a cliff

[Roscoe]

"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.

 

[Fantod]

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.

[Jay Lerner-Z]

I love Ulysses. Follow "Ulyssses Reader" on Twitter for fun quotes, or...

If you haven’t read ‘Ulysses’ yet, then start here - five good reasons to dive into a truly great work of fiction

[javero]

Check out these doozies at... GROVER NORQUIST'S 4 SUMMER READING RECS .