What are you reading?

[Magic1]

Ekinerkin:
Though the debate between kantian ethics and utilitarianism is common, utilitarianism can fit within kantian ethics, mills himself saying that utilitarianism is compatible with the categorical imperative.

Finished Foucault's Discipline and Punish a couple weeks ago. I thought it was great and as relevant as ever. Not as French as I was anticipating.

Started Adorno's aesthetic theory last week. Gave up after two pages.

[jackg]

I definitely agree faust, I am a big fan of his other books, lectures, debates and just the man generally but in the "essay" format his writing can be a bit tiresome.

I try and limit myself to one or two at a time, and just use it to break up my current rotation of books.

have you been reading anything of note lately?

[Faust]

Finally started reading Portnoy's Complaint by Philip Roth. Hilarious and of course a must read for any Jew (and beyond).

[jackg]

Finally started reading Portnoy's Complaint by Philip Roth. Hilarious and of course a must read for any Jew (and beyond).

ah very nice! I have heard nothing but good things about PC, and its another one sitting on my "to read" list post uni exams.

[MadMarc]

Just finished reading Nabokov's "Lolita" and "Pale Fire". I don't think I will ever forget the first Chapter of Lolita. What an immense accomplishment that novel is!
Now reading Hertha Müller's "The Hunger Angel" in its original German. It's a good novel in German, but I'm not sure the English translation is worthy of a Nobel Prize.

[OliverG]

Finally reading The World According to Garp...I guess its a modern day classic, I've been told by so many people to read it, and now I finally am. 500 page paperback. Who needs Kindle?? ;)

[amsicora]

starting

[RRWW]

Currently reading Literary Teory by Terry Eagleston, and 'attempting' to read William J.Bramley's 'Gods of Eden', which is incredibly interesting.

[Faust]

I've attempted to read the Eagleston book.

[RRWW]

Did you find it difficult to read? It is quite drab in parts I find.

[Faust]

Did you find it difficult to read? It is quite drab in parts I find.

Oh, yeah. I thought this exact sentiment lay in my statement above (the "attempted" part). I guess it did not come through. Years later I read that he's a religious nut, so I didn't feel too bad

[Faust]

Did you find it difficult to read? It is quite drab in parts I find.

Oh, yeah. I thought this exact sentiment lay in my statement above (the "attempted" part). I guess it did not come through. Years later I read that he's a religious nut, so I didn't feel too bad

[MetroBulotDodo]

I have always loved the collection that was posthumously arranged of Benjamin's writings -- Illumination. I also particularly recommend Arendt's insightful introduction to the volume, which is so clear-sighted and shines with affection.

I read the whole of Scholem's letters exchanged with Benjamin in a few days after finding it on a friend's grandmother's bookshelf in Tel Aviv. It sets the context and establishes quite well Benjamin's intellectual history, particularly his troubled relationship with Adorno and fascination with messianism (see his Philosophy of History.)

City of Quartz by Mike Davis on LA's emergence and transformation to its current urban iteration is engrossing as hell.

Agamben's Stanzas is admittedly not an easy read, but his essay on sloth is fabulous. (The clauses could have done well to be broken up.) His essays collected in Potentialities are fantastic as well, particularly the ultimate essay on Bartleby the Scrivener, which seems to establish the literary sources of his political direction.

Metaphysical Club by Louis Menand. Now this is a wonderful read. An intellectual history of an informal discussion group that met in Cambridge at the turn of the 20th century and included Charles T. Peirce, Oliver Wendell Holmes, William James and other luminaries. I engulfed this over and over.

MBD

[jackg]

Nadezhda Tolokonnikova of Pussy Riot's prison letters to Slavoj Žižek

[Faust]

Thanks for sharing. Bookmarked for later reading.