What are you reading?

[viv1984viv]

"The Death of Ivan Ilyich" is poignant tale.

Hanajibu - care to post an amazon link to the P&V Tolstoy shorts??

Read Robert Louis Stevensons "The Body Snatchers" - dark stuff, imagine lots of viridi-anne clad, ruffians carrying out abhorrent deeds in the woods at night..

[mamaboy]

tolstoy is boring

[mamaboy]

never could finish "war and piece"....fuck that

[Faust]

/\ second. not boring, but still couldn't finish it. it's an arduous book and I praise those who finish it.

[hanajibu]

@ viv1984viv: i don't think there is one yet, the p+v translation's publication date is nov 22 of this year. my first time reading "master and man" — THAT was poignant.
@ faust: "war and peace" felt like two novels to me, and i've only read p+v's translation since i do not know russian. i.e. the society scenes, which i found exhilarating/captivating, and the war scenes that were way over my head and i plodded through.

[viv1984viv]

Ah - right, will have to keep an eye out for it then.

War and Peace feels like the wire, a continuous soap opera, growing attached to such beautifully rendered characters and following them through thick and thin..... conversely Tolstoy intended it to be a pretty accurate historical account.... so I guess extra details took precedence over constructing gripping crescendos in some places.

The second epigraph at the end, his notes on histories, cannons etc is pretty much the most important part of the book for me. Really transforms your understanding of the experience you have just lived through when reading the book.

I wish I read the P&V translation but unfortunately they released it after id finished the maude and maude version from everymans library... Id like to re-read War and Peace but would do the P&V this time round, im probably not going to start it anytime soon as there are just so many other great books out there vying for my attention..

[Faust]

Ah - right, will have to keep an eye out for it then.

War and Peace feels like the wire, a continuous soap opera, growing attached to such beautifully rendered characters and following them through thick and thin..... conversely Tolstoy intended it to be a pretty accurate historical account.... so I guess extra details took precedence over constructing gripping crescendos in some places.

The second epigraph at the end, his notes on histories, cannons etc is pretty much the most important part of the book for me. Really transforms your understanding of the experience you have just lived through when reading the book.

I wish I read the P&V translation but unfortunately they released it after id finished the maude and maude version from everymans library... Id like to re-read War and Peace but would do the P&V this time round, im probably not going to start it anytime soon as there are just so many other great books out there vying for my attention..

The other way around, my friend - soap operas are kitsch based exactly on books like that.

[Real Real]

Read Hadji Murat, it's Tolstoy, it's really good, and it's only 100 something pages.

[Aleks]

does anybody else read with a pencil and notebook?

[Faust]

does anybody else read with a pencil and notebook?

When I am writing an article on the said book :-) Always a good practice though - there is so much we miss.

I read an interesting thought in a recent article (don't remember which, how telling!), people used to read a 100 books in their life time very carefully and would be considered educated, we now skim 1,000 books in our lifetime and don't know them deeply.

[jamesd]

does anybody else read with a pencil and notebook?

I use a pencil to underline/make notes in my books. I just can't stomach using something permanent like pen even though I know I'll never erase the pencil marks and, even if I wanted to, I wouldn't be able to erase all traces anyway.

[mrbeuys]

Reading The Cellist of Sarajevo by Stephen Galloway, which is as good as they say. 'Them' being the likes of Richard & Judy (won't mean much if you ain't from the UK), which usually isn't the kind of endorsement I would go for. But made all the more poignant by having lived pretty closely through the Yugoslavian conflict. I recommend.

[viv1984viv]

The other way around, my friend - soap operas are kitsch based exactly on books like that.

Ha - yeah - thats a it of a crude comparison...

But I just felt it didnt have as defined a plot arch or finale as other books....overall...so thats not to say it didnt have them- it did - but just so so many - im to tired, I cant easily sum up the experience..

But alot of Russian books were released in journals or periodicals spread over months. Nowadays I think - maybe for some people - its too easy to dismiss a Dostoevsky or something due to fear of not being able to finish it in 3 sittings and not getting the best out of it... this is simple not the case, take the time, read it bit by bit and relish each page.

[mamaboy]

"obstetric anesthesia".....just kiddin......i saw this book in somebodys house and thuoght i looked into this ,let me put it on sz

[cda6]

Dune

Dune!
its great after the first 40 pages.