dorty Posted January 31 Share Posted January 31 The unabridged Gulliver's Travels, written in 1721. A great read, with wonderfully descriptive language. It also has what must be one of the earliest euthemisms: "I had for a number of hours been extremely pressed due to the necessities of nature". In other words, having a dump. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Consortium of one Posted January 31 Share Posted January 31 Chronicles of the Black Company. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
mouldy_uk Posted February 6 Share Posted February 6 80% through Consider Phelbas, and enjoying it so far. Anyone read the entire Culture series and would recommend it? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Django Posted February 10 Share Posted February 10 (edited) Finished reading the Edgar Allan Poe collection. Although I’m not a great reader of poetry I found a Poe’s a mixed bag. Enjoyed the Raven and the Bells, as being the most immediately accessible and fun. His tales are usually great fun if a little dated in their gothic romanticism. Particularly great are the most famous ones: Rue Morgue, Pit & the Pendulum et al but I enjoyed them all His criticism was unremarkable and was only really interesting for showing contemporary views of writers who we view very differently now. He was a controversialist. Another thing I found interesting was his criticism of American culture and writers for just copying British culture and writers. How things have changed! Edited February 10 by Django Typos Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
kingkerouac Posted February 10 Share Posted February 10 (edited) On 06/02/2023 at 19:22, mouldy_uk said: 80% through Consider Phelbas, and enjoying it so far. Anyone read the entire Culture series and would recommend it? Yes. Was a huge fan of Bank's 'normal' novels, then strangely after 9/11, I found solace in his sci-fi. So over the next few years, read them all. Definitely recommend. It's time I gave them all another read. Edited February 10 by kingkerouac Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
kingkerouac Posted February 10 Share Posted February 10 Just finished the Mirror & The Light - the last of Mantels' Wolf Hall trilogy. Fantastic stuff. Am now reading Haruki Murakami's 1Q84, still on the Arabian Nights, The McCartney Legacy Vol 1, and am about to start The Count of Monte Cristo. I've really got back into reading again. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Django Posted February 10 Share Posted February 10 55 minutes ago, kingkerouac said: Just finished the Mirror & The Light - the last of Mantels' Wolf Hall trilogy. Fantastic stuff. Am now reading Haruki Murakami's 1Q84, still on the Arabian Nights, The McCartney Legacy Vol 1, and am about to start The Count of Monte Cristo. I've really got back into reading again. Which version are you reading? I’m just starting the newish translation of vol 1 of the complete translated tales by Malcolm Lyons. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
kingkerouac Posted February 11 Share Posted February 11 18 hours ago, Django said: Which version are you reading? I’m just starting the newish translation of vol 1 of the complete translated tales by Malcolm Lyons. I believe it's the Sir Richard Burton translation. It's doesn't scan well at all, like. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Django Posted February 11 Share Posted February 11 50 minutes ago, kingkerouac said: I believe it's the Sir Richard Burton translation. It's doesn't scan well at all, like. Yeah Lyon’s is pretty scathing of it: “A great achievement in its time, … (it) nonetheless contained many errors, and even in the 1880s his English read strangely” Damning with faint praise comes to mind. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
kingkerouac Posted February 11 Share Posted February 11 2 hours ago, Django said: Yeah Lyon’s is pretty scathing of it: “A great achievement in its time, … (it) nonetheless contained many errors, and even in the 1880s his English read strangely” Damning with faint praise comes to mind. Yeah I understand that, it really does read strangely. I wish I'd known there was an alternative translation. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
bobloblaw Posted February 11 Share Posted February 11 Anyone have a recommendation for a decent narrative history of the Russian Civil War? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
kingkerouac Posted February 17 Share Posted February 17 Really enjoying 1Q84 like. Fantastic story. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Troll Posted February 23 Share Posted February 23 Halfway through Moby Dick. Reckon I probably know enough to catch a whale at this point. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
OpenC Posted February 23 Share Posted February 23 4 minutes ago, Troll said: Halfway through Moby Dick. Reckon I probably know enough to catch a whale at this point. By the end you will also know how to extract and store all the bits of it you can sell, as well as how to make suitable rope for use with harpoons it's the strangest book I've ever read but I find it completely compelling now Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Troll Posted February 23 Share Posted February 23 I just read the rope chapter. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
kingkerouac Posted March 5 Share Posted March 5 Started the Count of Monte Cristo, it's the Barnes & Noble version - so not sure which translated version it is. But, just like my experience with the Arabian Nights, it seems a bit like reading the script for a play that includes all the stage directions as part of the text. I like the set up - boy gets ship, boy meets girl, boy loses ship, boy loses girl etc, so willing to overlook the clunky dialogue...for now. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Django Posted March 8 Share Posted March 8 (edited) I always do a bit of research on translations before I pick one, its so important to get the right one in some cases. In others less so I guess. Anyway, I finished the first volume of the Arabian Nights, was great but a little bit repetitive, possibly because I rattled through it too quickly. It might have been better to pick up in between other book instead of reading it solid over a week or two. After that I read a book on my kindle about one of my favourite bands, the Fall called Have a Bleedin Guess by a former member Paul Hanley which I'd started on a plane a few months back. Took me a few hours to read. Fun book for the initiaited, it's about the making of their seminal album Hex Enduction Hour. I'm now reading two books of poetry. Firstly a collection of poems by Alexander Pope called The Rape of the Lock and Other Major Writings and secondly Romeo And Juilet by Shakespeare (for a bookclub with my nieces as they're studying it at school). Edited March 8 by Django typos Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
kingkerouac Posted March 8 Share Posted March 8 On 05/03/2023 at 10:22, kingkerouac said: Started the Count of Monte Cristo, it's the Barnes & Noble version - so not sure which translated version it is. But, just like my experience with the Arabian Nights, it seems a bit like reading the script for a play that includes all the stage directions as part of the text. I like the set up - boy gets ship, boy meets girl, boy loses ship, boy loses girl etc, so willing to overlook the clunky dialogue...for now. Actually, I'm up to the section where he's in prison and I'm warming to it now... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
gbandit Posted March 8 Share Posted March 8 All of the prison section is immense Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
OpenC Posted March 8 Share Posted March 8 Aye Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nucasol Posted March 8 Share Posted March 8 Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall Kimmerer. Makes me realise how out of touch most of us are with the natural world, myself included. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
dorty Posted March 9 Share Posted March 9 (edited) I ditched Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad about two thirds of the way through. I found it like wading through treacle, very disappointing. That said, I did read it late at night in a few sittings, maybe not a good idea as probably tired and need to concentrate hard. I gave it to a customer, he found it to be the same. Edited March 9 by dorty Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
OpenC Posted March 9 Share Posted March 9 Aye, it's irrefutable proof that while sometimes a short work can be as satisfying as a longer one, equally sometimes a short work can feel just as interminable and timewasting as a longer one Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
bobbydazzla Posted March 9 Share Posted March 9 (edited) I got through Heart of Darkness but it's tough going at times Only short book I've tried to read but found too difficult to finish is Confessions of an English Opium Eater, it's just the inane ramblings of a flouncy smackhead Edited March 9 by bobbydazzla Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
MrRaspberryJam Posted March 9 Share Posted March 9 Just ordered Shibumi. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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