A younger guy at the bar and I started a book club. I am rereading old books from high school that I remember liking. We are on Catcher in the Rye as he never read it in high school. Totally different take the second time around.
Enjoy the benefits of a premium membership!
Upgrade Account
-
TalkBass has been independent since 1998. Add your voice.
Create a free account to reply to discussions, view embedded media, and browse with fewer display ads.
Join free Log in
Want zero display ads or expanded classifieds tools? Compare plans.
Double Bass DB forum "what books are you reading" thread
- Thread starter Chris Fitzgerald
- Start date
Almost finished with “The Power of One” by Frances Haugen, the Facebook whistleblower. A fascinating look into what happens when someone with a conscience works in an industry entirely without one. Some of the revelations about what were and are going on in the company are absolutely grotesque. Not that I’m surprised. Engagement algorithms, like the market, are amoral and following their path without question can lead to some pretty dark places.
Every reread of a book reveals its personal significance for the reader,
IMO.
The first reading of The Name of the Rose ( for example ) was mainly that of a crime story in the setting of a medieval monastery. As a teen I could not appreciate this masterwork of postmodern writing and the many ways it can be read.
The second reading was a revelation. I knew the crime story and I was more mature as a reader and human being.
And every reread since then is like meeting an old friend,listening to his stories and finding there some new aspect or reflection of the modern world.
IMO.
The first reading of The Name of the Rose ( for example ) was mainly that of a crime story in the setting of a medieval monastery. As a teen I could not appreciate this masterwork of postmodern writing and the many ways it can be read.
The second reading was a revelation. I knew the crime story and I was more mature as a reader and human being.
And every reread since then is like meeting an old friend,listening to his stories and finding there some new aspect or reflection of the modern world.
It's nice to see that the problems of recent years have not reduced interest in Russian writers.
Surprisingly different approach. Here (I’m from Russia), “War and Peace” is included in the school curriculum, and schoolchildren mostly joke about the fact that it is impossible to read so many pages. In literature lessons, we looked at the inner world and maturation of heroes, their spiritual growth and moral pain. We didn't consider the historical context of the book at all. If you ask a hundred random people in Russia what this book is about, everyone will say that it’s about Natasha Rostova, Andrei Bolkonsky and Pierre Bezukhov, but no one will remember about Napoleon. Despite the novel's title, the war never seemed important. It has always been viewed only as a background for what is happening in the souls of the heroes. Thanks for your approach.
I adore Dostojevski and Tolstoy and I enjoy reading them. I think some masterworks of literature are high above the current situation. I know that many russians read german writers like Kafka, Mann, Kant even during the dark times of world war II.
Yes it is. In Russia, Goethe, Remarque, Schiller, and Heine are well known. Since the beginning of the 20th century, thanks to Lenin, who relied on the works of Marx and Engels, we have a very developed respect for German philosophers. The Second World War does not diminish the respect for German authors. German classical philosophy is taught in all universities (Kant, Hegel, Feuerbach). All Russian children know the Brothers Grimm. Nietzsche and Schopenhauer remained the favorite writers of the Russian intelligentsia. We have entire clubs for Kafka and Süskind lovers.
I personally examined Max Stirner in detail. I really love the complex, philosophical and unconventional books of Friedrich Dürrenmath (yes, I know he is Swiss).
Russia is a country with a rich culture and love for foreign cultures. Now we are in a difficult situation, but our news publications continue to describe cultural events in Western and Eastern countries, people are interested in this. And there is not a bit of politics there.
I am glad that here, on the TB forum, I can feel like a member of a single friendly community.
Its good to know this and I hope that someday we can overcome this. I was born in 1973 - the cold war and the separation of east and west seemed to be a fact of life, also the fear of a nuklear catastrophy. Then came Glasnost and Perestroika an the world was different. You know the song Leningrad from Billy Joel? It was like a Soundtrack to these remarkable days.
yes, there is much more drama in the Peace parts than in the War parts.
I've had a tad more time than usual, so I'm picking up a couple that I stalled on.
Book of the Hopi by Frank Waters
It's a recounting of the myths, histories, and cosmology of the Hopi people published in the 60s.
Here's a short article on the book/author: 'Book of the Hopi' 50 years later
...and, The Cambridge Guide to the String Quartet.
It's a collection of essays, and I've been skipping around in it instead of reading straight through.
Part I Social Changes and Organological Developments
Book of the Hopi by Frank Waters
It's a recounting of the myths, histories, and cosmology of the Hopi people published in the 60s.
Here's a short article on the book/author: 'Book of the Hopi' 50 years later
...and, The Cambridge Guide to the String Quartet.
It's a collection of essays, and I've been skipping around in it instead of reading straight through.
Part I Social Changes and Organological Developments
- The string quartet and society - Christina Bashford
- Developments in instruments, bows and accessories - Robin Stowell
Part II Celebrated Ensembles
- From chamber to concert hall - Tully Potter
- The concert explosion and the age of recording - Tully Potter
Part III Playing String Quartets
- Playing quartets: a view from the inside - David Waterman
- Historical awareness in quartet performance - Simon Standage
- Extending the technical and expressive frontiers - Robin Stowell
Part IV The String Quartet Repertory
- The origins of the quartet - David Wyn Jones
- Haydn, Mozart and their contemporaries - W. Dean Sutcliffe
- Beethoven and the Viennese legacy - David Wyn Jones
- The Austro-Germanic quartet tradition in the nineteenth century - Stephen E. Hefling
- Traditional and progressive nineteenth-century trends: France, Italy, Great Britain and America - Robin Stowell
- Nineteenth-century national traditions and the string quartet - Jan Smaczny
- The string quartet in the twentieth century - Kenneth Gloag
- The string quartet as a foundation for larger ensembles - Colin Lawson
I studied at a Russian-language immersion school in the late 60s at a place that was headed by Tolstoy's youngest daughter Alexandra Lvovna. There were shelves full of editions of W&P in I forget how many languages. The students were trying to read original editions, which was interesting because they were written using the pre-revolutionary alphabet in some cases and used French when the aristocrats were talking to each other. Ms. Tolstoy was essentially a monarchist who had no time for anything post-revolution but did give some great insight into her father's writing process and pre-Soviet life. When I later later read it in English it gave a different and useful perspective.
My last few reads have been:
"Around the House and in the Garden" by Dominique Browning, which I found on the bookshelf. My wife and I had seen her at RJ Julia's in 2010 and she must have bought the book. It is a collection of very short pieces about aspects of a home (including furniture), homemaking, and gardening that brings it all to life in a very pleasing way.
"The Power of Gold, the History of an Obsession" by Peter Bernstein. This is a chronologic history, though not complete, about the roll of gold in human civilization, told through a collection of stories or mini-histories.
Currently I'm reading "Atlas Hugged" by David Sloan Wilson. Once upon a time I was influenced by Ann Rand, Alan Greenspan might have cured me of that, I don't know, but I found this at goodwill and I'm giving it a try. Very simplistic and ideological, like the book it is meant to refute, but readable and fun so far.
"Around the House and in the Garden" by Dominique Browning, which I found on the bookshelf. My wife and I had seen her at RJ Julia's in 2010 and she must have bought the book. It is a collection of very short pieces about aspects of a home (including furniture), homemaking, and gardening that brings it all to life in a very pleasing way.
"The Power of Gold, the History of an Obsession" by Peter Bernstein. This is a chronologic history, though not complete, about the roll of gold in human civilization, told through a collection of stories or mini-histories.
Currently I'm reading "Atlas Hugged" by David Sloan Wilson. Once upon a time I was influenced by Ann Rand, Alan Greenspan might have cured me of that, I don't know, but I found this at goodwill and I'm giving it a try. Very simplistic and ideological, like the book it is meant to refute, but readable and fun so far.
Recently read through an excellent book called Life on Delay: Making Peace with a Stutter, by John Hendrickson. It's written by someone with a stutter and they discuss both their own experiences and experiences of others that he interviewed- it's surprising how many famous people have a stutter that no one really notices. He also talks about the (limited) science around it. It hits pretty close to home for me as for years I had a pretty severe stutter, which isn't ideal in middle school lol. It's not that noticeable now, but it's definitely a part of who I am.
Not a book but a great mini series called “ The Pacific” Stephen Spielberg and Tom Hanks produced this very moving work. Many scenes are not easy to watch and some of what is portrayed is unspeakably sad but it is a laudable achievement. WWII was my dad’s war and it’s always interested me. I’ve read many many books on various aspects of the war in the pacific. Curiously, I knew very little about what my dad had done until I was about 36. Seems his generation was pretty reticent to talk about their experiences. Still fascinated by a genre that grew up in a real depression, “Grapes of Wrath”, stuff and then went on to willingly enlist and fight in a world war. Way to easy to make facile comparisons between life in America then and now, but the men and women of that generation have my undying admiration and respect.
Recently finished Dennis Lehane's "Small Mercies". I found out about this book via NY Times book review interview with Richard Russo, which I'll quote here (his answer to "What was the last great book you read?"): "“Small Mercies," by Dennis Lehane. Think of all your favorite hard-boiled authors (Hammett? Chandler? Ross Macdonald? Robert Parker?) and their tough guy heroes (Spade? Marlowe? Lew Archer? Spenser?). Not one of them could take Lehane’s Mary Pat in a fair fight, and they wouldn’t last a day in his Southie." I'm a sucker for the aforementioned hard-boiled authors, so I went ahead and placed a hold on it from the library. It is indeed a rock solid, hard-boiled type of novel, but there's a whole lot more layers to it since it takes place in the Southie part of Boston in the 1970s. 10/10.
And now for something completely different, on my nightstand now is Aiden Levy's excellent "Saxophone Colossus: The Life and Music of Sonny Rollins".
And now for something completely different, on my nightstand now is Aiden Levy's excellent "Saxophone Colossus: The Life and Music of Sonny Rollins".
I'm on to the, Basketball Diaries. I liked the movie as a kid and its an interesting diary of growing up as a feral kid in NYC during the early 60s
My Dad was in France, Belgium and Germany, received his third wound, purple heart and ticket home in the Ardennes. Recently went to Bastogne with wife and daughter and relished the experience of walking through the foxholes at Bois Jacques and telling my daughter the few stories he shared. But it was very few stories, like most he did not talk about it much and when there was all the press of the 60th anniversaries he had a lot of PTSD come back.
I'm finally able at my advanced age to read Faulkner. I think he's the best writer America has produced. As I Lay Dying is a good starter. The Faulkner Reader too. I've gotta go slow sometimes almost like reading poetry and just ignore some impenetrable and distasteful stuff. I've always felt a bit hostile to The South, but reading him has helped change that a bit.
+1 on all of this. I'm currently reading Jodi Picoult's "The Storyteller" and it brings up the same feelings in me. It's largely about the Holocaust and the people who lived through it, and how they are loathe to talk about it afterward. Characters in the book who at first don't seem to have much to say turn out to have endured some of the most horrific experiences imaginable, but you don't discover that until much later. What you said about your dad reminded me of this all over again.
Just finished Warren Zane’s (formerly of the Boston punk band Del Fuegos, he’s now a college professor!) book on the making of Bruce Springsteen’s album “Nebraska”. Time to pull that LP off the shelf and spin it again!
I’m now into the first book I've read from a mystery author who is new to me, Mark Billingham.
I’m now into the first book I've read from a mystery author who is new to me, Mark Billingham.
