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What are you reading Chapter 4

#81
Psychology of the Unconscious: a study of the transformations and symbolisms of the libido, a contribution to the history of the evolution of thought

C. G. Jung
1912
English translation: 1916

fnord!

I've almost finished this very dense book. I've enjoyed it, but one better have patience as he does seem to prove his points into the ground. He was introducing very new concepts at that time and a modern reader may find some of his examples redundant. He makes the Libido argument much better than Freud, as he expands it. The tie in to all religious symbols/ancient works of art, helps me understand other's worship--extension of unconscious Libido, etc.
I think it can help me with my novel as well as my lyrics. Ancient/primordial symbols are the stuff of the literature of Nietzsche, Joyce, and Faulkner. Also many tv ads!
I recommend it. Know the logos.
 
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#83
The Color Purple - Alice Walker

Post slave life of blacks in the South in the 30s. Mostly about the women in an extended family setting and their relationships with their men. This family unit seems to be pretty loose with men coming and going.
Women treated as next to nothing and some inappropriate sexual relations with their fathers. Powerful women with strong survival instants brought up tough.
Main character is a women raped by her step dad and then given away to a man who would much rather be married to her sister. Sister leaves and becomes a missionary assistant to an English couple who mission in Africa. The sisters write to each other (most of the book is presented as their correspondences back and forth), but the letters are withheld by the husband.
Lot of grit. A lot of hard times and a lot of soul. Basic survival.
 
#84
me--similar. the known world by edward p jones
it's about black slave owners.

jones said in aninterview paris rfeview, he was so poor his mom would buy a tube of toothpaste every fall for back to school stuff. that was the only tube theygot all year.
 
#86
chuck norriss said:
i need to finish the sound and the fury. it's alright
Click to expand...

When you finish it, go back and read it again. It blossoms. Read it and take in what you can the first time, but don't sweat the details. It's a novel that begs to be read every 5-7 years for your new perspective. Dense tour de force by my favorite author. Billy F's the best and he knew it:
 

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#87
The Remains of the Day - Kazuo Ishiguro

The narrator, Stevens, a butler, recalls his life in the form of a diary while the action progresses through the present. Much of the novel is concerned with Stevens' professional and, above all, personal relationship with a former colleague, the housekeeper Miss Kenton.
Working together during the years leading up to the Second World War, Stevens and Miss Kenton fail to admit their true feelings towards each other. All of their recollected conversations show a professional friendship which at times came close to crossing the line into romance, but never dared to do so.
Also has to to with the dignity and character making a good professional butler, Stevens coming from a line of butlers. About proper protocol and conduct running the affairs of a large manor in bygone times. Having a hard time fitting into more modern times with a more casual new American owner of the estate.

Good read. Kind of stuffy - but hey - it's about a British butler.
 
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#88
Madame Bovary - Gustave Flaubert

1850s French novel about a country hick turned doctor who marries a beautiful young peasant girl. He is much older and as she matures she starts getting bored with him on account he's kind of a simpleton. She starts having affairs later in life and then starts spending all of their money on frivolous stuff and charging the expenditures to a loan shark.

Flaubert is considered the first French "Realist" writer and was know for using "just the right word". Very descriptive. The story and moral is pretty simple. These old authors really telescope the story, so one doesn't get much surprise.
 
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#94
A Fine Balance - Rohinton Mistry

Set in Bombay, India between 1975 and 1984 during the turmoil of The Emergency, a period of expanded government power and crackdowns on civil liberties, the book concerns four characters from varied backgrounds – Dina Dalal, Ishvar Darji, his nephew Omprakash Darji and a young student Maneck Kohlah – brought together by economic forces changing India, develop a bond.
The book exposes the changes in Indian society from independence in 1947 to the Emergency called by Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi. Mistry is generally critical of Gandhi in the book. Gandhi, however, is never referred to by name by any of the characters, and is instead called simply "the Prime Minister".
 
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#96
Charlotte's Web - E.B. White

A children's novel by American author E. B. White and illustrated by Garth Williams; it was published in 1952 by Harper & Brothers. The novel tells the story of a pig named Wilbur and his friendship with a barn spider named Charlotte. After sparing the life of a baby piglet almost slaughtered due to his status as runt of the litter, a little girl named Fern Arable adopts it and nurtures it lovingly, naming it Wilbur. However, she is crushed when the piglet matures enough to be separated from his mother, and Wilbur is thus sent to reside on a farm owned by Fern's uncle, Homer Zuckerman. Her powerful attachment to Wilbur mutual, the pig is left yearning for companionship but is snubbed by other barn animals. However, he is welcomed by an unseen voice who promises to befriend him, vowing to reveal itself to him in the morning. When Wilbur is in danger of being slaughtered by the farmer, Charlotte writes messages praising Wilbur (such as "Some Pig") in her web in order to persuade the farmer to let him live.
 
#98
I have three going right now: Critique of Pure Reason, Immanuel Kant ( I realized that I had never gotten around to reading it before); Left Turn, Tim Groseclose ( I really don't think he makes a very compelling argument, and although I am not trained in the social sciences ( I have been a research scientist in biochemistry/cell biology for 30 years) I find some pretty glaring holes in his methodology and the conclusions he draws); just starting Capital In the 21st Century, Thomas Piketty.

My wife says I should read a novel - I think she may be correct!
 

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