What Are You Reading Now? Showing 1,251-1,300 of 2,435

[Amyjzed]

I just started Paradise Lost as an audio book on a long drive but I think I will try reading most of it from the book to make sure I'm catching the details.

[Darren]

I found I read most of Paradise Lost out loud to myself!

[Gavin]

I'm reading The Forever War

[Richard]

I finished reading L'Immoraliste in the original French, and have started Nostromo

L'Immoraliste was a re-read for me. I first read it at school 40 years ago. Returning to it was a revelation. I was expecting just sickly pederast apologism, but Gide's novel transcended this. The narrator Michel certainly is a sickly pederast apologist, but Gide is a masterful exploiter of narratorial unreliability, laying bare the ugliness of Michel's twerpish egoism.

Nostromo is similarly a re-read for me. My first read must have been 15-20 years ago, and I have mentioned to one or two friends that I never quite got it in the way that I got other novels by Conrad, e.g. Under Western Eyes and The Secret Agent. However, one friend's insistence has persuaded me to revisit Nostromo, so that's what I'm doing. I must confess I'm enjoying it so far.

[Amyjzed]

Darren wrote: "I found I read most of Paradise Lost out loud to myself!"

Interesting! It seems quite lyrical and reminds me of an opera. I guess there is one based on the story, which I will have to look into when I finish!

[Luffy Sempai]

Paradise Lost is quite an example of a fan fic being better than the original.

[Darren]

Luffy wrote: "Paradise Lost is quite an example of a fan fic being better than the original."

LOL! I had not thought of it like that!

[Kelly]

The Mark On The Wall by Virginia Woolf. Strange.
The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat and Other Clinical Tales. Enlightening and funny.

[RJ - Slayer of Trolls]

I finished Steinbeck's travelogue


Travels with Charley: In Search of America by John Steinbeck
Rating: 4 stars
Review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

and I started reading


To Die in California by Newton Thornburg

[Squire]

Foucault's Pendulum

[Kevin]

Luffy wrote: "Kathleen wrote: "I could have sworn Moby-Dick or, the Whale was twice as long as War and Peace. :-)."

You are not alone in that thought."

I had the same feeling.

[Luffy Sempai]

Kevin wrote: "Luffy wrote: "Kathleen wrote: "I could have sworn Moby-Dick or, the Whale was twice as long as War and Peace. :-)."

You are not alone in that thought."

I had the same feeling."

Cool! :)

[Gavin]

I'm reading Childhood's End

[Lynn, New School Classics]

Gavin wrote: "I'm reading Childhood's End"

Oh I loved that one!

[Wreade1872]

I'm feeling pretty good. My reading has been quite slow, due to the cold. Sometimes when its cold i don't have the energy for anything but reading but other times like now i only want to watch stuff and find it hard to read anything.
But i forced myself to do a bit more today and ended up managing to read quite a lot, finishing
The Dwarf by Pär Lagerkvist [4/5] review

[Reed]

I’m reading Die Trying

[Linda R,]

I am reading Walter Scott's Ivanhoe.

[Luffy Sempai]

For now I cannot answer the OP's question. I sideloaded 5 books and haven't decided what to read next, though Inferno: The World at War, 1939-1945 is among the frontrunners.

[RJ - Slayer of Trolls]

I finished the Depression-Era drama


Mildred Pierce by James M. Cain
Rating: 4 stars
Review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

and I started reading one of the first collections of Sherlock Holmes "pastiches," this one with some stories written by Arthur Conan Doyle's son


The Exploits of Sherlock Holmes by Adrian Conan Doyle and John Dickson Carr

[Linda R,]

I just finished Jack London's The Call of the Wild. It was violent and vivid.

Now I am reading Iris Murdoch's novel The Philosopher's Pupil. Also violent and vivid in a primitive way.

This is a good weekend for reading books of survival.

[Janice]

I am still rereading Jane Eyre. <3

[Janice]

RJ - Slayer of Trolls wrote: "I finished the Depression-Era drama


Mildred Pierce by James M. Cain
Rating: 4 stars
Review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show..."

I want to read Mildred Pierce. I love the 1945 film with Joan Crawford and Ann Blyth. <3

[RJ - Slayer of Trolls]

Janice wrote: "I want to read Mildred Pierce. I love the 1945 film with Joan Crawford and Ann Blyth. <3"

It's a good read, but the film is a little different from the book. I understand the HBO miniseries a few years ago stayed more true to Cain's original story.

[Wreade1872]

Started a book called Down to a Sunless Sea by David Graham.
No idea what its about or how it ended up on my ereader but i did notice another book with the same name by Lin Carter and that seems more likely to be something i meant to read :lol .
Anyway whether its a mixup or not it seems like it might be interesting :) .

[Wreade1872]

Also started Irene Iddesleigh by Amanda McKittrick Ros (1897), reputedly awful in a purpleprose way, i'm liking it already :) .

[Lynn, New School Classics]

Wreade1872 wrote: "Also started Irene Iddesleigh by Amanda McKittrick Ros (1897), reputedly awful in a purpleprose way, i'm liking it already :) ."

I learned another new term: purpleprose. LOL I like it.

[Luffy Sempai]

Luffy wrote: "For now I cannot answer the OP's question. I sideloaded 5 books and haven't decided what to read next, though Inferno: The World at War, 1939-1945 is among the frontrunners."

After 7 days of reading, I report that I am indeed reading Inferno: The World at War, 1939-1945. After the usual enthusiastic start, the reading experience has grinded to a glacier like speed.

Having read a third of the book, I'm yet to be shown the fullest horrors of Nazism.
Also, and this shows the limits of my mind more than anything else, there are only so many times one can wrap one's head round stats such as 'at least 2000 people were killed'. Millions have never been more abstract.

[Greg]

Just finished Fully Empowered by Pablo Neruda, and re-reading it almost a couple decades later, it's still my favorite of the five or six of Neruda's books that I've read so far. I can see why it was a personal favorite of his, and the translation by Alastair Reid is wonderful! It holds up much better than his The Yellow Heart that I re-read earlier in November.

Also finished Rabeah Ghaffari's extraordinary tale set in the times of Iran's 1979 revoluation, To Keep the Sun Alive. And I finished Foundation and Empire, a fun light read.

Now, I'm reading The Blithedale Romance by Nathaniel Hawthorne. I'm only 6 chapters in, but I've somewhat pleasantly surprised. I was worried it would be only a philosophical allegory with characters serving as props to demonstrate ideas and that it would bore me slightly . . . but Hawthorne's writing has kept me well engaged, at least so far. I'm enjoying the symbolic, metaphoric and suggestive language and images.

I'll probably also pick up The Night Tiger and/or Nutcracker and Mouse King and the Tale of the Nutcracker soon.

[CindySR]

I just finished Miss Mole and gave it 5 stars. Haven't done that in a long time! Recommended.

[Kathleen]

Greg wrote: "Just finished Fully Empowered by Pablo Neruda, and re-reading it almost a couple decades later, it's still my favorite of the five or six of Neruda's books that I've read..."

Thanks for this recommendation, Greg. Neruda is a favorite, and this edition translated by Reid is available from my library, so it's going to the top of my list!

[Greg]

Kathleen wrote: "Thanks for this recommendation, Greg. Neruda is a favorite, and this edition translated by Reid is available from my library, so it's going to the top of my list."

Wonderful Kathleen! I do really love it! It's nice in that it has the original Spanish as well as the English translation too in this New Directions copy - my Spanish is quite poor, but I understand enough of it that I enjoy seeing the original Spanish alongside.

[Wreade1872]

Oh boy it feels like an age since i finished my last book but finally done with Down to a Sunless Sea by David Graham [4/5] review , which actually references On the Beach, which i plan to read in january, its a small world.

[Alan]

Started The Cider House Rules John Irving. Available from my library but not sure I will finish it as I am also reading for another group as well. 2 people are on the wait list so renewal might be a wait.

[Janice]

The Art of Mending by Elizabeth Berg for my in-person book club.

[Jos]

Now reading the housekeeper and the professor

[Darya Silman]

Slowly wading through Эроусмит (Arrowsmith) by Sinclair Lewis (my edition is in Russian). I'm only on page 48, so I don't know if I like it or not

[Milena]

I started The Tale of Genji towards my 2023 Bingo. I am only at 10%, so not even slightly concerned that I will finish before 2023 starts. I will be lucky to be at 20% by then. I am finding it a much easier read than I expected. Maybe that's due to poor translation, but it's working in my favor.

[Squire]

Milena wrote: "I started The Tale of Genji towards my 2023 Bingo. I am only at 10%, so not even slightly concerned that I will finish before 2023 starts. I will be lucky to be at 20% by then. I am fin..."

Which translation are you reading? I've read the Waley and the Tyler translations. The Waley translation reads more like The Tale of Genji by Arthur Waley based on the text by Lady Murasaki. The Tyler translation seemed to be a pretty good one and provided me with a terrific cultural experience (with all the footnotes). I plan to read the Washburn translation next (hopefully in 2023). I'll get around to the Seidensticker translation eventually.

[Milena]

Squire wrote: "Milena wrote: "I started The Tale of Genji towards my 2023 Bingo. I am only at 10%, so not even slightly concerned that I will finish before 2023 starts. I will be lucky to be at 20% by..."

It's the Waley one. See? I knew there was a reason that a book from 1001 was reading so easily. It's the only one I could get from the library that was unabridged. I am happy to get through this one, and try for something better someday.

[Lynn, New School Classics]

Johannes wrote: "Now reading the housekeeper and the professor"

I love that book so much!!

[Byron]

I just started volume 1 of The Graphic Canon to sample a bunch of classics. Has anyone else here read it? https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1...

[CindySR]

Byron wrote: "I just started volume 1 of The Graphic Canon to sample a bunch of classics. Has anyone else here read it? https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1..."

Never heard of it but it looks essential! On the list now.

[Reed]

The Nature of the Beast by Louise Penny

[Falan]

North & South by Elizabeth Gaskell and
Don Quixote

[Linda R,]

Charles Dickens Bleak House is one of the last books I have left to read from the Clifton Fadiman Lifetime Reading Plan,The New Lifetime Reading Plan: The Classic Guide to World Literature which I have been working through off and on since 1975.

I heard that Bleak House was considered one of Dickens best written books, and at 56% I am still wavering in my opinion. It does have some powerful descriptive language of the sooty fog of London and Dickens puts you right into the milieu. But there are dozens of characters to start with, and I am finally at the point where connections are being made between them and a stronger central plot line is appearing. Any one else read this book? How does it compare to say Great Expectations in your mind?

[Chris]

I recently completed reading the classic adventure yarn King Solomon's Mines by H. Rider Haggard.

[Amyjzed]

Luffy wrote: "Paradise Lost is quite an example of a fan fic being better than the original."

: D

[Janice]

I just finished reading The Art of Mending by Elizabeth Berg and started to listen to (for a second time) Diary of a Provincial Lady by E.M. Delafield and Part 5 of Middlemarch (also a reread) by George Eliot.

[Darya Silman]

As I can't read one book at a time, I started a relatively short (around 160 pages) classical book by an Estonian author, Põrgupõhja uus Vanapagan (The Misadventures of New Satan) by A.H. Tammsaare. It's in some way absurdist, in some way a social novel about the argument between heaven and hell. St. Peter pushed Satan to turn himself into a human to check if humans can get God's grace. If Satan as a man doesn't get salvation, all future souls will go to hell. If Satan gets salvation, he won't receive a single future soul; they all will go to heaven. So Satan turned himself into a dimwitted, poor Estonian peasant. He tells the truth he is Satan, but nobody believes him. He's exploited by a rich peasant Clever Ants and works for the man so much, he doesn't have time for his family and household. The book is mostly dialogues, sounding absurd, like a pastor advising Satan's wife that it's good that their children will grow horns: the children will become world champions in boxing or they will be very popular with girls.

The book was first published in 1939. There is an English translation.

[Teri-K]

I'm reading Dracula for the first time. I don't read horror and I don't usually like Gothics, but I've been pushing myself to try classics I thought I wouldn't like. In this case it's paying off.

It certainly started creepy enough, but the big section set in England really reads like a mystery, which I do love. I'm also liking that Count Dracula and his powers weren't explained up front, so I have to figure them out as the story goes along. As a plus I love epistolary books. So all in all I'm enjoying this a lot, taking my time at a chapter a day. Or two, if it's really tense.

I'm also rereading The Tempest and have two Agatha Christie's going. I'm rereading Miss Marple's Final Cases and listening to Evil Under the Sun.