OT: The Good Book: What are you reading right now?

[Lshap]

My favorite blogger, Keith Law (ESPN senior writer and ex-Blue Jays assistant GM), is a fascinating read. He's an intellectual, an analyst, an epicurean, a Harvard graduate, an MBA and well-traveled. And has compiled several lists of interest, including his top 102 novels of all time.

At the top of his list:

1. The Master and Margarita, by Mikhail Bulgakov. Full review. An absolute masterpiece, banned by the Soviets for decades for its subtle yet severe indictment of communism’s many, many failures. The Devil comes to Moscow and exposes its society for all its vapidity, running into the frustrated author The Master and his faithful girlfriend Margarita, a story intertwined with a dialogue between Pontius Pilate and Jesus, all stacked with allusions to the Bible and major works of 19th century Russian literature. It is a work of unbridled genius, of acrimonious dissent, and most of all, of hope and faith in humanity.

Rest of his top novels list: The Klaw 102: the top novels of all time, version 3.

All lists are subjective and flawed by definition so I definitely don't want to start a debate about his choices. I only brought this up for his top choice, which has a fascinating backstory to it -- it's not just the novel but how the Russians sought to suppress it. Anyone read it? Seeing on Amazon that this book has been cited as an inspiration for Salman Rushdie's The Satanic Verses.

This is a cool list, not because it jibes with my taste (I've only read 12 of his 100) but because I like getting an insight into how other people perceive something so totally subjective like literature. Law apologies for not being an 'expert', but I don't consider that even relevant. His overflowing praise of The Master and Margarita makes me want to check it out, although I know books built on metaphors can be an acquired taste.

Great thread, by the way!

 

[Lshap]

Apparently, there is more than one translation of The Master and Margarita and one of them is better rendered than the other(s).

Already I'm not a fan of translations so if it's not well-executed, that may remove the lustre associated with the original. Thanks for letting me know.

There's usually more than one translation of esteemed books. And then there's Lolita, one of the books on Law's list. What makes the classic story even more remarkable is that Nabokov wrote the thing in english, which wasn't his native language. (I really hope I'm remembering that right!)

 

[Lshap]

You look like a voracious reader. May I ask you how you manage to get through your bricks? What kind of time are you able to dedicate to your passion, say on a weekly basis? Just curious, I'm lagging on several books I've been meaning to get through over quite some time now.

I have my own business, which mostly involves working alone. So during the day I'm either on my computer or reading. My wife has a 9-6 office job, my kids are almost adults, and I have absolutely no friends.

 

[groovejuice]

Bourdain is dating someone who lives an unconventional life and who has been an actress since her childhood. As you saw from the link, she was featured in his Rome Parts Unknown episode and I suspect, it's going to have an effect on what he writes next. Shibumi sounds like a book I'll keep on my radar, thanks for the suggestion.

I'm pretty sure we met Bourdain's previous wife in an episode of one of his series. Apparantly, being a globetrotting chef/TV host is a perfect vehicle for meeting (and landing) beautiful and talented women.

I noticed your clever reference to the quote on my Avatar, by the way.

 

[Habs Icing]

Christopher Browning's Ordinary Men.

 

[Runner77]

I have my own business, which mostly involves working alone. So during the day I'm either on my computer or reading. My wife has a 9-6 office job, my kids are almost adults, and I have absolutely no friends.

I think I can relate. So your reading takes place on time you're able to allocate during your working day. I think I can manage that. Posting here is kind of addictive, though, and takes up its lot of attention -- definitely cuts into one's reading of other sources. But, it's doable, all a matter of self-discipline.

 

[SlappyHabby]

I am currently reading Alexandr Solzhenitsyn’s third and final installment of "The Gulag Archipelago" and before that I read Aldous Huxley’s "Brave New World".

After Solzhenitsyn’s harrowing series, I’m gonna move on to either Fyodor Dostoevsky’s "The Idiot" or the anthology of the collective works of Edgar Allan Poe.

Decisions decisions...

 

[Runner77]

I'm pretty sure we met Bourdain's previous wife in an episode of one of his series. Apparantly, being a globetrotting chef/TV host is a perfect vehicle for meeting (and landing) beautiful and talented women.

I noticed your clever reference to the quote on my Avatar, by the way.

LOL, that quote is always handy. As I mentioned, Bourdain's girlfriend will be taking him on new paths:

Since her debut on the Rome episode of Parts Unknown during season eight, Argento has offered recommendations for both the last season and the upcoming season, which will take viewers on a tour of the French Alps, Singapore, Puerto Rico, Seattle, Sri Lanka, Pittsburgh, southern Italy, and Lagos, Nigeria.

Bourdain meets his lot of intriguing personalities, I suppose it was only a matter of time that he'd fall for someone.

 

[buddahsmoka1]

Apparently, there is more than one translation of The Master and Margarita and one of them is better rendered than the other(s).

Already I'm not a fan of translations so if it's not well-executed, that may remove the lustre associated with the original. Thanks for letting me know.

Read the Pevear and Volokhonsky translation. Always read the Pevear and Volokhonsky translation.

 

[SlappyHabby]

Christopher Browning's Ordinary Men.

I read that one a few months ago after hearing Dr. Jordan Peterson mention it a few times, and it was a very good and informative read indeed, albeit quite depressing yet enlightening in equal measure.

Before that one I read Irish Chang’s "The Rape of Nanking" which was another tough read, the cruelty of man knows no bounds when possessed by ideological fervour, a belief in racial superiority and viewing the world in terms of identity politics.

The fact that it’s making a comeback today in the form of the modern social justice movement and oppressor/oppressed identity politics is simply astonishing, especially here in Canada under our empty suit of a PM pushing this kind of divisive narrative and ideology.

Helluva time to live in in this country, but that’s a topic of conversation best left alone as I do not wish to derail this thread.

 

[voyageur]

Two books, Les Misérables in French, and since I am a bit of history buff, a book called Crimson Prairie about the wars on the Plains...Now at the end when Chief Joseph and the Nez Percé are entangled in war.

 

[buddahsmoka1]

I am currently reading Alexandr Solzhenitsyn’s third and final installment of "The Gulag Archipelago" and before that I read Aldous Huxley’s "Brave New World".

After Solzhenitsyn’s harrowing series, I’m gonna move on to either Fyodor Dostoevsky’s "The Idiot" or the anthology of the collective works of Edgar Allan Poe.

Decisions decisions...

Have you read Dostoevsky before?

If you haven't, I really recommend starting with The Brothers Karamazov.

The Idiot is not incredibly suspenseful and quite dense, probably not the best place to start for Dostoevsky beginners.

 

[Prometheus1]

I am currently reading Alexandr Solzhenitsyn’s third and final installment of "The Gulag Archipelago" and before that I read Aldous Huxley’s "Brave New World".

After Solzhenitsyn’s harrowing series, I’m gonna move on to either Fyodor Dostoevsky’s "The Idiot" or the anthology of the collective works of Edgar Allan Poe.

Decisions decisions...

Personally i enjoyed the idiot..brothers K also.
Poe, i read a short story here and there. Have his complete works

 

[SlappyHabby]

Have you read Dostoevsky before?

If you haven't, I really recommend starting with The Brothers Karamazov.

The Idiot is not incredibly suspenseful and quite dense, probably not the best place to start for Dostoevsky beginners.

I’ve read almost everything written by Dostoevsky, but I never got around to reading The Idiot yet hence why I’m considering choosing with it after I finish The Gulag Archipelago.

The Brothers Karamazov is an excellent book however, tis one of my favourites

 

[Grate n Colorful Oz]

Behave: The biology of humans at our best & worst
By Robert M Sapolsky

And... i'm going back & forth with Bruce Perry's Born for love: Why empathy is important and endangered

Yeah im a sucker for developmental and behavioral biology.

 

[Grate n Colorful Oz]

Ha! Reading that same book now. My son got it with his Christmas money and now that he finished, I'm reading it. As a parent, I am relating to this book and having many of the same struggles as Karl.

I just finished Wonder. Going to watch the movie this weekend now with my daughter.

Along with Subban's book, I am now reading World War Z. Saw the movie a while back and the book is very different.

I used to be an avid comic book reader when I was a kid, and started reading some Marvel comics to learn more about the Infinity Stones they talk about in the MCU. I've read a number of Infinity related comics, but currently reading the comics around the "Infinity" story line (Hickman and Cheung). This is an excellent series and based on what I've seen in the Infinity War trailer, looks like they borrow some concepts from the comic story.

The WWZ film was pretty lame for anyone who had read the novel beforehand.

There are several scenes from the book, starting with the military cluster**** in Yonkers, which would have been epic in movie form.

 

[Roke]

Great thread @Runner77.

I got Robert Massie's Castles of Steel as a gift so I'll probably be starting that but I'm indecisive because I absolutely loved Dreadnought and might want to re-read it first. The bits about Edward VII's depravity when he was Prince of Wales and Victoria's expectations he would be terrible were poignant because Prince Charles' spider letters were in the news when I was reading the book for the first time. I loved reading about Fischer and his kind of rivalry with Beresford and then the designing and building of the Dreadnought. And at the end you have a focus on Sir Edward Grey and his "The lamps are going out all over Europe, we shall not see them lit again in our life-time" line.

If recommendations of things I'm not reading (but have read a lot) are okay I have to recommend Jonathan Wilson's Inverting the Pyramid. It's about the history of soccer tactics/formations and it's my favourite sports book. There's a line about England's soccer culture after the defeat to Hungary at Wembley in there that was basically an epiphany about hockey for me when I read it:

Skill, or anything that required thinking too much, was not to be trusted, while physical toughness remained the ultimate virtue.

 

[Kimota]

"Gladiator"

A novel that inspired the character of Superman. It's pretty interesting as it's prett dark as it depicted what would really happen if someone had super-powers in our society where the guy makes mistakes, there's deaths. It's very honest and doesn't p***y foot around. It's essentialy Unbreakable via Superman. What's unique is that it was published in the 30s yet it feels like it had been written today.

 

[Gravity]

When Breath becomes Air: Paul Kalanithi
Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy: Douglas Adams
The Ending of Time: David Bohm and Jiddu Krishnamurti

 

[QuebecPride]

Currently reading a couple of finance books:

The Psychology of investing by John R. Nofsinger, a book about Behavioral finance, the field of Richard Thaler, the most recent Nobel Prize of Economics. Other notable recipients of Nobel in this field include Daniel Kahneman and Robert Schiller.

Against the Gods: The remarkable story of risk by Peter L. Bernstein. This book is apparently a must-read for anybody that is looking to become an informed investor.

 

[MasterDecoy]

Prague in Black and Gold. about the history of Prague.

 

[MarkovsKnee]

I am currently reading Alexandr Solzhenitsyn’s third and final installment of "The Gulag Archipelago" and before that I read Aldous Huxley’s "Brave New World".

After Solzhenitsyn’s harrowing series, I’m gonna move on to either Fyodor Dostoevsky’s "The Idiot" or the anthology of the collective works of Edgar Allan Poe.

Decisions decisions...

Have you read Crime & Punishment or The Brothers Karamazov? I read both a few years ago after my dad died. Just really needed something to distract my mind in a way TV, movies or hockey can't.

He really is an amazing story teller. It's a slow build as he develops plot, character etc, but it's worth it. Crime & Punishment, weirdly, led to me to want to see St. Petersburg even though the eras are completely different.

I felt so thoroughly immersed in those books. I was in that world. Books are great like that.

I haven't read The Idiot.

 

[greyboy67]

Look no further than The Gone World by Tom Sweterlitsch. A mind-blowing SF-Horror mashup that jumps between centuries and diverse locations that range from backwoods West Virginia to a sinister planet in another galaxy. Film rights were snapped up by 20th Century Fox nearly a year before the novel was published. (Neill Blomkamp of District 9 fame will direct.)

The blurb on Amazon says "Inception meets True Detective" but in truth The Gone World is much closer to "True Detective meets At The Mountains of Madness"—and that is high praise.

 

[Grate n Colorful Oz]

When Breath becomes Air: Paul Kalanithi
Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy: Douglas Adams
The Ending of Time: David Bohm and Jiddu Krishnamurti

Ever read The First and Last Freedom by Krishnamurtii?

 

[Grate n Colorful Oz]

Anyone ever read Chuck Palahniuk's old books? Not the recent ones as he now caters to teen girls... but the old ones like Rant, Lullaby, Choke and and and Fight Club?? Really good dark satire if anyone is into that.