What Are You Reading

[Fading Fast]

A bit late at the office last night, a fast bite on the way home, and the twilight subway where I sat near a young man reading; and I offered Albert Camus' The Stranger as he prepared to exit the car.
He remarked his thanks but he had read The Stranger, and said that he regretted his leaving prevented further discussion of Camus. And he had read Sartre and de Beauvoir.
About two years ago, I was reading Pollock's Spinoza before a revisit to The Ethic, and another kid asked if I had read Spinoza, or Maimonides; which considering his age was rather surprising.
The subway is often a much more interesting trip than the more urbane Rock Island with lawyers, judges, politicos, news anchors, bankers and the like wielding The New York Times or Wall Street Journal.

Years ago, I met a girl in a bar and, after chatting a bit, asked her for her number and called her for a date soon after. On the first date, she told me "The Stranger" was her favorite book. Thought it was an odd choice, so I went home and re-read (at the time, I hadn't read it in, probably 10 or so years). That is one horribly depressing book and she was, as I got to know her, definitely a depressed person.

The only other quirky part of this story is that she had a very common last name, so it wasn't until we had dated a bit that we discovered I knew here sister - had worked with her at my prior job. NYC is not a small city and stuff like this doesn't happen often - but that was kinda kookie. And her sister was an incredibly upbeat, positive person - they were opposites, but very close sisters.

 

[Harp]

Years ago, I met a girl in a bar and, after chatting a bit, asked her for her number and called her for a date soon after. On the first date, she told me "The Stranger" was her favorite book. Thought it was an odd choice, so I went home and re-read (at the time, I hadn't read it in, probably 10 or so years). That is one horribly depressing book....

Contrast Camus' The Myth of Sisyphus with The Consolation of Philosophy by Boethius; Leopardi's monstrous Zibaldone; or anything penned by Keats that provides a glimpse inside his soul.
Celine also comes to mind. Marcus Aurelius and Spinoza-men whom either came to a personal understanding of life's innate truth and the existence of God; whether in divine or private proof,
or remained captive to doubt and uncertainty. Camus' early death foreclosed further evolve, a tragedy similar to that of Simone Weil; hardly enigmatic but mercurial, his doubts pending resolution.

 

[Fading Fast]

While I am only familiar with some of your above referenced material, the whole "man's existence is meaningless and life can throw randomness at us that shatters are best plans so why bother" defeatism doesn't reflect what I see as the great sweep of mankind's incredible success on earth.

Yes, any individual life can be destroyed by randomness, but many aren't and many individuals achieve great things or small wonderful things in their lives. Recognize that randomness exists, recognize that a bus can jump the curve and kill you tomorrow and, then, get on with making the most you can of your life. Otherwise, you've simply become the bus jumping the curve into your own life.

But while that makes sense to me, to the girl I referenced, life's bumps and bruises supported Camus' philosophy.

 

[AmateisGal]

Finished the third novel in the Clara Vine series, The Scent of Secrets. Now I think I'll start The Paris Apartment by Michelle Gable.

 

[LizzieMaine]

A service manual for a ticket printer which seems to be written in a combination of Latin, Japanese, Choctaw, and Calculus. But it makes a satisfying crash when I fling it violently against my office wall.

 

[Fading Fast]

A service manual for a ticket printer which seems to be written in a combination of Latin, Japanese, Choctaw, and Calculus. But it makes a satisfying crash when I fling it violently against my office wall.

It's a long shot but have you tried on-line? Oddly, I'm finding that some things that come with crazy multi-language physical manuals that are all but useless (in part, because they are printed in 2 font and, in part, because of the literal translation "the switch white go down"), occasionally have much better information on line. Worked recently for my window air conditioning unit - much, much better on-line manual / information.

 

[LizzieMaine]

Yeah, the same manual is online -- the only difference being that the diagrams are even harder to read.

This one's probably the worst manual I've ever read, full of weird inscrutable stuff. There's a system of blinking lights and beeps for diagonising problems with the printer, but rather than just saying a long, a short, two longs, and a short mean there's a paper feed obstruction, they spend two pages establishing a "digital sequence" for decoding the code, indicating that you disregard the shorts if they're at certain points in the 1, 2, 4, 8, 16 progression, add the value given to the longs while disregarding all but the two middle digits, sum those two digits, and compare the result to the attached table.

I'd rather throw the whole printer violently against the wall and go back to using roll tickets and a cigar box.

 

[Fading Fast]

Home printers are basically pieces of junk that the manufacturers all but give you so that you'll buy their insanely over-priced ink. I had a Hewlett Packard printer that was absolute garbage (cheap, plastic thing that felt like it would fall apart if dropped from any height over two inches), so we bought a Canon next which seemed like the HP with a few pieces carelessly rearranged.

Both of them had, as you described for your ticket printer, insanely complicated sequences half communicated through a small screen and half through lights and buttons - but the two halves either didn't add up or need way more effort to sum than I am willing to give. With some reasonable visual analysis, the occasional success in understand its crazy wants and frequent turning on and off, we keep it going and printing - but hate it.

I am seriously considering shelling out some real money for a laser printer as the last one I had at work was solid, straightforward and fast. When the Canon dies - which could be tomorrow or two years from now as it (like the HP before) always sounds like it is dying with all its clunking and screeching before and after it does anything (it makes more noise to print one page than my '67 Chevy did to start up on a sub-zero morning) - I'll make the pay up or not decision.

And the manual is all but useless.

 

[AmateisGal]

Gave up on The Paris Apartment (a shame as the premise was a good one) and started on the fourth novel in the Clara Vine series.

 

[daisy2er]

I am reading" The Catcher in the Rye " by J. D. Salinger in 1951. It has been translated into almost all of the world's major languages.

 

[Fading Fast]

I am reading" The Catcher in the Rye " by J. D. Salinger in 1951. It has been translated into almost all of the world's major languages.

Is this your first read of it?

 

[Fading Fast]

I finished Ann Patchett's "Commonwealth." The story follows the entwined lives of two families with six children between them from he 1960s up to today. Divorce, affairs, illness, deaths, drugs it's all there, as is a focus on the constant shock-to-the-system that children from divorced homes get when they are shuffled into and out of their parents' different households that themselves are in flux (and even more shocking) as new partners for their parents and step kids come and go.

More character study, especially of two of the children and two of the parents, than plot driven, your enjoyment of this one will hinge on how much you like or dislike the characters and if you buy into the current literary vogue of "the uglier family disfunctions revealed the better." Ripped-apart marriages, uneven-at-best, emotionally-abusive-at-worse parenting and, of course, drug, alcohol and sexual abuse and disfunction are the norm in these literary worlds that make middle class America look like a killing field for normalcy and happiness.

In this way, "Commonwealth" reminds me of the best seller from a few years back "The Goldfinch." Both authors are talented story tellers and dissectors of human failings - with these failings being the driving themes of their novels. I know all the ugliness that is out there and have no problem reading about it, but ugliness isn't all that is out there. For me, I'd rather read about the building going up than the wrecking ball taking it down. But if I'm going to read about the wrecking ball, I'd like some building happening somewhere, too, as both exist simultaneously out here in the real world. Hundreds of pages of mainly smashing is just too wearing.

 

[Harp]

I am reading" The Catcher in the Rye " by J. D. Salinger in 1951. It has been translated into almost all of the world's major languages.

I always favored John Knowles' A Separate Peace slightly better as a coming -of-age memoir.

 

[Fading Fast]

I always favored John Knowles' A Separate Peace slightly better as a coming -of-age memoir.

While both are outstanding books, "A Separate Peace" had a bigger impact on me as the grayness of what happened on that tree branch jarred me as a child and has stayed with me ever since. So much is presented as black and white, good versus evil in books, movies, etc., (especially to children and young adults) that it was striking to be presented with something not clear, something you weren't sure of and something that you struggle to understand even - what is for me, now - forty years after you first read it.

 

[Fading Fast]

Just started reading - on Lizzie's recommendation - "The Superman Chronicles" a reprint of the first 14 or so Superman comics from 1938/39.

Not a fancy book - paper back and no introduction, no forward with Superman hagiography or an over-intellectualize "positioning" of Superman in American culture, just a brief table of contents and you're in the first comic strip.

And the entire Superman origin story is told in.............one panel, yup, just one. Then, growing up takes two panels, introduction as an adult, two panels and the explanation of his super powers - two panels describing his different "physical structure" using analogies to ants' strength and grasshoppers' leaping skills. This Superman doesn't, yet, fly and can be hurt by shrapnel - it's fun to really see how he was first described. Then, it's off to the story.

Even in the first story, the Lois belittling of Clark Kent dynamic is established as is the Lois-Superman sexual tension - and this Lois is no pushover. Superman saves a death-row convict minutes before execution by breaking into the governor's mansion (the governor, himself, oddly sleeps in a bedroom protected by a steel door) and, then, saves Lois from some gangster angry because she wouldn't dance with him.

Also impressive is the illustration quality and nuance. Facial expressions and emotions come through clear when necessary and nuanced when appropriate. And they are just well drawn - you feel the movement, feel the excitement. There was a lot going on right in Superman from the beginning.

 

[Harp]

"A Separate Peace".... was striking to be presented with something not clear, something you weren't sure of and something that you struggle to understand....

Knowles deliberately set a mind trap which forced a second reading in law school. Actus reus and the mens align, and an admission of guilt, an act of murder; deliberate willful intent,
depraved heart indifference, and a hate lying deceptively beneath the surface. Years later, a certain case: Commonwealth of Massachusetts v. Woodward struck a similar nerve.

 

[daisy2er]

Is this your first read of it?

Yes

 

[Fading Fast]

Yes

That's great, and from your picture, you look very young, so it will be wonderful to hear your impressions of an early '50s novel exploring teenage disillusionment and angst.

 

[Fading Fast]

Just started "A Man Called Ove" by Fredrik Backman. I'm early in, but it seems to be the story of a, now, curmudgeon who is the bane of his neighborhood in Sweden. So far, a bit too one note, but has its funny parts.

Has anyone else read this one? It's been out a few years and had some minor but good press for awhile.

 

[1mach1]

Daredevil #181 ......... again. Man, I love the Frank Miller Daredevils.