What Are You Reading

[zaika]

gone to soldiers by marge piercy and the pickwick papers by my boyfriend, charlie.

 

[Diamondback]

:eusa_doh: D'oh! Why didn't you say you were off-the-market?

 

[Miss Neecerie]

a biography of Alexander II of Russia

 

[Diamondback]

Oh, my current read, for a research project:
From Zephyr to Amtrak: A Guide to Lightweight Cars and Streamliners. A complete listing of every "streamlined" railcar built in the US and Canada from the original M-10000 and Pioneer Zephyr up to the first days of Amtrak in 1971.

Dry, not exactly exciting, but my personal annotated copy has some things the entire rest of the printing run doesn't: years of my field-notes scribbled into it.lol

 

[sweetfrancaise]

Current reads:

Almanac of the Dead by Leslie Marmon Silko (has anyone else read this? difficult going, and I have to do a presentation on it next week )

A Fork in the Road by Denis Hamill--not the best writing skill, but the story centers on Irish Travellers, so the culture is interesting.

 

[Kishtu]

I meant to start another thread on this but I start too many threads as it is so I'll crib a corner of this one

I've just finished Mary O'Hara's "Thunderhead" - whoever thought that was a children's book??? what were they thinking of??? - but it gave me a real feel of period (1947 I think?)
Apart from the style in which she writes, there is a certain sensibility (in the sense of attitude) that feels "authentic". A real feeling not only of place, ie Wyoming, but of the time as well.

Does anyone else have any favourite authors of the time that give them a real feel for the period?

 

[Samsa]

At the behest of a friend I just finished reading Carl Jung's "The Undiscovered Self." I would have to re-read it at least one more time before I could comment intelligently on it.

 

[Harp]

At the behest of a friend I just finished reading Carl Jung's "The Undiscovered Self." I would have to re-read it at least one more time before I could comment intelligently on it.

Ever read Viktor Frankl's Man's Search For Meaning?

 

[Harp]

Baudolino by Umberto Eco. I really enjoy Eco's novells and have read The Name of the Rose and Foucault's Pendulum several times.

I've avoided Eco for philosophic reasons but have been tempted to try him.

 

[Steve]

Currently, I'm reading Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds, by Charles Mackay. Excellent, excellent study on fad stocks.

 

[Samsa]

Ever read Viktor Frankl's Man's Search For Meaning?

No, I'll put that on my "to do" list though. For now though I plan on officially abandoning the novel I am actively not finishing (Madeleine L'Engle's "A Severed Wasp") and getting back to my task of reading everything that Shakespeare has ever written.

 

[goldwyn girl]

Just finished "Hot Toddy" Thelma Todd The true story of Hollywoods most sensational murder by Andy Edmonds. Very interesting probe into the "Mob" in the 20's and 30's

 

[LizzieMaine]

"Walt and Skeezix -- Volume 3, 1925-1926." The latest volume in the ongoing reprinting of Frank King's classic "Gasoline Alley" comic strip, the poignant story of cheerful bachelor Walt Wallet and his foundling son Skeezix. This volume carries us thru the last of Skeezix's toddler years and his first days in kindergarten, along with Walt's courtship and eventual marriage with the mysterious widow Phyllis Blossom.

I can't recommend this series highly enough -- the first comic strip to age its characters in real time, it's a priceless document of what everyday middle-class life was like in the 1920s (and later, the '30s, '40s, and onward...) The volumes are being issued annually -- two years of the strip per volume -- and I'm already looking forward to next year's edition!

 

[carebear]

Just finished "Hot Toddy" Thelma Todd The true story of Hollywoods most sensational murder by Andy Edmonds. Very interesting probe into the "Mob" in the 20's and 30's

Who were Andy Edmonds less sensational murders?

 

[vonwotan]

Harp, I would be interested to hear whether it is Eco's actual writings on philisopy, his literary criticisms and work in semiotics, or other views that have made you avoid his novels. I started reading Eco's literary criticisms as part of my University studies shortly after the realease of the first english translations of Il nome della rosa and picked up the book on a whim and was hooked.

I've avoided Eco for philosophic reasons but have been tempted to try him.

 

[Harp]

Harp, I would be interested to hear whether it is Eco's actual writings on philisopy, his literary criticisms and work in semiotics, or other views that have made you avoid his novels.

Philosophy renegade bias from grad school days.

 

[Samsa]

Philosophy renegade bias from grad school days.

He was once a staunch Thomist, no?

 

[Harp]

He was once a staunch Thomist, no?

Cannot say. I avoided Eco and others like Foucault for what
I considered a somewhat lax 20th Century perspective.

 

[vonwotan]

Eco's thesis and first published book, Il problema estetico in San Tommaso, were on St. Thomas. However he made his reputation as a mediaevilist with the publication of his second book, Sviluppo dell’estetico medievale.

He was once a staunch Thomist, no?

Unfortunately my knowledge of Eco is primarily his novels and literary criticism. During my time at Uni, the professors in our French department tended to be deconstructionists ('68 Sorbonne types) and included discusssions of semiotics in many of their lectures. Eco's literary criticisms of some 19th century french works were a staple in our classes.

 

[Harp]

Eco's thesis and first published book, Il problema estetico in San Tommaso, were on St. Thomas. However he made his reputation as a mediaevilist with the publication of his second book, Sviluppo dell’estetico medievale.
Unfortunately my knowledge of Eco is primarily his novels and literary criticism. During my time at Uni, the professors in our French department tended to be deconstructionists ('68 Sorbonne types) and included discusssions of semiotics in many of their lectures. Eco's literary criticisms of
some 19th century french works were a staple in our classes.

Eco's Estetico seems interesting; unfortunately, I broke away from
"continentals" with disfavor for Wittgenstein, Derrida and others for their
deconstruction of earlier philosophy, and a seeming decline of Nietzsche's
gauntlet in the wake of the Second World War. I lived in Europe for a few
years and had intended to take my baccalaureate at the Sorbie but the
climate was decidedly anti-American; notably Paris and Athens.
Sometimes I second-guess myself for leaving, but nothing much out of
Europe since-France in particular-has impressed me.