what are you reading?

[brian d]

haven't been doing as much reading recently, but managed to find a copy of tolstoy's essays from tula, which includes "the slavery of our times" among others, and it's really very nice and engaging. his novels are obviously good but also not too exciting for me, but the essays really give a good sense of his thought and might lead me to read the novels again at some point.

[sally]

haven't really mentioned what i've been reading because it was all rather dull (apart from gert jonke's geometric regional novel) but just hoovered up césar aira's varamo and want to angrily wonder again why he hasn't had the nobel yet. he's got to be our best living novelist? and he just churns them out. amazing man.

[brian d]

after a long slump, where i did read a few things, i've gotten closer to my old self. reading gil scott-heron's the vulture. didn't know he wrote a couple of novels until a week or so ago.

[wba]

I've also been slumping, reading only 13 books in the past 4 months, and am trying to pick the pace up a bit. Currently I'm reading "La cavalière Elsa" (1921) by Pierre Mac Orlan as well as "Winesburg, Ohio" (1919) by Sherwood Anderson - both are excellent, so far - and right now I'm also on the way to the library to pick up "Storia di domani" (1949) by Curzio Malaparte.

[sally]

reading (loving) very slowly (due to mild ecstatic faints) pascal quignard's hatred of music. i too fucking hate music (noise) right now. this guy has a 100% hit rate of making me delirious (have read one other book by him)

[rischka]

i'm reading antonio lobo antunes atm -

but i'm thinking i'd like to read homer before i head to the med next year

what is the best translation of homer please

[wba]

Wanted to read Homer for a long time, but also haven't yet decided on a translation (at least I know which translations I won't read ^^).

Currently I'm in the middle of another Thomas Hardy, TESS OF THE D'URBERVILLES, and the love interest of the titular heroine is such an asshole (luring her into a marriage under false pretences being the least of his faults...), that I just hope he'll die as soon as possible, and that Tess will meet someone worthy of her feelings. But as I've learned from RETURN OF THE NATIVE, Hardy seems to hate women, and she'll probably simply continue to suffer. The writing is not as good as the first 30 pages of RETURN OF THE NATIVE, but much better than most of the rest in NATIVE. Hardy seems to have greatly improved as a writer when it comes to other stuff besides the observance of nature (which he still does admiringly! ), but the moralizing seems to have gotten even worse. Not sure yet, if this will be on the whole better than RETURN OF THE NATIVE, though. But after the mediocre THE WOMAN IN WHITE (which is way more misogynist - something I could have forgiven in a Victorian novel, but it hasn't got anything interesting to tell and is often badly written) I reeaaally wanted a step up in serialised English fiction of the 19th century. But I guess I'll take a break after this one and try SISTER CARRIE by Theodore Dreiser as an in-between, before I move on to LITTLE DORRIT by Dickens.

Are there any popular British novels from the 19th century that don't throw terrible male characters in the way of the female protagonist? Or a book where someone like Tess or Eustacia (thr female protagonist in RETURN OF THE NATIVE) can simply make their choices and enjoy their lives without being reprimanded by the writer? Maybe I should read some Jane Austen?

[brian d]

i'm reading antonio lobo antunes atm -

but i'm thinking i'd like to read homer before i head to the med next year

what is the best translation of homer please

lombardo's translations are very readable. i've heard some classicists complain that they're not as accurate and recommend fagles instead, but i tried that once and it was a struggle. emily wilson has a translation of them that's recent, and they might be good for a different perspective, but i don't know them. so i'd go with lombardo or wilson.

[brian d]

Are there any popular British novels from the 19th century that don't throw terrible male characters in the way of the female protagonist? Or a book where someone like Tess or Eustacia (thr female protagonist in RETURN OF THE NATIVE) can simply make their choices and enjoy their lives without being reprimanded by the writer? Maybe I should read some Jane Austen?

george eliot! adam bede is a good option, and maybe daniel deronda (daniel is almost unrealistically good and the other dude is an ass, but at least eliot cares about the female protagonist as a woman and as a character). any of hers would be good, though.

[rischka]

i'm reading antonio lobo antunes atm -

but i'm thinking i'd like to read homer before i head to the med next year

what is the best translation of homer please

lombardo's translations are very readable. i've heard some classicists complain that they're not as accurate and recommend fagles instead, but i tried that once and it was a struggle. emily wilson has a translation of them that's recent, and they might be good for a different perspective, but i don't know them. so i'd go with lombardo or wilson.

thanks brian!! i'll give wilson a shot

[Lencho of the Apes]

Are there any

Have you tried Mary Elizabeth Braddon? I remember her books as being female-agency crime novels; she was criticized at the time for the unladylikeness of her characters, doing all kinds of terrible girlboss things to attain power-money-prestige. I think Lady Audrey's Secret is the go-to book in her catalogue.

[wba]

THANKS!
Eliot and Braddon will be my next purchases.