Currently reading?

[Wine and Books]

As always a bunch of things. Getting ready to travel to Germany so some Jeny Erpenbeck and WG Sebald. On the non fiction front a history of The Holy Roman Empire.

[froglipz]

I am re reading "A Separate Peace" by John Knowles.....again. I don't know why but it calls me back every few years. I just downloaded Hawking's newer book on my Kindle so that will be next. Before that was "The Late Homecomer- a Hmong family memoir" by Kao Kalia Yang. Which I recommend, it is a different perspective on the immigrants experience, and also the Vietnam war.

[giselle]

Really nice to reread a book once in a while, especially a book with some deeper meanings, like "A Seperate Peace". I'm reading 'Island Beneath the Sea" by Isabel Allende. A book of magic, both the writing and the content. Very much a book of 'place'. And a good one to read slowly as we head toward the warm days of summer.

[Penelope]

Death in Holy Orders - P D James


An isolated religious community - how they react to the murder of one of their members.

And because it is warm and sunny springtime here, I'm reading 'Wind in the Willows'....I'd forgotten what a lovely book it is.

[leggo]

We went to a book signing event in Albuquerque, New Mexico on Saturday. Picked up a copy of "The Seeds We Sow, Kindness that Fed a Hungry World" (signed by the author!). This book is unbelievably good from a first time author. I had absolutely no idea that all this was happening during the 20th century. The power of kindness kind of got swept under the rug by the historians I guess.

[mick]

At the moment Henry James PORTRAIT OF A LADY. To be honest I'm finding it a chore.

The only other work of his that I've read is WASHINGTON SQUARE which I enjoyed a few years back.

PORTRAIT is the first book in years of which I can say I'll be glad when it's over. I hate to leave a book in mid-stream so I tend to finish them even if they're not engaging me. Thankfully it's a rare occurrence.

Do any of you have any experience with this one?

[DWill]

No, no experience with the book or with James in general aside from a couple of short works. Why does James appear to be more admired than liked? According to wikipedia, his career has distinct phases, so maybe the key is finding the phase that suits the reader best. Maybe someday I'll try.....

[Jozanny]

Oh no, outside of the scholars who do this for a living, I claim the title of most knowledgeable writer on Henry James alive today, so Jozanny can always help you with Jamesian issues, and for those who find his oeuvre difficult, I will not bite. The texts can be difficult.

I actually came in to pm Chris, and found that I cannot yet, so here is a bit of my current reading list:

The Foucault Reader, Rabinow, a very punished book
Discipline and Punish, Foucault
The Problems of Philosophy, Russell
A rebours, Huysmans
Rise and Demise of the British Empire, Ferguson, the sexiest scholar Harvard has, for a Scott
A study on immortality, title and author escapes me
The Book of Tea
Blindness, by the dead Jose, though it is under the table and recalls Camus too readily for my taste
The Demon Awakens, not the worst fantasy
and Containment, for hard science fiction
an early bio on Lee that is making me hold my nose, but useful, none the less

This is not all inclusive, but covers most of my active reads. Forgot of mice and men, just started.

[mick]

Well, go ahead Jozanny, is PORTRAIT generally found to be hard work or is it just me?

[Jozanny]

Well, go ahead Jozanny, is PORTRAIT generally found to be hard work or is it just me?

Henry James takes the smallest of pebbles and makes them active mountain ranges, so no, it is not just you, but I find The Portrait of A Lady to be one of his more accessible masterpieces. Isabel is a fresh American full of vigorous innocence, and Old World corruption takes her to school. She is humbled by her suffering at the novel's end. Let me know how I might assist your reading, and I'll take a crack at it.