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makhorkasmoker

Part of the Furniture Now
Aug 17, 2021
713
1,824
Central Florida
I’m very impressed. I never got past Swann’s Way.
I read them decades ago. Now I'm revisiting them. For me the real desert in the series, then and now, is the third Volume, The Guermantes Way. it has great moments, but, shew, it was difficult to get through. Things are picking up again, slowly, with this one.
 
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milk

Lifer
Sep 21, 2022
1,070
2,719
Japan
91IqZ0I20pL._AC_UF1000,1000_QL80_.jpg

This was incredible. What a great novel.
 

khiddy

Starting to Get Obsessed
Jun 21, 2024
251
1,432
South Bend, Indiana
blog.hallenius.org
This week I had a delightful read of Christopher Morley’s Parnassus on Wheels and The Haunted Bookshop, the latter of which was the inspiration for the C&D blend of the same name. They were excellent stories that display a true love of books and learning, filled with delightful quotes. In the public domain, as well (at least in the USA), and thus on Project Gutenberg and audio at LibriVox.


LibriVox - https://librivox.org/the-haunted-bookshop-by-christopher-morley/
 

brian64

Lifer
Jan 31, 2011
10,019
16,036

It's difficult for me to compare and rank Dostoevsky's major novels, but I'd probably consider Demons to be the most underrated...because it seems to be seldom mentioned, but is truly as great as any of the others imo.

And the striking relevance to our world today makes it all the more significant. Human nature just keeps repeating the same patterns.
 
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SBC

Lifer
Oct 6, 2021
1,577
7,462
NE Wisconsin
It's difficult for me to compare and rank Dostoevsky's major novels, but I'd probably consider Demons to be the most underrated...because it seems to be seldom mentioned, but is truly as great as any of the others imo.

And the striking relevance to our world today makes it all the more significant. Human nature just keeps repeating the same patterns.

It's the 4th that I've gotten to, thus far:
I've read The Brothers Karamazov (several times), as well as Crime and Punishment and Notes from the Underground.

Brothers is among my favorite books of all time, and I intend to read it every so often for the rest of my life.
C&P was very valuable, but a one time read. I wouldn't want to read it again, but I'm glad that I did once.
Underground was far less valuable to me. I don't mind that I read it, but I'm not highly recommending it either.

Now I'm into Demons and although I havent finished it yet, it's shaping up to give C&P a run for its money as #2 for me.

I also intend to read The Idiot, but from reviews I think that it may not seem much more valuable to me than Underground.
 

username

Lifer
Dec 24, 2014
2,195
15,029
Tucson Az
Can't remember if I posted but I finished "Drawing of the Three" and started the "The Wastelands" so i apologize if I mentioned that already.
 

georged

Lifer
Mar 7, 2013
5,878
15,712
What am I reading? Same as always. I jump back and forth between scientific papers like...

"Nanocavity-Mediated Purcell Enhancement of Er in TiO2 Thin Films Grown via Atomic Layer Deposition," or "Electrically Tunable Exciton−Plasmon Coupling in a WSe2 Monolayer Embedded in a Plasmonic Crystal Cavity"

with books like:

"The Wheels on the Bus" or "Mr. Brown Can Moo! Can You?"

...one paragraph at a time.


It's like doing squats or bench presses. Contract, relax... contract, relax...
 

brian64

Lifer
Jan 31, 2011
10,019
16,036
It's the 4th that I've gotten to, thus far:
I've read The Brothers Karamazov (several times), as well as Crime and Punishment and Notes from the Underground.

Brothers is among my favorite books of all time, and I intend to read it every so often for the rest of my life.
C&P was very valuable, but a one time read. I wouldn't want to read it again, but I'm glad that I did once.
Underground was far less valuable to me. I don't mind that I read it, but I'm not highly recommending it either.

Now I'm into Demons and although I havent finished it yet, it's shaping up to give C&P a run for its money as #2 for me.

I also intend to read The Idiot, but from reviews I think that it may not seem much more valuable to me than Underground.

I've read them all twice, and Brothers 3 times now, and like you, intend to continue reading it periodically...maybe every few years or so.

I would agree that Brothers is his masterpiece, and really has to be put at the top of the list.

I suspect you will like The Idiot more than you think...personally I'd say I prefer it even to C&P, but they can't really be compared. The Adolescent is also well worth reading at least once.

I'm curious what translation you've been reading...especially for Brothers?
 
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SBC

Lifer
Oct 6, 2021
1,577
7,462
NE Wisconsin
I've read them all twice, and Brothers 3 times now, and like you, intend to continue reading it periodically...maybe every few years or so.

I would agree that Brothers is his masterpiece, and really has to be put at the top of the list.

I suspect you will like The Idiot more than you think...personally I'd say I prefer it even to C&P, but they can't really be compared. The Adolescent is also well worth reading at least once.

I'm curious what translation you've been reading...especially for Brothers?

I think Constance Garnett for all of them.
And yes will read The Idiot too. Glad for your positive take on it.
 
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brian64

Lifer
Jan 31, 2011
10,019
16,036
I think Constance Garnett for all of them.
And yes will read The Idiot too. Glad for your positive take on it.

I've read only the Pevear / Volokhonsky translations for all of the major novels. If you should decide to read their version of Brothers next time, I'd be interested to hear how you think it compares with Garnett. My understanding is the P/V translation is supposed to be truer to Dostoevsky's writing style.

And just for yucks, if you've never seen them, you might check out the 1958 film version of Brothers with Yul Brynner as Dmitri, and William Shatner as Alyosha LOL. It's actually not too awful.

And the 1935 version of C&P with Peter Lorre as Raskolnikov LOL. This one is better than the above imo, and actually sort of manages to capture the spirit of the novel, at least to some degree...is worth watching.
 

makhorkasmoker

Part of the Furniture Now
Aug 17, 2021
713
1,824
Central Florida
I've read only the Pevear / Volokhonsky translations for all of the major novels. If you should decide to read their version of Brothers next time, I'd be interested to hear how you think it compares with Garnett. My understanding is the P/V translation is supposed to be truer to Dostoevsky's writing style.

And just for yucks, if you've never seen them, you might check out the 1958 film version of Brothers with Yul Brynner as Dmitri, and William Shatner as Alyosha LOL. It's actually not too awful.

And the 1935 version of C&P with Peter Lorre as Raskolnikov LOL. This one is better than the above imo, and actually sort of manages to capture the spirit of the novel, at least to some degree...is worth watching.
I confess I watched the 1958 Brothers for Claire Bloom alone.
 
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milk

Lifer
Sep 21, 2022
1,070
2,719
Japan
It's the 4th that I've gotten to, thus far:
I've read The Brothers Karamazov (several times), as well as Crime and Punishment and Notes from the Underground.

Brothers is among my favorite books of all time, and I intend to read it every so often for the rest of my life.
C&P was very valuable, but a one time read. I wouldn't want to read it again, but I'm glad that I did once.
Underground was far less valuable to me. I don't mind that I read it, but I'm not highly recommending it either.

Now I'm into Demons and although I havent finished it yet, it's shaping up to give C&P a run for its money as #2 for me.

I also intend to read The Idiot, but from reviews I think that it may not seem much more valuable to me than Underground.
I keep telling myself that I’ll reread these books - having read them all many years ago. At this point, it’s as if I’d never read them. Almost. And there are better translations than what I started with I am sure.
 

SBC

Lifer
Oct 6, 2021
1,577
7,462
NE Wisconsin
I've read only the Pevear / Volokhonsky translations for all of the major novels. If you should decide to read their version of Brothers next time, I'd be interested to hear how you think it compares with Garnett. My understanding is the P/V translation is supposed to be truer to Dostoevsky's writing style.

And just for yucks, if you've never seen them, you might check out the 1958 film version of Brothers with Yul Brynner as Dmitri, and William Shatner as Alyosha LOL. It's actually not too awful.

And the 1935 version of C&P with Peter Lorre as Raskolnikov LOL. This one is better than the above imo, and actually sort of manages to capture the spirit of the novel, at least to some degree...is worth watching.

I did watch the Yul Bynner/William Shatner Bros K a few months ago for the first time -- I didn't previously know that it existed! -- and I agree: it's not bad!

I have not seen the 1935 C&P -- I'll have to check it out!

And yes, I think it's about time that I try another translation of Bros K -- I mean if I'm going to read it multiple times then I might as well. Thanks for the recommendation!