What are You Reading Now?
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I loved Stoner, might have to give this one a try.
This was incredible. What a great novel.
I’ve never read him or even heard of him. I’m going to put Stoner on my to-read list
This was incredible. What a great novel.
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/
LibriVox - https://librivox.org/the-haunted-bookshop-by-christopher-morley/
I loved Stoner. I thought Butcher’s Crossing was just as good but it’s totally different. What a versatile writer.
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.
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...
"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...
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.
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.
Then there is the X Files multi-part episode of Jeremiah Smith, the Christ-like alien being...with this segment which, imo, is obviously inspired by the Grand Inquisitor narrative from Brothers:
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.
I’m still a sucker for Constance Garnett
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!
I really want to try this translation for something. I read all these Russian novels as a young man probably in pretty "bad" translations.
Dostoevsky is one of my favorite novelists and I thoroughly enjoyed the three novels you mentioned having read yourself—Crime and Punishment being my personal favorite—however, I must confess that like some other reviewers, I didn’t find The Idiot to be my cup of tea. Nevertheless, you shouldn’t be dissuaded from giving it a try. I haven’t read The Demons, aka The Possessed, but it is on my bucket list. I’d be curious to know your thoughts once you finish it.