What are you reading right now?

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We once roamed the vast forums of Corona Coming Attractions. Some of us had been around from The Before Times, in the Days of Excelsior, while others of us had only recently begun our trek. When our home became filled with much evil, including the villainous Cannot-Post-in-This-Browser and the dreaded Cannot-Log-In, we flounced away most huffily to this new home away from home. We follow the flag of Jubboiter and talk about movies, life, the universe, and everything, often in a most vulgar fashion. All are welcome here, so long as they do not take offense to our particular idiom.
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The Swollen Goiter of God
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Re: What are you reading right now?

Post by The Swollen Goiter of God »

Oh, great. Now I know that Daenerys Targaryen has sex. Thanks for the spoiler warning, Regina!
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Re: What are you reading right now?

Post by The Swollen Goiter of God »

Oh, great. Now I know that Daenerys Targaryen has sex. Thanks for the spoiler warning, Regina!
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Re: What are you reading right now?

Post by Mal Shot First »

You're so upset, you had to type it twice!
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Re: What are you reading right now?

Post by The Swollen Goiter of God »

There's something screwy going on. Stuff I've submitted has been double-posting a lot the last few days. Sometimes, our board's neat here's-what-was-posted-while-you-were-typing feature will catch it. Other times, I'll see that it happened and will delete one of the two posts.

I'm not sure if it's a browser problem, a site problem, or a personal problem.

That's three, Fake Strider. Can't do anything with three.
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Re: What are you reading right now?

Post by Dalty »

Icky! That makes me feel genuinely disturbed.
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Re: What are you reading right now?

Post by The Swollen Goiter of God »

I finished Crime and Punishment and Brave New World. Plenty to say about both, but not feeling up to writing about either.

Here's the stuff started (in red) or finished (in black) since early June:

Carr, Caleb. The Alienist.
Bely, Andrei. Petersburg.
Foster, Alan Dean. Splinter of the Mind's Eye. (reread)
Gogol, Nikolai. "The Overcoat."
Goncharov, Ivan. Oblomov.
Pushkin, Alexander. Eugene Onegin.
---. "Queen of Spades."
Solanas, Valerie. SCUM Manifesto. (reread)
Tolstoy, Leo. War and Peace. (restarted)
Zamyatin, Yevgeny. We.

All that packing and moving and unpacking slowed reading down. I'm finally getting back in the groove.

I happened upon Bely by accident. I was on the Mathematics Genealogy Project's website. I was playing that game you play where you look up a friend, then look up his dissertation adviser, then look up that adviser's adviser, etc. (Everybody plays this game, right?) When going backwards from a particular friend, I was impressed to see some pretty big names. I spotted Andrei Kolmogorov, Nikolai Luzin, and Nikolai Bugaev. Pretty cool. If you start at my friend's name and go back as far as you can, you stop at Friedrich Leibniz. (That's Gottfried's daddy. Also cool.)

while reading up on Bugaev, I discovered that his son was Andrei Bely, a novelist of some reputation. This reputation doesn't extend too far beyond Russian literary scholarship, really, though I'm sure some Nabokov fans have given him a look. (Nabokov listed a book of his as being one of the four best books of the twentieth century.) I switched to reading up on Bely, and became more and more convinced that Bely was a writer up my alley. I figured a good starting place for me would be Petersburg, since it's his best-known work. Found a public domain copy of it in German. I started reading it, but it didn't take me long to realize my lack of familiarity with fin de siècle Russia--especially where literature and politics are concerned--was hindering me. I craved footnotes. Jubbers checked out an English translation from 1978 for me. The sailing is smoother, and I'm learning stuff.

Petersburg is something like a symbolist mashup of Ulysses and Man Without Qualities. It's also full of intrigues and daddy issues. Interesting stuff, so far. I discovered while reading about it that another of Bely's books, translated in English as The Silver Dove, will almost certainly be of use if I ever get back to work on my dissertation.

I also happened upon a Max Kretzer book, Das Gesicht Christi, that looks pretty interesting. ("The Face of Christ" or "Christ's Face" would both work as translations for the title, though I don't think the book has ever been translated into English.) Kretzer is sometimes called the "German Zola." He's a naturalist, but Das Gesicht Christi is clearly a break from naturalism--unless it only wants you to believe it is. It's set in Berlin. The story kickstarts when Jesus's face begins popping up all over the city. Don't know much about it beyond that. If Kretzer truly was the German Zola, it's likely he was an atheist. Whatever the case, my interest has been piqued.

Once I finish Petersburg and The Alienist, I will probably move on to The Silver Dove and Das Gesicht Christi. Could be days away. Could be months away.
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Re: What are you reading right now?

Post by The Swollen Goiter of God »

I just finished Junius Junior's (an obvious pseudonym) "A Letter to Uncle Sam." It was published in The Atlantic Monthly in 1912. You can find it on books.google.com. It's in Vol. 109 of the collected version of the magazine. It's free.

It's pretty bizarre, but it manages to mix some genuine foresight in with its proud racism and xenophobia.

Following is a summary and a collection of of quotes:

SUMMARY
  • Either Uncle Sam has not kept to the Monroe Doctrine, or the rest of the world was confused by what the Monroe Doctrine was supposed to mean.
    Kaiser Wilhelm's Pan-Germanism is a clear answer to "the elemental interrogation of the twentieth century" (by this the author means Uncle Sam's disregard for the Monroe doctrine).
  • If Uncle Sam is smart, he will evolve a doctrine of Pan-Americanism appropriate and equal to America's current position of influence and power.
    There is no civilization south of the Equator worth fighting Germany over. Doing so would be an act of sentimental idiocy.
  • Going to war wasn't a big deal when the Monroe Doctrine was drafted. It is now a big deal.
  • "The Monroe Doctrine was aimed primarily against a possible coalition which might effect Roman Catholic predominance; secondarily, it has secured republican forms of government without the spirit of freedom or the blessings of democracy."
  • Uncle Sam, John Bull, and Unser Fritz are all Teutons, and they should all join together to form a new Pan-Germanism. ("It is time the German races got together. It is time the white races got together.")
  • "This is a question of race and blood. It is not a question of an ancient fetich." (Author's antiquated spelling of "fetish" retained.)
  • Germany, and not Japan, should be allowed to colonize South Brazil. ("You have only to cast your eye on Formosa and Korea and Manchuria to know at once what Japan would make of a South American Republic. You have only to look at the twenty millions of transplanted Germans here to guess what a garden they would make under the Southern Cross.")
  • There is no future for unorganized peoples. The Germans bring with them organization.
  • The idea that China or Japan could be a menace to Anglo-Saxon civilization was an inconceivability when Monroe drafted his doctrine. That was then. It is now conceivable.
  • If the doctrine remains sound today, it makes Uncle Sam a criminal negligent. If it is unsound, it makes Uncle Sam an unpardonable bluffer.
  • Bismarck's success is due to his realization that the old policies and ideals had been outgrown and that new ones were required. Uncle Sam should realize the same is true for him.
  • Germany more or less already has South Brazil. Uncle Sam would do good to recognize it.
QUOTES
  • "The British Empire and the Monroe Doctrine are blocking the expansion of the German Empire. This Empire is spilling over and must have room. It has ordained that it shall have room.... Over on the Pacific we find exactly the same conditions. There is the same situation. But Japan has found a field of expansion on the continent of Asia. You have set up your sign, 'Keep off the grass,' on the only vacant places in the temperate zone left in the world. You have not had the foresight or the enterprise to occupy them."
  • "The Monroe Doctrine is an anachronism south of the Equator. Not so, north."
  • "Japan is hob-nobbing with Mexico. You are quite sure she is not, are you? How do you know? Why? Has not Japan told you? Does that not settle it? You blessed old Saint! Of course you must trust Japan--and keep your powder dry."
  • "f Mexico persists in listening to the Japanese siren--we must take Mexico."
  • "[T]he advance of the white races means the retreat of the yellow; the advance of the yellow races means the doom of the white."
  • "This--southward and not westward--is the direction of rational expansion with a future. Toward this Southland lies American opportunity--not in territorial aggrandizement, but in the development of natural wealth."
  • "Sir, the economic sign-posts of the twentieth century point portentously to Japan and Germany, as things now stand and ought to stand no longer, as the natural, logical, inevitable antagonists of Anglo-Saxon predominance."
  • "There is only one thing left which can save Anglo-Saxondom, and that is to establish Pan-Teutonism. Anglo-Saxondom is not big enough to hold the world together any more, since the awakening of Asia."
  • "Japan has got together. Germany has got together. When any great race has a white heat of patriotism of sufficient intensity to weld a nation, sit up and take notice: something is going to happen to the equilibrium of the world."
  • "Besides Germany and Japan there are two other universal awakenings. They are Pan-Islam and new China. These must be reckoned with later."
  • "The white race must stand together or go to the wall. The first step is the consolidation of the British Empire. The second step is the consolidation of the Anglo-Saxon race. The third step is the realization of the new Pan-Teutonism. The two great alternatives are Pan-Teutonism and Pan-Japan."
  • "You have the opportunity to say what the future of South America is to be. Shall it be white or yellow? Shall it be Christian or heathen?"
  • "There can be no peace between Teuton and Teuton, between German and Anglo-Saxon, on other terms than this."
  • "I propose that you propose a three-cornered entente or a tripartite treaty. Let the United States say to Germany that so far as active and hostile opposition by us is concerned, "Welcome to South Brazil. Do not come nearer to us than you are now,'--provided that Germany says to Great Britain, 'Sleep in peace. We have no further need of your possessions. Let us be friends'; and provided that Germany and Great Britain both say to the United States, 'We guarantee your status quo and your paramount indisputable interests on the American hemisphere from Canada to the Equator. Let us force the peace of the world.'"


I'm sure the outcome of the Russo-Japanese War factored into this fear of Pan-Japan.
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Re: What are you reading right now?

Post by neglet »

The question for me is what am I not reading. For each homework "packet" of the five I complete during each term, I have to have an annotated bibliography of at least a dozen books. So I'm reading a lot of books, mostly for children.
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Re: What are you reading right now?

Post by The Swollen Goiter of God »

You're living my mother's dream.

Here's the stuff started (in red) or finished (in black) since August 24:

Chabon, Michael. The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay.
Finney, Jack. Time and Again.
Harbou, Thea von. Die unheilige Dreifaltigkeit.
Heller, Joseph. "Almost Like Christmas."
Hill, Joe. NOS4A2.
Kretzer, Max. Das gesicht Christi.
Lermontov, Mikhail. A Hero of Our Time.
Matheson, Richard. Hell House.
Pynchon, Thomas. The Crying of Lot 49. (reread)
Rubin, Richard. "The Ghosts of Emmett Till."
Shea, Robert and Robert Anton Wilson. Illuminatus: The Eye of the Pyramid.
Stack, Frank. The New Adventures of Jesus: The Second Coming.
Starnes, Greg. Hollers from the Hollows: Ghost Stories and Spooky Tales From DeKalb County, Alabama.
Turgenev, Ivan. Fathers and Sons.
Williams, John. Stoner.
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Re: What are you reading right now?

Post by Space Tycoon »

I'm reading Odd Thomas by Dean Koontz. Neat so far...
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Re: What are you reading right now?

Post by Dalty »

I am reading a truly awful 'self published' pile-o-shite I bought for 99p from the Kindle store........ but now I just have to see how it ends. Damn you, self publishing!!!
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Re: What are you reading right now?

Post by Mango »

I am currently trying to buzz through "Hound of the Baskervilles" in time for a meeting on Wednesday. I should have had it read already, by several years, but my actual progress on Sherlock Holmes is less than I would prefer.

I am also currently on "Sir Tristan is Just Awful", book Three of "Arthur Dies at the End." I had wanted to catch up on my Arthurian myth and my girlfriend found me this series when I mentioned finding "Once and Future King" a bit of a slog. It's a lot of fun, very conversational style which is nice since I basically wanted someone to tell me about the stuff as opposed to reading it for myself. Laziness.

I just finished the core rule book for "The One Ring" and it has gotten my interest in Tolkien up again so I'm eyeing my copy of "The Hobbit"

So yeah, I may not be prepared for the Wednesday meeting.
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Re: What are you reading right now?

Post by The Swollen Goiter of God »

If all else fails, there's always the Classics Illustrated comic version:

https://archive.org/details/hound-of-ba ... phic-novel
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Re: What are you reading right now?

Post by The Swollen Goiter of God »

I had this beauty when I was five or six:

Image

I still have it. That's how I first read it. It's also how I first got into Sherlock Holmes. It was one in a series of Playmore's "Moby Books." They were roughly the same size as Big Little Books, but they were about half as thick. They were, I think, about 3.5 inches by 4.5 inches. They were usually close to 240 pages long. Half those pages were text, and half those pages were illustration. The font was pretty big. I think there were fewer than 150 words per page.

The illustrations and text have survived into modern times, but the format is larger. They're trade-paperback-sized these days, are often hardback-bound, and are now under Waldman's Baronet Books/Great Illustrated Classics imprint. Here's how the Baskervilles volume looks:

Image

The art and text may have always been a Waldman asset. I think I remember seeing that Playmore had the titles "under arrangement" with Waldman. Or maybe Moby Books was also Waldman, and Playmore just had printing rights. I don't know. Does anybody know? Does anybody other than yours truly care?
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Re: What are you reading right now?

Post by Dalty »

The dog did it.
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Re: What are you reading right now?

Post by Mango »

I may have had that same GIC Sherlock Holmes book as a child.
That or one with a few random Holmes' stories in them, was that a thing? I know, as a child, I read some Holmes but over the years I have never followed through on the upkeep. I read more Musketeers and Robin Hood.

I did not have the small book version despite having several others. The cover is pretty sweet though.
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Re: What are you reading right now?

Post by The Swollen Goiter of God »

Mango wrote:That or one with a few random Holmes' stories in them, was that a thing?
That was definitely a thing.

I won a fiction contest when I was a senior in high school with a story called "The Return of Moriarty." The story was printed in the school paper. I may have a copy of the paper somewhere in Alabama, but I hope I don't. I recently found a short story that won the school's fiction contest when I was in tenth grade. It was dreadful. I am ashamed of it. That it won anything other than ridicule says something about my high school.
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Re: What are you reading right now?

Post by Dalty »

You were a tenth grader and it was part of your journey. In context I am sure it was fine.
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Re: What are you reading right now?

Post by The Swollen Goiter of God »

Well, now I'm thirty-five, and being disappointed in my tenth grader self is another leg of the journey.
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Re: What are you reading right now?

Post by Adam54 »

Seeing as I'd completely forgotten I'd preordered it until Amazon told me it was delivered to my Kindle, I guess I'll start reading the new Nick Hornby book Funny Girl next.
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Re: What are you reading right now?

Post by Dalty »

The Swollen Goiter of God wrote:Well, now I'm thirty-five, and being disappointed in my tenth grader self is another leg of the journey.
It is. You're tenth grader self would think you were pretty awesome though.
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Re: What are you reading right now?

Post by Space Tycoon »

"Star Trek Creator," a comprehensive biography of Gene Roddenberry. He had a pretty awesome life long before Star Trek.
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Re: What are you reading right now?

Post by Dalty »

I am re-reading the John Gardner 007 continuation levels. They have not aged well.
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Re: What are you reading right now?

Post by The Swollen Goiter of God »

Space Tycoon wrote:"Star Trek Creator," a comprehensive biography of Gene Roddenberry. He had a pretty awesome life long before Star Trek.
He wrote some of my favorite Have Gun -- Will Travel episodes.
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Re: What are you reading right now?

Post by Dalty »

I have a gun, and I like to travel. But can't combine both when there is an aircraft or border involved.
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