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Re: What are you reading?
Posted: Sat Mar 19, 2022 8:52 pm
by losthighway
Mickey242 wrote: Sat Mar 19, 2022 8:45 pm
Still picking away at Ulysses for the second time, made it to the Night town chapter today, progress.
Do you feel like your efforts are paying off with that one?
Re: What are you reading?
Posted: Sat Mar 19, 2022 9:00 pm
by Mickey242
^
Oh, fuck yeah. You just gotta go slow and read the annotated book after you read like ten or so pages.
Re: What are you reading?
Posted: Tue Mar 22, 2022 1:42 pm
by enframed
Italo Svevo's Zeno's Conscience is great so far. It is about a guy who is trying to quit smoking, but really only because "the last cigarette" is always the best, so he enjoys each one like it's his last. Written in the form of a confession at the suggestion of his psychotherapist, it's full of lies, deceit, infidelity, &c, all wrapped up in a greater truth about being human. Apparently Svevo (Ettore Schmitz) was good friends with James Joyce, who lived in Trieste teaching English. James was a huge fan and took Svevo (who was much older) under his wing and had him first published in France.
Re: What are you reading?
Posted: Wed Mar 23, 2022 4:52 pm
by Mickey242
^ Great book! Enjoy!
Check out The Book of Disquiet by Fernando Pessoa, who's name I had to "google to spell correctly.
Edit: Yes, he was a Marxiest but so what.
Re: What are you reading?
Posted: Wed Mar 23, 2022 8:03 pm
by enframed
I am familiar with Pessoa, yes. Fantastic stuff. The first thing I ever printed letterpress was a Pessoa poem, with credit of course.
Re: What are you reading?
Posted: Thu Mar 24, 2022 6:20 am
by jimmy spako
enframed wrote:
Italo Svevo's Zeno's Conscience is great so far. It is about a guy who is trying to quit smoking, but really only because "the last cigarette" is always the best, so he enjoys each one like it's his last. Written in the form of a confession at the suggestion of his psychotherapist, it's full of lies, deceit, infidelity, &c, all wrapped up in a greater truth about being human. Apparently Svevo (Ettore Schmitz) was good friends with James Joyce, who lived in Trieste teaching English. James was a huge fan and took Svevo (who was much older) under his wing and had him first published in France.
Cheers! That's one of my favorite books. Read long ago as a young man but has really stuck with me and I've gifted it to friends many a time. The deathbed scene with his father is so devastating.
Re: What are you reading?
Posted: Thu Mar 24, 2022 6:22 am
by jimmy spako
I'm about 100 pages into Ingmar Bergman's memoir (The Magic Lantern). Really good so far. Especially digging the unflinching reflections on ageing.
Re: What are you reading?
Posted: Thu Mar 24, 2022 3:41 pm
by enframed
jimmy spako wrote: Thu Mar 24, 2022 6:22 am
unflinching reflections on ageing.
Good album title. I'm not one for biographies but I could use some good perspective in aging.
Re: What are you reading?
Posted: Fri Mar 25, 2022 9:26 am
by PEPPER!
Stanislaw Lem, A Perfect Vacuum. It's reviews of books that never existed. If any of you are into the fairytale Calvino stuff like Baron in the Trees or Invisible Cities then you are likely to love Lem's Cyberiad or any of his Ijon Tichy books.
Re: What are you reading?
Posted: Fri Mar 25, 2022 8:01 pm
by iembalm
Barry Sonnenfeld, Call Your Mother. His memoir. It's hilarious.