flight paths discussion

flowers my gosh and everywhere new green! the magnolia tree blooming and warm enough to lie about in the sunny coves secluded from the wind with a blanket and a book.

I'm rereading my first - and only - Kindle purchase: Kyoko's House. My The Sea and Poison: A Novel is a proper book ... a fairly naff but adorable 1970s edition from Tuttle. And, yes, of course it says "Graham Greene" somehwere on the cover. Poor Endo, that must have been so boring for him.

hmm, by proper book do mean hardcover, or do you mean anything in book format as opposed to electronic versions?
I am reading 3 books at the moment. Selected of Souls is for my book club. its a demanding read, and I am alternating with an Allen Hollingsworth, the strangers child. there is an odd resonance with malarky which I just finished, and in the short story collection I've been savoring and restricting myself to 2 stories a day, because when I finish I will have to wait maybe years for the next thing from my new darling, Heather O Neill

Now that DosDostoevsky classics are read it's time for the Bard - namely Hamlet, Othello & Macbeth that I have never read or watched. Meanwhile still in Sweden with Mankell, Henning & Wallander. Next weekend brings a seaside trip with the boys, hopefully kite flying.

I peeked...ice! you gave the brothers K a 3???

corrections: its selector of souls by Shauna Singh Baldwin, and Alan hollinghurst who wrote the strangers child, which I finished today. perhaps Ice would appreciate even more than me as its full of particularly English insider humour but its splendidly written and I actually got a few belly laughs out of it.
@David, I love Green but have not read that one
@Ellie, the libraries of the peninsula cannot compete with the libraries of New York

David: I also love Greene but don't know this onee.

Magdelanye: the libraries of New York are one of its best features, even here in the Bronx, since we can get from the Manhattan branches as well.

I am just finishing My Struggle: Book Five. I'm so grateful to have gotten it through NetGalley since it's one I definitely would have bought anyway. I am totally addicted to Knausgaard; I've loved them all but this is my favorite since the first. Then I guess the second one. But it has been the greatest treat in my life these days.

Magdelanye wrote: "corrections: its selector of souls by Shauna Singh Baldwin, and Alan hollinghurst who wrote the strangers child, which I finished today. perhaps Ice would appreciate even more than me as its full o..."

"belly laughs": wow, I need some of those. Will check this out. I never thought of Hollinghurst as funny. But what do I know.

actually, heather O'Neil would be the one to go to for maximum hilarity. I remember you also loved the motherless Brooklyn., she has a similar quirky integrity and I loved all 3 of her books.
GH is more rarified taste. I do think you would like it, because it is brilliant, yet I would hesitate to guarantee that others will find it as funny as I did. I know the fact that I am an active poet gave it a special relevance. the ROFL moment came when the poet gives a special reading, much anticipated, for his host family. I can't say much more without spoiler, but although people are divided as to the brilliance of his work, I think his writing is divine and his examination of the braided themes of charisma, fame memory image and authenticity are overlaid on a historical background that traces the progress of gay rights to expression

OK-I've got to read this.

As soon as I finish my small mountain of "currently reading." I've gotten two books - one from GR, my first in years. Looks really good-We Were Feminists Once: From Riot Grrrl to CoverGirl®, the Buying and Selling of a Political Movement and The Gene: An Intimate History by Siddhartha Mukherjee (which I regret getting: it's quite intimidating and long). Plus Art Power which I'm a little more than half-way done and have no idea at all why I'm reading it although I do find it oddly intriguing.

So... reading too many books with not enough interest going into them!

hmm, that's a formidable list but I can see that you need a lovely novel and perhaps a book of poems to get balance and somewhat alleviate the tension of 3 fairly weighty non fiction. I looked them up...is art power as pretentious as one reviewer seemed to think?

Magdelanye wrote: "hmm, that's a formidable list but I can see that you need a lovely novel and perhaps a book of poems to get balance and somewhat alleviate the tension of 3 fairly weighty non fiction. I looked them..."

Yes. My understanding in this area is quite limited but yes.

I do need a "lovely novel" and some poetry. I'll look through your recommendations! :)

I just received another book I've won, This Too Shall Pass which, while it's overwhelming to have yet another book to read, at least looks like a very enjoyable novel (this was from LibraryThing: I'm going to have to quit requesting books, I keep getting them!).

I also was just okayed by NetGalley for The Course of Love, by one of my favorite authors, Alain de Botton. How How Proust Can Change Your Life was one of my favorite books ever.

Nevertheless, the question is when??? When will I read all these books (I do have to work). I'm having another operation at the end of June (left hip this time) so I should have lots of time this summer but...what about now? What have I done to myself?

Just about to re-enter the world of Shakespeare as I am unfamiliar with Othello, Hamlet, King Lear and Macbeth.

Ah, the four greats. I love them all, but especially King Lear.

Have fun! (Do you watch and/or listen to recordings as well as read plays? It's hard for me to only read plays, although Shakespeare's the best because of the poetry. Still, they're even greater in performance)

Trying to read the plays, these are ones I have not seen at the Theatre or TV adaptations but keep on appearing in quiz programmes !

gee, I was under the impression that the English were spoon fed the bard, as we were in school, rather forcefully

Right?

I kept returning to Julius Caesar and Chaucer

Chaucer is wonderful. A lot more difficult than Shakespeare.

So my dose of the Bard is done and I now look forward to Vanity Fair, accompanied by a little Nordic Noir.

I loved Vanity Fair. Becky Sharp is marvelous.

Which Nordic Noir are you considering? I'm a big fan of the genre.

I myself have been busy with a terrific book, Maggie Nelson's The Art of Cruelty, a non-fiction examination of how the arts use cruelty (and why).

I have just started on Asa Larsson 'Rebecka Martinson' stories, and have 3 more Wallander books to go including the first Lynda Wallander book. Another favourite is Iceland based Indridason's Erlendur. Didn't get on with Nesbo. I also need to have a look at the follow on book of Larsson's Millenium series - The Girl in the Spider's Web

reading Austerlitz

Magdelanye wrote: "reading Austerlitz"
I loved Austerlitz-and all of Sebald's work! Enjoy.

Ice wrote: "I have just started on Asa Larsson 'Rebecka Martinson' stories, and have 3 more Wallander books to go including the first Lynda Wallander book. Another favourite is Iceland based Indridason's Erlen..."

I haven't read the Linda Wallander books but I enjoyed the others. I like Larsson a lot and hope you do.

And Indridason is one of my most favorite series-I love Erlendur.

I like some of Nesbo but not nearly as much as the others you wrote about.

I greatly enjoyed the Millenium series.

Sounds like a good time to me!

I just finished Kent Haruf's Our Souls at Night which was a very quick read but quite lovely and a spiritual book by a kind of hero of mine, David Steindl-Rast. The Way of Silence: Engaging the Sacred in Daily Life. I loved that one-very exciting to me.

I'm reading another NetGalley, After the Lie which is ok but so far can't compare with two other books I just finished: Fates and Furies by Lauren Groff which was harsh but, I thought, wonderful and the very exciting non-fiction book by another favorite author of mine, Maggie Nelson called The Art of Cruelty: A Reckoning. Lots of fascinating thoughts about literature, art (including performance art) and philosophy in that one.

I'm on break this week and thoroughly enjoying myself even though the kids are away and I miss them. I'm meditating and reading a lot and finding it great fun.

Ellie,perhaps we've discussed before, I got to know DS-R when I was at esalen . I was able to visit the Hermitage in big sur quite a few times. he is an awesome human being. I used to have a few tapes of his, but never seen a book.
Austerlitz I adored. It is almost a perfect book.
Down a notch but very clever and somehow just what I needed,In the Language of Love: A Novel in 100 Chapters by Diane Schoemperlen

@Ice and Ellie, Sorry, I do get any of your Nordic noir references, you make it sound fun, but no, there has to be at least one genre that I do not read :-)

Magdelanye wrote: "Ellie,perhaps we've discussed before, I got to know DS-R when I was at esalen . I was able to visit the Hermitage in big sur quite a few times. he is an awesome human being. I used to have a few ta..."

I don't think we have discussed this before: but wow! So wonderful to have met him.

Maybe the genre you should skip is the Cozy Mystery. (doesn't sound like your speed at all!).