Reading the Chunksters discussion

Ahhh.. We all love books! This is your safe haven of fellow people who read as much as you. On that note, what books are you reading? What are your favorites? If you write reviews, can you link to them? Any five star reads you can recommend?

This thread is not limited to chunksters. Any books will do.

I can heartily recommend The Disaster Artist: My Life Inside The Room, the Greatest Bad Movie Ever Made to anyone.

But hey, that was my favorite book of LAST year.

This year was capped off by Pride and Prejudice.

Wow see this is what I mean about these discussions being so great in groups of readers. I NEVER would have encountered that book Chris, looks fascinating!

You know who I discovered this past year and love? Magda Szabo. I really liked both The Door and Iza's Ballad.

I've been contemplating Szabo too. I made a preliminary list of about 10 books I want to read in 2018. Does anyone else do that?

The first two I'll be tackling are Moby-Dick or, The Whale, of course, and Miss MacIntosh, My Darling.

I always read Dickens in December and after many years reading them in order of publication I am now up to Hard Times. This one should be a bit of a breeze as it's under 300 pages!!! Also on the go is Gone with the Wind which I managed to find here as one of the group reads way back when. However, I feel like a ghost wandering around the corridors of a group conversation that's 4 years old,trying to tie in my reading!!

Paula wrote: "The first two I'll be tackling are Moby-Dick or, The Whale, of course, and Miss MacIntosh, My Darling."

You are a brave woman taking on Miss MacIntosh, My Darling, Paula! Talk about a chunkster!

Julie wrote: "I always read Dickens in December and after many years reading them in order of publication I am now up to Hard Times. This one should be a bit of a breeze as it's under 300 pages!!! Also on the go..."

Reading a Dickens novel seems like a wonderful December habit, Julie. I wouldn't mind picking up that tradition myself.

Dianne wrote: "You know who I discovered this past year and love? Magda Szabo. I really liked both The Door and Iza's Ballad.

reply | flag "
I agree on both of those - it is strange how little of Szabo's other work has made it into English translation...

Hugh wrote: ".....it is strange how little of Szabo's other work has made it into English translation... "

Even though there are more translations now than ever there seems to be plenty of "ore" hidden in the literary depths of every nation. I have been digging deeper into Scandinavian literature and find that so many of the classics (including Nobel Prize winners) either are not translated or are OOP and impossible to get hold of.

I have my eye on The Door. I know a few NYRB groupies, or devotees.

Which reminds me, I bought, received, but have not read The Invention of Morel- and it is an anti-chunkster, less than 200 pp.

Christopher wrote: "I have my eye on The Door. I know a few NYRB groupies, or devotees.

Which reminds me, I bought, received, but have not read The Invention of Morel- and it is an anti-chunkster, less t..."

if borges thought it was amazing, it must be! I am going to buy this, thanks for the tip!

I am debating getting a NYRB book club subscription although I hear a lot of the selections are very slim, not sure if that should be a determining factor?

Dianne wrote: "I am debating getting a NYRB book club subscription although I hear a lot of the selections are very slim, not sure if that should be a determining factor?"

Yes, it varies quite a bit. Not like Open Letter at all...

So, I'm curious to know from all of you Chunksters lovers: what wonderful Chunksters are on your 2018 lists of reads?

I don’t have any specific 2018 plans beyond Moby Dick. I saw you mentioned Miss Macintosh ... are you reading that with a group. That’s on my chunksters list along with The Tale of Genji, The Resurrection of Marina M, 4321, Shantaram, JR, catching up with the familiar books. That’s all I can think of at the moment sorry I’m on my phone so can’t tag. What about you Paula?

Oh and also Emily Wilson’s translation of The Odyssey

Amanda wrote: "I don’t have any specific 2018 plans beyond Moby Dick. I saw you mentioned Miss Macintosh ... are you reading that with a group. That’s on my chunksters list along with The Tale of Genji, The Resur..."

Yes, I'm reading Miss M with Ami's Chewing on Leaves Group, you should join!

I thought I'd come up with an initial plan for 2018. Here are my additional Chunksters:

Jean-Christophe (unabridged, 3 volumes) by Romain Rolland. It was tough finding true unabridged volumes. You can see them on my list.

Marcel Proust: A Life

Adam Buenosayres: A Critical Edition

Imperial

Jean Santeuil

Redwood

Along with shorter books, of course 🙃.

Oh and the Mahabharata, unabridged. We'll see how many volumes I get through this year 🤗.

I'm aiming to continue with Proust: I'm up to volume 3 The Guermantes Way. Also, I'm not sure if this counts as a chunkster as it's a quartet, but The Raj Quartet.

Anybody read Forbidden Line? It looks like juicy chunkster we should consider maybe in conjunction with Don Quixote.

How about Robert Graves' The White Goddess?

Amanda wrote: "Anybody read Forbidden Line? It looks like juicy chunkster we should consider maybe in conjunction with Don Quixote."

Never heard of it, but it's on my list now thanks to you 👍🏻

Mark wrote: "How about Robert Graves' The White Goddess?"

This one has been in the back of my mind for years. Gosh, so many great books to read. What does your list look like for 2018?

Paula wrote: "Mark wrote: "How about Robert Graves' The White Goddess?"

This one has been in the back of my mind for years. Gosh, so many great books to read. What does your list look like for 2018?"

I don't really have a list. My default setting is always the same, reading Joyce criticism; or Ulysses. Goodreads has helped me to escape this monomania! - )

Paula, you want to read the Unabridged Mahabharata?? That's my one day dream wish ^.^ The Unabridged Ramayana also. Why do you want to read it?

My 2018 Chunksters are Don Quixote, The Decameron, Count of Monte Cristo, Shahnameh, and Demons by Dostoevsky.

There's also 2 books of poetry, Lord Byron's major works (including Don Juan) and W.B. Yeats Complete Poems

Edit: Oh my gosh The White Goddess and Forbidden Line sound amazing!! Either I just want to read everything, or fellow GR peeps know of incredible bookish finds!! O.O

Amanda wrote: "Anybody read Forbidden Line? It looks like juicy chunkster we should consider maybe in conjunction with Don Quixote."

That looks good! Just added it to my TBR list.

Linda wrote: "Amanda wrote: "Anybody read Forbidden Line? It looks like juicy chunkster we should consider maybe in conjunction with Don Quixote."

All my attempts at Don Quixote left me tilting at windmills. The Forbidden Line, though, strikes me as interesting.

I do not plan to read Chunksters, so I don't have a list. I just happen to read Chunksters from time to time.

Hummingbirder wrote: "Linda wrote: "Amanda wrote: "Anybody read Forbidden Line? It looks like juicy chunkster we should consider maybe in conjunction with Don Quixote."

All my attempts at Do..."

I read Don Quixote. It's a very worthy book and occupies an important place in literature.

Am I glad I read it? Yes.

Can I honestly say I enjoyed it? No

I enjoyed reading Don Quixote, it was different than what I had imagined it was going to be like. Although by the time I got to Part II, I felt like the book could have been finished at the end of Part I.

Biblio wrote: "Paula, you want to read the Unabridged Mahabharata?? That's my one day dream wish ^.^ The Unabridged Ramayana also. Why do you want to read it?

My 2018 Chunksters are Don Quixote, The Decameron, C..."

I've read several books on Hinduism, and their paths all lead back to two rich sources: The Mahabharata and The Ramayana. I decided to start with The Mahabharata.

Unabridged because I don't like reading abridgements at all; I don't like others deciding what to make available to me as a reader. And when you take into account just how vast this epic is, distilling it into a single abridged volume makes me just say to myself "what's the point in reading it at all?".

My desire to read it isn't utilitarian; rather, I want to immerse myself in it, experience it. It's a wondrous combination of history, myth, law, moral code, spiritual belief systems, origin of the universe, etc.

After that, I would like to move on to The Ramayana, but we'll have to see. That would be a few years down the road :).

There were 10 years in between the publication of Part I (1605) and Part II (1615).

And imho Part I is decidedly better than Part II. Part II is good and fun; but Part I imho is one of the most wonderful things ever written! - )

Yes, I remember reading that 10 year difference, Mark. And I agree, Part I was a ton of fun to read. :)

I apologize if I was stating the obvious. - )

I've never been able to understand the many interesting discussions about the merits of different translations. I'm just happy there are translations, and will read whatever is easiest to reach. However, there does seem to be some particular disagreements over which Don Quixote translation is best; and further that reading the "wrong" translation may effect the reader's overall response to the novel. I read the Putnam, but only because it was already in the house, and it worked out fine.

It's my dream to one day read the unabridged Mahabharata and the Ramayana. A fellow and his wife just finished their translation of the Ramayana. Which unabridged Mahabharata are you planning to read?

I don't like abridgements either, I want to read some of every epic around the world or at least a good sampling of them. So in some cases, I feel like I have to read some abridgements in this case. I know I can only get a few unabridged ones finished in my lifetime. Two unabridged ones I plan to read at some point, Romance of the Three Kingdoms and Journey to the West.

Already Don Quixote sounds like fun!

Biblio wrote: " I don't like abridgements either"

Wait! Aren't you reading the abridged 'Tale of Genji' right now?

*spanks Biblio*

I can see the future - the Reader's Digest of Epics. Read four epics instead of one! ; -)

Mark wrote: "I apologize if I was stating the obvious. - )"

Oh no, not at all! I don't have that great of a memory, but miraculously I DO remember that tidbit. :)

I remember agonizing over getting the "just right" translation, reading different samples and reading articles about the merits of each. I ended up choosing the John Rutherford translation, and I thought it was great.

*rubs backside* Duly noted

The Genji I've got ready for Feb is a mere, shocking 200 pages. It's not even abridged, just selections. It has Tale of Heiki in it also. Maybe unabridged Heiki in the future? It could be an interesting debate if it's worth reading at all? I think so, I give up most of the story and the created world. I gain just a mere snippet of what I'm missing out on. Does that justify reading selections?

No..

:P

Linda wrote: "Mark wrote: "I apologize if I was stating the obvious. - )"

Oh no, not at all! I don't have that great of a memory, but miraculously I DO remember that tidbit. :)

I remember agonizing over gettin..."

Cool! - )

Mark wrote: "I apologize if I was stating the obvious. - )

I've never been able to understand the many interesting discussions about the merits of different translations. I'm just happy there are translations,..."

I would be open to trying a different translation. I'll have to dig out the one I read.

Thanks!

Biblio wrote: "It's my dream to one day read the unabridged Mahabharata and the Ramayana. A fellow and his wife just finished their translation of the Ramayana. Which unabridged Mahabharata are you planning to re..."

I read Journey to the West. The first volume is great ,but then, like some of these books, the stories become repetitious. The same things happen over and over. It becomes a little wearing.

But then, the way these stories were told was very different back then. I can envision listeners gathering together, having someone read or relate the next adventure. But trying to read them as a book gets repetitive.

Paula wrote: "Mark wrote: "I apologize if I was stating the obvious. - )

I've never been able to understand the many interesting discussions about the merits of different translations. I'm just happy there are ..."
- )

Biblio wrote: "It's my dream to one day read the unabridged Mahabharata and the Ramayana. A fellow and his wife just finished their translation of the Ramayana. Which unabridged Mahabharata are you planning to re..."

I'm reading the Ganguli translation. I know it's a very old translation, but I appreciate and enjoy the style very much. I wanted a printed and bound version (even though there is a free e-book version available), so I've ordered several volumes from Amazon. I'm going to need a highlighter and a pen for this read.

I'm so happy that you're reading it ^.^ A complete English translation for the Mahabharata is exceedingly hard to come by, I looked for this edition, it se. This is a book to read with a pen ^.^ A whole culture of wisdom is contained in those pages, it's awe inspiring how one book can have such an impression on so many folks and inspire so many schools of thought and forms of literature afterwards. I've only read the Bhagavad Gita, just a short passage of it and am floored by the depth of that one conversation.

You read Journey to the West already? *happiness all around* It'll be a few years before I get to the complete edition, I think. The repetition, i can see how it would be grinding in book format. I heard Genji gets a bit like that. But for Genji, looking below the surface of repetition is probably depth that's not repetitive at all. Genji was written by a single author, so she compiled it that way for some reason. The repetition in Journey, I wonder if it's because the stories evolved across a wider region and with many 'bards' or tellers of it. They could be various version of a single story that evolved over time.

Gah!! This thread turned into a mega chunkster one!! I can go on forever about these dusty old books ^.^ Perhaps it should get back to what everyone's reading?

Biblio wrote: "I'm so happy that you're reading it ^.^ A complete English translation for the Mahabharata is exceedingly hard to come by, I looked for this edition, it se. This is a book to read with a pen ^.^ A ..."

Carry on! I read the Bhagavad Gita a long time ago. It was very interesting. One of the attorneys I worked with, an Army Reserve Colonel, read it also. He used it to teach a War Ethics class. This stuff may be old, but that doesn't mean it isn't relevant now. And yes, war ethics does exist.

I'm starting on the Ramayana in the complete Hari Prasad Shastri translation, available at the Internet Archive.

Another big project of mine at the moment is the classic Chinese novel The Story of the Stone in the 5-volume Penguin translation. I am two full volumes in.

There is SO MUCH out there if people are just willing to dig.

The Red Chamber ^.^ It's one of the 4 (or 6?) classics of Chinese! I just watched a brief talk about that one, it sounds fascinating also.

I hope to read all the classic Chinese novels eventually!

hi chunksters fans! Just a note that we are starting the discussion of House of Government today, there will be much to chime in on and discuss even for those not reading the book, so please jump in to the threads and join the discussion if you can! This book will present many ideas to have fun bantering about :)