What Are You Reading

[ColeH_10]

“The Day of the Jackal” by Frederick Forsyth- an exceptional read set in the 1960s regarding a mysterious Hitman contracted by the OAS in France to assassinate the French President, Charles De Gaulle.

It involves various disguises, in-depth planning and a certain intensity to the character and what is at stake for both the protagonist, the Jackal- and the detective, Claude Lebell as the antagonist who is constantly at the heels of the Jackal.

Highly recommend reading!

 

[Harp]

“The Day of the Jackal” by Frederick Forsyth- an exceptional read set in the 1960s regarding a mysterious Hitman contracted by the OAS in France to assassinate the French President, Charles De Gaulle.

It involves various disguises, in-depth planning and a certain intensity to the character and what is at stake for both the protagonist, the Jackal- and the detective, Claude Lebell as the antagonist who is constantly at the heels of the Jackal.

Highly recommend reading!

Indeed. I read Forsyth's little gem thirty or forty years ago, captivated by the protagonist's abject focus and precise rational methodology; knowing that his assignment would ultimately fail.
If you haven't seen the film by the same title starring British actor James Fox, circa 1973, please check it out.
Also, British cable has a current Jackal series out with another season currently in production.
This is a reprise; albeit updated present-day Europe with a decided political correctness deemed necessary to script by liberal London film studio. In season 1 Lebel's role configures a black female MI5 officer, supposedly a weaponry expert blah blah. Her spot ably played by a capable actress; however, her character detracts focus away from the title devil, and in my opinion unnecessarily drags and detracts what otherwise is a truly exceptional series. A splendid dovetail superbly directed with a refreshing intensity. The only other criticism I have has to this excellent effort, centers the overt attempt to capture the moral psychological complexity of the Jackal with all blemish eczema included. I ascribe this back to studio liberal naivete; something the original production didn't need to grapple with. But, there it is.

 

[itsme]

Meditations by Marcus Aurelius for probably the 5th time

 

[Harp]

^ I've drawn a certain question as regards Marcus and Spinoza; namely, their dismissal of Christianity.
Marcus in particular had a rather surprising closed mindset regarding Christians. And Benedictus is
a bit too quick the wave of his hand, leading me to suspect his tightly reasoned Euclidean compact creed
couldn't quite compartmentalize the grandeur posed Christ.
In the same manner, Giocomo Leopardi admits within his Zibaldone his inability to conceptualize
the Divine. Boethius, imprisoned yet free; whereas Leopardi was free yet imprisoned within himself and doubt.
Forgive my critical eye, I'm quite fond of Marcus for the most part.

 

[tamoko]

"A Sinistra" from Victor Pelevin
Some mix between Bulgakov and Kavka mit elements of Hard SF.

 

[Harp]

"A Sinistra" from Victor Pelevin
Some mix between Bulgakov and Kavka mit elements of Hard SF.

Naked witches flying broomsticks are a clean sweep.

 

[tamoko]

Naked witches flying broomsticks are a clean sweep.

This will be perhaps more to alternative reality like in Nacked Lunch with a lot of humor mixed with ost philosophy all this with some similar to Bulgakov Master and Margarita language. Very interesting and probably most interesting modern Russian author.

 

[Harp]

^ Haven't touched Burroughs since college. Same with Pynchon. His Gravity's Rainbow and undergraduate angst being what wandering lost in the desert is and all....

 

[JasonY]

 

[JasonY]

Just started

 

[Tiki Tom]

Right now I’m on page 200 of Faust by Goethe.
its the Walter Kaufmann translation from 1960. Original German text is on the left, and the english translation is on the facing page. It is very interesting to observe the translator’s art. On the one hand, it’s not a 100% verbatim translation. On the other hand, I appreciate how the translator (a native German teaching at Princeton) is trying to stay true to the mood, and is also trying to keep it as poetry, mimicking the original. A tricky job.
As the introduction states: “If one begins to read for enjoyment, the play will lead one, Willy Nilly, to think.”
It’s surprisingly entertaining. Mephistopheles is stealing the show. Does Goethe’s storytelling live up to its amazingly gigantic reputation? I’ll let you know in a few weeks.

 

[Fading Fast]

Snow Country by Yasunari Kawabata, first published in 1948


Snow Country is often regarded as the culmination of Nobel Prize–winning author Yasunari Kawabata’s fiction and a cornerstone of modern Japanese literature. It is a short, emotionally resonant novel that privileges atmosphere over plot, using landscape, gesture, and silence to explore longing, illusion, and the quiet disappointments that accompany desire.

More evocative of emotion and the environment than plot-driven, Kawabata sets his story in a ski resort in Japan's western snow country – cold, desolate, blanketed in white, and austerely beautiful – to examine the forlorn love between a wealthy, urban guest and a local geisha.

Shimamura, a married man from Tokyo who made his money the very old-fashioned way – he inherited it – is captivated on the train to the resort by a beautiful young girl whose face he sees reflected in the passenger car window. The vision of her will haunt him his entire stay.

At the resort, his lover, Komako, who has by necessity become a geisha, tries to hold his interest, but their affair is uneven. Shimamura is an aesthete who looks to his snow country visits to offer a perfect world removed from the real, but imperfect one of his Tokyo life.

It's never said, but the purity of the white snow matches the purity of life that Shimamura hopes to achieve for his time here – though, of course, there is no perfection or purity on earth. So disappointment nibbles and then bites at the edges of his futile quest.

Several scenes – many, many scenes – juxtapose the pure snow-covered landscape with the messiness of real life. Shimamura sees Komako drunk with a red face or her hair disheveled and in need of washing as will happen in any long-term relationship. It's life, not perfection.

It's almost unacceptable to think this way today, but inherited wealth can be a curse as the recipient has had much of life's meaning – individual struggle, goal setting, overcoming obstacles, earned success – taken away before getting started.

It often leaves the recipient unsettled, without a clear source for that unease, and looking for unachievable goals like perfect love or a completely serene existence, which only leave him or her more unsettled. It's the inherited wealth version of first-world problems, but it is very real to them.

Adding to Shimamura's ennui is the presence of the girl from the train reflection, Yoko, who is, in his mind, a younger purer version of Komako, but only because Shimamura keeps her at arm's length and because she has lived less of life.

It's the manifestation of the haiku at the center of the novel: love is only perfect before it is experienced; a woman is pure before she is touched. Only a man of inherited wealth could struggle with such a Schröadinger's Cat-like dilemma, as the rest of us understand life a bit better.

In fairness, it has an element of the madonna-wh*re syndrome common to many cultures, but elevated to intellectualism in Japan. It's also on the continuum that even today sees Japan making some beautifully crafted items that the West has commoditized in outsourced factories.

Finding and maintaining a beautiful love, however, is different than making the perfect pair of blue jeans. Shimamura is set up to fail as he can never achieve what he wants: to capture a transient moment of perfection – the first blush of love – and keep it that way forever.

Komako, Yoko, Yoko's "perfect" beauty in the reflection of a train window, the unblemished whiteness of freshly fallen snow are all things of transient beauty. At the end of the novel, you wonder if Shimamura understands his quest is futile? Even snow eventually looks dirty.

If you want a linear, plot-driven story, Snow Country is not for you. If you want to absorb a bit of 20th-century Japanese culture – the geisha, the snow country, Eastern Romanticism, mono no aware – Kawabata’s novel offers an engaging window into a distinct corner of that era’s Japan.

 

[Trenchfriend]

Again, Alberto Moravia's short stories in Un'Altra Vita (1973) are great.

 

[Trenchfriend]

Now starting Stendhal - The Charterhouse of Parma (1839).

 

[robrinay]

I just started the Dresden FIles by Jim Butcher. Kind of Sam SPade meets Harry Potter. A rather enjoyable bit of fluff.

I loved the first few but not the last few - I’m guessing the formulaic writing was the problem. I should have had a break and then returned to them. Hindsight is an exact science!

 

[Trenchfriend]

Readability of The Charterhouse of Parma is okay. Finished page 36.

 

[Trenchfriend]

Finished page 67. Def. good!

 

[NorthernBloke]

The Discourses of Epictetus translated by Robin Waterfield, one of the best translations of Epictetus' discourses and one of the best ways to learn Stoic philosophy with detailed notes, i have studied this version multiple times.

The Nature of the gods by Cicero which delves into the nature of deities.

The Dangerous life and ideas of Diogenes the Cynic, which delves into his life and Cynic philosophy in a more structured way instead of with anecdotes.

 

[NorthernBloke]

Marcus in particular had a rather surprising closed mindset regarding Christians.

I don't think it's really surprising at all, many philosophers were not particularly fond of the brand new religion they viewed as being based on superstition and blind faith rather than reason, Celsus was an even bigger critic of Christianity who was alive around the same time. (his work on the true doctrine available on archive.org is interesting).

Christianity was not also the same thing then as it is now, The Roman Empire was surprisingly tolerant of different religions as long as they didn't threaten the stability of the empire, it's probably why they didn't try and eradicate the gods of the Germanic tribes, they just viewed them as different versions of their own.

They may of seen Christianity as a threat, a brand new faith which is monotheistic and denies the existence of other gods in a Civilisation what was still polytheistic(though Marcus and the Stoics would actually be considered pantheists in the modern sense), and they were known to cause trouble at certain points including violence and vandalism, I don't think Christians were just persecuted for no reason at all. Not that I'm saying they should have been but history to me is never black and white.

I don't how true or sensationalised the book I am going to recommend is what I recently finished, but it was an interesting read, it's called the darkening age by Catherine Nixey.

 

[Tiki Tom]

The first Few centuries of Christianity fascinate me. I’m glad you point out that early Christianity was probably different from what we have today. Also we kind of unthinkingly accept the standard storyline that, after significant persecution, Christianity was accepted and people naturally saw in it a better way to live, and almost magically, other religions gently faded away until —bingo!— Europe was 99.9% Christian. Some years ago I remember reading a book about Saint Martin that emphasized his role as an attacker of, and destroyer of, pagan temples. The book also described why so many works of Greek/Roman sculpture came down to us mutilated. I have no sympathy for Julian the Apostate (great Gore Vidal book, BTW), but we should be able to look with clear eyes and see that we’ve been getting a white washed story about those centuries. Now that I’m thinking of it, I may need to read Gore Vidal’s Julian again.