EnMasse

al-Qa'bong · Posted: Wed Jul 11, 2012 3:25 pm Post subject:

I'm going to read old friends this summer. I finished The Great Gatsby yesterday, and started A Confederacy of Dunces. I don't often burst out laughing while reading, but I have done so quite a few times already since again following the quest of Ignatius Reilly.
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"The purpose of government is to protect the weak from the powerful" Hammurabi

"We can't all be Sam the Sham; some of us have to be Pharoahs" Larry, brother of Darrel, and his other brother Daryl

Timebandit · Fulltime enMasse Member Joined: 11 Apr 2006 Posts: 854

I haven't read Confederacy of Dunces in years and years... Very funny book. Loved it. I wonder if I still have a copy?

Slumberjack · Posted: Wed Jul 11, 2012 4:23 pm Post subject:

Heidegger's Being and Time. About a dozen or so pages in, and I'm beginning to have serious doubts about my motivation going forward. For now it's a great sleep aid, as I keep it on the nightstand.
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There is this old notion, Bolshevik, a little frigid for sure; the building of the Party. I think that our present war is about giving new content to this depopulated fiction.

al-Qa'bong · Posted: Tue Jul 17, 2012 5:10 pm Post subject:

There's a great passage in which Ignatius contemplates a global gay government. I haven't found a place to copy the text anywhere, but the passage is quoted here.

"We must have new solutions to new problems" could be taken from any contemporary hack speechwriter's arsenal of chichés.
_________________
"The purpose of government is to protect the weak from the powerful" Hammurabi

"We can't all be Sam the Sham; some of us have to be Pharoahs" Larry, brother of Darrel, and his other brother Daryl

al-Qa'bong · Posted: Sat Aug 18, 2012 4:25 pm Post subject:

There's a piece about The Great Gatsby on CBC's Day Six right now.

Apparently the novel has suddenly become relevant again.
_________________
"The purpose of government is to protect the weak from the powerful" Hammurabi

"We can't all be Sam the Sham; some of us have to be Pharoahs" Larry, brother of Darrel, and his other brother Daryl

al-Qa'bong · Posted: Wed Jan 16, 2013 4:58 am Post subject:

I've read a lot of similar things recently:

Chris Hedges' American Fascists, Chalmers Johnson's Nemesis, Morris Berman's Dark Ages America, A Question of Values and what I'm currently reading, Why America Failed.

Over Christmas I dipped into a few Raymond Chandler short stories from his pulp fiction days. Last week I found The Black Lizard Book of Pulps at the library, but haven't had a chance to get into it much yet.
_________________
"The purpose of government is to protect the weak from the powerful" Hammurabi

"We can't all be Sam the Sham; some of us have to be Pharoahs" Larry, brother of Darrel, and his other brother Daryl

Timebandit · Fulltime enMasse Member Joined: 11 Apr 2006 Posts: 854

I was on a Scandinavian crime novel kick over Christmas - I got the second in a series by Jussi Adler-Olsen (The Absent One) and a couple of Jo Nesbo novels (The Redbreast and Nemesis). Now I'm reading le Carre's The Constant Gardener.

Caissa · Posted: Thu Jan 17, 2013 8:07 pm Post subject:

If you like Scandanavian mysteries you might like Yrsa Sigurdardottir's mysteries.

al-Qa'bong · Posted: Fri Jan 18, 2013 1:07 am Post subject:

I hadn't heard of this writer before. I'm not much into mysteries, but my granny, Guðríður, is. She might like Ms. Sigurðardóttir's books. I just started to look around for some, but have found only English translations so far. Granny reads Icelandic and so could get a kick out of an Icelandic story.
_________________
"The purpose of government is to protect the weak from the powerful" Hammurabi

"We can't all be Sam the Sham; some of us have to be Pharoahs" Larry, brother of Darrel, and his other brother Daryl

Timebandit · Fulltime enMasse Member Joined: 11 Apr 2006 Posts: 854

I wonder if you can get an Icelandic language version from amazon.

I will have to see if I can find a copy in English to pick up. Thanks for the recommendation, Caissa!

Caissa · Posted: Fri Jan 18, 2013 2:59 pm Post subject:

I think her first five books have all been translated. I've read 3 of them.

anne cameron · Posted: Fri Jan 18, 2013 5:54 pm Post subject:

A really fun read...and a very good novel...."The Hypnotist", by Lars Kepler, a Swedish writer. I just finished an English translation and several days later still have those mental visions of some of the images.

But so far nothing outdoes my fixation and joy with all three of the Steig Larson "Girl With The Dragon Tattoo"...

and I have seen the Swedish versions of the films...WOW!!! Saw the Hollywood re-make with wotzisname, the James Bond hunk... total blah... and it kind of slithered off the table and onto the floor...someone told me the reason the originals hadn't done well was the public doesn't like to have to read sub-titles...hmph...excellent films. If I see them a couple times more I'll probably be able to understand Swedish!!

Timebandit · Fulltime enMasse Member Joined: 11 Apr 2006 Posts: 854

The subtitle excuse always annoys me. What it means is that the distributor has so chronically underestimated their audience that they didn't promote it heavily because of the assumption they won't like subtitles.

I thought the Swedish adaptations were very good. Loved Noomi Rapace's performance. The novels themselves were amazing - that's what set off my current kick.