What Are You Reading Now?

[Phil Carter]

Our main weapon is surprise, just surprise....oh, and a fanatical devotion to..
our two weapons are..
We have three weapons..
Amongst our weapons..

From the comfy chair, with the soft cushions,

Phil

[lynn cates]

stern stuff

Hello Phil. Hmm, he seems made of sterner stuff.

Cheers.
LC

[Robert]

Call in Biggles.

[Scott Nelson]

Anything by the late Zecharia Stich-me-up.

with apologies to all New Agers

[Adam Went]

Tom:

Agree with you about the high school reads, especially if it happens to be Shakespeare. Although some aren't too bad - way back in primary school we read the "Deltora Quest" series by Emily Rodda, great stuff.

Similar story with Samuel Pepys. Have no particular interest in trawling through his diaries but am fascinated by the lives of people around that medieval period.

Cheers,
Adam.

[mariab]

Shakespeare was my favorite as a kid, besides Jules Verne.
My favorite Shakes play at age 9 was As you like it and Richard III. I used to read them again and again while having lunch after school on the living room couch, while my mom nagged me about doing my homework (and about staining said couch).
At age 9 I attempted deploying Richard III's techniques on my school mates. The teacher called my mom.
Even at age 9 I was aware of the nuances in the infamous scene between Richard III and Lady Anne (Neville), and I totally thought it was a clever, sexy scene. (Though “sexy“ definitely didn't belong to my vocabulary at age 9, which I guess is a healthy thing.) I also used to read Othello a lot as a kid, but for that one I didn't get all the nuances. (Big surprise.) ;-)

[robert newell]

JFK and the unspeakable by James Douglass. It is one of the best books on the assassination. Puts alot into perspective. Also rereading 'Garage Sale' by Ken Kesey for kicks.

[DVV]

I'm not pretentious but have never found Shakespeare boring. Especially when I compare him to his continental colleagues.

[mariab]

NOTHING compares to Shakespeare.
I also adore Molière, though it's a limited “environment“ compared to Shakes.
Marivaux, Musset, Hugo are fine but can't be compared.
My other favorite playwriters are Tchekhov, Tennessee Williams, and Oscar Wilde. The ancient Greek plays are cool too. Racine is intense, but personally gets me bored. Voltaire is a catastrophy as a playwriter, the guy was great in essays and as a journalist. It's fascinating that Tchekhov could do both plays and short stories so good, this is a rare gift.

Highjacking again now, but the only Shakespeare-based opera worthy of the original is Verdi's Otello (for which I hope to do the critical edition, if I live for another 10 years.) ;-)

[DVV]

Hi Maria, my point is that, even if boring (as some seem to consider, and this I can understand), he is far less so than other playwriters of his age - except Molière, of course, but I'm talking of tragedy, as it's supposed to be most boring and pompous, and had mainly Racine and Corneille in mind although I like some parts of their works.

[mariab]

Yeah, that's precisely how I see it too, David. Racine's Phèdre is super hot as a plot, but the text is a bit boring. And Corneille is much worse.
Hardly anything in Shakespeare is ever boring. The plays' structure has been described as cinematic, the characters are amazing, the themes totally relatable to us today, there are tons of clever jokes and ironic situations (even in the tragedies), and so on. Plus his plays are sooo versatile, while Molière just wrote the same thing a dozen times (albeit incredibly well).
OK, so the language is a bit idiomatic, but still easy to understand. Calling Shakes boring comes straight out of laziness or sheer stupidity. ;-)

By the by, I happen to think that one of the few boring parts in Shakespeare is Hamlet's monologue, yet ironically it's his most well-known text.

Faut que j'aille au taff, moi. (Which consists of starting making phone calls.)

[Adam Went]

Back in Shakespeare's time people probably would have been able to read his work as if they were reading the daily paper.....these days the brain does backflips trying to work it out from the first paragraph.

Two names stand above all others in English literature, really. Shakespeare and Dickens. IMO "Oliver Twist" is still one of the greatest works ever.

Cheers,
Adam.

[mariab]

Shakespeare though is certainly more “timeless“ and relatable to us than Dickens.

Some of Dickens I don't even like, like A tale of two cities. This one's too much. My favorite is Great expectations. I love it that it's at times tragic and at times incredibly hilarious. And the characters are amazing: Pip, Magwitch (the one who went Down Under, he he), Joe Gargery. Personally I've always had a faible for Mr. Jaggers. ;-)

[Adam Went]

Maria:

I've heard a few people say they don't go much on "The Old Curiousity Shop"....but at the end of the day if you look at Victorian literature in particular, Dickens was always at the forefront in some capacity or another, and was constantly working on something. It seems he didn't lose anything in his older years, his first works were just as good as his last.

"Schindler's List" (originally "Schindler's Ark") also belongs in the very top echelons of the greatest works ever, even if it is based in fact.....what a story.

Cheers,
Adam.

[lynn cates]

Squeers

Hello Maria.

"Personally I've always had a foible for Mr. Jaggers."

You mean Sir Mick? (heh-heh)

"Nicholas Nickleby" is a personal favourite. The villain Squeers is without rival.

Cheers.
LC