What are you currently reading?

thinkreadwritecode said:
After finishing Lord of the Rings, I read Tolkien's translation of Beowulf. I had to reread it to understand it better but felt it was worth it. I can see now why Beowulf had such an impact on Tolkien. Without Tolkien's interest in language and then these old fairy tales, Beowulf being one of them, we would never have the pleasure of LotR or the fantasy genre, I believe.

In between random books I am now undertaking a reading of Ulysses. I have never cared for modernist books, but I feel more up to it as of late.
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Beowulf is very good. If I get a chance to reread it, I'll have to read Tolkien's translation.

The book was ahead of its time. There is a thematic tension in the story between Beowulf's self-glorifying nature (a microcosm of the pagan Nordic culture) and his identity as a Christian (just as the Norse were Christianized). He knows he is a Christian but he is tempted to go back to sin, just as the Nordic people were tempted to cling to their identity, even if it was pagan.

I liked the movie as well. They did something different but I didn't think it was unfaithful to the book. Anyone who thinks Beowulf is meant to be a flawless hero does not understand the source material in the first place.
 
Northumber said:
@TheLoneReader

As I stated in the movie thread I've been on a mission collecting fairytales so I can read them to my kids and open that world to them (rather than the garbage we get now from modern culture). I've been searching for tales from various traditions (Germany, Norway, Finland, Russia, etc.). I'm a little surprised to say that my kids are now the ones demanding to me that I keep reading these. One of my kids actually prefers listening to me read these to watching movies.

There has been some challenge in this endeavor as finding the right translation is a balancing act. Some of the translations are too old and difficult to read and dictate. Some of the newer translations are completely watered down, or censored, or infused with woke-ish ideology. But many translations seem to still retain the ethos. It's been a work in progress finding the best ones, but I'm pretty happy with what I've found so far. Most are pretty good to be read out loud. That said, for some of them, I'll still modify certain words and phrases as I read to my different aged kids.

I know some of these have a reputation for being too severe and intense for kids but they work somehow. Where there is grotesqueness it is rightly placed and there is a deeper meaning. Also, the crazy things like heads being chopped off, or whatever, can grab a kid's attention, and keep them engaged. Kids have interest in, and come up with crazy ideas on their own anyways. At least my kids do.

So, here is what I've found so far. If anyone has more suggestions (or better suggestions) I'd greatly appreciate it.

Grimms. This is where I started. There are some pretty classic ones here. All of them are good though. This version seemed pretty complete:

Calla Editions; Calla ed edition (October 18, 2010)

Hans Christian. Also a classic. There are some crossovers and similarities to stories in Grimms (really, in all of these you can find themes and similarities - I'm sure the way all these were told and shared were organic at the time). We liked this translation. It is very well written to capture attention. Some of my kid's favorite tales are in these (The wild swans)

Hans Christian Andersen's Fairy Tales (Paper Mill Press Illustrated Classics) by Hans Christian Andersen

Norway
I discovered Norwegians are into trolls. There are some really great adventurous tales through mountains and caves here:

The Complete and Original Norwegian Folktales of Asbjørnsen and Moe
translated by Tiina Nunnally

Sweden. I really love these. Many are about the value of work and gaining proper perspective. This translation is also well written:

Swedish Fairy Tales
translated by Holger Lundbergh

Finland. These are different in tone to Norway and Sweden. I got this one before I found the Russia tales and now see the similarity. But there are some unique tales with wizards and sea gods that are great:

Tales from a Finnish Tupa
by James Cloyd Bowman
and Margery Bianco

Russia. I don't know what to say about Russians, you all are intense. I love you all though ( Dostoyevski is my favorite author). I can sense the cosmos of Christ most directly in these stories. And my kids strangely know some of the recurring characters like baba yaga because they used to watch that masha and the bear cartoon. This compilation has some shorter ones that can be good for a late night. Some I've skipped though because they don't end well. It's a good lesson for kids, I know, but it depends on the night. I play it by ear.

Russian Fairy Tales
by Aleksandr Afanas'ev

I'm still looking for Irish Celtic tales. I haven't found any I'm happy with yet.

For young kids I found the vintage ladybird fairytales. These are illustrated and shortened but the publishing date is in this golden period when people in general still had a good take on things. I had to buy these on ebay. My little kids love them. I splurged on the whole set (27 or so were made): I didn't get the newer ones as the illustrations alone from the older 1960s versions are far superior. Here's an example of four being sold (it's difficult and expensive to find the whole set)

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Out of curiosity, what benefit do you feel you derived from these fairy tales? I once started reading Grimm's Fairy Tales and would make a note of what I thought the moral was. That was harder to do with some of the stories. Some of the stories are pretty good, other ones can feel nonsensical.
 
Currently reading '$100m offers' by Alex Hormozi.

Is a business book but less stuffy and more practical than many I've read. It's got me really hyped.
 
GodfatherPartTwo said:
Beowulf is very good. If I get a chance to reread it, I'll have to read Tolkien's translation.

The book was ahead of its time. There is a thematic tension in the story between Beowulf's self-glorifying nature (a microcosm of the pagan Nordic culture) and his identity as a Christian (just as the Norse were Christianized). He knows he is a Christian but he is tempted to go back to sin, just as the Nordic people were tempted to cling to their identity, even if it was pagan.

I liked the movie as well. They did something different but I didn't think it was unfaithful to the book. Anyone who thinks Beowulf is meant to be a flawless hero does not understand the source material in the first place.
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Beowulf is the original sword and sorcery epic. I saw nothing in it in high school; I read the David Wright prose translation a few years ago and really enjoyed it.

Which movie version are you referring to?
 
GodfatherPartTwo said:
Out of curiosity, what benefit do you feel you derived from these fairy tales? I once started reading Grimm's Fairy Tales and would make a note of what I thought the moral was. That was harder to do with some of the stories. Some of the stories are pretty good, other ones can feel nonsensical.
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I think they help ground you in reality.

It's funny, because we pretty much use the word "fairytale" as a pejorative now. But it's actually the same situation as imagining we are now "enlightened" after the "enlightenment". The opposite is true.

It's tapping into something very meaningful. Both CS Lewis and Tolkien realized this and it's why they pulled so much from fairytales. It's not just that they were good story tellers or teaching a moral lesson but they were re-showing and revealing how reality works. And anytime you do that you get closer to Christ because: reality=Christ.

Often we are missing something when we think it's nonsensical. It's just that we are missing the meaning. It's similar to Bible stories that are confusing.


"Some day you will be old enough to start reading fairy tales again."
-CS Lewis
 
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Looking at some of the books I've read this past year:

The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson. This novel has been adapted to film a few times. It's terrible. Once you realize that it's about repressed lesbianism in a normal culture such as America in the 1950's then you will not be able to take it seriously. After reading some of the "scariest books ever," including this one, I am convinced that there is no such thing as a scary book.

The Lost World by Arthur Conan Doyle. A simple adventure book with dinosaurs. I was shocked at how good this book was. Doyle was an amazingly talented writer. His writing is actually funny.

The New Revelation by Arthur Conan Doyle. Not an adventure novel but an essay on his dabblings into spiritualism. It is almost an anti-Christian polemic. He details some of his encounters with ghosts and spirits by way of mediums. Shame that such a talented writer would become trapped in the devil's playground. I enjoyed reading it and attempting to refute it from the Biblical worldview.
 
I'm currently reading The Early Church Fathers by Nick Needham. It's a collection of daily readings from the church fathers, arranged by month. There are 12 months in a year so there are the writing from 12 fathers. Each month contains the writings from one father, May is St. Basil.

It's a beautifully designed book full of edifying theological truths. My only complaint is that the print is too small.

Here is a portion of today's reading:

My brother, encounter every temptation with a persevering endurance. And you should know how many temptations tests the faithful soul: worldly loss, false accusations, lies, hostility, slander, persecution! These and many similar things are the trials of believers. On top of this, be a quiet person. Don't be hasty in speech.
 
I've just finished reading Father Arseny, 1893-1973: Priest, Prisoner, Spiritual Father and Father Arseny: A Cloud of Witnesses. I've been profoundly moved by both books. Father Arseny was a Hieromonk who was a living example of faith, hope and charity in the Siberian gulag he was imprisoned in. Despite the cruel treatment he received from both guards and prisoners, he waged a war of loving, spiritual attrition on those same people, by tending to them when they were sick, attentively hearing their life stories and confessions and generally loving them. It was attrition because the love he showed others wore down their defenses and brought many of them to Jesus Christ.

Highly recommended reading for Christians of all denominations. As some of you would know from RVF, despite being Catholic, I have a huge admiration and respect for Orthodox elders and saints, having read many books on their lives and teachings. These 2 are way up there with the best of them.

.
 
I'm reading through Malcolm X's autobiography. Only about 70 pages in, initial thoughts:
- He was 39 when assassinated by Nation of Islam folks. Had he not rejected Christianity early in his life because he couldn't get behind Jesus's divinity, he probably could have avoided early violent death
- His father was an idiot. An early influencer, a "preacher" who went around preaching Marcus Garvey's 'back to Africa' stuff and made money as a traveling preacher. Booker T. Washington complained about this kind of black man, because apparently there was a problem with too many of them trying to be preachers as soon as they got a little bit literate because they thought they'd have an easy life and barely have to work. Parallels to today's influencers.
- He rails against the white man, not obsessively so, but there is little material from him to draw upon in his early life other than being called the n word.
- He got his wishes, no one uses the n word as nonchalantly as it used to be used and blacks have their own non-white culture and don't try to act white anymore, not for a long time.
- His writing style is pedestrian. I had thought he was some sort of intellectual, but he was a revolutionary and rights activist, which must be code for unremarkable. So much of his autobiography is basic narrative with a few unexplored comments meant to be taken as final judgements.
- He passed up a black girl for a white woman in his teenagehood. His grandpa was white, I sense a lot of self-hatred in him or cluelessness
- He and other blacks had the same attitude on WWII like white men view potential WWIII now, basically, being unwilling to die for the people who own everything. For Malcolm it was the whites, for us it's the jews and elites.
- Lots of racial mixing and clubbing going on in the late 30s early 40s according to his life story.
 
Has anyone read The Boniface Option? If so, is it a good read and worth my while having it sent to Australia?
 
I started reading Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance. It's a suprisingly easy read so far, using mostly plain language, but is also incredibly insightful and interesting.
 
I had a 26 hour drive to accomplish this weekend and started and finished Blood Meridian by Cormac McCarthy as I drove across Houston to West Texas, to Roswell NM, to a desert town to pick up a dog I had paid a lot of money for. I've been accross East Texas and to NM/AZ before, but this route coincidentally had me trace the story of my own heritage as Texas Settlers family as I drove accross the state to the West Texas wasteland (smells like shit) into the desert of NM and then into the mountains and beauty of NM near Mescalero Reservation and Ruisoso and Lincoln.

When I was a young teen my father and I listened to All the Pretty Horses on the way to school...and later I read The Road when my first kid was born. I've read many heavy books...hell I've been to war...but I wasn't ready, and yet was I engaged, and waiting on every word.

For the neophytes, this is McCarthy's magnum opus, and a book many consider to best piece of fiction from any American of the 20th century...

But reader beware. This terrible tale shows man in all savagery, there are clear times by which one might recognize a time to turn back, close the book...however it is impossible to do so with this book... There is no good ending. But if you read you will be angry, sad, confused and yet not surprised.

The Kid, Glanton, Toadvine, Bathcat, and The Judge are all waiting for your discovery.
 
McCarthy is excellent. No Country is my favourite film of all time. The Road is great also, though the books have such amazing detail it's not the same to talk about Movies when talking about Cormac McCarthy obviously.


I enjoy Robert Greene's books and how well he researches one particular topic.

So i'm currently undertaking The Laws of Human Nature, his latest book.
Fascinating subject matter and as always, extremely in depth.

Also reading Basic Christianity a classic by John Stott an English Pastor who as his gravestone says “Who resolved both as the grounds of his salvation and as the subject of his ministry to know nothing except Jesus Christ and him crucified.” (1 Corinthians 2:2)


Praise God I now have time to read books amongst the chaos of everything going on. Very thankful.
 
Genesis in The Bible, KJV. I'm in chapter 41, at the point where Joseph is brought out of prison to interpret Pharoah's dreams. I'm always surprised with how much attention Jacob gets; his story starts in chapter 25 and overlaps with Joseph in chapters 37-49; that's half the book.

Boy by Roald Dahl.

Down and Out in Paris and London by George Orwell. Orwell was Christopher Hitchens's favorite writer and he's probably the only socialist I'll enjoy reading.
 
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I just read Me, the Mob, and the Music, by Tommy James. I like several songs by Tommy James and the Shondells, but I'm don't normally read a lot of artist biographies. I was interested in this book because of the mob angle. Also, Tommy James' home town is very close to where my father grew up, so there's a bit of a connection there.

His experience at Roulette records exposed him quite a bit to the mob way of doing things, and to a number of mob figures.

The book mentions his Christian testimony only a little, but there are a number of interviews where he talks about it more. He got saved while watching a Billy Graham revival on TV in 1967, but he lived the rock and roll lifestyle quite a bit for another 20 years. Still, a number of his songs from the rock and roll era have Christian influences. Sweet Cherry Wine is about the blood of Christ.

Here's an interview that covers some of the details about the mob, and also his Christian testimony.

 
Im about 1/2 thru Woke Inc. by Vivek. Pretty good read so far. Nothing too revealing since most of the subject matter he’s brought up in all his podcasts, debates, interviews etc. but it’s a good read for modern day US economics more than anything.
 
I'm reading 1Q84 by Murakami. I've a few Murakami books in the past, but I don't get why people think he's great and recommend him so much or how he's gotten popular. I've found all of his books I've read to be lackluster, slow, sexually obsessed and contain weird fantasy elements. 1Q84 is much the same, he goes into a lot of detail about the characters' lives, but it falls flat for me and reads like filler.
 
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