What are you currently reading?

I’m currently reading The Gambler by Dostoevsky in Russian. It’s far beyond my current level, but I feel that if I read it in a Cafe and smile to myself and indulgently shake my head as if to say, “this magnificent prose is far superior to the English translations,” then people will at least think I’m smart and a beautiful Russian immigrant will engage me in conversation.
 
Currently reading On The Incarnation by Athanasius- found a good translation on Amazon. C.S. Lewis and Brother Nathanael were right- it is a work of no insignificant theological and literary merit.

"He saw how the surpassing wickedness of men was mounting up against them; He saw also their universal liability to death. All this He saw and, pitying our race, moved with compassion for our limitation, unable to endure that death should have the mastery, rather than that His creatures should perish and the work of His Father for us men come to nought, He took to Himself a body, a human body even as our own."

 
I finished Zarathustra. I get the whole superman and last man stuff, but a lot of the book was impenetrable or seemed like nonsense shoehorned in. When I look for further explanations of the book everything covered the superman and last man stuff in the beginning, but there was a whole center bit that was as confusing as it was badly styled. Honestly, I can't stand Nietzsche's style. Hardly a paragraph in sight, hardly any sense of what's going on, it's sentence-sized paragraphs through the whole thing. All of his books are like this, except the one on genealogy of morals, I believe. Aphorism after aphorism. Unless you reread it over and over you get nothing from it. There are only a few Nietzsche books I haven't read, but other than his philology, none of his philosophy has left an impression on me. I'm in no rush to finish his corpus.

Now I've picked up The Lord of the Rings for some good diversion. I haven't read LotR in 20 years, so I am interested in how much I will get out of a reread. It's also been well over a decade since I've seen the movies, so they aren't fresh in my mind to take over the imagery. I feel like I'm beginning to approach a stage in life where I am interested in rereading the best I have read as opposed to constantly devouring new material. Quality of knowledge is becoming more important to me than amassing it.
 
I finished Fellowship of the Ring recently. I felt that my comprehension of his story was a lot better this time around then when I read LotR as a teenager. The movies, watched in the interim, almost 20 years ago, as well, helped fill any other gaps I struggled with when I read the books, chiefly understanding his description of the land. I think Tolkien expected his readers to understand the terms for landscapes and the fauna he mentions. Or maybe he simply made some of them up, I don't know, because one such tree was the thrawn tree, which I can't even find, unless thrawn was used simply to refer to a twisted tree. Eyot was another such example, those small islands you see in rivers, but the eyot is specific to the Thames. It'd be nice if there was a footnoted version of LotR that explains some of his more esoteric word usage, him being a philology professor and all.

Things I appreciated with this second reading of Fellowship were as follows:
- The inclusion of lengthy history and asides. The background he gives to each area and several characters enriched the entire thing and made one take his story more seriously, since his world was highly fleshed out. He treats each character he makes with special respect.
- I didn't mind how long it took to get to Rivendell or how long they were at Rivendell. When I was younger I wanted to get to the action.
- I felt I understood the character of Tom Bombadil better and there wasn't much reason to not include him in the movie series, by omitting him they omitted a lot and a critical piece of how Tom was master of himself and therefore the ring had no power over him.
- This time around I felt like I better understood the power of the ring Tolkien was getting at. It was no gimmick to put the ringbearer on a quest, but by the end of the first book I thought I had a healthy understanding of how dangerous this thing was for everyone in Middle-Earth.
- Boromir's coveting the ring made complete sense, I didn't blame him.
- Tolkien did a great job making the reader feel the disorder of the group after Gandalf's fall. I could feel Aragorn's lack of decision and difficulty in knowing what to do.
- The carefulness of the characters in avoiding the Black Riders and then later anything related to Sauron added real tension. I thought of the Black Riders as being more dangerous in the book than in the movie, where they were sort of cartoonish.
- I liked Frodo as a character better this time around, his decisions, his struggles were real to me.
- Gandalf wasn't as likeable as I remembered him. I wonder if Tolkien added character flaws to Gandalf and now I'm curious how the wizard will appear to me in the other books.
- I appreciated that the fellowship were not The Avengers or superheroes going to Mordor. They felt vulnerable, unsure, and even unqualified as they struggled to decide to go to Minas Tirith with Boromir or go on to Mordor.
- I know I've read or heard of authors saying to not talk about things like eating, but again Tolkien enriched his story and breathed life into his characters by describing the mere act of meals taking place.

Overall I discovered I enjoyed rereading this book. I look forward to rereading other books I've read in order to grasp and appreciate more of what the author intended.
 
Rereading Sallust's The Jugurthine War/Conspiracy of Catiline published by Penguin. I think short histories and biographies written with a moral, philosophical, and spiritual perspective are my favorite types of books, such as this, Kings and Chronicles from The Bible, and Plutarch's lives. Sad that there isn't books like that being published today.

"The division of The Roman state into warring factions, with all its attendant vices, had originated some years before, as a result of peace and of the material prosperity which men regard as their greatest blessing. Down to the destruction of Carthage, the people and Senate shared the government peaceably and with due restraint, and the citizens did not compete for glory and power; fear of its enemies preserved the good morals of the state. But when the people were relieved of this fear, the favorite vices of prosperity- license and pride- appeared as a natural consequence. Thus the peace and quiet which they longed for in a time of adversity proced, when they obtained it, to be even more grievous and bitter than the adversity."
 
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thinkreadwritecode said:
I finished Fellowship of the Ring recently. I felt that my comprehension of his story was a lot better this time around then when I read LotR as a teenager. The movies, watched in the interim, almost 20 years ago, as well, helped fill any other gaps I struggled with when I read the books, chiefly understanding his description of the land. I think Tolkien expected his readers to understand the terms for landscapes and the fauna he mentions. Or maybe he simply made some of them up, I don't know, because one such tree was the thrawn tree, which I can't even find, unless thrawn was used simply to refer to a twisted tree. Eyot was another such example, those small islands you see in rivers, but the eyot is specific to the Thames. It'd be nice if there was a footnoted version of LotR that explains some of his more esoteric word usage, him being a philology professor and all.

Things I appreciated with this second reading of Fellowship were as follows:
- The inclusion of lengthy history and asides. The background he gives to each area and several characters enriched the entire thing and made one take his story more seriously, since his world was highly fleshed out. He treats each character he makes with special respect.
- I didn't mind how long it took to get to Rivendell or how long they were at Rivendell. When I was younger I wanted to get to the action.
- I felt I understood the character of Tom Bombadil better and there wasn't much reason to not include him in the movie series, by omitting him they omitted a lot and a critical piece of how Tom was master of himself and therefore the ring had no power over him.
- This time around I felt like I better understood the power of the ring Tolkien was getting at. It was no gimmick to put the ringbearer on a quest, but by the end of the first book I thought I had a healthy understanding of how dangerous this thing was for everyone in Middle-Earth.
- Boromir's coveting the ring made complete sense, I didn't blame him.
- Tolkien did a great job making the reader feel the disorder of the group after Gandalf's fall. I could feel Aragorn's lack of decision and difficulty in knowing what to do.
- The carefulness of the characters in avoiding the Black Riders and then later anything related to Sauron added real tension. I thought of the Black Riders as being more dangerous in the book than in the movie, where they were sort of cartoonish.
- I liked Frodo as a character better this time around, his decisions, his struggles were real to me.
- Gandalf wasn't as likeable as I remembered him. I wonder if Tolkien added character flaws to Gandalf and now I'm curious how the wizard will appear to me in the other books.
- I appreciated that the fellowship were not The Avengers or superheroes going to Mordor. They felt vulnerable, unsure, and even unqualified as they struggled to decide to go to Minas Tirith with Boromir or go on to Mordor.
- I know I've read or heard of authors saying to not talk about things like eating, but again Tolkien enriched his story and breathed life into his characters by describing the mere act of meals taking place.

Overall I discovered I enjoyed rereading this book. I look forward to rereading other books I've read in order to grasp and appreciate more of what the author intended.
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What struck me reading Fellowship of the Ring compared to the movies was how Hobbit-centric it was. The beginning of the novel functioned as a sort of ethnography.

I read an annotated version of The Hobbit and the annotator said much of Tolkien's geography was inspired by his trips to the Swiss Alps.
 
I've been reading Erebus by Michael Palin after having enjoyed the TV show The Terror, albeit the ahistorical elements of it were my least favorite. The book is a fascinating and inspiring read about the Arctic & Antarctic exploration voyages. It's quite impressive how much tribute the leaders and participants of these voyages paid to the Creator, and how hardworking and courageous they were in service of broadening man's understanding of the natural world.
 
FrostBITE said:
What struck me reading Fellowship of the Ring compared to the movies was how Hobbit-centric it was. The beginning of the novel functioned as a sort of ethnography.

I read an annotated version of The Hobbit and the annotator said much of Tolkien's geography was inspired by his trips to the Swiss Alps.
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I believe it. Apparently Tolkien really liked trees. I'm working on Return of the King now and then I am going to read Tolkien's translation and commentary on Beowulf.

I also recently reread Jurassic Park. Last time I read it I think I was a teenager. It was a lot less than dense than I remember, but maybe that's because I'm simply older and can understand the concepts a lot easier, like chaos theory. I felt like Crichton edited the text to randomly science-up things. The biggest thing I noticed is how shallow his characters were. I never noticed before but this time I could see a lot of his characters gained their reputation through the movie, not the book. I was also disappointed in the abrupt ending. He takes 100 pages to even get to the park, building up this chaos theory story and then he ends it a short chapter with epilogue. I have a weird feeling that's because he, or the publisher or editor, or whoever, knew most of the people who read the book wouldn't be able to tolerate Crichton fleshing out the fallout from the failure of the park. It gets covered up, but that's a lot less interesting.
 
@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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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:


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)


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


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


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:


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.


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)

Click to expand...
This is a different genre than fairy tales, but many will like these for their kids. Really, these are targeted at boys, but girls might like them too.

G. A, Henty was an English author in the late 19th century that wrote over 100 books. Most of his books have an early teens boy just coming of age, usually thrown into adventure, such as being a midshipman in the English navy (a role filled by boys for centuries). All naval officers started as midshipmen, so becoming a midshipman was an opportunity for a boy from lesser circumstances to become an officer and a gentlemen, and even get rich. It also offered high adventure, and a pretty good chance of dying.

Henty's books span every historical era you can think of, from ancient Egypt, to the American west, to the 80 years war (Dutch revolt against Spain).

I highly recommend them for kids as an alternative to corrupt modern materials. They're good enough to be enjoyable for adults as well.




 
I'm reading the Silo series of books. Very distopian Sci fi. It amazes me how works like this can come out of people's head. Incredible.
 
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)

Click to expand...
This is a fantastic resource, thanks so much for providing this!
 
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.
 
The Iliad by Homer. Reading this book is more of a scholarly endeavor at this point. It's one of the oldest known surviving works of antiquity. And if you are interested in the development of philosophy, you will have to start here, as stories like these were the philosophy of their age. I do not recommend reading this simply to check it off your list. It was meant to be read aloud, which causes you to slow down and bask in the story. There is little reward to approaching this book in any other way.

It reminds me of the Old Testament. It serves as the backdrop for the Greek philosophical tradition that would come hundreds of years later. Not unlike how the Old Testament serves as the backdrop for the Gospel. When reading Plato, figures in Plato would contemplate Homer and make application from his works in a way that is not dissimilar to how the New Testament authors would do with the stories of the Old Testament.

When comparing the God the Bible to the gods in Homer, the most striking difference is how interpersonal God is. He is concerned with what humans do, and even covenants with them, despite being totally transcendent. The gods in Homer see humans as little more than playthings, despite not being transcendent themselves. They quarrel amongst themselves while men are dying en masse. They bear more in common with rich elites than true divinity.
 
GodfatherPartTwo said:
When comparing the God the Bible to the gods in Homer, the most striking difference is how interpersonal God is. He is concerned with what humans do, and even covenants with them, despite being totally transcendent. The gods in Homer see humans as little more than playthings, despite not being transcendent themselves. They quarrel amongst themselves while men are dying en masse. They bear more in common with rich elites than true divinity.
Click to expand...
For a long time I've thought of the various pagan gods to be more like superhumans and not something I would see a divine being that is transcendentally beyond us - basically beings like us only with greatly extended powers. This is true regardless of the patheon and culture the god is from. The difference between us and them is a difference in magnitude rather than in type. A thought I've played around with my mind for a while on the question of why hardline atheists don't seem to have the same burning hate towards pagan gods that they have towards God and even find them to be charming even if they don't have literal belief in them is worshiping pagan gods is because paganism is essentially man worshipping himself via projecting the qualities he sees as admirable into an anthromorphic way. And of course there's nothing man loves more than to worship and exalt himself and see himself as the judge of what is good. God has a way of getting in the way of this self-worship and hence must be done away with in the views of people like this.
 
Wutang said:
For a long time I've thought of the various pagan gods to be more like superhumans and not something I would see a divine being that is transcendentally beyond us - basically beings like us only with greatly extended powers. This is true regardless of the patheon and culture the god is from. The difference between us and them is a difference in magnitude rather than in type. A thought I've played around with my mind for a while on the question of why hardline atheists don't seem to have the same burning hate towards pagan gods that they have towards God and even find them to be charming even if they don't have literal belief in them is worshiping pagan gods is because paganism is essentially man worshipping himself via projecting the qualities he sees as admirable into an anthromorphic way. And of course there's nothing man loves more than to worship and exalt himself and see himself as the judge of what is good. God has a way of getting in the way of this self-worship and hence must be done away with in the views of people like this.
Click to expand...
Excellent.

The Creator-creature distinction is essential. The pagan gods themselves are created, even within their own mythology. The Greek gods are slaves to passion, they are subject to fate, no different than humans. The Biblical God determines fate by His act of creating.

The Greek philosophers, especially Socrates, were accused of being impious to the Greek gods. They yearned for the unchanging, immutable monad instead. Plato's monad is not the God of the Bible, but it is much closer to Him than the glorified men that the Greeks used to worship.
 
Rereading As a Man Thinketh by James Allen.

"Change of diet will not help a man who will not change his thoughts. When a man makes his thoughts pure, he no longer desires impure food."
 
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