what are you reading now?

[IdleRich]

Reading a book called The Black Locomotive... only on the first few pages but it seems to be similar in terms of story to that Quatermass one in that they find an alien(?) prehistoric chamber thing buried deep in the earth under London while boring tunnels for Crossrail or something.
But there is more to it than that, strange pictures and diagrams insert themselves into the text and it reminds me of something sort of like House of Leaves maybe... I dunno, let's see where it goes.
For some reason I find myself thinking that @catalog woukd like this. Dunno why exactly.

 

[catalog]

Sounds interesting. I did get hold of house of leaves at one point, cos someone re ommended it to me, butg for one reason or another never got around to reading it.

 

[woops]

Sounds interesting. I did get hold of house of leaves at one point, cos someone re ommended it to me, butg for one reason or another never got around to reading it.

It's alright, didn't find it as scary as some apparently did

 

[IdleRich]

Good review here...

https://fanfiaddict.com/2021/08/19/review-the-black-locomotive-by-rian-hughes/

 

[Benny Bunter]

Found a copy of Mythology by Edith Hamilton for 1 euro this morning and read first 30 pages - I reckon this could be the perfect introduction to classical mythology that I'd been looking for, ie: scholarly but not boring.

 

[Benny Bunter]

Found a copy of Mythology: Timeless Tales of God's and Heroes by Edith Hamilton for 1 euro this morning and read the first 30 pages - I reckon this is could be the perfect introduction to classical mythology that I'd been looking for, ie: scholarly but not boring.

 

[Benny Bunter]

Book so good I posted twice

 

[Mr. Tea]

Book so good I posted twice

Still less formulaic than Homer.

 

[Benny Bunter]

Anyone else thought, I need to get the Odyssey under my belt, picked up some ultra-dry translation and packed it in after 10 pages?
This book could be the answer.

 

[version]

Anyone else thought, I need to get the Odyssey under my belt, picked up some ultra-dry translation and packed it in after 10 pages?
This book could be the answer.

I read the E. V. Rieu translation up until Odysseus arrives back in Ithaca then ditched it as I couldn't be arsed reading all the stuff with the suitors.

 

[john eden]

@martin Meltzer was notorious for spending most of his life in a feud with the more pacifist and middle class Freedom Press group. Christie famously got nicked with a backpack of explosives on his way to introduce Franco to them. I’ve not read that book though.

I never met Meltzer, but did go with some mates on the processsion/march that was part of his funeral. Was good.

 

[jenks]

Anyone else thought, I need to get the Odyssey under my belt, picked up some ultra-dry translation and packed it in after 10 pages?
This book could be the answer.

The Nagle one is a decent job but there are perennial arguments over translating the classics, especially Homer - how chatty, colloquial, how formal, how formulaic, which version. Endless.

 

[Benny Bunter]

Yeah, dunno if I'll ever bother reading a proper translation as such. This Edith Hamilton is retellings of a selection of the myths that she's put together from various sources (relying on Ovid as little as possible apparently cos he was a bit frivolous or something) and it's also kind of a useful reference book- she breaks down who all the gods were etc. Looks like it's gonna be a fun read.

 

[yyaldrin]

i want to read some artaud texts, there is a selected writings book edited by susan sontag and an anthology edited by jack hirschman. did anyone read any of those or could tell me which one is the best to get?

 

[linebaugh]

I opened up 'illness as metaphor' by sontag and the first thing she talked about is how illness isnt a metaphor so maybe try the hirschman

 

[Corpsey]

Was reading Lawrence Gowing's essay on Turner "Imagination and Reality" this morning on the Tube, thinking "this is great but I wish I was getting my dick sucked instead"

 

[mixed_biscuits]

Was reading Lawrence Gowing's essay on Turner "Imagination and Reality" this morning on the Tube, thinking "this is great but I wish I was getting my dick sucked instead"

That's a coincidence, cos that's what he was thinking when he was writing it.

 

[Corpsey]

All reading and writing is a displacement activity for people who aren't getting their genitals sucked.

 

[craner]

Was reading Lawrence Gowing's essay on Turner "Imagination and Reality" this morning on the Tube, thinking "this is great but I wish I was getting my dick sucked instead"

Hey, @Corpsey:

On the Legacy of George L. Mosse

In Confronting History, his late memoir, George Mosse described the occupation of Mossehaus, the headquarters of his grandfather’s publishing empire, during the Berlin uprising of January 1919. The…

olivercraner.com

 

[catalog]

Just finished "N" by Arthur Machen, one of his last books. Its similar to all the other stuff I've read by him, a few blokes sat in a room, drinking telling stories.

Then there's a story within the story, about how one of them recalls an off the track part of Stoke Newington, called "Canon's Park" and how he saw this earthly paradise there, waterfalls, purple flowers, glistening greens etc.

And then more stories within stories, as another tells of his cousin taking over the vicar duties from someone, and talking to a member of the congregation, who invites him over for tea, and as he's leaving, invites him to look out the window, and it's all this trippy scene.

It ends with one of the guys walking up to Stoke Newington, spending time listening to old timers in pubs, where he gets more of the story.

Machen seemingly obsessed to the end with this idea of hallucinating beautiful forests in the streets of London.