Let’s talk books

[mk-8]

9 minutes ago, punctilious said:

I actually really loved Heart of a Dog! I may be forgetting the book (it's been some years), but I'm wondering why you ended up reading that in a history course?

My other favorite Russian other is probably Gogol. His short stories are great.

It’s been a couple years, obviously, but if I remember correctly it was kind of a “how to do history class.” We read that book, Journey Into the Whirldwind, and watched a couple Eisenstein movies. Oh, and also Doctor Zhivago. It was a lot of fun- but kind of challenging as a sophomore who wasn’t sure what she was doing. 

[youngim]

11 minutes ago, punctilious said:

My husband is a creative writer (his work has been described by a professor as speculative realism)! He's currently working on a novel and recently had a short story accepted for publication in Quarterly West! What kind of creative writing do you do?

That's really interesting! I self-published a novel sometime last year. I wonder if your husband's creative writing has any overlap with his PhD topic

[punctilious]

1 hour ago, khigh said:

Lolita is my third favorite book after Death in Venice and The Essential Works of Franz Kafka. Rebecca, My Cousin Rachel, and Crime and Punishment are my guilty pleasure reads. I'm thinking I now need to read Infinite Jest. 

My husband also really enjoys Kafka! 

My high school English teacher once said that the writing of Crime and Punishment was a crime and that his reading it was a punishment. LOL. I would have disagree with that sentiment, but I do remember having a harder time getting through that one in my Russian lit class than I did reading Bulgakov, Gogol, Chekhov, Zamyatin, Kharms, etc.

That reminds me, here is a poem I found by randomly flipping to a page from a Kharms collection. It's definitely one of my top favorites and I feel like you all need to experience it.

The Red-Haired Man by Daniil Ivanovich Kharms

There was a red-haired man who had no eyes or ears. 
Neither did he have any hair, so he was called red-haired theoretically. 

He couldn't speak, since he didn't have a mouth. Neither did he have a nose. 
He didn't even have any arms or legs. He had no stomach and he had no back and he had no spine and he had no innards whatsoever. He had nothing at all! 

Therefore there's no knowing whom we are even talking about. 
In fact it's better that we don't say any more about him. 

[punctilious]

7 minutes ago, youngim said:

That's really interesting! I self-published a novel sometime last year. I wonder if your husband's creative writing has any overlap with his PhD topic

Oh that is super cool!

And I would think his creative writing does overlap with his PhD topic somewhat, since his interests are in post-45 fiction and the authors he studies are his main inspirations for his own work.  

[khigh]

11 minutes ago, punctilious said:

My husband also really enjoys Kafka! 

My high school English teacher once said that the writing of Crime and Punishment was a crime and that his reading it was a punishment. LOL. I would have disagree with that sentiment, but I do remember having a harder time getting through that one in my Russian lit class than I did reading Bulgakov, Gogol, Chekhov, Zamyatin, Kharms, etc.

That reminds me, here is a poem I found by randomly flipping to a page from a Kharms collection. It's definitely one of my top favorites and I feel like you all need to experience it.

The Red-Haired Man by Daniil Ivanovich Kharms

There was a red-haired man who had no eyes or ears. 
Neither did he have any hair, so he was called red-haired theoretically. 

He couldn't speak, since he didn't have a mouth. Neither did he have a nose. 
He didn't even have any arms or legs. He had no stomach and he had no back and he had no spine and he had no innards whatsoever. He had nothing at all! 

Therefore there's no knowing whom we are even talking about. 
In fact it's better that we don't say any more about him. 

It took me years to understand C&P, but I read it for the first time when I was about 13. I used to go to the library and just grab the biggest books I could find. That's how I also came to read War and Peace. The Memory Chalet, and Les Miserables. I do think, though, that to truly understand Dostoevsky, one should also read Marx and Kropotkin. Das Kapital is probably the hardest book I have ever read. 

C&P  has some amazing quotes.

“Pain and suffering are always inevitable for a large intelligence and a deep heart. The really great men must, I think, have great sadness on earth.” 
 

[bumbleblu]

Two books I've read in the last year that I would recommend to anyone who likes contemporary lit with a healthy sprinkling of social commentary: The Power by Naomi Alderman (women develop the power to kill men with a single touch) and The Sellout by Paul Beatty (dude reinstates segregation). 

The Sellout is extremely hilarious, and I'm probably going to go reread it right now, actually.  

[lespectre]

Hi everyone, first-time poster here. This is a great thread — it's exciting to discover the titles and authors we have in common, and I'm making up my to-read list from your comments! Have any Kafka fans read Clarice Lispector? I've blown through The Passion According to G.H. and Agua Viva a few times... definitely a different flavor than Kafka but her prose is so flippin' gorgeous. 

My latest long-term read was Doctor Zhivago, which I adored. @mk-8, did you read it (as a sophomore?!) or watch the 1965 movie? For nonfiction, I recently finished Rebecca Solnit's Savage Dreams. (I am applying to Lit programs with a specific focus in nuclear culture and Southwestern literary ecologies.) Definitely recommend, especially for fans of Annette Kolodny. 

[mk-8]

56 minutes ago, lespectre said:

Hi everyone, first-time poster here. This is a great thread — it's exciting to discover the titles and authors we have in common, and I'm making up my to-read list from your comments! Have any Kafka fans read Clarice Lispector? I've blown through The Passion According to G.H. and Agua Viva a few times... definitely a different flavor than Kafka but her prose is so flippin' gorgeous. 

My latest long-term read was Doctor Zhivago, which I adored. @mk-8, did you read it (as a sophomore?!) or watch the 1965 movie? For nonfiction, I recently finished Rebecca Solnit's Savage Dreams. (I am applying to Lit programs with a specific focus in nuclear culture and Southwestern literary ecologies.) Definitely recommend, especially for fans of Annette Kolodny. 

We only read parts of it, but watched the whole movie! I should go back and reread the entire book. I absolutely love Rebecca Solnit! 

[Crow T. Robot]

I recently took some old Gradcafe advice and read Eric Hayot's The Elements of Academic Style. Lots of great perspective in there on everything from building "professor-like" writing habits, to the relationship between style and meaning, to more in-the-weeds stuff like citational practice and paragraph structure. Would definitely recommend!

Now I'm on to Alan Weisman's The World Without Us, a thought experiment on what would happen if humans were to vanish suddenly. Not sure how I feel about it yet--pending story. Then maybe some Henry James? We'll see.

[a_sort_of_fractious_angel]

10 hours ago, sarahchristine said:

One of my literature professors had us read a few chapters from Excellent Sheep last semester! I wouldn't mind reading some more of it if I ever have time on my hands - some of the arguments were compelling. 

Nice! Yea, it is a good read. I didn't find myself agreeing with everything but (overall) found it fantastic that  a scholar with his training/background is arguing so passionately for better teaching/education/university practices (given how "research-research-research!" things can get at times.)

Also, his other book on how reading Jane Austen made him a better person is just lovely (I haven't read it but still, I love the idea.) 

[JustPoesieAlong]

4 hours ago, bumbleblu said:

The Power by Naomi Alderman (women develop the power to kill men with a single touch)

I can't wait to read this.

I mentioned elsewhere that I had been trying to get a head start on a dissertation reading list, but with the stress of waiting to hear back from schools this goal has been put on hold. I'm currently reading/re-reading Shakespeare's works--most recently Coriolanus and, currently, The Twelfth Night. Considering either Winter's Tale or Richard II for my next read, although I might take a break and read Plath's The Bell Jar to change things up a bit.

After I graduated, I wanted to read everything but early modern works, and especially wanted to read works from folks who weren't dead white guys. I went through Toni Morrison's works and now consider her quite possibly my favorite author. My favorite of her works might be Song of Solomon--although few books have done what Beloved did to me so it may be a tie. I also read ZNH's Their Eyes Were Watching God; another one of those books that just stick with you. 

I also spent time expanding my experience with stuff in the canon that I had missed since I focused on early modern so early on. I particularly enjoyed Tess of the d'Urbervilles and Faulkner's As I Lay Dying. I read a lot of Flannery O'Conner's short stories as well. Reread Anna Karenina (that horse scene, y'all!). 

And now that I'm saying all of this, I'm really kicking myself for not retaking the subject test. Doh!

My dream list of non-early modern canon includes The Sound and The Fury, The Bell Jar, Jude the Obscure...there's more, I'm sure, but that's what I can think of now.

 

[FreakyFoucault]

7 minutes ago, JustPoesieAlong said:

Jude the Obscure

My heart breaks just seeing the title of this work! It was one of my first encounters with Victorian literature — an incredibly depressing start! 

In a completly different vein, I’d also recommend Ellison’s Invisible Man, which is in my top five for most technically impressive works. 

[JustPoesieAlong]

5 minutes ago, FreakyFoucault said:

In a completly different vein, I’d also recommend Ellison’s Invisible Man, which is in my top five for most technically impressive works. 

I have that on my shelf as well! It's definitely one I need to read. 

[FreakyFoucault]

14 minutes ago, JustPoesieAlong said:

Considering either Winter's Tale or Richard II for my next read, although I might take a break and read Plath's The Bell Jar to change things up a bit.

Nothing against old Bill Shakespeare (I’d go with R2 over WT, btw), you need to read The Bell Jar. 10/10 would recommend.

[JustPoesieAlong]

23 minutes ago, FreakyFoucault said:

Nothing against old Bill Shakespeare (I’d go with R2 over WT, btw), you need to read The Bell Jar. 10/10 would recommend.

WT would be a reread for me, so I probably would go with R2, but we shall see. Every time I finish reading something, I have a sort of dreamy routine of standing in front of each of our several bookshelves and choosing the book that just *feels* right at the time. Thankfully, my husband is used to this sort of behavior. 

[FreakyFoucault]

2 minutes ago, JustPoesieAlong said:

I have a sort of dreamy routine of standing in front of each of our several bookshelves and choosing the book that just *feels* right at the time.

That is, quite possibly, the best literary feeling ever. Freeeeeedom! 

It was also my research method as an underclassman, wandering the stacks for relevant criticism/history, etc. And then I learned that that’s not particularly efficient, but whatev. 

[a_sort_of_fractious_angel]

14 minutes ago, FreakyFoucault said:

That is, quite possibly, the best literary feeling ever. Freeeeeedom! 

It was also my research method as an underclassman, wandering the stacks for relevant criticism/history, etc. And then I learned that that’s not particularly efficient, but whatev. 

^this. I used to pick criticism the way I (still) pick wine bottles. The "ooooh, this is not what I was told to get but it looks INTERESTING" methodology. My long-suffering adviser found several nice ways of phrasing "why are you like this."

[JustPoesieAlong]

48 minutes ago, a_sort_of_fractious_angel said:

^this. I used to pick criticism the way I (still) pick wine bottles. The "ooooh, this is not what I was told to get but it looks INTERESTING" methodology. My long-suffering adviser found several nice ways of phrasing "why are you like this."

Haha, yeah, this is definitely an out-of-school luxury. I did tend to do this a lot when I was in school too, though. I still have mountains of criticism stacked all over our house from the three different papers I ended up considering for my writing sample. 

[nichts]

On January 25, 2018 at 11:17 PM, punctilious said:

My high school English teacher once said that the writing of Crime and Punishment was a crime and that his reading it was a punishment.

"But then comes this singular sentence that for sheer stupidity has hardly the equal in world-famous literature: 'The candle was flicking out, dimly lighting up in the poverty-stricken room the murderer and the harlot who had been reading together the eternal book'" (Vladimir Nabokov, Lectures on Russian Literature).

Edited February 16, 2018 by Jožin z bažin

[nichts]

But as an aside to anyone reading or rereading Dostoevsky, I recommend getting a translation by Pevear and Volokhonsky, who in my experience are considered the best by Slavists, and for the love of all that is holy do not pick up a translation by Constance Garnett.

@RK092089 My friend is reading the Brothers K in Russian right now and says he's surprised by the "chumminess" of the narrator, who apparently addresses "[his] dear reader" often. Out of curiosity, does the Norton edition include this in the translation or notes?

[punctilious]

7 minutes ago, Jožin z bažin said:

But as an aside to anyone reading or rereading Dostoevsky, I recommend getting a translation by Pevear and Volokhonsky, who in my experience are considered the best by Slavists, and for the love of all that is holy do not pick up a translation by Constance Garnett.

Agreed--we always used the Pevear and Volokhonsky translations in our Russian language & lit classes.

[nichts]

@RK092089 Interesting indeed, I'll have to ask for more details.

[ModernMimetic]

On 1/25/2018 at 7:03 PM, punctilious said:

I'm not literature smart but my favorite book is Bulgakov's Master and Margarita. It's just so magical!

I am sitting down to read the final 100 pages or so right now! This is my first time through it--magnificent! It took a moment for Book Two to stabilize and match the locomotive energy of Book One, I thought.

I have been reading through the works of Graham Greene and Martin Amis in rotation for the last few weeks. Next up is Irvine Welsh's Filth, which I've heard both lives up to and transcends its title.

[M(allthevowels)H]

On 1/25/2018 at 10:48 PM, youngim said:

Anyone here into creative writing by any chance?

I'm into creative writing if you count having an MFA in fiction and currently being dangerously close to missing two creative deadlines simultaneously because I've been daydreaming about new PhD cities...whoops.

[M(allthevowels)H]

17 hours ago, ModernMimetic said:

I am sitting down to read the final 100 pages or so right now! This is my first time through it--magnificent! It took a moment for Book Two to stabilize and match the locomotive energy of Book One, I thought.

I have been reading through the works of Graham Greene and Martin Amis in rotation for the last few weeks. Next up is Irvine Welsh's Filth, which I've heard both lives up to and transcends its title.

Out of reacts but imaginary upvote for Graham Greene. The Quiet American is still a favorite, and it's easy to assign for a discussion of symbolism/allegory because it's...you know...right there.