/currentlyreading/

[Anonymous No.11988174]

What are you currently reading? What do you think about it? What was the last thing you read? What do you think about it?

Currently:
>Temple of the Golden Pavillion
Barely two chapters in so I cannot offer much of an insight. I do like the obsession of the main character with beauty and some of the thoughts he has on ideal beauty. For example, I remember a scene in which he transposes his idealized version of the temple on top of the actual temple and starting this moment he truly begins to perceive the beauty in it. Furthermore, the book also plays with the traditional eastern idea of temporary existence making everything beautiful.

Last read:
>Confessions of a Mask
Enjoyable read, not really much to say, I believe it served a good introduction into Mishima. It made me think a lot about the idea of "masks" and false personalities which I had recently encountered in an assigned university reading where the author discussed how communicating with different people makes us "wear" different masks. The whole point of the argument was that our true self remains hidden and inaccessible, even to us, beneath all the masks we are wearing. Thinking about it, I have started noticing patterns in my behaviour and changes based on who I am talking to or what kind of situation I am in, I find the whole idea very fascinating and would love it if somebody recommends other books dealing with the subject.

[Anonymous No.11988195]

Currently reading 'Attack Upon Christendom', and I'm mostly reading it to understand Kierkegaard's character, and how he sees his own relation with his Faith. Very interesting read to be honest.

[Anonymous No.11988226]

>Dubliners - James Joyce
Found this one easier to enjoy than I had expected. Some of the stories had a stronger impact than others (The Sisters and Eveline stand out), I've only got The Dead left to read and from what I've heard it's the best one, so I'm looking forward to it.

>Storm of Steel - Ernst Hunger
I've only read 3 chapters and only now it's beginning to get into the war. I've enjoyed it so far, I like the prose.

[Anonymous No.11988237]

Notes from underground
Wondering if im not able to relate to undeground man because its an old novel.or for some other reason

[Anonymous No.11988245]

>>11988174
Currently
>Dagon and Other Macabre Tales
I'm enjoying it a lot, especially after reading about HP Lovecraft in it's introduction and learning a lot about him as a person

[Anonymous No.11988246]

>>11988174
>Mythology by Edith Hamilton
The intro alone is worth the purchase. It opened my eyes a bit on how different the Romans and Greeks understood godship and reality to be, and I've come to realize that the many characters in their stories weren't characters that embodied characteristics. They WERE those characteristics, to the letter.

>Machiavelli's The Prince
Good read that showcases the problems leaders can and must face and how they can effectively be dealt with. I enjoyed how Machiavelli actually provides historical evidence to support his assertions on the ways a population can be swayed one way or another. I was a little surprised when he claimed Caesar was more or less destined to fail in the long run.

[Anonymous No.11988260]

>>11988226
The Dead truly is something special, the last two or three pages in particular have a very soothing beauty to them, I don't think I have ever read anything as beautiful. My other favourites were Counterparts, Two Gallants and An Encounter.

[Anonymous No.11988306]

I always read 2 books at a time

>notes from the underground & the long ships
Notes is beddy gud and oddly comfy and the long ships is pretty boring and horribly written. I don’t know if I just bought the worst translation around or if it was just written that way. The prose is horrible and reads like a high school essay

>Gravity’s Rainbow & Neuromancer
GR was unironically one of the best books I’ve ever read. The prose was great, the characters were expertly written, and the plot was very interesting. Neuromancer was really good even though I don’t read much sci-fi. I enjoyed the ending and throught it was very creative.

[Anonymous No.11988311]

>>11988306
>the long ships is pretty boring and horribly written. I don’t know if I just bought the worst translation around or if it was just written that way. The prose is horrible and reads like a high school essay
It's relatively common high school reading here in Sweden, but I've never heard anyone call it horribly written. Could very well be the translation.

[Anonymous No.11988396]

last read:
>"La tierra más ajena" by alejandra pizarnik
an argentine anon started a (fruitless) thread on pizarnik which reminded me i own her complete poetry, so i decided to revisit it. a very short poemario—her first—divided in two: "la tierra más ajena" (the first 3/4 of the book) and "un signo en tu sombra". very absorving read. i'll revisit it to study the symbolism, but i already got some patterns, namely the colors (mainly red), the white ships (very specific, huh?), smoke, shadows, her eyes and a couple others—it's their meaning i'll study! i didn't like "un signo en tu sombra" as much, but maybe i was getting burned out by then; i read it in a single sitting. "dédalus joyce" was a lovely homage. (also, to >>11988226 and >>11988260, i just read "the dead": it's really good! some anon mentioned how the movie adaptation is good too, so i may watch it, although much of the original's kick by the epiphany has got to do with the prose which i don't think just good but very precise in its evocations which because they lack an specific appearance—they're quite literally about disappearance—work. i feel like people underplay the epiphany, even though they all love it, /there's more to it/, i mean.) i'll obviously reread it and jump to her next as soon as i feel sufficiently done. anyone who's read it please reply
i'm reading can xue's "frontier" now (plus a couple others), but this post is long enough already

[Anonymous No.11988425]

>Currently-Critique of Pure Reason
Struggling incredibly, only forty pages in and already re-reading the last twenty pages (Against my desire.)
>Last read- Prolegomena to any future metaphysics.
Easy read and a great piece of writing.

[Anonymous No.11988439]

>>11988306
I liked Nueromancer, I'm going to have to re-read that one.

Currently:
>Eumeswil - Ernst Junger
It's nice I guess. Kind of comfy in a weird way.

Last:
>The History of the Jewish War - Josephus
This was a pretty good and pretty interesting book. There were a few great passages that made the book worth it. The destruction of the Twelfth Legion at Beth Horon, Agrippa II's speech, the Siege of Jotapata. . .all very compelling.

[Anonymous No.11988449]

>>11988174
>Current
Dr. Bloodmoney. The nuke going off and Dick describing everyone going through it as it happened was unreal.
>Last
Mythology. Norse is the best, but I loved them all. It's amazing to think people came up with these stories to explain natural phenomena.

[Anonymous No.11988462]

>>11988245
Lovecraft is great, I read all his own stories a couple of years ago and really enjoyed them. He really is one of the greatest when it comes to horror and suspense. You'd probably like Poe as well.

>>11988306
I really enjoyed Neuromancer but didn't enjoy the others in the sprawl trilogy as much sadly. I might read them again soon, maybe I'll enjoy them more the second time around.

[Anonymous No.11988556]

>currently
Measure for Measure
For a comedy it isn’t very funny. Contrived. Not one of his more poetic plays either. Not sure why Bloom liked it. This might supplant The Taming of the Shrew as my least favorite Shakespeare play.

>last finished
The Spire by William Golding.
I enjoyed it but feel like I missed clues on the first reading. I didn’t realize a character had been murdered until very near the end and the protagonist seemed to have been aware for quite some time. Not sure if the fault is the writer’s or the reader’s but I may have to have a re read.