Just taking a short break to write up some mid-read thoughts and links this afternoon. Things have been fairly quiet around the lit blogs these days, I think a lot of people are traveling and hopefully having some wonderful reading vacations.
My projects have gotten a little more varied in the past week – I may have a few too many books going at the moment. Luckily, the sun is still shining and I’ve got plenty of time to lounge in the garden after work and get some reading done. (Of course I should also probably weed said garden as well as plant a second row of radishes and another basil plant – oh well.)
I’m finishing up Madame Bovary and now that Emma has started her affair with Rodolfe, things are moving along at a fast clip. I’d like to finish the book tonight or tomorrow so I can start the related Nabokov essay. Two things have struck me on this re-read – one, Emma is pretty much the equivalent of a nineteenth century desperate housewife and two, Flaubert did an incredible job of getting inside a woman’s head.
I felt like trying something new last night so I cracked open my book of Emerson essays and started reading. I can understand why Stefanie is so hooked on him and I might end up cheating on Montaigne one of these days with Ralph Waldo – do you think he’d get mad? I love what Emerson’s History essay says about knowledge and learning. This particular line: All inquiry into antiquity is the desire to do away this wild, savage and preposterous There and Then and introduce in its place the Here and the Now. I love this idea of inverting and embodying history – all sides of it, the good and the bad.
Other than that, I’m gearing up for Nadine Gordimer’s seventh novel – Burger’s Daughter as well as finishing A.S. Byatt’s The Biographer’s Tale. To be honest, the Byatt hasn’t gripped me yet but I’m willing to give it some more time. It may just be my scattered reading at the moment.
Has anyone else seen this quirky new site called Read at Work? Looks like a lot of fun, the idea is to be able to read literature at work without worrying your boss might jump out from behind the cubicle wall. So famous books are disguised as power point presentations and excel spreadsheets – all with a clever Windows-style backdrop.
And finally, if I had about $8000 just lying around, this is what I would buy. Is anyone else drooling? I may have to settle for the Complete Greeks and Romans, at only $800 it looks like a steal.
14 responses so far ↓
Stefanie // June 27, 2008 at 2:00 am |
I am so glad you are enjoying Emerson! Montaigne won’t mind if you cheat a little, Emerson was a great admirer and considered to be a representative man.
Love the read at work link! i’m going to have to give it a try. And yeah, definitely drooling over those Penguins!
Dorothy W. // June 27, 2008 at 5:49 pm |
I saw that Nabokov book in the store the other day and was tempted — I’d love to read it and perhaps some of the works he discusses. Drat — why didn’t I get it??
verbivore // June 27, 2008 at 6:43 pm |
Stefanie – well, I’m glad you think Montaigne won’t mind because I think Emerson and I are going to get along splendidly!
Dorothy – The Nabokov is wonderful, I’m slowly working my way through the books he lectured about and haven’t regretted it one bit.
dhea // June 27, 2008 at 9:32 pm |
I found your blog via bookeywookey.
I like your presentation.
Coming to read more.
said Dhea…. from Sweden
Trish // June 28, 2008 at 1:50 am |
Ha! What an interesting website (read at work). I browsed through a few and think it might even be a little distracting to read the literature in that format (plus we don’t use ppt at my work, so not sure I could get away with it). But, what a clever idea!
writer reading // June 28, 2008 at 4:37 pm |
And while you are all at it, here’s the Gettysburg Address on Power Point by Edward Tufte.
http://www.norvig.com/Gettysburg/sld001.htm
Gettysburg Cemetery Dedication
bkclubcare // June 29, 2008 at 6:23 pm |
FUN post!
Juliette // June 29, 2008 at 10:55 pm |
Dear Verbivore – I saw a Nabokov piece in the New York Times Book review and thought of you. It is called IMAGINING NABOKOV Russia Between Art and Politics By Nina L. Khrushcheva. http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/29/books/review/Coates-t.html?_r=1&8bu&emc=bua2&oref=sloginhttp://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/29/books/review/Coates-t.html?_r=1&8bu&emc=bua2&oref=slogin
I am wondering if you have read any other Byatt – Possession was her only book I have read – it was very influential and I often find myself returning to it as the years go by.
As far as the Gordimer project is going I have just secured a copy of the Burger’s Daughter so we may well be reading that one in tandem. Have you read any of her short stories? I have a copy of the original Penguin The Soft Voice of The Serpent and Other short stories which I am hoping to read sometime soon. As for Madame Bovary – one of my Librarything groups had a group read and she was usurped by Edith Wharton’s Age of Innocence in an online vote! Maybe next time!
How is your writing going – have I missed your writing blog or are you having a break from it at present I wonder.
Andi // June 30, 2008 at 3:29 am |
So maybe I’ll read Madame Bovary just because Nabokov wrote about it. . . thanks for the tip.
And with $8,000 i might buy that, but I also might spend a bit and get the OED in print before it only exists digitally.
verbivore // June 30, 2008 at 11:35 am |
dhea – welcome, and thank you for leaving a comment.
Trish – I had a similar feeling. I don’t think I’d be able to read long enough under that format, but I love the idea. I also love the idea of hundreds of little bookworms stealing time from a boring job to get through just one more chapter.
WR – thanks, I’ll have fun looking at that link.
Care – good, glad you liked it
Juliette – you are so good to check in on me! I will have a look for the Nabokov essay this afternoon, sounds like something I would really enjoy.
I’m so glad to hear your thoughts on the Byatt. I all but gave up on The Biographer this weekend, I don’t think its for me. But I would like to try Possession.
I’m going to start Burger’s Daughter this week, so we can keep each other company. I’ll be very interested to read your thoughts on this one. And as for her short stories, I have read the collection Six Feet of Country but none of the others. I bought Something Out There when I was recently in the states and will slowly go through them. She’s such a prolific writer, its hard to keep up!
Andi – yes, the OED..don’t remind me!! I might part with a kidney to buy a complete 20 volume set
Ann Darnton // June 30, 2008 at 6:50 pm |
‘Madame Bovary’ was the site of one of my great reading disasters. I picked up the most vile American translation and couldn’t for the life of me understand what all the fuss was about. I thought it was terrible. It’s made me very wary of anything in translation ever since.
verbivore // July 2, 2008 at 7:06 am |
Ann – I finally started the Nabokov essay on MB last night and he had a lot of nasty comments for the translation he used for his class. He even re-translated huge sections (beautifully, of course).
びっくり // July 16, 2008 at 4:40 pm |
Eight grand! I think I’ll have to be happy with the 400 yen copy of Yoshimoto Banana’s Kitchen, I picked up yesterday. However, I do need to get my hands on some A Christmas Carol. I plan to study that and Nicholas Nickleby with my special friend. She lives in a house with five children who are wards of the state, so I think she will like Nicholas’s character.
verbivore // July 17, 2008 at 7:12 am |
Bikkuri – I really enjoyed Kitchen, can’t wait to hear what you think. Are you going to be reading it in Japanese? And the DIckens sounds like a great project too – why not try Bleak House as well, the main characters are both wards of the state. Hope you both enjoy the books!