Currently working my way through Caeser by Adrain Goldsworthy.

I was concerned it may be a bit dry given it's over 600 pages but I'm thoroughly enjoying it so far and I haven't even got to Caesar's campaigns yet.

If I ever put down one of the best writers that will ever live, I will do that. I like DeLillo a lot, especially his good stuff but no one gets a pass on poor work.

If your suggesting that he is one of the greatest writers that will ever live, I'm afraid I have to disagree. He is a popular contemporary author (who I like very much) and he has made some interesting observations about the culture of his time but he has made no fundamental change in how novels are written (or in writing itself) or produced an iconic work that transcends his era. His likelihood of sustained recognition is very low.

Meanwhile, to correct my earlier late night post reversing the title words, DeLillo's Point Omega leaves the impression that he is so concerned with his legacy that he is afraid to commit as he did in earlier works.

I've only read the unabridged version but there wasn't a dull moment in it. After finishing it I added the rest of Dumas' catalog to my wishlist.

So I imagine the difference is that the abridge version is missing ~1000 pages of GOAT-level novel.

Sweet. I'm gonna move onto that after storm of swords. I have the abridged version in paperback floating around but I'll make sure to throw that in the garbage.

Had to quit 2/3 into Anathem, it was terribly uninteresting.

Reading Zona, Geoff Dyer's rather bizarre summary of Tarkovsky's Stalker. The summary and thoughts about the film become the occasion for the writer to disclose, at times I think, a bit too much about himself (some of the footnotes go on for pages), yet that's probably the whole point. Despite memoir/analysis/summary rolled into one, it's an interesting take on Stalker, Tarkovsky, and Dyer.

Or a man in his seventies has mellowed out a little in various forms, like anyone who wants to live longer...

The second book in Marcus Sakey's "Brilliants" series is out. If you havent read the first, its a fun sci-fi thriller that is really a metaphor against the xenophobia and "sacrifice liberty for safety" creeping fascism of the War on Terror. Pretty good. Main character is a little superficial and white hat.

Finished Peter Handke's The Goalie's Anxiety at the Penalty Kick.

Mix Camus, Kafka, Emile Durkheim, 1970's and 80's linguistic theories, deconstructionism and Austrian culture; discharge a man from his employment, disconnect him from centuries of social order and see where he goes. It is very much shaped by post-war Germany/Austria and Europe but is not without some other, more universal value. It is a different view of an indifferent universe.

Started Max Frisch's Man in the Holocene.

Finished reading The God Delusion by Richard Dawkins. Obviously as anyone could guess from the title, Dawkins has very little good to say about theists or religion. Buddhism is mentioned only twice. Near the beginning Dawkins claims that Buddhism is more of a life philosophy than a religion. Later he compares theists to carnivores and Buddhists to herbivores. Anyway, I enjoyed reading the book and found Dawkins rather amusing.
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Resumed reading C. S. Lewis--A Life by Alister McGrath.

Sounds interesting.

well that's quite an optimistic endeavor.

This was pretty much my problem with the book when I got around to it a year or so ago: it seemed like so much I'd encountered before.

Indeed.

Hard to be 'optimistic' after reading it...

Finished Man in the Holocene.

It's an interesting finish to a series of short novels I've read in the past week: The Goalie's Anxiety at the Penalty Kick, The Messiah of Stockholm, Point Omega, Mao II and 86'd. I liked it, in a very restrained way, but I'm not sure why.

Started The Road to Wigan Pier by George Orwell.

Just finished Danubia by Simon Winder - history of the Hapsburg empire, which was something I knew less than nothing about. EXCEPTIONAL book - he's funny, good story teller. I'm going to pick up Germania, his previous. If you like history books, I highly recommend it.

MM MD

I finished Javier Marías, All Souls. It begins as a very witty academic novel, filled with sharp observations of 1980s Oxford manners, the high point being the depiction of a high table dinner that goes awry, an extremely funny comic set piece. However, in the second half the novel moves into a different mode, more about desire and mortality, with a conclusion that gives unexpected depth to the whole. Although its structure at first seemed to me episodic and digressive, I reread the first third after I finished and could see that it was more unified than I'd realized, and that the themes that emerge in the closing pages had been threaded through earlier passages that seemed unconnected or merely comic. Very rewarding, it makes me want to read more of Marías's work.

Its not actually night where I am, however, I arrived at work an hour early today so Im finishing Umberto Ecos "The Prague cemetery". Really fancy the works of Eco, would strongly recommend those who share my opinion to read "Foucaults Pendulum". If you are one for theory over fiction, might I suggest "Semiotics and the Philosophy of language".

In addition: I am a collector of rare books/manuscripts. Do any of you have a similar hobby? It would be nice to get in contact with someone likeminded. Im not that old, most people my age doesnt really find the subject of literature very intriguing.
Books in this section of my library include:
Horace by Dionysius Lambinus (Published in 1580)
Moses and Aaron: Civil and Ecclesiastical Rites by Thomas Goodwin. (Published in 1691)
Four part edition of Dantes Divine Comedy (Published in 1807)

Welcome Nick.

Sounds like an interesting hobby. Why is your Divine Comedy split into 4 parts?


On another note: I am part way through Brighton Rock by Grahame Greene and its a very pleasurable read.

I don't agree that Delillo isn't going to age well, I can't believe it has taken me so long to find him. Awesome author. Just finished Cosmopolis, and though it is my least fav so far, still thought it was very good. Mao II is up there with the best of anything I have ever read.

Question on The Count of Monte Cristo. After the main protagonist sets up shop on the island, what is the side story that develops?

I had to give up on it, as it didn't appear to have anything to do with story. Some new aristocrat type fella is going on an adventure. I got bored and gave up. Is it the version I have? On kindle, don't know which translation.

Hi Digger. Im not sure I used the correct english term for what I tried to describe. Its 4 books in total, all the same part. 4 Volumes might be better. Sorry Ill correct it.

Farewell My Lovely by Chandler. This is my second Marlowe novel (The Long Goodbye was the first). Chandler really is a genius. Had he not written genre fiction he'd probably be ranked as one of the great writers of all time. Just perfect with the turn of a phrase.

I thought he tried to express a different sensibility but wasn't able to commit sufficiently to express it clearly (his defenders would argue that was the point). When it ended I couldn't help but think how it could have been done better.

You should definitely read The Selfish Gene - far more thought provoking imo, although i agree The God Delusion is very decent.

Thanks. If my local library has a copy I'll check it out. I've read The Blind Watchmaker, but I'm sure that was over twenty years ago.

Finished, great read. Fascinating and one of the best nonfictions I've read