The 'Currently reading' thread...

[Saturn]

At the moment I'm reading this:



So what are you reading at the moment?

Can be anything you like.

[Credo Buffa]

I've finally gotten to something by Elizabeth Gaskell! I'm reading North and South right now.

[Saturn]

I've only read Wives and Daughters myself - great book

[Toshimo]

Currently reading Stephen kings "The Drawing of the Three" part two of the dark tower series. Brilliant stuff.

just finished "The Bridge" by iain Banks check it out.

[Despondence]

John Clare, Major Works (Oxford Classics)



Guess I won't be reading it from cover to cover...but I have only sampled Clare from various anthologies before, so I thought I'd try something with a bit more substance.

Do people here have a favourite Clare "period"?

[Malia]

Does "currently planning to read" count? hehe
I'm going to order what looks like an interesting book from Amazon called "Shackleton's Way"--all about how and what kind of leadership Earnest Shackleton employed when he and his crew were famously shipwrecked for 2 years in the Antarctic during an exploration back in the early 20th century. Thanks in large part to Shackleton's leadership skills, every single man survived the shipwreck. Through much daring, Shackleton and a few select men were able to make it to South America in a makeshift vessel (their original ship had been crushed by ice) and find rescue for the rest of the men stuck in Antarctica. I highly recommend any story about the shipwreck--it is an exciting and amazing adventure. A while ago, a movie was made about it starring Kenneth Braunagh (sorry Kenny, if I misspelled your name!). It was well done.

[Guest]

John Clare, Major Works (Oxford Classics)



Guess I won't be reading it from cover to cover...but I have only sampled Clare from various anthologies before, so I thought I'd try something with a bit more substance.

Do people here have a favourite Clare "period"?

A favourite period??

Hmmm I haven't read his stuff for a while but strangely I just began re-reading Jonathan Bate's excellent biography last night.


Once you've read the poems you'll HAVE to read that Despondence - one of the most moving biographies I've ever read; yes his life was even more tragic than Byron, Shelley and even Keats though he lived longer than any of them

[Saturn]

John Clare, Major Works (Oxford Classics)



Guess I won't be reading it from cover to cover...but I have only sampled Clare from various anthologies before, so I thought I'd try something with a bit more substance.

Do people here have a favourite Clare "period"?

A favourite period??

Hmmm I haven't read his stuff for a while but strangely I just began re-reading Jonathan Bate's excellent biography last night.


Once you've read the poems you'll HAVE to read that Despondence - one of the most moving biographies I've ever read; yes his life was even more tragic than Byron, Shelley and even Keats though he lived longer than any of them

[Malia]

There is someone out there with a more tragic fate than Keats?? You know, I've never heard of Claire. . .who is he and what's he about? (One of my new years resolutions is to open up my mind to new and different authors/subjects--this could be a good start!)

[Despondence]

I only got started on it two days ago, but I already changed my mind - I definitely will read this one from cover to cover. Clare, the peasant poet, who spent the last years of his comparatively long life in an asylum for the mentally ill, unvisited by his wife Allegedly wrote some of his finest poems from that place. As Taylor described him, of all english poets, Clare was the least advantaged, "the most destitute of friends".

I am enthralled by his poetry already, which to me as a non-native english speaker comes across as much more direct and easier to read than that of Shelley or Keats. He writes beautifully and simply for the most part, about nature, life and love (well, doh!). He has a knack for inventing new words too, or using a very local vernacular of the Northamptonshire, quite unusual and funny to read!

I will definitely try to find the Bates biography, thanks for pointing it out Stephen. Here's a piece of trivia I didn't know: apparently it was through George Keats that Clare's works reached the US, as he brought a copy of Clare's "Poems Descriptive of Rural Life and Scenery" when he emigrated in 1820!

[Saturn]

Here's a piece of trivia I didn't know: apparently it was through George Keats that Clare's works reached the US, as he brought a copy of Clare's "Poems Descriptive of Rural Life and Scenery" when he emigrated in 1820!

Also Keats and Clare shared the same publisher for a while, John Taylor

[Despondence]

William Hazlitt - On the Pleasure of Hating. A colleciton of six conversational articles, including "The Fight" (the opening paragraph of this one almost feels like Keats speaking!)

[Saturn]

Now I'm reading something light and frothy:

[MonroeDoctrine]

I'm reading Riemann for Anti-Dummies Check it out at www.WLYM.com
specifically at

http://wlym.com/tiki/tiki-index.php?page=Pedagogicals

Who is Riemann and Gauss? Well only the greatest mathmeticians in the Universe. Figure out what they did and you'll be surprised how much more you'll understand Art and Science and the interaction between the two!

[Despondence]

Monroe, monroe, monroe...you shouldn't read stuff like that, it'll give you indigestion

Seriously though, coming from a scientific background I was curious and read the first couple of chapters. Sadly, I wasn't positively surprised. There's a lot of interesting stuff in there, but why does this guy Bruce have to put such a rebellious and patronizing spin on it? Differentiating between Newton and Riemann like some demon and an angel.. In addition, the total lack of references doesn't exactly add credibility, but that may be forgiven on a separate account. It almost looks to me like this one, while claiming to be against all the "X for Dummies" and "Idiot's Guide to X" type of books, comes across as an "X for Dummies-that-can't-admit-they're-Dummies".. There are loads of great popular science books out there...if you want to read someting worthwhile, try Smolin, Penrose, or the classics by Thorne or Feynmann for that matter. Just my 2c.

Just out of curiosity, did you ever own a "Gauss"? (the now extinct 10 deutsch mark)