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Books I Should Be Reading
Last year I posted a list of books I was hoping to read over the coming year, and invited y’all to chip in with suggestions. Thank you for your help. I figured I should report back as to what I actually read this year. Okay, that’s part of it, but mostly I’ve been tarrying overlong in giving my Mom a Christmas list. If you have suggestions, I’m sure she’d appreciate them. Right, let’s start with books from that post that I’ve actually read.
Books I Read Last Year
The Horatio Hornblower series, by C.M. Forrester. I’ve read the first three of these so far, will pick up the others as time allows. I enjoyed them quite a bit, first because they’re solid adventure stories, and second because some of the devices are genuinely new to me. If you recall the rice from Mr. Midshipman Hornblower you’ll know what I mean. I’m reserving the rest of the series as fun reads, and will read them as needed. From there, I’ll move on to the Aubrey Martin and the Sharpe series (thanks @Clavius and @KevinKrisher for the suggestions)
The Wasteland and The Four Quartets, by T.S. Eliot. This was part of an experiment into poetry. I listened to the Young Heretics podcasts on these poems twice [1] [2] [3], [4], read them both, then listened again to the podcasts explaining them. Still can’t say I understand it. I’m certain that T.S. Eliot is a great poet, but he’ll have to reach other people than I with his poetry.
The Consolation of Philosophy by Boethius. This was an excellent work, if at times a bit trying to read. You can find the copy I read here, though I’ll warn you that it’s a translation old enough to be in the public domain and hence has somewhat arcane English. Thanks, @SaintAugustine, for recommending it. For Augie, I think he’s wrong in his argument that evil is nothing, and while I don’t have the proof thought through, I think you start from the phrase “Jesus Wept.”
The Prisoner of Zenda, and Rupert of Hentzau, by Anthony Hope. Thanks to @Arahant for recommending this one, and to my mother for giving me a copy as a Christmas gift last year. Again, a really excellent adventure novel. I’d say “along the lines of The Princess Bride,” but this book came first. My copy is still lent out to my cousins, otherwise, I’d be regifting it to one of my brothers this year.
Books I Haven’t Yet Read
Ada, by Vladimir Nabokov. I said last year that I wanted to read something of his that wasn’t Lolita, for obvious reasons, but that the bookstores and libraries only had Lolita, for what I hope aren’t the obvious reasons. Well, I found Ada in a used book store not too long ago, and a collection of Nabokov’s shorter fiction some time before that, but I still haven’t read them, preferring to read other Russian fiction this past year (a collection of Soviet satires I received as a Christmas gift, and The White Guard by Mikhail Bulgakov).
Shadows of the Mind, by Rodger Penrose. This one was recommended to me by @Clavius some time ago when I read and reviewed Penrose’s The Emperor’s New Mind. Though I finally got myself a copy of this one I still haven’t gotten into it. Too many other things that demand reading. Never mind my bookshelves, my stacks of books are reaching critical mass.
The Iliad and the Odyssey, by Homer. I went through a Greek mythology phase in middle school, so I’m reasonably conversant on the gods and heroes of remembered Hellas. That said, I’ve never read the originals in their entirety, which is something I’m looking to rectify. I’ve got copies of them but haven’t yet completed the project. Thanks, @PostmodernHoplite, @KevinKrisher, and @JDFitzpatrick for the recommendation.
Books I’m Looking to Read
This list should begin with every other book from last year’s comments, complete with special thanks to those suggesting it, but I’ll only abuse your patience by mentioning one more. Special thanks to @MiffedWhiteMale for suggesting The Fleet at Flood Tide, which my mother got for @SamRhody for Christmas. It’s more in his line than mine.
That said, there are two categories I’d appreciate recommendations in. The first is physics. I studied it at college some fifteen years ago, but mostly dropped out of the field since then. What’s been going on in that timeframe? The state of science journalism is appalling, so have care with your suggestions. I’d like a book that actually explains things.
The second is Constitutional Law. Last time I picked up a volume on it, the book was intended for working lawyers, so mostly it covered things like the rights of defendants and what constitutes plain view evidence for police officers. That’s fine and all, but I was looking more for society-wide concerns, things like the laws on free speech and the cases that affect it. There ought to be an in-depth primer for the citizen as to what those black robes have been up to.
Aside from that, literally anything. I’m of the firm conviction that if you only look where you know to look, you’ll only find what you already know. If you have a suggestion for a book — fiction or non-fiction, ancient or modern, classic or pulp — that you think I should read, please, by all means, suggest it. Thank you, and may I pass along thanks from my mother too.
Published in Literature
I tend to do a lot of re-reading — returning to books that I’d read long ago and remembered liking — rather than seeking out something new. But lately I’m trying to make a point of reading one new-to-me book for every re-read.
So, . . . after a re-read of The Power and the Glory by Graham Greene — a very good book about an alcoholic priest trying to escape persecution in Mexico, while also believing that it is his duty to remain in place and serve as a priest, though it might mean his death. So very good.
So, after that I decided to try out Our Man in Havana also by Graham Greene. Which is more comedy than tragedy. A vacuum-cleaner salesman in Havana gets recruited as a secret agent . . . well, this description is spot-on:
Conceived as one of Graham Greene’s ‘entertainments,’ it tells of MI6’s man in Havana, Wormold, a former vacuum-cleaner salesman turned reluctant secret agent out of economic necessity. To keep his job, he files bogus reports based on Lamb’s Tales from Shakespeare and dreams up military installations from vacuum-cleaner designs. Then his stories start coming disturbingly true.
If you like dark comedies, . . . yeah, I can recommend it. I suppose I should get around to watching the 1959 movie with Alec Guinness someday.
Here are some other recent reads:
Sixteen Ways to Defend a Walled City, by K.J. Parker, in which a world-weary and reluctant colonel of engineers uses every resource available to save a besieged city. Set in sort of an alternate Roman empire. The unique voice of the first-person narrator is what makes the book work. (And keeps it light and amusing.) I didn’t enjoy the sequel as much. It started well and ended well, but the middle part just dragged. There’s a third book, making it a trilogy, but I have not read it yet.
H.G. Wells’ The Island of Doctor Moreau surprised me by turning out to be an excellent idyll on the relationship between God and humanity disguised as a mad scientist story. Pretty sure Wells’ take on that relationship marks him as a heretic, but a good thought-provoking novel nonetheless.
I really liked James Hilton’s Lost Horizon, the classic novel that introduced Shangri-La into the lexicon. Very little actually happens in the novel, but for some reason, it was still hard to put down. Four Westerners crash-land in a hidden Tibetan valley and offered the seductive temptations of lives of peace and personal exploration. I’d consider it an anti-war novel at heart.
And if you like Wodehouse, and I think you do, try some Evelyn Waugh. I read his first novel, Decline and Fall this summer, and . . . I’m still not quite sure what to think. A spiky satire on British academe and the upper class.
Scoop next.
“Up to a point, Lord Copper.”
Scoop is in my reading queue.
Currently re-reading Helprin’s A Soldier of the Great War which I haven’t read since it was first published in the 90s.
A far better account of the journalistic profession than All the President’s Men.
The Gormenghast Trilogy. Don’t think I need to explain this one more, but will if you want me to.
Lords of Chaos: The Rise of the Satanic Metal Underground is a brew of true crime and subcultural anthropology. Includes tons of facts you’re not going to find elsewhere. It’s so wild it’s entertaining even to those who don’t care about the music.
The Hellbound Heart, a novella you can probably finish in an afternoon or two. Weird psychosexual nightmare like nothing else.
I liked Umberto Eco’s Foucault’s Pendulum even more than his The Name of the Rose (which is a fine rec too). It’s about a trio of academics whose hobby researching conspiracy theories gets out of hand. Many people call it “difficult”, but I thought it was a very readable, literary thriller. It is long, though–over 800 pages.
Way back when I was a college freshman I passed a test that as far as I can tell meant no more than that I knew how to use a semicolon. It got me into an “advanced” English class. An English class of some sort was a requirement to get out of “Central University” and into the college of Natural and Mathematical Sciences. For some reason I can’t remember I was fascinated by the plays of Eugene O’Neill. Maybe it was because they were damn good. I’d bet that today he is almost forgotten. The Emperor Jones, The Great God Brown, The Hairy Ape, A Moon for the Misbegotten.
I remember some plays by Sean O’Casey and John Millington Synge that were taught in the class, but O’Neill stuck with me.
Of your suggestions this is the only one that I’ve read. It seems to me that Wells understood the concept of law but could not fathom that of grace. I understood this was written when he was a young man, and that his views on life changed somewhat after the first World War. I haven’t read enough of his works to say how far.
But that’s a good list! In particular I’m filing
under “News I can Use”.
This past summer I checked out Brideshead Revisited from the local library but returned it unread. I’ve always had eyes bigger than my mouth, even considering the size of that organ.
Since your entry in the last Duelling Book Club I’ve considered picking up a copy.
Earthly Powers.
I’ve been thinking in the coming year I might have to revisit Shakespeare. I took more than the usual amount for a physicist back in college, but have largely left the Bard to his own devices since then. Maybe I’ll tackle the complete Shakespeare, maybe I’ll just get down to the American Player’s Theatre this summer. I haven’t ever read The Merry Wives of Windsor, let alone seen it performed.
Surely I missed it, but considering how often it’s referenced here on Ricochet The Moon is a Harsh Mistress by Heinlein has to be read.
I have no idea how the book showed up where I lived. It was not something my parents would have read. I remember two plays: The Way of the World and The Country Wife. The first by William Congreve and the second by William Wycherley.
“For we women of quality never think we have china enough.”
It’s about due for a reread.
On Constitutional Law – or, rather, the bits that make the headlines – Ted Cruz’s One Vote Away is not terrible.
Please do. If I had to choose a single piece of art for preservation, I think I’d go with Gormenghast. The first book is only $12.99, though there’s a special edition that will only cost you $1,100 more!
You reminded me to answer the latest Dueling Book Club.
I need to get around to writing a Gormenghast post.
Pnin, the funniest of all Nabokov’s works.
I suppose I should also drop a link for anyone else who’s so inclined.
I’ll keep that in mind for next time I visit the one bookstore within a two-hour radius of here that had anything other than Lolita in stock.
Here’s a crazy book about a brilliant woman who, for some reason, agrees to go live in the middle of nowhere with her husband. I am told it is fantastic – it is, however, quite close to home for me. I even dictated the audio version.
And for the cerebrally-minded, this book is brain candy. It shows how adaptive systems always and necessarily beat all utopian visions, in everything we know, including mechanical, electronic, biological, and social systems. I think you, Hank, will especially enjoy it.
Should I be saying something here?
Maybe later.
I keep meaning to add that to my re-read queue. (Both of them, actually.) Foucault’s Pendulum blew my mind.
I prefer The Name of the Rose but it is time to re-read both. The ending of Foucault’s Pendulum is kind of a nasty joke on the main character. I felt that it was also intended to be a joke on the reader.
Time to re-read Our Man in Havanna, too.
Currently reading Ashendon (The British Agent) by Somerset Maugham. It is a fictionalized retelling of his intelligence work during WW1. The character portraits are quite vivid. So far the protagonist seems to have little success overcoming the friction and uncertainty of real life.
Sixteen Ways to Defend a Walled City, looks interesting.
That was good.
Am also a Foucault’s fan.
Colleen McCullough’s Masters of Rome series is quite good.
In science fiction, I am a big fan of CJ Cherryh, whose Foreigner series is very good and I really liked The Faded Sun Trilogy.
Enjoy.
It’s the Aubrey-Maturin series (not Aubrey-Martin). By Patrick O’Brian. It’s great, and I think it’s a bit better than the Sharpe series, though Sharpe is good too.
On Constitutional Law, I’d recommend Slouching Towards Gomorrah, by Robert Bork. Bork was an important law professor and federal judge.
I would recommend the Institute of Catholic Culture book club – even if you’re not Catholic. The leader/professor is Anthony Esolen. The first book was Odysseus and the second will be the Boethius. Odysseus was done over 3 months with a reading schedule and questions. One lecture/discussion per month. I finally read Odysseus (yeah!) and, dang, it was a good. You can do it as a self study now but the Boethius is starting in January I believe.