Just began reading -
Just finished reading American Gods and wondering how I’ve only just ‘discovered’ Neil Gaiman.
Currently reading a very early 1900s translation of Nietzsche I found in a second hand book store in Hay on Wye, it makes absolutely NO sense.
I’m starting the Red Wheel series. I liked Cancer Ward, so why not? I will say that August, 1914 feels somewhat unfinished. There is a vitalism to that unfinished nature – is it a book, a screenplay for a movie, a play, something else? It can’t quite decide. It often feels sloppy but the narrative itself is compelling. Like the Big D, I wish that I had an appendix of some sort to keep the names straight as Russian naming patterns aren’t something that is intuitively obvious to me but it isn’t too hard to keep things straight from context. Though there is a very large cast, which makes it a little harder than other Russian novels I’ve read.
Alright ILP, I just finished Hermann Hesse’s Steppenwolf (introspective, surreal kind of read) and now I need help deciding my next book. Here are my options:
A Tale of Two Cities (because I’ve never read it and I just found an old copy laying around the house)
OR
Narcissus and Goldmund (immediately continuing my journey through the novels of Hesse)
What do you think?
Aristotle’s Metaphysics, plus some other stuff. Notably Leonard Mlodinow’s excellent The Drunkard’s Walk.
EDIT: fuse, that was not necessarily an answer to your question. But then again, why not? After all, the latter title treats of randomness.
“Magic without tears” - Aleister Crowley
An all-around guide to the occult
Switching to Remembrance of Things Past, Volume 1 (Proust) because I need a break from Les Miserables…still 500 more pages or so on that one…and he’s not even Russian!
Good stuff, enjoy.
“The China Study” by Colin Campbell…
I’m currently indulging in a bit of popular culture with Game of Thrones.
@fuse: Did you continue with the Hesse? I read…Daemon/Damien, whatever it was called, a year or two ago and have been tempted to get stuck into some more of his stuff but I can’t help but remember a kind of wetness to his works 
I don’t know, something about the books and the gospel-seeking devotees of his works just puts me off…
Hey Trevor,
Wetness? What? lol, I decided to continue where I left off with Nietzsche instead. I’ll get back to Hesse eventually.
Yeh…wetness…it’s hard to explain because that’s just my lasting impression of him, but his books are about the inner self, and destiny, that kinda crap…I also remember a sense of passivity in his writing, placid and passive. Wetness. Maybe he was gay…
Yeah, he’s definitely concerned with the inner self. And I might be able to relate to what you mean about passivity… I’ve read Siddhartha, Demian, and Steppenwolf now and all three novels develop in dreamlike fashion, as if the narrator is a more or less passive observer of a series of surreal events. Is that at all what you meant? Anyhow, Steppenwolf was the most nonlinear and subsequently the most difficult to read, while Demian is my favorite of the three because I relate to its story and characters the most.
I guess I just struggle to take the whole “search for self” subject seriously…Siddharta was the other one I had read but forgotten about. Huxley can also be a bit too wishy-washy like Hesse, they’re work is deeply related, but Huxley has a cyncial vein running through him and his work which is his saving grace. Maybe this is what Hesse lacks - teeth. His work has no bite, it’s all gums. Soft, wet gums.
Ah…no bite you say? I understand that. Although, I personally think Hesse has an enormous bite, but maybe it’s too subtly expressed or maybe only certain types of people are receptive to it. I think the “search for the self” theme appeals to people who have often been internally conflicted and who tend to be introspective about their struggles and their identity. …like moi.
And the subtlety I am talking about refers to the seemingly vague and indistinct “message” of each of his novels. In all his stories about finding oneself and living authentically, I think Hesse’s intent is always positive. I think he is looking more to inspire a like-minded reader to continue in his/her own journey of the self than to impart any distinct “moral” or knowledge.
And I like Huxley, too. Brave New World was one of the best books I read growing up in terms of the incredible stimulation it provided for new thoughts and ideas. If I ever get the time, I want to read Point Counter Point next.
The wetness metaphor is interesting. …soft, wet gums. It reminds me of kissing.
Different people like to kiss and be kissed (romantically) in different ways. For instance, if I am making out with a girl I prefer slow, concentrated, sometimes very light, teasing kisses. I like the subtlety and sensation of it. I have had girlfriends, though, who like to kiss furiously, almost violently – but that’s rather boring and mechanical to me.
So in a similar way, while I seem to experience the bite of Hesse’s novels for some reason, you don’t for a related reason. I dunno. Just thinking. And I thought the kissing analogy was funny.
This made me think of Hoffmann, particularly The Sandman. It doesn’t really have a bite, nor did I get the feeling of soft, wet gums, but … it kind of nibbles.
Anyway, I’m still on Aristotle. But I picked up Timothy Williamsons The Philosophy of Philosophy earlier. So far (I’m on ch. 2) it’s been both thought-provoking, extremely interesting, and something of a disappointment.
Are you implying he’s too subtly expressed for my dim intellect? 
Same here; I haven’t read Point Counter Point but I have managed to read Island and Eyeless in Gaza, both of which I recommend.
Maybe 
Or you might just not have the attention for it if you find his writing uninteresting.
I started reading Paolo Coelho’s The Alchemist, finally. I’d been planning to read it for so long and I finally have read first 22 pages. I like it actually:)