Best Book You Read Latey

[KHOKABOG]

http://www.gutenberg.org/wiki/Main_Page
Shitton of free e-books that you can take advantage of. For your reading pleasure. These endeavours to enrich the minds of human beings warm my heart.

[ganymede]

The Charterhouse of Parma by Stendhal is sometimes called the most french novel ever written. Set at the very end of the Napoleonic Wars, the young Marchese Fabrizio del Dongo proves the meaning of the word nobility.

so is it like a ford maddox ford thing or what

Not similar given the context or intent. It was the first novel I've read this year and it was sublime.

[don]

The Charterhouse of Parma by Stendhal is sometimes called the most french novel ever written. Set at the very end of the Napoleonic Wars, the young Marchese Fabrizio del Dongo proves the meaning of the word nobility.

so is it like a ford maddox ford thing or what

Not similar given the context or intent. It was the first novel I've read this year and it was sublime.

I just meant that Ford is kind of a writer of the English national character, with much more of an affiliation and understanding of the upper class than many of his contemporaries and all of his successors. Especially in Parade's End you get the idea that he's chronicling the end of an era. I'd be curious to hear more about Stendhal and how he addresses French nobility as a theme. Your initial comment piqued my interest

[ganymede]

so is it like a ford maddox ford thing or what

Not similar given the context or intent. It was the first novel I've read this year and it was sublime.

I just meant that Ford is kind of a writer of the English national character, with much more of an affiliation and understanding of the upper class than many of his contemporaries and all of his successors. Especially in Parade's End you get the idea that he's chronicling the end of an era. I'd be curious to hear more about Stendhal and how he addresses French nobility as a theme. Your initial comment piqued my interest

In that sense then yes, Stendhal has an almost unrivaled understanding of the French national character and, consequently the Italian (there is no Gaul without Rome). The original meaning of nobility is nobility of character and the author grapples masterfully with the youthful longings and destiny seeking attitude of every young man, personified in this case by an Italian aristocrats second son. Traditionally promised to the church this willful youth will not be commanded and decides upon joining Napoleons cause (despite his fathers detestment of 'jacobins') at the battle of Waterloo. In the aftermath of the battle his character is tested time and again by fortune and his noble virtues earn him the admiration and love of the people of the Principality of Parma and his native Lombardy.

Despite being called the most French novel ever written its set entirely in Italy, excepting Waterloo, with almost no foreign characters. This novel is also part lamentation at the sorry state of France and Italy in the 19th century. Whilst not a reactionairy Stendhal pines for a time when noblesse oblige was the rule and not the exception.

[Loud Speakers MC]

This is outstanding. Have you considered bringing it to print?

I'll shill my own:

A novella dedicated to the memory of the r/mde sub.

North America, 2080. Air toxification and global warming have forced the two hundred million citizens who survived the Civil War into comfortable but oppressive underground cities. A small techno-elite living under town-sized domes rules over them from above. The Chinese Empire allied with the Silicon Valley leftist authoritarians in the 2040s to defeat the America First opposition, form the Corporate Coalition of North America and replace the constitutional government with an AI-assisted dictatorship. AI speech sensors across the underground cities detect breaches of the Offense & Criticism Act of 2064, which forbids male speech and actions “intended for unauthorized humorous effect” and ‘harmful' criticism. The Coalition renamed male laughter ‘manic oppression’. All underground men except a small percentage of specialized Alphas must take Posimasc medication, which severely dulls their masculine instincts. The Toxic Masculinity Act of 2065 prohibits men from behaviour defined as such by the Coalition, such as anger, aggression and lust. Under-Toronto citizen Caleb Thompson is growing frustrated with the drudgery and absurdity of life underground. Meanwhile, former comedian Alexavier White, now a Corporate Coalition late night talk show host who lives under the Los Angeles dome, is becoming disillusioned with his role as a shill for the elites. This story of dystopian surveillance, censorship and control echoes many of our present-day worries but leaves behind a glimmer of hope for those who celebrate the free and independent American spirit.


I've just read both of the Alan Partridge books - comfy reads if anyone is a fan of the character.
https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/5 ... _Partridge

[ArcadeWeapon]

finished up Hubert Selby Jr's "The Room".Goes as far as ive seen anything recently go into an excavation of a pitch-dark soul. Elliptical, aggressive, filled with enormous amounts of controlled rage...selby is said to have been unable to read his finished book for a number of years, disturbed about what he'd written down. Maybe that sounds eye-rolley, but it lived up to that little myth. Ive heard some people call Pahlanuk and his peers to be representative of 'transgressive fiction', but I feel like Selby is truly raw and coming from a seared place. Anyway, I really enjoyed it.

[SwiFT]

I have not been reading enough lately, and when I have read it's always been non-fiction and not exactly fun to read. I randomly saw a retweet of someone saying Gene Wolfe is the greatest author of all time. I had never heard of him before so I Googled his name and was happy to see he is a Traditionalist author, with a capital T. Some of the more recent books I've read have been by CS Lewis and Julius Evola, so Wolfe seemed a perfect fit. I read some reddit comment saying that Book of the New Sun series is essentially an ode to Tradition, about the end of a Kali Yuga. In my endeavor to read more I got a Kindle Paperwhite and am now most of the way through Claw of the Conciliator. WOW! This is a book I would have had ZERO understanding if I read it when I was in high school. It is so deep with meaning. I admit, I often have to research chapters after I read them to understand the references and metaphors, but the story is so great, and the setting so unique to any kid of science fiction/fantasy.

[tragikom]

Can recommend a comedy adventure book called The Long Ships. It's about a traveling viking getting into trouble all over the world. It's written for teenagers, but there are plenty of deeper jokes which makes it suitable for all ages.

[vanya]

reread celine - journey to the end of the night recently, one of the great works of fiction

"Journey to the end of the night" has to be the most fitting title, and given the quality of the book, the best title of all time. Anytime I'm out with friends, drunk, trying to get with a girl, leaving my own sheltered existence, etc., "journey to the end of the night" as a phrase always comes into my head. We slowly give pieces of ourselves away, interacting with others, trying to find a way to survive and "define" ourselves. Our naivety slowly goes away, and with it the wonder of life we once had when we were kids. It seems like the experiences we gain develop our character, hardening our spirits, but for what? We are on journey, but it's not clear to where, and to what end. How far do we travel? The phrase "journey to the end of the night" is so beautiful because it describes life perfectly.

As for books, geeze... I've started reading Thomas Mann's Death in Venice. It's dense, but in a way that I appreciate. Feels like a comb has been put through the words repeatedly, until it becomes this refined thing. I have respect for writers who treat writing as a craft. I also read that Thomas Mann kept a diary, where he talk about his repressed homosexuality. He constantly fantasized about having sex with his own son. What a fuckin weirdo!

[Dedware]

Caravaggio: A Life Sacred And Profane
By Andrew Grahman-Dixon

Very in-depth and and a good read for any artist. Goes into the history of post-reformation Rome and the art scene at the time.
Caravaggio was the best artist in Rome and probably the world at the time. At his peak he killed a man in a duel on a Tennis court and was force to escape Rome.
He threw a plate of artichokes at a waiters face because he asked "Which are baked in oil and which in butter" and the waiter answered "Smell for yourself and see." This was taken as a rude comment, implying that the waiter thought Caravaggion was of lower stock, he went to jail for this. Only thing that annoyed me a bit was that the author quite often accused Caravaggio of homosexuality and pederasty, and read into him in a way that would suggest that, directing the reader to think that by analyzing him in a homo way.