The Mookse and the Gripes discussion

I’m starting 2022 with The Books of Jacob.

Good luck with that Wendy, I ended 2021 and started 2022 with Hermynia Zur Muhlen's radical, Weimar-era fairy tales, some more for adults than children The Castle of Truth and Other Revolutionary Tales not sure what's next.

I’m starting with If Nobody Speaks of Remarkable Things by Jon McGregor.

Marzahn, Mon Amour

Which sounds very glamorous until one discovers Marzahn is a concrete jungle in former East Germany, and the novel’s subtitle is “Tales of a chiropodist”.

Latest Peirene title.

Hmmm. A friend at camera club who reads but mainly reads technical documents as a peer reviewer despite being retired and in his 70s lent me a book he thought I would like. I mention details about the friend because it turns out the book is YA which surprised me (it is clear by about page 2). It’s called Gone To Drift by Diana McCauley and the best thing about it is that I will finish it today. Although it’s not a bad book it’s just not what I would normally choose.

I still have one Christmas book to read (Burntcoat by Sarah Hall) so will probably start with that. I still have a couple more from the 2006 Booker longlist too (or 5 if I reread all the ones I read years ago).

I'm reading something easy - Jessie Burton's The Confession

My last book of 2021 was The Books of Jacob so I'm starting 2022 with the very different Angel by Elizabeth Taylor.

English Pastoral by James Rebanks

I was halfway through Bewilderment by Richard Powers when the bells ushered in 2022.

I am starting with a three-way relationship:

99 Stories of Hod, Joy Williams (fiction)
Down to Earth, Bruno Latour (non-fiction)
and me (genre non binary)

Choosing between ARCs of Young Mungo and Circus of Wonders for my first read of 2022 but starting one of them this morning. Happy New Year all!

Was about a third of the way into Checkout 19 when the ball dropped in Times Square.

I am reading Rooftop which should be a quick one day read, then I am tackling Ulysses.

I'm being sucked into Lanny from Max Porter at the moment

Lanny was one of my favorite books of 2020? 2021? I can’t remember. Speaking of Max Porter, the paintings of Francis Bacon pop often on Instagram and they are so fascinating and slightly unsettling that I think I might want to read The Death of Francis Bacon.

I think I ordered Rooftop. Good luck with Ulysses, Louise. Will you read it straight through or will you read other books along the way?

I’m going to try reading The Books of Jacob in the evening and take Edith Grossman’s translation of Don Quixote to bed with me and read as many chapters as I can before I nod off.

Paul, did you get an ARC of Marzahn, Mon Amour or do Peirene subscribers actually truly get the book the month before it’s released?

It appears everyone is starting 2022 with very good books! There isn’t one book mentioned that I wouldn’t like to read or enjoyed reading.

Imagine Africa

It's really beautiful. It's a wide format to allow room for side-by-side translations of works in Yoruba, Portuguese, French, Afrikaans, Arabic, Dutch. I would have loved more African languages but the veil between me and what's on the page is pretty opaque with the Yoruba and the Arabic especially.

A 2022 goal for me is to read more contemporary African literature.

Alwynne wrote: "Good luck with that Wendy, I ended 2021 and started 2022 with Hermynia Zur Muhlen's radical, Weimar-era fairy tales, some more for adults than children [book:The Castle of Truth and Other Revolutio..."

Excellent review, Alwynne. This sounds like an interesting read.

lark wrote: "Imagine Africa

It's really beautiful. It's a wide format to allow room for side-by-side translations of works in Yoruba, Portuguese, French, Afrikaans, Arabic, Dutch. I would have ..."

This does look like it would be a feast for the mind and the eyes.
I would like to read more African and more books by men of color.

WndyJW wrote: "This does look like it would be a feast for the mind and the eyes. I would like to read more African and more books by men of color. ..."

I'm grateful to the people in this group for introducing me to Seagull Books/Africa Series--I'm planning to read Seasons in Hippoland soon as well.

Me too, Lark!

WndyJW wrote: "I think I ordered Rooftop. Good luck with Ulysses, Louise. Will you read it straight through or will you read other books along the way?"

I am reading it as part of a 6 month study group so it will be a very slow reading. I have been taking part in these wonderful slow-reading study groups that I really enjoy. 26 weeks to read The Odyssey and another group reading The Iliad as we go. We started in June and just finished Book 4, so at that rate it will take us 3 years to finish it. So yes I will be reading other books along the way. Gotta keep up with my Indie press books.

Louise wrote: "I am reading Rooftop which should be a quick one day read, then I am tackling Ulysses."

I'm going to be re-reading that with one of my other groups, the centenary year's a good time to revisit it.

WndyJW wrote: "Paul, did you get an ARC of Marzahn, Mon Amour or do Peirene subscribers actually truly get the book the month before it’s released?."

I am not Paul but I received my copy of Marzahn, Mon Amour a couple weeks ago. I just read it a few days ago. Wonderful book.

I am Paul and yes Peirene subscribers do actually true get the book the month before it is released.

Just finished it - a little twee/simple for my jaundiced tastes but very good. The endorsement by Ronan Hession is appropriate as it shares the strengths of his books.

So subscribers do get the books early as promised. That’s good to hear. I pre-ordered it through Blackwells so I’ll get mine in February.

Maybe I’ll take up Ulysses when I finish my slow read of Don Quixote. I read several pages of Ulysses and liked the style and dialogue of the young men.

My last big book will be The Odyssey. 3 big classics in a year is a modest goal.
I read The Iliad last year (2021) with the translations by Robert Fagles and Caroline Alexander next to each other. I didn’t read every word in both books, but any sections that were moving, exciting battle scenes or featured gods and/or goddesses I read in both. I will do that with The Odyssey as well with translations by Fagles and Emily Wilson.

Or maybe I should read The Odyssey before Ulysses, Ulysses is inspired by The Odyssey isn’t it?

Yes, you should read The Odyssey before Ulysses. I am also reading both translations side by side (Fagles and Alexander for The Iliad, and Fagles, Wilson and Rouse for The Odyssey). It's always interesting to see the different choices the translators make.

I’m glad that was the answer because I am eager to read The Odyssey. Then I’ll move on to The Aeneid, even though it’s Latin and written hundreds of years later than we think Homer’s epics were composed. I only have the Fagles translation of The Aeneid, I’ll have to look for other respected translations.

Did you have a favorite translation, Louise, or anyone who has read multiple translations? I didn’t. There were passages by Fagles that resonated with me more than Alexander’s and passages by Alexander that moved me more than Fagles, and it wasn’t Fagles for battle scenes and Alexander for declarations of love or grief.

I read the Mandelbaum translation of the Aeneid way back in the early 90s, but remember it only dimly. I've just started Shadi Bartsch's new translation, which I'll work my way through a few pages a night as a new year reading project. Will keep you updated!

Just catching up. Wendy, I think I am the only person on GR who has liked Porter’s Francis Bacon book. You have to be the kind of person who is excited by the idea of “writing as painting”.

WndyJW wrote: "So subscribers do get the books early as promised. That’s good to hear. I pre-ordered it through Blackwells so I’ll get mine in February.

Maybe I’ll take up Ulysses when I finish my slow read of ..."

Ohh! I'm reading Stephen Mitchell's translation of the lliad write now. I also have the Fagles translation, but I prefer Mitchell's style of writing and his beautifully tender introduction is what really sold me. I think he also translated some of Rilke's poetry. How is Caroline Alexander's translation, by the way? I'm thinking of also reading hers.

I'm late to catch up on literary developments of the now previous year but better late than never they say.

I'm ready to start Abdul Razaq Gurnah's Admiring Silence as my first book of 2022.

I'd known about him for quite some time but never thought him a major writer from Africa/African diaspora to actually seek his novels actively. But of course the Nobel changed his status overnight.

Louise wrote: "WndyJW wrote: "I think I ordered Rooftop. Good luck with Ulysses, Louise. Will you read it straight through or will you read other books along the way?"

I am reading it as part of a 6 month study ..."

Oh, I'm thinking of reading Ulysses and the Odyssey, too. Is the study group free to join, or is it more private?

I love Emily Watson’s translation of The Odyssey. For The Aeneid try Shadi Bartsch but Vergil is a pale comparison to Homer IMO. I do like Fagles’ translations (I have all three) but he is much wordier.

I'm currently finishing up Yearning by bell hooks and I'm also starting to read Stephen Mitchell's translation of The Iliad.

May, the study group is not free, unfortunately, but is open to everyone. It is given by The London Literary Salón with weekly Zoom meetings. The leader, Toby Brothers, is amazing.

https://www.litsalon.co.uk/upcoming-s...

WndyJW wrote: "I’m glad that was the answer because I am eager to read The Odyssey. Then I’ll move on to The Aeneid, even though it’s Latin and written hundreds of years later than we think Homer’s epics were com..."

I've only read The Aeneid in the original Latin so no experience of any of the translations but I've heard good things about Sarah Ruden's version, a revised edition was published earlier this year,

I will be finishing The Things We've Seen today and starting How to Write an Autobiographical Novel: Essays tomorrow.

I really enjoyed those essays, particularly the later ones about his activism, and his garden, hope they work for you too, David.

Astonishing Splashes of Colour. I had forgotten until I pulled it off my shelves that it was shortlisted for the Booker.

I am starting with three (normal for me) but none on any awards lists. Musicophilia: Tales of Music and the Brain by Oliver Sacks, Inferior: How Science Got Women Wrong—and the New Research That's Rewriting the Story and, to refresh my brain after the other two, All That Really Matters which has a serious cause in it, but is not heavy and will have a happy ending, which I want to start the year off.

I started reading multiple books as a child, as some of us are wont to do :)

Karin wrote: "I am starting with three (normal for me) but none on any awards lists. Musicophilia: Tales of Music and the Brain by Oliver Sacks, Inferior: How Science Got Women Wrong—and the..." </i>


Karin, I love Oliver Sacks’ writing, he’s such a perfect example of a scientist who was a gifted, truly elegant writer.
Our book group read and loved his [book:Oaxaca Journal.

For myself, I’m reading Maria Tatar’s The Heroine with 1001 Faces. Not a novel, it’s an exploration of how women have been portrayed in myths, folktales, fairytales and literature. Really fascinating, but I’ll need to soon tear myself away from it to read Alejandro Zambra’s The Private Lives of Trees for my IRL book group meeting in a few days. Zambra’s work is quite short, more like a novella, and I hope to get to it tomorrow.

I definitely won’t be reading The Aeneid in Latin! Im jealous, Alwynne, not necessarily because I want to read it in Latin, but I want to be able to say I read it in Latin. :) I know you weren’t boasting, you were just stating the fact, but it is cool to read Latin.

I liked that Fagles stuck more with the classical tone, I don’t want to read these ancient poems in free verse. I liked Caroline Alexander, but if I was forced to choose only one I would stick with Fagles, it pains me to say the same of The Odyssey. I read several chapters of both Fagles and Wilson and I preferred Fagles. I’m in a minority I know. These are my first experiences of these epic works so maybe as I get more familiar with them I’ll see more to appreciate in the each of the translations. I just read a review of Wilson’s trans. that said she wrote the best “trash talk” between the Greeks, which sounds fun, https://literaryyard.com/2020/09/25/r...

It is hard to determine which is better Ruden or Bartsch, the reviews have a lot of negative and positive to say about both, but I won’t be reading it soon so I have time.

I’m think I know what you mean by writing as painting, Neil, “A picture paints a thousand words” idea. I am not, however, familiar with all of Bacon’s painting so maybe much of it would go over my head.

Alwynne wrote: "I really enjoyed those essays, particularly the later ones about his activism, and his garden, hope they work for you too, David."

I hope so too. It was a gift from a dear friend of mine. I'm really looking forward to it.

Have to agree with Louise RE Virgil. If you’re looking to round out your reading of classics with a Roman writer, skip Virgil and go straight to Ovid’s Metamorphoses. Sex, murder, kinky perversions, it’s all there, what could be better? ;)

Best translation of Metamorphosis?

I like this one
Metamorphoses
And it’s easy to obtain
Enjoy!

Janet wrote: "I like this one
Metamorphoses
And it’s easy to obtain
Enjoy!"

I actually started Metamorphoses in this edition yesterday. I've owned it for quite a while, so I don't remember if I bought it as a recommended translation, but I'm enjoying it so far. It's one I will read a little of each morning as is Atlas of the Heart: Mapping Meaningful Connection and the Language of Human Experience by Brené Brown. I'm finishing up Snow by Orhan Pamuk in print and The Thousand Crimes of Ming Tsu on audio.

Almost finished with The Chaos Principle by Nathan Johnson. - it”ll be my first book of 2022😊

I liked Snow, it was the book that made me interested in Turkey.
I order that copy of Metamorphosis yesterday and B&N had a big sale going with Last Night at the Telegraph Club on the page announcing the sale so I ordered it to be sent to my granddaughter.

Atlas of the Heart sounds very much like the Ekmans’ Atlas of Emotions commissioned by HH the Dalai Lama. His Holiness felt that we couldn’t control our own minds if we didn’t understand our emotions so he commissioned the father-daughter psychiatrists to map out our emotional states. It was the Ekmans’ work that inspired the very moving Pixar film Inside Out. The Ekmans created an interactive website as well. http://atlasofemotions.org/