[metalsonata]

  Roger Ebert - I hated hated HATED this movie! One of his anthologies of reviews of bad films. An entertaining read.

 
Love Ebert's writing. Have you read his autobiography?
 

I am about 25% done with The First World War: A Complete History by Martin Gilbert.

 
How is this? I've been considering reading some WWI and WWII history, and Gilbert's name is all over the place in my research as to where to begin.

 

[sathyam]

How is this? I've been considering reading some WWI and WWII history, and Gilbert's name is all over the place in my research as to where to begin.

Just finished the WWI book and started the WWII book. The WWI book is amazing. Right from what caused the Serbs to trigger the war to the Allies short-sighted splitting up of Europe and Asia between themselves arbitrarily and the repercussions that led to WWII 20 years later and the problems in the Middle East today.

It's a great read! It's very detailed-700 pages.

 

[Nusho]

 
The Sound and the Fury (1929), by William Faulkner
Faulkner is something of a literary blind-spot for me, at least with regards to his novels. I'd describe myself as moderately familiar with his short stories, but despite long thinking that I'd probably enjoy his novels, I've never stepped up to the plate. What better place to start than that which is often described as his most difficult work, I figured? Haven't actually started on this one yet, but will be doing so tonight, armed with a volume of commentary, just in case the worst should happen and I find myself utterly rudderless. 
 
 

All I have ever been able to get through are Faulkner's short stories. How can I start reading The Sound and the Fury without being utterly confused? Are there any books I should read beforehand to train me?
 
And to make this comment relevant to the thread, Ive recently been reading all of kafka -- his short stories and his books. Ive never found an author I relate to more, yet is this worrying (you know ...its kafka)? 

 

[Hutnicks]

  All I have ever been able to get through are Faulkner's short stories. How can I start reading The Sound and the Fury without being utterly confused? Are there any books I should read beforehand to train me?
 
And to make this comment relevant to the thread, Ive recently been reading all of kafka -- his short stories and his books. Ive never found an author I relate to more, yet is this worrying (you know ...its kafka)? 

You don't live in Washington do you?

 

[Nusho]

 
You don't live in Washington do you?

My profile says the US right? What gave you the idea that I live in Washington? But being specific, I live in California. 

 

[Hutnicks]

  My profile says the US right? What gave you the idea that I live in Washington? But being specific, I live in California. 

I rarely look at profiles. They tend to frighten me.
 
The current environment in DC could very well be described as Kafkaesque.

 

[metalsonata]

Just finished the WWI book and started the WWII book. The WWI book is amazing. Right from what caused the Serbs to trigger the war to the Allies short-sighted splitting up of Europe and Asia between themselves arbitrarily and the repercussions that led to WWII 20 years later and the problems in the Middle East today.

It's a great read! It's very detailed-700 pages.

 
Groovy. I like reading history, but primarily confine myself to ancient history through the Renaissance. Would like to be a bit better informed about more recent centuries than I am. Dunno when I'll get around to it, but I'll add Gilbert to the reading list. 
 

  All I have ever been able to get through are Faulkner's short stories. How can I start reading The Sound and the Fury without being utterly confused? Are there any books I should read beforehand to train me?
 
And to make this comment relevant to the thread, Ive recently been reading all of kafka -- his short stories and his books. Ive never found an author I relate to more, yet is this worrying (you know ...its kafka)? 

 
I don't think you can start reading The Sound and the Fury without being utterly confused, unless you come equipped with lots of analysis and commentary on the novel, and have read up on the structure of the novel before hand. I am keeping a volume of commentary nearby just in case, but generally speaking I prefer my first-reads of difficult novels to be 'vanilla,' even if it means being lost most of the time. And I can tell you that The Sound and the Fury is one of the more challenging books I've read. More difficult in a lot of ways than even authors like Joyce and Pynchon. That said, paying careful attention to stylistic shifts and even typographical ones will ease in unraveling the novel's complicated structure. (Watch out specifically for italics in the first chapter, and for punctuation in the second. My understanding is that the first two chapters are the most difficult in the book.) And even if the structure is confusing, a lot of the individual moments that make up the more complicated thread of the plot are quite beautiful when taken on their own. If you primarily enjoy reading for the sake of admiring wonderful prose rather than for the plot, you'll enjoy The Sound and the Fury even when you can't make heads or tails of it. The light at the end of the tunnel is that once you get through the first half of the novel things seem to settle down considerably, and it's really not that long of a book, at least not when you compare it to other famously 'impenetrable' novels. My copy runs to 320 pages, making it significantly shorter and much less dense (far, far less words per page) than works like Finnegans Wake, Gravity's Rainbow, and Infinite Jest.
 
Like Faulkner, Kafka is another one of those authors where I'm far more familiar with his short stories/novellas than I am with his novels. This is something I shall have to rectify. Unfortunately, I think that given the world we live in, if you could encourage everyone to read Kafka, they'd probably all agree that they relate to his work in some fashion. When the world itself has become Kafkaesque, things couldn't be any other way. 

 

[blazeops]

 

[Quinto]

 

[Nusho]

 
 
I don't think you can start reading The Sound and the Fury without being utterly confused, unless you come equipped with lots of analysis and commentary on the novel, and have read up on the structure of the novel before hand. I am keeping a volume of commentary nearby just in case, but generally speaking I prefer my first-reads of difficult novels to be 'vanilla,' even if it means being lost most of the time. And I can tell you that The Sound and the Fury is one of the more challenging books I've read. More difficult in a lot of ways than even authors like Joyce and Pynchon. That said, paying careful attention to stylistic shifts and even typographical ones will ease in unraveling the novel's complicated structure. (Watch out specifically for italics in the first chapter, and for punctuation in the second. My understanding is that the first two chapters are the most difficult in the book.) And even if the structure is confusing, a lot of the individual moments that make up the more complicated thread of the plot are quite beautiful when taken on their own. If you primarily enjoy reading for the sake of admiring wonderful prose rather than for the plot, you'll enjoy The Sound and the Fury even when you can't make heads or tails of it. The light at the end of the tunnel is that once you get through the first half of the novel things seem to settle down considerably, and it's really not that long of a book, at least not when you compare it to other famously 'impenetrable' novels. My copy runs to 320 pages, making it significantly shorter and much less dense (far, far less words per page) than works like Finnegans Wake, Gravity's Rainbow, and Infinite Jest.
 
Like Faulkner, Kafka is another one of those authors where I'm far more familiar with his short stories/novellas than I am with his novels. This is something I shall have to rectify. Unfortunately, I think that given the world we live in, if you could encourage everyone to read Kafka, they'd probably all agree that they relate to his work in some fashion. When the world itself has become Kafkaesque, things couldn't be any other way. 

Thank you for the tips on Faulkner.
As for Kafka, before getting into him I would read an autobiography of him from the internet (Wikipedia can fulfill this). Kafka's writing is heavily inspired by his life experiences, so coming in armed with knowledge about his life may help penetrate his denseness. Some of his works are strange, termed 'Kafkaesque', but usually allegorical or symbolic in meaning, which provides incredible food for thought. They are also laced with double meanings. As for his novellas, The Trial is the one I think everyone should read. Yet his short stories are my favorites -- Before the Law and The Hunger Artist being the most incredible in my opinion (theyre short! everyone should read them). 

 

[Nusho]

  I rarely look at profiles. They tend to frighten me.
 
The current environment in DC could very well be described as Kafkaesque.

Frightening profiles ...you will have to explain that one to me (Im guessing it has something to do with the size of peoples inventories here on head fi)
 
As for the environment in DC, it certainly is very odd. But no where as meaningful as Kafka's work, making politics quite a bore. 

 

[Hutnicks]

  Frightening profiles ...you will have to explain that one to me (Im guessing it has something to do with the size of peoples inventories here on head fi)
 
As for the environment in DC, it certainly is very odd. But no where as meaningful as Kafka's work, making politics quite a bore. 

Oh. I can think of a few incidents that mimic "The Trial"

 

[metalsonata]

Recently Finished:
 
First Love (1860), by Ivan Turgenev, translated by Isaiah Berlin
Life's a bitch, and then you die. And before you die, you've got to get your heart broken at least once, too. Even if you think that you've forgotten what it was like to be a hormonal teen, this will remind you--painfully so. For all if its brevity and the ultimate inconsequentiality of its plot, this is quite a weighty little book, passionately and intelligently written. It does, however, commit the annoying sin of being a frame story where the 'frame' part is never revisited beyond the initial setup. It seems to me like Turgenev was looking for an unnecessary excuse for the story to be in first-person, but ah well. It's a slight blemish on the story, at worst. A quick read--I finished it in two days and could have easily finished it in one, if I had made the time to do so. Worth reading, if it seems like it might be your cup of tea. 
 
In other news, The Sound and the Fury becomes an entirely different novel in its second half/last third, insofar as ease-of-reading-and-understanding is concerned. Very enjoyable, though no less brutal. If you've ever tried to read it before and gave up, try again, and be persistent. You'll be rewarded sooner than you think. I'll probably finish up Dylan Thomas's Under Milk Wood tonight. It's a bizarre little play, charming and weird, and comically sinister. I'm a little under halfway through it, and have no real idea as to where it's going yet. Always a plus.

 

[PalJoey]

  The Once and Future King (1958), by T. H. White
I encountered this one when I was in high school, coming away from a decade's long obsession with Tolkienian fantasy. I've only read it in its entirety once, but upon completion of that initial reading I was quite convinced that it was the best stand-alone fantasy novel I'd ever read. Time to see if I still think so. Thus far I will say that it's both funnier and more beautiful than I remember it being, but also perhaps a bit more heavy-handed with its anachronisms and politics--not enough to feel preachy, though I am admittedly a member of the choir, in this case. .

Inspired by this post, nostalgia moved me to get this book for Kindle and enjoy it again. However, I am part of the way through the first section (The Sword in the Stone) and I was thrown by the completely different story in the Robin Wood adventure. In the edition I read in my childhood, it concerns a raid on (and slaughter of) the Anthropopaghi, while this revised edition has a rescue mission to Morgana le Fay's castle.
 
Merlyn's combat with Madam Mim is completely omitted from this new version too. It is slightly disconcerting.

 

[metalsonata]

  Inspired by this post, nostalgia moved me to get this book for Kindle and enjoy it again. However, I am part of the way through the first section (The Sword in the Stone) and I was thrown by the completely different story in the Robin Wood adventure. In the edition I read in my childhood, it concerns a raid on (and slaughter of) the Anthropopaghi, while this revised edition has a rescue mission to Morgana le Fay's castle.
 
Merlyn's combat with Madam Mim is completely omitted from this new version too. It is slightly disconcerting.

Interesting--I've certainly never read an edition with the events that you've described. Looked into it and it sounds as if the version you read as a child may have been the stand-alone edition of The Sword in the Stone, rather than the version of it that White revised in preparation for the one-volume The Once and Future King. Sounds like he subtracted substantial bits (the Anthropophagi and Madam Mim), but also introduced new scenarios, which I won't spoil if you haven't read them yet. I'll have to look into the stand-alone versions of the books, as it seems like some of them are substantially different.
 
Recently Finished:
 
Under Milk Wood (1954), by Dylan Thomas
A lovely bit of play-writing by Thomas that tells the 'story' of how an average day transpires in a small Welsh village. Mostly comic, but sprinkled with a few moments of great sadness, and of course, being written by Dylan, passages of heart-pumping poetry.