2025: What are you currently reading?

[TallyT]

Just for anyone who can get Australia's Radio National on their internet, this weekend they have been running a viewer-voted Top 100 Books of the 20th Century (it does have an Aussie leaning with a bigger number of our own than a world list, but hey...) and while there are quite a few We Voted For These To Make Ourselves Feel High Literature People (meaning the sort that is read because it wins awards and makes us sound will-read and intelligent in literary conversations) and also quite a few that people voted for as faves, not top (what is a Harry Potter doing in there? and I love Richard Osman but top 100 really?) there are also quite a few that I am adding to be to read list

So if you need suggestions on what next to enrich your bookshelf with...

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[LRK]

It sounds interesting, I have only read a few of the "Anne of Green Gables" series. I haven't read any Wodehouse or the other authors you mentioned.

I have a lot of Dickens titles still to read. "The Pickwick Papers" was entertaining, even if episodic and less serious than his later works. Also more of Thackeray beyond "Vanity Fair".

"Pikwick Papers" is loads of fun - even if, as you say, less serious. (If memory serves, the only really serious portion is in debtor's prison?)

Thackeray - apart from "Vanity Fair", I quite enjoy "Pendennis". If you want something slighter, then there is always his "Book of Snobs", especially if you can get it with his own illustrations.

You definitely should give P G Wodehouse a try - I think you'd like him. Perhaps try a Jeevees & Bertie Wooster book.

 

[teddycat]

"Pikwick Papers" is loads of fun - even if, as you say, less serious. (If memory serves, the only really serious portion is in debtor's prison?)

Thackeray - apart from "Vanity Fair", I quite enjoy "Pendennis". If you want something slighter, then there is always his "Book of Snobs", especially if you can get it with his own illustrations.

You definitely should give P G Wodehouse a try - I think you'd like him. Perhaps try a Jeevees & Bertie Wooster book.

Thanks for the suggestions! Now that you mention it, I did read a Jeeves and Wooster book some years ago and enjoyed it. I will look into "Pendennis" and "Book of Snobs" by Thackeray as well.

You're right about "Pickwick Papers", the scenes in the debtors' prison are much more serious than the rest of the book. It is interesting how much of a social conscience Dickens had even at a young age. He was scarred by what happened to his father and included stories of injustice, crooked lawyers, etc., in most if not all of his books.

 

[Isk]

Just finished Hector Berlioz's memoirs: https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/62668. Apparently 8 volumes of his letters survive, but I am not going to read them. He is a very smart and witty person, but as it often happens, was better-off and lonely towards the end of his life. What he writes reminds me of Martin Eden, except Berlioz is a real person, was married twice, had a kid and didn't commit suicide, but common things are difficulties getting the education, struggle to be appreciated, and getting income too late when both wives and the kid were dead and there was nobody to leave it to. I am sure he appreciated independence, but he was so lonely that he restarted working after a period of retirement. He also sought out his childhood love, convinced her not to repel him and started a sort of friendship with her and her son and daughter-in-law. I thought he was a supporter of the new music, but it was more like "dined with Liszt, we didn't talk about music, so didn't quarrel". An interesting thing he mentions: one day he dreamt of a new symphony, remembered it the next day in full detail, and the day after it was gone. But his wife needed constant medical attention, his kid needed help to start a career, he couldn't leave them without support, so he chose not write it down knowing he would but loose money getting it finished, copied, performed and published. He was a well-known composer by then. Of the younger generation he speaks highly of Saint-Saens. I stumbled upon the memoir listening to an hour-long audio production of excerpts, liked it so much that I wanted to read the whole thing.

 

[teddycat]

Berlioz's memoirs sound worth reading. I don't know much about his life but thought that he experienced some personal unhappiness which wouldn't be unusual for 19th century (or maybe any century) composers. Memoirs and diaries give such a feeling for the period and seem more accurate to me than nonfiction.

I read "Martin Eden" not long ago and found it gripping but very sad. Jack London is quite an intriguing character. I had assumed that his novels would be very pulpy and written for a young audience, but his writing is much better than expected. The violence in the animal stories is tough to read as well as his depictions of the struggles of the poor. His very colorful life seems tailormade for a miniseries or docudrama.

 

[LRK]

Victoria Benedictsson: "Från Skåne" (Frrom Skåne - Note: Skåne is a Swedish province.)

A short story collection by 19th century Swedish author Victoria Benedictsson, who, at the time, published under the pseudonym Ernst Ahlgren. This is a re-read for me, and as I really love her writing, I'm enjoying it very much.

I believe at least Victoria Benedictsson's two novels ("Money" and "Mrs Marianne") have been translated into English. Having read thei books in Swedish myself, I, of course, cannot vouch for the translation. Even if the translation may be very literally correct, it's very easy to lose the voice and feel - and those are some of the qualities I most love about her writing. Still, I definitely think it would be worth giving them a try.

 

[LRK]

Berlioz's memoirs sound worth reading. I don't know much about his life but thought that he experienced some personal unhappiness which wouldn't be unusual for 19th century (or maybe any century) composers. Memoirs and diaries give such a feeling for the period and seem more accurate to me than nonfiction.

I read "Martin Eden" not long ago and found it gripping but very sad. Jack London is quite an intriguing character. I had assumed that his novels would be very pulpy and written for a young audience, but his writing is much better than expected. The violence in the animal stories is tough to read as well as his depictions of the struggles of the poor. His very colorful life seems tailormade for a miniseries or docudrama.

I must confess that knowing how "Martin Eden" ends has made me VERY trepidatious about reading the book - I was going to say "even though" I like Jack London's writing style - perhaps it would be more accurate to say "because" I like his writing style? It's very immersive, and that might the ending even more... well... impactful.

 

[LRK]

Baroness Orczy: "The Old Man in the Corner"

This is a mystery short story collection - the stories are told by the titular "old man in the corner" to "the Lady Journalist". Baroness Orczy, of course, is most known as the author of "The Scarlet Pimpernel".

This is a re-read, however... I forget the plot of full-length novels, so saying I barely remember anything is... generous. (There is one thing I did remember, though.) Well, one of the (very,very few) advantages to having a (frankly) rubbish memory is the ability to read a story for the second time - as if it were for the first.