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[sgcim]

Halfway through "Infinite Jest" by David Foster Wallace. It's great reading, but the hundreds of footnotes can make you lose your place consistently. I read Mason and Dixon before this, and while he's not as great a writer as Pynchon, he is easier to read. That doesn't mean he writes for retards, like Dan Brown or someone of that ilk, it just means that he doesn't use as many allusions as someone like Pynchon or Gaddis does.

And if he does, there are always the footnotes!

[ejp626]

5 hours ago, Brad said:

Sounds painful. If so, why bother?

I’m making another run at Berlin Alexanderplatz. If it won’t take off, I will probably sell my copy. 

I've actually enjoyed it when I've sat down and read (despite it hitting a bit too close to home) but have been very distracted by work creeping into all other aspects of my life (Zoom calls ending at 7:30, etc.) as I do my part in planning to help the recovery up here.  The two places I do the most sustained reading (while riding transit or stationary bikes at the gym) are both off limits for time being.

[Brad]

12 minutes ago, ejp626 said:

I've actually enjoyed it when I've sat down and read (despite it hitting a bit too close to home) but have been very distracted by work creeping into all other aspects of my life (Zoom calls ending at 7:30, etc.) as I do my part in planning to help the recovery up here.  The two places I do the most sustained reading (while riding transit or stationary bikes at the gym) are both off limits for time being.

When I used to commute to NY by train years ago, I got a lot of reading in.  The bikes are for music!

[ejp626]

5 minutes ago, Brad said:

When I used to commute to NY by train years ago, I got a lot of reading in.  The bikes are for music!

I used to live in Brooklyn almost at Coney Island.  I always had a seat coming in to work, so often used that for writing (pretty sure I finished a couple of dissertation chapters on the inbound train) but stood all the way going home, so would read then.

In Toronto I virtually never get a seat on the bus or train (except for weekends) back when I was still taking transit, so that was generally fine for reading (unless the bus was really crowded).

[sidewinder]

Don’t recall the TTC being over-full much back in the day but I guess Toronto is a busier and much more crowded place these days. Population at several million was hardly sparse even then though.

[ejp626]

23 minutes ago, sidewinder said:

Don’t recall the TTC being over-full much back in the day but I guess Toronto is a busier and much more crowded place these days. Population at several million was hardly sparse even then though.

Subways are (well, were) just incredibly packed in rush hour.  When transferring at Bloor-Yonge you can expect to have to wait for three trains to pull in before actually squeezing onto one!  Fortunately trains are every 1.5-2 minutes in rush hour, though this is still annoying (and didn't feel safe even pre-COVID).  This is driven by huge downtown office growth.  Very different from my memories of Toronto in the early 90s.

[sidewinder]

1 hour ago, ejp626 said:

Subways are (well, were) just incredibly packed in rush hour.  When transferring at Bloor-Yonge you can expect to have to wait for three trains to pull in before actually squeezing onto one!  Fortunately trains are every 1.5-2 minutes in rush hour, though this is still annoying (and didn't feel safe even pre-COVID).  This is driven by huge downtown office growth.  Very different from my memories of Toronto in the early 90s.

Totally different by the sound of it - I don’t recall even the likes of Bay and Bloor being that packed, even during busy times. The 80s/early 90s were probably a golden period, in retrospect. Always a damned expensive place to live though !

The ‘Urban Toronto’ Forum has some very interesting photographs taken of sites back then and what they are now. Quite an eye-opener. Back in the 1990s the old Victorian era downtown landmarks were somehow hanging on, although rapid growth was already evident. Skydome was the latest and greatest new thing (and I even saw a cricket Test Match Friendly there with the legendary West Indies Team v Rest of the World ).

Edited June 24, 2020 by sidewinder

[porcy62]

On 18/6/2020 at 6:40 AM, Brad said:

A newly discovered Hemingway story, Pursuit as Happiness, that appeared in the New Yorker.

Here’s an interview with Sean Hemingway, Hemingway’s grandson, Ernest Hemingway’s Grandson on an Unpublished Story from the Author’s Archive

By coincidence I am rereading  Hemingway in these days, I found Farewell to Arms quite naive but For Whom the Bell Tolls a strong novel.

[jazzbo]

Re-reading this series in order of publication. This one is from '42. Fun series!

[Brad]

2 hours ago, porcy62 said:

By coincidence I am rereading  Hemingway in these days, I found Farewell to Arms quite naive but For Whom the Bell Tolls a strong novel.

I have to confess I haven’t read Farewell to Arms, although I do have it. His booms about Spain are my favorites.  

[Brad]

12 hours ago, ejp626 said:

I used to live in Brooklyn almost at Coney Island.  I always had a seat coming in to work, so often used that for writing (pretty sure I finished a couple of dissertation chapters on the inbound train) but stood all the way going home, so would read then.

In Toronto I virtually never get a seat on the bus or train (except for weekends) back when I was still taking transit, so that was generally fine for reading (unless the bus was really crowded).

I would commute to New York City from Stamford, Connecticut on the Metro North, about a 50 minute ride. Lots of time to read. My hats off to you for reading on the subway. Too distracting for me. 

[Brad]

On 6/23/2020 at 4:08 PM, Brad said:

I’m making another run at Berlin Alexanderplatz. If it won’t take off, I will probably sell my copy. 

Don’t have to worry about reading this. Turbo took care of it.

[ejp626]

Wrapped up The Plague only to discover that the university library isn't processing returns after all. 

Oh well.  If I had known I had another month to return it, I probably would have procrastinated some more.

Currently a chapter into Kundera's The Unbearable Lightness of Being, which I've meant to read for the longest time.  Will also be starting The Night Buffalo by Guillermo Arriaga.  Apparently this was made into a movie, though not sure I'll watch that (have to get through the novel first...)

After this, most likely I will reread Don Quixote.

[felser]

Excellent writer, very entertaining read:

And my current inspirational read is:

[medjuck]

I first read many of these stories 60 years ago.   Most of them hold up.

Edited June 29, 2020 by medjuck

[Matthew]

40 minutes ago, felser said:

And my current inspirational read is:

I like Keller also, I found his book Preaching very good.

[Brad]

I’m waiting for my new copy of Berlin Alexanderplatz to arrive so in the meantime I’m reading Abigail by Magda Szabo. I love all her books that have appeared in English.

I came across this article about Moby Dick tonight. Worth a read.

Melville’s Whale Was a Warning We Failed to Heed

Edited June 29, 2020 by Brad

[jazzbo]

Just ordered my Dad's latest and possibly last book, which went up for ordering overnight after a long period of preparation. Looking forward to reading it!

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B08C4525MW/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

 

Now reading this funny book.

[Brad]

Added this to my list:

Edited July 3, 2020 by Brad

[T.D.]

Just finished this.

[jlhoots]

Don Winslow: The Savages

[mjazzg]

James Ellroy - This Storm

[Brad]

11 hours ago, T.D. said:

Just finished this.

Did you ever read this?

Great little book. 

Edited July 3, 2020 by Brad

[jlhoots]

Sarah Broom: The Yellow House

[jazzbo]

Just started my Dad's latest book "Father Taylor: Boston's Sailor Preacher, as seen and heard by his Contemporaries." Fascinating book that my father worked on researching and compiling for years, and finally has printed via amazon publishing.