What is everyone reading?

[JamesRottnek]

About 30 pages left in The Mountain of Silence.  I've never read anything by this author before (Kyriacos C. Markides), though he's written several books.  Overall, it is pretty good, but Mr. (Dr.?  He's a professor in an American university, so I'd imagine he has a Ph.D., but I'm not 100% certain) Markides does in spots seem to make odd inferences and writes more than a couple bizarre things.

 

[Achronos]

About 30 pages left in The Mountain of Silence.  I've never read anything by this author before (Kyriacos C. Markides), though he's written several books.  Overall, it is pretty good, but Mr. (Dr.?  He's a professor in an American university, so I'd imagine he has a Ph.D., but I'm not 100% certain) Markides does in spots seem to make odd inferences and writes more than a couple bizarre things.

I'm about 10 pages deep but kind of tossed it aside for now. I don't like his style of writing.

 

[Cognomen]

Moby Dick

Excellent choice!  I hope you enjoy it. I can't adequately put into words how much I did.

What do you think of that website I linked?

It seems quite interesting. The books I've read have been fairly well annotated (footnotes I believe), but not like that.  The format of the site would actually distract me from the story, but if you can avoid that, great.  I'll certainly use that website in the future, to pick up on terms and meanings that I've previously missed.

 

[JamesRottnek]

About 30 pages left in The Mountain of Silence.  I've never read anything by this author before (Kyriacos C. Markides), though he's written several books.  Overall, it is pretty good, but Mr. (Dr.?  He's a professor in an American university, so I'd imagine he has a Ph.D., but I'm not 100% certain) Markides does in spots seem to make odd inferences and writes more than a couple bizarre things.

I'm about 10 pages deep but kind of tossed it aside for now. I don't like his style of writing.

When he gets to the part of the book where he spends an entire spring in Cyprus (I think it starts in the third chapter, or second half of second chapter - so you're almost there) he begins quote very heavily from Fr. Maximos, to the point that the book is probably 70% Fr. Maximos' words (if not more), and his writing style does start to improve.  Of course, I didn't mind it too much to begin with, but I think you might be glad if you give the book some time.

 

[Achronos]

Moby Dick

Excellent choice!  I hope you enjoy it. I can't adequately put into words how much I did.

What do you think of that website I linked?

It seems quite interesting. The books I've read have been fairly well annotated (footnotes I believe), but not like that.  The format of the site would actually distract me from the story, but if you can avoid that, great.  I'll certainly use that website in the future, to pick up on terms and meanings that I've previously missed.

Have any recommendations on what edition I can buy in print?

About 30 pages left in The Mountain of Silence.  I've never read anything by this author before (Kyriacos C. Markides), though he's written several books.  Overall, it is pretty good, but Mr. (Dr.?  He's a professor in an American university, so I'd imagine he has a Ph.D., but I'm not 100% certain) Markides does in spots seem to make odd inferences and writes more than a couple bizarre things.

I'm about 10 pages deep but kind of tossed it aside for now. I don't like his style of writing.

When he gets to the part of the book where he spends an entire spring in Cyprus (I think it starts in the third chapter, or second half of second chapter - so you're almost there) he begins quote very heavily from Fr. Maximos, to the point that the book is probably 70% Fr. Maximos' words (if not more), and his writing style does start to improve.  Of course, I didn't mind it too much to begin with, but I think you might be glad if you give the book some time.

Yeah I will. His "biography" was boring in the beginning. I got too many other books I want to read at the moment, like Moby Dick and Lossky.

 

[Gebre Menfes Kidus]

A Good Man is Hard to Find, a collection of short stories by Flannery O'Connor. I first read these stories when I was about 12 or 13 years old, long before I was a Christian, and I liked them alot. But now that I'm Orthodox, I am appreciating them so much more. Full of Christian imagery and metaphor that always comes at the most unexpected times. Gems such as this:

"I told you you could hang around and work for food," she said, "if you don't mind sleeping in that car yonder."
"Why listen, Lady," he said with a grin of delight, "the monks of old slept in their coffins!"
"They wasn't as advanced as we are," the old woman said.



Selam

 

[Cognomen]

Have any recommendations on what edition I can buy in print?

There are a lot of good ones out there, but honestly, I really liked this little fellow (Bantam).  It is an inexpensive, sturdy, small edition. Downside is no annotation.  I've had bigger and fancier editions, but if you're somewhat mobile, it's great.

This one (Penguin Classics) is great if you just want a clean read. Again, it's not annotated though, so it may be better for a 2nd, 3rd, or 7th read through.

I have other editions that I was unable to find online, but this one (Longman-Critical Edition) appears to be highly organized and annotated, but perhaps a bit like the website version you found.

Hope this helps a little. Sorry I couldn't find more annotated versions, but I'll let you know if I run across any others that I recommend.

ETA: Personally, I read (and thoroughly enjoyed) the book without the help of annotation.  That said, I didn't understand many of the terms, but Melville's writing, to me, remains very witty and accessible, even if a lot of the terminology is antiquated. In my opinion, there really isn't a need to understand the non-salvific  portions of the book.  That said, I would greatly like to go back through with an annotated version and learn more.

 

[Volnutt]

Funny story, when I was a kid my family was hugely influenced by Tim LaHaye and TBN. I tried to start on Moby Dick when I was like 12 and I flipped to the part where it said something about a "bloody battle in Afghanistan" and freaked out because I thought Melville was prophesying the war against the Taliban  :laugh:

I've been reading Descartes for school and next up is Aristotle's On Tragedy.

On the pleasure reading front, I'm still on War With the Newts (Kind of slow going. Capek loves to world-build, not that I mind). I'm also going to start on Stephen King's On Writing.

 

[Papist]

 

[Volnutt]

Finished Capek, am now halfway through On Writing.

Pondering whether I can handle a second book in this age of increased homework...

 

[JamesRottnek]

Now I'm reading Wounded by Love, and though I'm only 50 pages into it, it is quite good thus far.

 

[ironchapman]

At the moment, I'm working through some readings for my French Enlightenment class. Reading what various historians have to say about it.

 

[orthonorm]

A Good Man is Hard to Find, a collection of short stories by Flannery O'Connor. I first read these stories when I was about 12 or 13 years old, long before I was a Christian, and I liked them alot. But now that I'm Orthodox, I am appreciating them so much more. Full of Christian imagery and metaphor that always comes at the most unexpected times. Gems such as this:

"I told you you could hang around and work for food," she said, "if you don't mind sleeping in that car yonder."
"Why listen, Lady," he said with a grin of delight, "the monks of old slept in their coffins!"
"They wasn't as advanced as we are," the old woman said.



Selam

A singularly American voice to be sure. And all written at such a young age and under incredible suffering.

Flannery O'Connor is what a thoroughly incarnational Christianity ought look and sound like. She appropriated her time and surroundings and spoke as much a Christian literature as any Russian ever could have ever wished.

Americans would do well to read her and pass on the fetishizing of the cultural exoticism of a Dostoyevsky (who really can only be read in light of the German tradition).

She also shows this puritanical trend around her surrounding "secular" art to be void and not necessarily American. Her stories are just as "adult" as anything with an "R" rating in the theaters, if not more "obscene" due to her capturing unapologetically truths of the American experience which would keep her out of many an Amercian classroom.

May her Memory be Eternal!

 

 

[JamesRottnek]

A Good Man is Hard to Find, a collection of short stories by Flannery O'Connor. I first read these stories when I was about 12 or 13 years old, long before I was a Christian, and I liked them alot. But now that I'm Orthodox, I am appreciating them so much more. Full of Christian imagery and metaphor that always comes at the most unexpected times. Gems such as this:

"I told you you could hang around and work for food," she said, "if you don't mind sleeping in that car yonder."
"Why listen, Lady," he said with a grin of delight, "the monks of old slept in their coffins!"
"They wasn't as advanced as we are," the old woman said.



Selam

A singularly American voice to be sure. And all written at such a young age and under incredible suffering.

Flannery O'Connor is what a thoroughly incarnational Christianity ought look and sound like. She appropriated her time and surroundings and spoke as much a Christian literature as any Russian ever could have ever wished.

Americans would do well to read her and pass on the fetishizing of the cultural exoticism of a Dostoyevsky (who really can only be read in light of the German tradition).

She also shows this puritanical trend around her surrounding "secular" art to be void and not necessarily American. Her stories are just as "adult" as anything with an "R" rating in the theaters, if not more "obscene" due to her capturing unapologetically truths of the American experience which would keep her out of many an Amercian classroom.

May her Memory be Eternal!

 

What would be two or three of her best works, for someone who might want to give her a shot?

 

[Gebre Menfes Kidus]

A Good Man is Hard to Find, a collection of short stories by Flannery O'Connor. I first read these stories when I was about 12 or 13 years old, long before I was a Christian, and I liked them alot. But now that I'm Orthodox, I am appreciating them so much more. Full of Christian imagery and metaphor that always comes at the most unexpected times. Gems such as this:

"I told you you could hang around and work for food," she said, "if you don't mind sleeping in that car yonder."
"Why listen, Lady," he said with a grin of delight, "the monks of old slept in their coffins!"
"They wasn't as advanced as we are," the old woman said.



Selam

A singularly American voice to be sure. And all written at such a young age and under incredible suffering.

Flannery O'Connor is what a thoroughly incarnational Christianity ought look and sound like. She appropriated her time and surroundings and spoke as much a Christian literature as any Russian ever could have ever wished.

Americans would do well to read her and pass on the fetishizing of the cultural exoticism of a Dostoyevsky (who really can only be read in light of the German tradition).

She also shows this puritanical trend around her surrounding "secular" art to be void and not necessarily American. Her stories are just as "adult" as anything with an "R" rating in the theaters, if not more "obscene" due to her capturing unapologetically truths of the American experience which would keep her out of many an Amercian classroom.

May her Memory be Eternal!

 

What would be two or three of her best works, for someone who might want to give her a shot?

I recommend the book of short stories mentioned above. Wise Blood is also a great novel, although it's been many years since I've read it. I hope to revisit it soon.

I posted some wonderful quotes of hers here (from a book of her personal letters):

http://www.orthodoxchristianity.net/forum/index.php/topic,42239.0.html


Selam

 

[Achronos]

Have any recommendations on what edition I can buy in print?

There are a lot of good ones out there, but honestly, I really liked this little fellow (Bantam).  It is an inexpensive, sturdy, small edition. Downside is no annotation.  I've had bigger and fancier editions, but if you're somewhat mobile, it's great.

This one (Penguin Classics) is great if you just want a clean read. Again, it's not annotated though, so it may be better for a 2nd, 3rd, or 7th read through.

I have other editions that I was unable to find online, but this one (Longman-Critical Edition) appears to be highly organized and annotated, but perhaps a bit like the website version you found.

Hope this helps a little. Sorry I couldn't find more annotated versions, but I'll let you know if I run across any others that I recommend.

ETA: Personally, I read (and thoroughly enjoyed) the book without the help of annotation.  That said, I didn't understand many of the terms, but Melville's writing, to me, remains very witty and accessible, even if a lot of the terminology is antiquated. In my opinion, there really isn't a need to understand the non-salvific  portions of the book.  That said, I would greatly like to go back through with an annotated version and learn more.

Great stuff, I'll be picking up the Bantam edition shortly. Thank you!

 

[Volnutt]

A Good Man is Hard to Find, a collection of short stories by Flannery O'Connor. I first read these stories when I was about 12 or 13 years old, long before I was a Christian, and I liked them alot. But now that I'm Orthodox, I am appreciating them so much more. Full of Christian imagery and metaphor that always comes at the most unexpected times. Gems such as this:

"I told you you could hang around and work for food," she said, "if you don't mind sleeping in that car yonder."
"Why listen, Lady," he said with a grin of delight, "the monks of old slept in their coffins!"
"They wasn't as advanced as we are," the old woman said.



Selam

A singularly American voice to be sure. And all written at such a young age and under incredible suffering.

Flannery O'Connor is what a thoroughly incarnational Christianity ought look and sound like. She appropriated her time and surroundings and spoke as much a Christian literature as any Russian ever could have ever wished.

Americans would do well to read her and pass on the fetishizing of the cultural exoticism of a Dostoyevsky (who really can only be read in light of the German tradition).

She also shows this puritanical trend around her surrounding "secular" art to be void and not necessarily American. Her stories are just as "adult" as anything with an "R" rating in the theaters, if not more "obscene" due to her capturing unapologetically truths of the American experience which would keep her out of many an Amercian classroom.

May her Memory be Eternal!

 

What would be two or three of her best works, for someone who might want to give her a shot?

Wise Blood and The Violent Bare it Away, her two novels. Also, the short story A Good Man is Hard to Find

 

[stavros_388]

Bread & Water, Wine & Oil, by Fr. Meletios Webber.

Thanks for the recommendation, Achronos and Habte. So far, so good! This book is exactly what I need right now.

 

[JamesRottnek]

Thank you, Gebre and Volnutt, for the suggestions.

Stavros, that is a good book.

 

[Volnutt]

No prob.

Started on A.J. Haywood's Siberia: A Cultural History.