Recent Reading

[ToALonelyPeace]

I just read The Murderess by Alexandros Papadiamantis thank to this thread Pessimistic, Nihilistic and Absurdist Modern Greek Literature - THE NIGHTMARE NETWORK

Though it has pessimistic and antinatalist tone, its fantastical atmosphere reminds me of a walking dream. Descriptions of birds perpetually singing, of stream, river, rock formation, and local legends are in every page of the novel. It calls back to a time and place where everything is blessed with history or the spirit, where a secret hollow under a tree root might have been a Nymph or Dryad's hiding place. To quote a passage from the novel:

Quote

The talkative, unceasing twitter of thrushes re-echoed in the forest that crowned all the western slopes and crept up the crest of Anagyro to the Eagle's Nest. There it was said that a sea-eagle had nested for three human generations and gone away in the end without leaving any young. In its abandoned nest was found an entire museum of monstrous bones of sea-snakes, seals, dogfish and other marine monsters, which the huge, powerful bird, with its blue hooked beak and its vast cinder-coloured wings, had picked out of the seas in the course of time.

I am going through A Study in Scarlet by Arthur Conan Doyle and shall likely continue through the Holmes canon. I unabashedly love the sensationalist writing of this period and how Holmes pierced through the glamour of our reality into one of mystery and death pulsing beneath.

[In A Dark Light]

Currently half way through reading Michael Cisco's novel 'The Narrator'. It's actually the second Cisco novel I've read this year, and, thus far, I have to say I enjoyed 'The Wretch of the Sun' a lot more.

[Liam Barden]

Quote Originally Posted by James

I am going through A Study in Scarlet by Arthur Conan Doyle and shall likely continue through the Holmes canon. I unabashedly love the sensationalist writing of this period and how Holmes pierced through the glamour of our reality into one of mystery and death pulsing beneath.

My old man gave me a monstrous collection of Arthur Conan Doyle's tales, including the Holmes canon when I was about 7 . . . Probably beyond my faculties at the time ha ha . . . I still have it, but I've never read any of it. I'm sure he'll remember giving it to me when he sees me reading it. Thanks for posting this.


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[Frater_Tsalal]

I don't think I've ever read a Sherlock Holmes story myself... will have to rectify that oversight some day.

Curiously Holmes and Watson vanished entirely from most of the second half of the novel as Doyle chronicled the marital politics of American Mormon pioneers. I was not expecting this to happen.

Oddly paced book. I am remembering why I preferred the short stories as a child. Still, I insisted this be a chronological marathon so next up is the second novel.

Done with The Sign of the Four. Better than the first novel. The thrilling boat chase at the climax was the highlight.

Next up is the first short story collection – The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes. This is where the real fun begins.

[In A Dark Light]

A very nice arrival in the post today - a brand new paperback copy of 'The Moons at your Door.'

Naturally, I cracked it open immediately and began to read. So far today I have read David Tibet's lengthy introduction, and the first story in the anthology - Count Eric Stenbock's 'Faust'.

[Ascrobius]

A fascinating read on so many levels that it is not even funny. If social engineering is a topic that compels you at all, "think tank" generated tomes such as this are essentially reading, for sure. There is a PDF of it floating around as well for those of you that want to ride for free.

I finished The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, which was a consistently charming read. My favourite tales would be the delightfully fiendish Adventure of the Speckled Band, the silly Christmas tale The Adventure of the Blue Carbuncle, as well as Holmes' classic encounter with 'the Woman' Irene Adler in A Scandal in Bohemia.