What 📔book are you reading right now?

[Squint-eyed Southerner]

curmudgeonly and wise

I'll confess to the first; the second is in doubt. 😄

 

[Olorgando]

Re-reading John Garth's 2003 "Tolkien and the Great War" - with a 2019 cover and a reference to the biopic on it.

 

[Olorgando]

Till We Have Faces, C. S. Lewis
it's based on the tale of Eros and Psyche

I always thought this was Lewis' greatest work, outside of his academic work, though it's been a long while since I read it. I would love to hear your thoughts on it.

I bought "Faces", together with "The Screwtape Letters" and "The Great Divorce", back in October 2022. "Faces" seems to be the last full-length book published during his lifetime, in 1956 (when he already held his Cambridge Chair) - and apparently written in conjunction with his wife, Joy Davidman. It was the most interesting of the three. As I am unfamiliar with the mythological original (apparently with Eros also "latinized"(?) Cupid or Amor) mentioned by Elthir, I can't draw conclusions there. But perhaps enough of the original survived to lead to my frequent reactions of "seriously, now?". I'm not widely read in mythologies, but what I have read of Graeco-Roman, Norse and Celtic mythologies unfailingly contained elements that struck me as utterly daffy. So maybe it's the source material, but probably also Lewis's style of writing, too, the left me with a feeling of "well, OK ... maybe ... whatever."

 

[Glorfindel Goldtress]

Koinos, "common"

That's the word!

 

[Elthir]

I always thought this was Lewis' greatest work, outside of his academic work, though it's been a long while since I read it. I would love to hear your thoughts on it.

Oh my thoughts can sometimes be too mixed with mice and cozy warm places. . .

. . . and that's when I'm awake

So far, I'm finding it more engaging (more of a page-turner) than I expected, but anyway I'm sure Gavin Ortlund will be far more interesting here (than me or I), and I'm not even half-way through
the book yet.

some spoilers for anyone who hasn't finished the book yet, like me!

 

[Deimos]

❤️ thanks! I love the wisdom you post on here. You're like our very own TTF Gandalf, curmudgeonly and wise, keeping all us newbies on the straight and narrow!

Have you ever thought that maybe he knows all this stuff just 'cause he's old?

 

[Olorgando]

Have you ever thought that maybe he knows all this stuff just 'cause he's old?

And Squinty's a book nerd. He probably has several editions of the Encyclopedia Britannica, Encyclopedia Americana, Collier's Encyclopedia, Funk and Wagnalls ...

 

[Squint-eyed Southerner]

Encyclopedia Britannica

I did at one time own (most) of the famous 11th edition. And a few years ago acquired a facsimile of the 1st edition of 1771, but haven't really read it.

I don't have any of the others -- at least, not to my knowledge. Who knows what lies in the depths . . .

 

[Deimos]

And Squinty's a book nerd. He probably has several editions of the Encyclopedia Britannica, Encyclopedia Americana, Collier's Encyclopedia, Funk and Wagnalls ...

HA! You failed to mention the OED. Moi has a set of the OED (20 volumes) , the next to last edition of the hard copy version.
The edition after the one after mine is digital.

 

[Squint-eyed Southerner]

I confess to lusting after those for years! 😭

 

[Deimos]

I confess to lusting after those for years! 😭

OED on Ebay.... you still have a couple of days
That is the edition I have.
Also...if at some point you decide to get it do not order it from Amazon.
Apparently you only get one volume for $1300+ 🙄

 

[Ent]

Has anyone read Forester's Horatio Hornblower series/saga?
Should I stuff it into my library for retirement reading?

 

[Squint-eyed Southerner]

Sure, why not? I read through them a few years ago -- they were more "adult" than I expected, given their dates.

Add the Patrick O'Brian books while you're at it.

 

[Olorgando]

I did at one time own (most) of the famous 11th edition.

Which one was that?

 

[Olorgando]

HA! You failed to mention the OED. Moi has a set of the OED (20 volumes) , the next to last edition of the hard copy version.
The edition after the one after mine is digital.

Correct. I was concentrating on Encyclopedias. For dictionaries, I note you once again fail to mention (Merriam) Webster's ...
I may own an edition of the last wood-pulp version of Germany's Britannica, Brockhaus.
We have a two-volume abridged version of 1973, from my wife's school days. A single-volume abridged brick of 1998. Another two-volume abridged version of 2004 (semi-coffee-table). And a 24-volume paperback edition of 2010 running to 8,868 pages, plus a DVD-ROM that I have installed on my computer.

The reason that I mentioned reference works is that in your above post to @Firiel23 you neglected to mention one other fact of advanced age ...

memory erosion

 

[Firiel23]

Hey D, be nice to the older ones! I like them 😊 Also, they keep posting things on here that I can read when I get bored at work...

 

[Squint-eyed Southerner]

Which one was that?

1910-1911. Long articles by people like Gladstone.

 

[Firiel23]

how about The Human Comedy by William Saroyan. It's my husband's favorite book, and when we were dating I managed to find him a copy of the unabridged original hardback for Christmas which I fixed up and re-bound with my grandmother. Its now a family heirloom

 

[Squint-eyed Southerner]

That would definitely seal the deal for me! 😍

 

[Ent]

they were more "adult" than I expected, given their dates.

If by 'adult' we mean 'conspicuously oriented toward lusty pleasures and physical excesses of multiple kinds', I believe I would pass.
My e-Bookshelves contain a marked derth of the unsavory and unnecessary.

If however there is but an occasional frolic in the midst of otherwise entertaining and exciting swashbuckling and high seas adventure, we may have a different story,. I have the first book. I'll dapple with it and make an 'educated' decision.

Thank you for the input.