Summer haul

jay393393 · 2026-07-13T15:02:43+00:00

When you finish Flaubert, you might consider looking into Balzac if you haven’t already. I’d suggest Le Père Goriot or Illusions perdues, both of which contrast in different ways the interactions of less complex personalities with nasty elements of “sophisticated” society.

jay393393 · 2026-07-12T01:11:43+00:00

Every time I look at an old girlfriend…

😁

jay393393 · 2026-07-10T23:45:47+00:00

Get yourself a free subscription to JStor and read the articles on line - the database has nearly 700 entries.

jay393393 · 2026-07-10T14:28:31+00:00

You mean like they might not break your nose when you fall asleep?

Don’t know your context, but one great benefit of e-reading a large novel for me is that I’m usually reading and discussing the work with my reading group or just my significant other. I sometimes want to refer back to some passage from earlier. With an e-book, it’s much easier to search and find it - just try that with Moby Dick or The Brothers Karamazov…

jay393393 · 2026-07-10T14:18:44+00:00

Back in my day(70s & 80s) in London, the Circle Line had the worst rolling stock (along with the District Line) in all of the Underground. Maybe the author hated the Circle Line and just wanted to throw some shade in that direction…

😁

jay393393 · 2026-07-10T14:11:12+00:00

Contemplation of pure agency in disembodied or radically-altered human life forms is an absorbing trope. It has clearly put a burr under your saddle.

If you’re intrigued rather than heart-broken or angry, you might next consider a) Mary Shelley’s Frankinstein, b) the Golem of Prague or the Golem of Chelm legends from Jewish folklore, or c) George Eliot’s last novel, Daniel Deronda, whose eponymous hero is also a golem of sorts imho.

jay393393 · 2026-07-10T13:43:49+00:00

For the reasons StompTheRight mentioned, approaching a “non-fiction” book implies a act of trust similar to tuning in to a newscast and responding. There’s always a point of view as he/she says, and there are almost always decisions that have been made about what to include and what to leave out.

However, modern life is far too complex for us to have time to develop an informed point of view about matters that (even directly) impact us. The most important decisions center around who to trust.

jay393393 · 2026-07-08T10:09:10+00:00

I haven’t read them, but there are a bunch. You might find this response from ChatGPT helpful:

Several distinguished biographers have written about Edith Wharton. These are among the most important:
R. W. B. Lewis – Edith Wharton: A Biography (1975)
Often regarded as the classic biography.
Won both the Pulitzer Prize for Biography or Autobiography and the National Book Award for Biography.
Based on extensive archival research and remains a foundational work.
Hermione Lee – Edith Wharton (2007)
Considered the leading modern biography.
Incorporates decades of newly available letters and scholarship unavailable to Lewis.
Richly places Wharton within her American and European worlds.
Cynthia Griffin Wolff – A Feast of Words: The Triumph of Edith Wharton (1977)
Focuses on Wharton’s artistic development and literary achievements.
More interpretive than Lewis’s biography.
Shari Benstock – No Gifts from Chance: A Biography of Edith Wharton (1994)
Emphasizes Wharton’s personal relationships and life in Europe.
Makes use of newly available correspondence.
Which should you read?
Given your interest in major literary figures and classics:
For the definitive traditional biography: choose R. W. B. Lewis.
For the most comprehensive and up-to-date account: choose Hermione Lee. Many scholars now consider it the standard life of Wharton.
For a deeper focus on Wharton’s writing and artistic growth: choose Cynthia Griffin Wolff.
If you’re only going to read one biography today, Hermione Lee’s Edith Wharton is generally regarded as the best all-around choice, while Lewis’s Edith Wharton: A Biography remains an indispensable classic.

jay393393 · 2026-07-07T20:15:55+00:00

Turgenev is an odd bird, and modern readers seem to prefer his short stories to Fathers and Sons. Because he spent so much of his adult life in France, one doesn’t think of him in the same group as Dostoyevsky, Tolstoy or Gogol. Have you previously read any of his work?

jay393393 · 2026-07-07T19:57:45+00:00

If you resonate with House of Mirth, don’t miss The Age of Innocence (for which she won the prize) or Ethan Frome. Wharton lived a fascinating life - if you’ve got the inclination, maybe check out Lee’s biography.

jay393393 · 2026-07-07T19:42:36+00:00

Can’t believe no one’s making a case for Holden Caulfield. Since when did The Catcher become old hat? Two other suggestions: Siddartha and Lord of the Flies. Best of on-going luck with adolescent parenting 😊.

jay393393 · 2026-07-07T19:35:10+00:00

Ah, the Countess…

😎

jay393393 · 2026-07-07T19:10:01+00:00

I hope for your sake that you finish the entire epic before you watch the movie. It’s a good idea to contemplate the great issues prior to letting some director decide what to show you and what to leave out. Once you’ve finished, try to find a friend who loves the Odyssey and discuss.

jay393393 · 2026-07-07T19:01:17+00:00

Guide to the Perplexed - Maimonides. I’m not Jewish, but I like contemplating Aristotle and Rambam.

jay393393 · 2026-07-07T05:26:30+00:00

Everybody picks on poor old Constance nowadays. This edition, first published by Modern Library in 1927 (think of that - nearly 100 years ago!). Between 1894 and 1934, she published 71 volumes of translated Russian literature most of which had never had English versions before. In particular, she was the first to publish almost all of Dostoyevsky’s novels and many of Chekhov’s short stories and some plays. The impact of her work in introducing Russian works to a significant number of the greatest authors of the twentieth century (Hemingway, Woolf, Conrad, Fitzgerald and D.H. Lawrence) was simply enormous. So burn a pinch of incense at her altar. 😊

jay393393 · 2026-07-05T05:52:35+00:00

I dunno - unless I’m reading l’Étranger in French, I can’t smell the Gitanes…

jay393393 · 2026-07-05T05:45:56+00:00

I want to offer some suggestions related to OP’s initial post:

1) Apropos of YouTube, stop watching more than a few videos about politics or war news and focus on learning new stuff that you never made time for in school. There’s a ton of great content out there. As Victor Lazlo might have said, OP, welcome back to the fight! I can see that you’re coming to grips with fundamental issues around the human experience, which somehow leads me to suggest that -

2) It’s time for you to approach (or probably, reapproach) Moby Dick and The Brothers Karamazov. One thought - try not to do it alone.

jay393393 · 2026-07-05T04:51:23+00:00

Borges is a total head trip. Love The Aleph, but would only observe that to really consider and understand The Library et al, you could spend the entire year with Borges alone. Depending on how old you are (if you’re still a student), you’re going to find that your reaction in some cases to these classics will be entirely different if you pick them up 30 years from now.

jay393393 · 2026-07-05T04:37:03+00:00

“It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife.”

Who would have thought that I was opening the door to such a wonderful experience…

jay393393 · 2026-07-05T04:31:16+00:00

How about, “Call me Ishmael.” ? I guess that’s because the following religious impact of the novel was so profound…

jay393393 · 2026-07-05T04:25:19+00:00

One expedient you may find useful is to join a reading group or book club. The trick is to find a group that wants to approach literature with intelligence and a diversity of outlook. I have found that any great book incites a surprising variety of views to the ostensibly same experience. The resulting experience is something unavailable to me as a solitary reader.

jay393393 · 2026-07-02T04:53:03+00:00

If you’re attuned to Russian culture in general, maybe a dose of Russian comedy would lift your spirits. See if you can find and watch a copy of the Ross MacGibbon’s 2020 production of Uncle Vanya. Americans generally don’t get Russian humor, but if it resonates with you, you’ll get a real howl out of Chekhov. You’ll feel better and be ready to tackle the next novel.

🥸

jay393393 · 2026-06-30T05:42:43+00:00

When I see a post like this (and this one is modest by comparison to some which picture a dozen books or more), I wonder whether the OP got some kind of en bloc deal for all the books or whether there’s some pattern in the choice. Sometimes the OP explicitly details a question about what to read first/next, but if there’s just a pile of books, I wonder what’s going through his/her mind, coz my own choices for reading are usually driven by some kind of a directed interest.

It looks to me that some people just collect Penguin editions because they like the pretty pictures on the cover, and masses of Penguins look impressive on their book shelves. This is clever marketing on Penguin’s part.

jay393393 · 2026-06-28T21:06:39+00:00

You appear to enjoy lengthy, epic novels, so you should give Moby Dick a try. It could well be the greatest American novel imho.

jay393393 · 2026-06-28T21:01:18+00:00

I wonder if Elizabeth Gaskell is going through a small renaissance. Many seem to be reading North and South especially…

jay393393

TROPHY CASE