Member: Naren559

Congratulations on winning a copy of Die $mart by Kathleen Lane. We'll get your copy in the mail shortly!

Warm regards,

Paula

posted by PaulaatAME at 5:20 pm (EST) on Oct 19, 2009

Although I am a fan of President Obama, I was totally flabbergasted and I confess dismayed to hear that he'd been awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. The man hasn't been in office a year yet, and frankly, I think he really flubbed his one appearance on the major world stage. He knew about Iraq's nuclear weapons facility and chose, instead of bringing this vital issue before the Security Council, to concentrate on a feel-good speech. I think the Nobel committee was more interested in kicking former President Bush in the cojones than in rewarding those who have been putting their lives on the line for human rights. Disappointing, to say the least.

I've been working 10 hour days for over a month now, and though I'm still reading about five new books a week, I haven't encountered many notably good ones. The exception is HOLY HULLABALOO, which was both hilarious and sobering. That's oxymoronic, I know, but you'll have to read the book to understand that it definitely can be both.

posted by RachelfromSarasota at 8:13 pm (EST) on Oct 10, 2009

I have read War and Peace. It's a great book and one that's well worthing reading more than once but it's a rather lengthy one so it is quite a commitment in terms of time. It's also a philosophically weighty one. Tolstoy is a great novelist of ideas which is tough to pull off because if you're not skillful at it you end up diluting the realism of your characters and end up making them sound like merely mouthpieces for certain philosophies or schools of thought.

If your interested in an interesting essay on Tolstoy's philosophy of history amongst other things, check out Isaiah Berlin's "The Hedgehog and the Fox".

posted by triviadude at 4:57 pm (EST) on Jun 28, 2009

Naren,

The link is incomplete and I cannot access it.

posted by DMTripp at 6:34 pm (EST) on May 8, 2009

Thanks for the advice. I'll have to buy a copy.

Volkmann

posted by Volkmann at 6:29 pm (EST) on Apr 24, 2009

Hello again, Naren! Thanks for your comment. The name Mountjoy sounds similar to (but a lot friendlier than) Mountebank; is that why you pointed him out to me? All part and parcel of spreading the Good News about Shakespeare, I suppose! :)

As it so happens, I really enjoy when people call attention to individual names or phrases from Shakespeare -- especially obscure ones. For example: I used to read a blog called "Nothing but Bonfires" (The Winter's Tale), and here on LT, there's user "dukedom_enough" (The Tempest).

Thanks again for stopping by, I hope you're well.
m.

posted by mountebank at 1:08 pm (EST) on Apr 24, 2009

Butterfly Laughter
Katherine Mansfield

In the middle of our porridge plates
There was a blue butterfly painted
And each morning we tried who should reach the
butterfly first.
Then the Grandmother said: "Do not eat the poor
butterfly."
That made us laugh.
Always she said it and always it started us laughing.
It seemed such a sweet little joke.
I was certain that one fine morning
The butterfly would fly out of our plates,
Laughing the teeniest laugh in the world,
And perch on the Grandmother's lap.

posted by theoldman at 11:35 am (EST) on Mar 24, 2009

Interesting Shakespeare memoirs you suggested to me. I always mean to get into Shakespeare and get sidetracked by books like ''Horsemen of the Esophagus''. However, I have loved Macbeth which I mean to get in its bilingual edition. I loved Obama's memoirs; it was very well done.

posted by JulieP at 7:41 pm (EST) on Mar 19, 2009

I suspect at the age of nine you could have picked up a good bit of PA Dutch in a hurry with prolonged exposure, however. It's a good age for learning a language 8-)

posted by erilarlo at 4:05 pm (EST) on Mar 6, 2009

No problem mate, I was browsing and your library made good reading. Keep up the good work.
David

posted by kalashnikov3 at 11:50 pm (EST) on Feb 26, 2009

>I've just finished reading about your Icelandic trip. We have a Teaching Company lecture series on the Vikings. Snorri Sturlason's Edda is quated quite frequently.<

I was at his home 8-) We had a great lecture near there, too. Elderhostel features lectures, which is one of the things I like about their trips.

posted by erilarlo at 9:00 pm (EST) on Feb 26, 2009

Ye gads! an actual contemporary!

posted by erilarlo at 8:58 pm (EST) on Feb 26, 2009

You spent much of your life where you didn't intend to, but as I do the math, I've done the opposite. I just thought "I've actually lived primarily in Wisconsin for 50 years!" and then told myself I was exaggerating, since so many of my teaching years were in Minnesota(18) as well as grad school(3), I taught for 2 years in North Dakota, studied in Germany for a year and a half. . . and the math fits, because I'm 74 1/2! Nevertheless, I've traveled a good bit in Europe in 2-4-week doses, so I'm not a total stay-at-home 8-) In terms of the percentage of the country I've visited, though, Germany wins hands down over the US 8-) Of course it's a much smaller country. Never really saw Texas in daylight(passed through and spent several hours between trains in the wee small hours in San Antonio, but it was raining as well as dark and didn't get light until we were, I think, out of the state). Never been to the west or east coast(though I have changed planes in Boston) but saw the Atlantic when I was visiting islands in it.

posted by erilarlo at 2:35 pm (EST) on Feb 26, 2009

Hello again Naren, thank you for your kind replies. I enjoyed that bit of serendipity with respect to Art is Life; that sort of happy chance is one of my favourite aspects of LT. Funny, I was thinking Art is Life would be the perfect group to discuss the Joshua Bell phenomenon, and voila...there you are!

posted by mountebank at 5:08 pm (EST) on Feb 25, 2009

Hello Naren559, I hope you'll forgive my 'eavesdropping', but I read your post about violinist Joshua Bell on SilentInAWay's profile and wanted to tell you how moved I was. I always try to keep in mind that beauty is all around us; this story is not one I'll soon forget. Thank you!

posted by mountebank at 1:27 am (EST) on Feb 25, 2009

> I noted Collectorator's rather snippy response ("not taken") to your "my sympathies" when collectorator had proudly announced to being a "Texan". As Collectorator is presently in Fort Worth (right next door to Arlington), I felt that this so-called pride in "being Texan" was just too much GWB (who is definitely not a Texan, and got his political boost by the city of Arlington)crap.<

I figured it was someone who thinks Texans(like W) are somehow better than the rest of us when I saw that reply 8-)

posted by erilarlo at 10:32 pm (EST) on Feb 23, 2009

Yes, Tom Stoppard is one of my favorite playwrights (probably my favorite contemporary one). I need to see the film, too -- have heard that it is excellent!

posted by vsmith at 11:09 pm (EST) on Feb 1, 2009

"By the time Al Franken is the certin new senator, from Lutheran country (e.g. Minnesota), maybe more common sense will sprout from that adjacent Scandinavian outpost."

Not only that, but they'll have a senator with a perceptible sense of humor!

posted by erilarlo at 11:29 am (EST) on Jan 24, 2009

Fortunately, McCarthy is long gone, and we have much better senators from Wisconsin lately. Dick Cheney, on the other hand, could find something subversive anywhere he chose to look; it needn't actually be present. There has to be something subversive about ice fishing, right?

posted by erilarlo at 4:05 pm (EST) on Jan 15, 2009

The thought of subversive anything in the Rice Lake area is laugh-out-loud-worthy 8-) Farmers, hunters, fishermen(including ice-fishermen), and subversives? 8-)

posted by erilarlo at 2:18 pm (EST) on Jan 14, 2009

Hey Naren,

Thanks for keeping me in the loop. Glad to hear you've been digging into and getting a lot of good knowledge out of Yalom. You know I'd completely forgotten about "Momma..." I think his most recent, which I've yet to pick up, is a book on death/accepting death, something along those lines. I hope he'll venture into more fiction soon, though I know he's getting up there in years and might want to slow down some--but I hope not. He's tackled Schopenhauer & Nietzsche fictionally, wouldn't something on Sartre be awesome?

Till next time, EF

posted by EnriqueFreeque at 5:22 pm (EST) on Dec 9, 2008

Hi Naren,

Yes, I too think Yalom presents a more cogent analysis of existential aspects in the book as opposed to the film. You must really be an existentialist extraordinaire to have ordered Yalom's textbook! I think you'll find it possibly more fascinating than his fiction. I particularly like the section in the book on meaninglessness, in which he tackles somewhat the writings of Sartre and Camus.

Warmly, EF

posted by EnriqueFreeque at 4:13 pm (EST) on Nov 13, 2008

Hello,

Thank you for the recommendation of "84 Charing Cross Road." When I first started working at the bookstore my boss had me take home a copy to read and I read it on one sitting. I haven't seen the movie yet. I should probably rent it.

Caroline

posted by craso at 5:48 pm (EST) on Nov 11, 2008

Thank you so much for your recent recommendations. The book looks particularly interesting. Need to get me a copy.

Till next time,

warmly, EF

posted by EnriqueFreeque at 10:49 pm (EST) on Oct 29, 2008

Glad you stopped by my site to visit. We inherited the house in Vallejo and like to use it for "down time" on weekends when we can get away. We live and work about 30 miles SE of Fresno--which is not too far from Merced. I also spent many happy times in Eugene, Oregon because I went to Astoria High School and our basketball team made it to state tournament in Eugene all 4 years I was there and I also went there for Model UN (that dates me!) and my senior year just to visit friends who had graduated before I did. I loved Oregon. I have no Texas "connection" but I lived 25 years in Savannah, GA and raised my family there so my heart is definitely in the "South!"

Isn't LT fun!

posted by MusicMom41 at 6:43 pm (EST) on Oct 27, 2008

Thank you! I will try to borrow a copy for free through interlibrary loan, it sounds like a movie well worth seeing!
schmidpe

posted by schmidpe at 7:45 pm (EST) on Oct 5, 2008

O, how interesting! thank you for the recommendation. I've never seen the movie to 84 Charing Cross Rd with Anthony Hopkins. He is indeed an excellent actor. I know him in "Meet Joe Black". He is excellent in that as well!
Have a wonderful day and thanks for writing!
Schmidpe

posted by schmidpe at 1:24 pm (EST) on Oct 5, 2008

Yes, I agree, it's powerful, not a feel-good movie, but historically informative, and well acted. We seldom appreciate the relative religious tolerance we are blessed with today, they were quite different times, thank God we've progressed beyond that!
I really liked it because it made a lasting impression on me. Can't say that about most movies I watch, I usually forget them in a week. I don't think I'll ever forget Goya's Ghost, like a good book, it stays with you, teaches you a new respect for those who lived in such awful times of religious and political persecution.
Glad you saw it, and thanks for writing me about it and sharing your thoughts...sorry it wasn't really something to "enjoy" per se, even if it did leave a deep impression on me.
Have a great day!
Schmidpe

posted by schmidpe at 8:15 am (EST) on Oct 2, 2008

Classics of Russian Literature... does it have much Gorki contributions in it? I liked Gorki's short stories so much when I was in college. He reminded me a little of Steinbeck, described the down-and-out, poor but happy go lucky, salt of the earth sort of folks, social outcasts who are interesting but in an odd way noble in spite of their misfortune. Do you like Maxim Gorki?
schmidpe

posted by schmidpe at 12:20 pm (EST) on Sep 24, 2008

O, I'm so happy for you! You'll love it. Tell me what you think of it, once it arrives and you watch it.
thanks
have a great day
schmidpe

posted by schmidpe at 12:17 pm (EST) on Sep 24, 2008

Most interesting movie I've seen for a while was Goya's Ghost, did you see that? I like historical movies about long ago and far away, but based on fact, on real people's lives. I highly recommend it to you!
have fun
schmidpe

posted by schmidpe at 11:41 am (EST) on Sep 24, 2008

Hi,
Thanks for writing! No, I haven't read that yet, "I was Vermeer", but it sounds wonderful. Thank you for suggesting it!
I really like the actor Colin Firth too!
happy reading!,
schmidpe

posted by schmidpe at 9:42 am (EST) on Sep 22, 2008

I found the recording of Don Juan in Hell on the internet as a download.

See: http://www.originaloldradio.com/don_juan...

-TT

posted by TheTortoise at 12:05 pm (EST) on Sep 21, 2008

Hi Naren,

Thank you for pointing me to Shaw's Man and Superman. I have just finished it and I found it very interesting. I have only read a few of Shaw's plays. I would think that staging this play would be very challenging - it reads more like a film script, with his long stage directions and fleshing out of the characters and their appearances and attitudes, etc. I enjoyed it and I think I will need to read it again as it contains a lot of food for thought.

I am planning to read all the history plays by Shakespeare starting in October. I have read most of his tradegies and comedies.

What are you reading now?

-TT

posted by TheTortoise at 11:28 am (EST) on Sep 20, 2008

I am going to have to print your list out; thank you. I am not as assiduous in finding DVD's to buy as I am in finding books (even about books I rarely obsess), but I can see myself building a Shakespeare collection and even watching them.

Robert

posted by Mr.Durick at 11:43 pm (EST) on Sep 17, 2008

Hi,

I used my latest Barny Noble's coupon to order a set of five Shakespeare tragedies, so, as of today's mail, I have 22 of the plays. Some month soon I will get a set of the histories. After that I will slowly try to improve the quality of my collection.

Now I need to find time to watch them, and I need to find time to watch my opera DVD's, including three that I sort of have an obligation to review soon for our church opera group.

I don't have Richard III yet; I will probably be getting the BBC one. Should I be looking for the Al Pacino one too? I'll take a look at the set about Pacino; I've liked him as an actor since Dog Day Afternoon, but I'm not sure I'm three DVD's worth into him.

I have:

A Midsummer Night's Dream BBC Helen Mirren
Antony and Cleopatra 1980 BBC
As You Like It BBC Helen Mirren
Coriolanus 1983 BBC
Hamlet BBC Derek Jacobi
Hamlet Mel Gibson Glenn Close
Julius Caesar BBC
King Lear
King Lear 1982 BBC
Macbeth BBC
Macbeth Judi Dench
Merchant of Venice Al Pacino
Othello BBC Anthony Hopkins
Othello Kenneth Branagh Laurence Fishburne
Romeo and Juliet
Romeo and Juliet BBC Sir John Gielgud
The Merchant of Venice BBC
The Taming of the Shrew BBC John Cleese
The Tempest BBC
Timon of Athens 1981 BBC
Titus Andronicus 1985 BBC
Twelfth Night Kenneth Branagh

Our church book group read Man's Search For Meaning a few months back. I write the opera, book, and play reading blurbs for the church newsletter, and I characterized Frankl's book as 'how to profit from the holocaust.' I do know that he has moved a lot of people, and the notion that meaning is more important than happiness in life is not to be dismissed easily, but I didn't like him.

I intend before I die to read through the Nietzsche relating to Wagner that I have. And I intend to come to faily good terms with The Ring and some other of the operas.

The universe doesn't care and one should live one's passions -- that is so smart and compelling, but it was killing me. I still have to read about it from time to time though. I have a lot more Kierkegaard, Nietzsche, Camus, and Sartre to read, and some of the lesser figures. I think I'll skip Heidegger.

What are you doing with Shakespeare and with Existentialism at the moment?

Robert

posted by Mr.Durick at 9:16 pm (EST) on Sep 16, 2008

I am glad that both of you left your posts up.

I have one course in Shakespeare, have read several plays in the distant past, have seen performances of maybe five of the plays, have read the sonnets closely, and have a dozen or so unwatched DVD's of plays by Shakespeare. That is to say I am not current with him. I don't think it is a stretch to find existentialism in his works insofar as you can find philosophy in his works. (I like lines in the sonnets, but I'm not flabbergasted, usually, by the whole poems. I much prefer to see a Shakespeare play performed than to read it; it takes more time and attention than I can afford since I started accruing DVD's (I have a hard time finding time to watch the opera DVD's I love (my experience with Macbeth is chiefly with the opera))).

I think you can find existentialism in anything that is reasonably true to life. That Nietzsche learned from Emerson is certainly credible, but Emerson was an idealist -- existence, important though his girl friends were to him, did not precede essence in his view.

As I've said elsewhere, I take my wisdom where I can get it. Where the Bible is cogent I'll buy into it.

I like reading about Shaw more than I like reading him, although I haven't looked at his musical criticism as much as I would like. Do you enjoy the plays?

Robert

posted by Mr.Durick at 7:18 pm (EST) on Sep 13, 2008

How strange, I was thinking about Charles Laughton today! He was in a film with John Mills. Laughton played a drunk. It was Hobson's Choice. Not sure why I was thinking of that today!

I see that Don Juan in Hell is often used as a stand alone play. I am looking forward to reading the whole of Man and Superman.

Don Juan in Hell was done as a radio play and your recording must be of that.

-TT

posted by TheTortoise at 4:39 pm (EST) on Sep 13, 2008

Thanks for the quote from Man and Superman. You have motivated me to take down my copy of The Complete Plays of Bernard Shaw and to read the play. Of course Shaw was steeped in the Biblical text. He had dozens of translations of the Bible in his library. I will let you know my thoughts when I finish it.

-TT

posted by TheTortoise at 10:08 am (EST) on Sep 13, 2008

Thanks naren559, I remember the quote from Macbeth, it reminds me of Ecclesiastes by Solomon - Do you know this book at all? From a modern translation: "Smoke, nothing but smoke. There's nothing to anything - it's all smoke." What could be more Existentialist than that!

-TT

posted by TheTortoise at 4:50 am (EST) on Sep 13, 2008

Hello Naren559,

Thanks for your reply - I am assuming you think Shakespeare was an Existenialist based on your enthusiastic first reply - I suppose Hamlet and King Lear would fit into that category? Do you think Shakespeare also had Christian inclinations - for example "There is a divinity that shapes our ends, rough hew them how we will". Quoted from memory, so I hope it is right?

So what exactly is your worldview, or if that is too grand a word, what form does your Existentialism take? I am keen to understand your point of view because I have never conversed with an Existentialist, I don't think. I mean not in any meaningful sense.

-TT

posted by TheTortoise at 4:48 pm (EST) on Sep 12, 2008

Hello Naren559,

Not being sure what Existentialism is, it has been decades since I studied philosophy, I looked up the definition and then had to look up the words in the definition! I am not a great intellectual, just a simple Tortoise!

Existentialism:

a philosophical attitude associated esp. with Heidegger, Jaspers, Marcel, and Sartre, and opposed to rationalism and empiricism, that stresses the individual's unique position as a self-determining agent responsible for the authenticity of his or her choices. (I always thought Sarte was a Nihilist). Or am I doing him an injustice?

Nihilist: In Philosophy:
an extreme form of scepticism: the denial of all real existence or the possibility of an objective basis for truth.

Rationalism:

In Philosophy::
the doctrine that reason alone is a source of knowledge and is independent of experience.

In Theology:
the doctrine that human reason, unaided by divine revelation, is an adequate or the sole guide to all attainable religious truth.

Empiricism:
In Philosophy. the doctrine that all knowledge is derived from sense experience.

Am I correct in assuming from the definitions given above that Existentialism is compatible with Christianity and Biblical revelation?

-TT

posted by TheTortoise at 10:12 am (EST) on Sep 12, 2008

Hello Naren559,

Thanks for dropping by. I see you are a Shakespeare buff. I have a beautiful annotated, iluustrated edition with 4200 illustrations, drawings, photos, and paintings. I am about to embark on a reading of the histories using Shakespeare's History Plays by E.M.W. Tillyard as a guide.

Look forward to hearing from you again.

-TT

posted by TheTortoise at 3:59 pm (EST) on Sep 11, 2008

"where I might be heading."? Is "life" linear?

Personally, I seem to go in circles a lot.

Up until a few years ago, I would have said I knew where I was going. Ain't that a joke!

posted by streamsong at 10:03 pm (EST) on Sep 8, 2008

Hi
Also recently retired. How is it that I seem to have less free time nowadays? I also have library problems since we moved to a smaller house and half the collection are up in the attic. Still another move soon might get them all together again. Just published a book of poetry and am awaiting reviews.
David

posted by davpol8112 at 6:58 am (EST) on Jul 9, 2008

Hi
Your tags hit all my buttons. How come we only share 11 books?

posted by davpol8112 at 1:59 pm (EST) on May 8, 2008

Bro. Naren - Sorry to take so long to reply to you. It's April 26, and I don't know where the time has gone since I retired on April 1st. I would like to return to your earlier comments about Existentialism and Freemasonry. Have you published any articles on the subject?

posted by johnlilburnfreemason at 1:18 pm (EST) on Apr 26, 2008

Hi Naren,

Isn't retirement so much better than work?

My ten years in the Navy got me credit for four years towards municipal retirement. At 28 years we had a a new boss who came in and scared me. I had already looked into what it would take to retire on short notice; I could and I did.

It all taught me that government generally doesn't do it right, even when it is not malicious. My little contribution was probably for naught.

Robert

posted by Mr.Durick at 12:18 am (EST) on Apr 12, 2008

Hi Naren. Thank you for the John Blofield recommendation. I'm reading something deeply shallow in the general area, but maybe this will sate the palate. Incidentally, I'm told by my close Texan friend that I'm an existentialist. He does the finest rendition of the song "Transcendental Texan" that I know, and has even included lyrics to the song in his youthful folly of a novel.

posted by thinandlight at 9:29 pm (EST) on Mar 25, 2008

Hi, Naren,

Good to "meet" you! You have a fascinating library...I look forward to perusing it in more depth.

As for The Namesake, I had mixed feelings about the book. I adored Lahiri's Interpreter of Maladies, which I read first. So I was very excited to read the novel, but I found myself a little disappointed by it. I might have felt differently had I not had such high expectations from her short story collection; the novel just didn't seem as intense and powerful to me as her earlier work. Which is not to say it wasn't a good book; simply that it didn't grab me as much as I had hoped.

I loved Mira Nair's film version, however. It's one of the few instances where I enjoyed the movie more than the book. It's my favorite film of hers.

Regarding my own book, I can say that the lessons the main character learns in the book are all ones that I myself have had to learn. But I worked hard to create both a teacher and a setting that were strictly fictional. I wanted to highlight those characteristics I found that were common to all spiritual groups and teachers I'd experienced. As for Boulder, I didn't actually do much of my spiritual studying here; I set it in my current hometown because it made my location research easier ;-)

posted by Lenaphoenix at 9:44 am (EST) on Mar 21, 2008

I saw a note you put on someone else's profile. have you come across the reason why so many of us have A People's History of the United States: 1492-Present by Howard Zinn? I've wondered about that, too. Not those with whom I share cooking or textile books, but the theology people. Very wierd!

posted by MarthaJeanne at 10:04 am (EST) on Mar 10, 2008

Have you read Alexander Piatogorsky's, Who's Afraid of Freemasons? He basis his analysis of Freemasonry on phenomenolgy. I noted that you have quite a collection in this area.

PS - your comment about your doctorate was appreciated. I have a Ph.D. in Education from Claremont Graduate School in Southern California. I spent 25 years in public education and administration before becoming Grand Secretary in 1991.

posted by johnlilburnfreemason at 12:30 am (EST) on Mar 7, 2008

Bro. Tom - Thanks for sending me a message via LibraryThing. If you want to send me a personal message, send it to jlcooper@freemason.org (through March 31st), or at johnlilburnfreemason@gmail.com after that date (I am retiring as Grand Secretary on April 1st). It was very good to hear from you!

In 1994 I was the Anson Jones Lecturer for the Texas Lodge of Research, and enjoyed Texas hospitality when I was in San Antonio. Texan Masons are a good bunch! Your experience on returning to California about candidate education is only part of the picture. We have created a new program called Masonic Formation which (although optional) replaces the minimal candidate education program now required (memorizing the Obligation, and the modes of recognition), plus a short open-book test on Masonic Education. Masonic Formation is a lot more powerful, and I can't explain it all here. If you send me your email address I will send you some information on it.

/s/ John Cooper, Grand Secretary

posted by johnlilburnfreemason at 12:24 am (EST) on Mar 7, 2008

you are obviously an omnivorous reader! so many disparate books on the go at the same time!

I decided many years ago (in order to discipline an otherwise unmanageably sanguine temperament) to never read more than one book at a time, and to always finish what I have started. I'm loosening up these days however, and like to look for
suitable or imaginative combinations of reading matter.
Other people's reading habits, always interesting.

Professional student? OU or something like that?

Remember to keep those buttons well buttoned!

posted by tomcatMurr at 8:07 am (EST) on Feb 20, 2008

Naren,
I remember talking with you. yes, i moved to archer city. i thought... well, i'm out there all the time, so i just moved. it's a lot of fun. there are more books in my house than there are people in the city and there are more books in this city than any other i can think of in texas, probably. made sense to me. how've you been? how's arlington? i was out there about two months ago. i went to the two half-price bookstores as always. i like the one off pioneer parkway (?) better than the one on road to six flags. thanks for writing. look forward to hearing from you again soon. all the best from over here, -mike.

posted by michaelstevens at 12:47 am (EST) on Feb 18, 2008

Must be a glitch somewhere, your message to me seems incomplete. Never mind. Regarding the 'chidings', at the time I also thought it was a bit precious. I totally agree with you that a well placed expletive can be essential for survival, and a suitably chosen oath can indeed lift the spirits. ( Can you speak Dutch? My father is Dutch, and that guttural language is extremely effective for 'F'ing and 'Blinding'.) As Dostoevsky puts it, man is distinguished from the animals by his ability to curse...

What I regret more than the four letter word, however, was that it appeared in a remark about Sam Jordison, whose writing I did not really know very well at the time, and who I have been assiduously following on the Guardian website, and about whom I have since changed my opinion. He writes well, and shares many of my passions. Check him out on the Guardian books blog if you get the chance.... I'd like to know what you think of him.
BTW what are you reading at the moment?

posted by tomcatMurr at 10:33 am (EST) on Feb 15, 2008

Did you mean Madame Mao rather than Madame Jiang?

posted by belleyang at 6:45 pm (EST) on Feb 11, 2008

Thanks, Naren. I've come across Tomcatmurr somewhere in my various contacts. Very interesting and funny. So glad we left Taiwan in 1964 and 5

posted by belleyang at 1:10 pm (EST) on Feb 11, 2008

I'm flattered! Thanks for sharing the link.

posted by tomcatMurr at 10:16 pm (EST) on Feb 6, 2008

ROFL--Haaaa. Too funny! Thanks for the plug. Flag wars! Ach. B

posted by belleyang at 8:39 pm (EST) on Feb 6, 2008

I read a bundle of Unitarian, Universalist, Transcendentalist, and Unitarian Universalist books in the first few years after I began to take the local church seriously. I have much more to read in that area; it is not one of the subjects that I have dismissed with old age. But I cannot tell you whether I have read the Bumbaugh, although, from the cover, I suspect not.

I dive, from time to time, into Emerson and James Luther Adams, and I've read some more, but there are others I know I must read, haven't, and kinda expect to.

Robert

posted by Mr.Durick at 5:05 pm (EST) on Feb 6, 2008

Oh, lucky you to be currently immersed in Dickinson. I went through a E.D. phase some 4 years ago when I would memorize as many of her poems as I could while I walked for exercise in the evening.

posted by belleyang at 8:28 pm (EST) on Jan 11, 2008

Thanks, Naren, for the Dickinson recommendation. I belong to too many group as it is. I do adore Ms. Dickinson!

posted by belleyang at 4:43 pm (EST) on Jan 11, 2008

Hi Naren. I`ve come to you through Theresa Williams. She`s a wonderful poet & novelist.
You have a very interesting book list,perhaps leaning on the French existentialists.

posted by deabvt at 7:25 pm (EST) on Dec 30, 2007

Thanks, Naren for the invite for the over 60 group. I've put it on my watch list. B

posted by belleyang at 2:10 am (EST) on Nov 6, 2007

Thank you for the information about Emily Dickinson; I will definitely check that out!

posted by TheresaWilliams at 10:37 pm (EST) on Oct 23, 2007

Hi, I'm sorry for the delay in responding to you (my internet access has turned a little sporadic)

As for Husserl's turn from realism to transcendentalism... I have not really pondered it in detail and I was unaware of Ingarden's book. But, my general feeling is that Husserl's initial mathematical and (natural) scientific emphasis creates serious difficulties in his treatment of humanistic subjects --- I'm tempted to think of Crisis as a kind of Hegel's revenge on Husserl.

But, really, this is just off the cuff. (However, though it might take a little time, I will get a hold of Ingarden's book a get back to you.)

Thanks for the tip, Kyrre

posted by kyrreando at 6:13 am (EST) on Oct 5, 2007

received your message regarding my profile picture and my library books listed. still have many books to list hopefully in the coming weeks.

posted by pumpkinhead_jen at 8:59 pm (EST) on Oct 3, 2007

Thanks for responding to my "Invitation" and apologies for the delay in acknowledging your comments.
You're quite wrong, of course; I'm the one who should be flattered, not you.

These days I tend to mistrust convenient labels, but I guess I wouldn't be unhappy to be thought a 'liberal' (much as I may have misgivings about seeming that right-wing!). "Politically," I'm indebted to Simone Weil, say, or Hannah Arendt, Walter Benjamin and Charles Peguy. You know Peguy's dictum about everything starting in mysticism and ending in politics; it's tempting to take this pessimistically, but the utopian in me also idolises Theodore Roszak and longs for a kind of counter-culture anarchism which might redeem the remark.

Wittgenstein's Tractatus (and PI for that matter)can be read along these lines, I reckon, unless (along with everybody else) we interpret him as a post-Kantian (instead of quasi-Augustinian). Any insights you could share would be most welcome.

Mazel tov
R.

posted by reuchlin at 1:00 pm (EST) on Sep 25, 2007

PM Lexington Lodge #138. My profile is filled out so am not sure what you mean by info is blank. Are you a collector of masonic books? I have pretty much what I need there unless something special shows up. Am concentrating mostly on private press and Masonic Periodicals. The Southwest book and paper show will be in Austin on the 15th and 16th. Great place to pick up some good books. I plan on having a booth there.

posted by rbshell at 10:35 pm (EST) on Sep 6, 2007

Actually my Library is not so concentrated, haven’t entered any of my philosophy books. Trying to enter by category. I think Jewish mysticism is next. Also collecting a lot of private press, hand printed books lately. Glad to see a fellow Texan with similar interests.

posted by rbshell at 12:01 am (EST) on Sep 6, 2007

I actually started reading Anti-Oedipus the other day. Let me know what you get out of it--I can use all the help I can get!

posted by KCSheehan at 10:58 pm (EST) on Aug 14, 2007

Sorry for the delay, I just discovered your note. Yeah, I'm afraid I discovered the Masonic Book Club a little late. Just have the last two years' books.

I'd like to get to Texas sometime. My brother-in-law lives in the largely deserted crossroads of Paradise, TX, out past Ft. Worth. Looking for an excuse to make the drive.

posted by chodapp at 2:31 am (EST) on Aug 3, 2007

I haven't read that one of Deleuze yet. I'm not sure what Nietzsche would say. I know he liked Spinoza, so he may appreciate Deleuze's later attempt to offer an account of life without negativity.

posted by zarathustra at 8:40 am (EST) on Jul 28, 2007

I am currently on my second time, actually -- I'm finding it a *bit* easier to get my head around it, but it's still pretty tough going. Highly enjoyable though, I think. It's going to take a good deal more reading, though, for me to really feel comfortable with the concepts.

posted by grte at 12:03 am (EST) on Jul 22, 2007

Yeah, I've read C+S, but have to say it's not my favorite Deleuze and Guattari... I much prefer their Thousand Plateaus and What Is Philosophy?, though C+S has its moments--(their bit on Freud's Totem and Taboo, for instance, conceived within what we'd today call a postcolonial perspective is pretty great). I'd actually recommend beginning with their book on Kafka (A Minor Literature) before C+S. And speaking about/on the behalf of Deleuze more generally... all I can say is that it takes a great deal of time and energy and focus. Unfortunately I haven't run across any good secondary literature except for: the chapter on Deleuze in Nietzsche's French Legacies; Zizek's Organs w/o Bodies; and Badiou's The Clamor of Being. The last two are somewhat (read: violently) biased in their conclusions, but I think they understand Deleuze (and Guattari's) perspective a lot better than the supposedly less biased criticism I've read. Indeed, Zizek more or less says that Guattari was Deleuze's big mistake, citing C+S as particularly bad... But anyways, like someone else said, go with the monographs on Spinoza and Kant and Nietzsche and Bergson and Foucault and Kafka, and if those don't float your boat, then by all means jump ship. (And if they do, then go back to The Logic of Sense and Difference and Repetition--much better books than C+S in my opinion, but ones which take even more time). In any event, you can only devote your time to a limited number of authors anyways, so why hang around with ones who aren't clicking?

posted by eldridgecrayon at 12:57 am (EST) on Jul 20, 2007

No but I'd like to know your view of it.

Oldude59

posted by Oldude59 at 5:12 pm (EST) on Jul 18, 2007

all D&G have done here is extrapolate and mix various tenets of socio-economic and psychological theory in an attempt to explain the role of the mechanism of the schizoid consciousness in capitalism. you only have to read marx and engels to understand where the seed of schizophrenia is located in market structures. then, D&G take it further to say that capitalism acts as the sole channel of desire, and that this process is so totally ingrained in who we are that it is as axiomatic as thinking. all the rest is an explanation of how this works. bodies without organs, fuzzy boundaries, deterritorialization, etc. beyond that, you need a great deal of imagination to decipher many of the connections D&G draw. there are a lot of allusions made. you almost have to be schizophrenic to fully comprehend this book.

after you finish, I would suggest reading some jean baudrillard, if you haven't already. especially "simulacra and simulation".

posted by reasonablymad at 1:05 pm (EST) on Jul 18, 2007

We seem to share some interests...ryan lanham

My blog is at www.ryanlanham.wordpress.com

Cheers,

r.

posted by ryanlanham at 12:26 pm (EST) on Jul 14, 2007

I find Deleuze and Guattari generally more frustrating than interesting, although some years ago I struggled with C&S to the point I felt I had a grasp of their neologisms. My problem could be that I just don't have a strong enough philosophical background to get more out of their work.

posted by wordsareclouds at 8:22 pm (EST) on Jul 8, 2007

Hi Naren, thanks for the message about the glitch you had. What's strange is I don't own the book but one of the public contacts listed on my profile does! :) Hope you manage to get through the book. wrobert's advice sounds good :)

posted by amandaellis at 11:26 pm (EST) on Jul 7, 2007

Naren, you wrote to ask for comments about Deleuze and Guattari's Anti-Oedipus. To be honest, I have only read sections of the book, but I would suggest reading some of Deleuze's monographs, particularly the ones on Spinoza and Nietzsche. This is the work that Deleuze does to develop the philosophical tools that he uses in those books.... It is also useful to have a working knowledge of Freud and Marx. I find parts of the books to be extremely useful and other points to be really frustrating, particularly the very strange Orientalist thread that runs through them. However, the interesting points tend to be very exciting and outweigh the frustrating points (at least for me) robert wood

posted by wrobert at 3:52 pm (EST) on Jul 7, 2007

About Deleuze's C&S: I have read portions of it, a technique that was good and bad. Good because a lot of the text is too abstract and stream-of-consciousness to even understand; bad because the chapters are designed as a patchwork, and I'm sure reading it cover to cover would provide a big picture reading that you can't get selectively. I once had a professor say "If you choose to write your final paper about C&S and I find it halfway intelligible, I will give you an 'A' for the course." It's that difficult. I recommend reading Bill Connolly (esp. "The Ethos of Pluralization") for exegetical insight. --BA

posted by bradallan at 4:36 pm (EST) on Jul 5, 2007

Naren--Who owns my father's painting??

posted by belleyang at 10:32 pm (EST) on Jul 4, 2007

Mel Gibson was AWWFUL. Better in the Road Warrior, a genre he should have remained. I get up to Ashland, Oregon sometimes for the best Shakespeare on the West Coast.

You can go to ABE books and get BABA:the Return to China Upon My Father's shoulders" in mint condition for $2 (hard back is best, the paper is "laid" stock). Marie Arana at WaPo asked me why Harcourt didn't keep it in print. Publishers just don't.

posted by belleyang at 6:12 pm (EST) on Jul 2, 2007

Hi Naren,

I have been attempting to collect old astrology books and it is truly fascinating. I love my finds that are from the AFA in early times. Most have been reproduced but there is something about the older paper and finding them at odd shops and sales that makes it exciting and fun.

I have taken classes from a published astrologer for almost 4 years and although I am not a practicing astrologer I know more than I think I do and constantly relate to people by wondering and acknowledging cycles of planets. Seems to work for me.

I have several piles of books yet to enter here and I am sure I will sooner or later get them all entered. I am going to Denver for two weeks and I am sure I will be looking for book treasures. Two of my favorite used book store in Madison Wi. have closed their doors and I need to do some further exploring now.

Great to see someone who is also interested.

Gina

posted by gpeschl at 8:52 pm (EST) on Jun 30, 2007

Interesting that we don't share that many novels -- that may change in the upcoming weeks as I finally get around to entering the rest of my british/american books (I started out in LT by entering all my philosophy/criticism and world literature). If you haven't already, you may wish to view the books that I have tagged Shakespeare and Heidegger -- I see that we have a shared interest along these lines.

Incidentally, I saw a particularly good production of Hamlet last week and so I bought tickets to take my daughter tonight (in fact, we're leaving in a few minutes). Nothing fosters a lasting love of the bard more than a superior production of a great play!

posted by SilentInAWay at 8:38 pm (EST) on Jun 30, 2007

Existentialism and Shakespeare? Your library looks a lot like my wishlist. Glad to meet a fellow UO grad, though I've got a few decades to go until I can retire.

Happy cataloging to you.

posted by coffeezombie at 12:57 pm (EST) on Jun 27, 2007

Thanks for looking at my library. You have much in your collection to be admired.

posted by jodavid at 5:20 pm (EST) on Jun 23, 2007

Thanks for the DVD suggestion. :-)

posted by kcasada at 8:28 am (EST) on Jun 20, 2007

Like Water For Chocolate was a wonderful book my Laura Esquivel long before the movie adaptation was made. I like the movie, but I love the book. If you enjoyed the movie adaptation, magical realism, or authors like Isabel Allende or Gabriel Garcia Marquez you would appreciate Esquivel's novels.

posted by atlaswinks at 6:17 pm (EST) on Jun 15, 2007

Thanks for your kind words on my 'collection' (or accumulation). I like Alvin Boyd Kuhn because he wraps it all up. His books are not nonsense like Velikovsky's and I am charmed by his calm certainty that he has accounted for all the mysteries of the cosmos. BTW, did you notice that we both chose the same person for our pictures here?

posted by bertilak at 11:13 am (EST) on Jun 14, 2007

Naren, Thanks for stopping my site a while back. Sorry, I was taking a holiday from Library Thing for a while, but I finally did check out our common 34 books. Maybe if we can get enough in common, then I too can be retired - all the more time to hoard and read books.

posted by hblanchard at 9:00 pm (EST) on Jun 13, 2007

Thanks for visiting our page. Nice to meet you and your impressive library! :)

posted by neilandlisa at 1:53 pm (EST) on May 24, 2007

"No Tv" : Rock On! :) Thanks for visiting, come again soon! You can find me on BookMooch as well if you trade your books out. Be well ~ Cora

posted by CorazonArt at 11:31 am (EST) on May 24, 2007

Naren,

No rush on Thiele. I'd be interested in knowing which works of Nietzsche and Emerson you're currently in. The joy is in the searching!

Mike Bone

posted by WordCrafter at 6:02 pm (EST) on May 22, 2007

Hi Naren,

Thanks for stopping by. I've not really done much since loading in most of my books six months ago. Just finished Joe Haldeman's A Separate War and Other Stories and was going to put it in when I got your comment. I'm interested in philosophy of language, but started a new job last June that has left little time for such esoteric pleasures. I'd be interested in knowing what you think of Leslie Paul Thiele's Timely Meditations. I found it enjoyable for the quality of the writing as much as for the ideas and extensions of Heidegger into political philosophy.

Mike Bone
greeley, colorado

posted by WordCrafter at 3:58 pm (EST) on May 20, 2007

I'll take a look at Blofeld's translation, thanks for the advise. I can't imagine after all these years that there isn't one just as good, if not better, then Whilhelm's . I've always used Wilhelm's because, like so many of us in the early 70's, it seemed to be the most comprehensive and the one I got used to first. Besides, the process seems just as important as the result. It's the journey....

posted by vikki at 10:35 am (EST) on May 17, 2007

Hi Naren,
Thanks for stopping by. You have a great collection. Many of the 26 works we share are on my "must read soon list, I'm afraid, and no astrology. Cancer here (my sign, not my condition).

posted by KCSheehan at 4:55 am (EST) on May 16, 2007

Hi Naren,

I loved your comment about the Sesame Street Crack Master segment. I remember thinking that my whole summer was destroyed when I was 5 or 6 because my parents watched nothing but the Watergate trials! That was my pain! My Engram! But the Crack Master segment was one of those rare and sublimely unheimlich television moments which was creepy and wonder-inducing at the same time. Still, your use of the word "schandefreude" has truly elevated the level of discourse in my Sesame Street search project. Salut! joni

posted by honeyrococo at 3:00 pm (EST) on May 15, 2007

Hi Naren, Sorry, no Habermas here. I've considered picking up a volume or two by him, but philosophy of language is always a turn-off for me. I'm happily shackled to Hegel, Benjamin, Lacan and Zizek, interested mostly in metaphysics, political and social philosophy. What would you suggest from Habermas?
I hope everything is well there.
-Ted
PS: your library is amazing! I hope mine reaches that immensity one day.

posted by tedpennings at 9:38 pm (EST) on May 12, 2007

Hi Naren! I've been a member of ARE for about 2 years, but have not had the opportunity to attend any events. I can't believe your in Arlington. I graduated from Coppell High School about 20 years ago. I finished my bachelor's and 1/2 a master's at UTA. I moved from Arlington in 1999. I'm in living in a remote spot in Florida about 2 hours from civilization. Sometimes I really miss the city.

posted by kimwoods at 8:42 pm (EST) on May 7, 2007

I just found this site and I'm totally stoked. Still have a lot more work to do, so stop back by occasionally. Took a look at you "cloud" and it appears we're almost clones. Thanks for stopping by and leaving a comment.

posted by vikki at 7:11 pm (EST) on May 2, 2007