What book are you reading now?

[SolemnBoy]

Which page have you got up to?

I've read the first 4 chapters so page 85. It looks like it's starting to get a little better, but of course it's too early to tell as I haven't even read the first 10%.

[Dan1980]

I've read the first 4 chapters so page 85. It looks like it's starting to get a little better, but of course it's too early to tell as I haven't even read the first 10%.

I might read it. Let me know what you think when you finish it please.

[SolemnBoy]

I might read it. Let me know what you think when you finish it please.

It'll take me a lot of time to finish, but sure, I'll let you know

[Dan1980]

It'll take me a lot of time to finish, but sure, I'll let you know

Thank you.

[SolemnBoy]

Still reading 'The Tale of Genji" but also "The Showa anthology" which I'm enjoying so far. Also finished Virgin Suicides and Catcher in the Rye. Haven't read this much in such a short time in a while! :o

[Hayden]

I'm reading "The Big Bang: The Origin of the Universe" by Simon Singe. It's about exactly what you think it's about. It's a fun read if you're, like me, not that science literate but wish to be. I'm also reading a bunch of books about the songwriter Jerome Kern because I'm writing a big paper on him for my Musical Theatre as Literature class.

Still reading 'The Tale of Genji" but also "The Showa anthology" which I'm enjoying so far. Also finished Virgin Suicides and Catcher in the Rye. Haven't read this much in such a short time in a while! :o

What did you think of Catcher in the Rye? That's always been one of my favorites, as it is with most people who read it when they're around 15 -20

[Mattlj92]

I am the secret footballer.

[OrphanPip]

"The tale of Genji".

So far I'm not sure what I think. It's definitely interesting since it's often cited as the first psychological novel ever, which is even more remarkable since it was written by a woman. Although so far it's been nothing but promiscuous adventures, poems and conversations about women. It's still fascinating because of its age but unless it starts getting a bit more intriguing I'll probably drop it since it's more than 1000 pages long o:

It's a difficult book to really get without being knowledgeable about Feudal Japanese court decorum and the intensely symbolic nature of East Asian literature from that period.

A good case can be made for the book being the oldest novel in the world, and not simply the oldest psychological novel.

As to Japanese literature in general, Natsume Soseki's Kokoro is one of my favourite novels. Yukio Mishima's Confessions of a Mask is interesting as one of the earliest works (in modern Japan) to deal openly with homosexuality, although I find Mishima a difficult read.

Edit: I am currently reading 'da Kink in my hair by trey anthony and Dryden's All for Love.

[SolemnBoy]

I'm reading "The Big Bang: The Origin of the Universe" by Simon Singe. It's about exactly what you think it's about. It's a fun read if you're, like me, not that science literate but wish to be. I'm also reading a bunch of books about the songwriter Jerome Kern because I'm writing a big paper on him for my Musical Theatre as Literature class.



What did you think of Catcher in the Rye? That's always been one of my favorites, as it is with most people who read it when they're around 15 -20

I liked it a lot, although surprisingly not because I could relate to the main character - I think that's the reason most teenagers enjoy it.

In fact I'm not entirely sure why I liked it so much. It's usually pretty easy to describe what you liked in a book but... with Catcher in the Rye I just can't :o

I can see why it's one of your favourites though

[SolemnBoy]

It's a difficult book to really get without being knowledgeable about Feudal Japanese court decorum and the intensely symbolic nature of East Asian literature from that period.

A good case can be made for the book being the oldest novel in the world, and not simply the oldest psychological novel.

As to Japanese literature in general, Natsume Soseki's Kokoro is one of my favourite novels. Yukio Mishima's Confessions of a Mask are interesting as one of the earliest works (in modern Japan) to deal openly with homosexuality.

Some of the poems are pretty beautiful but in the end I'm under the opinion that they're doomed to be lost in translation. Japanese can be a tricky language to translate but it's also changed a lot since the writing of the book - older Japanese must be even harder.

The book was written before Feudal Japan, but you're kind of right. The introduction explains everything you need to know though so that's not really the reason why it's going slowly - I'll definitely see it through until the end! I just ordered a bunch of books and 'Kokoro' was one of them - heard loads of good things about it Also ordered, amongst other things, the diary of the author behind Genji.