As
you can see since the last update I've completed seven short stories, two short
books of the Old Testament, an encyclical by the Holy Father which came this
year and was unplanned, and two works of non-fiction, ifferisms, my one annual read on writing, and Pitching in a Pinch, a book on baseball by the great pitcher,
Christy Mathewson.
What is not reflected in completed list is that I’ve spent a
good deal of time with Dante’s Purgotorio. It’s been two months since I started it and
I’ve gotten stuck at Canto 26, which is exactly three quarters way through the
33 Cantos. Perhaps “stuck” is the wrong
word. It is not a quagmire where one’s
heart prevents any kind of further progress.
It’s more of a need to take a breather.
I’ve actually been reading two translations, which makes it double the
read. I’ll explain that when I post on
it. And so as a breather I’ve been
reading quite a few fun short stories: a father Brown mystery by Chesterton, a
short, short story by Borges, a horror story by Stevens, and a detective story
by Dashiell Hammett.
The Currently Being Read list has been altered since last
quarter. I continue to make tiny
progress in the Rome and Jerusalem
and Imagist poetry books. I’ll have to find time to knock them
off. I mentioned my progress on
Dante. I’ve decided to push off Hugo’s Les Misérables until next
year. I’m not doing it justice. I’m done for the Old Testament for the year
but I’ve moved up Acts of the Apostles.
Upcoming plans have not changed. I am getting a feeling I may not complete
them all by the end of the year. What I
need to do is take a few days off from work to just read. Not sure I can do that, though. I’m roughly on track for my typical amount of
reading for the year. I’ve completed 19
short stories, seven book length works (three novels, a biography, and three
other non-fiction works, of which I include the encyclical), and a few hundred
pages of a number of books from the Old Testament.
As I’ve said before, if there is a work I’ve read that I
haven’t blogged on, or a work I plan to read that you really want my thoughts
on, please let me know. I’ll be glad to
accommodate.
Completed:
“A Star Trap,” a short story by Bram Stoker.
“Grandfather and Grandson,” a short story by Isaac Bashevis
Singer.
The Man Who Was Thursday: A Nightmare, a novel by G.K. Chesterton.
“Feathers,” a short story by Raymond Carver.
The Cossacks,
a novel by Leo Tolstoy.
“In Another Country,” a short story by Earnest Hemingway.
First Book of Chronicles,
a book of the Old Testament, KJV.
Catherine of Siena,
a biography by Sigrid Undset.
“The Masque of Red Death,” a short story by Edgar Allan Poe.
“William Wilson,” a short story by Edgar Allan Poe.
“A Descent into Maelstrom,” a short story by Edgar Allan
Poe.
“The
Lovely Lady,” a short story by D.H. Lawrence.
“Hills Like White Elephants,” a short story by Earnest
Hemingway.
“The Killers,” a short story by Earnest Hemingway.
Second Book of Chronicles,
a book of the Old Testament, KJV.
“The Fall of the House of Usher,” a short story by Edgar
Allan Poe.
“The Waste Land,” a long poem by T.S. Eliot.
A Soldier of the Great War,
a novel by Mark Helprin.
“The Shawl,” a short story by Cynthia Ozick.
Completed Since Last Quarter:
ifferisms: An Anthology of Aphorisms That Begin With the
Word if, a work of non-fiction by Dr. Mardy Grothe.
“Rip Van Winkle,” a short story by Washington Irving.
The Book of Ezra,
a book of the Old Testament, KJV.
“Chi Ti Dice La Patria?” a short story by Earnest Hemingway.
Lumen Fidei,
an Encyclical of the Roman Catholic Church.
The Book of Nehemiah,
a book of the Old Testament, KJV.
“Pillar of Salt,” a short story by Shirley Jackson.
“The Shape of the Sword,” a short story by Jorge Luis
Borges.
“The Body-Snatcher,” a short story by Robert Lewis
Stevenson.
Pitching In A Pinch: Baseball From The Inside, a non-fiction book on baseball by Christy Mathewson.
“The Blue Cross,” a Father Brown mystery short story by G.
K. Chesterton.
“Who Killed Bob Teal?” a short story by Dashiell
Hammett.
Currently Being Read:
Acts of the Apostles, a book of the New Testament, KJV &
NAB.
Rome and Jerusalem: The Clash of Ancient Civilizations, a
non-fiction history by Martin Goodman.
Imagist
Poetry: An Anthology, a collection of poetry edited by Bob Blaisdell.
Purgatorio, 2nd
part of the epic poem of The Divine Comedy by Dante Alighieri.
Upcoming Plans:
Life
on the Mississippi, a memoir by Mark Twain.
Washington
Square, a novel by Henry James.
MacBeth,
a play by William Shakespeare.
Cannery
Row, a short novel by John Steinbeck.
Les Misérables, a novel
by Victor Hugo. (2014)
Gadfrey.
ReplyDelete*smile* I never know what you're going to say. ;)
DeleteLet that be a lesson to you then.
DeleteBWAHAHAHA
Let that be a lesson to you then.
DeleteBwahahahahahahaha...............
I am interested in the Dasheill Hammett writings. Are they difficult at all? I may try one.
ReplyDeleteNot hard at all. The short story I read was part of a compilation of 100 short stories they were selling really cheap for Barnes and Noble Nook reader. I'm not sure where you can get it, and as far as short stories go, while it was enjoyable, I wouldn't consider it a great work. It was more or less an detective novel length story shrunk down to 12 pages. What you should get is Hammett's The Maltese Falcon. It's a great novel with outstanding writing. You've probably seen the movie. The movie pretty much follows the book. But it's a better read than the movie, which was a good movie in its own right. Any public library should have The Maltese Falcon. I've read that novel a few times now. I think I read one other of Hammett's novels when I was young, but I have no memory of it now. His novels have a reputation of being among the best in that genre. I would say The Maltese Falcon transcends the genre in that the character of Sam Spade develops a philosophy of dealing with a chaotic modern world.
DeleteI definitely will get that one. I have not seen the Maltese falcon on film! So will come to the book fresh, lol.
Delete