What Book are you reading

I've always got two or three books I'm reading at the same time and another one I'm currently working my way through is "Great Dialogues Of Plato." It's part of my personal collection. I love reading, and reading just about anything.


TCB

a reply to: JAGStorm

The Fifth Season by N. K. Jemisin. Its pretty dang good but could have a little more action. Really well written, excellent prose. Fantasy book done a little differently.

The last notable book I've read recently is 'To Hell and Back". Now this book is amazing. I'll definitely be reading it again probably a few more times!

a reply to: TrulyColorBlind

I recently revisited his Apology and thought about how desperately we need a guy/gal like Socrates address our leaders today. (I'm in US but from what I've seen this applies most everywhere)

I'd advise everyone to read it.

Despite having "The Left Hand of Darkness" Ursula K Le Guin on the go, just started "Wilt in Nowhere" Tom Sharpe.

Have to put the grey matter to some use for Ursula and some of the concepts she explores '..the king is pregnant'. For Tom, it's laugh out loud all the way.

a reply to: zosimov

I went and read that after you posted, I haven't delved into much Greek other than Epicurus, Epictetus (personal taste/journey) etc since I was a teen. Rather enjoyed looking into that though!

Thank you!

a reply to: valiant

Oh, cool! Glad you checked it out and even moreso that you enjoyed the read!

His undeterred defiance really speaks to the rebel in me
(then again, if I remember right, his adherence to the existing law in the dialogue "Crito" would make me think again about which approach to rebellion I'd want to take.)


In case anyone is interested in a Plato discussion, I remembered I'd written a thread on the Apology and its relevence to our world today when I read it:
www.abovetopsecret.com...


JAG, I'm sorry if you got more than you asked for from me on this thread I have something of a passion for discussing good books/ideas. Strangely enough, I joined ATS looking for a group to discuss Moby Dick with after I'd exhausted the interest and good will of all my family/friends.

originally posted by: zosimov
a reply to: TrulyColorBlind

I recently revisited his Apology

I just re-read the contents at the front of my Dialogues Of Plato book, and The Apology is in there, but later on. I may have to skip ahead and read that one next. Thanks for suggesting it!


TCB

a reply to: zosimov

Another author I like is the ancient playright Plautus. I have a two-book set of some of his plays and even though they were written over 2000 years ago, there are such magnificent views of ordinary life that are so familiar, even to readers all these years later. I have to say this:

In one of his plays, a comedy called "Amphitryon," there's a scene in it that makes me laugh out loud every time I read it. To set it up, there's a king who goes off to fight in a war and takes his servant with him. While he's gone, the God Jupiter takes his appearance, fools the king's wife into believing he's back from the war. Of course, Jupiter has his way with her, which was his intention all along. She ends up getting pregant with Jupiter's child. The king comes back from fighting and him and his servant are down the lane from the king's house. The servant is hungry and is thinking about eating good food again. The king's wife comes out and she's really fat from being pregnant and the two see her from afar. The servant says something like "Oh, no, there's no food left, your wife ate it all." It just cracks me up because it is such a funny line. I could see a line like going over in a Buster Keaton silent comedy or even a Pauly Shore movie from today. It's such a true-to-life moment that it's hard for me to express, but it's so.... common and ordinary that it applies to humanity of any age.


TCB

a reply to: TrulyColorBlind

I'm not familiar with his work, but that feeling of agelessness or that connection to basic core humanity that we find in literature is the best part for me.

Currently reading The Complete Fiction of H.P. Lovecraft

The man was an incredible horror author who well ahead of his time.

originally posted by: burdman30ott6
Currently reading The Complete Fiction of H.P. Lovecraft

The man was an incredible horror author who well ahead of his time.

I can't believe how many are into horror. I guess I'm a big chicken/ scaredy-cat.
I read the exorcist when I was in college and that was it, no more for me.
Something about reading it was 100000X worse than watching a movie.

originally posted by: zosimov
a reply to: TrulyColorBlind

I recently revisited his Apology and thought about how desperately we need a guy/gal like Socrates address our leaders today. (I'm in US but from what I've seen this applies most everywhere)

I'd advise everyone to read it.

I just finished reading Apology and feel that if we did have a person like this, first they'd have him removed from all social media, and then have him drink the hemlock. And then, they'd convene the tribe to make sure he couldn't be buried with all the other philosophers.


TCB

a reply to: TrulyColorBlind

Interesting comparison, and I think you're on to something there.

Same struggle, different century.

originally posted by: zosimov
a reply to: TrulyColorBlind

Same struggle, different century.

Which is what sticks out at me time and time again whenever I am reading a lot of the Older stuff.

The common theme we seem to have never conquered is ourselves. I am taken back by how much my daily struggles and thoughts are the same struggles and thoughts of a 2,000 year old Man who penned journals. Society too, it's the same things over and over the further you go back.

How much have we actually learnt?

a reply to: valiant

I completely agree, and I'm not sure how that idea sits with you, but for me it is a relief.

When that reality dawns on me, I'm sometimes able to take things a little less seriously, laugh at human (and hence my own) folly, understand that something that is cyclical in nature is in many ways much more comforting (and renewing) than some sort of endless march forward.

a reply to: zosimov

It's a bit of both for me, makes me feel a little bit more Human, puts some things into a clear perspective and as you say, I take things less seriously and try to come at life from a different angle.
On the other hand I feel a bit frustrated that we are still doing the same dance with certain things, like there hasn't been any progression at all, but I guess we have to experience things before we can move past them, you can't always learn from someone else's mistakes, sometimes you just have to live it.

I don't know, I always feel uncomfortable when I say I ''know'' something, because things always change, and that thing I thought I knew, well I never really did, I just understood it in a different way than what I do today.

a reply to: JAGStorm

I just finished two Jocko Wllinks books. Extreme Ownership and Discipline Equals Freedom. Great reads.

a reply to: zosimov

JAG, I'm sorry if you got more than you asked for from me on this thread I have something of a passion for discussing good books/ideas. Strangely enough, I joined ATS looking for a group to discuss Moby Dick with after I'd exhausted the interest and good will of all my family/friends.

I love this thread, I’ve added a few to my reading list!

originally posted by: JAGStorm
a reply to: zosimov

JAG, I'm sorry if you got more than you asked for from me on this thread I have something of a passion for discussing good books/ideas. Strangely enough, I joined ATS looking for a group to discuss Moby Dick with after I'd exhausted the interest and good will of all my family/friends.

I love this thread, I’ve added a few to my reading list!

Yes, same!

Now reading, "the Best Thing You Can Steal" by Simon R Green.