What is your current "read"?

Having binged watched Black Mirror during lockdown, this is a fascinating insight behind each episode.

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After watching a lot of Mike Ritland's excellent podcasts, I've ordered his book ' How to train your dog, the Navy Seal way', it isn't just about dogs. Going through that one and Jorge Bucay's Let me tell you a story. It is my first read of Bucay.
 
Made into a TV series called, you guessed it, Shetland. Starring Douglas Henshall.

I tried watching that. Even considering that I spent 2 years in Lanarkshire and about the same in Aberdeen I had trouble with the accents.
 
After the light refreshment of a Wodehouse, time for something heavier. I've read a fair bit of Dostoyevsky, but hadn't got round to Notes from (the) Underground until now (the "the" appears in the title of some translations but not others). I have a Penguin Classics version, which also includes The Double. This edition appears to be well-regarded for its translation, which is encouraging. I often wonder how much one misses in a foreign language work through the translation process, but it's unlikely that I will be fluent in Russian any time soon, so we have to do the best we can.
 
After the light refreshment of a Wodehouse, time for something heavier. I've read a fair bit of Dostoyevsky, but hadn't got round to Notes from (the) Underground until now (the "the" appears in the title of some translations but not others). I have a Penguin Classics version, which also includes The Double. This edition appears to be well-regarded for its translation, which is encouraging. I often wonder how much one misses in a foreign language work through the translation process, but it's unlikely that I will be fluent in Russian any time soon, so we have to do the best we can.
Almost ashamed to say that I haven't read any Dostoyevsky. He is on my list however. Unfortunately it's a long list.

I do find some of the older author's quite heavy going because of three issues.

1. They express themselves differently than a modern author would.
2. They often make 'contemporary' references which are anything but contemporary X years later.
3. They often use archaic words.

I read Herman Melville's Moby Dick a few years back, and it was very rare that I had a reading session where I didn't have to consult a dictionary or look up Yahoo or Google to check a word or a reference.

Don't get me wrong, I still enjoy the books but I can't just 'let it go' or extrapolate the meaning of something, I like to know. So I might be reading the book, look up some ancient reference and then spend the next half hour absorbed in reading about some 19th century person.
It makes the books rather long.

There used to be a rather good web site called 'Book Drum' which took the old classics and investigated all the archaic references for you, it's unfortunately no longer operating. I made extensive use of it when I was going through my Thomas Hardy phase.
 
After the light refreshment of a Wodehouse, time for something heavier. I've read a fair bit of Dostoyevsky, but hadn't got round to Notes from (the) Underground until now (the "the" appears in the title of some translations but not others). I have a Penguin Classics version, which also includes The Double. This edition appears to be well-regarded for its translation, which is encouraging. I often wonder how much one misses in a foreign language work through the translation process, but it's unlikely that I will be fluent in Russian any time soon, so we have to do the best we can.
Well said! Translation is sooo delicate. I love languages. And do speak Russian. Can't claim to be an expert,but Would love to read Russian authors in English...difficult to imagine, but certainly worth.
I believe the author's worth shines through...
 
Almost ashamed to say that I haven't read any Dostoyevsky. He is on my list however. Unfortunately it's a long list.

I do find some of the older author's quite heavy going because of three issues.

1. They express themselves differently than a modern author would.
2. They often make 'contemporary' references which are anything but contemporary X years later.
3. They often use archaic words.

I read Herman Melville's Moby Dick a few years back, and it was very rare that I had a reading session where I didn't have to consult a dictionary or look up Yahoo or Google to check a word or a reference.

Don't get me wrong, I still enjoy the books but I can't just 'let it go' or extrapolate the meaning of something, I like to know. So I might be reading the book, look up some ancient reference and then spend the next half hour absorbed in reading about some 19th century person.
It makes the books rather long.

There used to be a rather good web site called 'Book Drum' which took the old classics and investigated all the archaic references for you, it's unfortunately no longer operating. I made extensive use of it when I was going through my Thomas Hardy phase.
Amazing approach! Fantastic!
 
Almost ashamed to say that I haven't read any Dostoyevsky. He is on my list however. Unfortunately it's a long list.

I do find some of the older author's quite heavy going because of three issues.

1. They express themselves differently than a modern author would.
2. They often make 'contemporary' references which are anything but contemporary X years later.
3. They often use archaic words.

I read Herman Melville's Moby Dick a few years back, and it was very rare that I had a reading session where I didn't have to consult a dictionary or look up Yahoo or Google to check a word or a reference.

Don't get me wrong, I still enjoy the books but I can't just 'let it go' or extrapolate the meaning of something, I like to know. So I might be reading the book, look up some ancient reference and then spend the next half hour absorbed in reading about some 19th century person.
It makes the books rather long.

There used to be a rather good web site called 'Book Drum' which took the old classics and investigated all the archaic references for you, it's unfortunately no longer operating. I made extensive use of it when I was going through my Thomas Hardy phase.
There is no shame whatsoever in not having read a certain author. That is how I see it. The literary pool is an immense ocean, with all our life things, how could we...
 
I studied 19th-century literature as part of my degree, so I understand the problems with things like archaic language and contemporary references. A good modern version of an older work will include plenty of notes. That's one reason that I often use Penguin Classics editions. The notes are generally very comprehensive and even if they sometimes tell you things you already know, that's fine. There's usually plenty of things you don't know. Oxford World Classics is usually quite good for this as well. Cheaper versions - like Wordsworth, for example, give you nothing by way of notes. In a way, what they do is very good, selling classic works for a very cheap price, but they're not very helpful if you want to understand what you're reading!

Laurence Sterne's Tristram Shandy is a book that spring to mind when it comes to copious notes. They comprise almost a full-length novel by themselves. With things like this, I use two bookmarks, one in the main text and one in the notes.
 
I studied 19th-century literature as part of my degree, so I understand the problems with things like archaic language and contemporary references. A good modern version of an older work will include plenty of notes. That's one reason that I often use Penguin Classics editions. The notes are generally very comprehensive and even if they sometimes tell you things you already know, that's fine. There's usually plenty of things you don't know. Oxford World Classics is usually quite good for this as well. Cheaper versions - like Wordsworth, for example, give you nothing by way of notes. In a way, what they do is very good, selling classic works for a very cheap price, but they're not very helpful if you want to understand what you're reading!

Laurence Sterne's Tristram Shandy is a book that spring to mind when it comes to copious notes. They comprise almost a full-length novel by themselves. With things like this, I use two bookmarks, one in the main text and one in the notes.
I have mixed feelings about notes. They add a wealth of information, but they also break the pace of reading, turning it more into "academic" reading and spoiling the enjoyment. I remember reading "Romeo and Juliet" with extensive notes and I felt like I wasn't enjoying the text because the notes were always breaking my focus. So I just gave up on the notes and read the play by "feeling", it's actually not super hard to understand the text by "intuition", I'm sure there were things I missed but I enjoyed the reading better. With older books that have a lot of context that's easy to miss, I will research more about the book or specific situations later.
 
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