What are you currently reading?

I've just finished reading Kundera's The Unbearable Lightness of Being.



And although I'm not that into economics, I've recently bought Milton and Rose Friedman's Free To Choose. I've read a few chapters already. It's interesting.



How about you?

 

Great subject! I'm reading The Perennial Philosophy by Aldous Huxley and rereading The Cost of Discipleship by Bonhoeffer.

 

I'm reading the Gospel of John very slowly each day until I reach the first moments of Chapter 18 on Good Friday. The Brook of Kidron shall be my stopping point. I will read it and then make my own journey to the 12 PM Passion service.

This is a good book to read.

 

Old Christendom, how did you find the Kundera book? I read it in French and finished it about a month or so ago

Two days ago I finished reading Much ado about Nothing (Shakespeare) and a few short stories.

Today I started Emma again (I have it for a course)

High five Consular for reading the Gospel of John like me hehe, I arrived to John (chapter 8) in my gospel reading...

And now Incense is out for reading and tea in the afternoon sun

 

I'm reading The Prague Cemetery by Umberto Eco, and I read nearly a third of it in one sitting. It's fiendishly good. I think it's what Foucault's Pendulum should've been, since I found that one a little tedious and overly intricate. This is one is a fantastic run-through of similar material, but considerably darker in tone, and wound up in a much more literary plot and setting.

 

One of my all-time favorites. Let us know what you think when you finish.

 

Will do Simon. I remember reading Brave New World and BNW Revisited in high school. It had a profound impact on me at the time. I still get tickled when my Aunt says she has to take a Soma and lie down.

 

A friend of mine gave it to me in my last birthday. It took me a while to read it but I've just finished it a few weeks ago. What did you think of it?

It's a sort of nihilistic manifesto but it has some interesting insights here and there.

 

Happy belated (or you can take it as early) birthday OC

I found that Kundera was able to describe the essence of humans, his characters were so so true and I liked his style a lot. This said, I found that he was unjust in his views between the light and the heavy, yes some sort of nihilistic view. It was a bit sad.

A lot of great books here! Simon, do you like Umberto Eco?
I have read for him The Name of the Rose, Baudolino and The Search for the Perfect Language (which I found so very very enlightening)

 

I sort of read a few books at a time at work and home etc.
At the moment I'm reading "The trial of Charles the First" by C.V. Wedgewood,"Twilight of Atheism" by Alister McGrath and "How to use Log Log Slide Rules" by Professor Hartung.

 

Ha! Thank you for your birthday wishes, Incense! I'm actually close to celebrating another one.

Tempus fugit!

 

Yes I checked after your profile page hehe


I am waiting for a book to come from Amazon about Missionaries Hudson Taylor and Maria (it must arrive this week God willing )

 

To be honest, I'm somewhat stuck for books to read alongside John's Gospel, and after Easter comes. Those who know my style and opinions might recommend a book or two, if they don't mind...?

I'm thinking of finishing this book on the functioning of the Jesuits, written in the early 20th century by a German noble-man who had been a member of the Society for 14 years before abandoning it - and Roman Catholicism. He provides a very intense insight into the Roman mindset pre-Vatican II, and I find it a scary thing, yet engrossing and fascinating:

http://archive.org/details/cu31924092362007

 

Speaking of missionaries, do you happen to know about Henry Martyn, a chaplain of the British East India Company and missionary to India and Persia? Such a remarkable and inspiring man. Besides his religious zeal, he was also a competent linguist. He was able to translate the New Testament into Persian and Urdu, the Psalms into Persian and the Book of Common Prayer into Urdu.

I'm thinking about reading more about him.

 

You should give it a go at Calvin's Institutes of the Christian Religion. It's really good, a masterpiece.

Everyone should, in fact, whether or not they sympathise with Reformed theology.

 

Consular, have you read Orthodoxy for Chesterton?

And no I have not heard of Henry Martyn, though I am interested in Persia! and Linguistics!!!! Wow that is a lot to translate!! Surely the Holy Spirit helped him!
Is there any book about him you suggest?

 

I'll let you know if I find one!

 

I've only read The Name of the Rose and Foucault's Pendulum before this one, but I definitely like his work. He's an erudite and scholarly guy; unfortunately, sometimes the erudition and scholarship in his fiction ends up bogging the story down, as if he doesn't know how to reign it in. I loved The Name of the Rose, but there were some portions where it seemed more like a history textbook than a novel. I say, "just give us the juicy & fascinating bits of history, Eco, and try to skim over the tedious stuff." And Foucault's Pendulum was nearly labyrinthine in its compiling of conspiracy lore. Has he no mercy upon the lay reader? Apparently, he now does, which is a refreshing change of pace in The Prague Cemetery. Even a long stretch about Garibaldi's 1860 campaign and the unification of Italy doesn't require a Ph.D in history to enjoy.

I will add The Search for the Perfect Language to my reading list.

 

I downloaded the "Dolorous passion of Christ" on my kindle for free, which is a series of Catholic devotions about the passion of our lord. I read it was one,of Mel Gibson's main influences in the making of The Passion of the Christ, which I watch every Good Friday. I haven't gotten. Very far in it though. I am so tired at night I can only read about a page before I'm out.

 

Chesterton is one of my absolute favorites! Orthodoxy, Heretics, and The Everlasting Man are just brilliant.