Some Shabbat reading

[magid]

I (re)read a bunch of books today, including The Mouse That Roared. It struck me how incredibly topical it is, despite all the dated Cold War stuff in it. The world is still worried about weapons of mass destruction (somehow it was strange seeing that phrase in the novel; perhaps in my head it was a more recent construction), and the big countries arent' going to stop making them any time soon. Perhaps we do need the Tiny Twenty to come in and make the world a better place...

QOTD, from O. Henry, as cited in Morley's The Haunted Bookshop:
"He was outwardly decent and managed to preserve his aquarium, but inside he was impromptu and full of unexpectedness."

I'd forgotten just how lovely Last Days of Summer is; it makes me laugh aloud (and that despite there being all sorts of baseball in it, which is generally not my cup of tea).

Comments

[spwebdesign.livejournal.com]

Books? Plural? That's just not fair! I've been slaving away at the same 300-page book for the past 2 months and am wondering how on earth I'm going to finish my next book club selection, a 400-page volume, by the time we meet again in two weeks.

[magid.livejournal.com]

I'm just a fast-reading book addict... plus it's a bit faster rereading books, for me, anyway.
Which book are you reading now? What's your book club selection?

[spwebdesign.livejournal.com]

I guess my blog answered that. Finished Genome and reading Husain Haddawy's translation of Muhsin Mahdi's edition (taken from a 14th century Syrian manuscript) of The Arabian Nights for the book club. I've also got a couple of O'Reilly books and a volume of Pablo Neruda poetry going at the moment.

[magid.livejournal.com]

Genome sounds interesting (once I get through all the other things on my list :-). Is the Mahdi edition significantly different from other versions of The Arabian Nights? I mean, if you don't make it all the way through, are you familiar with the usual stories enough to have the book club discussion be interesting?
After Il Postino, I thought I might read some Neruda poetry, but my usual inability to read poetry reared its head. I think I read too fast for poetry (or plays, for that matter), which is unfortunate.

[spwebdesign.livejournal.com]

The Mahdi text is very different. It doesn't include many of the familiar stories which aren't an authentic part of The Arabian Nights. Most English translations are part translation, part invention with things added to try to paint a colorful, not necesarily accurate, picture of the Muslim world. Furthermore, they are based on editions which are modernized by Egyptian, Indian, and Persian scholars with the aim of making the editions more "complete" or more "literary." Stories like Sinbad and Aladdin do not belong in The Arabian Nights. The 14th (or is it 13th?) century Syrian is not the most authentic, but it is one of two or three most authentic versions that survive. Unfortunately, older, more authentic versions have been lost forever.

[magid.livejournal.com]

Sounds interesting; I should put this on my reading list.

[spwebdesign.livejournal.com]

You're welcome to borrow it when I'm done. Just e-mail me if you're interested.

[magid.livejournal.com]

Cool. Thanks.