NOW READING

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Yeah, that preacher-friend also keeps forcing me into Dostoevsky in general. Karamazovs are absolutely awesome, one of the best books I've ever read, so I have his works on my list anyway. However, I'd also like to read complete Tolstoy (and I already have his books in my library, so that's easier), because I'm interested in the "heretic" :D
 
Finished St. Augustine's Confessions. Although I have some disageements with the bloke (his concept of grace is completely Helvetic and I have a hard time accepting that, for example), it was a blast and despite the last few books being quite hard to get into, I'd say it is an extraordinary work by itself. Yep, some of his thoughts and ideas are dated nowadays (in fact, some were rendered obsolete already by Aquinas, but who cares), but the autobiographical part is very captivating, heartfelt and it really moved me. It would seem we two are not that different in the end.

Currently continuing that line of reading by re-visiting Nikos Kazantzakis's God's Pauper: Saint Francis of Assisi, as Kazantzakis is one of the authors I usually gladly return to. Also reading Chapterhouse: Dune and I really hope I'll finish the Karamazovs soon. My Tolkien reading has slowed down significantly, but I really hope I'll improve that soon.

Also, I'm really looking forward to reading Jesus of Nazareth by Roman Brandstaetter (I asked for the rather new Czech translation for my birthday). From what I've read/heard about it, it seems to be a book that tend to deeply move many different types of readers, so that one is currently my "bookshelf motivation".
 
My mistake - because of its origins and area of influence, it is quite common here to talk about Calvinism and Helvetic faith interchangeably. The connection seems to be missing in English, or a short Google search would suggest so. So let me rephrase that - "completely Calvinistic". You know, TULIP and all.
 
I had to read Crime & Punishment for high school English back in the day, and it was actually one of those books where it helped to dig in and analyze. It felt like there was a lot going on psychologically and it helped to get some context. I'd definitely recommend the book.

War & Peace has been on the reading list for a long time but it's a huge work so I haven't gotten round to it, especially after I read Anna Karenina first (hated it).
But I did really enjoy The Death of Ivan Ilyich, which I read in college if I recall correctly for a class called Death & Dying (that was pretty awesome). Big plus is that DII is a novella so it's super short.

On the subject of Russian authors, I'm halfway through The Master & Margerita by Bulgakov. It's going very slowly but I'm enjoying it when I do sit down with it. It's definitely one of those where it takes some time to digest a few sentences, so much weird stuff is going on. Reminds me a bit of One Hundred Years of Solitude in it's 'realistic' surrealism (and weirdness), but I do think it's more accessible than OHYS.
 
I read Crime & Punishment in school and didn't finish it because the idiot main character annoyed me so much. We didn't have to read War & Peace thankfully since it's way too fucking long. I enjoyed Anna Carenina, but it was due to be analyzed in school at the same time as the release of last Harry Potter book so I never finished it :P
Master & Margerita is awesome. Definitely the best book I ever read for school.
 
Caughtsomewhereintime73 said:
Is that because you have a similar Slavic cultural background and language? Someone once told me the word Yugoslavia meant 'South Slavia'? Is that right?
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Yeah, Slavs really do tend to stick together. We (Czechia) had tons of Russian literature in school and missed out on many classics - we had Moby Dick and the Brontes, but no LOTF, Scarlet Letter etc.

Also had no Serbians (apart from our teacher recommending Pavić and his Dictionary of the Khazars outside the curriculum, saying it's a pretty wild-ass book, IIRC), so I should maybe phrase it as Slavs being all over Russia instead.
 
Oh, and don't even get me started on Russian literature. We must have studies the whole lot, from start to finish. Fucking Russians, stealing our alphabet and then torturing us with Gogol...
 
I once started reading The Brothers Karamzov. After maybe 100 pages I got the impression that my growing desire to go play with the traffic would only increase if I continued reading.
This is the extent of my experience of Russian literature. Some day I may change this.
 
Caughtsomewhereintime73 said:
We in Britain get set Lord of the Flies to warn us about human nature; now that I think of it, did Maiden do a song on it during the Blaze era? I know very little about that era.
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Thanks for the recommendations! Also, yes Maiden did do a song based on Lord of the Flies called (you guessed it) Lord of the Flies. It's on The X Factor.
Have a listen, I'm sure you'll recognize the lyrics!
 
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