What are you reading now? (books, authors)

I've decided to cut down on scrolling and ramp up my reading. Currently I'm enjoying "The art of hearing heartbeats" by Jan-Philipp Sendker. A lovely book. God it feels great to be reading again :)
 
I’m starting a book by my favorite science writer who just ended a couple of decades as editor for my favorite astronomy magazine “Astronomy Now”.

“Amazing Worlds of Science Fiction and Science Fact”

by Keith Cooper
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I've decided to cut down on scrolling and ramp up my reading. Currently I'm enjoying "The art of hearing heartbeats" by Jan-Philipp Sendker. A lovely book. God it feels great to be reading again. ​

I am of a like mind. Part of this is due to the fact that I am sick to death of the current political insanity that fills social media. At the same time we spent most of the summer shopping for houses and then going through all that was entailed in finally buying one and moving. We spent from mid-August until just recently unpacking, organizing, and assembling things. I assembled the dining room tables and chairs, 2 baker’s racks, 2 lamp stands, 5 lamps, a couch, 2 love seats and a matching cushy chair, a desk, and 6 70” bookshelves. Finally I have access to much of my library as well as my CDs. The basement studio will be a project for Spring. Right now I’m listening to Beethoven and reading Ariel & Chana Bloch’s translation of The Song of Songs.​


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I’ve been focused on shorter works of literature… perhaps inspired in part by Edgar Allen Poe’s preference for works that could be finished in a single sitting… maintaining the mood. I finished The Song of Songs in a single sitting and have moved on to the short “Gothic” dark tales of Shirley Jackson.

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stlukesguild said:

I've decided to cut down on scrolling and ramp up my reading. Currently I'm enjoying "The art of hearing heartbeats" by Jan-Philipp Sendker. A lovely book. God it feels great to be reading again. ​

I am of a like mind. Part of this is due to the fact that I am sick to death of the current political insanity that fills social media. At the same time we spent most of the summer shopping for houses and then going through all that was entailed in finally buying one and moving. We spent from mid-August until just recently unpacking, organizing, and assembling things. I assembled the dining room tables and chairs, 2 baker’s racks, 2 lamp stands, 5 lamps, a couch, 2 love seats and a matching cushy chair, a desk, and 6 70” bookshelves. Finally I have access to much of my library as well as my CDs. The basement studio will be a project for Spring. Right now I’m listening to Beethoven and reading Ariel & Chana Bloch’s translation of The Song of Songs.​


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Congrats on the new home! Moving generally sucks, but it's so nice to finally settled in that you almost forget the pain.
 
JennieJo said:
James Herbert, Domain Book 3 in the series. Can't say I'm enjoying the story but it is well written. Mostly. That, combined with an usual year have contributed to last night's abstract. On paper, A3, pen, pencil, acrylic both opaque and transparent; in three layers. I feel another layer coming on. If rats are not your thing, avoid this one. View attachment 40857
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I'll have to and look for that! And check the date. I thought last year was pretty good 😊
 
The View from the Mirror by Ian Irvine is a four part fantasy series. Not my usual choice, not quite engaged yet. But it is intriguing, and complex. I'm combining reading and listening. The sketch, pencil, is my interpretation of what I heard last night.Screenshot_20251024-075833.pngJenMR_BkViewFromMirror.jpeg
 
"The Light Eaters: How the Unseen World of Plant Intelligence Offers a New Understanding of Life on Earth", by Zoe Schlanger

Trying to get back into reading. This one was a wishlist book and I lucked out in finding a copy at the library. Unfortunately I've been caught up in so much family drama for two weeks, I've had little time and I've read a single chapter so far, and it's due back in two weeks. So probably won't get to finish it. (I'm also a ridiculously slow reader anymore... partially due to neurodivergent problems...)
 
Sounds like there are more of us who have resorted to reading to escape politics and I agree it's so good to get back to actual books.

I've been moving, too. It's been a real grind. I'm still in the same forest in the same RV park but this time I've bought a bigger place with money from the death of my first husband. I also bought all new flooring and my daughter installed it. We're still working on I the house as we move in. I haven't had a dishwasher for over 30 years so I bought one of those that we're going to be installing.

I can't believe it but I haven't bought any art supplies. LOL However, I did buy a new sewing machine and stocked up on fabric, patterns, and stuffing so I can make some toys for kids for Christmas. I have an art room here and that will be nice. At long last I'll be able to get back to my beadwork in there, too.bb
 
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Ellen Easton said:
Sounds like there are more of us who have resorted to reading to escape politics and I agree it's so good to get back to actual books.

I've been moving, too. It's been a real grind. I'm still in the same forest in the same RV park but this time I've bought a bigger place with money from the death of my first husband. I also bought all new flooring and my daughter installed it. We're still working on I the house as we move in. I haven't had a dishwasher for over 30 years so I bought one of those that we're going to be installing.

I can't believe it but I haven't bought any art supplies. LOL However, I did buy a new sewing machine and stocked up on fabric, patterns, and stuffing so I can make some toys for kids for Christmas. I have an art room here and that will be nice. At long last I'll be able to get back to my beadwork in there, too.bb
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You've been busy! Congrats on the move to a larger place! I'm sure the art supplies will come in time. 🎨 🖌
 
Terri said:
You've been busy! Congrats on the move to a larger place! I'm sure the art supplies w
ill come in time. 🎨 🖌
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I've got plenty of art supplies but it's going to be so nice to have a place for everything and a whole room devoted to it.

Today I received a book I've looked forward. I'll squeeze i n as the very next on my list. I'll put the rest on hold while I read this one when I finish the one I'm halfway through.

Tomorrow another much-anticipated book is supposed to be here. It's called :.

The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Hinduism: A comprehensive guide to Hindu history and philosophy, its traditions and practices, rituals and beliefs​


It sounds really interesting.

My Granny once told me that when I die, someone will have to remind me to lie down. LOL I'm always interested in and curious about so many things that I'm just always reading or making or painting something. My body is getting pretty shop-worn but my mind is still busy. I'll be 80 on the 26th but I really don't feel any different than when I was younger. Older and wiser but not worn out yet mentally by any means.
 
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After reading the tale, Young Goodman Brown I turned to another Hawthorne tale I hadn’t read in years, Rappaccini’s Daughter. Actually, I may be more aware of this tale now through Daniel Catan’s opera than the original Hawthorne tale.

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At present, I am somewhat fixated on “gothic” tales and literature… including… or perhaps especially poetry of art pour l’art. I’ve perused once again Théophile Gautier’s tales, Omphale: A Rococo Story and Clarimonde. Just today, J.S. Le Fanu’s Carmilla arrived. I love the lush, smoldering sensuality and eroticism as well as the unsettling darkness and even horror of much of the literature of this period… the beautiful horror.

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Having finished J.S. Le Fanu’s Carmilla… a precursor to Bram Stoker’s Dracula… I’m now returning to Samuel Taylor Coleridge’s Cristabel… which was itself a precursor to Carmilla.
 
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Just finished reading this biography of Gerard Sekoto, a locally famous but internationally probably fairly obscure artist - except maybe in France, where he spent most of his life in exile. A rather sad tale - born in 1913, he lived the first part of his life under increasingly oppressive conditions of racial segregation and discrimination. Despite many obstacles, he achieved considerable success, but in 1947 went to Paris, partly simply because the then world capital of art drew him, but also partly to get away from conditions here.

He never set foot in South Africa again, vowing that he would never return until the country was a democracy. This eventually happened in 1994 - a year after his death. After a few years of desperate struggle in France, he started to enjoy considerable success there, but if you ask me, his work never again reached the heights it did in South Africa, and one gets the impression that he was never really happy there either.

As the years wore on he became increasingly irascible and alcoholic, eventually dying in an old age home for artists.

Trivia: Sekoto had a relationship, stretching over 30 years, with one Marthe Baillon, who in turn served for a while as muse for poet Rainer Maria Rilke, long before Sekoto knew her. He lived as her tenant and partner until her death in the 1980s, and it was at that point that his life started to spiral out of control.
 
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