What Books Are You Reading Right Now?

I used to read like a maniac, but for the past 26 years I read at work all day long and so when I'm not working, I don't have much appetite for reading books anymore. But I am slowly trying to make my way through "The Nature and Destiny of Man," by Reinhold Niebuhr.

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In 1720, Europe's last outbreak of bubonic plague began in Marseilles. It killed 100 thousand but spread no farther than the south of France. Of course, at the time no one knew it would be the last or that it would spread no farther. In 1722 Daniel Defoe published A Journal of the Plague Year, a carefully researched book about the Great London Plague of 1665. For a generation, readers mistook it for a real historical journal; when Defoe's authorship got out, it was mistaken for a historical novel. It is neither. It is fictionalized journalism like John Hersey's Hiroshima and Truman Capote's In Cold Blood, which we call "New Journalism." In 1722, all journalism was new.

We think Defoe based his Journal on the diary of his uncle Henry Foe, who was trapped in London in 1665 because he dithered over whether to leave until it was too late to rent a horse. Henry could have packed a tent, walked a day out of London to a post station and rented a horse there. Instead, he accepted his indecision as fate and said "it is God's will." Does he remind you of anyone you know?

Reading this at age 18 after Robinson Crusoe, I thought it was an unpleasant book about something important, and I remember hoping I would never be caught in a pandemic plague.

Best line in the book so far, this time around in 2020:
I must here take farther Notice that Nothing was more fatal to the Inhabitants of this City, than the Supine Negligence of the People themselves, who during the long Notice, or Warning they had of the Visitation, yet made no Provision for it . . . .
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Piso Mojado said:
Defoe_Journal_of_the_Plague_Year.jpg

In 1720, Europe's last outbreak of bubonic plague began in Marseilles. It killed 100 thousand but spread no farther than the south of France. Of course, at the time no one knew it would be the last or that it would spread no farther. In 1722 Daniel Defoe published A Journal of the Plague Year, a carefully researched book about the Great London Plague of 1665. For a generation, readers mistook it for a real historical journal; when Defoe's authorship got out, it was mistaken for a novel. It is neither. It is fictionalized journalism like John Hersey's Hiroshima and Truman Capote's In Cold Blood, which we call "New Journalism." In 1722, all journalism was new.

We think Defoe based his Journal on the diary of his uncle Henry Foe, who was trapped in London in 1665 because he dithered over whether to leave until it was too late to rent a horse. Henry could have packed a tent, walked a day or two out of London to a post station and rented a horse there. Instead, he accepted his indecision as fate and said "it is God's will." Does he remind you of anyone you know?

Reading this at age 18 after Robinson Crusoe, I thought it was an unpleasant book about something important, and I remember hoping I would never be caught in a pandemic plague.

Best line in the book so far, this time around in 2020:
Click to expand...

I want to read this!! A few months ago I actually binge-watched on Amazon Prime a twelve hour documentary on "The Black Death" by a history professsor from Purdue. My family thought I was totally insane. They're probably correct.
 
Cutfinger said:
Beowulf is the oldest book mentioned so far. I found it a fun read.
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I am enjoying the translation I have (Seamus Heaney). His preface helps set the stage and aptitude to unpack seventh century language.

It is a slow read, as it takes time to digest the writing due to the unusual cadence and wording of the poem. It is also relatively short, so it is not too much trouble to re-read it multiple times to fill out the storytelling.
 
The Virginian said:
I want to read this!!
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You can download a free copy of Defoe's Journal from Project Gutenburg in EPUB or Kindle format (with and without images) and Plain Text. The only images are the original publication's title page and the finis graphic at the foot of the last text page. The bird is a phoenix rising from its ashes.

Finis_graphic.jpg

The text is without footnotes or endnotes, edited to conform to 19th century British spelling, punctuation, capitalization, and use of italics. That is how I read it in 1964.

http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/376

If you want something printed and scholarly, the Norton Critical Edition is a deluxe college textbook with 190+ pages of notes, critical commentary, chronology, bibliography, and historical documentation. It preserves the original edition's English usage and much of its typography, omitting only the long "s" gratias Deo. The rationale is that the 1722 edition is the only one Defoe lived to see. He walked it through the publication process, corrected the printer's galleys, and presumably this is how he wanted it read. If you have never read an 18th century book as first published, it is annoying at first but you'll soon adjust to the quirks and ignore them. The publisher's list price is $16.50, don't pay more. ISBN-13: 978-0393961881

For an scholarly edition less encyclopedic than Norton's and a little cheaper, try Oxford World's Classics. ISBN-13: 978-0199572830

The Dover Thrift Edition is $4.99. It's the same text you could download from Project Gutenberg, but Dover's typography is better. ISBN-13: 978-0486419190
 
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The Raiders by Anna Miani. Third in a post apocalyptic series. Some credible Bowie knife action.
 
We can go back nearly the same amount of time, to the epic of Gilgamesh, a very interesting read.

I am going to get a copy of the Iliad. I don't remember ever having read it.
 
Piso Mojado said:
Defoe_Journal_of_the_Plague_Year.jpg

In 1720, Europe's last outbreak of bubonic plague began in Marseilles. It killed 100 thousand but spread no farther than the south of France. Of course, at the time no one knew it would be the last or that it would spread no farther. In 1722 Daniel Defoe published A Journal of the Plague Year, a carefully researched book about the Great London Plague of 1665. For a generation, readers mistook it for a real historical journal; when Defoe's authorship got out, it was mistaken for a novel. It is neither. It is fictionalized journalism like John Hersey's Hiroshima and Truman Capote's In Cold Blood, which we call "New Journalism." In 1722, all journalism was new.

We think Defoe based his Journal on the diary of his uncle Henry Foe, who was trapped in London in 1665 because he dithered over whether to leave until it was too late to rent a horse. Henry could have packed a tent, walked a day or two out of London to a post station and rented a horse there. Instead, he accepted his indecision as fate and said "it is God's will." Does he remind you of anyone you know?

Reading this at age 18 after Robinson Crusoe, I thought it was an unpleasant book about something important, and I remember hoping I would never be caught in a pandemic plague.

Best line in the book so far, this time around in 2020:
Click to expand...

By the way, thank you a lot!
Wow, I've never heard of her at all. It looks just amazing! Now I really want to find and read it somewhere. Thank you very much for sharing its existence!
 
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I just finished Thin Air by Richard Morgan, a kinda-sorta sequel to the utterly brilliant dystopian post-cyberpunk novel Th1rte3n (well, not a direct sequel, but set in the same universe about a hundred years later).

Like Th1rte3n, I found it smart, engaging, and well-crafted, and like Th1rte3n, it starts kind of in the middle of things and gradually comes together in the end.

I’ve just started Morgan’s Market Forces, and I gotta say, so far it’s not grabbing me.
 
I'm reading "Midnight in Chernobyl", I'm slow and it's a long book, some story though.
 
The key to the really old works is to find a good translation. I'm enjoying Dante's The Divine Comedy after finding a very readable and enjoyable translation by Allen Mandelbaum.
 
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