What are you reading

[hsv]

Any good? I recently read about half of Black Sun by Nicholas Goodrick-Clarke before having to turn it back in to the library... pretty interesting, it didn't examine in depth so much but as an overview of many different topics it seemed well informed.

[jake]

Low funds means going to town on the classics section at the library down the street, revisiting books I only half-assed read because it was required in school or just never got around to.
Read Martian Chronicles. Not all the stories are equally effective but love the overall melancholic feel. Really evokes an atmosphere of being completely alone, missed opportunities, decisions and actions that dramatically affect the rest of your life.
About 300 pages into Dracula. Starting to drag a little, they're assembling their "posse" after Lucy has successfully been destroyed.
Looking to re-read The Hobbit in anticipation of the movie.
Any other classics I should pick up that would be at most libraries?

[ConcreteMascara]

anything Phillip K Dick. And not obscure or hardcore, but East of Eden by Steinbeck.

[jake]

Thanks. Remember really enjoying Grapes of Wrath and Of Mice and Men, but that's as deep as I got into Steinbeck. Was actually looking at his section at the book store last night and didn't realize he wrote so many books.
Have you read Tortilla Flats?

[ConcreteMascara]

I have not, but Cannery Row is also good. And also I'd highly recommend Cormac McCarthy; specifically "Blood Meridian", "The Road", "All The Pretty Horses" and "No Country For Old Men".

[redswordwhiteplough]

Hammer of the Gods is well written and researched. The two things which bugged me was the complete lack of pictures, and even though the Thule Society was much involved in the civil war, it put too much detail and length into the fight between red guards and freikorps. A good read nonetheless.

The Secret King on the other hand has pictures, but the thing which makes it brilliant and worth buying (I've heard the hardcover first edition is quite valuable nowadays), is the translations of Karl Maria Wiligut's poems, articles and it even includes and interview with a person who knew him personally. Though the subtitle suggests it to be about the "Myth and reality of Nazi occultism", it doesn't go to such detail or depths as Nicholas Goodrick-Clarke's Occult roots of Nazism, but rather focusing on the somewhat obscure figure of Wiligut and his thoughts and teachings. Written by Stephen E. Flowers and Michael Moynihan, I can only recommend it.


As for classics, I just finished reading Hermann Hesse's Steppenwolf. And if you're into science fiction, can't go wrong with Lord of Light by Roger Zelazny.

[FreakAnimalFinland]

PUNK ON KUOLLUT - ELÄKÖÖN HARDCORE
(=punk is dead - long live hardcore)
Finnish language only. Focusing on interviews edited as kind of oral history of Finnish hardcore punk. Starting basically from 79. People who may have already been into old punk, but with uprise of DIY culture as opposed to big labels and youth culture music magazines, and rise of harsher music and more in-you-face political attitudes, hardcore was born. Possibly already "peak" of some sort in '82, yet book basically covers things 79-90, with few things talking earlier or later things.
Edited by guy who was already little older back then - and photographer, and took lots of good photos of scene around then. People interviewed are some key figures and some perhaps "lesser importance". You will have P-Tuotanto, Propaganda Records, Decadenz, Terveet Kädet, Nussivat Nunnat, Turun Palo, Ulo, Laama, etc..   It's no way "academic study", just nostalgic recollections of small but influential moment in Finnish.. ehm.. "culture".

[FreakAnimalFinland]

Philippe Lacoue-Labarthe & Jean-Luc Nancy: Natsimyytti
originally: "Le mythe nazi"
Finnish edition includes also further analysis/commentary: Janne Porttikivi "Keskeytetty Myytti" ("intercepted myth") and Tuomas Nevanlinna "Totalitarismista" ("about totalitarism"). Published by Tutkijaliitto, so you know it will be tough philosophical masturbation through entire book.

Of course this is most of all attempt to explain and criticize nazism, totalitarianism, present differences of right & left totalitarian states, observe italy, germany and soviet union. BUT most of all, it's about myth, and role of myth in human life/culture. So book hardly talks about anything very detailed about politics, mundane order of society etc, but simply observes the myth itself.

Natsimyytti on kansallisten identiteettipyrkimysten pirstomassa maailmassa jatkuvasti ajankohtainen analyysi natsismin mahdollistaneesta ideologiasta. Sen kirjoittajat kysyvät, miksi ja kuinka myytti ja myyttiin vetoaminen asettui natsismille tyypillisten poliittisten ja sosiaalisten käytäntöjen ytimeen.

I realize book does attempt to take certain moral stand on what is "right" and "wrong", yet it's most of all quite dry analysis, and many times one just has to conclude "that sounds good", even when attempt is probably to show how it in somewhat negative light.

Myytin muodostamisen kyky on herätettävä (tieteen, demokratian ja filosofian) abstraktien universaalien osoittauduttua kestämättömiksi ja kahden mordernin ajan uskomuksen sorruttua: Kristillisyyden ja uskon ihmisyyteen.

And while the danger of myth and danger of totalitarian approach to life is in constant critique, often the I'll be just nodding about good observations, but somewhat confused why exactly that is supposed to be bad?

Around 20 euro, if you are bothered by themes of myth or concepts of identity and metaphysical things.  Tag names of interest could include heidegger, stalin, hitler, bataille, rosenberg, etc

[Jordan]

Recent finished Fear and Trembling by Kierkegaard. Been forcing myself to reread some of his works that I only half-digested as a teenager. The translation I just read, by Alastair Hannay, seems significantly clearer than the one I read before, although perhaps it is just my thinking that has become more clear. An obviously important work, and a good polemic against the systematic, objective philosophies, yet the centrality of God in his work is a little hard for someone as atheistic as myself to trudge through. I'm going to reread Stephen Hawking's The Grand Design as an antidote to that, although it's a pretty lousy book. It's best quality I think is that it's very short, although there are a few things in there I want to make notes on, and I'm generally in agreement with the idea the philosophy is being made redundant by science. The co-author of The Grand Design, Leonard Mlodinow, is the author of The Drunkard's Walk: How Randomness Rules Our Lives, which I've been meaning to read ever since it came out a few years ago.

[FreakAnimalFinland]

Nicholas Goodrick-Clarke's Occult roots of Nazism

I have this book somewhere in the book shelves, but just while ago got Hitler's Priestess - Savitri Devi - the hindu-aryan myth and neo-nazism by Goodrick-Clarke. Haven't yet stared to read, but waiting to find time for it.

Recent reading has been Alfred Rosenberg "Uutta Eurooppaa kohti" (towards new europe). Found great condition copy for tolerable price. Published back in 1942 in Finland by Otava. Mr. Rosenberg himself collected his speeches and shorter articles to be this Finnish book. I have not found any information that book would exists in other languages, but probably has, simply just disappeared in history? Who knows. If it's only in Finnish, I think there's significant piece of culture here in danger of disappearing. Rosenberg is naturally most famous for "myth of the 20th century" and being one of the ideologist of national socialism. Book would be obviously mandatory reading for anyone who can only associate NS ideology to "holocaust" or much more recent rise of boneheaded street hooligans. Selected writings deal with culture, religion, science, new german uprising, true nature of national socialism, womens role in movement, and all sorts of things. Most writing or speeches goes back to 30's but finally made it to print decade later. In Finland you may have possibility to simply walk to nearest library and ask them to borrow copy of book. I'm sure it is available and I strongly recommend for anyone who is interested in alternative view of humanity and society - beyond capitalism and the shockwaves of french revolution or marxism.

[Andrew McIntosh]

About 300 pages into Dracula. Starting to drag a little, they're assembling their "posse" after Lucy has successfully been destroyed.

The best part of that book is pretty much Harker's diary in the castle and the log of the captain of the ship taking the coffins to England. After that it turns into pure melodrama. I kept thinking if that Van Helsing said "dear madame Mina" one more time I was going to jump into the book and punch him in the face.

The Martian Chronicles rate as one of my favourite books. You're right about the sense of loneliness and melancholy. My personal favourite story is "Way Up In The Middle Of The Air".

[redswordwhiteplough]

Soon finished with Tom Waits' biography


and continuing with Pahuuden anatomia (Anatomy of Evil)

[redswordwhiteplough]

Nicholas Goodrick-Clarke's Occult roots of Nazism

I have this book somewhere in the book shelves, but just while ago got Hitler's Priestess - Savitri Devi - the hindu-aryan myth and neo-nazism by Goodrick-Clarke. Haven't yet stared to read, but waiting to find time for it.

Got it as well, but sadly can't remember anything of it. Should read it again.

[HongKongGoolagong]

Gitta Sereny - Into That Darkness

The last major work of hers that I still hadn't read. I have a strong stomach for unpleasantness but quite literally felt nauseated every few pages - not with the detail so much as with the human interaction with Stangl. The section where in denial mechanism mode he talks in fantasy about saving someone's father is simply painful to contemplate psychologically. Spent over a week putting this down and trying to forget about it before getting through to the devastating final pages. Nazis, child prostitutes, child murderers, what a fantastically miserable writer she was.

The sheer amount of guilt-riddled and very disturbing testimony from those implicated in the four extermination camps only makes the agenda of Holocaust deniers more confusing.

[redswordwhiteplough]