read any good books lately...

Hinduism and Buddhism + Christaian and Eastern Philosophy of Art by Ananda Kentish Coomaraswamy.

sleeper wrote: Recently finished Stephen Donaldson's Fatel Revenant, book 2 in the Last Chrinicles of Thomas Covonant. Absolutely brilliant, as good as any of the original trilogy.

Edited by glass house - March 13 2008 at 11:59

I just reread all the novels of Gustav Meyrink, "The Golem", The Green Face", "Walpurgisnacht", "The White Dominican" and "The Angel of the West Window". I recommend them all, especially "The Golem", "Walpurgisnacht" and "The Angel of the West Window", his final masterpiece. All very spooky novels, occasionally with lots of humour too, especially "Walpurgisnacht", the first chapter of which is a masterpiece for the combination of comedy and horror in a way only Meyrink could do. And I am not speaking of the kind of "humour" of splatter movies, where a chopped-off head lands in a dog bowl or the likes. The way he depicts the senile noblemen and -women of Prague is timeless satire of the finest. Who else could think of sentences like "Konstantin Elsenwanger hatte sich wimmernd auf die Knie geworfen, das Gesicht in den Sitzpolstern seines Lehnstuhls vergraben, und betete, in den gefalteten Händen noch ein gebratenes Hühnerbein, das Vaterunser." ("Konstantin Elsenwanger had thrown himself whimpering on his knees, his face buried in the seat cushions of his armchair, and prayed "Our Father", in his folded hands still a fried chicken drumstick ").

Edited by BaldFriede - March 20 2008 at 09:17

Mere Christianity by C.S. Lewis.  One of the most impressive, logical discussions of religious thought I've ever read.  I've known about the book for a long time but had no idea how intelligently persuasive an argument he was able to formulate in such a small book.  I am blown away.

Anthony Bourdain's  The Nasty Bits: Collected Varietal Cuts, Usable Trim, Scraps and Bones

The World Without Us -- Alan Weisman.

Excellent read, Christine.  I wish I could read German, because I'd love to read it in its original language.  Which translation have you got?

James wrote: Excellent read, Christine.  I wish I could read German, because I'd love to read it in its original language.  Which translation have you got?

Thanks. It's translation is by Stanley Corngold. I know what you mean. I remember, I was trying to translate the first chapter of a novel by Camus, & I compared it to the English translation by someone else.I realized that a lot got lost between translations. Have any suggestions?

Thanks. I'll look into it as soon as I'm done reading the edition I'm reading now because they don't have a bilingual version at my school. I love this thread!

Magic in Ancient Egypt by Christian Jacq...