Books not to read in lockdown
The White Plague - Frank Herbert.
In the "I don't like sci-fi" thread I mentioned the above title as not being an appropriate read in a pandemic, a bit obvious given the title. But I wondered which good book, it has to be a good book, would you recommend not be read until we are out of this crisis?
Books can be from any genre.
In the "I don't like sci-fi" thread I mentioned the above title as not being an appropriate read in a pandemic, a bit obvious given the title. But I wondered which good book, it has to be a good book, would you recommend not be read until we are out of this crisis?
Books can be from any genre.
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AFZ
In early January, a friend gave me a copy of Laura Spinney’s Pale Rider, a book about the Spanish Flu, as she knew I was interested in the subject - I haven’t summoned up the courage to read it yet. I have recently bought Catharine Arnold’s Pandemic 1918 though, so I obviously think I will be up to it at some point.
I'll get me coat...
I had a lively discussion with some friends about this: one of them has been reading Emily St. John's Mandel's Station Eleven, which is set about 20 years after a devastating plague has wiped out much of humanity, and has been highly recommended to me as being full of post-apocalyptic hope and beauty. I'm not sure I have the mental energy to read it right now though.
I prefer reading about past plagues, of which many good literary examples came up on the other thread.
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/31933102-gather-the-daughters
Thank you.
Station Eleven is now on the kindle.
I like your theory, though. Maybe both are right...
Canterbury Tales? (OK, I'm cheating a bit there as not all the tales are meant to be funny) Jane Austen? Marriage of Figaro? The entire works of Gilbert and Sullivan? Lysistrata? Aesop's tales?
I too studied Tess for year 12 English and apart from being very confused about how the rustling of leaves leads to pregnancy, also was very displeased with Hardy. A few years ago I decided to give him one more chance with Jude the Obscure. However never finished it and decided my original displeasure with the author was entirely warranted.
Me too (although it was GCSE by my day). It has the most implausible plot in the world - all his sheep happen to fall off a cliff so he goes looking for work and goes past a farm which happens to be on fire. Said farm happens to belong to a woman who once refused to marry him. It is also unremittingly depressing from start to finish. I've never read Hardy since.
It does indeed depend upon the production. Our cable arts channel here showed the Globe Theatre productions. Several of them, especially the comedies, were spoiled by the cast shouting the lines rather than projecting their voices. I realise that there is no amplification in the theatre, but the lack of modulation spoiled those plays for me.
And yes - they are better performed than read. When we did Julius Ceasar at school it was the second read before I realised that he had been killed. That is how bady I get them.
Heckling bt the crowd at Globe productions is part of the re-creation of how the plays would have been received in Shakespeare's time. That the crowds react is intentional.
Having taught Julius Caesar for several years, I have to feel that this is at least partly a failure on your teacher's part.
Absolutely. At the very least, read them aloud. Reading aloud in the classroom isn't too bad a way to get at Shakespeare's plays, but I'd always recommend seeing them performed as well. In general I'm not a fan of "modernizations" although I did quite enjoy Baz Luhrmann's Romeo and Juliet - not that I'd recommend it as an introduction to the play.
It is a wonderful and very moving book which deserves to be better known in English speaking circles. I believe Italian schoolchildren are put off by it being the invariable Great Italian Novel and set text.
On topic, is Stephen King's, "The Stand," where I first heard of the CDC and wanted to work there. He has posted Chapter Eight for anyone who wants an example of how plagues spread.The Stand excerpt.
I'm not questioning the crowd reaction, but rather the way in which the cast delivered the lines, especially when compared with other productions from the same venue.
If it's available, the Isango Ensemble production of Venus and Adonis was incredible (and their Mysteries are wonderful too).
Loathed it. Luhrmann is vulgar beyond description.
I liked that too. (Shakespeare was vulgar in his time.)
One of the things Luhrmann does, which a lot of modern dress theatrical productions miss, is that he has fun drawing attention to the bits where he's modernised something.