What are you reading now?

[Megan]

Not related to music, but I am currently reading , Robinson Crusoe , ok, it is a light read over Christmas.

Hope you are all enjoying a wonderful Christmas.

[Quijote]

Not related to music, but I am currently reading , Robinson Crusoe , ok, it is a light read over Christmas.

Hope you are all enjoying a wonderful Christmas.

Thank you Megan. Christmas is good ... so far.
So, you're reading Robinson Crusoe. A deserted island story, no? What single Beethoven work could we send to Robby to help relieve the drudgery of his isolation?

[Quijote]

So, I finally decided on my late Xmas present to myself (which I just ordered via that company of warrior women who were apt to amputate one breast to facilitate shooting their arrows) :

Owen Jander, Beethoven's "Orpheus" Concerto : The Fourth Piano Concerto in Its Cultural Context.

[Megan]

Ha , Ha! Philip, I think Beethoven was a bit detached from society anyway, so he most probably would'nt mind being stranded on a desert Island.
Since Beethoven liked philosophy , I would send him - Kant's Critique of Pure Reason.

[Sorrano]

I've been reading Moby Dick, along with the Patrick O'Brien series that the movie Master and Commander was based on. (Robinson Crusoe is on the to read list....)

[Michael]

I've been reading Moby Dick, ..)

And having a whale of a time? That book was a favourite of mine when I was very young and I can't remember why. It's not an easy read and whole chapters are devoted to skinning whales and extracting blubber and whatever.
However, I fully intend to re-read it. Maybe after I read "Les Miserables" which is also on my "to read" list.

[Michael]

Not related to music, but I am currently reading , Robinson Crusoe , ok, it is a light read over Christmas.

Hope you are all enjoying a wonderful Christmas.

A great book, Megan and not what I would call "light". It is regarded by many as the first "proper" English novel. Defoe was an extraordinary man and he was quite elderly when he wrote "Robinson Crusoe". I am just writing from memory here, but I believe he also wrote a sequel to it.
A few months ago, I read his "Journal of the Plague Year" and it is very hard to believe that it was a work of his (informed) imagination. His influence on late writers was immense.

[Sorrano]

And having a whale of a time? That book was a favourite of mine when I was very young and I can't remember why. It's not an easy read and whole chapters are devoted to skinning whales and extracting blubber and whatever.
However, I fully intend to re-read it. Maybe after I read "Les Miserables" which is also on my "to read" list.

Some day I should read Les Miserables, but I do have a massive reading list right now. I did read Moby Dick when I was a kid, as well, but most of it went right over my head. Now I find it is very enjoyable, although not as action packed as a kid might want. It's interesting to compare Melville's analysis of things to do with whales with what we've discovered since then. He was not too far off.

[Quijote]

I thought you'd rise to the bait! I couldn't really care what wing he leans on if he talks sense or at least raises interesting points. Be interested to hear your reaction after reading!

Other Scruton books on my wish list :

Beauty, Oxford University Press, March 2009;
Modern Culture, Continuum International Publishing Group, February 2007;
Understanding Music : Philosophy and Interpretation, Continuum International Publishing Group, June 2009 (a follow up to his "Aesthetics" - see above);
I Drink Therefore I Am : A Philosopher's Guide to Wine, Continuum International Publishing Group, September 2009.

A busy freelance writer, our Roger is. Still, he has to earn his keep.

I think I shall tackle first the "Aesthetics" (I have already had a few 'inoculations'), then "Understanding Music" (the follow up). When I have had enough of Roger's Scrotum, I shall order his "Drinking Guide".

[Quijote]

I am still waiting for my Owen Jander, Beethoven's "Orpheus" Concerto (see above), though it's delivery is imminent.

In the meantime, I received today the following :

The Danger of Music and Other Anti-Utopian Essays, Richard Taruskin, University of California Press, 2009.

This is going to be a joy to read. As will Scruton. Both writers will provide ample material for debate on this forum.

[Quijote]

Note to Peter : you should get the Taruskin mentioned above; you will find he shares some of Hallawell's (forgive spelling, if wrong) ideas, though expresses them more eloquently and less rabidly.

[Quijote]

The Owen Jander's "Beethoven's Orpheus Concerto" has arrived! And mighty pleased I am, I can tell you. I may have to go into "radio silence" for a few days/weeks as I digest its content. This will no doubt please most of you.
I'll be bach ...

[Michael]

The Owen Jander's "Beethoven's Orpheus Concerto" has arrived! And mighty pleased I am, I can tell you. I may have to go into "radio silence" for a few days/weeks as I digest its content. This will no doubt please most of you.
I'll be bach ...

Is it about a green super-villain planning to take over the British Museum - or am I thinking of another book with a similiar title ...........?

[Peter]

I am still waiting for my Owen Jander, Beethoven's "Orpheus" Concerto (see above), though it's delivery is imminent.

In the meantime, I received today the following :

The Danger of Music and Other Anti-Utopian Essays, Richard Taruskin, University of California Press, 2009.

This is going to be a joy to read. As will Scruton. Both writers will provide ample material for debate on this forum.

Indeed but that will have to wait a while as I have plenty of other reading material to get through first - at the moment it's Tolstoy (again!) Kreutzer Sonata. Also very busy with teaching and updating the main site which is being given a complete makeover and new design - will post about that when it's finished.

[Quijote]

Is it about a green super-villain planning to take over the British Museum - or am I thinking of another book with a similiar title ...........?

Er, no. The full title is as follows :

Beethoven's "Orpheus" Concerto : the Fourth Piano Concerto in its Cultural Context, Owen Jander, North American Beethoven Studies No.5, Pendragon Press (NY) 2009.

Nothing to do with green, villains or museums. Unless I have seriously misread the publisher's blurb.