Reading Journeys?

[Paulclem]

It sounds a bit pretentious - reading journey - , but I can't think how to describe it otherwise. I'm not talking about formal studies and set teaxts, but the more organic choice you might make at certains times based upon what you read and what it leads or inspires you to.

For example I bought Stalingrad by Anthony Beevor, about the defeat of the the German 6th Army and the turn of the tide of war. This led me to Vassily Grossmann, which was recommended by Amazon as a book which was ordered with Stalingrad. They were both great books - Beevor's history was comprehensive, and Grossmann's gave me an insight into the thinking of the Red Army soldiers I hadn't had before.

In the course of that reading, Tolstoy's war and Piece was referred to, which I then determined to read. I decided to prepare for it though by reading 1812 which is a history of Napoleon's invasion of Russia. This was a good move and helped with the context of War and Peace when I got to it. Through the course of reading W&P, I also read Berlin by Anthony Beevor which was the next logical book to read.

It was during this period that I discovered Philip Kerr, a British crime writer, who wrote Berlin Noir with his character Bernie Gunther - policeman, reluctant SS Officer, Private Detective, Soldier, spy and hotel policeman. The books are set in pre wartime and wartime Berlin and the post war world. I've enjoyed them so much that I've read all his Bernie Gunther novels.

The great joy was how these books meshed and informed one another. It added that much more to the experience and created a literary network that I tapped into. It was an unlikely combination of History, crime, autobiography and Russian Literature.

So, what interesting reading journeys have you been on?

[Gilliatt Gurgle]

I am about to embark on one of those journeys soon, once I complete Dante's "Inferno". The journey will take me to the obvious destination being Virgil's "Aeneid". Actually, this would be considered a return trip, since I had read "The Aeneid" perhaps 2 to 3 years ago, but at that time I had no clue about the Inferno.

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[ralfyman]

I start from what professional critics recommend as there are too many works to consider, and from there look at any one work from the list and connect it to others. The best lists are usually those found in anthologies not only about Western literature but also works from South Asia, Africa, Central and South America, etc.

[kasie]

I had an 'India' phase a few years ago: it started with The Far Pavilions, progressed through The Jewel in the Crown (and its follow-on Staying On), Heat and Dust, some of HHR Keating's Inspector Ghote stories, eventually arriving at Kim and Passage to India. Kipling was a revelation - he was definitely 'off the curriculum' while I was studying so I had never read anything other than The Jungle Books but I went on to read several of his short stories and some of his verse. I happened to mention that I was reading Rumer Godden's Kingfishers Catch Fire to the man I was working with at the time, an old 'India Hand', though I didn't know it, and he went all misty eyed and said 'Ah, Kashmir...' and proceded to open up and tell me all sorts of things about the country and his early career there: his love of the country and Godden's writing made me want to go there but so far, haven't made it. Later I browsed in 'proper' history books to fiind out more about the Raj. It's a classic example of starting with something Second Division and ending up in the Premier League of books, I think: I often remember it when people deride reading anything less than top rate literature, you never know where it will lead.

btw,Paul - if you enjoyed books set in the aftermath of WWII, you might enjoy Joseph Kanon's The Good German - forget the film, it did the book less than justice. And Len Deighton's Game Set and Match et al might interest you, though it's a while since I read them and they may have dated somewhat now.

I'm into Battle of Britain period now - I have plenty of historical accounts including first-hand memoirs but I can't find any quality fiction. Any recommendations, please?

[Venerable Bede]

I'm currently on a reading journey of Dark Age Britain. I started off by reading Bernard Cornwell's Saxon series, which got me really interested in the time period. Then I moved on to his excellent Warlord Chronicles set in the close of the 5th century and dealing with a historical Arthur. From these fiction books I moved on to reading a lot of primary texts from the Anglo-Saxon period including Beowulf. Now I have been reading through Bede's Ecclesiastical History which is a very good historical documentation of the history of England up until about the 8th century. And finally, I picked up Blood Eye, a viking novel by Giles Kristian, yesterday and if I like it I will buy the rest of the series which will likely lead me to yet more books in this field. I don't think this reading journey will end too soon.

[Paulclem]

It's a classic example of starting with something Second Division and ending up in the Premier League of books, I think: I often remember it when people deride reading anything less than top rate literature, you never know where it will lead.

btw,Paul - if you enjoyed books set in the aftermath of WWII, you might enjoy Joseph Kanon's The Good German - forget the film, it did the book less than justice. And Len Deighton's Game Set and Match et al might interest you, though it's a while since I read them and they may have dated somewhat now.

I'm into Battle of Britain period now - I have plenty of historical accounts including first-hand memoirs but I can't find any quality fiction. Any recommendations, please?

I agree with that Kasie - reading leading to literature. I've seen the derision on the HP book threads, and I often reflect that for a number of years when I was a teen I read pulp horror and little else. It's a strange and proud sentiment that completely ignores the fact that no-one stays the same, and that their reading develops.

Thanks for the recommendations. I've seen The Good German - I didn't think it was too bad. I'll certainly keep an eye out for it. Another one I should read is Goodbye to Berlin. Funnily enough I've got a Len Deighton ready to read when I feel like it. (I slot thriller and crime books inbetween my more serious reads).

I don't know any good Battle of Britain period books i'm afraid. I don't know why, but my interest in the war tends towards the conflict in Europe and Russia.

[Kore]

Some time ago "Bloodlands: Europe between Hitler and Stalin" by Timothy Snyder came out. It might interst you. It focuses on Eastern Europe. I've also heard a lot of good reviews of Orlando Figes's books (e.x.The Whisperes: Private life in Stalin's Russia). If you're read Grossman already you might also read his "Everything Flows". I really enjoyed it. I have "Life and Fate" on my shelf, too, but I haven't read it yet.

[Paulclem]

Some time ago "Bloodlands: Europe between Hitler and Stalin" by Timothy Snyder came out. It might interst you. It focuses on Eastern Europe. I've also heard a lot of good reviews of Orlando Figes's books (e.x.The Whisperes: Private life in Stalin's Russia). If you're read Grossman already you might also read his "Everything Flows". I really enjoyed it. I have "Life and Fate" on my shelf, too, but I haven't read it yet.

I've got Life and Fate on my future to read list. The Bloodlands book sounds interesting.

My wife has recommended Orlando Figes, and we have The Whisperers, as she used it in her history studies. Thanks for the recommendations. :D

[kasie]

I have Figes' A People's Tragedy - The Russian Revolution 1891-1924 - haven't started it yet, it's Mighty Tome and Life, the Universe and Everything is getting in the way of serious reading at the moment (ie I'm trying to sell my house and move). I covered this period in A Level History years ago - the world has changed somewhat in the intervening years so I'm looking forward to reading a post-Communist take on the period. And speaking of reading journeys - the school studies led me to Dr Zhivago and from there to other Russian writers, not only the greats but recently to a couple of interesting crime writers: R N Morris who has taken Dostoievsky's detective Porfiry Petrovitch from Crime and Punishment and created more cases for him, making not a bad fist of parodying Dostoievsky's style while he's about it (I've read A Gentle Axe and A Vengeful Longing so far); and Boris Akunin which is the pseudonym of a Russian writer (but I have to admit I don't know who!) whose books, I suspect, are rather more than the off-beat investigation stories that are on the surface - the first is The Winter Queen. It used to be Comedy that satirised/analysed the State of the Nation, now I wonder if it is the Crime novel.

[Lokasenna]

Not perhaps a literary journey, but my teenage reading of Nietzsche lead me to have a look at Richard Wagner, which in turn introduced me to the fantastic world of music. I probably would never have discovered it, or come to it much later in life, were it not for Nietzsche.

Also, my life-consuming interest in Old Norse literature started with a casual but powerful encounter with Old English poetry (when at the time I had looked at very little medieval literature), and from there it was all go!

So, two major loves of my life were arrived at through a progression of literature!

[missmeadowsweet]

Since about three years ago I have been on a perpetual journey to learn about the Titanic. It waxes and wanes depending on what else I am doing, but it's always there in the back of my mind, and I am always interested in finding out more.

It started with a random book I picked up at the library. It was called something like "882 1/2 Questions and Answers About the Titanic" (since that is how many feet long the ship was). I was fascinated and immediately hooked. This book led to singling out one particular passenger with a particularly fascinating story. I have done fairy extensive research on him. I found out about the Encyclopedia Titanica which gave me a lot of valuable info. I then did a report on this person. I wrote out his story (as much as I could find out of it) and found pics of him and made a poster about him and his incredible life story. About a year after this I was fortunate enough to be able to visit his gravestone in Pennsylvania which was an amazing experience, because I felt like the journey to find out about him had come full circle.

I still wasn't satisfied, however. I have since read Lord's "A Night to Remember" and want to read a new book about the Titanic called "The Band that Played On". I have also contacted this person's living relatives. If anyone has any other suggestions for books on this subject I would love to hear them!

[Paulclem]

I like the way it can develop so that it leavs you freeto pursue any aspect you like. I could follow my own with a re-reading of Solzhenitsyn's The Gulag Archiplago, which I read in my early twenties, he was one of the army officers arrested in the period before operation Barbarossa was launched against Russia, or I could go with Life and fate as has been recommended to me, or Orlando Figes, or another account of the war. Spoilt for choice really. There also happens to be a documentary on the war made from the Soviet perspective on at the moment.