Last Book You Bought and Why

[Lioness_Heart]

Cent ans de solitude - Gabriel Garcia Marquez.

I bought it because I was looking for another novel of his, Love in the time of cholera, and I didn't find it, i find this one instead and when I read the introduction, I was immediately seduced, I am enjoying it.

What is his writing like? I've been toying with reading some of his work for a while but for some reason never do. Would you reccommend him?

[papayahed]

Sin in the Second City, Madams, Ministers, Playboys, and the battle for America's Soul - Karen Abbott

I was in Target rolling by the books when this one jumped out at me, it's the true story of a brothel in Chicago at the turn of the last century.

[Idril]

I was at Barnes and Noble, waiting for my sister so we could have a cup of coffee and I was browsing and I picked up The Stranger by Albert Camus. I just finished The Tree of Man by Peter White and I'm due to go on a trip in a couple days so I didn't want to start a book I would finish on the trip and therefore, have to pack an extra book so I thought this one would be perfect, I can finish it in 2 nights then begin a new book right before I leave, thus negating the reason for packing a second book...see? I'm always thinking.

[stlukesguild]

Last "book"? Lately I've been adding to my library so fast that I can't begin to keep up. Most recently I've added:

Blake: A Biography- Peter Ackroyd
J.M.W. Turner- Peter Ackroyd
The Book of Psalms- Robert Alter tr.
The Selected Poems of Tu Fu- David Hinton tr.
The Classic Theater: Vol. I: 6 Italian Plays- ed. Eric Bentley
Collected Poems- Wendell Berry
Selected Poems- Arthur Hugh Clough
Salambo- Gustave Flaubert
East Window: The Asian Translations- W.S. Merwin tr.
One Hundred Poems from the Japanese- Kenneth Rexroth tr.
One Hundred Poems from the Chinese- Kenneth Rexroth tr.
Narrow Road to the Interior- Matsuo Basho, Sam Hamill tr.

and along with these I've added several art books:

Historic India- L. Schullberg
The First Cities- D. Hambin
Rembrandt: The Richard Harris Collection- catalog of works in an exhibition
La Basilica di San Marco- Diego Valeri
The Northmen- Thomas Francek
Early Islam- Desmond Stewart
Great Paintings from the Barnes Foundation- various authors/Philadelphia Museum of Art
Gods, Guardians and Lovers: Temple Sculptures from North India A.D. 700-1200- ed. V. Desai
The Golden Age of English Manuscript Painting 1200-1500- Marks and Morgan
Masterpieces of Illumination- Walther and Wolf

Obviously, I'm very ill. Seriously afflicted with Bibliophilia.

[mickitaz]

Books I have actually bought include "The Counte of Monte Cristo" by Alexandre Dumas, "Firestorm" by Rachel Caine, "Thin Air" by Rachel Caine.


I have also recently "inherited" a pile of books from a friend of mine who is an English Professor. Among those are The Oddessy and Collections of Robert Frost. There are many, many more. However, since the thread indicated only those that were "bought", I covered that in its entirety.

[Drkshadow03]

The Book of Psalms- Robert Alter tr.

What made you decide to buy a separate book of Psalms? How is it different than translations found within Bibles that made you want to buy it?

[Virgil]

Stopped at the bookstore at lunchtime to kill a half hour or so and wound up finding and buying The Death of Virgil by Hermann Broch. It was highly recommended by Antiquarian, so yes Anti I bought it. I wonder if we will have a German book to pick this year in the Book Club Forum. If we do I'll be nominating this one. Here's something on it: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Death_of_Virgil.

[stlukesguild]

What made you decide to buy a separate book of Psalms? How is it different than translations found within Bibles that made you want to buy it?

The King James Bible is unquestionably the best English translation of the entire Bible. The entire work was translated into exquisite English prose... however, the Psalms, along with other portions of the Bible, were not written as prose, but as Hebrew poetry. The King James translation of the Psalms are quite effective as prose... but only in a few instances, such as the beloved 23rd Psalm ("The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want...") does the translation verge upon the musicality of poetry. This was recognized almost immediately after the King James Bible was published. Any number of important British poets tried their hands at translating the Psalms into English poetry including Robert Burns, John Milton, Philip Sidney, Henry Howard of Surrey, Thomas Wyatt, Christopher Smart, Thomas Campion, George Herbert, Mary Sidney Herbert, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Henry Vaughan, Thomas Carew, etc... These translations vary to a greater or lesser extent from each other and the KJV and they vary by degree of freedom in interpreting the Hebrew original. I have several translations of the Psalms including that of Philip Sidney and his sister, Mary Herbert, Countess of Pembroke née Mary Sidney, Christopher Smart's, and an anthology entitled A Poet's Book of Poetry, in which the editor selected from among the available translations what he felt was the best poetic translation of each individual work.

My most recent version, the Robert Alter translation, was selected because I was more than impressed with Alter's translations of the Pentateuch or the Five Books of Moses. Alter is a writer/scholar of Hebrew and Biblical Studies. In his translations of the first 5 books of the Old Testament, he sought to create a translation that captured the rhythm and structure of the Hebrew original, while adhering as closely to meaning or intentions of the original Hebrew. Alter speaks of his translations of the Psalms as being just one more possibility. He draws an allusion to the Jewish tradition of Midrash of Biblical commentary, noting that the Jewish reader in the synagogue sees and engages with the text in a manner quite different from the Christian tradition of the single "true" translation, be it the Latin Vulgate, the KJV, etc...The standard rabbinical Bible has a small central area of the biblical text in the original Hebrew. Flanking this are two different Aramaic translations, and commentaries by Abraham Ibn Ezra, among others. These engage in a sort of running debate or dialog. This, in a manner, is not unlike the dialog one experiences with various different translations of any central work of literature: Dante, Homer, Virgil... and this may be the best option after mastering the work in the original language.

There are certainly great differences between the various translations of the Psalms. If we take a single Psalm at random... here I'll use the famous 23rd... you can see the difference in interpretation:

King James-

The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want.
He maketh me to lie down in green pastures: he leadeth me beside the still waters.
He restoreth my soul: he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name's sake.
Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me.
Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies: thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over.
Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life: and I will dwell in the house of the LORD for ever.

Sir Philip Sidney-

1. The lord the lord my shepheard is,
And so can never I
Tast misery.

2. He rests me in green pasture his.
By waters still and sweet 5
He guides my feet.

3. He me revives, leads me the way
Which righteousness doth take,
For his name’s sake.

4. Yea tho I should thro vallys stray 10
Of death’s dark shade I will
No whit feare ill.
For thou Deare lord Thou me besetst,
Thy rodd and Thy staffe be
To comfort me. 15

5. Before me Thou a table setst,
Ev’en when foe’s envious ey
Doth it espy.
With oyle Thou dost anoynt my head,
And so my cup dost fill 20
That it doth spill.

6. Thus thus shall all my days be fede,
This mercy is so sure
It shall endure,
And long yea long abide I shall, 25
There where the Lord of all
Doth hold his hall.

George Sandys, A Paraphrase Upon the Psalmes of David (1636)

The Lord my Shepheard. me his Sheep
Will from consuming Famine keep.
He fosters me in fragrant Meads,
By softly-sliding waters leads;
My Soule refresht with pleasant juice: 5
And lest they should his Name traduce,
Then when I wander in the Maze
Of tempting Sinne, informes my waies.
No terrour can my courage quaile
Though shaded in Deaths gloomy vale: 10
By thy Protection fortifi’d:
Thy Staffe my Stay, thy Rod my Guide.
My table thou hast furnished;
Powr’d pretious Odors on my head:
My Mazer flowes with pleasant Wine, 15
While all my Foes with Envie pine.
Thy Mercy and Beneficence
Shall ever joine in my Defence;
Who in thy House will sacrifice,
Till aged Time close up mine eyes. 20

Richard Crashaw, Steps to the Temple (1646) (A very free translation)

Happy me! o happy sheepe!
Whom my God vouchsafes to keepe
Even my God, even he it is,
That points me to these wayes of blisse;
On whose pastures cheerefull spring, 5
All the yeare doth sit and sing,
And rejoycing smiles to see
Their greene backs were his liverie:
Pleasure sings my soule to rest,
Plenty weares me at her brest, 10
Whose sweet temper teaches me
Nor wanton, nor in want to be.
At my feet the blubb’ring Mountaine
Weeping, melts into a Fountaine,
Whose soft silver-sweating streames 15
Make high Noone forget his beames:
When my waiward breath is flying,
Hee calls home my soule from dying,
Strokes and tames my rabid Griefe,
And does woe me into life: 20
When my simple weaknesse strayes,
(Tangled in forbidden wayes)
Hee (my Shepheard) is my Guide,
Hee’s before me, on my side,
And behind me, he beguiles 25
Craft in all her knotty wiles:
Hee expounds the giddy wonder
Of my weary steps, and under
Spreads a Path cleare as the Day,
Where no churlish rub saies nay 30
To my joy-conducted Feet,
Whil’st they Gladly goe to meet
Grace and peace, to meet new laies
Tun’d to my great Shepherds praise.
Come now all yee terrors, sally 35
Muster forth into the valley,
Where triumphant darknesse hovers
With a sable wing, that covers
Brooding Horror. Come thou Death,
Let the damps of thy dull Breath 40
Overshadow even the shade,
And make darknesse selfe afraid;
There my feet, even there shall find
Way for a resolved mind.
Still my Shepheard, still my God 45
Thou art with me, Still thy rod,
And thy staffe, whose influence
Gives direction, gives defence.
At the whisper of thy Word
Crown’d abundance spreads my Bord: 50
While I feast, my foes doe feed
Their rank malice not their need,
So that with the self-same bread
They are starv’d, and I am fed.
How my head in ointment swims! 55
How my cup orelooks her Brims!
So, even so still may I move
By the Line of thy deare Love;
Still may thy sweet mercy spread
A shady Arme above my head, 60
About my Paths, so shall I find
The faire Center of my mind
Thy Temple, and those lovely walls
Bright ever with a beame that falls
Fresh from the pure glance of thine eye, 65
Lighting to Eternity.
There I’le dwell for ever, there
Will I find a purer aire
To feed my Life with, there I’le sup
Balme and Nectar in my Cup, 70
And thence my ripe soule will I breath
Warme into the Armes of Death.

Christopher Smart-

The shepherd Christ from heav'n arriv'd,
My flesh and spirit feeds;
I shall not therefore be depriv'd
Of all my nature needs.

As slop'd against the glist'ning beam
The velvet verdure swells,
He keeps, and leads me by the stream
Where consolation dwells.

My soul He shall from sin restore,
And her free pow'rs awake,
In paths of heav'nly truth to soar,
For love and mercy's sake.

Yea, tho' I walk death's gloomy vale,
The dread I shall disdain;
For Thou art with me, lest I fail,
To check me and sustain.

Thou shalt my plenteous board appoint
Before the braving foe;
Thine oil and wine my head anoint,
And make my goblet flow.

But great still Thy love and grace
Shall all my life attend;
And in Thine hallow'd dwelling place
My knees shall ever bend.

from Robert Alter's translation-

The Lord is my shepherd
I shall not want.
In grass meadows He makes me lie down,
by quiet waters guides me.
My life He brings back.
He leads me on pathways of justice.
for his name's sake.
Though I walk in the vale of death's shadow,
I fear no harm,
for You are with me...

In this case the KJV almost has the advantage... in that the 23rd is certainly one of the most poetic translations of the entire King James Psalms. It also has the advantage of almost certain familiarity to anyone in the English-speaking world. The examples show how various poets attempted to infuse the musicality of poetry into their own translations and I certainly find these other interpretations a necessity along with the KJV prose versions.

Beyond the Psalms there are some brilliant translations of various other Biblical books. Stephen Mitchell offers an interesting interpretation of the Book of Job with more stress upon the poetic fury of the work... and his commentary comparing the work with Kafka is quite intriguing. Ariel and Chana Bloch also offer a lovely translation of the Song of Solomon.

[JBI]

All those translations are an improvement on the original. King David, or whoever wrote the Psalms wasn't the best poet. Seriously, the language isn't that poetic in the Hebrew original, and it gains, rather than loses, in translation.

[aeroport]

The Call of Cthulhu and Other Weird Stories - H.P. Lovecraft
I lent out my old Lovecraft book and never saw it again, so I was driven to this.

[papillon123]

My recent purchases included
The Peppered Moth - Margaret Drabble
Kitchen - Banana Yoshimoto
The God of Small Things - Arundhati Roy
How I love library book sales and thrift shops!

[coolestnerdever]

I went to the book store about a week ago and picked up

Great Expectations- Charles Dickens
Anna Karenina- Leo Tolstoy
The Scarlet Letter- Nathaniel Hawthorne
Pride and Prejudice- Jane Austen

I went a little trigger happy, haha.

[kasie]

Last "book"? Lately I've been adding to my library so fast that I can't begin to keep up. Most recently I've added:

Blake: A Biography- Peter Ackroyd
J.M.W. Turner- Peter Ackroyd
The Book of Psalms- Robert Alter tr.

Obviously, I'm very ill. Seriously afflicted with Bibliophilia.

How do you get on with Peter Ackroyd, STL? I can't take to him, myself. Heard him speak a few years ago, mostly about what was then his latest book, the one about London - the audience was made up mostly of historians or, like me, people who were interested in history but not academically versed in the subject. Ackroyd picked up on the general disapproval very quickly, raced through his talk and beat a hasty retreat before anyone could ask questions.

Thank you so much, btw, for those different versions of Psalm 23 - I enjoyed reading them and feel inspired to seek some more 'translations'.

[Argus]

Putas Asesinas by Roberto Bolaño

Gilead by Marilynne Robinson

I read a quote attributed to Bolaño, "If you want to understand an author, translate him." I translated three of the stories in Putas Asesinas and I now understand that he is hard to translate.

Gilead is a delight.

[Loike]

I finished my A-level exams last Thursday, so on Friday I went to Waterstone's and bought a copy of The Magus by John Fowles in celebration. And I also bought Charlotte Bronte's The Professor. Now when I pick them up I feel happy. Haha. .