It has been a long, wet winter here in the French countryside. Recently, however, we have finally been blessed with a few days of sunshine, and each new dawn seems to promises warmer temperatures and a slow introduction to spring.
The ducks are paddling in the pond, and a few brave frogs have begun croaking.
Time for a new book, I thought to myself. Why not something breezy, light, and…Russian!
So now…I find myself in the early pages of The Idiot by Fyodor Dostoyevsky.
The novel is incredibly rich in character and dense with story, which is not surprising. Dostoyevsky is considered one of Russia’s great novelists, and one of the world’s great writers.
Tolstoy’s Childhood, Boyhood, Youth is my only other foray into Russian literature (translated into English, of course). The two don’t really invite comparison, as Tolstoy’s first person narrator is less mature–and more immediate and emotional–than Dostoyevsky’s even and objective third person.
I know nothing of the storyline that unfolds in The Idiot, but the scope of the tale and detail of the characters are thus far quite impressive. I’m in for a long read, but I believe a rewarding one.
What are you reading right now?
Looking forward to the conversation…
- BGT
I’ve been slowly reading 500 plus page “The Flight of The Wasp: The Rise, Fall, and Future of America’s Original Ruling Class” by Michael Gross. He goes into the history of these national figures in such a granular and intimate way, I’ve found it intriguing so far.
I get excited and find myself opening other books that I’ve already gotten on my To Read List, and looking forward to reading and finishing:
•The Necklace and Other Stories by French writer Maupassant (in modern english)
•Breaking Intimidation by John Bevere
•and Tim Cook, The Genius Who Took Apple to the Next Level by Leander Kahney
Hi Byron,
Longtime follower, first time commenter. I have to say that I read Old Money Values in early ’24 and it resonated quite strongly with me. Particularly with regard to reading! Since then I’ve read 15 or so books, which may or may not seem like a lot but is more than I had read in the decade prior.
I’m currently reading Meditations by Marcus Aurelius. But I finished Dostoyevsky’s Crime and Punishment earlier this year and I could not agree more about the depth and richness of his books.
Recently, an Orthodox Christian friend of mine recommended Dostoyevsky saying that his books really capture the Orthodox Christian soul. While I’m not Orthodox, I found it to be very insightful in reflecting back on Crime and Punishment.
Happy Reading!
Eric
The Zoo Keeper’s Wife. And then zoos came on the news as our regime’s latest object of fixation. Last year I read The Keeper of Hidden Books which I had never thought about the people who risked their lives to preserve books. I do highly suggest Olga Tokarczuk who won the Nobel Prize in 2018 for literature. I have her Book of Jacob on my nightstand as my next book.
At Byron’s suggestion I recently read A Gentlemen in Moscow by Amor Towles and I thoroughly enjoyed it. Thank you, Byron, for the recommendation. I’m now reading Playworld by Adam Ross. So far it’s very good and, like A Gentleman in Moscow, it’s beautifully written. The narrator is a teenager in New York in the 1970s and I was a teenager in New York in the 1970s, so I probably find it more relatable than some readers would.
The list of books I want to read is long, but I’m always open to suggestions.
‘The Idylls of the King’ by Alfred, Lord Tennyson. I don’t read much poetry, but this is really good. I’m also reading a murder mystery set during the fall of the Roman Republic.
Hard to pick just one—I usually have dozens of books going at once. Lately, I’ve been diving into several books on Japanese woodblock printing.
I am currently reading “An American Beauty” and truly enjoying it. It is about a forgotten true story of Arabella Huntington and her path from poverty to becoming one of the richest women in US in the 1800s. It’s all about survival and the quest for a better life.
Hello Byron, I’ve read two of your books so far, browsed through the whole blog and would like to ask what are ssome of the MUST-read classics of Old Money people – if there is such thing. I’d like to know if you could recommend some of them.
Hi Ana, Thank you for the question. For fiction, I would say that Old Money Guys and Gals get a large helping of Shakespeare and Dickens in school. You’d then want to read Montaigne and the ideas of some Greek philosophers. For history and politics, Tocqueville, Burke, just to have a well-rounded perspective.
I would ask some of our other readers to suggest some authors, titles, and subjects. Good question!
– BGT
Thank you very much!!
Gulag Archipelago volume 2