Hans Urs von Balthasar's "Cosmic Liturgy: The Universe According to Saint Maximus the Confessor." Aside from being a rare deep dive into IMO one of the most underrated thinkers of late antiquity/the "Dark Age," is is also one of the most exquisite works on Neoplatonism in general that I've ever seen and is expertly crafted despite very challenging source material. The part on conceptions of mathematics in Christian Neoplatonism is especially good and you can see the foreshadowing of Eriugena and Hegel.

It also has some good coverage of John of Sythopolis (a major early commentator on St. Denis) and St. Denis himself.

Here are some of the pages on number if anyone is interested.

https://ibb.co/q11kHL1
https://ibb.co/4ZDhbyK
https://ibb.co/Hgcb9xh
https://ibb.co/XjYYFbk
https://ibb.co/SnZyd5P
https://ibb.co/MgnKntN

Maximus would famously have his tongue cut out and his writing hand lopped off for refusing to recant on his core ideas, so we're lucky that so much of his writing has survived for us. I believe he is the last thinker of the East to be considered a "Doctor of the Church," by the Latin Church.

The Horde: How the Mongols Changed the World by Marie Favereau

The Horde: How the Mongols Changed the World — Maw

That's something that has always fascinated me. I'll take a look.

First Person Singular, by Haruki Murakami.

There is nothing like coming back to Murakami after a while. Do you still read some of his works, @praxis?

Yes, currently one of his short story collections also, South of the Border, West of the Sun. I like his novels much better so far. Just checked and his new book will be available on November 19th.

:up: :smile:

There is nothing like coming back to Murakami after a while. — javi2541997

As we have discussed previously, I also like Murakami, but it always takes an act of will to get me to start a new one. The way he writes and the things he evokes are just so different from what I'm used to. Those Japanese. Don't get me started on their movies.

Wow, that's interesting though, because Murakami has always been criticised for not being Japanese in the purest aesthetic sense. It takes me a while to turn back to him because his works are very deep. I know I will suffer a big sensation of nostalgia after finishing one of his novels, and I will miss some of the characters. I tend to get very attached to what he writes. I wish I could meet Aomame (1Q84) or Noboru Wataya (The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle) in real life. But I am aware this is impossible, because they only exist in the book, and they belong to fiction, and this makes me feel a weird nostalgia.

When the Sleeper Wakes
by H.G. Wells

The Passenger by Cormac McCarthy

So far this is light hearted and hilarious, I really don't trust it. But it's great.

What else? The man's a seducer of prelates and a suborner of the judiciary. He's a habitual mailcandler and a practicing gelignitionary, a mathematical platonist and a molester of domestic yardfowl. Principally of the dominecker persuasion. A chickenfucker, not to put too fine a point on it.

I really don't trust it. — fdrake

Yes. Never trust Cormac McCarthy. He is ruthless with both his characters and his readers.

Yes. Blood Meridian is my favourite novel. As of recently. I've never been so affected by fiction.