It has very extensive commentary, which is very good. . Sample page:
Artscroll is the Orthodox shul version.

I sometimes just read a few paragraphs at random and marvel. — Tom Storm

Geez, now I’ll have to read it again and find out if I can see what you’re seeing.

Yeah, but did you care he died, like were you at all invested in him as a character, or was it just pretty prose? — Hanover

Not really, no. I like the way Tom describes his experience, that the story's enchantment lies in how it's told.

I think it's my favourite novel, and every time I read it, it's a different, richer, more elegiac book. For me, the story's enchantment lies in how it's told; the characters and the plot are secondary. Nevertheless, I totally understand the man-child James Gatz, putting on wealth and class in order to catch his girl. FSF's writing for me is a blissful aesthetic experience. I sometimes just read a few paragraphs at random and marvel. Now, I find myself often doing the same with other writers like Bellow, Nabokov , Barth and TC Boyle. — Tom Storm

Quite persuasive. I might try it again. I don’t feel comfortable on this “Great Gatsby is overrated” bandwagon. Although, even if it’s great, naming it as the greatest novel of all time has got to be an overrating. (I’m referring to the list mentioned by @Baden)

I do like Nabokov and Barth very much.

Quite persuasive. I might try it again. — Jamal

Is this really a thing? I mean I get how tastes can change over time, but can it happen by persuasion? Like, this wine is delicious now that you point out it has hints of cinnamon.

I suppose if you learned something you didn't know that made the book meaningful (like did you know it had to do with American vacuous excess? No, I didn't realize that, so now I like it because it feeds into my bias about America, or some such (hah!)) you could better appreciate it then.

But that's not what happened here. You agreed to reconsider on his arguments from subjective taste alone.

I'm not going to allow a pro Gatsby rebellion to take place without a fight.

The answer is simple: I read it years ago and my taste has changed, so instead of continuing to say I don't like it I ought to see if maybe I do like it, because Tom is wise.

The answer is simple: I read it years ago and my taste has changed, so instead of continuing to say I don't like it I ought to see if maybe I do like it, because Tom is wise. — Jamal

You're right. I feel like shit now. Just read and hopefully enjoy.

I think what I secretly want is to read it again and have my previous opinion confirmed, but this time backed up by greater knowledge and penetrating analysis.

Facing East in Winter by Rowan Williams. It's a philosophical treatment of the doctrines in Orthodox Christianity, primarily those in the Philokalia, as read through its most cited contributor, Saint Maximus the Confessor.

I have been looking for a book like this to recommend for a while, one that can lay out the philosophical aspects of Eastern thought in a clear and accessible manner. Von Balthasar's Cosmic Liturgy on Maximus is fantastic, but it is quite technical, and at times abstruse, and doesn't do as much to connect the theoretical to the practical as it might. But one of the defining features of Eastern thought is the way the practical deeply informs the theoretical.

Edit: only the introduction of this book is accessible and it is actually quite challenging and presupposes as a depth of knowledge in Orthodox thought and contemporary Continental philosophy to really get it all.

The Lathe of Heaven -- Ursula Le Guin

Introduction to Biosemiotics - Edited by Marcello Barbieri

I was recently persuing this thread by @Streetlight : https://thephilosophyforum.com/discussion/comment/128485

Which involves a very high level debate between @fdrake and @apokrisis that made me very aware of my ignorance of the depths of certain concepts that relate to my research interests. This book is helping to fill that gap.

De Veritate by Lord Herbert of Cherbury

I was recently persuing this thread by Streetlight : — Baden

I do miss @streetlight. Every so often I find myself going back and rereading some of the things he did.

How are you finding The Lonely Man of Faith? Would you recommend it?

Me too.

On the Mode of Existence of Technical Objects: Gilbert Simondon

I very much like Bernard Stiegler's approach to technics and he was highly influenced by Simondon. So, back to the source here.

How are you finding The Lonely Man of Faith? Would you recommend it? — BitconnectCarlos

It's good. It's heavy on Western philosophy which is unusual for a head of an Orthodox yeshiva. It also relies upon biblical metaphor, which gives it greater appeal than more strict literal readings would (although no doubt the Rav is a strict believer).

In sum, the two creation stories reveal two different Adams, the first a scientific acheiver and builder, the second an internally driven person seeking meaning. Man is both Adams, but society values only the former, resulting in lonliness, with meaning given no value.

Truth and Predication. Donald Davidson 's last book.

Truth and Predication. Donald Davidson 's last book. — Banno

Interesting.

What is really interesting (more than probably the book you are currently reading) is that this could be the first time I see you posting in this thread; cool! It is good to know what Banno is reading.

It is good to know what Banno is reading. — javi2541997

Agreed. Expect some forthcoming Davidson threads, which will no doubt be very interesting.

Well, thanks.

My fourth post here, but not for a while.

But since you showed interest, also reading Norman's The reluctant Beetle, Frankopan's The Earth Transformed, New Scientist How to think about Consciousness (good read, a bit introductory and scientistic), and Pete Brown's coffee table book The ultimate book of blues guitar legends.

I'm using this last as a listening guide, reading a page and listening to the commendations.

:up: :up:

Frankopan's The Earth Transformed — Banno

Sounds like a Guns, Germs, and Steel kind of thing. I read his books on the Silk Road. Pretty good.

Somewhat. The text is a bit too much of a list of disasters, somewhat ordinary.

Breathing: Chaos and Poetry---Franco "Bifo" Berardi

A bit uneven but where's it's good, it's very good.

The title definitely catches my attention. I imagine you are indeed enjoying the parts that are actually very good. Most works tend to be uneven; it is difficult to find a symmetrical book (or author).

https://www.amazon.com/Commission-Report-Nuclear-Attacks-Against/dp/1328573915

Short and interesting, but kind of implausible.

Berardi is a cultural critic, particularly focused on technocapitalism. His best known book is "Uprising", but I haven't read that. Anyhow, he provides a useful framework that dovetails with authors like Mark Fisher, Byung Hul Chan, Bernard Stiegler etc. and I particularly like his emphasis on poetry.

and I particularly like his emphasis on poetry. — Baden

:up: :up:

I read on Google that readers appreciate how he deals with the topic of poetry, precisely.

Un campeón desparejo (translated into English as "An Uneven Champion") by Adolfo Bioy Casares.