What is everyone reading?

[FormerReformer]

At the risk of appearing "hyperdox" I just checked out a copy of "The Way of the Pilgrim" from the local library and am looking forward to reading it.

[orthonorm]

The sound of my blood rushing.

Wearing earplugs. Different floor where my rules about listening to music are not in enforced inside the lab.

[IsmiLiora]

The sound of my blood rushing.

Wearing earplugs. Different floor where my rules about listening to music are not in enforced inside the lab.

I believe that you meant to post that in the listening thread?

Finished my Cosmo magazine after I took a break from the most horrible work day ever last night. It was as frivolous and soul-eating as I thought it would be, but sometimes I need cotton candy.

Still reading the Third Reich book (that one is kind of slow-moving for some reason) and reading a collection of Archbishop Demetrios' speeches. Can't find the Kindle to get the name at the moment.

[vamrat]

The sound of my blood rushing.

Wearing earplugs. Different floor where my rules about listening to music are not in enforced inside the lab.

I believe that you meant to post that in the listening thread?

Finished my Cosmo magazine after I took a break from the most horrible work day ever last night. It was as frivolous and soul-eating as I thought it would be, but sometimes I need cotton candy.

Still reading the Third Reich book (that one is kind of slow-moving for some reason) and reading a collection of Archbishop Demetrios' speeches. Can't find the Kindle to get the name at the moment.

The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich?

[orthonorm]

The sound of my blood rushing.

Wearing earplugs. Different floor where my rules about listening to music are not in enforced inside the lab.

I believe that you meant to post that in the listening thread?

Finished my Cosmo magazine after I took a break from the most horrible work day ever last night. It was as frivolous and soul-eating as I thought it would be, but sometimes I need cotton candy.

Still reading the Third Reich book (that one is kind of slow-moving for some reason) and reading a collection of Archbishop Demetrios' speeches. Can't find the Kindle to get the name at the moment.

Nothing says fun like: 43 Ways to Keep your Man Happy in Bed and genocide.

[IsmiLiora]

Well, I LIKE fashion and cosmetics, which are also featured in these magazines. I used to read Harper's Bazaar and Vogue, but I thought it was too pretentious and unrealistic. $65 t-shirts are NOT a bargain in any world. I supposed I've veered to the other end.

Allure is the very best bet on that end, though. No sensationalist human interest stories (usually, unless it has to do specifically with beauty products), clothes, and makeup. I think it's great. Used to read Self religiously, but the new Age, self-love, constant self-affirmation really got to me. I read Marie Claire and Glamour occasionally as well, and they're in the middle. Some good articles, certainly not as bad as Cosmo. And I read Spanish magazines like La Mujer and Vandidades, but it's mainly for language practice. Their articles are just as shallow, too.

I could talk about magazines all day. People buy coffee when they go out -- I get magazines. I'm thinking about doing subscriptions, but there's something fun about browsing the magazine racks at Union and just picking something random to read on the train ride home.

[Gamliel]

Well, I LIKE fashion and cosmetics, which are also featured in these magazines. I used to read Harper's Bazaar and Vogue, but I thought it was too pretentious and unrealistic. $65 t-shirts are NOT a bargain in any world. I supposed I've veered to the other end.

Allure is the very best bet on that end, though. No sensationalist human interest stories (usually, unless it has to do specifically with beauty products), clothes, and makeup. I think it's great. Used to read Self religiously, but the new Age, self-love, constant self-affirmation really got to me. I read Marie Claire and Glamour occasionally as well, and they're in the middle. Some good articles, certainly not as bad as Cosmo. And I read Spanish magazines like La Mujer and Vandidades, but it's mainly for language practice. Their articles are just as shallow, too.

I could talk about magazines all day. People buy coffee when they go out -- I get magazines. I'm thinking about doing subscriptions, but there's something fun about browsing the magazine racks at Union and just picking something random to read on the train ride home.

I have read  Mad Magazine from time to time. 

[IsmiLiora]

Vamrat -- it's a book featuring interviews about women living during the Third Reich era. My mind is stuck on North Korea for the moment, though. I suppose I ought to head to the library, which is about 10 blocks away. Yipee!

[IsmiLiora]

Nothing says fun like: 43 Ways to Keep your Man Happy in Bed and genocide.

Well, the first one is silly. I think it's hilarious how they keep repackaging the same tips over and over again. I don't take those seriously at all. A 15 year old girl could write those.

And reading about genocide isn't fun -- I find it interesting to read how people have survived the worst of times, a testament of perseverance, faith, and the pure instinct to survive or to perpetuate the life of others.

It became a habit ever since my mother, thinking she could cure my depression with this, told me to read books about people with cancer, etc. so that I would know "how good I have it."  It didn't work but led me to start reading memoirs of people who have lived through wartime, segregation, abuse, etc.

It keeps my disgustingly sheltered and easy life in perspective and gives me a heart to help those who are suffering in any way, in what ever infinitesimal way I can.

[Shiny]

Well, I LIKE fashion and cosmetics, which are also featured in these magazines. I used to read Harper's Bazaar and Vogue, but I thought it was too pretentious and unrealistic. $65 t-shirts are NOT a bargain in any world. I supposed I've veered to the other end.

Allure is the very best bet on that end, though. No sensationalist human interest stories (usually, unless it has to do specifically with beauty products), clothes, and makeup. I think it's great. Used to read Self religiously, but the new Age, self-love, constant self-affirmation really got to me. I read Marie Claire and Glamour occasionally as well, and they're in the middle. Some good articles, certainly not as bad as Cosmo. And I read Spanish magazines like La Mujer and Vandidades, but it's mainly for language practice. Their articles are just as shallow, too.

I could talk about magazines all day. People buy coffee when they go out -- I get magazines. I'm thinking about doing subscriptions, but there's something fun about browsing the magazine racks at Union and just picking something random to read on the train ride home.

I like flipping through GQ once in awhile.

[IsmiLiora]

We all have our vices.

Heck, I went through a period where I read men's magazines (GQ, Maxim) to see what they were saying about women. NOT going to do that again! (Although ladies mags like Cosmo are virtually saying the same thing)

I try not to spend too much time on it, but I don't exactly want to read about international health care and socialism when I am tired of reading and writing all day.

[Papist]

[Shiny]

Sounds like quite the fascinating book. Ordered, thanks.

[Asteriktos]

The Life of Reason: Reason in Common Sense, by George Santayana

I guess I did things a bit backwards by reading Reason in Religion (Volume 3) before the above (Volume 1).

[Gebre Menfes Kidus]

Can you say, "Shameless self-promotion"?

http://www.authorhouse.com/Bookstore/BookSearchResults.aspx?Search=Mystery+and+Meaning

(If you decide to read this book, make sure you get the AuthorHouse edition. Publish America printed an unauthorized version of my book a few years ago, so stay away from them.)


Selam

[Shiny]

Can I get a signed copy Gebre? 

[Gebre Menfes Kidus]

Can I get a signed copy Gebre? 

Of course brother, FWIW. Lol!

Just PM me, and I'll be glad to send you one. Same for any of my other OC.Net brothers and sisters who would like a signed copy.



Selam

[PeterTheAleut]

What am I reading right now?

C# source code

[Shiny]

What am I reading right now?

C# source code

And you are up this late reading it? LOL

[PeterTheAleut]

What am I reading right now?

C# source code

And you are up this late reading it? LOL

Hey, I'm working on my own .NET application project. This geek has to do something to keep his skills sharp while he's between jobs.

[biro]

I recently finished "The Pearl of Great Price," by Veronica Hughes. It's about her journey from New Age pseudo-religion into the Orthodox Church.

I am also reading "Sun and Shadow," by Ake Edwardson.

[Volnutt]

lol, for a split second I thought you meant "Pearl of Great Price" the Mormon book.

[Asteriktos]

The Illness and the Cure of the Soul in the Orthodox Tradition, by Met. Hierotheos

I tried reading this before, but got derailed because of some issues I was fretting over at the time. Hopefully I'm past those (non)issues and can actually get through the book this time

[Shiny]

The Bible

[Asteriktos]

The Bible

That's so kvlt! I heard the Orthodox are coming out with a new edition of the Bible in which they add some stuff, like this text called 3 Maccabees. You should check it out! 

[Volnutt]

The Anatomy of Fascism by Robert O. Paxton

[Shiny]

The Bible

That's so kvlt! I heard the Orthodox are coming out with a new edition of the Bible in which they add some stuff, like this text called 3 Maccabees. You should check it out! 

Oh you mean the OSB? I got that. But did you hear how the NOAB has 4 Maccabees, that's like that new thing man

[Asteriktos]

The Bible

That's so kvlt! I heard the Orthodox are coming out with a new edition of the Bible in which they add some stuff, like this text called 3 Maccabees. You should check it out! 

Oh you mean the OSB? I got that. But did you hear how the NOAB has 4 Maccabees, that's like that new thing man

Let's not push it. I don't go in for fads!

[IsmiLiora]

Lol u guiz

Nectar in a Sieve by Kamala Markandaya. Re-reading because I have too much work to start anything new.

[Iconodule]

The Devil's Horsemen: The Mongol Invasion of Europe This was a really entertaining and fascinating read.

One that topic, what do you think of Charles Halperin's Russia and the Golden Horde?

I'm getting that in the mail, probably tomorrow. I'll let you know after I read it. 

I finished this book. While the book has some very interesting information and arguments, I can't say I'd recommend it. Halperin writes in that annoying kind of academic language that I encountered so many times in my undergrad years, where the writer needs to constantly use the word "complex" to describe his new understanding of the topic, as opposed to the "simplistic" understanding of previous historians. It's a style that comes off at once as snooty and naive- I'm not sure what to call it. Would that more academics today were good writers rather than striving to impress fellow academics with their "complexity".

Anyway, back to the substance of the book- Halperin's basic thesis is that Russian medieval writers held to an "ideology of silence", whereby they consciously or unconsciously ignored and omitted uncomfortable aspects of the "Tatar Yoke" in their chronicles. Halperin may have a point to a degree, but his argument rests on a really faulty premise- he seems to believe that Christianity (and Islam too) forbade any friendly contact with "infidels", including borrowing their secular ideas and institutions (for example, the Mongols' yam postal system). He doesn't actually provide any evidence of such an attitude, only assumes it. Of course anyone familiar with the history of Orthodox Christianity will see how non-Christian practices were frequently and consciously "baptized" throughout its history. Overall Halperin has a very simplistic understanding of religion- there is one part where he questions the accuracy of the Kazan Chronicle where it says that Ivan III was told to reverence a portrait of Akhmad Khan, and he instead tramples it. Halperin says, "Akhmad and his envoys were Muslims- no portrait of him would have been allowed." This is like saying, "the Golden Horde was Muslim, therefore all the reports of them continuing to drink alcohol must be false."

The book is not without merit- there are a number of interesting episodes discussed, but never in enough detail. It's a very short book and much of it is devoted to Halperin's argumentation which isn't completely convincing. What he does successfully demonstrate, however, is that the Tatar influence on Russia was not one-sided or entirely detrimental, and also that many things that have been blamed on the "Tatar Yoke" might not necessarily be from the Tatars. But I think Halperin's best insights have already been included in more general histories such as Janet Martin's Medieval Russia, 980-1584.

[Papist]

The First Grace: Rediscovering the Natural Law in a Post-Christian World

[Volnutt]

The Devil's Horsemen: The Mongol Invasion of Europe This was a really entertaining and fascinating read.

One that topic, what do you think of Charles Halperin's Russia and the Golden Horde?

I'm getting that in the mail, probably tomorrow. I'll let you know after I read it. 

I finished this book. While the book has some very interesting information and arguments, I can't say I'd recommend it. Halperin writes in that annoying kind of academic language that I encountered so many times in my undergrad years, where the writer needs to constantly use the word "complex" to describe his new understanding of the topic, as opposed to the "simplistic" understanding of previous historians. It's a style that comes off at once as snooty and naive- I'm not sure what to call it. Would that more academics today were good writers rather than striving to impress fellow academics with their "complexity".

Anyway, back to the substance of the book- Halperin's basic thesis is that Russian medieval writers held to an "ideology of silence", whereby they consciously or unconsciously ignored and omitted uncomfortable aspects of the "Tatar Yoke" in their chronicles. Halperin may have a point to a degree, but his argument rests on a really faulty premise- he seems to believe that Christianity (and Islam too) forbade any friendly contact with "infidels", including borrowing their secular ideas and institutions (for example, the Mongols' yam postal system). He doesn't actually provide any evidence of such an attitude, only assumes it. Of course anyone familiar with the history of Orthodox Christianity will see how non-Christian practices were frequently and consciously "baptized" throughout its history. Overall Halperin has a very simplistic understanding of religion- there is one part where he questions the accuracy of the Kazan Chronicle where it says that Ivan III was told to reverence a portrait of Akhmad Khan, and he instead tramples it. Halperin says, "Akhmad and his envoys were Muslims- no portrait of him would have been allowed." This is like saying, "the Golden Horde was Muslim, therefore all the reports of them continuing to drink alcohol must be false."

The book is not without merit- there are a number of interesting episodes discussed, but never in enough detail. It's a very short book and much of it is devoted to Halperin's argumentation which isn't completely convincing. What he does successfully demonstrate, however, is that the Tatar influence on Russia was not one-sided or entirely detrimental, and also that many things that have been blamed on the "Tatar Yoke" might not necessarily be from the Tatars. But I think Halperin's best insights have already been included in more general histories such as Janet Martin's Medieval Russia, 980-1584.

lol, I must say the portrait vs. alcohol thing never occurred to me.

Good review! I agree totally about the way he writes and his view of "universalistic creeds," as he calls them. I also have Martin and I really enjoy it, both books were for my Medieval Russian History course.

[Volnutt]

The First Grace: Rediscovering the Natural Law in a Post-Christian World

That looks like a good one!

[lubeltri]

The First Grace: Rediscovering the Natural Law in a Post-Christian World

Looks marvelous.

[Rufus]

Today I read Cur Deus Homo, in order to educate myself.

[mark thomas]

Orthodox Monasticism by Metropolitan Hierotheos. Chapter One, page one is staring at me! Yum!

[Riddikulus]

Continuing my Iron-age/Roman Britain research. Women in Roman Britain by Lindsay Allason-Jones. Can't wait to finish it so that I can move onto The Gods of the Celts by Miranda Green.

[Heorhij]

"The Gospel According to an Executioner," by Russian writers, brothers Arkadiy and Georgiy Vainers.
http://www.lib.ru/RUSS_DETEKTIW/WAJNERY/evangelie2.txt

This novel was written at the very end of the 1980's, and a few excerpts from it were published during the Peresroika years in a Soviet literary magazine (I believe it was "Druzhba Narodov"). It struck me back then, but now, when I found the full text of the novel on the Internet, it strikes me even more.

It's an eery, dark, macabre fantasy, where the main hero, Pavel Khvatkin, is a fictional middle-rank officer of the Soviet secret police (back then called MGB, later KGB, now FSB). The story inwinds in the late 1940's and the early 1950's, covering the time when the MGB, with ailing Stalin's approval, started a grandiose scheme aimed at a total annihilation of the Soviet Jewry. This scheme never came to pass in its full version because Stalin died in March 1953. However, its initial stage, the "revealing" by the MGB of the so-called "conspiracy of medical doctors-assassins," did materialize - between 1949 and early 1953, a number of top-ranking Soviet doctors whose names were Jewish (M.S. Vovsi, Ettinger, Shimeliovich, Rosenbaum, brothers Kogan and other) were arrested, tortured, and made "confess" that they deliberately poisoned or otherwise killed top Soviet Communist Party officials, writers, etc. Their "confessions" were widely publicized and were supposed to stir anti-Jewish sentiment among the Soviet people.

In the novel, Khvatkin, a professional killer who is able to murder five stong men in a minute with his bare hands, is shown as an officer assigned to the "doctors-assassins file." However, he is also a total cynic, a man who completely despises the Soviet system and the Communist Party ideology. He does exactly what he is expected to do in order to be promoted up the ranks - participates in searches, arrests, interrogations, plays "mind games" aimed at breaking the will of his Jewish captives; however, while at that, he collects most detailed dossiers on the top MGB generals and also on the Kremlin functionaries who supervise the MGB proceedings. In all this bloody rigmarole, his only true objective is to save the life of a daughter of one of the "doctors-assassins," astonishingly beautiful Rimma Kogan, whom Pavel Khvatkin really loves with all his heart, in spite of all his cynicism, and with whom he conceives a child. Helping his lover and their yet unborn child to survive, Khvatkin cunningly arranges clashes between different forces and groups within the MGB and the Kremlin. At the end of the novel, he participates in the brilliantly designed secret operation aied at removing the then-all-powerful MGB chief, Lavreniy Beria.

The novel contains most detailed and quite shocking portraits of many high-ranking Soviet officials of the late 1940's and the early 1950's (Stalin, Beria, Malenkov, Khrushchev, the Soviet Ministers of State Security Viktor Abakumov and Semyon Ignatiev, the chief of the MGB's Department of Investigations Colonel Mikhail Ryumin, and other). Also, there are some very colorful fictional characters who, at the time when the events take place, are in their 30-s and in whom it is very easy to recognize future members of Brezhnev's top aides.

Great reading, pity it's not been translated into English yet (or so I think).     

[Volnutt]

Yeah, that is too bad it hasn't been translated.

[Heorhij]

^^I forgot to mention that the novel has some very interesting, colorful pictures of religious men, even tough these are somewhat "tangential" to the story. There is a hero called Father Aleksandr, a Russian Orthodox priest who lives in a countryside near Moscow, in ultimate poverty, with his "matushka," and who, of course, is on the hook by the MGB, forced to report on his few parishioners. Nonethless, Father Aleksander has some pretty profound and witty exchanges with his MGB "supervisors," making them, these cynical and boody murderers, think a little about what they are doing and about the meaning of life. There is also an extremely powerful image of a Jewish rabbi-"tzadik" who is a prisoner at the GULAG.

Khvatkin is shown within the framework of the time that is "jumping" rather than linear. In the opening scene of the novel he is in March 1953, on the day of Stalin's death; then the story toggles between the 1940-s, 1950-s, 1960-s (when Khvatkin is enjoying his retirement and personal pension awarded to him for his crucial role in the liquidation of Beria), and the 1970's when Khvatkin is struck with cancer and contemplates on what awaits him in the "great beyond." One interesting hero of the novel, called The One Who Takes Care of the Heating ("Istopnik" in Russian) is Khvatkin's nemesis, a strange, surreal figure who has features of Satan.

[Gamliel]

Finishing up: The Cambridge Companion to Orthodox Christian Theology (Cambridge Companions to Religion)  It has some interesting articles about Orthodox theology written by Orthodox authors, and I like the bibliography at the end of each article.

[Tikhon.of.Colorado]

I've just started reading Bible and holy Fathers for Orthodox.  What a wonderful book!

[IsmiLiora]

Re-reading Irene Zabytko's The Sky Unwashed. Hoping to have some time this week to pick up a new book, but I don't think that's going to happen!

[Schultz]

Spray-Paint the Walls: the Story of Black Flag by Stevie Chick.

Not bad.  The stories are great, I just wish the author wouldn't write like an '80s British journalist from Sounds.  The descriptions of songs/albums are ridiculously overblown and full of useless adjectives.  He's trying too hard.

[orthonorm]

Spray-Paint the Walls: the Story of Black Flag by Stevie Chick.

Not bad.  The stories are great, I just wish the author wouldn't write like an '80s British journalist from Sounds.  The descriptions of songs/albums are ridiculously overblown and full of useless adjectives.  He's trying too hard.

Sounds like he is doing his work in the same spirit as Hank. Possible anecdote about the psychological effects from seeing Angry Hank in Soccer Shorts revealing entirely too much with too little to drink around four in the afternoon in a nearly empty room of people not sure why the soccer short guy is so angry.

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