What are you reading right now?

jadis · 01-21-2023, 08:53 AM

A 1921 poetry volume by Osip Mandelstam, published in Berlin rather than in Russia for obvious reasons. Absolutely stunning like almost everything authored by Mandelstam (including the poem mocking Stalin that cost him his life).

SGR · 01-21-2023, 09:10 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jadis

A 1921 poetry volume by Osip Mandelstam, published in Berlin rather than in Russia for obvious reasons. Absolutely stunning like almost everything authored by Mandelstam (including the poem mocking Stalin that cost him his life).

Stalin was such a pussy.

jadis · 01-21-2023, 10:10 AM

He had the old dictator's paranoia, yeah. But when he was young he did some things that showed him to be no pussy. Had many other bad qualities though...

The Batlord · 01-21-2023, 02:34 PM

Yeah he would rob trains with grenades, right?

jadis · 01-21-2023, 02:53 PM

Yeah lots of high-stakes armed robberies, including with explosives involved. And some ridiculous number of prison breaks. Not exactly a pussy.

The Batlord · 01-21-2023, 04:57 PM

Yeah assuming he's a sociopath they don't really feel fear like that and can be drawn to danger for the thrill. Serial killers don't go after easy targets cause they're cowards but because it's expedient.

SGR · 01-21-2023, 05:02 PM

I think he was a sociopath, yeah maybe pussy wasn't the right way to phrase it. He was just completely paranoid, I think he thought everyone was as ruthless as he was. I remember reading the story about how his son was captured by the nazis, Yukov I think was his name. Nazis thought they could use him as a bartering chip - and Stalin legit didn't care. He was absolutely fine with him dying in that camp. The only family member of his he showed affection for was his daughter Svetlana. After his wife died (suicide I think it was), he had essentially all of his wife's family members sent to the gulag.

I've read a lot about Stalin and he's fascinating subject matter. I believe his dad was an alcoholic and would regularly beat him - and his mom was a disciplinarian. She wanted him to become a minister - but I believe he essentially got kicked out of the ministry because of his obsession with Marxism (or was it he left of his own accord?). It would be interesting to see how history would've changed if Stalin did end up becoming a minister instead of the leader of the USSR during WW2.

The Batlord · 01-21-2023, 07:03 PM

I only know a bit about his upbringing but I think I remember hearing that since the ministry was one of the few places in rural Georgia where there was literacy it also happened to be a hotspot of banned socialist literature so it would make sense.

ribbons · 01-21-2023, 07:06 PM

Pablo Neruda's memoirs

I have only skimmed the surface so far, due to lack of time - but as would be expected, it's gorgeously written and engrossing.

"Shyness is a kink in the soul, a special category, a dimension that opens out into solitude. Moreover, it is an inherent suffering, as if we had two epidermises and the one underneath rebelled and shrank back from life."

WWWP · 01-31-2023, 03:51 PM

Looking for recommendations for teenaged dudes, fiction and otherwise. I’ve brought in things like Ender’s Game, His Dark Materials, Y the Last Man, some Junji Ito collections, Scott Pilgrim, etc. They can’t really be more (visually) violent than those, and reading levels are all across the spectrum. Like one guy still reads Magic Tree House and Goosebumps, and another guy is college bound, so nothing is too advanced or too easy. I’ve devised a program to let the guys get out of one day of physical exercise per week to instead “exercise their minds” and opt for 30 mins of reading or doing something creative.

Preferably nothing that has been made into a movie. TIA

01-21-2023, 07:06 PM	#7599 (permalink)
ribbons Music Addict Join Date: Oct 2009 Posts: 1,265	Pablo Neruda's memoirs I have only skimmed the surface so far, due to lack of time - but as would be expected, it's gorgeously written and engrossing. "Shyness is a kink in the soul, a special category, a dimension that opens out into solitude. Moreover, it is an inherent suffering, as if we had two epidermises and the one underneath rebelled and shrank back from life." Last edited by ribbons; 01-21-2023 at 07:11 PM.

01-21-2023, 08:53 AM	#7591 (permalink)
jadis Music Addict Join Date: Jun 2021 Location: dont ask Posts: 1,353	A 1921 poetry volume by Osip Mandelstam, published in Berlin rather than in Russia for obvious reasons. Absolutely stunning like almost everything authored by Mandelstam (including the poem mocking Stalin that cost him his life).

01-21-2023, 10:10 AM	#7593 (permalink)
jadis Music Addict Join Date: Jun 2021 Location: dont ask Posts: 1,353	He had the old dictator's paranoia, yeah. But when he was young he did some things that showed him to be no pussy. Had many other bad qualities though...

01-21-2023, 02:53 PM	#7595 (permalink)
jadis Music Addict Join Date: Jun 2021 Location: dont ask Posts: 1,353	Yeah lots of high-stakes armed robberies, including with explosives involved. And some ridiculous number of prison breaks. Not exactly a pussy.

01-21-2023, 05:02 PM	#7597 (permalink)
SGR No Ice In My Bourbon Join Date: Mar 2010 Location: /dev/null Posts: 4,325	I think he was a sociopath, yeah maybe pussy wasn't the right way to phrase it. He was just completely paranoid, I think he thought everyone was as ruthless as he was. I remember reading the story about how his son was captured by the nazis, Yukov I think was his name. Nazis thought they could use him as a bartering chip - and Stalin legit didn't care. He was absolutely fine with him dying in that camp. The only family member of his he showed affection for was his daughter Svetlana. After his wife died (suicide I think it was), he had essentially all of his wife's family members sent to the gulag. I've read a lot about Stalin and he's fascinating subject matter. I believe his dad was an alcoholic and would regularly beat him - and his mom was a disciplinarian. She wanted him to become a minister - but I believe he essentially got kicked out of the ministry because of his obsession with Marxism (or was it he left of his own accord?). It would be interesting to see how history would've changed if Stalin did end up becoming a minister instead of the leader of the USSR during WW2.