Alok @alokranj.bsky.social · 19/06/2025Bible reading update: After the Pentateuch, I have also now finished all the Historical books - Joshua, Judges, Ruth, Samuel, Kings, Chronicles, Ezra-Nehemiah, Esther - all done! 120
Alok @alokranj.bsky.social · 19/06/2025I haven't read a lot of fiction this year but the main highlight for me in the first five months was "The Antiquary" by Walter Scott. I also liked "East Lynne" by Ellen Wood. I didn't particularly enjoy "The Good Soldier" (Ford Madox Ford) but could see why it is considered an important work. 010
Alok @alokranj.bsky.social · 19/06/2025This took a lot of time and effort but at the end it was all worth it. I mean the language (at least in translation) wasn't difficult at all but there were just too many characters, and keeping track of their interrelationships and their place in the wider mythology felt like a lot of work. 140
Alok @alokranj.bsky.social · 06/06/2025On his birthday today a nice brief essay on Thomas Mann by Morten Høi Jensen (his book on him is also getting out soon) engelsbergideas.com/notebook/tho...engelsbergideas.comThomas Mann's cathedrals in proseOne of the greatest European writers, Thomas Mann, born 150 years ago, dedicated his life to the pursuit of literary form. He left a monumental legacy. 131
Alok @alokranj.bsky.social · 06/06/2025Robert Fagles doesn't say Lesbians, he says women of Lesbos 110
Reposted by AlokDavid Hudson @dwhdaily.bsky.social · 06/06/2025RIP, Enzo Staiola. “The young boy doesn’t say much, but in his expressions you can see what’s going on in his mind, even on a subconscious level.” Jia Zhangke on Vittorio De Sica’s BICYCLE THIEVES (1948) www.criterion.com/current/post... 0103
Alok @alokranj.bsky.social · 05/06/2025this description of hip-joint in the Iliad will probably get past the approval of modern orthopaedic surgeons (lot of really graphic descriptions of wounds) 000
Reposted by AlokEmile Chabal @emile-chabal.bsky.social · 02/06/2025Nora was one of the great French intellectual impresarios of the postwar period and truly representative of his generation - in all its imagination and dogmatism. www.lemonde.fr/disparitions...lemonde.frL’historien Pierre Nora est mortHistorien, maître d’œuvre des « Lieux de mémoire », publiés en sept volumes à partir de 1984, le créateur de la revue « Le Débat » est mort le 2 juin, à l’âge de 93 ans. 064
Alok @alokranj.bsky.social · 03/06/2025Can't find any English obituary yet, but I first came across the name of the French historian, publisher, editor, Pierre Nora, who has just died, in this review-essay by Tony Judt (also collected in his "Reappraisals") archive.is/CNC96archive.is 100
Alok @alokranj.bsky.social · 03/06/2025A very handy list of epithets or metrical formulas used in Homer en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Epithet...en.wikipedia.orgEpithets in Homer - Wikipedia 110
Alok @alokranj.bsky.social · 01/06/2025Read both of these. As I said earlier, Cline's book is mostly about archaeological evidence for the Trojan war, and indeed the city of Troy as depicted in Homer's work and and the Epic cycle. He is not a sceptic, there is evidence, but it is quite complicated, not so straightforward. 100
Alok @alokranj.bsky.social · 01/06/2025"the lies that Odysseus told all of us" - Homer, A Very Short Introduction, Barbara Graziosi 010
Alok @alokranj.bsky.social · 01/06/2025My learning so far from reading the Hebrew Bible is that you don't mess with Yahweh and you don't mess with his prophets either. (this is prophet Elisha, from 2 Kings) 010
Alok @alokranj.bsky.social · 31/05/2025This is a nice introduction to the "Homeric question" by Adam Kirsch. (Review of a book about American scholar Milman Parry) The Classicist Who Killed Homer How Milman Parry proved that the Iliad and the Odyssey were not written by a lone genius. archive.is/vHFpfarchive.is 020
Alok @alokranj.bsky.social · 30/05/2025Initially I groaned at how contrived and implausible was the description of the central event on which the whole narrative rests, but boy, did she make up for it in the second half! She takes the reader through a wringer. Keep the tissues handy if you plan to read it. 130
Alok @alokranj.bsky.social · 28/05/2025The scholar introducing the book of "Samuel" in Oxford Bible says that in detailing David's character, the text "protests too much," that is, it is too plainly apologetic and thus provokes one to read between the lines and go beyond the surface ideology. Here's another example from "Kings" 000
Alok @alokranj.bsky.social · 28/05/2025Last week, I also read this book about the early Jewish history, covering the period when Israelite religion turned into what we now know as Judaism, or at least its precursor. I still prefer the account in Martin Goodman's History of Judaism, even thought it is in a much more condensed form there 020
Alok @alokranj.bsky.social · 28/05/2025My Bible reading is getting along. I am in the middle of historical books ("Deuteronomistic history") right now. Have finished Joshua, Judges, Ruth, and Samuel and started Kings. In the meanwhile I read this introduction to Hebrew Bible - an introductory college level textbook, very good to read. 100
Alok @alokranj.bsky.social · 17/05/2025Haven't been reading much fiction lately. Now getting back to the Victorian sensation novel. Will it be as good as "Lady Audley's Secret," let's see! 150
Alok @alokranj.bsky.social · 17/05/2025Have been keeping away from social media recently for various reasons. It also helps that bluesky is not addiction forming like the good old twitter. My Bible read is still going along. Done with the Pentateuch, the five books of Moses, along with some commentaries. Taking a break now. 120
Alok @alokranj.bsky.social · 03/05/2025the priestly writer(s) of Leviticus must surely have loved the smell of burnt flesh. it's almost like a poetic refrain throughout. 110
Alok @alokranj.bsky.social · 01/05/2025Biblical Oath-taking! And it is not even your own thigh, it is the other person's. (Genesis 24:2) 000
Alok @alokranj.bsky.social · 28/04/2025This was an awe-inspiring reading experience. The book covers a lot of advanced and complex historical, textual and theological issues, I hadn't expected that I would able to read all the way through. I feel confident about the Bible reading project now. 130
Alok @alokranj.bsky.social · 26/04/2025first I thought it was a printing mistake, then I remembered "just deserts!" I am seeing this usage for the first time. (from John Barton, A History of the Bible) 000
Alok @alokranj.bsky.social · 22/04/2025One of my planned reading projects for this year is to read the Bible (Christian, ecumenical) cover to cover. Starting now on some prep-work 240
Alok @alokranj.bsky.social · 22/04/2025This was a disappointing read for me. I know, a lot of readers prefer their history books to read like novels, but I don't. I should have picked up a textbook instead. 120
Alok @alokranj.bsky.social · 20/04/2025Both Diarmaid MacCulloch and Martin Goodman recommend this book for the history of early Christian Church so I decided to read it. Very heavy on theology but surprisingly (or, probably not) there was very little of Jesus in it. 100
Alok @alokranj.bsky.social · 14/04/2025Over the last week I also read this history of Judaism. This was about the half the length of the Christianity book, but all the 550+ pages were really densely packed and very heavy. I am super glad I read it. 170
Alok @alokranj.bsky.social · 14/04/2025Didn't mean to take such a long break from here but over the last month or so I read this massive book cover to cover, which I had wanted to do for a long time. It was brilliant, but still not as good as his book on "Reformation" which was a masterpiece 160
Alok @alokranj.bsky.social · 14/04/2025I didn't keep up with his more recent works but his novels were very important to me when I started discovering contemporary world literature on my own, in the my early 20s. My personal favourite remains "The War of the End of the World," one of the greatest modern historical novels. 040
Alok @alokranj.bsky.social · 13/02/2025Next up: this contains three novellas, two from the early part of Tolstoy's career - The Cossacks & Sevastopol Sketches, both translated by David McDuff and one, Hadji Murat, from the later part, published posthumously, translated here by Paul Foote. 250
Alok @alokranj.bsky.social · 13/02/2025This was just superb and highly entertaining. Definitely in the top 3 of the best Scott novels I have read. It was a bit low on plot and action and comparatively heavier on character and discourse. The titular character is one of Scott's finest creations. 190
Reposted by AlokNorth American Dostoevsky Society @dostoevskysociety.bsky.social · 10/02/2025Recordings of our 2025 Dostoevsky Student Research Forum are now available on Bloggers Karamazov and on our Youtube channel (linked in the comments) - check them out! bloggerskaramazov.com/2024/12/31/d...bloggerskaramazov.comDostoevsky Student Research Forum (Jan 9-10, 2025) – Schedule and RecordingsThe North American Dostoevsky Society stands with all the people of Ukraine, Russia, and the rest of the world who condemn the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Our statement can be read here. Foll… 121
Alok @alokranj.bsky.social · 10/02/2025some wisdom from Edie Ochiltree, the beggar (or, the king's "bedesman"), on the mystery of nocturnal blossoming wild flowers. (from "The Antiquary." I am glad I can make sense of most of the Scots words without looking up the glossary at the end) 120
Alok @alokranj.bsky.social · 09/02/2025I am glad I am able to make sense of passages like these in "The Antiquary". All the reformation history books come to help! (Oldbuck is fine with the destruction of texts of scholasticism but is lamenting the loss of real history and chronicles as part of the dissolution of the monasteries.) 110
Alok @alokranj.bsky.social · 09/02/2025some melancholy wisdom from the Antiquary Mr. Oldbuck (the Latin phrase is from Juvenal, it says "this punishment is allotted to those who live long") 110
Alok @alokranj.bsky.social · 08/02/2025a rejection template for the ladies, this romantic season (from "The Antiquary," Sir Walter Scott) 000
Alok @alokranj.bsky.social · 08/02/2025chandanlepa sugandham... It was amazing. I will try to go once more. 010
Reposted by AlokBenjamin Dreyer @bcdreyer.social · 02/02/2025today's random theater photo: Zia Mohyeddin, Saeed Jaffrey, Eric Portman, and Gladys Cooper in A Passage to India (1962) 1231
Alok @alokranj.bsky.social · 05/02/2025Next up: my eighth Walter Scott novel! I love the painting on the cover. (It is a work of the German painter Carl Spitzweg and is called "The Bookworm") 171
Alok @alokranj.bsky.social · 04/02/2025This simile, comparing long hair to serpents, is quite common, almost a cliché, in classic Sanskrit (and also vernacular) literature but I am seeing this for the first time in a non-Indian context #Turgenev25 3112
Reposted by AlokGenese Grill @genesegrill.bsky.social · 01/02/2025open.substack.com/pub/genesegr...open.substack.comRobert Musil's Book RecommendationsIn my last post I wrote a bit about how Musil helped other writers in the years between WWI and WWII. 2213
Alok @alokranj.bsky.social · 02/02/2025This looks amazing. from the newly remastered print of Oru Vadakkan Veeragatha, my favourite song from the film www.youtube.com/watch?v=p70I...youtube.comChandanalepa Sugandham Video Song | 4K Remastered | Oru Vadakkan Veeragadha |KJ Yesudas |Bombay RaviYouTube video by Matinee Now 000
Alok @alokranj.bsky.social · 02/02/2025Did you know that although Ivan Turgenev didn't himself coin the word "nihilism" but it was through his novel that the word first entered popular and mainstream discourse? #Turgenev25 1133
Reposted by AlokSusan Pigman 📚 @1susyq.bsky.social · 01/02/2025#FathersAndSons #Turgenev25 Some of Turgenev’s thoughts on writing: (From Henry James’ intro to A Portrait of a Lady) 172
