You might consider reading The Magic Mountain before Doktor Faustus. That’s WW I before WW II. I also found his Faustus more difficult, maybe the climax of reading Mann.
Highest recommendation to also let Dame Julie Andrews read Pride and Prejudice to you. She understands and delivers every subtlety, every twist, every wry morsel. She makes the book even BETTER! And the precision of her British stage diction is a wonderment.
I am really looking forward to your writing about Faustus and the Magic Mountain: your piece on Buddenbrooks was superb.
You might consider reading The Magic Mountain before Doktor Faustus. That’s WW I before WW II. I also found his Faustus more difficult, maybe the climax of reading Mann.
Highest recommendation to also let Dame Julie Andrews read Pride and Prejudice to you. She understands and delivers every subtlety, every twist, every wry morsel. She makes the book even BETTER! And the precision of her British stage diction is a wonderment.
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/jane-austen-stories/id1840669662?i=1000728012936
Witty, pretty, and bright is ALMOST cut from my favorite musical soundtrack, West Side Story, Leonard Bernstein. It’s alarming how charming it is.
Am reading the Alter right now. Pretty good book.
I recommend Light by Harrison. I've seen a lot of people get hooked on him that way.
I feel like I read a book called The Invention of Morel years ago... from NYRB Classics! Did they retranslate the same book?!?! How strange.
Love it when you do a review roundup.