What are you reading?

Reply to What are you reading? on Wed, 18 Mar 2026 08:16:51 GMT

disposable — Wed, 18 Mar 2026 08:16:51 GMT

Benedict Anderson's Imagined Communities. Read around 50 pages for school but I reckon I'll pick up the rest of it as well. I'm tempted to read it in the original to enjoy the quality of Anderson's prose, but I'm susceptible to influence and reading in English affects my Finnish in a bad way (and vice versa, I'm completely incapable of juggling between languages), and I've got to do all my assignments in Finnish. The translation's quite good though. I supported the Finnish publishing industry and picked up Kafka's diaries for an exorbitant 44 EUR while vacationing there the other month, and I had to put it down halfway due to the translation, which while I'm sure was fine in relating the author's intent, suffered from the same stylistic poverty most of our translations do these days. I found it to have been a better time when the translators were full-fledged authors who made their own versions of the original in their own voice (Saarikoski, Kianto etc.)

Reply to What are you reading? on Tue, 17 Mar 2026 21:27:59 GMT

Delkmiroph — Tue, 17 Mar 2026 21:27:59 GMT

@Jigsaw I feel deeply drawn to my reading of The Waves, especially to the way Virginia approaches her ideas through a non-linear flow of language and perception. The small scenes and fleeting moments she evokes mirror experiences I’ve lived through different phases of my life, which made me feel intensely connected to the work while reading it. It resonates with me in a profound and almost overwhelming way.

@Jigsaw said:

"Greatest Hits", a massive short story collection from Harlan Ellison.

woow, this is heavy and uncomfortable to read.. unraveling the darker sides of the human mind and behavior

Reply to What are you reading? on Tue, 17 Mar 2026 12:02:13 GMT

Tokage — Tue, 17 Mar 2026 12:02:13 GMT

I'm currently reading Alfred Kubin's (one and only) novel The Other Side and John Langan's short story collection The Wide Carnivorous Sky. I've been enjoying both of them so far. Langan's work has been somewhat hit or miss for me in the past, but this collection has been pretty cool up until now with the way each story has been presenting its twists on 'classic' horror elements.

Kubin's novel is interesting as well, being a bit of a blend between a satire (of sorts), a utopia/dystopia narrative, and occasional surreal dreamlike bits. Kubin was primarily an artist, and, this being his only novel, it's clear he's no master stylist or anything of the sort even in translation, but I am enjoying the ride so far & I could easily imagine this being adapted in the style of some artsy Eurohorror film like Harry Kümel's Malpertuis (on that note, I still need to read the novel THAT's based on at some point too).

Reply to What are you reading? on Tue, 17 Mar 2026 10:30:53 GMT

Takadanobabaalien — Tue, 17 Mar 2026 10:30:53 GMT

I am currently reading Smoking behind the supermarket with you, a pretty fun manga so far. Also just downloaded Almost transparent blue on my kindle, will start reading that fairly soon.

Reply to What are you reading? on Tue, 17 Mar 2026 08:18:40 GMT

Jigsaw — Tue, 17 Mar 2026 08:18:40 GMT

@Delkmiroph Ah, great book! It was my first novel of hers, the unique style instantly hooked me.

I just finished reading "Greatest Hits", a massive short story collection from Harlan Ellison. It was one of the rare cases where I enjoyed almost every story, very very few that didn't grab me. Quite a variety too, although most were in the realm of sci-fi.

Reply to What are you reading? on Tue, 17 Mar 2026 07:15:26 GMT

Delkmiroph — Tue, 17 Mar 2026 07:15:26 GMT

i am reading The waves, Virginia woolf~