What Are You Currently Reading?

[Lamp Post]

I can't believe we don't have this thread, I went through all the threads looking for it.  Brought back such memories, too.  :D  Tell me if I, however, missed it.

 

So, pretty self explainatory.  What are you currently reading?  'Tis appreciated if you'd also say whether or not you'd recommend/not recommend the book, too, so everyone can expand their reading list.  :D 

 

I'm curretly reading:

 - Symphony of Ages Seires -- Elizabeth Haydon.  They're great.  I'm adoring them.

 - The Messenger -- Markus Zusak.  'Tis lovely.  Very down-to-Earth, great writing style, fast moving without too much action. 

 - The Gates -- John Connolly.  Only a few pages into it.  'Tis beyond amazing, though.  I love this author.

 

[o0_flying high_0o]

I think you're missing the point of it....

At the time this was written, the Medici's, who had unofficially, or officially, I can't remember toppled the republic. As a result of this Machiavelli was out of a job. He wasn't overly happy about this, but had to eat, so he wrote a book as a sort of job application to the Medici's entitled The Prince, which also served as a statement of his disapproval of the Medici rule.

It was never meant to be 'Oh, if you're a Prince, this is how you should conduct yourself', more 'Since you're a self important idiot who has completely corrupted our system, you might as well do it properly.'

Funnily enough, the Medici's didn't decide to hire him.

[EndOfTheEarth]

Right, but that isn't how the discussion of the book is aimed in my class. We're only allowed to look at the book itself, otherwise I'd be pointing out that his entire setup is based off of the Military micromanagement job he had for the Florence militia.

No kidding. You submit as your job application an 80 page report that boils down to "You suck" and still expect something? That's idiocy, not irony. This is doubly idiotic in that Machiavelli has no state experience to fall back upon beyond his brief military career, and yet he feels justified in his commentary. Good grief.

[o0_flying high_0o]

How can you discuss a book without discussing the context....?

XD Mhmm. Though, considering they'd just ruined his life, and destroyed his republic. I don't think you can really be all that critical of the fact that the emotion of that leaked through into the more rational decision to seek a job.

He was a noblemen, whatever the proper term is, in Florence. And an active politician. He suffered at the hands of the Medici, and had witnessed their previous 'tyrannical' rule. What to you would justify his commentary? Positions as an actual Prince were in short supply in Renaissance Florence....

[EndOfTheEarth]

By only looking at the text. Even then it's tricky, because many of my classmates try to bring in their modern morals when the Professor is practically shouting at them "No, how would MACHIAVELLI look at it!?"

Justification of his commentary would come in the form of conferring with an actual prince. Even as a Noble, Machiavelli would have had about as much power as the Administrator of NASA, which is to say some executive power, but still not aware of the big picture.

[o0_flying high_0o]

Exactly, you need to consider how Machiavelli would look at it. And to do that you need to acknowledge the context in which he was writing the novel.

Florence was a republic, not a Principality. There were no Princes, or royalty of any sorts. His commentary is not on the behaviour of any Prince, but on a family that acts as if the proud republic of Florence is their inheritance, despite that being in contradiction to everything the city stands for.

[EndOfTheEarth]

Finished Relic by Lincoln and Child.

It made for a nice medium paced thriller, but nothing to write home about.

[Contradiction]

I LOVE THAT BOOK. just fyi

[odyssey2341]

'The Lost Hero' by Rick Riordan.

[Lamp Post]

I've heard very bad things about that book. . . .

[odyssey2341]

I liked it lots.

[EndOfTheEarth]

Voyage by S.Baxter.

...
As fun as the idea of going to Mars with Apollo-era technology is, the book is weighed down with politics...sort of like a Tom Clancy novel.

[EndOfTheEarth]

Finished, but only after a multi-hour effort late last night to actually do so. The thing was a real brick; the premise was interesting, but the character development was zero, and from the beginning you knew where everything would wind up.