I am currently reading a few books in parallel (beware, there may be spoilers ahead):
- Robert Caro’s Power Broker – this is one of those books that I have been reading for some time – years, in fact! – but got shelved as I got distracted by other books. Also, the size and heft of the book means that I often only read this in the evenings and on the weekends. Right now the book is heading into an interesting turn in Robert Moses’ life, as his benefactor Al Smith leaves the Governor’s Mansion in Albany, and FDR – whom Moses had pissed off many times over – takes over. I am keen to see how he managed to parlay the powers he had already gathered through the State Park Commission, to become the powerhouse of New York City that he eventually becomes.
- Pushkin’s Eugene Onegin – I am reading this Byronic verse-novel in fits and starts. The English translation is really enjoyable, and apparently well captures the metre and rhyme of Pushkin’s work. Tatiana, having mourned Onegin’s retreat from her life, is now settling into society life in Moscow. I was not expecting the duel, or Lensky getting shot and killed, and I am expecting only further tragedy ahead.
- Gibbon’s The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, Volume I – another one of those books that I am picking up again, in keeping with my vow not to buy any new books this year, and to go through my current stash of books lying in wait at home. His prose style is erudite and mannered, and his current exposition of early Christianity in Rome leads me to think that he is not all that enamored with institutionalised religion. This is, of course, a classic work of history that I have always wanted to read, especially since it famously inspired Asimov’s Foundation series, which is one of my all-time sci-fi favourites.