re: What are you reading?

Mossflower.

Listening to the audiobook The Institute by Stephen King and reading the book Hell House by Richard Matheson.

Paradise found by Bill plashke

It’s about the football team in paradise California trying to play football again after almost all their houses and possessions burned up in the fire in 2018 or 2019

Really good so far

I can’t stop listening.

Really enjoyed Seven Husbands so trying out some other TJR books to finish up the summer.

quote:

---

The World of Yesterday recalls the golden age of literary Vienna—its seeming permanence, its promise, and its devastating fall. Zweig describes the brilliance of prewar Europe and follows it through the trauma of World War I and the desolation of World War II. Surrounded by the leading literary lights of the epoch, Zweig draws on a vivid and intimate account of his life and travels through Vienna, Paris, Berlin, and London, touching on the very heart of European culture. His passionate, evocative prose paints a stunning portrait of an era that danced brilliantly on the edge of extinction.

---

It's over 800 pages, and I'm a little more than 100 pages into it. I'm definitely enjoying it.

Barzun is such an interesting character: came to the US as a teenager, became a professor at Columbia (back when they focused on education instead of protesting), and really became the champion of cultural history.

History has usually been told from the vantage points of great men, or from wars and battles, but Barzun thought the best way to understand history was through ideas: literature, philosophy, art, science, music, and religion.

So, of course, this book discusses certain important people and wars, but often in the context of how they shape certain ideas. The book is fun because Barzun really tells you what he thinks -- he's more direct than many others who always try to present both sides of every argument.

Barzun retired from Columbia, did some other things, started this book at age 84, finished it at age 93, got to enjoy it becoming a bestseller, and then was able to keep his wits and enjoy live until age 104. I'm just in awe of what he was able to accomplish in his old age.