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Lily Fairbairn
Gondolin
Jul 10, 3:52pm
Post #1 of 15
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It's the occasional reading thread!
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I have finished listening (again!) to Andy Serkis reading LotR. This time through I stayed to listen to the Appendices, which helped to straighten out some details of Rings of Power and War of the Rohirrim
Andy does the voices of several characters in the voices of the actors who played them in the movies, notably the four hobbits, Gandalf, and Boromir. That he gives Boromir Sean Bean's Yorkshire accent means all the men of Gondor speak that dialect as well!
I also listened to a newish audiobook of Terry Pratchett's Guards, Guards, the first in his Ankh-Morpork City Watch series. (Although all his Discworld books are interconnected). I've always visualized Sean playing Sam Vimes. Either this reader (Jon Culshaw) agrees with me, and this time around Vimes sounds like Sean, or my American ear is failing me when it comes to British dialects.
I also listened to the quirky but very entertaining Bryant & May's Peculiar London, by Christopher Fowler. This is neither fiction nor non-fiction, but falls in between, with Fowler's characters in his Bryant and May mystery series exchanging stories about genuine---and genuinely odd---corners of London. You could read this without being familiar with the characters, but you'd miss many amusing asides.
I'm now listening to Marble Hall Murders, by Anthony Horowitz, third in his trilogy beginning with Magpie Murders and Moonflower Murders. Warning! If you haven't read Magpie you'll be thoroughly spoiled by this one, as it's a direct sequel. The dramatizations of the first two of these have been top-notch, quirky in their own way, and I'm anticipating the dramatization of this one. Lesley Manville, who plays Susan, and Tim McMullen, who plays Atticus, read the audiobook.
On paper, I read Divine Might by Natalie Haynes, an exploration of the characters and stories of the Greek goddesses. It's written in the personal and contemporary style that I've been seeing more frequently, but with a solid academic background. Highly recommended if you're at all into Greek mythology.
I also read the ebook of Making a Killing, the second in the Lambert and Hook British police procedural series by J.M. Gregson. These are nicely written and plotted, even if the author does spend a bit too much time showing and then analyzing details of body language and voice.
And there's a new Peter Grant/Rivers of London book by Ben Aaronovitch, the first since Amongst Our Weapon in 2022. I pre-ordered the audiobook of Stone and Sky (also read by the superb Kobna Holdbrook-Smith) and it's waiting for me like money in the bank. I've also have the ebook on hold at the library since I enjoy both print and audio of such special books.
Which to do first? What a delightful dilemma. 
So what have you been reading?
Where now the horse and the rider? Where is the horn that was blowing?
Where is the helm and the hauberk, and the bright hair flowing?
Where is the hand on the harpstring, and the red fire glowing?
Where is the spring and the harvest and the tall corn growing?
They have passed like rain on the mountain, like a wind in the meadow;
The days have gone down in the West behind the hills into shadow....
(This post was edited by Lily Fairbairn on Jul 10, 3:52pm)
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Silvered-glass
Nargothrond
Jul 10, 4:11pm
Post #2 of 15
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While being mired by some excessively long novels, I read the short Burn, Witch, Burn! by Abraham Merritt. Unlike what one might assume from the title, the story is about gangsters and witchcraft in Prohibition era New York. The main character is a medical doctor who investigates the strange events.
I found Burn, Witch, Burn! a fun pulp story, but around the halfway point when a normal author would have gone for a quick conclusion, Merritt instead goes for escalation, elevating the novel from just "a fun pulp story" to something greater and more memorable. I really think Merritt deserves to be better known these days...
I've also started to think (based on this book and some short stories I read earlier) that Merritt has been an influence on Tolkien (as much as some people hate the idea of Tolkien being influenced by contemporary American literature...), but I think I need to read more Merritt first before I can make a proper forum post.
(This post reposted in this new reading thread upon request.)
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Annael
Elvenhome
Jul 11, 5:35pm
Post #3 of 15
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Mary Ellen Chase, a marvelous writer from Maine and apparently an important literary figure in the early 20th century. It was suggested to me that I read her Silas Crockett, a four-generation saga of a sailing family in Maine. Beautifully written and captures the changes as the world moved from relying heavily on sailing ships for trade and explortation (and war) to reliance on steam and then gas-powered boats while trains and cars made overland travel much faster. Her descriptions of the astounding amount of work women had to do to keep their homes running back in the day was eye-opening.
I gave M.C. Beaton a good trial; I read seven of her books, and I feel justified in saying that despite her reputation, she was not a good writer. I read somewhere that she wrote over 120 books, and they certainly read like she tossed them off quickly and never went back for a re-read or used an editor. Lots of mistakes like no paragraph return before having the next person speak, so the reader gets confused; the action jumps abruptly from one place to another with no warning (again, confusing), and worst of all in my view, the characters behave inconsistently. In the last one i read, the main character is a genteel lady of 20 who is determined to start her own confectionary shop, says she will never marry, but intends to make a lot of money so she can give two of her friends dowries and also educate a poor orphan to be a confectioner too. All well and good, but the moment the handsome lord proposes to her she drops all those dreams (and, one assumes, the people she'd promised to help) to marry him instead. Sloppy.
I am a dreamer of words, of written words.
-- Gaston Bachelard
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NARF and member of Deplorable Cultus since 1967
(This post was edited by Annael on Jul 11, 5:36pm)
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CuriousG
Gondolin
Jul 11, 6:27pm
Post #4 of 15
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That was why I avoided Agatha Christie for so long
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I gave M.C. Beaton a good trial; I read seven of her books, and I feel justified in saying that despite her reputation, she was not a good writer. I read somewhere that she wrote over 120 books, and they certainly read like she tossed them off quickly and never went back for a re-read or used an editor. I always figured Christie wrote too many books to be a good writer. While I haven't become a devout fan, I am impressed with her commitment to writing: characters are consistent, stories are well-constructed, motivations make sense, and a murder mystery doesn't morph into exploring the moons of Jupiter and fighting zombie dinosaurs. Just reading her, I feel a sense of discipline hovering over the page. So, she's one of the prolific ones who kept up her standards, but clearly Beaton wasn't.
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Silvered-glass
Nargothrond
Jul 12, 8:10am
Post #5 of 15
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and worst of all in my view, the characters behave inconsistently. In the last one i read, the main character is a genteel lady of 20 who is determined to start her own confectionary shop, says she will never marry, but intends to make a lot of money so she can give two of her friends dowries and also educate a poor orphan to be a confectioner too. All well and good, but the moment the handsome lord proposes to her she drops all those dreams (and, one assumes, the people she'd promised to help) to marry him instead. Sloppy.
That characterization is not so inconsistent to me. An inexperienced young woman who has never fallen in love would naturally lack the self-knowledge to know how she would behave in love. She can help people as a nobleman's wife too, if it's about that.
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Annael
Elvenhome
Jul 12, 3:23pm
Post #6 of 15
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However, inconsistent behavior is a trait for most of Beaton's characters. And this particular woman has to overcome many obstacles to achieve her dream, including starting all over in another town, and she keeps saying that it's her life goal and that she is determined never to marry. If she had waffled a little bit, or if they'd actually had a conversation about what she could do as his wife, if he'd had to convince her that she could do both . . . instead, the entire conversation was "Marry me" "YES!" and that was it.
I am a dreamer of words, of written words.
-- Gaston Bachelard
* * * * * * * * * *
NARF and member of Deplorable Cultus since 1967
(This post was edited by Annael on Jul 12, 3:23pm)
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Kimi
Forum Admin
/ Moderator
Jul 13, 4:47am
Post #7 of 15
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of book comments from me - I haven't posted in this thread for a while, so my list of recent reads is unwieldy. Picking a few:
Thanks to your recommendation, I read Miss Pym Disposes (the only Tey I'd previously read [several times] was Daughter of Time). I thoroughly enjoyed this one. What lovely, crisp prose, where every word seems considered, but the touch remains light.
Creation Lake by Rachel Kushner. I could write a lot about this one, but the isn't really the place for long reviews. I've seen it described as a thriller, but there's a lot more to it than that. It unsettled me somewhat, and (unusually for me) I actually re-read it immediately after finishing - and liked it more second time around. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Creation_Lake. Suffice to say I think there's a lot more here than "just" a thriller. Among other things, I see a damaged narrator who doesn't see her own damage, and cares for no one, including herself. I'm still not sure I enjoyed it, but it intrigued me
Orbital by Samantha Harvey. Little happens in this account of six astronauts as they go about their tasks on the ISS; it's as much love song to our planet as anything else. Short and frequently quite beautiful, I found it nice to dip into when I felt in need of rest and refreshment.
The Passing of Mistress Rose
My historical novels
Do we find happiness so often that we should turn it off the box when it happens to sit there?
- A Room With a View
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Silvered-glass
Nargothrond
Jul 13, 10:37am
Post #8 of 15
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As for inconsistent characterization...
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Speaking of inconsistent characterization, I just right now read a manga that shall remain unnamed because of major ending spoilers:
The hero and the main villain are having a fight to the death. The main villain wants to kill all humans and the hero wants to protect humans. The hero sacrifices his life to kill the main villain.
Then it is revealed that the main villain only turned evil because he had merged with the vengeful spirit of a murdered woman. The vengeful spirit is released, but now instead of killing all humans she wants to destroy the entire planet. Then the heroine parachutes in and demonstrates human compassion. The vengeful spirit is placated and leaves to the afterlife with her baby.
Then the true main villain appears out of nowhere. He wants to conquer the world. However the hero is revived because of some earlier plot. The main villain is also revived for some reason. They defeat the true main villain and save the heroine.
The main villain has turned good (supposedly) and no longer wants to kill all humans. His fight is now against environmental damage, and he has the butterflies to do it. He resurrects his loyal henchmen (even the really nasty immoral one) who had been killed by the hero and lets the hero and the heroine go home free with gifts.
And by the way - and this is not a revelation at the end but had been known to the reader for many chapters - the hero and the main villain are brothers and both are underage during the story.
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Annael
Elvenhome
Jul 13, 5:34pm
Post #9 of 15
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did you wish, at the end, that Miss Pym would have told the guilty party exactly what the other person had sacrificed for her? I just couldn't help wondering if guilty party might have 'fessed up in that case.
I am a dreamer of words, of written words.
-- Gaston Bachelard
* * * * * * * * * *
NARF and member of Deplorable Cultus since 1967
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Kimi
Forum Admin
/ Moderator
Jul 15, 4:06am
Post #10 of 15
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I did wonder what might have happened in that instance. I *think* Guilty Party might have been willing to 'fess up if her beloved had been facing a murder charge (especially since Britain still had the death penalty back then), but I don't see her being willing to do it "just" to save her from the sacrifice she does actually make. I think GP would have been bemused by the thought that Beloved felt the need to make such a sacrifice at all, and would've tried (probably unsuccessfully) to talk her out of it. I suspect she would feel that the victim simply wasn't worth sacrificing much for at all.
But yes, it would've been satisfying to see her confronted with the *other* (i.e. beyond taking a life) consequence of her action. She's had such a charmed life, being faced with any sort of consequence would have been a salutary experience for her.
The Passing of Mistress Rose
My historical novels
Do we find happiness so often that we should turn it off the box when it happens to sit there?
- A Room With a View
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cats16
Gondolin
Jul 15, 8:06pm
Post #11 of 15
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I finished The Shipping News by Annie Proulx a few weeks ago. It was the first story of hers I've read, but I enjoyed it. So many fascinating and unique character names in this one! It almost felt strange to hear of someone with a semi-normal name, when you're otherwise meeting folks named things like Diddy Shovel and Tert Card. My mental image of the main character, Quoyle, is Jacques Tati's Monsieur Hulot - bumbling, awkward, and always manages to simultaneously be in both the right and wrong place as he drifts through life.
I also finished Cormac McCarthy's Border Trilogy, the final book being Cities of the Plain. Apparently McCarthy initially drafted this as a screenplay, then decided he wanted to give backstories to the main characters, hence why the first two books of the trilogy now exist. Not unlike JRRT in some ways in that one regard, I suppose. Overall these are brutal and beautiful books.
Join us every weekend in the Hobbit movie forum for this week's CHOW (Chapter of the Week) discussion!
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CuriousG
Gondolin
Jul 16, 5:22pm
Post #12 of 15
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"He was a failure even at loneliness"
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OMG, The Shipping News! My first read had me clinging to the book and itching for the next page late into the night (and it's not exactly suspenseful). There was something so convincingly intimate about it, following Quoyle's messy life, maybe because as a reader you always sense there's a direction to it, but to borrow one of the many sea analogies from the book, he was more of a harbor buoy bobbing around aimlessly in the water, unnoticed and hoping not to be run over, than a racing boat headed for a prize. Even if life gets better for him incrementally rather than radically, it feels so earned.
Anyway, my 2nd read wasn't so impactful, but I picked up on zingers like the subject line: poor Quoyle, the fat, homely, big-chinned, unloved amateur reporter who is somehow an extrovert who really enjoys talking with people even if no one seems to like or respect him, hence "a failure even at loneliness." Her timing with that line is so good.
The other characters (I found the odd names distracting, personally) were mostly enjoyable and memorable too: his aunt, his girlfriend, and special mention to the local fisherman who was gruff, tough, and psychic--usually psychics are frail, whimsical, and ethereal, but a no-nonsense fishermen who senses people in distress at sea and goes to rescue them? That was cool. Magical realism, I suppose, in an otherwise grounded book, but there was the odd thing about magic totem strings and a house being blown off a cliff too.
Anyway, glad you enjoyed it. I used to have a couple of English professors that I'd discuss this book with when it was published, so it was memorable, and I think it was the book that established her as a writer.
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cats16
Gondolin
Jul 16, 8:10pm
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I had a similar feeling too, but it was actually after I finished it that that feeling really crept in. For a few days I wished I could keep following these oddballs - it's sort of like a more artsy "hangout" movie that doesn't have the strongest plot, but you just enjoy hanging out in their world that you'd happily watch another couple of hours.
Interesting re: character names, it's funny how different people can react to something like that so differently! I think I found it jarring for the first couple instances, but then something clicked in my brain and the comedy of it all hit me in a way where I found myself chuckling very often throughout.
Good point about that quality of magical realism. A bit of a spoiler I guess here, but the part when the old fisherman/publisher came back to life in the coffin had me cackling. I think it was the humor throughout that allowed the magical elements to land well for me - as if she's winking at the reader, fully aware this is a little silly, but please indulge her a little.
And that's fun you have those memories of chatting about it with your professors! I'd imagine this is a fun book to stumble into a conversation about in person, with all of the fun little nooks and crannies and mini-storylines that occur.
Join us every weekend in the Hobbit movie forum for this week's CHOW (Chapter of the Week) discussion!
(This post was edited by cats16 on Jul 16, 8:11pm)
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Annael
Elvenhome
Jul 17, 2:54pm
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and I find something new in it every time. Great book.
The movie's not bad, although of course a lot is omitted. Kevin Spacey was okay as Quoyle but physically wrong for the part. I could have seen Liam Neeson in the role.
I am a dreamer of words, of written words.
-- Gaston Bachelard
* * * * * * * * * *
NARF and member of Deplorable Cultus since 1967
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cats16
Gondolin
Jul 17, 4:47pm
Post #15 of 15
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Yeah, that's not how I imagine Quoyle at all!
Different character, but for some reason I couldn't get Liz Sheridan (Alf, Jerry's mom on Seinfeld) out of my head for the aunt.
Join us every weekend in the Hobbit movie forum for this week's CHOW (Chapter of the Week) discussion!
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