|
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Lily Fairbairn
Half-elven
Oct 24 2024, 3:15pm
Post #1 of 13
(2691 views)
Shortcut
|
|
It's the occasional reading thread!
|
Can't Post
|
|
It's still hotumn here in Texas, and we're now in a severe drought. Anyone have cool weather and rain to spare? We'd sure appreciate it  .
Halloween is a week from today. Boy, did it come around quickly this year!
I listened to the next book in my Josephine Tey bundle, not a mystery per se but the classic The Daughter of Time. Her usual detective is laid up in the hospital so explores the history of Richard III---with actual books, since this was published in 1951. I keep wondering what Tey would have done with the story since the discovery of Richard's bones in 2012. She was an excellent writer, with very straightforward and graceful prose and sparkling dialog.
A short non-fiction audiobook is The Art of the English Murder, by Lucy Worsley. This is a history of crime fiction over the last two hundred years in Britain, including some intriguing analysis of public interest in both fictional and true crime.
I also listened to The Jane Austen Society, by Natalie Jenner, about a group of people living in Chawton, England just after WWII, who want to preserve artifacts and buildings associated with Austen. I was disappointed to discover that it's entirely fictional. I kept wondering what REALLY happened! It's not a bad book---the characters are well-done, as are the Austen references, and listening to Richard Armitage is a treat---but still, I kept noticing the sudden changes in point of view, the tell-don't-show narrative, and especially the contemporary dialog.
I started listening to a cozy mystery, Homicide and Halo-Halo, by Mia P. Manansala. It's a nice but ploddingly ordinary cozy, and despite the interesting Filipino background of the main character, when I got to Chapter Eight with no sign of a plot, I gave up. YMMV, of course.
Now I'm enjoying my favorite of Ellis Peters's Brother Cadfael novels, The Virgin in the Ice. This particular reader has a few tics that are annoying, but the beautifully written and plotted story shines through. Plus the setting---snow, ice, and cold---is refreshing.
On paper I read Black Narcissus, by Rumer Godden, a psychological novel set in India in the 1930s. A group of nuns is given a mansion in the foothills of the Himalayas. They try to turn it into a school but the setting, the local people, and their own foibles cause problems. Nicely done, but ultimately non-involving, not like Godden's In This House of Brede, which I like very much.
I'm just finishing the ebook of The Dark Wives, the most recent Vera mystery by Ann Cleeves. This one finds Vera depressed and feeling her age after losing an officer in the last book, so much so I'm wondering if Cleeves is thinking of having Vera retire and with her retiring the series. The story is entertaining enough, but Cleeves's writing has been better.
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....
|
|
|
Ataahua
Forum Admin
/ Moderator
Oct 24 2024, 8:30pm
Post #2 of 13
(2627 views)
Shortcut
|
|
I've been delving into viral haemorrhagic fevers, 'cause why not?
[In reply to]
|
Can't Post
|
|
I'm part of a working party that's planning our workplace's response to the inevitable arrival of highly pathogenic bird flu in our region and another member recommended The Hot Zone by Richard Preston. It's a 1994 book that tracks the emergence of strains of Ebola and the related Marburg disease, and just how close an outbreak among monkeys in the US in the early '90s was nearly Very Bad Indeed for humans.
It's an easy read and has *very* descriptive chapters of what the disease does to a body, but apparently there are some issues with accuracy. Also, his comments about HIV and Aids are sometimes confusing and very out of date, given how the management of that disease has gone over the decades. Still, it's a quick and easy read, and shows just how vulnerable we are to a virus that can jump species.
I'm also half-way through a re-read of The Martian (just got up to the Richard Purnell Manoeuvre), and I've got a Tom Clancy book (Cardinal of the Kremlin) to follow that - should be just the ticket for a long weekend of forecast rain.
Celebrimbor: "Pretty rings..."
Dwarves: "Pretty rings..."
Men: "Pretty rings..."
Sauron: "Mine's better."
"Ah, how ironic, the addictive qualities of Sauron’s master weapon led to its own destruction. Which just goes to show, kids - if you want two small and noble souls to succeed on a mission of dire importance... send an evil-minded beggar with them too." - Gandalf's Diaries, final par, by Ufthak.
Fantasy novel - The Arcanist's Tattoo
My LOTR fan-fiction
|
|
|
Annael
Elvenhome
Oct 24 2024, 8:56pm
Post #3 of 13
(2620 views)
Shortcut
|
finally! Our summer stretched to last week, so we're happy for the coolth.
Lemme see: I read Eligible by Curtis Sittenfeld, a modern retelling of Pride and Prejudice, and liked it so well I re-read it immediately. Very witty and enjoyable. Darcy's a bit of a cipher, but I suppose he is in the original as well.
Also read How to Stop Time by Matt Haig, about a man who ages exremely slowly, about 1 year for every 10 that pass, so he's well over 400 years old and looks 40ish. Turns out he's not the only one. Haig focuses primarily on the difficulties this creates for a person and only refers to the advantages--the main character is fluent in many languages, for instance--briefly. So overall not a cheerful book, although he does find hope in the end.
A friend lent me The House in the Cerulean Sea, which is kind of "Sweet Tooth" meets 1984: a caseworker in an extremely regimented society is sent to check up on a home for unusual children--VERY unusual children--and falls in love with the kids & their caretaker. But what can he do to protect them? Sweet little tale, almost a 'cozy dystopian' story.
I am reading the Percy Jackson series. I read the first one years ago and wasn't hooked then, but now I'm enjoying them very much. Riordan knows his mythology, and I love the premise that disabilities like dyslexia are really powers in another reality.
I am a dreamer of words, of written words.
-- Gaston Bachelard
* * * * * * * * * *
NARF and member of Deplorable Cultus since 1967
|
|
|
dernwyn
Forum Admin
/ Moderator
Oct 25 2024, 1:02am
Post #4 of 13
(2584 views)
Shortcut
|
|
"Hotumn" - what a way to describe the season!
[In reply to]
|
Can't Post
|
|
I'm assuming your nights are not approaching frostiness. 
What a coincidence: I've been doing treadmill-walks while watching various Britbox series, and today's was that very Cadfael,The Virgin in the Ice!
Still working my way through "A History of the World in 12 Shipwrecks" by David Gibbins. What's been fascinating is his describing how what they've found has shown how widespread travel and trade were throughout the world over the centuries.
I have a book discussion and cemetery walk this Saturday, so I've been spending much of the time re-reading a 1989 town history book written by the lady who had been our town historian for decades. The cemetery is 3 centuries old, enclosed in stone walls, and just a short walk from the library. Yes, we'll be hunting for names from the book. A nice activity for the week before Halloween, I think!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"I desired dragons with a profound desire"
|
|
|
NottaSackville
Valinor
Oct 25 2024, 1:12pm
Post #5 of 13
(2502 views)
Shortcut
|
And yes, the vivid descriptions STILL come to mind on occasion!
Happiness: money matters, but less than we think and not in the way that we think. Family is important and so are friends, while envy is toxic -- and so is excessive thinking. Beaches are optional. Trust is not. Neither is gratitude. - The Geography of Bliss by Eric Weiner as summarized by Lily Fairbairn. And a bit of the Hobbit reading thrown in never hurts. - NottaSackville
|
|
|
Annael
Elvenhome
Oct 25 2024, 1:49pm
Post #6 of 13
(2496 views)
Shortcut
|
was there a description of a guy on a plane whose eyes turn red and things go south from there, because he's got Ebola? It's stayed with me . . .
I am a dreamer of words, of written words.
-- Gaston Bachelard
* * * * * * * * * *
NARF and member of Deplorable Cultus since 1967
|
|
|
Ataahua
Forum Admin
/ Moderator
Oct 25 2024, 6:51pm
Post #7 of 13
(2456 views)
Shortcut
|
I think it was reading that someone can be autonomous - get on a plane, call a taxi, take themselves to hospital - while being THAT broken and mushy inside that really gave me the wibbles.
Celebrimbor: "Pretty rings..."
Dwarves: "Pretty rings..."
Men: "Pretty rings..."
Sauron: "Mine's better."
"Ah, how ironic, the addictive qualities of Sauron’s master weapon led to its own destruction. Which just goes to show, kids - if you want two small and noble souls to succeed on a mission of dire importance... send an evil-minded beggar with them too." - Gandalf's Diaries, final par, by Ufthak.
Fantasy novel - The Arcanist's Tattoo
My LOTR fan-fiction
|
|
|
Ataahua
Forum Admin
/ Moderator
Oct 25 2024, 6:54pm
Post #8 of 13
(2455 views)
Shortcut
|
And yes, the vivid descriptions STILL come to mind on occasion!
I know that one in particular - when the first guy collapsed in the hospital's waiting area - will stick with me.
Celebrimbor: "Pretty rings..."
Dwarves: "Pretty rings..."
Men: "Pretty rings..."
Sauron: "Mine's better."
"Ah, how ironic, the addictive qualities of Sauron’s master weapon led to its own destruction. Which just goes to show, kids - if you want two small and noble souls to succeed on a mission of dire importance... send an evil-minded beggar with them too." - Gandalf's Diaries, final par, by Ufthak.
Fantasy novel - The Arcanist's Tattoo
My LOTR fan-fiction
|
|
|
Lily Fairbairn
Half-elven
Oct 26 2024, 2:05pm
Post #9 of 13
(2389 views)
Shortcut
|
I like the early dramatizations of the Cadfael books, the ones with Sean Pertwee as Hugh Beringar---even though Pertwee doesn't fit the description in the books. It's a shame he was no longer playing the sheriff for The Virgin in the Ice. It's also a shame that they had to use a tent encampment instead of a castle for the big battle scene!
I can't read the books now without seeing Derek Jacobi as Cadfael. Perfection!
I enjoy walking through old cemeteries, too.
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....
|
|
|
dernwyn
Forum Admin
/ Moderator
Oct 27 2024, 2:05am
Post #10 of 13
(2358 views)
Shortcut
|
I too can only see certain actors in those roles. Derek Jacobi fits this role well. It's been a while since I last read a Cadfael, I should see which ones the library has.
The old cemetery stones are fascinating, with the different designs over the years! And inscriptions. Have you ever found an inscription that inspired you to write something?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"I desired dragons with a profound desire"
|
|
|
Lily Fairbairn
Half-elven
Oct 27 2024, 2:18pm
Post #11 of 13
(2321 views)
Shortcut
|
It's a question of which came first, the chicken or the egg! But I'll say that the cemetery at Bruton Parish Church in Colonial Williamsburg did have play a role in The Charm Stone.
One old cemetery I---"enjoyed" isn't the right word. is it?---is in Port Chalmers, New Zealand, on a hillside overlooking the harbor.
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....
|
|
|
dernwyn
Forum Admin
/ Moderator
Oct 27 2024, 7:27pm
Post #12 of 13
(2311 views)
Shortcut
|
it could be said that there are cemeteries we appreciate? Ones that have a charm, or sentimentality, or pleasant ambiance?
I'll have to read The Charm Stone again, I remember part of it taking place in Williamsburg.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"I desired dragons with a profound desire"
|
|
|
Silvered-glass
Rohan
Oct 28 2024, 1:42pm
Post #13 of 13
(2281 views)
Shortcut
|
I reread some more Lovecraft. Some highlights:
The Whisperer in Darkness may be the single scariest Lovecraft story. Even though I remembered the plot, the effectiveness of the horror in the second half remains high. It's great. (The story also feels strangely topical now because of the flood in the beginning and its similarities to Hurricane Helene.)
The Colour Out of Space is centered around a rural family man named Gardner and a mysterious foreign substance that makes crops grow large... This story was probably in the background of my unconscious mind when I started thinking about whether Galadriel's gift to Sam was really, truly safe and had no disastrous long-term effects... I wonder if Tolkien was influenced by this story. There is even something that could prefigure the Ents. On my most recent reading I noticed some details I hadn't earlier, which change this Lovecraft story away from a relatively straightforward science fiction narrative, but going into detail here would also be going into spoilers.
The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath, which was published posthumously, feels very flawed to me and I suspect the story is actually just a long and detailed synopsis for a massive epic fantasy novel, explaining the overly swift and monotonous pacing, so that only Nyarlathotep's speech is to be considered as proper first draft material. It doesn't help that the main character Randolph Carter is not particularly likable (coming across much like my interpretation of Saruman) and that his motives for his epic quest are exceptionally flimsy and selfish, so that the reader doesn't actually care whether he succeeds or fails in his main goal. Comparing and contrasting with LotR is an educational exercise to any aspiring fantasy author.
Lovecraft has written multiple stories about Randolph Carter, and my favorite of those is the final one, Through the Gates of the Silver Key. The story is at the same time utterly predictable and way unpredictable. It is also something of a mystery because the reader has to make the determination on how much of what the highly suspicious "Swami Chandraputra" says is really true. It was nice to think about that, and I reached my own conclusion about the story and what really happened. I think reaching the proper solution almost depends on having read a few other Lovecraft stories. (This story forms an unofficial bookend with The Statement of Randolph Carter, which is also something of a mystery involving an unreliable narrator. Reading the subsequent Randolph Carter stories help with reaching the correct conclusion.)
I also reread the Lovecraft-related The Hounds of Tindalos by Frank Belknap Long and noticed that the story is actually really Christian despite setting itself up as not to be. The story has thematic parallels to Lovecraft's The Dreams in the Witch-House which also turns out to be far more Christian than it first seems. I think the worldviews of typical Lovecraft characters and the functioning of the world world in Lovecraft's stories are entirely different things despite being often confused.
|
|
|
|
|
