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Lily Fairbairn
Gondolin
May 22, 3:17pm
Post #1 of 17
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It's the occasional reading thread!
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Does anyone have any extra rain they can send to South Texas? We're parching here. 
I'm still listening every day to a bit of Andy Serkis's superb reading of LotR, and have now reached the Houses of Healing and the quest for kingsfoil.
Warning, snark ahead. All IMHO, of course.
I've read the ebook of A Fatal Feast at Bramsford Manor by Darci Hannah, a blend of paranormal mystery and cooking mystery. I wanted to like it, and indeed the characters are likeable, but never mind the stilted dialog and lack of dialect (English, Scottish, American---they all sound alike), I'm shocked that a respectable company like Kensington couldn't be bothered to edit. How's this for an egregious dangling participle (not a direct quote, but close): "The White Hart was everything he'd imagined a pub to be. Filled with customers, he admired the beamed ceiling and the polished horse brasses and....."
I read this out to my husband and now we're joking about just where those customers were—-seated around his liver, perhaps? Hanging off his ribs? Running up and down his colon telling him he shouldn't have eaten that sausage? A change in punctuation would have fixed the problem: "The White Hart was everything he'd imagined a pub to be, filled with customers. He admired the beamed ceiling..."
I'm now finishing the ebook of Queens of Crime by Marie Benedict. This concept is that five Golden Age authors---Christie, Marsh, Orczy, Allingham and Sayers---get together in 1931 to solve a real-life crime. I don't always mind first-person present tense, but here it seems annoying and stilted, especially when the narration is supposedly from the point of view of Dorothy Sayers. She could write sparkling prose and creative plots---in, thankyouverymuch, the actual dialect of the 1930s---but here both just thud along. Again, I wanted to like this, but it fell flat for me in too many different (and repetitious) ways.
Then I read a paper book, Crossings, by Alex Landragin. It's a literary choose-your-own-adventure book which can be read straight through from page one to page three hundred-fifty, or it can be read in a clearly mapped out alternate sequence. It's highly literary despite being a fantasy novel at heart, with different characters trading "souls" by looking deeply into each other's eyes. (I do think this fantasy element could have been more consistent). It was good to read a well-written book without any grammatical errors, but after several flashbacks-within-flashbacks I ran out of patience with the convolutions of the story, such as it was. And then it just trailed away into hopelessness.
I did try following the alternate reading order, but that meant leaping around through different time periods and different povs in an even less coherent fashion than in the original. I imagine someone who loves aimless literary novels and has the patience to work out the multiple characters and time periods would love it, though.
Okay. End of snark.
I listened to the audiobook of Lies Sleeping, Rivers of London book 6, by Ben Aaronovitch. I've read and loved all the books in print and am working my through the audiobooks, narrated superbly by Kobna Holdbrook-Smith. I reached the end of this one a bit puzzled, wondering why some remembered scenes weren't in the story. Well duh! I'd skipped the audiobook of Book 5!
So I went back to The Hanging Tree and caught up. Then, refreshed with the relevant plot points, I started Lies Sleeping again, intending to just listen to the first couple of chapters. But no, I'm re-listening to the entire thing. Now THERE is an excellent first-person voice, superior pacing, great fantasy elements, and a well-deployed sense of humor.
By the way, the next book in the series, Stone and Sky, will be out in July. Peter Grant goes to Scotland! Be still my heart.... 
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 May 22, 3:18pm)
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Otaku-sempai
Elvenhome
May 22, 6:14pm
Post #2 of 17
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Weird Horror Short Stories is part of the Gothic Fantasy collection compiled for Barnes & Noble. It's a mixture of new and reprinted weird fiction ranging from Nathaniel Hawthorne's "Rappacinni's Daughter" (1844) to "Lost in a Pyramid" (1869) by Louisa May Alcott to the present day, with the Lovecraft Circle well represented by H.P. himself, Robert Bloch, Clark Ashton Smith and others.
“Hell hath no fury like that of the uninvolved.” - Tony Isabella
(This post was edited by Otaku-sempai on May 22, 6:25pm)
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CuriousG
Gondolin
May 23, 2:26am
Post #4 of 17
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"Jodie entered the ballroom. Coated with white paint and scuffed by many dancing shoes, she helped herself to the buffet while seeking a dance partner." Poor thing. Who dances with a girl painted white and scuffed by shoes??? 
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Ataahua
Forum Admin
/ Moderator
May 24, 11:35pm
Post #5 of 17
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You've reminded me that I once wrote a choose-your-own-adventure story.
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It was an English class project in form four -14/15 years old. We were to write a children's book in any style, on any topic. Mine was based on exploration of an Egyptian pyramid and had a different trope for each storyline - aliens, treasure thieves, a god, and I think time travel might have snuck in there too. I had a diagram beside me to keep track of which page linked to where or I would've been hopelessly lost!
There was nothing literary about it, though. 
And yes, dangling participles bug the heck out of me when they're done by professional writers, who should know better (especially if an editor's been involved too.
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
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Annael
Elvenhome
May 27, 4:43am
Post #6 of 17
(14617 views)
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Ancillary Justice by Ann Leckie
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John Scalzi likes her, which is good enough for me, and I enjoyed this book very much. Very different take on a space-faring empire; this one uses reanimated corpses as soldiers, all part of one AI brain . . . yet they're not quite a hive mind, and one goes rogue. Somewhat reminiscent of "Murderbot" except not. Complicated and intriguing, very well written, and the villain is . . . unexpected. It's the first of a trilogy so I shall be visiting the library for book two soon.
Found myself re-reading The Talisman Ring by Georgette Heyer, why not.
I am behind on the Rivers of London books; our library doesn't have them all, perhaps I'll have to buy Lies Sleeping?
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 May 27, 4:43am)
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Lily Fairbairn
Gondolin
May 27, 6:59pm
Post #7 of 17
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Lies Sleeping was followed by False Value and Against Our Weapons, in case you haven't read them, either. They're all available in paperback.
There are also associated short stories and novellas and graphic novels. What is missing is a TV show, but I keep hoping!
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....
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Silvered-glass
Nargothrond
May 31, 8:38am
Post #8 of 17
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I reread Lovecraft's classic story The Call of Cthulhu after a long time and found I still remembered the plot entirely too well which probably took away a great deal of the literary effect. This time I really noticed how much Lovecraft was making use of unreliable narration. He invites the reader to consider such things as the relevancy and the accuracy of the given information and the narrator's sanity and truthfulness, making for a very deep reading experience where the reader is expected to figure out what really happened and will happen.
Interestingly, I think Lovecraft made The Call of Cthulhu essentially about Revelation 9:1-2, which is not really something you'd normally associate with Lovecraft, but I think Lovecraft's literature in fact has significant Christian elements. (See also The Colour out of Space and Revelation 8:10-11.)
(Incidentally, my unofficial Lord of the Rings sequel project has been growing in the direction of added Lovecraft elements. Now one might easily think I'm talking about something like King Eldarion having to deal with the return of Cthulhu and the rise of R'lyeh, Galadriel fighting the Haunter of the Dark, or someone reading the Necronomicon and going insane, but not to worry, I have a much deeper approach in mind.)
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Annael
Elvenhome
Jun 5, 11:37pm
Post #9 of 17
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Now I'm thinking about actors who could be cast. Noel Clarke who was Mickey in "Doctor Who" would be a great Peter. Ooooh - Colin Firth as Nightingale? Or James McAvoy? And SO many great actresses who could be the Rivers . . . Sophie Okenedo for Fleet!
I am a dreamer of words, of written words.
-- Gaston Bachelard
* * * * * * * * * *
NARF and member of Deplorable Cultus since 1967
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Kimi
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Jun 6, 2:37am
Post #10 of 17
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of a TV adaptation for some time, and Ben Aaronovitch's own production company is certainly keen. See e.g. this article: https://www.theguardian.com/...et-for-tv-adaptation - but note that it's nearly three years old, and nothing very visible has happened since.
Noel Clarke would not be a likely choice, I'd suspect, given the issues around the many accusations of wrongdoing against him. I love the suggest of Sophie Okonedo, though! She has such gravitas. Maybe Gugu Mbatha-Raw as another. I could maybe see Matthew Macfadyen as Nightingale.
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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Annael
Elvenhome
Jun 6, 4:53am
Post #11 of 17
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that about Clarke. Sigh.
I also thought of Macfadyen for Nightingale.
I am a dreamer of words, of written words.
-- Gaston Bachelard
* * * * * * * * * *
NARF and member of Deplorable Cultus since 1967
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dernwyn
Forum Admin
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Jun 9, 7:11pm
Post #12 of 17
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Published last year, "Course Change" by Peter J. Emanuel Jr. is one I picked up at one of our Historical Society's book talks. The author is a retired history teacher; a decade ago when doing research for the Mystic Seaport Museum, he had been handed a sailor's 1840's logbook of the whaling ship Stonington, one of whose owners had been the founder of his high school. So he began reading the dry accounts of the crew's whaling adventures - then the tone of the log suddenly shifted, and he realized the ship, on its return from whaling in the north Pacific, had gotten caught up in the Mexican-American War. He expanded his research, and developed an historical fiction novel about the extraordinary events the crew had, incorporating facts from the logbook. For a first-time novel, it's nicely written, and an enjoyable read.
I've downloaded my first Library e-book - mainly because that was the only way I could find a good translation of the Venerable Bede's "Ecclesiastical History of the English People", written around the year 731. This had long been on my ought-to-read list, and having just finished reading a booklet about Durham Cathedral and a short biography of St. Cuthbert (given us by our daughter back when she was living in Edinburgh), that pushed me to finally see what it was all about. Whew, what a lot of overly-detailed accounts, it's a bit much for me so I'm skimming a lot of it, but I can see where it's considered a gold mine for historians of that time period.
I've got the Rivers of London series on my list, your reviews always make it sound so good!
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"I desired dragons with a profound desire"
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CuriousG
Gondolin
Jun 10, 2:21pm
Post #14 of 17
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Sounds like you saved me from Bede
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Some ancient sources are really worth the read. And some kinda disappoint. Sorry about Bede being overly detailed, but you saved me from that one.
Now Herodotus...
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dernwyn
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Jun 10, 3:35pm
Post #15 of 17
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It's definitely "Ecclesiastical".
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The beginning is fascinating, about the first inhabitants of England and what the islands are and how big (he says Ireland goes all the way to off the coast of Spain).
But it's very much church history: who was prior where, who got excommunicated and why, the doings of good kings and holy men and women, and really nasty kings and church leaders. But so many names, and so similar, it's eye-crossing at times.
Fortunately the chapters tend to be short, 1-3 pages. Many of them are about saints doing miracles and seeing visions, these are like feel-good stories.
And if you want to find out why there was such a heated controversy between the date Rome used for Easter and the date the Irish church used...the full tedious arguments are ultra-detailed. 
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"I desired dragons with a profound desire"
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CuriousG
Gondolin
Jun 10, 8:48pm
Post #16 of 17
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Geography was so much more fun before we had pesky satellites and accurate maps
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I heard that my brother's tailor's cousin's neighbor got drunk at a Dublin pub, tried to walk home, and wound up on the streets of Madrid, and that was the 12th time that happened to him. The Ireland-Spain connection was almost as confusing as the Wales-Australia one, which explains the periodic kangaroo invasions of Cardiff.
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dernwyn
Forum Admin
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Jun 11, 1:00pm
Post #17 of 17
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Wallabies!
Apparently some got disoriented while swimming off the coast of Australia, and there's now a feral colony in the mountains of Wales.
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"I desired dragons with a profound desire"
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