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a.s.
Valinor
Jun 11 2009, 1:06am
Post #1 of 31
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What have you been reading this week?
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Not much.
I managed to finish a short novel for my real-life book club: The Cellist of Sarajevo by Steven Galloway. Well written and easily read, it nevertheless struck me as very detached and I had a hard time feeling any spark of connection with the characters. It almost seemed to me that the city was more alive, as an entity, than the characters, until it struck me that was part of the merit of the work. I am not supposed to connect on an intensely personal level with the characters; though they are individuals, they are more importantly types: a man in his sixties whose wife and son were able to escape and now he is kept out of the Army by his work in a bakery, which also sustains him literally. A young husband and father going out to get water. A young woman who is employed as a sort of freelance sniper. Several other citizens all trying to dodge bullets in Sniper Alley. And, of course, the cellist himself, who isn't really a character in the novel as such; he is a presence and a happening and the hub around which the story rotates.
Galloway spends no time identifying which group is which, who is Serbian and who is Bosnian, for instance, or which side is Christian and which Muslim. In fact, he gives no hints even in describing family groups, etc. There are no "ethnic" clues, no rituals or church-going or calling on Allah or Jesus or anything at all. There are just people, and loss of civil life as the utilities fail and food is scarce and the black market thrives, and walking in the street to find water means braving a sniper and/or a falling shell. "The men in the hills" are just the people shooting at the innocent (and not-innocent) people in the city. There are also shooters in the city.
Very thought provoking book.
Anyway, that's it for me, except for reading my own writing. I am 25,000 words into my novel, and I'm in a tough part where writing is now a total chore and not flowing at all and now I know why everyone says "writing is hard work". Gosh, it's a slog at the present time! I am really committed to writing this now. But between full time work and writing, I am not able to read much, and as reading has been just about my greatest recreation for the last forty years, it is hard to not read!
But what about you all? What have you been reading this week?
a.s.
"an seileachan"
"If any one had begun to rehearse a History, say not I know it well; and if he relate it not right and fully, shake not thine head, twinkle not thine eyes, and snigger not thereat; much less maist thou say, 'It is not so; you deceive yourself.'"
From: Youth's Behaviour, or, Decency in Conversation amongst Men, composed in French by Grave Persons, for the use and benefit of their Youth. The tenth impression. London, 1672
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Morthoron
Gondor
Jun 11 2009, 1:55am
Post #2 of 31
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The Once and Future King by TH White. Like LotR and a few selected other novels, I reread TOaFK every few years simply because it is one of the most delightful and poignant fantasies ever written. It's certainly in the same league as LotR as far as a classical fantasy, and it is funnier. White's knowledge and love of bygone England is just as apparent as Tolkien's, and his descriptions of nature are stunning. For me, it is one of those formative novels that are the foundation of my love of literature. His indepth (and hands-on) knowledge of falconry and hunting, as well as his scholarly devotion to Malory, add so many layers to the Arthurian cycle that none but Malory himself do justice to the tale (or tales, if you wish). That it is told from a 12th century frame of reference and that Merlyn is living life in reverse (he is an Oxford grad and a cricketeer) makes it even more intriguing.
Two novel-length stories nominated for 2009 MEFAs--
MONTY PYTHON'S 'The HOBBIT':
http://www.fanfiction.net/...y_Pythons_The_Hobbit
-And-
'TALES OF A DARK CONTINENT':
http://www.fanfiction.net/..._of_a_Dark_Continent
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Compa_Mighty
Tol Eressea
Jun 11 2009, 1:32pm
Post #3 of 31
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That's one of those books I really want to read...
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However, I am inclined to try Le Morte d'Arthur first...
Haven't been reading much, I believe today or tomorrow I'll be finishing Secrets from the Dragon Riders, the Borders book on Christopher Paolini's Inheritance Cycle. The essays are quite good... so maybe I'll have to read Eldest soon.
I started Timothy Zahn's latest Star Wars novel: Allegiance, but it hasn't grabbed me. At least not in the way the Thrawn Trilogy, the Hand of Thrawn duology or Outbound Flight did.
I also finished the first Rhapsody in The Odyssey, which incredibly, I haven't read. Back in high school we were given the choice to read The Odyssey or The Aeneid, I chose the latter, again, incredibly. I'm quite liking it so far, I believe it will be more enjoyable than The Illiad was, and way less artificial and obvious than The Aeneid.
Here's to Del Toro becoming the Irvin Kershner of Middle Earth!
Essay winner of the Show us your Hobbit Pride Giveway!
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Ettelewen
Rohan
Jun 11 2009, 3:59pm
Post #4 of 31
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Technical docs for software at work.
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Pretty dull stuff. "Adding Tasks to a Work Order", "Applying a Route to a Work Order", "Using the Work Log". Bleah.
On the other hand, when I'm off work I'm rereading Asimov's Robot novels. I haven't read these in years, so they seem relatively fresh. I'm currently on "Robots of Dawn", set on the Spacer world of Aurora. Asimov's writing style is extremely dry, which suits my mood while starting a new job that's pretty technical.
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Elberbeth
Tol Eressea
Jun 11 2009, 4:06pm
Post #5 of 31
(288 views)
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But so far it's pretty heavy going. I'm hoping it gets better soon.
"There are some things that it is better to begin than to refuse, even though the end may be dark."
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Ataahua
Forum Admin
/ Moderator
Jun 11 2009, 7:32pm
Post #6 of 31
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After many years (about 15), I decided to read David Eddings's Mallorean and Tamuli trilogies again. But when I got to the last book in the Tamuli series, I discovered that about 10 of the early pages hadn't been sliced open - I had to get a knife to cut them so that I could read the book!
I figured that I must have read The Hidden City as a loaner from the library the first time around, then bought the series and never read these copies (and so never discovered the third book's defect). But the more I read the book, the more uncertain I became - and now that I'm perhaps 80 pages from the end I realise that I have *never* read this third book!
So somehow I bought the Tamuli trilogy, read the first two and probably took a break before reading the third ... and just forgot to read it! And then forgot that I *hadn't* read it at all!
It's been fun 're-reading' a book when I have no idea what is going to happen next, but I do wonder how I managed to pull off that little stunt.
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 b*****d with them too." - Gandalf's Diaries, final par, by Ufthak.
Ataahua's stories
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N.E. Brigand
Half-elven
Jun 11 2009, 7:37pm
Post #7 of 31
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A review of a book on the KGB, in which one of Tolkien's correspondents appears.
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Yesterday I read this review, by Anne Applebaum in The New Republic, of a new book by John Earl Haynes, Harvey Klehr, and Alexander Vassiliev, called Spies: The Rise and Fall of the KGB in America, and was surprised to learn --though this is apparently not news-- that Michael Straight, later editor of TNR, had been a low-level Soviet agent in the late 1930s. That caught my eye because Straight later wrote a warm review of LOTR (for The Nation, I think) that has sometimes been quoted on the book's cover, and because one of the longer items in The Letters of J.R.R. Tolkien (#181) is a draft that Tolkien prepared in response to questions from Straight in 1956.
Anyway, here is the passage in question from Applebaum's review:
Spies also offers a good deal of additional information and--let's be frank--juicy details about some minor figures whose affiliations were already known. One of these is Michael Straight, a rather unserious person whom readers of this magazine may recognize as the son of the early owners of The New Republic and later the magazine's publisher and editor. As a student in Britain in the 1930s, he met Anthony Blunt and Guy Burgess, two of the infamous Cambridge spies. Burgess recruited him despite the fact that Straight was "not quite ready to let go of certain romantic notions," as he wrote to his KGB minder. Another KGB officer later described Straight--cover name "Nigel"--as a "dilettante." A number of American officials seem to have taken a similar view, and Straight never progressed very far in his short government career. He fell out with both the Communist Party and the KGB after the Nazi-Soviet pact in 1939. Haynes and Klehr point out, however, that he maintained a wobbly affiliation, recommending friends to the KGB as late as 1942, and keeping silent about Burgess and Blunt until 1963.
I'm not sure this should have any bearing when considering Straight's review of LOTR, though.
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We're discussing The Hobbit in the Reading Room, Mar. 23 - Aug. 9. Everyone is welcome!
Join us June 8-14 for "Inside Information".
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Aunt Dora Baggins
Immortal
Jun 11 2009, 7:50pm
Post #8 of 31
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"Fingerprints of God" and "Sigurd and Gudrun"
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Fingerprints of God by Barbara Bradley Hagerty is about scientific efforts to discover things like whether praying for other people is effective and whether mystical experiences are more than just in the brain. She talks about the "God spot" in the brain (the left temporal lobe) and how some people seem to be wired for a belief in God and mystical experiences and some aren't. Does that mean that it's all in our heads, or that that part of our brains is the "receiver" that lets us hear the messages God is sending? Hagerty is the religion reporter for NPR, and had a couple of mystical experiences herself, which started her on this quest. A very interesting book. The writing is great, but my only quibble is that while she tries hard to remain objective, it's pretty clear that she's not. But with that given, a book I enjoyed a lot.
And of course the Legend of Sigurd and Gudrun is by Himself, a retelling in verse of the story of the Volsungs. I was waiting to get it, and then saw it on the shelf at Target for a good price, and Uncle Baggins urged me to buy it. I've just started, having read the introduction and the first 24 verses (out of about 300). Reading the introduction is helpful, because it explains the style of poetry that Tolkien was using, one that is expected to be as sparing and vivid as haiku. That eases my frustration with the lack of exposition. If I hadn't been already familiar with the story, I wouldn't have been able to figure out at all what was going on with the ransom paid for Otter's murder, and the curse laid on the gold. The description in the poem was just too sparing and therefore confusing.
I have to say that *looks around warily* so far I prefer Wagner's version. But don't let Himself hear me say so. We'll see how I feel when I've read more.
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"For DORA BAGGINS in memory of a LONG correspondence, with love from Bilbo; on a large wastebasket. Dora was Drogo's sister, and the eldest surviving female relative of Bilbo and Frodo; she was ninety-nine, and had written reams of good advice for more than half a century."
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"A Chance Meeting at Rivendell" and other stories
leleni at hotmail dot com
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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Darkstone
Immortal
Jun 11 2009, 8:09pm
Post #9 of 31
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No wonder he was considered a soft agent.
From: http://www.revolutionsf.com/article.php?id=953:
"The Lord of the Rings is a pernicious confirmation of the values of a declining nation with a morally bankrupt class whose cowardly self-protection is primarily responsible for the problems England answered with the ruthless logic of Thatcherism."
******************************************
The audacious proposal stirred his heart. And the stirring became a song, and it mingled with the songs of Gil-galad and Celebrian, and with those of Feanor and Fingon. The song-weaving created a larger song, and then another, until suddenly it was as if a long forgotten memory woke and for one breathtaking moment the Music of the Ainur revealed itself in all glory. He opened his lips to sing and share this song. Then he realized that the others would not understand. Not even Mithrandir given his current state of mind. So he smiled and simply said "A diversion.”
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Ainu Laire
Tol Eressea
Jun 11 2009, 9:06pm
Post #10 of 31
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Finished "Good Omens" by Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett
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Very funny book about the ending of the world- which is in itself a complete enigma, but if anyone can pull it off, these two writers certainly can. I was very happy with the ending, and highly recommend it to anyone who needs a good laugh!
One of my favorite jokes- the retirement of the horseman "Plague" back in the 1930s. Overheard was grumblings about something called 'antibiotics'. XD
Also, one of the character's names is "Pippin Galadriel Moonflower". She goes by Pepper. No kid has dared call her by her birth name in years XD
My LiveJournal ~ My artwork and photography ~ My LOTR fan fiction
NARF since age 8, when I refused to read the Hobbit because the cover looked boring and icky.
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Annael
Immortal
Jun 11 2009, 11:34pm
Post #11 of 31
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Philosophical Hermeneutics by Gadamer
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Hermeneutics is the - art, I would say, rather than science - of accounting for bias when interpreting anything that is "alien" to one's current mindset. It really got started with Bible translation, which is not simply a matter of translating Aramaic or Greek or Latin to English, but also studying the culture of the time so that one could know in what context a certain word would be used - the idiomatic use of the time (my minister likes to say that the trouble with a lot of Bible translators is that they didn't get the jokes!) - and as much as possible, correcting for the personal biases of the interpreter and the reader.
Now it's often called on in all the humanities and most social sciences.
More than that, one also has to be aware of one's own prejudices and attitudes that are coloring how one approaches the material. I like this stuff because I'm fascinated with how much of people's attitudes are what Gadamer calls "preunderstandings" - attitudes so deeply ingrained the person may not even be aware of them, but that color their entire view of the world and hence their politics, religious views, relationships, responses to strangers, etc. It''s not unlike depth psychology which also tries to bring into consciousness aspects of people's psyches that they are unconscious of, yet that control their responses to others and situations. The more conscious a person can be of these attitudes, the more objective they can be, because their vision is less affected by their own "preunderstandings."
I have to give a presentation on this 
I have a thousand brilliant lies
For the question:
How are you? ...
I have a thousand brilliant lies
For the question:
What is God?
If you think that the Truth can be known
From words,
If you think that the Sun and the Ocean
Can pass through that tiny opening
Called the mouth,
O someone should start laughing!
Someone should start wildly
Laughing – Now!
- Hafiz
* * * * * * * * * *
NARF and member of Deplorable Cultus since 1967
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Asclepias
Rivendell
Jun 12 2009, 2:19am
Post #14 of 31
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buy Twilight, but I saw the movie and started reading Entmaiden's copy while I was visiting her in Chicago, and I ended up buying it because I knew I was going to be on the road for at least another week. Also reading People of the Raven and Monster of God, and Tom Jones, too, though not as frequently. I am not doing well in my quest to limit myself to 1 or 2 books at a time! Next up, at least for nonfiction--Blood Struggle, which is about the modernization of American Indian tribes.
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silneldor
Half-elven
Jun 12 2009, 3:12am
Post #15 of 31
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Finally have the time and much lessened distraction:).
''What connects Nature to the spiritual, or requires the presence of the latter? In positive terms, as Alkis Kontos points out, when nature was still largely experienced as integral, alive and active, 'It was the spiritual dimension of the world, its enchanted, magical quality that rendered it infinite, not amenable to complete calculability; spirit could not be quanified; it permitted and invited mythologization.' And I would add, it still is and does.''
Patrick Curry-Defending Middle-Earth-Tolkien: Myth and Modernity - chapter: 'The Sea: Spirituality and Ethics.'
May the grace of Manwë let us soar with eagle's wings!
In the air, among the clouds in the sky
Here is where the birds of Manwe fly
Looking at the land, and the water that flows
The true beauty of earth shows
With the stars of Varda lighting my way
In all the realms this is where I stay
In the realm of Manwë Súlimo
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Aunt Dora Baggins
Immortal
Jun 12 2009, 3:44am
Post #17 of 31
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Your post makes me want to read it again.
My favorite line was "gayer than a tree full of monkeys".
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"For DORA BAGGINS in memory of a LONG correspondence, with love from Bilbo; on a large wastebasket. Dora was Drogo's sister, and the eldest surviving female relative of Bilbo and Frodo; she was ninety-nine, and had written reams of good advice for more than half a century."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"A Chance Meeting at Rivendell" and other stories
leleni at hotmail dot com
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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Farawyn
Rohan
Jun 12 2009, 2:05pm
Post #18 of 31
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As an RN I am up to my ears in Flu A/H1n1 so...
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I thought I'd re read Stephen King's The Stand. I love Stu Redman.
*************
Disclaimer: The author of this message does not guarantee correct grammar, spelling or English usage. No responsibility can be accepted for the use of this message as a guide to written English.
**************
Discuss:
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N.E. Brigand
Half-elven
Jun 12 2009, 2:11pm
Post #19 of 31
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Michael Perry's "Untangling Tolkien".
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A chronological guide to LOTR published in 2003. In some ways it reads like a preliminary version of Hammond and Scull's The Lord of the Rings: A Reader's Companion (2005). I got it as a birthday gift last week, along with Tolkien’s own Roverandom, and more Tolkiena: Doug Anderson’s Tales before Tolkien: The Roots of Modern Fantasy; Lin Carter’s Tolkien: A Look Behind The Lord of the Rings, Jared Lobdell’s England and Always: Tolkien's World of the Rings; Joseph Pearce’s Tolkien: A Celebration; Anne Petty’s One Ring to Bind Them All: Tolkien's Mythology; Deborah and Ivor Rogers’ J.R.R. Tolkien; Maru Salu and Robert Farrell’s J.R.R. Tolkien: Scholar and Storyteller; TORN’s The People's Guide to J.R.R. Tolkien and More People's Guide to J.R.R. Tolkien; and Allan Turner’s Translating Tolkien.
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We're discussing The Hobbit in the Reading Room, Mar. 23 - Aug. 9. Everyone is welcome!
Join us June 8-14 for "Inside Information".
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How to find old Reading Room discussions.
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GaladrielTX
Tol Eressea
Jun 12 2009, 2:22pm
Post #20 of 31
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I liked the miniseries, too. The guy who played...uh, I forget the evil guy's name...reminded me of an old friend of mine.
I haven't (knowingly, knock on wood) met anyone who's gotten that flu yet. How many cases have you seen? I'm kind of fascinated by the topic. Just heard yesterday the WHO declared it a pandemic.
~~~~~~~~
The TORNsib formerly known as Galadriel.
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GaladrielTX
Tol Eressea
Jun 12 2009, 2:24pm
Post #21 of 31
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Still slogging through Caldwell's "Captains and the Kings".
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Copy and paste this email as needed for the next few weeks, LOL. The dang thing is 800 pages, and I usually only settle down to read at bedtime. I have a habit of reading long books.
~~~~~~~~
The TORNsib formerly known as Galadriel.
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Curious
Half-elven
Jun 12 2009, 4:29pm
Post #22 of 31
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The Child's Story Bible by Catherine Vos.
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This is such a cool Bible. I bought it for my Kindle to give me a grounding in Bible stories I could tell my daughters, but I've found it a pleasure myself. For a children's Bible, it's amazingly thorough and relatively undiluted. It is definitely written from a Christian point of view, but I don't find it preachy -- instead, it reads like an exciting, epic story, or series of stories.
It tackles many areas of the Bible rarely found in children's Bibles and rarely remembered by adults, yet still makes them an exciting part of the story. It's a taste of old time religion, first published in 1932, but written in a comforting, motherly or grandmotherly voice. I think Christians and non-Christians alike sometimes forget that the Bible has some great and epic stories in it. This version tells those stories in an exciting and readable form.
I've also been reading the traditional Bible. I read stories about Elijah and Elisha because I couldn't remember exactly what they did. I'll say one thing -- boys, don't call Elisha a baldy! He'll curse you, and God will send a bear to maul you! Elijah and Elisha often remind me of Jesus, wandering about working miracles, even raising the dead, until someone threatens them -- then fire comes down from heaven to consume their enemies, or a bear mauls them, or something else happens that reminds me that this is the Old Testament.
I also read Isaac Asimov's Foundation trilogy on my Kindle. I can see now how it parallels the new political status of American during and after World War II, and also that it suggests a controversial philosophy of secret governance by the best and the brightest. However, I was disappointed to see Asimov use one of my pet peeves, the phrase "most unique"!  I will say it was a quick read and I had a hard time putting it down.
I've read some other books too, but I don't have time to discuss them all. The Kindle has me reading books again! I think I like it.
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a.s.
Valinor
Jun 13 2009, 1:14am
Post #23 of 31
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It was one of my favorite books as a young teen/young adult, but I noticed when I read it after a lapse of, say, twenty years (or so) that I had missed many of the political commentary thrown in.
Still, a book I plan to re-read again (if that isn't a redundancy, I don't know what is).
When I was young I read OAFK repeatedly before I read LOTR for the first time. I used to tend to visualize the scenes in Ithilien between Frodo, Sam and the Rangers in the same way I visualized Wart and Kay with Robin Hood et al. I still think of Wart and Kay, when I get to Ithilien with the two hobbits.
a.s.
"an seileachan"
Pooh began to feel a little more comfortable, because when you are a Bear of Very Little Brain, and you Think of Things, you find sometimes that a Thing which seemed very Thingish inside you is quite different when it gets out into the open and has other people looking at it.
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a.s.
Valinor
Jun 13 2009, 1:20am
Post #24 of 31
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how did you decide to read it?
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Just curious. I might have missed a discussion about it.
a.s.
"an seileachan"
Pooh began to feel a little more comfortable, because when you are a Bear of Very Little Brain, and you Think of Things, you find sometimes that a Thing which seemed very Thingish inside you is quite different when it gets out into the open and has other people looking at it.
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a.s.
Valinor
Jun 13 2009, 1:28am
Post #25 of 31
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S & G, I mean. I suppose it will be slow going...but if I can make it through Children of Hurin, SURELY I can make it through S & G. Right?
Let's see: 300 verses at two verses a day is only roughly one-half a year. That can't be too bad...
I don't know the story, though, except what I've read on Torn and/or read from somewhere else because of a discussion on Torn (another reason to love Torn). I may be doomed...
a.s.
"an seileachan"
Pooh began to feel a little more comfortable, because when you are a Bear of Very Little Brain, and you Think of Things, you find sometimes that a Thing which seemed very Thingish inside you is quite different when it gets out into the open and has other people looking at it.
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