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It's the heat-of summer reading thread!
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Lily Fairbairn
Half-elven


Jul 22 2014, 2:47pm

Post #1 of 39 (2974 views)
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It's the heat-of summer reading thread! Can't Post

Unless you're in the southern hemisphere, of course, in which case it's the cool-of-winter reading thread Smile Here in Texas we had a lovely cool respite last week, with record low temperatures in the mid to upper 60s (18-20C or so), but now we're back to hot, hot, and more hot. Like 100F (38C or so) and more.

I'm away to a smallish local science fiction and fantasy convention this weekend, which will be fun.

As for reading, I'm enjoying yet another book I picked up in Scotland last summer (coolness and ocean, sigh), The Old Ways by Robert MacFarlane. He writes wonderful lyrical prose about walking through the countryside of England and Scotland and other places (Palestine and Spain, so far), as well as sailing through the Outer Hebrides. There's really no plot to speak of, just his musing on plants and paths and human perception. I'm loving it. Others may be bored to tears.

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....


Dame Ioreth
Tol Eressea


Jul 22 2014, 3:14pm

Post #2 of 39 (2824 views)
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I'm catching up on William Monk [In reply to] Can't Post

I've read most of Anne Perry's William Monk series but I didn't get a chance to pick up the last two. Monk and his wife Hester are such good characters to read. The mysteries are a bit on the dark side (the more violent seedy side of Victorian London) but she makes them interesting and always seems to mention a new part of London that I need to read about.

I'm surprised only one of her books has made it onto film. It was from the other series she writes - the Thomas Pitt series - called the Cater Street Hangman. Monk would make a great character for an actor who really likes to portray characters with depth.



Where there's life there's hope, and need of vittles.
― J.R.R. Tolkien, The Lord of the Rings






Elarie
Grey Havens

Jul 22 2014, 4:23pm

Post #3 of 39 (2824 views)
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I seem to be in the middle of too many books [In reply to] Can't Post

I've somehow managed to be in the middle of five or six non-fiction books at the moment, but I have finished "Northern Magic" by Edred Thorsson, a book about the history and meaning of runes, and the book that I'm currently really reading is "Sutton Hoo, Burial Ground of Kings?" by Martin Carver, a book about the excavations of the Sutton Hoo burial mounds in England. The author was one of the archeologists who has worked on the site so there's lots of interesting info here, but written for the general public rather than for a professional journal or textbook.

And there has been some light reading, too, good summer fun - vampires and English murder mysteries. The kind of thing I always picture myself reading on a beach somewhere, except that there's no beach, just my back yard. Still very relaxing, though. Smile


And once again the world has not arranged itself just for me.


Riven Delve
Tol Eressea


Jul 22 2014, 4:25pm

Post #4 of 39 (2828 views)
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Finally finished Tolkien's translation of Beowulf [In reply to] Can't Post

(and the commentary). First I must comment about the dragon on the front of the book: He looks awfully cheerful for a critter who's had his sacred cup stolen (yes, cup! But the thief is not named, so it wasn't "Bilbo"). He seems less like a "loathly serpent" full of wrath than a cute puppy told he's going walkies. Sly

Ahem. Anyway. I will confess now that I'm certainly not a linguist, so all the discussion in the commentary about translations of obscure words, the glosses, and the kennings pretty much went over my head. I probably couldn't pick out a Geat or a Heathobeard from a police lineup. And I found it hard to follow the scant listing of what each segment of the commentary was on--it was a pain to keep flipping back and forth between the poem and the commentary to get the context.

All that said, I enjoyed it, partially because there were so many nice little clues to Tolkien's sources for names and words. (I knew Tolkien had taken many names from Norse sources, but it was fun to see some hints in this Norse-Old English fusion.) There's a King Froda, and an Eomer on page 319. I also learned that meodoselt (Meduseld, anyone?) means "benches in the hall where the knights sat feasting." Also, grima means "mask." (Makes you wonder why anyone would accept as an advisor someone named "Mask Wormtongue," doesn't it?) It was fun to recognize the "Ekenskeld" (Oakenshield) the Orcs speak of in Laketown in DOS--the Old English scyld means "shield."

One thing I didn't remember (from reading it twenty-five years ago) was the occasional stark beauty: "In care and sorrow he sees in his son's dwelling the hall of feasting, the resting places swept by the wind robbed of laughter--the riders sleep, mighty men gone down into the dark; there is no sound of harp, no mirth in these courts, such as once there were" (84-85). And, of course, the general literary philosophy of Tolkien, casually dropped into the commentary: "History has a way of resembling 'myth': partly because both are ultimately of the same stuff" (338).


“Tollers,” Lewis said to Tolkien, “there is too little of what we really like in stories. I am afraid we shall have to try and write some ourselves.”



(This post was edited by Riven Delve on Jul 22 2014, 4:26pm)


Meneldor
Valinor


Jul 22 2014, 6:58pm

Post #5 of 39 (2813 views)
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The Risen Empire [In reply to] Can't Post

by Scott Westerfeld. Far future sci-fi/space opera about an empire ruled by a man who has used biological secrets to keep himself "alive" 1600 years, in conflict with a civilization of cyborgs. Interesting action sequences and suspenseful plot. And, annoyingly, a cliffhanger ending.
I wish there had been some indication that it was the first of a series. I don't mind reading series, but I think the publisher should print a cover that lets the readers know what they're getting into.


They that go down to the sea in ships, that do business in great waters; These see the works of the Lord, and His wonders in the deep.


Ataahua
Forum Admin / Moderator


Jul 22 2014, 7:34pm

Post #6 of 39 (2819 views)
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We are at polar opposites. [In reply to] Can't Post

I find myself with no books to read - an unusual state of affairs and one that is making me feel a little lost. And fidgety.

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.


Ataahua's stories


Elanor of Rohan
Lorien


Jul 22 2014, 8:46pm

Post #7 of 39 (2805 views)
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I'm in the middle of Victorian biographies [In reply to] Can't Post

especially on Queen Victoria's children. I have recently bought some second-hand books and I'm reading them all in a row....

I would have liked to read Winds of Winter by GRR Martin but he hasn't published it yetEvil


Kim
Valinor


Jul 22 2014, 10:10pm

Post #8 of 39 (2802 views)
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The Book of Life by Deborah Harkness [In reply to] Can't Post

I finished reading this highly anticipated 3rd volume in the All Souls Trilogy, but I don't want to say anything until I can have a spoilery discussion! So entmaiden, let me know when you're done! Smile


In the meantime, I'm about to start reading The Adoration of Jenna Fox, about a 17 year old girl who wakes up from a coma after an accident and doesn't remember her life before. Or does she? Has something to do with bio-medical ethics. Sounds intriguing.


Also just got my DOS Cloaks and Daggers, so will be making my way through that.



"Jagatud rõõm on topelt rõõm - a shared joy is a double joy". ~Estonian saying


“As such, you will address His Majesty as His Majesty, the Lord of Silver Fountains, the King of Carven Stone, the King Beneath the Mountain, the Lion of Erebor, the High King of the Dwarves, the True Treasure of Erebor, the Face that Launched 10,000 Sighs, or Thorin the Majestic..."


http://newboards.theonering.net/...forum_view_collapsed


DaughterofLaketown
Gondor


Jul 22 2014, 10:43pm

Post #9 of 39 (2801 views)
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I finished Storm of Swords! [In reply to] Can't Post

And plan on starting A Feast for Crows tonight.


zarabia
Tol Eressea


Jul 23 2014, 12:03am

Post #10 of 39 (2790 views)
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I read the first two or three Monk books [In reply to] Can't Post

I really enjoyed them, I don't know why I didn't read any more of them. I think maybe it was about that time that I got into Tolkien and Harry Potter and just forgot about Monk and Hester. I may have to dig out and reread the first ones and then go from there.

Only when we stop stopping our lives can we begin to start starting them. - Prof. Whitman, Community


zarabia
Tol Eressea


Jul 23 2014, 12:27am

Post #11 of 39 (2787 views)
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Started The Long Earth by Terry Pratchett and Stephen Baxter [In reply to] Can't Post

I was thrilled when I first started reading this. It seemed like such a fascinating concept - people are able to "step" from one version of Earth to other alternate versions in the multiverse - and it sets up several intriguing storylines and mysteries, but seems to have bogged down already about a third of the way in. It follows the experiences of multiple people/families into the "Long Earth", but, unfortunately, those stories are becoming pretty repetitive, stating many of the"facts" of the act of stepping and the realities of visiting these alternate earths over and over. Maybe that's deliberate and will make sense later, but for now, it's annoying.

This isn't the normal Pratchett book, and it feels like it was probably written mostly by Baxter but with enough Pratchett touches to be fun. Like I stated earlier, I really enjoyed this book at first, but now I'm getting frustrated. I would like to find out the answers to some of the mysteries and questions posed early on, but I don't know if the pay off is worth the trouble. Has anyone else read this? Should I stick with it? Unsure

Only when we stop stopping our lives can we begin to start starting them. - Prof. Whitman, Community


Elarie
Grey Havens

Jul 23 2014, 12:29am

Post #12 of 39 (2789 views)
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Clues to Tolkien's sources [In reply to] Can't Post

"All that said, I enjoyed it, partially because there were so many nice little clues to Tolkien's sources for names and words."
--------------------------

I ran across the same thing in the Rune book that I just read, which includes references to Norse mythology while discussing the history of runes. Lots of interesting bits and pieces that I recognized from Tolkien, although in different forms. The god who had his hand bitten off by a wolf; the importance of trees in the mythology, including the creation story that the first man and woman were made from two trees, which instantly reminded me of Treebeard being called "Eldest" in LOTR; and my personal favorite, the Norse habit of referring to warriors as "the oak of the battlefield". There are also references to the way past, present and future, and the art of divination were viewed by this society that reminded me strongly of Galadriel's description of her mirror, and was just as vague. Lots of fun, though.


And once again the world has not arranged itself just for me.


Meneldor
Valinor


Jul 23 2014, 1:30am

Post #13 of 39 (2783 views)
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The Admiral's Daughter [In reply to] Can't Post

by Julian Stockwin. Thomas Kydd is skilled and lucky as a sailor, but ashore? He's a social disaster/tragedy waiting to happen. And it happens hard in this book. I suspect the fans of Jane Austen might enjoy Kydd's inept forays into high society and romantic entanglements.
There's still plenty of good salty nautical action too.


They that go down to the sea in ships, that do business in great waters; These see the works of the Lord, and His wonders in the deep.


Aragorn the Elfstone
Tol Eressea


Jul 23 2014, 2:38am

Post #14 of 39 (2782 views)
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I'm in the middle of a Storm of Swords reread... *Light ASOS spoiler* [In reply to] Can't Post

It's great to reacquaint myself with George's books after focusing so much on the television adaptation lately. There's so many touches that are different that I really love (i.e. Arya running into Harwin as a member of the Brotherhood).

As you mentioned going into reading A Feast for Crows, I also love how rereading the earlier books highlights the numerous occasions of foreshadowing and subtle introductions that George peppers throughout the books. There's characters and plot turns in the latter two books that I can only now see had their seeds planted in the earlier installments.

"The danger with any movie that does as well as this one does is that the amount of money it's making and the number of awards that it's got becomes almost more important than the movie itself in people's minds. I look at that as, in a sense, being very much like the Ring, and its effect on people. You know, you can kind of forget what we were doing, if you get too wrapped up in that."
- Viggo Mortensen


Eruonen
Half-elven


Jul 23 2014, 3:12am

Post #15 of 39 (2780 views)
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Master of the Jinn - a Sufi inspired short tale [In reply to] Can't Post

http://www.masterofthejinn.com/

A tale about a magic ring...hint, hint, but this all powerful ring was Solomon's (which certainly inspired JRRT).
Full of beautiful Sufi quotes and a look inside their world coupled with an adventure into the far desert with a selct gruop of Sufi's, a Jewish professor, his daughter and a Captain in the Mossad. Not a long story, but very beautiful.


cats16
Half-elven


Jul 23 2014, 6:13am

Post #16 of 39 (2780 views)
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Still the same for me... [In reply to] Can't Post

Mid-way through Emma, wandering in Maine with Thoreau, on the edge of starting Kant, and soon to begin Waverly. And a couple of other small things in between.

I'm quite divided, as you can tell. Cool

(Btw, I think I've realized how Emma ends. But not by reading it--I think it came to me from seeing everyone here talk about the film adaptations or the book itself! Oh, well. I saw Emma's match early on in the novel, but wasn't sure if it would happen in the end. Looks like I was right. Smile)


Otaku-sempai
Immortal


Jul 23 2014, 1:53pm

Post #17 of 39 (2765 views)
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'First Lord's Fury' [In reply to] Can't Post

I've just finished Princeps' Fury, the fifth book in Jim Butcher's Codex Alera. Now I am ready to start on the final volume, First Lord's Fury.

'There are older and fouler things than Orcs in the deep places of the world.' - Gandalf the Grey, The Fellowship of the Ring


Annael
Immortal


Jul 23 2014, 3:53pm

Post #18 of 39 (2758 views)
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Lizzie Bennet's Diary [In reply to] Can't Post

companion piece to the vlog. Enjoying it very much. As noted by others, it fleshes out the videos and provides a lot more background - for instance, her parents' relationship.

To be sane we must recognize our beliefs as fictions.

- James Hillman, Healing Fiction

* * * * * * * * * *

NARF and member of Deplorable Cultus since 1967


Lily Fairbairn
Half-elven


Jul 23 2014, 3:59pm

Post #19 of 39 (2761 views)
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What a great assortment of books everyone is reading [In reply to] Can't Post

I see Meneldor is aiming to be the all-time expert on sea stories. Riven Delve, thank you so much for the review of JRRT's Beowulf---it obviously lingered with him when he was writing his own books. Ataahua, I hope by now you've found something absorbing to read.

Here's one of my favorite quotes:

Even when reading is impossible, the presence of books acquired produces
such an ecstasy that the buying of more books than one can read is nothing
less than the soul reaching towards infinity... we cherish books even if
unread, their mere presence exudes comfort, their ready access, reassurance.
- A.E. Newton

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....


Annael
Immortal


Jul 23 2014, 4:16pm

Post #20 of 39 (2758 views)
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Kant [In reply to] Can't Post

Been thinking I need to read Kant for years now. He's so influential for many of the thinkers that influence me.

First though I have Aristotle's Poetics on tap.

To be sane we must recognize our beliefs as fictions.

- James Hillman, Healing Fiction

* * * * * * * * * *

NARF and member of Deplorable Cultus since 1967


Annael
Immortal


Jul 23 2014, 4:24pm

Post #21 of 39 (2752 views)
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I wrote a paper once [In reply to] Can't Post

on the history of the magic wand, and tied it back to both Moses's staff and Solomon. (Solomon uses the ring to command Beelzebub, who in turn uses a staff to work magic.)

To be sane we must recognize our beliefs as fictions.

- James Hillman, Healing Fiction

* * * * * * * * * *

NARF and member of Deplorable Cultus since 1967


Old Toby
Grey Havens


Jul 24 2014, 12:24am

Post #22 of 39 (2751 views)
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Just started re-reading Mary Stewart's The Crystal Cave [In reply to] Can't Post

I don't think I've read it for decades now, and am thoroughly enjoying myself yet again, this time around! I suppose I'll have to pick up the last two books in the Merlin series, since I only have read the first three books.

"Age is always advancing and I'm fairly sure it's up to no good." Harry Dresden (Jim Butcher)


cats16
Half-elven


Jul 24 2014, 5:37am

Post #23 of 39 (2738 views)
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Same for me [In reply to] Can't Post

I'm hoping to use him as a starting point, moving closer and closer to contemporary thinkers. I'll likely go from him to Nietzsche (perhaps Schopenhaur before him, though), whom I've read and need to read more of; then Heidegger, Foucault, Deleuze and a few others in between and afterwards.

I don't mean to sound too academic about it (this is purely out of personal interest, not for any formal work or endeavor). I like mixing it up between straight philosophy and literature, so I will mix all of this with plenty of fiction, too.

Oops, I'll stop there or I will talk all day about it. Cool


Riven Delve
Tol Eressea


Jul 24 2014, 2:00pm

Post #24 of 39 (2727 views)
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Great stuff! [In reply to] Can't Post

The Merlin trilogy is right up there with LOTR in terms of my favorite books ever. Smile (However, I don't like the last two "related" books, so IMO you're not missing anything! Wink)


“Tollers,” Lewis said to Tolkien, “there is too little of what we really like in stories. I am afraid we shall have to try and write some ourselves.”



Old Toby
Grey Havens


Jul 24 2014, 3:00pm

Post #25 of 39 (2724 views)
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I'd forgotten just how good these books were! [In reply to] Can't Post

I'm still only on the first one, but wow! It's been a while since I've had a book that I don't want to put down!

And thanks for the input on the last two books. I didn't know they are 'related' stories. I was going to just go out and buy both of them, but perhaps I'll just get the fourth book for now, just to see if I want to invest in the last one.

Anyway, yeah, it's right up there with LOTR for me too!

"Age is always advancing and I'm fairly sure it's up to no good." Harry Dresden (Jim Butcher)

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