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Lily Fairbairn
Half-elven
May 30 2017, 3:01pm
Post #1 of 25
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It's the penultimate day of May reading thread!
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I hope everyone here in the US both enjoyed the Memorial Day holiday and spared a few moments to reflect on its meaning.
I finished listening to A Short History of Nearly Everything and enjoyed it from start to finish. I'm now listening to A Week in Winter by Maeve Binchy, which is about a woman opening a hotel in the Irish village where she was born. We've heard her life story and now we're hearing the life story of one of her childhood friends. I'm hoping things will get just a bit livelier and perhaps a bit less earnest, as so far I'm having trouble staying awake. It's read by Rosalyn Landor in a lovely Irish accent.
I've spent the week reading those two issues of the Sunday Times that my husband brought me from the UK, so haven't gone much further in any paper books.
Now I'll go ahead and reveal my thoughts on the paper book I read last week, Susanna Kearsley's The Shadowy Horses. It takes place at an archaeological excavation on the eastern coast of Scotland.
First of all, the writing is impeccable, with none of the annoying redundancies and the like Annael mentioned a couple of weeks ago. The ghost part of the story is also handled very nicely. I think the reviewers who've compared Kearsley to Mary Stewart are on the right track.
However (you knew I was building up to a "however"), I felt that the plotting and characterization lacked depth. The pleasant but unremarkable heroine, Verity, meets an appealing man, they fall in love, and there they are. Not once does one of them suspect the other of being involved in wrongdoing, an essential part of any classic, Mary Stewart-style romantic suspense tale.
In fact, the very slight problems that occur at the dig aren't even revealed to be the work of a wrongdoer until the end of the book. What tension there is in the story comes from whether the dig will succeed. Even the friction between various characters is quite mild.
I didn't dislike the book---I very much liked the ongoing joke about Verity and her Scots dictionary, for example. It's just that Mary Stewart's early romantic suspense books, the ones written before her Merlin series, have a lot more meat on the bone than The Shadowy Horses does. Stewart's novels have conflict, tension, and reversals. The endings bring the reader a sense of relief and satisfaction, not a gentle shrug.
That said, I'd have no problem reading more of Kearsley's books. Perhaps this one is an anomaly, one that she wrote to learn her craft.
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....
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Otaku-sempai
Immortal
May 30 2017, 3:38pm
Post #2 of 25
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I'm starting Neil DeGrasse Tyson's Astrophysics for People in a Hurry, though it might take me a while, as I expect to mostly be reading it at work (during breaks). Still, it's a small, short book that comes in at only a little over 200 pages; so, we'll see.
"He who lies artistically, treads closer to the truth than ever he knows." -- Favorite proverb of the wizard Ningauble of the Seven Eyes
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Annael
Immortal
May 30 2017, 8:20pm
Post #3 of 25
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and I agree, it wasn't well plotted. The subplot of the person working to undermine things was too vague & too weak for me to even realize it was happening, until the far-too-late introduction of that person's abettor. And I still don't know, after reading it twice, what exactly happened at the climax?
Also, a bit too much of Verity and others telling us Verity is "difficult," when I never saw one moment where she was.
But I enjoyed the story well enough to want to read more by her, especially if this is one of her earlier novels.
I am a dreamer of words, of written words. I think I am reading; a word stops me. I leave the page. The syllables of the words begin to move around … The words take on other meanings as if they had the right to be young.
-- Gaston Bachelard
* * * * * * * * * *
NARF and member of Deplorable Cultus since 1967
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Kilidoescartwheels
Valinor
May 30 2017, 8:26pm
Post #4 of 25
(2406 views)
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Okay, looked that up on Amazon & found it for $1.01, so I bought it. Probably won't get here until next week. I'll read it & let you know what I think. Btw, I read "The Crystal Cave" once, a long time ago. Never read any of the other books, and I keep thinking "maybe I should?"
I'd say I've entered my second childhood, but I never left the first!
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Lily Fairbairn
Half-elven
May 30 2017, 8:54pm
Post #5 of 25
(2398 views)
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I, too, was confused by the climax. There were places I suspected the novel that was published was actually a drastically cut-down version of a much longer manuscript, with incidents excised wholesale and the denouement hurriedly crammed into the last few pages.
It's a fast read, though, and worth it for the ghost story and the local color.
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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Lily Fairbairn
Half-elven
May 30 2017, 8:56pm
Post #6 of 25
(2401 views)
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Looking forward to your opinion
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And by all means, read some of the original Stewarts, such as Wildfire at Midnight, Madam, Will You Talk?, or The Moonspinners.
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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sevilodorf
Tol Eressea
May 31 2017, 2:33am
Post #7 of 25
(2387 views)
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Seconding the go forth and read Mary Stewart...
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Nine Coaches Waiting and Moonspinners are a tie for number one for me.
Fourth Age Adventures at the Inn of the Burping Troll http://burpingtroll.com
Home of TheOneRing.net Best FanFic stories of 2005 and 2006 "The Last Grey Ship" and "Ashes, East Wind, Hope That Rises" by Erin Rua
(Found in Mathoms, LOTR Tales Untold)
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sevilodorf
Tol Eressea
May 31 2017, 2:41am
Post #8 of 25
(2380 views)
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Five Chimneys: A Woman Survivor's True Story of Auschwitz
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Olga Lengyel's memoir originally published in 1947.
As she says.... so it will not happen again.
I'm doing a brief unit on the Japanese Internment Camps as part of California History and working on connecting it to today. We don't assume people are guilty under they actually do things. Sometimes that backfires on us and yes we need to be vigilant especially as the world seems to get crazier by the second..... but ... the alternative is a slippery slope that leads us to Five Chimneys.
There's also a corollary message.... The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.
Now it's time to go read some fluffy romance novel and watch some zombie film.
Fourth Age Adventures at the Inn of the Burping Troll http://burpingtroll.com
Home of TheOneRing.net Best FanFic stories of 2005 and 2006 "The Last Grey Ship" and "Ashes, East Wind, Hope That Rises" by Erin Rua
(Found in Mathoms, LOTR Tales Untold)
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Aunt Dora Baggins
Immortal
Jun 1 2017, 8:21pm
Post #9 of 25
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I'm still on a Pratchett kick. I love his take on wizards (professors) and his take on "monsters". This book has a particularly poignant example of the latter, a character who was chained to an anvil for the first seven years of his life, despite having a sweet nature and an amazing mathematical mind. This book also satirizes soccer and fashion shows. He wrote this one and several more after his Alzheimer's diagnoses, after he was unable to use a keyboard and had to dictate. But as far as I can tell he was still right on his game until the very last one.
I may get sidetracked because Beren and Luthien should show up on my kindle today. <3
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
GNU Terry Pratchett
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"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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Annael
Immortal
Jun 2 2017, 2:25pm
Post #10 of 25
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My favorites include Madam Will You Talk?, Airs Above the Ground, The Moonspinners, Nine Coaches Waiting, and The Gabriel Hounds, but really, you can't go wrong. I do think her later books are a bit less compelling, especially Rose Cottage, but you still get sucked in - it just seems to me she got tired of writing thrillers and dialed back the tension to more gentle stories. That said, I re-read Thornyhold all the time. I love her light yet firm touch with romance.
I am a dreamer of words, of written words. I think I am reading; a word stops me. I leave the page. The syllables of the words begin to move around … The words take on other meanings as if they had the right to be young.
-- Gaston Bachelard
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NARF and member of Deplorable Cultus since 1967
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Annael
Immortal
Jun 3 2017, 6:05pm
Post #11 of 25
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It's hard to remember ALL my favorite Mary Stewarts because they are most of them!
I am a dreamer of words, of written words. I think I am reading; a word stops me. I leave the page. The syllables of the words begin to move around … The words take on other meanings as if they had the right to be young.
-- Gaston Bachelard
* * * * * * * * * *
NARF and member of Deplorable Cultus since 1967
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Old Toby
Grey Havens
Jun 4 2017, 5:25pm
Post #12 of 25
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I highly recommend you read the next two books in the Merlin Trilogy, Kili. They are actually one continuous story, each book starting exactly where the last one left off. So you might want to re-read The Crystal Cave, especially if it's been a while. The second book, The Hollow Hills, is my favorite of the three. I had read this trilogy when I was quite young, then re-read them recently and found my appreciation of them increased tenfold. I can never have enough of Mary Stewart's Merlin! Happy reading!
"Age is always advancing and I'm fairly sure it's up to no good." Harry Dresden (Jim Butcher)
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Lily Fairbairn
Half-elven
Jun 6 2017, 2:50pm
Post #13 of 25
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It's the June-is-busting-out-all-over reading thread!
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We did Camelot last month, so this month let's do Carousel 
I'm almost finished with the two copies of the London Sunday Times. Wow, such good reading! And some good laughs, too, at the fashion photos. Do people actually wear stuff like that for real, or is it all a joke?
I'm still listening to Maeve Binchy's A Week in Winter. It's more of a collection of inter-related stories than a novel. Binchy presents the life stories of various characters, then brings them to Stone House, a small hotel in the west of Ireland, and tells how either working or visiting there soothes their angst and turns their lives around.
Some of the situations are as contrived as sitcom plot devices, and some incidents verge on twee. Plus Binchy's distant third-person-omniscient style irritates me a bit. I'll create an example of what I mean: After the company entered Lorien, they met the elf-queen Galadriel and her consort Celeborn, who asked them where Gandalf was. Frodo and his companions spent a month or so in Lorien, healing their wounds. They continued their journey in boats, heading south down the Great River.... 
Yes, I'm exaggerating. If nothing else, Binchy is writing in the real world, of much smaller happenings. And now, past the halfway point of the book, either I'm getting used to her style or she's doing a better job of showing rather than telling. I've never read anything else of hers and don't know whether this is her usual style, or whether this is a novel that never quite made it from outline form into prose.
That said, it's a feel-good story, which is not at all a bad thing, and reader Rosalyn Landor's Irish accent is very soothing.
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....
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Darkstone
Immortal
Jun 6 2017, 6:55pm
Post #14 of 25
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Reading the Book of Amos. Amos was a shepherd and fig grower. He didn't consider himself a prophet, but rather an advocate for the oppressed and voiceless in a prosperous Israel where the powerful and wealthy had no love for their neighbor, took advantage of others, and looked out for their own concerns.
This is what the Lord says:
“The people of Israel have sinned again and again,
and I will not let them go unpunished!
They sell honorable people for silver
and poor people for a pair of sandals.
They trample helpless people in the dust
and shove the oppressed out of the way."
-Amos 2:6-7
“My people have forgotten how to do right,”
says the Lord.
“Their fortresses are filled with wealth
taken by theft and violence."
-Amos 3-10
"You trample the poor,
stealing their grain through taxes and unfair rent.
Therefore, though you build beautiful stone houses,
you will never live in them.
Though you plant lush vineyards,
you will never drink wine from them.
For I know the vast number of your sins
and the depth of your rebellions.
You oppress good people by taking bribes
and deprive the poor of justice in the courts."
-Amos 5:11-12
"Listen to this, you who rob the poor
and trample down the needy!
You can’t wait for the Sabbath day to be over
and the religious festivals to end
so you can get back to cheating the helpless.
You measure out grain with dishonest measures
and cheat the buyer with dishonest scales.
And you mix the grain you sell
with chaff swept from the floor.
Then you enslave poor people
for one piece of silver or a pair of sandals."
-Amos 8:4-6
The more things change....
-Very highly recommended.
Re-read Jonathan Livingston Seagull by Richard Bach. An allegory of striving for excellence. (Basically “a bird’s reach should exceed his grasp”.) Always inspirational. Gets me all misty-eyed in a good way. Very short. Readable in about 15-20 minutes.
-Very highly recommended.
Re-read Next of Kin by Eric Frank Russell. In a future interstellar war between two multi-species coalitions, an Earthman is taken prisoner and takes advantage of the fact that his captors have little idea about the biology of human beings. He plays on their credulity to convince them he has an insubstantial symbiote that is not to be trifled with. Russell is one of my very favorite scifi writers from the 1950s. His anti-authority humor is usually right on target. It’s noteworthy he seems to have originated the first multiracial, multispecies spaceship crew a full quarter century before Star Trek. (See his short stories collection Men, Martians and Machines.) He also seems to have originated the term “myob”. (myob = “mind your own business”)
-Highly recommended,
Olio, by Tyehimba Jess. Jess’ second book is a literally stunning tour de force weaving fact and fiction with the poetry, prose, and biographies of first-generation freed slaves who performed in minstrel shows.
I sing this body ad libitum, Europe scraped raw between my teeth until, presto, “Ave Maria” floats to the surface from a Tituba
tributary of “Swanee.” Until I’m a legato darkling whole note, my voice shimmering up from the Atlantic’s hold; until I’m a coda of sail song whipped in salted wind; until my chorus swells like a lynched tongue; until the nocturnes boiling beneath the roof of my mouth extinguish each burning cross. I sing this life in testimony to tempo rubato, to time stolen body by body by body by body from one passage to another; I sing tremolo to the opus of loss. I sing this story staccato and stretto, a fugue of blackface and blued-up arias.
Wow. Just wow.
Also: https://www.pw.org/...lio_by_tyehimba_jess
Magnificent.
-Extremely highly recommended.
******************************************
Once Radagast dreamt he was a moth, a moth flitting and fluttering around, happy with himself and doing as he pleased. He didn't know he was Radagast. Suddenly he woke up and there he was, solid and unmistakably Radagast. But he didn't know if he was Radagast who had dreamt he was a moth, or a moth dreaming he was Radagast. Between Radagast and a moth there must be some distinction! But really, there isn't, because he's actually Aiwendil dreaming he's both Radagast *and* a moth!
-From Radagasti: The Moth Dream
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Kilidoescartwheels
Valinor
Jun 7 2017, 6:34pm
Post #15 of 25
(2041 views)
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So I got Shadowy Horses yesterday
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So far I've read the 1st two chapters on my lunch break - and now I want to play hookey this afternoon and read some more! So far, so good. I need to get this finished though, because my copy of Beren & Luthien will show up next week and I'm suggesting a read-through on the Reading page, so if there is one I need to participate, LOL! I'm not one of those people who can read multiple books at the same time, and at this rate it will take for freakin' ever for me to finish LoTR!
I'd say I've entered my second childhood, but I never left the first!
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Meneldor
Valinor
Jun 9 2017, 10:49pm
Post #16 of 25
(1986 views)
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by Chris Huggins. Scientists use genetic engineering to turn a komodo lizard into a giant fire-breathing dragon inside an escape proof cavern on an isolated island. Bet you can't guess what happens next. Characters include the hotshot scientist who comes to regret making the monster, the tough-as-nails colonel in charge of base security, his spineless superior, the corporate CEO who sold his soul for the bottom line, the regular joe with more common sense than everyone else put together, his spunky computer genius wife, and their spunkier 4 year old son who worships the ground daddy walks on. And an 8 foot tall Norwegian priest who wears a bear skin and carries a huge battle ax.
It's contrived and ridiculous, but it also works. I liked it a lot and put it on my shelf to reread some day.
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. -Psalm 107
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Lily Fairbairn
Half-elven
Jun 13 2017, 2:30pm
Post #17 of 25
(1947 views)
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It's the almost-middle-of-June reading thread!
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I'm almost finished listening to Maeve Binchy's A Week in Winter, about a group of people spending a week's holiday at a small hotel in the west of Ireland. I'm glad I stuck with it, even though the first chapters, the entire life stories of the people running the hotel, went very slowly and, IMHO, were written from a very distant point of view.
At last! On CD 8 of 9 a character does NOT find redemption and resolution by coming to the hotel. That pattern seemed simplistic to begin with and after a while became too predictable and pat. So why am I still listening to the book? Because Binchy develops her characters well. Plus, I've either grown accustomed to that distant point of view or she's moderated it a bit. Besides, there's nothing wrong with a feel-good novel, not when so many novels these days are filled with darkness and despair.
I think I know what twist will occur at the end, but we'll see if I'm right.
On paper I'm reading The Black House by Peter May, a mystery filled with darkness and despair, sigh. But it's very well written and quite gripping reading, telling the story of Fin MacLeod, a detective from Edinburgh who's sent back to his birthplace, the Isle of Lewis, to investigate whether a murder on the latter is related to a murder in the former.
The present-day chapters are interwoven with chapters from Fin's point-of-view, detailing his childhood. Normally I'd have little patience with this sort of thing, but here it's very well-done---May tells just enough to keep me curious and coming back for more. My husband, who read the book awhile ago, assures me that the events of Fin's youth very much tie into the resolution of the contemporary mystery.
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....
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Kilidoescartwheels
Valinor
Jun 13 2017, 6:35pm
Post #18 of 25
(1918 views)
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My opinion on the Shadowy Horses
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I managed to read it in 4 days, which is practically a record for me, haha! And I pretty much agree with you. I thought the ghost story was probably the best part of the book, and the dig itself was more interesting than whatever intrigue was supposed to be going on in the background. In fact, I think it would be really cool to go on an actual archeological dig, even though the book was pretty specific about the actual meticulous labor involved. But anyway, yeah, by the time we found out about the saboteur I was like, "big deal, get back to the story." Oh well, it was a pleasant read and worth the $1.01 I spent on it. Next up is "Beren and Luthien," and I'm trying to find out if there will be a read-along in the Reading Room. Also got a small book on Inuit folk-tales, research for a book I'm trying to write. And I wonder if I'll finish reading Two Towers by the end of summer? That poor book keeps getting bumped, but oh well.
I'd say I've entered my second childhood, but I never left the first!
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Annael
Immortal
Jun 14 2017, 3:02am
Post #19 of 25
(1894 views)
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"the Winter Sea" by Susanna Kearsley
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and I'm loving it. Guess the answer is to read her later books, not her earliest ones. I like her description of how writers work, although I was advised many years ago not to let the muse take me over, but instead set the conditions under which I will allow her to speak through me, so I no longer work all night, forget to eat, etc.
I am a dreamer of words, of written words. I think I am reading; a word stops me. I leave the page. The syllables of the words begin to move around … The words take on other meanings as if they had the right to be young.
-- Gaston Bachelard
* * * * * * * * * *
NARF and member of Deplorable Cultus since 1967
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Darkstone
Immortal
Jun 16 2017, 6:02pm
Post #20 of 25
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The Bible. Reading the first book of Samuel. The story of ”The Witch of Endor” has always fascinated me.
Now Samuel was dead, and all Israel had lamented him, and buried him in Ramah, even in his own city. And Saul had put away those that had familiar spirits, and the wizards, out of the land.
And the Philistines gathered themselves together, and came and pitched in Shunem: and Saul gathered all Israel together, and they pitched in Gilboa.
And when Saul saw the host of the Philistines, he was afraid, and his heart greatly trembled.
And when Saul inquired of the LORD, the LORD answered him not, neither by dreams, nor by Urim, nor by prophets.Then said Saul unto his servants, Seek me a woman that hath a familiar spirit, that I may go to her, and inquire of her. And his servants said to him, Behold, there is a woman that hath a familiar spirit at Endor.
And Saul disguised himself, and put on other raiment, and he went, and two men with him, and they came to the woman by night: and he said, I pray thee, divine unto me by the familiar spirit, and bring me him up, whom I shall name unto thee.
And the woman said unto him, Behold, thou knowest what Saul hath done, how he hath cut off those that have familiar spirits, and the wizards, out of the land: wherefore then layest thou a snare for my life, to cause me to die?
And Saul sware to her by the LORD, saying, As the LORD liveth, there shall no punishment happen to thee for this thing.
-1 Samuel 28:3-10
But see Leviticus 19:31:
Regard not them that have familiar spirits, neither seek after wizards, to be defiled by them: I am the LORD your God.
So a bit of hypocrisy here. Saul had kicked out all the mediums, but when he couldn’t get any guidance from God he turned back to the same people Deuteronomy 18:11 described as “an abomination unto the LORD”. Saul persists even after the woman of Endor herself quotes his own law back to him! Needless to say things don’t turn out well for Saul.
-Very highly recommended.
BTW, the "Witch of Endor" was a ten-gun cutter Captain Hornblower commandeered to escape French captivity in the novel Flying Colours by C. S. Forester. And Endor was the Ewok planet in Return of the Jedi (1983). That all probably means something.
En-dor, by Rudyard Kipling. Today the Witch of Endor would be known as a “spiritualist”, someone who through various means (trances, possession, automatic writing, message boards, etc.) could communicate with the afterlife and speak with the dead. The modern Spiritualist movement started in the 1840s, but experienced a huge growth in the late 19th century. In America relatives of soldiers who died in the War Between the States (1861-1865) wanted to speak with their loved ones and a horde of spiritualists were more than ready to provide that opportunity - for a price. The movement swelled again in England during The Great War (1914-1918) for the same reasons. In 1915 Rudyard Kipling’s son Jack was reported missing in action during the Battle of Loos. Unlike many grieving parents he never consulted a spiritualist to find out what happened. Instead he wrote the following, which in his letters he describes as ’A direct attack on the present mania of "Spiritualism" among such as have lost men during the war.’
The road to En-dor is easy to tread
For Mother or yearning Wife.
There, it is sure, we shall meet our Dead
As they were even in life.
Earth has not dreamed of the blessing in store
For desolate hearts on the road to En-dor.
Whispers shall comfort us out of the dark—
Hands—ah God!—that we knew!
Visions and voices — look and hark!—
Shall prove that the tale is true,
An that those who have passed to the further shore
May be hailed — at a price — on the road to En-dor.
But they are so deep in their new eclipse
Nothing they say can reach,
Unless it be uttered by alien lips
And framed in a stranger's speech.
The son must send word to the mother that bore,
Through an hireling's mouth. 'Tis the rule of En-dor.
And not for nothing these gifts are shown
By such as delight our dead.
They must twitch and stiffen and slaver and groan
Ere the eyes are set in the head,
And the voice from the belly begins. Therefore,
We pay them a wage where they ply at En-dor.
Even so, we have need of faith
And patience to follow the clue.
Often, at first, what the dear one saith
Is babble, or jest, or untrue.
(Lying spirits perplex us sore
Till our loves—and their lives—are well-known at En-dor).
Oh the road to En-dor is the oldest road
And the craziest road of all!
Straight it runs to the Witch's abode,
As it did in the days of Saul,
And nothing has changed of the sorrow in store
For such as go down on the road to En-dor!
-1919
Whoa!
-Highly recommended (but I guess you just read it.)
The Road to En-Dor, by Elias Henry Jones. A true story. Indian Army Lieutenant Elias Henry Jones is an inmate in the extremely isolated Yozgad prisoner of war camp in the middle of Turkey during The Great War. A postcard from home inspires him out of pure boredom to make a message (ouiji) board. He and the other bored-out-of-their-skulls inmates experiment with the board for weeks, but all they get is utter nonsense. Finally, as a lark Jones decides to play a joke and causes the board to start spelling out coherent and meaningful messages. Jones expects to be found out quickly, but instead is clever enough to pass every test skeptics use to try and expose him. Soon his captors find out about his “talent” and Jones begins to wonder if the Turks' credulity can be used as a means to escape.
The first third of the book is really fascinating as Jones and fellow officer (and slight-of-hand artist) Cedric Waters Hill work to fool their fellow inmates and later their Turk captors. The next two-thirds are more suspense driven as the two scheme, strive, and suffer for their freedom. Welshman Jones is pretty “stiff upper lip” about it all, but occasional almost off-hand references regarding the prisoners’ terrible suffering as well as the devastating effects of the Armenian Genocide reveal a truly horrifying subtext to the sometimes almost “Boys Own Adventures” narrative style of the book. Jones' ability to see the good in his captors is really amazing, but one does get chilling reminders into how utterly deadly is the game that Jones and Hill are playing.
The book was an instant best seller when first published in 1920 and continued in print well into the 1950s. An interesting note by the author is how when, after the war, he told his fellow prisoners how he had fooled them, some insisted that though Jones *thought* he was faking it, he surely was genuinely channeling spirits and they refused to be budged in their belief in spiritualism. That kind of says something about True Believers.
BTW, writer Neil Gaimen, stage magician Penn Jillette, and Red Dwarf producer Hillary Bevan Jones (who is also the granddaughter of Lieutenant Jones) are working on a film version of the book.
-Very highly recommended.
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Once Radagast dreamt he was a moth, a moth flitting and fluttering around, happy with himself and doing as he pleased. He didn't know he was Radagast. Suddenly he woke up and there he was, solid and unmistakably Radagast. But he didn't know if he was Radagast who had dreamt he was a moth, or a moth dreaming he was Radagast. Between Radagast and a moth there must be some distinction! But really, there isn't, because he's actually Aiwendil dreaming he's both Radagast *and* a moth!
-From Radagasti: The Moth Dream
(This post was edited by Darkstone on Jun 16 2017, 6:12pm)
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Alassëa Eruvande
Valinor
Jun 17 2017, 2:32pm
Post #21 of 25
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Darkstone, if you are not currently teaching a Bible study class, you should be.
I am SMAUG! I kill when I wish! I am strong, strong, STRONG!
My armor is like tenfold shields! My teeth like swords! My claws, spears!
The shock of my tail, a thunderbolt! My wings, a hurricane! And my breath, death!
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Darkstone
Immortal
Jun 20 2017, 2:18pm
Post #22 of 25
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Once Radagast dreamt he was a moth, a moth flitting and fluttering around, happy with himself and doing as he pleased. He didn't know he was Radagast. Suddenly he woke up and there he was, solid and unmistakably Radagast. But he didn't know if he was Radagast who had dreamt he was a moth, or a moth dreaming he was Radagast. Between Radagast and a moth there must be some distinction! But really, there isn't, because he's actually Aiwendil dreaming he's both Radagast *and* a moth!
-From Radagasti: The Moth Dream
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Otaku-sempai
Immortal
Jun 23 2017, 3:04am
Post #23 of 25
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Speaking of Mary Stewart stories...
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I didn't dislike the book---I very much liked the ongoing joke about Verity and her Scots dictionary, for example. It's just that Mary Stewart's early romantic suspense books, the ones written before her Merlin series, have a lot more meat on the bone than The Shadowy Horses does. Stewart's novels have conflict, tension, and reversals. The endings bring the reader a sense of relief and satisfaction, not a gentle shrug.
Did you know that there is an anime movie adaptation of Stewart's The Little Broom Stick that will open in Japan on July 8? The film is titled Mary and the Witch's Flower, directed by Hiromasa Yonebayashi and it is the first film from Studio Ponoc. The Amazon description of the novel reveals the story:
It is Tib the black cat who leads Mary to the strange flower in the woods. When she discovers a little broomstick shortly afterwards, she is astonished to feel it jump in to action. Before she can gather her wits, it is whisking her over the treetops, above the clouds, and in to the grounds of Endor College, where: 'All Examinations Coached for by A Competent Staff of Fully-Qualified Witches.' Here she discovers evidence of a terrible experiment in transformation - deformed and mutant animals imprisoned in cages. In the moment after her broomstick takes off, she realises that Tib has been captured. Returning to the College the following day, she manages to free the animals, but not before the Head of the college, Miss Mumblechook, and her colleague, Doctor Dee, have seen her. Mary manages to flee ...but the evil pair are in hot pursuit!
You can see the trailer here: http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/...-flower-film/.117841.
"He who lies artistically, treads closer to the truth than ever he knows." -- Favorite proverb of the wizard Ningauble of the Seven Eyes
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Annael
Immortal
Jun 29 2017, 2:59pm
Post #24 of 25
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who built the Temple with the aid of demons . . . although that story was not included in the final edit of the Hebrew Bible, it's frequently referenced in the source material and other contemporary accounts. not that you could call any of them a familiar, as he called them up and dismissed them at will (and exorcised them from others).
Not all occult practices are outlawed by the Bible: dream interpretation and rhabdomancy (divination) are frequently mentioned.
I am a dreamer of words, of written words. I think I am reading; a word stops me. I leave the page. The syllables of the words begin to move around … The words take on other meanings as if they had the right to be young.
-- Gaston Bachelard
* * * * * * * * * *
NARF and member of Deplorable Cultus since 1967
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Darkstone
Immortal
Jun 29 2017, 6:05pm
Post #25 of 25
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Solomon the Witch King, The Mirror of Joseph, and Balaam Parselmouth
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then there's Solomon who built the Temple with the aid of demons . . . although that story was not included in the final edit of the Hebrew Bible, it's frequently referenced in the source material and other contemporary accounts. not that you could call any of them a familiar, as he called them up and dismissed them at will (and exorcised them from others).
Using what appears to be a Ring of Command. (Hmmm...Think King Solomon later became a Nazgul?)
The story has some very interesting symbology about patriarchal religion trying to subjugate the Goddess. For example seven of the demons are sisters who live on Mount Olympus. (Did they inspire a roller-disco rink called Xanadu in the Temple?) and another is a three-faced woman who seems to be the crone aspect of the Goddess trinity. Indeed, in 1 Kings 11:5 ”For Solomon went after Ashtoreth the goddess of the Zidonians”. Basically Ashtoreth and her other aspects were *the* chief Goddess of the Middle East. But in the end his sexual seduction of the Goddess failed and he was destroyed by it.
Not all occult practices are outlawed by the Bible: dream interpretation and rhabdomancy (divination) are frequently mentioned.
Indeed. Another example is the cup Joseph sneaks into Benjamin’s sack that was seemingly used for water divining, just like Galadriel’s basin.
Also note Numbers 24:1: And when Balaam saw that it pleased the LORD to bless Israel, he went not, as at other times, to seek for enchantments, but he set his face toward the wilderness.
Some translations substitute “omens” or "divinations" for “enchantments”.
In the original Hebrew the word used is “nachash”, which as a noun means “snake” and as a verb means “hiss”, which leads us to Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets:
“Hannah, he’s a Parselmouth. Everyone knows that’s the mark of a Dark Wizard. Have you ever heard of a decent one who could talk to snakes? They called Slytherin himself Serpent-tongue."
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"We’re orcs of the Misty Mountains,
Our singing’s part of canon.
We do routines and chorus scenes
While dancing with abandon.
We killed Isildur in the Gladden,
To help Sauron bring Armageddon!"
-From "Spamwise The Musical"
(This post was edited by Darkstone on Jun 29 2017, 6:08pm)
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