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Lily Fairbairn
Half-elven
Oct 1 2019, 4:20pm
Post #1 of 10
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It's the first-of-October reading thread!
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October or no October, here in North Texas it's still hot and humid while also being dry, dusty, and allergenic. We're muttering darkly about how our air-conditioning systems will still be running as the trick-or-treaters come to the door on Halloween. 
I'm listening to Shapeshifters, one of---if not the---last Tony Hillerman mysteries. The story is relatively slight compared to his earlier novels, with a retired Joe Leaphorn involving himself in the repercussions of a case from some years earlier. The maguffin is an old, unique, Navajo blanket, leading to some interesting mentions of Navajo history and weaving techniques.
The male reader has an appropriate SW US accent and a blustery way of speaking, but tends to read the dialog at double-speed.
On paper I've just finished The Colors of All the Cattle, nineteenth in the Ladies No 1 Detective Agency novels by Alexander McCall Smith. As always, the story is charming and thoughtful at the same time. McCall Smith uses this episode to develop his characters further, as Mma Ramotswe is strong-armed into running for the Gaborone city council and the feckless apprentice mechanic Charlie finally starts to mature. Mma Makutsi is still her frequently annoying self, though.
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
Oct 1 2019, 5:12pm
Post #2 of 10
(537 views)
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Prose Fiction: Crusade by James Lowder, the final volume of the Empire Trilogy set in D&D's Forgotten Realms. It's a trilogy that I never got around to picking up when it was first published.
Manga: Star Blazers 2199 (Dark Horse Comics), a retelling of Space Battleship Yamato for a 21st Century audience; and, Rumiko Takahashi's Urusei Yatsura (Viz Signature Edition), Volume 1, high-school comedy with alien princesses, a mooching Buddist priest, his shrine maiden niece, and many other ridiculous elements.
"Change is inevitable. Growth is optional." - DRWolf (after John C. Maxwell)
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Annael
Immortal
Oct 2 2019, 3:24pm
Post #3 of 10
(512 views)
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not at all what I expected. I thought it would be about one man's struggles in Afghanistan before, during, and after the Taliban to bring books to a mostly illiterate society. Instead, I got a tabloid-worthy expose of a family whose patriarch espouses liberal ideals while refusing to let any of his children get an education or seek a career other than working for him for no pay. And the rest of the family doesn't come off much better; the author -- a Norwegian woman who became friends with the bookseller and ended up living in his house for three months - paints unflattering pictures of pretty much everyone else, except the youngest daughter who is intelligent and talented but is basically the family slave. As an expose of how conditions really are in Afghanistan it's excellent, but there was a mean-spiritedness to the book that left a bad taste in my mouth. Plus, I felt she betrayed their trust, and apparently the family agrees because they sued her for defamation (and won, but lost on appeal).
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
my blog: https://jodybower.com/myths-archetypes-in-film/
(This post was edited by Annael on Oct 2 2019, 3:27pm)
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N.E. Brigand
Half-elven
Oct 2 2019, 11:20pm
Post #4 of 10
(483 views)
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Q: What did Treebeard put around Orthanc?
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A: An Entmoat.
That should tell you what I've been reading.
Treachery, treachery I fear; treachery of that miserable creature.
But so it must be. Let us remember that a traitor may betray himself and do good that he does not intend.
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Discuss Tolkien's life and works in the Reading Room!
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How to find old Reading Room discussions.
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CuriousG
Half-elven
Oct 3 2019, 9:46pm
Post #5 of 10
(418 views)
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I made it through 13 issues, and comics/graphic novels aren't normally my thing, even if I admire the artistry that goes into them (if only I could draw like that!). I read them because I really, really liked the Amazon TV series adapted from the "The Boys," and I have to say that IMO, the TV series was superior to the source material, which never seemed to get beyond a fascination with sex, gore, and vulgar language, all of which are fine with me, but they can't be the only plates at the buffet. And if "there was more to it than that", I wasn't going to work at finding it.
All the same, it enheartened me to try other graphic novels.
Also, I'm still poking around "Prime Library" on Amazon for their free books to read. Haven't found anything worth reporting on yet, but will when I do.
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Lily Fairbairn
Half-elven
Oct 8 2019, 2:41pm
Post #6 of 10
(358 views)
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It's the seasonal weather reading thread!
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Yes! It's finally cooled down to seasonal temperatures here. That would be a high of 80F or so, and a low of 60F or so. Now if we could just get some rain....
I enjoyed the audio book of Terry Pratchett's Equal Rites as I enjoy everything of Pratchett's. My favorite of his books are (so far) the Guards, Guards books---Sam Vimes is my hero---but the witches books are wonderful, too, so beautifully written and cleverly presented. This audio book was not read by Stephen Briggs, who's done such a good job with the Guards books, but by actress Celia Imrie. She's just as good, it turns out, making every character distinct.
I'm now listening to the first of Dorothy L. Sayers' Peter Wimsey mysteries, Whose Body? It's been ages since I've read any of the Wimsey novels, so I'm enjoying getting re-acquainted with the characters. I wonder if they were as over-the-top when they were first written, almost a century ago, as they seem now? Whatever, Sayers can definitely assemble good prose!
On paper I just finished Spotted Dog, the much-delayed seventh installment in Kerry Greenwood's Corinna Chapman series. I understand why Greenwood would spend her time and energy on the Phryne Fisher series---its dramatizations are very successful---but I personally like the Chapman series much better. I find Corinna, a baker in contemporary Melbourne, a more appealing character than the smug, oh-so-perfect Phryne of the novels. (I enjoy the TV Phryne.)
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 Oct 8 2019, 2:42pm)
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Annael
Immortal
Oct 8 2019, 3:08pm
Post #7 of 10
(353 views)
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The Sorceress and the Cygnet by Patricia McKillip
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Have to say I have never understood this book, although I've read it several times. McKillip's language is poetic and dreamy, but often I'm left wondering "what just happened?" Finally I went and asked the hive mind (Internet) what it's about and found an explanation, so now I'm re-reading with that in mind and enjoying it much more. The sequel, the Cygnet and the Firebird, is more accessible.
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
my blog: https://jodybower.com/myths-archetypes-in-film/
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Annael
Immortal
Oct 9 2019, 1:01am
Post #8 of 10
(323 views)
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the dramatizations of the Peter Wimsey--Harriet Vane stories with Harriet Walter as Harriet and Edward Petherbridge as Lord Peter Wimsey? You can find them on youtube.
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
my blog: https://jodybower.com/myths-archetypes-in-film/
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Lily Fairbairn
Half-elven
Oct 9 2019, 2:52pm
Post #9 of 10
(274 views)
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I remember those fondly from when they were originally broadcast on PBS. I think Petherbridge makes a better Wimsey---or at least more faithful to the one in the books---than Ian Carmichael, who played him in the earlier dramatizations. And Harriet Walter is just perfect as Harriet Vane. It's a shame they had to abridge Gaudy Night so severely, although I can see where all the discussions wouldn't have worked well on TV.
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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cats16
Half-elven
Oct 9 2019, 5:27pm
Post #10 of 10
(259 views)
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In the Heart of the Heart of the Country
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by William H. Gass. I was previously reading Gass's book Omensetter's Luck, but my copy was in the backpack that was stolen a couple of months ago, so I had to abandon the read for the time being. So I picked up Gass's book of short stories instead.
The first one, "The Pedersen Kid," is quite stunning.
Join us every weekend in the Hobbit movie forum for this week's CHOW (Chapter of the Week) discussion!
(This post was edited by cats16 on Oct 9 2019, 5:28pm)
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