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Lily Fairbairn
Gondolin
Jun 2 2020, 2:33pm
Post #1 of 7
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It's the first reading thread of June!
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I hope TORnsibs one and all are safe and well.
I'm now listening to a classic by Jane Austen, Northanger Abbey, and finding it very entertaining. This isn't the most well-known of Austen's books, but it's a favorite of mine, with the young, naive heroine loving to read not just novels, but Gothic novels at that! It's funny how a good actor/reader (in this instance, Anna Massey) will take antique language and make it much more accessible.
On paper I'm reading The Molten Mud Murder by Sara E. Johnson. The main character is an American forensics expert working in New Zealand who finds herself involved with a case in Rotorua, a place we visited on our first Red Carpet Tour. So far it's a good strong plot, plus I'm very much enjoying the New Zealand setting. Johnson did hit a sour note with this passage, though:
"...and headed northwest to Matamata, home to the renowned Lord of the Rings Shire. In the States, when she'd mention her New Zealand (academic) fellowship, people had asked, 'Are you a Tolkien fan?' 'Will you go to The Shire?'
"Pay good money to see creepy elves and beared gnomes? No way!"
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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Ataahua
Forum Admin
/ Moderator
Jun 2 2020, 8:28pm
Post #2 of 7
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The Tudor Bride by Joanna Hickson
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This is the sequel to The Agincourt Bride and tells of Catherine de Valois's short marriage to King Henry V of England and her later secret marriage to Owen Tudor (become the mother of one King and grandmother of another, through two different husbands).
Joanna Hickson has an engaging way of writing. Not only does she do a creditable job in bringing to life the characters of women and men of the times, but demonstrates the infuriating machinations of the ruling men. These two books are a really good read.
BTW, one of the reasons I love Earth by David Brin is that a fair chunk of the plot takes place in NZ - it's the only book I've read that features the Waitomo Caves and their glowworms. But also, it's a cracking scifi novel from the 1980s that foretold many of the issues we face today, technological and ecological. It might actually be time for a reread...
Celebrimbor: "Pretty rings..."
Dwarves: "Pretty rings..."
Men: "Pretty rings..."
Sauron: "Mine's better."
"Ah, how ironic, the addictive qualities of Sauron’s master weapon led to its own destruction. Which just goes to show, kids - if you want two small and noble souls to succeed on a mission of dire importance... send an evil-minded beggar with them too." - Gandalf's Diaries, final par, by Ufthak.
Fantasy novel - The Arcanist's Tattoo
My LOTR fan-fiction
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Annael
Elvenhome
Jun 3 2020, 4:09pm
Post #3 of 7
(590 views)
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Well-written, but I don't like a single character so far, which makes it difficult to remain engaged.
I'm supposed to be reading "Sapiens" by Yuval Noah Harari for this Friday's book club meeting. Better get on that! But the garden is burgeoning and there's so much weeding to be done . . .
We're fine here. We're under curfew, but so far the protests have not spread to our suburb (helps that we're an island and the police have simply been blockading the exits off the bridges each night). I went to downtown Seattle Sunday morning with several thousand others to help clean up. It was heartening, as Mr. Rogers would agree, to see all the helpers that come out after something like that. And I'm having many, many deep discussions with people. I feel permanently changed by recent events and I see it in many of my friends as well. Hoping this will all lead to positive efforts in the long run.
I am a dreamer of words, of written words.
-- Gaston Bachelard
* * * * * * * * * *
NARF and member of Deplorable Cultus since 1967
My Amazon author page: https://www.amazon.com/...id=1590637780&sr=8-1
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Ataahua
Forum Admin
/ Moderator
Jun 3 2020, 7:48pm
Post #4 of 7
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that I gave up on - in the second or third chapter, from memory. Like you, I didn't like the characters and I didn't like the situation they were in; I wasn't engaged, so I moved on to something else that I might actually enjoy reading.
Celebrimbor: "Pretty rings..."
Dwarves: "Pretty rings..."
Men: "Pretty rings..."
Sauron: "Mine's better."
"Ah, how ironic, the addictive qualities of Sauron’s master weapon led to its own destruction. Which just goes to show, kids - if you want two small and noble souls to succeed on a mission of dire importance... send an evil-minded beggar with them too." - Gandalf's Diaries, final par, by Ufthak.
Fantasy novel - The Arcanist's Tattoo
My LOTR fan-fiction
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Hamfast Gamgee
Dor-Lomin
Jun 4 2020, 8:32am
Post #5 of 7
(556 views)
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i'm reading some Shakespeare plays
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Seen as it might be a while before I get a chance to see any live theatre. So, i might as well read some of the text! On Henry 6th part one as the moment.
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CuriousG
Gondolin
Jun 4 2020, 1:54pm
Post #6 of 7
(548 views)
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I feel permanently changed by recent events and I see it in many of my friends as well. Watching that video of George Floyd being murdered was a before/after moment for me like Sept 11 and a few other events in my life, and watching the protests have only amplified my sentiment (I would join if it weren't for virus concerns). I think, actually, it's been so profound for so many people, that a couple people I've talked to who weren't all that affected still felt crowd/peer pressure to say they were. If we didn't feel like we were in a turning point of history when a 100-year pandemic hit, we do now.
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cats16
Gondolin
Jun 7 2020, 8:58pm
Post #7 of 7
(509 views)
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Rereading The Wretched of the Earth by Frantz Fanon
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Essential work in decolonization/theory of racism.
If anyone would like some reading recommendations with everything going on, I'd be happy to make some!
Join us every weekend in the Hobbit movie forum for this week's CHOW (Chapter of the Week) discussion!
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