Our Sponsor Sideshow Send us News
Lord of the Rings Tolkien
Search Tolkien
Lord of The RingsTheOneRing.net - Forged By And For Fans Of JRR Tolkien
Lord of The Rings Serving Middle-Earth Since The First Age

Lord of the Rings Movie News - J.R.R. Tolkien

  Main Index   Search Posts   Who's Online   Log in
The One Ring Forums: Off Topic: Off Topic:
It's the Fairbairns' birthday reading thread!

Lily Fairbairn
Half-elven


Jun 24 2014, 2:36pm

Post #1 of 9 (166 views)
Shortcut
It's the Fairbairns' birthday reading thread! Can't Post

I have to admit that at our age, birthdays aren't all that big a deal, but we did have a pleasant dinner or two to celebrate our back-to-back birthdays over the weekend. Smile

Death and the Pregnant Virgin, S.T. Haymon

I found this book on my bookcase and was amused to see by the price and copyright date that it's probably been there 30 years! Nothing like having good books tucked away in corners, like having money in the bank (I almost said "like hoarded gold" but that's not the connotation I intend.)

Death and the Pregnant Virgin is the first of Haymon's eight mystery novels featuring detective Ben Jurnet. I've read most of the other ones, although not recently. I know she was a brilliant writer but I sometimes had problems with the darkness of her stories, and with what I perceived as a lack of balance, with too much time spent on Jurnet's relationship woes.

This novel, though, I think is excellent. It takes place in a Norfolk village where a medieval (or older) statue of the virgin Mary was discovered a few years earlier. The larger-than-life statue of a very pregnant Mary had survived the 16th century purge of such cult objects. A modern cult has grown up around the statue, fostered by various townspeople for various reasons---even as other townspeople loathe the thing and the emotions it evokes. The story takes place during a Festival celebrating the discovery of the statue, with pilgrims coming from far and wide to pray to the Lady of Promise for a child.

Like many older mysteries, it takes a while for the murder to occur, but the build-up of characters and setting held my interest. When the murder does occur, Jurnet happens to be on the spot so is able to quickly start the investigative wheels turning.

The plot is beautifully assembled, with themes and historical subtleties skillfully woven in. The characters are vividly presented. I did guess the identity of the murderer, but it was more of a gut feeling than any clever deduction. A startling revelation at the end of the book caught me completely by surprise, but it flowed perfectly from the earlier story.

A five-star mystery read. Highly recommended.

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....


Annael
Immortal


Jun 24 2014, 2:50pm

Post #2 of 9 (100 views)
Shortcut
happy birthdays! [In reply to] Can't Post

Good friends of mine also have conjoining birthdays on either side of an astrological cusp. It seems to work . . .

I spent the weekend at a seminar on Hillman, my "guru" (and he would HATE being called that so I do it just to annoy his shade), put on by Rick Tarnas, so came home with books by both and have started into Tarnas's "The Passion of the Western Mind" - an overview of how Western thought has evolved over time from the Greeks to us. You know, light reading. Wink

Have finished "The Player of Games" by Iain Banks and intend to get out to the used-book store soon to see if they have any more by him (as he's passed, royalties not an issue). Another deep thinker: I'd love to think Banks & Hillman have met on the other side and are having one amazing conversation.

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


Jun 24 2014, 6:09pm

Post #3 of 9 (90 views)
Shortcut
Thank you! [In reply to] Can't Post

Yes, the cusp birthdays seem to work---we've been together a looong time now Crazy

You do believe in light reading, don't you? But I love your image of Banks and Hillman having a great conversation. I wonder if Hillman liked Scotch as much as Banks did? (Sort of like imagining Lewis and Tolkien chatting over a celestial tea table.)

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


Jun 25 2014, 12:27am

Post #4 of 9 (85 views)
Shortcut
I just finished another book from a series I've been reading [In reply to] Can't Post

Death in the Jesus Hospital by David Dickinson from the Lord Francis Powerscourt mystery series. Lord Powerscourt is an Irish peer called in to solve a murder mystery that involves an ancient livery company in London. I had never heard of the livery companies. I'd heard of guilds but this was different. It was an interesting side light to a good mystery.

The series has had some interesting twists since it began late Victoria's reign with a mystery involving the death of Prince Eddy (Goodnight Sweet Prince), the Queen's grandson. From there he has investigated an art critic, a chancellor of a cathedral, a barrister in the Old Bailey, traveled to Ireland to investigate thefts from English owned (occupied depending on your take of the situation) estates, and to St. Petersburg to look into the death of a British Diplomat. All along the way I've learned different nuggets of information that had me looking up more. Loads of fun!

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






Kim
Valinor


Jun 25 2014, 3:29am

Post #5 of 9 (76 views)
Shortcut
How the Scots Invented the Modern World by Arthur Herman [In reply to] Can't Post

Subtitle: The True Story of How Western Europe's Poorest Nation Created Our World & Everything in It


Well, that subtitle might be a bit of an exaggeration. Tongue The premise of the book is that a lot of basis of western civilization came from Scotland, for example, the concept of the separation of church and state. It assumes that the reader has a somewhat detailed knowledge of the history of Scotland starting after the Reformation. I'm fairly familiar with it, but not as far down in the weeds as he references. It's a little convoluted to read as the author keeps jumping back and forth in time and referencing lots of various people before he gets to the particular point. I'm about halfway through, and still interested enough to continue (although the next chapter is on Adam Smith and economics is not my favorite topic).


I also read Ashfall by Mike Mullin, which is the story of a teenage boy in Iowa who stays home one weekend by himself while his family (Mom, Dad, sister) goes off to visit his aunt and uncle a 2 hour drive away, and the supervolcano under Yellowstone erupts. The world is instantly changed as the fallout and ash from the volcano starts to fall, and after a couple of harrowing experiences with looters etc, he decides to go find his family. It was pretty good, although it follows kind of a fairly standard post-apocalyptic storyline. And, since the time I added it to my reading list, it's become a trilogy!



"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


Otaku-sempai
Immortal


Jun 25 2014, 2:14pm

Post #6 of 9 (72 views)
Shortcut
Continuing Jim Butcher's 'Codex Alena' [In reply to] Can't Post

I've just begun the fourth book, Captain's Fury, and I'll have to pick up the fifth volume some time soon (I founda used copy of the sixth and final book at the same time I located the third). If Warner Bros. is still looking for another fantasy francise, it could probably do worse than pick up the screenrights for this series.

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


Aunt Dora Baggins
Immortal


Jun 26 2014, 9:31pm

Post #7 of 9 (55 views)
Shortcut
Happy Birthdays! I'm reading "Point of Direction" [In reply to] Can't Post

by Rachel Weaver. Rachel is a friend of a friend, and I met her at an author meet and greet. She read the first chapter of her book and I was hooked.

It's the story of two misfits who have a romance and decide to become the keepers of a lighthouse in Alaska. The woman is wracked with guilt over the death of an ice-climbing partner, and the man has some secret I haven't discovered yet.

It's a psychological thriller; the cold and ice and isolation are scary enough, but then there's a creepy guy hanging around the island, pretending to be a fisherman but clearly really spying on the couple.

It's pretty unputdownable, but I'm also still plowing through that abstract algebra book, and reading some of the sermons of my latest hero, Theodore Parker, and working hard on copyediting some of my own stuff. I just self-published one I wrote twenty years ago called "A Sprig of Time" (the free e-book is here), in which a physicist and his historian wife build a time machine, and their daughter goes back in time to rescue Nathan Hale. Eventually they rescue Evariste Galois too. Mostly because I've always wanted to rescue them :-)


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"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
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~



Meneldor
Valinor


Jul 2 2014, 2:27am

Post #8 of 9 (50 views)
Shortcut
Artemis [In reply to] Can't Post

Julian Stockwin's second volume of his Kydd series focusing on the life of a sailor in Nelson's navy. It's moving kind of slowly, but the atmosphere makes it worth the effort.


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.


Meneldor
Valinor


Jul 2 2014, 11:25pm

Post #9 of 9 (41 views)
Shortcut
Tales from Margaritaville [In reply to] Can't Post

by Jimmy Buffett. Crazy plots about crazy characters. The man can tell a story.


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.

 
 

Search for (options) Powered by Gossamer Forum v.1.2.3

home | advertising | contact us | back to top | search news | join list | Content Rating

This site is maintained and updated by fans of The Lord of the Rings, and is in no way affiliated with Tolkien Enterprises or the Tolkien Estate. We in no way claim the artwork displayed to be our own. Copyrights and trademarks for the books, films, articles, and other promotional materials are held by their respective owners and their use is allowed under the fair use clause of the Copyright Law. Design and original photography however are copyright © 1999-2012 TheOneRing.net. Binary hosting provided by Nexcess.net

Do not follow this link, or your host will be blocked from this site. This is a spider trap.