|
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Lily Fairbairn
Gondolin
Jun 12 2024, 4:39pm
Post #1 of 11
(3462 views)
Shortcut
|
|
It's the occasional reading thread!
|
Can't Post
|
|
Let's all sing a chorus of "June is busting out all over!"
Although my husband and I are a bit wary of June, since both our birthdays are this month. (He is all of twelve hours older than I am.) This year and month will see one of those special-number birthdays, which shouldn't be surprising since those birthdays are coming faster and faster. But somehow it is a surprise 
I listened to a non-fiction book titled The Lost Tomb: And Other Real-Life Stories of Bones, Burials, and Murder, by Douglas Preston and David Grann. Preston, known for his thrillers, here explores some of the backstories he's written about as well as other mysterious historical and pre-historical (dinosaurs, even!) happenings. He only ventures into true crime when he tells about an Italian serial killer, a case that affected him personally, and when he explores the internet's treatment of the Amanda Knox case also in Italy.
I also listened to The Franchise Affair, third in my bundle of Josephine Tey Golden-Age mysteries. This one is unusual in that it's a smaller story, with no murder, and Tey's detective hardly appears in it. The main character is a small-town lawyer trying to clear a mother-daughter pair of women of a kidnapping charge. It's dated in many ways, but nicely imagined and paced. And the female narrator does the variety of voices very well.
I'm wondering if further Tey novels will get past her tendency so far for deus ex machina solutions.
Speaking of popular thriller writers, I read the ebook of James Patterson's Holmes, Marple, and Poe. Yes, I was drawn in by the names of the main characters. I have no idea if this is typical of Patterson's other books. I found it a competent but perfunctory, paint-by-numbers story, multiple short scenes and chapters making it seem even more herky-jerky than it probably really was. I understand that Patterson only creates a story line and leaves the writing of the story to someone else.
I'm now reading the paper book of Charlotte Illes Is Not a Detective, by Katie Siegel. The premise is that Charlotte was once a famous child detective but is now trying to find her adult niche. The beginning is done with great good humor, a strong voice, and characters who are so much younger than I am that at times the story seems like an exercise in sociology. But I'm now in the middle and the story has bogged down in corporate politics, never mind a murder happening far, far off-stage.
I am still listening to The Anglo-Saxons, by Marc Morris, which has been consistently well and wittily written. We've had a very nice shout-out to our good professor Tolkien and his Anglo-Saxon studies.
I'm also listening to Troy, the third book in Stephen Fry's trilogy about ancient Greek mythology, one that he is not only reading superbly but also wrote to begin with, and wrote with great humor and insight. We're nearing the end----Odysseus has just come up with a clever plan....
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 Jun 12 2024, 4:40pm)
|
|
|
Felagund
Mithlond
Jun 13 2024, 9:08pm
Post #2 of 11
(3423 views)
Shortcut
|
Thanks for sharing your reading list and happy double birthdays for June! Most of my family are June babies, so it's always a busy month for birthday wishes around my way too.
It's been ages since I properly posted in reply to your excellent occasional reading series. And I'm struggling to recall what I've been reading over the past few months. No doubt not enough but I think it has gone something like this...
It has been a time for finishing trilogies, it seems. Not by design but it's a good feeling all the same. I finished the final entry in the original 'Majipoor series' trilogy by Robert Silverberg, Valentine Pontifex. It was a satisfying enough ending for the eponymous hero, although I felt that some of the characters I'd grown to love along the way in the first book especially became very superficial extras as the final instalment was wrapping up. Like in the first book, Silverberg in the third doesn't bother to hide where much of the narrative is going - and that seems like a deliberate choice on the author's part - so when the occasional surprise is sprung on you, it's all the more impactful. Where he took the sea dragon idea was very interesting, and it reminded me more of the psychedelic 1960s era of S/F than the 1980s, when this series was written. Wiki tells me that Silverberg picked up his pen again for more Majipoor fun in the 1990s but so far, I'm not sufficiently tempted.
The second trilogy I finished reading was the final instalment in Michael Scott Rohan's second trilogy in his 'Winter of the World' series - The Shadow of the Seer. I've adored the series in its entirety and it was with some sadness that I set out on the final volume, as this was the last book he wrote. After being diagnosed with a serious illness in 2000, he stopped writing - he was only in his late 40s at the time and, sadly, he passed away in 2018. But it was a series I had to finish, even in the knowledge that there'd be no more new adventures in the Eastlands or the Westlands. Fittingly, I reckon, Rohan set his final adventure on the continent that readers knew least about - the home of the Ekwesh minions of the Powers of the Ice and those petty realms that had yet been crushed under the heel of those cruel and glacial overlords. Rohan's style and influences remain epic and Kalevala-esque, and happily he includes yet another one of his awesome appendices to walk us through some of the history, culture, flora and fauna etc, once the action of the main story is done. As I think I must have remarked elsewhere, Rohan (no pun intended!) is well-worth a look if you're after something that has something approaching Tolkien's world-building without being a copy.
I switched to non-S/F after that, picking up Gabrielle Zevin's Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow. Okay, so it's pretty geeky, with most of the story taking place against a backdrop of friends making their first video game all the way through to setting up their own company. But while it comes across that the author is genuinely a gamer, it's essentially a story about love that happens to have the gaming stuff going on as well. Zevin has been writing for 20 years but this is the first novel of hers that I've picked up and it was one of the most moving reads I've experienced in a while. I remember a few weeks back sitting in a cafe reading and getting to a particular chapter, and having to put the book down and get outside for some air. It was so tense and gripping, even as you could anticipate what was coming.
As for what's going on now, I've finally gotten round to reading some Gore Vidal. I've chosen Julian, which is predictable enough for a former Classicist like me but I also happen to be interested in the historical figure and I had a feeling Vidal would do justice to the sometimes fraught 'historical novel' genre. Very much delivering so far but I'll post again when I finish!
Welcome to the Mordorfone network, where we put the 'hai' back into Uruk
|
|
|
Annael
Elvenhome
Jun 13 2024, 9:33pm
Post #3 of 11
(3418 views)
Shortcut
|
|
I'm struggling to find new authors I like
[In reply to]
|
Can't Post
|
|
your comment about "competent but perfunctory, paint-by-numbers story" seems to sum up so many books out there right now, and I'm finding that a just-okay story is not enough for me anymore; I want to be provoked, to be forced to put down the book and think for a bit about what the author is saying. I re-read Naomi Novik's "Scholomance" series again because she delves so deeply into what, after all, is true morality, what is the responsibility that comes with great power? Likewise, re-read the "Murderbot" series because Martha Wells so beautifully depicts a cyborg's journey to personhood, which again involves our responsibility to others as well as questions about what makes us human, anyway?
That's the type of thing that I want in my stories these days, it seems. If I'm going to read anything fluffier, it has to be really well written, and alas, now that anyone can get published, one has to wade through a lotta c&*) to find the good stuff.
I'll look into Rohan, thanks Felagund for the reccomendation!
I am a dreamer of words, of written words.
-- Gaston Bachelard
* * * * * * * * * *
NARF and member of Deplorable Cultus since 1967
|
|
|
Otaku-sempai
Elvenhome
Jun 14 2024, 1:47am
Post #4 of 11
(3397 views)
Shortcut
|
How do you feel about autobiographical graphic novels? You might enjoy Persepolis: The Story of a Childhood by Marjane Satrapi.
Description: In powerful black-and-white comic strip images, Satrapi tells the coming-of-age story of her life in Tehran from ages six to fourteen, years that saw the overthrow of the Shah’s regime, the triumph of the Islamic Revolution, and the devastating effects of war with Iraq. The intelligent and outspoken only child of committed Marxists and the great-granddaughter of one of Iran’s last emperors, Marjane bears witness to a childhood uniquely entwined with the history of her country.
“Hell hath no fury like that of the uninvolved.” - Tony Isabella
|
|
|
DwellerInDale
Nargothrond
Jun 14 2024, 3:39am
Post #5 of 11
(3388 views)
Shortcut
|
I was a big fan of Kurt Vonnegut when I was in school, but for some reason I never got around to reading this one. Galapagos is Vonnegut's cartoonish take on Darwinian evolution. The first part is truly funny in places; the final part is just a sort of mop-up, as the events have already been outlined by the narrator, the ghost of Kilgore Trout's son speaking from a time one million years from the present day when mankind has evolved into something resembling seals.
Don't mess with my favorite female elves.
|
|
|
Annael
Elvenhome
Jun 14 2024, 1:48pm
Post #6 of 11
(3332 views)
Shortcut
|
very powerful.
I do like historical fiction, especially about people surviving bad times. All the Light We Cannot See, for example.
I am a dreamer of words, of written words.
-- Gaston Bachelard
* * * * * * * * * *
NARF and member of Deplorable Cultus since 1967
(This post was edited by Annael on Jun 14 2024, 1:50pm)
|
|
|
Lily Fairbairn
Gondolin
Jun 14 2024, 3:03pm
Post #7 of 11
(3316 views)
Shortcut
|
|
Thank you very much for your kind words //
[In reply to]
|
Can't Post
|
|
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....
|
|
|
cats16
Gondolin
Jun 14 2024, 5:25pm
Post #8 of 11
(3312 views)
Shortcut
|
...The Wager by David Grann? I read that last summer and really enjoyed it.
Join us every weekend in the Hobbit movie forum for this week's CHOW (Chapter of the Week) discussion!
|
|
|
Annael
Elvenhome
Jun 14 2024, 10:16pm
Post #9 of 11
(3299 views)
Shortcut
|
it looks fascinating. I read Killers of the Flower Moon and found it gripping.
It looks like a book my dad, who passed two years ago, would have loved.
I am a dreamer of words, of written words.
-- Gaston Bachelard
* * * * * * * * * *
NARF and member of Deplorable Cultus since 1967
(This post was edited by Annael on Jun 14 2024, 10:19pm)
|
|
|
Aunt Dora Baggins
Elvenhome
Jun 15 2024, 4:11am
Post #10 of 11
(3274 views)
Shortcut
|
I don't know what put it into my head to pick it up again, but I'm glad I did. It's an old favorite.
Then we found the 1995 movie adaptation for free on youtube. Ian Mckellan is fabulous as Amos. "There's no butter in hell!' :-D
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
|
|
|
cats16
Gondolin
Jun 15 2024, 6:17am
Post #11 of 11
(3263 views)
Shortcut
|
I still need to read KotFM, though I saw the film already.
It's very fascinating - one of those where, about every five pages, you go "how is this real?" and yet somehow it keeps going down and down into the chaos of The Wager and its crew. Would really recommend for Grann's writing alone, but the tale is the cherry on top.
Join us every weekend in the Hobbit movie forum for this week's CHOW (Chapter of the Week) discussion!
|
|
|
|
|
