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Lily Fairbairn
Gondolin
Nov 14 2024, 3:46pm
Post #1 of 13
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It's the occasional reading thread!
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It's the middle of November! How did this happen? I'm not ready for Halloween, let alone for Thanksgiving and Christmas, not least because it's still unusually warm here in Texas. I'm told by a friend in Australia that spring is being rather slow to arrive there, so it seems to be going around.
I hope all y'all (did I mention Texas?  ) are well.
On my MP3 player, I finished a Great Courses audiobook titled The Other Side of History, 48 lectures exploring how ordinary people lived from prehistoric times to the early Middle Ages. The lecturer, Robert Garland, does a fine job presenting the material interspersed with just enough commentary, witty and otherwise, of his own.
I've now loaded all three volumes of LotR, the new Andy Serkis version, back onto my MP3. I listened to this when it first came out in 2022, but decided I needed to settle into it again.
On the Audible app on my old phone, I listened to If Walls Could Talk, one of British historian Lucy Worsley's popular history books. This one considers the evolution of the private home over the years. I thoroughly enjoy her work, in all its variations, and this is no exception. However, I disagree strongly over her praise of the duvet. I am not a fan of the duvet.
I've read all Ben Aaronovitch's Rivers of London novels in print, and am now listening to Kobna Holdbrook-Smith's superb readings of each book in the series. I just finished Broken Homes (number four), in which our hero Peter Grant tackles an architectural puzzle. As always, Peter's voice is vivid and entertaining and the stories creative and well-paced.
I'm now listening to The Great Hippopotamus Hotel, number 25 in Alexander McCall Smith's No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency series. I love eavesdropping on Precious Ramotswe and her friends even though the actual plot of the book is gossamer-thin.
On paper I read The Bone Riddle, fourth in Sara E. Johnson's series about an American forensics expert working in New Zealand. I don't remember being overly impressed with the first book in the series, The Molten Mud Murder, never read books two and three, and will probably stop with this installment. There's nothing I strongly disliked, I just found the heroine unappealing and the story line awkwardly done. YMMV, of course.
On my e-reader I read The Life Impossible, by Matt Haig. I liked his The Midnight Library and his How to Stop Time very much, and the quality of his writing hasn't dropped off a bit. (The three titles are not a series but three standalone novels) However, I found this story repetitive and predictable even as I appreciated the positive ending.
I'm now reading book nine in my e-package of Veronica Black's Sister Joan stories, A Vow of Adoration. I enjoy the character of Sister Joan and her fellow nuns at the remote convent in Cornwall, even if this series suffers from the problems of any amateur sleuth series---how can one person be involved in so many different murder cases?
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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Annael
Elvenhome
Nov 14 2024, 10:48pm
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I'd read Redshirts a while ago and loved it - very clever, and kind of a must-read for any Trekkies of which I am one. Now I'm reading Starter Villain which is equally clever and well-written. A hapless English teacher/former journalist finds he's heir to his long-estranged uncle's crime syndicate . . . only it's not what you think. I'm finding Scalzi's explanations of how wealth doesn't work like we think (most billionaires' fortunes are mostly on paper and can evaporate) and how the people we think are so cleverly running things behind the scenes are usually not so clever, actually, a bit reassuring at the moment, and the book is just fun.
A not-so-fun book was Kristin Hannah's The Women, about nurses who served in Vietnam. Yet also reassuring, because that was a time of great upheaval in the USA (and I remember it all), and we got through that and a lot of good came out of it, so . . . but it was wrenching to be reminded. About 20 years ago we did a service at our church where we welcomed home the vets and thanked them, and listened to their stories. Too little too late, perhaps, but something.
I read Susan Hill's The Haunts of Men, which may have been recommended by someone here? Or at least the author was. I cannot say I liked it. Well-written, but the ostensible protagonist of the series was almost entirely absent, did not appeal to me, and I found the ending . . . I'll just say unsatisfactory.
So then I read Laurie R. King's Beginnings, the novella that is a prequel to her Kate Martinelli series. Now that was a satisfying read! i disliked King's Sherlock Holmes books (the three I read, anyway), which struck me as Mary Sue fanfiction coupled with a lot of showing off her Biblical studies knowledge, but I'm definitely going to read more Kate Martinelli.
Really must get around to the Rivers of London series one of these days. But it's almost time for my semi-annual re-read of LOTR. I don't read it every year, but this year I'm feeling the need to walk with Frodo once again.
I am a dreamer of words, of written words.
-- Gaston Bachelard
* * * * * * * * * *
NARF and member of Deplorable Cultus since 1967
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Kimi
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Nov 15 2024, 12:55am
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I read and loved Madeline Miller's Song of Achilles a while back, and meant to read Circe, but got waylaid along the journey (which is appropriate, come to think of it). Magnificent, beautifully written, and frequently very moving. A goddess made accessible, which is quite some achievement. And an engaging tale despite all the sadness, which is again quite an achievement. She give Circe the possibility of a happy ending while keeping it ambiguous; I choose to believe that's how it turned out. Circe did, after all, inherit something of a gift for prophecy.
Two much lighter pieces of reading:
Queen of Hearts, eighth in the "Royal Spyness" series, set mainly in the USA and an enjoyable romp. No repeat of the inheritance "what the heck?" in the last book, but I'm finding it increasingly hard to accept the total lack of communication between our heroine and her chap. It's used narratively so that he can pop up unexpectedly, and often in the nick of time, and semi-explained because he's often off doing secretive work. But there's no reason at all that Georgie couldn't leave a message for him, whether at a mutual acquaintance's club or just via Poste Restante. It would just take a little more plotting around. A minor quibble in the scheme of things, though.
A Daughter of Fair Verona. A real romp, and one I found lots of fun. Our heroine is Rosaline, daughter of Romeo and Juliet - yes, that Romeo and Juliet - it turns out it didn't end quite how we all thought. The down-to-earth, practical oldest child of a large (and growing) family, with little time for romance, who's caught up in plots and schemes and murders, and has to investigate what's really going on to clear her own name. The first in a series, and one I plan to continue.
I've started two others, Eligible, as recommended by Annael, and one by Kiwi author Rose Carlyle, The Girl in the Mirror. So far so good, but I'll say something more intelligible (hopefully) when I've finished.
The Passing of Mistress Rose
My historical novels
Do we find happiness so often that we should turn it off the box when it happens to sit there?
- A Room With a View
(This post was edited by Kimi on Nov 15 2024, 12:57am)
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Ataahua
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Nov 15 2024, 2:49am
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the (I think) fourth book by Tom Clancy. It's drier than his previous ones, e.g. The Hunt for Red October, but I'm hanging in there. It is fun, though, to read an old-school spy novel that uses tiny camera films and chalk messages in plain sight.
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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Silvered-glass
Nargothrond
Nov 15 2024, 1:06pm
Post #5 of 13
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I happened to read archy and mehitabel by Don Marquis, which is a comic fantasy social satire thing about a free verse poet reincarnated as a cockroach and his friend the alley cat.
I noticed some things that made me suspect that Tolkien had been influenced by archy and mehitabel and made a thread about that in the Reading Room, but currently all the discussion is about whether Tolkien would possibly have chosen to read something like Don Marquis. (I don't see what's the problem here.)
Anyway, I thought archy and mehitabel, originally collected in book form nearly a century ago, was pretty fun, and the different viewpoint to things made it a refreshing change of pace. There is basically no plot, and any progression is mainly the reader getting a better handle on Archy's character. This can lead to things eventually starting to feel a little repetitive if you read the segments all in a row. Some episodes aren't nearly as fun as the others, though the jokes getting lost with time and cultural distance probably has something to do with it. For example, I really don't get that (French language) "toujours gai" thing, but Don Marquis appears to think it's hilarious. I suspect it is a reference to something I don't recognize.
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Greenwood Hobbit
Doriath
Nov 16 2024, 10:01pm
Post #6 of 13
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I haven't adapted to listening to books-
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if I had, I would get through a lot more, rather than just reading at bedtime. A friend lent me a strange little book called 'We'll prescribe you a cat'. It's Japanese, by Syou Ishida-translated into English, I should add; published by Doubleday. It started off whimsical and quirky, but turned subtly macabre and I was left feeling a little disturbed by it. On reflection, probably not the best choice for bedtime reading. Still a good read, though!
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dernwyn
Forum Admin
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Nov 17 2024, 7:38pm
Post #7 of 13
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While waiting for the next book in Richard Osman's Thursday Murder Club series, I thought I'd give his new murder-on-the-hunt group a try. The characters are his typically fun ones, and this is fast-paced, but it felt like it didn't have quite the "charm" of the other series. Looking forward to watching how the original series has been adapted for the screen.
Finished Gary E. Eddey's The Weather House, a pre-WWI story set on Block Island, about German spies and submarines in Long Island Sound. The writing is a tad "clunky" in places, but it's a fine yarn, especially for those of us familiar with the area.
Currently working through some local history books, one about Connecticut River ferries, one describing various aspects (cemeteries, roads/railroads, smugglers, etc.) of this little corner of the state, and now one that's a collection of mid-1800's letters for our library's next book discussion.
And Stephen Ambrose's Undaunted Courage, about the Lewis and Clark expedition, but primarily about Meriwether Lewis. Very detailed, and gives one an excellent taste of what life and politics were like in the pre- and post-Revolution days.
No, I'm not ready at all for Thanksgiving! But we have had nearly three dozen turkeys pecking around our bird feeders. A bit scrawny for the table, though.
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"I desired dragons with a profound desire"
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Meneldor
Doriath
Nov 24 2024, 9:14pm
Post #8 of 13
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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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Ethel Duath
Gondolin
Nov 24 2024, 10:44pm
Post #9 of 13
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Oh. My. Goodness. :D (Cue tree puns)
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Or simply leaf any comments unsaid.
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dernwyn
Forum Admin
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Nov 25 2024, 2:36am
Post #10 of 13
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~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"I desired dragons with a profound desire"
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Ethel Duath
Gondolin
Nov 25 2024, 4:47pm
Post #11 of 13
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out of that stump . . .
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Felagund
Mithlond
Nov 25 2024, 5:46pm
Post #12 of 13
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This is one of my favourite reads of recent years. It was during the Covid lockdowns that I finally pulled it off the shelf and I couldn't put it down! I was slightly nervous, admittedly, starting it as I've had a soft spot for this Witch of the Isle since first encountering her as a much younger reader of the Odyssey. I was certainly not disappointed with Miller's take on her. I enjoyed the ending, interpreting it as you did, by the sounds of it :)
I haven't got to The Song of Achilles yet but will defo get there.
Welcome to the Mordorfone network, where we put the 'hai' back into Uruk
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Kimi
Forum Admin
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Nov 26 2024, 4:40am
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I.e. the author - though Circe is too, of course. Like you, I encountered Circe very young (all of 13), though in my case in a collection of myths rather than the Odyssey proper.
I hope you enjoy The Song of Achilles as well when you do get to it.
The Passing of Mistress Rose
My historical novels
Do we find happiness so often that we should turn it off the box when it happens to sit there?
- A Room With a View
(This post was edited by Kimi on Nov 26 2024, 4:40am)
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