|
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Lily Fairbairn
Gondolin
Sep 18 2025, 3:20pm
Post #1 of 11
(4484 views)
Shortcut
|
|
It's the occasional reading thread!
|
Can't Post
|
|
Ooh, it's autumn! More or less, anyway.
I've spent most of my in-print reading time this last month on the thick but worthwhile Fabric: The Hidden History of the Material World, by Victoria Finlay. This is indeed a history of cloth (cotton, wool, silk, and so on) and weaving and also Ms. Finlay's research into them. I thoroughly enjoyed it but it's obviously not for everyone.
I also read the e-version of Retirement Plans, by Sue Hincenbergs. This is a darkly funny novel about a group of middle-aged women who plan to murder their husbands while their husbands have agendas of their own. It's very nicely plotted, and there's a dog, but I've said before how this sort of cynicism wears on me....
...which is why I waited awhile to begin another ebook, The Retired Assassin's Guide to Country Living, by Naomi Kuttner. This is also darkly humorous but seems to me to be a bit less cynical. An ex-assassin tries to overcome his training and settle quietly into retirement in a small town in New Zealand---but then finds himself involved in a murder. There's a cat.
I listened to The Postscript Murders, by Elly Griffith. I've given up on Elly Griffiths' Ruth Galloway books but the Harbinder Kaur books are still worthwhile, IMHO. In this one, Harbinder works with a group of people all connected to an old woman whose death only appears to be natural. The scenes at the book festival are particularly enjoyable. Been there! Done that!
I also listened to Odyssey, Stephen Fry's version of, well, The Odyssey. His humor and erudition and wonderful voice make it all seem fresh.
I've read the print versions of the eighth, ninth, and tenth books in the Rivers of London series and am now enjoying listening to them. I just finished the eighth, False Value, and am admiring once again the skills of author Ben Aaronovitch and actor Kobna Holdbrook-Smith. Great stories, great characters, great reading.
I'm now listening to The Botany of Desire, A Plant's-Eye View of the World, written and read by Michael Pollan. He considers the histories and significances of four specific plants, apples, tulips, marijuana, and potatoes. Well-written, informative, thought-provoking, and entertaining.
I can say the same for my post-lunch/naptime audio, My Garden World, The Natural Year, written and read by gardener and BBC presenter Monty Don. Here, in his gentle, affable, way, he considers not just the plants in his gardens but the animals as well. Lovely book.
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....
|
|
|
squire
Gondolin
Sep 19 2025, 3:33am
Post #2 of 11
(4352 views)
Shortcut
|
|
'The Message' by Ta-Nehisi Coates'
[In reply to]
|
Can't Post
|
|
It being the third Tuesday in September, this was the first reading for the 2025-26 season for the Foreign Affairs book group that I moderate at a local library.
It's complex and diffuse and hard - and wonderfully written. Coates ties together themes of nationalism, identity, and myth in the context of what a writer, like him or his students at Howard University, is supposed to be writing about when confonted with episodes of oppression, censorship, or myth-making.
The second half of the book is a scarifying tour of Israel and the Palestinian territories (pre-October 7). He cannot help but identify Israeli policies that oppress and diminish the Palestinians with the memories of the Jim Crow regime against Black Americans that his parents survived. He thinks constantly of that history, because in our own time (2020 in his book - but also today in 2025) we see calls for suppressing diversity and Black history because of its supposed prejudicial impact on whites.
He visits Yad Vashem, the Israeli museum of the Holocaust at the end of his visit, and he is devastated by the horrific narratives of Jewish oppression and slaughter that led to the State of Israel being founded in historical Palestine. He ends by meditating on what happens when an oppressed people, the Jews of Israel, become in their own right oppressors of another people, the Palestinians.
He wonders - if Black Americans ever became a nation, or a ruling class, would they too become oppressors and killers of a subject population? Can anyone be sure that their righteousness is invulnerable to becoming unrighteousness?
Brutal stuff from one of America's most distinguished Black intellectuals and writers.
squire online:
Unfortunately my longtime internet service provider abandoned its hosting operations last year. I no longer have any online materials to share with the TORn community.
 = Forum has no new posts. Forum needs no new posts.
|
|
|
Annael
Elvenhome
Sep 19 2025, 4:30am
Post #3 of 11
(4335 views)
Shortcut
|
|
I've read "Between the World and Me"
[In reply to]
|
Can't Post
|
|
definitely a thought-provoking writer.
I too have pondered that phenomenon of the oppressed becoming the oppressors. May have to read this book.
I am a dreamer of words, of written words.
-- Gaston Bachelard
* * * * * * * * * *
NARF and member of Deplorable Cultus since 1967
|
|
|
Annael
Elvenhome
Sep 19 2025, 4:39am
Post #4 of 11
(4326 views)
Shortcut
|
|
"The Inheritance" by Ilona Andrews
[In reply to]
|
Can't Post
|
|
who is actually a husband-and-wife writing team, and a very prolific one. Which I'm happy about, because oh did I love this book! Read it twice in fact. They've created a 'verse of their own, where Earth is being invaded through "breaches" - portals in space-time that allow monsters from other worlds onto the Earth. But humans have responded by some people developing Talents, which are both physical and seemingly magical, that help them fight off the monsters. The lead character is a Talent who can assess minerals and plants in the breaches for their potential use (or danger). She gets stuck in one breach along with a very good dog, a German shepherd. I loved the characters, I loved the ideas, there's believable behind-the-scenes politics and I sure hope this is the first in a series. I'm now on to the first of another series of theirs and looking forward to many more enjoyable reads.
I also re-read Player of Games by Iain M. Banks, possibly my favorite of the "Culture" novels.
I am a dreamer of words, of written words.
-- Gaston Bachelard
* * * * * * * * * *
NARF and member of Deplorable Cultus since 1967
|
|
|
Kimi
Forum Admin
/ Moderator
Sep 19 2025, 5:28am
Post #5 of 11
(4324 views)
Shortcut
|
|
Rivers of London, Divine Might, etc
[In reply to]
|
Can't Post
|
|
I've read (or rather listened to) Stone and Sky, the latest in the "Rivers of London" series. I do so enjoy these. This one had two readers, which took a little getting used to, but was a good choice— there are two point-of-view characters, one's a young woman, and brilliant though Kobna Holdbrook-Smith is, I imagine he was happy not to have to keep that particular voice up for pages on end.
Brat Farrar, by Josephine Tey.
Daughter of Time has long been a book I'm fond of, but after enjoying Miss Pym Disposes on Lily's recommendation I've decided to read Tey's other books (at least the ones under this name). I enoyed Brat Farrar, with its clever plot and interesting main character. I wasn't entirely convinced by the ending, which (softy though I am for happy endings) felt just a little too pat for the sympathetic characters. I do very much enjoy her crisp, clear writing style, though.
Divine Might by Natalie Haynes.
https://nataliehaynes.com/divine-might/
I very much enjoyed this - clever, informative, and sometimes laugh-out-loud funny. I've been a fan of Greek mythology since I was a child, but while the details were largely familiar, Haynes' take on the goddesses was thought-provoking and refreshing. She treats them like real people, and explores just what might make them act the way they do. An author I plan to read more from.
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
|
|
|
Annael
Elvenhome
Sep 19 2025, 3:44pm
Post #6 of 11
(4224 views)
Shortcut
|
|
"Divine Might" sounds like a must-read for me!
[In reply to]
|
Can't Post
|
|
Thanks for the reccy.
Did the Netflix show "KAOS" make it down your way? Well worth a watch.
I am a dreamer of words, of written words.
-- Gaston Bachelard
* * * * * * * * * *
NARF and member of Deplorable Cultus since 1967
|
|
|
Kimi
Forum Admin
/ Moderator
Sep 19 2025, 9:49pm
Post #7 of 11
(4211 views)
Shortcut
|
while reading it. She also explores in some detail art works (particularly sculptures) that portray the goddesses, and sometimes goes into more contemporary references - for example in the "Muses" chapter she discusses the movie "Xanadu" (!), and the Rita Hayworth 1947 movie "Down to Earth" (we actually watched the latter via YouTube).
We don't have a Netflix subscription, but I see that "Kaos" is available in Aotearoa, so if we have access to Netflix some time (holiday rentals sometimes offer it) I'll check it out, thanks.
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
|
|
|
cats16
Gondolin
Sep 20 2025, 6:39am
Post #8 of 11
(4207 views)
Shortcut
|
by Charles Portis. I hadn't read Portis before and came across a used copy of this at our local bookstore, so the timing seemed right. Was not disappointed! Man, what a writer! (Big wink for anyone who has read the book and gets what I'm doing there, lol).
Now I'm going through a collection of Portis "miscellany," as its editor calls it. A mixture of his standout newspaper reporting, mostly during the early 60's civil rights movement in the South, as well as some travel writing and short stories.
Another much, much longer term project I've started is The Recognitions by William Gaddis. It's nearly 1000 pages and the style is one that's difficult sit with more than a few pages at once. A writer like Joyce is far more difficult, but I also had the momentum of reading him in school as an assignment, which is far different than as an adult for leisure. I tend to read these tougher books alongside a breezier one as counter-programming, so I'm on the lookout for what the next breezy read will be.
Join us every weekend in the Hobbit movie forum for this week's CHOW (Chapter of the Week) discussion!
|
|
|
Lily Fairbairn
Gondolin
Sep 20 2025, 2:04pm
Post #9 of 11
(4195 views)
Shortcut
|
...have read this one, and thought of you!
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
Elvenhome
Sep 20 2025, 2:47pm
Post #10 of 11
(4186 views)
Shortcut
|
when TWO people I respect say I would like something . . .
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 Sep 20 2025, 2:47pm)
|
|
|
|
|
