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Source: (consider it)
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Thread: Mordor: twinned with Slough
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Cara
Shipmate
# 16966
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Posted
Kipling again-- Kim was praised upthread and now I'm reading Julian Barnes's new essay collection Through the Window and find two essays about Kipling and his relationship with France. Interesting--and another nudge Kim -wards.
But I want to take a minute to praise Julian Barnes. I think Flaubert's Parrot brilliant. Very much admire Arthur and George . And I thought his recent Booker-winner The Sense of an Ending powerful, subtle, moving, economic, and the kind of book that you immediately want to read again once you've finished it for the first time.
I'm having trouble putting my finger on what his particular gift is (remembering the injunction on this thread to say more than just "I loved it" or "I hated it"!). Immense readability and yet layers meaning. Straight-foward style yet underlying complexity.
He's so gifted at non-fiction as well--the recent Nothing to be Frightened Of is a confrontation with the biggest bugaboo of our time, Death--an extended personal and yet wide-ranging essay that is interesting and compelling.
His critical writing--as for example in his essay on Penelope Fitzgerald, which is in Through the Window --often makes you want to go back again and read the book in question with renewed attention and appreciation.
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Pondering.
Posts: 898 | Registered: Feb 2012
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Dormouse
Glis glis – Ship's rodent
# 5954
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Posted
Anyone else read Ken Follet's "Fall of Giants"? I read his "Pillars of the Earth" series and enjoyed them, but I have found this book tedious, with certain bits of writing jarringly bad. I usually can't put books down and finish them quickly. I've been reading this since before Christmas.
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What are you doing for Lent?
40 days, 40 reflections, 40 acts of generosity. Join the #40acts challenge for #Lent and let's start a movement. www.40acts.org.uk
Posts: 3042 | From: 'twixt les Bois Noirs & Les Monts de la Madeleine | Registered: May 2004
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Cara
Shipmate
# 16966
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Posted
Hm Dormouse, this isn't a proper answer to your question really--some people rave about Follett, especially Pillars... , but I've heard others say his books are not well written. This has put me off (life is short, etc!) so I've never read him...unlikely to now, as you're adding your voice to theirs!
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Pondering.
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nickel
Shipmate
# 8363
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Posted
Science! Tattoos! "Science Ink" by Carl Zimmer. Not only do you see pictures, there's a page or so write up of what & why & how the tattoo relates to a scientific field of study. Physic equations. Molecules. Darwin's finches. Swamps. Planets. My favorite was probably the most simple: a stack of four lines, three lines, and three lines. It harks back to tattoos found on the "ice man" frozen in the Alps 5000 years ago.
Posts: 547 | From: Virginia USA | Registered: Aug 2004
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Cara
Shipmate
# 16966
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Posted
Sounds interesting, nickel. I enjoyed a fascinating book about tattoos called...hmmmm...am not where my books are.
Ok, found it on Amazon: Written on the Body :the tattoo in European and American History by Jane Caplan. (The subtitle and the author's name are important to distinguish it from the novel of the same basic title by the brilliant Jeannette Winterson).
I haven't read others to compare, but it seemed to me an excellent survey of tattooing through history. Convincingly argues that slaves in ancient Rome were often marked with a tattoo, and that the ancient Britons tattooed themselves.
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Pondering.
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The Intrepid Mrs S
Shipmate
# 17002
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Posted
Not actually reading, but listening to an audiobook - 'Murder in Peking' by Paul French. It's quite recent, I think, but an account of the murder of a young girl in 1930's Peking. She's the daughter of an ex-British Consul, and French's treatment of the twin dichotomies of European and Chinese Peking on the one hand, and the schoolgirl Pamela/young woman Pamela on the other, is really fascinating.
As an aside, I was deeply moved by the parallels between her situation and that of other young girls 'led astray' looking for love and fun, in much more recent times. I really wanted to hug my own daughter out of sheer gratitude for her survival of adolescence!
And having it as an audiobook means you can't skip ahead - you have to listen to it at the pace the author wrote it.
Mrs. S, absolutely riveted by it.
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Don't get your knickers in a twist over your advancing age. It achieves nothing and makes you walk funny.
Prayer should be our first recourse, not our last resort
'Lord, please give us patience. NOW!'
Posts: 1464 | From: Neither here nor there | Registered: Mar 2012
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Ariel
Shipmate
# 58
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Posted
Just finished two books:
"I Leap Over the Wall" by Monica Baldwin. A fascinating account of someone who entered an enclosed order of nuns in 1914 and came out in 1941, to find the world much changed. Her reflections, and her difficulties in adjusting to the new world in which she finds herself, make this a fascinating read. What comes across is that the convent left its mark; she might have left it physically but her outlook is still very much the "ex-nun" rather than the spinster relative.
The other book is "The Coram Boy" which was on a book swop table. Set in the 17th century, it tells the tale of two boys, one African, one the illegitimate son of a gentleman, who grow up together in an orphanage. It is a children's book so it turns out all right in the end, but there are some thinly veiled references to some of the altogether less savoury practices of the time, and the two boys narrowly escape slavery. It's an odd read, less predictable than you think, and at times a bit uncomfortable. Not one to keep, but one to return to the book swop table.
Posts: 25445 | Registered: May 2001
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Cara
Shipmate
# 16966
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Posted
On a related theme to the Monica Baldwin book, Karen Armstrong has written two books about her life in a convent and then outside. The first one, "Through the Narrow Gate," was written soon after she came out and later she says it was written too soon and without enough distance and was inaccurate and unbalanced in many ways.
The later book, The Spiral Staircase, is one of the best memoirs I've ever read. It describes her youth, her attraction to the convent while still a girl, her life there--pre-Vacitan II-style novitiate, severe and aimed at crushing the spirit out of the young women. damage mental and physical ensued....she left, and then had to readjust to the world. But as she herself says, her life as a writer is very cloistered and dedicated, in a way like being a nun still. (Except for her public speaking engagements--I've heard her speak live and she is an absolutely riveting speaker. )
An amazing writer as well--"Spiral Staircase" has stayed with me, its tone, its depiction of the strong desire for a path, a vocation, the way it illuminates and brings alive the contours of her mental and spiritual quest, the way a poem by T S Eliot clarified so much for her--written n a way that's restrained and yet all the more profoundly moving.
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Pondering.
Posts: 898 | Registered: Feb 2012
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Golden Key
Shipmate
# 1468
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Posted
Just finished "I Shall Wear Midnight", the last of Terry Pratchett's Tiffany Aching quartet. (It's a branch of the Disc World series.)
Tiffany is a girl in a very rural region called "The Chalk". Throughout the quartet, she grows into being a witch and into being herself.
The Tiffany books are much quieter than most of the rest of the DW series, IMHO. There's definitely humor and wit and puns, but not usually in a raucous way. (Ok, except when the Nac Mac Feegle are around... ![[Biased]](wink.gif) ) The books are deeply rooted in the land.
I've read (and reread) the previous Tiffany books ("Wee Free Men", "A Hat Full Of Sky", "Wintersmith", and "I Shall Wear Midnight"). I strongly recommend reading them in order, so you can pick up on nuances.
The whole quartet is awesome. But the last one is...wow...just wow.
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Blessed Gator, pray for us!
--"Oh bat bladders, do you have to bring common sense into this?" (Dragon, "Jane & the Dragon")
--"Oh, Peace Train, save this country!" (Yusuf/Cat Stevens, "Peace Train")
Posts: 18601 | From: Chilling out in an undisclosed, sincere pumpkin patch. | Registered: Oct 2001
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Trudy Scrumptious
BBE Shieldmaiden
# 5647
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Dormouse:
Anyone else read Ken Follet's "Fall of Giants"? I read his "Pillars of the Earth" series and enjoyed them, but I have found this book tedious, with certain bits of writing jarringly bad. I usually can't put books down and finish them quickly. I've been reading this since before Christmas.
I've read "Pillars of the Earth," "Fall of Giants," and its sequel "Winter of the World" and I think Follet is an astonishingly mediocre writer. The thing that bothers me most is that everything is so obvious -- not a hint of subtlety. Everything that everyone says and does is exactly what they mean, and then the narrator tells you again, just in case you missed it. So if a character says, "I'm so proud of you, Son," not only do you know he is actually proud of his son, but the next sentence will be something like, "He had never been as proud of his son as he was at that moment."
When I can get past the terrible writing, I do find the storylines in the Century Trilogy mildly interesting -- I enjoyed, for example, the perspective of what it might have been like living in Germany during WW2. So I'll probably go on and read the 3rd volume when it comes out, but after that I doubt I'll ever feel the need to read another Ken Follet book.
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Books and things.
I lied. There are no things. Just books.
Posts: 7428 | From: Closer to Paris than I am to Vancouver | Registered: Mar 2004
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Jack the Lass
Ship's airhead
# 3415
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Posted
I've never read Follett, but I discovered that my brother-in-law (who is German) is a big fan. His English is practically perfect (of course!), but I wonder if reading something not in your mother tongue helps to overlook the worst of the bad writing? I don't know.
I was looking for something similar to get him for presents and now that I know he's into historical fiction like that was wondering about trying Diana Gabaldon? Has anyone read any of her stuff? Would you recommend it? There were so many books of hers I didn't know where to start so got him a comedy instead for Christmas, but I got the impression from the cover art that her stuff is along similar sorts of lines to Follett.
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"My body is a temple - it's big and doesn't move." (Jo Brand)
wiblog blipfoto blog
Posts: 5767 | From: the land of the deep-fried Mars Bar | Registered: Oct 2002
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Scots lass
Shipmate
# 2699
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Keren-Happuch:
I've nearly finished "The Disorderly Knights" by Dorothy Dunnett - the third Lymond book. I've found it less gripping than the first two, somehow, although that might be more to do with my own frame of mind. There are some things I've found disturbing too.
Are you not finding yourself saying "Where is Pawn in Frankincense, I must start it immediately!"? Certainly that's my reaction to the end of The Disorderly Knights, I immediately wanted to know what happens next!
There are some disturbing aspects to it though, mainly around Joleta. Although Pawn in Frankincense is probably more so, but you can let us know what you think when you've read it!
Posts: 863 | From: the diaspora | Registered: Apr 2002
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Smudgie
Ship's Barnacle
# 2716
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Posted
Diana Gabaldon is one of my favourite writers but I'd say she's more of a writer for women rather than men if you get my.. er.. drift. The writing is from a female viewpoint and the male protagonists are... er... good food for the imaginations?
If his English is good, how about John Grisham, though that's not historical fiction. Ellis Peters is good, and I have just finished Martyr by Rory Clements which I could hardly put down. Very readable, slightly gritty, three dimensional characters, and a touch of humour - with Shakespeare's elder brother John as the main protagonist.
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Miss you, Erin.
Posts: 14382 | From: Under the duvet | Registered: Apr 2002
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chive
Ship's nude
# 208
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Posted
I've just read Bad Pharma by Ben Goldacre and it terrified me. It's about how drug companies, regulators, medical journals and doctors all conspire (knowingly or unknowingly) in a distortion on drug trials etc. Some of the statistics and stories were absolutely shocking. It made me wonder if we really do know the efficacy and safety of the drugs we take every day.
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'Edward was the kind of man who thought there was no such thing as a lesbian, just a woman who hadn't done one-to-one Bible study with him.' Catherine Fox, Love to the Lost
Posts: 3542 | From: the cupboard under the stairs | Registered: May 2001
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Jack the Lass
Ship's airhead
# 3415
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Smudgie:
Diana Gabaldon is one of my favourite writers but I'd say she's more of a writer for women rather than men if you get my.. er.. drift. The writing is from a female viewpoint and the male protagonists are... er... good food for the imaginations?
If his English is good, how about John Grisham, though that's not historical fiction. Ellis Peters is good, and I have just finished Martyr by Rory Clements which I could hardly put down. Very readable, slightly gritty, three dimensional characters, and a touch of humour - with Shakespeare's elder brother John as the main protagonist.
Thanks Smudgie, that's really helpful. Historical fiction isn't my thing at all so I was a bit clueless. Martyr looks promising, and the reviews there also led me to CJ Samson, those books also look like they'd fit the bill. I think that's one lot of presents sorted for the next few Christmases and birthdays (we've been getting him CDs for the last several years so this will make a nice change!).
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"My body is a temple - it's big and doesn't move." (Jo Brand)
wiblog blipfoto blog
Posts: 5767 | From: the land of the deep-fried Mars Bar | Registered: Oct 2002
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Boadicea Trott
Shipmate
# 9621
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Posted
Chive,
I am in the process of reading Bad Pharma and it is bringing me out in a cold sweat of fear. I knew the pharmaceutical industry was on occasion economical with the truth, but Bad Pharma is terrifying.
Have you read "The Patient Paradox: Why Sexed Up Medicine is Bad for Your Health " by Dr Margaret McCartney ? She looks at the whole of medicine, not just medications. I've just finished it and it was a fine -if jaw-dropping - read.
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X-Clacks-Overhead: GNU Terry Pratchett
Posts: 563 | From: Roaming the World in my imagination..... | Registered: Jun 2005
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Jack the Lass
Ship's airhead
# 3415
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Posted
Oh yes, I'd second the "Patient Paradox" recommendation, which I read last year (I think at the end of the previous book thread ![[Smile]](smile.gif) ). It's brilliant, and very readable. I think I said then anyone who likes Ben Goldacre would like Margaret McCartney - it's very "Bad Science"-ey. She often appears on Radio 4's "Inside Health" (she's a Glasgow GP).
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"My body is a temple - it's big and doesn't move." (Jo Brand)
wiblog blipfoto blog
Posts: 5767 | From: the land of the deep-fried Mars Bar | Registered: Oct 2002
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Keren-Happuch
Ship's Eyeshadow
# 9818
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Scots lass:
quote:
Originally posted by Keren-Happuch:
I've nearly finished "The Disorderly Knights" by Dorothy Dunnett - the third Lymond book. I've found it less gripping than the first two, somehow, although that might be more to do with my own frame of mind. There are some things I've found disturbing too.
Are you not finding yourself saying "Where is Pawn in Frankincense, I must start it immediately!"? Certainly that's my reaction to the end of The Disorderly Knights, I immediately wanted to know what happens next!
There are some disturbing aspects to it though, mainly around Joleta. Although Pawn in Frankincense is probably more so, but you can let us know what you think when you've read it!
I've got Pawn in Frankincense lined up, but I'm almost scared to start it, because so many people have said they hate it or that it's heart breaking.
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Travesty, treachery, betrayal!
EXCESS - The Art of Treason
Nea Fox
Posts: 2407 | From: A Fine City | Registered: Jul 2005
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Ariel
Shipmate
# 58
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Keren-Happuch:
I've got Pawn in Frankincense lined up, but I'm almost scared to start it, because so many people have said they hate it or that it's heart breaking.
YMMV. "Pawn in Frankincense" and "The Disorderly Knights" are the two I like the best. I didn't find "Pawn" heart-breaking, although it is a powerful story that leaves you asking a few questions.
Posts: 25445 | Registered: May 2001
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The Great Gumby
Ship's Brain Surgeon
# 10989
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by chive:
I've just read Bad Pharma by Ben Goldacre and it terrified me. It's about how drug companies, regulators, medical journals and doctors all conspire (knowingly or unknowingly) in a distortion on drug trials etc. Some of the statistics and stories were absolutely shocking. It made me wonder if we really do know the efficacy and safety of the drugs we take every day.
I finished that recently, and it's the little details that really hit me. I knew the broad brushstrokes of it, but seeing it all set out point by point was quite shocking. But don't get terrified, get campaigning. And remember that the solution (or part of it) is more and better research, not the rejection of it.
I'm now onto The Geek Manifesto by Mark Henderson, which is another very good, important and timely book on why science matters and why we should be making sure it plays a proper role in politics and public life in general.
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The first principle is that you must not fool yourself, and you are the easiest person to fool. - Richard Feynman
A letter to my son about death
Posts: 5382 | From: Home for shot clergy spouses | Registered: Feb 2006
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jedijudy
Organist of the Jedi Temple
# 333
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Posted
Bump.
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Jasmine, little cat with a big heart.
Posts: 18017 | From: 'Twixt the 'Glades and the Gulf | Registered: Aug 2001
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Freelance Monotheist
Shipmate
# 8990
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Posted
I've just started G.K. Chesterton's Father Brown Mysteries, as they were going cheap on the Amazon Kindle site. I'd seen the TV version some time ago, but the books are so much better. I get the pleasure of detective fiction with the feeling that I'm reading something high-brow/intellectually stimulating! I'm also reading a really fascinating Young Adult novel set in a dystopian society where the US is split into The Republic, that's warring with The Colonies. Basically a teen girl and boy from different social classes end up on the run together, after discovering that The Republic isn't as benevolent/truthful as it seems. The first book is called Prodigy, and I finished it in a few hours, so now I'm onto the sequel, called Legend.
I've also just finished the latest Oscar Wilde Mystery by Gyles Brandreth, and this one takes place when Oscar Wilde is in prison, towards the end of his life, and a series of murders of chaplains & prison warders takes place in the various prisons he's transferred to (Pentonville, Wandsworth & Reading). There's a lot of detail about the prison regime which is pretty horrific, but most of the books uncover the darker aspects of life at the time. Brandreth recounts Oscar's encounters with various well-known literary/artistic/scientific figures of the time, which is really interesting too, and I get the feeling the crimes are based on events that actually happened. Also, a lot of Wilde's bon mots crop up in various situations, so it's fun trying to guess when they'll crop up/which play/story of his they're from.
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Denial: a very effective coping mechanism
Posts: 1239 | From: Paris, France | Registered: Jan 2005
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Pine Marten
Shipmate
# 11068
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Posted
Ooh, ooh, more Oscar - I greatly enjoyed Brandreth's Oscar Wilde and the Vatican Murders(Oscar and Conan Doyle: how ![[Killing me]](graemlins/killingme.gif) ) so you've prompted me to check on the others...
I recently started on Matthew Lewis' The Monk, written in 1796 and which fairly races along and is very modern in style. The blurb says it 'still terrifies, over 200 years after it was written'... I can't wait
I'm also working my way through the Merrily Watkins series, by Phil Rickman, which I got into courtesy of a thread here on the Ship - for which, many thanks!
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Keep love in your heart. A life without it is like a sunless garden when the flowers are dead. - Oscar Wilde
Posts: 1731 | From: Isle of Albion | Registered: Feb 2006
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chive
Ship's nude
# 208
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Posted
I'm giving up buying books for Lent and you people are just big nasty temptors.
This year I have decided that I'm going to work my way through the complete work of Trollope. Last year I managed the entirety of Tolstoy and loved them. I'm not finding Trollope so much fun though ![[Frown]](frown.gif)
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'Edward was the kind of man who thought there was no such thing as a lesbian, just a woman who hadn't done one-to-one Bible study with him.' Catherine Fox, Love to the Lost
Posts: 3542 | From: the cupboard under the stairs | Registered: May 2001
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Firenze
Ordinary decent pagan
# 619
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Posted
I am reading ian Kelly's Mr Foote's Other Leg - a biography of the actor, writer, wit and amputee, Samuel Foote.
We're just off to a rip-roaring start in which he gets out of debtors' prison by writing up the ongoing story of the trial and execution of one of his uncles for the murder of another.
Take that, Hello magazine.
[ 15. February 2013, 16:55: Message edited by: Firenze ]
Posts: 17302 | From: Edinburgh | Registered: Jun 2001
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Moo
Ship's tough old bird
# 107
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Posted
I recently finished re-reading Murder at St. Adelaide's.
It's about a private detective who is asked to come back to the convent school she attended years before. The mother superior has a job for her.
The book has an interesting plot and well-developed characters. What interested me most, however, was the background. The author obviously attended such a school, and she remembers details of her schooldays. Things have changed greatly since Vatican II. The school has closed, and there are no novices at the convent. I enjoyed getting a picture of a way of life with which I was completely unfamiliar.
Moo
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Kerygmania host
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See you later, alligator.
Posts: 20365 | From: Alleghany Mountains of Virginia | Registered: May 2001
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Timothy the Obscure
Mostly Friendly
# 292
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Posted
Just finished Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell. I haven't seen the movie yet, but I certainly will. It's a wonderful novel, with a structure that could easily have come off as annoying postmodern pretension, but doesn't, mostly because Mitchell never forgets that he's telling a story about people--and he's really good at that. There are six story lines, different genres set in different times and places, with only minimal overlap of plot and character, but thematically it all comes together in the end.
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When you think of the long and gloomy history of man, you will find more hideous crimes have been committed in the name of obedience than have ever been committed in the name of rebellion.
- C. P. Snow
Posts: 6114 | From: PDX | Registered: May 2001
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Welease Woderwick
Sister Incubus Nightmare
# 10424
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Posted
I'm re-reading John Lahr's biography of Joe Orton - Prick Up Your Ears which is at times hilarious - weird to think he would have been 80 on New Year's Day just gone had he lived!
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I give thanks for unknown blessings already on their way.
Fancy a break in South India?
Accessible Homestay Guesthouse in Central Kerala, contact me for details
What part of Matt. 7:1 don't you understand?
Posts: 48139 | From: 1st on the right, straight on 'til morning | Registered: Sep 2005
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Keren-Happuch
Ship's Eyeshadow
# 9818
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Posted
I'm reading Winterkartoffelknödel by Rita Falk. The title means "Winter Potato Dumplings" and food features fairly heavily in it. It's billed as a provincial crime story and is the first in a series starring a Munich policeman who gets sent packing back to his rural Bavarian village after a break down of sorts. At the moment I'm 3/4 in and it's still not clear whether or not any crime has actually been committed, or whether it's all in his head.
Very funny in a dark kind of way.
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Travesty, treachery, betrayal!
EXCESS - The Art of Treason
Nea Fox
Posts: 2407 | From: A Fine City | Registered: Jul 2005
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Cara
Shipmate
# 16966
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Posted
I loved Mitchell's Cloud Atlas long before it was a film. I think Mitchell is brilliant. His much more straight-foward books Black Swan Green and The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet are wonderful too--the former a coming-of-age story with an excellent evocation of childhood and adolescence, and the latter a historical novel.
I haven't seen the film--recently read an interesting review of it (possibly by Anthony Lane in the New Yorker?) where he compares it to the book, especially the structure, multiple story-lines etc, and said the film didn't work as well--yes, have just checked, he says the story-lines are too tangled in the film and you have no time to settle into any one of them. But still, sounds worth seeing, and many reviewers have raved.
Interestingly, another writer came out with a novel also called
Cloud Atlas at around the same time. Unfortunate co-incidence for both authors, as when both David Lodge and Colm Toibin simultaneously brought out novels based on the life of Henry James.
I've just finished Nicholson Baker's The Anthologist, about a poet who is stuck in writing an introduction for his poetry anthology, whose girlfriend has just left him, and whose life is falling apart in many ways; in which he expounds his ideas and thoughts about poetry--and life-- in a way that's engaging and readable and original--as you'd expect from the brilliant Baker. I enjoyed it very much.
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Pondering.
Posts: 898 | Registered: Feb 2012
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lily pad
Shipmate
# 11456
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Jack the Lass:
I've never read Follett, but I discovered that my brother-in-law (who is German) is a big fan. His English is practically perfect (of course!), but I wonder if reading something not in your mother tongue helps to overlook the worst of the bad writing? I don't know.
I was looking for something similar to get him for presents and now that I know he's into historical fiction like that was wondering about trying Diana Gabaldon? Has anyone read any of her stuff? Would you recommend it? There were so many books of hers I didn't know where to start so got him a comedy instead for Christmas, but I got the impression from the cover art that her stuff is along similar sorts of lines to Follett.
Follett is not about the writing, it is about the story telling. What about sending him a book by James Michener? Each book covers a very wide span of history of a very specific location or region. His stories are well told and I've enjoyed reading each one.
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Sloppiness is not caring. Fussiness is caring about the wrong things. With thanks to Adeodatus!
Posts: 2468 | From: Truly Canadian | Registered: May 2006
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jedijudy
Organist of the Jedi Temple
# 333
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Jack the Lass:
I was looking for something similar to get him for presents and now that I know he's into historical fiction like that was wondering about trying Diana Gabaldon? Has anyone read any of her stuff? Would you recommend it?
I've read and enjoyed her books. I don't think I would call it historical fiction, more of a fantasy with some bits of history thrown in.
If you like lots of sex, this might be an interesting series for you! IIRC, the first book is Outlander.
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Jasmine, little cat with a big heart.
Posts: 18017 | From: 'Twixt the 'Glades and the Gulf | Registered: Aug 2001
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Welease Woderwick
Sister Incubus Nightmare
# 10424
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Posted
Having finished the John Lahr I started a re-read of Le Guin's Earthsea quartet but wasn't in the mood so am now having some light fun by re-reading Armistead Maupin's Michael Tolliver Lives - just what I needed.
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I give thanks for unknown blessings already on their way.
Fancy a break in South India?
Accessible Homestay Guesthouse in Central Kerala, contact me for details
What part of Matt. 7:1 don't you understand?
Posts: 48139 | From: 1st on the right, straight on 'til morning | Registered: Sep 2005
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jedijudy
Organist of the Jedi Temple
# 333
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Posted
I am rereading The Hobbit again. This time it's on my Nook.
[tangent]My dear friend who is 93 years young was fascinated as I showed her all the books in my Nook. Then I asked her which book I should add to my collection. She suggested The Hobbit, as we had just seen the movie together. She was amazed to see how easy it was to purchase, and that it was on my device immediately. It's not easy to impress her, but I think that little trick did it![/tangent]
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Jasmine, little cat with a big heart.
Posts: 18017 | From: 'Twixt the 'Glades and the Gulf | Registered: Aug 2001
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Trudy Scrumptious
BBE Shieldmaiden
# 5647
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Posted
I've started on a project this year to read a bunch of classics that I either didn't enjoy, didn't finish, or didn't appreciate as much as I was told I was supposed to, when younger. Last month I read The Great Gatsby, which I had to read in college. This month it was Les Miserables (which I read after first seeing the stage musical and remember being terribly bored by). Now I'm rereading Pride and Prejudice, which unlike the others I did like when I first read it, but it's been many years and since I've been watching The Lizzie Bennet Diaries I've realized how sketchy my memory of the original was.
In every case, I've found the books far more enjoyable and absorbing than when I read them in my late teens or 20s. Am I getting to be a smarter, more thoughtful reader in middle age, I wonder?
I'm not sure I'm brave enough to give The Old Man and the Sea a second chance though ...
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Books and things.
I lied. There are no things. Just books.
Posts: 7428 | From: Closer to Paris than I am to Vancouver | Registered: Mar 2004
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ken
Ship's Roundhead
# 2460
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by lily pad:
quote:
Originally posted by Jack the Lass:
[...]
I was looking for something similar to get him for presents [...]
[...] What about sending him a book by James Michener? [...]
Len Deighton? Modern-era historical, mostly to do with spies or the military (and lots about Nazis, come to think of it maybe not such a good present for a German!) and its not Shakespeare, but its well-constructed and often exciting, even compelling. You want to know what happens next. Bomber might be a genuinely great novel. And I cried when I read it. (Though again an odd choice of gift for a Brit to give a German, outwith some ongoing discussion about the bomber war - maybe just read it yourself?)
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Ken
L’amor che move il sole e l’altre stelle.
Posts: 39579 | From: London | Registered: Mar 2002
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la vie en rouge
Parisienne
# 10688
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Posted
On Les Misérables - I finished volume 4 on the metro this morning (one to go). I'm reading it in French.
Looking at Les Misérables in the Kindle bestsellers is kind of hilarious actually - on the French Amazon site, the first volume is at about number 50, volume 2 is nearer number 80, and volume 3 is nowhere to be seen (you have to download it as separate volumes to get it for free). You can see the people dropping off as they realise just how absurdly long the thing is. The first point where huge numbers of people drop out is the battle of Waterloo, which if you really can't be bothered with, you can skip past most of and still not really miss anything in the main story.
I personally love the sprawl, but well, there's a reason why the sucker is 1400 pages long. The actual Jean Valjean - Cosette - Marius - Javert - Thénardier - Gavroche story probably only makes up about half the book and the rest is kind of his epic heroic history of France/Paris, I think. Whether or not you get on with this depends on whether you appreciate the style, the sentences that run on for pages...
I personally also love his vision of Paris, who it seems to me is actually the main character in the story.
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Rent my holiday home in the South of France
Posts: 3696 | Registered: Nov 2005
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Trudy Scrumptious
BBE Shieldmaiden
# 5647
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Posted
I will admit I did a lot of skimming -- didn't skip anything altogether, but there were some bits, like Waterloo, where I read fairly quickly. I do agree about Paris being a major character in the story. It's also interesting to see the differences from the (to me) better-known musical version. Cosette is marginally less annoying but Marius considerably more; Eponine is just as tragic but far less noble.
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Books and things.
I lied. There are no things. Just books.
Posts: 7428 | From: Closer to Paris than I am to Vancouver | Registered: Mar 2004
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Moo
Ship's tough old bird
# 107
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Trudy Scrumptious:
In every case, I've found the books far more enjoyable and absorbing than when I read them in my late teens or 20s. Am I getting to be a smarter, more thoughtful reader in middle age, I wonder?
A retired English professor taught a course on Shakespeare for the retirees at our Senior Center. She was in her late twenties when she wrote her dissertation, and she said she was not mature enough at the time to understand everything Shakespeare was saying.
Moo
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Kerygmania host
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See you later, alligator.
Posts: 20365 | From: Alleghany Mountains of Virginia | Registered: May 2001
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Trudy Scrumptious
BBE Shieldmaiden
# 5647
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Posted
I agree; I think life experience adds a lot to your appreciation of any literature -- which makes it ironic that the only exposure many people get to great works of literature is at an age when they're least prepared to appreciate them (and forced to read them under duress, which is another whole problem).
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Books and things.
I lied. There are no things. Just books.
Posts: 7428 | From: Closer to Paris than I am to Vancouver | Registered: Mar 2004
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QLib
Bad Example
# 43
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Posted
On the other hand, there is the phenomenon that we discussed on these boards a long time ago, which is that you tend to meet less life-changing books as you get older. I enjoy the greater depth - there's so many books I want to re-read now - but I do miss the Wow! life-changing experience coming along every coupla years (or even months in some cases).
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Tradition is the handing down of the flame, not the worship of the ashes Gustav Mahler.
Posts: 8913 | From: Page 28 | Registered: May 2001
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Eigon
Shipmate
# 4917
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Posted
I've found a whole new genre to play in.
I'd always avoided graphic novels - not because I thought they were trashy, or anything like that, but because I didn't really know where to start with them. I didn't really want to read "superhero fights crime" stories and though I was aware that wasn't all there was to graphic novels, I didn't know where to find them.
I find now that Neil Gaiman is my 'gateway drug' to the genre, as I have just been reading Marvel 1602, which takes Marvel superheroes and places them in the year 1602 - old Queen Elizabeth is dying, King James of Scotland hates witches (so that's the X-men in trouble for a start) and there's a fascinating plot involving the Four of the Fantastick, a blind Irish minstrel, Count Otto von Doom, the Spanish Inquisition, and a young girl from Roanoake colony who's come to see the Queen with her Native American protector. Oh, and Sir Nicholas Fury is the Queen's spymaster, Dr Strange is her physician, and Fury's assistant is a young lad called Peter who has a fascination with spiders!
I found that I didn't need to know any previous history of the superheroes involved, and I already had some familiarity with them from movies.
I understand the sequels are not as good as the first story, being by other authors, but I'm going to be tracking them down anyway - and I'll be browsing the shelves of Forbidden Planet next time I'm in Cardiff, too!
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Laugh hard. Run fast. Be kind.
Posts: 3710 | From: Hay-on-Wye, town of books | Registered: Aug 2003
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ArachnidinElmet
Shipmate
# 17346
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Posted
Oh, I love me a graphic novel. I learnt to read on Marvel comics (amongst other things), so never had the anti-superhero thing some others do, but completely get how all those decades of slightly silly backstory can seem weird to purely prose readers. The best comics add something in a single panel that would take a whole chapter to explain in words.
Eigon, if you like the historical detail in the Neil Gaiman stuff, try Alan Moore's 'From Hell'. You have to have a fairly strong stomach, and try to forget the dodgy Johnny Depp film, but the depth of detail is incredible. There's a whole subplot about Nicholas Hawksmoor, the architect, and his interest in the occult. Also the paintings of Walter Sickert and what it was like to have Queen Victoria as your mum.
[ 20. February 2013, 21:43: Message edited by: ArachnidinElmet ]
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'If a pleasant, straight-forward life is not possible then one must try to wriggle through by subtle manoeuvres' - Kafka
Posts: 1887 | From: the rhubarb triangle | Registered: Sep 2012
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Eigon
Shipmate
# 4917
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Posted
Golly, that sounds good! Thanks, ArachnidinElmet!
I do have an interest in Hawksmoor, having read the novel by Peter Ackroyd, and I've read a book about Sickert that suggested he was Jack the Ripper. And I haven't seen the Johnny Depp film. I've also heard good things about Alan Moore (and some weird things!).
While I'm looking out for that one, I have Grandville, the first Inspector Le Brock story, and The Longbow Hunters, starring Green Arrow, looking down at me from the "to-be-read" shelf.
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Laugh hard. Run fast. Be kind.
Posts: 3710 | From: Hay-on-Wye, town of books | Registered: Aug 2003
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ArachnidinElmet
Shipmate
# 17346
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Posted
I tried to read Peter Ackroyd's Hawksmoor, but got stuck half way through. This seems a good time to have another go.
Grandville is an excellent book; I bought it off the back of seeing Bryan Talbot at the Thought Bubble conference in Leeds. Inspector Brock is definitely the most charismatic (and weirdly attractive) lead character I've come across to have the head of a badger.
[ 21. February 2013, 23:40: Message edited by: ArachnidinElmet ]
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'If a pleasant, straight-forward life is not possible then one must try to wriggle through by subtle manoeuvres' - Kafka
Posts: 1887 | From: the rhubarb triangle | Registered: Sep 2012
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Percy B
Shipmate
# 17238
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Posted
I am enjoying Hilary Mantel's Wolf Hall. It's a bigger book than I usually read, but it is keeping my attention.
I find at times I am a little confused at who her pronouns are referring to, but it seems a device to refer mainly to Cromwell.
The news of her unprovoked comments about the Duchess of Cambridge put me off the author a little, but I will try not to let it bother me!
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Mary, a priest??
Posts: 582 | From: Nudrug | Registered: Jul 2012
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Firenze
Ordinary decent pagan
# 619
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Percy B:
The news of her unprovoked comments about the Duchess of Cambridge put me off the author a little, but I will try not to let it bother me!
Have you actually read text of her lecture ? You may find it to be somewhat other than represented.
Posts: 17302 | From: Edinburgh | Registered: Jun 2001
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Percy B
Shipmate
# 17238
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Posted
No I haven't read the lecture - just the press report. I am pleased you say it's not what it seems.
It didn't actually colour my reading too much.
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Mary, a priest??
Posts: 582 | From: Nudrug | Registered: Jul 2012
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