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Source: (consider it)
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Thread: Readme: the book thread.
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JoannaP
Shipmate
# 4493
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Posted
I appear to have been guilty of cultural chauvinism ![[Hot and Hormonal]](icon_redface.gif)
Reading the free sample of the first book in the series, I realised that nowhere did "A Red Herring..." explicitly state that it was set in England, I just assumed that. So the Butler Act may not apply. Likewise it never states when it is (I got the 1950 reference from the Internet).
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"Freedom for the pike is death for the minnow." R. H. Tawney (quoted by Isaiah Berlin)
"Those who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety." Benjamin Franklin
Posts: 1877 | From: England | Registered: May 2003
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Sipech
Shipmate
# 16870
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Posted
Just finished Bart Ehrman's How Jesus Became God. As ever, Erhman's writing is fantastic, though he does fall into the trap of using the "many scholars" argument without saying who or how many. A very interesting read on the historical development of Christology.
Next up, I think I may join in with a few shipmates as I picked up Jessie Burton's The Miniaturist a few weeks ago.
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I try to be self-deprecating; I'm just not very good at it.
Twitter: http://twitter.com/TheAlethiophile
Posts: 3791 | From: On the corporate ladder | Registered: Jan 2012
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Twilight
Puddleglum's sister
# 2832
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Posted
The Waiting, by Cathy LaGrow.
This was a biography of a woman who was raped at 16, gave birth to her baby in a South Dakota home for unwed mothers, cared for her for a month, and then surrendered her for adoption.
The details of this woman's life are minutely detailed, which is what made it so fascinating for me. The wrench of giving up her child and seventy seven years of "waiting," to find out what happened to Betty Jane are the center of the book but it's also the story of a brave woman's life lived over the course of a century. Really good and very different.
Posts: 6817 | Registered: May 2002
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Sir Kevin
Ship's Gaffer
# 3492
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Posted
I've just finished a very strange book of short stories by Haruki Murakami, called Blind Willow, Sleeping Woman. It took me a feew days to get through it. but it was very enjoyable. I never guessed what would happen next!
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If you board the wrong train, it is no use running along the corridor in the other direction Dietrich Bonhoeffer
Writing is currently my hobby, not yet my profession.
Posts: 30517 | From: White Hart Lane | Registered: Oct 2002
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Twilight
Puddleglum's sister
# 2832
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Twilight:
The details of this woman's life are minutely detailed,
This is why I critique books, but never write them.
Posts: 6817 | Registered: May 2002
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JoannaP
Shipmate
# 4493
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by JoannaP:
I've just finished Whispers Under Ground by Ben Aaronovitch; it took me a while to get into it, mostly because it does not seem to have occurred to the author that somebody might read it without having read the previous two, but it became really gripping. The combination of characters doing magic spells and references to Captain Picard did take some getting used to. I will definitely try to find the others in the library and read them in order.
Somebody donated a copy of Rivers of London to the bookshop where I volunteer... It is excellent, a series to buy rather than borrow.
(I did decide to only buy thrillers as ebooks but when I can get 2nd hand copies far more cheaply, it doesn't seem sensible. Until I get home and see the piles of books preventing me from getting to the bookcase. ![[Help]](graemlins/help.gif) )
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"Freedom for the pike is death for the minnow." R. H. Tawney (quoted by Isaiah Berlin)
"Those who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety." Benjamin Franklin
Posts: 1877 | From: England | Registered: May 2003
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Welease Woderwick
Sister Incubus Nightmare
# 10424
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Posted
I bought a few secondhand Nevil Shute novels in UK, had them delivered to my mate Steve who brought them out with him and this afternoon I have finished Trustee From The Toolroom, his last book and possibly his finest. Published over 50 years ago and still just as powerful.
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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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Penny S
Shipmate
# 14768
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Posted
I've just finished reading "Master and God" by Lindsey Davis (and have just ordered her latest detective novel to be collected tomorrow). I had the oddest feeling that I had read bits before, but not the whole thing, so I must have glanced through at some stage before putting it into the TBR pile. One passage in which a fly on the wall watches Domitian doing not very much. A passage in which a group of legionaries are held prisoner in Dacia. And another in which the principal characters finally get together. But all the stuff about Domitian and politics and plots was totally new.
However, the opening, with the principal male in the vigiles, merged into the Flavia Alba books on the one hand, and the Watch books of Terry Pratchett's on the other. (The last Tiffany Aching book is due out in September.)
[ 09. April 2015, 18:47: Message edited by: Penny S ]
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Kitten
Shipmate
# 1179
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Posted
The latest Charlie Parker book by John Connolly was released today and pinged onto my Kindle App at midnight. Halfway through already and finding it very hard to put down
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Maius intra qua extra
Never accept a ride from a stranger, unless they are in a big blue box
Posts: 2330 | From: Carmarthenshire | Registered: Aug 2001
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Hedgehog
Ship's Shortstop
# 14125
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Posted
I just finished The Enigma of China, being the 8th Inspector Chen story by Qiu Xiaolong. As usual, the mystery aspect of the crime is interwoven with political considerations for Chief Inspector Chen...this time to such an extent that he fears it may be his last case as he comes up against powerful foes.
But, apparently, it isn't his last case, because later this year Shanghai Redemption is slated to come out and the title strongly suggests to me that it will be a direct sequel to Enigma, focusing on the fallout from the case.
While Qiu Xiaolong does have a tendency to get up on a soapbox during his novels, the character of Chen and his friends & associates is such that I find the series to be pleasant reading. And I am glad that Enigma wasn't Chen's last case because I really do want to know what happens next!
[Edit: Typo!]
[ 09. April 2015, 20:38: Message edited by: Hedgehog ]
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"We must regain the conviction that we need one another, that we have a shared responsibility for others and the world, and that being good and decent are worth it."--Pope Francis, Laudato Si'
Posts: 2740 | From: Delaware, USA | Registered: Sep 2008
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Badger Lady
Shipmate
# 13453
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by JoannaP:
quote:
Originally posted by JoannaP:
I've just finished Whispers Under Ground by Ben Aaronovitch; it took me a while to get into it, mostly because it does not seem to have occurred to the author that somebody might read it without having read the previous two, but it became really gripping. The combination of characters doing magic spells and references to Captain Picard did take some getting used to. I will definitely try to find the others in the library and read them in order.
Somebody donated a copy of Rivers of London to the bookshop where I volunteer... It is excellent, a series to buy rather than borrow.
I've read the whole series. I do like it - in particular the mix of reference and the grounding of magic in our world. However, having read them in fairly quick order the stories do get a bit samey and the overall story arch (which I won't say more about for fear of spoilers) grinds to a halt completely in some books which is frustrating.
BadgerGent is a police officer and some of the stuff about police bureaucracy and procedure is *very* accurate.
![[Devil]](graemlins/devil.gif)
Posts: 340 | From: London | Registered: Feb 2008
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Kitten
Shipmate
# 1179
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Kitten:
The latest Charlie Parker book by John Connolly was released today and pinged onto my Kindle App at midnight. Halfway through already and finding it very hard to put down
Wow, that was one hell of a cliffhanger
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Maius intra qua extra
Never accept a ride from a stranger, unless they are in a big blue box
Posts: 2330 | From: Carmarthenshire | Registered: Aug 2001
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venbede
Shipmate
# 16669
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Penny S:
I did read the Earthsea trilogy way, way back, and had problems with it. The obvious one about no women magicians. And I couldn't quite get the meaning of Ged's shadow and the way it was dealt with.
The later books dealt with the first problem, somewhat.
Ged's shadow in the first book is a painting-by-numbers take on an important Jungian idea. And pretty crude it is too.
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Man was made for joy and woe;
And when this we rightly know,
Thro' the world we safely go.
Posts: 3201 | From: An historic market town nestling in the folds of Surrey's rolling North Downs, | Registered: Sep 2011
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Penny S
Shipmate
# 14768
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Posted
That would explain the problem I had with it. I have since discovered, through my OU studies, that when I have a problem with something, it can very often be the something that has the problem, not me. I got quite encouraged by pointing out oddities in assignment questions and finding that there was actually an oddity in the question, not my mind. In this case, though, I knew someone pretty intelligent who didn't have a problem, so assumed it was my understanding at fault.
Posts: 5833 | Registered: May 2009
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Welease Woderwick
Sister Incubus Nightmare
# 10424
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Posted
Over the weekend I read Tim Federle's sequel to Better Nate than ever called Five, Six, Seven, Nate!.
I like kids books and this is a well written one and the author seems to have the angst of being 13 down pretty well.
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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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moonfruit
Shipmate
# 15818
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Posted
I've just finished (re) reading The Center Cannot Hold: My Journey Through Madness, a memoir by Elyn Saks. She's a law professor in LA, who as well as being a brilliant scholar has also had schizophrenia for most of her adult life. Her descriptions of her psychosis are gripping, and the way that she has built a great career (and indeed overall life) in the face of ongoing mental illness is inspiring. The whole book is brilliantly written - once I started, I genuinely couldn't put it down.
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All I know is that you came and made beauty from my mess.
Posts: 180 | From: Just outside the M25 | Registered: Aug 2010
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Fineline
Shipmate
# 12143
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Posted
I've been planning to read that book, moonfruit, ever since I watched her TED talk, which really impressed me.
Posts: 2375 | From: England | Registered: Dec 2006
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Huia
Shipmate
# 3473
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by JoannaP:
quote:
Originally posted by JoannaP:
I've just finished Whispers Under Ground by Ben Aaronovitch; it took me a while to get into it, mostly because it does not seem to have occurred to the author that somebody might read it without having read the previous two, but it became really gripping. The combination of characters doing magic spells and references to Captain Picard did take some getting used to. I will definitely try to find the others in the library and read them in order.
Somebody donated a copy of Rivers of London to the bookshop where I volunteer... It is excellent, a series to buy rather than borrow.
I have just picked up the latest, Foxglove Summer from the library where
I had it on reserve, It seems so long since I read the others I'm tempted to re-read them as they're already on my kindle, but reading them close together wasn't great the first time round.
Huia
[ 17. April 2015, 04:42: Message edited by: Huia ]
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Charity gives food from the table, Justice gives a place at the table.
Posts: 10382 | From: Te Wai Pounamu | Registered: Oct 2002
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Sipech
Shipmate
# 16870
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Posted
Just finished The Miniaturist which I was reading along for the book group thread, only that one seems to have died. Perhaps I was the only one reading it.
It's good storytelling, but the whole title is a MacGuffin. One could leave out the whole tale of the miniature house and its figurines without abandoning the story. So I was left a bit disappointed that the book was nothing like what I expected, but it was well told and excellently paced.
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I try to be self-deprecating; I'm just not very good at it.
Twitter: http://twitter.com/TheAlethiophile
Posts: 3791 | From: On the corporate ladder | Registered: Jan 2012
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Trudy Scrumptious
BBE Shieldmaiden
# 5647
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Posted
Questions in the book group thread normally get posted around the 20th of the month, so the thread will be quite quiet until then, other than people popping in to say, "I'm reading it!"
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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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Penny S
Shipmate
# 14768
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Posted
I've just picked up a batch of the British Library reprints of classic detective fiction by writers one has never heard of. Among them was "Death on the Cherwell" by Mavis Doriel Gay. Set in a women's college in the 20s, it invites comparison with the almost simultaneous "Gaudy Night" by Dorothy L Sayers, and has, so the preface announces (I haven't got much past the first chapter) similar approached to the education of women, at the time deprived of the possibility of being awarded degrees at the end of their "undergraduette" (I quote the disapproval of the local press by the Warden) careers. What the preface did not mention was the hidden reference to the writer in "A Piece of Justice", one of Jill Paton Walsh's Imogen Quy Cambridge detective stories. I don't think there was any open reference in the book (as a note or appendix) to Gay, who ended up not writing, but running a quilting revival in Wales. And I can't find any reference in online reviews, but, with the theme of women students denied degrees in the recent book as well, I can't believe that Walsh didn't choose her plot detail by accident. (Trying to avoid spoilers here.)
[ 17. April 2015, 10:53: Message edited by: Penny S ]
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Huia
Shipmate
# 3473
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Posted
I managed to drown the library's copy of Foxglove Summer with a chocolate drink so I am now reading it on my kindle and have bought the library another copy ![[Roll Eyes]](rolleyes.gif) So much for my attempt to save money by borrowings from the library.
Huia
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Charity gives food from the table, Justice gives a place at the table.
Posts: 10382 | From: Te Wai Pounamu | Registered: Oct 2002
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Jengie jon
Semper Reformanda
# 273
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Posted
A bit of exploration and I find we are coming up to centenary of first women to get a degree from Oxford which is a bit rich given that St Andrews did it in 1894. Oh Cambridge, do not even mention Cambridge.
Jengie
[ 18. April 2015, 10:31: Message edited by: Jengie jon ]
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"To violate a persons ability to distinguish fact from fantasy is the epistemological equivalent of rape." Noretta Koertge
Back to my blog
Posts: 20894 | From: city of steel, butterflies and rainbows | Registered: May 2001
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Huia
Shipmate
# 3473
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Posted
Penny - Thank-you, I must look out for that. I've read the Jill Paton Walsh book and found it fascinating.
I am beginning to think I will never read Foxglove Summer. I couldn't find my kindle last night and when I finally found it this morning it was sitting on top of the wheelie bin in the front yard. thank goodness it was a dry night. To avoid further adventures my kindle is now sitting on my bedside table.
Huia
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Charity gives food from the table, Justice gives a place at the table.
Posts: 10382 | From: Te Wai Pounamu | Registered: Oct 2002
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JoannaP
Shipmate
# 4493
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Penny S:
I've just picked up a batch of the British Library reprints of classic detective fiction by writers one has never heard of. Among them was "Death on the Cherwell" by Mavis Doriel Gay.
She is actually Mavis Doriel Hay; British Library Crime Classics (BLCC) have republished all 3 of her whodunnits. "Murder Underground" is the first, followed by "Death on the Cherwell". I have enjoyed all the BLCC I have read so far, and would warmly recommend the series to anyone else who likes classic detective fiction.
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"Freedom for the pike is death for the minnow." R. H. Tawney (quoted by Isaiah Berlin)
"Those who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety." Benjamin Franklin
Posts: 1877 | From: England | Registered: May 2003
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Penny S
Shipmate
# 14768
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Posted
Thanks for correcting that. I was checking the spelling of Doriel, but I think I may have missed the key on Hay. I think I was on the netbook, which has a teeny keyboard. I keep missing things, and G and H are neighbours.
I'm currently on "The Cornish Coast Murder" by John Bude, nom-de-plume of Ernest Elmore, also writer of early SF. There's a sort of easter egg in the first chapter, in which he references other authors of the time, also avsilable now as BLCCs - Farjeon, and Freeman Wills-Croft. Also Edgar Wallace, Sayers and Christie. And, curiously, a J.S. Fletcher. Presumably somebody knew about this writer when writing "Murder, She Wrote." I would expect a name check before inventing a character. I haven't come across any of his books yet.
The books are very attractively produced, as well as being good reads. Good cover design in both layout and choice of images (often from railway poster art in the ones I've read so far). Good feel in the hand.
Someone round here is also keen on them, and passes them on to Oxfam when read, so I'm using the shop as something like a subscription library, renewing the Gift Aid on them when returned, as well. But they are also useful for the extra book when something I want as a keeper is in a BOGOF type offer, as well.
[ 19. April 2015, 15:00: Message edited by: Penny S ]
Posts: 5833 | Registered: May 2009
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North East Quine
Curious beastie
# 13049
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Posted
I've just finished Elizabeth is Missing , winner of the 2014 Costa Book Awards. Beautifully written, it's a book that will linger in my mind.
Before that I read Craig Robertson's Random, a new crime fiction writer to me. It's set in the familiar crime thriller territory of hard-man Glasgow (yawn), but the plot was original. It was sufficiently gripping to be un-put-downable on a noisy train journey.
Posts: 6414 | From: North East Scotland | Registered: Oct 2007
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Hedgehog
Ship's Shortstop
# 14125
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Posted
Over the weekend I finished Baroness Orczy's Eldorado, which (if memory serves) was the fourth novel featuring the Scarlet Pimpernel. As usual, there is a strong romance plot...although this time, instead of love conquering all, the love interest is the major obstruction in the plot. Out of love, one of Sir Percy's band of adventurers betrays him, resulting in Sir Percy being captured by the French and thrown into prison, where he is deliberately starved and kept sleep-deprived in order to keep him from hatching a plan to escape. Oh, and there is a sub-plot involving the Dauphin.
While I find Orczy to be overly wordy (especially her tendency, about two-thirds of the way through a book, to recap all that has gone before), there is something enjoyable about her faux-historicals.
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"We must regain the conviction that we need one another, that we have a shared responsibility for others and the world, and that being good and decent are worth it."--Pope Francis, Laudato Si'
Posts: 2740 | From: Delaware, USA | Registered: Sep 2008
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Brenda Clough
Shipmate
# 18061
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Posted
That may be an artifact of how they were originally published. If the work was originally serialized in a periodical, or published over several volumes over a period of time, then a recap would help readers remember. In an ideal universe the author rewrites slightly for the completed book edition (Dickens and Collins did this) but Orczy may not have.
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Science fiction and fantasy writer with a Patreon page
Posts: 6378 | From: Washington DC | Registered: Mar 2014
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Huia
Shipmate
# 3473
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Posted
I finished Foxglove Summer the latest in Ben Aaronovich's "Rivers of London" series with PC Peter Grant. I really liked it. Maybe it was because I had had a gap after reading the last one.
Now of course the wait for the next one. I hate that. I am purposefully leaving CJ Sansom's last book
Lammentation unread so I can look forward to it. I plan to start on my birthday as a present to myself - not long to go now.
Huia
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Charity gives food from the table, Justice gives a place at the table.
Posts: 10382 | From: Te Wai Pounamu | Registered: Oct 2002
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Sipech
Shipmate
# 16870
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Posted
Am falling slightly behind my 'one book per week' average. Just finished Aristotle's Nicomachean Ethics which was my 16th title finished this year. Am just starting up on the first 5 books of Livy's History of Rome. That'll take a while so am still charging on with Tom Wright's Simply Good News - that is an excellent book. It's sort of a summary of Paul and the Faithfulness of God, only 1/10th of the length and a bit more forthright.
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I try to be self-deprecating; I'm just not very good at it.
Twitter: http://twitter.com/TheAlethiophile
Posts: 3791 | From: On the corporate ladder | Registered: Jan 2012
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Welease Woderwick
Sister Incubus Nightmare
# 10424
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Posted
Today I finished Nevil Shute's The Pied Piper, I remember my brother having it as a set book for his "O" Level in the late 1950s - I haven't read it for probably 40 years. An excellent read and a wonderfully crafted low key ending. Something lighter next, I think.
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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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Twilight
Puddleglum's sister
# 2832
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Posted
My book club, largely consisting of opinionated old biddies like myself, gave an unprecedented, unanimous five star rating to this book:
Big, Little Lies by Liane Moriarty. Not that it was a, Great, capital G, book but just such a rollicking good read.
It's a contemporary mystery about a group of mothers whose children all go to the same kindergarten class.
We all loved that it was set in Australia. From a literary standpoint many of us hadn't been there since "The Thorn Birds." It's changed a lot. ![[Biased]](wink.gif)
Posts: 6817 | Registered: May 2002
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JoannaP
Shipmate
# 4493
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by JoannaP:
I have enjoyed all the BLCC I have read so far, and would warmly recommend the series to anyone else who likes classic detective fiction.
Alas, this is no longer true ![[Frown]](frown.gif) Murder in Piccadilly is not up to the standard of the others; I don't like whodunnits where the reader knows who did it. Also, the young man who is the main character makes Bertie Wooster look bright!
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"Freedom for the pike is death for the minnow." R. H. Tawney (quoted by Isaiah Berlin)
"Those who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety." Benjamin Franklin
Posts: 1877 | From: England | Registered: May 2003
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Penny S
Shipmate
# 14768
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Posted
I think I would agree with you on that. The characters which reappear on the Cherwell seem to have improved in Oxford.
I am now part way through "The Female Detective" by Andrew Forrester, which is interesting in that it was written in 18something or other, and what it says about its time, but is not gripping. The first story shows the woman just being nosy.
Also "The Antidote to Venom" by Freeman Wills Croft, which is an early version of the Columbo principal of letting us know who the criminal is early on and then showing how they are discovered. I don't like stories about people I don't like doing stuff I don't approve of. There is possibly one reasonable character, apart from the policemen. Apparently FWC's religion influences the end, with repentance being involved.
My reading rate has dropped badly with the two of them.
Posts: 5833 | Registered: May 2009
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Pine Marten
Shipmate
# 11068
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Posted
I'm reading and enjoying CS Lewis' 'Till We Have Faces', a retelling of the Cupid & Psyche myth - it's quite a page turner and it's quite unlike anything Narnian ![[Eek!]](eek.gif) !
[slight tangent]
The Beeb have been trailering their new series 'Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell', a book I have sometimes seen in charity shops but never bought because it was so fat! Has anyone read it? is it worth getting?
[/slight tangent]
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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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Brenda Clough
Shipmate
# 18061
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Posted
Lewis was justifiably proud of Till We Have Faces. To write from the viewpoint of an ugly woman was a leap, he said, for a male writer. I am more impressed with how he orchestrated the protagonist's change of heart -- not easy to do from a first-person viewpoint.
Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell won the World Fantasy Award. It is the most Dickensian fantasy novel going, and the most common complaint is of its length and slow start. I am certain that the TV dramatization will vastly prune and condense. You might consider watching the show and only moving on to the book if you like what you see.
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Science fiction and fantasy writer with a Patreon page
Posts: 6378 | From: Washington DC | Registered: Mar 2014
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Penny S
Shipmate
# 14768
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Posted
As the oldest of three sisters (see Sophie in "Howl's Moving Castle"), as the one who did not get asked to dance at church socials and so on when middle sister was the belle of the ball and came back glowing to share the bedroom in which I was silently crying into my pillow, I absolutely hated "Till We Have Faces". It made me feel I was being got at, and told I must accept my place as the failure.
I shouldn't have read it as a teenager.
It may have had many good points. I couldn't see them. I can't bring myself to reread it, though I have occasionally thought I should.
And I think the original is at least as much about Cupid becoming independent of his malicious mother as it is about the apotheosis (?) of Psyche.
[ 30. April 2015, 17:08: Message edited by: Penny S ]
Posts: 5833 | Registered: May 2009
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Twilight
Puddleglum's sister
# 2832
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Penny S:
As the oldest of three sisters (see Sophie in "Howl's Moving Castle"), as the one who did not get asked to dance at church socials and so on when middle sister was the belle of the ball and came back glowing to share the bedroom in which I was silently crying into my pillow,* I absolutely hated "Till We Have Faces". It made me feel I was being got at, and told I must accept my place as the failure.
I shouldn't have read it as a teenager.
It may have had many good points. I couldn't see them. I can't bring myself to reread it, though I have occasionally thought I should.
And I think the original is at least as much about Cupid becoming independent of his malicious mother as it is about the apotheosis (?) of Psyche.
I don't have any sisters and I read it for the first time a few years ago and I also hated it.
I'm sure I must have missed something and right now I don't remember it very well, but at the time, I remember I saw it as the story of an unfortunately plain, young girl who grew up watching her beautiful sister be blatantly favored by their father, became, quite naturally, jealous and was punished for it while the favored one floats serenely off to dwell in marble halls.
I shut the book thinking, thanks a lot Mr. Lewis! Not since Susan burnt in Hell for liking lipstick had I been so convinced he didn't like women.
* This reminds me of the scene in Pride and Prejudice," when the girls come home from the dance and Lydia and Kitty tease Mary about not being asked to dance and no one corrects them for it. I never liked Elizabeth nor Jane as much as I was supposed to because of their failure to try and defend or help Mary.
Posts: 6817 | Registered: May 2002
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Penny S
Shipmate
# 14768
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Posted
Given that the book is supposed to have something to do with the way people come to God, I wasn't happy with the hypothesis that God arranges for some people to come to Him easily through the hard work which is done by others who have to struggle to reach Him. I suppose there is a trace of election lurking in there, which is not a doctrine I have ever found comforting.
Thinking about it, I still carry the effect of that book, having seen some people apparently looked after, and having their lives arranged favourably, while others suffer. I don't like that deity.
And I think it is the beginning of my not liking Lewis as much as I did as a child, as well.
[ 01. May 2015, 06:33: Message edited by: Penny S ]
Posts: 5833 | Registered: May 2009
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Alyosha
Shipmate
# 18395
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Posted
As a kind of evidence to the whole confusion of the election rituals I realise I have somehow posted on the wrong thread and don't know how to change it. Joy.
Anyway, hello everyone. Blessings to you all.
Posts: 162 | From: UK | Registered: Apr 2015
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Alyosha
Shipmate
# 18395
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Posted
Er... I am reading the fairy tales of Hermann Hesse. They are very atmospheric.
Posts: 162 | From: UK | Registered: Apr 2015
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Firenze
Ordinary decent pagan
# 619
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Alyosha:
As a kind of evidence to the whole confusion of the election rituals I realise I have somehow posted on the wrong thread and don't know how to change it. Joy.
Anyway, hello everyone. Blessings to you all.
Outwith the couple of minutes post-Post edit time - accessible via the little pencil and paper icon - you can't. But a Host can come along and delete it for you. (The power! Bwahahahaha!)
Firenze
Heaven Host
Posts: 17302 | From: Edinburgh | Registered: Jun 2001
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Hedgehog
Ship's Shortstop
# 14125
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Alyosha:
As a kind of evidence to the whole confusion of the election rituals I realise I have somehow posted on the wrong thread and don't know how to change it. Joy.
Anyway, hello everyone. Blessings to you all.
![[Smile]](smile.gif) It takes a bit to get your sea legs on the Ship, Alyosha! One of my early blunders was somehow posting the same post THREE times. Give it time and you will settle in. Welcome aboard!
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"We must regain the conviction that we need one another, that we have a shared responsibility for others and the world, and that being good and decent are worth it."--Pope Francis, Laudato Si'
Posts: 2740 | From: Delaware, USA | Registered: Sep 2008
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Twilight
Puddleglum's sister
# 2832
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Posted
Election doctrine followed by election rituals made a strange sort of sense anyway.
Posts: 6817 | Registered: May 2002
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Pine Marten
Shipmate
# 11068
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Posted
Gosh, such feelings towards Lewis! I haven't got that far into Till We Have Faces yet, Orual has only just found out Psyche is still alive, so I haven't met Cupid.
I haven't got sisters either, and I'm enjoying the story so far. I'll reserve final judgement until I've finished it.
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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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georgiaboy
Shipmate
# 11294
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Posted
Stumbled across a book I'd been hunting for ages. It is a novella written in German, titled in translation (I thought) The Last at the Scaffold. Turns out the English title is 'The Song at the Scaffold.'
Author is Gertrud von le Fort (I think I've spelled it right; left the book on my desk.)
Anyway it was made into a play and thence into an opera libretto used by Francis Poulenc for 'Dialogues of the Carmelites,' which opera I love.
I'm glad to have the book as a reference, but I don't care much for the writing (or maybe the translation). Perhaps I'll try to find the German original -- should be good for my grammar and vocab.
The story, which is short, tells of a convent of French Carmelite nuns arrested and condemned to death in the last 10 days of the Reign of Terror. The opera ends with the 16 sisters singing the Salve Regina and going to the guillotine one by one. (The sound of the guillotine is written into the orchestra.) A chilling finale, as you might imagine.
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You can't retire from a calling.
Posts: 1675 | From: saint meinrad, IN | Registered: Apr 2006
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georgiaboy
Shipmate
# 11294
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Posted
Stumbled across a book I'd been hunting for ages. It is a novella written in German, titled in translation (I thought) The Last at the Scaffold. Turns out the English title is 'The Song at the Scaffold.'
Author is Gertrud von le Fort (I think I've spelled it right; left the book on my desk.)
Anyway it was made into a play and thence into an opera libretto used by Francis Poulenc for 'Dialogues of the Carmelites,' which opera I love.
I'm glad to have the book as a reference, but I don't care much for the writing (or maybe the translation). Perhaps I'll try to find the German original -- should be good for my grammar and vocab.
The story, which is short, tells of a convent of French Carmelite nuns arrested and condemned to death in the last 10 days of the Reign of Terror. The opera ends with the 16 sisters singing the Salve Regina and going to the guillotine one by one. (The sound of the guillotine is written into the orchestra.) A chilling finale, as you might imagine.
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You can't retire from a calling.
Posts: 1675 | From: saint meinrad, IN | Registered: Apr 2006
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Brenda Clough
Shipmate
# 18061
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Posted
I just read The Dark Clue, by James Wilson. Terrible.
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Science fiction and fantasy writer with a Patreon page
Posts: 6378 | From: Washington DC | Registered: Mar 2014
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ArachnidinElmet
Shipmate
# 17346
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Posted
After quite a lot of time without, I've finally renewed my library card and have been trawling through the library graphic novel section. Libraries are particularly useful for comic books which are often twice the price of prose books and so too expensive to buy on the off-chance they might be good.
Particular stand-outs have been the Locke and Key series: gothic weirdness, imperfect but heroic characters and genuinely creepy evil. Good for fans of Neil Gaiman.
Also The Pride of Baghdad, about the lions which escaped from Baghdad Zoo after it was bombed. Surprisingly moving and complex for such a short book. This would be perfect as a first graphic novel for an adult; don't be fooled by the cartoon lions into thinking it's YA fiction.
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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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