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Source: (consider it) Thread: Readme: the book thread.
Trudy Scrumptious

BBE Shieldmaiden
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For a break after the seriousness and intense discussion around Go Set a Watchman I read Nick Hornby's Funny Girl. I always love a good Nick Hornby and thoroughly enjoyed this one; I imagine it might be even more enjoyable to British readers who could recognize more of what he's writing about and satirizing in BBC history (but a lot of it is universal).

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Books and things.

I lied. There are no things. Just books.

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ArachnidinElmet
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I’m having a run of excellent books at the moment. Star of the show is Scientific Lives by John Aubrey(1626-1697), a collection of scraps of biography of prominent 17th Century scientists, intended for publication but never completed. It sound very dry but is actually hilarious.

Aubrey liked documenting odd details about his subjects that no one else would have thought to mention and has a lovely turn of phrase. Isaac Barrow was “a strong man, but pale as the candle he studied by”. James Bovey was never shown any kindness by red-haired people. William Harvey encouraged marriage for love, as marriage for wealth resulted in “weak, fools and rickety children”.

Most appropriate for comment on the Ship is mathematical instrument maker Edmund Gunter who, on preaching at Christ Church, some were heard to say ”our Saviour never suffered so much since his passion as in that Sermon”. Aubrey’s only comment is Non omnia possumus omnes (We cannot all do everything).

It’s illuminating to read someone to whom the Civil War, Restoration and Great Fire of London were recent history. He doesn’t make judgements on protestant vs catholic or royalist vs roundhead, he just reports what is said about the individual.

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'If a pleasant, straight-forward life is not possible then one must try to wriggle through by subtle manoeuvres' - Kafka

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Sipech
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I've finished Go Set A Watchman now. Well, I've finished what was printed. The version I had, and some others have mentioned, had the bottom quarter of some pages missing, most notably towards the end, including the penultimate page. [Mad]

It is a great book, but it leaves you thinking some rather unpleasant thoughts. In an effort to be balanced, Harper Lee tries to get the reader to see things through the eyes of pro-segregationists.

I'm moving onto Moltmann's Theology of Hope next.

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I try to be self-deprecating; I'm just not very good at it.
Twitter: http://twitter.com/TheAlethiophile

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Brenda Clough
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I am reading THE BRONTES by Juliet Barker. An enormous fat tome (an e-version will save your wrists) but every page is luscious.

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Science fiction and fantasy writer with a Patreon page

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Piglet
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Because it happened to be lying about (in the bathroom IIRC), I've just finished re-reading (again!) Do Not Pass Go: From the Old Kent Road to Mayfair by Tim Moore.

It's a hugely enjoyable, in places laugh-out-loud funny travelogue of the streets, stations and utilities on the British Monopoly board with a bit of history of the game (and of London) thrown in, which I would thoroughly recommend to anyone who's ever picked the "Advance to Mayfair" Chance card just after their next-door neighbour's put a hotel on it.

[Big Grin]

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I may not be on an island any more, but I'm still an islander.
alto n a soprano who can read music

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Smudgie

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Although I would never vote technology in preference to paper and ink, I have got to say that the big bonus to having a Kindle is that I can alternate easily between light reading and snobby reading - sometimes in the fraction of a second when I realise someone's going to ask what I'm reading? [Biased]

But to be honest, I am totally loving reading Les Miserables. I'm making slow progress (mainly because I forget to carry my Kindle with me) but once I start reading I cannot put it down. For my "real" book, I'm re-reading The Eyre Affair and trying to resist the temptation to read bits aloud to the Smudgelet.

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Miss you, Erin.

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Lamb Chopped
Ship's kebab
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I like it because nobody can see the trashy covers. [Two face]

And if someone really annoying starts bugging me about what I'm reading, I can flip it to something in Greek. Because I'm evil that way. [Razz]

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Er, this is what I've been up to (book).
Oh, that you would rend the heavens and come down!

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Sipech
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quote:
Originally posted by Smudgie:
Although I would never vote technology in preference to paper and ink, I have got to say that the big bonus to having a Kindle is that I can alternate easily between light reading and snobby reading - sometimes in the fraction of a second when I realise someone's going to ask what I'm reading? [Biased]

But to be honest, I am totally loving reading Les Miserables. I'm making slow progress (mainly because I forget to carry my Kindle with me) but once I start reading I cannot put it down. For my "real" book, I'm re-reading The Eyre Affair and trying to resist the temptation to read bits aloud to the Smudgelet.

Tee hee hee. It reminds me of when I had a silent "out-snobbing" contest on a train with a fellow reader. The chap opposite me was looking quite smug reading his copy of Anna Karenina. Then I pulled out my copy of Herodotus' Histories. It may be slightly shorter but I figured it had a bigger geek value.

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I try to be self-deprecating; I'm just not very good at it.
Twitter: http://twitter.com/TheAlethiophile

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Fineline
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I tend to be the opposite - happy that my ereader hides the fact that I'm reading classics, because I don't want people to think I'm being pretentious or overly-intellectual, or to feel alienated from me! Plus, an actual paper book of Tolstoy is very heavy to carry around in one's bag!
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Smudgie

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Fineline, at the moment I'm doing the same seeing as I would get some funny looks from some of my acquaintances if they realised I was reading Les Miserables.

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Miss you, Erin.

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North East Quine

Curious beastie
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A Song for Issy Bradley by Carys Bray. This is the best book I have read this year. I heard it serialised on Radio 4, and loved it, but hesitated before reading the book because I enjoyed The Miniaturist on Radio 4 but then disliked the book.

This book manages to explore big issues of faith and life. The characters are Mormons. I found the details about Mormon life an interesting bonus, but many of the issues they face are applicable to any faith. At the same time there are some very funny bits. Has anyone else read it?

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ArachnidinElmet
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quote:
Originally posted by Sipech:
quote:
Originally posted by Smudgie:
Although I would never vote technology in preference to paper and ink, I have got to say that the big bonus to having a Kindle is that I can alternate easily between light reading and snobby reading - sometimes in the fraction of a second when I realise someone's going to ask what I'm reading? [Biased]

But to be honest, I am totally loving reading Les Miserables. I'm making slow progress (mainly because I forget to carry my Kindle with me) but once I start reading I cannot put it down. For my "real" book, I'm re-reading The Eyre Affair and trying to resist the temptation to read bits aloud to the Smudgelet.

Tee hee hee. It reminds me of when I had a silent "out-snobbing" contest on a train with a fellow reader. The chap opposite me was looking quite smug reading his copy of Anna Karenina. Then I pulled out my copy of Herodotus' Histories. It may be slightly shorter but I figured it had a bigger geek value.
Sipech, I just read that as Horrible Histories. That probably would not have had the same effect.

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'If a pleasant, straight-forward life is not possible then one must try to wriggle through by subtle manoeuvres' - Kafka

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Pomona
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Currently reading The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula LeGuin.

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Consider the work of God: Who is able to straighten what he has bent? [Ecclesiastes 7:13]

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Huia
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quote:
Originally posted by ArachnidinElmet:
Sipech, I just read that as Horrible Histories. That probably would not have had the same effect.

No, probably not [Big Grin]

Pomona, I hope you enjoy it. It's so long since I read it I would probably enjoy re-reading it. I remember really enjoying her
Lathe of Heaven as well as the Wizard of Earthsea books.

Huia

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Charity gives food from the table, Justice gives a place at the table.

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Eigon
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The Left Hand of Darkness and Wizard of Earthsea were serialised on BBC Radio 4 recently, and very well done, too.

I'm in the middle of The Lifer's Club, by Francis Pryor, who is rather better known as an archaeologist. He's written quite a bit of non-fiction about archaeology, and this is his first novel. His hero, Alan Cadbury is, of course, an archaeologist - a circuit dig director based in the Fens, who gets involved in a mystery surrounding an "honour killing" in a Turkish family in Leicester.
I used to be a circuit digger myself, for a couple of years, and the descriptions of the dig took me right back to the trowelling line! He even mentions, in flashback, a digger called "Wraith" - who I strongly suspect is a nod towards a real digger called Ghost, who I met back in the 1980s.
The plot is thickening in a very interesting way, and I will probably be looking for the sequel.

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Laugh hard. Run fast. Be kind.

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Welease Woderwick

Sister Incubus Nightmare
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What is it with The Catcher in the Rye?

I know we've discussed this before at some length but now it appears to be a set book over here in the second year of a Commerce degree - [?] - the protagonist is an unbearable, self-obsessed, arsehole of a character from a culture that the kids here can't possibly understand and that disappeared long ago. I read it way back when because it was sort of expected that one would but surely there are better books 64 years on that are more relevant? - Jayabrato Chatterjee's Last Train to Innocence, for instance.

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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?

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Eigon
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I finished The Lifers' Club - and it was a very satisfying climax. The ends weren't tied up too neatly.
I'll be looking for the sequel to that.

And I may go looking for his non-fiction Seahenge, which is mentioned in the acknowledgements of another archaeological mystery I've just read. This one was by Elly Griffiths, the first in her series about archaeologist Ruth Galloway, The Crossing Places. It involves a sea henge, Iron Age bodies, and the landscape of North Norfolk. And the policeman she works with on the modern murder comes from Blackpool, where I spent a lot of time as a child.
I enjoyed it (though the ending here was maybe a bit too neat) and I'll be looking for her sequels.
It's nice to see a heroine who is middle aged and overweight for a change!

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Laugh hard. Run fast. Be kind.

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Ariel
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quote:
Originally posted by Welease Woderwick:
What is it with The Catcher in the Rye?

I agree - it's horrible. Another one that often seems to come up on book lists and is rated as one of the greats is "Lord of the Flies", which has to be one of the most repulsive and depressing reads inflicted on anyone at school.
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venbede
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I didn't read "Lord of the Flies" at school but there were copies around. I was aware that it was thought shocking that school boys without adult supervision would begin humiliating and murdering each other.

I can remember wondering what was shocking about that. It only reflected my experience of the school playground.

I found the book a bit overwritten.

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Man was made for joy and woe;
And when this we rightly know,
Thro' the world we safely go.

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Fineline
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I liked Lord of the Flies as a kid - the idea of kids being stuck on an island with no adult supervision was quite fascinating to me, and, like venbede, I figured it was probably realistic of what kids would do, if the playground was anything to go by.

I didn't read Catcher in the Rye till adulthood, and I was aware that lots of people hated it, but I actually found it incredibly amusing. He seemed very believable as an immature, sheltered teenager at a private school, trying to prove how tough/clever/superior he is, while really proving himself to be very naive and foolish. Trying to do 'grown up' things and finding himself completely out of his depth - the prostitute scene was great! I read it as sheer comedy. [Big Grin]

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venbede
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I've just finished The Broken Road the third and final volume of Patrick Leigh Fermor's account of his teenage trek across Europe. It was unfinished at his death and ends in mid sentence but has been polished up for publication by his editors. I find Fermor endlessly re-readable.

Encouraged in the genre of English-public-school-boys-wandering-round-the-Levant, I went on to read Alexander Kinglake's Eothen (which has a nice line in detached irony) and Robert Curzon's Visits to Monasteries in the Levant (which I really enjoyed).

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Man was made for joy and woe;
And when this we rightly know,
Thro' the world we safely go.

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ArachnidinElmet
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quote:
Originally posted by Eigon:
I finished The Lifers' Club - and it was a very satisfying climax. The ends weren't tied up too neatly.
I'll be looking for the sequel to that.

Hmm, interesting. The birthday of a friend who spent a little time as a field archaeologist is coming up soon. This sounds perfect.

I've not read any of Pryor's non-fiction but have seen his stuff on tv. It's been on my reading list for a while.

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'If a pleasant, straight-forward life is not possible then one must try to wriggle through by subtle manoeuvres' - Kafka

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Hilda of Whitby
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As I mentioned on the Anthony Trollope thread, I am in the midst of a terrific bio of him by Victoria Glendinning. I just finished her bio of Leonard Woolf and liked it so much I wanted to read more by her. I also checked out two volumes of Leonard Woolf's autobiography.

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"Born with the gift of laughter and a sense that the world is mad."

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Albertus
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quote:
Originally posted by Fineline:
I tend to be the opposite - happy that my ereader hides the fact that I'm reading classics, because I don't want people to think I'm being pretentious or overly-intellectual, or to feel alienated from me! Plus, an actual paper book of Tolstoy is very heavy to carry around in one's bag!

Find a nice old World's Classics hardback- very compact!

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My beard is a testament to my masculinity and virility, and demonstrates that I am a real man. Trouble is, bits of quiche sometimes get caught in it.

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Sipech
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quote:
Originally posted by Ariel:
quote:
Originally posted by Welease Woderwick:
What is it with The Catcher in the Rye?

I agree - it's horrible. Another one that often seems to come up on book lists and is rated as one of the greats is "Lord of the Flies", which has to be one of the most repulsive and depressing reads inflicted on anyone at school.
I rather liked both of them. They're not as good as they're cracked up to be, and Catcher stretches credulity a bit far at times.

When it comes to over-rated books, my ire is aimed to three in particular: The Life of Pi, Midnight's Children and Catch 22.

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I try to be self-deprecating; I'm just not very good at it.
Twitter: http://twitter.com/TheAlethiophile

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Ariel
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"Catch-22" is one of those books that polarizes people. I loved it, but I've never met anyone else who did.

Currently reading Bill Bryson's "Shakespeare" which I found on a book exchange shelf at a railway station. I haven't read any of his other books, but am enjoying this one sufficiently to think about exploring his other works.

(I do wish people wouldn't underline bits in wobbly pencil, though; it's very distracting.)

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Adeodatus
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quote:
Originally posted by Welease Woderwick:
Last night I finished my umpteenth reread of The Lord of the Rings ...

So about six weeks ago I saw this and thought, "Hm." I hadn't read LOTR for many, many years, so I started ...

... And this morning I got as far as the crowning of King Elessar.

What an experience! Better than I remember it by far. What really impressed me this time round was the way Tolkien revels in landscapes. The language he uses to describe woodland, in particular, is luminous. So, just a couple of chapters to go. I'm thinking of re-reading The Once and Future King next, or if not next, then soon.

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"What is broken, repair with gold."

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Welease Woderwick

Sister Incubus Nightmare
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I'm another one who enjoyed Catch-22 but that was over 40 years ago. I thought it was great BUT I have never wanted to reread it.

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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?

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Adeodatus
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I just saw an online definition that applies to me this evening - Book Hangover: when you can't start a new book because you're still living in the world of the last one.

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"What is broken, repair with gold."

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Huia
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I know that condition well. For me it only happens with books I really enjoyed. I think there's even an element of grief about it.

I have been known to start re-reading the book I just finished.

Huia

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Charity gives food from the table, Justice gives a place at the table.

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Welease Woderwick

Sister Incubus Nightmare
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ditto. to all that Huia said.

I often follow fiction with a good solid dose of History or Travel or something to avoid that issue - which is why I am currently rereading Ramachandra Guha's excellent A Corner of a Foreign Field - an Indian History of a British Sport - a sort of political history of cricket in India.

Fascinating stuff.

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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?

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Huia
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I went into one of the bigger branches of the library last week and was asked if I wanted to join their book discussion group which starts tomorrow. I am really looking forward to this as our smaller branch only has a less formal "discuss what books you've read" group meeting once a month. I really enjoy it, but it doesn't feed my passion for books.

Also it takes place just after the very useful "help technopeasants join the 21st century*" group so I can go from one to the other.

I love libraries [Yipee]

*OK, so the Library call this something else, but I think my name for it is more accurate.

Huia

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Charity gives food from the table, Justice gives a place at the table.

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Jane R
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Just popping in to thank Eigon for recommending Elly Griffiths - I found a couple of her books in the library and enjoyed them in spite of the slightly annoying writing style (I am not a fan of historic/narrative present).

Something else I read and enjoyed recently was Marie Brennan's two-part series 'Warrior' and 'Witch' - it's a fantasy set in a world where women can become witches if their mothers perform a magical ritual after they are born, but before they get their souls. The unfortunate side-effect is that the ritual turns the baby into twins, one with the ability to work magic, one without... and the one without magical ability must be killed or neither will survive.

The heroine is a witch who has just completed her training and learned that her doppelganger survived; if she wants to go on living herself, she has to kill it. It could easily have developed into a Good Twin/Evil Twin conflict, but it doesn't. Along the way there are some interesting moral dilemmas and various Dead Horse issues are explored.

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Ariel
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quote:
Originally posted by Welease Woderwick:
I'm another one who enjoyed Catch-22 but that was over 40 years ago. I thought it was great BUT I have never wanted to reread it.

Actually yes, now that you mention it, neither have I.
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Trudy Scrumptious

BBE Shieldmaiden
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This is a long-awaited day for me as a reader ... one of my favourite fantasy authors (possibly my very favourite), Robin Hobb, has just released her new book, Fool's Quest, the second volume in her latest trilogy. I read the first when it came out last year and then re-read it over the weekend to refresh my memory before reading the new book. And there's the new book, safely delivered to my e-reader while I slept. Already devoured four chapters before convincing myself to get up and shower this morning.

Is anything better than a long-awaited new book from an author you know you can trust to deliver a good story?

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Books and things.

I lied. There are no things. Just books.

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Brenda Clough
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# 18061

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There is no joy like it. (And Lois McMaster Bujold has a new Vorkosigan novel coming out!!)

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Science fiction and fantasy writer with a Patreon page

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Sipech
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# 16870

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I can't help but note that a lot of my recent reading has contained some rather unsavoury language with regards to race.

I had expected it with Go Set A Watchman, but later on I have, after years of encouragement from others, begun reading P.G. Wodehouse with Thank You, Jeeves which includes a scene where Bertie Wooster escapes a sticky situation by blacking-up and pretending to be part of a minstrel show! [Frown]

Then this morning, as I was progressing through Darwin's The Descent of Man again cropped one of n-words.

It's maddening and not a little embarrassing when someone on the bus is reading over my shoulder.

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I try to be self-deprecating; I'm just not very good at it.
Twitter: http://twitter.com/TheAlethiophile

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Eigon
Shipmate
# 4917

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I've been meaning to get round to reading something by Octavia Butler for ages - I keep reading about how good she is, and her books almost never come up second hand (which is a good indication that people who buy her books hang on to them). I finally found a copy of Kindred at Forbidden Planet, and I started reading it last night in bed.
I had to force myself to put it down at about 1am! What a good writer! What a compelling story (time travel to the ante bellum South involving a black woman from 1976 and her husband).
I'll be looking out for whatever else of hers I can find.

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Laugh hard. Run fast. Be kind.

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Ariel
Shipmate
# 58

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quote:
Originally posted by Trudy Scrumptious:
Is anything better than a long-awaited new book from an author you know you can trust to deliver a good story?

True. Come on Dickens, get with it and finish Edwin Drood.
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Garasu
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# 17152

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Robin Hobb I've always found a real effort to read (and have just given up).

Strangely, Megan Lindholm's books I find quote compelling!

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"Could I believe in the doctrine without believing in the deity?". - Modesitt, L. E., Jr., 1943- Imager.

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Brenda Clough
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# 18061

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Dan Simmons wrote a novel Drood which is the story of Dickens writing Edwin Drood. Kind of tough sledding unless you are deeply familiar with Victoriana and the Dickens oeuvre. His The Terror is actually a better book.

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Trudy Scrumptious

BBE Shieldmaiden
# 5647

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quote:
Originally posted by Garasu:
Robin Hobb I've always found a real effort to read (and have just given up).

Strangely, Megan Lindholm's books I find quote compelling!

We're all so different when it comes to books. I haven't tried any of her Megan Lindholm books yet (but probably will now that I've read everything she's written as Robin Hobb).

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Books and things.

I lied. There are no things. Just books.

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Firenze

Ordinary decent pagan
# 619

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I've been re-reading a lot of John Dickson Carr recently (great thing about age - you totally forget stuff you read 20 years ago). But the thing he has - besides the ingenuity of the mystery - is the evocation of times and places: a New England mansion in the 1920s, London in the early months of the 2nd World War.
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Huia
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# 3473

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I've just finished Me Before You, by JoJo Moyes which was sent to our book discussion group as a starter by the organisation that we are signed up with.

Will, formerly a highflying businessman, is a quadriplegic following an accident where he was run down by a motorcyclist. Lou, an out of work waitress becomes his carer, unaware that he has agreed with his parents he will be taken to Dignatus to commit suicide in 6 months unless he changes his mind.

It's the story of their relationship and how Lou tries to prove to Will that life is worth living despite his disability.

In the notes that were in the book the author stated that if she was writing a moving scene she didn't incorporate it into a book unless it left her with tears streaming down her face. None of the book left me crying (and I am someone who cries very easily). I felt that my emotions were being manipulated, so that probably affected my reaction.

It will be interesting to hear what the other people in the book group think.

Huia

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Charity gives food from the table, Justice gives a place at the table.

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Palimpsest
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# 16772

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I'm not fond of most of John Dickson Carr's mysteries. The locked rooms often seem silly. However I have a special fondness for "Fire Burn" about a policeman who solves a murder when he's transported back in time to the beginning of Scotland Yard.
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Firenze

Ordinary decent pagan
# 619

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The Historicals - of which he wrote quite a few - were the first of his I read (waaay back in the late 60s). But I've come to prefer the early ones set in what were, to him, contemporary times, but which now have a quality of first hand reportage which the reconstructions don't, if you see what I mean.

I like locked room mysteries.

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Adeodatus
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# 4992

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I've just started re-reading Christopher Isherwood's Mr Norris Changes Trains. I seem to be doing a lot of re-reading at the moment, but it must be thirty years since I read Isherwood's Berlin books.

I'd quite forgotten (assuming I ever knew, the first time I read it) how outrageously funny Mr Norris is. Last night about 1a.m. I was breathless with laughter at a scene involving the awful Mr N. and a Berlin dominatrix. And yet - presumably because it was written in the 30s - so much of the depravity is merely hinted at, which somehow makes it even funnier.

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"What is broken, repair with gold."

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Penny S
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# 14768

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I have now, just now, a few minutes ago, received delivery of my pre-ordered copy of "The Shepherd's Crown" by Terry Pratchett. Purdah ensues.

[ 27. August 2015, 19:02: Message edited by: Penny S ]

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Eigon
Shipmate
# 4917

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I'm looking forward to The Shepherd's Crown, too.
At the moment, though, I'm reading a couple of SF stand alone novels by Paul Cornell, which are interesting to compare with his Doctor Who work and his more recent London supernatural police series.
The first was British Summertime, set in Bath, which makes a nice change (other cities than London are available to writers!).
It's a time travel story, in which the future is basically that of Dan Dare - one of the characters is even called "the pilot of the future" several times. The plot involves the evils of the economic system (which seems to have been personified into a group of Golden Men) and climate change (in one possible future Bath is underwater), and has a realistic vicar (not surprising since Paul Cornell is married to one). He also writes good female characters - but how he makes them suffer! Especially poor not-Dan Dare.
So that was good, and now I'm getting into Something More, set in a future after a Great Economic Collapse, in which Britain is divided up under various great families. Again, there are some very good female characters, including a vicar of a very strange future Church of England which seems to place a lot of reliance of interpreting dreams and picking up emotional resonances from buildings with the help of drugs and technology. And there's a very strange house at the centre of it, designed by Lutyens in 1922 and still practically untouched by time in the 22nd century.

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Laugh hard. Run fast. Be kind.

Posts: 3710 | From: Hay-on-Wye, town of books | Registered: Aug 2003  |  IP: Logged
Brenda Clough
Shipmate
# 18061

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I just picked up a used copy of Period Piece by Gwen Raverat. She was a grand-daughter of Charles Darwin, and this seems to be an innocuous memoir of life in the 1880s. Has anyone ever read it?

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Science fiction and fantasy writer with a Patreon page

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