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What are you reading Chapter 4

#2,421
Just picked up David McCullough's "The Pioneers" from Thriftbooks. This is the third book I have read by him. This one is about the settlers of the Ohio Valley. McCullough base a lot of it on the Diaries and letters of four settlers from that era, all of them veterans from the revolutionary war.

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#2,424
Just finished The Name of the Rose by Umberto Eco the other day.

Since I'm new around these parts, here's everything else I've read this year so far:

The Color of Compromise - Jemar Tisby
My Effin' Life - Geddy Lee
The Black God's Drums - P. Djeli Clark
The Fire Next Time - James Baldwin
The City We Became - N.K. Jemisin
Noor - Nnedi Okorafor
Clockwork Angels - Kevin J. Anderson and Neil Peart

I'm ahead on my goal for the year and I'm not really itching to pick something up right away so I think I'll be taking a short break.
 
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#2,425
slobake said:
Just picked up David McCullough's "The Pioneers" from Thriftbooks. This is the third book I have read by him. This one is about the settlers of the Ohio Valley. McCullough base a lot of it on the Diaries and letters of four settlers from that era, all of them veterans from the revolutionary war.

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Is this historical fiction, or history proper? I've been reading a series of books on the Middle Ages written by Frances and Joseph Gies that is essentially a synthesis of a massive amount of diaries, books, journals, records - pretty much anything written - and then compiled into a narrative of sorts on various medieval topics. I've read ones about living in a castle, a city, and a village, as well as the life of a knight in general. Next up will be marriage and the family, women, a specific family (that left a lot of written records, I assume), and finally the cathedral, forge, and waterwheel (which focuses on medieval technology). Each of these books basically traces the topic and its development/changes throughout the medieval era, but are also quite readable. Fascinating stuff, if you're into it. They've become a favorite duo of mine, and I will likely re-read them again in the near future, once I shorten my "to-read" list some more.

I just finished "Seven Viking Romances", which was an entertaining series of sagas, but these, unlike most, are clearly not based in fact. They have some very obvious fairy tale elements such as people turning into dragons and giant vultures carrying people off to far away lands. But since I'm a big mythology fan too, I don't mind that these are a bit more fantastical. I'm quite enjoying them!
 
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#2,426
kleinenenten said:
Is this historical fiction, or history proper? I've been reading a series of books on the Middle Ages written by Frances and Joseph Gies that is essentially a synthesis of a massive amount of diaries, books, journals, records - pretty much anything written - and then compiled into a narrative of sorts on various medieval topics. I've read ones about living in a castle, a city, and a village, as well as the life of a knight in general. Next up will be marriage and the family, women, a specific family (that left a lot of written records, I assume), and finally the cathedral, forge, and waterwheel (which focuses on medieval technology). Each of these books basically traces the topic and its development/changes throughout the medieval era, but are also quite readable. Fascinating stuff, if you're into it. They've become a favorite duo of mine, and I will likely re-read them again in the near future, once I shorten my "to-read" list some more.

I just finished "Seven Viking Romances", which was an entertaining series of sagas, but these, unlike most, are clearly not based in fact. They have some very obvious fairy tale elements such as people turning into dragons and giant vultures carrying people off to far away lands. But since I'm a big mythology fan too, I don't mind that these are a bit more fantastical. I'm quite enjoying them!
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I would call it history proper. Written from diaries, letters and any source the author could find. He doesn't just regurgitate the sources but weaves them together into a cohesive and entertaining narrative.
 
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#2,428
slobake said:
I would call it history proper. Written from diaries, letters and any source the author could find. He doesn't just regurgitate the sources but weaves them together into a cohesive and entertaining narrative.
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Pretty much what the Gieses do. They take a massive amount of historical data, condense it into a "standard" narrative of a specific member of society, i.e. "This is what a typical farmer's life was like", and then do the same for the various other roles of the village/city/town and then explain how those roles change throughout the time period. I may have to add that to my reading list - which is ever-growing!
 
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#2,429
Jayber Crow; A Novel - Wendall Berry

An extension from the Wendall Berry book "A Place on Earth" concentrating on the life of the town barber. Historical fiction of a small Kentucky town from the '30s up through the '90s. Well written.

Would recommend reading "A Place on Earth" before reading this more in depth character study. Both books feature the same people and families - "Jayber Crow" is the barbers viewpoint as he is privy to a lot of underlying gossip as to what goes on between characters in this small town, which is eventually overrun by the modern world.
 
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#2,430
Just kidding about taking a short break. I went to the library today and picked up:

Elric - The Stealer of Souls - Michael Moorcock
And Then There Were None - Agatha Christie

The Moorcock book collects several of the first Elric novelettes. I see fantasy nerds praise Moorcock and Elric so I'm giving it a shot to see what the hype is about. Reading The Name of the Rose has given me an interest in detective fiction, so I figured I'd go with the one that is frequently cited as one of the best examples. I used to watch the ITV Poirot series with my parents, but never read any of Christie's novels. No time like the present.

ryco said:
Jayber Crow; A Novel - Wendall Berry

An extension from the Wendall Berry book "A Place on Earth" concentrating on the life of the town barber. Historical fiction of a small Kentucky town from the '30s up through the '90s. Well written.

Would recommend reading "A Place on Earth" before reading this more in depth character study. Both books feature the same people and families - "Jayber Crow" is the barbers viewpoint as he is privy to a lot of underlying gossip as to what goes on between characters in this small town, which is eventually overrun by the modern world.
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I think everyone should read Wendell Berry at some point, fiction, poetry, or non-fiction. He's an incredibly wise man, one of America's best.
 
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#2,431
Frosteeman said:
Just kidding about taking a short break. I went to the library today and picked up:

Elric - The Stealer of Souls - Michael Moorcock
And Then There Were None - Agatha Christie

The Moorcock book collects several of the first Elric novelettes. I see fantasy nerds praise Moorcock and Elric so I'm giving it a shot to see what the hype is about. Reading The Name of the Rose has given me an interest in detective fiction, so I figured I'd go with the one that is frequently cited as one of the best examples. I used to watch the ITV Poirot series with my parents, but never read any of Christie's novels. No time like the present.



I think everyone should read Wendell Berry at some point, fiction, poetry, or non-fiction. He's an incredibly wise man, one of America's best.
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I find it tough to go wrong with Umberto Eco in general.
 
#2,434
Frosteeman said:
I see fantasy nerds praise Moorcock and Elric so I'm giving it a shot to see what the hype is about.
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This is the exact reason I need to read some of that stuff too! I love me some fantasy, and am trying to broaden my scope a bit. The Thomas Covenant series is also on my list for similar reasons. But at this point, I've got WAAAAY too many medieval texts to get through first!
 
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#2,435
The Absolutely True Story of a Part Time Indian - Alexie Sherman

Novel/autobiographical story of a Native born on the Spokane (WA) Reservation with health challenges. As a high school student decides to leave the Reservation to enroll in a public school in nearby Reardan, WA.
Very edgy, dark humor look at life on the Rez, and a very smart person trying to walk the line between being Native yet wanting to grow and escape the poverty of the rez and all that brings, and walking between the two worlds.
 
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#2,436
Frosteeman said:
Elric - The Stealer of Souls - Michael Moorcock

The Moorcock book collects several of the first Elric novelettes. I see fantasy nerds praise Moorcock and Elric so I'm giving it a shot to see what the hype is about.
Click to expand...

Just following up that this was fine. You can definitely tell in the first half that it's early work. It can be rough in a few ways. The second half (more or less the Stormbringer novel) is much stronger. The characters and the setting intrigue me though, so I will be reading more of Moorcock's work. I've read that he only gets better. Unfortunately this particular collection complicates the chronology and collection of the stories when compared with the classic series published in the 70s so I'm not sure I'd recommend this one specifically if you're interested in reading Moorcock.
 
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#2,438
The past few weeks, I've read these:

The Pied Piper Of Hamelin - a quick little poem of the story by Robert Browning
Marriage And The Family In The Middle Ages - more of the "narrative history" series from the Gieses. Three more to go in my collection (and then maybe I get some of their others?)!
The Saga Of The Jomsvikings - exactly what it sounds like!
The Lais Of Marie de France - classics that intersect with many of my recent medieval texts.
Two Sagas of Mythical Heroes (Hervor and Heidrek AND Hrolf Kraki and His Champions) - Started this today, and am a little over half way done. These have interesting ties to many of my other saga/viking texts lately, as H&H involves the legendary sword Tyrfing and Hrolf Kraki is sort of Beowulf-adjacent with some characters shared between the two texts. And I LOVE me some Beowulf! (I also found out that there will be another Beowulf movie in the near future, this time focusing on Grendel. Guess I'll HAVE to go to the theater...)
 

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