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What are you reading Chapter 4
- Thread starter slobake
- Start date
Read Chinese Mythology yesterday, but I feel I need a deeper dive. This one seemed more to be a selection of "important" stories, but as a result, skimmed through plenty of different Chinese mythical traditions and I felt myself lost in the narrative and lack of cohesion. I understand there are plenty of various Chinese mythological strands, so maybe I should find one and focus on it. Still, an interesting read as someone who is very much into mythology but very much un-educated in most things Asian. A very different flavor of mythology than the Euro-centric (think Vikings, Greeks, etc.) stuff to which I am more accustomed.
I started the Popol Vuh last night. It's the main Mayan mythological framework. I'm enjoying it so far, as it has a fairly fun, flippant tone to it. This translation at least is an easy and enjoyable read. Hoping to finish tonight, but may be tomorrow.
I started the Popol Vuh last night. It's the main Mayan mythological framework. I'm enjoying it so far, as it has a fairly fun, flippant tone to it. This translation at least is an easy and enjoyable read. Hoping to finish tonight, but may be tomorrow.
Girls Like Us: Carole King, Joni Mitchell, Carly Simon -
and the Journey of a Generation - Sheila Weller ©2008
and the Journey of a Generation - Sheila Weller ©2008
The Martian Chronicles - Ray Bradbury
The book club I read Dorian Gray for let me pick the next book and this is where I landed. Most of the others in the group hadn't read it and the only other person who had said it was a long time ago. It's been a long time for me too. This will be at least my second time reading it, possibly the third. My wife is interested in the book club too so we're going to try reading it together, though it may prove to be too depressing. I also love Michael Whelan's artwork on the cover of this edition.
The book club I read Dorian Gray for let me pick the next book and this is where I landed. Most of the others in the group hadn't read it and the only other person who had said it was a long time ago. It's been a long time for me too. This will be at least my second time reading it, possibly the third. My wife is interested in the book club too so we're going to try reading it together, though it may prove to be too depressing. I also love Michael Whelan's artwork on the cover of this edition.
On my list as well, and I believe I'll be reading one of its chapters as a standalone short story in the near future for school.
Read "The Romance Of Tristan & Iseult" - been a bit since I've read one of its translations, and I enjoyed it a good deal. Now, I'm trying to figure out what next... May work through some anthologies I have of classic world literature and broaden my horizons.
Elric: To Rescue Tanelorn - Michael Moorcock
I took a look at my reading history and to my surprise and shame, I have started around 20 book series and left them unfinished. So I've decided that I'm not allowed to start any other series or read much other fiction until I can knock out a significant number of them. This is the first book I've chosen towards that end.
If anyone in this thread is familiar with the Elric novels published by DAW in the 70s, this particular collection and the one I read last year contain the stories compiled in The Weird of the White Wolf, The Bane of the Black Sword, and Stormbringer as well as other stories featuring different incarnations of Moorcock's Eternal Champion, essays, and other miscellany. These more modern Del Ray compilations appear to already be out of print and somewhat difficult to find, and as a newcomer to Elric and Moorcock, I don't particularly care about the non-Elric content they include. So after finishing this volume, I will be switching to the DAW versions to finish the series.
I took a look at my reading history and to my surprise and shame, I have started around 20 book series and left them unfinished. So I've decided that I'm not allowed to start any other series or read much other fiction until I can knock out a significant number of them. This is the first book I've chosen towards that end.
If anyone in this thread is familiar with the Elric novels published by DAW in the 70s, this particular collection and the one I read last year contain the stories compiled in The Weird of the White Wolf, The Bane of the Black Sword, and Stormbringer as well as other stories featuring different incarnations of Moorcock's Eternal Champion, essays, and other miscellany. These more modern Del Ray compilations appear to already be out of print and somewhat difficult to find, and as a newcomer to Elric and Moorcock, I don't particularly care about the non-Elric content they include. So after finishing this volume, I will be switching to the DAW versions to finish the series.
Plenty of history/historic stuff lately, as usual.
Danish History Of Saxo Grammaticus
1215: The Year Of Magna Carta
Dark Tide
The first two are adjacent to many of my medieval/Viking books I've been reading the past two-ish years. The last one is about the Boston Molasses Flood of 1919 and was absolutely fascinating. It had so many ties to all sorts of things going on at that period of history, and yet so few people have ever heard of the event itself. May have to read that again sometime when I catch up on reading (like that'll ever happen!).
I'm currently reading (and hoping to finish tonight) 1066: The Year Of The Conquest. Like the first two above, it's similar to many of my other texts, but still engrossing for me. When that's done, I may read about the Haymarket Square Riot. We'll see.
Danish History Of Saxo Grammaticus
1215: The Year Of Magna Carta
Dark Tide
The first two are adjacent to many of my medieval/Viking books I've been reading the past two-ish years. The last one is about the Boston Molasses Flood of 1919 and was absolutely fascinating. It had so many ties to all sorts of things going on at that period of history, and yet so few people have ever heard of the event itself. May have to read that again sometime when I catch up on reading (like that'll ever happen!).
I'm currently reading (and hoping to finish tonight) 1066: The Year Of The Conquest. Like the first two above, it's similar to many of my other texts, but still engrossing for me. When that's done, I may read about the Haymarket Square Riot. We'll see.
Really great info about the evolution of the Fender basses. Although I roll my eyes when the authors call the tug bar mounted on the G-string side a 'thumb rest'. 
I recently re-read that for probably the third time. So good.
Just read "And There Will Come Soft Rains" by Bradbury - definitely need to read the rest of "The Martian Chronicles" now.
Yesterday I forgot my book somewhere, so I couldn't continue reading about the Haymarket Square Riot. Instead, I read another take on Beowulf. It was an odd mix - Nye had tried to capture the "feel" of the work, and to make it a bit more approachable for the young adult reader. While I can appreciate the idea of making it approachable for a younger reader (I LOVED the "Bea-wolf" adaptation), I felt this one missed the mark. It made it seem more like a simple Hollywood action flick. This is decidedly not the "feel" I get from Beowulf. It referenced some interesting things that are more obscure in the text, so I know the author/translator knows his stuff, but it just didn't do it for me. Give me a denser, more nuanced take on it any day.
Yesterday I forgot my book somewhere, so I couldn't continue reading about the Haymarket Square Riot. Instead, I read another take on Beowulf. It was an odd mix - Nye had tried to capture the "feel" of the work, and to make it a bit more approachable for the young adult reader. While I can appreciate the idea of making it approachable for a younger reader (I LOVED the "Bea-wolf" adaptation), I felt this one missed the mark. It made it seem more like a simple Hollywood action flick. This is decidedly not the "feel" I get from Beowulf. It referenced some interesting things that are more obscure in the text, so I know the author/translator knows his stuff, but it just didn't do it for me. Give me a denser, more nuanced take on it any day.
So I just got back from a couple of weeks in Greece with the Mrs. Some interesting reads there in the time we weren't tromping around museums and ruins or strolling through delightful shore towns.
One was that I finished up Stilicho: The Vandal Who Saved Rome, by Ian Hughes. Stilicho is one of those figures most people haven't heard of. I'm a specialist in the early Middle Ages and I only vaguely knew a little bit about him. Hughes really gets into the weeds and looks at his career as a Roman military leader - but of partly "barbarian" ancestry - in the late 300s and early 400s, and really does a lot to show the complexity of the period. The Roman Empire was hit by a series of crises in his era, but it's a lot more complex than simple barbarian invasion/fall of Rome narratives.
The next one was The Beast in the Garden. This was recommended by a former student. It's about mountain lions and Boulder, CO, where a teenager was killed by one back in the 90s. It tracks the controversy over them and a lot of the contradictions between people's desire to protect and encourage their flourishing with the realities of how cougars can get dangerous if habituated to human presence.
And lastly, on the flight back, I borrowed the volume of ancient Greek tragedies my wife had brought along. I forgot how short they actually are - mostly the equivalent of modern one-act plays, maybe 30 or 40 pages each. A long international flight was enough time to read several. I reread some that I knew from a long time ago, like Medea, and others that were new to me, like Helen. This set of translations was very readable, too.
One was that I finished up Stilicho: The Vandal Who Saved Rome, by Ian Hughes. Stilicho is one of those figures most people haven't heard of. I'm a specialist in the early Middle Ages and I only vaguely knew a little bit about him. Hughes really gets into the weeds and looks at his career as a Roman military leader - but of partly "barbarian" ancestry - in the late 300s and early 400s, and really does a lot to show the complexity of the period. The Roman Empire was hit by a series of crises in his era, but it's a lot more complex than simple barbarian invasion/fall of Rome narratives.
The next one was The Beast in the Garden. This was recommended by a former student. It's about mountain lions and Boulder, CO, where a teenager was killed by one back in the 90s. It tracks the controversy over them and a lot of the contradictions between people's desire to protect and encourage their flourishing with the realities of how cougars can get dangerous if habituated to human presence.
And lastly, on the flight back, I borrowed the volume of ancient Greek tragedies my wife had brought along. I forgot how short they actually are - mostly the equivalent of modern one-act plays, maybe 30 or 40 pages each. A long international flight was enough time to read several. I reread some that I knew from a long time ago, like Medea, and others that were new to me, like Helen. This set of translations was very readable, too.
Like many authors/books - he's on my list, but I haven't gotten there quite yet!
I just finished Bradbury's "The Martian Chronicles". It was a good one! Almost surreal at times, with an odd dreamy quality about it that most sci-fi doesn't seem to have. Very much "soft" sci-fi, as opposed to "hard" sci-fi, if that makes sense. As a fan of Poe as well, I very much enjoyed the "Usher" chapter.
You have a real treat ahead. I almost envy you NOT having read Heinlein yet, because it means that you have years of unread great novels waiting for you!
I would recommend starting with my favorite Heinlein juvenile "Have Space Suit Will Travel," which is a classic in SF and was my first read. It set the stage well for my eventually reading everything Heinlein ever wrote. Although some of his early works such as Space Suit and "Podkayne of Mars" are referred to as juveniles, all of them make good reading for adults.
Two of my personal Heinlein favorites are "Glory Road" which is a fun read with an fun swashbuckling theme and interesting (almost fairy tale) premise, and "The Moon is a Harsh Mistress" which is both a great story and an incredibly foreseeing book. It predicted the path of computer intelligence in a way that almost no one had thought of in 1966 when it was first published. I'm simply amazed at what Heinlein was able to predict in that book!!
The classic Heinlein "must read" (and Hugo award winner) is "Stranger in a Strange Land" which was published in 1961 helped set the societal stage for the 1960s. It has a couple of slow spots, but it's a wonderful story.
Heinlein is extremely quotable. My single favorite is from Stranger: "The best way to tell a lie is to tell the right amount of the truth, then shut up."
