2024: What are you currently reading?

[LRK]

Tracy & Laura Hickman: "Mystic Quest"

This is the second book in a fantasy trilogy. I'm a little more than halfway through, and, so far, I do believe I like this more than the first book ("Mystic Warrior"") - and I did like the first book.

I have read several of the books Tracy Hickman wrote with Margaret Weis - of those, the Dragonlance books are not my favourites, but rather the Death Gate series. Long ago two powerful races fought, and the victors imprisoned the losing side in a labyrinth. They then divided the world into four worlds, each based around a different element. The first four books primarily take place in each world in succession - "Dragon Wing" (Air), "Elven Star" (Earth),"Fire Sea" (er... ) and "Serpent Mage" (Water). In the three last books these stories start to intersect.

I also liked the Darksword books, beginning with "Forging the Darksword".

 

[moonvine]

"outofshapeworthlessloser" of course!

 

[elbkup]

First I commiserate about limited vision LRK.. amazing how well we manage to do the reading we love

Currently rereading two books, first a set of short stories by Ellen Gilchrist “Light Can Be Both Wave and Particle”.

“Prince Ombra” by Roderick MacLeish. I have reread it over and over through the years, my old copy gently worn .. a story of the thousand and first duel against the lord of evil - author of all misery, cruelty, despair, fought in modern times in a town on the coast of Maine, its hero a small boy and the little girl who is his rememberer. Chapter One has, arguably, the very best opening lines I have ever read.

Lastly I have just ordered and cannot wait to read “Three Bags Full”, by Leonie Swann. Originally written in German, I got it in English.. a detective story where the sleuths are sheep who join forces to track down a murderer who killed their beloved shepard .

EDT: My nephew’s wife recommended “Spinning Silver” and others .. it is wonderful!

Also rereading the 4th book in LeGuin’s Earthsea chronicles , “Tehanu”, which takes the main characters into their twilight years and includes the title character, a little girl born into horrific circumstances with very special gifts. To me Prince Ombra and Tehanu are the supreme bookends of my life, both with children at their center. They are not easy reads but are challenging and beautifully rewarding.

 

[skylark]

"Pride and Prejudice" is one of my Absolute Favourite books - I adore it.

As for adaptations I prefer the Colin Firth/Jennifer Ehle TV-series. I caught a little of the Kiera Knightly/Matthew Macfadyen film on the telly once - one moment Mr Collins was proposing - the next there was a ball... it moved quite disconcertinglly quickly it felt to me. By the way, have you seen the Lawrence Olivier/Greer Garson adaptation? Everybody clad incongruously in 1830s rather than Regency garb...

After a few seconds, I absolutely refused to watch the Garson/Olivier version. It was the acting I objected to probably as much as the wrong-period wardrobe.

I can understand how, if your favorite adaptation is a 6-hour experience of P&P, that the Joseph Wright, director/Knightley/Macfadyen version might seem abrupt. But it is my favorite. Analyzing my reaction, I think it's because the shots, the acting, the music and the transitions all pull me in emotionally in such a powerful way. Do try it sometime, from the beginning!

"Spinning Silver" definitely sounds like something I'd like to read - I do own "Temeraire" by her, it's on my Reading List (this is an actual list), but when I'll get to it, I cannot say. (I'm just a taaa

Since I'm such a huge fan of Spinning Silver, I tried Temeraire and also "Uprooted." Couldn't even get into the 1st, and only fast-forwarded through to the end of "Uprooted" because my husband and I were reading it together. It's strange!

here's a capsule review of Spinning Silver I like:

"This gorgeous, complex, and magical novel...rises well above a mere modern re-imagining of classic tales...Novik probes the edges between the everyday and the extraordinary, balancing moods of wonder and of inevitability. Her work inspires deep musings about love, wealth, and commitment, and embodies the best of the timeless fairy-tale aesthetic...This is the kind of book that one might wish to inhabit forever -- Publishers Weekly, Starred Review"

That last bit is exactly how I feel ... I just want to Be In That World. It's so magical, and such a staggeringly different voice and style.

Miryem is the initial heroine, and she's wonderful, as is Wanda, the third teen-age heroine -- but my favorite of the 3 is Irina, whose great-grandfather was a Staryk and therefore gave her a little Staryk (Ice Princess) blood.

If you read this book, I'd love to discuss it with you and @elbkup ... and anyone else who's intrigued! Could we schedule a month or two for in-depth discussion of it, after World Championships and before August? We could draw it out. There's so much I'd love to discuss. I led "live" book discussion groups, 3 in all, for a period of ten or more years, and I miss it now that I've moved to Winter Wonderland. ("The Snow Queen" was a fairy tale that scared me the most when I was a child!)

Any takers? I'd love to create a space where we could exchange ideas about such a complex book.

@elbkup:
"EDT: My nephew’s wife recommended “Spinning Silver” and others .. it is wonderful!"

 

[CoyoteChris]

After a few seconds, I absolutely refused to watch the Garson/Olivier version. It was the acting I objected to probably as much as the wrong-period wardrobe.

I can understand how, if your favorite adaptation is a 6-hour experience of P&P, that the Joseph Wright, director/Knightley/Macfadyen version might seem abrupt. But it is my favorite. Analyzing my reaction, I think it's because the shots, the acting, the music and the transitions all pull me in emotionally in such a powerful way. Do try it sometime, from the beginning!


Since I'm such a huge fan of Spinning Silver, I tried Temeraire and also "Uprooted." Couldn't even get into the 1st, and only fast-forwarded through to the end of "Uprooted" because my husband and I were reading it together. It's strange!

here's a capsule review of Spinning Silver I like:

"This gorgeous, complex, and magical novel...rises well above a mere modern re-imagining of classic tales...Novik probes the edges between the everyday and the extraordinary, balancing moods of wonder and of inevitability. Her work inspires deep musings about love, wealth, and commitment, and embodies the best of the timeless fairy-tale aesthetic...This is the kind of book that one might wish to inhabit forever -- Publishers Weekly, Starred Review"

That last bit is exactly how I feel ... I just want to Be In That World. It's so magical, and such a staggeringly different voice and style.

Miryem is the initial heroine, and she's wonderful, as is Wanda, the third teen-age heroine -- but my favorite of the 3 is Irina, whose great-grandfather was a Staryk and therefore gave her a little Staryk (Ice Princess) blood.

If you read this book, I'd love to discuss it with you and @elbkup ... and anyone else who's intrigued! Could we schedule a month or two for in-depth discussion of it, after World Championships and before August? We could draw it out. There's so much I'd love to discuss. I led "live" book discussion groups, 3 in all, for a period of ten or more years, and I miss it now that I've moved to Winter Wonderland. ("The Snow Queen" was a fairy tale that scared me the most when I was a child!)

Any takers? I'd love to create a space where we could exchange ideas about such a complex book.

@elbkup:
"EDT: My nephew’s wife recommended “Spinning Silver” and others .. it is wonderful!"

BTW, I have all the PBS et al Versions of all JA Works. I agree with the G/O version. ref

I can understand how, if your favorite adaptation is a 6-hour experience of P&P, that the Joseph Wright, director/Knightley/Macfadyen version might seem abrupt. But it is my favorite. Analyzing my reaction, I think it's because the shots, the acting, the music and the transitions all pull me in emotionally in such a powerful way. Do try it sometime, from the beginning!

ITA.

 

[CoyoteChris]

I am finishing up "Women (really people) Who Love too much" but the book that is really throwing me for a loop history wise is "Comfort Women" by Prof. Yoshimi Yoshiaki , professor of Japanese modern history at Chuo University in Tokyo, Japan. Its common knowledge that Japan tested then used bio/chemical-weapons on the Chinese in WWII (killing 200k 500k) but I had never heard that they tested Chemical weapons on the Aussies. The Japan Times, July 27th, 2004, "
"The Imperial Japanese Army tested cyanide gas on Australian and Dutch East Indies prisoners of war in 1944 in Indonesia's Kai Islands, according to a document recently uncovered by a Japanese researcher.
Yoshiaki Yoshimi, a professor at Chuo University and an expert on modern Japanese history, discovered the document in the Australian national archives in Canberra. He said it is the first piece of evidence to detail Japan's experiments on an Australian POW."

It is unknown if Truman's staff guessed at a bio attack on California (A 1945-planned kamikaze attack on San Diego with I-400-class submarine aircraft carriers that would deploy Aichi M6As floatplanes and drop fleas infected with bubonic plague was code-named Operation Cherry Blossoms at Night.[1) But he certainly knew about the existance of the weapons and the Submarine aircraft carriers as they had been used to bomb Oregon.

Prof. Yoshiaki's uncovering of detailed evidence in Korea and other places , coupled with known and obvious history issues between Japan and Korea, makes Ex PM Abe's hollow claims that Japan committed no war crimes (he actually had history books in Japan changed) explain for me the modern distrust of the "Korean on the street" for the Japanese Govt. Abe served for 9 years and left the govt in 2020. I guess I need to send a pm to Ichat and get another Opinion.

 

[jorge2912]

I'm reading an interesting book from a nobel awarded prize in economics sciences . Friedrich Hayek the book title is The Road to Serfdom , is very interesting and even comparing some situations what is happening on the world . really is like an X-ray from it . next book what will read is from Gracie Gold .

 

[LRK]

"The Lifted Veil"

The subtitle of this anthology is 'Women's 19th Century Stories'.

19th century fiction is one of my areas of interest (I do not claim to have any areas of expertise ), so I have encountered most of these authors before. Some I'm very familiar with - others I may have only read a story or so in other anthologies - and with all variations of "acquaintanceship" in between. (Some stories I have read before, including the George Eliot title story.)

The authors included here are:
Jane Austen, Mary Shelley, Charlotte Brontë, Elizabeth Gaskell, Louisa May Alcott, George Eliot, Kate Chopin, Mary Elizabeth Braddon, Charlotte Perkins Gilman, Oliive SSchreiner, Edith Wharton & Charlotte Mew

 

[LRK]

Hasse Z: "Anna-Clara och hennes bröder" (Anna-Clara and her brothers)

This is an older book I borrowed from the library. Hasse Z was a turn-of-the-century Swedish writer. I've previously read a collection of humorous short stories/sketches by him, which I much enjoyed.

I've also read a couple of books by his son (Erik Zetterström) who wrote under the pseudonym Kar de Mumma. One of those being (I believe) his best-known work, the autobiographical "Två år i varje klass" (Two years in every class) and its sequel. If I remember the preface correctly (it's been a few decades) he noted that he didn't actually spend two years in every class. Once he was moved up after only one year - a mistake, as he ought to have spent three years in the next class, but that was not allowed.

I've just found out that his son, too, is a humorist. Goodness, humour runs strong in that family, apparently...

 

[LRK]

Jane Lindskold: "Wolf's Head, Wolf's Heart"

This is the second book in a fantasy series. As yet I've not got very far into it, but I was immediately reminded of how much I loved the first book ("Through Wolf's Eyes").

Sadly this is the last book in the series that I've got.

 

[LRK]

Harry Stephen Keeler: "The Fourth King"

This is a book my mother picked up second-hand. Mamma used to buy older books she came across that looked interesting to her, and weree cheap. Then she'd pass them on to me. (We had, if not quite identical, but still very similar tastes.)

I didn't know anything about this book going into it. I refrained from looking up a synopsis online, as I've been burned by too many bad book synopses and preferred to go in blind. I believe this waas first published in 1929, if I don't misremember, but that's all I know.

I'm still at the beginning of it, and cannot quite tell what kind of book this is. I'd put it vaguely in the crime/mystery category, though it seems neither to be a thriller or a whodunnit. I appreciate the lightly ironic tone.

"Folwell drew his lips into a thin, hard line. This was the first time in his life he had ever been accused of theft, and the experience was not altogether pleasant."

 

[elbkup]

“Magic is desire made real”

Finished the All Souls Trilogy by Deborah Harkness a while back:

A Discovery of Witches
Shadow of Night
The Book of Life

The author, a PhD of history, Dr. Harkness is descended from a women executed for witchcraft in 17th century Salem Massachusetts.
The fantasy trilogy follows Diana Bishop, a “real” witch who descends from Bridget Bishop who met the same fate as the author’s ancestor. Diana is a PhD of historical alchemy and navigates the secret world of creatures - vampires, deamons, and witches - coexisting with humans, hiding in plain sight. The series begins in Oxford England where Diana discovers an ancient mysterious manuscript, Ashmole 782, meets vampire Matthew deClaremont, travels to Sept Tours France, Matthew’s family home, to Venice where the centuries old Congregation of Creatures resides. Diana and Matthew become lovers breaking the age old law against interspecies relationships. They together time walk back to 1590 to escape persecution, to find a teacher for Diana who needs instruction in the magical arts, and to retrieve The Book of Life, Ashmole 782.
On return to modern day Sept Tours, they face huge challenges and must confront the tribunal before the Congregation.
Dr. Harkness weaves authentic historical figures and events throughout her narratives, grounding the fantasy; Matthew’s sparring with Queen Elizabeth I is delicious!

I have just finished Dr. Harkness’s newest addition to the series, The Black Bird Oracle.
This is a journey into Diana’s American history, specifically her father’s family tree, the Proctors,
skilled in Dark Magic arts, something Diana has consistently shunned.
The series is wonderfully written but I find the trajectory of Diana and Matthew’s relationship compelling. One is able to remove the fantasy overlay and view a normal modern age couple, maintaining their love and respect for each other, increasing their bonds of intimacy despite challenge and adversity.

 

[LRK]

Mercedes Lackey: "The Serpent's Shadow"

Ths is either the first, or second, book in a historical fantasy series - depending on whether or not you count "The Fire Rose" (which I do).

 

[DemTuppesSeine]

A biographical novel about Elisabeth I by Susan Kay. Almost done with this though, so I need to find a new book before Monday.

 

[skylark]

"The Invisible Line: A Secret History of Race in America" by Daniel J. Sharfstein. This book follows three families that crossed the color line from black to white in the 18th, 19th and 20th centuries. Unbeknownst to their descendants.

Bruce Catton's trilogy of Civil War history: "The Coming Fury" .... "Terrible Swift Sword" ... "Never Call Retreat."

Earlier, I finished "The Blue and the Gray: The Story of the Civil War As Told by Participants" by Henry Steele Commager. I picked up Volume 1 on the "free shelf" in our library. It opened my eyes about the importance of the battles (especially the Battle of Pea Ridge) in Missouri and Arkansas, which is where my ancestors all lived. And also how chaotic life was for folks there ... with the towns and countrysides being taken and re-taken by Union men, then Secesh (both sides conducted retaliations of the locals), after the official armies had ceased fighting there.

One article by a Confederate officer who fought at Pea Ridge gives his experience. Their entire army, being defeated at Pea Ridge, marched across the whole of Arkansas to mid-Tennessee with no provisions, which had been abandoned by the general in charge to supposedly go quicker, with the armies unburdened. They had nothing to eat except the occasional turnip they might dig up along the way; no blankets, uniforms worn to rags, and many of them barefoot. Could not sleep either, with the complaints of their empty stomachs. This officer managed to write about it with wry humor.

 

[LRK]

A biographical novel about Elisabeth I by Susan Kay. Almost done with this though, so I need to find a new book before Monday.

I don't read a lot of non-fiction, but I am interested in Tudor times, so of the few I have read, some havee beenn about that.

So, if you wanted to follow up the novel by reading something about that era, I definitely recommend Maria Perry's biography of Elizabeth - she uses quite a lot of Elizabeth's own words (when feasible) to tell the story, and is vey good at explainning the times she lived in.

Also "The Defeat of the Spanish Armada" by Garrett Mattingly. This starts off with the execution of Mary Stuart and the events that folllow. Quite thrilling, really.

Both of these - as a confirmed fiction reader - I woud give the highest accolade I can to non-fiction - "just as good as fiction".

 

[DemTuppesSeine]

I don't read a lot of non-fiction, but I am interested in Tudor times, so of the few I have read, some havee beenn about that.

So, if you wanted to follow up the novel by reading something about that era, I definitely recommend Maria Perry's biography of Elizabeth - she uses quite a lot of Elizabeth's own words (when feasible) to tell the story, and is vey good at explainning the times she lived in.

Also "The Defeat of the Spanish Armada" by Garrett Mattingly. This starts off with the execution of Mary Stuart and the events that folllow. Quite thrilling, really.

Both of these - as a confirmed fiction reader - I woud give the highest accolade I can to non-fiction - "just as good as fiction".

Thank you for the recommendations I also don't read a lot of non-fiction, biographies being an exception.

But right now it's back to fiction for me. My second re-read of "From Lukov with Love" by Mariana Zapata

 

[TallyT]

For anyone who likes gorgeously (and I mean that word sincerely) written non-fiction about nature, landscape and place, words and language in history and everything mixed up inbetween, I can recommend the books by Robert Macfarlane. Especially The Old Ways, Underland and my personal favourite (because it is about words, dialects and history all of which I am fascinated by) Landmarks, but all of his books are as lyrically imaginative and inspirong as the best fiction.

 

[LRK]

For anyone who likes gorgeously (and I mean that word sincerely) written non-fiction about nature, landscape and place, words and language in history and everything mixed up inbetween, I can recommend the books by Robert Macfarlane. Especially The Old Ways, Underland and my personal favourite (because it is about words, dialects and history all of which I am fascinated by) Landmarks, but all of his books are as lyrically imaginative and inspirong as the best fiction.

That sounds right up my alley - thank you. Added to my (e'er-growing and, frankly, out-of-control) wish-list.

 

[TallyT]

That sounds right up my alley - thank you. Added to my (e'er-growing and, frankly, out-of-control) wish-list.

I have one of them too!