FF: The Nature of Knowledge

Persephone Studies Chaucer

A reminder that I’m doing a book even tomorrow (Saturday, August 20) at the flagship store of Half Price Books in Dallas, Texas. 

For those of you unfamiliar with this column, the Friday Fragments lists what I’ve read over the past week.  Most of the time I don’t include details of either short fiction (unless part of a book-length collection) or magazines.  The Fragments are not meant to be a recommendation list.  If you’re interested in a not-at-all-inclusive recommendation list, you can look on my website under Neat Stuff.

Once again, this is not a book review column.  It’s just a list with, maybe, a bit of description or a few opinions tossed in.  And it’s also a great place to tell me what you’re reading. 

Completed:

A Most Improbable Journey: A Big History of Our Planet and Ourselves.  Non-fiction.  Overall liked this book, best when the author stayed closer to his specialization in geology.

In Progress:

Fire Upon the Deep by Vernor Vinge.  Audiobook.  Maybe halfway.  Getting to the point where I’m nervously “watching” a bunch of misinformation lead basically good people toward disaster.

The Life and Times of Chaucer by John Gardner.  The author of Grendel, which blew me away when I first read it at sixteen, turns his fluid and graceful writing style to examining the man who wrote The Canterbury Tales and other influential words.  This one is long and dense, but fascinating.  Expect to see it on my list for a while.

Also:

A re-listen of an excellent audiobook version of The Two Towers.