Book Nerd’s Comments (group member since Dec 20, 2018)

Book Nerd’s comments from the Never too Late to Read Classics group.

I didn't think the language was flowery in English.

Poor Things looks...really strange.

Yeah, a lot of made-up and mythological names come at you in some of the stories. A lot of weird word choices too. Like he'll say "builded" instead of "built". He's just trying to make the language interesting and fantastical. You don't have to memorize them.

I'm about a quarter of the way through and really enjoying it.

The Tale of Satampra Zeiros - Reminded me a lot of a Robert E Howard Conan story

The Last Incantation - (view spoiler)[Even the most powerful sorcerer can't recapture his lost youth. (hide spoiler)]

The Devotee of Evil - (view spoiler)[A pretty cool concept, thinking of evil as a natural force like gravity. In the end I thought Averaud, being exposed to pure evil, would become a purely evil entity, essentially creating the devil. (hide spoiler)]

The Uncharted Isle - One of those 'crazy thing happened or did it?' stories. Where or when he went is a mystery to me.

The Face by the River - This was the least interesting story to me so far.

The City of the Singing Flame - (view spoiler)[Cosmic bug zapper. That is all. (hide spoiler)]

The Holiness of Azédarac - (view spoiler)[I knew she was setting him up. It's odd that this is a story where he didn't complete his mission and it doesn't seem like it even mattered. (hide spoiler)]

I remember seeing the movie Matilda a long time ago but I've never seen the musical. I also remember seeing The Witches in school. It'll be fun to read that one.

I like to think of myself as an autodidact but I did have to look up that word lol.

Mine had illustrations by Quentin Blake.

Yeah, the centipede's kind of a jerk. And the aunts are classic over the top kid's book villains.

Just read James and the Giant Peach.

I never read James and the Giant Peach when I was a kid. It was an amusing little story. It's light and funny but I like that old kids books aren't afraid of death and danger.

Next up is Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. I have fond memories of that one.

James and the Giant Peach by Roald Dahl



150 pages

40,071

I've been really looking forward to this one. I haven't read anything by Clark Ashton Smith before but I love this kind of weird fiction stuff!

Not just any fantasy, horror, and science fiction author could impress H. P. Lovecraft into calling him "perhaps unexcelled by any other writer, dead or living” or compel Fritz Lieber to employ the worthy term sui generis. Clark Ashton Smith—autodidact, prolific poet, amateur philosopher, bizarre sculptor, and unmatched storyteller—simply wrote like no one else, before or since. This new collection of his very best tales and poems is selected and introduced by supernatural literature scholar S. T. Joshi and allows readers to encounter Smith’s visionary brand of fantastical, phantasmagorical worlds, each one filled with invention, terror, and a superlative sense of metaphysical wonder.

Abyssdancer wrote: "An African Story - Don’t mess with my dog!"

Yep

Sounds really cool. Hopefully I'll read some of the adult stories later this year.

Mike wrote: "I came across an interesting passage that highlight the patriarchal nature of the Icelandic/Nordic society. In this genealogy the males are listed first, than the females but in a fascinating twist..."
It is fiction but historical fiction. Based, in theory, on people who actually lived.

That's what makes it a classic. I wonder why nothing else she did is well known.

Jess wrote: "This was my first time reading this series of author. I've always enjoyed Arthurian media but don't think I've actually ever read a proper Arthurian book until now.

I enjoyed the pace and the cha..."
Same. I've never read Arthurian legend and I look forward to reading the rest of this series...some day. lol

Yeah, maybe Guinevere will be a better female character.

Karin wrote: "Last night instead of starting the one edited by Jane Smiley, because I've always meant to do this, I started the first of the 5 volumes of [book:The Complete Sagas of Icelanders, including 49 Tale..."
That's really interesting.
What exactly is the difference between the sagas and the tales? I know the tales are shorter obviously but there must be hundreds of Icelandic stories. How do these 49 get included in the "canon"?

Yeah, that's it. I thought there were more volumes. I do wish they'd republish it.

What is the five volume set?
I have the volume you linked that contains:
Egil's Saga
The Saga of the People of Vatnsdal
The Saga of the People of Laxardal
Bolli Bollason's Tale
The Saga of Hrafnkel Frey's Godi
The Saga of the Confederates
Gisli Sursson's Saga
The Saga of Gunnlaug Serpent-Tongue
The Saga of Ref the Sly
The Saga of the Greenlanders
Eirik the Red's Saga
The Tale of Thorstein Staff-Struck
The Tale of Halldor Snorrason II
The Tale of Sarcastic Halli
The Tale of Thorstein Shiver
The Tale of Audun from the West Fjords
The Tale of the Story-Wise Icelander

I also have a few more of the sagas that have been translated into English. But as far as I know the only way to get all 40+ in English is a VERY expensive and hard to find set.