Ancient & Medieval Historical Fiction discussion
Monthly Group Reads
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Reading the Poll Losers Instead?
Jane wrote: "Terri wrote: "Daniel wrote: "so far, pure has yet to jump out at me...I have not given up on it yet though."I was just talking about this to Mixal in the random thread.
There is definitely no ac..."
I think you are spot on with this. I find it depends very much on my mood to get 'full enjoyment' from a story.
I am going to restart this book today, I think, being as rushed as I was last week, I was not able to give it the time it deserves.I will let you know if it makes a difference.
Terri wrote: "lol. Another useless, but interesting, fact. I like it! :)"I'd call this interesting AND useful [in some contexts]:
The Welsh word for blue AND green [actually grass-green] is the same for each: glas
The generic word for green in Welsh is gwyrdd
Could it be whoever designed the cover was Welsh? :)
To further your point Jane, all the Gaelic/Celtic languages use the same word to mean green and blue. You may be onto something :)Edit to fix.
Darcy wrote: "To further your point Jane, all the Gaelic languages use the same word to mean green and blue. You may be onto something :)"Now THAT fact I did not know! I was just being facetious about a Welsh cover designer.
Jane wrote: "Darcy wrote: "To further your point Jane, all the Gaelic languages use the same word to mean green and blue. You may be onto something :)"Now THAT fact I did not know! I was just being facetious..."
new to me too, another step on my quest to amass the entirety of human knowledge.
I stand corrected. Now that I am reading the book again, I find it more enjoyable then it was a first.'Some books are meant to be savored', and I believe this is such a text.
Daniel wrote: "I stand corrected. Now that I am reading the book again, I find it more enjoyable then it was a first.'Some books are meant to be savored', and I believe this is such a text."
You are doing this book a great service. Good on you Daniel for rewinding and approaching it in a different state of mind. I don't think I could ever do that (due to my aversion to rereading..:)..)
I'm now on p. 71. Style is exquisite; Each word is absolutely perfect. I feel beneath the surface story of an engineer, a church, a cemetery, there lies much allegory and opaque symbolism. I love Miller's cameo descriptions of small events. Atmosphere is bleak and melancholy. I'm reminded of Camus' The Plague, although another time and place [Oran, Algeria--the present], but with a surface story and allegory. I've reread the latter several times.
Jane wrote: "Darcy wrote: "To further your point Jane, all the Gaelic languages use the same word to mean green and blue. You may be onto something :)"Now THAT fact I did not know! I was just being facetious..."
Wonderfully interesting. And my grown son doesn't distinguish blue and green like the rest of us. Are those my Welsh grandmother's genes?
I'm 144 pages into Pure. I'm finding it okay, I can see the poetry in the storytelling but it's not appealing to me so I'm finding it a bit plodding.Does anyone know when they started using metric in Paris? It never occurred to me that they would be using meters in 1785 but I don't know much about the creation of metric.
I'm about to start Part III. I'm thinking it's a surface story, but with tons of metaphors, symbolism, and even allegory. I love the style and find myself looking for symbolism, metaphor, etc. with every bit of 'action.' In my review I think I'll speculate on them. I love doing stuff like that.
Dawn wrote: "I'm 144 pages into Pure. I'm finding it okay, I can see the poetry in the storytelling but it's not appealing to me so I'm finding it a bit plodding.Does anyone know when they star..."
http://www.french-metrology.com/en/hi...
I get from this: 1795 [Year III in the Revolutionary calendar] metric was adopted.
Dawn wrote: "I'm 144 pages into Pure. I'm finding it okay, I can see the poetry in the storytelling but it's not appealing to me so I'm finding it a bit plodding.Does anyone know when they star..."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_...
If you want wikipedia... Sect. 3.1 is on France.
As far as I can tell the metre and kilogram weren't even invented until 1791. So our engineer using the metre as a measurement would be a bit premature in 1785. Though I imagine it was written in for convenience as there were over 700 different units of measure back then. And thanks for those links Jane. The first one was especially good!
It hadn't even occurred to me that the French Revolution would happen 3 or 4 years after this story. That makes the modern thinkers and agitators in this book more relevant than I was thinking they were.
Dawn wrote: "As far as I can tell the metre and kilogram weren't even invented until 1791. So our engineer using the metre as a measurement would be a bit premature in 1785. Though I imagine it was written in f..."You're welcome. You'll get more of the flavor of pre-French Revolution as you read further, not really overt action, but atmosphere... Yes--convenience--how many people are going to examine that closely for any anachronisms?
I don't remember metres in the story, but I do remember thinking something about a measure he was using.I want to check. Roughly what chapter and page? (As I have the large print edition here it won't be exactly the same page).
I'm at page 222 so I'm getting more of that atmosphere already. But I have to take a break to put the Christmas trees in their stands now and build a fire as I promised Mom we'd have one going when she got here!
Yes, when he was measuring how large the pits would be. It was a surprise to me to find out Lafosse means 'The Pit'
Dawn wrote: "I'm at page 222 so I'm getting more of that atmosphere already. But I have to take a break to put the Christmas trees in their stands now and build a fire as I promised Mom we'd have one going whe..."
So it is at around page 222 that he uses metre?
Terri wrote: "Dawn wrote: "I'm at page 222 so I'm getting more of that atmosphere already. But I have to take a break to put the Christmas trees in their stands now and build a fire as I promised Mom we'd have ..."
In my copy: p. 135; p. 179 metre is mentioned. There may be more references...
Thanks for that, Jane.Yes, I think this is where I had a thought about measures. I don't remember if I thought about metric conversions. I just remember a millisecond of pondering over measures. :)
I'm not sure if there are any mentions earlier but it's p. 135 that prompted the random thought approximately as follows: "13 meters is about 40 feet, I guess they would use metric as this is France, wait.....this is too early for metric isn't it?" :)
Dawn wrote: "I'm not sure if there are any mentions earlier but it's p. 135 that prompted the random thought approximately as follows: "13 meters is about 40 feet, I guess they would use metric as this is Franc..."Well, they did get it pretty close though, only 10 years before... how many people will check? I know I didn't; I just read on.
Tens years, hey. It might be feasible. If he is in training to be an engineer, they may have been using the 'new' measures even though they were not officially adopted by government.Throughout history, the academics and the education system have been the guinea pigs for many changes such as measures.
Meters and Kilograms were invented in 1791. So this was a little creative license. Not that I mind, what measurements would he have used? Could have been any of hundreds. This makes far more sense. Very interesting history about the metric system though.
Finished it. It's getting a disappointing 'okay' from me. I had no connection to the characters, story or writing. I felt it really skimmed the surface without offering much depth.
Dawn wrote: "Finished it. It's getting a disappointing 'okay' from me. I had no connection to the characters, story or writing. I felt it really skimmed the surface without offering much depth."That's a shame. But I understand. As I was reading it I was thinking that it wasn't your thing. I couldn't put my finger on why I thought that. I just had a gut feeling that you wouldn't be compatible.
Here's my review:https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
I took it as a surface story, but also as a 'novel of ideas'.
Late and slow but I'm joining in for 'Pure'. I'll give it a whirl, post first impressions then read the back posts to find out how stupid I am :)
Dawn wrote: "Finished it. It's getting a disappointing 'okay' from me. I had no connection to the characters, story or writing. I felt it really skimmed the surface without offering much depth."agreed, even with my restart. I lost interest in the second half. Promising beginning to ...meh
Jane wrote: "Here's my review:https://www.goodreads.com/review/show..."
Your review added more level to my curiosity meter. It's going to be difficult to wait for the evening reading time. :)
Daniel wrote: "Dawn wrote: "Finished it. It's getting a disappointing 'okay' from me. I had no connection to the characters, story or writing. I felt it really skimmed the surface without offering much depth."a..."
When I started taking it as a 'novel of ideas', the reason I compared it in my review to The Plague,it too had a surface story but ideas beneath and existential crisis. I could fully imagine the characters in my mind's eye but I couldn't get close to them.
Lia wrote: "Got my hand on Pure. All these discussions about this book are making me curious."My interpretation is probably one of many, Lia. It just struck me that way.
I feel like a child who isn't allowed to play with her friends until she finishes her homework. Some concepts are eternal. :P. Pure is next.
Portia wrote: "I feel like a child who isn't allowed to play with her friends until she finishes her homework. Some concepts are eternal. :P. Pure is next."Sometimes I feel that way too with these group reads. I have to remind myself I'm not in school; no one's grading me. I read just the one or ones I want--winner or loser--or none that month if nothing interests me from the choices.
If I cut down on watching The National Zoo's Panda Cam ... :-)
Portia wrote: "If I cut down on watching The National Zoo's Panda Cam ... :-)"lol! Now there's excuse for not reading that I have never heard before!
Terri wrote: "Portia wrote: "If I cut down on watching The National Zoo's Panda Cam ... :-)"lol! Now there's excuse for not reading that I have never heard before!"
There's a new baby panda, Bao Bao (precious). Cute as can be!
Goodness. I take it Panda babies are a hit over there? :)
First impressions; this is very much my kind of book. The premise is more ghoulish than I usually go for but I'm fascinated by practicalities so I want to know how the young engineer will sort out the grave (!) problem.The lodgings and characters remind me of Balzac novels, as does the situation of 'young ingenue comes to big, bad city' so I'm already in the right frame of mind for a historical novel, set in Paris. I know modern Paris quite well so that has me hooked too.
My only quibble is that I'm never sure I like the present tense in a historical novel. Present tense screams 'modern' to me just as much as would slang language or computers. Yet at the same time, I find this really well written and some observations linger in my head, make me feel I'm there, and also make me think.
This is not my period so I wouldn't know mistakes in the history but the whole feel of the opening is convincing so I'm completely into it.
But pandas would distract me too :) so cute :)
So we should be expecting a good rating based on your impression so far?? :)I really liked the pre-revolution setting. I would like to find more HF based at the time. It sounds like a very interesting time in Paris.
Yes, a good rating for the opening :) but there's a whole book to go...
I have a Bao Bao The Baby Panda app on my iPhone and check it before I check GoodReads. I watch Bao Bao sleep. I watch her nurse. I watch her try to stand. And when she squeaks, I yell, "Mai Xieng, the baby needs you!"
Portia wrote: "I have a Bao Bao The Baby Panda app on my iPhone and check it before I check GoodReads. I watch Bao Bao sleep. I watch her nurse. I watch her try to stand. And when she squeaks, I yell, "Mai Xien..."That is very funny. :D
Yes, well, and Pure is the next book on TBR. I've had it for awhile and am glad to read it with everyone.
Ancient & Medieval Historical Fiction
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https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...