So, What's On the Bedside Table these Days? -- Part 2

[Rosemarie, Moderator]

Lovecraft wasn't the only author who was racist, unfortunately. Many authors were a product of their time.

[Deborah, Moderator]

Lori wrote: "She's five years old.

Yeah, I like Lovecraft a lot, but just wish he hadn't been so racist. It shows up in a few of his stories."

Authors fit into their time period’s belief systems. So racism, etc, while offensive to us, would have been acceptable to their readers of the time.

[Everyman]

Deborah wrote: "Authors fit into their time period’s belief systems. So racism, etc, while offensive to us, would have been acceptable to their readers of the time. ."

It makes me wonder sometimes what aspects of books of our age that are acceptable to us will be offensive to readers100 or 200 years from now.

[Lori, Moderator]

Rosemarie wrote: "Lovecraft wasn't the only author who was racist, unfortunately. Many authors were a product of their time."

Yeah, I understand that, but he was actually more racist than the people around him in his time.

[Rosemarie, Moderator]

That is an interesting bit of information, Lori.

[Phrodrick slowed his growing backlog]

Not exactly bed side, but my lunch time ebook, as of today is Lady Susan

In part because of so much enthusiam here and elsewhere for Jane Austin. I have read 3 or 4 of hers and felt I was done. Some one in another thread pointed LS as a not so typical Jane A.

The novel by letters is not my favorite style, but I like that these people are not just being o so polite and oh so bloodless in their passions.

Defending husbands from flirts and admitting that your daughter is not the brightest or most accomplished. Baby, lay a lil Victorain era dirt on me! (Wicked Evil Grin font)

[Deborah, Moderator]

I enjoyed Lady Susan and would agree it’s not typical Austen. It’s been quite a few years since I read it, but seem to remember feeling it wasn’t as polished as some of her other works.

[Deborah, Moderator]

So what's on your bedside table? What are you reading?

I, of course, just finished A Room with a View. I also finished a children's book that Lily recommended - From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler which, while dated, was very fun. Since right now, I'm only reading in bed so I am reading light things. My goal this year is to have a reading day on Sunday. Then I can focus on something I can dig my teeth into.

Last night I started a Christopher Fowler Peculiar Crime Unit Mystery. His mysteries are full of quirky characters which I enjoy. So tell me, what are you reading?

[mark]

Deborah wrote: "I also finished a children's book that Lily recommended - [book:From the Mixed-Up Files of Mr..."

I loved that book and am so glad you reminded me of it! For a little while I was obsessed with the idea of running away and living in a museum. Didn't have anything to run away from really, and didn't understand the bus system, so the idea never panned out.

[Rosemarie, Moderator]

I just finished The Secret Agent by Joseph Conrad and will be starting The Martian Chronicles soon. I am still reading Doctor Zhivago.

[Deborah, Moderator]

Rosemarie wrote: "I just finished The Secret Agent by Joseph Conrad and will be starting The Martian Chronicles soon. I am still reading Doctor Zhivago."

The secret agent was the first Conrad I read. I so love the pictures his words create.

[Patrick]

The Secret Agent is a breathtaking example of fictional technique. I don't want to go into spoiler territory, but let's just say that there is some sleight-of-hand in mid-novel that only a master would have attempted.

[Rosemarie, Moderator]

It took me a while to get hooked on The Secret Agent, but the last few chapters were mesmerizing.

[Phrodrick slowed his growing backlog]

Rosemarie wrote: "I just finished The Secret Agent by Joseph Conrad and will be starting The Martian Chronicles soon. I am still reading Doctor Zhivago."

Three great reads. Almost like so many slices of a favorite cake.
It was a pleasure just to see those titles in one row

[Alicia]

Well besides my lamp and phone right now Penny Dreadfuls: Sensational Tales of Terror and whatever comic I'm reading right now.

[Phrodrick slowed his growing backlog]

I suppose what should be at my bedside is Hot Women's Erotica 2004. However I no longer read in bed.
Ivanhoe seems to be going no where but 8 chapters in and they at least go fairly quickly.
Pot Luck I ma reading very slowly, but Allen and I and any who care to join are starting it as a buddy read as of Friday.

[Deborah, Moderator]

Alicia wrote: "Well besides my lamp and phone right now Penny Dreadfuls: Sensational Tales of Terror and whatever comic I'm reading right now."

The Penny dreadful sounds like fun

[Deborah, Moderator]

Phrodrick wrote: "I suppose what should be at my bedside is Hot Women's Erotica 2004. However I no longer read in bed.
Ivanhoe seems to be going no where but 8 chapters in and they at leas..."

Feel free to use the buddy read threads.

[Rosemarie, Moderator]

My favourite character in Ivanhoe is not the title character. He is one of the least interesting characters in the book. I like Robin the best.

[Phrodrick slowed his growing backlog]

Ijust barely remember Robin (Hood) in Ivanhoe.

I do remember being impressed with the complexity of the plot and the humanity in dealing with the Jewish community.

Waverly has just introduced she who will be the love interest. :
Miss Bradwardine was but seventeen; yet, at the last races of the county town of——, upon her health being proposed among a round of beauties, the Laird of Bumperquaigh, permanent toast-master and croupier of the Bautherwhillery Club, not only said MORE to the pledge in a pint bumper of Bourdeaux, but, ere pouring forth the libation, denominated the divinity to whom it was dedicated, ‘the Rose of Tully-Veolan’; upon which festive occasion three cheers were given by all the sitting members of that respectable society, whose throats the wine had left capable of such exertion. Nay, I am well assured, that the sleeping partners of the company snorted applause, and that although strong bumpers and weak brains had consigned two or three to the floor, yet even these, fallen as they were from their high estate, and weltering—I will carry the parody no farther—uttered divers inarticulate sounds, intimating their assent to the motion.

Such unanimous applause could not be extorted but by acknowledged merit; and Rose Bradwardine not only deserved it, but also the approbation of much more rational persons than the Bautherwhillery Club could have mustered, even before discussion of the first magnum. She was indeed a very pretty girl of the Scotch cast of beauty...

Ladies and Gentlemen be upstanding:
I give you: strong bumpers and weak brains

Any interest in a buddy read, I am doing almost a chapter a day.
Mine is a e copy that has a lot of the Waverly books in it,
The Complete Novels of Walter Scott: Ivanhoe, Waverly, Rob Roy, The Pirate, Old Mortality, The Guy Mannering, The Betrothed, The Heart of Midlothian and ... of Nigel, Tales from Benedictine Sources... it was 0.99

[Alicia]

Deborah wrote: "Alicia wrote: "Well besides my lamp and phone right now Penny Dreadfuls: Sensational Tales of Terror and whatever comic I'm reading right now."

The Penny dreadful sounds like fun"

Oh it is! You have mix works from Mary Shelly to Louisa May Alcott. I'm nearly finish Wake Not The Dead and will be reading The Dream-Woman by Wilkie Collins.

[Alicia]

Deborah wrote: "Phrodrick wrote: "I suppose what should be at my bedside is Hot Women's Erotica 2004. However I no longer read in bed.
Ivanhoe seems to be going no where but 8 chapters i..."

Buddy read for which book? ; )

[Deborah, Moderator]

Phrodrick wrote: "Ijust barely remember Robin (Hood) in Ivanhoe.

I do remember being impressed with the complexity of the plot and the humanity in dealing with the Jewish community.

Waverly has just introduced sh..."

Post this also I’m buddy reads so others don’t miss it 😀

[Rosemarie, Moderator]

I am reading Black Like Me by John Howard Griffin, a journalist who changed his skin colour in the 60s to discover what life was like in the south. It is an intense read.

[Deborah, Moderator]

Rosemarie wrote: "I am reading Black Like Me by John Howard Griffin, a journalist who changed his skin colour in the 60s to discover what life was like in the south. It is an intense read."

That sounds intense. I remember my mother reading that when it was first published

[Robin P, Moderator]

I started reading Hild, a historical novel set in 6th century Britain. With a setting that old, it's almost like reading fantasy - unusual language, customs, fights for power. Of course, it's kind of the other way around, a lot of high fantasy is based on history. But I broke off to read the mystery series about The Peculiar Crimes Unit by Christopher Fowler. The 2 detectives are in their 80's and have very amusing quirks. There's a lot about the history of London, such as underground rivers that still flow.

[Rosemarie, Moderator]

I am reading The Martian Chronicles by Ray Bradbury.

[Deborah, Moderator]

Robin wrote: "I started reading Hild, a historical novel set in 6th century Britain. With a setting that old, it's almost like reading fantasy - unusual language, customs, fights for power. Of co..."

I’ve read all of the Christopher Fowler books. I look forward to them and love the quirkiness

[Patrick]

I am almost finished with the first volume of an 1884 "triple-decker", The Chronicles Of Castle Cloyne by Margaret Brew. It is a grand Irish novel with a wide social scope, encompassing the lives of both tenants and landlords. I am enjoying the book greatly and think that anyone who responds to Victorian fiction would do so also. All three volumes are available at the Biblioboard app and at the Internet Archive (not at Project Gutenberg yet).

This is the sort of novel that has been lost to literary history, but which may be rediscovered now through modern technologies.

[Deborah, Moderator]

Patrick wrote: "I am almost finished with the first volume of an 1884 "triple-decker", The Chronicles Of Castle Cloyne by Margaret Brew. It is a grand Irish novel with a wide social scope, encompass..."

Why not post it in the thread of books for the group to read. I think some of us would find this interesting

[Patrick]

Deborah wrote: "Patrick wrote: "I am almost finished with the first volume of an 1884 "triple-decker", The Chronicles Of Castle Cloyne by Margaret Brew. It is a grand Irish novel with a wide social ..."

I have done so.

[Teaqueen]

Currently reading Mansfield Park by Jane Austen and That Hideous Strength by CS Lewis. Just finished This Rough Magic by Mary Stewart.

[Rosemarie, Moderator]

I just started Auto da Fe by Elias Canetti and just finished At the Mountains of Madness by Lovecraft.

[Phrodrick slowed his growing backlog]

Just posted a review of my second Victoria Cross Book. In this case Anna Lombard.

I now wish I had done it as a buddy read. Anyone one else reading Anna Lombard? Do we agree she belongs in this era?

Any other Annie Sophie Cory/Victoria Cross titles to recommend?

[Luke]

Having cleared out another batch of overdue reviews, I have now started reading:

Aunt Résia and the Spirits and Other Stories - Yanick Lahens
Doc - Mary Doria Russell
Palimpsest - Catherynne M. Valente

[Mark]

I've been trying all year to finish Stendhal's The Charterhouse of Parma. - )

[Rosemarie, Moderator]

I have just started Quo Vadis? I hope to finish by Christmas, since
I read many books at once.

[Deborah, Moderator]

Mark wrote: "I've been trying all year to finish Stendhal's The Charterhouse of Parma. - )"

That’s on my list. I typically read two to three books at a time. One for book club, one for me (a real book), and a junk food book on my kindle in bed.

[Mark]

I've discovered the best situation for me is two books: an upstairs book and a downstairs book. It also helps if the books are different. - )

[Luke]

I've had four going simultaneously since I got into the habit of it during school. It keeps me demographically balanced.

[Lori, Moderator]

My mom and I visited the huge local flea market yesterday. Luckily it's on the other side of town or my bookshelves would be groaning! (Though I do also get a lot of used books from our local library for $1 each, these ones are heavier.) I got The Woman in White and Armadale by Wilkie Collins, a huge William Faulkner collection (The Sound and the Fury, As I Lay Dying, Sanctuary, Intruder in the Dust), Sister Carrie by Dreiser...and a book containing three works by Annie Dillard (Pilgrim at Tinker Creek, An American Childhood, and The Writing LIfe). (A total of $7.)
The funny thing is that I'd just checked The Writing Life out from the library. Now I can return it and read my own copy!

[Rosemarie, Moderator]

That is a fantastic haul, Lori. Happy reading!

[Lori, Moderator]

Rosemarie wrote: "That is a fantastic haul, Lori. Happy reading!"

Thanks, I'm sure it will be! Mostly, right now I'm reading ahead in The Prime Minister because I'm dying to know what happens.

[Rosemarie, Moderator]

I'm reading The Eustace Diamonds right now and trying to catch up with the group, or at least not be so far behind. It's good.

[Patrick]

I’ve started James Fenimore Cooper’s The Pilot: A Tale of the Sea, his fourth novel and first sea novel. I love Cooper’s work and plan to read it all; I also love everything nautical!

My Cooper project has a long way to go, admittedly. So far, I have read two of the Leatherstocking novels, The Last of the Mohicans and The Deerslayer; The Spy; and Wyandotté (a neglected gem). That leaves more than 20 novels and a LOT of non-fiction.

[Rosemarie, Moderator]

I have only read one of Cooper's novels so far, The Pioneers, and plan on reading more in the coming year.

[Patrick]

The James Fenimore Cooper Society has a nice web-page about reading him:

https://jfcoopersociety.org/introduct...

[Lori, Moderator]

I'm doing research for an essay (or a series of essays), so I'm looking through books about the Seminoles and about local (Florida) birds.

[Alicia]

Besides Kleenex, glasses, etc a Sherlock Holmes book. Also a very nosey kitty cat.

[Phrodrick slowed his growing backlog]

While I do have close to 20 books on or in my bedside table, I am not actively reading any of them.
I have four books going or about to start, I do not read in bed anymore.
Of the four none are of this time periosd so not gonna name names
So there!