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Reggia
(last edited Aug 22, 2020 03:41PM)
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Aug 22, 2020 10:32AM
Looks like I’m returning for the umpteenth time to Les Misérables. Too bad Charly is not here to see... and tease me about it, haha!
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I'm taking part in another group's common read this month of
Hope Leslie: or, Early Times in the Massachusetts (1827), by Catharine Maria Sedgwick. (Although so far I'm still reading the lengthy Introduction to the Penguin edition.) This novel has been on my radar for quite awhile (I was the one who nominated it for the read).
Currently reading The Final Empire by Brandon SandersonLast month I read 4 horror novels. All of which I loved.
Athira, it's great to hear from you (we haven't in a while)! Glad you loved your recent reading. :-)
On my Kindle app, I'm reading Payday: A Short Story, a free e-story by Joe Vasicek. Electronic reading doesn't always fit into my schedule well, so it's sort of a slow read in bits and pieces. :-(
In another group, I'm joining in a September common read of an Agatha Christie mystery story collection,
The Regatta Mystery and Other Stories. I know, I'm coming very late to the party (long story!), but it's a short book and I'm expecting it to be quite a quick read. This is a reread for me; but my first read of it was back sometime in the 90s and I hardly recall anything about the stories, so it's essentially like a new read so far.
I'm always reading a lot of books simultaneously, and it so happens in the last couple days I've finished several of them: On The Natural Faculties, A Lasting Peace Through the Federation of Europe; And, the State of War, Anna Karenina and The Geometry of René Descartes: with a Facsimile of the First Edition. Anna Karenina was one I'd been reading slowly for a long time. My impression of it is that it is a lot of vivid fragments all thrown together and it lacks the unity of War and Peace. However, having finished a long novel about a married woman who lived with another man without getting a divorce, that was published in 1877, I've decided to read another long novel written by a woman who lived with a married man who hadn't gotten a divorce, that was published in 1872, and I'm starting on Middlemarch. On the side, I'm also starting on The School for Scandal and Charmides. I'm reading these in addition to a trio of books I seem to always be reading: Essays of Michel De Montaigne, Summa Theologica, 5 Vols and Discourses of Epictetus. When I retired, I decided to enjoy myself by reading and rereading some of the great books of Western civilization, and I am happily doing just that.
Some reading buddies in another group I'm in are doing an ongoing read of Agatha Christie's entire Poirot canon. I don't join in all of the reads, but I'm taking part in the one this month, of
Sad Cypress. This is a reread for me; but my previous read was as a kid of perhaps 11 or 12, and I don't really recall anything about it except that it was set in England, had Poirot in it, and took its title from a Shakespeare quotation that considered cypress as wood for a coffin. So for me it's essentially like an entirely new read!
I've just started a historical fiction novella by one of my favorite authors, Heather Day Gilbert:
The Distant Tide, set in Ireland in 1170. (This was originally published in 2017 as part of an omnibus volume of five novellas by as many authors, The Message in a Bottle Romance Collection, but has recently been re-published as a stand-alone.) Although Heather and I are Goodreads friends, this isn't a free review copy; I purchased it, because I've greatly liked several of her other books.
As a kid, I read and liked quite a few of American "Golden Age" mystery writer Erle Stanley Gardner's novels featuring his iconic criminal-defense lawyer, Perry Mason; but I've never listed any of them on my shelves because I don't remember the titles. To give a more accurate picture of my reading, it occurred to me that he ought to at least be represented there; and since I've been on a bit of a mystery kick this year anyway, I'm now reading
The Case of the Stuttering Bishop (1936). It's the 9th novel in the Mason series, but they don't have to read in series order.
Earlier this week, I finally got started on Oscar Wilde's novella
The Canterville Ghost, which is a common read this month in another group. This is a re-read for me (it's included in the anthology Classic Ghost Stories), and I'm reading it this time in electronic format, though at the Project Gutenberg site rather than in the e-book edition that Goodreads treats as its primary link.
The Scarlet Pimpernel by Baroness Emmuska Orczy is a book I've long regarded as a must-read. When an unexpected window of opportunity to work in a read of it recently materialized (long story!), I took advantage of it to start reading the novel this morning. (I'm actually reading the Airmont Classics edition; but I'm not going to hunt through the 1,293 editions to link to the correct one! :-) )
A review copy of the newest novel by my Goodreads friend Lance Charnes,
Zrada, arrived in the mail today, and the timing was perfect for me to start reading it immediately. This is the opener for a projected series, DeWitt Agency Adventures, which is a spin-off from the author's De Witt Agency Files series (and has as its protagonist Carson, the leading female character introduced in The Collection, the opener of the latter, though the protagonist there is male). I have high expectations for this one!
I think my reading stump is coming to an end. It took some smaller nonfiction reads to bring the desire (?) back. This new world we live in has been hard on me emotionally, but I am okay. I have, for the umpteenth time, picked back up Les Misérables. Once again, I researched some more translations and returned to the first one I started. I finished up the battle of Waterloo, and all of a sudden, I was re-engaged.
While I have another handful of nonfiction works, I'm avoiding starting another fiction.
This morning, I got a start (barely!) on the newly-published second edition of my friend Andrew Seddon's science-fiction novel
Iron Scepter. I read the original edition, published in 2000, back in 2006, before joining Goodreads, and reviewed it after I joined; so to avoid confusion (and since Goodreads combines reviews of all editions of a book into the same book entry in its database), that's the edition I'm listing as "currently reading" on my shelves. When I'm finished, I plan to update the review.
In another group, I'm taking part in a common read of
The Werewolf (1896), by Clemence Housman. (I'm actually reading it in an online version, here: https://www.owleyes.org/text/the-were... , rather than the e-book edition that Goodreads shows as its default entry.) This is a reread for me, but the first time I've read it free-standing. (It's included in A Lycanthropy Reader: Werewolves in Western Culture, which is where I read it back in the early 90s.)
Earlier today, I started reading
Perfect Victim by Kelley Armstrong, the second of two novellas she wrote as a follow-up to her original Nadia Stafford trilogy (which I hope to read next year). I'd read the first one, Double Play, last year. Although I'm actually reading it in a paper omnibus edition of both novellas together, not the e-book, this is the only way I'm able to shelve it; there's no free-standing paper edition.
I'm reading quite a mix of things. A few days ago I started "Pray Through the Bible in a Year Journal." I am also reading the second in a Regency era romance trilogy called "A Sleuth for the Marquess." I am nearly done with Matthew McConaughey's book "Greenlights." I am reading a book about acid reflux (riveting- really). lol I also have a devotional by Liz Curtis Higgs called "31 Proverbs to Light Your Path."
For the last several years, in order to have something to contribute to a discussion thread in another group, I've usually tried to read a classic Christmas book during the month of December. This year, I've started The Birds' Christmas Carol (1886) by American author Kate Douglas Wiggin (who's best known for her novel Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm). "Bird" in this book is a family name, so the titular characters are not feathered avians. :-)
In order to kick off two different annual challenge threads in two of the Goodreads groups I help moderate as early as possible, I wanted to start my reading year in 2021 with a book that: a.) consists of content old enough to be deemed a classic; b.) is in the Bluefield College library's collection; and c,) is likely to be a quick read.
The Diamond Lens and Other Strange Tales by Fitz-James O'Brien meets all three criteria, so I've started on it this afternoon.
I've heard of The Kalevala, Johanna, and have considered reading it myself sometime. If you review it when you finish reading, I'll be interested in your take on it.
I could go on quite a bit about The Kalevala (but I won't, at least not here). It is a work I've admired and enjoyed. It was compiled by Elias Lonnrot in the middle of the 19th century. It immediately joined the body of Graeco-Roman, Celtic (such as The Mabinogion) and Germanic (such as the Eddas) legends and mythologies. It also inspired some poetical works at the time. The rhythm is a trochaic four-beat eight syllable line, which was adopted by Longfellow for The Song of Hiawatha.I don't know enough Finnish to comment sensibly on the various translations. I have the prose translation by Francis Peabody Magoun, Jr. It doesn't attempt to reproduce the meter but is literal and accurate. I've found it quite readable and enjoyable.
For admirers of Tolkien, it is interesting to note that sometime around 1912 -- 1916 he wrote an adaptation of the Kullervo legend in the Kalevala: The Story of Kullervo. This was later developed into The Children of Húrin.
Donnally, you convinced me; I've just added The Kalevala to my to-read shelf. :-)
I've been in the habit the last two or three years of dipping into The Essays of Sir Francis Bacon from time to time and reading an essay. I find Bacon's prose so ornate that I've only been reading one essay at a time, and this is one that's sat on my Intermittently Reading shelf. I hadn't looked into this book for awhile, so I dipped into it recently and came to the conclusion, which surprised me, that I've read all the essays. So I'm not sure exactly when I actually finished this book, but I'm removing it from Intermittently Read and moving it to Read. I'll be adding it as #2 in this year's classic count.
Although I've read the two novellas Canadian author Kelley Armstrong wrote as sequels to her Nadia Stafford trilogy, I've yet to read any of the original three books. So, in keeping with my plan of trying to finish, or at least make progress in, the many series I've started without completing or catching up with, I've begun reading the trilogy opener,
Exit Strategy.
I'm currently reading Joseph Conrad's The Secret Agent. As I'm a passionate English language learner and have heard of Joseph Conrad long ago as someone who acquired English in his 20s, I'm very interested in his use of language and am very impressed. I wonder if I could ever hope to reach that high a level. So this book is uniquely motivational for me.
Having just finished Paradise Lost and currently reading The Divine Comedy, I'm struck by how much of Christian iconography comes not from the Bible, but is largely the creation of Dante and Milton. In fact, I think much theological discussion is really literary criticism of the issues raised by these authors.
Dwight Burkholder, whose debut novel is
The Preacher's Dear (2011) is from the central Shenandoah Valley of Virginia, where my wife Barb was born and raised, and where we lived in our first married years. She's slightly acquainted with him, and we're both friendly with some members of his extended family. That connection is how we got a free copy of the book when it came out. Barb read and liked it back then, but I hadn't; so she was willing to re-read it as our next "car book," and we started on it today.
Last year, Goodreads author Kana Wu kindly donated a copy of her debut novel,
No Romance Allowed, to the Bluefield College library, where I work. I'm not a big reader of "romances;" but this one did pique my curiosity. Then too, Kana and I have become Goodreads friends; and I do try, at times, to read books by my author friends, in order to support their creative efforts. So I started reading this one yesterday, and I'm liking it so far.
This month, I'm taking part in a common read, in another group, of Longfellow's
The Song of Hiawatha, and just started it yesterday. (Actually, I'm reading it in the 1898 Thomas Y. Crowell and Co. printing, but the edition Goodreads uses as a default has a much cooler cover. :-) ) I've wanted for a long time to read more of Longfellow's work, having only experienced it from short selections in American Literature textbooks. (So far, though, I have to admit that I'm not as impressed as I'd hoped to be.)
I'm going back on my word and adding in another fiction to take part in my local group -- Mystic Tea.I'm still reading about half a dozen other books including one fiction, Les Misérables.
Another group I'm in is doing a common read of Dickens' classic novel
Dombey and Son, starting tomorrow, and I'm joining in. Since I don't expect to get to read tomorrow, I started it today, and am just a few pages in. This is a reread for me; but my previous read was perhaps as much as 50 years ago or more, or certainly close to 50, so my memories of most of it are hazy at best. But I did vividly recall the opening scene of Dombey after the birth of his son and heir, and the satirical humor with which Dickens depicts it!
I don't find it easy to read lots of books at once, but can juggle a few if they're different: nonfiction, science fiction, a classic, a children's book, poetry, a modern novel - you get the drift? Well, during February, I've been doing something I make a point of never doing: reading two books of the same type (or within a genre) alongside each other. Not only that, but they were published in the same year, 1848! Neither were my choice, but both were selected as group reads which I wanted to join in, and both are, I already knew, excellent novels. They are The Tenant of Wildfell Hall by Anne Brontë and Dombey and Son by Charles Dickens. Both are rereads for me, but reading them in parallel with each other has been quite instructive, in analysing how I come to them as a reader.
The Tenant of Wildfell Hall is a quick read - providing you are used to Victorian English. It's an amazing book, but easy to feel you've done justice to it, even paying close attention over one month. I'm reviewing it at the moment, when I get a chance!
However Dombey and Son is a different kettle of fish. It has so many different strands and layers, it needs a pause after every chapter, and sometimes partway! Not to say it is dry - never that - but complex, certainly :) It's possible to just read it for the story, but you'd miss so much that way. I began this current analytical reread in mid-December, and am just over half way through (I need to plan ahead for that particular group).
So this is the first time I've ever read two classic novels in parallel (except way back at school) and it's much easier than I had expected, with an extra bonus.
I'm also reading others alongside, but I can hardly say they are for "light relief" as one is by Stephen King :( I guess my first love is always going to be Victorian literature ... but please keep that under your hat, or my street cred will be shot! ;)
This month, I'm taking part in another group's common read of
The Devil Rides Out by Dennis Wheatley (I started a bit late). It's my first introduction to his work --surprisingly, I'd never heard of him before I joined Goodreads.
Barb and I started on a new "car book" today: the alternate-world fantasy novel
Operation Luna by Poul Anderson. It's the sequel to his Operation Chaos, which we read together a few years ago and both liked (and some years before that, we also read and liked his stand-alone SF novel The High Crusade), so I have good hopes for this one. Since it's a pretty thick book for a trade paperback, I'm expecting it will take us awhile to read it.
Recently, I received a copy of my friend Andrew M. Seddon's latest story collection,
The Deadliest Sins: Seven Supernatural Stories, each story focusing on one of the traditional "seven deadly sins." It's not really a review copy --Andrew would gift me with one whether I reviewed it or not-- but I'm prioritizing it as if it were, so started on it this weekend. I'm expecting it to be quite a quick read.
Although Barb and I recently began reading Poul Anderson's Operation Luna, the sequel to his
Operation Chaos which we read and liked back in 2015, Barb remarked that she wasn't connecting as well with the characters as she would if she could actually remember the earlier read. So I suggested rereading it, so we could read the two back-to-back. That works for her, so we started our reread of the first book today.
Back when I was a teen, in the mid-to-late 60s, I was quite fascinated with an 1899 history of Norway,
Norway by a Sigvart Sorensen. But it's one of a number of books that I didn't have author/title information for (in this case. because the copy I read was missing its front cover and title page), and I only ran it down this year. I realized I couldn't do it justice in a review without a reread, so I started reading it again this week.
My first read of George Eliot's great novel
Middlemarch was more than 20 years ago. Since I'd never reviewed it here, watching the wonderful 1994 BBC miniseries adaptation (https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0108858/ ) on DVD last summer inspired me to do a reread, so I finally started on it again yesterday.
That's about how long ago I read Middlemarch, too. It'd be fun to see the miniseries to jog my memory.
Having finished our reread of Operation Chaos by Poul Anderson (which we originally read in 2015), Barb and I immediately started on the sequel,
Operation Luna. Though Barb was the one who suggested the reread, reading the books back-to-back will give us both a fresher recollection of the characters, and make the visit with old friends in the second one more rewarding. :-)
I'm now taking part in a common read, in another group, of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's second Sherlock Holmes novel,
The Sign of Four. This is a reread for me (as of last year, I've read the entire original Holmes canon); but my previous read was as a tween kid back in the 60s, so my recollections of it aren't sharp.
The Sign of Four looks interesting, I still haven't read Sherlock Holmes yet. Anyway, I was thinking about what you said concerning "recollections". Sometimes it seems tempting to reread something (especially if it's a classic) that I know I read, but can't remember any or hardly any details about it.
Because she knows I'm a fan of Agatha Christie and of her series sleuth Hercules Poirot, my wife gave me a copy of
Mrs. McGinty's Dead for Christmas some years ago. As is usually the case with books in my mountainous TBR piles, it's sat unread for years; so I'm taking advantage of a common read in another group this month to finally read it. (I'm joining in very late in the month; but it's a fairly short book, and I'm expecting it to be a quick read.)
I've just begun reading an older book by Anne Tyler called The Clock Winder. As all of her other books, it takes place in Baltimore and this one in the Roland Park area where my grandmother grew up.
Invasion of the Body Snatchers by Jack Finney was picked as a common read for this month in another one of my groups, and I'm joining in. Although I'm starting a bit late, I expect it to be a fairly quick read. This will be my first experience with the author's long fiction; he hadn't previously been on my radar at all, though I've read one of his short stories years ago in an anthology (I'm not sure which one now, though, since it's been quite a while!).
Last month, an ongoing discussion in another group prompted me to send for a copy of the current edition of a nonfiction book,
The Fire That Consumes: A Biblical and Historical Study of the Doctrine of Final Punishment, Third Edition by Edward Fudge, to refer to. I'd read the first edition in the early 90s (and reviewed it retrospectively here on Goodreads years ago); but I decided that the new edition has enough new content to make a (re?)read desirable, and I got started on it this weekend.
I've just finished reading The Clock Winder by Anne Tyler. It was interesting, but I never could identify with any character although I found bits of each of them a little intriguing.Next up is to finish Personal Recollections of Joan of Arc by Mark Twain. Since this was on my "abandoned" list from a few years back, I've been listening to the audiobook of the first half to reacquaint myself with it.
I've been reading "Demelza" by Winston Graham. I've had the book for a few years, but just now getting the chance to read it. I really appreciate Graham's descriptions and characters. I loved "Ross Poldark" and I'm loving this!
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