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Reed
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Dec 18, 2021 08:07PM
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Hello, Everyone! I woke up to Christmas Eve snow this morning—woo hoo! And last night I finished reading "A Christmas Carol" by Charles Dickens—another woo hoo!Maybe it’s because of my familiarity with the story, but I really enjoyed the book. Not that there weren’t a few surprises. For instance, I didn’t expect Dickens to interject occasionally as a narrator, of sorts.
Compared to my favorite movie adaptation with Alistair Sims (which I watch annually on Christmas Eve), I was surprised not to read about the future of Alice, Scrooge’s former fiancee. (She is Belle in the book.) Nor his interaction with his charwoman on Christmas Day nor Tiny Tim’s certainty that it was Scrooge who sent the Cratchit family the turkey. Then I learned that these scenes were created for the film. Dickens hadn’t actually included them in his book. In some ways, I wish he had because I do love that 1951 movie.
Overall, there is a reason why this book is so beloved and its messages are clear. Dickens shows us that despite our past we are all redeemable. That’s good to know. "God bless us, everyone!"
Yesterday, I started reading
Fireside Book of Christmas Stories (1945). I won't finish it before January, when I'm planning to start other reads; but it will be an anthology I'll come back to dip into during the Christmas season in future years, too. So for now, it's on my "being read intermittently" shelf.
In keeping with my current stress on keeping up with or completing the various series I'm reading, today I started on
Made to Be Broken by Kelley Armstrong. It's the second volume of her Nadia Stafford trilogy.
I/m currently reading the Bible and Dante's Purgatorio.
I'm wrapping up my reading of Kelley Armstrong's original Nadia Stafford trilogy by starting on the third book,
Wild Justice.
I am now rereading Ptolemy's Almagest and I've moved on to The Divine Comedy: Volume 3: Paradiso. Dante's plan of heaven is based directly on Ptolemy's earth-centric astronomy.
Finished Out of the Silent Planet and next up in the series is Perelandra. However, I'm going to wait a few days before beginning and need to decide on a different genre for the interim. Meanwhile I'm casually reading All Creatures Great and Small, and have also been enjoying the series on PBS.
I almost went back to my long-abandoned read of 1984, but then decided to read Orwell's earlier book titled The Clergyman's Daughter. (This is the cover of my paperback edition, but Goodreads is mistakenly showing it as an audio version.)
Thank you, Donnally. Do you think it would be good to read before 1984?
I think that would make sense. That's how I experienced the two books. I had just read Animal Farm, and then saw a post from Werner recommending 1984, so I read it right away. It's not so great a novel as 1984, but it is an easier read. It would probably whet your appetite for the greater work.
Thanks for the feedback -- much appreciated!
I've started reading
The Trinity by Roger E. Olson and Christopher A. Hall, part of Eerdmans' Guides to Theology series. As a part of the same study, I'm planning to reread the parts of Kenneth Scott Latourette's
(which I read nearly 50 years ago) that deal with the development of Christological and Trinitarian doctrines in the early Christian centuries; that should fit in with Olson and Hall's primarily historicist approach.
Back when Barb and I were homeschooling our girls in the 90s, I watched a VHS edition of the 1989 American Playhouse production of Lorraine Hansberry's play
A Raisin in the Sun (1959), and made it required viewing for American Literature class. Until now, though, I'd never read the play itself. I started reading it yesterday, and I'm finding that in some ways that's an even more rewarding way to experience it than simply watching it being performed.
One of my other groups started a common read of Charles Dickens' Bleak House yesterday, and I'm joining in. Dickens is one of my favorite authors, but I still haven't read the majority of his novels, including this one (I hope to read them all eventually!); so I'm enthusiastic about this read!
Having finished Bleak House last year, I am very eager to hear everyone's impressions! :-)
Whenever I write my review, Reggia, I'll link to it over on the reviews thread!
Hello, Everyone! I’ve been hibernating this winter, but I’m finally ready to peek out to see what’s going on in the Litwit group.
Thank goodness for books! I’ve retreated from an insane world to rereading "All Creatures Great and Small" by James Herriot. Love it—and I think I’ll be reading the rest of his books this year. I need to be nurtured.
The second season of the PBS TV show just ended and I don’t want to leave the comfort of the Yorkshire Dales, so I joined a Facebook group. I can’t tell you what a blessing it is to talk about kindness and community.
I hope everyone in the group is well and safe.
Hi Eleyne-Mari! I also pulled the first of the series off my bookshelf after watching on PBS. I haven't noticed the FB group, but it's heartening to hear their concern with kindness.
My Goodreads friend (and independent author) Kana Wu's latest novel is
A Warm Rainy Day in Tokyo. She kindly sent me a review copy in e-book format, and I started reading it today.
Another author friend, Heather Day Gilbert, also recently gifted me (in print format, a generosity I greatly appreciate!) a review copy, in this case of the fourth and concluding book in her A Murder in the Mountains mystery series,
False Pretense. The timing was perfect; Barb (who's also a fan of the series) and I were ready to start a new book to read together, so we began on it this morning!
I'm now reading the last of the CS Lewis's Space trilogy, That Hideous Strength, and much more engaged with this last one.
Although for a long time I've listed Zane Grey's 1918 Western novel
The U.P. Trail as read, based on an experience of it as a pre-teen kid, I'm not sure now that I actually finished it back then. Even if I did, my memory of it is too faulty to do it justice in a review without a fresh read. So, I started reading (or rereading) it this morning. As a kid, I definitely recall that I wasn't very impressed with it; so it will be interesting to see if my altered perspective as a adult lets me appreciate it more.
Reggia wrote: "Having finished Bleak House last year, I am very eager to hear everyone's impressions! :-)"I'll link to my review on the reviews thread Reggia. In the group Werner referred to, we're doing a close study and reading just one chapter a day, with breaks where the original installments ended, so it's a l-o-n-g read. This time of reading, I started it last year, and am half way through with the group :)
It's ages since I read The Space Trilogy: Out of the Silent Planet, Perelandra, That Hideous Strength by C.S. Lewis, and really would like to read those again!
Reggia, just now I linked to my review (posted last night) of Bleak House on the reviews thread as well. I finished the read well ahead of the group, because I'm one of the very few participants who read at their own speed (which in my case is usually faster than a chapter a day, though still slow). But I still follow the wonderful discussions in the group religiously, and learn a lot from them. (In fact, the Dickens quotation in my review is taken directly from a post by Bionic Jean on that thread --thanks, Jean!
You're welcome Werner! I'm so glad you enjoyed it all, and I value your contributions, as you know :) I'm still not sure whether I'll have the energy to prepare another one in that detail in time for next Spring ... time will tell! I've read and very much enjoyed your review, but haven't "liked" it - yet! Don't worry - I will at the end of our read! The reason is that I've noticed some friends pick up on my current status, and whereas of course I would love them to read your review, now would be a bit prescient. Not that you give any spoilers - you don't of course - but you do give a judgment e.g. about Esther's reliability, and some members are still considering that one (although most have formed an opinion, changed it, and changed back!)
I enjoyed your alternative perspective ... I thought you would appreciate the letter to Rev. D. Macrae :) Oh, and your comment about whether it's a mystery is also one which might be better read either before or after the novel, rather than during it. (I feel differently about that bit by the way, as I think there are quite a few mysteries, and wonder which you consider to be the main one! Perhaps it's the one just coming up ... ) Also, those used to reading Victorian fiction may consider Esther pivotal, (dramatisations simplify it to this too) but the one character who is present in all the story threads is actually (view spoiler)! He is privy to far more than Esther.
Anyway, that's just why I haven't "liked" or drawn attention to it for those involved in the read, as we have so much more to come :) If they find it for themselves and read it, of course that's fine and up to them. (I don't read reviews in the middle of a read usually, but some people might.) I had a friend once, who would look at the cover of a book, maybe read the first few sentences - and then read the last page !! Aaargh! We're definitely all different!
Apologies for the length of this post. And thank you very much for the shout-out for the group in your review. I do appreciate it :)
Thanks, Jean! Your thoughts make perfect sense. And I'm glad to shout-out your wonderful group whenever I can!
I've just finished The Book Thief, and feeling all the emotion of it... oddly (?), I feel a bit used by the author, haha! It was wrapped up all so neatly, yet showing that life is anything but tidy; in this case, it was all in the eyes of Death and two young adolescents....still working on Flirting With French, and added a text I picked up 2 decades ago: Introduction to Philosophy: A Christian Perspective.
...will decide by this evening what new fiction to begin.
I really enjoyed The Book Thief Reggia, and found it quite original :)I've just begun All Creatures Great and Small. It's a compilation of the Yorkshire vet Alf Wight (writing as James Herriot)'s first two books, plus three chapters from his third! Not surprisingly (since I was born and brought up in Yorkshire) it's a many times reread for me. Real comfort reading, but how could I resist when one of my other groups chose it as a group read. Just lovely for lazing in the garden and reading in the sun on a summer afternoon :)
Yes, our narrator was very original, indeed! It seemed odd at first, but as my reading went on, I grew to enjoy this angle very much.Although All Creatures Great and Small has been on the back burner lately, I am reading it, too. Some of the stories I am recognizing from the newest PBS series... the first in the book actually.
I must watch that some time when it's repeated, as other have said how good it is too. We have the box set of the originals and I know some episodes backwards!Now I'm involved in the "Daily Dracula" project. Each time there is a new date in this epistolary novel, I get a the relevant chunk sent to me by email (though I'm actually reading the Gutenberg edition). It started on May 4th, and will go on until November - as the original does. It's great fun! There are three days without entries now though so I need to discipline myself ...
You can sign in at:
draculadaily@substack.com (they don't ask for info) and there's an archive to catch up :)
Being a fan of historical fiction who's especially fond of tales set in medieval times, the book I've just started,
To Love a Viking, a collaboration between my Goodreads friend Heather Day Gilbert and a new-to-me author, Jen Cudmore, should be right up my alley. :-) This is a trade paperback ARC which I received recently, so I've prioritized it as much as I could. (Heather previously wrote the outstanding duology The Vikings of the New World Saga.)
Barb and I have just started reading a book I got her as a belated (long story!) Christmas present,
Claiming Her Legacy by a new-to-us evangelical Christian author, Linda Goodnight. It's a western with a female protagonist, set in Oklahoma Territory in 1890, and comes recommended by Goodnight's fellow genre writer Mary Connealy, who's become a favorite of ours; so I have good hopes for it.
Although I officially count Mark Twain as one of my favorite authors, what I primarily like in his body of work is (most of) his fiction; I've been much less drawn to his nonfiction. Then too, I'm not a big fan of other people's accounts of their travels (I've read exactly two books in that vein during my life). But, a group I'm in is doing a read of his
A Tramp Abroad, and I'm taking part in that. So it will be interesting (to me, anyway!) to see whether or not I'll like that one. :-)
I'll be interested to see what you say Werner, as I've never read anything by Mark Twain (that I can remember, although l've seen films. My favourite was The Million Pound Bank Note.)
Bionic Jean wrote: "I'll be interested to see what you say Werner, as I've never read anything by Mark Twain (that I can remember, although l've seen films. My favourite was [book:The Million Pound Bank ..."I expect to finish the book and post a review around the end of this month, or early in July.
I’m reading Tribute by Nora Roberts and I hope to finish it soon
Well, Jean, it didn't take me until the end of the month to arrive at my final assessment of A Tramp Abroad after all --I gave it an honest try, but I bailed on it today. My explanation for that reaction is here: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show... .
Although I started my third reading session with A Tramp Abroad this evening still intending to grit my teeth and finish it, by p.71 I decided there was no point in prolonging the waste of time on a book I simply wasn't enjoying. So, I unexpectedly found myself rummaging in the physical TBR piles here at my house, looking for a new read to suddenly push to the head of the queue. Fortunately, it wasn't hard to pick one!Peter O'Donnell's iconic character Modesty Blaise is one of my favorite fictional action heroines. Although
Last Day in Limbo is out of series order for me, I'd started reading it in a public library in another county back in the early 90s (long story!) and had always really wanted to read the whole thing. I'd hoped to work it in this year, and today was the perfect opportunity; so I've now started on it again (and read past the point where I'd earlier had to stop).
That's a great review Werner, thanks for alerting me to it! It says exactly what you thought of it and why. As I said to you there, I suspect there are similarities with Charles Dickens's writings about his travels. Although I personally think he pulls the humour off very well, it could be considered offensive. Perhaps Mark Twain was relentless - I wouldn't have enjoyed the gory descriptions either. Charles Dickens has those too about historic Italian prisons and torture chambers. His account is graphic, but not written in a self-indulgent or morbid way. He is clearly horrified by what happened in the past. I wonder now whether you would enjoy Pictures from Italy by Charles Dickens. The two authors sound as though they had a similar sense of the the absurd - and arguably carried it past the point where it is generally thought appropriate. On the other hand, I know some Americans thoroughly enjoy American Notes For General Circulation, which are similarly unrestrained.
I saw the film Modesty Blaise on TV as a late teen, and then read the book, though I never saw the cartoon strips. Now I can't remember a thing about it!
Thanks, Jean! I might give Dickens' travel writings a try someday, but for now my ambition is to read all of the novels that are still in my TBR. :-)Bionic jean wrote: "I saw the film Modesty Blaise on TV as a late teen, and then read the book, though I never saw the cartoon strips. Now I can't remember a thing about it!"
Like you, I've never seen the cartoon strips (except for bits and pieces in reviews); and I've never seen the movie, either. (Though I've heard a lot about it --see below!) My introduction to the character was through one of O'Donnell's short stories back in my youth, though I got a very late start on reading any of the rest of the canon. (Long story!)
The book you linked to (Modesty Blaise, 1965) is the series opener; there were ultimately 11 novels and two story collections, and the cartoon strips are being or have been reprinted as a series of graphic novels. Originally, the idea of the movie was inspired by the cartoons (which are serious stories, not comical ones!), and O"Donnell was hired to do the screenplay. But the filmmakers then decided to do the movie as a parody of the James Bond movies instead, and hired a different script writer. But they commissioned O'Donnell to do the novelization --which he did, using his own screenplay, not the other guy's, as the basis. (That book is the series opener and genesis of the book series.) So there's actually relatively little resemblance between it and the movie (which proved to be a box office flop).
That's really interesting thanks! I wonder how it ever made it to British TV! I have no idea how the novel I read compared with the film, now, but presumably I must have enjoyed the spoof of James Bond enough to read it in the first place.
Well, I don't think that's going to entice Jean to finally read Twain, lol. ;-) I wonder if his other "Abroad" title is any better, I have a copy around here somewhere. Just checked, it's The Innocents Abroad.Good to see you chiming in, Reed. Be sure and let us know how you liked Tribute.
I'm still reading through All Creatures Great and Small, and after a long hiatus have returned to Les Misérables and am reading the 2nd volume. I started to watch the Netflix musical to get me to the part at which I left off... and didn't much care for it.
I've just recovered from Covid and was back to work this past week. Soon I'll be headed to the east coast for 2 weeks, and that may change my reading choices. We shall see! For now, I'm super-excited to soon be walking in green grass while surrounded by trees. Oh! the things I used to take for granted. :-)
Oh Reggia - I'm so glad you're feeling better! Yes, it's the little things we miss ...
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