What are you reading? 2015 Edition

[Leah]

Just finished Waltz into the Waves: A Cinderella Story. Short story by Sarah Holman. Very sweet.

[M F]

More poetry for me because I'm still procrastinating on my essay. "Better Than God" by Peter Porter which I picked up earlier in a discount bookshop that was closing down (so things were on sale).

[Elisabeth]

I finished A Red Herring Without Mustard today, and also read Quality Street by J.M. Barrie, a charming light play set in the Regency era. A bit like a Georgette Heyer story onstage!

[[deleted user]]

I overworked last week, so I didn't have time for much reading... but I had a 3-day weekend, so I finished a couple seasons of TV and a book. Yay! Now I have to decide if I'm going to start another nonfiction book in its place (which would be ideal), or slip in a couple of easier fiction books just for a short break...

The book I finished will be of no interest to you if you're not engaged or married... but if you're either, please, please do yourself and your spouse a favor and read it: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

[Katie]

I finally finished "Anarchist in the Library" AND "A History of the World in Six Glasses." I'm now debating between "The Big Ban Never Happened" and "Cyberpunk" for my next read...or going back to fiction. I have "Searching for Dragons" waiting for me and three or four Patricia A. McKillip books....such hard decisions!

[Katie]

Halfway through Cyberpunk my copy of "Weaving the Web" arrived, so I read that. I also finished "How We Got to Now" and "A History of the World in Six Glasses."

And then I read Watchmen, and that put an end to my ability to enjoy any other story EVER until I get it out of my system.

So what's everyone else up to?

[Hannah]

I've been reading too much to actually comment about it all. I read "Playing With Heart" by Anne Mateer a couple nights ago and absolutely loved it. Finished "The Secret of Pembrooke Park" by Julie Klassen yesterday and was very disturbed at the sensuality between the main characters, plus some out-of-character actions that were a bit of a historical stretch. Then read "The Wishing-ring Man" by Margaret Widdemer and loved it.

[Jonathan]

I finally finished one of the books I got for Christmas: The Image of the City by Charles Williams. I found it fascinating, but, then, I almost always find Williams fascinating, which I know is not a common opinion.

[Morgan]

I just finished Cinder, and I'm reading The Rise of Aredor now. I really liked Cinder. I also recently read Ella Enchanted, which I do believe jumped to my favorites list.

[[deleted user]]

Woo, I'm back! (I was away for the weekend on my belated "honeymoon.") The week before we left I was eaten alive by work and a bunch of book formatting, so I didn't get much reading done, but while we were away I bought a zombie/horror comic anthology from the author (who signed it, yay!) and read it. I'm not sure if it's on Goodreads because it's actually an Australian publication, but we'll find out...

Hopefully this week will be a bit more kind in the "doing something besides work" department. I do have a nonfiction book going; I just haven't gotten very far with it.

[M F]

My current essay is eating my life, so I haven't read anything in a while that wasn't for that. :( One of my poems got in a magazine, though! So that's always exciting. :)

[[deleted user]]

VERY EXCITING!! Which magazine, Miriam?

[Faith]

I recently finished reading "An Uncertain Choice" by Jody Hedlund. I'll probably be posting a review in the next couple of days. To purge my mind of some of the things in that book (torture scenes), I started reading "Full Steam Ahead" by Karen Witemeyer. *sighs* What a breath of fresh air.

[Hannah]

Faith wrote: "I recently finished reading "An Uncertain Choice" by Jody Hedlund. I'll probably be posting a review in the next couple of days. To purge my mind of some of the things in that book (torture scenes)..."
Oh, that was a fun book!

[Faith]

Hannah wrote: "Oh, that was a fun book!"

I haven't gotten very far, but I have enjoyed it so far. :)

[[deleted user]]

I picked up my Kindle yesterday and finished a graphic novel I had suspended on my Comixology app since last year. I'd started it as part of a sprint before realizing it was like 300 pages long... So I finally finished it. It was a nice complicated Batman tale.

[M F]

Aubrey wrote: "VERY EXCITING!! Which magazine, Miriam?"

It's called "Notes" -- it's an Oxbridge-based publication so they have student stuff from both Oxford and Cambridge. (I think there are two separate magazines.)

[Elisabeth]

Finally catching up here! Since last time I posted I've finished several books: We Band of Angels , an interesting but heartbreaking book about American nurses in the Philippines during WWII. The Warden by Anthony Trollope (who's going to develop into a favorite classic author, I think). High Rising by Angela Thirkell, which I've wanted to read for ages and which finally came out on Kindle—I can't remember the last time I've laughed so hard while reading. Stand to Horse by Andre Norton.

And right now I'm reading Macbeth, and Volume II of How the West Was Written by Ron Scheer, a study of early Western fiction.

[Katie]

Macbeth, eh?

"Is this a dagger I see before me?"
"No, sir, it's just your handkerchief. It doesn't have as many sharp edges."

(the second line is Terry Pratchett, not Shakespeare.)

[Elisabeth]

One of the most fun things about reading Shakespeare is recognizing all the lines I've seen quoted elsewhere (sometimes without even knowing they were Shakespeare...).

[Katie]

I finished Nice Dragons Finish Last last night, by Rachel Aaron. It was excellent. I really enjoyed it. Some of the best urban fantasy around, IMO. I also highly recommend it for anyone too squeamish for the Dresden Files. It has a lot of the same elements (power struggles, thaumaturgy, heroes who get beaten up regularly) but without the horrendously violent crimes, the language, or the strain of trying to save the world with every novel.

[Elisabeth]

I finished Macbeth the other day, and yesterday afternoon I read The Rakshasa's Bride by Suzannah Rowntree, a short retelling of Beauty and the Beast in an exotic Indian setting. (Suzannah's debut novel Pendragon's Heir, an Arthurian fantasy, is coming out next month—I had the privilege of reading an advance copy and it's wonderful!)

[[deleted user]]

I'm going through a "clean up my to-read list on my Comixology app" stint again (thankfully I never let my unread comics list get too unruly). Meanwhile I finally dug up the necessary paperwork to get a library card down here in Chicago, so I picked up a stack of graphic novels and also two sci-fi novels I had in progress at some point that I still want to finish.

[Hannah]

Aubrey wrote: "I'm going through a "clean up my to-read list on my Comixology app" stint again (thankfully I never let my unread comics list get too unruly). Meanwhile I finally dug up the necessary paperwork to..."

Your library requires paperwork? Wow! I'm used to just showing ID and getting a card handed to me!

[[deleted user]]

Yeah, to prove residency. :)

[M F]

I'm currently reading ... kind of everything. I do this when I'm in physical pain and don't want to concentrate on anything -- just read book after book in an attempt not to think about anything else. Usually relatively short YA books so that I can read them in a couple of hours and feel like I've achieved something. But I've also been working my way through the LGBT collection in our college library because it's the only fiction they have.

Over the last few days I've read: "White Devil", "Tipping the Velvet", "Holy Hell", "Bombmaker", and "Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief", which I've been planning to read for a while. I've just found out I can borrow ebooks from my library back home even while in Cambridge, which means I'm working my way through the Percy Jackson books -- I thought I wasn't able to get any fiction while I'm here unless I bought it but thankfully I was wrong. They don't have a huge amount of choice, but it might prompt me to take a chance on some unknown books. (Bombmaker was one of those.)

Alas I have to read them on my tablet, which is backlit, because they're not Kindle files. But it's not so bad. I spend so many hours on the computer that my eyes can't tell the difference.

And yes, I should be writing an essay. It was due last week. I haven't even started it. But whatever.

[M F]

Today I read 'The Black North' which I really enjoyed -- great female protagonist, interesting style, engaging plot, and NO ROMANCE AT ALL WOOHOO!

[Annie]

Just finished "The Man Who Knew Too Much" by Chesterton. Woah. O.O

I shall now commence wandering about in a dazed manner thinking, "What do I do next?"

[Hannah]

Miriam wrote: "Today I read 'The Black North' which I really enjoyed -- great female protagonist, interesting style, engaging plot, and NO ROMANCE AT ALL WOOHOO!"

Haha! Were you starting to feel sugarcoated? Too much romance can do that!
If you don't mind reading online, check out Project Gutenburg and Internet archive. I've read many a book from both.

[Hannah]

Still working my way through "For Such a Time" by Kate Breslin...as I suspected, deeply emotional (WWII concentration camps), but excellent so far.

[Alyssa]

I just finished The Prisoner of Zenda, which I really liked and have added to my favorites list.

[Hannah]

Alyssa wrote: "I just finished The Prisoner of Zenda, which I really liked and have added to my favorites list."

Oh, that one was good!

[M F]

Hannah - I just... don't get along very well with romance. It has to be something special for me to care about it at all, and I get sick of it being shoehorned into plots that function perfectly well without it, which happens a lot in YA fiction.

That said, last night I read "City Of Heavenly Fire" (I stayed up until half past two, oh, woe, so many regrets) and did get pretty invested in some of the pairings, mainly because they've developed over six books. Also shipped some non-canon couples.

[Katie]

I'm working my way through the Cape High series, which is decently good and a lot of fun. I also finally have a copy of Dream Thieves. (Dream Thieves!!!) So that's exciting.

[M F]

DREAM THIEVES YES stiefvater love <3

[Katie]

I read at work all morning, so I'm 10% through now. Beautiful, beautiful writing. I can't put it down.

[Elisabeth]

I've been sick this past week, so I've tended to do a lot of re-reading (I think I now understand the term "comfort reads" a lot better). Georgette Heyer's Footsteps in the Dark, some bits of Jean Webster's Just Patty, and the first two Anne of Green Gables books.

Along those same lines, I've decided to make March a month for re-reading a lot of old favorites I've been meaning to revisit. First up is Little Women, since I'm following along with a blog read-along of that.

[M F]

I read Allegiant yesterday/today which I liked probably more than Insurgent but I'm still not wild about the series.

Currently I'm reading Grettir's Saga, for an Old Norse lit essay I need to do, and when I'm done I will read the fourth Percy Jackson book.

[Katie]

And Dream Thieves is done. It was brilliant. This series is so well written I don't even know how to praise it properly. And the characters. The CHARACTERS, people. Now it's probably going to be a month before I can get the next book, so back to Cape High, which is a wonderful source of mindless amusement.

[Hannah]

Just finished "Prelude for a Lord" by Camille Elliot last night. Highly recommended for music and Regency lovers!

[Jonathan]

I just finished The Writer's Art, which I thought equally worthwhile for its insights (including a few helpful mnemonics for commonly-confused words in the "crotchets" i.e. pet peeves section at the end) and for its wit and humor. There are a few points on which I am dubious, and a few more where I think Kilpatrick is clearly wrong, but even on those I can understand his reasoning, and he is well worth reading.

(Oh, and Aubrey, one of the briefest sentences and almost certainly the briefest sentence in the book is in the "crotchets" section under the heading "Irregardless": "There is no such word." So there. :))

I have now resumed The Mythical Man Month, which my parents gave me for my birthday.

[[deleted user]]

Tell that to Merriam Webster, Jonathan. ;) It's funny, actually, in the usage notes under "irregardless" on Merriam Webster online, it says "There is such a word"--although it admits it's not generally accepted yet. But "generally accepted" and "isn't a word" are two different things. So there! :) http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictio...

I've been sick the past two weekends, and unfortunately it was the kind of sick that left me unable to do anything but sleep, so I didn't get any reading done during the downtime. Sigh. But I'm returning to normal now, so I hope to tackle my stack of library books before they come due. I also have some coffee research books in at the library...

In other news, you never know what you'll find at the dollar store. Like an IDW Astro Boy comic book originally worth $18. Woot!

[M F]

Doesn't it just contradict itself though? It already has the suffix 'less' that negates it, so putting 'ir' as a prefix makes it a double negative. It seems to be born of a mixture of "regardless" and "irrespective".

[Jonathan]

Aubrey wrote: "Tell that to Merriam Webster, Jonathan. ;)

Note that Kilpatrick was actively writing when my dad was about my age and before, and that this collection was first published in 1985. I'm certain that he would be less abrupt in his dismissal of the word were he writing today. But there are a few places in the book where he flatly states that a particular dictionary---and I think that at least once "Merriam-Webster" is the dictionary in question---is wrong in applying only the descriptive and not the prescriptive philosophy of lexicography.

Miriam wrote: "It seems to be born of a mixture of "regardless" and "irrespective"."
That's by far the best explanation of the origin of the word that I've seen, and it's one I hadn't thought of or seen before.

[[deleted user]]

I completely agree with you, Jonathan. Which is why I take the liberty of ignoring the nonstandard state of the word and use it when it suits what I am trying to say. ;)

It's definitely a double negative. But English isn't exactly known for being pragmatic and logical in its etymology... Inflammable and flammable, anyone? People just like to pick on it particularly because the sound of the word annoys them, I think. I rather like it, which is why I use it. And also because I love ruffling the feathers of people who hate it but can't deny it is as legitimate a word as any other in the dictionary. ;)

[Jonathan]

Aubrey wrote: "Inflammable and flammable, anyone?"

That particular case is exactly one where lexicographers chose pragmatism, actually. The word was, for centuries, "inflammable" and nothing else: "capable of being inflamed." But then (as more and more people became literate, and likely to both meet the word and have some knowledge of Latin and Greek roots) the confused idea that because in many contexts "in-" means "not" (e.g. "inflexible") this was a synonym for "nonflammable." The historically-improper "flammable" won out because that confusion could cost lives if people thought that a blanket made of "inflammable" materials was thereby safe to wear while reading by candlelight.

"People just like to pick on it particularly because the sound of the word annoys them, I think."
As the quote from Kilpatrick I opened today's discussion with demonstrates, that's not universally true. I don't like it because it's an unnecessary neologism (some new words and new constructions are necessary to convey new meaning, and others say the same thing as an existing construction in fewer or less roundabout words; "irregardless" does neither, except in the connotations that nowadays attach to it beyond its strict meaning); any annoyance I have at its sound (adding an unnecessary prefix) follows, rather than leads, that dislike.

"... as legitimate a word as any other in the dictionary."
Any dictionary that does not include certain constructions but warn you that they should not be used isn't worth consulting. (For example, that fairly often "comprise" and "consist" are used in the reverse of their actual meanings. Or, to pick your earlier example, that "inflammable" can be confusing and so "flammable" should be used instead.)

[[deleted user]]

Ahh, Jon, you haven't changed a lick since we were both mods bantering about writing on Holy Worlds.

Irregardless ;) , we're both supposed to be fitting some reading in...

[Jonathan]

Aubrey wrote: "Irregardless ;) , we're both supposed to be fitting some reading in..."

Speak for yourself :) (the answer to which is, of course, "I did" :)); at the moment, reading would be "Homework Avoidance Behavior" for me, and I've done far too much of that already today. After I too was laid low by a stomach flu over the weekend, I'm way behind. I finished Kilpatrick and have almost finished Mythical Man-Month by reading while eating and then lingering over meals.

[Hannah]

I just use the 1828 Noah Webster Dictionary for fun. It makes the basket I keep it in put delightful ruts in my carpet because it's so heavy, and I'm pretty sure it would stop a bullet in the case of an armed robber. It comes complete with 20 definitions of "to"; "quaff" is listed; and each word is given an instance of use, mostly from classic literature.
Of course it lacks words such as "hamburger" and "refrigerator". ;)

[M F]

I'm rereading 'Reaper Man' by Terry Pratchett in memory of him -- it seems appropriate. Very sad that he has died.