Ancient & Medieval Historical Fiction discussion
General Discussions
>
Random Thoughts
message 16301:
by
May
(new)
Dec 30, 2019 06:09PM
May I ask ... what is THE WITCHER?
reply
|
flag
You sure can. :-)It is a book series (which I haven't read) and it is a computer game as well. And now they have made it into a tv series starring Henry Cavill as The Witcher.
For me, he's like the Uhtred of the fantasy world. lol. As opposed to the real world of Britain.
Happy new Year, all you lovely people!!!!May 2020 and a new decade bring you many positive things and many good reads!
Kind regards to you all,
Terri
What are your reading goals this year? What is the your first book of 2020 going to be?My reading goals will be... getting back to reading hist fic now that I've had a year break from it. Try and read some hist fic by Aussie authors, and try and step out of my comfort zone as regards theme and time period.
First book of 2020..... I'm still reading a book I started in 2019, so I regard it as a 2019 book. :-) So, my first book for 2020 will be the novel True History of the Kelly Gang - a novel written in a first person narration by the bushranger Ned Kelly. It won the Booker prize many years ago. Time I found out why.
I want to get some of the chunkers off my list. Seems every book I’ve been interested in lately is a gazillion pages long.Also, read a bit more Nonfiction. I like NF fine, it’s just so much easier to grab a fictional book. I read quite a bit for Nonfiction November last month and would like to continue that into 2020. Even if that means less than five, it’s five more than I would have normally read.
Not sure what book I’ll start off with...at my sister’s babysitting for the night but I have a 30 book library pile waiting for me at home :)
30 book library pile! Holy Toledo.
Let's see. I have a few. I want to continue with reading through all the series I have started. I am trying to finish some and keep up with others. I have a list started.
This will be the seventh year that I continue on with reading books from the Giller prize shortlists. A Canadian Literature award.
And then I have a list of 20 classics that are long or difficult that I have never quite gotten around to. So I'd like to get into that list.
I have a few books to finish from 2019, but I think the first book I'll be starting fresh in 2020 will be The 42nd Parallel, in audio. In ebook I'll be start with At the Sign of Triumph and then in paper Unapologetic: A Black, Queer, and Feminist Mandate for Radical Movements.
A real cross section of reading flavours there, Dawn. 2020 shouldn't get boring! :-D
I’m with Dawn: catch up or finish several series that I have been enjoying, particularly the Saxon series & Brother Cadfael. The motivation is that GR friends have suggested several authors I want to dig into!!
Happy New Year everyone!!I really don't have an goals except to read 5 book/month
Mainly history/HF
Terri wrote: "30 book library pile! Holy Toledo."Yeah lol.
I’m a mood reader, I need options!
Terri wrote: "A real cross section of reading flavours there, Dawn. 2020 shouldn't get boring! :-D"That is the plan!
May wrote: "I’m with Dawn: catch up or finish several series that I have been enjoying, particularly the Saxon series & Brother Cadfael. The motivation is that GR friends have suggested several authors I want ..."Those are both good series. I just caught up with Uhtred myself.
May I Wish a Happy New Year to everyone, and add my best wishes particularly to anyone suffering from the fires in Australia.One New Year resolution is to try to get back to reading 3 books per month. It may not sound much compared to Allie’s library pile, but I still work and I’m sending my own efforts away for professional editing as well.
And I’ll try to contribute more to Goodreads as well.
Good luck to you, Jerry! (If it helps, I never even get to like, 5 of those books before they all go back!)
I just read an article on Facebook about an estimated half BILLION animals have died so far in the Australian fires 😭 with many species being wiped out entirely. Plant life too.
Allie wrote: "I just read an article on Facebook about an estimated half BILLION animals have died ..."It's so sad. Yesterday on the news they said about 8,500 koalas have died. People were giving them water which they guzzled down because they were so dehydrated.
Good luck with your reading goals, Jerry. I'm about a 3 a month reader these days as well. Sometimes 4.Thankyou for your best wishes for us Aussies, Jerry.
Tamara wrote: "Allie wrote: "I just read an article on Facebook about an estimated half BILLION animals have died ..."It's so sad. Yesterday on the news they said about 8,500 koalas have died. People were givin..."
Omg 💔
The decimation to wildlife from the bushfires is just awful. It breaks my heart everyday.About 5 million hectares of New South Wales has burned and then nearly a million in Victoria, and then my State of Queensland and the State of South Australia have had some massive fires too. It feels like armageddon for wildlife down here, especially when you factor in the extreme drought eastern Australia is in right now. Where even trees hundreds of years old are dying from the drought.
It so distressing to hear. Our hearts reach out to you guys.
Thankyou, Marilyn.
This is so harsh... I’m am sorry that is so little that can be done to stop these fires.
Yesterday's news showed people heckling the Australian prime minister. They were angry with him. I don't know if he could have done something sooner in terms of mobilizing forces to curtail the fire. Or was it a case of too much fire, too quickly and little could have been done to control it?It breaks my heart to see the footage of fires burning, animals dying, and people in tears at the loss of life and property.
I started re-reading Bernard Cornwell last year and plan to keep it up. I am nearly through with the Warlord series, and Saxon books are next on the list. Happy New Year to everyone and may you all reach your reading goals and other resolutions.
Tamara wrote: "Yesterday's news showed people heckling the Australian prime minister. They were angry with him. I don't know if he could have done something sooner in terms of mobilizing forces to curtail the fir..."It's a complex issue with him, I'm afraid. Lack of funding and equipment for some rural firefighting units, obnoxious refusal to hold meetings regarding rural firefighters six months ago, slow to hold a National Crisis Meeting. (should have been held as a National emergency a week or more ago, but he's not getting around to it until next Friday.
But the thing that turned us all off him the most, is he left the country for a holiday in Hawaii while the country was burning. Photos of our prime minister sitting in cafes in Hawaii while towns burned and firefighters lives were lost. And then while towns were burning and hundreds of people were gathered on a beach getting rescued by our Navy, our Prime Minster was holding a lovely New Years Eve party at his house in Sydney to watch a fireworks show that should never have happened.
Many, including myself, are very angry with this man right now.
Thank you for your honest response, Terri. I'm so very sorry about all this.
Well, that explains your anger & frustration!!! I would feel the same... actually I am angry for you. Wishing you & yours remain safe!!
He's not our number one guy at the moment. lol. That's why you may see footage on the news of firefighters and residents of towns that have lost homes and lives, refusing to shake his hand or abusing him for the lack of funding etc...
Here we have what we call “super scoopers” - planes like a DC10 that can carry thousands of gallons of water; the super scooper is a Canadian plane that we lease during our high fire danger months, plus various kinds of helicopters. Do you Aussies have anything like that? Also, how long until you guys can vote that simpleton out of office?
Marilyn wrote: "Also, how long until you guys can vote that simpleton out of office?,..."As soon as we impeach him?
Speaking of simpletons, how do the Americans here feel about going to war again after the government (aka the potus) assassinated an Iranian military leader? What provoked such an attack all of a sudden? Our news reports are saying it was a deflection tactic to try to win the next election.I know its not a competition, but I think the current situation in the UK, Aus and USA are all very good examples of how difficult it is to remove an unpopular leader (simpleton) or convince them to step down.
Oops! Looks like I hit a nerve. Sorry. Back to Part 1 of the original question: Do you Aussies have any fire fighting equipment that can deliver water by air?
Haha. Well, to the original question, we have the DC10 water plane and about 3 of those choppers they call Elvis, but that's all! Now our PM decides lease some more but the horse has already bolted. A country as big as Australia that can have catastrophic wildfires, needs more than one water plane. They have been asking for more but the prime minister keeps saying no or putting them ofc. They were warning him 18 months ago that with the drought and rain deficit, we were going to have a horror bushfire season. But the government keeps ignoring it. Unfortunately, this guy just got voted back in last year, so we are stuck with him for a few years unless his political party decide to oust him and put another person in as Prime Minister. They can do that here if their political party thinks their leader is not fit to lead the country. Ironically, that's exactly how this guy became PM to begin with. His first term he got because they usurped their other guy! Complicated I know. Lol.
I didn't vote for this guy last year. But those who did must be kicking themselves.
We do have a couple I believe, but not enough this season. I believe the last request 2 years ago to invest a further 11M of funds into increasing the fleet is still unanswered by the government. Mostly we get them from California after your fire season is over but your season is also extended this year so we can only rely on Canada. Its possible that they are on alert waiting but Australia has not authorised leasing them. Our government has not been making the right decisions lately so anything is possible. Also remember that our population is under 25M people so per head of capita, it may already be assumed that we had adequate resources. These fires are unlike anything we have experienced before in the southern hemisphere so it hasn't been such a huge issue. Our biggest problem (simpleton) is that the preventative measures that could have been acted upon earlier last year, were not.
To Ace's question.yikes haha. My understanding of tye situation is that this General was planning something pretty bad for American servicemen and women. I think it was a strike first kind of thing. I personally think it was a poor choice. Because whatever the powers that be thought that General could do, was it going to worse than Iran's retaliatory actions? Maybe they believed Iran can be talked down off the ledge. Who bloody knows.
On the water bombing planes, Mr Terri told me this morning that while we've got 1 plane, California has 15? Does that sound right? What an absolute disgrace that we have only one.
Good thing Canada's wildfire season was easygoing this year. And we've got a miserable winter forecasted, so it should also not start early, we have more resources to lend out then.
Hard to know who to believe Terri. It does seem to me like a pure assassination. I will keep reading from multiple sources.
Sorry about typos. I'm posting oh phone and when i type a comment the keyboard covers the comment box I can't see what I'm typing until I post. I could be saying anything! :-)
Dawn wrote: "Good thing Canada's wildfire season was easygoing this year. And we've got a miserable winter forecasted, so it should also not start early, we have more resources to lend out then."I did read somewhere earlier today that your dc10s are just sitting in the freezing snow doing nothing. Can we take a couple of those aircraft and keep them? We will take Justin as well please. Thanks.
Dawn wrote: "Good thing Canada's wildfire season was easygoing this year. And we've got a miserable winter forecasted, so it should also not start early, we have more resources to lend out then."We are certainly grateful to have teams of Canadians and Americans over here helping. These incredible teams gave up their Christmas with family to fly downunder and help us fight these fires. I brings a tear to my eye every time I think of these wonderful Canadians and Americans.
Haha. Yeah, send Justin.
Or the New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinta. We'll happily take her off the Kiwis hands. She knows what a country needs in a crisis.
The Iranian general who got zapped was head of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard who specialized in attacking American troops, contractors and projects. Both Bush and Obama said they’d take care of him but never did. Talk is cheap but it takes money to buy whiskey. So Trump put his money down. At least he didn’t chortle about “crossing a red line” and then fail to follow through. I have mixed feelings about Trump. I think he crude, crass and vulgar but he does follow thru on what he says he’ll do. He has been impeached but the Senate will not convict him. It’s an empty exercise in an election year.
Celeste Barber fundraiser has now reached 22 million in pledges, a global effort and show of support. https://amp.theguardian.com/australia...
Sad to see the Bush animals coming to us humans for water & food.... shows how desperate they must be to venture into peoples back gardens for sanctuary :'(
Andy wrote: "Sad to see the Bush animals coming to us humans for water & food.... shows how desperate they must be to venture into peoples back gardens for sanctuary :'("I agree absolutely. Since the nice little woods behind our home was cut down to make way for houses, the deer come into our yard at all hours.
Ancient & Medieval Historical Fiction
Books mentioned in this topic
The Berry Pickers (other topics)Fortune's Child (other topics)
Hild (other topics)
Sharpe's Command (other topics)
Edenglassie (other topics)
More...
Authors mentioned in this topic
Amanda Peters (other topics)Nicola Griffith (other topics)
Bernard Cornwell (other topics)
Bernard Cornwell (other topics)
Allan Hands (other topics)
More...
