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What are you Reading Now?

Gurkhal

Auror
Tried the Dragonbone Chair a while back 150 pages in , I had nothing to complain about, but nothing to like either, so I dropped it.

Very sorry to hear that. While its a slow going its a very good fantasy story when it actually gets there. If you would find to much time on your hands, I would certainly recommend to pick it up again.
 
I'm reading the King of Torts. I got an urban fantasy legal thriller in my head and a regular one. Figured I'd read some legal thrillers to get the structure down for those books.
 

Mythopoet

Auror
Very sorry to hear that. While its a slow going its a very good fantasy story when it actually gets there. If you would find to much time on your hands, I would certainly recommend to pick it up again.

Eh, for me it was the last book that broke me. I just couldn't muster enough interest to finish it. So I flipped ahead and from what I saw I don't really think I was missing out on anything.
 

Gurkhal

Auror
Eh, for me it was the last book that broke me. I just couldn't muster enough interest to finish it. So I flipped ahead and from what I saw I don't really think I was missing out on anything.

Very sorry to hear that. I kind of liked the ending though.
 

skip.knox

toujours gai, archie
Moderator
I added another history book to my currently reading--G.K. Chesterton's sort-of biography of St Thomas Aquinas. Father Brown's Omnibus is standing in line behind it; a book I've not read since middle school. I'm guessing I get more out of it this time!

I have yet to find a fantasy book I can sink my teeth into (teeth-sinking being much more difficult to do with ebooks).
 
I added another history book to my currently reading--G.K. Chesterton's sort-of biography of St Thomas Aquinas. Father Brown's Omnibus is standing in line behind it; a book I've not read since middle school. I'm guessing I get more out of it this time!

I have yet to find a fantasy book I can sink my teeth into (teeth-sinking being much more difficult to do with ebooks).

I have the Father Brown mysteries on my shelf; that reminded me.
 
So i just finished The Cloud Roads by Martha Wells and I don't really know how to articulate how I felt. It was good, but it fell short in ways I don't fully understand. Maybe it's just that I spent my gift card on it.

There were very lovely descriptions of the environments so that I got a very clear idea of the settings, but other things were woefully under-described. I never got a great idea of what the evil beings called Fell were or looked like; maybe humanoid dragons, by the scales and leathery wings? Also there isn't any map. There are a LOT of races but I don't really have any idea of how many or if there are any large kingdoms or countries or anything, or if it's all just small tribes. I'm still a bit confused about what the main character's race looks like past having some scales, wings, a tail, and frills/spikes on their heads...but also hair? or no? The writing style was just...dull. I wasn't into the writing at all.

Also the first 100 pages I did not care about anyone and I had to force myself through. Very boring, probably due to sparse character development. It got better though.

The race the main character belonged to seemed very like the Pernese dragons in that they had biological castes including smaller infertile ones, fertile males, and fertile females called "queens" who were the most powerful of all. Also similar was the fact that years were called "turns," creatures vaguely named "herdbeasts" and certain aspects of the society such as the fairly relaxed customs surrounding sexuality. It was actually not misogynistic though, so yay. Actually I liked the way it played with gender roles.

This author was the worst at naming. Flower? Sand?? Salt? Knife?? Gift? Dream? They are all one word names and such fairly common words that you wonder at how they don't run out. It didn't help that Flower was also attended by Petal, Blossom, and Floret. How am I supposed to keep those straight?

I have some thoughts on the distinctions between young adult and adult novels. So far as I can tell, sexuality is handled differently, but not in the sense of how graphic or detailed the descriptions, but in the significance it has for the characters. YA usually focuses on characters having their first or early/exploratory sexual experiences and relationships while adult novels have them in established relationships. I guess this all depends on the ages of the main characters. YA actually tends to focus on it a lot more and have sex likely to be an important plot point.
 

CupofJoe

Myth Weaver
Just finished reading Fatherland by Richard Harris. Read it years ago and had forgotten most of it. Nice and bleak! Different worlds but with the same basic mise en scene [NAZIs won] as Man in the High Castle. I think they work well together. Thinking of going non-fiction next...
 

CupofJoe

Myth Weaver
Just finished reading Fatherland by Richard Harris. Read it years ago and had forgotten most of it. Nice and bleak! Different worlds but with the same basic mise en scene [NAZIs won] as Man in the High Castle. I think they work well together. Thinking of going non-fiction next...
Of course I meant ROBERT Harris...
Has anyone read The Peshawar Lancers by S M Stirling?
 

pmmg

Myth Weaver
I recently finished...A wrinkle in time. Which...is first to go on my list of classic books I did not like.

Prior to that, I read the Iliad and the Odyssey, which was not at all like I had been led to believe from all the legends.

I am now reading Outpost, monsters, maces, and magic, by our very own Terry Ervin. I would not call it an instant classic, but I've been enjoying it so far. Good job Mr. Ervin.
 

pmmg

Myth Weaver
I read The Ocean At The End of The Lane [by Neil Gaiman] again for what is probably the seventh time.

Seven times? I don't think I could read any book seven times, save for maybe Horton Hears a Who, and only cause I had kids. There is just too much else I have to catch up on.

I don't think I would even read any book a second time...
 

Gurkhal

Auror
I recently finished...A wrinkle in time. Which...is first to go on my list of classic books I did not like.

Prior to that, I read the Iliad and the Odyssey, which was not at all like I had been led to believe from all the legends.

I am now reading Outpost, monsters, maces, and magic, by our very own Terry Ervin. I would not call it an instant classic, but I've been enjoying it so far. Good job Mr. Ervin.

Did you find Homeros to have been better or worse from what you believed?
 

pmmg

Myth Weaver
Well...I enjoyed it.

Some things that stood out to me.

Most prominently was that the Greek heroes did not seem to do anything unless a God was somehow involved. To my brain, I was like, if the outcome of this war solely depends on what Zeus decides, then why not wait till Zeus makes up his mind and do that? And on a daily basis...Athena tells Hector to go fight today but stay away from the ships, so he does and has a great day, but the next day, she says stay in bed till noon, and then make offerings so that Apollo will be pleased...then he does cause they cannot win that day. And so I ask, if they just do what they are told, are they really Heroes? I mean, anyone can do what they did if Athena and Apollo were really making it happen.

The great level of detail of the blows in the battle and who was in it. Ajax does not just kill nameless people, but he kills Dudeicles, son of other-dudeicles, a farmer from Minoa who raised 25 sheep, and son of last-dudeicles, who was once favored by Poseidon. And he was not just struck down, but hit above his left nipple, where the armor had left and gap, and fell near a juniper bush. Why include all that detail? To me, that reads as someone trying to recount an actual event (which, others seem to have followed and believe that Troy has been discovered). It reminded of genealogy passages in the bible. So and So begot So and So, and they begot and so on....

Some other things that popped out were attitudes towards men, women, slaves, warriors, gods, war, armor, weapons, bronze and rituals. They all played big roles in the stories.

Then there was all of this.

The story about Paris and the contest of the three Goddesses, where he chooses Aphrodite, and thereby wins Helen....Not in there

The Story of Achilles being dipped in the river Styx and becoming impervious...Not in there.

The Idea that Achilles had to be shot in the heel...Not in there.

The story that it was Paris who killed Achilles...Not in there.

The story of the Trojan horse...Not in there.

At the end, I was feeling everything I had been told was a lie.

And the Odyssey was similar. We start with a long portion following Telemachus, and all the stories about the Cyclops, the sirens, Circe, and all that...it was stuff that had already happened, and Telemachus just finds out about it. Telemachus was a pretty big character, and I did begin to wonder if Odysseus was ever really going to be in the story. He was by the end, enough to kill all the suitors.

Funny about that, after Odysseus kills all the suitors, he becomes very concerned that there may be reprisals by their families. That also seemed like maybe a recounting of a real event, and not just a myth about a hero. Why show the hero in that way? Might be because something had happened and he was a real dude concerned about others coming after him. Don't know.

It was very cool. I've read a lot of classics and have found I've enjoyed all of them much more than I thought (other than the one mentioned above...)

My biggest take away...the Greeks really loved their gods.

What did you think if you had read it?
 
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Seven times? I don't think I could read any book seven times, save for maybe Horton Hears a Who, and only cause I had kids. There is just too much else I have to catch up on.

I don't think I would even read any book a second time...

I reread my favourites over and over. Plus I can read a 500 paged book in a day, no problem, so...
 

Mythopoet

Auror
The story about Paris and the contest of the three Goddesses, where he chooses Aphrodite, and thereby wins Helen....Not in there

The Story of Achilles being dipped in the river Styx and becoming impervious...Not in there.

The Idea that Achilles had to be shot in the heel...Not in there.

The story that it was Paris who killed Achilles...Not in there.

The story of the Trojan horse...Not in there.

At the end, I was feeling everything I had been told was a lie.

Yeah, there is a tendency for some reason to refer to any myth pertaining to the Trojan War and the heroes of the war as being part of the Iliad. I'm not sure why. But I've definitely seen that suggestion everywhere. The fact is that a great deal of the mythology related to those characters is not in The Iliad at all but in other sources.
 

Mythopoet

Auror
I read the book Half World by Hiromi Goto. It was way down on my Amazon book wishlist but got accidentally sent to me recently along with another book I ordered. So while one of my kids was using my kindle I grabbed it and gave it a shot. And I was very pleasantly surprised by it. From the writing style I think it was a middle grade book which I hadn't realized when I first saw it recommended but that didn't bother me much. It was a good, quick supernatural adventure story.

Now I'm digging into stories by Arthur Machen. I'd read The Three Imposters before, now I've added The White People and The Great God Pan to that and am rereading The Three Imposters.
 
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