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What are you Reading Now?

Well, I've been reading Arthur Machen's work lately (a "weird fiction" writer before and after the turn of the 20th century). Finished off with what some critics call his masterpiece, "The Hill of Dreams". Wow, what a horror fever dream of a story. Very, very effective. Like the MC, I felt as if I was going mad toward the end.

Definitely needing a break after that so rereading a nice, comfortable favorite for now. The Blue Castle by L. M. Montgomery.

I've only read the first Anne book and the Emily trilogy. Is The Blue Castle one of her best, in your opinion?
 

neodoering

Minstrel
I am reading Mary Shelley's Frankenstein. It's quite enjoyable, with the language of 18th century Geneva giving it an high-falutin' feel. The story is relatively simple and straightforward, but it is oddly affecting, and I keep finding myself sympathizing with this character or that one. Amazing how one book can stand up for hundreds of years while others fall by the wayside. The book is short, about 200 pages, and they go by pretty quickly.

Also reading Munro Edmonson's translation of the Popol Vuh, which is the Bible of the Maya Indians in the highlands of Guatemala. I selected it because the translator rendered it in couplets. This definitely imposes a different cadence than, say, Dennis Tedlock's translation, but the couplets don't seem to really add depth to the stories. An interesting experiment, though, and I enjoy reading it.
 
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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?

Dudeicles lololol

All those other stories are in other works. I was surprised to find them gone too (I read them in eighth grade. The Iliad was very miserable to me; the medically detailed deaths got repetitive. The Odyssey was better.)

I remember making up nicknames for all the characters. Agamemnon and Menelaus were Aggie and Minnie. I don't remember what I called Achilles but I thought he was a whiny drama queen with all the maturity of a six year old boy.
 
I'm reading Radiance by Catherynne M. Valente. Just picking up anything falling under weird fiction has been my reading habit for some time.

Anyway, this is a luscious, velvety, rich, plush work. The writing style is both brilliant and incredibly lush. It's like a silky chocolate truffle filled with creamy, dark fudgy filling and drizzled with rich white chocolate. It's a fantastical lava cookie full of adjectives and metaphors. It is absolutely lavish. Unfortunately for the first 100 pages there was really not much of a story to go with it. Now there is a story. I'm liking it. Things are looking up.

The writing is goals, though would anyone know what the shit i was saying if i reached that goal?
 

Gurkhal

Auror
I'm reading "The World of Odysseus" for a project and I hope to be able to get back into fiction as soon as possible.
 

Mythopoet

Auror
I've only read the first Anne book and the Emily trilogy. Is The Blue Castle one of her best, in your opinion?

You should read the whole Anne series! It's so good! And yes, I think The Blue Castle is one of her best. A really satisfying story.

I'm reading "The World of Odysseus" for a project and I hope to be able to get back into fiction as soon as possible.

Thanks for mentioning this. It's perfect for my needs.
 

Laurence

Inkling
About 20 pages into Eve of Snows by L. James Rice (Demesnedenoir) and I'm hooked. The girlfriend's away—think it's going to be a late one.
 

Chessie2

Staff
Article Team
I found this interesting book at the library, 'Faerie Fruit' by Charlotte E. English. The blurb intrigued me, as did her prose once I read the first couple of pages. It's beautifully written and somewhat haunting. So far I really like it. Quite different than what I normally read.
 

Mythopoet

Auror
I found this interesting book at the library, 'Faerie Fruit' by Charlotte E. English. The blurb intrigued me, as did her prose once I read the first couple of pages. It's beautifully written and somewhat haunting. So far I really like it. Quite different than what I normally read.

The blurb reminds me a lot of the classic "Lud-in-the-Mist" by Hope Mirrlees, which I love. I'd give it a try if it were on kindle.

I am currently rereading Phantastes by George MacDonald, one of the first unambiguously fantasy novels. I read it years ago but decided it was time for a refresher. It's a very odd novel, almost like The Odyssey in Fairy Land.

Also reading The Basque Country: A Cultural History by Paddy Woodworth. It's super fascinating.
 

Gurkhal

Auror
Just finished "The World of Odysseus" and I'm not turning to "The King Must Die". Finally some fiction for me. :)

Also I've cleared out a bunch of books that I have either read already and they weren't so good that I want to keep them, or know that I never will get around to read them. Thus what remains is for me to buy two new books and I'm thinking about either more historical fiction about ancient Greece or fantasy.

Historical fiction - Can't get enough of ancient Greece :D
Gates of Fire - Steven Pressfield
Song of Achilles - Madeline Miller

Or

Fantasy - I've alread read "The Worm Ouroboros" by the same author and liked it very much. Hopefully I'll some day be able to get my hands on the third part of the series "The Mezentian Gate" but I don't really hold out for it.
Mistress of Mistresses - E.R Eddison
A Fish Dinner in Memison - E.R Eddison
 
Recently finished The Scar by China Mieville. The world building was amazing. The guy clearly has a wild, vibrant and quite sick and twisted imagination. Which I absolutely loved. But the book had literally nothing else going for it for me. I was not very invested in the plot and loathed the main character. It was a relief to finish. I liked Tanner a hell of a lot more than Bellis and probably would have rated the book higher if it had just been about him. He was more sympathetic and his gills were rad.

After that I turned to a middle grade novel, Keeper of the Lost Cities, and found that it sucked, with really shoddy world building and ideas and a way too perfect and desired and envied and powerful main character. Those are not just expected qualities of middle grade novels. There are really good ones out there (though no more common than good books in other categories) and this was not one.

(If anyone wants examples of good middle grade fantasy novels I strongly suggest The Twistrose Key. There's a few others I loved when I was like 12, but that was too long ago for me to properly recommend them now...)

Now I am reading The Half-Drowned King by Linnea Hartsuyker. Thinking it's a historical fiction with some mythology stuff mixed in? Not sure yet.

Actually i'm technically "currently reading" like 7 things on Goodreads. Oops?

I'm seriously wondering if it's too soon to reread Six of Crows...
 

Gurkhal

Auror
Guess I might not be reading "The King Must Die" after all. An idea came into my mind to finish the reading of all the supplements to the RPG Werewolf: The Forsaken once and for all. This is something that I've been procastrinating for a long time and I feel that now it may be the time to face this challenge.
 

skip.knox

toujours gai, archie
Moderator
Lucky/unlucky. None of what I regard as truly great books, the ones that affected me most and have stayed with me the longest, are anything close to being a book for children.

Currently reading multiple books
The Innocence of Father Brown, G.K. Chesterton
The Caine Mutiny, Herman Wouk
The Pitch that Killed, Mike Sowell
 
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