It was a very useful feature, even when not every page could be seen.
I’m partway through the Elder Edda, and it’s very interesting. I’ve read bits and pieces before, but had never seen the whole thing. And now I know why. Parts of it are wonderfully obscene. This is apparently true of most mythologies – there are things that offend our normal sense of propriety. Some of this is just cultural difference, but I suspect some of it might be due to the nature of myth being about things important or basic to human existence. Until recently, self-censoring by translators kept this stuff out of the hands of non-experts (although some racy passages might be translated into Latin. I have some examples of this).
Now, however, translators feel more at ease being literal and unexpurgated in their work. Several of the exchanges between the gods come off like the dialogue in a Quentin Tarantino movie, with tough guys accusing each other of gross sexual acts. The word translated as “cock craving” is thrown around a lot. Evidently the worst thing any male god can accuse another of is being a “cock craver” – this leads to immediate retaliation. Viking society was definitely not completely tolerant. (One woman was threatened to be cursed with Cock Craving in a situation where the only males were unacceptable Giants.) There are plenty of other things that Bulfinch and Hamilton left out of their summaries of Norse mythology. (and even Jane “Auntie Arwen” Sibley left out of Norse Mythology According to Uncle Einar – although she did give us a taste of it.)
One thing that disappoints me – translator Andy Orchard points out that the names of Durin, (Thorin) Oakenshield, and Gandalf appear in the Dvergatal section of the Voluspa, but neglects to point out that the names of most of the other dwarves in The Hobbit are in the same section. He translates them literally, so it’s not obvious, but I have other translations of this section, so I know they’re there. Make he never actually read The Hobbit.
Finished The Science of Spin: How Rotational Forces Affect Everything from Your Body to Jet Engines to the Weather, by Roland Ennos, which was somewhat interesting.
Now I’m reading Moonfleet, by J. Meade Falkner.
CalMeacham, this thread may also interest you: Tolkien, Sibelius and the Kalevala
New Murderbot! Exciting! Just downloaded the audiobook to start when I take the dog out in the morning.
I just finished Humanly Possible by Sarah Bakewell, an overview of 700 years of humanist thought. It’s been a long time since I took Western Civ, so I enjoyed being reintroduced to a lot of key thinkers.
I also just read Iron Flame by Rebecca Yarros, the second in her Empyrean series. I thought the first was a fun read, but didn’t enjoy this one as much.
Finished Moonfleet, by J. Meade Falkner, which I enjoyed. It reads as if the author had loved Treasure Island and decided to write something similar, except with smugglers instead of pirates.
Now I’m reading Almost Everything: Notes on Hope, by Anne Lamott.
Finished Almost Everything: Notes on Hope, by Anne Lamott, which was okay.
Now I’m reading The Navigating Fox by Christopher Rowe.
I think I’m done with Lotería, the book of horror shorts based on the Mexican board game.
It’s not very well written, no real characterization, so the scares aren’t that scary, and so far in the first 50 pages there have been two instances of sexual violence, which was not really what I was expecting in a book billed as paranormal. If it were better written I might have tried to power through, but this isn’t really worth it.
It makes me want to go read a collection by Stephen King. When a book makes you want to go read a better book, you’ve got a problem.
Meanwhile I am DYING from Thursday Murder Club.
"So, we were all witnesses to a murder,” says Elizabeth. “Which, needless to say, is wonderful.”
“Tragic too, in its way, if we wanted to be traditional about our emotions,” adds Ibrahim.
“Yes, if we wanted to be melodramatic, Ibrahim,” says Elizabeth.
It is so funny.
It’s in my TBR pile.
Starting on The Hexologists by Josiah Bancroft. I was a big fan of his Books of Babel series, so really looking forward to this. Steampunk fantasy.
They just changed the location of it. Rather than clicking on the cover to read a sample, there’s a button beneath the cover that says Read Sample.
Hmm, thanks.
Finished he Navigating Fox by Christopher Rowe, which I enjoyed quite a bit.
Now I’m reading The Dress Diary: Secrets From a Victorian Woman’s Wardrobe, by Kate Strasdin.
I finished Make Me, a 2015 Jack Reacher novel by Lee Child. Per usual, Reacher finds himself thrown into a bizarre and improbable situation, complete with a damsel in distress. Spoiler alert: Reacher solves the problem and beats the bad guys.
Now looking for my next audiobook.
I liked The Dress Diary. It was nice to see the actual colors of the fabrics people wore in the 1840s. Loud was apparently all the style.
If memory serves me, that’s about the time artificial dyes were discovered… and the world went batshit crazy for color! 
Finished the Elder Edda. On to Dan Simons’ Ilium
Finished re-reading Lovecraft’s The Case of Charles Dexter Ward for the umpteenth time on my tablet. On to Joseph Addison’s Cato, which was a free download.
On audio I’m re-reading Dava Sobel’s Longitude
Just finished The Spare Man, by Mary Robinette Kowal. An entertaining murder-mystery set on an Earth-to-Mars cruise ship. The book does a pretty nice job of extrapolating what are currently fairly new gender-identity norms to the point where they are unremarkable and entirely incidental to the story. Also a lot of fine-sounding cocktail recipes (both zero and non-zero proof) included as chapter headings.
Earlier this month I read the first book in Benedict Jacka’s new series, An Inheritance of Magic. I’m a fan of his Alex Verus series, and was quite looking forward to this one. The writing is good, and the corporatized world of the magic system is interesting, but this is absolutely and introduction to the arc of the series (which Jacka acknowledges in the Preface). Not a huge amount of plot, and a metric ton of exposition. With those reservations, I liked it, so here’s hoping more happens in Book 2.
Currently working on Misfit, by comedian Gary Gulman. A memoir of his childhood in the 1970s and his struggles with major depression as an adult.
As you may know, Washington was a big fan of Cato, often quoted it, and is believed to have arranged for a performance of it at Valley Forge to inspire the troops.
I want to read that too. My library has it, but not in my preferred dead-tree format.