I just finished Ironhand’s Daughter by David Gemmell- a gift to me from me when I was sick.
Every time I had an operation I would buy tons of books to keep me occupied while recovering. However, the pain meds fogged my brain enough that I usually didn’t read. So I tucked this away some where so that when I was able I could read it.
I found it last week and since Mr. Gemmel passed away at way too young an age, there will be no new books from him. It was a nice surprise.
Gemmel is (was) one of my favorite authors. Yes, his plots are a little redundant as are his heros, but I always enjoy him.
I enjoyed this one as well, but there were some scenes that I found a little too graphic. Still, I’ll read the second in the series.
I haven’t participated in a while. Recently reread Nix’s Abhorsen trilogy (saw it mentioned upthread) and enjoyed it even more than the first time, I think.
I’ve been reading baseball books, which is mostly fairly pointless but they are good time-fillers when you only have a few minutes and want to read something.
I’m currently reading:
Under the Banner of Heaven, which is horrifying me.
Three Men in a Boat, which I know is an old book but I wasn’t expecting a sudden intensely racist slur that sucked the enjoyment out of it for the nonce.
Also Half Empty, by David Rakoff, Bleak House, by Charles Dickens, and blast. Goodreads just went down so I can’t see what else. Oh, Fortress in the Eye of Time, by CJ Cherryh. Other stuff, too. I’m in a start books but don’t finish them mood.
I just finished “The Other Wes Moore” by Wes Moore, about two guys with the same name. It was a short, easy read. The author was much luckier than the other guy.
I am reading American Canopy: Trees, Forests, and the Making of a Nation by Eric Rutkow. “This fascinating and groundbreaking work tells the remarkable story of the relationship between Americans and their trees across the entire span of our nation’s history.”
I’m reading Alan Judd’s The Quest for C, the authorized biography of Mansfield Cumming–there at the founding of MI5 & MI6. He started the “green ink” tradition mentioned by John LeCarre. At this point, it’s 1910 & the Brits are spying on German naval doings–since the expected war will, of course, be won by naval power!
(I discovered Mr Judd through my ongoing fascination with Ford Madox Ford, beginning with my first reading of Parade’s End last summer. Judd read* The Good Soldier*–Ford’s other, very different masterpiece–& decided to learn more about the writer. The result was an excellent biography by a non-academic novelist who actually liked his subject. Most of Ford’s other biographers prefer gossiping about his private life to actually reading his works. Well, Ford wrote 70+ books–gossip is easier, even for academics.)
Finished with Niceville by Carsten Stroud and quite enjoyed it. It’s about families haunted by the sins of their ancestors, loosely tied in with a bank robbery that goes very bad. Surprising amount of humor. Interesting characters.
Started Salt River by James Sallis but might not finish it. I didn’t know when I started it, but it’s the third book featuring the same protagonist. This explains why it feels like I’m dumped in the middle of an ongoing story. Also, every character is a philosopher. There are no casual conversations. Annoying.
The Dog Stars came in today’s mail. Post-apocalypse featuring a pilot who’s been hiding out in a hangar for nine years. He decides to explore what’s left of the world.
I just finished reading Peter Pan for the first time (Maria Tatar’s excellent annotated version), and reread Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass.
Peter Pan was a bit of a surprise. I knew he was a bit of a fey character, but I didn’t realize how frighteningly amoral he is: quite a murderous little sociopath of a character, if you forget to see him as inhuman. Also, Wendy drove me up the wall, especially reading her back-to-back with the much awesomer Alice. Also I really want to rewatch the Toy Story series after reading Peter Pan: it seems like there were a lot of pretty direct allusions (e.g., Hugsalot’s return to his child’s house).
Alice in Wonderland was one of my favorite as a child. Then I loved it for its wordplay and its weirdness. As an adult rereading it, I still love these aspects of the story, but the big surprise for me was how much I want Alice as a role model for kids in my life, whether students or my daughter. She certainly works within a world of manners, and she learns her lessons and tries to be good, but she also suffers no bullshit, and she’s creative and interesting and curious. Many children’s books feature protagonists who more-or-less float through the story. Not Alice: she’s an agent of change, and she’ rocks.
It’s a great book. And accurate as far as I can tell. I read the rebutals from LDS apologists. The criticism is a mixture of ad hominem attack on Krakauer, differences of opinion where evidence is inconclusive, and an occasional outright lie (such as one 5-page .pdf that repeatedly states that Joseph Smith was acquitted of fraud in 1826). The only inaccuracy that I noticed in the book was in his brief synopsis of The Book of Mormon, and it doesn’t detract much from the overall quality of the book.
Thanks for the info. It makes reading the book that much more difficult, in a way, since I’m right in the middle of the doings in Bountiful. Horrifying stuff.
Finished The Heart of the Matter, by Graham Greene. The travails of “an obscure policeman in an unfashionable colony” in West Africa during World War II. Very good.
For my next reading, I’ve checked out a trilogy of Theodore Dreiser novels in a single volume from the library. First up is Sister Carrie.
I blame the heat, but I’ve been reading rather frivolous fantasy the last couple of weeks. Barbara Hambly’s Windrose Chronicles was fun. I also liked Sara Monette’s A Companion to Wolves, which is like Dragonriders of Pern except with wolves and vikings and a lot of gay sex. I’m picking through a collection of pirate stories now called Fast Ships, Black Sails: contributing authors include Sarah Monette, Naomi Novik and Kage Baker.
There’s one story in there that I wanted to like because it starts off cute with Captain Rackstraw in the *HMS Pinafore *chasing the Pirate King (“Singing continues at eight bells, attack and repel boarders notwithstanding”) when they run into Captain Hook, but either it’s weird and fizzles out or I’m just not getting some of the Peter Pan references. Dick Deadeye wants to sell the Lost Boys some pockets?
In honor of the 4th I did manage to read First Family: Abigail and John Adams, by Joseph J. Ellis. It was an easy read, an engaging, lightweight biography of Adams with a focus on his relationship with Abigail. I’m looking for a biography of John Quincy now.
I hope you’ve read Ellis’s Founding Brothers, too, for which he won the Pulitzer Prize. Outstanding. I’ve heard good things about his bio of Jefferson, American Phoenix, too, but haven’t read it. I must admit I was disappointed in his bio of Washington, His Excellency.
I’ve read Founding Brothers, and his books on Washington and Jefferson. The latter is called American Sphinx, and Ellis is rather less charitable with Jefferson than with Adams, so beware if you’re a big fan.