What're you reading?

[sweet_sparrow]

I'm curious, what's everyone reading right about now?

I'm currently doing some more of my university course prep reading because "Read this small section of the book" means "read the whole book" to me. (I mean, if you're not going to read the whole thing, what's the point?)

I've recently finished up Two Medieval Outlaws by Glyn Burgess, which translates two romances about outlaws and which was a lot of fun. I've also finished up The Alliterative Morte Arthure, which just proves, again, that I don't get along with medieval texts and am staring at The Stanzaic Le Morte Arthur before delving into Malory's more well-known Le Morte d'Arthur.

In between I've been reading The Magicians and Mrs. Quent by Galen Beckett (well, I was until I finished it. ^-~) It was a lot of fun. Now I know why I've seen comments along the lines of "Austen, but with magic!" and the like. It's, obviously, more nuanced than that (and certainly not like, say, Pride and Prejudice and ZombiesThe Harp of the Grey Rose by Charles de Lint and I also need to reread Susan Cooper's The Dark Is Rising at some point so I can take notes and figure out if I can get enough out of the book to write an essay on it. And I should really, really pick up Kay's The Last Light of the Sun some time soon. I promised a friend to read it ages ago. >> Plus there's the group read too...

(Oh, and I should be rereading Shakespeare for that course too. I have too many books...)

So... what're you reading this month? ^-~

Comments

[aedifica]

Right now I'm reading The Pilgrim's Progress, by John Bunyan, and O Jerusalem, by Laurie R. King. Utterly different but both fun (though I am regularly irritated at the person who did the notes for TPP--he explains the obvious things and skips the obscure ones).

[amanda_in_pajamas]

I've got lots going, atm, because they're mostly non-fic books that I can pick up and put down at the direction of my three-year old. As is the case now, I usually only have one fic book going at a time, however.

viva la repartee clever comebacks & witty retorts from history's great wits & wordsmiths - Dr. Mardy Grothe

The Handmaid's Tale - Margret Atwood

If Ignorance Is Bliss, Why Aren't There More Happy People? Smart Quotes for Dumb Times - John Lloyd & John Mitchinson

The Intellectual Devotional: American History - David S. Kidder & Noah D. Oppenheim

The Guide to Dan Brown's The Lost Symbol - Greg Taylor ("The Daily Grail" and "The Cryptex")

[queen_ypolita]

I'm reading The Land of Green Plums by Herta Müller (this month's book group book that I didn't finish in time for the meeting :o) and A Dedicated Man by Peter Robinson. And I expect to read pretty much all of Information Ecology by Thomas Davenport for uni.

[mab_browne]

The Lady in the Tower by Alison Weir - it examines the political forces that sent Ann Boleyn to the block.

[starlady]

Oo, did you like The Magicians and Mrs. Quent? It's looked intriguing in the bookstore at me for a while now.

I'm currently in various stages of completion on Octavia Butler's Kindred, Zahrah the Windseeker by Nnedi Okorafor, and The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms by N.K. Jemisin. Also Mechademia 4 and Tom LaMarre's The Anime Machine.

There really needs to be a 25th hour in the day, IJS.

[nomnomchuupie]

I've been reading a lot of Raymond Feist lately, and the next one (which I am waiting for through ILL) is Krondor: The Betrayal. I look forward to reminiscing about the video game from years ago.

[shanaqui]

I think I'm about to start on Discworld. I was reading The Windup Girl by Paolo Bacigalupi, but I can't really get into it.

[margaretdriscoll]

I'm reading a mystery called O' Artful Death by Sarah Stewart Taylor. It's about an assistant professor specializing in cemetery art who accepts a friend's invitation to check out a sinister and mysterious gravestone at the Vermont artist colony where he (the friend) grew up. It has the old mystery intertwined with a new mystery (and several other unsettling plot threads), a great atmosphere, intriguing characters, and I'm not even halfway into it. Of course that means it could take a horrible turn for the worse, but so far I've really been enjoying this book.

[archersangel]

i'm currently re-reading the harry potter series. i'm a few chapters into number five at the moment.

[mackiedockie]

I'm reading two quite different histories (one fictionalized); Justinian's Flea by William Rosen and The Last Full Measure by Jeff Shaara. The Girl Who Played with Fire is on deck soon.

[sweet_sparrow]

Oooh. I don't think I've heard of Laurie R. King before. (Or, for that matter, Bunyan, despite the fact I'm earning an English degree. ;p) They sound like they make a neat balance. ^-^

(I have a love-hate relationship with notes and remain glad I don't have to make any except in essays.)

[sweet_sparrow]

Oh, dear. Looking up that first one led me to not-so obscure reference material one buys in case of occasionally needing it... *twitch* (Yes, I'd read a dictionary for fun if the mood strikes.)

How're you enjoying Atwood? So far The Handmaid's Tale is the only book by her I've read, but it was a while ago now.

[sweet_sparrow]

Is it a big problem if you don't manage to finish a book due to time constraints? I'm sure we must have book clubs here, but I'd have no idea where to look for one.

[sweet_sparrow]

Ooooooh, that sounds fascinating!

I shouldn't ask questions like this. My TBR pile is out of control as it is. *sighs and adds another book to it* But it's fun to have lots of choices and possibilities!

[sweet_sparrow]

Very much so! It's not perfect, but it's a really fun read. My biggest worry is that people'll react much like I did to the pov-switch in the middle because that threw me pretty badly. (It's not pointless, but it did jar. Partially because of my investment in events up to that point. It jars everyone's lives too.) Beyond that, it's kind of a "Austen meets Heyer meets Brontë meets fantasy" if you want a really, really quick summary.

Ooooh. I've got Kindred abdZahrah the Windseeker both on my wishlist and considering adding The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms. Do you recommend them?

I always wish for a 48-hour day. (I swear I've a friend who has 32 hours in a day, all the stuff she gets done. O_O)

[sweet_sparrow]

I never got to play the computer game, but I did play its sequel "Betrayal in Antara". I should possibly pick up that particular book sometime and see if they're similar just for the sake of it. ^-^

[jassanja]

Earlier in the month I read "An Echo in the Bone" by Gabaldon. It was surprisingly good after the last two books in the series were quite boring.

Now I'm back to Armstrongs "Women of the Otherworld" series, and "Frostbitten" has sucked me right back into that wonderful world

There are also two books about the financial crisis, one - "Zaster und Desaster"- more fictional, the other - "Too big to fail" interesting, but also a bit too detailed to make it a page-turner you can't put down

[sweet_sparrow]

Oooh, which Discworld book are you going to start with? It took me ages to get into Pratchett. When I was a teen, I just kept on wanting to throw the (library) books against the wall after the first three paragraphs or so. Now I'm hooked/sold and slowly winding my way through the lot. ^-^ My first completed Discworld book was The Last Hero, but I used to play the games made based on them a lot. ^-^

[shanaqui]

I think I'm going to read them in publishing order, which is what my flatmate thinks I should do. I'd kind of like to do it in story groups, maybe someday, but my flatmate said that she thought I should follow the progression of writing style, etc, etc. So I'm starting with The Colour of Magic.

[sweet_sparrow]

If it helps any, I rarely find books that've engaged me for half of it and then fell completely flat. It sounds intruiging, though. Is it a modern mystery or historical?

[sweet_sparrow]

I'm hoping I can find my copy of the first book in the mess that is my book collection because I need to reread it at some point, though. ^-^ Have fun with the rereading! ^-^

[sweet_sparrow]

Justinian's Flea is a really intruiging title... The reviews seem to be a bit of a mixed bag, though. *is a nosy creature*

[sweet_sparrow]

I've heard a lot of good things about Gabaldon, but the size of her books keeps putting me off. (I'd have to carry them around, as I do most all my reading whilst travelling.)

[sweet_sparrow]

*nods* Sounds sensible. I'm reading them more or less in story groups. I've started books in three of them. Most people seem to prefer a recommendation to start with his fourth book just because it's so much better than the previous three.

But, of course, reading them in publication order would also be a good way to pick up on all the things Pratchett's developed and changed over time. I think there are some things that are inconsistent, but don't pin me on that. I've got it all mixed up with the games on top of everything else. >>

[shanaqui]

I thiiiink I read the first five or so books when I was a child, so I think I'm retreading old ground here, but I'm not sure. I'll know better when I actually knuckle down to reading, haha.

Alsoooo, reading this post again I don't know why I didn't go !!!Arthur!!!, since King Arthur is one of my big things... though I've never heard of or read the Alliterative Morte Arthure, or the Stanzaic Morte Arthure (sadly, I mostly know modern versions of the story -- so far). How old are they? Are they English or French or something else in origin? Are they in translation? What language are they in originally? I'm guessing if they're medieval and English, they're in Middle English? If you don't mind, can you tell me anything you know about them?

...Sorry, I'm a lit student who specialises mostly in medieval texts (and translating them), and I'm planning on doing the course at my uni focused on King Arthur next year. References to Arthur always make me a biiiit overexcited.

Also, I know I could certainly write essays on The Dark is Rising -- it's one of my favourite books. The whole series, or just the single book? What kind of essay are you thinking of writing about it? *nosy*

And Guy Gavriel Kay! ♥ I recently reread... most of his books. I've got The Lions of Al-Rassan on my reread soon list.