What Are You Reading Now?

[Raven]

Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell sounds interesting to me, as I said, and I want to pick up a cheap copy.

I haven't finished the Gulag Archipelago yet, but I'll probably work through that slowly over time. I kind of want some light reading for December.

[Coír Draoi Ceítien]

Once again, I might change up my reading schedule. Having undergone a rewatch of the movies recently, I'm planning to read through the Harry Potter books - not all at once, of course. I'm thinking of making it an every-other-book sort of thing. That way, I can still fit in Strange & Norrell.

[Raven]

I am just now entering into a new phase of life, wherein I will theoretically have some more time for reading for a bit. But I need to make some choices about what I read. I stalled out part way through the Gulag Archipelago. I want to finish it but I'd also like to read something in the fantasy genre. I need to hit up the used bookstore here and see if I can find anything, or else order this Norrell business from online.

[Raven]

Update:

In accordance with the recommended reading, I was given Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell as a Christmas gift and I'm currently beginning chapter three. It's enjoyable so far, and I'm looking forward to continuing it. More thoughts to come.

[Coír Draoi Ceítien]

Finished The Rats - great read, though I wouldn't put it particularly on the Recommended Reading section, as it's not fantasy oriented and would probably be off-putting to our readers.

Once again, though, my reading list has changed, as I am not currently reading Strange & Norrell. Rather, I have chosen to begin one of my Christmas presents, which is, in fact, another World Fantasy Award winner - Patrick Süskind's Perfume: The Story of a Murderer, a 1985 "literary historical fantasy" which is one of the most popular German novels of the 20th century. Basically, it uses horror and magic realism as metaphors for existential human alienation, but rather than be overly pretentious, what I've read so far is actually a finely crafted story on its own. It was adapted into a movie by Tom Tykwer in 2006, if you're interested in it. The author is planned to appear on Masters of Fantasy.

For more information, see here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Perfume_(novel)

[Coír Draoi Ceítien]

Well, it took me a couple months(!!!), but I finally finished Perfume, and it was a marvelous read. See, reading ABOUT books and writers on my computer, among other things (like watching YouTube videos on end), tend to be a significant leech on my attention, so what can (or should) take a few weeks at most turn into big projects. There were entire swaths of time where the book just sat on my floor, but just these past couple days, I managed to turn in 50-70 in a day. I'm surprised! It only happened when I made the determined effort to set everything else aside and focus on the book. I really support my recommendation.

As for what I plan to read next, I have an idea. I'm thinking of A Canticle for Leibowitz by Walter M. Miller, Jr., which has been sitting for my shelf for an uncounted amount of time. It's a 1960 science fiction novel, considered one of the absolute classics of the genre, having won the Hugo Award for Best Novel (one of the highest awards in the genre) and never been out of print. It's a post-apocalyptic story about an order of monks at a monastery who have preserved the achievements of civilization and are simply biding their time, waiting for the right moment to reintroduce them to society. It's one of the few sci-fi stories that can be seriously considered pro-religion, let alone Christianity, and I feel that I have a need to support works like this.

Of course, that's my modern reading. In between reading Perfume and waiting for no apparent reason, I finally started reading Don Quixote a few days ago, and I've been going steadily at it; I've gotten 14 chapters of the First Part under me, and I'm surprisingly more interested than I imagined I would be, in that, where I expected it to be boring after walking away, I returned to it and found it highly engrossing. I was surprised that the windmill scene was so brief, considering its infamy, and, based on your report, I expected to find more bathroom/vulgar humor in it (personally, I don't have a problem with that, and I plan on reading more books that are more overt in said humor). So far, a clean read. My only fear is that it will start to bore me once I get halfway through, as it's a rather long picaresque which, by nature, runs on little outright plot. Still, if these first chapters are anything to go by, I'll enjoy the rest of it. I sincerely hope so.

That's about all from my end.

[Raven]

Hmm. A Canticle for Leibowitz sounds good. I wouldn't mind reading it, myself.
Currently, I've been so busy with work and home responsibilities that I haven't been reading much, but I think that I will soon have more time for pleasure reading. Maybe the above book will wind up on my list.

[Coír Draoi Ceítien]

Well, I've changed my reading choices ONCE AGAIN, though I have to say that it's been an eye-opener. See, I recently purchased new Modern Library editions of three books I have, and one of them is The Scarlet Letter (the others are Moby-Dick and The Count of Monte Cristo). Thus, I set aside Leibowitz for the time being, and, to my surprise (somewhat), I found that I'm actually enjoying Hawthorne's work. This time, having learned more about it, I'm prepared for the tragedy and grimness of the text, so I can accept it without much fuss. Granted, I was rather bored by the first 38 pages - which, to the savvy reader, consists of an autobiographical sketch called "The Custom House." I just felt that it didn't really serve the story in an effective way; I'm glad I read it at least once (I restarted it about 3 times), and in a way, it does set up the main story, but it could have been done in about 2 or 4 pages. I guess I have no problems with digressions, but what I really wanted was to get to the meat of the story. Oh well.

I still intend to get to Leibowitz soon, but being on a classics roll, I'm seriously considering having Moby-Dick being my next choice. And remember, all this is in between reading Don Quixote, which I am highly enjoying. I finally reached some of the bathroom humor, but it doesn't bother me. In fact, it's rather humbling to find so lofty a work go for what a snob would consider "the bottom of the barrel." As I write this, I'm about to start the last quarter of the First Part (Chapters 17-52).

[Raven]

No barb in that "snob" comment, I trust! Hah. No offense taken.

A lot of earlier works had long digressions in them. I ran out of steam on Quixote during one, if I remember correctly. Years ago, I visiting a historic site in Illinois, a historic farm set up as a living history exhibit. In it there was a bookshelf and the presenter said something the gist of which I've never forgotten. It went something like this, "a lot of the books from back then were very long. Entertainment was not as easy to come by, and books were not easily acquired. People read them little by little over a long period of time, and they wanted their money's worth."
A farmer or tradesman with little light to read by and little time to spare who indulges in the expense of a book might very well want the extra pages of diversion and an experience of something other than what he is familiar with.

[Coír Draoi Ceítien]

Well, I finished The Scarlet Letter yesterday, which means I read it within a week. I absolutely loved it. It's a gloomy, tragic book, but gloriously and passionately so. I guess that's how I can describe Hawthorne's prose: passionate. He keeps you so caught up in the majesty of the moment. It's definitely recommended if you haven't read it already.

Even more good news: as I write this, I've just put about 100 pages (and 15 chapters) of Moby-Dick behind me in one day, and I'm thinking of cranking out a few more before the night's out. Melville's just as passionate as Hawthorne - a rather intimate writer with some weighty philosophical musings about him. I love it.

Man, I really seemed to have picked up on reading now. I hope it lasts. A break wouldn't hurt, but I don't want to lose the momentum.

[Raven]

I have read at least part of The Scarlet Letter. It's been years ago, though.
Now, if you finish Moby Dick I'm going to tip my hat to you (at least, I'll admire the effort put forth).

Glad you're in a good groove with reading.
Now that my health is back to where I can be more active, I have begun more outdoors projects on the homestead. Still not much reading time, but I'm working on a map project that I'm excited about.

[Coír Draoi Ceítien]

Well, in the midst of transferring a whole bunch of live CD's onto my computer, as of tonight, I have officially finished the First Part of Don Quixote, thereby having made it halfway through the book. It's quite a moment, especially how I'm not bored by it even when it appears that it would be boring (the digressions and side-stories are actually quite entertaining). I'll be really glad to say that I've read this one in it's entirety.

As for Moby-Dick, I'm enjoying it immensely. What an incredibly eloquent book! To top it all off, the digressions into whaling life (a whole chapter on then-current cetalogy and several musings on the moment) have been most fascinating. I gotta admit that, on some level, I like it better than Quixote, but I still have to keep in mind that they're two entirely different books with two very different audiences in mind.

[Coír Draoi Ceítien]

Well, the groove didn't last. I've been so distracted by downloading music and typing out lists that my reading has considerably suffered. However, while I'm still in the process of putting more music on, I've walked away from the lists for a while, and I'm picking up books again. Due to my increasing fascination with them in my research on fantasy, plus interest in the man himself, my most recent book picked up is an omnibus edition of Mervyn Peake's three Gormenghast novels. I think I'm about 50 pages into the first book right now, and I'm definitely hooked. When I'm finished with it, I plan to give it an approving entry in the recommended reading - my first for a series (in the new format). It's sort of a surreal Dickens, though that does fall short of giving it its total due. I plan to highlight Peake in the future, as I feel he needs the representation.

But I haven't given up on my other reads. As of tonight, I am relieved to say that I have FINALLY finished the Second Part of Don Quixote, thus putting the whole book entirely behind me. I can't say I enjoyed it as much as Dr. Samuel Johnson - I think I was quite ready for it to be over - but I did sincerely get pleasure out of it, which must be what Cervantes intended. Basically, the book did its job, I highly enjoyed it, and at some point, I think I would read it again, particularly if I had more schooling on it. Sure, I can do my own research, but I'd like to hear it from an actual professional in a classroom. In my own experience, once you really commit to the story, it reads in such a way that you want to continue with it. One thing happens after another, and it's not boring by any means. Both Don Quixote and Sancho Panza are true icons, and I'm glad I was able to experience them the way they were meant to be.

On to Moby-Dick next, as I'm over halfway through it.

[Raven]

Wow, Coir. You're getting through some seriously long works. Good for you. Hope you're enjoying it.

So, I haven't been reading lately, but that is soon to change. I just ordered cheap used copies of three books: The Name of the Wind, by Rothfuss, The Lies of Locke Lamora, and The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of Her Own Making. All three come from the article that I recently posted, although the Rothfuss novel was first recommended by Bear here.

Although I haven't been reading, I have been writing — editing and revising. I'm going to be preparing for release four different books that I have had sitting around for far too long. Since I really don't have much interest in pursuing traditional publishing at this point, I'm going to go the route I went with my collection about fiddling that I self published years ago, only these I will focus on as Kindle books primarily. I do intend to do hard copies, though.
The first of these four is a themed collection and is coming along nicely (it is also the one most thoroughly revised, as I've been shaping it on and off for the past 11 or so years) and I hope to finally release it before November. Then I'll move onto the first of the fantasy novels that I've had sitting around waiting to see the light of day.

[Coír Draoi Ceítien]

At last, I finished Moby-Dick just this afternoon. Gotta say, I really, really enjoyed it. It was probably a mistake, though, to read both it and Don Quixote at the same time, as both are rather heavy on entertaining but numerous digressions. It made it annoying when either one just wouldn't get on with the story, so this last little bit when I focused only on one book in succession was a more rewarding experience. Again, it's a book I would read again, particularly if I go for a higher education.

Now I can devote my time to Peake, though I also want to read something else, especially for October, as it's a particularly festive season. However, I want to do something smaller, so as a compromise, I'm seriously considering one of my recent purchases - The Auctioneer by Joan Samson. It's a non-supernatural (to my knowledge) horror novel from the 1970's in the spirit of Shirley Jackson's "The Lottery" and presumably the influence for Stephen King's Needful Things; it's about a charismatic figure who comes to a small American town and exerts a destructive influence on the townsfolk by making them auction off increasingly important parts of their lives. It was going to be made into a movie, but the author died of cancer, and plans fell through; it was also her only novel, so it's been out of print for decades, only recently released this year.

Unless someone else wants to take the month, I've already got an idea for October's Recommended Reading, something that will fit well with the Halloween mood (the Viewing I have to think of a bit more, but I have an idea here as well).