What are you reading? Options

[Decrepit]

As expected, a two-book Amazon shipment arrived late Monday morning. It included volume one of Katharine Kerr's The Silver Wyrm. However, the day prior I ceased reading Stephen Donaldson's Lord Faul's Bane, fearing I might become hooked and end up reading the entire First and Second Chronicles. Chose instead Larwence Watt-Evans' The Misenchanted Sword, a book read four times, most recently late Feb 2006. A safer bet, I thought. Nope, I'm hooked. Gonna finish it before tackling Kerr. (I'm maybe halfway through.) A plus; though I own several other Watt-Evans books set in same world, and they do relate to each other, they're all standalone novels. I'll be less tempted to read the lot before moving on. Or so I hope.

[Decrepit]

At 0257 this morning, awake for some time after waking with a neck too sore to allow sleep, I finished my fourth read of Lawrence Watt-Evans' The Miscenchanted Sword. An enjoyable book. Rather low key, featuring someone about as far from a 'hero' or 'villian' as possible. Just your average Joe (for his time and setting) who chances upon a brief magical encounter in his twenties and has to cope with its aftermath the rest of his (intentionally) mundane life. I like this sort of character. They're encountered too seldom in fantasy literature (as main characters) to suit me.

With the above behind me, I can now resume Katharine Kerr's Deverry novels, and will begin The Gold Falcon later today.

[Decrepit]

At 1037 today, during lunch, I finished my initial read of Katharine Kerr's The Gold Falcon, book one of The Sllver Wyrm, a novel of Deverry. As with previous Deverry entries it is entertaining, but not a book I can rave about. I'm already some pages into its followup, The Spirit Stone.

[Decrepit]

At 1958 yesterday evening, 11/11/2019, I finished my initial read of Katharine Kerr's The Spirit Stone, one of her many Deverry novels. As with other entries in this series, I've little to say about them. Decent reads, nothing special. (Yet I went out of my way to order the four-book sub-series to which Spirit Stone belongs, a great rarity for me these days.)

I'm now some pages into its followup, The Shadow Isle.

[Decrepit]

At 2256 yesterday evening, lying on the sofa, I finished my initial read of Katharine Kerr's The Shadow Isle, book three of The Silver Wyrm, itself a component of her vast Deverry writings. Like its predecessors, I find it a decent novel. Worth reading, but I'll not go out of my way to recommend it.

I'm now several pages into what is, as of now, Ms. Kerr's final Deverry entry, book four of Silver Wyrm, The Silver Mage.

This post has been edited by Decrepit: Nov 19 2019, 01:02 PM

[Decrepit]

I'm still reading The Silver Mage, but noticed this fine audio reading of Eye of the World, book one of Wheel of Time, at YouTube. Very nice narration. Don't know how legit this posting is. It might not be available for long. Then again, it might.

Listened to it a while. Man is Jordan a fine writer!, as if I need to be reminded of that. He so outclasses Kerr (and most other writers) it might take me some time to readjust when I take up Silver Mage at bedtime.

[Uleni Athram]

The Artesia comics. Dear lord, this is shaping up to be quite the journey!

[Decrepit]

At 0327 this morning, lying on the sofa, neck hurting too much to sleep, I finished my initial read of Katharine Kerr's The Silver Mage, the last of her many Deverry books to date. It's been an enjoyable journey, despite a bit of rough sailing early on. This closing novel in no way alters my opinion of the series, for good or ill. Decent reads. Nothing overly special, though individual books have their moments.

At the moment I have absolutely no idea what I want to tackle next.

[Decrepit]

I settled on The Summer Tree, book one of The Fionavar Tapestry by Guy Gavriel Kay. I'm not far in, and find it slow going. For one thing, it's a book I like very much. I've read it six times before, most recently late 2015. That's a problem, in that I remember it TOO well. (A great rarity for me.) Also, it begins with a trope I'm not overly fond of - persons from this world and time being transported to an alternate reality, where they not only survive and thrive, but become movers and shakers in that world. I rarely find this scenario convincing. As fine a writer as Kay is, the lead-up to the crossing doesn't convince here. I thought so my initial read. Subsequent reads haven't convinced me otherwise. That said, once in their new environment things begin to improve. Pretty soon I'll be as hooked as ever. Or so I hope.

This post has been edited by Decrepit: Dec 6 2019, 12:06 AM

[SubRosa]

I settled on The Summer Tree, book one of The Fionavar Tapestry by Guy Gavriel Kay. I'm not far in, and find it slow going. For one thing, it's a book I like very much. I've read it six times before, most recently late 12015. That's a problem, in that I remember it TOO well. (A great rarity for me.) Also, it begins with a trope I'm not overly fond of - persons from this world and time being transported to an alternate reality, where they not only survive and thrive, but become movers and shakers in that world. I rarely find this scenario convincing. As fine a writer as Kay is, the lead-up to the crossing doesn't convince here. I thought so my initial read. Subsequent reads haven't convinced me otherwise. That said, once in their new environment things begin to improve. Pretty soon I'll be as hooked as ever. Or so I hope.

I read the first two books of the Tapestry around a decade or more ago. So they are a little fuzzy now. But I recall feeling that there were just too many characters. They each did not seem to get enough time individually to show their adaptations and growth in the new world. Instead the story seemed to rush through their various acclimations. I think it would have been a better story with only one protagonist, or at the most two, so that a lot more attention could have been given to their development.

[Decrepit]

I settled on The Summer Tree, book one of The Fionavar Tapestry by Guy Gavriel Kay. I'm not far in, and find it slow going. For one thing, it's a book I like very much. I've read it six times before, most recently late 2015. That's a problem, in that I remember it TOO well. (A great rarity for me.) Also, it begins with a trope I'm not overly fond of - persons from this world and time being transported to an alternate reality, where they not only survive and thrive, but become movers and shakers in that world. I rarely find this scenario convincing. As fine a writer as Kay is, the lead-up to the crossing doesn't convince here. I thought so my initial read. Subsequent reads haven't convinced me otherwise. That said, once in their new environment things begin to improve. Pretty soon I'll be as hooked as ever. Or so I hope.

I read the first two books of the Tapestry around a decade or more ago. So they are a little fuzzy now. But I recall feeling that there were just too many characters. They each did not seem to get enough time individually to show their adaptations and growth in the new world. Instead the story seemed to rush through their various acclimations. I think it would have been a better story with only one protagonist, or at the most two, so that a lot more attention could have been given to their development.

Interesting comment. I hadn't considered single vs multi protagonists in literature before. Had someone asked me about it out-of-the-blue, I'd have announced myself neutral on the subject. However, thinking back on the many novels I've read, a large percentage of favorites fall in the 'multi viewpoints' camp. Enough so to consist in a preference. Maybe a substantial preference. Don't know where I'm going with this...or if it means much of anything other than the obvious.

[Decrepit]

At 1310 this afternoon, lying on the sofa, I concluded my seventh read of Guy Gavriel Kay's The Summer Tree, book one of The Fionavar Tapestry. Good as ever!, with the caveat of feeling the movement-between-realities opening section left something to be desired. Took longer to finish than it should have, mainly due being a read-while-abed person who can rarely lie down long without being bothered by some combo of neck and/or shoulder and/or upper back pain.

Book two, The Wandering Fire, sits on the sofa waiting my return.

[Decrepit]

At 2058 yesterday evening, during one of my infrequent, failed, attempts to lie comfortably on my back in bed, I finished my seventh read of Gay Gavriel Kay's The Wandering Fire, book two of The Fionavar Tapestry. I read much of the third, final book's intro last night before falling asleep, and am now several pages into chapter one of The Darkest Road.

Fionavar is, of course, much influenced by Tolkien. I find it is at least as heavily influenced by Silmarillion as LOTR, maybe more so. Which is fitting, considering Kay cut his teeth helping Christopher Tolkien prepare Silmarillion for publication.

[SubRosa]

Isn't pretty much all fantasy fiction heavily inspired by Tolkien? The evil Dark Lord rises to threaten the world with his seemingly unstoppable hordes of henchmen, while the squabbling factions of the ragtag Army of Light must put aside their differences and unite to heroically save the day against all odds, usually by exploiting some magical macguffin super weapon, often by turning said weapon against the Dark Lord?

I am not saying this is a bad story. Many writers have taken it, added interesting characters, their own unique world, and made it a fun ride. Take Star Wars. It is Tolkien in space.

[haute ecole rider]

And Tolkein himself was heavily influenced by the Icelandic saga The Eddas, so you could say most modern fantasy owes a great debt to the mythology of the Norsemen. Having read a translation of this saga, I can vouch for LOTR's and Silmarilion's roots in this ancient tale.

I'm sure other European tribes had their own sweeping mythological/fantastical traditions, but unfortunately much of these appear to have been subsumed or obscured by the hagiography of the Catholic Church.

Lately I've been seeking out fantasies that are inspired by what I call "nontraditional" sources - a series inspired by the Russian folk tales of witches and Rusalkas, another trilogy inspired by ancient Indian (the Asian subcontinent, not the American) tales, yet another inspired by old Chinese fables, and a most excellent series inspired by ancient Egyptian and Bedouin tales, and so on. After becoming jaded on the usual sword and sorcery fantasy tale years ago, I find these "new" traditions so much more interesting and even refreshing.

Currently, however, I'm reading something far removed from fantasy - The Personal Memoirs of Ulysses Simpson Grant, Complete. As a history buff, I find the recounting of Civil War events from one man's perspective, and that of a general to be very interesting. I finished the section concerning his C.W. years this morning, and felt rather awed by his recounting of Lee's surrender at Appomattox.

The recounting of the last twenty years of his life should go rather quickly. It's a good thing I found this book and purchased it, otherwise, had it been a library book it would have taken me much longer to finish it, what with losing it every two weeks and having to place a hold on it and waiting for it to become available again!

[SubRosa]

One of the things that really struck me about US Grant was his retelling of Battle of Belmont. It was a little nothing skirmish that was only undertaken as a demonstration to distract the Confederates from another operation elsewhere. Grant describes leading his men up a hill where the Confederates were encamped. The entire time he was just waiting for them to open fire, getting more and more terrified with every step. Then they got to the top and found that the Confederates and fled.

That made him realize that the enemy was just as afraid of him, as he was of them. At that point he stopped worrying about what they would do. Instead he only thought about what he was going to do.

[haute ecole rider]

Yes, I remember that skirmish. He was a big fan of simultaneous operations, one intended to distract the enemy from the main strike elsewhere. Such as at Chattanooga, where he had his main army march across the river in sight of Confederate pickets, then turn and march behind a long ridge out of their vision. A bit later, while the main force was still behind the ridge, he had another sizable detachment march back across the river downstream, so it looked as if the main force was going somewhere else. Sneaky bastard's got my respect.

[Decrepit]

At 2044 this evening, lying on the sofa, I finished my sixth read of Guy Gavriel Kay's The Darkest Road, concluding book of The Fionavar Tapestry. As with every reading of this book, my watered numerous time throughout, hardly stopping its last few pages.

At my brother's house Christmas morning, he gave me book bought and read several years ago but says he no longer has room for on his shelves. It's a biography of the actress Ava Gardner. I'm not much into celebrity bios, but accepted it as a more or less permanent loan he can reclaim at any time should he so choose. I might start in on it at bedtime (sofatime?) despite a lack of enthusiasm.

[Dark Reaper]

Though I haven't started reading it but I found the Stephen King book The Running Man and yes its the same as the one Arnold played in though the story is WAAAAAAY different.

[Decrepit]

At 1855 yesterday evening, 15 Jan 2020, I finished my fifth read of Marion Zimmer Bradley's The Firebrand, her take on the Trojan War, told from Kassandra's perspective.