Yay! A new thread!

@fantasia, you'd asked about Silent Bells... The most recent chapter I have is #15, and, like Valia, I got the email where N. D. Wilson was hopeful he'd found a way to more consistent writing time.

@jo, I found myself wanting a counter-point to the last few chapters of Dominion. They point out so many things that seem like positive steps forward--but at the same time it all felt so hollow! So I picked up G. K. Chesterton's Orthodoxy on the theory that he was debating the prominent thinkers of his day, and the third essay hits a lot of the same philosophical points from the opposite direction. Rather like the verse in Proverbs where the first one to make a case sounds right and reasonable until the second party makes an argument.  

@silverlily, I do love hearing you talk about the illustrated books... even if the odds of my reading them are pretty bad at this point.  

Chivalry was fun. I found it while looking for retellings that focus on Galahad. Surprisingly, there don't seem to be that many. I get the impression he's considered boring but I would have thought that would have been a challenge not a deterrent. 

@Mel, I'm glad my talking can be entertaining even if it doesn't get any of the pretties another reader. ^_^

I originally found Chivalry in the context of a short story anthology, and then got Very Curious to see how the illustrations would work with it.

Posted by: @jo

My grandparents also specifically left me the Red Pepper Burns books. I read the first one, and, while it was okay and fun, at times, it just seemed a bit silly for my tastes.So, yes, @aileth, I gave up on this author because of my first impression.

Posted by: @jo

I also found in my parents' collection more of Lloyd C. Douglas books. I have previously read a few times each The Robe (1942) and The Big Fisherman (1948), but these I discovered are the two in the Magnificent Obsession series, Magnificent Obsession (1929) and Doctor Hudson's Secret Journal (1939), plus the stand-alone Disputed passage (1939). No idea what any of these are like, so if anyone here has read them, I'd like to hear your opinion.

I have often said this before, but your best introduction to the Middle-Earth universe is The Hobbit. It's the first book to be published and it makes a lot more sense to read it first.

If you read The Similiarian first, it won't make as much sense. It's actually a collection of stories of the Middle Earth story, and even explaining the beginning of Middle Earth.

How often does a book series has a beginning and end saved for last?

Hooray, a new book thread!  

Posted by: @mel

@fantasia, you'd asked about Silent Bells... The most recent chapter I have is #15, and, like Valia, I got the email where N. D. Wilson was hopeful he'd found a way to more consistent writing time.

That's what I was going to say. I think I only read through chapter nine or ten, one of these days I should read through the fifteen current chapters.

Posted by: @valiantarcher

@SnowAngel, how are you coming (and enjoying) with the Wimsey series? I'm glad you enjoyed Clouds of Witness!

It was good for discussion! But I do appreciate the further clarification and examples - it sounds like at least part of the issue is that they didn't realise/appreciate their lack of basic life skills, which would drive me crazy. ...oh, wow, that stew example is pretty bad - one would hope she would have enough conceptual understanding of heat transfer to think that one through a bit more. XD
Do you have any recommendations for books about the Reformers' wives? And neat about the Puritans in your family geneology! Hope you can find some good books!

I was going to wait to start Unnatural Death until after I finished Nicholas Nickleby, which I am enjoying very slowly, I figured I would reward myself with it for completing a full length Dickens' novel. But then I took it on a short trip and read the first few chapters. I've barely read anything in the last couple weeks, so no real progress on Nicholas Nickleby, I'm stuck just past 200 hundred pages. I had hoped to finish both books before the end of the month, but doubt that will happen at the rate I am going.

I read a couple books on the Reformers in '20/'21, one was The Reformation by Stephen J. Nichols, I am drawing a blank on the other titles. I did just start an audiobook called Reformation Women by Rebecca VanDoodewaard.

The Puritans are on my granddad's side, so I need to talk to him about them. Granddad loves family history, but I don't think  he knows this. There is a book about one of them and Scarlet just ordered it last week, adding that one to my reading list for the year.

Here might be a good time to mention my grandparents' copy of Laddie by Gene Stratton-Porter that I had hoped to add to my collection, my grandma gave it to me last week.  

The Secret Garden is another classic I have never read unbridged. So many books to read!  

SnowAngel

People may remember from the last book thread that I wanted to read Dombey and Son and Christine Donougher's translation of Les Misérables. I'm happy to say I finished both in good time. Now my online Dickens reading group has started on David Copperfield, which is an awesome book, and they had me write a spoiler-filled essay on it! Check it out if you're interested and don't mind spoilers. 

David Copperfield and the Search for the Perfect Parent – All the (Dickensian) Year Round (wreninkpaper.com)

In between weekly reading assignments, I'm also rereading Percy Jackson's Greek Gods and Percy Jackson's Greek Heroes-which is weird since I've never read the actual Percy Jackson books (Greek Gods and Greek Heroes are retellings of the classical myths narrated by Percy Jackson) and I don't really intend to do so. I'm just interested in Greek/Roman myths and modern retellings thereof. 

It's weird that I've read those books more than once though. On my first read, I found the glib and smart alecky humor fun at first but tiresome before too long. (Andromeda complaining how "lame" her parents are for sacrificing her to a sea monster is a good example.) But for whatever reason, I've been coming back to these books recently. I do like a lot of Rick Riordan's ideas for the characters, like suggesting that Orpheus's fatal turning back came from him being insecure growing up as a musician when Thracian princes were expected to be warriors and that Atalanta's savage nature came from the human father that abandoned her and not just the bear that raised her. And sometimes glib and smart alecky humor can be fun, though I prefer it in smaller doses. 

I wonder if Riordan's retelling of the story of Cupid and Psyche could have been slightly influenced by Till We Have Faces since he has Psyche's sisters tell each other that their manipulation of Psyche is for her own good, though they're not nearly as good at self-deception as Orual. 

This might be controversial but something that I get tired of with the Greek Heroes book is all the feminist commentary, mainly the narrator constantly talking about how stupid it was for kings to insist on sons rather than daughters to inherit their thrones. It's not that I disagree with the sentiment, but the book didn't have to keep repeating it. I really don't think would have been influenced by the stories to agree with the ancient Greek kings and those that already agree with them aren't going to be convinced otherwise by Percy Jackson.

I am rereading some of my old Star Trek novels.  I recently read Vulcan’s Forge and I started Vulcan’s Heart, both by Josepha Sherman and Susan Schwartz. The Star Trek books that I like the best are those that are based on the original series. Many of them are about different times in characters’ lives such as when Spock was young or about the time period between the original series and the The Next Generation such as The Lost Years by J. M. Dilllard.  These books are very well written and certainly deserve their reputation as quality science fiction. I highly recommend them if you love Star Trek and adventure stories. 🙂

Has anyone ordered interesting books lately?  I preordered The Wild Isles, which is based on David Attenborough’s latest TV series. It is about the wildlife of the islands of  Great Britain.  I love companion books to TV series about natural history and even own some old ones based on PBS series such as Cosmos by Carl Sagan and The Astronomers, two science documentaries which were broadcast during the 1980’s and ‘90’s. There are also some books based on the Nature series, which are high quality. I love old educational television and books based on the programs. I also recently purchased some old Files Magazines which were published as companions to the classic Dr. Who and the original Star Trek series.  They are vintage and have an old fashioned charm.  🙂

Do you ever feel guilty about spending too much money on books?  The last one that I bought was about $35.00.  It was The Wild Isles, a large hardcover book which is to be released next month. The most I have spent on a book was $50, which was more than I spent on college textbooks in the 1970’s.  But I always feel that money spent on books is never wasted, and most books are worth the money that you pay for them.  It’s hard for me to resist buying the beautiful “coffee table” books on lighthouses and birds.  I would always encourage people to buy books about their hobbies, and they shouldn’t regret spending the money. 🙂

@narnian78 your new book and collection of coffee table books sound lovely.  

I'm much more willing to pay more for niche books than something popular... The last one I bought was Opus Anglicanum by Tanya Bentham on a specific style of medieval English embroidery and I've got a long list of other sewing books I intend to order one of these days.

I recently finished Orthodoxy by G. K. Chesterton and started Being Mortal by Atul Gawande. 

And in fiction I've read a couple of Patty Fairfield books by Carolyn Wells. The first one reminded me of Elsie Dinsmore in plot and style but the later installment is much more frothy idealized slice-of-life.  

Dickens is languishing on my desk, I haven't even cracked it open in the last two weeks. I still plan to read the rest of it, but it is not going to be this month.

I finished Unnatural Death and started The Unpleasantness of the Bellona Club, I am loving this series.  

I recently found one of my favorite George MacDonald books for less than a dollar at a thrift store and have happily add it to my personal library. It's been ages since I read a George MacDonald novel. I think now that I have The Laird's Inheritance in my own collection, I will have to read it this year.  

SnowAngel

@SnowAngel, it's good to hear you're enjoying the Wimsey series! Sounds like you're making swift progress, too.

@Col-Klink, what did you think of Les Miserables and Dombey and Son? Have you read other translations of Les Miserables to compare against or was this your first time through on it?

Ooh, what do you think of Being Mortal so far, @Mel?

@valiantarcher I've read Les Misérables several times or at least skimmed it several times and read it a couple. The first translation I read was the original English one by Charles Wilbourn. I still believe that's the best one on the whole and my go-to version. Then I read an abridged translation by Laurence Porter about which I don't have much to say. The next one I read was the most recent (I think) translation by Norman Denny, which I don't really like. I feel like trying to make Victor Hugo's writing more modern to the extent that Denny tries clashes with its poetry and makes it come across as clunky. (Ironically, in his introduction, Denny writes that Hugo was foremost a poet and "if the fact is not apparent to the English reader, then this rendering of his work must be said to have failed.")

Christine Donougher's translation seems to be the one most recommended to modern readers of English nowadays and I can see why. While I like the phrasing in Wilbourn better on the whole, Donougher translates the verses, which Wilbourn leaves in French for whatever reason, including the one at the very end of the book. She also does a better job translating the slang and some of the puns. For example, there's this one about the character of the Bishop. 

We do not claim that the portrait which we present here is a true one; we say only that it resembles him.

That's how Wilbourn renders it. And here's Donougher.

We would not say that the portrait we have presented here seems very likely; all we say is that it is very like.

If you want a small example of why I favor Charles Wilbourn's translation on the whole, here's an exchange between the bishop and his housekeeper about replacing their silverware.

"Have we no tin plates?"

Madame Maglorire shrugged her shoulders. "Tin smells."

"Well, then, iron plates."

Madame Magloire made an expressive gesture.

"Iron tastes."

The grammatically correct phrase would be something like "iron leaves a taste" and that's every other English version I've read does, but I like "iron tastes" better. It has more personality. I consider Les Misérables an amazing book in any decent translation though, in its annoyingly digressive way. 

I've read Dombey and Son three times now and I love a lot of things about but somehow, I can never love it on the whole. Like I said, I've been participating in an online reading group for all of Charles Dickens's books; here's a link to all their posts. You can read my comments (I comment under the name "The Adaptation Stationmaster") for something like a full review if you're interested. dombey and son – All the (Dickensian) Year Round (wreninkpaper.com)

I wonder if anyone else here has read the poem The Fall of Arthur by J. R. Tolkien. Tolkien wrote some poetry and also translated some verse such as Sir Gawain and the Green Knight. It seemed that his poems were something that he supplemented his much longer works such as The Lord of the Rings. Although he was not a poet, his writing was meticulous and always of fine quality. The Fall of Arthur is well worth reading as something medieval which was written in modern times. You gain a better understanding of Tolkien’s personality and interest through reading it.  It is a book that I highly recommend. 🙂