Hey!! Let's get some action going! What are we reading?

[Renate]

I just finished "When the Sleeper Wakes", H.G. Wells.
Jeez, what a crappy book in so many different ways.
First, the racism is jaw-dropping.
(I think it's good that we keep stuff like it was and not clean it up.)
Also, it's just tedious. Lots of description of walking through yet another room with doors and bridges and decorations.
Then there's no particular interesting political or philosophical point or thought.

[Hasdrubal_Lector]

Originally Posted by Uncle Robin

I read "THe Horse, The Wheel and Language" some years ago. What I enjoyed about Proto is that because it's more recent, it incorporated more recent research and scholarship and the author wasn't afraid to highlight areas where the scientific consensus has moved on from when Anthony wrote his book. Spinney's book also has a MUCH stronger focus on linguistics, whereas Anthony's ius more on the material culture. I enjoyed Anthony's book but Spinney's, thanks to its much stronger focus on words (and fewer photos of potsherds) was a delight

Fortson's textbook is almost exclusively about the languages, culture only mentioned in the context of the linguistic developments. The question I asked the author of Proto that triggered my getting Fortson was about an issue of language.

I enjoyed both too. Spinney's book on the Spanish Flu, "Pale Rider" is also a nice read. It is a bit lighter than John Barry's "The Great Influenza" which is a very good read. The title, "Pale Rider", is a reference to the obvious but also Katherine Anne Porter's short novel, "Pale Horse, Pale Rider" which is a very good read. It's part of a trilogy of short novels. The trilogy is also called "Pale Horse, Pale Rider" KAP has a similar style to Eudora Welty who is just an amazing writer, IMO. Welty was influenced by Porter, I think I read that somewhere.

[rrr]

A. J. Quinnell "Man on Fire"
https://www.bookseriesinorder.com/a-j-quinnell/
I'm on the third Creasy book and they are gripping page turners.
That website is a good way of finding books to read.

[nana77]

Originally Posted by nana77

"Skaith!" by Brackett is very enjoyable, even if it has quite a fantasy mood (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leigh_...s_Solar_System).

Thought that I'll search for some others from her, like "The Long Tomorrow " and "The Sword of Rhiannon".
The afterword said she's unique in her writings, and close on Bradbury's moods but without his nostalgia or his wonderings to hide into childhood.

At the library I'd picked "Zothique", which is a collection of shorts from that serie created by Clark Ashton Smith.
His biography is kind of peculiar (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clark_Ashton_Smith), it recalls really Poe's so much. Fantastic short writings.

[Dr. Drib]

Originally Posted by nana77

Thought that I'll search for some others from her, like "The Long Tomorrow " and "The Sword of Rhiannon".
The afterword said she's unique in her writings, and close on Bradbury's moods but without his nostalgia or his wonderings to hide into childhood.

At the library I'd picked "Zothique", which is a collection of shorts from that serie created by Clark Ashton Smith.
His biography is kind of peculiar (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clark_Ashton_Smith), it recalls really Poe's so much. Fantastic short writings.

Smith is considered one of the big three writers from the Weird Tales (pulp magazine) era, the other two being H.P. Lovevraft and Robert E. Howard.

In the late '60s, Lin Carter started the "Ballantine Adult Fantasy Series" - I have an almost complete set in 'Fine' condition - wherein he edited a number of other titles by Clark Ashton Smith. They're very collectible, but even MORE COLLECTIBLE are the Arkham House titles carrying Smith's name....hundreds of dollars for each one.)

I am a HUGE admirer of Clark Ashton Smith.

[Loosheesh]

Originally Posted by Dr. Drib

I am a HUGE admirer of Clark Ashton Smith.

You're probably already aware of this but he has a collection over at Delphi Classics.

[Dr. Drib]

Originally Posted by Loosheesh

You're probably already aware of this but he has a collection over at Delphi Classics.

Thank you. Yes, I do have that,

The ebooks by Smith that I treasure most are the 5 volumes from Night Shade Books.

Now, if I could only afford the hardbacks from Night Shade Books.

The Arkhams, on the other hand, will have to be admired from a distance. Unfortunately...although I do own The Black Book of Clark Ashton Smith and The Emperor of Dreams, a bibliography of Smith's work by Donald Sidney-Fryer. Both items were purchased when they were published, and they remain in F/F condition. (They're in a climate controlled storage unit in the U.S.)

[Uncle Robin]

5/5 at The Storygraph for Indo-European Language and Culture Now back to Richard Delacy's Beginner's Urdu Script

[svenlind]

Originally Posted by Dr. Drib

Thank you. Yes, I do have that,

The ebooks by Smith that I treasure most are the 5 volumes from Night Shade Books.

Now, if I could only afford the hardbacks from Night Shade Books.

The Arkhams, on the other hand, will have to be admired from a distance. Unfortunately...although I do own The Black Book of Clark Ashton Smith and The Emperor of Dreams, a bibliography of Smith's work by Donald Sidney-Fryer. Both items were purchased when they were published, and they remain in F/F condition. (They're in a climate controlled storage unit in the U.S.)

I don,t know if Peru is a 50 year country. If so you are in luck. https://www.delphiclassics.com/shop/clark-ashton-smith/

[pdurrant]

Originally Posted by pdurrant

Now reading: Spies by Michael Frayn. A freebie I got from Kobo a while back, and a random pick.

Which was OK, but not really my kind of thing. A novel about a man returning to his childhood home, and remembering events from his past.

Next up was Death of a Gossip by M. C. Beaton. The first in their Hamish Macbeth series. I liked this a lot more than the first Agatha Raisin book. The rest of the series are now on my watch list.

Then I read Crossfire by Dick Francis and Felix Francis. The last book by Dick Francis. Excellent, as expected.

Next up: No Man's Land Volume 1 by Sarah A. Hoyt.

[astrangerhere]

Currently:

• DTB - A Rome of One's Own: The Forgotten Women of the Roman Empire by Dr. Emma Southon - I assume this is very much in the style of Dr. Southon's history podcast, but has more than 400 footnotes from sources I recognize. Its been a nice warm-up to my planned book for March - Penelope's Bones: A New History of Homer's World Through the Women Written Out of It.
• Audio - Lady Joker part 1 by Kaoru Takamura
• Kobo - The Books of Earthsea: The Complete Illustrated Edition by Ursula K. Le Guin

[Dr. Drib]

Originally Posted by svenlind

I don,t know if Peru is a 50 year country. If so you are in luck. https://www.delphiclassics.com/shop/clark-ashton-smith/

As noted above, yes, I do have the Delphi edition.

But thank you.

[Dr. Drib]

Just started The Fifth Child, by Doris Lessing.

This is billed as a "gothic horror story".

Sounds interesting...and so far - three pages in - it is!

[astrangerhere]

Sat down with my coffee this morning and did not get back up until I had read If Not, Winter: Fragments of Sappho translated by Anne Carson from cover to cover. I was not intending to read the whole thing, but here we are. Lovely sunrise read.

[issybird]

Originally Posted by astrangerhere

Sat down with my coffee this morning and did not get back up until I had read If Not, Winter: Fragments of Sappho translated by Anne Carson from cover to cover. I was not intending to read the whole thing, but here we are. Lovely sunrise read.

I'll bite on this. I tend to find translations of Sappho tough sledding; maybe this one's the charm. Fortunately the local university has it, since there's no digital edition. I can probably swing by tomorrow to pick it up.

Originally Posted by astrangerhere

Currently:

• DTB - A Rome of One's Own: The Forgotten Women of the Roman Empire by Dr. Emma Southon - I assume this is very much in the style of Dr. Southon's history podcast, but has more than 400 footnotes from sources I recognize. Its been a nice warm-up to my planned book for March

I abandoned a book by Emma Southon about Agrippina; I found her style, vulgar and graphic, off-putting and at odds with the subject matter -- aside from being so conjecturable as to be unlikely, at least for me. Nor was I interested in modern day comparisons to the likes of Prince William and Kate Middleton, just as one example. It made my worst of the year list.