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

[Luffy]

Originally Posted by ReadingManiac

That's a great book! I've read it about three times!

I’m at 19%. Fascinating business. It has influenced a lot of current books and will do so for decades.

[HarryT]

Finished "Gently Floating", which is the 11th book in the "George Gently" series by Alan Hunter. This one has Gently investigating the murder of the owner of a boatyard on the Norfolk Broads. Enjoyable, as always. Highly recommended.

[latepaul]

Finished 'Star Trap' by Simon Brett which is the 3rd Charles Paris mystery. It's enjoyable but it is dated.

I've started reading "The '86 Fix" by Keith A. Pearson, which is a KU title I downloaded (signed up to KU again as it was on an offer). So far seems good, only about 12% in.

I'm also reading "The Wandering Earth" by Liu Cixin, (author of "The Three Body Problem" trilogy). It's a short story collection. I like to have one on the go, to go to when I feel like reading something discrete.

Also, I'm reading "The Odyssey", the Emily Wilson translation. I've ploughed through the Introduction and "Translator's Note" - which account for about 20% of the book! - and am into the text proper. I had bought this a while back but am reading it because it's being discussed on a podcast I follow. Actually they've been doing it for a while too but I'm trying to catch up on my backlog.

I don't normally like to have several books on the go at once but these are different genres so I shouldn't get confused.

After an interesting few days revisiting my teens by reading several Allingham stories (and being horrified at what I found), back into the excellent and engaging Daughters of the Sun: Empresses, Queens and Begums of the Mughal Empire - sisters pretty much doin' it for themselves.

[pdurrant]

Originally Posted by pdurrant

I'm still reading Asimov's SF (not much reading got done over the holiday), but I'm also reading One Enchanted Evening by Anton du Beke.

I finished the Asimov's SF, and started and finished GG#81.

Both were OK, but I didn't enjoy them as much as usual,. Perhaps it's me.

I'm enjoying One Enchanted Evening, although it was a slow start. I'm impressed that every time something didn't sound right about the time period and I looked it up, it turned out to be accurate.

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by stuartjmz

After an interesting few days revisiting my teens by reading several Allingham stories (and being horrified at what I found), ...

Allingham is one of my favourite authors. What was it that horrified you?

Originally Posted by HarryT

Allingham is one of my favourite authors. What was it that horrified you?

The misogyny in The Fashion in Shrouds. As a teen I adored Allingham's works, she was my favourite of the Golden Age Queens, but reading this book saddened me with its repeated casual misogyny, and while I generally try not to project current mores retrospectively, I was horrified by this:
"“Oh,” said Mr. Campion furiously, “this is damned silly introspective rot. What you need, my girl, is a good cry or a nice rape—either, I should think.”(e.a)

That's an extreme example, but the utter subjugation of Campion's sister to this sort of Neanderthal chauvinism was also depressing, especially given the way Allingham wrote about it as as though it were a good thing:
I would make all decisions which were not directly in your province, although on the other hand I would like to feel that I might discuss everything with you if I wanted to; but only because I wanted to, mind you; not as your right. And until I died you would be the only woman. You would be my care, my mate as in plumber, my possession if you like."

I'm going to carry on with my re-read, but this one in particular was full of constant reminders that women really ARE inferior, in abilities and virtues, apparently, and it took the gloss off my rosy recollections. Especially since I love the Albert and Amanda pairing.

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by stuartjmz

I'm going to carry on with my re-read, but this one in particular was full of constant reminders that women really ARE inferior, in abilities and virtues, apparently, and it took the gloss off my rosy recollections. Especially since I love the Albert and Amanda pairing.

I'd say it's more a reminder of just how much (for the better!) societal attitudes have changed since the novel was published in 1938. As the famous quote by L.P. Hartley says, "The past is a foreign country: they do things differently there." One really cannot blame an author for reflecting the attitudes of the society in which they grew up. We are all products of our culture.

Originally Posted by HarryT

I'd say it's more a reminder of just how much (for the better!) societal attitudes have changed since the novel was published in 1938. As the famous quote by L.P. Hartley says, "The past is a foreign country: they do things differently there." One really cannot blame an author for reflecting the attitudes of the society in which they grew up. We are all products of our culture.

I did mention that in my earlier reply, but "a nice rape" is utterly inexcusable. And inexplicable, coming from a woman.

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by stuartjmz

I did mention that in my earlier reply, but "a nice rape" is utterly inexcusable. And inexplicable, coming from a woman.

Agreed, although I suspect that she's probably using "rape" in its original sense, meaning an abduction rather than a sexual assault (as in the poem "The Rape of the Lock").

Originally Posted by HarryT

Agreed, although I suspect that she's probably using "rape" in its original sense, meaning an abduction rather than a sexual assault (as in the poem "The Rape of the Lock").

Which was already an archaicism for a book written in 1938, and still leaves the question of why her hero would be describing a criminal action against a woman as both nice and necessary.

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by stuartjmz

Which was already an archaicism for a book written in 1938, and still leaves the question of why her hero would be describing a criminal action against a woman as both nice and necessary.

I can only think that he may be suggesting that she needs some excitement in her life. It's a very odd thing to say, I agree!

[radbaddude]

The Expanse #2 (ebook) Caliban's War
Graveyard Book (Neil) Audiobook Harper Collins

[astrangerhere]

Working on my first three books of the year:

• The Song of the Lark by Willa Cather (audio)
• The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula K. LeGuin (library for book club)
• Hild ]by Nicola Griffith

I also listened to the Clarksworld podcast of James Tiptree, Jr.'s "The Man Who Walked Home" during my lunch.

[Rev. Bob]

I started the year with some Star Wars graphic novels, bought on sale (of course). One was the story of an old Yoda solo mission, as told to Kenobi, and it was interesting to see the old master in the field. After that was a collection of one-shots, the most interesting of which is the tale of Artoo taking on Darth Vader’s Star Destroyer to rescue Threepio… and winning almost single-handedly. Finally, I reached an odd pair of stories - one of how Vader and Tarkin subjugated Mon Cala (Ackbar’s planet), and a sequel set several years later, with the Rebels setting things right.

I’m currently between books, as I’m not sure what I want to tackle next. I’ve been clearing out some unread single issues in the meantime; the comiXology app will only display up to 150 items in a list on the library page, so I wanted to get my unread list under that. Many of them are “first in a (mini)series,” so I don’t count them towards any challenges, but there have been a few solid self-contained stories in the latest batch.

Maybe I’ll get the third and fourth “Dark Lord” novels processed and loaded next, having read the first two over the holidays. That’s a YA or MG series about a millennia-old Big Evil Guy whose opponent defeated him in battle and transported him to modern-day Earth… as a 12-year-old boy. It’s popcorn, sure, but it’s fun popcorn.