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

[astrangerhere]

Originally Posted by Kim90

I am reading Goodbye, things by Fumio Sasaki. The author got rid of most their stuff, even bed and desk. That part I simply can’t wrap my head around.

I wish more of the Western coverage of authors like Marie Kondo and Sasaki would acknowledge how these philosophies are tied to (in Kondo's case) or rooted in the Shinto and Buddhist religions. These ideas without their philosophical grounding can seem absurd to Western minds, particularly ones steeped in a capitalist culture of things.

[meeera]

Originally Posted by Kim90

I am reading Goodbye, things by Fumio Sasaki. The author got rid of most their stuff, even bed and desk. That part I simply can’t wrap my head around.

As a crafter, I'm really REALLY glad I wasn't a minimalist before COVID hit and some of my favourite yarn stores stopped shipping. As it is I have enough yarn to keep me going (and with choices) for the duration. (As well as stocks of nonperishables meaning that we didn't have the supermarket stress that many others did.)

Reading reviews, I can't help but laugh my head off at ideas like having only one towel for everything. And a single fork. Nope nopeitty nope.

[ekbell]

What I like best about Marie Kondo's books is that she advocates chucking what no longer gives you joy (or service) rather then everything deemed unnecessary.

My neatly wound bobbins, organized notions, tidy fabrics and pattern bring me joy (part of the reason why they are well organized) so all is good (and I have years worth of stuff at my normal stitching rate).

And that level of minimalism sounds like being a broke uni student again.

[pdurrant]

Originally Posted by pdurrant

Next up: King of the Dead by R. A. MacAvoy. The second in a trilogy. I read the first back in March 2013. (& bought them back in May 2011!)

As expected, a most enjoyable fantasy story. I shall gert to the third in the series before 2027, I hope!

Next up: Primary Inversion by Catharine Asaro. The first in her Skolian Empire SF series. A Baen Free Library acquisition from July 2008!

[Luffy]

My 1 star review of Dying to Call You, by Elaine Viets :-

Spoiler:

I'm in a daze. This book started promisingly. Then it got boring. Then a surprising twist elevated the story, after which it went back into skull-numbing territory.

The author ruined her book by not finding new points of interest. I was plain bored reading this story. The highlight of the book was about one of the heroine's neighbors finally showing up. But this cannot support the whole premise.

The first two books in the series were gold compared to this pyrite affair. I dread reading more of the same in the dead end job series. But I must try my patience with it. For old time's sake. I can't see a writer committing to a 15 book failure of a career.

[Rumpelteazer]

I finished Grady Hendrix's latest novel, The Southern Book Club's Guide to Slaying Vampires, last night. I loved it, and highly recommend it. It's set in the late 1980s and early 1990s. Set in a neighbourhood and about a group of ladies who have a book club that reads mostly (true) crime books. When a stranger moves in the neighbourhood and horrible things start to happen, one of the ladies has her suspicions. Nobody believes her, but in the end they can't deny the truth and have to act.

It reminded me of Stephen King's 'Salems's Lot. Although the only similarities are that it's set in a small community plagued by a vampire and that the ending isn't an entirely happy one.

Five years ago I read Hendrix's Horrorstor, which I loved enough for me to buy in print (designed to look like an Ikea catalogue). I expected this book to have the same mixture of humour and horror, but although it has it's funny moments it's purely a horror novel. I thought I read another book by Hendrix, but found out I didn't. I'm planning on reading My Best Friend's Exorcism soon. It's set in the same area as The Southern Book Club's Guide to Slaying Vampires, and it's also set in the 1980s, but it's told from the perspective of teenagers.

Sent from my Lenovo TB-X704F using Tapatalk

[Luffy]

My review of Five Run Away Together (Famous Five, #3), by Enid Blyton:-

Spoiler:

My opinion of the reread of this book hasn't changed much. When once the arrival of the other three siblings set my heart racing, now I feel drowsy. And a bit sad, too.

I've been wanting to write a fanfic about the Famous Five, and maybe I will. The challenge lies in the thought of a new angle. Or has the great Enid Blyton figured every good story idea? Somehow my will is resisting this ponderous, downish idea.

As for this book, it's too childish. It's more childish than the Enchanted Wood trilogy, or A book of Brownies. I'll probably never revisit this particular offering again. It's left better in my middle grade days.

[pdurrant]

Originally Posted by pdurrant

Next up: Primary Inversion by Catharine Asaro. The first in her Skolian Empire SF series. A Baen Free Library acquisition from July 2008!

Which explained a lot about later books. I wish I'd read this series in order. (There, that's just for JSWolf.)

But it seems that this series isn't fully available in ebook form in the UK. I'll just have to wait.

Next up: Star Wars IV: A New Hope. Yes, the novelisation of the movie. I have the next two as well. I'm reading this to see if I actually want to read the novelisations.

[Fbone]

Finished Artificial Condition by Martha Wells. I enjoyed this perhaps more than the first installment now that the background info is over with. Witty with some action and more character development. The story continues in the next one which i picked up for free thanks to Tor. Rated 4 stars [B].

Next will be East of Hounslow by Khurrum Rahman a recent purchase.

[pdurrant]

Originally Posted by pdurrant

Next up: Star Wars IV: A New Hope. Yes, the novelisation of the movie. I have the next two as well. I'm reading this to see if I actually want to read the novelisations.

And quickly abandoned. The writing wasn't brilliant, but to my surprise is
t was the casual racism about the Jawas that did it. These two paragraphs in particular:

Spoiler:

Three travesties of men scurried out from behind concealing boulders. Their motions were more indicative of rodent than humankind, and they stood little taller than the Artoo unit. When they saw that the single burst of enervating energy had immobilized the robot, they holstered their peculiar weapons. Nevertheless, they approached the listless machine cautiously, with the trepidation of hereditary cowards.

Their cloaks were thickly coated with dust and sand. Unhealthy red-yellow pupils glowed catlike from the depths of their hoods as they studied their captive. The jawas conversed in low guttural croaks and scrambled analogs of human speech. If, as anthropologists hypothesized, they had ever been human, they had long since degenerated past anything resembling the human race.

On to Hallowe'en Party by Agatha Christie. Astonishingly, Poirot, who retired before 1921, has survived to the late 1960s for this case. Not impossible, I suppose, but he must be in his late nineties by now.

[astrangerhere]

I finished up my re-read of Lord of the Rings and am now starting the full Wolf Hall trilogy by Hilary Mantel. I've read the first two, but long enough ago that I want a re-read before I start the third.

[pdurrant]

Originally Posted by pdurrant

On to Hallowe'en Party by Agatha Christie. Astonishingly, Poirot, who retired before 1921, has survived to the late 1960s for this case. Not impossible, I suppose, but he must be in his late nineties by now.

Which was a fun mystery, although with a little more peril than some of her works.

Next up: One-Eyed Jack by Lawrence Watt-Evans. Something I bought back in 2013.

[astrangerhere]

I guess I am going all out on epics this year. My current list:

• War and Peace re-read via the #TolstoyTogether project
• Hilary Mantel's Thomas Cromwell Trilogy (currently re-listening to Wolf Hall)
• Anthony Powell's Dance to the Music of Time (currently on book 1 -- A Question of Upbringing). I had never heard of this before poohbear mentioned it a few years ago, and it has been on my TBR ever since.

The Week did an interesting article on why now is the best time to read War and Peace, and I think some of the points carry over to reading all sorts of epics. Immersing in a different time and place provides a nice window out of this current crisis - even if it is through experiencing other crises in different times.

[poohbear_nc]

Originally Posted by astrangerhere

I guess I am going all out on epics this year. My current list:

• War and Peace re-read via the #TolstoyTogether project
• Hilary Mantel's Thomas Cromwell Trilogy (currently re-listening to Wolf Hall)
• Anthony Powell's Dance to the Music of Time (currently on book 1 -- A Question of Upbringing). I had never heard of this before poohbear mentioned it a few years ago, and it has been on my TBR ever since.

The Week did an interesting article on why now is the best time to read War and Peace, and I think some of the points carry over to reading all sorts of epics. Immersing in a different time and place provides a nice window out of this current crisis - even if it is through experiencing other crises in different times.

I've just finished my yearly re-read of Dance to the Music of Time - it gets better with each reading - esp discovering the infinitely layered web of relationships amongst the major and minor characters! Masterful! And the language requires you to read slowly, notice, and savor.
Enjoy!

[pdurrant]

Originally Posted by pdurrant

Next up: One-Eyed Jack by Lawrence Watt-Evans. Something I bought back in 2013.

An excellent dark fantasy. Highly recommended.

Next up: The Chinese Maze Murders by Robert Van Gulik.