Reading
Always around the new year, people on my flist report the number of books they've read in the year. I've never kept track, and am trying to do so this year. Unfortunately, I have been reading a lot lately and not keeping records.
With my book club, I read Three Cups of Tea, but Greg Mortenson. I actually didn't finish it, because I stopped being interested about half way thru. I think it could have used more aggressive editing. It is, however, a remarkable story about a brilliant idea and I keep saying that I should send that guy a check, and perhaps I will.
Also, the book club read The Other Side of Paradise, by F Scott Fitzgerald. Again, I didn't finish it. I was excited to read his debut novel, which is reputed to contain a lot of autobiographical information. I was disappointed to find it is exactly like his other novels, which are not to my taste. I do not enjoy the snobbery, whether it is intended as social criticism or as mere reporting of his milieu. Bleck. I am so not impressed with Ivy League disdain.
I've recently completed A Wizard of Earthsea and The Tombs of Atuan, Ursula K Le Guin. I've probably read this series 10 times, and just found this set (Bantam, printed in 1977 with the gorgeous grey covers and pastel illustrations) in a used book store, all three. I love this story more than ever now. Her spare, concise style of giving details of a foreign world that are just enough to allow the reader's mind to fill in the blanks - this is what I am hoping to achieve in my story, which is why I was inspired to pick these up when I found them. Both of these are brilliant, but I am especially fond of The Tombs of Atuan. Tennar is one of my favorite alltime fictional characters, as is Ged.
I've also been doing Sumer research and have read Inanna, Queen of Heaven and Earth, by Diane Wolkstein and Samuel Noah Kramer, as well as Kramer's older History of Sumer. These are fascinating and rich resources for my story. I am about to order two more Kramer books online.
I'm sure I skipped a couple before Three Cups of Tea, but they are lost to the mists of time. This entry gives 6 books to my annual count.
With my book club, I read Three Cups of Tea, but Greg Mortenson. I actually didn't finish it, because I stopped being interested about half way thru. I think it could have used more aggressive editing. It is, however, a remarkable story about a brilliant idea and I keep saying that I should send that guy a check, and perhaps I will.
Also, the book club read The Other Side of Paradise, by F Scott Fitzgerald. Again, I didn't finish it. I was excited to read his debut novel, which is reputed to contain a lot of autobiographical information. I was disappointed to find it is exactly like his other novels, which are not to my taste. I do not enjoy the snobbery, whether it is intended as social criticism or as mere reporting of his milieu. Bleck. I am so not impressed with Ivy League disdain.
I've recently completed A Wizard of Earthsea and The Tombs of Atuan, Ursula K Le Guin. I've probably read this series 10 times, and just found this set (Bantam, printed in 1977 with the gorgeous grey covers and pastel illustrations) in a used book store, all three. I love this story more than ever now. Her spare, concise style of giving details of a foreign world that are just enough to allow the reader's mind to fill in the blanks - this is what I am hoping to achieve in my story, which is why I was inspired to pick these up when I found them. Both of these are brilliant, but I am especially fond of The Tombs of Atuan. Tennar is one of my favorite alltime fictional characters, as is Ged.
I've also been doing Sumer research and have read Inanna, Queen of Heaven and Earth, by Diane Wolkstein and Samuel Noah Kramer, as well as Kramer's older History of Sumer. These are fascinating and rich resources for my story. I am about to order two more Kramer books online.
I'm sure I skipped a couple before Three Cups of Tea, but they are lost to the mists of time. This entry gives 6 books to my annual count.