books
a whole stack of books, but many that I have previously written about---yes I reread books over again.
first two e books:
the travels of john mandeville. Mendacious little sod, but quite fun reading about dog headed people, prester john, amazons, etc...a bit too much about the holy land and various christian things, but once he moces on from there, very enjoyable.
ozma of oz...very scary! l frank baum...a tense oz book, even if we know the good guys are going to win out...the scene where they had to determine which bric brac was a transformed prisoner was nerve wracking, lol.
let sleeping vets lie. james herriot...yes rereading herriot...good stuff, very funny, sometimes sad, frequently not for the squeamish...but i just skip the graphic paragraphs......
goldoni, 4 plays...excellent comedies that saw the change from the improvised and masked commedia dell'arte to written dialogue. Comedy of the sexes, still very stageable, 500 years later...not much has changed in the war between the sexes...
pratchett, as I am rereading him in order from the beginning. Pyramids, excellent take on Eygpt, tradition and ritual. Wyrd sisters, Terry does Macbeth, one of his best, hilarious. Guards Guears - the first of his books to feature a plot! but very funny. Vimes and the Night Watch's first appearence. Pastiche and satire at the highest level as the Watch tries to find and then arrest a dragon. Terry P is the best writer of comic fantasy evah!
Frezza; Mclendon's syndrome. I must have written this up earlier, as I reread it frequently. Frezza writes mostly military SF, but took time out to write a brilliant comic space opera with very bad puns....
Shakespeare, the Winter's Tale. never read this before, but it contains the most famous stage direction in theatre: exit, pursued by a bear....in places funny, in places tragic, a complicated and complex late Romance as Shakes redefines genres and what can be put on stage. excellent and very stageable.
and finally, the best: Jan Potocki; the manuscript found in Saragossa. late 18th century classic, and cult book. Tales withint tales with in tales, a russian doll of interlockin boxes and puzzles. Occasionally, characters complain about losing track of who is telling what tale (ie the gypsy tells the tale of the wandering jew telling the tale of the don who is telling the tale of etc...so occaisionally confusing), let alone us, but really enjoable, gripping sort of Arabian night's stuff. highly recommended...
first two e books:
the travels of john mandeville. Mendacious little sod, but quite fun reading about dog headed people, prester john, amazons, etc...a bit too much about the holy land and various christian things, but once he moces on from there, very enjoyable.
ozma of oz...very scary! l frank baum...a tense oz book, even if we know the good guys are going to win out...the scene where they had to determine which bric brac was a transformed prisoner was nerve wracking, lol.
let sleeping vets lie. james herriot...yes rereading herriot...good stuff, very funny, sometimes sad, frequently not for the squeamish...but i just skip the graphic paragraphs......
goldoni, 4 plays...excellent comedies that saw the change from the improvised and masked commedia dell'arte to written dialogue. Comedy of the sexes, still very stageable, 500 years later...not much has changed in the war between the sexes...
pratchett, as I am rereading him in order from the beginning. Pyramids, excellent take on Eygpt, tradition and ritual. Wyrd sisters, Terry does Macbeth, one of his best, hilarious. Guards Guears - the first of his books to feature a plot! but very funny. Vimes and the Night Watch's first appearence. Pastiche and satire at the highest level as the Watch tries to find and then arrest a dragon. Terry P is the best writer of comic fantasy evah!
Frezza; Mclendon's syndrome. I must have written this up earlier, as I reread it frequently. Frezza writes mostly military SF, but took time out to write a brilliant comic space opera with very bad puns....
Shakespeare, the Winter's Tale. never read this before, but it contains the most famous stage direction in theatre: exit, pursued by a bear....in places funny, in places tragic, a complicated and complex late Romance as Shakes redefines genres and what can be put on stage. excellent and very stageable.
and finally, the best: Jan Potocki; the manuscript found in Saragossa. late 18th century classic, and cult book. Tales withint tales with in tales, a russian doll of interlockin boxes and puzzles. Occasionally, characters complain about losing track of who is telling what tale (ie the gypsy tells the tale of the wandering jew telling the tale of the don who is telling the tale of etc...so occaisionally confusing), let alone us, but really enjoable, gripping sort of Arabian night's stuff. highly recommended...