What are you reading?

[Cyrus The Great]

I am currently reading parts of Isaac Asimov's memoir "I, Asimov". I have enjoyed his science fiction and science non-fiction books for many years. He was a fascinating personality!

[Dragon Katana]

The last book I read was Jonathan Melville's 'A Kind of Magic: The Making of Highlander'. I stumbled across the book by chance when I was looking up Highlander on Google - its a fantastic read.

[Cyrus The Great]

I am reading some of Tolkien's "Unfinished Tales". Tolkien wrote and rewrote the stories of many of his characters throughout his adult life. It is interesting to read and compare the different versions as compiled by Christopher Tolkien.

[Ceridwen]

The Secret History of the Pink Carnation by Lauren Willig. Rather fun so far. Its a time split novel with a researcher in the first years of the 21st century and her subjects in the Regency era. The Pink Carnation was the name of an English spy along the lines of the Scarlet Pimpernel, who is treated as real in story. The identity of the Carnation has never been discovered, our researcher hopes to be the one to name the spy and get her PhD in the process.

[dubiousbystander]

Donna Lettow's Barricades, at least what there is of it that she distributed at HLWW10.
All The Light We Cannot See, by Anthony Doerr. This one is often difficult for me, as it is both shifting in time, and shifting in primary character, from Werner's story to Marie-Laure's.
Ahab's Wife, by Sena Jeter Naslund. I'm still early in it, but have to shift my attitude often. This is someone's invention of a background for a person only mentioned, from a fantasy book revolving around whaling. Naslund's writing of the character's philosophy feels anachronistic (as in closer to today than to the time it's set). Not sure if she'd qualify as a classic Mary Sue. She doesn't change anything, as of course her life when it intersects with Ahab's is all "off screen".

[Cyrus The Great]

I am enjoying "Fate of Worlds" by Larry Niven and Edward M. Lerner. It is the last in a series of books that greatly expand Niven's Ringworld and Known Space stories.

[Ceridwen]

The Thursday Murder Club by Richard Osman
good premise, good characters - one in particular who appears to be retired black op kind of person is great. The author's constant changing of the tense from past to present from chapter to chapter drives me a bit buggy, but am willing to put up with it because the story is just good enough to make me do so. Once I finish, we'll see if it was worth that much tolerance.

[Ceridwen]

I dont see it, it seemed very like 'the end' to me. I suppose she could, however, now that Hulu is making this one into a mini series, and yes I will watch it just to see if they improve on the whole second half. I wish I could tell you the whole problem of the story, but that's not possible without spoilers.

[Cyrus The Great]

I am re-reading "Ringworld's Children" by Larry Niven. I have been a fan of the Ringworld series since I read the first book when I was a teen. I have also enjoyed the tie-in series dealing with the puppeteer worlds that Niven co-authored with Edward M. Lerner. Actually, I am a fan of all of Niven's work. He is very imaginative and incorporates a lot of good science in his fiction.

[dubiousbystander]

I'm currently reading three books.
Nancy Holder's Highlander: The Measure of a Man
It's not bad as things go, but the problem I have a lot of the time is overblown villains, and Machiavelli is one of them.

Diana Gabaldon's Go Tell the Bees That I Am Gone
Enjoying it tremendously so far. I find that I can remember so little of the book before it, that I might have to go and re-read it, but at the same time maybe I don't.

The 19th Deathlands book, Deep Empire, written by Laurence James as James Axler. He wrote 1-33, and has a love of Stephen King's Dark Tower (and other novels), so that odes are scattered through the books.
Not unlike Duncan MacLeod, in order for his characters to end up in dire straights, they often have to suddenly seem to lack the brains that they have at other times.

[Dragon Katana]

Currently reading 'Highlander' by Garry Kilworth and I need to start 'Ronnie James Dio: Rainbow in the Dark'.

[dubiousbystander]

Washington Black by Esi Edugyan
Started out very well, whipped through the first half of the book. Then the story faltered and seemed to loose direction. It just kind of meandered for about 100 pages and then there was a kind of deep disconnect with the conclusion. So what started out as an 8 or better on the scale, dropped back to at best a 5, and that's reaching. The ending is the problem - there isn't one. She resolved nothing, not even minor plot threads, just left them dangling, let alone the over arcing issues, didn't even attempt to it seemed, and characters introduced in the second half were even less fleshed out than the protagonists, whose surfaces were barely scratched. The reader is left feeling cheated by the lack of a real conclusion or resolution, or even a real direction for the reader to speculate upon.

Do you suppose she's writing a sequel? Is it that sort of book?

[Ceridwen]

Washington Black by Esi Edugyan
Started out very well, whipped through the first half of the book. Then the story faltered and seemed to loose direction. It just kind of meandered for about 100 pages and then there was a kind of deep disconnect with the conclusion. So what started out as an 8 or better on the scale, dropped back to at best a 5, and that's reaching. The ending is the problem - there isn't one. She resolved nothing, not even minor plot threads, just left them dangling, let alone the over arcing issues, didn't even attempt to it seemed, and characters introduced in the second half were even less fleshed out than the protagonists, whose surfaces were barely scratched. The reader is left feeling cheated by the lack of a real conclusion or resolution, or even a real direction for the reader to speculate upon.

[Cyrus The Great]

I have been reading some of the poetry of Christina Rossetti. She lived in 1800's England. She came from a very accomplished family. Her father was a poet of some note in Italy. Her mother was of Italian-English ancestry who had some notable literary relatives, as well. Christina's brother, Dante Gabriel Rossetti, was a very accomplished artist and poet and a founding member of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood who were eventually recognized as an important faction by art historians. Christina lived what I would consider a rather sad life. She never married and many of her poems expressed a desire to leave suffering behind and find a happier existence in the life after death that she firmly believed in. However, some of her poetry, which I like very much, is about much happier topics, especially her love of nature.

[Cyrus The Great]

I am currently re-reading "Heretics of Dune" by Frank Herbert. Frank's Dune series is one of my favorites. His son Brian and his co-author Kevin Anderson have greatly expanded the Dune universe, partly from outlines and notes left by Frank. The new books are interesting reads, filling in a lot of history that Frank didn't live to do himself. However, I still prefer Frank's masterful storytelling over the journeymanly skills of Brian and Kevin.

[n107]

Currently I'm reading:

"Letters to E. Hoffman Price and Richard F. Searight" - Part of the collected correspondences of H.P. Lovecraft with his family, friends and colleagues. I'm nearly done with his letters to Price. A truly fascinating glimpse into the mind of the author.

"Star Trek: Destiny" - Trying to get some new Star Trek stories under my belt.

"Hachiko no monogatari" (The Story of Hachiko) - A friend lent this to me and asked me to read it over winter break, which I clearly haven't finished yet.

[Ceridwen]

Re-reading The Eye of the World, the first novel of the Wheel of Time, just to remind myself that there was once an actual decent tale there, and good characters, not just a bunch of drek as was seen in the so-called adaption. What a horrible thing amazon did to a truly good story.

[Cyrus The Great]

Glad to meet a fellow Heinlein fan here!

[dubiousbystander]

I read a book titled "The Power" by Naomi Alderman. I started with the audiobook, then went to check spelling in the ebook, only to find that the book comes with some illustrations which really do help the story and have meaning in it. Six and a half years ago, I would probably have thought some of how characters react and act to be unbelievable. I find it more believable now.

There's a bit of deux ex machina going on to make things happen that otherwise could not, but it doesn't stop the story.

Now I'm reading "Unwell Women: Misdiagnosis and Myth in a Man-Made World" by Elinor Cleghorn, in which she traces the almost unbelievable history of how medicine has failed women by treating their bodies as alien and other. That's a quote.

[dubiousbystander]

I do love those books!

[Cyrus The Great]

I am re-reading The Martian Trilogy - the first three books of Edgar Rice Burroughs in the Martian series. Burroughs had an amazing way of creating really action packed and emotionally touching stories! The movie that was made of "Warlord of Mars" was pretty good, but there was so much of the book left out. I hope that the Martian stories will be turned into a TV series so the books can be much more fully developed.

[dubiousbystander]

I am reading William Gibson's The Peripheral. It's pretty good. Interesting world-building. Just found out it's the first and perhaps there will be three, but there are only two right now.

https://williamgibsonbooks.com/books/the-peripheral/

[Ceridwen]

Re-reading the best of the Sharpe novels by Bernard Cornwell

[Cyrus The Great]

I am currently re-reading parts of some of my favorite Heinlein books: Time Enough For Love, The Number of the Beast, and To Sail Beyond the Sunset.

[dubiousbystander]

I recently engaged in this conversation with a friend online:

Friend: indeed, I recall seeing far more of an outcry over fifty Shades of Gray, which was completely consensual, then I have over this issue with Wonder woman.

and I am still waiting for the outcry or backlash over what happened to Johnny Depp.

Me: I've seen those, too.

Friend: 12:23 AM
his career was ruined while she is still actively starring in things like Aquaman 2 and other roles, and may even get a part in the pirates of the Caribbean franchise, that he was kicked out of.

and she was the one doing the abusing. all indications are that he was largely innocent victim.

Me: 12:23 AM
You know, there was this whole plot in Shades of Gray about the woman who seduced 15 year old Gray and made him her sub for a while, and how once that news hit his foster-mother it caused rage, and of course the lady in his relationship was furious about it. BUT since this didn't come out until later in the series, it's possible it slipped under the radar.

Friend: 12:24 AM
I have never read the story nor seen the movie. all I know of is the public outcry about how he is a monster and a rapist for abusing his secretary, even though everything that happened between them was consensual. I am much more of a dominance and submissive player than a sadism and masochism player, so something like their SM relationship really isn't my cup of tea.

though, interestingly, it has apparently sold over 125 million copies in something like 50 different languages, and the overwhelming majority of people buying the book are women.

Me: 12:26 AM
Gray, who as a child had to live in a room with his mother's cooling corpse after she died of a drug overdose, was a thoroughly messed up teen on the verge of committing suicide, when a friend of his mother's, who has a secret life as a dom, saw the vulnerable boy and took him on as her sexual sub. blah blah blah "MY God, Gray, that woman is a child molester!" "No, she gave me what I needed." "The bleep she did!"

Me: 12:26 AM
She is not his secretary, by the way.

Friend: 12:27 AM
okay, I thought she was a secretary. as I said, I've never read the book or seen the movie.

Me: 12:28 AM
He meets her because she interviews him in place of her friend. She's clumsy and nervous, and bears a faint resemblance to his mother. He fixates on her because he's damaged and deals with his trauma by controlling everything about the women he is with because of an underlying terror of finding them dead from drug overdose someday.

Friend: 12:28 AM
ha!

Me: 12:28 AM
I read all three books, as it's been my experience that I like to know whatof I speak. Borrowed them from my neighbor.

Friend: 12:29 AM
so instead of him just enjoying the role of being a dominant, and her just enjoying the role of being a submissive, they had to make it about emotional trauma and mental damage, instead of it just being a thing that they both enjoy.

Me: 12:29 AM
On the rape in WW, a lot of comments are from people who haven't watched it yet, but some have, in much the same way.

Yes, of course they had to. Christ, the real reason this was such a hit is that it's a completely standard romance novel, except for the S&M.

Friend: 12:31 AM
indeed, which is why I withhold my judgment about the movie. I am simply referring to things that I have read about it, and the sources for that information.

which is unfortunate, because it paints BDSM as being something that damaged people do instead of something that normal healthy people enjoy.

Me: 12:31 AM
Tragic damaged massively rich man meets lovely pure innocent virgin who teaches him the meaning of true love and heals his damage.

Also false, actually.
About the BDSM.

Friend: 12:33 AM
I recall seeing memes at the time saying that if Christian Gray lived in a trailer instead of being a billionaire, it wouldn't be a romance novel but instead would be a CSI episode.

Me: 12:33 AM
Once he has been healed of his trauma by the true love of the girl who has never had any sexual experience before him, including never having had an orgasm, they enjoy a healthy BDSM relationship. Which is how the third book resolves, so of course no one notices.

No, actually, on that one either.

Friend: 12:34 AM
that's interesting and heartening. the author manages to come full circle and turn the BDSM relationship into a healthy thing, although having to have started it as an issue of damage.

Me: 12:35 AM
Standard romance novel.

Friend: 12:35 AM
the meme is suggesting that the reason why it is acceptable and even a sexual fantasy among women is because he is rich.

Me: 12:35 AM
Told you. I read the whole damned thing.

Friend: 12:36 AM
indeed, but as you know, no one will read past the first book. those who like it will continue reading, but they weren't the ones who were offended by it anyway.

those who are offended by it won't ever finish the story to find out how it ends.

Me: 12:36 AM
Yes, the meme would. But it is not. He never does her any real physical harm, and half of their problems are because as a pure innocent, she keeps trying to be what she imagines he wants her to be, which causes conflict as she won't use her safeword because she's afraid he'll reject her if she can't handle it.

Well, by the third book I was skipping past the sex scenes as they were boring and not involving character development.

Friend: 12:38 AM
you see, none of this ever comes out when people are complaining about how abusive the story is.

and as someone who has never read it, nor seen the movie, I would never know any of this about it unless you had just told me.

I see the complaints from the complaint department, and that's all the more that ever gets exposed about the story.

Me: 12:38 AM
Of course, in reading these stories there is some hilarity, as I've also read the Twilight books, of which these stories were originally a fanfic.

The whole reason the relationship is unhealthy is because he's messed up, and she saves him, so they can have a healthy relationship! Just add "BDSM" in front of the word relationship each time.

Friend: 12:40 AM
sure, but she doesn't change him by changing the BDSM nature of the relationship, apparently.
that's the part that I find unusual and refreshing.
it seems that the author recognizes healthy and consensual BDSM relationships even if the naysayers and critics do not.

Me: 12:41 AM
She learns that the sub really does have control. If I understand about BDSM relationships. And HE learns that he doesn't have to... control the sub? Sorry, I'm not good with phrasing.
She learns to set her limits, and he learns to trust her and conquers his fears.

Friend: 12:42 AM
you're freezing is perfectly okay.
and that is correct. in any consensual relationship the submissive is ultimately in control because they can ultimately say no.

and the dominant does not necessarily have to be in control of the situation, because the submissive is there voluntarily. if they were not there voluntarily, then it is not a consensual relationship.

Me: 12:43 AM
It's not a very well-written book, and as with many a tale, the people reading it take what they take, and miss a lot of the message in favor of the sex or whatever.

Friend: 12:43 AM
it seems that I may actually have to read these books, because the way you are describing it, even though you feel that your description is clumsy, is remarkably good and very telling about what the author is actually conveying over the series of books.

again, contrary to the naysayers and critics, it sounds that the story turns into a remarkably healthy journey of discovery for both of the characters.

Me: 12:43 AM
YES.
Er... and damnit, I am not a fan because romance novels where the hero has to be saved from his mess by the love of the innocent virgin are really, really not my thing.

Friend: 12:44 AM
see, you think your description is clumsy, and yet I took away enough from it that now you have enticed me to actually read the series.

well done!

Me: 12:44 AM
Thank you, thank you, I am proud.
Of course, if you read it and go "What the hell," I'm prepared for that.

Friend: 12:44 AM
as well you should be. take a bow if you can do that without blocking your head on something.

Me: 12:45 AM
Hopefully I can figure out how to phrase what I saw in the WW movie, but possibly I can't.
I know that a lot of people are looking at it from the pain of society dismissing men being raped by women.
That pain IS valid, I promise I know that.

Ah, found her name. In 50 Shades, when Anastasia found out about the pedophile woman, she was furious and out for blood.

Friend: 12:54 AM
I certainly understand where you're coming from in the Wonder woman movie, because I am usually in favor of giving the benefit of the doubt. but I'm not sure anyone gets a pass these days.

I find it to be a difficult situation. while it is true that an adult woman ended up in a DS relationship, that apparently involved SM and sex, with an underage boy, by his own admission it was very good for him.

Me: 12:57 AM
Yup.

Friend: 12:58 AM
Western society views all adult/child sexual relationships as being necessarily evil.

does Japan view it the same way?

Me: 12:59 AM
But his true love, Anastasia, shows the counterpoint that though it may have kept him from committing suicide, it meant that the first two books were all about her having to heal his damage, as it NEVER was healed, just glossed over.
Instead of getting the counselling and help he needed (if that's truly possible), he took desperate control of every woman he got involved with after her.
And that, there, is the plot.

Friend: 1:01 AM
I agree, and again it's a tough call. it saved his life, but didn't exactly fix the problem. but at least it saved his life so that he was still alive to fix the problem later.

Me: 1:02 AM
Ayup. And now you see one more thing. As people were fixated on why they THOUGHT was happening in the books (romanticizing abuse of innocent girl by rich guy), nobody noticed the story.

Friend: 1:02 AM
which is, again, why I'm always very careful to withhold my personal judgment about things that I have not read or seen myself.