What are you reading at the moment

[spaceforarent]

A while back I finished 2010, but the library didn't have any more in that series, so I ordered them all on Amazon. While I waited for them to arrive, I decided to read some of this 1000 page collection of his short stories, with the intention of returning it when the others arrived. However, I found that there were some really good stories so now I'm going to  try finishing it before I continue with the series.

[Tripe H. Redux]

I read the Woman in White by Wilkie Collins.  That was really good.  Movie adaptation wasn't a patch on it.

I love Collins, this should be fun, it's one of his earlier novels.

Started reading this the other day:



It's all right so far. I suspect some of her research isn't quite up to par on the ancient stuff (I'm not an expert on druids, but then I don't think she is either).

I think it'll get better as she gets closer to our time.

As long as it's not Jack Chick levels of inaccuracy I'm sure it'll be fine

[Imrahil]

It's gotten a lot better now that we're into the Colonies.

Puritans were assholes.

[Tripe H. Redux]

Puritans were assholes.

Without a doubt.

I'll have to find the book at the library I'm interested in how the pre-christian bits are portrayed.

EDIT: So from reviews it sounds like there a bit of an infestation of fluffy bunnies when it comes to talking about the druids.

[esoobaC .T bocaJ]

best vampire book I ever read, granted it's the only vampire book I've ever read, but still

[Imrahil]

Puritans were assholes.

Without a doubt.

I'll have to find the book at the library I'm interested in how the pre-christian bits are portrayed.

EDIT: So from reviews it sounds like there a bit of an infestation of fluffy bunnies when it comes to talking about the druids.

She just seems to make a lot of claims that I don't think are really substantiated by the really meagre evidence we actually have about them.  (Something which always annoys me about modern "druids" as well).

[Tripe H. Redux]

Yeah, fluffy bunnies.

[Imrahil]

Ah, I didn't realize that was a specific term.

She referred in the reading I did last night to the "Celtic sun god Baal."  Whoops.

Still, as I said, her colonial stuff is fun, learning about autumn play-parties and such.

[Tripe H. Redux]

Ah, I didn't realize that was a specific term.

She referred in the reading I did last night to the "Celtic sun god Baal."  Whoops.

Still, as I said, her colonial stuff is fun, learning about autumn play-parties and such.

Oh dear.

Yeah autumnal celebrations are great to read about. There are a few people from Scotland who still remember celebrating Halloween fondly. Somebody came to my mother's church and droned on about how evil the observance of the holiday was only to have one of my mother's friend get really upset since she'd been celebrating it for decades ever since she was a wee lass.

[Imrahil]

Yeah, apparently the Scots are real buggers when it comes to pranks on Mischief Night.

[electronsexparty]

Read: Watchmen
Thought: Excellent. While I enjoyed the film, the novel was a hell of a lot better.

Reading: The Bean Trees by Barbara Kingsolver

[Imrahil]

Finished From Russia with Love last night.  Pretty good; the most "sex-filled" of the Bond adventures so far.  Weird ending; I guess Fleming was planning at one point that this be the last Bond novel.  It still hasn't toppled Live and Let Die from its place as my favorite, but it's pretty good; probably #2 or 3.

The movie's very close to this; it diverges a bit at the end, but the biggest problem is the casting.  I love Robert Shaw, don't get me wrong; he just isn't right for the part.  And the guy who plays Kerim Bey is completely wrong.  Oh well.

Interesting fact: This was listed on Kennedy's top 10 favorite books in a nationally-published article when he was president (the only fiction book on the list) and this is what essentially brought Fleming to the American consciousness.  I found this particularly amusing in light of the fact that the giant billboard which the Albanian spy crawls out of in the book is a picture of Marilyn Monroe.  I suspect Kennedy found that amusing as well.

[Hor-RIFF-ic Productions]

best vampire book I ever read, granted it's the only vampire book I've ever read, but still

I'm holding off judgement until the rest of the trilogy comes out, this is just such a set up for the rest I have a hard time judging it by itself.

[Imrahil]

Finished Bannatyne's Halloween book.

It was a bit of a mess. It raised some interesting points (I'd love to see a statistical analysis of 20 or 30 years' worth of "most popular" costumes for Men/Women in different parts of the world, for example), but the methodology was pretty scattershot, and the whole thing was REALLY repetitive.  She also appears to accept a lot of stuff from earlier authors at face value, which is a bit of a mistake when dealing with 19th century folklorists.

Not really a serious work, and not all that fun to read for the layperson (she should've gone a better route there--color reproductions of old magazines or better illustrated examples of what she's talking about--make it into a coffee-table book there, another niche that could easily be filled), it's also full of typos and just...not great.  It does have some good stuff on the colonial and Victorian periods in America, though, so I'd probably give it a 3/5.

Still looking for a good one to fill the gap; maybe next year.

Meanwhile, I'm now working on a collection of stories edited by Asimov called "The Best Horror and Supernatural Stories of the 19th Century."  A lot of snoozers in here, but a couple of genuinely creepy and otherwise good stuff.  The current story is Ambrose Bierce's "An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge," possibly my least-favorite-ever Twilight Zone episode.  We'll see if the story is any better.

[Tripe H. Redux]

She also appears to accept a lot of stuff from earlier authors at face value, which is a bit of a mistake when dealing with 19th century folklorists.

Oh but they're so much fun to read, awful as research, delightful as simple reading matter.

Currently reading this