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1threadnsong
In an effort to keep my threads less tangled this year and the songs flowing well, this topic is where I will post my reviews of books read.
Especially important to me as I finish First Feminists is to record the words of these women from the earliest eras of women writing to now so that those words will live once again.
And in a similar vein, several years-long reading challenges include books that I pick up and read and then come here to post details: The Great Shame and Tolkien's History of Middle Earth series. It's nice to detail where I currently am to a group while not feeling a "hurry up and finish it for a challenge" sense of urgency.
Books I am reading for a challenge are on the SFF Kit (monthly science fiction/fantasy reading) and my TBR pile, arranged by category by month. Cuz that sort of thinking works for my brain.
Your mileage may vary.
My categories below are:
Category 1 - Where am I again (longtime reading pile)
Category 2 - TBR pile
Category 3 - New book pile
Category 4 - Tolkien's History of Middle Earth series
Especially important to me as I finish First Feminists is to record the words of these women from the earliest eras of women writing to now so that those words will live once again.
And in a similar vein, several years-long reading challenges include books that I pick up and read and then come here to post details: The Great Shame and Tolkien's History of Middle Earth series. It's nice to detail where I currently am to a group while not feeling a "hurry up and finish it for a challenge" sense of urgency.
Books I am reading for a challenge are on the SFF Kit (monthly science fiction/fantasy reading) and my TBR pile, arranged by category by month. Cuz that sort of thinking works for my brain.
Your mileage may vary.
My categories below are:
Category 1 - Where am I again (longtime reading pile)
Category 2 - TBR pile
Category 3 - New book pile
Category 4 - Tolkien's History of Middle Earth series
2threadnsong
January Reads - Category 4
The Book of Lost Tales, Part 1
AKA, Snow Days are a wonderful thing :)
Having a day off of work last week allowed me to settle into a coffee shop with this book. I think this is the 3rd time I've started it, and now I have a much better idea of how to read these books.
They're not narratives; rather, they are a glimpse into a writer's craft. From a musical POV, they're practicing a piece of music: right hand melody, left hand accompaniment, work on the intervals until they are smooth, then put the hands together for 10 measures.
This book starts with an early writing, "The Cottage of Lost Play." It has a George MacDonald feel to it, with a voyager (Eriol) arriving at a Land where children are occupied all day, every day, with play. Vaire states to Eriol, when the voice of Tombo, the Gong of the Children, sounds, ". . . it rings once to summon them to this hall at the times for eating and drinking, and three times to summon them to the Room of the Log Fire for the telling of tales, . . . ". It's possible to see how this early description of a land of make-believe morphs into the idea of Rivendell and its hall of firelight and tales. It is also the precursor to the tales of Earendel the Mariner in LOTR.
Christopher Tolkien includes three poems that are entitled "You and Me and the Cottage of Lost Play" in their earliest, middle, and latest form as part of his notes and backstory to this chapter.
Chapter Two is "The Music of the Ainur", another early writing and one of the most beautifully crafted chapters anywhere in the English language. The opening of The Tale of Two Cities would be another nod in that direction. Here again is an observation from the wanderer Eriol, instruction by Rumil at the Cottage, and mention of the Noldoli and the Valar. The idea of the world coming into being by song is brief but expanded in an emended draft text that comes very close to what was published in The Silmarillion. Which is kind of cool: an idea is brimming in its earliest form, then the more fully-formed idea is set down as a new way to explain how the world was made. Through music.
The Book of Lost Tales, Part 1
AKA, Snow Days are a wonderful thing :)
Having a day off of work last week allowed me to settle into a coffee shop with this book. I think this is the 3rd time I've started it, and now I have a much better idea of how to read these books.
They're not narratives; rather, they are a glimpse into a writer's craft. From a musical POV, they're practicing a piece of music: right hand melody, left hand accompaniment, work on the intervals until they are smooth, then put the hands together for 10 measures.
This book starts with an early writing, "The Cottage of Lost Play." It has a George MacDonald feel to it, with a voyager (Eriol) arriving at a Land where children are occupied all day, every day, with play. Vaire states to Eriol, when the voice of Tombo, the Gong of the Children, sounds, ". . . it rings once to summon them to this hall at the times for eating and drinking, and three times to summon them to the Room of the Log Fire for the telling of tales, . . . ". It's possible to see how this early description of a land of make-believe morphs into the idea of Rivendell and its hall of firelight and tales. It is also the precursor to the tales of Earendel the Mariner in LOTR.
Christopher Tolkien includes three poems that are entitled "You and Me and the Cottage of Lost Play" in their earliest, middle, and latest form as part of his notes and backstory to this chapter.
Chapter Two is "The Music of the Ainur", another early writing and one of the most beautifully crafted chapters anywhere in the English language. The opening of The Tale of Two Cities would be another nod in that direction. Here again is an observation from the wanderer Eriol, instruction by Rumil at the Cottage, and mention of the Noldoli and the Valar. The idea of the world coming into being by song is brief but expanded in an emended draft text that comes very close to what was published in The Silmarillion. Which is kind of cool: an idea is brimming in its earliest form, then the more fully-formed idea is set down as a new way to explain how the world was made. Through music.
3threadnsong
Leaving Time by Jodi Picoult
Completely out of the realm of all these categories, I finished my first book of the year!
Part detective mystery, part psychic soul-searching, and much science researching on the part of elephants in both Africa and in a New Hampshire elephant sanctuary, this well-written book starts with a 13 year old girl's search for her missing mother and ends with an unexpected plot twist.
The psychic's search for her identity and lost power fits in very well with my own spiritual beliefs, and I was especially drawn to her story. As an environmentally-moved individual, I was both drawn to and mournful of the descriptions of the elephants. Please let there be an end to their destruction!
Read for a F2F library book group.
Completely out of the realm of all these categories, I finished my first book of the year!
Part detective mystery, part psychic soul-searching, and much science researching on the part of elephants in both Africa and in a New Hampshire elephant sanctuary, this well-written book starts with a 13 year old girl's search for her missing mother and ends with an unexpected plot twist.
The psychic's search for her identity and lost power fits in very well with my own spiritual beliefs, and I was especially drawn to her story. As an environmentally-moved individual, I was both drawn to and mournful of the descriptions of the elephants. Please let there be an end to their destruction!
Read for a F2F library book group.
4threadnsong
January Reads, Category 1
The Great Shame, Chapter 17
"Young Ireland and the Isms of Yankeedom"
This is something of a mixed chapter. The pardons for the members of Young Ireland were slowly forthcoming, and less evictions and passages were occurring in the late 1850's than in the decade before. This change was due in part to the ravages of the Famine on the population of Ireland and greater accessibility to land for those who stayed. Smith O'Brien, Kevin O'Doherty, and John Martin were all granted pardons by the Crown and could legally re-enter Ireland. The first two returned, and Martin stayed in Paris.
In New York, Thomas Francis Meagher was changing careers as an unsuccessful lawyer to a newspaper owner, reporting on the appalling conditions of the Irish emigres and their American-born children who formed one-quarter of the population of New York and lived in the poorest slums with no running water, no sewage, and hopeless conditions. He then became involved with American "interests" in the regions of Nicaragua and Costa Rica to promote trade and ideals of democracy. You can see where this is heading.
John Mitchel, meanwhile, buys property in Kentucky and tries his hand at farming. No luck. Then he, also, becomes a newspaperman but with much less humanitarian views to Meagher. His newspaper takes a firm stance against the abolitionists in the pre-Civil War South and his views on slavery are appalling.
The chapter goes on to detail the adventures and stories of these Young Irelanders. I am always amazed at Keneally's research into this topic, as it shows the continued "Shame" to what persons these men (and a few women) could have been were it not for such harsh treatment and sentencing by the Crown.
The Great Shame, Chapter 17
"Young Ireland and the Isms of Yankeedom"
This is something of a mixed chapter. The pardons for the members of Young Ireland were slowly forthcoming, and less evictions and passages were occurring in the late 1850's than in the decade before. This change was due in part to the ravages of the Famine on the population of Ireland and greater accessibility to land for those who stayed. Smith O'Brien, Kevin O'Doherty, and John Martin were all granted pardons by the Crown and could legally re-enter Ireland. The first two returned, and Martin stayed in Paris.
In New York, Thomas Francis Meagher was changing careers as an unsuccessful lawyer to a newspaper owner, reporting on the appalling conditions of the Irish emigres and their American-born children who formed one-quarter of the population of New York and lived in the poorest slums with no running water, no sewage, and hopeless conditions. He then became involved with American "interests" in the regions of Nicaragua and Costa Rica to promote trade and ideals of democracy. You can see where this is heading.
John Mitchel, meanwhile, buys property in Kentucky and tries his hand at farming. No luck. Then he, also, becomes a newspaperman but with much less humanitarian views to Meagher. His newspaper takes a firm stance against the abolitionists in the pre-Civil War South and his views on slavery are appalling.
The chapter goes on to detail the adventures and stories of these Young Irelanders. I am always amazed at Keneally's research into this topic, as it shows the continued "Shame" to what persons these men (and a few women) could have been were it not for such harsh treatment and sentencing by the Crown.
5threadnsong
January Reads, Category 2
The Gods Themselves by Isaac Asimov
This book was the one in the late 1970's that Isaac Asimov said he wanted to be remembered for writing, and since the interview was on a "Star Trek" recording of Gene Roddenberry and others, I of course had to honor Asimov's wishes. I had no idea what to expect and I'm glad I picked it up for my SFFKit challenge for this month. The theme was procrastination and it fits both the theme of the book and the fact that I've had it for more than a decade and just not read it.
I am glad I did. It is involved in many aspects of existence, both human and non-human. The human scientific community has stumbled upon a free source of energy that passes between our universe and a para-universe in the form of the element tungsten. It somehow has become radioactive, and the transference between the two universes makes the energy. I'm not a scientist, so don't ask me how, but Asimov explains it extremely well.
When a scientist notices that this continued transference is going to cause our sun and solar system to explode, his warning is put to the side (procrastinating the warning, hence the theme). His warning means that he has challenged a powerful man behind the tungsten transfer and free energy thing, so he's pretty much at a standstill along with his warning.
Part 2 involves the para-universe with beings both solid and semi-solid. The semi-solid have a three-part family structure, including mating, and they are able to accomplish their life cycle through the fact that their atoms are further apart. One of each part is taught by the solid beings the knowledge of their world, one part takes care of young ones, and one is an emotional being who begins to have an interest in the learning. When s/he discovers the truth behind the tungsten transfer and the life structure of the planet, again, disbelief and discrediting and procrastination happen.
Finally, Earth, several decades later, though I should say the Moon and human life inhabiting it. Still Asimov has science and women characters who have whole lives and personalities and more behind-the-scenes discussions happen. Will the problems with tungsten be solved? There is no clear-cut answer at the end, and that leaves the reader able to draw her/his own conclusions. Or not.
The Gods Themselves by Isaac Asimov
This book was the one in the late 1970's that Isaac Asimov said he wanted to be remembered for writing, and since the interview was on a "Star Trek" recording of Gene Roddenberry and others, I of course had to honor Asimov's wishes. I had no idea what to expect and I'm glad I picked it up for my SFFKit challenge for this month. The theme was procrastination and it fits both the theme of the book and the fact that I've had it for more than a decade and just not read it.
I am glad I did. It is involved in many aspects of existence, both human and non-human. The human scientific community has stumbled upon a free source of energy that passes between our universe and a para-universe in the form of the element tungsten. It somehow has become radioactive, and the transference between the two universes makes the energy. I'm not a scientist, so don't ask me how, but Asimov explains it extremely well.
When a scientist notices that this continued transference is going to cause our sun and solar system to explode, his warning is put to the side (procrastinating the warning, hence the theme). His warning means that he has challenged a powerful man behind the tungsten transfer and free energy thing, so he's pretty much at a standstill along with his warning.
Part 2 involves the para-universe with beings both solid and semi-solid. The semi-solid have a three-part family structure, including mating, and they are able to accomplish their life cycle through the fact that their atoms are further apart. One of each part is taught by the solid beings the knowledge of their world, one part takes care of young ones, and one is an emotional being who begins to have an interest in the learning. When s/he discovers the truth behind the tungsten transfer and the life structure of the planet, again, disbelief and discrediting and procrastination happen.
Finally, Earth, several decades later, though I should say the Moon and human life inhabiting it. Still Asimov has science and women characters who have whole lives and personalities and more behind-the-scenes discussions happen. Will the problems with tungsten be solved? There is no clear-cut answer at the end, and that leaves the reader able to draw her/his own conclusions. Or not.
6threadnsong
February Reads, Category 2
The Bane of Lord Caladon by Craig Mills
Another SFFkit challenge, this one in the TBRR category (in other words, re-read what's there and decide if I want to keep it or not).
Hm. Did I like this one? Sort of. I realized partway through that I was probably reading a YA novel. Having that realization eased my annoyance with the young hero who was relying on luck and good plotlines to cover his foolishness. The plotlines were a bit more unpredictable than the normal mass-produced fantasy novel, and reading a standalone fantasy was a bit refreshing.
Young Alonin, the Lord Caladon of the title, is under a curse: each lord of his family is going to be killed by the dragon Thudredid, and Alonin finds out the reason at long last. There was a jewel, the Dylcaer, stolen from said dragon's hoard, in the great-great-grandsire's time, and since the jewel was forged by an evil wizard with evil intent, its evil is invoked to unleash this curse.
Alonin begins his quest to kill the dragon, only to find out that until he has a son the dragon will not engage him. So he finds the local wizard, Mernon, who bequeaths him a protective talisman, tells him of the cursed jewel, and sends him on his way. Alonin finds a traveling companion, Dalkin, and the two set off to find the jewel. There are inns, and gypsies, and snow, and pirates, and finally an evil sorceress who imprisons the two men, and she is the keeper of said jewel. Their adventures are still not over even with the jewel, and the story comes to a nice resolution.
All that said, the only character with any development is Alonin; the rest are definitely supports who have no story of their own. And sometimes Alonin's inherent naivete is a pain to deal with. But it's an easy read, and a good YA novel, and it will stay on my shelves.
The Bane of Lord Caladon by Craig Mills
Another SFFkit challenge, this one in the TBRR category (in other words, re-read what's there and decide if I want to keep it or not).
Hm. Did I like this one? Sort of. I realized partway through that I was probably reading a YA novel. Having that realization eased my annoyance with the young hero who was relying on luck and good plotlines to cover his foolishness. The plotlines were a bit more unpredictable than the normal mass-produced fantasy novel, and reading a standalone fantasy was a bit refreshing.
Young Alonin, the Lord Caladon of the title, is under a curse: each lord of his family is going to be killed by the dragon Thudredid, and Alonin finds out the reason at long last. There was a jewel, the Dylcaer, stolen from said dragon's hoard, in the great-great-grandsire's time, and since the jewel was forged by an evil wizard with evil intent, its evil is invoked to unleash this curse.
Alonin begins his quest to kill the dragon, only to find out that until he has a son the dragon will not engage him. So he finds the local wizard, Mernon, who bequeaths him a protective talisman, tells him of the cursed jewel, and sends him on his way. Alonin finds a traveling companion, Dalkin, and the two set off to find the jewel. There are inns, and gypsies, and snow, and pirates, and finally an evil sorceress who imprisons the two men, and she is the keeper of said jewel. Their adventures are still not over even with the jewel, and the story comes to a nice resolution.
All that said, the only character with any development is Alonin; the rest are definitely supports who have no story of their own. And sometimes Alonin's inherent naivete is a pain to deal with. But it's an easy read, and a good YA novel, and it will stay on my shelves.
7threadnsong
February Reads, Category 3
Patriot Witch by C.C. Finlay
Meh. Young man knows he has magical powers, but the Salem Witch Trials are only 80 years in the past and people are still hung as witches. Which from a historical perspective makes me cringe that this POV was not more fully brought forth in the fiction part of this historical fiction, but it contributed to my wondering if Finlay was not comfortable with the idea of magic himself. The names are historically accurate, the farming life of New England/Boston area is pretty well described, but there's either sooo much description that I got bogged down in details, or so little detail (especially in character development) that motivations seem perfunctory.
It's become a Bookcrossing book and will go into the wild this week.
Patriot Witch by C.C. Finlay
Meh. Young man knows he has magical powers, but the Salem Witch Trials are only 80 years in the past and people are still hung as witches. Which from a historical perspective makes me cringe that this POV was not more fully brought forth in the fiction part of this historical fiction, but it contributed to my wondering if Finlay was not comfortable with the idea of magic himself. The names are historically accurate, the farming life of New England/Boston area is pretty well described, but there's either sooo much description that I got bogged down in details, or so little detail (especially in character development) that motivations seem perfunctory.
It's become a Bookcrossing book and will go into the wild this week.
8threadnsong
February Reads, Category 2
Ahab's Wife by Sena Jeter Naslund
This should almost be a December book, as I started it then thinking that I would have plenty of days off to read all 600+ pages. But then two books arrived by mail and the holidays happened and I only recently finished it. Still, no worries! It was worth it.
I don't know where to begin on this book. It was excellent on so many levels: the writing, the depth of Una's thoughts, her quietness, her adventures, her audacity, and certainly realizing the mistakes she made in her life, starting with deserting her living with her Aunt's family. This book is by turns tragic, especially its opening chapters, then hopeful, then attuned to nature, then more tragedy (her father's descent into Evangelical madness), her love with her mother, and her observations of the world around her: land, sea, and sky. There is sensuality and heartbreak, hopes dashed on several occasions, Slavery and those who escape, learning and books, and just a world made more full by this young woman's life.
Ahab's Wife by Sena Jeter Naslund
This should almost be a December book, as I started it then thinking that I would have plenty of days off to read all 600+ pages. But then two books arrived by mail and the holidays happened and I only recently finished it. Still, no worries! It was worth it.
I don't know where to begin on this book. It was excellent on so many levels: the writing, the depth of Una's thoughts, her quietness, her adventures, her audacity, and certainly realizing the mistakes she made in her life, starting with deserting her living with her Aunt's family. This book is by turns tragic, especially its opening chapters, then hopeful, then attuned to nature, then more tragedy (her father's descent into Evangelical madness), her love with her mother, and her observations of the world around her: land, sea, and sky. There is sensuality and heartbreak, hopes dashed on several occasions, Slavery and those who escape, learning and books, and just a world made more full by this young woman's life.
9threadnsong
March Reads - Category 4
The Book of Lost Tales, Part 1
Chapter III, "The Coming of the Valar and the Building of Valinor" is the early version of how the dieties in Tolkien's world came to inhabit their land. Once again, the tale is told in the Cottage of Lost Play, with Rumil telling Eriol how the land of Valinor was peopled. Even in this early version some of the names remain the same: Manwe Sulimo, Varda, and Melko, Ulmo and Aule, and Osse and his consort, Onen (later Uinen). In this early version, it is Aule who convinces Melko (Melkor/Morgoth) to fashion towers on which Aule would fashion lights. Already here we also have the beginnings of Utumno, Melko's realm, as well as Melko's deceit in fashioning the pillars of ice and not an unbreakable substance.
Also included is the fashioning of Valinor, and the similarities between these paragraphs and descriptions within The Worm Ouroboros are striking: basically impossible tasks to mortals, while the gods create their castles and light the world. Anyone who is familiar with (or has read) the corresponding chapter in The Silmarillion would recognize the origins here.
Following are Christopher Tolkien's notes on what diverges (and why, when he can) as well as two drawings. One is an oval shape and is the earliest drawing of the Western Lands and the oceans, and the other resembles a Viking ship as the basis for the Western Lands. Christopher is not sure if the prow and mast were part of the original or added later; in observing this drawing, I am not sure either.
The Book of Lost Tales, Part 1
Chapter III, "The Coming of the Valar and the Building of Valinor" is the early version of how the dieties in Tolkien's world came to inhabit their land. Once again, the tale is told in the Cottage of Lost Play, with Rumil telling Eriol how the land of Valinor was peopled. Even in this early version some of the names remain the same: Manwe Sulimo, Varda, and Melko, Ulmo and Aule, and Osse and his consort, Onen (later Uinen). In this early version, it is Aule who convinces Melko (Melkor/Morgoth) to fashion towers on which Aule would fashion lights. Already here we also have the beginnings of Utumno, Melko's realm, as well as Melko's deceit in fashioning the pillars of ice and not an unbreakable substance.
Also included is the fashioning of Valinor, and the similarities between these paragraphs and descriptions within The Worm Ouroboros are striking: basically impossible tasks to mortals, while the gods create their castles and light the world. Anyone who is familiar with (or has read) the corresponding chapter in The Silmarillion would recognize the origins here.
Following are Christopher Tolkien's notes on what diverges (and why, when he can) as well as two drawings. One is an oval shape and is the earliest drawing of the Western Lands and the oceans, and the other resembles a Viking ship as the basis for the Western Lands. Christopher is not sure if the prow and mast were part of the original or added later; in observing this drawing, I am not sure either.
10threadnsong
March Reads - Category 2
Moonlight and Vines by Charles de Lint
My February selection for the SFFKit challenge of Urban Fantasy, this book was my first venture into the city of Newford. In true de Lint fashion, there is gritty underbelly (including human trafficking and guns-for-hire), childhood trauma, music and arts, and everywhere there are crows. Oh yes, and the magick that is all around us! Let's not forget how crows are seen as traveling between the worlds of life and death and even help souls cross over into their next realm. And what about souls who don't want to cross over? What is their journey like?
The sheer speculation, the matter-of-factness that some people are lesbians, or musicians, or sceptics, or artists, is a gift of the imagination. And I wonder, I really do, if the final short story is de Lint's gift to his readers. It involves a writer who began writing on an old piece of lumbar propped on two crates, along with such details about the pens used and why and some doubts about his writing and his gifts.
Moonlight and Vines by Charles de Lint
My February selection for the SFFKit challenge of Urban Fantasy, this book was my first venture into the city of Newford. In true de Lint fashion, there is gritty underbelly (including human trafficking and guns-for-hire), childhood trauma, music and arts, and everywhere there are crows. Oh yes, and the magick that is all around us! Let's not forget how crows are seen as traveling between the worlds of life and death and even help souls cross over into their next realm. And what about souls who don't want to cross over? What is their journey like?
The sheer speculation, the matter-of-factness that some people are lesbians, or musicians, or sceptics, or artists, is a gift of the imagination. And I wonder, I really do, if the final short story is de Lint's gift to his readers. It involves a writer who began writing on an old piece of lumbar propped on two crates, along with such details about the pens used and why and some doubts about his writing and his gifts.
11threadnsong
March Reads - Category 2
The Worm Ouroboros by E.R. Eddison
Not part of a challenge, but one I've had on my bookshelf for years/decades so it has been a good year's involvement in this world.
It's long. It's involved. It's completely in the realm of the Lords and Kings who can command the armies of thousands, lose them in pitched battle, and then go forward and climb icy mountains while battling manticores. There are women towards the middle of the book, and they're pretty well presented (all are lovely, and all are relatively strong except for one wife who just falls apart). One is a seventeen-year-old immortal who explains the lineage of King Gorice XII, King of the Witches. The other is the Lady Prezmyra, friend of Lord Gro, who is an enigmatic figure in the action. Lord Brandoch Daha, along with his friends Goldry Bluzco, Spitfire, and Juss, are the good guys who are noble of heart and leaders of the Demons, with great wealth and jewels and are the envy of the King of Witchland, Gorice XII. He is evil, pure and simple.
An example:
"Wondrous fair was the great four-posted bed of the Lord Juss, builded of solid gold, and hung with curtains of dark-blue tapestry whereon were figured sleep-flowers. The canopy above the bed was a mosaic of tiny stones, jet, serpentine, dark hyacinth, black marble, bloodstone, and lapis lazuli, so confounded in a maze of altering hue and lustre that they might mock the palpitating sky of night."
Oh, and did I mention that this book is heralded as one of the largest selections of prose Elizabethan English in existence? It was written in 1920, but nowhere does Eddison break out of his voice nor does he cheapen it by switching from modern to Elizabethan and back. Nope. It's all Elizabethan, which gives him free license to embellish events and beds and journeys and castles. Truly extraordinary.
The Worm Ouroboros by E.R. Eddison
Not part of a challenge, but one I've had on my bookshelf for years/decades so it has been a good year's involvement in this world.
It's long. It's involved. It's completely in the realm of the Lords and Kings who can command the armies of thousands, lose them in pitched battle, and then go forward and climb icy mountains while battling manticores. There are women towards the middle of the book, and they're pretty well presented (all are lovely, and all are relatively strong except for one wife who just falls apart). One is a seventeen-year-old immortal who explains the lineage of King Gorice XII, King of the Witches. The other is the Lady Prezmyra, friend of Lord Gro, who is an enigmatic figure in the action. Lord Brandoch Daha, along with his friends Goldry Bluzco, Spitfire, and Juss, are the good guys who are noble of heart and leaders of the Demons, with great wealth and jewels and are the envy of the King of Witchland, Gorice XII. He is evil, pure and simple.
An example:
"Wondrous fair was the great four-posted bed of the Lord Juss, builded of solid gold, and hung with curtains of dark-blue tapestry whereon were figured sleep-flowers. The canopy above the bed was a mosaic of tiny stones, jet, serpentine, dark hyacinth, black marble, bloodstone, and lapis lazuli, so confounded in a maze of altering hue and lustre that they might mock the palpitating sky of night."
Oh, and did I mention that this book is heralded as one of the largest selections of prose Elizabethan English in existence? It was written in 1920, but nowhere does Eddison break out of his voice nor does he cheapen it by switching from modern to Elizabethan and back. Nope. It's all Elizabethan, which gives him free license to embellish events and beds and journeys and castles. Truly extraordinary.
12Darth-Heather
>10 threadnsong: I love the Newford setting. You might also like Memory and Dream.
13threadnsong
I do, too. I had read many of his standalone books over the years, and this was the first Newford setting I read. I'll be on the lookout for "Memory".
14threadnsong
March Reads - Category 1
First Feminists, Elizabeth Carter (1717-1806)
An accomplished scholar and translator, having earned a thousand pounds in 1758 for her translation from the Greek of Epictetus (!), she was a member of the conservative Bluestockings literary gathering. They "scorned female 'accomplishments' . . . and favored the single life over an unhappy married one." She wrote decades of letters to her good friend Catherine Talbot, and alas, letter writing is perhaps one of those lost arts that modern social media may never replace.
There is an interesting astronomical phenomenon, a Venus transit of the Sun, that Elizabeth Carter references in her letter on 13 June, where the King's birthday celebration is also referenced:
"I am glad you were to prettily entertained on the birth-day. We had squibs and rockets, bonfires and sociables, and music parties here too, which I meant to have shared in, but found the task too much for me, so quietly slunk to my pillow.
It was well for you astronomers in London and Lambeth that the day was less cloudy on the 6th than it was with us (in Deal, presumably), for the sun never once shewed his face till Venus had finished her journey over him, and we concluded that the honour of seeing this fine phenomenon was still reserved entire to Mr. Horrox and his friend Mr. Crabtree, but it seems you and Mr. Ford have robbed them of this exclusive privilege."
First Feminists, Elizabeth Carter (1717-1806)
An accomplished scholar and translator, having earned a thousand pounds in 1758 for her translation from the Greek of Epictetus (!), she was a member of the conservative Bluestockings literary gathering. They "scorned female 'accomplishments' . . . and favored the single life over an unhappy married one." She wrote decades of letters to her good friend Catherine Talbot, and alas, letter writing is perhaps one of those lost arts that modern social media may never replace.
There is an interesting astronomical phenomenon, a Venus transit of the Sun, that Elizabeth Carter references in her letter on 13 June, where the King's birthday celebration is also referenced:
"I am glad you were to prettily entertained on the birth-day. We had squibs and rockets, bonfires and sociables, and music parties here too, which I meant to have shared in, but found the task too much for me, so quietly slunk to my pillow.
It was well for you astronomers in London and Lambeth that the day was less cloudy on the 6th than it was with us (in Deal, presumably), for the sun never once shewed his face till Venus had finished her journey over him, and we concluded that the honour of seeing this fine phenomenon was still reserved entire to Mr. Horrox and his friend Mr. Crabtree, but it seems you and Mr. Ford have robbed them of this exclusive privilege."
15threadnsong
March Reads - Category 2
Starting and Closing by John Smoltz
As part of my March challenge, this is a well-written autobiography by a gifted athlete and an intelligent man. Smoltz is honest about his shortcomings and proud of a career that has him setting baseball records for his abilities as a pitcher in both the starting position and in the closing position. And his description of the difference between the demands on a pitcher in both positions is honest: the one is driving a car with a map, and the other is entering the freeway at 100 mph with no way to slow down!
Like all athletes, his gifts were discovered early. He came into Atlanta in the 1989 season so he became part of the 1991 "Miracle Year" that I remember so well. The feeling in Atlanta that we finally had a team to be proud of was remarkable. And Smoltz also has an entire section on the 1990's when Atlanta missed the World Series title by one point (we only won 1 World Series, in 1995, thanks to a solo home run). Those were heartbreaking years.
Starting and Closing by John Smoltz
As part of my March challenge, this is a well-written autobiography by a gifted athlete and an intelligent man. Smoltz is honest about his shortcomings and proud of a career that has him setting baseball records for his abilities as a pitcher in both the starting position and in the closing position. And his description of the difference between the demands on a pitcher in both positions is honest: the one is driving a car with a map, and the other is entering the freeway at 100 mph with no way to slow down!
Like all athletes, his gifts were discovered early. He came into Atlanta in the 1989 season so he became part of the 1991 "Miracle Year" that I remember so well. The feeling in Atlanta that we finally had a team to be proud of was remarkable. And Smoltz also has an entire section on the 1990's when Atlanta missed the World Series title by one point (we only won 1 World Series, in 1995, thanks to a solo home run). Those were heartbreaking years.
16threadnsong
April Reads - Category 3
The White Tribunal by Paula Volsky
I decided to treat myself to a book by this author I dearly love, since an earlier TBR challenge was so traumatic. Volsky re-envisions the Spanish Inquisition from the POV of characters whose lives are changed as children when their families are destroyed by the addiction called "Power" wielded by the White Tribunal.
The main family, the liMarchborgs, are taken into custody in the early chapters of the book (Chapter 2, which in others of her books take a few more chapters to develop the "normal life" of the characters) and Tradain is offered a choice to be tortured to death, like his brothers and father, if only he will declare that they are magic wielders. His father exonerates him and as a result Tradain spends the next 13 years in prison, some in the prison work gangs and much in isolation.
When he is able to get out, again through luck, he finds the castle of the last known wizard and makes a pact with the same demon who also shows him what transpired to send his family to prison and offers him the chance to sell his soul in order to gain his revenge. I'm not keen on the "magic is made by demons" idea and the Astral Plane was a bit convoluted with no plotline to even out the score between the good guys and the bad. Also, the ending was a thud; the resolution of Tradain's revenge was quite good and told from the POV of multiple characters.
The White Tribunal by Paula Volsky
I decided to treat myself to a book by this author I dearly love, since an earlier TBR challenge was so traumatic. Volsky re-envisions the Spanish Inquisition from the POV of characters whose lives are changed as children when their families are destroyed by the addiction called "Power" wielded by the White Tribunal.
The main family, the liMarchborgs, are taken into custody in the early chapters of the book (Chapter 2, which in others of her books take a few more chapters to develop the "normal life" of the characters) and Tradain is offered a choice to be tortured to death, like his brothers and father, if only he will declare that they are magic wielders. His father exonerates him and as a result Tradain spends the next 13 years in prison, some in the prison work gangs and much in isolation.
When he is able to get out, again through luck, he finds the castle of the last known wizard and makes a pact with the same demon who also shows him what transpired to send his family to prison and offers him the chance to sell his soul in order to gain his revenge. I'm not keen on the "magic is made by demons" idea and the Astral Plane was a bit convoluted with no plotline to even out the score between the good guys and the bad. Also, the ending was a thud; the resolution of Tradain's revenge was quite good and told from the POV of multiple characters.
17threadnsong
May Reads - Category 2
A Faint Cold Fear by Karin Slaughter
A bit ponderous at the beginning while Slaughter plays catch-up with the characters (Sara's and Jeffrey's strained post-divorce relationship, Lena's demotion to college security guard off of the police force in addition to her ordeal in a monster's basement), but about mid-way through the characters are beginning to try to piece together how two recent student suicides could be related. And whether or not Sara's sister's stabbing had anything to do with it. Tessa is eight months pregnant when she is stabbed in some woods above a suicide investigation.
The dynamics between the parents of the first victim as well as those of the college security team all begin to play out almost to the exclusion of the plot. It's a challenge to stick with the book but once the not-so-obvious twists start up the reward is well worth it. There also an acknowledgement that even our favorite characters make mistakes when they are too tired to do their jobs and one mistake in particular begins to put the pieces of the mystery together.
A Faint Cold Fear by Karin Slaughter
A bit ponderous at the beginning while Slaughter plays catch-up with the characters (Sara's and Jeffrey's strained post-divorce relationship, Lena's demotion to college security guard off of the police force in addition to her ordeal in a monster's basement), but about mid-way through the characters are beginning to try to piece together how two recent student suicides could be related. And whether or not Sara's sister's stabbing had anything to do with it. Tessa is eight months pregnant when she is stabbed in some woods above a suicide investigation.
The dynamics between the parents of the first victim as well as those of the college security team all begin to play out almost to the exclusion of the plot. It's a challenge to stick with the book but once the not-so-obvious twists start up the reward is well worth it. There also an acknowledgement that even our favorite characters make mistakes when they are too tired to do their jobs and one mistake in particular begins to put the pieces of the mystery together.
18threadnsong
June Reads - Category 3
Foxmask by Juliet Marillier
A follow-up or sequel, depending on how you look at it, to Wolfskin. It is set at a good time in the future, 17-18 years, and picks up with the next generation. Thorvald is the son of Somerled and Margaret from their brief time together; Creidhe is the next-eldest daughter of Eyvind and Nessa; and Sam is Thorvald's other friend. Thorvald has many of his father's characteristics and only finds out he is Somerled's son at his 17th year when Margaret brings him his father's letter to read the truth.
When Thorvald convinces Sam to go in search of his father, Creidhe creeps into the boat. She displays her father's daring-ness and also a touch of being her own person: she loves to ply the needle and the loom and creates pieces of magick with them. Sam has a crush on Creidhe but it is not returned though he never stops being loyal to her. And Thorvald's feelings towards others is a touch of Somerled's: they are there to serve me/do what I want them to do.
The intense feeling of magic that enters the book comes from the Unspoken and from the little Seer, Foxmask. While there is some grounded-ness on the Isle of Clouds, there is also an intensity to the magick that has occurred both before Foxmask's birth and as his destiny. The evil that Asgrim does to his children is appalling and the results are both expected and woven into more story.
While I wish there were more to this story, I am also glad it ended where it did. There is more of Marillier to read and re-read!
Foxmask by Juliet Marillier
A follow-up or sequel, depending on how you look at it, to Wolfskin. It is set at a good time in the future, 17-18 years, and picks up with the next generation. Thorvald is the son of Somerled and Margaret from their brief time together; Creidhe is the next-eldest daughter of Eyvind and Nessa; and Sam is Thorvald's other friend. Thorvald has many of his father's characteristics and only finds out he is Somerled's son at his 17th year when Margaret brings him his father's letter to read the truth.
When Thorvald convinces Sam to go in search of his father, Creidhe creeps into the boat. She displays her father's daring-ness and also a touch of being her own person: she loves to ply the needle and the loom and creates pieces of magick with them. Sam has a crush on Creidhe but it is not returned though he never stops being loyal to her. And Thorvald's feelings towards others is a touch of Somerled's: they are there to serve me/do what I want them to do.
The intense feeling of magic that enters the book comes from the Unspoken and from the little Seer, Foxmask. While there is some grounded-ness on the Isle of Clouds, there is also an intensity to the magick that has occurred both before Foxmask's birth and as his destiny. The evil that Asgrim does to his children is appalling and the results are both expected and woven into more story.
While I wish there were more to this story, I am also glad it ended where it did. There is more of Marillier to read and re-read!
19threadnsong
June Reads - Category 4
The Book of Lost Tales, Part 1, Chapter IV, "The Chaining of Melko"
This time, my tag line is "I'm so glad my Saturdays are free again!" Spending time in a coffee shop reading is one of my happiest joys, and this Saturday was no exception. I was able to knock out two whole chapters! They are both quite different from how they eventually came to be in The Silmarillion.
Chapter IV, "The Chaining of Melko" encompasses the greening of the larger world (the world outside of Valinor), how the lack of sunlight allowed the early plants to wither, and finally Orome and Yavanna put forth their combined efforts to make mountains grow and pines grow on their heights. And Melko being Melko destroys all of that creation, so the Vala decide he must be chained and put in a prison. The description of how Aule, the smith, combines six metals in order to forge the chain and manacles out of those six to make a seventh metal called "tilkal". The journey of the Vala across the seas is well-described, as is the way that the Vala are able to appeal to Melko's pride and ego in order to ensnare him. Much more detailed descriptions of the gods and their conversations and doings.
Chapter V, "The Coming of the Elves," also is much more involved with the journey of the Eldar to Valinor. Tolkien has the three peoples of the Elves by this point in his writing, though their names are not yet Noldor, Teleri, and Vanyar. But what is interesting is the description of the voyage via an island that Osse harnesses to great whales and fishes, and on that island are the three leaders of the Eldar and their peoples. Ulmo, Lord of the Waters, is not happy about this moving island but cannot do anything to prevent it once he discovers it, as Osse has basically harnessed it to the ocean floor outside of a gap in the mountains of Valinor. So the geography of Valinor is mutable in the early drafts, as is the tale of the coming of the Eldar to Valinor.
Christopher Tolkien does a thorough job outlining all of the key differences between the two versions of these stories.
The Book of Lost Tales, Part 1, Chapter IV, "The Chaining of Melko"
This time, my tag line is "I'm so glad my Saturdays are free again!" Spending time in a coffee shop reading is one of my happiest joys, and this Saturday was no exception. I was able to knock out two whole chapters! They are both quite different from how they eventually came to be in The Silmarillion.
Chapter IV, "The Chaining of Melko" encompasses the greening of the larger world (the world outside of Valinor), how the lack of sunlight allowed the early plants to wither, and finally Orome and Yavanna put forth their combined efforts to make mountains grow and pines grow on their heights. And Melko being Melko destroys all of that creation, so the Vala decide he must be chained and put in a prison. The description of how Aule, the smith, combines six metals in order to forge the chain and manacles out of those six to make a seventh metal called "tilkal". The journey of the Vala across the seas is well-described, as is the way that the Vala are able to appeal to Melko's pride and ego in order to ensnare him. Much more detailed descriptions of the gods and their conversations and doings.
Chapter V, "The Coming of the Elves," also is much more involved with the journey of the Eldar to Valinor. Tolkien has the three peoples of the Elves by this point in his writing, though their names are not yet Noldor, Teleri, and Vanyar. But what is interesting is the description of the voyage via an island that Osse harnesses to great whales and fishes, and on that island are the three leaders of the Eldar and their peoples. Ulmo, Lord of the Waters, is not happy about this moving island but cannot do anything to prevent it once he discovers it, as Osse has basically harnessed it to the ocean floor outside of a gap in the mountains of Valinor. So the geography of Valinor is mutable in the early drafts, as is the tale of the coming of the Eldar to Valinor.
Christopher Tolkien does a thorough job outlining all of the key differences between the two versions of these stories.
20threadnsong
July Reads - Category 1
The Great Shame, Chapter 18
"Ireland and the Bloody Arena"
This is probably one of the best chapters I've read on the lead-up to the American Civil War. Seriously. I grew up in Atlanta where my male school mates could recite the battles and numbers of dead and troop movements, and often did so for their book reports. So I heard the stats, and there are areas of the Battle of Atlanta going from Kennesaw down Interstate 75 to Atlanta and Decatur all the way to Savannah. But this chapter talks about the lead-up to the war in a very, very detailed way. The fact that it's told from the perspective of the Northern states, especially New York, is a great new learning experience for me.
"{Thomas} Meagher {former Young Irelander, finally to be General} could see that traditional New York affection for the South was being tried. By the close of January {1861} six states had seceded, and Southern clients began to refuse to pay their bills to the Sterling Iron Works and New York-based railroads until payment could be made in Confederate currency. Some--including, it seemed, Peter Townsend {another Young Irelander}--began to think that a brief show of military strength could settle that issue." Note: use of {} is due to LT's Touchstone notations
So here we see what we sadly are all too familiar with by 2018: the build-up in daily life to a military conflict, the idea that the conflict will be brief, and interesting facts that I never learned, such as how widespread Confederate currency was in the 1850's. It's not as though Keneally is drawing parallels to both conflict (that view is mine own), but he is providing details about what daily life was during this crucial time in American history from the point of view of the Young Irelanders in New York who were observing this conflict in their adopted country.
Also brought into detail is the recruiting efforts in New York among the Irish immigrants; while we know that there were Irish brigades during the Civil War, this is the first time I've read about how those brigades came to be formed and why they served under those generals, captains, etc.
Another aspect explored in this chapter is the coining of the term "Fennian Brotherhood" by John O'Mahony, a compatriot of O'Brien in Ballingarry who lived for nearly a decade in Paris and was both a French translator of Dickens' Martin Chuzzlewit as well as a professor of Irish in Ireland. He pulls the term from Finn MacCool's warriors, the Fianna, in 1858. So now we know. And the irony of an Irish exile translating a work of English is left to the reader to grasp!
When we finally get to the battles of the Civil War, the First Battle of Bull Run is led by (now) Captain Thomas Meagher with the troop movements described in great detail.
The Great Shame, Chapter 18
"Ireland and the Bloody Arena"
This is probably one of the best chapters I've read on the lead-up to the American Civil War. Seriously. I grew up in Atlanta where my male school mates could recite the battles and numbers of dead and troop movements, and often did so for their book reports. So I heard the stats, and there are areas of the Battle of Atlanta going from Kennesaw down Interstate 75 to Atlanta and Decatur all the way to Savannah. But this chapter talks about the lead-up to the war in a very, very detailed way. The fact that it's told from the perspective of the Northern states, especially New York, is a great new learning experience for me.
"{Thomas} Meagher {former Young Irelander, finally to be General} could see that traditional New York affection for the South was being tried. By the close of January {1861} six states had seceded, and Southern clients began to refuse to pay their bills to the Sterling Iron Works and New York-based railroads until payment could be made in Confederate currency. Some--including, it seemed, Peter Townsend {another Young Irelander}--began to think that a brief show of military strength could settle that issue." Note: use of {} is due to LT's Touchstone notations
So here we see what we sadly are all too familiar with by 2018: the build-up in daily life to a military conflict, the idea that the conflict will be brief, and interesting facts that I never learned, such as how widespread Confederate currency was in the 1850's. It's not as though Keneally is drawing parallels to both conflict (that view is mine own), but he is providing details about what daily life was during this crucial time in American history from the point of view of the Young Irelanders in New York who were observing this conflict in their adopted country.
Also brought into detail is the recruiting efforts in New York among the Irish immigrants; while we know that there were Irish brigades during the Civil War, this is the first time I've read about how those brigades came to be formed and why they served under those generals, captains, etc.
Another aspect explored in this chapter is the coining of the term "Fennian Brotherhood" by John O'Mahony, a compatriot of O'Brien in Ballingarry who lived for nearly a decade in Paris and was both a French translator of Dickens' Martin Chuzzlewit as well as a professor of Irish in Ireland. He pulls the term from Finn MacCool's warriors, the Fianna, in 1858. So now we know. And the irony of an Irish exile translating a work of English is left to the reader to grasp!
When we finally get to the battles of the Civil War, the First Battle of Bull Run is led by (now) Captain Thomas Meagher with the troop movements described in great detail.
21threadnsong
July Reads - Category 2
The Unicorn Sonata by Peter S. Beagle
Finally read through this YA work by Beagle, a copy that has sat for years on my shelves, signed, and one I was a bit leery of reading. Thanks to this group's 3 x 3 Mini-Challenge for June, I decided I'd include it in my reading stats. So now it's finished.
Honestly, probably the weakest book of Beagle's corpus. Tamsin glows with a young girl's sudden displacement due to the adults in her life, The Last Unicorn just glows, A Fine and Private Place explores the unending questions of what happens to our lives after our deaths, but this one attempts to explore a fantasy world existing alongside our own and just doesn't do the trick. Part of the writing is too many fantasy characters that he tries to bring to life, a land called Shei'rah that can be accessed but only by some (in our case, the heroine, Joey), and a plot that is still self-discovery but just doesn't seem well-created.
But then, I'm not the YA that was probably Beagle's intended audience for this book, so maybe my cynical adult perspective is coloring my reading. And the illustrations definitely point to the true view of a unicorn: a delicate head, lovely horn, cloven hooves, and a lion's tail.
The Unicorn Sonata by Peter S. Beagle
Finally read through this YA work by Beagle, a copy that has sat for years on my shelves, signed, and one I was a bit leery of reading. Thanks to this group's 3 x 3 Mini-Challenge for June, I decided I'd include it in my reading stats. So now it's finished.
Honestly, probably the weakest book of Beagle's corpus. Tamsin glows with a young girl's sudden displacement due to the adults in her life, The Last Unicorn just glows, A Fine and Private Place explores the unending questions of what happens to our lives after our deaths, but this one attempts to explore a fantasy world existing alongside our own and just doesn't do the trick. Part of the writing is too many fantasy characters that he tries to bring to life, a land called Shei'rah that can be accessed but only by some (in our case, the heroine, Joey), and a plot that is still self-discovery but just doesn't seem well-created.
But then, I'm not the YA that was probably Beagle's intended audience for this book, so maybe my cynical adult perspective is coloring my reading. And the illustrations definitely point to the true view of a unicorn: a delicate head, lovely horn, cloven hooves, and a lion's tail.
22threadnsong
July Reads - Category 3
The Priestess and the Pen by Sonja Sadovsky
I found this book a refreshing intellectual discussion of these topics and of these authors. Their lives are presented so that their writings are seen in the context of the times in which the authors lived. The impact of how these women re-imagined Women and their Divine images is seen over and over again in fantasy and the fantastical historical fiction by authors like Juliette Marillier and in Diana Paxson's larger corpus.
I also enjoyed the bios of each author. Dion Fortune was a follower of Madame Blavatsky, and this book was the perfect vehicle to describe late 19th century esotericism. The fact that Fortune also did not hold back on the sexual aspect of women was revolutionary at the time and has permeated future women's esoteric writing. I had forgotten about the commune that Marion Zimmer Bradley created, and had not known that Diana Paxson was a member of that commune. The 2014 letter from Bradley's daughter is acknowledged in this book. Finally, Paxson's continuation of Bradley's worlds is given credence, and it is not necessary to have read all of the Avalon series in order to understand the arguments and knowledge this book conveys.
Additionally, Sadovsky does not hold back on her criticism of each author, acknowledging where their description of women's roles are limited by responding to an overarching view of the Divine Feminine through her reproductive or physical attributes and not the personal journeys of her followers. Sadovsky expands the view of the Divine Feminine as more than Maiden, Mother, Crone by adding to this Triad: Moon Mother (Fortune), Witch Queen (Bradley), and Warrior Queen (Paxson). In addition, Sadovsky argues in her final chapter that limiting the Divine Feminine to her reproductive aspects limits Her female followers, and a greater expansion of the role of the Divine Feminine should also included non-maternal aspects: Warrior/Lover, Healer, Judge, Teacher.
The Priestess and the Pen by Sonja Sadovsky
I found this book a refreshing intellectual discussion of these topics and of these authors. Their lives are presented so that their writings are seen in the context of the times in which the authors lived. The impact of how these women re-imagined Women and their Divine images is seen over and over again in fantasy and the fantastical historical fiction by authors like Juliette Marillier and in Diana Paxson's larger corpus.
I also enjoyed the bios of each author. Dion Fortune was a follower of Madame Blavatsky, and this book was the perfect vehicle to describe late 19th century esotericism. The fact that Fortune also did not hold back on the sexual aspect of women was revolutionary at the time and has permeated future women's esoteric writing. I had forgotten about the commune that Marion Zimmer Bradley created, and had not known that Diana Paxson was a member of that commune. The 2014 letter from Bradley's daughter is acknowledged in this book. Finally, Paxson's continuation of Bradley's worlds is given credence, and it is not necessary to have read all of the Avalon series in order to understand the arguments and knowledge this book conveys.
Additionally, Sadovsky does not hold back on her criticism of each author, acknowledging where their description of women's roles are limited by responding to an overarching view of the Divine Feminine through her reproductive or physical attributes and not the personal journeys of her followers. Sadovsky expands the view of the Divine Feminine as more than Maiden, Mother, Crone by adding to this Triad: Moon Mother (Fortune), Witch Queen (Bradley), and Warrior Queen (Paxson). In addition, Sadovsky argues in her final chapter that limiting the Divine Feminine to her reproductive aspects limits Her female followers, and a greater expansion of the role of the Divine Feminine should also included non-maternal aspects: Warrior/Lover, Healer, Judge, Teacher.
23threadnsong
July Reads - Category 4
The Book of Lost Tales Part 1 by J.R.R. Tolkien, Chapter VI, "The Theft of Melko"
So here is another key part of the First Age of Middle Earth shown in its first incarnation. We still have Aule the Smith instructing the "Gnomes" in writing and smithcraft, the pride of Feanor, and the evil of Melko. However, when the Gnomes speak to Manwe of this great evil, Manwe instead chides Melko and bids him return to Mandos. As if that was a solution!
An expanded description of the feast at which the theft of the Silmarils happened is presented. Instead of just a random feast, it is a celebration every seven years of the Noldoli coming to Eldamar, and every three years a celebration of the Solosimpi coming later. As the maths would have it a "Great Feast" is held every 21 years at the conjunction of these two great times, and it is at this time of Feasting that Melko steals the Silmarils. It is a three-day long celebration that includes ascending the heights of Teniquetil to hear Manwe speak of the Music of Illuvatar.
The slaughter of the guards is kept in the later texts as is the murder of Feanor's father (though of a different name), as is also the flight of Melko to the South of Valinor. But in the original, Melko and his followers steal horses from the stables of Orome when they make their getaway.
Also different and interesting is the timing of the Two Trees' death and of Manwe's further chiding the Eldar for their preference of guarding jewels and not bringing them to the Great Feast.
The Book of Lost Tales Part 1 by J.R.R. Tolkien, Chapter VI, "The Theft of Melko"
So here is another key part of the First Age of Middle Earth shown in its first incarnation. We still have Aule the Smith instructing the "Gnomes" in writing and smithcraft, the pride of Feanor, and the evil of Melko. However, when the Gnomes speak to Manwe of this great evil, Manwe instead chides Melko and bids him return to Mandos. As if that was a solution!
An expanded description of the feast at which the theft of the Silmarils happened is presented. Instead of just a random feast, it is a celebration every seven years of the Noldoli coming to Eldamar, and every three years a celebration of the Solosimpi coming later. As the maths would have it a "Great Feast" is held every 21 years at the conjunction of these two great times, and it is at this time of Feasting that Melko steals the Silmarils. It is a three-day long celebration that includes ascending the heights of Teniquetil to hear Manwe speak of the Music of Illuvatar.
The slaughter of the guards is kept in the later texts as is the murder of Feanor's father (though of a different name), as is also the flight of Melko to the South of Valinor. But in the original, Melko and his followers steal horses from the stables of Orome when they make their getaway.
Also different and interesting is the timing of the Two Trees' death and of Manwe's further chiding the Eldar for their preference of guarding jewels and not bringing them to the Great Feast.
24threadnsong
July Reads - Category 4
The Book of Lost Tales Part 1 by J.R.R. Tolkien, Chapter V, "The Coming of the Elves"
Oh yes, I totally forgot that I read Chapter V in early July, so here is the synopsis of *that* chapter. It also has some strong differences with the published works in The Silmarillion which are covered in the Notes for this chapter.
What I found interesting was the joy that the Valar had in the coming of the Eldar, that the Eldar "knew that the world had been an empty place beset with loneliness having no children for her own." There is blowing of horns and "much rejoicing" among the Valar that takes place among their regular cycles of the flowering of the two trees. Also missing from this earliest account is the awakening of the Dwarves by Aule who are then later put back into the earth to sleep.
The three kindreds of the Elves are mentioned though the names are naturally different: Isil Inwe, Finwe Noleme, and Tinwe Linto. There is a more dialog between the Valar than I remember there being (actual dialog, not paraphrasing) and a competition between Ulmo and Osse for the bringing of the Eldar to Valinor. Most striking is the island of Osse that Ulmo uses to ferry the Eldar to their new home, including Ulmo's use of great whales to drag the land mass across the known ocean.
When the Elves who reach Valinor (here also some of the Eldar were lost on the journey to Melko's dungeons) inhabit their new land, the similarities between these two works is pretty much the same, with differences in the names but not in their traits: the Solosimpi live near the shore, the Nolodoli make great works, and the Teleri sing great songs. Tolkien writes detailed descriptions of the hill of Kor and the lives of the Eldar here as well.
The Book of Lost Tales Part 1 by J.R.R. Tolkien, Chapter V, "The Coming of the Elves"
Oh yes, I totally forgot that I read Chapter V in early July, so here is the synopsis of *that* chapter. It also has some strong differences with the published works in The Silmarillion which are covered in the Notes for this chapter.
What I found interesting was the joy that the Valar had in the coming of the Eldar, that the Eldar "knew that the world had been an empty place beset with loneliness having no children for her own." There is blowing of horns and "much rejoicing" among the Valar that takes place among their regular cycles of the flowering of the two trees. Also missing from this earliest account is the awakening of the Dwarves by Aule who are then later put back into the earth to sleep.
The three kindreds of the Elves are mentioned though the names are naturally different: Isil Inwe, Finwe Noleme, and Tinwe Linto. There is a more dialog between the Valar than I remember there being (actual dialog, not paraphrasing) and a competition between Ulmo and Osse for the bringing of the Eldar to Valinor. Most striking is the island of Osse that Ulmo uses to ferry the Eldar to their new home, including Ulmo's use of great whales to drag the land mass across the known ocean.
When the Elves who reach Valinor (here also some of the Eldar were lost on the journey to Melko's dungeons) inhabit their new land, the similarities between these two works is pretty much the same, with differences in the names but not in their traits: the Solosimpi live near the shore, the Nolodoli make great works, and the Teleri sing great songs. Tolkien writes detailed descriptions of the hill of Kor and the lives of the Eldar here as well.
25threadnsong
August Reads - Category 3
Tyrant by Stephen Greenblatt
What I especially appreciated when reading this work is that one does not have to be an authority on Shakespeare to enjoy the focus of this book and follow his discussions to their conclusion. One thing I had not know was the rise of Richard III begins in Henry VI Part 3; of course that literary drama fits in with the history of the War of the Roses but having never studied any of the Henry VI plays that fact never occurred to me! I did several papers on Shakespeare my senior year, and Atlanta has a marvelous Shakespeare Tavern that is currently presenting Shakespeare's corpus. For the second time. Great treasures abound.
Greenblatt's argument is that tyrants and despots come to power by desiring it first, then finding others who share their views to help them achieve their power. Yet they are not always honest to others about their personal desires so their supporters may help them achieve a goal but not necessarily the goal of absolute power. Tyrants come to power through elections (Richard III) that seem to involve the populace, or they come to power through assassination (Macbeth) of their predecessors. Greenblatt also pulls in the similarities in personal development that lead to their desire for power and to their personal fracturing once they are leading a kingdom (Lear).
It's a fairly easy read and while I want to pull out my Riverside Shakespeare to get more insight into Richard III and read up on Henry VI, again, it's not essential to understanding the insights that Greenblatt sheds onto this topic.
Tyrant by Stephen Greenblatt
What I especially appreciated when reading this work is that one does not have to be an authority on Shakespeare to enjoy the focus of this book and follow his discussions to their conclusion. One thing I had not know was the rise of Richard III begins in Henry VI Part 3; of course that literary drama fits in with the history of the War of the Roses but having never studied any of the Henry VI plays that fact never occurred to me! I did several papers on Shakespeare my senior year, and Atlanta has a marvelous Shakespeare Tavern that is currently presenting Shakespeare's corpus. For the second time. Great treasures abound.
Greenblatt's argument is that tyrants and despots come to power by desiring it first, then finding others who share their views to help them achieve their power. Yet they are not always honest to others about their personal desires so their supporters may help them achieve a goal but not necessarily the goal of absolute power. Tyrants come to power through elections (Richard III) that seem to involve the populace, or they come to power through assassination (Macbeth) of their predecessors. Greenblatt also pulls in the similarities in personal development that lead to their desire for power and to their personal fracturing once they are leading a kingdom (Lear).
It's a fairly easy read and while I want to pull out my Riverside Shakespeare to get more insight into Richard III and read up on Henry VI, again, it's not essential to understanding the insights that Greenblatt sheds onto this topic.
26threadnsong
September Reads - Category 1
First Feminists ed. by Moira Ferguson
Mary Scott Taylor (1752? - 1793)
The daughter in a Unitarian merchant family, Mary married in her 30's and as with so many women of the time very little is known about her. She penned one of the first poems in English that lauded the accomplishments of women up to that time. The editor notes that her poem "constructs, with the aid of copious factually informative footnotes . . . a somewhat systematic history of notable women." A couple of the selections are below:
In ages past, when learning's feeble ray
First shone prophetic of a brighter day,
The female bosom caught the sacred flame,
And on her eagle-pinion soar'd to fame.
Emerging from the gloom of mental night,
Illustrious PARR first rose divinely bright (Catherine/Kathryn Parr)
An instrument in Heav'n's o'er-ruling hand,
To succour truth, and bless a guilty land . . .
Other women mentioned in her poem include Elizabeth I; three daughters of Sir Thomas More (Margaret, Elizabeth, and Cicely); Margaret, Duchess of Newcastle; Mrs. Ann Killegrew (born prior to the restoration of King Charles II), and a Mrs. Catherine Phillips. I am uncertain from the editor's notes if the footnotes of the poem are part of the poem itself or were added by a later editor, or by Moira Ferguson. The language of the footnotes suggests that they are not added from modern times but I can find nothing in the editor's notes to confirm either way.
Next are excerpts from existent diary entries of Eleanor Butler (1737-1829), one of the celebrated Ladies of Llangollen of Wales. They were a couple introduced originally as companion (Eleanor) to the aristocratic Sarah Ponsonby (age 13). They later defied tradition and set up housekeeping together in this small community where they received frequent visitors both invited and uninvited. From the diary entries from 1788:
February 1st - Three o'clock dinner. Boiled Pork. Peas pudding. Half-past three my beloved and I went to the new garden. Freezing hard. I am much mistaken if there be not a quantity of snow in the sky.
Sunday, February 10th - Rose at light. Ground thinly covered with snow: Blue sky. Flakes of snow gently descending and mixing with the foliage of the evergreens.
Thursday, April 10th. - Fine evening. Gentle wandering light on the mountains. . . . My beloved and I took a delightful walk, ascended the Hill then descended into the narrow deep valley which leads to Llansantffraid. Steep hills on either side clothed to the summit with wood.
I knew that these Ladies were significant to feminist studies and that there were several books written about their lives, but this entry was the first time I had read their diary entries about their lives together.
First Feminists ed. by Moira Ferguson
Mary Scott Taylor (1752? - 1793)
The daughter in a Unitarian merchant family, Mary married in her 30's and as with so many women of the time very little is known about her. She penned one of the first poems in English that lauded the accomplishments of women up to that time. The editor notes that her poem "constructs, with the aid of copious factually informative footnotes . . . a somewhat systematic history of notable women." A couple of the selections are below:
In ages past, when learning's feeble ray
First shone prophetic of a brighter day,
The female bosom caught the sacred flame,
And on her eagle-pinion soar'd to fame.
Emerging from the gloom of mental night,
Illustrious PARR first rose divinely bright (Catherine/Kathryn Parr)
An instrument in Heav'n's o'er-ruling hand,
To succour truth, and bless a guilty land . . .
Other women mentioned in her poem include Elizabeth I; three daughters of Sir Thomas More (Margaret, Elizabeth, and Cicely); Margaret, Duchess of Newcastle; Mrs. Ann Killegrew (born prior to the restoration of King Charles II), and a Mrs. Catherine Phillips. I am uncertain from the editor's notes if the footnotes of the poem are part of the poem itself or were added by a later editor, or by Moira Ferguson. The language of the footnotes suggests that they are not added from modern times but I can find nothing in the editor's notes to confirm either way.
Next are excerpts from existent diary entries of Eleanor Butler (1737-1829), one of the celebrated Ladies of Llangollen of Wales. They were a couple introduced originally as companion (Eleanor) to the aristocratic Sarah Ponsonby (age 13). They later defied tradition and set up housekeeping together in this small community where they received frequent visitors both invited and uninvited. From the diary entries from 1788:
February 1st - Three o'clock dinner. Boiled Pork. Peas pudding. Half-past three my beloved and I went to the new garden. Freezing hard. I am much mistaken if there be not a quantity of snow in the sky.
Sunday, February 10th - Rose at light. Ground thinly covered with snow: Blue sky. Flakes of snow gently descending and mixing with the foliage of the evergreens.
Thursday, April 10th. - Fine evening. Gentle wandering light on the mountains. . . . My beloved and I took a delightful walk, ascended the Hill then descended into the narrow deep valley which leads to Llansantffraid. Steep hills on either side clothed to the summit with wood.
I knew that these Ladies were significant to feminist studies and that there were several books written about their lives, but this entry was the first time I had read their diary entries about their lives together.
27threadnsong
August Reads - Category 2
Pyramids by Terry Pratchett
(Apologies for jumping from one month to the prior!)
It's light, humorous, and contains a hapless young man who goes away for schooling (like, serious schooling) as an assassin. He learns about things like plumbing which are unknown in his long, narrow kingdom of Djelibeybi (say it out loud and you'll get the pun). When his father dies and he inherits the throne, all his schooling needs to get chucked out the window in favor of his new duties, or does it?
Fortunately for Teppic, he is just hapless enough that the serious priest who has taken care of the family rituals for far too long doesn't take him seriously enough. And his father finds that he really, really doesn't want to be buried under tons of rock. After all, when one's kingdom is a long, narrow spit of land with limited farmland, the locations for a new pyramid are limited. Conflicts ensue, new characters are introduced, camels are found witty, and war is averted. And time changes, and it is a fun, easy romp in the world of Discs.
Pyramids by Terry Pratchett
(Apologies for jumping from one month to the prior!)
It's light, humorous, and contains a hapless young man who goes away for schooling (like, serious schooling) as an assassin. He learns about things like plumbing which are unknown in his long, narrow kingdom of Djelibeybi (say it out loud and you'll get the pun). When his father dies and he inherits the throne, all his schooling needs to get chucked out the window in favor of his new duties, or does it?
Fortunately for Teppic, he is just hapless enough that the serious priest who has taken care of the family rituals for far too long doesn't take him seriously enough. And his father finds that he really, really doesn't want to be buried under tons of rock. After all, when one's kingdom is a long, narrow spit of land with limited farmland, the locations for a new pyramid are limited. Conflicts ensue, new characters are introduced, camels are found witty, and war is averted. And time changes, and it is a fun, easy romp in the world of Discs.
28threadnsong
September Reads - Category 2
The Fall of Kings by Ellen Kushner and Delia Sherman
A really, really fascinating book, replete with history and University intrigue and power plays and repressed learning. The history of Riverside and its mainland involves kings who came from the North to the South and wizards who controlled them. Maybe. Maybe it was control, or maybe it was love, but the kings gave up their lives for the land. But none of this is really documented and this is where both Kushner and Sherman excel.
The University world that they populate is full of young men with aspirations and a lust for learning (and sometimes for each other), with professors who encourage their students and discourage those who dispute them, and the progeny of their first book Swordspoint. While the majority of the characters are young men, there are a number of women in power behind the scenes who are powers in their own rights. And this book and its characters transcend gender because of the vulnerability and learning that serves as the focus of this particular sequel.
The Fall of Kings by Ellen Kushner and Delia Sherman
A really, really fascinating book, replete with history and University intrigue and power plays and repressed learning. The history of Riverside and its mainland involves kings who came from the North to the South and wizards who controlled them. Maybe. Maybe it was control, or maybe it was love, but the kings gave up their lives for the land. But none of this is really documented and this is where both Kushner and Sherman excel.
The University world that they populate is full of young men with aspirations and a lust for learning (and sometimes for each other), with professors who encourage their students and discourage those who dispute them, and the progeny of their first book Swordspoint. While the majority of the characters are young men, there are a number of women in power behind the scenes who are powers in their own rights. And this book and its characters transcend gender because of the vulnerability and learning that serves as the focus of this particular sequel.
29threadnsong
October Reads - Category 1
First Feminists ed. by Moira Ferguson
Ann Cromartie Yearsley (1756-1806)
A daughter from the poorer classes who still learned to read and write, she became a published poet under the patronage of Hannah More. Where she saw injustice, either in the slave trade or in her children unfairly horsewhipped when they played where they should not have been playing, she took the revolutionary step of writing about these events. Published in this volume is her poem against slavery; an excerpt (of course!) is below:
From "A Poem on the Inhumanity of the Slave-Trade"
Behold that Christian! see what horrid joy
Lights up his moody features, while he grasps
The wish'd-for gold, purchase of human blood!
Away, thou seller of mankind! Bring on
Thy daughter to this market! bring thy wife!
Thine aged mother, though of little worth,
With all thy ruddy boys! Sell them, thou wretch,
And swell the price of Luco! Why that start?
Why gaze as thou wouldst fright me from my challenge
With look of anguish? Is it Nature strains
Thine heart-strings at the image?
Catherine Sawbridge Macauley Graham (1731-1791)
Catherine was born into a family that were politically active on the Whig side; her brother became a Lord Mayor of London. She married and published early on in her marriage but later had ongoing (unspecified) bad health. As a widow in her 40's, she caused a scandal by marrying a twenty-one year old man and was subject to misogynous abuse in pamphlets. She published a history of English Kings and wrote in response to Edmund Burke; this writing piqued the interest of Thomas Paine and Mary Wollstonecraft.
The excerpt below is from her Letters on Education, where she advocates for the equal and included education of girls alongside boys:
"Among the most strenuous asserters of a sexual difference in character, Rousseau is the most conspicuous, both on account of that warmth of sentiment which distinguishes all his writings, and the eloquence of his compositions: but never did enthusiasm and the love of paradox, those enemies to philosophical disquisition, appear in more strong opposition to plain sense than in Rousseau's definition of this difference. . . . (Discussion of Rousseau's objective view that Nature bestowed women with graces as opposed to men's intellect.) Rousseau saw this objection; and in order to obviate it, he has made up a moral person of the union of the two sexes, which, for contradiction and absurdity, outdoes every metaphysical riddle that was ever formed in the schools."
First Feminists ed. by Moira Ferguson
Ann Cromartie Yearsley (1756-1806)
A daughter from the poorer classes who still learned to read and write, she became a published poet under the patronage of Hannah More. Where she saw injustice, either in the slave trade or in her children unfairly horsewhipped when they played where they should not have been playing, she took the revolutionary step of writing about these events. Published in this volume is her poem against slavery; an excerpt (of course!) is below:
From "A Poem on the Inhumanity of the Slave-Trade"
Behold that Christian! see what horrid joy
Lights up his moody features, while he grasps
The wish'd-for gold, purchase of human blood!
Away, thou seller of mankind! Bring on
Thy daughter to this market! bring thy wife!
Thine aged mother, though of little worth,
With all thy ruddy boys! Sell them, thou wretch,
And swell the price of Luco! Why that start?
Why gaze as thou wouldst fright me from my challenge
With look of anguish? Is it Nature strains
Thine heart-strings at the image?
Catherine Sawbridge Macauley Graham (1731-1791)
Catherine was born into a family that were politically active on the Whig side; her brother became a Lord Mayor of London. She married and published early on in her marriage but later had ongoing (unspecified) bad health. As a widow in her 40's, she caused a scandal by marrying a twenty-one year old man and was subject to misogynous abuse in pamphlets. She published a history of English Kings and wrote in response to Edmund Burke; this writing piqued the interest of Thomas Paine and Mary Wollstonecraft.
The excerpt below is from her Letters on Education, where she advocates for the equal and included education of girls alongside boys:
"Among the most strenuous asserters of a sexual difference in character, Rousseau is the most conspicuous, both on account of that warmth of sentiment which distinguishes all his writings, and the eloquence of his compositions: but never did enthusiasm and the love of paradox, those enemies to philosophical disquisition, appear in more strong opposition to plain sense than in Rousseau's definition of this difference. . . . (Discussion of Rousseau's objective view that Nature bestowed women with graces as opposed to men's intellect.) Rousseau saw this objection; and in order to obviate it, he has made up a moral person of the union of the two sexes, which, for contradiction and absurdity, outdoes every metaphysical riddle that was ever formed in the schools."
30threadnsong
October Reads - Category 2
Mistress of Mistresses by E.R. Eddison
A very, very different book from Eddison's most famous work The Worm Ouroborous. The character of Lessingham is in both books, though in this one he is returned from death into a vibrant life lived on the same world, Zimiamvia. Instead of one great adventure and travel after another with mythical creatures, this book has Lessingham and his allies in friction with the bastard son of the late king. There are a number of different leaders and lesser men, a Vicar who serves as the power to the young king, and many, many beautiful women in their own kingdoms.
Perhaps it is correct to say this book is a successor to "Ouroborous" but I would hazard that it is much less a successor than an addendum. The world presented here has very little bearing on the world of Goldry Bluzco. The shifting alliances, the dalliances, the attempts by the king to woo his lady love (who does not want him), the Queen and her lovely young friend, all are characters presented in a work without the Elizabethan English that so captivated me in "Ouroborous." While there is an index at the back of when a character is first mentioned, it is often not the first mention that drives the story and this convoluted tale becomes increasingly hard to follow and less and less interesting as it progresses.
Mistress of Mistresses by E.R. Eddison
A very, very different book from Eddison's most famous work The Worm Ouroborous. The character of Lessingham is in both books, though in this one he is returned from death into a vibrant life lived on the same world, Zimiamvia. Instead of one great adventure and travel after another with mythical creatures, this book has Lessingham and his allies in friction with the bastard son of the late king. There are a number of different leaders and lesser men, a Vicar who serves as the power to the young king, and many, many beautiful women in their own kingdoms.
Perhaps it is correct to say this book is a successor to "Ouroborous" but I would hazard that it is much less a successor than an addendum. The world presented here has very little bearing on the world of Goldry Bluzco. The shifting alliances, the dalliances, the attempts by the king to woo his lady love (who does not want him), the Queen and her lovely young friend, all are characters presented in a work without the Elizabethan English that so captivated me in "Ouroborous." While there is an index at the back of when a character is first mentioned, it is often not the first mention that drives the story and this convoluted tale becomes increasingly hard to follow and less and less interesting as it progresses.
31threadnsong
October Reads - Category 2 (yes, a second book finished in a month!)
Born a Crime by Trevor Noah
Told with wit, humor, and a biting honesty, this book is a look at a remarkable man who grew up under appalling conditions during the end of Apartheid in South Africa. Learning that the township of Soweto had two roads, serving the entire township and existing only to have police come in and do raids in the area, was a terrible thing to realize. Humanity can be so evil to itself.
Trevor Noah also goes into great detail about his origins, his mother's intense religious calling (visiting three churches every Sunday), and how he had to be hidden in order to cover up his paler skin when visiting her relatives were told in a matter-of-fact manner. He neither sugar-coats his growing up nor does he stand with being victimized, as the entire Apartheid system was set up for the purpose.
The miracle is that he emerged from poverty in part by understanding the importance of education, finding that he could fit in by being on the edge of many groups, and the futility of being a huckster making deals day after day. He details the ways he made bootleg CD's as well as the sudden end of this line of income; he also details how a child is named in the South African culture. Since his name had no family origins and no alternate meaning, he has gone on to live a life of uniqueness and courage.
Born a Crime by Trevor Noah
Told with wit, humor, and a biting honesty, this book is a look at a remarkable man who grew up under appalling conditions during the end of Apartheid in South Africa. Learning that the township of Soweto had two roads, serving the entire township and existing only to have police come in and do raids in the area, was a terrible thing to realize. Humanity can be so evil to itself.
Trevor Noah also goes into great detail about his origins, his mother's intense religious calling (visiting three churches every Sunday), and how he had to be hidden in order to cover up his paler skin when visiting her relatives were told in a matter-of-fact manner. He neither sugar-coats his growing up nor does he stand with being victimized, as the entire Apartheid system was set up for the purpose.
The miracle is that he emerged from poverty in part by understanding the importance of education, finding that he could fit in by being on the edge of many groups, and the futility of being a huckster making deals day after day. He details the ways he made bootleg CD's as well as the sudden end of this line of income; he also details how a child is named in the South African culture. Since his name had no family origins and no alternate meaning, he has gone on to live a life of uniqueness and courage.
32threadnsong
November Reads - Category 2
Chapelwood by Cherie Priest
A follow up to her earlier work "Maplecroft", this book picks up the lives of Lizzie Borden/Lizbeth Andrew and Detective Simon Wolf in 1921. Inspector Wolf, part of a paranormal detective agency in Boston, calls upon himself to do the inspecting, and Lizzie just can't stop her intuition telling her to leave her home and go find out what these newspaper articles are describing.
These sleuthing veterans form a natural alliance, with Detective Wolf "giving" Lizzie a new name, and they set out to learn how intertwined are a Catholic Priest's murder, his aid to a young woman, and her father's brutal attack. Oh, and then there's the axe-wielding murderer driven by numbers and one of his survivors who seems to have an insight into the beyond.
There is a bit of formula here that Priest used to great effect with her first book; this one uses it because it works, but it leaves the originality of her earlier work a bit tempered. Still, the strange creature lurking is enormous and not at all like what they fought in Massachusetts. Or is it??
Chapelwood by Cherie Priest
A follow up to her earlier work "Maplecroft", this book picks up the lives of Lizzie Borden/Lizbeth Andrew and Detective Simon Wolf in 1921. Inspector Wolf, part of a paranormal detective agency in Boston, calls upon himself to do the inspecting, and Lizzie just can't stop her intuition telling her to leave her home and go find out what these newspaper articles are describing.
These sleuthing veterans form a natural alliance, with Detective Wolf "giving" Lizzie a new name, and they set out to learn how intertwined are a Catholic Priest's murder, his aid to a young woman, and her father's brutal attack. Oh, and then there's the axe-wielding murderer driven by numbers and one of his survivors who seems to have an insight into the beyond.
There is a bit of formula here that Priest used to great effect with her first book; this one uses it because it works, but it leaves the originality of her earlier work a bit tempered. Still, the strange creature lurking is enormous and not at all like what they fought in Massachusetts. Or is it??
33threadnsong
November Reads - Category 4
The Book of Lost Tales Part 1
Chapter VII, "The Flight of the Noldoli"
While the character of Feanor is a fleshed-out character who makes it later to the published Silmarillion, there is much different in this earliest work. The first is that the Gods continue to search through Valinor for Melko under the ruin of the Trees; the second is that the Noldoli take the ships from the Solosimpi (later Teleri) at what later becomes Aqualonde for their (Noldoli) women and children. Already thought out is a journey north into an ice realm without the blessing of the Gods, as well as the Swanships seized from Elven kin and a battle.
The battle, rather than the kin-slaying, takes place during the journey north and not upon seizing the ships, at a rock formation called "The Haven" that serves as an archway between Valinor and Beleriand. It angers and saddens the Gods that there is a battle between kins, though there is as yet no Prophecy on those who follow Feanor (the passage in The Silmarillion starts "Tears unnumbered ye shall shed . . . "). Some of the Elves in this early work are not forgiven nor welcomed back to Valinor, unlike Finarfin's followers.
The Book of Lost Tales Part 1
Chapter VII, "The Flight of the Noldoli"
While the character of Feanor is a fleshed-out character who makes it later to the published Silmarillion, there is much different in this earliest work. The first is that the Gods continue to search through Valinor for Melko under the ruin of the Trees; the second is that the Noldoli take the ships from the Solosimpi (later Teleri) at what later becomes Aqualonde for their (Noldoli) women and children. Already thought out is a journey north into an ice realm without the blessing of the Gods, as well as the Swanships seized from Elven kin and a battle.
The battle, rather than the kin-slaying, takes place during the journey north and not upon seizing the ships, at a rock formation called "The Haven" that serves as an archway between Valinor and Beleriand. It angers and saddens the Gods that there is a battle between kins, though there is as yet no Prophecy on those who follow Feanor (the passage in The Silmarillion starts "Tears unnumbered ye shall shed . . . "). Some of the Elves in this early work are not forgiven nor welcomed back to Valinor, unlike Finarfin's followers.
34threadnsong
December Reads - Category 1
First Feminists ed. by Moira Ferguson
Mary Hays (1759/60-1843)
An author about whom little is known, other than she was a Rational Dissenter and was motivated by Mary Wollstonecraft as well as a recognized author of her time. And a correspondent of William Godwin. Reprinted in this volume are her articles from the "Monthly Magazine" during 1796-1797, advocating for women's equality to men.
"Assuredly, your corespondent (only noted as "A.B.") is wonderfully generous in granting, that women have "a right to the enjoyment of intellectual pleasures"--though this, he seems to imply, is to be subject to some limitations. The existence of the right is proved by capacity, and not to be yielded as a favour. The argument upon which the superiority of man is grounded, is both novel and curious."
Ah, the sarcasm just drips!!
"Amidst the disadvantages under which women have hitherto laboured, the heroines of antiquity (and here she names over a dozen) with many others, who have rendered their names illustrious, have afforded proofs of powers and capacities, perhaps, little less extraordinary than either those of Homer, Newton, or Shakespeare. How have arts, sciences, literature, morals, and happiness been impeded in their progress by jealous and paltry contentions for pre-eminence, whether monarchical, aristocratical, feudal, professional, or sexual? When will the mists of prejudice be dispelled by the light of reason?"
Mary Wollstonecraft (1759-1797)
Alas, Mary Wollstonecraft. You left us too early. Your legacy is maintained, and your words live forever. From her work A Vindication of the Rights of Woman:
"It is vain to expect virtue from women till they are in some degree, independent of men; nay, it is vain to expect that strength of natural affection which would make them good wives and mothers. Whilst they are absolutely dependent on their husbands they will be cunning, mean, and selfish, and the men who can be gratified by the fawning fondness of spaniel-like affection have not much delicacy, for love is not to be bought, in any sense of the words, its silken wings are instantly shriveled up when anything beside a return in kind is sought."
Also published in this volume is an excerpt from her post-humous work, Maria, or, The Wrongs of Woman.
Mary Anne Radcliffe (1746? - after 1810)
She had a sad life; her father was 70, her mother 30 for starters, and Ferguson mentions that even in the modern era, their surnames were not known. She married, of course, and had children, and lived, and also lived with several nervous ailments until her death including an attempted rape. She wrote a number of essays, one is included below from "The Fatal Consequences of Men Traders Engrossing Women's Occupations":
"But . . . where are those fathers, husbands, brothers, and professed friends to virtue and happiness, who step not forward in the business? No doubt but there are many men of great probity and humanity, and yet, through the progressive course of custom, have not adverted either to the cause or its fatal consequences; or, in fine, are not aware of the real distresses of our fellow creatures; from which idea it is so frequently wished a reference to facts may take place, since neither the sufferings of these poor women, nor the cause of their sufferings, can possibly be known, but by investigation."
"Let us then, if you please, select one of these distressed females, out of the prodigious multitude, and pursue her through the humiliating scene of beggary: I believe it is granted, that pride is well known to be the predominant passion of the human breast; and consequently any comments on that head are needless, but certain it must be, that after, perhaps, a life of ease and affluence, to be compelled to such a mortifying situation, requires more than a common share of fortitude to support."
First Feminists ed. by Moira Ferguson
Mary Hays (1759/60-1843)
An author about whom little is known, other than she was a Rational Dissenter and was motivated by Mary Wollstonecraft as well as a recognized author of her time. And a correspondent of William Godwin. Reprinted in this volume are her articles from the "Monthly Magazine" during 1796-1797, advocating for women's equality to men.
"Assuredly, your corespondent (only noted as "A.B.") is wonderfully generous in granting, that women have "a right to the enjoyment of intellectual pleasures"--though this, he seems to imply, is to be subject to some limitations. The existence of the right is proved by capacity, and not to be yielded as a favour. The argument upon which the superiority of man is grounded, is both novel and curious."
Ah, the sarcasm just drips!!
"Amidst the disadvantages under which women have hitherto laboured, the heroines of antiquity (and here she names over a dozen) with many others, who have rendered their names illustrious, have afforded proofs of powers and capacities, perhaps, little less extraordinary than either those of Homer, Newton, or Shakespeare. How have arts, sciences, literature, morals, and happiness been impeded in their progress by jealous and paltry contentions for pre-eminence, whether monarchical, aristocratical, feudal, professional, or sexual? When will the mists of prejudice be dispelled by the light of reason?"
Mary Wollstonecraft (1759-1797)
Alas, Mary Wollstonecraft. You left us too early. Your legacy is maintained, and your words live forever. From her work A Vindication of the Rights of Woman:
"It is vain to expect virtue from women till they are in some degree, independent of men; nay, it is vain to expect that strength of natural affection which would make them good wives and mothers. Whilst they are absolutely dependent on their husbands they will be cunning, mean, and selfish, and the men who can be gratified by the fawning fondness of spaniel-like affection have not much delicacy, for love is not to be bought, in any sense of the words, its silken wings are instantly shriveled up when anything beside a return in kind is sought."
Also published in this volume is an excerpt from her post-humous work, Maria, or, The Wrongs of Woman.
Mary Anne Radcliffe (1746? - after 1810)
She had a sad life; her father was 70, her mother 30 for starters, and Ferguson mentions that even in the modern era, their surnames were not known. She married, of course, and had children, and lived, and also lived with several nervous ailments until her death including an attempted rape. She wrote a number of essays, one is included below from "The Fatal Consequences of Men Traders Engrossing Women's Occupations":
"But . . . where are those fathers, husbands, brothers, and professed friends to virtue and happiness, who step not forward in the business? No doubt but there are many men of great probity and humanity, and yet, through the progressive course of custom, have not adverted either to the cause or its fatal consequences; or, in fine, are not aware of the real distresses of our fellow creatures; from which idea it is so frequently wished a reference to facts may take place, since neither the sufferings of these poor women, nor the cause of their sufferings, can possibly be known, but by investigation."
"Let us then, if you please, select one of these distressed females, out of the prodigious multitude, and pursue her through the humiliating scene of beggary: I believe it is granted, that pride is well known to be the predominant passion of the human breast; and consequently any comments on that head are needless, but certain it must be, that after, perhaps, a life of ease and affluence, to be compelled to such a mortifying situation, requires more than a common share of fortitude to support."
35threadnsong
December Reads, Category 2
All God's Children Need Traveling Shoes by Maya Angelou
What an honest account of her travels back to Africa and her struggles to make her way in her new homeland. She recounts the challenge of learning the new languages, customs, and rules, both among the Ghanaian people and the ex-pats who were many of her first contacts there.
The accident that changes her and her son's life is described in intense detail as taking both a physical and emotional toll on them. And it took me a while to realize she was talking about Malcolm X coming to Ghana when she begins that portion of her story but what an incredible event in her stay there! Ms. Angelou rubs shoulders with leaders of all layers of society, including royalty, and her incorporating these events in her life and her travels is told with humor, poignancy, and the observation of an outsider. And her poetry of language is, as always, fantastic.
All God's Children Need Traveling Shoes by Maya Angelou
What an honest account of her travels back to Africa and her struggles to make her way in her new homeland. She recounts the challenge of learning the new languages, customs, and rules, both among the Ghanaian people and the ex-pats who were many of her first contacts there.
The accident that changes her and her son's life is described in intense detail as taking both a physical and emotional toll on them. And it took me a while to realize she was talking about Malcolm X coming to Ghana when she begins that portion of her story but what an incredible event in her stay there! Ms. Angelou rubs shoulders with leaders of all layers of society, including royalty, and her incorporating these events in her life and her travels is told with humor, poignancy, and the observation of an outsider. And her poetry of language is, as always, fantastic.
36threadnsong
December Reads, Category 3
Oath of Gold by Elizabeth Moon
Wow! What a fantastic book and the end to the first series. I can see now, having read the more recent books first, how they all fit into the world that she built when Paks was the main character. Again, there are instances where the geography takes a little bit of gliding over (I've always had to refer to maps in books) but her later books contain more complete maps so those helped me orient the events of this book.
Paks is recovering from a terrible set of experiences in the second book with the help of Master Oakhollow. He plays a very central role in her healing though he eases back in the character cast as Paks gains her strength. The relationship between her and Duke Phelan is much more fully explained, as is the tragedy that befell Tammarion and their children all those years ago. The military expeditions and fighting are, as can be expected with Elizabeth Moon, spot on; what fell apart for me was the reliance on invoking the names of dieties over and over again. "Gird's Grace" was used over and over again as a form of Deux ex Machina that seemed to be more of a way to move the action forward when little else would. But the set-up for future adventures by the additional characters, though unplanned 20 years ago, was all there, as was a fantastic series of books that were complete in themselves.
Oath of Gold by Elizabeth Moon
Wow! What a fantastic book and the end to the first series. I can see now, having read the more recent books first, how they all fit into the world that she built when Paks was the main character. Again, there are instances where the geography takes a little bit of gliding over (I've always had to refer to maps in books) but her later books contain more complete maps so those helped me orient the events of this book.
Paks is recovering from a terrible set of experiences in the second book with the help of Master Oakhollow. He plays a very central role in her healing though he eases back in the character cast as Paks gains her strength. The relationship between her and Duke Phelan is much more fully explained, as is the tragedy that befell Tammarion and their children all those years ago. The military expeditions and fighting are, as can be expected with Elizabeth Moon, spot on; what fell apart for me was the reliance on invoking the names of dieties over and over again. "Gird's Grace" was used over and over again as a form of Deux ex Machina that seemed to be more of a way to move the action forward when little else would. But the set-up for future adventures by the additional characters, though unplanned 20 years ago, was all there, as was a fantastic series of books that were complete in themselves.
37threadnsong
December Reads, Category 4
The Book of Lost Tales, Part 1
Chapter VIII, "The Tale of the Sun and the Moon"
Honestly, I thought this a much better explanation of Tolkien's mythos for this important part of Middle Earth than what made it into print in The Silmarillion. There is a greater detail of the gods and their deeds in fashioning the containers that will hold the last light of Silpion and Laurelin. There is also much more detail and depth of the gods: Tulkas has "leapt about the plain" seven times, and none had traversed it as often as he, so when he shows up to the council of the gods he is weary and dust-covered. These sorts of details were left out of the larger work and I am very grateful I have them now.
There are stores of white light held for Silpion, for which Aule creates his silver vessels, and here there is much music created so that Yavanna could make the light grow again. And here, Aule fashions great ships to bear the light of the Moon into the heavens, and he is bitter that he cannot steer them himself. When Laurelin puts forth his own fruit, alas, Tulkas cuts it when it is ripe to the gasps of amazement of the remainder of the gods and the Eldar, but because he could not bear it alone it falls to earth and smashes. It is from that pillar that the light of the Sun begins its existence. And once again, a ship is created and a Goddess, Urwendi, chooses to be the guider of this boat (and hence, the preference in Middle Earth for the Sun to be female and the Moon, male). Again, great detail goes into the creation of the two ships and their sailing: "So it comes that for fourteen nights men may see Rana's bark float upon the airs, and for other fourteen the heavens know it not; while even on those fair nights when Rana fares abroad it showeth not ever the same aspect as doth Sari the glorious . . ."
The Book of Lost Tales, Part 1
Chapter VIII, "The Tale of the Sun and the Moon"
Honestly, I thought this a much better explanation of Tolkien's mythos for this important part of Middle Earth than what made it into print in The Silmarillion. There is a greater detail of the gods and their deeds in fashioning the containers that will hold the last light of Silpion and Laurelin. There is also much more detail and depth of the gods: Tulkas has "leapt about the plain" seven times, and none had traversed it as often as he, so when he shows up to the council of the gods he is weary and dust-covered. These sorts of details were left out of the larger work and I am very grateful I have them now.
There are stores of white light held for Silpion, for which Aule creates his silver vessels, and here there is much music created so that Yavanna could make the light grow again. And here, Aule fashions great ships to bear the light of the Moon into the heavens, and he is bitter that he cannot steer them himself. When Laurelin puts forth his own fruit, alas, Tulkas cuts it when it is ripe to the gasps of amazement of the remainder of the gods and the Eldar, but because he could not bear it alone it falls to earth and smashes. It is from that pillar that the light of the Sun begins its existence. And once again, a ship is created and a Goddess, Urwendi, chooses to be the guider of this boat (and hence, the preference in Middle Earth for the Sun to be female and the Moon, male). Again, great detail goes into the creation of the two ships and their sailing: "So it comes that for fourteen nights men may see Rana's bark float upon the airs, and for other fourteen the heavens know it not; while even on those fair nights when Rana fares abroad it showeth not ever the same aspect as doth Sari the glorious . . ."
