What Are You Reading Now?

[Raven]

The fantastical history stuff is something I think that is quite common in Asian film. I have watched a fair amount of Japanese, Chinese, and Korean film. I really like the very different sensibilities of storytelling displayed in these film traditions -- talking particularly of the historical epic type of films. Two of my favorites are the Korean War of Arrows and the classic Chinese film Hero. A well known example is Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, although I haven't ever gotten interested enough in that one to watch it all, having only seen parts on TV or YouTube, I think. But there are many of these films, often covering particular eras or events in a mythic way. These films are often told as heroic tragedies, which seems a standard format in Asian historical-mythic film. The characters are pretty much doomed. It's a different sort of storytelling aesthetic in some ways.

[Coír Draoi Ceítien]

I'm having a bit of a tough time finding what I want to read next. I might dip into a couple titles, just to see if I want to complete them at this moment. Today I started Mikhail Bulgakov's subversive fantasy/satire The Master and Margarita, and though I may not have finished the second chapter entirely, I think I'm going to like this one.

[Coír Draoi Ceítien]

I got halfway through Bulgakov before I felt like moving on to other things, as usual. It's not that I don't like it, I just wasn't in the mood for it like I thought I was. Instead, I read Stephen King's The Shining - great read - and now I'm working through two different books simultaneously, at least in attempt: Joe Hill's 20th Century Ghosts (a fantastic/horror collection of stories by Stephen King's son, who's also a writer) and Stevenson's Kidnapped. Afterwards, I'm seriously considering picking up The Once and Future King. I'll reread/finish Bulgakov at some point.

[Raven]

So, I am just beginning another busy semester today. I haven't been reading anything because I've been so involved with school and travel. I think I mentioned I got a book on the Mongols but I have misplaced it and have to find it. It would be nice to do some pleasure reading this summer, but I actually have nearly 8 hours of lectures two days a week and then additional practical coursework on other days. I may not get much reading in again.

[Coír Draoi Ceítien]

Having finished Kidnapped and Baroness Orczy's The Scarlet Pimpernel, I am next planning on checking out The Hunchback of Notre Dame as well as either The Jungle Book (gonna start it over) or The Phantom of the Opera. I've also started The Once and Future King, and I REALLY enjoy what I've read of it. As I've taken a break to focus on other things, plus the stuff I want to pick up right now, as you can see, I'm thinking of either starting it over again as well or just skimming through it to refresh my memory before continuing.

[Raven]

I really, really enjoyed the Once and Future King.

How was the Scarlet Pimpernel? I'm interested a bit but haven't heard any reviews.

[Coír Draoi Ceítien]

It's a great thriller. It moves quickly enough, though I sort of wish that there was an equal balance of both England and France, such as in A Tale of Two Cities (another high school text I read unfaithfully). The real meat of it is trying to find out who the Pimpernel is and, when that's discovered, how he's going to escape a trap he's headed into. There's a small part of it that could be read as anti-Semitic today (you'll know it when you find it), and the author clearly favors the aristocracy over the common citizens, but all-around, it's a page-turner, and that's all that one could ask for.

[Raven]

So, I've been burning through The Devil's Horsemen: The Mongol Invasion of Europe by James Chambers. Chambers is pretty biased, I feel, but it is an interesting and easy read. I really like Mongol history, and I got a look at some elements of it that I don't remember reading about before. It makes me want to dig up what I can about the life and exploits of Subedei (Subutai: English name versions vary), the Mongol general. This may be interesting: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Subutai

Anyway, I've just got a handful of pages left. I need to make another trip to the used bookstore to see what can be found.

[Coír Draoi Ceítien]

I'm probably a quarter into The Once and Future King (I've got some 45 pages left to The Sword in the Stone). I replaced my own personal copy of The Hunchback of Notre-Dame not just because of getting a nicer edition, but because I ran into an issue of translation. You see, the Barnes & Noble Classics version was based on an anonymous public domain translation that I actually found to be quite stiff; I got some 60 pages into it before I found I didn't want to go any further. As it turned out, the Modern Library edition was a revised version of that same translation which slightly modernized the text for smoother reading and even reinserted some of the more erotic aspects which were previously left out for Victorian era(?) audiences. You can bet that I am now quite interested in getting the most accessible, contemporary translations of non-English works.

Right now, I'm trying to decide whether I want to restart Hunchback or pick up R. D. Blackmore's Lorna Doone.

[Raven]

I've just started On the Trail of Ghenghis Khan by Tim Cope. This is a non-fiction book written by Cope who traveled from Mongolia to Hungary on horseback, basically making a journey over the distance or at least the landscape of the Mongol empire (the Mongols invaded Hungary). So far it is remarkably interesting. I found out about the book after watching a national geographic talk that Tim Cope gave (found the talk on Hulu) about his journey. I found it so interesting I ordered his book. I'm looking forward to reading more of it this coming week, as I will be on a vacation from classes during next week.

[Coír Draoi Ceítien]

I've been taking a break from reading, even though it means leaving my current books right in the middle. I just haven't been feeling it recently. I'm kind of at a loss what to do - about anything, not just reading.

However, I think I'm going to attempt to get back into it very soon. Having recently made an unexpected trip to Barnes and Noble this past week, I've picked up Edith Grossman's new translation of Don Quixote, and I hope to get to it steadily. I'm still going to read King and Hunchback, but I want to get into this story right now. That's just the way I work.

[Raven]

I finished the book I was reading before, On the Trail of Ghengis Khan. I enjoyed it. It was a good read.

I tried reading Don Quixote, and I think I read a pretty good chunk of it. I don't think I had a good translation, but regardless, I didn't enjoy the content.
Don Quixote was one of those books that was written, I believe, in an era where you wanted to get the full bang for your buck out of a book. You wanted a really long book that kept going, because books were scarcer and were the equivalent of your evening entertainment. No one wanted Firefly to end in one season, no one wants a book to end too soon. There are plenty of books I wouldn't have minded to be two or three times as long. Nevertheless, Don Quixote wasn't one of them.
But if you look at the size of books like an unabridged The Count of Monte Cristo, I think you can see the different sensibility about book length.

[Coír Draoi Ceítien]

Well, that didn't last long.

I still intend to read Don Quixote (and finish Hunchback and King eventually, possibly rereading them....again.....), but my attention has been moved to other things. I am quite sorry to say that my attention span is very short and very easily broken. I just don't know how to read, really. I can't make up my mind.

As for now, I'm sort of stuck. I'm currently (supposed to be) practicing for a CMH production of Michael Frayn's metafarce Noises Off, which is probably going to be the most taxing part I've ever done, and I have my doubts. For recreation, I've finished the first three chapters (and subsequent 145 pages) of Stephen King's IT, and I'm really interested in continuing with that. Also, both for recreation and for research purposes, I'm seriously considering rereading The Hobbit and, subsequently, The Lord of the Rings, neither of which I have picked up in YEARS - I've only read them once. I'm thinking of taking notes while doing so, jotting down ideas for possible elaborations on stories and concepts that I could develop for myself, should I wish to pursue it.

If you want to know more about the play I'm doing, as an alternative to browsing Wikipedia (although you could still do so), here's a fairly good performance of it caught on video - I suggest listening to it through headphones for maximum sound experience. My part is "Garry", which in this production is the man in the blue coat.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RmJWPGZp1-Y

[Raven]

I also enjoy a good re-read of the Hobbit.

I'm currently reading The Gulag Archipelago by Solzhenitsyn. It is very good. In last night's reading, it gave me an entirely new perspective of WWII, particularly related to Nazi collusion in Eastern Europe and the Russians. Besides that, it depicts communism and Bolshevism with mind blowing horror and wry experience. Definitely a must read to help understand the 20th century.

[Coír Draoi Ceítien]

Currently, I'm reading The Rats, the debut novel of British author James Herbert, who came around the scene the same time as Stephen King and is sort of lauded as the British equivalent of him. It's about a plague of large mutant rats - kinda gruesome, but not perhaps rather tame for 1974. The book and the author are both significant figures in the horror genre, and I hope to pick up more of him, as I am quite enjoying it.

Next up, I had a couple things in mind, but having gotten myself worked up about it, I think I've set on something else. See, one of my birthday presents this year was a copy of Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell. Well, as I seem to be going on about it, I might as well eat my own words and read it myself. I only hope it's worth my own praise.

On another note, the play went well. Our Friday night performance was probably the best, getting the most reaction out the audience. We held in a different venue than we usually do, and that felt weird, as it wasn't on a traditional stage like at SC4. But we made due and it worked.