December Reading Thread

~Kakapo Rescue: Saving the World's Strangest Parrot by Sy Montgomery [Nonfiction]

The kākāpō are an endangered, flightless, green feathered, ground dwelling, tree climbing parrot, that smells like honey, may live for a century, sleeps during the day and forages at night. These heavy, owl-faced and whiskered parrots do not "talk", but rather "growl like a dog, boom like a bullfrog, and ching like a cash register". They also only reside on the isolated island of Codfish off the coast of New Zealand after all the remaining kākāpō were transferred there in an attempt to rescue the species from the brink of extinction.

I believe this is supposed to be a children's book. However, it works just fine for adults too. I listened to the audiobook, but the physical book apparently has numerous beautiful photographs. With an easy going, conversational style, Montgomery provides a book that is a mix of history, information on the kākāpō, and documents a group of scientists, rangers and volunteers, in the field, concerned with the study and rescue of the kākāpō from the brink of extinction. Similarly to the other "Scientists in the Field" books, readers are exposed to what it is that these particular scientists actually do, and why this is important. Interesting, informative and engaging.​

P.S.: According to the official website, there are now 244 kākāpō alive today, from a population of around ninety in 2010 when the book was published.
 
I finished off The Moon is Harsh Mistress (I'd agree that it's the best of the RAH books that I have read) and then I caught up with some local history and family history society journals I'd neglected. Next up to read is the Slough House novella The Catch (Mick Herron) which shouldn't take me too long, before I make my attempt at the Dark Tower Wolves of the Calla. I've read here that it isn't anywhere near the best in that series, so I'll have to see how I go (and maybe I have a break at Christmas and read something else - see what I get given as a present?)
 
Breakfast of Champions by Kurt Vonnegut
Another strange one from Vonnegut (are any of his not strange?). This time it’s a biting satire on human culture and behaviour, in particular American culture and behaviour, and there’s clearly not much about them that Vonnegut likes. The writing style was a peculiar mix of stream of consciousness and child-like simplicity, but the content was anything but child-like and really quite brutal at times. Many talk about Vonnegut’s (dark) humour and I did find it amusing in parts and sometimes funny, but not as much as I was led to expect. Maybe it’s a bit dated. Certainly it is very surreal and in the end I just wasn’t sure it was worth the effort; there was very little new or illuminating about the satire but, again, maybe it would have felt different at the time it was written in the early seventies. 3/5 stars.

Blood Feud by S J A Turney
I first started reading Turney’s historical, mainly Roman, self-published novels sometime ago and, unusually, found them well edited, well written and well researched. He has since become traditionally published, and this is his first book set in the ‘dark ages.’ However, it is not the usual Saxons and Vikings beating each other up but instead is based upon an Icelandic saga about a group of Vikings travelling by river from the Baltic to Kiev and on to the Black Sea and eventually the Caspian Sea with the main protagonist, Halfdan, being a young captain of one of the longships. Inevitably brutal in places but also interesting, especially with his fairly extensive historical notes at the end. Halfdan’s acquisition of his longship and his crew at the start was a little too facile but otherwise the main characters and (plenty of) action are largely believable with Halfdan and his crew being some of the last Vikings still holding to the old beliefs. A well-paced, absorbing and interesting read. I should add that his is the first in series of (currently) 5 books. 4/5 stars
 
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Tales from the Perilous Realm by J.R.R. Tolkien
An anthology of Tolkien's short tales and verses, and the essay 'On Fairy-Stories', accompanied by Alan Lee's pencil sketches..

~Roverandom - This charming children's tale was inspired by the loss of the favourite toy of the author's own child. A surprise encounter with an irascible wizard results in Rover the dog biting the wizard's trousers, and being turned into a toy as punishment. Naturally, adventures abound for the enchanted dog. These include encounters with a sand-wizard; a seagull sponsored trip to the moon, where Rover meets the Man-in-the-Moon and his moon-dog; and eventually a journey under the sea to get the enchantment lifted. The world-building is also rather interesting and anticipates some ideas and motifs incorporated into Tolkien's longer works. Whimsical and fun to read.

~Farmer Giles of Ham - This is a short children's tale set within a framing story of an alternate medieval England. Down-to-Earth and gruff Farmer Giles of the village of Ham accidentally wins great renown by firing his anachronistic blunderbuss at an oblivious, wandering giant about to flatten his farm. The giant assumes he has been stung by vicious insects and retreats... only to tell an exaggerated tale to all his friends and relations. The next thing Farmer Giles knows, he is being called up to save the country from the marauding Chrysophylax. Farmer Giles has an interesting (and somewhat comedic) manner in dealing with the dragon, the fall out of which annoys the king immensely (too bad!). I didn't much care for Farmer Giles' treatment of his poor dog, but otherwise a mildly amusing tale of wit over brawn.

~The Adventures of Tom Bombadil - This is a collection of poetry mainly concerned with legends and jests of the Shire at the end of the Third Age. These verses are claimed to be written by Hobbits and preserved in the ‘Red Book’ - scribbled in the margins and blank spaces and on loose leaves. Only two of the poems describe the rather tame adventures of Tom Bombadil around the Shire. There are also a handful of poems that were incorporated into the Lord of the Rings. Most of the poems in this collection are rather frivolous, with weak rhyming structures and metre, and do not particularly appeal to me. Perhaps children would like them better? I particularly like poems that tell a story and have a decent rhythm, so the poems I liked the most include The Stone Troll, The Mewlips, and The Last Ship.

~Smith of Wooton Major - This is my favourite of the short fairy-stories Tolkien wrote. This enchanting tale involves the baking of a fancy, party cake every 24 years, and only 24 children of suitable age are invited. The cake has a trinket from Faery hidden inside. The child who inadvertently swallows the little trinket grown up to become the Smith of Wooton Major and makes many journeys into the realm of Faery. I love the evocative scenery of Faery. And the surprise reveal of the identity of the apprentice cook. Lacking drama, darkness and an extensive plot, this is the last of Tolkien's literary work published in his lifetime, and is something of a symbol of Tolkien’s farewell to the literary work.

~Leaf by Niggle - Something of a self-portrait of Tolkien's life, though apparently the story came to him in a dream. A charming, if poignant, story that has been so helpfully analysed by many people and summarised in the wikipedia article.

~On Fairy-Stories is a 1947 essay in which Tolkien discusses the fairy story as a literary form. In this essay, Tolkien muses on fairy-stories and explains his philosophy on fantasy, and his thoughts on mythopoeia and sub-creation or world-building. Scholarly, and very interesting.​
 
Danny McG said:
it's even got the same lack of punctuation (speech marks etc)
Click to expand...

It would have to be exceptional for me to plough through that.

A friend gave me a book called Perilous Times by Thomas D Lee. It seems to be about an Arthurian knight in the modern times. I assume it's a comedy. Beyond that, I know nothing about it!
 
Danny McG said:
I've had that as an ebook for a couple of years now, but I've never got around to reading it, it's saved in my "Some Day" file.
I'd be quite interested in any comments/reviews you do about it :)
Click to expand...


I'm about halfway through it. Of the eight stories I've read., only one is . . . not good. Inherently dramatic situation (desperate effort to send supplies to astronauts on Mars) but it comes across as flat and lifeless. Too much concentration on the technical stuff, which is also repetitious. The other stories are fine, varying from ancient China to the far future, moods from tragic to triumphant to comic, premises from just-barely-speculative (tattoos that supply medical care) to way out (people able to place themselves in completely new bodies.) Definitely worth reading.
 
Without Remorse - Tom Clancy.
I also recently finished Fool Moon - Jim Butcher and I really enjoyed it, I book hauled some of his books that were going for about $1 on Amazon Kindle.
 
The Metamorphosis, by Franz Kafka.

Read this novella in two nights. Good from start to end. It hooks you up from the first sentence (one of the most celebrated opening sentences in modern literature) and keeps you hook all the way to the end. It's mostly sad and tragical, but also comical IMO.

Great read. Next up in line is Moby Dick.
 
A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L'Engle

I have read this book many times since I first discovered it in 6th grade, and my username is based on a concept in the next book in the series.

What got me started this time was discovering an audiobook read by the author herself, recorded in 1996. I had not known this existed until a few days ago, but I'm very happy about it. I have had mixed experiences with authors reading their own books, but this one was very well done. I like hearing her do the voices of the characters and thinking about how she imagines them. As a side note on authenticity, I noticed her northeastern American accent. I realized that when I'm reading a book visually, in my head all the characters "sound" like me. (I'm from the southwest).

In the preface, L'Engle refers to reading the book to her own children as she was writing it. By the time of this recording she was much older, and I when I hear her voice I picture a kind grandmother reading to her family while sitting around the hearth in the Murray home on a dark and stormy night.

I'm moving on to listen to A Wind in the Door and A Swiftly Tilting Planet as read by the author.
 
Elentarri said:
Tales from the Perilous Realm by J.R.R. Tolkien
An anthology of Tolkien's short tales and verses, and the essay 'On Fairy-Stories', accompanied by Alan Lee's pencil sketches..

~Roverandom - This charming children's tale was inspired by the loss of the favourite toy of the author's own child. A surprise encounter with an irascible wizard results in Rover the dog biting the wizard's trousers, and being turned into a toy as punishment. Naturally, adventures abound for the enchanted dog. These include encounters with a sand-wizard; a seagull sponsored trip to the moon, where Rover meets the Man-in-the-Moon and his moon-dog; and eventually a journey under the sea to get the enchantment lifted. The world-building is also rather interesting and anticipates some ideas and motifs incorporated into Tolkien's longer works. Whimsical and fun to read.

~Farmer Giles of Ham - This is a short children's tale set within a framing story of an alternate medieval England. Down-to-Earth and gruff Farmer Giles of the village of Ham accidentally wins great renown by firing his anachronistic blunderbuss at an oblivious, wandering giant about to flatten his farm. The giant assumes he has been stung by vicious insects and retreats... only to tell an exaggerated tale to all his friends and relations. The next thing Farmer Giles knows, he is being called up to save the country from the marauding Chrysophylax. Farmer Giles has an interesting (and somewhat comedic) manner in dealing with the dragon, the fall out of which annoys the king immensely (too bad!). I didn't much care for Farmer Giles' treatment of his poor dog, but otherwise a mildly amusing tale of wit over brawn.

~The Adventures of Tom Bombadil - This is a collection of poetry mainly concerned with legends and jests of the Shire at the end of the Third Age. These verses are claimed to be written by Hobbits and preserved in the ‘Red Book’ - scribbled in the margins and blank spaces and on loose leaves. Only two of the poems describe the rather tame adventures of Tom Bombadil around the Shire. There are also a handful of poems that were incorporated into the Lord of the Rings. Most of the poems in this collection are rather frivolous, with weak rhyming structures and metre, and do not particularly appeal to me. Perhaps children would like them better? I particularly like poems that tell a story and have a decent rhythm, so the poems I liked the most include The Stone Troll, The Mewlips, and The Last Ship.

~Smith of Wooton Major - This is my favourite of the short fairy-stories Tolkien wrote. This enchanting tale involves the baking of a fancy, party cake every 24 years, and only 24 children of suitable age are invited. The cake has a trinket from Faery hidden inside. The child who inadvertently swallows the little trinket grown up to become the Smith of Wooton Major and makes many journeys into the realm of Faery. I love the evocative scenery of Faery. And the surprise reveal of the identity of the apprentice cook. Lacking drama, darkness and an extensive plot, this is the last of Tolkien's literary work published in his lifetime, and is something of a symbol of Tolkien’s farewell to the literary work.

~Leaf by Niggle - Something of a self-portrait of Tolkien's life, though apparently the story came to him in a dream. A charming, if poignant, story that has been so helpfully analysed by many people and summarised in the wikipedia article.

~On Fairy-Stories is a 1947 essay in which Tolkien discusses the fairy story as a literary form. In this essay, Tolkien muses on fairy-stories and explains his philosophy on fantasy, and his thoughts on mythopoeia and sub-creation or world-building. Scholarly, and very interesting.​
Click to expand...
I just finished reading Farmer Giles for the first time. Entertaining! Smith Of Wootton Major is glorious.
 
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Ursula Le Guin "The Books of Earthsea, the complete illustrated edition"
illustrated by Charles Vess. Saga Press edition. (2018)

This tome contains all six Earthsea books, plus the two early short stories from "The Wind's Twelve Quarters", plus two short stories that I haven't previously read, "The Daughter of Odren" (19 pages) and " Firelight" (8 pages), plus the text of a 1992 Le Guin lecture (discussing Tehanu), reprinted here as "Earthsea Revisioned" (12 pages).
Ursula Le Guin has also written specifically for this volume an overall introduction, and six reflective "afterwords", one for each book.

This means there is a total of sixty three pages of new (to me) material. There are of course more words to the page than in a paperback edition. For instance my puffin edition of "A Wizard of Earthsea" is @190 pages, whereas this edition takes @113 pages (not including illustrations). So, if you're into Earthsea, these sixty three pages could be worth your while.

I opted for the Saga edition rather than the Gollancz. They appear to have the same content, but I thought the Saga looked to be preferable overall, though it's difficult to tell from online description. Certainly the hardback binding seems durable (so far) and the paper reasonable quality. The size and weight of course mean it's unsuitable for reading in the bath.

There are over 50 illustrations, some in colour, by Charles Vess, who says he spent "four splendid years of collaboration and growing friendship" with Le Guin - so his 'take' on Earthsea must have had her approval. He does draw wonderful dragons. I'm less keen on his portrayal of Ged (I'd imagined him a little gaunter), but that's likely to be due to my personal preconceptions, and already my inner world is easing into acceptance.

Regarding the new stories:
"The Daughter of Odren" takes place on the island of O where a sorcerer has entranced the wife of the Lord Of Odren. Initially I'd hoped that this sorcerer was Jasper, Ged's rival in A Wizard of Earthsea, who left Roke to enter the service of the Lord of O, but the description of the Lord of O doesn't fit. Overall, for me, this story reinforces the background of Tehanu, that a fulfilling life is to be had as a farmer's wife, and that the wizards of Roke are prejudiced against women.
"Firelight" is an account of Ged's dying. A suitable ending....

Ursula Le Guin died in January 2018 at the age of 88, around nine months before this edition was published. Her introduction is dated 2016 and I presume the 'afterwords' were written at the same time. Despite her age at the time of writing these, as always, I find her views on myths and legends and the writing process as full of depth and wisdom as ever.
I don't and won't attempt to explain what it (the Earthsea stories) says. I've been asked a thousand times to say what a story "means", and every time I've grown surer that so long as I've told the story rightly, finding its meaning, or a meaning, is rightly up to its readers.
 
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