Books, books, books

[Zombie]

Originally Posted by Erin

I guess I'm just relating the sadness of the story with depression. I certainly wasn't happy after I finished reading it, although it was a good read. I took a class on the history of disease as a grad student, so I think I've spent too much time with the Black Death.

Oh, I see. I would love to take a class like that - what was your degree in, that you would have that class, if you don't mind my asking?

I always cry much of my way through the last quarter of the book, but I also marvel at the way the experience made history real for Kivrin, and by extension, the reader. At the beginning, before she's sent through, she's all about observing quaint customs and crop rotations and whatnot, like she's going to look at an ant farm and make note of where the ants go instead of living with actual people she might actually come to care about.

I think, for a lot of people, things like the Black Death are just ideas - really remote. We can read scary statistics and say, "Wow, that must have been horrifying," but it happened so long ago, we don't have a frame of reference for really empathizing with the actual people that lived it. And we see through Kivrin's initial experiences that the ideas everyone had about what it was going to be like were really wrong. The concept fascinates me, so even though the book makes me cry, I guess I look at it differently?

[David]

Originally Posted by Kayli

What are you reading lately?

Currently on my toilet or on my nightstand are Jacques Barzun & Wendell Hertig Taylor's "Catalogue of Crime," Bernard De Voto's "The Western Paradox," Miss Manners' "Common Courtesy," & the orchestral score of Vaughan Williams's Sea Symphony (sounds weird, but I read music quite well & I often read scores for fun).

This fall, I plan on tackling Edmund Wilson's book on the Dead Sea Scrolls.

[Ghost_Tracker]

Currently reading "The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin."
It's actually kind of interesting, believe it or not!

I'm also reading "Shattered" by Dean Koontz - this is from 1973, well before he got famous; and I'm re-reading "Treasure Island," which is a lot of fun to "revisit."

[Ghost_Tracker]

Originally Posted by Zombie

I'm currently re-reading Connie Willis' Dooms Day Book, one of my all-time fav books. Highly recommended.

I've been meaning to read that; I like Science Fiction a lot.

[Kayli]

Originally Posted by David

Currently on my toilet or on my nightstand are Jacques Barzun & Wendell Hertig Taylor's "Catalogue of Crime," Bernard De Voto's "The Western Paradox," Miss Manners' "Common Courtesy," & the orchestral score of Vaughan Williams's Sea Symphony (sounds weird, but I read music quite well & I often read scores for fun).

This fall, I plan on tackling Edmund Wilson's book on the Dead Sea Scrolls.

That's not weird. If anything, that is really cool you can read music like that. (And way over my head )

Originally Posted by Ghost_Tracker

Currently reading "The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin."
It's actually kind of interesting, believe it or not!

I'm also reading "Shattered" by Dean Koontz - this is from 1973, well before he got famous; and I'm re-reading "Treasure Island," which is a lot of fun to "revisit."

I love to read history and Ben Franklin is one of my favorite figures!

I'm not huge into Dean Koontz but once I read a novel of his called "The Strangers", such an intense, good read if you ever get the chance. Revisiting "Treasure Island" sounds fun, love that one

[Erin]

Originally Posted by Zombie

Oh, I see. I would love to take a class like that - what was your degree in, that you would have that class, if you don't mind my asking?

I always cry much of my way through the last quarter of the book, but I also marvel at the way the experience made history real for Kivrin, and by extension, the reader. At the beginning, before she's sent through, she's all about observing quaint customs and crop rotations and whatnot, like she's going to look at an ant farm and make note of where the ants go instead of living with actual people she might actually come to care about.

I think, for a lot of people, things like the Black Death are just ideas - really remote. We can read scary statistics and say, "Wow, that must have been horrifying," but it happened so long ago, we don't have a frame of reference for really empathizing with the actual people that lived it. And we see through Kivrin's initial experiences that the ideas everyone had about what it was going to be like were really wrong. The concept fascinates me, so even though the book makes me cry, I guess I look at it differently?

It was a history class. I specialized in British and Irish history during the Early Modern Period (1485-1714), although this class spanned from ancient times to modern. For this class my own research centered on the plague's last major appearance in London in 1665(of course I also read quite a bit about the original 14th century appearance of the Black Death). 1666 is the great fire which destroyed most of the thatched roof,wooden, etc. type buildings, thus the fleas and rats lost their homes and ability to spread the plague to humans. New construction used better materials less conducive to rats and the disease carrying fleas living in the home.

Back on topic I just finished reading The Red Queen by Philippa Gregory. Historical fiction about Margaret Beaufort (Henry VII's mother). I would not recommend it. The author had very little to go on to make Margaret a compelling figure. Next book is Adam Bede by George Eliot. I've read Middlemarch, the Mill on the Floss, and Daniel Deronda. I love her novels.

[jannieC]

I just read a book called The Girls: A Novel by Lori Lansens. Very good (fictional) story about conjoined twins. I haven't been reading as much as I used to, and I read that book almost in one sitting (at the beach). thoroughly enjoyed it.

[JWS]

Just started "Empire of Dreams". It's a biography of movie director Cecil B. DeMille and the beginnings of the movie industry. DeMille made the epics "Ben Hur" and "Ten Commandments".

[Dodfather]

I'm reading Val McDermind Fever Of The Bone. Great Tartan noir and very easy, yet dark, reading.

[Zombie]

Originally Posted by Ghost_Tracker

I've been meaning to read that; I like Science Fiction a lot.

Do it! It's excellent.

Originally Posted by jannieC

I just read a book called The Girls: A Novel by Lori Lansens. Very good (fictional) story about conjoined twins. I haven't been reading as much as I used to, and I read that book almost in one sitting (at the beach). thoroughly enjoyed it.

I read that many moons ago - I enjoyed it, too.

I'm re-reading Life of Pi by Yann Martel now because I just found it in a box the other day. I love this book.