The Boy Who Drew Cats by Arthur A. Levine. Paintings by Frederic Clement
I first read this tale when I was in elementary school. It was one of the stories in my reading book (it was 4th, 5th or 6th grade, I can’t remember for certain), and for some reason, this tale stuck with me. Several years ago, Erin found me a copy of the story in a small collection of Japanese folktales, and it was just as I had remembered. (For this, I am eternally grateful to Erin.)
The Old Man Mad About Drawing by Francois Place, Translated by William Rodarmor
The story is not only delightful, the artwork is delightful, combining new artwork, with photographs with of original artists drawings.
Tojiro, a young boy who sells rice cakes on the street, meets and eventually becomes an assistant to Katsuhika Hokusai, the Old Man Mad About Drawing.
The Sarantine Mosaic: Sailing to Sarantium and Lord of Emperors Guy Gavriel Kay
I’ve had these books for several years (they were published in 1998), and hadn’t gotten around to reading them, for the very reasons I enjoy Guy Gavriel Kay’s writing so much: his books are deep, engrossing, and not something that I can just plow through in a couple of hours. These books are not light reading, but they are good reading.
“Literary preferences aren’t fucking merit badges.”
Scott Lynch commenting at Making Light
Anyone want to admit that I loaned my copy of Steve Brust’s The Sun, the Moon, and the Stars to them? We recently went through our book inventory, and it came up missing.
Did learn, however, that we own 625 fantasy books. (Michael has 112 science fiction books.) That’s after we culled books we don’t think we’ll read again.
Alright, now I’m off to go read Guy Gavriel Kay’s Sailing to Sarantium.
The Fall of the Kings Ellen Kushner and Delia Sherman
This book is set in the same world as Swordspoint, about two generations later. The story begins at the University, where Basil St Cloud is a young Doctor of History at the University. It is there that he meets Theron Campion, son of the Mad Duke and heir to Tremontaine.
Actually, I’ve been reading a LOT recently.
Swordspoint by Ellen Kushner
Richard St Vier is a swordsman in a time and places where nobles hire swordsmen to fight their duels and to make points of honor. And of those swordsmen, St Vier is the best.
A Bad Beginning by Lemony Snicket
I really liked this book. It may have only taken me 45 minutes to read, but it was a very enjoyable 45 minutes.
I loaned the first three Lemony Snicket books to mark and Ali, who are now addicted and want to read the rest.
Read More about A Bad Beginning
Kingmaker’s Sword, The Western King, Broken Blade by Ann Marston
This series falls victim to the fantastic first book problem. The first book is very good, and I thoroughly enjoyed it. The problem is that the rest of the series, while good, was not as good as the first book. It also irritated me by ending the series without actually ending the story.
Read More about the Rune Blade Trilogy
Discworld by Terry Pratchett
Pyramids, Guards! Guards!, Faust Eric, Reaper Man
I’ve been re-reading Terry Pratchett’s Discworld series, mostly because they’re funny, and a quick read. I know I’m missing quite a few books, but I’m buying them when I find them.
Sorry I’ve been quiet, but I’ve had stuff on my mind recently.
So to drown all that stuff out, when I haven’t been working on the house, or gardening, (or at work), I’ve been reading:
J.R.R. Tolkein: The Fellowship of the Ring, The Two Towers, The Return of the King
Lemony Snickett: A Bad Beginning
Terry Pratchett: Pyramids, Guards! Guards!, Faust Eric
Ann Marston: Kingmaker’s Sword
So if you want to know where I am for the next bit, check the garden–or the sofa.
I’d wanted to play since I ran into it at languagehat but attempting to study and going through books are mutually exclusive activities for me.
Anyway, here is the Exquisite Corpse of page 23.
The rules for 23/5 Exquisite Corpse are:
Take the nearest six to ten books from your shelf.
Open them to page 23, and find the fifth sentence.
Write down those sentences and arrange them to form a short story.
Post the text in your journal along with these instructions.
I cheated a bit, since I only have reference books here in the basement with the computer–I grabbed the books by the bed that had bookmarks, in the hopes that it was a random enough selection to qualify.
But what Gnostics celebrated as proof of spiritual maturity, the orthodox denounced as “deviation†from apostolic tradition. (1) It is usually the journalists and popular novelists who have picked up a few odds and ends of half-baked science from textbooks who go in for them. (2) In addition, modern science provides massive amounts of additional, no less genuine knowledge—that electrons are smaller than asteroids, that fish are not mammals, that the Moon is not made of green (or any other type of) cheese, and so on. (3) These should occur frequently at sites extending from Old Mexico to New York. (4)
‘Of course!’ said Bilbo, and sat down in a hurry. (5) I see people ignore them and even bully them. (6)
1. The Gnostic Gospels Elaine Pagels
2. Mere Christianity C.S. Lewis
3. The Matrix and Philosophy William Irwin
4. Making Book Teresa Nielsen Hayden
5. The Hobbit J.R.R. Tolkein
6. An Open Heart The Dalai Lama
Sentence six only works if you pretend it’s in quotes. Or if you imagine that I, with my infinitely wonderful typing skills, just forgot to add the quotes.
By the way, you can visit Andrei Codrescu’s Exquisite Corpse. I’m such an NPR geek that Andrei Codrescu is who I immediately thought of when I saw ‘exquisite corpse’.
And if you were curious, the books closest to my computer are: The Bible (New American Bible for Catholics), The Koran, Teach Yourself CSS, HTML4 for the World Wide Web, Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary, and The Chicago Manual of Style.
Pretty horrible short story material I think.
ADDENDUM the First:
By the way, fnord.
The Vlad Taltos Novels by Steven Brust
Once I finished reading Sethra Lavode, I just had to go back and read the Vlad Taltos novels. All of them. I averaged about one a night, which tells you 1) that the books are a relatively fast read and 2) that I was not studying as I should have been.
Sethra Lavode: Book Three of the Viscount of Adrilankha by Steven Brust
In this book we learn how Zerika finally solidifies her claim to the throne, we learn whether Khaavren and Piro reconcile, and we learn more about Morrolan’s destructive tendencies. If you’ve read the Vlad Taltos books, you already know that Zerika is going to rule the empire, and you know that Morrolan is going to be destructive, so what happens isn’t nearly as important as how it happens, and the how the story is told.
The God of Old by James L. Kugel
…There were also asides and things mentioned in passing that were absolutely fascinating:
(I)n Hebrew this word for “sinner” still carries a note of inadvertency connected to its verbal root, which means “to miss the mark.”
This is certainly not the context in which I understood sinner as I grew up. It somehow makes the sin easier to bear, knowing that a sinner is not one who has deliberate chosen to do wrong, but is one who has missed the mark. It means you tried to do good, and failed.
We took three bags of books to The Bookshelf last night. Came home with half a bag that he didn’t need, so if anyone is interested, the following books are available, free to a good home. Sorry there is not any Fantasy/Science Fiction, but Jim always takes anything in that category, as well as any mysteries.
Andrew M. Greely:
Ascent into Hell
Virgin and Martyr
Lord of the Dance
They Brother’s Wife
The Cardinal Sins
(these were all purchased used, so their condition isn’t terrific, but they are still readable)
John Grisham:
The Firm
The Client
The Pelican Brief
Ken Follet:
A Dangerous Fortune
Lie Down with Lions
Frederick Forsyth:
The Devil’s Alternative
Well, not really, but it amused me to squoosh together the titles of the two books I’ve finished recently (assuming that by recently you accept “in the past month or so”)
Woe is I: The Grammarphobe’s Guide to Better English in Plain English by Patricia T. O’Conner
I picked this book up several years ago, but had not gotten very far in it, for as much as I wanted to improve my writing, I was not necessarily interested in reading about improving my writing, but since I am taking a course on editing, I decided that this would be a good book to read.
The Sandman Book of Dreams Neil Gaiman and Ed Kramer, editors
It took me several months to read this book, not because it was boring, but because I was carrying it back and forth to work to read at lunch, or if I had to go somewhere for an appointment. This means that as I finished the last story in the book, I could barely remember the first story in the book.
And while I’m thinking about it, when we were in DC, we made (of course) a bookstore stop, and I found a collection of Gypsy folktales. I haven’t had a chance to really look into it yet, but it sounded great.
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