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.
Saga of the Volsungs Trans. Jesse L. Byock
I found this book more frustrating than gratitfying (but I have to admit in a way that bothers me about some folktale collections as well) in that we have a fantastic story, but no one has not bothered to do anything other than lay down a bare translation. The language is stiff, and the prose wasn’t very engaging, despite being a good tale.
Artemis Fowl by Eoin Colfer
I liked the fact that the protagonist is an antihero. Ostensibly, no good qualities, although the author does managed to sneak some in there.
Received this today via my work e-mail:
2) Bookstore manager seeks faculty recommendations for book titles
The WVU Bookstore is working to improve the title selection in the general book department, and seeks faculty input for a new section called “WVU Faculty Recommendations.†Send recommendations of titles that should be part of an academic college bookstore by Jan. 31 to General Book Buyer, Sandy Weston, at xxxxxx@mail.wvu.edu . The books will be displayed in their own section through the next 10 months as the sales performance of the new titles are evaluated. Successful sales will build sales records that will generate re-orders for these titles and new orders for similar titles, according to David Lang, general manager. “The goal is to create a more academic environment in our general book environment,†Lang added.
Because, of course, faculty are the only ones qualified to make book recommendations for books that should be a part of an “academic college bookstore”.
The rest of us are, of course, unqualified to recommend with authority any books that might be educational. After all, faculty members are so successful at choosing required books for classes that are engaging, interesting, and inexpensive, that we should look to them for the rest of our reading materials.
Ran across this as I was wandering around. This is the BBC ‘Top 200’ Books from their Big Read (books nominated as people’s favorites.)
The books I have read are in bold.
1. Lord of the Rings, JRR Tolkien
2. Pride and Prejudice, Jane Austen
3. Dark Materials, Philip Pullman
4. Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, Douglas Adams
5. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, JK Rowling
(more…)
Taking the Red Pill: Science, Philosophy and Religion in The Matrix Glenn Yeffeth ed
We’re not going to discuss my somewhat obsessive interest in The Matrix. Let’s just say it’s one of those things and move along.
Obviously, this book is not of interest to you if you did not like The Matrix or are not interested in the ideas behind The Matrix.
But, if you are like me and fascinated with religion, philosophy and science, then this is a book you may want to read. Which is probably why The Matrix fascinates me so much, becuase it addresses subjects in which I am deeply interested.
But we said we weren’t going to talk about that.
As I mentioned earlier this month, I read quite a few books over the break. Here are a few:
The Golden Compass, The Subtle Knife, The Amber Spyglass by Phillip Pullman
The initial book, ‘The Golden Compass’ is set it a world that is similar to, but yet unlike our own, where a person’s soul resides in their animal familiar–a dæmon.
Read More about The Golden Compass, The Subtle Knife, The Amber Spyglass
Sabriel, Lirael, Abhorsen by Garth Nix
The stories are set in two connected worlds. There is the world that feels to me a bit like England before WWII, and the magical world, whose entrance is guarded by a military conversant in weaponry both modern and medieval.
Read more about Sabriel, Lirael, Abhorsen
Paper Mage by Leah R. Cutter
Xiao Yen, hero of Paper Mage is a dutiful daughter, dutiful niece, and practicing paper mage. The book is set in the Tang Dynasty of the Middle Kingdom (China about the time of the European Middle Ages), and the magic is quite unlike any I have previously read.
The Onion Girl by Charles de Lint
Onion Girl is Jilly Coppercorn’s story, and delves into her past, and that is the reason that I hesitated for so long to read this book, for Jilly Coppercorn does not have a pleasant past, and so I knew that at least parts of this book were going to be hard to read, but probably no more so than some of his short stories. Regardless, sometimes you need to build yourself up to reading a book that you know is going to be painful in places.
Read More about The Onion Girl
Lord of Castle Black, Book Two of The Viscount of Adrilankha, by Steven Brust
I knew that it was going to be a good book when I was laughing out loud reading the first page of the introduction.
Read More about Lord of Castle Black
Spirits in the Wires by Charles de Lint
Spirits in the Wires is the story of the Wordwood, the literary internet site set up by Holly and others that has taken on a life of its own. Saskia Madding is an independent being, created by the Wordwood, and sent out into the World As We Know It, where she has fallen in love with Christy Riddle, and he with her. All of this is past history at the start of Spirits in the Wires.
Read More of Spirits in the Wires
This is not all of what I read over the holidays, so more to come later. Meanwhile, all these books are excellent, and come highly recommended.
Powered by WordPress
As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.
So if you click through on one of the book links I might get a half penny or so and eventually be able to buy a new book to read!
