Amph What book are you reading right now?

Underworld by Don DeLillo.

I'm not too far in but the prologue alone was spectacular (and is actually sold separately as a short novella), juggling multiple perspectives all centered around one of the most electrifying moments in baseball history with the kind of easy deftness I usually have to turn to Pynchon for. The first few "proper" chapters have also been pretty solid, if a lot more traditionally grounded owing to the transition to a first person narration. Really excited to keep reading this one.

2666 by Robert Bolaño.

Why re-read the text when you can re-read with an audiobook? I'll tell you why: because they got Scott Brick to handle "The Part About the Murders" and the man is physically incapable of performing the kind of detached, encyclopedic tone you want in that section. A shame when everyone else involved is doing the book a tremendous justice. The actual book is just as good as I remembered it, a little more fun now that I've read some of Bolaño's other stuff and can recognize his trademarks.

 

It!!!!

 

Stephen Fry in America.

 

Congo by Michael Crichton.

 

Taking a break from the New Jedi Order series to read Ahsoka.

 

The dark yellow is most of the books I own

 

To quote the Beast from the new Beauty and the Beast: Are some of them in Greek?

 

I'm about to start on My Life with the Saints by Father James Martin, S. J.

Question: I'm partaking in a challenge where I'm to read a book with "a soul sucking villain." And I just finished Children of the Jedi.
Although Callista isn't really villainous, can I consider her to be a soul sucking character?

 

A Brief History of Science As Seen Through The Development of Scientific Instruments - by Thomas Crump

 

That sounds interesting. What instruments did he focus on? Off the top of my head, I'll guess telescope, microscope, thermometer, sextant, and chronometer.

 

Well he mentions a lot of instruments like the ones you mentioned, but also writing, batteries, as well as the mathematical method (so not only physical instruments), the Newtonian laws, etc. Since it is Brief History he can afford to cover more things.

 

The Narrow Road to the Deep North by Richard Flanagan

 

All Religions Are One (1788) – William Blake

The Voice of one crying in the wilderness All Religions Are One

All Religions Are One is from the same period as There Is No Natural Religion. Scholars disagree on which came first, but it seems to me that it would make more sense from Blake’s perspective to do No Natural Religion before this one. Not that I’m a scholar. Anyway, like that one, this one features a very small amount of text that was heavily illustrated in its original publishing and, though facsimile editions are hard to come by, the images are available online. The proposition here is obvious. Blake sees all inspiration coming from a Poetic Genius; since all humanity is alike in almost every way, he sees that there is only one Poetic Genius, not a different one for each race or group of people – ergo, all religions are simply approaching the same goal and flow from the same source. He does elevate Christianity and Judaism as being closer to that goal/higher in inspiration than the other religions, so make of that what you will. 2 ½ stars.

tl;dr – Blake’s illustrations add immeasurably to brief tract on inspiration and the origins of religion. 2 ½ stars.

More Book Reviews!

 

The Power of the Night, book 2 of The Lamb Among the Stars by Chris Walley. I still can't buy into this ten thousand year old society where nobody ever sins or even experiences temptation, but I was impressed by the vividness of the battle scenes and his descriptions of how evil sneaks in and corrupts the pure. This one had a rousing conclusion even though a number of loose threads were left hanging, so I don't need to read the next in the series. Maybe I will, maybe I won't.

 

The Coming of the Third Reich by Richard Evans.

You really do not expect to read anything funny, given the topic. But then, this passage on the Nazi anti-Jazz campaign:

 

Tiriel (1789) – William Blake

Here take thy seat in this wide court; let it be strewn with dead
And sit & smile upon these cursed sons of Tiriel

This poem begins in media res with the title character bearing home his dying wife; he arrives at the kingdom of his children just before his wife dies and the story of his exile is slowly brought out over the course of the poem which follows Tiriel has he wanders the land, desolate and alone, slowly descending into madness. It’s, you know, bleak; really bleak, actually. Ultimately probably the bleakest of all of Blake’s works for the simple reason that there’s really no redemption for any of the characters. There’s a lot of symbolism here and a lot of layered references. There’s definitely shades of King Lear in Tiriel, particularly in his fraught relationship with his children, particularly his tormented daughter Hela. There’s something about the civilized man versus nature in the relationship between the kingly, if insane, Tiriel and his brother Ijim, a wild man who lives alone in the mountains, equally insane in his own way. It’s pretty short and it was abandoned by Blake, never published during his life-time. I really liked it though; it’s got vivid imagery & poetic archetypes, but it also feels genuinely emotional and tortured. As symbolic as it is, the characters and their tragic lives really came alive for me. 3 ½ stars.

tl;dr –unpublished during Blake’s lifetime, this poem’s narrative of family tragedy resonates on an emotional level, even as the deep symbolism fires the imagination. 3 ½ stars.

 

Finished the Soldier Son Trilogy. It wasn't as good as the Farseer trilogy but it was interesting. Now reading Ahsoka.

 

Done with the latest Gray Man book. Seriously, those books are well done fun.

Now moving on to The Vagrant by Peter Newman. Apparently the protagonist never says a thing.

The Vagrant is his name. He has no other.
Years have passed since humanity’s destruction emerged from the Breach.
Friendless and alone he walks across a desolate, war-torn landscape.
As each day passes the world tumbles further into depravity, bent and twisted by the new order, corrupted by the Usurper, the enemy, and his infernal horde.
His purpose is to reach the Shining City, last bastion of the human race, and deliver the only weapon that may make a difference in the ongoing war.
What little hope remains is dying. Abandoned by its leader, The Seven, and its heroes, The Seraph Knights, the last defences of a once great civilisation are crumbling into dust.
But the Shining City is far away and the world is a very dangerous place.

 

ABout to finish The Best of Star Wars Insider volume 1 and then started on Darksaber already.

 

The Ocean at the End of the Lane by Neil Gaiman

 

I loved that book. The villain was such a great character.




The Book of Thel (1789) – William Blake

Thou seest me the meanest thing, and so I am indeed
My bosom of itself is cold, and of itself is dark
But he that loves the lowly, pours his oil upon my head
And kisses me, and binds his nuptial bands around my breast

Thel is the main character of this fairly brief poetic book. She’s a mournful figure, troubled by the idea of death and the ephemeral nature of life. When she voices these thoughts, various elements of nature speak to her of their own natural fates and how they accept their roles in the world. The cloud speaks to her of how she passes away with the wind and without complaint, etc. Then there’s an exploration of the joys of life contrasted with the sorrows which seems like a bit of a dry run for Blake’s Songs of Innocence & Experience collection, which was soon to come. I found a lot of really beautiful stuff in this one; the exploration of accepting the natural process particularly had a lot of gorgeous passages. 3 stars.

tl;dr – a brief poem discussing the natural processes of life and the various joys & sorrows that attend it; short, but beautifully rendered, with vivid & gorgeous imagery. 3 stars.

 

Finished Ahsoka last night (name dropped the planet Takodana, but no Maz cameo), and read Doctor Who: Touched By An Angel in a span of a few hours. The Doctor Who novella involves the Eleventh Doctor, Amy and Rory's attempts to stop a man from creating a paradox by trying to save his wife. Takes place between Time of Angel/Flesh & Stone and Angels Take Manhattan (since Amy and Rory are obviously still around).

In case anyone hasn't read it:

Spoiler

The Weeping Angels here are trying to create a paradox versus the paradox hurting and destroying them later on. My guess is that the paradox in Angels Take Manhattan destroys their battery farm, and weakens them. Here, such a paradox wouldn't endanger what they're trying to do. I also loved the reference to the episode "Blink" with the Sally Sparrow list.

 

Girl on a Train by Paula Hawkins .

well - it's a good read but I spose I was expecting a bit more given its massive success .

I quite liked the early drunk bits but it ends like an ITV drama , not particularly exciting .

 

Trying to finish St. Augustine's Confessions.