by Travis
We’re several months removed now from the release of Deathly Hallows, and I’m wondering what everyone’s reading these days. I think I brought this up in a pubcast recently, but I thought we’d dedicate a thread to it, for purposes of interest and the recommendation of good literature.
I have not started a re-read of the whole HP series yet, but I do plan this in the near future. Since Book 7’s release, I’ve completed the following books:
- Tolkien: Smith of Wootten Major
- Tolkien: Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, Sir Orfeo
- Chesterton: The Man Who Was Thursday
- MacDonald: The Light Princess
- MacDonald: The Princess and the Goblin
- L’Engle: A Wrinkle In Time
- Several Short Stories, including ones by Lovecraft, Hawthorne, Wharton, Shelley, Poe, Jacobs, Dreiser, Wells, Arthur Conan Doyle
Books I’m currently reading:
- MacDonald: The Princess and Curdie
- Past Watchful Dragons (ed. Sturgis)
- Emily Bronte: Wuthering Heights
- Baroness Orczy: The Scarlett Pimpernel
- Essays from Lewis’s On Stories and Other Essays on Literature
I’m sort of stuck on “The Princess and Curdie,” because I was listening to the audiobook, and I washed by iPod with my jeans….woops.
What’s on your recent reading list?
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I am currently reading Sigrid Undset’s version of King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table (in norwegian.)
I just finished reading Conversations with the Great Moviemakers of Hollywood’s Golden Age by George Stevens Jr (Ed.) Fascinating look into the minds of great directors. I’ve also finished reading a couple of thrillers: The Abduction by Mark Gimenez (good start, but loses steam fast) and The Mephisto Club by Tess Gerritsen (her books are getting a bit predictable). I’ve also finished reading Arthur Ransome’s Pigeon Post (from his Swallows and Amazons series) for the umpteenth time. All comfort reading, I’m afraid. Also Beatrix Potter’s Tale of Benjamin Bunny (which starts off where Peter Rabbit ends).
Since the release of Deathly Hallows I’ve read:
Code Name: Copperhead – Garner
Mere Christianity – Lewis
The Screwtape Letters – (repeat)
H.P. Lovecraft Omnibus 3 – Lovecraft (repeat)
Come, Hunt an Earthman – High (repeat)
Escape Velocity – Stasheff (repeat)
50 000 Baby Names from Around the World
Books I’ve got on the go at the moment:
The Warlock in Spite of Himself – Stasheff (repeat)
Oliver Wiswell – Roberts
Phantastes – MacDonald
Aikido and the Dynamic Sphere – Ratti & Westbrook (repeat)
The Sea Witch – MacLean
You washed your iPod? Pricey…
Matthew
Have read since DH came out:
Into Thin Air by Jon Krakauer
Savage Summit by Jennifer Jordan
K2, the Savage Mountain by Charles Houston
K2, Triumph & Tragedy by Jim Curran
High Exposure by David Breashears
Left for Dead by Beck Weathers
The Other Side of Everest by Matt Dickinson
The Hob’s Bargain by Patricia Briggs
The First Betrayal by Patricia Bray
Beguilement by Lois Mcmaster Bujold
Magic Lost, Trouble Found by Lisa Shearin
Sorrows of Empire by Chalmers Johnson
Harry Potter, Sorceror’s Stone by JK Rowling
In Process of Reading:
No Shortcuts to the Top by Ed Viesturs
The Best Democracy Money Can Buy by Greg Palast
Why I Am a Lutheran by Daniel Preus
Harry Potter, Chamber of Secrets by JK Rowling
Just finished reading The Princess and The Goblins by MacDonald to my kids. We had finished the HP series, and I was following C.S. Lewis’ suggestions to keep a healthy supply of old books in with the new. For myself (NOT for the kids!!) I just read through Philip Pullman’s Dark Materials trilogy. Well, I read the first one, skipped through the second one, and barely choked down the third. The series is such a contrast to the Potter series, in essentials. The alternate world concept is good, and some aspects of the plot are good, but the characters are not at all engagingly drawn – particularly the pre-teen protagonists who don’t act or speak like any 12 year olds I know! Didactic speeches are put in the mouths of characters, and the plot totally falls apart in book three. Also, the dialogue, especially in book three! Terrible. But, given the hype around this series, and knowing I would be asked about it, I thought it would be good to read it for myself. Some of you might want to do the same, to acquaint yourself with the series. But I’m not going to be the one to recommend that you spend any money to do it!
Much more fun is From Homer to Harry Potter, an academic survey of fantastic literature. Great book.
C.S. Lewis’ Ransom novels – on the “next” list. I can’t go away from Mr. Lewis for too long.
I’m officially impressed … thought I was reading a lot of books! It’s fun to see what’s on everyone’s list.
Currently reading:
“Unlocking Harry Potter: 5 Keys for the Serious Reader” by John Granger
“Failing Forward” by John Maxwell (for work)
“The Spirit of Catholicism” by Karl Adam
Also just finished Chesterton’s “St. Francis” and liked that so much that I started on his “St. Thomas Aquinas”. And my book group is planning on picking up Kimberly Hahn’s “Life-Giving Love”, so I have to track that down. On my list to read is also Chesterton’s “The Napoleon of Notting Hill” because it keeps making my boyfriend laugh out loud, and Orson Scott Card’s “Speaker for the Dead” again.
Since the release of Deathly Hallows, other than Harry Potter canon:
“Looking for God in Harry Potter” by John Granger
“Emma” by Jane Austen, for about the 97th time
“Persuasion” by Jane Austen, again for the ##th time
“The 22 Immutable Laws of Marketing” by Ries and Trout, for work
“The Lamb’s Supper” by Scott Hahn
… and goodness only knows what else. I’m one of those odd folk who pick up books at random, flip them open, and read till I have to get up. Of course, that generally only happens with novels
Jennifer,
How was “The Lamb’s Supper?” A fellow pastor recommended the book at a conference & I have it downstairs but haven’t read it yet. Just curious what you thought of it. Thanks.
I haven’t done a lot of reading since Deathly Hallows because of school, but I plan to get back into it now seeing everyone else’s reading lists! Since Deathly Hallows I’ve read Bloodsucking Fiends by Christopher Moore. He has another very funny book called Lamb that is about the story of Jesus including all the parts left out of the Bible. Its a very liberal view of Jesus and religion all together, but no less interesting. It is certainly pretty adult, though. I’ve also “read” The Watchmen by Alan Moore, Death by Black Hole by Neil Tyson, and nearly a hundred short stories and poems for school.
I’d like to get V for Vendetta also by Alan Moore. I was very impressed by the movie. Neil Gaiman is someone else I would like to get in on soon. I’ve read Good Omens by him and that was another interesting take on Christianity. I haven’t read any of the His Dark Materials books, but from what I understand it is very similar. except funny. I might read The Scarlet Pimpernel since it seems Travis is, and David Thewlis (who plays Lupin in the movies)has a book out that I would like to read.
Read (or Reread) Since Deathly Hallows:
The Sharing Knife: Legacy – Lois McMaster Bujold
The Dupin Mysteries – Edgar Allan Poe
Crossroad – Barbara Hambly
Jane Eyre – Charlotte Brontë
The Road – Cormac McCarthy
The Golden Compass – Philip Pullman
The Subtle Knife – Philip Pullman
The Eyre Affair – Jasper Fforde
Harry Potter and the Sorceror’s Stone – J.K. Rowling
I Am Legend – Richard Matheson
Principles of Politics Applicable to All Governments – Benjamin Constant
The Island of Doctor Moreau – H.G. Wells
Classic Vampire Short Stories – Rudyard Kipling, E.T.A. Hoffman, Edgar Allan Poe, E.F. Benson, and Bram Stoker
The Poe Shadow – Matthew Pearl
Pope Joan – Donna Woolfolk Cross
Rebecca – Daphne du Maurier
The Vampyre – John Polidori
Currently Reading (or Rereading):
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban – J.K. Rowling
A Subtler Magick: The Writings and Philosophy of H. P. Lovecraft – S.T. Joshi
Mark-Anthony, I highly recommend Neil Gaiman. For a quicker read, his Coraline is excellent – it’s a young adult book that very much satisfies the adult reader. For longer novels, Neverwhere and American Gods are simply excellent. I’ve never read anything by him I didn’t enjoy, but these are my favorites.
PS. Gaiman also has written some outstanding work inspired by H.P. Lovecraft’s writings. Read more here.
Travis, I love THE SCARLET PIMPERNEL. It is one of my all time favorites.
I just finished Manhunt, by James L. Swanson, about the hunt for John Wilkes Booth. This book was well written and worth reading. Therefore I also checked out his book: Lincoln’s Assassins: Their Trial and Execution. Lots of illustrations, very abbreviated text, but still interesting.I am finishing
April 1865″ The Month that Saved America, by Jay Winik. Also very good. I just checked out another book by the same author called The Great Upheaval.
The Peopling of Britain: the Shaping of a Human Landscape by various authors. It is a series of essays delivered at Oxford, I believe, in 2006 on current theories regarding early human history through the dark ages in Great Britain. In conjunction with that I am trying to read The Oxford Illustrated prehistory of Europe, by Barry Cunliffe, but am often too tired in the evening to read much of it with any concentration.
Last week I drove up to Ohio State in Columbus to pick up my son Luke and move him into our home while he looks for an engineering job. He was recently featured as one of the geeks on the TV show “Beauty and the Geek.” It’s dumb show, but he had fun. Since my kids don’t like to listen to my history books on tape, I listened to Michael Crichton’s State of Fear and Prey. Luke is a fan of Michael Crichton, and they were entertaining books, although the characters are basically stick figures to move around in a technical plot.
I also read Dred and Harriet Scott: A Family’s Struggle for freedom by Gwyneth Swain. This turned out to be a children’s book, although it was in the adult section. It is not bad, though, as a brief summary of the Dred Scott background and story.
Currently, I am listening to Defending Baltimore Again Enemy Attack: a Boyhood Year During WW2 by Charles Osgood. I also checked out but haven’t read yet, The Americanization of Ben. Franklin by Gordon S. Wood and The 11th Month of the 11the Day of the 11th Hour: Armistice Day, 1918 by Joseph Persico. I felt I should read the latter since Armistice Day is coming up.
Also, I just purchased a new translation of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight. I like it because it has the middle English on one page with modern English on the other. It is fun to look at the middle English, try to figure out what it means, and then see how it is translated. This translation was just reviewed in the Wall Street Journal. I can’t remember what the translator’s name is, but if anyone is interested, I can look it up and tell you.
Amy, thanks for the info on Neil Gaiman. I’ve heard good things about Coraline and Neverwhere. I definitely think I’ll get one of the two. I was leaning towards Stardust, because I got to read some of the first chapter and I liked the way it was written, but Neverwhere sounds really cool.
Revgeorge, I liked The Lamb’s Supper in some ways, but it would probably take me a little more work to fully understand his connection between the book of Revelation and the Mass. Some of the ideas really intrigued me, though. It is written in a light style that didn’t quite fit my usual expectations for something delving into theology, and his puns–well, they’ll make you roll your eyes or laugh out loud or both. But he certainly made me want to look further into the what the early Church Fathers had to say about the correlation between the Lord’s Supper and heaven as described in the Apocalypse.
Aargh, not again! Sorry about the all-bold, everyone. I thought for sure I had all the tags closed …
Thanks, Jennifer, for your thoughts on Hahn’s book. Hopefully one of these days I’ll get around to it. There are just too many books on my shelf, but that doesn’t stop my wife & I from buying more.:)
At least you didn’t have everything come across all caps too.
Thanks again.
Wow. I guess I’m not as much of a smartypants as my wife is always saying I am. A lot of you are reading some pretty weighty stuff and lots of it. I just finished reading Frank Herbert’s Dune and Dune Messiah. Oddly enough, even though I have been a big scifi fan for most of my life, I had never read Dune. I think it was mostly because I saw that awful movie from the 80’s with Kyle MacLachlan and Sting. It pretty much put me off Dune for a while. A friend of mine just loaned me the first two books and the SciFi channel miniseries to watch, so I gave it a try. I liked the book a lot more than I thought I would. Herbert is one of those authors that writes good stories that happen to be set in science fiction, rather than writing stories that are about the science fiction. He talks about the technology as if his audience is contemporary with the story, already knows how things work, and needs no explanation of the technology. I’ve read a lot of scifi where the author gets really bogged down in trying to explain how all the stuff works and doesn’t pay enough attention to the story.
Other than that I have mostly been reading Clive Cussler. It’s not great literature, but it is entertaining. He is not a very good writer. His dialogue is completely cheesy and he uses a lot of unbelievable leaps of logic to get the hero out of scrapes. But I like some of the ideas on which he bases the stories. Finding lost ancient treasures, learning surprising twists about historical events that change how you look at them. I like that sort of thing, especially when I am having trouble deciding what to read next.
Amy, sounds like you like vampire stories, and I also noticed you read something by Barbra Hambly. Have you read her vampire books? If not, I highly recommend them. They are: Those Who Hunt the Night, and Travelling with the Dead. Hands down the best vampire stories I’ve ever read, and I include Dracula in there.
Scott, Frank Herbert is one of my Big Three first literary loves (Bradbury, Heinlein, and Herbert) who made me a science fiction gal for the rest of my life.
I liked the later Dune books, as well, all the way through Chapterhouse. But when his son started trying to write them, that’s when I jumped ship. That wasn’t pretty. I’m due for a good rereading of Herbert’s original series.
Thanks for mentioning Hambly! I’m teaching a class on History and the Gothic Imagination this semester, so it’s given me an excuse to revisit some great vampire literature. I recently discovered Those Who Hunt The Night for the first time and loved it (especially her use of the Paris catacombs – wow!). I didn’t realize she had another one. Is Travelling with the Dead as good? If it is, I must get it now! I owe you one – thanks so much for the recommendation!
Yes, Travelling was every bit as good. And now I think I know what I’m going to be reading for a bit…
Wonderful! I must read it, then. Thanks so much, Scott.
Scott,
How do Hambly’s books compare with Anne Rice’s? For me Rice has just about exhausted the genre. Like a feast that goes on too long so you never want to eat that particular food again.
I can’t say as I’ve read Anne Rice. I dunno, but I’ve just never been interested. I think part of it was seeing Interview with a Vampire. The story didn’t really impress me all that much to make me want to read the book. And that often does happen for me. I started reading the HP book because I saw the first two movies and loved them so much. I started reading Cussler because I saw Sahara. I read Alexandre Dumas because I saw the Three and Four Musketeers in the 70’s and the Disney version several years ago.
Movies tend to influence my reading sometimes.
I’ve had to read all three Pullman books in order to write some critics. He has a great deal of talent but puts it to a depressing and unwholesome purpose. At the core, he’s just an upmarket Dan Brown.
They have nothing to do with Vampires, but Barbara Hambly’s “Free Man of Color” series are excellent historical mysteries set in New Orleans of the 1840s.
Fred Saberhagen did some unusual Dracula novels from the Count’s viewpoint–and he’s heroic. THE DRACULA TAPES, THE HOLMES-DEACULA FILE, and AN OLD FRIEND OF THE FAMILY are good. After that the series tails off.
That’s “critiques,” of course, one for OUR SUNDAY VISITOR and one for CATHOLIC WORLD REPORT.
Travis, I loved A Wrinkle in Time and Wuthering Heights. I finished reading Maus I & II by Art Spiegelman recently. I’m currently reading Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi, Something Wicked This Way Comes by Ray Bradbury, Out of the Silent Planet and The Discarded Image by C.S. Lewis. I’m also reading There is a God by Antony Flew. Finally I plan on starting Beowulf soon and a reread of The Golden Compass.
Whether for school or pleasure, here’s my list (some I’ve read, others I’m still working through):
–Beowulf — I always forget just how good this story is. The part with Beowulf fighting Grendel’s mother at the bottom of the lake always makes my imagination swirl
–The Epic of Gilgamesh
–Batman: The Dark Knight Returns (Frank Miller et al.)
–Batman: The Long Halloween (Jeph Loeb and Tim Sale)
–The Iliad
–The Qur’an and Genesis
–Monsters and the Crtics (essays by Tolkien)
–Selected short stories by Lovecraft (obviously)
–selected poetry by Li-Young Lee (one of my favorite poets)
–Falling Man (Don DeLillo) — I’ll probably go back to Underworld before too long
–will return to The Master and Margharita, soon (Mikhail Bulgakov)
I have some odd reading habits. It’s common for me to read bits and pieces of lots of stuff for a while, then return and finish what interested me.
Dave, if Grendel’s mother makes your imagination swirl, then seeing Grendel’s mother played by Angelina Jolie should set the blender on liquefy.
I’m psyched to see what the new film is like. But, Angelina Jolie…? Somebody’s marketing firm got hold of that casting decision. And I’m a bit worried by what I’ve seen from the trailers about that scene. It appears more as if Beowulf and Grendel’s mother find some underground cavern to fight in.
Particularly, I’m really struck by the fact that the same digital animation is used in Beowulf as in The Polar Express. Every time I see one of the trailers for the former, I immediately think of the latter due to the visual style. There’s an essay in there somewhere…but I have no idea where…
Books I have read or reread:
Garth Nix: Sabriel, Lirael, and Abhorsen (highly recommend)
Tolkein: The Hobbit
Octavia Butler: Kindred (Highly recommend)
Terry Pratchett: Guards! Guards! and Night Watch
Jill Paton Walsh: The Green Book (an interesting, short, YA concept fiction)
Starting or rereading:
Octavia Butler: Parable of the Sower and Lilth’s Brood.
Antoine de Saint-Exupéry: The Little Prince
And plenty of stuff for school
Dave, like you I also have odd reading habits, in part due to absentmindedness. I usually have some books in the car, others upstairs in the bedroom, some in the family room, etc. I find I lose books if I carry them about with me, so I read books according to what room I am in. I always have one tucked into my purse, in case I should be caught somewhere with no book in hand. If I really find a good, interesting book, I use the bibliography of that book to pursue related topics.
Some really good medieval mystery writers: Michael Jecks, whose books are set in Devon about 1300, and P.C. Doherty, who has written several different series set in Medieval England, including a great series patterned after the Canterbury Tales.
My first love, in reading, is mystery stories. My favorite mystery authors are PD James, Patricia Wentworth, Ngaio Marsh, Agatha Christie and of course, Dorothy Sayers. Second tier includes Denise Mina, Tess Gerritsen, Janwillem van de Wettering, and GK Chesterton, none of whom are pure-mystery genre writers. Have tried many others, but they just haven’t done the trick for me. I hope to soon add a new one: JKR
I’m also one of those who reads and sets down books, and therefore usually has a half-dozen or so going at any one time.
Let’s see. Since Deathly Hallows,
John Granger, Unlocking Harry Potter: 5 Keys for the Serious Reader
Robert Heinlein, The Moon is a Harsh Mistress
Robert Heinlein, Starship Troopers
John Mosier, The Myth of the Great War
Mary Todd, Authority Vested: A story of identity and change in the Lutheran Church – Missouri Synod
John Burke, No Perfect People Allowed: creating as come as you are culture in the church
Currently (in various stages),
David Blankenhorn, Abdou Filali-Ansary, Hassan I. Mneimneh, & Alex Roberts (editors), The Islam/West Debate: documents from a global debate on terrorism, U.S. policy, and the Middle East
J. Budziszewski, What We Can’t Not Know: a guide
Rohit Chandra, et al.: Parallel Programming in OpenMP
Jung Chang & Jon Halliday: Mao: The Unknown Story (perhaps one of the most scary books I’ve read recently)
Aukai Collins, My Jihad
Stephen R.C. Hicks, Explaining Postmodernism: skepticism and socialism from Rousseau to Foucault
Michael Ignatieff, The Lesser Evil: political ethics in an age of terror
J.R.R. Tolkien, The Hobbit
Benjamin Wiker, Moral Darwinism: how we became hedonists
Reyhan, I share take on mysteries (although I like F & SF even more), but I’d add Elizabeth Peters and Rex Stout to your list.
I’m having a craze on Alaskan memoirs: we’re planning an extended holiday there as soon as we can afford to get there! So my latest books are:
Shadows on the Koyukuk Sydney Huntington
One man’s wilderness Richard Proenneke (repeat)
Cache Lake Country John Rowlands (Canada)
Wild Men, Wild Alaska Rocky McElveen
I’ve also read
Naked in Da Nang Mike Richardson (Vietnam memoir)
Mutual Contempt Jeff Shesol (Kennedy & Johnson)
The Rest of God Mark Buchanan
Paradoxy Tom Taylor
Knocking on Heaven’s Door David Crump
Ancient-Future Time Robert Webber
As you can see I’m not a big reader of fiction – except for HP and now HPL of course!
colorless.blue, did you like Starship Troopers? If so, you might try Old Man’s War by John Scalzi. It reads like a re-make of Starship Troopers but without all the political commentary. That was the one thing I didn’t like about ST. It seemed like he really just wanted to write an essay about political systems, but decided to hide it in a sci-fi story. It just ended up distracting me and pulling me out of the story. That is one thing that is always sure to annoy me.
Reyhan,
I assume you have read Ellis Peter’s Brother Cadfael mysteries. If not, I’d recommend them. There are about 20 books in the series but they’re each short & read very well.
Never read Brother Cadfael. Will look for Ellis Peter the next time I’m at Chapters. Along with the vampire lady, Hambly.
I’ve read most of Elizabeth Peters’ Amelia Peabody books. Time was, I’d devour them entire as soon as they were available (never bought them in hardcover, though, that is reserved for PD James and a few others). As her characters got older, and once the key conflict with Sethos was resolved, I lost some of my original interest. I still read the books, though.
Medieval mysteries: I read Ellis Peters’ books and they are pretty good, but it is obvious that the author,who is writing in the persona of a monk, is a woman. I still recommend them as I did enjoy them very much.
Michael Jecks’ books are clearly written from the male point of view, -there are no real female characters, but he knows his area very well and his descriptions of medieval life in southwestern England are very accurate.
I tried Elizabeth Peters’ Amelia Peabody books but just never could get into them, for some reason.
Dorothy L. Sayers and Agatha Christie are the queens of mystery writers. Why is it that the British mystery authors seem to write so much better than Americans?
One mystery writer my wife always reads is Nora Roberts, aka JD Robb. I can’t remember if anyone’s mentioned her yet in this thread.
more Medieval mysteries:
Susanna Gregory has a good series set at the Univ. of Cambridge in 1350. I believe she has a PhD in medieval studies from Cambridge. In any case, the stories are very good and she has a lot of humor in them, as well.
I mentioned P.C. Doherty before, but I want to explain that he has several series, and I really think he is the best of the medieval mystery writers. His real name is Paul Doherty, and for people who like supernatural horror as well as mystery, he is excellent. His Hugh Corbett series is set in the reign of King Edward I, and Hugh is a clerk and spy living in London working for the king.
Another series he has written is the Canterbury series. Some titles are : Ghostly Murders, Tournament of Murders, etc. One of the best is told by the person who has been murdered! They are filled with mystery and the supernatural. At the same time, he is clearly a devout Christian-Roman Catholic or Episcopalian would be my guess.
Another of his series is “The Sorrowful Mysteries of brother Athelstan”, a whole series about a priest in a poor parish during the reign of Richard II, when John of Gaunt was the most powerful man in the kingdom. I have always thought that the surname GAUNT used by JKR was a reflection on this warring family.
Paul Doherty’s books are not common in the US. I found a few in our library, but obtained most through loans from other libraries, or buying used copies from Canada.
He also writes under several different pseudonyms, of which the best is his series by C.L. Grace.
Another author is Lindsey Davis, although her work is not Medieval, but set in the time of Vespasian. Her hero, Didius Falco, is a private detective, based in Rome, and her series combines humor and pathos. Some of her books are very good, others are just OK, but they are interesting. I am currently reading her book “See Delph and Die.”
Here’s a topic for possibly a new thread: Not, what are you currently reading, but what are your favorite books? What do you go back and re-read once a year or more? What do you recommend to everyone you can?
Scott, I’d enjoy that, and perhaps others would too, but unless there was some kind of convincing link to Harry Potter, wouldn’t that be sort of like becoming an ordinary chat room, without any compelling raison d’etre?
I’m thinking it might have to be something like: why do you love HP, and what other books have you found which made you feel the same way? Or, how does HP compare with your favorite fantasy author (Tolkien springs to mind with alacrity)? Or, who is your favorite character in HP and what other famous literary characters does he/she remind you of? (Control/Dumbledore and Carton/Snape are right there knocking at the door).
As an aside, you may have noticed that SoG’s one attempt at widening the net wasn’t wildly popular, and was saved serendipitiously by JKR’s outing Dumbledore.
Reyhan,
The “widening the net” wasn’t the best we could come up with, it was done with Halloween in mind. I know you thought it misguided but you spent a fair bit of time responding- which was great.
Matthew,
It actually turned out to be fun, and we got to do something different. And I appreciate the time and effort you (and the others) put into organizing it. Well-handled.
Reyhan, yes, it doesn’t necessarily tie in to HP, although I’m sure most people that post here would list HP on their favorite list. But we HAVE been talking about all kinds of other things that are only tenuously connected to HP. And I’m not suggesting turning this site into a general book discussion. I was just curious what people’s favorite books were. I’m pretty sure we all have some common literary ground and also wildly divergent tastes.
I have to say I was less than keen when I saw the HPL idea, but I read the stories for the first time as a result and enjoyed them and the (limited) discussion that followed. So I was happy with that net-widening in the end.
But unless JKR drops some more bombs it is going to be harder to find things to discuss. Strange, wasn’t it: we (generally) hated what she said, but at least we could talk about HP again!
Maybe we could ask:
What could JKR say in an interview that would really ruin everything for you?
Or, what would you love her to say? (she confirms your pet theory, or says she lurked SoG to get ideas for Deathly Hallows, etc)
Scottt,
Actually, that’s an intriguing idea you’ve got there. How did different people find their way to Potter? What books do we have in common? Is there one book we all have in common? (I’m betting LOTR, but there’s a statistical explanation for that) Were there different paths which led to this one endpoint? Or is this such an all-encompassing endpoint that all literary roads lead to it?
Black Angus, if the writing drive remains strong, in about eighteen months’ to two years’ time, JKR is going to release a new book, probably a mystery novel. Do you remember what Ollivander said about Voldemort when Harry bought the phoenix wand from him? I expect great things from the author of Harry Potter.
So if we hang in there for eighteen months . . .
Maybe the site could change to one of the following:
- Pistol of Phillip Marlow
- Axe of Gimli
- Blaster of Solo
- Crysknife of Maud’Dib
- Lash of the Triffid
Matthew
And, of course, I’m hoping my book will generate a lot of discussion, especially since it contains all the things I would be writing here otherwise.
It’s not easy to have 200+ pages worth of stuff I’d like to write and not be able to post it!
Hello there, Blogmeister. Or do I mean Bookmeister?
Those two hats are going to become awfully confusing, by and bye.
Matthew, how about:
Son of Gryffindor?
Ahh, the lash of the Triffid…
Now there’s a story that stopped me looking at meteor showers for years!
Travis, I’m looking forward to reading and discussing your book … as long as you don’t add any new revelations after it’s published!
Has anyone heard of ‘The Spirit Flyer’ series? Apparently a kids’ series a la Narnia…
I read about it on another site but have never heard of it myself.