[March] What are you reading?

[Umbran]

How are these?

I've heard a lot of good things about World War Z, though I'm waiting for the paperback version to come out. And I'm a King Arthur buff of sorts, so the second book definitely sounds interesting.

So far, World War Z is extremely well-written. There is probably some advantage to reading the Zombie Survival Guide (also by Max Brooks) first, but it is not entirely necessary. The book is presented as collected oral history of the events of the war against the zombie plague, and should be interesting to anyone who enjoys oral histories, war fiction, or zombies.

The Mammoth Book of King Arthur is not for the casual Arthurian buff. I'm only about 200 pages into this massive 700+ page tome, and it isn't a quick or light read. Mr. Ashley is not content with simply giving you an overview of his findings and conclusions - he walks you through just about every piece of data he's got, and tells you what he thinks it means. If I should find a "fault" wiht the book, it is that there is perhaps too much detail and material to wade through to get to the parts that interest me most.

Not having a strong grasp on the detailed geography of the British Isles, or a deep knowledge of the personages of first-millennium Britain, the book often seems to me to degrade into a laundry list of people and place names that quickly loses context and meaning. I bet that for people who have a more deep knowledge of the sources, that all is intensely interesting, but it loses me much as biblical "begats" or Tolkien's discussion of elven lineages in the Silmarillion.

That being said, there are a great many bits of information in the book that are wonderful for Arthurian-fans. The reasons why it is difficult to connect the fictional people and battles with real-life personages and places becomes quite clear. And having been through it, one can extract a great deal of information about the situation in Britain in the relevant period, which should lead gracefully into understanding of how historical figures blend into mythical heroes.

I have somewhat higher hopes for the book as Mr. Ashley moves from the historical documents of the 4th through 6th centuries into more recent material (like Geoffrey of Momouth, Sir Thomas Mallory, and such), if only because I'm more familiar with those sources.

 

[Grymar]

The Historian, by Elizabeth Kostova

I'm only about 100 pages in to it, but I so far really enjoy her writing style and it seems to be an interesting new take on a very old myth.

 

[Wombat]

The Mammoth Book of King Arthur is not for the casual Arthurian buff. I'm only about 200 pages into this massive 700+ page tome, and it isn't a quick or light read. Mr. Ashley is not content with simply giving you an overview of his findings and conclusions - he walks you through just about every piece of data he's got, and tells you what he thinks it means. If I should find a "fault" wiht the book, it is that there is perhaps too much detail and material to wade through to get to the parts that interest me most.

Not having a strong grasp on the detailed geography of the British Isles, or a deep knowledge of the personages of first-millennium Britain, the book often seems to me to degrade into a laundry list of people and place names that quickly loses context and meaning. I bet that for people who have a more deep knowledge of the sources, that all is intensely interesting, but it loses me much as biblical "begats" or Tolkien's discussion of elven lineages in the Silmarillion.

That being said, there are a great many bits of information in the book that are wonderful for Arthurian-fans. The reasons why it is difficult to connect the fictional people and battles with real-life personages and places becomes quite clear. And having been through it, one can extract a great deal of information about the situation in Britain in the relevant period, which should lead gracefully into understanding of how historical figures blend into mythical heroes.

I have somewhat higher hopes for the book as Mr. Ashley moves from the historical documents of the 4th through 6th centuries into more recent material (like Geoffrey of Momouth, Sir Thomas Mallory, and such), if only because I'm more familiar with those sources.

I like Ashely's Arthurian compilation -- is is a fantastic overview of the topic!

I was talking to a friend of mine the other day and mentioned that I don't really like fanfic much. She asked me if I read much of it. I was about to say, "No, not much", then I stopped. Wait! I have been reading the longest running, most diffuse and diverse fanfic of human history -- the Arthurian legends! From the 12th century forward (it was a bit scattered prior to Geoffrey of Monmouth), there has not been a time when someone, somewhere hasn't written something about King Arthur and his knights. The factual basis (which is, at best, very vague) has long since been lost, but over the generations hundreds, nay, thousands of people have added to the "canon". These tales have been written down in Latin, Welsh, Middle English, French, Italian, Spanish, German, Yiddish, Russian, Japanese and a host of other languages.

Now that is literary longevity!

 

[Cthulhudrew]

Currently reading:

Olympos by Dan Simmons
The Frontiersmen - Time Life Old West series

 

[Mark Chance]

1776 by David McCullough, Progress and Religion by Christopher Dawson, and The Rise and Fall of Athens: Nine Greek Lives by Plutarch.

 

[replicant2]

So far, World War Z is extremely well-written. There is probably some advantage to reading the Zombie Survival Guide (also by Max Brooks) first, but it is not entirely necessary. The book is presented as collected oral history of the events of the war against the zombie plague, and should be interesting to anyone who enjoys oral histories, war fiction, or zombies.

The Mammoth Book of King Arthur is not for the casual Arthurian buff. I'm only about 200 pages into this massive 700+ page tome, and it isn't a quick or light read. Mr. Ashley is not content with simply giving you an overview of his findings and conclusions - he walks you through just about every piece of data he's got, and tells you what he thinks it means. If I should find a "fault" wiht the book, it is that there is perhaps too much detail and material to wade through to get to the parts that interest me most.

Not having a strong grasp on the detailed geography of the British Isles, or a deep knowledge of the personages of first-millennium Britain, the book often seems to me to degrade into a laundry list of people and place names that quickly loses context and meaning. I bet that for people who have a more deep knowledge of the sources, that all is intensely interesting, but it loses me much as biblical "begats" or Tolkien's discussion of elven lineages in the Silmarillion.

That being said, there are a great many bits of information in the book that are wonderful for Arthurian-fans. The reasons why it is difficult to connect the fictional people and battles with real-life personages and places becomes quite clear. And having been through it, one can extract a great deal of information about the situation in Britain in the relevant period, which should lead gracefully into understanding of how historical figures blend into mythical heroes.

I have somewhat higher hopes for the book as Mr. Ashley moves from the historical documents of the 4th through 6th centuries into more recent material (like Geoffrey of Momouth, Sir Thomas Mallory, and such), if only because I'm more familiar with those sources.

Thanks for the updates. I've got World War Z firmly on my "to read" list, and I'll do a little more thinking on The Mammoth Book of King Arthur.

 

[jhallum]

Far too many books to read (all checked out from the library):

Hells gate and Hell Hath no Fury by David Weber and Linda Evans (starting Hell's gate, so far so good, like it so far)

Books 3-7 of The Dresden Files by Jim Butcher (I love these books so far, great stuff)

Gates of Fire and Virtues of War by Steven Pressfield (Gates of War was AWESOME reading, really great stuff).

Shadowplay and Shadowmarch by Tad Williams(haven't started yet)

Magic Lessons by Justine Larbalestier (the first was pretty good teen fantasy, but the second is supposed to be better)

and

Farthing by Jo Walton (this alt-hist book is a pretty good riff on the English Country Mystery. The ending just blew me away (almost as much as the ending of Deadhouse Gates blew me away). Wow. It has a great subplot of what it means to be a free country as well. Well written and worth reading.)

 

[Angel Tarragon]

Finished re-reading Warrior Angel last night and started on Never Have Your Dog Stuffed: And Other Things I've Learned (Alan Alda).

 

[Umbran]

and I'll do a little more thinking on The Mammoth Book of King Arthur.

You have time. When you asked, Amazon said the thing "usually shipped in 2 to 4 weeks". Right now, they have 2 in stock. Two.

Meaning, even if you want it, you mgiht have to wait a while to get a copy.