The Dog Days of August Readings

[Ser Barry]

Forgotten Voices of the Great War by Max Arthur

This is a collection of excerpts from interviews kept in the Sound Archive of the Imperial War Museum. It is hundreds of short passages detailing the stories of people involved in some way with WW1 in their own words. Mostly they are soldiers from the frontline but there are also stories from family members and others left behind. Whether you are interested in the war or not the stories of extraordinary things happening to ordinary people is fascinating. Incredible.

[Deornoth]

Just finished reading 'Fluke' by Christopher Moore. I really wanted to like this one but when the cover tells you it's funny and there's very little inside that actually makes you laugh… You get the picture. If you're already a fan you'll probably love it, no more for me though. My full review is Here.

I'm now starting on 'Shadowstorm' by Paul S. Kemp...

[Peadar]

Coming up on page 70. So far:

SPOILER: The Inferior

We've had unexpected cannibalism, death-by-masonry and unexpected random parachutists. The book can surely only be made better by the sudden arrival of pirates. You have pirates in the book, surely?

Sadly the book is 100% pirate free. I tried to get some, but they were all off working in some foreign-sounding place -- Tal Verrar or Tal Verreer. Something like that.

[beniowa]

A Betrayal in Winter by Daniel Abraham. A little bit better than the first I think though the stakes weren't as bid as in the first. Feels weird that the conspiracy is revealed so early but I do like how character-driven the story is.

Next up: Second Empire by Paul Kearney.

[Caligula_K]

Well, let's see:

On the fantasy side of things, this month I read Donaldson's Lord Foul's Bane and Gaiman's Anansi Boys. Gaiman's was extremely funny, entertaining and even slightly touching- that said, it gets more convoluted than it needs to be (particularly the whole corporate embezzler plotline) and the ending could have done without the whole "and everyone lived happily ever after, got married, and had kids" vibe. Still, I read it in a day, so there's definitely something right there. As for Donaldson- a novel of very interesting ideas, but piss poor worldbuilding, and more damningly, boringness. So much travelling. So very much. Also, does everyone need to say "Alas?" all the time? I'm undecided as to whether I'll read the next book.

I also did a re-read of the first two A Song of Ice and Fire books- a few of you may have heard of A Game of Thrones and A Clash of Kings. Its been almost two years since I last read them, and they still hold up wonderfully (and its the fourth time I've read each), and its fun to notice new things on each read, no matter how small- such as the fact that Marwyn taught Mirri Maz Dur. I've also come to respect and understand Catelyn a lot more than I used to, and to pity Theon even more. It'll be nice to go onto A Storm of Swords and then Feast.

In history, I finished off the last two volumes of Theodor Mommsen's History of Rome. His analysis of the fading Roman Republic and the rise of the kingship is superb, though I do wish he'd criticize Caesar- not everything the man did was perfect. I also think he puts too much stock into Caesar's constitutional reforms, considering that the majority of them remained unfinished, that Caesar was off to a war with the Parthians before he died (suggesting he was still uncertain of what needed to be done in Rome) and that Caesar's death led to the destruction of his system- Augustus claimed and established the monarchy (well, princepship) in a rather different way.

Read Michael Curtis Ford's novel about Julian, Gods and Legions. What starts off as an interesting and well written account of Julian's rise to power loses its charm when Julian officially converts to paganism- due to the author's Christian beliefs (and the POV character's), Julian is suddenly mad (except... not really) and Julian's pagan beliefs are reduced to such simplicity- essentially, the only aspect of paganism represented is through Julian's love of sacrificing large numbers of animals- and very little is given to the conflicting natures of paganism and Christianity which may have led to Julian becoming pagan, or the political reasons for doing so. Too bad, because it does start off strong.

And finally, I read a literary criticism book entitled Heroes: The Champions of our Literary Imaginations by Bruce Meyer, an interesting book which examines the different types of heroes in literature and the roles they play for the writer and the reader. Sometimes it gets a bit too cheesy, though.

And I think that covers my August reading. Didn't read as much as I would have liked, considering the ever growing pile of books in my room and the fact that its summer, but work will do that to you.