Yes, I was. It's totally different from what I expected it to be, and I actually thought it was pretty good. It's a good story after all. I was afraid there was going to be not much of a story, but there is. And there's the deeper meaning of it all and the thoughts and stuff. I think it's really good. And that's not just to please you.

Next on my reading list is Pat Barker's Regeneration.

/me misses reading. I should never have bought this damn computer...

Actually, I just started LotR for the nth time. I wanna get through it before December 18th...

And I'm hoping someone picks up on all the hints I've been dropping and gets me all four volumes of Tad William's Otherland series for Christmas

[Edited on 11/24/2002 by ProgHead777]

Too many booooooooooooooooooks!!! Aigh! Sorry, getting to the end of a semester does that to me sometimes. Well, I am read quite a few things, write now, for school and for pleasure Most of it all very cool.

For school:
Class: Shakespeare Lit
Lot's o' stuff pertaining to the development of Primogeniture due to the Norman Conquest and the ramifications leading to the events in The Tragedy of Richard II, The Tragedy of Richard II, Henry V, Much Ado About Nothing, (I just saw my first proffessional Rendition of a Shakespeare play, too, Much Ado. It rocked!!!)

Class: Intro to Music Theory
The Music Kit - a good resource text for IMT.

For Pleasure:
The Silmarillion, my 2nd time (I haven't read it nearly enough and I plan to get all the way through this time.)
Teach Yourself Celtic Myth (a nice, plain language breakdown of predominately Irish and Welsh Myth)
Celtic Myth and Legend (an incredibly broad and indepth encyclopedia of Celtic Myth)
Tolkien's World From A To Z: The Complete Guide to ME (I love that book. Jammed packed with info.)
An introduction to Elvish (The best Tolkien Langage ref that I have found on the market.)
Beowulf (trans. by Seamus Heany. Absolutly fantastic!)
And Finally, Delta Green: The Rules of Engagement (a fantastic walk through the halls of US Gov't conspiracy and those within who try to fight off the Evil of the Cthulhu Mythos)

Like Ross says, much has changed since those days. What was once a medieval court is now perhaps a supermarket, quaint villages are now suburbs being swallowed by cities, and the ancient oak forests now only survive in patches between the maze of moterways. Find the ruin of a castle with an untouched village nearby and you might just get a moments peace in which your imagination can take you back a thousand years... then a few seconds later it will be shattered as a jet roars overhead.

Oops, we really ought to take this latest discussion to Music under The Golden Perch since this is supposed to be about the books we are reading.

I'm still reading Hogfather and I just remembered a bit I read last night that I must post under Gandalf the? under The Forsaken Inn.

I have moved a number of posts that were going off topic from this thread to the Golden Perch Tavern/ Music.

This post will auto destruct in a week or so

Thanks Val, I should have moved them.

Tonight (it is still Saturday) reading of Hogfather is postponed while I'm reading the assignment for Sunday's Planet-Tolkien class about the Elves inhabiting the LOTR. See you Sunday at 9 PM GMT in the Bilbo's-Study chat room.

For the assignment see Week 8 - Elves under Tolkien Weekly Courses.

The Kalevala sounds like an interesting read, Glorfinel, I will put it on my 'to look for list', in fact I might ask my daughter to buy it for my Christmas gift. Do you have the postAuthorID of the English translation and the ISBN number for the book; does it come in parperback or just hardcover?

I made a mention earlier about a book that I was reading in an earlier post here, but it unfortunately got removed in the house cleaning. So, I am just going to throw it out again 'cause I think it may be of interest to others.

I am presently reading parts of the Kalevala. It is the Finnish Myth cycle collected as a series of ancient songs. It is really beautiful stuff. I feel it is a great thing to read for those heavy into knowing what influenced Tolkien in his writing the stories of Middle Earth. Finnish Myth was a very big influence on the stories and the languages that he created.

The first edition of the Kalevala appeared in 1835, compiled and edited by Elias L’nnrot on the basis of the epic folk poems he had collected in Finland and Karelia. The main charcter is an ancient wizard named Vainamoinen, who uses songs to make magic and change reality. He was apart of many of the Finnish creation myths. At times, he teams up with other heroes and they have many epic adventures.

The most available translation is by Francis Peabody Magoun and is pretty much a direct translation of the songs. It's not the most gripping read but it is a fascinating look at a beautiful mythic culture and connections to Tolkien's work are easy to make.

If you think you might want to know more about it, check this site out: http://virtual.finland.fi/finfo/english/kaleva.html It has a really good overview.

Thanks Glorfinel.

Well, I've given up on LotR before the 18th, so I picked up something else...a couple something elses, that is.

First is Timeline by Michael Crichton. I started reading it ages ago but it just didn't grab me so I put it down. I was looking at my bookshelves the other day for an easy read and figured I'd give it another shot. I started from the beginning again and wouldn't you know it, I'm almost finished!

The other thing is a book called Naked Came The Manatee which is a single novel written by thirteen different people... from Dave Barry (one of the funniest human beings on earth) to Elmore Leonard. Sort of a literary experiment. Each postAuthorID wrote a chapter and then passed it on to the next... and on and on. I'm only on the second chapter but so far I've been LMAO.

Do the short story's in playboy count as book's, if so my brother is a literary genius!

I have been trying to read Volume 3 of HOME, The Lays of Beleriand; however, as it starts out with the story (in verse form) of Turin Turambar and as I have been reading the Silmarillion while waiting for taxis and in Doctors' offices and as his wife/sister Nienor has just thrown herself over the brink of Cabed-en-Aras in that book, I have decided to postpone the Lay until a while after I complete my re-reading of the Sil. I just can't take all that sadness all over again so soon.

So I guess it will be American Gods tonight.

Hey Grondy, would that be American Gods by Neil Gaiman? I've had my eye on that for a while. Let me know how it is.

Yes it is Prog. I read it last Spring or winter maybe. It is about what happens to the gods that all the immigrant bring to the new world and then abandon for the new god of technology. Can't remember much more than that at the present, but it was a good read a page turner. I forgot to move the book into my bedroom, so last night I ended up starting another book from the Fu Manchu Omnibus, Vol. 5.

I can't remember what I was going to say...

Oh yeah, Fetchez La Vache!

I have another plan, we build a large wooden Badger....

okay, the Fu Manchu book has been finished (reminded me slightly of Dr. No ) and finally started the reread of American Gods by Neil Gaiman.

I am reading now the tales of Hans Christian Andersen. I never liked them as a child (too sad...) but now I can at last appreciate them. Some of them are simply awesome. The story of the little toy soldier - just a few pages of a very simple, ironical prose - is one of the most powerful tales ever written about human destiny: courage, steadfastness, love and death.

Sounds like everyone's reading lots of good books!
I agree with you Eryan about the Hans Christian Anderson tale. I am currently reading The Silmarillion, and a translation of Beowulf.

I have read treasure Island and it is actually a okay book. Has anyone else ever read Orson Scott Card before (an outhor not a book)?

I jsut finished eht Anne Rcie book BLackwood farm. oops gotta go. feleing woozy agnia.

I really liked his stories about the inhabitants of Icewind Dale and its surroundings. The Dark Elf is cool.

Right now, I'm reading:

The Sorceress of Darshiva (4th book in Malloreon series) - David Edding (I want to know what everyone's going on about! I suspect, however, that it would have helped to read the 1st, 2nd and 3rd books first - good thing I read the Belgariad)

Small Gods - Terry Pratchett (and anything else by him - I love his sense of humour)

Through the Darkness (second book in this series that I can't remember, can't remember the postAuthorID either and can't be bothered to go find out - its not so good - I just picked it up because it looked interesting I guess)

LOTR - 16th time now!

and any other good fantasy books I come across... and I'm reading them all practically simultaneously, i.e. I read half of this book then a quarter of that one then I skip to another book... (called cooperative multitasking - according to my brain )

oh, my I just noticed my last post. Please pardon the typos. I was taking a lot of pain pills at the time.

It is suppose to read: I have just finished the Anne Rice book Blackwood Farm.

But since then I have aslo finished Book of Lost Tales I.

I have also started the Tolkien Reader and Lays of Beleriand.