Topic: Books You're Currently Reading?

@BlAcK_Sw0rDsMaN Thanks for the recommendation, I definitely will check that out. The only thing I've read of Conrad's was Heart of Darkness and that was about 30 years ago. Thanks and take care!

I finished The Ambassadors by Henry James and has now supplanted The Portrait of a Lady for me as my favourite James novel so far. It's now tied with The Magic Mountain ,by Thomas Mann, which was 'Portrait's former position ,sharing the number one spot, with my other favourite novel of all time!

As a caveat, I will add that is a very challenging book, but one that can be surmounted more easily, if you've read ''Portrait' or 'Mountain' first.

I've now just started The Wings of the Dove ,also by James.

@Steeleye50 "undone by a pig with bad hair". Very apt, and made me chuckle
For some reason I conflated Bradbury and Orwell when writing my previous post - been a looong time since I read either - though I guess both had works the American right now use as instruction manuals, so easy mistake to make.
Glad you made it out and that your life was better for it; sad it had to be that way.

@FuriousMachine Thanks, definitely. Sad how many books that were supposed to be warnings are being used exactly as you stated now, as instruction manuals. Take care!

Dracula (x4 versions)
Written by Rebecca Lenkiewicz

Frankenstein
Written by Mary Shelley

Bloody Poetry
Written by Howard Brenton

The Mysteries of Udolpho
Written by Ann Radcliffe

The Cold Embrace
Written by Mary Braddon

Man-size in Marble
Written by Edith Nesbit

The Demon Lover
Written by Elizabeth Bowen

'The Mortal Immortal'
Written by Mary Shelley

'Rodger Dodworth: The Reanimated Englishman'
Written by Mary Shelley

I don't read enough fiction, I figured it's better late than never. Next up is a 90 story classics collection containing the following:

Suspense and horror
1 The Adventure of the Sussex Vampire - Arthur Conan Doyle
2 The Signalman - Charles Dickens
3 Lost Hearts - MR James
4 The Sealed Room - Arthur Conan Doyle.
5 Mrs Badgery - Wilkie Collins
6 Wailing Well - MR James
7 The Open Window - Saki
8 How it happened - Arthur Conan Doyle
9 The Tell-Tale Heart - Edgar Allan Poe
10 The Cone - HG Wells
11 A Haunted House - Virginia Woolf
12 Rats - MR James
13 The Oval Portrait - Edgar Allan Poe
14 Tarquin of Cheapside - F. Scott Fitzgerald
15 One Crowded Hour - Arthur Conan Doyle
16 The Mezzotint - MR James
17 The Masque of the Red Death - Edgar Allan Poe

Love
18 The Kiss - Kate Chopin
19 Eleonora - Edgar Allan Poe
20 About Love - Anton Chekhov
21 The Lovers - Hans Christian Anderson
22 Love - Guy De Maupassant
23 The Sphinx Without a Secret - Oscar Wilde
24 A Wedding Gift - Guy De Maupassant
25 Kew Gardens - Virginia Woolf
26 The District Doctor - Ivan Turgenev
27 Happiness - Guy De Maupassant
28 A Blunder - Anton Chekhov
29 The Bride Comes to Yellow Sky - Stephen Crane
30 In a Far-Off World - Olive Schreiner
31 The Cook's Wedding - Anton Chekhov
32 The Recruit - Honore de Balzac
33 The Nightingale and the Rose - Oscar Wilde
34 Pyramus and Thisbe - Ovid
35 Aunt Hetty on Matrimony - Fanny Fern
36 A Country Cottage - Anton Chekhov
37 Marriage a la Mode - Katherine Mansfield
38 The Statue of Limitations - Ernest Dowson
39 The Dilettante - Edith Wharton

Humorous
40 Tobermory - Saki
41The Mesmeric Mountain - Stephen Crane
42 The Children's Joke - Louisa May Alcott
43 At The Siren - Anton Chekhov
44 The Garden Party - Katherine Mansfield
45 The Cask of Amontillado - Edgar Allan Poe
46 The New Dress - Virginia Woolf
47 How I Built Myself A House - Thomas Hardy
48 The Model Millionaire - Oscar Wilde
49 A Pair of Silk Stockings - Kate Chopin
50 At The Barbers - Anton Chekhov
51 A Respectable Woman - Kate Chopin

Folk & Fable
52 The Happy Prince - Oscar Wilde.
53 The Elves and the Shoemaker - The Brothers Grimm
54 The Emperor's New Clothes -Hans Christian Andersen
55 The Tongue Cut Sparrow - Yei Theodora Ozaki
56 Finn and the Scottish Giant - Harold F. Read
57 The Postmaster - Rabindranath Tagore
58 The Toys of Peace - Saki
59 The Selfish Giant - Oscar Wilde
60 The Flower Gatherer - Edward Thomas
61 Araby - James Joyce
62 The Interlopers - Saki
63 Tom Thumb - The Brothers Grimm
64 The Kabuliwalah - Rabindranath Tagore
65 The Monkey's Paws - WW Jacobs

Christmas
66 The Little Match Girl - Hans Christian Andersen
67 Papa Panov's Special Christmas - Leo Tolstoy
68 Christmas Storms and Sunshine - Elizabeth Gaskell.
69 The Gift of the Magi - O'Henry
70 At Christmas Time - Anton Chekhov
71 A Dill Pickle - Katherine Mansfield

Classic Tales
72 The Yellow Wallpaper - Charlotte Perkins Gilman
73 The Fall of Lord Barrymore - Arthur Conan Doyle
74 The Necklace - Guy De Maupassant
75 Holiday Group - EM Delafield
76 Three Questions - Leo Tolstoy
77 The Cop and the Anthem - O'Henry
78 The Fly - Katherine Mansfield
79 The Christening - DH Lawrence
80 After the Race - James Joyce
81 The String Quartet - Virginia Woolf
82 Two Friends - Guy De Maupassant
83 An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge - Ambrose Bierce.
84 A Gentleman Friend - Anthon Chekhov
85 Ma'ame Pelagie - Kate Chopin
86 Second Best - DH Lawrence
87 El Verdugo - Honore de Balzac
88 The Story of an Hour - Kate Chopin
89 The Man of No Account - Bret Hart
90 The Piece of String - Guy De Maupassant

I've abandoned The Wings of the Dove now, not because it was too challenging for me to read, but because I simply wasn't interested enough in the characters or the way their lives were going to keep reading very far past page 200. I've started The Golden Bowl ,now, which should be my last Henry James novel, which seems more promising so far.

On the whole, Henry James has been a bit hit and miss for me, as an author. I adored The Portrait of a Lady and The Ambassadors but was disappointed in What Maisie Knew and The Wings of the Dove .The Golden Bowl is shaping up, so far, to be one of the good ones.

Finished up Amy Coney Barret's Listening to the Law: Reflections on the Court & Constitution last week.

I really liked the first several chapters detailing the history & work of the (Supreme) Court, which were filled with little anecdotes about the author's own experience working there. The chapters on the Constitution felt little more than a recap of what we learned in High School Civics class (just a necessity to get to explain the last section of the book), with the last set of chapters explaining the different schools of thought when it comes to how courts interpret laws & the Constitution (the Author's biases were, admittedly, more prevalent in these chapters).

Overall it could be a bit dry considering the topics at hand, but it had it's fair share of interesting tid bits and anecdotes, and since it focuses (mostly) on why the court does this or that as a matter of fact rather than focusing the author's own opinions/biases, I would say it's a worthwhile read even if you don't sit on the same political affiliation you'd assume the author herself does.

Condensed my reading list to these future books after the ones I have already planned to read, and will be reading, if all goes according to plan, in the next few weeks:

The Master Paperback – 1 Jan. 2010
by Colm Toibin (Author)

Lost Illusions (Human Comedy) Paperback – 24 Jun. 1976
by Honore de Balzac (Author), Herbert J. Hunt (Translator)

Romola (Penguin Classics) Paperback – 27 Jun. 1996
by George Eliot (Author), Dorothea Barrett (Editor, Introduction)

Daniel Deronda (Penguin Classics) Paperback – 26 Oct. 1995
by George Eliot (Author), Terence Cave (Editor, Introduction)

Henry James: A Life in Letters (Penguin Classics) Paperback – 25 Jan. 2001
by Henry James (Author), Philip Horne (Editor)

Just finished up Joe Biden's Promise Me, Dad: A Year of Hope, Hardship, and Purpose earlier today.

A personal account of the author reflecting back on (roughly) the time between autumn 2014 - to autumn 2015 as he tried balancing his then duties as Vice President with his family's struggle with his son Beau's struggle with cancer.

As somewhat of a decision maker in US foreign policy in the Obama administration, his insights into topics such as the rise of ISIL/S & the fallout surrounding Russia's annexation of Crimea are often engaging, sometimes very much so (especially since the latter is still relevant background info in the current Russia/Ukraine war), but at heart it's a story of family, and that's where the book was at it's most gripping. No matter whether I agree with the man or not on this or that issue notwithstanding, it's abundantly clear he's a man who absolutely loves his family, adores his children, and the book often brought me to tears as he brought us into the most intimate moments as they were struggling with his son's cancer battle.

Absolutely fantastic read.

I finished up Shigeru Kayama's Godzilla & Godzilla Raids Again (translated by Jeffrey Angles) - As a huge fan of Big G I had no idea that the first two films were based on (or rather conceived alongside) a couple of novellas. The Author actually wrote the original rough draft script of the original Godzilla film (& it's sequel) which Ishiro Honda (& his screenwriter) later refined into what we'd see in the final product. Kayama would release his novella versions of the stories in-between the film releases of the OG & "Raids Again", which have a few differences from their film counterparts (Godzilla is implied to tacitly generate powerful storm force winds in his immediate vicinity in the first story, and in the second it's explicitly mentioned that Anguirus has a "Hot Light Beam" just like Godzilla's, an ability I believe he lacks in the movies).

If I'm being a bit honest I don't think either story was written all that engagingly (maybe a combination of Translation hangups and/or older writing conventions?). For example, a few times the author forgoes painting a picture with his words and breaks the fourth wall to get his point across ("I'm sure some of you readers remember the panic that ensued when the evacuation sirens went off during the war, it was like that.". Not an exact quote, but it was something like that). That said they also had their moments and if nothing else were interesting reads for curiosity's sake.

That, and the last 30 pages or so was an Afterward written by the translator that kind of gave a brief history of the Author, the films' creation, and the experiences the Japanese people were going through at the time that made the films resonate, which was really interesting.

I'm currently reading Garth Marenghi's Incarcerat. You would really need to have watched Darkplace on Channel 4 to get this otherwise you wouldn't know what the hell is going on lol.

Rereading the Benedict Jacka series. Halfway through the first book Fated. I stopped somewhere mid series long ago, so im starting over to read them all.

@McSavage do you find yourself reading it in the accent and style of the Garth Marenghi character, with the same strange intonations? I just read the descriptions of the books (having just found out there were books, thank you very much!) and it was hard not to 🙈

Again, people need to go and find a way to watch the show, it is low key genius.

How are the books, overall? I might have to look into getting them, or maybe even the audiobook versions narrated by the man himself 🧐

@Ravix Oh I 100% read it in Garth Marenghi's voice. It's hard not to. I think the audio books are definitely worth a listen. Also, he's currently touring for his new book Bursted Earth so check those live shows out if you can, they're hilarious. I managed to see him in both Belfast and Dublin and I even got to ask the dream-weaver a question - in the first ep of Darkplace, Dean Learner suggests that someone in Garth's life may have exploded so I asked would he mind telling us about that but he didn't unfortunately.

@McSavage haha, it must be hard for the man to revisit those memories.

I would never have expected it to be something that was currently having a resurgence in books and tours, and I was only just reminded of it last week. I will have to look into it! It definitely had Partridge levels of quality and commitment to the character and format, but for such a short run of episodes. So I can see it working well as a tour.

Is there any word of a TV return? It feels like the kind of thing that is missing from television and streaming these days. Out-there, but incredibly detailed and well-crafted character comedy

@Ravix No, unfortunately it looks like there won't be any more TV shows. That question was asked at both shows I was at and both times he answered no.

If you do get an opportunity to listen to the audio books all I can say is sit back, dim the lights or switch them off if you don't have dimmers, put conventional logic to one side and enjoy. Well... I say enjoy.

Just finished Stephen King's latest novel, Never Flinch, which sees the return of Holly Gibney. While Gibney is my favourite King character, this novel didn't work all that well for me. I don't know if it's the similarities with "Mr. Mercedes", the first Bill Hodges novel, or something else, but this just fell well short of my expectations. The characters are good - though Sista Bessie hewed a bit too close to parody - but it almost felt as Holly herself was shunted into the "b-story". It should be said, though, that I didn't really find the "a-story" all that interesting either, so maybe they both were just weak a-stories. Corrie and John were both good additions to the character gallery and the strong character work is what saves this novel from getting less than three stars from me.

Sticking with King, I also finished the remaining four entries in his Night Shift collection of short stories and novellas:
The Last Rung on the Ladder, a poignant story about growing up and apart (four stars), The Man Who Loved Flowers, about a man bringing a gift to his love (three stars), One For the Road, which returns us to Jerusalem's Lot (four stars) and The Woman in the Room, a very good, though sad and melancholic, denouement to an excellent collection of novellas and short stories (five stars).
Collections like this will always have some good and some bad entries, though this was a particularly strong collection of novellas and short stories. There were only a couple I didn't like and the ones I did like tended towards being quite excellent. Even though the collection as a whole isn't perfect, the strength of the best entries more than qualifies this for top marks, five stars.

Next I'll be reading Natural Causes, the first novel an ongoing series from James Oswald (who wrote the very good Broken Ghosts) about the Edinburgh based Inspector McLean. Been looking forward to this since @MightyDemon82 recommended it to me a little while back, as it seems like something that is right up my alley

@McSavage a shame. The audiobooks will probably be my go to, then. To have Author. Dreamweaver. Visionary... Plus Actor Garth Marenghi narrate seems too good a deal to turn down. Think I have 2 episodes left in a rewatch of the show, so it is pretty cool timing to have found out about them.

I do need to finish the last entry in The Saxon Tales/The Last Kingdom and get Crossroads of Ravens out of the way first, however.

I finished 'The Minotaur takes a cigarette break'. A fish out of water type story where the Minotaur from Greek mythology travels modern America trying to fit in with humans.

Now onto 'The Killer across the Table' from the authors of 'Mindhunter'.

My local library doesn't have the books recommended by @FuriousMachine & @GirlVersusGame, I may have to go down the digital route to read those unless I can find them for a good price.

@FuriousMachine I hope they are good, plenty of them if you enjoy the first.

@MightyDemon82 Yeah, and the latest came out just this spring, so I expect more to come as well. I've been skipping over the parts of Oswald's newsletters dealing with the series to avoid any and all potential spoilers for the earlier books he might have considered fair game, so I can't know for sure if the latest is also the last, of course.

"The Minotaur Takes a Cigarette Break" added to reading list; love the concept! "The Killer Across the Table" feels almost like a sequel to "Mind Hunter", so that's added as well