Welcome to bookchat where you can talk about anything...books, plays, essays, and books on tape. You don’t have to be reading a book to come in, sit down, and chat with us.
Buying and reading a large book is a big decision. Even taking a tome out of the library makes us think before we drag it home. Nowadays, the weight alone when you have to hold it makes us ponder taking a heavy book on.
It is not just the cost of the book, but it is the time and energy required to read it that is in question. Even those of us who are retired have to decide if we are willing to spend that time and energy because reading a long book requires us to pay a lot of attention. There will be a large cast of characters, several subplots, and a complete world to learn about. If we lay it down for too long, we may forget what is going on. What convinces us to try it?
I mentioned in a comment late last week to gmoke that I had bought a big book of Chinese poems when my children were young and I had not had the time to do it justice. I had dipped into it a bit and marveled at the fact that I could touch the minds of writers born thousands of years ago. Then I laid it aside until gmoke’s activities made me realize that I needed to get the book off my shelf and read a few poems each night.
The book, published in 1975, is Sunflower Splendor: Three thousand Years of Chinese Poetry Co-edited by Wu-chi Liu and Irving Yucheng Lo. The editors said that they mainly chose poems that had not been translated before and that they had three people check the translation for each poem. The book is 522 pages long. In the back of the book is the background on the poets and poems. There are often notes at the bottom of the page which are helpful.
Pg. 141
Autumn Thoughts, Three Selections
By Tu Fu (712-770)
[1]
Jade dews deeply wilt and wound the maple woods;
On Witch Mountain, In Witch Gorge, the air is somber, desolate.
Billowy waves from the river roar and rush towards the sky;
Over the frontier pass, wind and clouds sink to the darkening
earth.
These clustered chrysanthemums, twice blooming, evoke the tears
of yesteryear;
A lonely boat, as ever, is moored to the heart that yearns for home.
To cut winter clothes, women everywhere ply their scissor and
foot-rulers-
Below the White Emperor’s tall city wall is heard the urgent
pounding of the evening wash.
(Tr. Wu-chi Liu)
Pg. 69
Song of Woe
By Shen Yueh (41-512)
The wanderer was in love with the spring of the year
And the spring in love with the wanderer.
Languid sunbeams in the morning draped their splendor,
Gentle dew at dawn lay frozen by the ford.
Seasonal bird songs lilted through the new-grown leaves
While scented airs were stirring in the early duckweed.
Then one morning found me far from my old home,
Ten thousand li had come between me and that dawn.
(Tr. Richard B. Mather)
It is not so difficult to commit to reading a few poems each night in this big book and I am glad that talking with gmoke joggled me into getting it off the shelf.
I am also reading Great North Road by Peter F. Hamilton. (948 pages, hardback).
My decision to order it was because I like mysteries and fantasy and this story combines them. I did have a bit of misgiving when it arrived in the mail. It is huge. I have to lay it on the edge of the computer desk to read it. Could I commit to it? I had been burned by a book by a different author not too long ago who wrote about a future world. This story is set in 2143, England. There are gates to other worlds. I had to learn how this future city works as I followed the detectives trying to solve a murder and learn about one of the worlds beyond a gate as well.
As I begin the book, I am happy to see that it reads easily, but it is also complex enough that I need to mark certain things with my tiny sticky notes. As good authors do, the story begins in the middle and I have to suspend some anxiety about not understanding everything to let the author paint the picture for me. Peter Hamilton does not do info-dumps that are so boring which is good. He makes me pay attention and ask questions.
From the very beginning, I am interested in the character of the chief detective Sid Hurst. I am also intrigued by the aspect of clones and the fact that the murdered clone cannot be identified at once. There is a huge puzzle here to unwind and I like that, too. The lady villain is intriguing. I am glad that I committed to the book. I think it will be worth my time. I am grateful that the story is all in one book instead of having to wait for a sequel. I do appreciate that because I tend to forget things in between sequels.
By page 209, I am wondering if the story is going to be too monstrous for me to handle, wimp that I am. I have been lulled until now, but foreshadowing has me in its grip. If it gets too bad, I will quit reading, I promise myself.
As the time for Bookflurries gets close, I am on page 820 and I may have time to read more before 8 PM. The book has been gripping and I have not been able to lay it down. This story is going to be my best book that I read for 2013, I am pretty sure.
In 2010, I read a large tome, The Way of Kings, the first book in the Stormlight Archive’s series by Brandon Sanderson. I knew it was not a stand alone book because wiki said it was going to be a series and yet at the end of the book, I realized that I could be satisfied with the book if I wanted to quit right there. There were characters that I really cared about, though, so I have watched for the next book and it is due on March 4th of 2014. It is called Words of Radiance.
Wiki says that the new book will focus on one of the characters that I liked, but not my favorite. That makes me pause a bit, but not too much. I will have to wait and see when I read it if my other favorite character might still show up.
We who enjoyed Patrick Rothfuss’ first two books in the Kingkiller Chronicles are still waiting for the third one…and waiting…and waiting. I am beginning to be worried. The first two are The Name of the Wind and The Wise Man’s Fear. We were left with a real cliffhanger that I would like to see resolved.
I do admit that I like to buy an omnibus with several stories of one series because I don't have to go looking for the stories separately.
Some that I found in my scifi book club over the years are:
Chronicles of Prydain by Lloyd Alexander
Enemy Papers trilogy by Barry Longyear
Enemy Mine
Tomorrow Testament
Last Enemy
Journeys of the Catechist trilogy by Alan Dean Foster
Carnivores of Light and Darkness
Into the Thinking Kingdoms
A Triumph of Souls
Several of Saberhagen's Sword series
Several of Tales of Sector General series by James White
I first met Temerarie in an omnibus by Naomi Novik
McCaffrey's Pern and Harper series were in an omnibus.
and as mentioned last week:
Blade in Shadow by Kelly McCullough
Broken Blade
Bared Blade
Crossed Blades
What are your reasons for committing to a big book? Is it because you have liked other books by the author as I did with Sanderson’s? Is it because someone you trust mentions it to you and the blurb sounds good as happened with Great North Road for me? Is it because you read the first few pages and got sucked in?
Is it because you prefer big meaty books instead of small ones? Is it because you are thankful that it is all in one book and you don’t have to wait for sequels? Is it because it is a classic? Is it because you have time to spend and you have had good experiences with tomes? Is it because you have heard that the book is really good or that you like the genre it represents? Is it because it is part of a series?
What is your favorite tome?
Diaries of the Week:
Write On! Roamin' characters.
by SensibleShoes
http://www.dailykos.com/...
Contemporary Fiction Views: Why I don't have reading rules
by bookgirl
http://www.dailykos.com/...
AIDS Walk Austin - How your donations help & who you've helped
by anotherdemocrat
http://www.dailykos.com/...
Robert Fuller says:
Chapter 24 concludes Book One of The Rowan Tree:
http://www.rowantreenovel.com/...
The Rowan Tree was originally a trilogy, but now all three books are contained in one volume. It's less of a marathon read if you think of it that way!
The latest Goodreads Giveaway has been concluded, and the books for the lucky winners are already in the mail. There was enough interest to justify more Giveaways, so a new one will probably be launched shortly.
NOTE:
plf515 has book talk on
Wednesday mornings early