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Wednesday Reading Meme
Jul. 21st, 2021 07:38 amWhat I’ve Just Finished Reading
Thomas Hughes’ Tom Brown’s School Days is a cracking good read. I highly recommend it to anyone who likes school stories, both as an excellent school story in its own right and because it was the book that catapulted the genre to broad popularity.
I also read Julia Zarankin’s Field Notes from an Unintentional Birder, which filled me with enthusiasm for birding almost strong enough to overcome the fact that birding is evidently a hobby replete with four a.m. wake-up times. This book is part general memoir, part meditation on birding as a metaphor for life (“Focus on what’s in front of you, on what you’re looking at rather than what you want to see”), part bubbling enthusiasm about the joy of birds. Zarankin is particularly partial to warblers.
And for the Newbery Honor project, I finished Virginia Hamilton’s In the Beginning: Creation Stories from around the World. I must confess I have very little interest in creation stories and never would have read this if it weren’t for the project, but probably it broadened my horizons or something.
What I’m Reading Now
Hew Strachan’s The First World War, which is really driving home the WORLD part of the world war. In one sense I already knew this, of course, but the scope is so vast that it slips out of my grasp without regular repetition.
E. W. Hornung’s Notes of a Camp-Follower on the Western Front, which is about Hornung’s time working in a YMCA canteen during World War I. You may be familiar with Hornung as the author of the Raffles stories, and in that capacity may be pleased to hear that he helpfully informs us whenever a handsome soldier visits the YMCA canteen, which happens a lot.
I’ve also got back in the saddle with Mary Renault’s The Last of the Wine. As per usual with Mary Renault books, this will probably get a full review when I’m done, but for the moment I will just note that this book is giving me strong Sutcliff vibes. If the characters from a Sutcliff novel suddenly walked into the agora and started chatting with Alexias, I would go “Yeah, this tracks,” probably even if they were technically from an entirely different century.
What I Plan to Read Next
I’m going to keep on with Stratchan’s book, but I think I also need a book that focuses more specifically on the military history of the Western Front. Any suggestions?
Thomas Hughes’ Tom Brown’s School Days is a cracking good read. I highly recommend it to anyone who likes school stories, both as an excellent school story in its own right and because it was the book that catapulted the genre to broad popularity.
I also read Julia Zarankin’s Field Notes from an Unintentional Birder, which filled me with enthusiasm for birding almost strong enough to overcome the fact that birding is evidently a hobby replete with four a.m. wake-up times. This book is part general memoir, part meditation on birding as a metaphor for life (“Focus on what’s in front of you, on what you’re looking at rather than what you want to see”), part bubbling enthusiasm about the joy of birds. Zarankin is particularly partial to warblers.
And for the Newbery Honor project, I finished Virginia Hamilton’s In the Beginning: Creation Stories from around the World. I must confess I have very little interest in creation stories and never would have read this if it weren’t for the project, but probably it broadened my horizons or something.
What I’m Reading Now
Hew Strachan’s The First World War, which is really driving home the WORLD part of the world war. In one sense I already knew this, of course, but the scope is so vast that it slips out of my grasp without regular repetition.
E. W. Hornung’s Notes of a Camp-Follower on the Western Front, which is about Hornung’s time working in a YMCA canteen during World War I. You may be familiar with Hornung as the author of the Raffles stories, and in that capacity may be pleased to hear that he helpfully informs us whenever a handsome soldier visits the YMCA canteen, which happens a lot.
I’ve also got back in the saddle with Mary Renault’s The Last of the Wine. As per usual with Mary Renault books, this will probably get a full review when I’m done, but for the moment I will just note that this book is giving me strong Sutcliff vibes. If the characters from a Sutcliff novel suddenly walked into the agora and started chatting with Alexias, I would go “Yeah, this tracks,” probably even if they were technically from an entirely different century.
What I Plan to Read Next
I’m going to keep on with Stratchan’s book, but I think I also need a book that focuses more specifically on the military history of the Western Front. Any suggestions?
